Tools in Tandem: Building Lesson Context through Web 2.0 Combinations

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Tools in Tandem Building Lesson Context through
Web 2.0 Combinations
Sean CordesAssistant ProfessorInstruction
Services CoordinatorWestern Illinois University
Libraries
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The Watch
Whats ahead and why?
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The Watch - In Education

• For 2008, the watchwords are convenience,
  collaboration, and convergence, as more and more
  fundamental applications find a home on the
  Web--away from the desktop--spawning the next
  generation of mobile devices and potential new
  approaches to the use of more traditional
  computing tools.
• THE Journal-http//www.thejournal.com/articles/218
  39
• Dave Nagel - Executive editor for 1105 Media's
  educational technology online
• publications and electronic newsletters.

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The Watch In Libraries

• From the American Library Association to social
  software news aggregation, it's clear the trend
  toward utilizing "Web 2.0" technologies for
  information and communication in the 21st century
  is growing stronger.
• ALA TechSource-http//www.techsource.ala.org/ltr/w
  eb-20-libraries-part
• 2-trends-and-technologies.html
• Michael Stephens, Ph.D - Assistant professor at
  the Dominican
• University Graduate School of Library and
  Information Science in River
• Forest, Illinois.

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Why now? Jobs a par for the course.
America's 21st Century workforce needs to adjust
to the changes of the 21st Century economy. These
changes include a fundamental transformation for
all industries and increasingly require higher
skill sets and higher education. JR Irwin
Community Infomatics Consulting http//www.jirwinc
onsulting.com/documents.htm
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Why now? Jobs a par for the course.
Working in the 21st Century, Office of
Publications and Special Studies, U.S.
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Gen Why?

• Question Dont you find it ironic that students
  of our generation are having so much trouble with
  this software?
• Answer Not really, Working
• with technology is a matter of
• trial and error, consequence and
• repetition!

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The good, bad, and not so pretty

• The Good Stuff
• Cost Effective
• Engagement
• Relevance
• Interactive

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The good, bad, and not so pretty

• The Catch?
• Requires extra instruction
• Requires some skills
• Assessment issues
• Security constraints
• The surprise factor

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The Catch-Its up to you!
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Mixing it up Current Tools

• Course Web Site
• BlackBoardWordPress
• www.gh301.wordpress.com
• Personal Intro Pages
• http//www.netvibes.com
• Images, Music, and Video
• http//animoto.com/
• http//www.flickr.com/
• Collaborative Writing and Bib Tools
• http//docs.google.com/
• http//www.refworks.com
• Data Sets and Visualization
• http//tinyurl.com/cwdxev
• http//tinyurl.com/clzjn9

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Sometimes the Nets not enough

• Information work moves from tool to tool, but not
  all of these are digital, success comes from the
  ability to move from one to the other, whether
  analog or digital, depending on availability and
  the task at hand.
• Mind Map-
• Analog to Digital

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Mixing it up-Student Thoughts

• The more difficult parts of the assignment came
  when I had to use the less intuitive sites of
  flickr and wordpress. It took some time to
  figure out how to arrange an album in flickr. It
  was also a little confusing navigating wordpress
  to get the finalized video posted into the videos
  section.
• The only thing that was difficult was remembering
  all of my usernames and passwords for all the new
  accounts that I signed up for.
• This homework assignment was quite different from
  other homework assignments Ive had I actually
  had fun while doing this project. I have
  actually used Animoto to make other videos of my
  own.
• I struggled quite a bit having all 12 pictures
  show up in my video. Out of frustration would try
  to produce the same video over and over but the
  same result would happen. I finally realized that
  how many images show up in a video is related to
  how fast of a pace the music is going. Also
  waiting until the last minute didnt necessarily
  work out well for me.
• One difficultly I had was uploading my song to
  the video. I wasnt sure how to convert the song
  from iTunes onto the video, but with the help of
  a friend I was able to add it to my song nicely.
  
• The only part I would eliminate if I had the
  choice, was the paper I am writing to summarize
  the project.

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Student Reflections

• Visual Literacy
• And Diversity
• I believe that people do decode what we wear
  differently than what we mean by wearing them.
  People have a tendency to stereotype people by
  the kind of clothing they wear and by labeling
  them to have a certain character by their certain
  clothing style.
• And Media Marketing
• I have realized that I am a slave to visual
  literacy when I am shopping. Coming home from
  walmart, I noticed that everything I bought had
  pictures of delicious things on them. The
  packages used images to sell their product as the
  best, and I bought all the more expensive,
  colorful, and image rich packages, as opposed to
  the greater value packages that tend to be dull
  and lacking in imagery.

