Diigo

Diigo and Delicious are both bookmarking sites. The key idea is that it’s a collection of your bookmarks that you can reference very easily, find related bookmarks and users or others who are interested in the same subject as you.

A few key differences are in the way that the bookmarks are classified. Diigo makes it very easy to find others interested in the same topic as you. For instance searching “education” brings up a number of others who have bookmarked education related topics. You can then click on their links to see the topic. Delicious works differently in that you can search by a topic but it returns a list of bookmarks rather than a user. Delicious seems to be a wider ranging resource in that the search returns are and can be tangentially related to the topic whereas the Diigo search returns users who have bookmarked the topic with more specific results.

You can filter the search by topic at delicious by tags, but once again it seems to return much broader results than diigo.

I currently bookmark sites in Firefox and create folders for the various bookmarks. This can be unweildy at times but it seems to work just fine for me. One of the shortcomings for this method is accessing my information from other computers. With either diigo or delicious, I can access my bookmarks from any internet enabled computer.

For educational purposes, I like the way diigo works over delicious. I like the ability to search for users with the same interests as mine. I feel that it might be useful to use diigo, for my students to search for me/or give them a direct link to my bookmarks and I could bookmark articles of interest or of use to my students.

Second Life, limited uses for education

I found Second Life an uncomfortable platform for learning. It would take students some time getting familiar with the format of the world and how to do what they wanted to do. I see this as a replacement for the personal interaction that can be obtained in most learning environments.

When doing research on Second Life for this project something came up that I found very interesting. Some global companies are using Second Life as a meeting place for people in different locations working on the same project. I am going to link to an article about IBM's use of the platform. New employees are trained on Second Life as part of the general new hire training. This ensures that they can navigate through meetings and other work environments without looking awkward. This gives the co-workers that personal connection to one another. This is necessary in some company were co-workers never meet.



About a month ago my husband and I along with a group of friends saw an exhibit at the Nelson Adkins Museum in Kansas City, RMB City Opera. It is very controversial and in some scenes pornographic. The exhibit is the cross or difference in the cyber world and the real world. It touches some of the issues that come about when people portray themselves online as someone they are not. Below is a link to the article about the exhibit.



I personally don't see Second Life as anything I would use in education. There are so many other things you can do to connect learners that are more comfortable to the greater public. I am a little silly and took a picture of myself making muscles by the UCM flag. If you can't have fun in life...........

Smartphones

I will just tell you that I am partial to the Iphone, but the Android system has some great features as well.

Pro's-
I have a foreign exchange student that has an ap to translate meaning of words to help her with assignments.

Purdue has a program called Hotseat. It's where the students can give the instructor immediate feed back and chat with other students about the discussion, in real time.

Polleverywhere.com is a great way to get feedback on a question.

Wiffiti is an interactive whiteboard for the class. Students can add comments or make corrections to other students work.

Many of the aps that came up on my research were education games for younger children, but I am interested in the high school age.

My high school is looking at opening up the wifi to free access for everyone and every device. Students will be able to bring their tablet, laptops, and phones to school and use them for their schoolwork. This is an exciting prospect to me. I think students want to get the information in the easiest way, and many times that just can't happen in school. In that case students get frustrated and give up on trying to get the information.

Cons-

Multiple aps running, some of the android phones get bogged down by having everything on and running at the same time. There are ap killer aps out there but the jury is still out if that is effective.

Wifi connectivity, if you need to install a new ap you may need to use your computer or at least be connected to wifi. This actually happened to me last week. One of my high school students had installed an ap on her android phone for some animal sounds for her preschool lesson. Her phone was about out of battery so I offered to use my phone for this activity. I found the ap and tried to download it and the phone would not download until it was connected to wifi or my computer. Planning for future lessons was needed at this time. If you have an ap that you want your students to get on their phones, you need to assign that at least the day before the activity planned.

There are more aps than I can mention in this blog for the smartphone. The staples of Wikipages and Dictionary are always needed. Depending on your content there are many more. Most of the aps that I found for Child Development were pay aps, which I am not sure how to handle that. If you are using one at school and requiring student to have the ap, I think it needs to be free.

