part two on line storage

Posted on July 3rd, 2009 by
  • Which of the online Productivity tools you like the best and why

I use googledocs and zoho. They all seem to do much the same thing. I like google docs because I have one password for all google things (email, maps, docs etc.) I don’t see the need for a bunch of these. I also suspect that google docs is the biggest and therefore the least likely to disappear.

  • Did you find anything superior in these online productivity tools over the tools (applications i.e. Office 2003 or 2007) on your computer?

Not really superior. You can, for example, make a PowerPoint on each – but they don’t seem to move well from one application to the other.

  • Would you be willing to give up Microsoft Office for one of these tools? Why or why not?

Not really. I am more used to the MS Office applications and therefore find them easier to use.

  • Do you think schools and businesses should abandon installed versions of these productivity tools for the online version?

NO – (and I don’t think they will either) you can’t trust that they will be there AND no matter what they promise, you don’t know who can get into them and what they can do with them. You don’t really need six pays to make PowerPoint.

  • If the cost of the installed productivity tools were under $100 would you choose to use these free tools over the installed tools?

People like “free” . . . I think most of the time that companies have tried to offer such things for a fee – even a small one – they lose a lot of business. I think google and the rest will remain free. MS Office is expensive – but people either get it as a bundle in a new computer or use it at work. If I had to BUY Office for $600 (or what ever it was) I WOULD use the FREE online programs instead.

  • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.

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on line storage sites

Posted on July 3rd, 2009 by

The Assignment:

  • Where applicable, create accounts on:
    • Microsoft Skydrive
    • Yahoo Briefcase
    • Google Docs
    • ZohoWrite
    • Think Free
  • Where applicable, upload 5 files from your computer to the online storage sites.
  • Where applicable, create documents on the above tools. If the tool only supports word processing, then word process. If the tool supports spreadsheets and presentations, then create those types of files, too. Do not just import something into these tools; I want you to get a true feel for creating content within these tools. What you create is up to you; however, you do need to create your own content. Also be certain to test the ability to format the content within these tools.
  • Write a blog post describing:
    • If you see value in these online storage sites and why you would or would not use them.
    • If you are willing to give up your thumb drive for online storage.
    • If you feel schools should stop hosting student and employee files on their own system and have students and employees use these types of online storage systems.
    • Do you see any area for concern with students posting their files to these online storage tools?
    • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.
  • Write a second post describing:
    • Which of the online Productivity tools you like the best and why.
    • Did you find anything superior in these online productivity tools over the tools (applications i.e. Office 2003 or 2007) on your computer?
    • Would you be willing to give up Microsoft Office for one of these tools? Why or why not?
    • Do you think schools and businesses should abandon installed versions of these productivity tools for the online version?
    • If the cost of the installed productivity tools were under $100 would you choose to use these free tools over the installed tools?
    • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.
  • If you see value in these online storage sites and why you would or would not use them.

Yes I see the value and I do use them (google docs and zoho). The benefit is that they are easy and as long as you have inter net connection (and their servers work) you can get to them.

  • If you are willing to give up your thumb drive for online storage.

Not really; I don’t trust any storage completely. When I’m giving a presentation someplace I often have everyone on a thumb drive AND everything on googledocs . . . AND everything on my own website . . . and STILL you’ll get to the site and they have MACs instead of PCs or their wireless is down etc. etc. I try to cover ALL the bets.

  • If you feel schools should stop hosting student and employee files on their own system and have students and employees use these types of online storage systems.

NO, because you can’t be sure they will stay there. They are businesses and I’m sure the small print you read when you sign up, says they can stop service at any time. I learned about Zoho by watching my students use it to create collaborative assignments. They can get to these sites and I wouldn’t trust these sites to store everything we might need.

  • Do you see any area for concern with students posting their files to these online storage tools?

Not as much as some other Web2.0 places because here you can limit who gets into the documents. Students can sign up and share only within students in the class or their group etc. that is not to say that they can’t get into something bad if they want to, but I think it is reasonably secure.

  • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.

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Discussion Forums

Posted on June 30th, 2009 by
  • Write a blog post describing:
    • What you discovered while searching for discussion forums.
    • Why you think discussion forums could be a concern in our classrooms.
    • Why you think discussion forums could be valuable in our classrooms.
    • Do you think the positive aspects of discussion forums outweigh the negative? Why or why not?
    • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.

    Discussion forms are one of the best things in technology. They are free, you can join as many as you want, participate as you wish, and connect with people from all over the world with similar interests. I’ve been on many of these over the years. The best thing is that you instantly connect with people of similar interests.

