Simplifying Web 2.0 Educational Resources

I have enjoyed the Web 2.0 class so much, and there are so many tools to learn.  I have attempted to simplify all of the available Web 2.0 resources as much as possible.

I have saved all of the resources that Dr. Dennen has suggested to my Favorites in Internet Explorer in a folder titled Educational Resources.  I tend to be an organizational freak and love everything in its own place.  What I would like to do next is create sub folders by "type" of Web 2.0 tool.

The other thing that I have attempted to do with all of these tools is create the same user name and password, and in most cases I have used my Google sign-on to help keep it simple and easy to remember.  I know that all of these sites will be most valuable as I explore Web 2.0 further and discover new tools.

I have enjoying learning from everyone, and hope you all have a great rest of the summer!  I would love to hear any tips that anyone else has on managing all of our new-found information!

Barbara :)

Pipes - Intriguing but Learning Curve

I attempted to utilize Pipes in my Produsage 2 assignment, and normally find that most tools are somewhat intuitive to use.  I watched the YouTube video because I thought that would be a good add-on to utilize in for informal learning, however, I found it most difficult and not easy to follow.  I still would like to learn how to use Pipes, and wonder if anyone has successfully used Pipes, and what media format you have used it in.

Possibly I do not understand it quite fully and was trying to force it into something that was not a good fit.  This is the YouTube video site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3tS_DkmbVA

Once I reviewed some of the comments on the YouTube site, some not so positive, I began thinking maybe it was more difficult than I had time to spend on it.

I would love to hear other thoughts around this.

Thanks,

Barbara :)

Scripting and Video for Learning ... Web 2.0

This week I am assisting in putting together a video for work; scripts have been created and we have been following those fairly closely as we create each video.  It is unbelievable the amount of work that is put into this effort.  Not only do you actually have to create the video, you have to ensure the actors are in place, know their lines, have practiced, and are available when the videotaping begins.

That is only the beginning.  You have to ensure there is adequate supplies on hand, especially when you consider videotaping outside during the summer months ... in Atlanta!  You need plenty of water, food, snacks, more water, and towels handy!

The amount of coaching and redo's that take place is simply amazing.  Video 3, Scene 10, take ... 11!  It seems to never end.  And this is only the beginning.  The video editor then has to take all of the different videos, scenes, and takes, and somehow magically splice them together, using also what is called B takes (still images or video that is included in the video/audio components).

I have taken a videoscripting class from an awesome AT&T videographer, however, I had NO idea the complexities of such an endeavor.  My hats go off to these guys that work week in and week out producing this type of media.

I would love to hear ideas around incorporating video into Web 2.0 technology.  I know there is YouTube, and the auras that I created for our Produsage 1 assignment.  I just wonder if there are other ways that video could be a fit for Web 2.0.

Week 6 Journal

Reflecting on my fast-paced 6-week Summer Web 2.0 class with Dr. Dennen at Florida State University, as a lifelong learner and as an instructional designer, I will most definitely use Web 2.0 tools professionally, at least as much as my organization will allow. The firewall that is in place within our organization does not allow complete access to all web sites in order to utilize open blogs, wikis, etc. We do have wikis and blogs available on our Intranet, however, I discovered during the Produsage 1 assignment, that it is very rarely utilized.  This realization made me wonder whether I could maybe make the sites more active if I began blogging, etc. on our internal Intranet.

I was very interested to read in Shirky about AT&T engineers working with a small business many years ago that used open source tools for programming support in the Perl community.  The AT&T folks believed that unless you paid for support, no real support existed in the open source communities that have become so prevalent in produsage.  Yet, the small company that AT&T was working with at that time went on to become very successful.  This was a real eye opener for me, and made me realize, there is quite an advantage to having community input – at no cost!

Web 2.0 - Enlightenment - Introversion - Blogging's the Best

I have heard of Web 2.0 for quite some time, however, I had no idea of the far-reaching implications until I took the Web 2.0 class this Summer semester.  I have learned about so many tools in a short period of time - 5 weeks to be exact - that I am in total awe.  Our Web 2.0 instructor pushes us out of our comfort zone, which is a good thing for me.

I tend to be somewhat of an introvert, without a whole lot to say - publicly anyway!  My boyfriend and my children hear a ton from me, but not many others do!  I have to say that I have definitely been pulled out of my comfort zone this Summer semester, but I am finding they are all very good experiences.  I still feel somewhat on the periphery, however, hesitant to do much more than lurk in most of the communities.

I will say I have become comfortable with blogging, since that is part of our weekly assignments!  I think I like blogging the best over all of the other tools.  Tweeting seems hit or miss to me.  I couldn't really think of an awesome tool to write about for this blog, so I went with my feelings around Web 2.0 instead.

It's been a good summer, and a good class!  :)

eLearning Brothers for Gaming

eLearning Brothers is one of the coolest sites I have found in a while.  Creating the games by downloading the xml for Flash files and then creating the questions, responses, and feedback in the .xml files using Notepad is a breeze!  Here's the web site:
http://elearningbrothers.com/

I enjoyed sharing what I know during our Web 2.0 smackdown this afternoon!  It's so cool to share my knowledge and to learn from other folks.  One thing I forgot to mention is that you can also edit the sound by loading another audio file into the audio folder, and either ensuring the audio file name is the same as what was in the folder previously, or change it directly in the .xml file.

Enjoy gaming!

Creating Audio Using Audacity - Presenter

I am designing a course currently and will be incorporating audio.  I will be using Audacity to record and then edit and finalize the audio, and then will save it to an MP3 file.  I will then insert the MP3 audio files into Presenter, which houses the bulk of the course content, with the exception to some link-outs to some  simulations, a pdf file, and the L1 survey and L2 assessment.

The link to the Audacity web site is http://audacity.sourceforge.net/  Only when I went to the website to grab the url to share did I realize that this was open source software.  That makes it even more unique and interesting to me.

I would love to hear any tips and tricks from anyone with experience using Audacity to record and Presenter to create courses, and whether you feel it is better to record directly in Presenter or to use Audacity! :)