Give a review of the tool you explored - what worked, what didn't work, how might it be used in your personal or professional life?
I spent some time in Zoho Show. It seems to be a very comprehensive online document sharing suite along the lines of Google Docs. It seems to be limited to Microsoft Office and Open Office software in terms of uploading and sharing documents previously created. If you do not use those applications or have the ability to learn other applications, Zoho provides templates for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, calendars, email. I played with the presentations part of the suite and it offered a very similar experience to that of Powerpoint or Keynote (Mac). Zoho is a tool that attempts to bring a one stop shopping experience to software applications and users being able to share their work seamlessly. The drawback is two-fold....you first need to populate your users with people who all subscribe to Zoho and also there is a cost factor. I see this as an excellent tool for a small business starting out or expanding. In my particular situation, I don't see the added benefits of the service.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thing 16
How might you use this tool in your personal and professional life? Think of ways to use this tool with colleagues -- what benefits or challenges do you see?
I like the idea of creating community documents that can be edited by a group people working towards a common goal. It makes a lot of sense as I have often fell victim to the whole gathering several edits and trying to bring it all together. It is often a frustrating experience can often times end up with mistakes. I could absolutely see my teams uploading curriculum maps, pacing guides, departmental policies, etc. Really any "living document" would be an excellent choice to share with others. I uploaded my football playback to share with the coaching staff I work with. We are constantly updating and tweaking and I am the keeper of the file. I find myself having to do all the clean-up and editing for a group of 6 coaches. The only challenge is to get everyone to create a gmail account. On our coaching staff of 6 it will not be a big deal, but a teaching staff of 40 is a task. Factor into district policy the discouragement of personal email accounts on the machines and it hits a dead end in my building. I wonder if there is something our tech department could come up with to allow access but not open up the entire email concern. Also the space limits Google has would at some point come into play. This is an awesome tool with all kinds of potential, but there are many hoops to jump through in my district.
I like the idea of creating community documents that can be edited by a group people working towards a common goal. It makes a lot of sense as I have often fell victim to the whole gathering several edits and trying to bring it all together. It is often a frustrating experience can often times end up with mistakes. I could absolutely see my teams uploading curriculum maps, pacing guides, departmental policies, etc. Really any "living document" would be an excellent choice to share with others. I uploaded my football playback to share with the coaching staff I work with. We are constantly updating and tweaking and I am the keeper of the file. I find myself having to do all the clean-up and editing for a group of 6 coaches. The only challenge is to get everyone to create a gmail account. On our coaching staff of 6 it will not be a big deal, but a teaching staff of 40 is a task. Factor into district policy the discouragement of personal email accounts on the machines and it hits a dead end in my building. I wonder if there is something our tech department could come up with to allow access but not open up the entire email concern. Also the space limits Google has would at some point come into play. This is an awesome tool with all kinds of potential, but there are many hoops to jump through in my district.
Thing 15
Is RSS becoming easier to understand? Do you recognize new benefits of using this tool? Do you remember to check your feeds regularly? Has it become a habit (or obsession!) yet?
I absolutely love RSS and I would say I fall on the obsession side. What I am really enjoying is that I discovered I can subscribe to feeds right through my mail server on my Mac. So I have all me feeds set up in folders right in my email account. I have a one stop shopping experience with my work email, personal email and all of my RSS feeds in the same place. It is one less place to have to go to check things and I now have added my Delicious feed as well. Great stuff!
I absolutely love RSS and I would say I fall on the obsession side. What I am really enjoying is that I discovered I can subscribe to feeds right through my mail server on my Mac. So I have all me feeds set up in folders right in my email account. I have a one stop shopping experience with my work email, personal email and all of my RSS feeds in the same place. It is one less place to have to go to check things and I now have added my Delicious feed as well. Great stuff!
Thing 14
Include your Delicious username in this blog post so that others can view the bookmarks that you have chosen to share. Then reflect on how you think social bookmarking can be used in your work. Does Delicious seem to be a tool that can enhance your productivity?
My Delicious username is mdawsongreen. I believe social bookmarking is an excellent tool to share resources of common interest. I can see my departmental staffs creating smaller networks by content area. It would be well worth the time to sit down and create a common group of tagging terms to share the resources found. I could then us continue to expand the network to reach our entire staff through common tagging procedures. It would very easy for myself and our Media Specialist to share interesting resources as well. I found this to be a really simple way to build a network of learners that can can share their research with others in a very easy fashion. I also liked the ability to import all my bookmarks from home and work into one place. The ability to mark as private was also very appealing. I am going to discuss with my Media Specialist how we can develop a training session for my staff so we can bring this toll to APMS.
My Delicious username is mdawsongreen. I believe social bookmarking is an excellent tool to share resources of common interest. I can see my departmental staffs creating smaller networks by content area. It would be well worth the time to sit down and create a common group of tagging terms to share the resources found. I could then us continue to expand the network to reach our entire staff through common tagging procedures. It would very easy for myself and our Media Specialist to share interesting resources as well. I found this to be a really simple way to build a network of learners that can can share their research with others in a very easy fashion. I also liked the ability to import all my bookmarks from home and work into one place. The ability to mark as private was also very appealing. I am going to discuss with my Media Specialist how we can develop a training session for my staff so we can bring this toll to APMS.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Thing 13
Share your thoughts about tagging. Is tagging a useful way to organize your digital resources and why? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages? What is important to think about before assigning tags to bookmarks or other Internet content?
