Brain of a Blogger

I can across this link while Pinteresting this morning.

http://blog.infolinks.com/2012/02/28/infolinks-blogger-brain-infographic-on-problogger/

I really enjoyed looking at the "Inforgraphic" of the Blogger. It revealed some insight into how to make blogs that much better.

Podcast II

The Process:

Okay I feel foolish. I went to the Apple website and watched their tutorial on how to subscribe and download podcasts. Well I thought I had it all figured out. I opened my iTunes, went to the iTunesStore, and found the Education K-12 section. What a great selection. I found four or five podcasts I wanted to subscribe to based on their abstracts, some on Web 2.0, one on French Language, and one on being a new teacher. Well I go to subscribe, and I can't the Subscribe button is not highlighted. Okay I restart iTunes, go through all the steps again, nope, still can't subscribe. Third try, I try to download individual podcasts, nope that didn't work either.

So here is why I feel silly. I on the off chance it had to do with my Preferences for iTunes clicked into them. Well it turns out that if your parental settings are set to not allow podcasts or radio, they won't let you subscribe to any podcasts. Go figure. Well I fixed the issue, and now I am the proud subscriber to five podcasts.

After I downloaded them all to my iTunes, I synced my iPod Touch so now I can listen to them on there. According to the Apple website, I can even set up my iTunes so it will search for new podcasts in my subscriptions and automatically download them to my iTunes. Also if my iPod is connected to my computer I can have it automatically sync my new podcasts directly. I don't have to do a thing. So cool!

Classroom Application:

I am thinking of using the French Language podcast with my French 7s. Maybe it will help them feel more confident. Students could easily download their own podcasts and listen to them in class, hearing French spoken properly will increase their expressive French language.

In other classes, students could download podcasts to help support their research. Podcasts could also be used as a communication tool between students. They could download podcasts of their choice, based on interests, and report back on the content of the podcast. This could be conducted as a whole class discuss, small group assignment, or partner sharing.

Final Thoughts - SurveyMonkey

The Results:

Well after leaving my survey open for over a week I got 54 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated. Over half of the participants have never used: Twitter, Flickr, Pinterest, Delicious, Diigo, chat programs, Blogs or Google Reader.

39.6% of participants check their Facebook 3-4 times a day, and 35.2% check their email 1-2 times a day.

83.3% of the participants that check Facebook use it for checking statuses and keeping in touch with friends.

44.4% said they had issues with the privacy policies regarding Facebook, and 44.4% said they do not have concerns. The other 11.2% did not care.

Facebook chat and Skype were used the most as instant messaging programs. Facebook with 70.4% usage and Skype with 42.6%.

Of the 11 people who blog, Google Blogger is most used by 7 people. Live Journal had 3 users, and Word Press had 1.

The program analyzed all the answers and tabulated the percentages for me. I can go through each page of the survey and view the results. I think this is a very viewer friendly format, and for students they can easily see where the majority of answers are assembled with bar graphs along side the percentages and number of people who answered.

One draw back with this system, is if students want to print their findings, they have to copy and paste their results into another document. The print option is only for paying customers. Also, if as a paying customer they can have graphs made to present their results clearly. These features would be very helpful for presentation purposes, but a teacher, school or district would have to be willing to front the money to pay for these features.

Classroom Application:


I can see several reasons to incorporate the website:
1) Creating questions for a purpose
2) Analyzing information
3) Applying gather data for a purpose

I can see students surveying school communities for determine where improvements could be made or for a Social Wellness project. Students could create a great learning experience and use the collected data to create a project to give back to their school.

From the teacher librarian standpoint, I think this could be a great tool to collect teacher feedback on the school library resource center (SLRC). Teachers could provide opinions on where it is strong, and where improvements could be made. All I have to do is make a survey and send it to the staff. SurveyMonkey collects the raw data. I can use it to help make the SLRC stranger and more effective for all its users.


Overall, I think SurveyMonkey would be great for student projects that deal with surveys where survey results need to be visible.

On a Personal Note

I have found that my focus on my course work recently is being outweighed by the stresses of Job action. So far the job action has not been too demanding, however, on Wednesday Feb. 29, the BCTF and its members are voting on escalating job action. I have been very focused on what will be happening in the next few weeks and less on my blogging. I feel it is important to support my colleagues and support the job action to come. Our students deserve the best possible education. They deserve smaller class sizes and better composition of classes. I will be with my BCTF members on Wednesday. I will be voting, and I will be supporting our students for what the deserve!

What train am I on?

So I just wanted touch base on where I have been and where I am going. I started with a proposal to discuss my intentions for this inquiry project. I am finding that my time designations were not realistic and this is becoming a more circular project than a linear one. I did anticipate this would happen at some point during the project, but it has been confirmed now. Each week I am adding a new Web 2.0 tool to my knowledge bank, but have been revisiting the old ones too, due to need more time with them or due to continued interaction with the various applications.

