In preparation for the Class 9 online session, you should explore the Web 2.0 resources that are listed under your name. Then post a comment in which you briefly describe the 5 sites you explored and indicate whether or not you think the site is useful.
Be prepared to make a brief presentation about ONE of the sites during the Class 9 online session on Monday, July 28, 2008, beginning at 5:00pm.
Sineenart
- Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/ - Yugma
http://www.yugma.com/ - Remember the Milk
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ - DoFlick
http://www.doflick.com/ - dotSub
http://dotsub.com/
Shawn
- Connexions
http://cnx.org/ - WorldCat
http://www.worldcat.org/ - uTIPu
http://www.utipu.com/app/ - Zotero
http://www.zotero.org/ - Flat World Knowledge
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com
Matt
- ustream
http://www.ustream.tv/ - Skitch
http://plasq.com/skitch - ZoomIt v2.10
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx - Gcast
http://www.gcast.com - widgenie
http://www.widgenie.com/
Freddie
- Wisdomap
http://www.wisdomap.com/ - iSpring Free
http://www.ispringsolutions.com/ - Pageflakes
http://www.pageflakes.com/ - ClassTools.net
http://classtools.net/ - eCalc
http://www.ecalc.com/
David
- Scribd
http://www.scribd.com/ - Merlot
http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm - Gabcast
http://www.gabcast.com/ - Edublogs
http://edublogs.org/ - Beanbag
http://beanbaglearning.com/
Amanda
- WordWeb Free Version
http://wordweb.info/ - Jott
http://jott.com/default.aspx - Curriki
http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome - Netvibes
http://www.netvibes.com - Jing Project
http://www.jingproject.com/
7 comments:
WordWeb Free Version - This is a dictionary and thesaurus that is used with Windows. It has a free program that you can download (I did) and when you are surfing the internet you can hold Ctrl and the right mouse key to get the definition and synonyms. You can also open the program and type in a word that you want a definition or synonyms for. There are tabs in the program that will open Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and WordWeb online (which can be used if you do not want to download the program). It will open these site's information on your word. It can be offline as well as online. This could be helpful in an educational setting or for personal use.
Jott - This site was very cool! (At least to me.) You set up an account with your e-mail and phone number. There is also an option to set up Jott for iPhone but I don't have one therefore I am not sure what the difference is. You can record voice messages to yourself or others and set reminders on the phone (so if you were at work and didn't want to have write yourself a reminder you could just call the 1-800 number and leave yourself a voice reminder and set a time for Jott to remind you) or you can set reminders online and receive the reminders in text messages or e-mail format, create to-do lists, and jott to others including groups of people. A very cool part of the voice messaging on your phone is that the site transcribes these and are saved to your online inbox which you can then receive in text or e-mails. You can also do this and have them sent to other people in these formats as well. I think this site is very useful in our busy lives (but not in an educational manner)!
Curriki - I have actually used this before to download some NASA lessons that were available on here. This is a resource site where you can download various lesson plans and materials to aide in teaching such as videos and printable posters. Users can also contribute their own lessons and materials and can collaborate with other teachers. Clearly I think that this site is useful as I have used it before.
Netvibes - To me, Netvibes is basically a glamourous homepage. You can add widgits, videos, pictures, e-mail accounts, social networks, etc. and have it all be accessible in one place. It reminded me of Google's personalized homepage. This could be useful for someone on their personal computer but it's not for me.
Jing Project - By using Jing, you are able to create videos or images of anything that you see on your screen and can share it with others through a link. For example, you could make a video that shows someone how to create buttons in Photoshop and then share it with a friend by sending them a link. This could be beneficial and could be a great way for anyone (including teachers) to quickly and easily share information with others.
In preparation for Monday's class, I've reviewed and summarized the following Web 2.oh utilities/applications:
Connexions is:
A place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc. Anyone may view or contribute:
authors create and collaborate
instructors rapidly build and share custom collections
learners find and explore content
Similar in context to wikipedia, Connexions allows users to create and share modulated learning collections through a centralized web portal.