One other thing that I find exciting about education is that our district is going to pilot two classrooms going paperless. They will get ipads and work pretty much just on them for all of their classroom work. The ipads will stay in the class and the teacher will use them throughout the day. This is a whole new side of teaching that I just haven't thought about. I use technology, but not exclusively, very exciting. Education is changing, stay current!

Camtasia Studio is the winner!

Camstudio caused me nothing but problems. I have Windows 7 on both of my machines and I was getting that flashing and could do nothing with my computer to control the video. Camtasia was a different story. I do love Jing and Camtasia was a souped up version of Jing. Same company, just more features and options. The editing was wonderful once I figured out what the software wanted me to do. The tutorials on the site were very helpful.

The internet is doomed to fail!

In 1995 an article in Newsweek prophesied that the internet was doomed to fail and that we would all soon tire of it.
This prescient article indicates that "no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works."
I'm sure that we as users of the internet as a regular and increasingly large part of our lives will be somewhat surprised at the death of the internet if and when it happens. What will we ever do with our time?
Full article

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 has fostered a change in the educational environment that has made it easier to provide an educational environment that is changing the way we look at the educational process. Quickly defined Web 2.0 is “commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web” (Wikipedia).

Information sharing and interoperability are, I feel, key phrases in the definition of Web 2.0. These are key phrases that when applied to education and becoming more and more important. For instance, information sharing has become an integral part of the educational environment. With Web 2.0 applications like Google Docs it has become easy to collaborate on papers or other projects and to share the information.

User centered design and education meet in applications like Animoto and Jing. Both are applications for creating video that can then be easily shared. Animoto creates an engaging way to pass information on by the addition of music and the interesting way the slide shows are presented. Movement and an interesting and engaging background help to create videos that can be used again and again. It’s very easy to present information for a classroom in an engaging way using Animoto. Jing on the other hand allows for the creation of videos that while not as exciting as those produced in Animoto, are interesting and engaging in their own right. The Jing application allows for the creation of a detailed presentation that can then be turned into a video and very easily presented to whomever, where ever as long as there is an internet connection.

Web 2.0 has created an environment in which learning and teaching rely on technology but that technology is very easy to use and facilitates a greater, richer learning environment.

Wordpress.com

Wordpress.com allows you to create and edit a blog very easily. You can change the apperance, add widgets and manage content quickly. I think that the end result is a professional looking blog.

A few other apps that I thought were interesting or would be useful in an educational environment were Flickr, Delicious and Google Docs.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is basically where all of the applications required to do whatever it is you want to do reside on a server somewhere on the Internet, in the “cloud”.

An example of cloud computing can be Google Docs. Everything you do in Google Docs remains on a server somewhere so that you can access it from anywhere. Traveling on a plane, need to access a document from your laptop or smartphone? Easy if it’s stored in the cloud. Spreadsheet? As long as it’s on Google Docs, it’s there. Presentation? There.

A large part of cloud computing is also the social media aspect. Applications such as Twitter and Facebook are prime examples of cloud computing. You’re interacting with others, your documents or posts or whatever you’ve created are always there for you to access and visible to whomever you’ve chosen to be visible to.

Basically, cloud computing is a service that does not require installation of software, configuration of systems or anything beyond Internet access to make the application work.

Photostory vs Animoto

Photostory was simple to download onto my computer. I watched the youtube tutorial on how to move and edit the images. It was simple and easy to use. The ability to make changes to how the slides transition was a very nice feature. The end result I was happy with.

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Animoto was a little bit more complicated getting the code in and not putting my credit card information in. Once that was resolved the process of creating my video went even faster. That could be because their are just not as many choices for the user to tailor their video. The program does everything for you. . That may be because I had already decided my order and the text comments and the music. The text character limitations were problematic sometimes, I had to change some of my wording.

I liked both of these programs, in different ways I can see applications for both. I would love to have my students use Animoto to make a video about their teaching week.



I put up both of my video's. Enjoy!

