BP13_2010024_ReflectiveMediaAssetTwo

I've said this before- I've found a really cool Web 2.0 application. But seriously, Diigo is really useful. We're all going to have to use this app in future group projects...

BP12_2010024_MOreWeb20Comments

Wow, there are even more Web 2.0 tools out there than I could imagine.

Justin Kraky has a great post about a new time management app called BubbleTimer that I know I could certainly benefit from! Check out my comments here.

Ginger Shaw also found an app called Showmewhatswrong that I think could be game changing for those of us who rely on complex software in our professional lives. This could literally be a Pro Tools, Dreamweaver, or Final Cut user life line! Check out my comments here.

BP11_2010023_DiscoveringMoreWeb20Tools

After many years, the 'net can continue to amaze...

Earlier this year, I was involved in helping write a course entitled “Web Fluency”. Now a prerequisite class for all of our students, this course was launched with the intent of helping our students understand how to leverage the Internet and not simply just use the Internet. Additionally, throughout the progression of the course, we had hoped to instill some basic media literacy skills that would assist our students with evaluating information sources on the Internet, identifying bias, and finding valuable portals for news and learning to supplement their classroom activities.

Not surprisingly, within days of adding this course to our catalog, I overhead a student in the hall demanding, “Why do we have to take this class? I know how to use the Internet!”

That is exactly how many of us feel today when faced with topics and discussions that seem to encompass ideas and technologies that we use everyday. The Internet is not exactly new. We’ve all been using You Tube for 5 years. Even Facebook and Twitter are second nature for many.

One could even carry the question further and ask why graduate students have to study Web 2.0 tools and blog for homework? Conventional wisdom would suggest we’re all teachers and we know how to use the internet.

I’ve felt like that from time to time in my professional and teaching career, but then I heard about Diigo. Now I’m starting to use Diigo. Diigo isn’t perfect, but it absolutely changes how you approach research and collaborative sharing in the world wide web.

Diigo is similar to Delicious. In its most basic form, Diigo catalogs and tags web pages that you visit. These tags and bookmarks can be made public, and you can share your Diigo bookmarks with others.

But, Diigo goes much further. Diigo allows users to leave sticky notes and highlight multiple colors of text on virtually any webpage on the Internet. Launched as an extension within your browser, Diigo helps you to not only remember where you were surfing, but why you found certain pages interesting. Friends, students, or colleagues who visit you pages and belong to your group can view you highlights, read your stickies, and comment. Additionally, with Diigo’s tagging features, by logging into Diigo you can review popular articles and tags in much the same way as Digg, Stumble Upon, and other social recommendation sites.

In short, this Web 2.0 application really brings book marking to a whole new level. Diigo is booking marking with commentary. Every day I’m leaving sticky notes in my newspaper, adding paper clips to magazine articles, and folding corners in my text books. Not to mention, as I read I’m also highlighting with a yellow pen and scribbling in the margins with a pencil.

Book marking is not new. Tabs are not new. However, Diigo’s feature set is unique enough that it really provides a whole new way to approach the web, leave information for others, and comment on the surfing and research of your peers, colleagues, and students.

With the example of Diigo and a thousand other Web 2.0 tools fresh in our minds, I sincerely hope that as educators and students alike we realize the power of the technologies at our disposal- there is too much opportunity at stake to take for granted.

BP10_2010023_MoreComments

Technology can be simply amazing. Right now, I'm writing this from a cabin on the North Shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota- a wonderful Valentine's surprise getaway. That said, with a little WiFi, and power, I'm able to continue working, studying, and researching issues in education.

Two recent blogs I've been following are from Sharon Jones and Jeff Kohls. Jeff completely reintroduced me to the power of Google Maps in the classroom. Check out my comments on his post here and read his lesson ideas here. Also, Sharon has been using Quizlet in her classroom. As I've been looking for a Web 2.0 tool for vocabulary practice, this application might be a strong candidate. Please see her blog with my comments here and the original post here.

BP9_2010023_OneMinuteMessage

As I mentioned in a previous post, I think this application is really cool. I've already used it for a lecture tomorrow. Let me know what you think, thanks for checking it out.

BP8_2010023_DiscoveringWeb2.0Tools

Slide Rocket is really cool...

Over the past few days, I’ve been researching a variety Web 2.0 tools in which I’ve been trying to lend a more critical eye towards those sites and resources that might best impact the learning goals of my students. As aspiring media professionals, my students need both a broad set of software and media competencies coupled with the “soft” skills needed to succeed in business.

