Slideboom Presentation

So we created a presentation in powerpoint, added our narrative, then uploaded it to slideboom so that everyone can view it through this blog. I have to admit this was the weirdest and possibly hardest assignment I have done. I hate hearing my own voice in a recording and when I talk I forget I have an accent. When I hear myself I realise its there and cringe *grin*

paulkmcginley5618module6pptwith sound

View more presentations or Upload your own.

I looked at the presentation after Dr Wall said we could add text and with the style of presentation I was going for I felt that I did not need or want to add text. The images I used were in theory there to supplement my presentation while also giving the user a visual aid to assist them in the setting up of outlook. Looking at the presentation I think it would have been possible to do it with just text (instead of the images), but I think that people would have become word blind after a while. Add to this I think it is more effective for them to see what they will get and what they need to do.

I have to admit that I like how slideboom created the video. With the powerpoint file it retained the slide presentation format and allow the user to skip to the section they need. Combining with a presentation of this style it would allow users to go to the section they need which is extremely handy.

I think what I have gotten from this experience is that my powerpoint presentations are not as defined as I like. I am going to have to look at how I do them and figure where I can improve. I have another presentation in work tomorrow. I have created a minimal presentation and I will see how that goes and compare to find if I have just overloaded this one.

Time to sleep.

Steve

Thing # 18

Finally after 17 new things I can have a lazy post *grin*. While I still have to blog (wait that's fun for me) I do not have to set up either a facebook of myspace page. Why you ask? Simple I already have both.

You are more than welcome to have a look at my myspace page. Be warned though I have not posted on this site in a very long time. I found that I became disgruntled with myspace. I am not sure if it was all the garish pages or the videos or the music but after a while it was no longer fun to post there.

Facebook is a different story. I log on every day just about and I find that it keeps me coming back. This social networking site has, in my opinion, got it right. I can see what my friends and colleagues are up to and if I am so inclined look at other peoples pages and play little fun games when the mood takes me. Everything that I think keep a person returning. I am not sure if the link will let you in without being my friend but if you are in the mood send me a request and I will gladly add you.

Of the two sites I think there is only one winner when it comes to the education usefulness question and that is facebook. I could see teachers setting up their classes on here and have the students connecting in and interacting through this site. It would give a central repository for assignments (if not using one of the other plethora of options to do so) and similar. It is also a useful means of creating groups to work together.

S.

Thing #17

Del.icio.us

What can we say about this site. Best description for it is it is delicious. This website gives us the ability to bookmark sites that we like and while doing this give it tags that we think are relevant. Once they have been added we can at any point go to our bookmark list and have a look at them. Under our bookmarks we can click on any of the tags to just pull those links that relate to the tag which is very useful. One of the features about this site that really makes it stand out is the ability to see how many other users of del.icio.us have also bookmarked this site and what comments if any they have said about the link.

I think this site has great potential in the school setting. For teachers the fact that they can save the source of any information they use and share it with colleagues teaching the same course means that they are all on the same page and teaching the same material. For the students it means that they have the ability to see how many people have linked to a source and whether the feel it is reliable.

Brb - with my own delicious page. S

Thing #16

There are a lot of web 2.0 apps floating out in the world wide web, some useful, others not so useful. Today we were looking at customizable start pages and I selected igoogle to create a page. It may be that I selected to many things that I was interested in but by the time it was loaded up I felt it was way to cluttered and it was difficult to see what was there.
I did spend some time manipulating what I had put up and getting the ones I liked to the top, but I still had to many windows showing and was unsure of how to remove them (most of the ones I wanted to delete did not give me that option. Given time and a lot of editing to this page I feel that I could come up with something that I would be happy with. I am going to research if there is a way to attach my blog for editing etc, flickr to manage my pictures and a few other links I would like to see.

After messing with Igoogle I headed over to Google calender. In the wired article "The web's best calendars" it is classed as the number one calendar. It is understandable. This calendar is crisp, clean and easy to use. If you have events that you need to share out with others, this is not a problem. Overall I left this site after adding a few events for school and felt like it was something I could use and possibly mesh up with outlook to manage my life.
I did look at the to do list applications, but honestly felt that I did not like them and would not use them. I think of the three we were linked to I liked remember the milk the best.

Of all the apps discussed in the different links the one that stood out for me and has been bookmarked is that of tinyurl. This is probably one of the most useful apps available in my mind. The numerous times I have been given a link that is 3 lines long and to get it into the browser take 3 copy and pastes. cutting this down to one small link, nothing short of genius. I think that this has unending use in both work and school. By shortening the link it makes it easier for people to remember and it just looks a lot cleaner over all. This site gets the Stevie two thumbs up seal of approval and recommendation of the week. If you havent visited the site do it now.