So far I have been working with Google Reader, Twitter, Survey Monkey, Skype, and podcasts. I will be wrapping up Survey Monkey and podcasts today, but will continue to use Google Reader, Twitter and Skype throughout the project. This week I am beginning my investigations into Nings.

Podcasts I

Prior Knowledge:

I have had very little expereince with podcasts. I know they are files (usually audio) that can be recorded, uploaded and downloaded by another user. I am researching the breadth that a podcast can cover. Are they only audio? Or can a podcast be video as well? If a podcast can be video as well, does that mean that YouTube videos are actually podcasts? Will Richardson, author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (2010) states, "Podcasting is the creation and distribution of amateur radio, plain and simple" (112). Based on his definition, I would have to say not all YouTube videos count as podcasts, if the creator is discussing a topic is would count as a podcast, but if it is just a music video, than that does not fit his definition.

While I am investigating podcasts, I have two things I would like to accomplish: i - Find a podcast that interests me from the iTunes Store and download it. ii - Create a podcast and post it to my blog. Finding a podcast should not be too difficult as there are many available on iTunes. However, the creation of a podcast could be a little more difficult. I have to figure out which application on my computer I will use to record my podcast. If I create a file that is not an MP3, I will also have to download the application Audacity, which will convert my file into an MP3. I will also have to upload my podcast to my blog. Look for my podcast in a future post!

References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

G-Whizz! App

I have been looking for a Google Reader App for my iPod Touch. I found one even better. G-Whizz! gives me access to ALL the Google Apps and all the Docs I need to access through the cloud. I can access my gmail, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader and more all in one app location. If it works as well as I hope I think my individual Facebook and Twitter apps will be deleted! I love less clutter.

References:

G-Whizz! logo. Retrieved from
     http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/089/Purple/dc/31/8c/mzl.fuwhjcdh.png

Skype I

Prior Knowledge

Honestly, I don't see myself keeping Skype after my course is completed. If I want to chat with friends I can use Facebook chat or Google Chat. For people I video chat with I usually limit that to family and they all use iChat. The verdict is still out of course as I need to experiment with the program some more.

According to Wikipedia, Skype was originally created by an Estonian. Microsoft bought the application in 2011. As I was reading through the list of countries I could get local numbers with, I noticed Canada was not on the list. This is somewhat disappointing, but I think I can manage without. I was curious to know if Skype has a directory, that lists many of its users. As a teacher, it would be nice to get the Skype number for other professionals. I did a search on the Skype.com page, and its top hit was "Social networking apps for Skype - Skype App Directory." Sadly this hit was not helpful, as it searches for Apps, not people. I am going to have to keep digging around.

Applications in the Classroom and Library


How cool would it be to Skype with a class in France? The children could help each other learn new languages and share cultural experiences. Students could have electronic pen pals and correspond through text or video chat. They are just a phone call away. (Again this is where the directory would come in handy).

References

Skype. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

SurveyMonkey III

The results are pouring in! I posted the link to the survey on my Facebook and my husband's to widen the survey possibilities. I am interested to see if I get to 100 respondents. I think it has leveled out at 53 people (which is honestly better than I anticipated).

SurveyMonkey II

The Process:

I have created my 10 question survey. It was pretty straight forward. I clicked on the Create Survey tab, and it brings up a window so that I could give my survey a title, in this case Web 2.0 Usage. The options are quite substantial in terms of what types of questions can be created. I used three styles of questions: The matrix format, Multiple answers, and written response. Other types of question formats included but not limited to: Rating Scale, Demographics, or various forms of text books.

In this survey I created pages based on different headings: Intro, Facebook, Social Bookmarking Sites, Chat Programs, Blogs and Thank you. I could have created the entire survey on one page but I decided since I was covering several different topics within Web 2.0 usage I should divide them up over 6 pages.

Just for kicks, after creating the 10 questions, I clicked the + Add Question button one more time to see what would happen, as I am using the limited Basic plan. A new Pop up window opened and stated, "PRO FEATURE: A BASIC account is limited to 10 questions per survey. Upgrade to a professional plan to add unlimited questions per survey."

I had a feeling this would happen, but thought it was nice the website has that built in feature, so incase I did have more to say I could have upgraded.

Sending the Survey:

SurveyMonkey provided me with two ways to send out the survey. I can email it to friends or colleagues (depending on my target audience). The website is nice enough to provide a link I can copy and paste into emails and send out as desired.

The other option is to post on my website. The link is below. So if you are reading this and would like to check out and participate in my survey that would be awesome.