  • A case in point: in 2000 AD there was going to be a re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings in England and people from all over the world were on many forums for a couple of years before the event discussing ever aspect of the huge re-enactment. I don’t think it could have been done in any other way. to be able to write a message and instantly send it to only those interested (like a forum on authentic textiles used by Vikings!) and get replies – that’s amazing. I work with some non-profit educational organizations and some of them could NOT continue without such forums (which can be closed so only those in the group, or leading the group etc. can join.
  • Why you think discussion forums could be a concern in our classrooms.
  • Why you think discussion forums could be valuable in our classrooms.

Well, you would have to control the forum – which you can do. I have created forums and set them up where no one can post without approval, and no one can be in the group unless invited. The danger is that in some “forums” it is a free-for-all and some people like to “flame” others just to get trouble started. You need a good moderator who is willing to toss people off the list if need be. These could be useful in school, if controlled and directed for educational purposes.

  • Do you think the positive aspects of discussion forums outweigh the negative? Why or why not?
  • YES, the positive way out weighs the negative – but like so many of these things . . . you have to be careful. Most forums, children should NOT be on; (some adults shouldn’t be on either! ;) These forums are great for sharing information but like every other new technology people immediately find ways to use it to lie, cheat and steal from others. It is sort of like the Wild West and people should be careful, but many forums are VERY useful and very polite.

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Digg and Yahoo Buzz

Posted on June 30th, 2009 by

The Assignment:

  • Create a Digg account.
  • Create an account on Yahoo Buzz.
  • Follow the Digg and Yahoo Buzz sites for a minimum of one week, two would be better. In addition to Digg and Buzz, continue following the blogs you have been reading since the beginning of the class. During this time period you need to Digg or Buzz five blog posts or news articles. If the story or post does not have a Digg or Buzz link, you may submit the story or post to the Digg and Buzz sites.
  • Create a blog post describing:
    • Which of the two tools you like best and why.
    • Why you will or will not continue to use Digg and/or Buzz.
    • How these tools could be used in your classroom with students.
    • If you see social implications (good or bad) to these types of tools.
    • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.


Submit the address of your blog post as part of this assignment by clicking the “Edit my submission” button below.

Total Points = 25

Which of the two tools you like best and why.

I have created accounts in both Digg and Buzz. So far I think I like Digg better but I will have to give it some time. The one issues with these (as you mention) is that each time you find another application you have a choice to switch to it or stay with something you are familiar with. I consider the time it takes to figure out the nuances of a new application and what it really offers me that is that different. It has to offer a LOT that is significantly better for me to switch. It takes too long to get used to one.

One positive thing about YahooBuzz is that you don’t need a new password (if you have a yahoo account) however, it appears that Digg lets you filter out the news you want (at least I have not found a way yet to do this on Buzz.)

I am not that interested in “celebrity news” for example, and would happily dump all of it. This week might be the wrong week to do these but when you ask people to vote on what is important . . . you get a lot about Michael Jackson dying. It is sad, but so was much of his life, in my view, and I don’t really see that it is as important as war, the economy, the environment and many other issues (N. Korea threatening to shoot down Japanese aircraft and fire missiles toward Hawaii!).

Why you will or will not continue to use Digg and/or Buzz.

I think I will continue to use Digg.

On Buzz the entire front page is Billy Mays dying, Michael Jackson, sports, and who is the sexiest woman. Give me a break. This indicates the strength and weakness of “democracy” in that we all can vote on “what is important” however, the result is that you get a lot of emotional chatter . . . instead of what might be more important. But, it gives people what they want. So far, I want Digg because I have more control over weeding out the chatter.

If you see social implications (good or bad) to these types of tools.

I see a big issue here: where does our news come from?

In the past there were large newspapers (and later radio and TV) who spent money looking for news. They hired reporters and investigated stories. In the early days (until 1980s) the news divisions of major TV networks were NOT expected to turn a profit. They were considered “public trust” and necessary for a society – a free society – to function.

Not so today. Today – we sell the “news” – networks expect “news” (and lots of what I see on these “news” TV shows are not news at all in my view) to make money, sell products, bring in viewers.

The quickest way to bring in viewers is to tell them what they want to hear; don’t challenge them to think, but simply parrot back to them simple, clear emotional messages – with little, or NO analysis (which can be complicated and requires reason and consideration).

Worse yet, as we have more and more “news” flying about the inter-net and more and more ways to get the news (Digg and all the others) the question is WHO is creating this news? Digg doesn’t have reporters, Yahoo news doesn’t, google doesn’t . . . the newspapers that used to are going out of business (partially because they can’t make a profit giving away the news to all these other outlets).