Podcast

This podcast is an instruction of an assignment over the healthy pregnancy.


Podcast Powered By Podbean

This music came from flashkit.com

Creative Commons is an alternative to restrictive copyright laws that allows for a work to be used, reused and sometimes even changed. There are various levels of copyright protection that indicate what the end user may or may not do. For instance, there are Creative Commons licenses that let others mix, remix, build upon and change your work as long as they give credit for the original work. Contrast this with the most restrictive Creative Commons license which allows people to download and share the work but they cannot make any changes and must credit the original creator.

The difference between a copyrighted work and a Creative Commons licensed work is the level of protection offered. A work that is copyrighted cannot, generally, be used in any way without paying for said work, or purchasing a license to use it. Creative Commons provides varying level of “licensing” to provide for the sharing of a work. Basically Creative Commons licenses encourage sharing whereas Copyright laws prohibit sharing.

Generally for use in the classroom, if a work is Creative Commons licensed it’s much easier to use. The Creative Commons licenses generally allow for free use and dissemination of a work as long as credit is given. The copyright laws, even for classroom use are restrictive and if followed, make it harder to copy and share a work.

In teaching students about copyright, one should always, always err on the side of too much. It’s better to be safe than sorry, so I would instruct them at the very least to make sure that you credit any work used in a paper, a project or anything else that uses the work of someone else. My district uses a service call “Turn it in” for students to submit papers. It scans the paper for copyrighted material and lets the teacher know what has been used and how closely. This service is helping students get used to not using word for word excerpts as their own and making sure to site all sources.

Link to creative commons information here

Information on difference between Creative Commons and copyright here.

RSS For Education

RSS For Education

Wendy Turner

University of Central Missouri

RSS is a format for the syndication of news, and the syndication of various sites that offer news or articles of interest and for blogs and blog based sites. Additionally anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS (Pilgrim, 2002). I understand RSS to be a service/tool that constantly provides updated information to websites. It’s a very useful tool in that you can use a reader to access information, to have the information delivered to you and be constantly and instantly updated. RSS provides a service in that it’s much easier to keep on top of information, with everything in one place via an RSS reader.

I chose to use Feed Demon as my RSS reader. Installation and set up were very easy. I downloaded the setup file, clicked install and it automatically installed. I did have to provide it access to my Google Reader but that was simply entering an email address and a password. Since I had already subscribed to my classmates blogs via the Google Reader, Feed Demon imported the settings and provided access to the blogs. Additionally I subscribed to several websites/services to provide content. I subscribed to sites like Boing Boing, Lifehacker and of course Total Fark. Boing Boing for the various articles of interest to the web reader who is a little more educated and Lifehacker for the technology updates and stories. Total Fark was a fun subscription and really serves no useful news purpose. Based on my experience, I firmly believe that any teacher, administrator or student would have little or no problem setting up an RSS reader. A Gmail account is required to set up the automatic feed import but that is not required. As I mentioned the set up was really simple and straight forward. The only choices to be made in the install were choosing to import from the Google Reader or not.

I’ve found that there are few differences between the Google Reader and the Feed Demon reader. Both update as updates are provided, both provide links to the stories, both provide a total updated stories as well as the individual sections that you’ve created with the various updates indicated. Feed Demon does have one addition feature; it provides an alert when it receives a new feed. This is much like a new email notification, a window pops up in the lower right area of my screen.

Interesting links included a survey on Edutopia that asked “In an effort to ensure that all educators are keeping up with technology, some schools have offered tech training for current teachers. But should it be mandatory?” (Ring, 2011). The poll goes on to state that federal aid and Corporate grants are available, that schools who don’t receive the grants are required to hire outside help which can become costly. On the ACSD Community Blog there was an interesting article entitled “Mrs. Deats Science Lesson Was Made To Stick.” The brief article discusses a class that the author had in which a visual application of scientific principles made a lesson clear. The article then goes on to ask the question, “how do you make kids excited enough about something that they want to think about it later on at home?” A valuable question that we as teachers need to remember and try to act on; how exactly do we make our lessons exciting enough that the kids want to think about it later at home? (Heath, 2011).

