Bookmarking to the Extreme

I have only heard of Delicious thorough my husband’s experience. He had been a Delicious user for nearly two years.  When I registered this past week, I could see why people like it. You no longer lose bookmarks and you can take them from computer to computer.  I love that I can share my bookmarks with others and tag them accordingly. Then, I went to Diigo and registered for an account. One of the first things I noticed was that it asked me if I wanted to export my files from Delicious. So, to me, this was a step up from Delicious. I exported some of my newly created Delicious bookmarks to Diigo.

It isn’t that I have any problems with Delicious at all; it’s just that Diigo is more versatile.  Using the Diigo toolbar, I can annotate Web pages that I visit. This was awesome for me since I am a high school English teacher, and the skill of annotating literature is something I really try to teach my students before college. Users of Diigo can mark up the site like they mark up other reading they do.  Annotation allows one to comment on what I see, interact with other commenters, or simply take notes.  The toolbar also allows me to automatically save and/or e-mail links. This is something I am thinking of integrating into some of classes for the next school year.

Delicious allows for the same type of sharing, but it lacks the annotation component.  I am also able to easily share bookmarks with groups, which I have begun doing. A friend of mine who uses Diigo mentioned that there are groups one can join; some she recommended to me were -Diigo in Education, English Teachers, and Interactive Whiteboards in the Classroom groups. You can even create groups for students (much like a group on Facebook). You will have to decide whether Diigo or Delicious is better for you.  I have found that there are nothing but positive things to say about either social bookmarking system, it just takes some time to explore and get acquainted with the program, something most people that ‘bookmark’ don’t take the time to do. I am telling you, just take the time and all of your favorite sites, annotations, and extras, will be in one place waiting for you to use!

REAL LIFE for Educational Purposes Please...

Finally, I am at Selmo Park!

Exploring the Second Life website was quite an experience. I have been on Second Life once before, not by choice, but because I was assigned to for a class (like many of you). When first logging on, I was very surprised by the detail and various options that were available. But after being on a second run through, I realized that the graphics were really not all that special. Nor was the whole point of the program.  

 I consider myself very experienced when it comes to video games and graphics, but the Second Life world was hard to get a hold of. I found the program user friendly; once the time (which was more than I expected) was put into learning how to maneuver the avatar.  I spent a long time reading the signs and directions on how to explore, that by the time I knew what I was doing I was VERY ready to get off of Second Life and go back to my real life! Though I did not know what I was doing in the beginning, I considered myself to have come a long way with reading, gesturing, changing clothing, and talking with other avatars.

After finally finding Selmo Park, I made my way to EdTech Island. I found an area for video tutorials where students could log in and watch a “how to” video on any given subject. I thought this was very neat, and the fact that a student could log on at any time and learn a lesson was awesome!

Within my yearbook class I teach, I use video tutorials quite often when teaching the students how to function the yearbook creation website we use. Videos make it easy because I play the video and while students are watching the video, I also have them doing it on their own computers (I pause of course, to make sure everyone has figured it out). 

Overall, I must say that logging onto Second Life always seems to be an unpleasant experience. I feel that it is not something that I could use currently in my classes because the time issue would be a huge downfall to have to practice in the face to face classroom. However, if I ever have the time down the road I may be able to tweak it down the road. Something that came to mind was to make it a summer project for my incoming yearbook staff. I could have them create avatars and watch video tutorials (about uploading pictures, photography basics, grammar practice, etc…) over the summer, so that when they come back to school, they would be one step ahead! Below are some other articles I found regarding ideas and ways to incorporate Second Life into educational settings.

Second Life as a Virtual Learning Environment

A Second Life for Higher Education?

And a great podcast from NPR... The School Of Second Life

Maybe I just needed this to help me get it?                                                    

New Tech Tools – Gotta Get it!

 

I have to admit that this week’s assignment terrified me! I was so worried that I would not be able to do it, and even if I was able to research a bit, I would have no idea what I was talking about. You see, I am one of the few who has not upgraded to a smart phone or other “smart” portable device. My husband and I are fairly knowledgeable about our laptops (a Macbook and a PC) and our desktop computer, but when it comes to the whole app thing, we only know what we see from our friends and on TV.