<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TXBSQJ2">Click here to take survey</a>

I have decided to post my link, and send it out via email. As this is a Web 2.0 Usage survey, I think it would be neat to survey some of my friends, some colleagues, and possibly even family members to get a wide spectrum of results. So off I go. I am going to send out some emails, and see what type of response I get.

References:

Add a Question. Retrieved from www.surveymonkey.com Pop up window.

SurveyMonkey

Prior Knowledge:

First of all, I have discovered in my original Inquiry Proposal I did not title SurveyMonkey correctly. I apologize for putting a space between the two words. (Silly English language habits).

According to Wikipedia, "SurveyMonkey is a private American company that enables users to create their own web-survey, using free and enhanced paid products and services. The company's offices are located in Palo Alto, California and Portland, Oregon.[1] The company was founded in 1999 by Ryan and Chris Finley.[2] In April 2009, the private company was sold to a private equity consortium with Dave Goldberg named as the new chief executive officer.[2]"

The home page for SurveyMonkey is quite inviting. It has been well set up for new users. Rather than looking at all the features I went straight to the Sign Up Free for their Basic Plan. When you click on this button  another page is opened and you have three ways to sign up. You can: a) create a username and password, or you can sign up through Google or Facebook. I chose to sign up through my Google gmail account. If you go with this option when you sign in a new window pops up. Personally I like my tabs and like to keep my browsing organized with my tabs, but this pop-up window has no way of being added to my tab tool bar (or at least as far as I have played with it). 

Once logged in, you have access to your SurveyMonkey account and can create a survey. Using the basic account, I am limited to only a ten question survey, and when all my results are collected I cannot get the .pdf printout of the calculations and all the feedback. 

I could upgrade to one of the three other styles of accounts. According to the SurveyMonkey's Plans and Pricing link a user can choose from the Basic, Select, Gold or Platinum accounts. The higher you go the more features are included in your account. The Platinum includes all the features from the Basic, Select and Gold plans, with a cost of $69 CAN per month. (There is a note under each account stating the price is billed annually).

For purposes of my SurveyMonkey exploration, I really did not see the need to upgrade and pay for their services. The ten questions and 100 responses will serve me just fine.

My next post will talk about what it was like to create the survey, what kinds of questions I can ask, and how the results are collected. (Maybe I will even post the survey so you can check it out and add to my results).

References:

SurveyMonkey. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SurveyMonkey

Another thought on Twitter

A friend was over visiting last night, and she was upset about her Twitter account on her phone. Apparently she is now following a whole bunch of people she did not click to follow. She was very upset that she has to go through an unfollow all of these random people. I have not found this occuring on my Twitter account. I know that I will view Tweets from people, not on my Following list, because they have either re-tweeted a message from someone I am following or are connected to one of the groups I am following like the BCTF, BCTLA, FNSA or The Globe and Mail.

I attempted to help her out, and un-follow a bunch of people on her list, only to decide that it would be far easier for her to log onto her computer when she got home and do it that way, rather than dealing with the touch application on her phone. Lesson learned, sometimes the computer is a better device to use (plus, bigger screen, oh and a mouse!)

Google Reader

I use iGoogle as a homepage and have added Google Reader to stay on top of the Blogs I am following, and boy is it helpful. I don't have remember URLs, I don't have to go hunting. I just have to open my iGoogle account, and there they are. Any new postes from any of the blogs just come up on my feed. I really like this way of organizing the blogs I am following. Quick and easy, no hassels. What a great tool.

My Blogger account also lists the Blogs I am following, so if I havn't gone to iGoogle yet, I can just scan through the posts on my blogger Dashboard. Out of the two I think I prefer the Google Reader, as it keeps track of the posts I have read, and they don't show up again unless I go to the actual blog.

So many options to try out and trying to keep it all organized.

Too Much!

Okay, so firstly my husband has been making fun of my Web 2.0 knowledge and keeps giving me a hard time about how 'connected' I am to everything. But really I am feeling overloaded. I have been reflecting lately about my online use. Yes, I frequently check my email, but I have realized no one really emails any more, they use Facebook. Then I thought about how oftern I Facebook. I post a status maybe once a week, but usually it is only if something important has happened in my life. I rarely comment on other people's statuses unless it is meaningful to me.

Then there is Twitter, so I started an account last week. I have posted four Tweets, and am following about 20 different people or groups. I stopped following The National news, because they were taking over with all of their tweets. I am also considering un-following The Globe and Mail, because I have to sift through all of their tweets to get to imporant ones. Additionally, I am finding a lot of the Tweets I read confusing. Half the time I feel like I am trying to crack a code because the Tweets seem so cryptic. Perhaps I just need to spend more time on it, but I am finding it to be a waste of time. On the plus side I have found Tweets that refer to upcoming conferences that would be helpful to my professional development.