Yeahh... this is it! Have given myself many pats on my back for EFFORT! Yup.... hasn't been easy plouging through the 23 things over the last couple of months. Many a times, I wasn't sure if I was clicking on the right thing, and also my Ie went bonkers as I must have downloaded some things I shouldn't have. Too many add-ons I think.
i haven't quite finished exploring all these web 2.0 tools but this course has certainly been such an eye-opener. Some tools were really COOL and easy to pick up and others ... I am still figuring out what exactly they do.
I have not exactly had time to do the following and am not sure I know what to do:
1. Join a Ning connection.
2. Do a Jing Capture.
Can someone point me in the right direction, pleaseeeeeee. Also. I haven't really quite grasped Technoratti yet, and would like to find out more. Will probably attend a Mel Byte programme to learn more. In fact, now that I have some knowledge about these web 2.0 tools, it going to help me decide which of those Mel Byte programmes will be useful to attend. The challenge will of course be infusing the relevant web 2.0 tools into the curriculum so that teaching and learning can be enhanced. Ah... exciting times are ahead....
Oh yes, forgot to mention in my earlier post that we do use Wimba podcasts in Mel currently to do 5 min summaries of individual lecture topics. Easy to use and good for aiding recap of key concepts.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Week No. 10 - ebooks and audio books
These are the websites I visited and found some FREE stuff - e-books for downloading and audio books I could listen in to.
The British Library
Many Books
World Public Library
Lots of classic books to read (like Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll, old photos, transcripts; there's even this tool you could download so that you can flip the pages of the e-book, just like an actual book. For this other website, strangely I couldn't locate the download button, although I had wanted to do so for an Excel 2007 for Dummies book. Hmm....
This is the website: The school library
Have subscribed to a feed on Google Reader so that i get free short stories (audio) -Weekly Classic Short Stories from Librivox.. Just go to this url: http://feeds.feedburner.com/WeeklyShortStoriesFromLibrivox
The British Library
Many Books
World Public Library
Lots of classic books to read (like Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll, old photos, transcripts; there's even this tool you could download so that you can flip the pages of the e-book, just like an actual book. For this other website, strangely I couldn't locate the download button, although I had wanted to do so for an Excel 2007 for Dummies book. Hmm....
This is the website: The school library
Have subscribed to a feed on Google Reader so that i get free short stories (audio) -Weekly Classic Short Stories from Librivox.. Just go to this url: http://feeds.feedburner.com/WeeklyShortStoriesFromLibrivox
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Week No. 9 - Podcasts
Signed up for an account on Podcast.com. This website seems much easier to navigate and understand than others like Podcast.net and Podcastalley.com. Hmmm... the website for Yahoo Podcasts seems to be inacessible, page not found or something. Well, essentially Podcasts are like radio talk shows. You can listen to these talks via the web using your computer or download them to your MP3 player, if you wish to. A useful learning tool which forces students to really concentrate if they want to be able to catch what's going on. Maybe a good tool to use when we want to do a short summary of key points of a lecture. Might be less suitable if the module is highly technical and makes frequent references to stuff like diagrams, drawings, calculations and the like.
Here's a link to a podcast that I have found on Podcast.com - news updates from The Economist- http://podcast.com/show/5356/ Have just added this feed to my Google reader.
Hopefully with all these accounts and what-not I have created, I don't get all the usernames and passwords all mixed up :)
Here's a link to a podcast that I have found on Podcast.com - news updates from The Economist- http://podcast.com/show/5356/ Have just added this feed to my Google reader.
Hopefully with all these accounts and what-not I have created, I don't get all the usernames and passwords all mixed up :)
Monday, January 19, 2009
Week No. 9 - Update on RSS feeds
I have subscribed to a couple of news feeds on Today Online and the Straits Times. Instead of having to go these websites to get the news I want, I get them right on IE,by clicking on the star icon and the RSS feed icon.
These are the two latest bits of news today.
From the ST Money Desk, " Mazda to cut salaries." and from the Straits Times, "Government mulling tapping the national reserves." Here are the URLs for these 2 feeds - http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIFILES/rss/break_money.xml and http://www.todayonline.com/rss.asp
Or you might want pull your feeds into your Google Reader account by subcription to these feeds....
Watch this video to undertand more
These are the two latest bits of news today.
From the ST Money Desk, " Mazda to cut salaries." and from the Straits Times, "Government mulling tapping the national reserves." Here are the URLs for these 2 feeds - http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIFILES/rss/break_money.xml and http://www.todayonline.com/rss.asp
Or you might want pull your feeds into your Google Reader account by subcription to these feeds....
Watch this video to undertand more
Week No. 9 - videos
Found this video on "Tsunami" while exploring the yahoo video website at http://video.yahoo.com/
Brings back chilling memories of the devastation caused by the huge waves. We were in Phuket too, just a week before the Tsunami struck, and it could have been us. I vividly remember my hubby canoeing the 2 boys out to the open sea, leaving mum and I frantic on the beach. My heart goes out to all who have lost their loved ones in this disaster. It should never happen again. Ever.