S

Thing #15

Wikis

I have used wikis on and off as a a source of information. Generally I do not edit the information that I am viewing and this was one of the first times I have done so in the APSU23Things sandbox. I was surprised as to how easy it was to change http://apsu23thingssandbox.pbworks.com/Photos-and-Images and I can understand as to why there are different levels of contribution for wikis and that there is the ability to save the history. All it takes is one person to post incorrect information and the rest of the site becomes suspect.

One of the things I did for this thing was to watch the wiki in plain english and the idea of using a wiki for camping floored me. Everything it talked about that happens with emails has happened to us as we have tried to arrange camping trips though email and I can vouch it is highly annoying. I think that it would be an excellent idea to create one to see if it helps with the next camping trip.

Being one that is always up for a challenge I found a wiki site that I could use for free for the camping trip organisation and set one up. while basic just now I hope to improve it over time.
http://grou.ps/displacedcamping/

Steve

Thing #14

For Thing 14 it was time to look at another office application alternate. Instead of Visio I chose to use Gliffy to create one of my diagrams (well the first draft - I need the completed presentation by the 16th) for a presentation I have to give to my departments server committee. In this diagram (shown below) I have outlined how the departments data servers connect together and provide the data to the backup server.

In this diagram I attempt to keep it as clean as possible and only provide minimal textual information. The rest of the required information for this slide will be provided verbally, explaining how the data flows using the agent software or the robocopy software.

The next piece of software I looked at was bubbl.us, which is classed as a mind map. Going into this lesson I assumed that a mind map was very similar to a flow chart. While similar I realise that they are not the same.
In learning about mind maps I came to realise that while it does flow that there are no right paths, that it is taking ideas and mapping them out step by step. In the image above I made the mistake of selecting a task that I now feel would more suit a flowchart. I believe it took making this mistake for me to realise the differences.

I chose Gliffy over flowchart.com simply because of the one day wait. When I read the assignment I wanted to test it out. Bubbl.us was selected simply because of the graphical feel to it. I will admit that in a work environment that I feel the mind miester would be more suited to what we do.

Thing #13

Thing #13

At times it is easy to think that as a Microsoft office user you have been spoiled by the features that they provide. With the distribution of more and more web 2.0 tools like zoho or google docs I think that idea is being eroded. For this post to my blog I am trying to push the envelope and am creating the blog via zoho and posting it from here also. For this test I could just try a simple post but I want to see just how well it can do it and I want to see how it will look both here in the web app and also in the blog.

Image above taken by blog owner

The fact that this web application gives me the ability to post my documents publicly and share them with other users really highlights the potential of web based office applications. Rather than emailing copies of the document for editing and then ending up with multiple copies allowing others to edit at one central location means that they would have the original with the edits. Everyone would know if it has been edited or not and have access to the latest copy.

The only downside I can see about the web app is how it handles spell checking. click once to check the spelling click again to turn it off (yes I think I have been spoiled by Microsoft).

Edit Via Blogger: Apart from removing some extra space and adding this edit the post, including image, worked perfectly.

S

Thing #12

I chose to look look at Picasa (I have used the program but had never actually set up the web part). The picasa album is very similar in what it does to Flickr. In Blogger, users also have the ability to set up a slideshow to show off their Picasa albums. With including the software from picasa onto your computer it gives you the ability to edit the images. http://picasaweb.google.com/displacedtourist

The second application I chose is the google calender, I attempted to share the calender and while it allowed me to do so I was unable to get a URL (even with following the instructions from google help. I have added this link in the hope that you can see it http://www.google.com/calendar/render?gsessionid=NK3Ab72SrYhIYpCzddMSww

Both applications i think have their uses in an educational setting. The calender is a useful tool to allow students to be able to keep track of important dates for their classes or for teachers to be updated of what is going on in their schools.

Picasa could be used for class projects. With this repository available students have the ability to upload and share what they have photographed. Using the other tools available they can also manipulate their images as required.

Thing #11

It seems to me that search engines to do things like add rss feed to your reader should be easy. While the search engines included would allow you to get to blogs and give you the ability to add to your preferred reader I did not like the blogs that they had to offer. To me it seemed a lot more commercial in nature and less about the information I want to see. This is probably just a thing about what I am looking for but when I think of blogs I have an idea that it is someones thoughts, not a company webpage with a note updating it.