There is enormous potential with this utility: faculty can use it to collaborate with colleagues for research, evaluation, and reporting. Students can use this resource to obtain a variety of resources related to a given topic.
WorldCat is:
A Central search service for library collections available for checkout from participating libraries.
One of the greatest attributes of this site is its ease of use: it provides an easy to navigate web space with the collections databases from a variety of libraries in a given location. It keeps track of holdings through a registration process whereby WorldCat invites universities to bind their collections database with the web database used by WorldCat. It works by equating a known, registered university or college with it’s postal zip code. It is with this that WorldCat can find holdings and availability based on geographical areas.
This service is very useful, especially for those who are actively engated in literature review and research.
uTIPu is:
A web-based depository for tips (ppts, movies, etc.) that you create using a desktop tipCam capturing control panel – used to create flv files of your desktop as you work or display content. Great for presentations.
One of the coolest functions is the ability to create FLV files directly from your desktop and then share realistic representations of exactly what it is that you’re seeing on your computer.
This is a very cool online utility; it allows faculty to provide podcast-like instruction materials though a familiar format. This web-based application is definitely useful to faculty.
zotero is:
Online research and note-taking utility that utilizes the extensibility of FireFox 3 by adding a built-in, web-based directory system where a user can save various collections of research articles and then take notes and organize research items and eventually distribute to a variety of end user applications, like EndNote, Word, etc.
This is especially useful to faculty and researchers who review large volumes of information and then need to analyze and share key aspects and findings of that information.
Flat World is:
Online textbook resource which offers a wide variety of free or low-cost textbooks for college students; also provides users with a list of acceptable alternatives for other, non-free or expensive textbooks.
Not available until January 2009
Slideshare.net is a website where people can share their presentation. You can view slides, upload yours, and download other people’s slides. My first impression was that it looked similar to YouTube, but instead of video, it was about slides. You can link and embed slide to a website, like YouTube does. You can also sign up for My Slidespace, which looks similar to a regular social networking website. You can comment on slides and search for slides by tags. There is a community section, but I’m not sure how it works. It is probably a place for a group of people who share the same interest interact. The website could be useful if you are good at making slides and want to show them to the world. It might also be useful for people who don’t like making slides to find the ones they like and use them instead of making their own.
Yugma.com provides collaborative features. Intended mostly for business uses, Yugma features include desktop sharing and collaboration, Skype integration, teleconferencing, file sharing, presentation tools, and recording and playback webcast. In order to use the application, you need to set up an account. There are three packages you can choose for different prices and features. I think there is a free one, too, but it does not say which features you will get if you do not pay. The features of Yugma look similar to other web conferencing applications. So without trying it out to see its efficiency, I could not say whether it is useful or not.
Rememberthemilk.com (cute name, by the way) is the online to-do list. After signing up, for free, you can set up your to-do list by adding tasks to the list. You can set the deadline, prioritize the task, and other things. You can also share your list to others (which I don’t know why you would want to do that). It is said that you can get the list to work with other applications like Google calendar, Twitter, or iPhone/iPod, but I am not sure how to do that. Anyway, it is just one of the organizer tools. Nothing is that special about it.
Doflick.com is another online video website. Like other online video website, you can upload videos, view videos, make comments, and link videos. The emphases are on educational and business applications. A lot of videos on this site are highly academic (mostly for higher education). There are a lot of videos of science experiments as well. What makes this website stand out from other video sites is probably target groups. It looks like it focuses more on professional and higher education people.
