If an instructor wanted to become "plugged in" to the social media wave and be updated in the educational technology field, these are what I would suggest.
First off, have them choose a memorable username and passwords. There will be a lot of tools and sites that require registration so it's important to choose names and passwords that they will remember and are comfortable being known as.
Second, I would have them sign up to Twitter. This is where a lot of information gets distributed. It's the wild west of social media where it's a pub full of congregated people talking about everything ranging from what they had for breakfast, to breaking news happening before it's available on the TV news networks.
By following verified companies, groups, sources that are dedicated in distributing articles, news, information to their followers, you are sure to be receiving legitimate information coming directly from the expected source. I would have them look up what sources they are following and have them follow them too. Edutopia, for example, is a good twitter account to follow, as well as any tech news to keep up with the emerging tools.
I would also have them register to Facebook for a more steady and longer stream of collaboration. Again, have them follow verified accounts, follow their followers, and basically create a network of information and resource sharing and connections.
I would have them sign up for the Horizon Report as it gives future trends and emerging projects and websites they can check out on their own to read. It is a very useful source to feel out the direction of where educational technology is heading.
The trick with educational technology is it can be a very abstract topic with new tools coming and going, improving, and falling behind. It is a constantly moving field where you have to grab and hold on to all the information that is passing through. It has to be kept up with, researched, and evaluated, and the best way is to use these tools mentioned above to keep the feed fresh and to sift out all the information into what you think is useful, not useful, right or wrong.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
TCC Conference
Today was the last night of the 3-day TCC Conference and I must say, I am very impressed! I have never attended anything like this before and it really took some getting used to setting up but with help and once I was set up, it was very intuitive and interesting. I really felt a sense of community and it was one presentation after another. I will be taking away a good experience of what the graduating class of ETEC students have to do to graduate and the way they have presented their projects.
I wish there was a way to provide more multimedia in the Elluminate whiteboard, however. I would incorporate all sorts of interactive and interesting graphic and video for the viewers to click on for memory retention and attention. I did like the polling system and the instant results Elluminate has and the TCC website's organization. I enjoyed having a choice of different subjects which interested me. The presenters all did a wonderful job and I can only think of how much hard work went into their research and presentation, not to mention, their public speaking. This is when online learning and tools really shine. The fact that people from all over the world can connect and listen to the presentations no matter where they were is such a benefit, it should be more widely used.
I had a great time and would be interested in attending something similar with additional subject matter.
I wish there was a way to provide more multimedia in the Elluminate whiteboard, however. I would incorporate all sorts of interactive and interesting graphic and video for the viewers to click on for memory retention and attention. I did like the polling system and the instant results Elluminate has and the TCC website's organization. I enjoyed having a choice of different subjects which interested me. The presenters all did a wonderful job and I can only think of how much hard work went into their research and presentation, not to mention, their public speaking. This is when online learning and tools really shine. The fact that people from all over the world can connect and listen to the presentations no matter where they were is such a benefit, it should be more widely used.
I had a great time and would be interested in attending something similar with additional subject matter.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Suwappu - Augmented Reality Toy
Wave of the future for toys? Here is an interesting and cute website for an Augmented Reality Toy. The expressions and outfits change when you view them through your phone cam.
The website:
http://www.dentsulondon.com/blog/2011/04/05/introducing-suwappu/
Youtube video:
The website:
http://www.dentsulondon.com/blog/2011/04/05/introducing-suwappu/
Youtube video:
Friday, March 25, 2011
Second Life Assignment
Our group has met several times to get acquainted with SL and the sim we are to use for our assignment report.
You get more of a sense of who your group members are from the way they choose to appear as their avatar. One group member is really creative in the appearance department!
We explored most of the sites that were listed in the assignment. We thought we would also search for our own sim we could use and we narrowed it down to two. One of my group members alma mater, University of Washington site was really nice...it had lots of different and creative games and areas to hang out. Another site we're deciding on is really nice and organized as well and utilizes SL's 3-D environment quite adequately for learning.
You get more of a sense of who your group members are from the way they choose to appear as their avatar. One group member is really creative in the appearance department!
We explored most of the sites that were listed in the assignment. We thought we would also search for our own sim we could use and we narrowed it down to two. One of my group members alma mater, University of Washington site was really nice...it had lots of different and creative games and areas to hang out. Another site we're deciding on is really nice and organized as well and utilizes SL's 3-D environment quite adequately for learning.
Social Media in Times of Crisis
In the wake of the worlds disasters, most recently being the crisis in Japan, social media has really become the forefront of communication and community. Twitter is being used to raise charity money from the twitter community and celebrity followers; it's also being used as the source for "just in" information from news sites. It's also a place where survivors can connect with each other and the world. Skype is being used for video correspondents to CNN and other news sites in hard hit areas when phone lines fail. Smartphone Apps are being downloaded to keep a user updated instantly with news bites. Google has put up People Finder to help people search for their loved ones or to add missing persons like a digital bulletin board for the world.
When we used to rely on tv, phone, and radio connections in times of crisis, the net and social media has quickly and effectively taken over as the worlds communication operator.
A drawback is that social media allows disgruntled users or haters to use all the good assets of the social media stage to spew their hatred and fear. Some insensitive comments about the disasters in Japan flow freely from people who otherwise would not have such an easy platform (i.e. girl from UCLA rant on youtube). There have also been reports of bad journalism about both Libya and Japan, which only results in distrust, fear, and disillusion. Also, maybe too much information and visual images shown instantly and repeatedly are not good overall for the psyche and the younger generation without adult supervision. As with anything in life, good judgement, a healthy and diverse handle on knowledge and morals is essential with social media.