Of the searches that were offered I thought that google blog search was probably the closest to what I wanted and as such was probably what I would call the easiest to use. I am probably in the minority in my selection for hardest. I chose technorati as the winner of that title. From the minute I logged onto the website I had an aversion to it, I tried it quickly, disliked the results and promptly left the site.

As I have already talked about here the most surprising thing to me was the type of pages I was hitting. Given time and possibly more refinement to my searches I would possibly find more of what I want. As it is the best way I have found for getting to blogs and feed of what I want is through referral. By this I mean that I go to someones website. after reading their information I look to see who they are following and at times I will end up linking to them also.

I hope everyone had as much fun with this assignment as I did and I look forward to seeing everyone out in the ether and maybe come across your blogs.

Steve

Thing #10

Once again, I get to learn something new. I look at the exercise and think "I use RSS feeds already so this will just be cut and dried". Guess what, I was wrong. I was introduced to bloglines and google reader. After messing with the two new formats I finally rested upon google reader I have been using google for my blogging etc and it seems to have a good format, is easy to use and means I don't need to fill up my outlook client with RSS feeds.

The thing I love about all three of these services is that it gives me the information that I want without having to go to multiple locations to get it. I do find it useful to have the blogs I follow on my blogger page but it still has to take me to the websites. With RSS and the readers I do not have to do this, I get all the information I need right at my fingertips and only have to go to the page if I want to leave a comment.

For someone that is in online classes I think this is great, as someone who will tech at some point this tool is nothing short of invaluable. One of the best examples I can think of for this type of thing actually comes from the APSU23THINGS assignment. I'm sure it must be hard for Dr Wall to keep track of who has done what. With tools like google reader she can easily see who has done what as she can sign up to each blog and view as the work has been completed.

One last thing for this post. I decided to add a public profile and allow everyone to view the posts I like. Warning there are some images of blood due to a bike crash in one of the posts. Also please not that if you are not a cycling fan then these blog post may cause drowsiness so I have to put up the disclaimer.

"These blogs should not be read while driving a car or operating heavy machinery"

thanks and have fun

-Steve

Thing #9

Welcome to the Things #9 post. In this thing we have been tasked with generating some images. Can you tell I messed with a couple of the generators *grin*. The image at the top of this post is the APSU23THINGS barcode. I found this at the http://www.signgenerator.org/barcode/ website and thought it would be a good image to head this post. The creation was simple enough. All that was required was the input of the text I wanted, click on the generate button and then right click to save it.

In the second image for this post I thought that we should really hear what the great sage Confucius really thinks about the fortune cookies we get at Chinese restaurants. I found this generator at http://www.signgenerator.org/confucius/ and it was also the case of inputting text, generating image and then right clicking and saving.


The last image for the lesson is a picture of me. You can tell its me cant you *grin*. This is from a really cool picture to ascii text generator. Now everyone can see what pictures looked like on the net in the 80's. The website http://www.glassgiant.com/ascii/ allows you to upload your image and it then generates the image. As it is text you cannot right click so I used the screen capture application on this system to get a copy.

It is amazing the number of generators that are available to people on the web. If you think of something you want to do for a class, google it and there is a good chance you will find it. Do you want to put a caution sign up for the groups you created in class then generate their own custom caution signs. The ability to be able to make these signs gives people an artistic output that they might not have been able to before or would have taken them hours to complete. The use of these Web 2.0 tools empowers the user and as a rule makes contributing to the web easier and more fun.

Thing #8

F5 Jigsaw, originally uploaded by scotlandtb.

I initially went to http://bighugelabs.com/ to look at their mosaic tool but did not really like the effect it gave. I was about to move off of this web site when the jigsaw feature caught my eye. I have to admit that i really like the effect that it gives and I think Dr Wall is right this stuff is just addictive. Yet another tool I am going to have to use *LOL*. I think once I have completed the assignment I am going to have to bookmark all the cool sites i have been to for later use.

I think that Mashups have a lot of potential for the classroom. My initial mashup searches were on mosaic creation and that alone can highlight the artistic qualities of using type of art (photographs) to create another (a mosaic).

The fact that the site I ended up on gives you the ability to get professional prints also give you the ability to render the finished project into a hard copy. I means that the class can get to physically touch the artwork they have created. This tool also gives the personal user the ability to get prints too.