Dotsub.com is also online video website. The most impressive feature of this website is the ability for users to add subtitles in many languages to the videos. You can view any video with subtitles (if available) without signing up, but you have to have an account in order to sub the videos. I am trying to do one. If I am lucky, I will show it to you during the class. If not, well, you will have to try it yourselves. I like this website, and I think it is a good place for people around the world to share their videos without any language barrier.
http://www.ustream.tv/
Ustream allows you to create your own streaming video channel. This is a mixed blessing, as the first thing I clicked on was annoying emo dweeb Chris Pirillo’s channel. The second channel I went to was psycho fetishist/swimmer nekomimi_lisa. I then ventured to a Spanish news channel, then got scared away by some sports channel caster yelling about steroids. It’s essentially YouTube with live comments and somehow much, much more lame.
http://www.widgenie.com/
Widgenie claims to offer services for data files, custom widgets, and statistics. The data service accepts csv and excel files. The data is uploaded and imported to the site and reflects what you have in the original file. You then create a widget (tabular, animated line/area/bar/pie chart) to be associated with the data. Data can then be dragged and dropped to x/y axis and you can copy and paste HTML data or put it into iGoogle.
There really isn’t much useful functionality in this application other than pasting to HTML and iGoogle, and even with HTML you can just paste a gif of an excel chart. Perhaps it would be good for those who don’t have the Office suite.
http://www.gcast.com
Essentially gcast allows you to create a podcast and publish it online. It seems to be geared towards the indie music scene and the computer unsavvy.
• Record messages by phone (never touch a computer!)
• Upload MP3 files from your computer
• Add "podsafe" songs from GarageBand.com
• Mix all the above with our online playlist manager
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx
ZoomIt is a presentation augmentation program that allows one to zoom in and out while drawing on the screen. Another function is a break timer for presentations. The functionality is pretty good but the zoom and scan can be a little quirky.
http://plasq.com/skitch
Skitch is basically an online version of Paint that allows you to cut a snapshot from your screen, draw/type on it, and upload it to various places such as flickr. It’s nice but, as with many of these 2.0 programs, I’d like to see more features. If it had more functionality, it would be more than just a toy.
Regarding Matt's statement that ustream is "essentially YouTube with live comments and somehow much, much more lame," I agree that just like with YouTube, there's a lot of garbage that viewers need to wade through to get to the much smaller amount of good stuff, but there is some good stuff worth getting to. For example, I know that some faculty members are ustreaming their class lectures so that students who miss them don't have to miss the class. And at conferences, some presentations are being ustreamed to people who aren't able to attend in person. I know there are other programs that are offering the same type of thing, but ustream may turn out to be a very useful Web 2.0 tool for educators.
Wisdomap
Wisdomap is a web-based mind mapping tool developed by two programmers in the UK that aims to return mind maps to the fundamental simplicity that makes them such powerful tools. You can organize information and thought processes and stores them in a visual, memorable and convenient format, while managing media and resources like videos, pictures, websites and files.
Resources such as images, videos and links to files and web pages aren’t linked to files and web pages aren’t linked to individual map topics, but are displayed in a well organized vertical pane on the right side of the workspace.
Future development plans include adding the ability to move and re-order topics, support for keyboard shortcuts, the ability to export and import maps, and to support more advanced map layout options.
iSpringsolutions
iSpring Solutions, Inc. is an innovative software company focused on high end rich media software development for the global market. iSpring is a PowerPoint add-in for conversion of PowerPoint presentations into Flash format.
With iSpring Free you can generate .html code ready to place an .swf file on your web page or blog. iSpring wraps Flash slideshows in the attractive Player for effective navigation. iSpring supports automatic and mouse click animation step advance and looped playback.
Pageflakes
Pageflakes is a versatile Web start-page (personal portal) with very similar features as My Yahoo, Windows Live personal page, and iGoogle. Pageflakes is all about the widgets, which it calls “flakes.” Currently there are about 240,000 different flakes. Flakes let you add just about any Web content you can think of – video, picture, news feeds, e-mail, maps, on-line storage – or you can create your own custom flakes.
You can set up a page without creating a log-in account – though not creating one will mean losing man options, such as themes, At the site’s home page, you just enter your location, check topics of interest such as News, Sports, Music, and click on the big yellow show my page button.