Other video hosting websites include http://teachertube.com and jumpcut and Gogglevideo
Good to know that there's more beyond Youtube. Am currently using quite some Youtube stuff in my module, Microeconomics, just to make learning more varied for students. There's one on pollution in China, another on price controls in Zimbawe. Even students are sharing Youtube clips in class during the Discovery and Share segnment in class.
Brings back chilling memories of the devastation caused by the huge waves. We were in Phuket too, just a week before the Tsunami struck, and it could have been us. I vividly remember my hubby canoeing the 2 boys out to the open sea, leaving mum and I frantic on the beach. My heart goes out to all who have lost their loved ones in this disaster. It should never happen again. Ever.
Other video hosting websites include http://teachertube.com and jumpcut and Gogglevideo
Good to know that there's more beyond Youtube. Am currently using quite some Youtube stuff in my module, Microeconomics, just to make learning more varied for students. There's one on pollution in China, another on price controls in Zimbawe. Even students are sharing Youtube clips in class during the Discovery and Share segnment in class.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Week 8 - The Library Thing
Checked out the library website.
Here's my library :)
This is a free website where you can catalog up to 200 books (just key in the title, if you know exactly what it is, or you can input a keyword and do a serach). It's lie your personal library - complete with displays of book covers. You can also give the book a rating, and write a review if you wish. Perhaps before purchasing a book, you can go into the website, and see what others have to say about it (do a book review or post a message). If it's interesting or useful, etc. Also, with a system of tags, you can locate books of the same variety, if you are searching for a particular topic, say "parenting" or "children". You can see who's reading the same sort of books you have tagged and possibly connect with them. (I have just clicked on this tab - add a friend, and well, email has been auto sent out to someone who also used an ADHD tag).
Good website for authors to connect with their readers and for publishers to distribute free copies of new books and get readers to review them.
I have added 4 books to my library and created a widget to showcase them in my blog. Captain Underpants is a good read if you are in a mood for comics and need to destress, hi-action and the kind of stuff which would turn you right back to a kid.
Here's my library :)
This is a free website where you can catalog up to 200 books (just key in the title, if you know exactly what it is, or you can input a keyword and do a serach). It's lie your personal library - complete with displays of book covers. You can also give the book a rating, and write a review if you wish. Perhaps before purchasing a book, you can go into the website, and see what others have to say about it (do a book review or post a message). If it's interesting or useful, etc. Also, with a system of tags, you can locate books of the same variety, if you are searching for a particular topic, say "parenting" or "children". You can see who's reading the same sort of books you have tagged and possibly connect with them. (I have just clicked on this tab - add a friend, and well, email has been auto sent out to someone who also used an ADHD tag).
Good website for authors to connect with their readers and for publishers to distribute free copies of new books and get readers to review them.
I have added 4 books to my library and created a widget to showcase them in my blog. Captain Underpants is a good read if you are in a mood for comics and need to destress, hi-action and the kind of stuff which would turn you right back to a kid.
Week No. 8 - online productivity tools
Did a fair bit of exploring of Google Docs today.
This is a really fantastic tool - you can edit your documents (word docs, spreadsheets or slides) anywhere, anytime and the documents are stored online. A very powerful tool for collaboration. There's no need for copies of email flying all over the shop with everyone not knowing which the latest version is. And yes, it is another free web tool by Google.
Here's a little powerpoint presentation I have created using Google Docs. In it I have listed down all the interesting features of Google Docs. It's really easy to do - after you have created your presentation, one click on the "publish" button and voila! - the URL willbe created. You can then just cut and paste the link here in your blog to publish it.
Managed to do a little e-chat(yet another useful feature in Google Docs) while running through the presentation online with hubby :) Tested out the "Start presentation" button and then the "Take control of presentation" - you can view your document online with other people whom you have invited as collaborators and then chat with them like you are discussing work online and make the necessary amendments.
I like this tool :) Definitely a great idea for students to know how to use this tool for projects.
This is a really fantastic tool - you can edit your documents (word docs, spreadsheets or slides) anywhere, anytime and the documents are stored online. A very powerful tool for collaboration. There's no need for copies of email flying all over the shop with everyone not knowing which the latest version is. And yes, it is another free web tool by Google.
Here's a little powerpoint presentation I have created using Google Docs. In it I have listed down all the interesting features of Google Docs. It's really easy to do - after you have created your presentation, one click on the "publish" button and voila! - the URL willbe created. You can then just cut and paste the link here in your blog to publish it.
Managed to do a little e-chat(yet another useful feature in Google Docs) while running through the presentation online with hubby :) Tested out the "Start presentation" button and then the "Take control of presentation" - you can view your document online with other people whom you have invited as collaborators and then chat with them like you are discussing work online and make the necessary amendments.
