Moodle vs Blackboard

Well, I am kind of bummed. I was really hoping that I would love Moodle and that it would just be like second nature learning how to use it, but alas I was wrong.

Moodle was just a little more cumbersome than Blackboard. I was really having to think about the set-up and digging around to find where to put things. Trying to add a survey or questions was difficult or confusing for me. It could be that if I gave it more time that it would become easier. I do plan on playing with it some more because the price just can't be beat, FREE

Blackboard was super easy and user friendly. Although in hindsight I have to wonder if it is just because I have been taking online classes for the last year. Just a year ago I was clueless about Blackboard and now I can't imagine not taking classes online. The convenience factor that BB allows is just too good to pass up.

If I was to use Moodle, I think the first class would take me sometime sketching out how I wanted everything but I sure it would be easier after that. I have been asked to consider developing a curr to use online with some 4-H volunteers and I thought Moodle would be a good venue, however, after this week I will need to do a little more playing around before diving in.

Camtasia vs Camstudio

Well, this one was an easy win hands down! Camtasia has so much more to offer and it pretty user friendly. I did struggle  briefly at first but I think it was because I just wasn't focused on what I was doing. After re-focusing it was much easier. When I set it up initially to automatically zoom in....it didn't . So, I did have to put in all my own zooms, etc but it was easy enough to do. I thought the zooms were very smooth and worked well.

Although, I did not have any trouble with Camstudio I do think it is limited...however hard to beat the price...FREE.

In the long run if this is something that I would want to use a lot it would make sense to invest in Camtasia.

E-books

E-books is not something I am terribly familiar with. Of course I have heard of the Kindles and Nooks, etc but I do not own one...as of yet :) I think it is a really interesting concept that many schools both higher ed and high schools are looking at switching from textbooks to e-books.

However, what has intrigued me the most is an article I found on the trends for publishing e-books.
I have always dreamed of publishing a book one day...not sure why, I am not a great writer by any means. I have tons of ideas of things I would like to write about...no idea where to start and the idea of trying to find a publisher, etc is just too daunting.

Maybe the e-books will open the door to writer's that only dreamed of being published, the library may become much larger in the future...now to figure out a pen name :)