When you create an account, you are asked for the trivial information, such as username, and password, but you get to add your gender, interests, and DOB. It has social networking features in that you can create a Pagecast – or a shareable page. You can either share with selected contacts or the entire public, and doing that gives your Pageflakes start page its own URL.
Pageflakes is the brainchild of former My Yahoo! Head, Dan Cohen, it should be noted that he also worked at Google. The interface contains no ads.
ClassTools
Classtools.net is a flash based site that allows users to create various graphic organizers and fun learning games using simple templates. There are a total of 15 diagram and game templates, which includes fishbone, timeline, venn, and jigsaw. A sample lesson plan using a particular diagram is provided along with other ideas for the use of each.
The final product can be saved as a web page, embed in a blog or web page, or save as a new document. Each template contains a help file that shows examples of how it can be used.
The site was created by Russel Tarr, head of History at the International school of Toulouse.
eCalc
eCalc is a free online calculator. There are two calculators – a basic calculator and a scientific version. Both are fully functional as a real handheld calculator. There are all kinds of root solvers, complex equation offerings and plenty of other mathematical functions. The calculator can do complex numbers. In addition, there is unit conversion utility, a list of useful constants, an equation solver, and base conversion utility. This online calculator seems to offer better functions than the windows calculator.
eCalc offers a calculator gallery of handheld calculators where you can learn about how each works and reviews on each. A link is also provided to Amazon where the calculators can be purchased.
It would be interesting if the calculators could be saved and shared. A user guide is not currently available.
Beanbag is a personalized learning site that matches parents and students with tutors and vice versa. When I searched for ‘history’ a Google Map was generated with numbered location that corresponded to the tutors that matched my search criteria. I was then able to see the tutors resume which included subjects he/she taught, the geographical area that is served, and brief vitae. If you wished to contact the tutor, you would have to sign up for a free online account. The one negative as far as we are concerned is that if you wanted to use one of these tutors they are all located in England.
Edublogs is a blog site that services education and school districts or campuses on the whole. It is a free service that you are able to join. It is based on the Wordpress platform and is very easy to use. I signed up for a free account and was able to create a blog right away. I liked the fact that it offered tutorials from the creators and from users about how to edit their blogs. The tutorials that are available are very detailed with screenshots and specific directions on how to make changes to the blogs. I also like the service of creating blogs for an entire campus. The moderator is able to supervise blogs for every student if they so wish. I think Edublogs is a very good tool for schools to use.
Gabcast is a podcasting and audioblogging platform that allows you to create and distribute your creations. I created an account and was able to create a podcast by calling the host number and follow the directions on inputting the channel number and password. It is available for free but its limited to telephone recording, VoiP recording and 200MB of space. You can pay either $6/mo/channel to upgrade to the Pro membership or $12/mo/channel and upgrade to the Premium membership. All episodes, whether hosted by Gabcast or being personalized, are limited to 60 minutes. As this was my first foray into podcasting I was impressed by this site and might use it in the future.
Merlot is a forum for uploading and sharing peer reviewed online teaching and learning materials. When you become a member, you are asked detailed questions that categorize you such as “Elementary”, “Secondary”, or “Higher Education.” It has different communities that you can view. These communities range from Biology to Fire Safety to Teacher Education. Within the communities you are able to view a short synopsis of the featured learning material. Once chosen, you view the learning material on its own site. Then you are able to return to the Merlot page and leave feedback about the article. I thought that this is an example of some of the goals we had talked about in class as far as finding a site where educationally useful materials could be shared.
Scribd is a document sharing site that allows you to share documents any way you like. You can create your own group or join a group that suits your fancy. I searched for Instructional Technology and found two groups that were similar. Instructional Technology had 1 member and Technology in Education had 5 members. I was able to upload a document with ease. Once uploaded, I could add it to any group I wished, mark it as private or keep it in my account for future use. What was neat is that the document was seen in a pdf type embedded viewer and it was easy to access. I think it is very useful and could serve a class well over its course.
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