Many TV “news” programs do NO investigation of anything – they simply take what others have given them and put their own spin on the story. So, it is great that I can find thousands of news stories a day on any topic imaginable – but – without journalists who actually ask tough questions, without someone investing money and taking the time it takes to develop a story, without someone trying to objectively get to the Truly, without complicated analysis – what we are getting is more and more. . . entertainment.

It is pretty scary to me that while we have the fastest and most democratic technology for dissemination of the news, we are dismantling the very structure that provides us with more than celebrity, sports, sensation, sex, hawking of products and such. Now, on the other hand, I go to Twitter and I can see videos right from the streets of Iran! In seconds they are up on You Tube and the Iranian government can’t stop it. That is encouraging – but someone needs to develop a media model that creates an income stream from actual, in depth, investigation of stories. Perhaps on line subscriptions will have to be the answer. So far people don’t want to “pay for news” however, and advertising isn’t covering it.

(Sorry if that got to preachy but I think the issue is a major one.)

If you see social implications (good or bad) to these types of tools.

It is good in that people can get the news they want. I’m all for freedom and democracy and this is an example – however – it is not all good, in my view. With these services I can tailor the news to only be the news I want to hear, or the source, or biases I am comfortable with. Much of the objectivity is gone when I only get my news from a specific political, social etc. forum.

On the other hand, this opens up more resources than people have had in the past so maybe the end result is more information in general and perhaps, more exposure to other ideas. But if there are only a few sources for news (and everyone else just “copies and pastes” what they get from these, then even if you have 500 “sources of news” you are still only hearing one or two points of view. The great thing is that if you look for them, you can find alternative news as well.

I think they are great – but like any great ideas, they contain new issues for society to deal with.

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Skype

Posted on June 30th, 2009 by

The Assignment:

  • Install Skype on your computer.
  • Create a Skype account.
  • Make the test call.
    If you do not have a friend, who uses Skype , and you can’t convince someone to try it, there is not much more you can do. You are, however, encouraged to find a friend who uses Skype and explore all the tools available.
  • Write a blog post describing:
    • How will you use Skype in your personal life?
    • Could Skype be used in your classroom? How?
    • Would the video aspect of Skype be useful in your classroom?
    • What concerns do you have with using Skype in your classroom?
    • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.

    I have seen a friend use Skype on the past. He is in the military and apparently it is used a lot there to call folks all over the world. It is a great idea if you need to call people all over the world! I don’t really have anyone to call (I’m trying to find my friend on Skype – he is at a military base in England).

  • I did sign up and downloaded the program. I made a test call.
  • How will you use Skype in your personal life?
  • Would the video aspect of Skype be useful in your classroom?
  • What concerns do you have with using Skype in your classroom?
  • I don’t think I’ll really use it in my personal life and I don’t see that it is going to be useful in the classroom – at least at this point; the cool thing is that if you know about something then – if you have a need for it in the future you can go back to it. That’s what I’ll do with Skype. As for concerns using it in the classroom I think you have the same issues with not knowing who students are going to contact with it. After I signed up for Skype I got a request from “sexygirl19″ to add her to my list. I suspect (I KNOW) that just a scam of some sort – but it indicates that students will be contacted in the same way. That could be an issue .

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Twitter

Posted on June 28th, 2009 by

The Assignment:

  • Create a Twitter account.
  • Follow 5 or more people on Twitter, including me, <#1.0#>, (and I will follow you in return). Note: The more people you follow, the more value you may see in Twitter.
  • Submit a minimum of one “Tweet” each day for 5 days. More is acceptable.
  • Write a blog post describing:
    • If you found the process of using Twitter each day fun or annoying.
    • Do you see any value in Twitter in an educational setting?
    • Does the fact students could user Twitter from their computer or cell phone cause you concern as an educator, or would you instead use the tool to your advantage in your classroom?
    • How would you explain Twitter to your family?
    • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.

Submit the address of your blog post as part of this assignment by clicking the “Edit my submission” button below.

Points = 45

If you found the process of using Twitter each day fun or annoying.

When I first heard of Twitter I could not understand why people did it. Now I don’t understand why some people do what they do on it but I see other applications for it. You can search Twitter and find information faster than what appears in the “news”; you can find links and connections to video and such from all over the world (Iran right now is a big thing on Twitter). I have read of police and emergency agencies considering that if they needed to communicate with lots of people (tornado coming, flood etc.) that they could use Twitter – along with other media. The ability to have thousands of people become millions in seconds is amazing. On the other hand, telling everyone that “I’m going to the store” seems a bit much to me. You never know what technology will do until you try it out. People often plan something to do a certain thing and find out later that it really does something else, or something in addition to, much better. The people who made Twitter (I saw interviewed) didn’t know where it was going and so far, they have not made a dime on it! They are getting it to grow and then probably, try to sell it . . . but for what and to whom?