In my particular classroom, I use laptops. I have access to 30 laptops and 14 desktops in my classroom. But, since I am a fan of technology, I let the kids (with parent permission) bring in their portable devices. The only one I cannot allow is any type of phone. Tablets and laptops are fine. The kids cannot connect to our school wi-fi (or should I say aren’t supposed to; they can outsmart the tech guy sometimes) but many of them like to bring them in on specified workdays for writing or on days where were create presentations on Web 2.0 sites.

So, once again, I turned to my students for help with familiarizing me to some new technology! Sometimes they are the best resource when it comes to technology. Particularly the students I know who are tech savvy. They are the ones who have grown up in this “app generation", not me!

I actually made it a five point extra credit assignment for all of my yearbook classes! The (optional) assignment was to stay after school (since we cannot use phones during school hours) and show me one app on their phone that could be used for educational purposes. What fun this was, and I have to admit that I was delighted to see that my students actually had educational apps on their devices!

Some of the apps my students shared with me were so cool! Using both an Ipad or Iphone, my top 5 favorites for the classroom are listed below:

1.      Amazon Kindle – a free app where you can read and purchase books (much like owning a handheld Kindle). It also comes with a free dictionary and students claimed the prices of books are cheaper than other book apps. COOL! They are actually reading for fun! A student of mine got the book we were reading in class. This would be great to have our textbook available here so students wouldn’t have to lug around the huge book.

2.      Pages - $10 app much like other word processing programs, but with added email functions and pretty neat templates. Again, another great tool that would be beneficial in the classroom. Since I only have 14 computers and 29 students, this may work for students to use while sitting at their desk (lab along back wall).

3.      The Elements – $13.99 app which shows, in modern format, the periodic table of elements. You can zoom in and out to specific elements and see great photos of what that element actually creates so you can relate it to real life. Also, the vocab is very user friendly and easy to understand each definition of the elements. My friend who teaches chemistry says that she projected this app onto the wall to share with students, and some of them downloaded it to help them to study for an upcoming test, and to use as a reference for the rest of the class.  

4.      Stack the States- $0.99 app that helps kids memorize the shape and name of the 50 states. You get asked a question, pick the answer by visually locating the shape of the state, and if correct, the state falls into a box. The point of the game is to stack up to a certain point to win! Not many high school kids used this – but the one who showed it to me said their younger brother in elementary school used their phone to study!

5.      Face Time- This one is not actually an app, but available on Macs, Iphone 4, Ipod Touch 4, and Ipad 2. Basically this is a video Chat, where each member speaking can see the person they are talking to and also see themselves in the corner. This would be great for distance learning. I would love to use it where my class could talk to another class in our district to have a discussion.

As far as limitations of portable devices, of course there are some, as there is with anything.  Though it may seem that there isn’t much these devices can't do, there are limitations to all types of technology. The most obvious limitations of an Apple Ipad (I discussed this, too, with one of my students who found these things annoying at times) were that, compared to a PC, the Ipad:

1.      Would not multi task

2.      Did not have a USB port

3.      Did not have Flash – which many sites need to run

4.      Was awkward to type a long paper on (keyboard function)

It seems that if these limitations really bother you, there are other options to look into, such as buying another small computer like the Asus. Before this assignment, I had never used, or even heard of, an Asus Eee device.  After reviewing some of the info, I am definitely interested in checking it out! I found that the Asus is a type of notebook that is similar to an Ipad. Some of the pros of the Asus are:

1.      The light weight

2.      Good sound and picture quality

3.      Reasonable, low cost

4.      Comes with a keyboard

It seems to me, as with everything in life, that it comes down to personal preference. I know that when I am ready to buy at tablet or smart phone for myself I am going to have to think a bit about my choice before splurging. If I was given more money in my classroom budget (or got a grant from the photography company like I did last year) I would love to add and Ipad or two into the mix. This is a tool we could use for yearbook; working registration in the summer. It would be great to track sales with. However, I don’t know if I can commit since it doesn’t have Flash (something the yearbook site needs to function).  But it would be good to have vocabulary pratice apps! Ah, the choices! 

To Moodle or Blackboard? That is the question...