The biggest issue I can see with websites like flickr is the fact that peoples work can be stolen without any credit being given. I know that I like some of the shots that I took of the bike but I want to post them so that people can see them. By doing so I leave them open to theft and misuse. This is not only isolated to users. A person only has to google misuse issues to see that companies (ad companies etc) have used pictures from sites like flickr for advertising campaigns without receiving consent from owners. Perhaps flickr should look into using a mashup that embeds copyright information into the image to prevent this.

Thing #7

F5, originally uploaded by scotlandtb.

It has really surprised me that even with being a techno-geek I have been learning so many different new thinks. Thing 7 especially is going to come in handy for my own blog. I killed 2 birds with 1 stone on the creation of the flicker account as I was going to photograph our new bikes and this thing needed us to take photos. Talk about perfect timing *LOL*

After using Flickr I think I may have to change the location of where I upload my images. To date I have used picasa and photobucket. The fact that it was so easy to post this blog entry with flickr has swayed me a bit. Thinking on the use of this tool in education I would have to say that if and when I teach a class (one of my goals for getting the masters degree is to have the ability to teach adjunct for web classes) I think I will have to incorporate flickr into classes if possible. It is one of the more useful tools I have seen and after using it I can now understand how it won 1st place in the photo and video section in the web awards.

Steve

Thing # 6

The 3rd place winner in the web 2.0 awards for photo and digital images was the application picasa. Picasa is one of the many tools that are available for free from the Google corporation. The reason that I want to highlight picasa is the fact that I personally feel it should hve won first.

Picasa for the desktop - as apart of this tools beauty you have the ability to install a desktop application/interface. This gives you the ability to manipulate and edit your images before you need to upload them. As such it gives some of the more common editing tools that a user needs. The down side to this is that they have omitted some highly important tools like resizing the image, instead opting to allow that once the picture has been uploaded. While this feature is, in theory, understandable it is an inconvenience for those that have a slow internet connection.

Picasa on the web - Once you have uploaded your pictures (this of course is entirely optional) you have the ability to edit the images more, create folders to manage your content and if you desire and when you are ready you can publish your content to the wider web. One of the most useful aspects of this application is the pre-created code for the more common forms of content publishing, supplying code that allows for your pictures to be posted to discussion boards, facebook, myspace and even blogging sites.

The greatest advantage of this application is that it cuts out the need to spend money on buying a separate imaging product. Without this need you as a photographer have more funds available to do what you love best. Take photographs. For those that wish to try it you can head to http://picasa.google.com/

Steve

Thing #5

Without school 2.0 I would probably not be taking this class. It has been through the opportunities presented at APSU to take my classes online that I have been able to advance my knowledge and gain the qualifications that I have. Looking back on my life I understand that I am being taught at the beginning of something new. Web 2.0 and school 2.0 are taking the Internet and giving it to the masses, allowing them the opportunity to be able to talk, feel and see the world around them. As technology continues to advance I feel that the idea that people have of higher learning will have to change. The early adopters of web classes at APSU had to change how they gave tests to take account of the independent learning aspect. So far I think that they have done so well. As it advances I can only feel that the schools of the future will have to go to more virtual classrooms and less physical. To be able to survive in a wired world you have to reach out and embrace it.

In the article minds on fire I think that they have the right idea. they see that schools have to look beyond the physical limitations of walls. In this article we have detailed the current advances that make the web more interactive, from being able to control telescopes to advance your astronomical knowledge to sending in bugs to look at them remotely via the web. In "New Literacies: Enrichment or essential" they also confirm that technology is the way forward, that user interactive content is the now and not the future. This article though had more questions than answers and I think you walk away from it with a need to find out more.

While Web 2.0 may have started out as a buzz word, it has grown to much more. Web 2.0 is the idea and understanding that we are the web and that without the users the web is nothing. Take all the blogs offline and what will people read. Take all the people off the internet and whats the use of it.

Thing #4

The thing about commenting is that it allows people to give you their input of what you have created. No matter if it is just your outlet for venting or your site for creative musings it is still a location where people can come, visit, read what you have posted and if generates a feeling allow them to post about it. As time passes with blogging you find that more and more people slowly start to read and that those of like minds will generally group together. This is what has happened with me, Being interested in Cycling and computing I find that I have blogs for both these spheres of interest that I will view and occasionally comment on.

