Diigo vs Delicious

I created an account with both Diigo and Delicious.  At this point I prefer Diigo.  It was very easy to set up and easy to bookmark urls.  Of course, I am familiar with Diigo since that is what our instructor uses and we've been able to use her shared bookmarks.  I was also able to put tags on the bookmarks, as well as comments and made a list for INST5330—I have bookmarked my classmates blogs with the hopes that we will be able to stay in touch after the class is over.  I'm also hoping that that will be a great way to keep up with the newest technology, and that we can keep learning from each other.  I thought it was very intuitive to use.

On the other hand, Delicious states that it is intuitive—but I would say absolutely not for me.  I was excited when I first saw that it was affiliated with yahoo.  I started the account easily, and really liked the list of freshest bookmark suggestions.  Then it asked if I wanted a bookmarklet or to just bookmark, and did I want to add it to my toolbar?  I thought that Delicious was very confusing.  I don't know if I missed something or what, but I have no intention of using Delicious.  Then I remembered that I have tried Delicious before, and I didn't like it then.  I'm hoping that when reading everyone else's posts I find that I was just missing something, but at this point, I will stay with my new Diigo account.

As far as which is best for education, I would say it is great to have a choice.  Delicious has a way to share bookmarks and to set up networks, but I believe that that is how our instructor was able to share bookmarks with us in Diigo.  Since like everyone else, my time is limited, I choose to use Diigo.  I will continue to experiment with Diigo and add more bookmarks.  It will be great having access to these bookmarks from wherever I am.  In the past I used to save my bookmarks to my favorites, which I still do once in awhile; but if it is something that is really important to me and I want access to it at school and at home, I have started saving my links (especially the ones that I use for teaching) on my Google page.  I have several boxes of links on my home page, and at a quick glance, I can click what I need.  The timing on Diigo is great because I have been needing to reevaluate my links on my Google page—I have already put a link there for my Diigo bookmarks.  This will be a great way for me to group my bookmarks and not have so many in my boxes of links.

Second Life Virtual World

This is my second experience with Second Life.  The first time I did not enjoy it at all, and I felt like it was very cumbersome.  This time I still think it is cumbersome, and things did not load very quickly, but I had a better experience than before.  I saw someone and chased him down until I could talk with him.   He was very helpful.  I told him that I was confused, but was on here for a class.  I asked him if there was anywhere special that I needed to go.  He asked me what I liked, and I said country music and dancing.  I blinked, and he disappeared.  A minute or so later, he sent me a friend request, and when I responded he was able to send me a teleport request.  We went to Moose Lodge Stonewood Homes and Interiors.  I asked him how long he had been on Second Life, and he said ten days and that he had had good help navigating Second Life.  I told him that I had already had a better experience than last time because I had talked with him.  Besides the chance to teleport from a teleport request from a friend, he gave me another tip that was very helpful.  There is a search button just below the time.  I searched some things, including Hawaii, and then I teleported there.  I couldn't maneuver anywhere and lost contact with my new "friend".  I also lost connection.  I have had lots of problems getting cut off.

After researching Second Life further, I have become very excited about the educational possibilities.  I found a You Tube video (below) which was too long for me to watch it in its entirety now, but I was amazed at the possibilities. Sarah Robbins, doctoral candidate from the University of Indiana, teaches Freshman Composition in Second Life.  She had over 200 students applying to take her Second Life Freshman Composition class when only 18 seats were available.

Students can interact with each other at a low risk because they are in a virtual world instead of the real world.  When educators build learning spaces, it gives students the opportunity to learn authentically by letting them be themselves, which might be more difficult for them in a face-to-face classroom. An extreme introvert may have more opportunities because he/she would be less nervous.

Educators can teach class on different free properties or there is a lot of open space. Educators can build on Second Life.  Even though it is free, there are incidental costs—different carpets, etc.  She gave each team 100 Lindens (equal to about $.30).

The instructor has all of her students in a group, so it is easy for her to disseminate information to the group.  There are different controls that can be set at different times, which can be turned on and off for class times.  Here is the video where Sarah Robbins explains her experiences.

After researching, I tried to think of a group that may be involved with Second Life, and I found ISTE has its own island, which I was able to locate on Second Life.  Here is a short YouTube video discussing it.

I found another article written by a student, Rachel Gollub, that also explains Second Life and discusses how it can be used for library resources.

Also, here are two of the pictures from UCM Selmo Park.

Mobile Technology

Even though I don't have mobile technology, I was excited about this assignment.  In August or September, I am going to reevaluate my cell phone plan and am considering upgrades. I didn't know much about any of this, and I have certainly learned a lot, but I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's blogs to help me make some sense of all of this!  The problem with the decisions that have to be made is that I will be in a two-year commitment, so I want to make the right choices.

Mobile technology, according to Wikipedia, has to do with cellular communication.  Besides being a phone, it can be a GPS navigation system, web browser, Instant Messenger client, and a gaming system.  Many think that future computer technology rests in mobile/wireless computing.

There are many types of Smartphone operating systems including Android, Blackberry, WebOS, Apple iOS, Windows Mobile Professional (touch screen), and Windows Mobile Standard (non-touch screen).  Two of the most popular are the Apple iPhone and Android.  Android is Open Source and free to any cell phone carrier, but the Apple iPhone is the most popular because of its customizable OS which you can use to download applications made by Apple.  Business Link reminds us that examples of mobile IT devices include laptop and netbook computers, palmtop computers or PDAs, mobile phones and smart phones, GPS devices, and wireless debit/credit card payment terminals.