How would you explain Twitter to your family?

Twitter is certainly an interesting idea and I’ve been using it for a few months. I have some friends on it – and my contact with them is more like “IM” or something between “IM” and email, but I found that Twitter is a good way to keep in contact with one of my sons. He is working on a movie script and is politically active and when he Twitter’s I keep in touch with what he is up to.

Do you see any value in Twitter in an educational setting?

The issue I see with Twitter in an educational setting is that you might find an educational purpose for it in the classroom but how could you stop students from playing with it, and not using it for the purpose the teacher had in mind? It is too easy for them ( and the rest of us too! ) to lose hours poking around on these things.

Does the fact students could user Twitter from their computer or cell phone cause you concern as an educator, or would you instead use the tool to your advantage in your classroom?

How would you keep them on task?

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Animoto Assignment

Posted on June 28th, 2009 by

I created an Animoto movie about the B&O RR Museum in Baltimore Maryland.
http://animoto.com/play/Yltt8bkskbR2qosKs3y71g

This is a very cool application.  It is easy to use and makes a video which is more interesting than slides.  The issues with it are that sometimes I want to stay longer on one slide than another and with a video it is cumbersome to do so.  But, it is very cool.  To get more than 30 secs you have to upgrade however.

One positive thing with Animoto is that you can’t search for other people’s videos so students can create but not be exposed to what other people have made.  The negative aspect is that it is very easy to drop your video on YouTube.  Maybe not such a good idea but many students do this all the time anyway.

tag
web2.0inpusd

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slideshare.net

Posted on June 28th, 2009 by
  • Create and post a PowerPoint on SlideShare.net. This PowerPoint should be a minimum of seven slides describing your favorite vacation site or your favorite subject in school and why it was your favorite subject.
  • Embed this SlideShare into your blog post.
  • Create a blog post describing:
    • How could Slideshare.net be integrated into your classroom?.
    • What is your opinion of posting a Slideshare with and without audio.
    • What types of project would you have your students create to post on Slideshare?
    • What concerns to you have as an educator with Slideshare?
    • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.
  • This is my slideshare project. I see students using slideshare for their own projects but I wonder about a few things:

  • http://www.slideshare.net/mhcady/mike-and-dena-go-to-paris
  • One is the photographs they might use he fact that you can search for other people’s powerpoints. I sus- who owns them, are they family photos?  Do you need parental permission to use them
  • Secondly: I suspect that since they can search for other peoples power points, that means they could find some things parents would not want them to.
  • For example: I searched  slideshare the world “sex” and found –

    “Condoms and sex toys – China”

  • I suspect that PowerPoint would not please some parents! So, I think I would use this resource to look for powerpoints  I want to use but I don’t think I would have students use it.

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social bookmarking

Posted on June 24th, 2009 by

e Assignment:

  • Examine the 12 social bookmarking sites listed below.
  • Register for at least one of these sites.
  • I have used
  • http://del.icio.us
  • http://www.stumbleupon.com
  • http://www.diigo.com
  • In
    the past. I have opened an account on delicious but you don’t need an
    account to search other peoples bookmarks, which is what I have done. I
    have looked up topics I’m interested in (web2.0 for example) and found
    that many people had many bookmarks for resources I was interested in.
    For me, this is the benefit of social bookmarks.
  • I’m not sure I want to post my own bookmarks on line. In delicious I have an account but have not placed any bookmarks in it.
  • So
    why not? Well, I might go to the effort of putting some in there but I
    don’t think I want to automatically drop in every bookmark I have (yes,
    I know you can have them “hidden” but what is the point of that? I’m
    not concerned about having my computer crash (which I think I’ve had
    happen about six times over the years) and I’ve always reconstructed my
    links and found it to be a good time to get rid of clutter and find new
    links. Not counting my computer at work, I have four others working at
    home and they all have different favorites and if they disappeared it
    would not be a tragedy.
  • I
    try to not get dependent upon bookmarks or anything else, online, as it
    can all disappear anytime (even delicious) so I remember the links I’m
    really interested in and I can do a quick search on google and find the
    ones I need – if I have to.
  • If
    I put some in I would have to go through them and- get rid of any that
    link back to school, link to my own web site, any financial
    institutions, investments, broker, etc.etc.
  • Use the bookmarking site for two weeks.
  • I
    have used them for several months and like the way I can find groups of
    sites on topics I’m interested in – I’m just not sure I want to list my
    own.
  • Begin a blog post explaining your choice of bookmarking site. Do not post this yet as you will be adding to it.
  • Any one of them will work and you can search several to find bookmarks/favorites/links anytime.
  • During the third week, complete your post describing:
    • How you have used the bookmarking site.
    • To search for links of links on topics I am interested in and I ALWAYS find cool links I didn’t know about.
    • Will you use this bookmarking site instead of the bookmarking tools in your browser? Why or why not?
    • I’ll
      be using my browser (and my head! ;) for links. You can back up
      browsers as well. You can make a folder and save your “bookmarks” or
      “favorites” and then down load them into another browser or computer.
      Some browsers like firefox (much better than explorer I think) even
      automatically take your explorer favorites and drop them into firefox.
      I think these sites can be useful but I don’t see the need to save all
      my links on a server someplace else. (Maybe I’ll change my find
      eventually, but so far I’m not convinced.)
    • Would you recommend a social bookmarking site to your friends?
    • Depending upon what they were looking for – I liked delicious – but they each do similar things.
    • Will you consider trying one of the other social bookmarking tools?
    • Yes, I have already and find it useful – when seeing what other links people have to similar topics I’m looking for.
    • What did you learn about social bookmarking that shocked, elated or amazed you?
    • Just how many there are!
    • How could a social bookmarking tool be used with your students?
    • I
      think it is more useful to them individually and less so as a class. i
      don’t think we would use these in class but I might tell them about
      them (they probably already know about them anyway) and they can use
      them on their own when looking for more sites.
    • Paste the RSS feed for your social bookmarks in the post.
    • own
    • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.
    • own

    My post will be in the blogg I decided to keep

  • mrcadyblog.blogspot.com

You know I am a bit
suspicious of these sites wanting to download “tabs” / add-ons etc.
especially when browsers like Firefox try to block them. These sites
are probably pretty safe but even if the don’t download a wicked virus,
they probably do (or can) download all sorts of other garbage that I
don’t need.

Many of these applications, if you read their user
agreement (that no one ever reads) they will even tell you that they
are tracing what you do and sending you stuff you may not want and
selling search info (that is how some sites make their income, selling
your information to others). I’m not saying this one does, it is just
that it is tiring and annoying to have to keep downloading and updating
and such. (like when Real Player and Quick Time and others all want to
be your #1 media player and try to make everything else not work right!

Well, I’m suspicious of this sort of thing.

OH, after you download you have to restart everything – which means logging back into moodle etc. as well!

My account on delicious is “mhcady”
I downloaded two bookmarks and tagged them.

I found a way to download them without their download. I’ll post this to my blog.

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slideshow assignment

Posted on June 20th, 2009 by

The Assignment:

  • Create and post (on your blog) a minimum of one of the tools available on Slide.com
  • Create a blog post describing:
    • Why and how, (if applicable), would you use Slide.com?
    • Do you prefer Slide.com vs Flickr tools for image editing? Why or why not?
    • Do you prefer Slide.com vs. Flickr image storage? Why or why not?
    • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.

NOTE: I do recognize many of the tools experienced in this class are not currently available, (they are blocked), for our students to use. When you respond to any question concerning how you would use a particular tool with the students in your class, you must answer the question from the point of view the tool is available in your classroom. Think of the answer as a persuasive argument that has the potential to create a change in our practice.

Submit the address of your blog post as part of this assignment by clicking the “Edit my submission” button below.

Total Points = 45

Here is my slide show from slideshow.com

http://www.slide.com/r/IH7r3TpX3D_MnLowo_mfwbuQm_VxEdIn?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

  • Why and how, (if applicable), would you use Slide.com?

This is simple to use and quick to make slide shows. There are a lot of ways to do this but this one looks pretty good to me.

  • Do you prefer Slide.com vs Flickr tools for image editing? Why or why not?

Slideshow seems easier.

  • Do you prefer Slide.com vs. Flickr image storage? Why or why not?

I’m not sure what the difference is? I don’t think I can download and save from either site. You have to store the images there. They have to make a profit somehow and I suspect that they charge for more storage. I’m always suspicious of using something like this for something important. If I made a slide show to show at a presentation, for example, I would not know for sure if the site would be working when I went to access it. I’d rather have it on a thumb drive AND some other things (like my own website etc.)

  • Tag this post appropriately and make certain web2.0inpusd is one of the tags.

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