Within the career college environment, we are working very hard to prepare young people for entry-level positions throughout a variety of media related fields. Per the needs of our employer base and current job trends found in the United States, we’ve seen an increasing demand for students with well developed interpersonal skills. As such, I’ve specifically been looking for platforms and applications that could foster strong group interaction, peer-to-peer communication, and collaborative learning and content development.

As many of our workplaces are challenged today with unprecedented competition, we imagine tomorrow’s professional environments to be more collaborative and team oriented in nature. Furthermore, many of our graduates go on to launch free-lance careers of their own. Clearly within this direct client relationship, our graduates need to have strong communication skills and an ability to work with a variety of diverse peoples.

With these criteria and needs in mind, I’ve been looking specifically for tools that offer a strong collaborative component that also blends a workflow need seem in many business environments. Fortunately, with Slide Rocket, I might have found just the one.

Slide Rocket is engineered as an online slide and presentation development tool. However, upon further digging, I found it to be quite compelling as it offers a wide variety of functionalities that one would often assume would not be present in an online application.

Many of my classmates and I have found that thus far, working collaboratively in projects using applications such as Google Docs and others can increase workflow, team cohesion, and even avoid project errors and omissions. Often times, and even as recently as last semester, when working with static host-based applications like Power Point, one of my groups experienced significant confusion as to which version of the document was our current file. After emailing edited versions back and forth, we quickly lost track of our titling system and ultimately had to leverage another online-based tool in the process.

Not to mention, despite the cross-platform nature of the majority of today’s technology, I still witness almost weekly scenarios wherein a file does or does not up load with correct formatting, fonts, etc depending upon the version of the application happens to be loaded onto the computer in the classroom or board room. Using an entirely online or cloud-based resource would mitigate any performance issues between computers, operating systems, software versions, or peripheral drives.

In short, Slide Rocket is a really exciting piece of software. Individuals can leverage the suite themselves, invite others to privately view the presentation, or allow an entire group editing abilities as well. Furthermore, Slide Rocket houses a “media library” wherein you’re able to store audio, video, and image files in their servers for later use with any presentation. Additionally, Slide Rocket uses a layout quite similar to iMovie wherein you can have multiple “projects” all hosted together. During my test phase, I developed two presentations for work as well as two more slide shows for friends and family involving vacation photos. The number of presentations you can build in Slide Rocket is only limited to your online cloud storage package. My free membership leveraged 250 megs and a paid package with 1 Gig of storage started at only $12 a month.

Within one of my marketing classes, students are required to “pitch” their final ideas or projects. Last semester, I decided to experiment a little with the final course assessments. Instead of leaving students to complete an individual final project, I allowed students to work in groups. Previously, I had discovered that some of the material covered was so foreign to our student body, that the integration and absorption of some of the more abstract information was difficult. In order to help reinforce the content, we started using final projects that were collaborative in nature where each student worked with a peer-partner, not unlike our FSO Critical Friends resource. Ultimately, we found that the student engagement and the quality of output within the final projects was significantly improved from group practice. With a tool like Slide Rocket, I’ll be able to help students work together almost up to their own presentation time with ample media, support, and editing ability. Not only that, Slide Rocket will import Keynote and Power Point presentations if a project had started in one of those platforms.

I have always believed the adage that it takes a village to raise a child. Surly, in the dynamic and diffuse nature of our current educational system (wherein the world and our knowledge base seems to expand at ever increasing rates) so too shouldn’t we leverage more supportive learning structures than the solitary student seated at a desk with an essay?

I can’t even begin to express how exiting I think this platform could be. I was able to create compelling presentation shows within an hour, upload all sorts of content for later use, and invite other users to comment and edit. I really believe that this application is a window into the future- cloud based computing, collaborative work-flow, and tremendous creative potential. Check it out…

Photos and screenshots courtesy of Slide Rocket.

BP7_2010022_Comments

Below are links to some of the comments that I've left for other EMDT bloggers. A smart bunch to say the least...

Carlos found a great Web 2.0 tool related to business here.

I left two comments for Ginger Shaw- she found a great tool called Vidque and offered a compelling lesson plan for using Flickr in the classroom.

Justin Kraky has also been investigating a variety of Web 2.0 tools including Grooveshark which I commented on here.

Finally, Rena Hanaway posted a link to an amazing interview with Alvin Toffler, please give it a read if you have the chance. Very poignant, very relatable.