According to Wikipedia, Android is an operating system for mobile devices, which includes middleware and key applications.  Android has a large community of developers (Open Source) writing apps that extend the functionality of the devices.  There are currently over 150,000 apps available for Android.

The pros of mobile technology, in my opinion, would be the convenience of it.  You become familiar with the phone and all of the apps; and as the need arises for another app, it is likely that you will be able to find one that will meet your needs.  I was talking to a teacher that has an ATT I-Phone, which is probably what I'd be interested in because I have ATT.  She said that she would be lost if she didn't have her phone.  I asked her what apps she had, and her first enthusiastic response was a bar code scanner (free) called Red Laser.  She says that if she is out and sees something that she'll scan the bar code and then check and see if she can get it somewhere else at a better price. Immediately, another teacher at the table found the app and added it to her phone!

One reason that I didn't do anything besides my cell phone almost two years ago was that I wasn't sure of the dependability of the internet in various locations.  What I would like to do is get a smart phone that I could dependably use for internet wherever I am, including at home.  I also like using my keyboard, rather than the small phone, even if it is a QWERTY board—that would be a drawback for me as far as using my phone for the internet, and the cost of the portable internet would not be worth it to me unless it would also work for my needs at home.

The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple, primarily as a platform for audio-visual media.  Its size and weight falls between a smartphone and laptop.  It runs the same operating system as the iPod Touch and iPhone.  A drawback is that it will only run programs approved by Apple and distributed via its online store.  It is controlled by a multitouch display.

Hotseat is a software app (Web 2.0) that captures student comments about a class and allows everyone in class to view those messages, including the professor and teaching assistants.  Students can post messages to Hotseat using their Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter accounts, or they can send text messages or log into the Hotseat Website.  It is currently being pilot tested in two Purdue courses, and has become a favorite of both instructors and students.   One of the instructors believes that students are engaged and interact more with the course and ask relevant questions that they wouldn't ask out loud in class.  73% of 600 students enrolled are participating even though it is not a class requirement.

Another  lesson I found uses a mobile phone and special software, Scratch, to engage third grade students in creative writing. The students will create their own greeting card and send it to a friend. With the software the students will be able to track how their greeting card was spread among their friends.

AskMobi is another tool that can be used in the classroom to make a survey, analyze the data and share their results. Students can engage in finding out different views on one topic. 

I am looking forward to reading everyone else's blogs.  There is so much information to process!

Blackboard vs Moodle

After I explored the Blackboard test site and the Moodle test site, I decided to do some research for this blog post.

Both Blackboard and Moodle are course management systems (CMS).  Blackboard is a commercial course management system, and Moodle is an open-source course management system.  These systems provide the framework for putting courses online and allow students to remain connected twenty-four hours a day.  Blackboard claims that they welcome open-source competitors because that increases the interest in using course management systems.

Besides being a course management system, Blackboard’s site lists other uses including blending learning models, credit recovery, online professional development, and virtual programs.

Blackboard’s price tag would keep us from using it at my high school, but it would be my preference between Blackboard and Moodle.  Of course, having used it as a student makes it easier to comprehend how it works.  Getting the opportunity to see how it works from the instructor’s point of view was a great opportunity.

Moodle is a “Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application with a GPL license that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.”  Prior to this class, I have explored Moodle and have had the tech person set it up on our server.   My first question when I start something new is “how does the student see it?”  There is an option in Moodle that lets you switch roles so that you can see how it is viewed by the student.

My department has hopes of possibly implementing Moodle next school year so that we can better prepare students for college. Last week I was at a dese workshop at UCM, and the instructor mentioned that they used OIS (Online Instructor’s Suite), which is considered a learning management system (LMS) developed by SEMO (Southeast Missouri State) and free.  Before we make the final decision to implement, we want to continue to explore our options because not only the research takes time, but also working with the IT people to set it up, and then how to implement it efficiently and to make it engaging for the students.

Wikispaces tutorial using CamStudio

I have embedded my CamStudio video about Wikispaces. I really don 't have a preference of CamStudio or Camstasia. The only problems that I had was getting them to YouTube. There was a gliche of some kind on my Camstasia that said that it would not work. I finally got a friend to help me figure out that it was something that was not installed properly in the beginning. After that it worked fine.
As Ken said, I did not have the problems with CamStudio that everyone else had. I recorded it as a swf to start out, which was great, but when I submitted it to Blackboard, there were two files that I needed to submit, and I only submitted one of them; and it would not let me resubmit. Then I spent several hours trying to get it uploaded to YouTube. After about eight tries, I figured out that the file formats were not accepted by YouTube. I finally just rerecorded it in CamStudio, but this time as an avi file, which was easy to upload to YouTube.
Again, I have no preference of CamStudio or Camstasia. There are many more features in Camstasia, but I would rather use Jing since it is free.

Avatars to Help Autistic Children

There was a news story I saw on TV earlier this week, and then I found more information on the internet about it. The Center for BrainHealth in Dallas uses avatars in a virtual world to help autistic children learn to cope socially.  They claim that four or five sessions are comparable to two or three years of real world training.  Coffee shop get togethers and job interviews are examples of social situations that are presented.  It helps the students recognize emotions and facial expressions, and it could be their gateway to social interaction.

Technology Integration

This Abraham Lincoln Voki is a demonstration for a secondary history course.  I have suggested Voki and/or Blabberize as tools for this classroom to begin implementing technology into high school history classes.  In the proposal shared in Evernote, I provide a link directly to the Blabberize character that I created as an example of that application.  In this blog, besides seeing the Voki sample, there are other examples of technology used in the classroom, including podcasting, Photostory, and Animoto.  There are many links of other applications that may of interest to teachers of any subject.