I think that one of the most profound things about this section was reading the Blue skunk blog on commenting when he stated that even though people say they are just posting as a creative outlet they still want to know that they have people reading. They are right and I have only just came to this realization. Yes I blog to give myself an outlet. But if no one comments how do I feel, as if I am wasting my time. The thing is I could try some of the comments on problogger to get more comments but I don't know what is worse, having very few comments or feeling that you have whored your blog out in the hope that people will comment. I think at the end of the day the fact that people return to read my blog is justification to continue posting.

At this time I would like to give a great big wave to Ursula and Mindy, both of who have set up their blogs and have been posting their way through the assignments. I hope you are having as much fun with this assignment as I am. I picked on the two of their blogs to post today mainly due to the fact they are the only classmates on the blogs so far. Even if there had been more I think I would have still posted. We all have a common bond on our hate for Habit number 3 and it helps knowing that we are not alone *grin*.

The first blog I want to highlight is The Fat Cyclist. This for me is an inspirational blog and it helps me focus when I feel that I am loosing my ability to continue on my journey of self discovery (weight loss through healthier lifestyle and cycling). To see the adversity that this guy has been through of recent and to see how he continues to inspire other people to reach beyond their normal lives to help others is amazing.

The Second Blog is Chubby super biker. This is another weight loss through cycling blog. It is cool to read how he has lost over 200lbs and the trials and tribulations encountered. Both these blogs let people in a similar situation know they are not alone.

In both these blogs I generally make light hearted comments about what is going on. It is the common bond of cycling that keeps me coming back and it is that I deal with.

Time to post this entry but fear not I shall return to blog more AND to edit this for more comments to classmates *grin*

EDIT: Oct 4th - SO I have finished the 11 things Dr Wall needs for this week and have been looking at the new blogs that have been added and commenting. The next blog I visited was http://kimragin.blogspot.com/ and I had to comment to Kim thanking her for giving me a new source for a RSS feed.

With Chris's blog it was hard not to leave a funny comment. he seems to have taken this style of blogging as far as I can tell, and I wont deny it does work for him.

My final blog comment went to Kim morrow and for her post about the amount of time we have spent this week on the blogs. Its been a long slog and a matter of working at it methodically. But in the end it is done and has been a blast to do.


Steve

Thing #3

Up until this point I had not though of using a blog in a learning environment. Looking at the 23 things blog and considering the use I think I am changing my opinion.

while it does have its uses in blogging about your teaching experiences or the latest classroom information I think that it could well be enhanced as a teaching tool. By setting up blog posts as questions it allows the students to post their responses in their own time and when they are most comfortable. Keeping this in mind there is also the opportunity to have the students set up their own blogs (as shown by this class) and then have the students question each other, as the teacher you would have the ability to grade on both the setup contecnt of the blog owner and on the answers submitted by other students.

Thing #2

Wow I am at my second post already. That was fast.

So you want to know how I came up with the posting name and the name of the blog. What you mean you cant tell from what they are. Ok as you can see I was not a very creative student. I wanted to make sure that I did not get myself confused with my other blog and I wanted to make sure that if any others from the class log into the blog they know they have reached the right page and I have not sent them to some evil website *grin*.

The thing I have found about blogging is that you really have to want to do it and at times you really need to have a flair for it. To many times people can blog and it will be dry and boring. To keep them coming back you have to keep it interesting. Whether I have successfully done that I'm just not sure. I do know that I like blogging and I find it a good outlet for me to talk, rant and generally say my mind.

For those of you that wonder about my avatar I have to introduce you to him, his name is Bob and he is my security person. Any persons causing trouble will be removed by him. The fact that he may look like me did not in any way influence the hiring process. It also had nothing to do with the fact that he has the same last name as me .

Now that we are all introduced I hope you have your seat belts fastened and your trays in the upright position and I welcome you to Blogger Airways.

Thing #1

So we have the first wonderful post. Ok its not really my first post on blogger as I have a personal blog also but its still my first 5618 blog post *grin*.

What was the hardest habit for me? That unfortunately was an easy one to answer. This would be Habit number 3 View problems as challenges. A lot of the time I find myself letting problems get the better of me and cause me stress. I find that if I am not letting them stress me and think it through methodically I can reach the right conclusion to the problem. Its just that I let them stress me!.

The easiest habit was also an easy one to answer which is habit 6 use technology to your advantage. As a Computer systems Administrator I live eat and breathe technology so if I can make it advantageous to me its already been done.

I think that the thing I want to get out of web 2.0 is to be more aware of the tools that are out there and that I can use to advance my and others knowledge.

I also have to note that I love the blogger draft feature. Somehow I forgot to post thing 1 and knew about it from my own blog so I have not had to retype this which is a good thing