Monday, October 29, 2007

Second Podcast Finished

Go check out my second podcast about blogging. This episode discusses what students might want to have on their blog and some of the tools bloggers use to create the look they are going for. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment either here or at podbean.
http://levendusky.podbean.com/

Go check out a few more of my students' blogs.
http://jenniferhcomputersii.blogspot.com/
http://austinkcomputerstudent.blogspot.com/
http://gretan33.blogspot.com/
http://laynem.blogspot.com/

One of the themes for this podcast was what did the students like about blogs and what did they want to see in a blog. I hoped this would inspire some dialog between students. They do get a lot of good ideas from each other that I could never come up with.

Photo at http://business.missouri.edu/457/204.jpg

Friday, October 26, 2007

Zoho

Well, for my collaborative publishing group project I am looking at what Zoho.com can offer us. So far I am overwhelmed with all of the possibilities. You could basically do everything you needed to do in business: run a show, keep track of meetings, have meetings, present and store data, make a wiki, and much more. This seems like it would be great for people who travel and need to show presentations to clients but don't really need to use a certain type of software to make the presentations. You can also share your work with others and give them access to collaborate with you on the project. I am not sure yet how I am going to use it in my group project but the ideas are being generated. I watched a few short videos describing the different items you can do in Zoho. I found that better than reading a description of what the part can do. Check it for yourself at http://www.zoho.com/

Monday, October 22, 2007

Google Docs

This past week I have been working on my Collaborative Publishing Group Project. We started a Google doc to share info with each other. If you have never used Google Docs go to http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html for a tour.

Below is what I have added to our groups Google doc so far:
examples of collaborative publishing http://strange.corante.com/archives/2007/02/26/open_publishing_collaborative_writing.php ebook idea
http://drupal.org/node/284

Photo at http://www.gustavocoronel.com.ar/local/cache-vignettes/L150xH121/arton769-1702a.jpg

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Collaborative Publishing

My group in Emerging Technologies is looking into Collaborative Publishing. I have been searching for some interesting ways for people to publish collaborate on line work. A few sites that I am reading up on are:
1.http://drupal.org/about
2.http://www.adobe.com/devnet/contribute/articles/breeze_ct3_integration.html
3.http://www.exposurepress.com/
4.http://scoop.kuro5hin.org/
5.http://strange.corante.com/archives/2007/02/26/open_publishing_collaborative_writing.php


If any one knows about the above types of collaborative publishing and can recommend one over the other, let me know.

So far in the readings and sites I have visited, I found that the overall theme was easy of use for co-workers to communicate and work together. No more trying to schedule meetings and finding time to work as one group. People can now work on-line anytime that works for them but still be part of a group. This would have been great during my undergrad when I had all those group projects and it was hard for me to meet since I was not a traditional student that lived on campus.

Photo at http://traction.tractionsoftware.com/db/attachments/blog/50/2/CODIAKProcess.gif

Sunday, October 14, 2007

IBEA Conference

This past Friday I went to the IBEA conference in DesMoines. IBEA is Iowa Business Educators Association. This conference is set-up to network with other Business teachers and attend workshops about new or changing ideas that effect us as Business teachers. I went to a workshop on CaseGrader, go to http://www.course.com/events/webinars.cfm to read a brief description of what CaseGrader can do. It sounds like a great idea, however, my school does not have Office 2007 which is needed to make it work. I like the idea of being able to test students on the application of skills.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Showing off my Podcast



Yesterday I showed off my Podcast to my co-workers. I got many comments, the most often was "it so cute". I am not sure if that was the reaction I was going for but it is nice to hear that it sounded OK from someone other than my husband. Several people are looking towards my second podcast. I really think that I might use these in my class next semester when we start the blog unit again.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

First Podcast about Blogging in the Classroom

Go check out my first podcast at http://levendusky.podbean.com/
It is all about what responsibilities my students have when they blog for our class projects as well as their responsibility when commenting on other students' blogs. I used several resources to create the guidelines for this project. Click the link to hear the podcast that gave me the most inspiration.

Go check out some of my students' blogs. Also, check out the comments that other students said about their postings.
http://danielleccomputerstudent.blogspot.com/
http://abbyccomputerstudent.blogspot.com/
http://asmir13.blogspot.com/

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Ferdi’s Assignment for Zeitz’s Class

What technologies support students in mastering the ISTE NETS?

1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
A. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
B. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
Students choose three emerging technologies (each student will have different technologies), research the technology, summarize their findings, find pictures, put info and pictures in a presentation format, present to class to ‘teach’ the other students about their emerging technology, and finally allow for questions and discussion.
C. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
D. identify trends and forecast possibilities.

2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
A. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
B. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
C. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
Students from a school here and one from another country create a wiki that they share new information about how they use technology in their schools. Every time one of the schools uses a new technology or creates a new technology based project they share the ‘how to’s’ with the other school on the wiki. Students will be encouraged to share what they learned or valued out of the new technology project as well as the ‘how to’s’ of the project.
D. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

3. Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
A. plan strategies to guide inquiry.
B. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
C. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
D. process data and report results.
Students research a topic using the Internet and at least four different sources. Using OneNote the students organize their notes and summaries from the Internet sites, create a presentation of the information they gathered, and show their information in any type of technology presentation format which could be PowerPoint, Blog, Wiki, Podcast, Video, Web Page, etc. Students would be required to have a fully documented Reference page.

4. Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, and Decision-Making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:
A. identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation.
B. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.
C. collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.
Students are given pretend dollars to set-up a customer service department at a sales company. The students would have to identify the needs the business might have for technology, find what technology would work best, find the costs involved in purchasing the technology, plan a budget for the department, and then make suggestions for implementing their plan. Also, this could work well as a group project.
D. use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.

5. Digital Citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:
A. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
B. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
C. demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
D. exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.
Students in groups of four, create a video that will be shown to the rest of the business classes at their school about the ethics of using information off the Internet and safety issues relating to the Internet.

6. Technology Operations and Concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:
A. understand and use technology systems.
B. select and use applications effectively and productively.
Students are given ten scenarios from ten different types of businesses that have a problem that needs to be fixed. The students then are given time to research what would best ‘fix’ the problem. The scenarios would all have a technology based ‘fix’ for the problem. Example Scenario: A vet’s office is having trouble keeping track of customers that have not paid their bills, employee hours, and supplies used in the office.
C. troubleshoot systems and applications.
D. transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Podcast Development

Working on a podcast for Emerging Tech class--what an adventure--not that creating a podcast is hard but it does take editing time. I am trying to create the podcast at a high enough level that I will want to use it my classroom. Since my class is already past the intro stage I will have to wait until next semester to try it out in a real time classroom.

Overall my students seem to be enjoying commenting on fellow classmates' blogs more than writing their own blogs. I have been trying to make their required postings about the content we are studying in class to make the blog time tie in with our educational goals for the class, however, the students really rather it be like their MySpace page where they can write what ever they are thinking. So this will be an area that I will be reviewing before I do this project again with my next semester's classes.