On a personal note, I was raised in Japan in an international community, (my family is from the US), so the crisis really hit home. It's still rather surrealistic - my uncle was an hour away from landing in Japan when the earthquake hit and had to be diverted to Hokkaido. I use my CNN app to keep up with the news, and also sometimes stream Japan's NHK station to my iphone for Japan's perspective. My thoughts and prayers are with the Japanese people as well as the world. What affects one of us, affects all of us on Earth.
When we used to rely on tv, phone, and radio connections in times of crisis, the net and social media has quickly and effectively taken over as the worlds communication operator.
A drawback is that social media allows disgruntled users or haters to use all the good assets of the social media stage to spew their hatred and fear. Some insensitive comments about the disasters in Japan flow freely from people who otherwise would not have such an easy platform (i.e. girl from UCLA rant on youtube). There have also been reports of bad journalism about both Libya and Japan, which only results in distrust, fear, and disillusion. Also, maybe too much information and visual images shown instantly and repeatedly are not good overall for the psyche and the younger generation without adult supervision. As with anything in life, good judgement, a healthy and diverse handle on knowledge and morals is essential with social media.
On a personal note, I was raised in Japan in an international community, (my family is from the US), so the crisis really hit home. It's still rather surrealistic - my uncle was an hour away from landing in Japan when the earthquake hit and had to be diverted to Hokkaido. I use my CNN app to keep up with the news, and also sometimes stream Japan's NHK station to my iphone for Japan's perspective. My thoughts and prayers are with the Japanese people as well as the world. What affects one of us, affects all of us on Earth.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Intercultural Collaboration
- There is no question that emerging technologies are useful and should be used for intercultural collaboration. Social media is all about connectivity whether it'd be friends, family, community, interests, states, and countries. Intercultural collaboration using technology is all about opening the world to the mind. It is a meeting place and a virtual port made easier, quicker, faster.
There is an example of a site (http://www.aec.asef.org/) that connects students from Asia and Europe by having students work together on the same projects. I think that is a brilliant idea. Different perspectives, environments, knowledge, ideas, and thought processes would come into play and these can be shared and understood by all parties. In the past, we would have to physically travel to different countries, read about them in books, or passively watch videos to learn about them. Now, with emerging technologies, students can actively engage with other students from other cultures, ask questions, collaborate, and form their own opinions rather than being fed information from a third party.
As I have mentioned in class, there is a brilliant language translator that is being developed by Google for smartphones. The speaker doesn't have to learn a new language or be limited by language issues to connect with a person of another language. The technology would automatically and in real time, translate the speakers' language into a language the other person can understand. This is not your usual translation technology that is already available out there. This translator uses more AI, where the program will translate whole phrases and nuances in a language rather than translate word by word which results in higher accuracy. If they can apply this technology with Skype voice and other voice chats and classroom chatrooms such as Eluminate, a huge barrier will be opened and there would be less limitations on how and who we collaborate with.
Aside from admonishing my colleague for being very archaic about not willing to put the desire or effort into intercultural collaborations and that time and money is an issue to not pursue that avenue, I would advise them that the whole purpose for emerging technologies is to make things faster and easier for a busy society, as well as free for a money strapped society. The amount of free and really well done emerging technologies continues to astound me as I learn about them in this ETEC class. I would provide a list of free and easy tools and websites that would show my colleague examples of intercultural collaboration and the benefits of it. As a bonus, we can sit down, review my colleague's class schedule, and plug in technologies that can be substituted in the schedule and ways intercultural collaboration using emerging technologies can benefit his/her class' subject matter.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Online Security
I read the article http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs18-cyb.htm and it's a great link that explains in an organized manner the privacy violations of the internet and what information is being shared and how it is shared. I had an inkling of how open and transparent the internet is with your personal information, however, this really illustrated how badly rampant information sharing is. It's really pretty scary.
For instance, on some websites, there is a transparent graphic they place in the HTML that automatically tracks your IP address as well as other information from your computer. Websites also track where you've been on the internet and your search engines are also gathering information about you and sharing it. It tracks how long you were on a web page and what you searched for. There is no one really watching! There are measures you can take as a user.... by being careful, deleting cookies, enabling privacy options on your browsers, etc. But the adage that nothing is forever deleted on the internet is so true.
There are Flash cookies, code that is more persistent than regular cookies in that it can't be erased even when the user deletes cookies. Some well known companies use these and have been taken to court because of it (Facebook, etc.) because the usage of Flash cookies was not disclosed in their privacy user agreement.
A friend pointed me to a website where everyone's information was recorded without them knowing it...their name, age range, income, a picture of their house from satellite, and how much that house costs, etc. The Internet is such a Wild West of frontiers, there is hardly any accountability at all. So hopefully in the future, stricter laws can be placed to protect children, our information, from prying eyes as we get more interconnected.
For instance, on some websites, there is a transparent graphic they place in the HTML that automatically tracks your IP address as well as other information from your computer. Websites also track where you've been on the internet and your search engines are also gathering information about you and sharing it. It tracks how long you were on a web page and what you searched for. There is no one really watching! There are measures you can take as a user.... by being careful, deleting cookies, enabling privacy options on your browsers, etc. But the adage that nothing is forever deleted on the internet is so true.
There are Flash cookies, code that is more persistent than regular cookies in that it can't be erased even when the user deletes cookies. Some well known companies use these and have been taken to court because of it (Facebook, etc.) because the usage of Flash cookies was not disclosed in their privacy user agreement.
A friend pointed me to a website where everyone's information was recorded without them knowing it...their name, age range, income, a picture of their house from satellite, and how much that house costs, etc. The Internet is such a Wild West of frontiers, there is hardly any accountability at all. So hopefully in the future, stricter laws can be placed to protect children, our information, from prying eyes as we get more interconnected.
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