Webcasting Tools

Hello readers.

This week marks the last week of formal content in ADED 1P32. Time sure has flown by! I am looking forward to completing final exams and wrapping up the semester so that summer can officially begin. Although my job this summer will entail a lot of planning, goal setting, and strategic planning, I look forward to the new projects that it will bring. I also cannot wait to enjoy the nice weather and to have more time to relax.

The final topic explored in this course was webcasting tools. In an online physiology course that I was enrolled in last year, screencasts were used in place of attending lecture. I found these to be very helpful, as the powerpoint with key points were the main focus of the screencast while the professor explained the content in detail. I ended up being more successful in this course compared to courses with traditional in class delivery. I believe that this was the case due to the fact that I could re-watch the screencasts and hear the professor's explanation again while studying.

I chose to make a screencast to give viewers a snapshot of some key aspects of being a digital citizen in the digital world. This can be found on the Screencast page on my blog. I downloaded the program Jing to my computer in order to create the actual screencast. It was very user friendly and after watching a couple of the Jing tutorials, I was able to successfully create my first screencast! I used screencast.com, which securely hosts the screencasts created through Jing. To find out more about how these 2 tools work together, check out this webpage by TechSmith. I especially liked these 2 tools because I was reassured that video quality would not be altered and that users had control over the privacy of the content created.

I will definitely be adding Jing and screencast.com to my PLE diagram under the create section. I found them to be very user friendly and look forward to using them again for some tasks this summer that pertain to my job. There are some new online tools that we recently started using for the honour societies that I work for. I think that Jing and screencast.com will be helpful in creating tutorials on how to navigate these new tools so that our members can have a better understanding of them and so that the features of the sites can be used optimally and efficiently by our students.

We also learned how to add creative commons licenses to our blog. I've been so focused on citing the work of other authors, and never really though of protecting my own work. After seeing how long it takes to create original content, I definitely appreciate the fact that creative commons allows other users to share and build upon work that has been created.

This Week's Feedly Reader Article

I came across this blog post called The Secrets to a Happy Life, From a Harvard Study. This study has been ongoing for 75 years and shows that a major contributor to long term health and well being is the strength of your relationships with family, friends and spouses. I have learned a bit about this topic in a health sociology course that I am currently in, and found it interesting to read about some of the people in different demographics and how these factors contributed to their overall health. I am grateful for the strong relationship I have with my family, and reading this post made me even more excited to spend Easter with them tomorrow!


Cheers!

Megan

Slideshow Tools, Copyrights and Creative Commons

Hello all!

The school year is quickly coming to an end, which also means that several deadlines and assignments are also coming due very quickly. I took a much needed break today to go to Beechwood doughnuts. For those who aren't familiar with St. Catharines, this is definitely a staple if you're heading downtown! Now that I'm feeling full and refreshed, I can reflect on the tools used this week in ADED 1P32.

This week, we explored a creative knowledge tool called Animoto. This tool allows the user to create videos using photos, or video clips and is cloud based. I enjoyed learning how to use this tool as it was one of my original goals to add more tools to the "create" section of my PLE diagram. Although Animoto was simple to use, it does require users to pay to have the watermark removed from the videos created. I will explore this tool further and will add it to my PLE, but will definitely need to gain some more experience on it before I would consider paying for a subscription. Check out the Animoto page on my blog to see the slideshow video I created about copyright and creative commons.

Slideshow tools are a unique way of presenting information. In terms of getting immediate audience attention, these tools allow for the information to be displayed in a clear and creative way that will keep the viewers engaged. Information presented in the form of an Animoto slideshow, or Prezi, is often organized in a concise way. Being a visual learner, these methods of displaying and presenting information are ideal.

This week, we we also had the opportunity to learn more about creative commons, copyright laws and how they relate to becoming a digital citizen. This website about the basics of copyright had clear and easy to understand answers to common questions regarding copyright in Canada. In terms of being a digital citizen, it is important to remember to always give credit where credit is due when using information or content from another author.