After playing around on the two e-learning websites I can see where teachers are coming from when they are voting for Moodle over Blackboard. I know that as a teacher I would have to jump through hoops, on one foot, atop a balance beam AND donate half of my salary to get Blackboard available at my school. Since researching the prices and availabilities of Blackboard to Moodle, that is not something I am willing to do. In 2008 a study comparing Blackboard to Moodle was done by The American Association of Community College’s Instructional Technology Council (ITC) and they have published results;  2007 Distance Education Survey Results. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in it. Here are the headlines:

* Distance education continues to grow at a very healthy clip, particularly in this market segment.

* Blackboard is losing market share rapidly

* Moodle doubled its market share in the past 12 months and now has the highest market share after Blackboard/WebCT in this market segment.

* ANGEL and D2L also grew their market share.

* We have reason to expect more LMS churn in the near future, which is bad for Blackboard.

*    The top 5 areas of likely distance learning-related service growth in this segment are (1) online student organization web site and services, (2) online counseling and advising, (3) online plagiarism evaluation, (4) audio/video streaming, and (5) online textbook sales.

It seems that in the time this study was conducted Blackboard lost 7% market share. Okay, if Blackboard is the loser in this report, then who are the winners? Clearly, Moodle is a winner, both in their book and mine! Having gone from less than 4% market share to more than 10% (in the segment) in a year’s time, Moodle is now the only non-Blackboard LMS with a double-digit market share in this segment. WOW!

Well, what’s so great about Moodle you ask? And why does it get my vote? Much like Blackboard, Moodle offers features such as course information and reading lists, access to electronic readings, discussion boards, online quizzes, multimedia content including video, and assessment collection. But where I really had some fun, was with the design and customization of Moodle.

Playing around on Moodle for a bit, one will notice (from the instructor’s point of view) that the Moodle screen can be fully customized in terms of layout and branding. Certain aspects of changing the look and feel require some design skills. This is where I feel I am savvy – as part of my job is designing a yearbook. Instantly, I noticed that the visual appeal on Moodle was much better than what I had seen on Blackboard (both as an instructor and a student). The two relevant components for customization were the Moodle front page and Moodle themes. In short, the settings (mostly front page settings as well as a few others) dictated what content users will see before and after they logged on. The theme was responsible for the design scheme or branding, that is, the header and footer as well as colors, fonts, icons, and so on used through the site. After attending a professional development course on Moodle at my school, I found out some cool tips about customizing the appearance of a front page. We used a test site generated for the PD course, much like we did for INST 5330.

The appearance of Moodle's front page changes after a user has logged in. The content and layout of the page before and after login can be customized to signify the uniqueness of the organization/class. To customize the front page, you either have to be logged in as Moodle administrator, or have front-page-related permissions in the Front Page setting. From the Site Administration block, select Front Page, Front Page Settings. The screen showing all available parameters will be loaded displaying your current settings that are changeable. To configure the left and right column areas with blocks, you have to turn on editing (using the Blocks editing on button). The menu includes blocks that are not available in courses such as Course/Site description and Main menu. Blocks are added to the front page in exactly the same way as in courses. To change their position, use the standard arrows. Really, like we have all noticed in one week, it just takes some time playing around and getting familiar with the site. Another plus and visually appealing Moodle site is the help page.Support and communities are just a click away!

A few weeks ago, while studying Prezi, I found a presentation that really helped me understand Moodle. Check it out!


(Presentation created by Christina Munoz)

     VS.  

Camtasia VS CamStudio

Well, as many of my classmates have also stated, Camtasia wins in comparison to CamStudio.

I have never spent so much time trying to figure out how to use a program as I did when I worked with CamStudio. Part of me wanted to take a zero on the project, so I could go enjoy Mardi Gras weekend in STL with my friends. BUT, through much convincing, I decided that would not be the smart idea. When looking back on the project, I must have spent around 24 hours total trying to figure it out. From the download to converting the video to SWF, everything was a challenge. I WILL not ever even think about using CamStudio again, and will never recommend it to anyone. As a matter of fact, I have already uninstalled it from my computer so I do not have to see it again.

