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.
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Monday, 27 February 2012
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.
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, 25 February 2012
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.
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
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