Use of RSS in education is simply illustrated by the ease of use of the RSS reader and the ability to add content very easily. For instance, subscribing to blogs is very easy with the RSS reader and so to is updating the blogs. Rather than having to search the web for information it’s presented in a centralized location. This makes it very easy for an educator to keep up with information, be presented with new ideas and items of interest. The educator can then either pass on the information to their class or use the information in preparing a lesson or a lesson plan.

Examples of use of RSS by educators and administrators is used for educational purposes is evidenced by the article cited above. For instance, the article cited on science lessons could be used as a reference or jumping off point to prepare a lesson. The lesson in question doesn’t necessarily have to be a science lesson. It could be a parenting lesson, a social studies lesson or a math lesson. The point is that anything that can be explained with a presentation or a memory aide will or should help the student remember the lesson and become excited about and involved in the subject matter. The use of RSS makes it easier for educators to access the information and thus easier to use the information.

References

Heath, C. (n.d.). In Service. Retrieved 1 25, 2011, from ACSD Community Blog: http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2011/01/chip-heath-mrs-deats-science-lesson-was-made-to-stick.html

Pilgrim, M. (n.d.). Retrieved 1 26, 2011, from O'Rielly XML.com: http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html

Ring, S. (n.d.). The Edutopia Poll. Retrieved 1 26, 2011, from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/poll-technology-training-required-teachers?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29

Open source alternatives

Software: Gimpshop
Alternative to: Photoshop
Link: http://www.gimpshop.com/

Gimpshop is an open source alternative to popular image editing software Adobe Photoshop. Based on the popular GIMP software GIMPshop has been ported to more closely resemble the look and feel of Photoshop for those uneasy with the changes that GIMP requires. The functionality of GIMP, which closely monitors that of Photoshop, has been retained. Use GIMPshop for image creation and editing, create multiple images and convert between image formats. Basic GIF animation can also be achieved.
Open source, in this case, differs from proprietary software in that it’s free. Anyone can download it and use it at no cost. Licensened under the GNU software license which allows for free distribution of the software as opposed to the paid/licensed versions of most popular software. It’s free. Anyone can download it and use it and share it and usually modify it.
Other popular OS software applications that I like include OpenOffice and Wordpress. OpenOffice is a free replacement for Microsoft Office that includes word processing, spreadsheets and drawing. Wordpress is a popular blogging platform that anyone can download and set up a blog.

I am a 45 year old suburban housewife and mother, no, that's not it. I am a teaching professional in the area of Family and Consumer Sciences, leading my department from home economics to career education. Also working on various committee's within my district to better the learning environment for our students. I am many different people doing many different things. Last November my husband and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. We have two lovely daughters, 17 and 19. My oldest daughter is still living at home and attending Longview. My youngest daughter is a junior in high school and very active in extra curricular activities there. She is part of the Golden Regiment (the marching band). You may have seen them in the MACY's THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE this year. We all had the wonderful opportunity to be in New York over the Thanksgiving holiday. Now she is a varisty swimmer for Blue Springs and we are spending a lot of our family time either cheering on the swimmers, or feeding them:) I enjoy going to the gym for a spin or yoga class and cooking in my free time. An interesting fact about myself is that I have been a vegetarian for 9 years.

I honestly can't remember the last book I read. It could have been the 5th book in the Harry Potter series. Those books are so well written and just plain fun! These are books that the whole family has read and we have fun discussing them at dinner. I remember every year when my husband and one of both daughters will go to the midnight release and purchase the new book. Then comes the bickering and stealing of that one copy. Fun memories.

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Order-Phoenix-Rowling/dp/0439358078/ref=br_lf_m_567986_1_1_ttl?ie=UTF8&s=books&pf_rd_p=289185501&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=567986&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=12PCXX6AF2W48NMNWZCN

I do agree with Steve Jobs, with all of the choices of entertainment reading is on the decline. When I searched amazon for this book I was first feed the book on CD and the DVD movie. I had to go back to the main menu to find the book.