Camtasia, on the other hand, was very nifty. Though it takes some time to watch the tutorials and teach yourself all of the options and tricks to the program, I did not have nearly as many questions or blockades as I did with CamStudio (eh – the name even makes me cringe). Camtasia has help windows and tutorials to watch to answer nearly every question one may have. Also, Camtasia has some cool options (zooms, callouts, etc.) that one can apply to enhance a video. Though I cannot say I like Camtasia as much as Jing, I may consider using it again or referring it to a friend.

Check out my Camtasia video below! I will be using this in the next few weeks in my American Literature classes while they work with and read the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Will Facebook Replace Company Websites?

This week while searching the web and reading up on some hot topics I came across a story that really caught my attention. I had recently been telling people how much I am using Facebook for learning purposes for grad school. Many in disbelief that I was actually doing homework on Facebook, I thought the information in this story would be something that those who aren't in the "education biz" could relate to.

In the past, Facebook had always just been a pastime for me; a way to stay connected to my friends from college and high school. Now, I am starting to believe that social networks are the next big wave for not only keeping in touch with others, but also have benefits for education, businesses, and institutions as well.

I thought is was especially interesting to read the part about the statistics on how many people visit Facebook and "like" an advertisement (hence reading/learning about it) compared to how many people actually visit the company websites. It is crazy to think how big of a difference it can make when comparing companies using Facebook to advertise to those that do not.

Though Facebook is not allowed on our district network, and it cannot be accessed on school grounds, my high school students have used it in many ways that relate to my classroom and lessons. The kids share photos for the yearbook, have discussions over homework, and recently they started a Facebook group for members of the yearbook staff to check in on deadlines! SO COOL! They have done it completely on their own, and it is something I have never been a part of (since I do not "friend" students). How neat is it that they have this tool available to them?!

What do you think about social networks being used to replace company websites? How about the use of Facebook in educational situations?

Experimenting with Slide.com

While browsing Web 2.0 site to use in my classroom I came across Slide.com. What is it, you ask? Well, it a program that helps you to make your own custom slideshows online and publish them to any website. I have always tended to use PowerPoint in my classroom, but after discovering Web 2.0 sites, this is now the way I prefer to go; especially since the sites save and publish work for the students!

As previously stated, for video slideshows I have been prone to use PowerPoint or Animoto.com. But Slide.com has one feature that Animoto does not; the room for text (more than just a few words) to appear! One feature that has always bothered me with Animoto is that there is such little room allowed for text. In the video posted in a previous blog (using Animoto) I really was forced to cut back my text entry. Being an English teacher, I find this extremely frustrating when students cannot put in an entire quote (or sentence for that matter). In my Contemporary Literature class we do a photo essay using one of these projects, and it is very important that quotes can be entered and cited correctly in their entirety.

So, if you’re wondering how to create a pretty neat slideshow with your travel photos, family photos, or anything really, Slide.com will allow you to do it very quickly and easily. I signed up for a new account and had my slideshow completed in less than 5 minutes. Granted, I only uploaded 7 photos, but it was enough to get the idea. The interface is fairly intuitive, along with the navigation. All the buttons are bright and shiny so it is difficult to get lost. The site also allows you to customize the look and theme of your slideshows, from having tiny bubbling hearts drift by, to lightning forking up the sides of the photos.

Even more remarkable are the re-sizing options, and the ability to embed the player in almost all social networking websites, like MySpace, Facebook, and more. You can also upload the photos directly from your photo albums on these other websites, or upload them from your computer, or even directly reference a photo anywhere online through the URL.

The only blatant problem I saw was the interface lacked a few vital buttons when viewed in Firefox. (I am sure Slide.com will fix that shortly, as Firefox is the fastest growing browser in the world). Also, something else that was a bit annoying was the speed of the presentations. Though you can set the speeds, the slow is not very slow at all. What seemed to make more if a difference regarding speed, was the designs chosen by my students. This time around I have only a few that they can choose from. Lastly, I couldn’t find any privacy settings to set my photos as private only — though the option may just be hiding.

With a super easy set-up, clean interface and multiple transition and theme options, I believe Slide.com seems to be among the most popular tools for self-expression on the web today! Check out what I created for my yearbook class for next school year!