I like this tool :) Definitely a great idea for students to know how to use this tool for projects.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Week no. 7 - still on Wikis (Fun in the sandbox)
Been a hectic week this week; what with going through test questions, e-learning week questions, questions for the tutorial! Plus lectures for this week and Open House duty! Am I glad this is the weekend...phew!
Did some exploring of two free wiki websites; Wikis do seem really easy to use...
Here are two of them that I sort of looked at (check out the videos which show you step-by-step how to make use of the features in Wiki.
http://www.wikispaces.com
http://www.wetpaint.com
This really does level the playing field - there's no more need for HTML or any special language or programming to do web pages anymore :)
Ah yes, had fun composing some stuff and adding a para to the Dog and Cat story in the Wiki sandbox of Classroom Learning 2.0. Found it pretty hard to read and make connections to the stuff in there as it must have been edited so many times, and hmm, where's the story really going?? It's hard to tell. Maybe that's one difficulty with Wikis, anyone can edit it, and if you don't agree, you can re-edit it over and over again.
I guess that's how students should look at each other's write-up in a project, everyone should provide inputs to making a report better. In the end, the report has to reflect some kind of consensus aomong all team members. Just got to be careful that too many hands do not spoil the broth.
Did some exploring of two free wiki websites; Wikis do seem really easy to use...
Here are two of them that I sort of looked at (check out the videos which show you step-by-step how to make use of the features in Wiki.
http://www.wikispaces.com
http://www.wetpaint.com
This really does level the playing field - there's no more need for HTML or any special language or programming to do web pages anymore :)
Ah yes, had fun composing some stuff and adding a para to the Dog and Cat story in the Wiki sandbox of Classroom Learning 2.0. Found it pretty hard to read and make connections to the stuff in there as it must have been edited so many times, and hmm, where's the story really going?? It's hard to tell. Maybe that's one difficulty with Wikis, anyone can edit it, and if you don't agree, you can re-edit it over and over again.
I guess that's how students should look at each other's write-up in a project, everyone should provide inputs to making a report better. In the end, the report has to reflect some kind of consensus aomong all team members. Just got to be careful that too many hands do not spoil the broth.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Week No.7 - Wikis
Wikis seem like a good e-platform to provide students with space to do their project work. Students can post their preliminary research on the assignment topic so that tutors can provide feedback on it before they actually plunge into a project topic. And as they deepen their research and find out more about a topic, they can add on, delete, edit their report as they go along. This is a really useful tool to increase the collaboration element amongst students. Although everyone may take charge of researching on a sub-topic, the Wiki allows for all members to see what each other has contributed and easily edit it if necessary. Of course, all group members must be willing to give up a little control over the parts that they have written, so as to improve the overall quality of their project work. With the Wiki, everyone knows that what's posted on the wiki is the latest version of the report. No more need to name and rename your document, v1,v2,v3 etc!
Links can be added too, to provide depth to the students' research efforts. Useful videos or images can be embedded too. This is certainly more interesting and interactive than the usual hard copy reports than we have been receiving.
We are toying with the idea of starting a wiki for students to do their MIEC assignment next semester. Once students have selected suitable news articles to do their analysis, we can get them to post their articles and a draft outlining the key concepts they wish to discuss on the Wiki. Tutors can then go see if the article is appropriate before the students do the actual report. (Presently the students have to meet with us face to face to show us their articles and draft, and it's not always easy to find a common time to do this) The report can be done via the Wiki, and tutors would be able to monitor the progress of students in their assignment. If students really go off track in their analysis, tutors can provide some guidance by say, asking some questions to point students in the right direction.
Found some useful tips on Wikis from one of the resources provided in Classroom Learning 2.0. Check this out:
http://westwood.wikispaces.com/Wiki+Hall+of+Fame
I am wondering if we could restrict the viewing of a particular Wiki on Mel to just the group members. This will help deter copying or replicating of ideas across various groups.
Links can be added too, to provide depth to the students' research efforts. Useful videos or images can be embedded too. This is certainly more interesting and interactive than the usual hard copy reports than we have been receiving.
We are toying with the idea of starting a wiki for students to do their MIEC assignment next semester. Once students have selected suitable news articles to do their analysis, we can get them to post their articles and a draft outlining the key concepts they wish to discuss on the Wiki. Tutors can then go see if the article is appropriate before the students do the actual report. (Presently the students have to meet with us face to face to show us their articles and draft, and it's not always easy to find a common time to do this) The report can be done via the Wiki, and tutors would be able to monitor the progress of students in their assignment. If students really go off track in their analysis, tutors can provide some guidance by say, asking some questions to point students in the right direction.
Found some useful tips on Wikis from one of the resources provided in Classroom Learning 2.0. Check this out:
http://westwood.wikispaces.com/Wiki+Hall+of+Fame
I am wondering if we could restrict the viewing of a particular Wiki on Mel to just the group members. This will help deter copying or replicating of ideas across various groups.
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