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Literacy and The Text

• Text is something that contains information, so
  it does not necessarily have to have written or
  typed words to convey a message. i believe that
  being able to read is not going to be enough to
  be literate in our constantly technologically
  advancing world. People must be able to find the
  message in all kinds of media, regardless of the
  conveyance.
• Before talking this class I would have said to be
  literate was to know how to read and write. But
  my perception has changed, it also involves
  literacy of technology. Text is everything its
  who we are and how we shape the world. Also, one
  has to have an open mind and be able to change or
  further educate themselves to keep up with the
  ever changing definition of literate. Because our
  definition of literacy isnt the same as it was
  for our parents or grandparents.

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Lessons and lessons learned

• Learn what you want them to learn
• Tell them what you want them to learn
• Expect the unexpected
• The net gen student, yes and not so much
• (The ongoing) Digital Divide
• Old Skool (Still cool)
• Watch, listen, and learn
• Pillars start with a grain of salt

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Resources - Tools

• GENERAL LISTS
• Go2Web20.nethttp//www.go2web20.net/
• Larry Ferlazzos Best Web 2.0 Apps for
  Educatorshttp//larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/0
  9/11/the-best-web-20-applications-for-education-20
  08/
• Kathy Schrocks Guide for Educators
• http//school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide
  /edtools.html

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Resources - Tools

• VIDEO/PHOTOS/GRAPHICS
• Animotohttp//animoto.com/
• Jump Cuthttp//www.jumpcut.com/
• Jinghttp//www.jingproject.com/
• Picnikhttp//www.picnik.com/
• LunaPichttp//www.lunapic.com/editor/
• Flickrhttp//www.flickr.com/
• PhotoBuckethttp//photobucket.com/

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Resources - Tools

• WORD PROCESSING / TEXT / WIKIS
• Tools for writing collabrating and sharing text
  and other media.
• Google Products - http//www.google.com/intl/en/op
  tions/
• PBWiki for Libraries - http//pbwiki.com/academic-
  library.wiki
• Writeboard - http//writeboard.com/

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Resources - Tools

• VIRTUAL OFFICES
• In addition to Goggle Docs there are a host of
  free or low cost online group work spaces that
  let team members collaborate, communicate and
  organize work.
• 37Signals.com's Basecamp - http//37signals.com/
• Yugma Web conferencing- https//www.yugma.com/
• TeamWork - http//www.teamworklive.com/TeamWork.ht
  m
• ProjectSpaces - http//www.forumone.com/section/se
  rvices/projectspaces/
• TeamworkLive - http//www.teamworklive.com/TeamWor
  k.htm
• Zoho Virtual Office - http//zoho.com/
• SPresent - online flash presentations -
  http//www.spresent.com/v2/

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Resources-Tools

• DATA VISUALIZATION
• Visual Thesaurus - See connection an orgins of
  wordshttp//www.visualthesaurus.com/
• Amazatype- Visual Amazon book searchhttp//amazty
  pe.tha.jp/
• Many Eyes-Create and analyze data sets on many
  topicshttp//manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes
  /
• Digg Labs-An array of ways to visualize Digg news
  stories-http//labs.digg.com/
• KartOO Visual search engine-Visualize web
  searches http//www.kartoo.com/

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Royalty Free Images

• Finding free access to media can be difficult,
  here are some places to get free images to
  enhance projects.
• BurningWell free public domain images and photos
• Free Foto
• Free Large Photos.com - Free if you note the
  source
• Gimp Savvy
• Image After -21000 free images and textures
• LogoDesignWeb Public domain stock photos
• National Park Service (NPS)-Historic photo
  collection
• NOAA Photo Library - stunning ocean exploration,
  coral reef, polar regions photographs, and more.
• New York Public Library (NYPL) digital gallery
• Open Photo photo community with creative commons
  licensing
• Public Domain Photos.com free photos and clip
  art
• Public Domain Pictures
• StockVault

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Royalty Free Music

• Like with images, finding free music for
  projects can be difficult, even more so because
  unlike photos or video, many do not have the
  tools or skill to create it. These sites can
  help.
• Royalty Free Music.comhttp//www.royaltyfreemusic
  .com/free-music-resources.html
• Incompetech
• http//incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/
• Music Bakeryhttp//musicbakery.com/
• Partners in Rhymehttp//www.partnersinrhyme.com/
• NeoSoundshttp//www.neosounds.com/