I love the possibilities this creates for teachers to share their web research. I think tagging is a great tool to help organize the infinite amount of data available on the internet. I could really relate to the mess described in bookmarking. I have hundreds of sites bookmarked at school and it is more trouble to sort through them than it is to do a google search and find potential resources. I can see how tagging will help organize my resources and allow me quick access to places I have already been. The obvious advantage is organizing a lot of information so it can be quickly accessed and shared with others. The amount of research my staff does on their own could potentially be shared by the entire department or entire staff. I also love that is web based and you are not confined to the computer you are working on. I have found that to be most frustrating while working at home. The disadvantages in my mind is it is another place or site you need to go to update and or organize. I also see coming up with a "common language" to tag items as being critical. I look forward to learning more about this. I think if you can overcome a few of these obstacles, the potential for building an active community is there. Finally, the user must always keep in mind that your tags are public so appropriateness should be considered while tagging your information.
I love the possibilities this creates for teachers to share their web research. I think tagging is a great tool to help organize the infinite amount of data available on the internet. I could really relate to the mess described in bookmarking. I have hundreds of sites bookmarked at school and it is more trouble to sort through them than it is to do a google search and find potential resources. I can see how tagging will help organize my resources and allow me quick access to places I have already been. The obvious advantage is organizing a lot of information so it can be quickly accessed and shared with others. The amount of research my staff does on their own could potentially be shared by the entire department or entire staff. I also love that is web based and you are not confined to the computer you are working on. I have found that to be most frustrating while working at home. The disadvantages in my mind is it is another place or site you need to go to update and or organize. I also see coming up with a "common language" to tag items as being critical. I look forward to learning more about this. I think if you can overcome a few of these obstacles, the potential for building an active community is there. Finally, the user must always keep in mind that your tags are public so appropriateness should be considered while tagging your information.
Thing 12
Write about your Twitter experience and be sure to include your Twitter username so others can see and follow you. What do you see as the comparative strengths and weaknesses of microblogging? Do you love it, hate it, or are you undecided? Is there a place for Twitter in your school or district?
I think Twitter is a very simple yet powerful tool. I love the 140 characters or less concept to keep things brief. I added Twitter as a gadget to my blog so it will be easy to find. I am hoping to build this blog page to replace my weekly bulletin that goes out to staff and community.
The strengths in my mind is how quickly you can send out messages on topics of interest. In contrast, due to space limitations, you might be sending out "teasers" that will require your followers to either request more information from you or go on a search for the information to complete the picture. I know I often receive tweets from Jim Ballard (MASSP) via email and I like the fact he can send us legislative updates in real time from Lansing. I am not sure where Twitter will fit into my whole communication piece yet. I guess that makes me undecided. One of the great challenges is sorting through all the great tools out there and figuring out what works best for you. I believe there is a place for Twitter in my school. I am just not sure what it will look like just yet.
I think Twitter is a very simple yet powerful tool. I love the 140 characters or less concept to keep things brief. I added Twitter as a gadget to my blog so it will be easy to find. I am hoping to build this blog page to replace my weekly bulletin that goes out to staff and community.
The strengths in my mind is how quickly you can send out messages on topics of interest. In contrast, due to space limitations, you might be sending out "teasers" that will require your followers to either request more information from you or go on a search for the information to complete the picture. I know I often receive tweets from Jim Ballard (MASSP) via email and I like the fact he can send us legislative updates in real time from Lansing. I am not sure where Twitter will fit into my whole communication piece yet. I guess that makes me undecided. One of the great challenges is sorting through all the great tools out there and figuring out what works best for you. I believe there is a place for Twitter in my school. I am just not sure what it will look like just yet.
Thing 11
Review the widget you selected. Are you getting comfortable with embedding code? Do you belong to other online communities? Are relationships formed online as meaningful as face-to-face relationships? Why do you think MySpace and other social networking sites are so popular with kids today? Have you formed a professional learning network -- your online contacts that contribute to your professional learning?
I selected a survey poll and asked a question we are currently researching at my school. I have used zoomerang in the past so I had some familiarity in this area. I did struggle at first with getting the widget to embed. I think it was more in creating the poll I wanted to use, rather than the embedding process itself. I use Facebook on a daily basis, but I don't find myself building meaningful relationships through the network. That is probably due to the way I use the network which is mostly to post family pictures and keep in touch with old fiends who now live out of town. I don't know if I could build a relationship from scratch using this tool. I think kids like social networks because they can interact with many friends at the same time, while playing games, doing homework, sharing pictures, etc. I think it allows them to stay connected to one another after the school day is over. I know these are some of the reasons my two kids enjoy Facebook. I have not formed a professional learning network, but I do participate in MASSP's network. I do see the benefit and I can see myself starting one in the future for my building.
I selected a survey poll and asked a question we are currently researching at my school. I have used zoomerang in the past so I had some familiarity in this area. I did struggle at first with getting the widget to embed. I think it was more in creating the poll I wanted to use, rather than the embedding process itself. I use Facebook on a daily basis, but I don't find myself building meaningful relationships through the network. That is probably due to the way I use the network which is mostly to post family pictures and keep in touch with old fiends who now live out of town. I don't know if I could build a relationship from scratch using this tool. I think kids like social networks because they can interact with many friends at the same time, while playing games, doing homework, sharing pictures, etc. I think it allows them to stay connected to one another after the school day is over. I know these are some of the reasons my two kids enjoy Facebook. I have not formed a professional learning network, but I do participate in MASSP's network. I do see the benefit and I can see myself starting one in the future for my building.
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