This Week's Feedly Reader Article

This week, it was interesting to see that in the Edudemic blog called The 10 Skills Modern Teachers Must Have that # 2 and 4 on the list were "understand how to use technology", and "participate in social media". This list demonstrates that becoming a digital citizen is becoming more important as technology advances, both in the teaching profession, and in several other professions as well. It would be interesting to compare job requirements now to those 30-40 years ago. I can almost guarantee that several jobs now require the employee to be fluent with some sort of technology, online tool, or computer program in order to be a successful applicant.


Until next time,

Megan

VoiceThread, Digital Rights and Responsibilities

Hello all!

This week in ADED 1P32 we explored VoiceThread and shared our comments regarding the various questions related to Digital Rights and Responsibilities that were brought up in the presentation. Check out the VoiceThread page that I have added to my blog to see the presentation we engaged with! I thoroughly enjoyed this time to critically reflect on ethical questions related to the responsibilities of a digital citizen. 

I think that VoiceThread is more beneficial for instructors or those who are sharing a presentation with a group of people. It seemed like a form of an online lecture. I will add this to my PLE under the create section if I find myself using it to create presentations for different clubs and classes that I may be required to present in. I find that it would probably be more beneficial for someone giving a lecture or presentation for an online class or if the presenter was not able to physically attend the event as voice recording can be attached to the slides. 

VoiceThread allows various users to collaborate on the presentation via voice comments, video or text written comments. Therefore, this could contribute to one's PLN as users can learn from each other through the comments made on the slides. This is definitely a different form of learning, as I am used to raising a hand to share comments or ask questions in a lecture setting. It is interesting to see how this style of learning can manifest in an online format through tools such as VoiceThread. 

The past few weeks have focused on Digital Rights & Responsibilities. I think that these 2 concepts are very important to keep in mind when discussing digital citizenship. Although one may be fluent with online tools and technology, it is important to remember that just like we have to follow rules and regulations in society, there are also rules and regulations to follow online and in the technological world. I think that people often take for granted the fact that technology is so readily accessible and therefore makes it easy to communicate behind an avatar or behind a screen. My rule of thumb is, if I wouldn't say it to someone face to face, I shouldn't say it online!

This Week's Feedly Reader Article

This week, I came across a very interesting article in the New York Times Well Blog regarding digital identity and children. I found this article to be very fitting with the course topic of Digital Rights and Responsibilities. In their discussion of how parents are sharing several moments of their children's lives, it made me think about how young kids, especially babies, are more than likely unaware of their rights as a digital citizen. In this day in age, it seems as though one's digital footprint is being established at birth, even before the child is able to use technology. 

Until next time,

Megan

DISCUSSION: Technology Use Scenario- Passwords and Privacy

Scenario: Ms. Deal does not like having several passwords for all her accounts. Because she has so many she gets into the habit of writing the passwords on a sticky note on her monitor so she won't forget. While she is out of her office, John, a student who had been in trouble in her class earlier in the day, comes by her office. He sees the passwords and writes down the one for Ms. Deal's email account. John goes to another computer, logs in as Ms. Deal and sends several insulting emails to other staff members. How could this have been avoided? 

It appears as though Ms. Deal is not making use of technology that can be used to store her passwords. Writing it down on a sticky note is not secure and very accessible to others. Thus, she has enabled a student to compromise her email account. There are softwares and free applications that store passwords, so all Ms. Deal would have to do in the future is remember 1 password to gain access to all of the others that she has stored in the app or on the password keeper software. Ms. Deal's right to digital privacy has now been compromised due to the fact that John has access to her email account. Therefore, John is also in the wrong and has inappropriately disrespected Ms. Deal's right to privacy and has proven that he is not a trustworthy digital citizen.

What are your thoughts? 

The Wonderful World Of Wikis

Hello readers,

This week in ADED 1P32, we explored the world of Wikis and reflected on digital rights and responsibilities. 

I was not very familiar with the editing capabilities of a wiki before I read about them on How Stuff Works. I think that wikis are a useful tool that support learning as they allow users to share their knowledge about various topics. In this regard, wikis are a great way to learn from one another and to collaborate with an unlimited number of different people. This collaboration allows for unique or new information to be shared, and in turn, can enrich one's knowledge and increase their ability to gather information about a given topic. 

From my personal experience exploring Wikis, I found that the hyperlinks to journals are a great way to find peer reviewed information. Wikis are a great place to start when looking for general overviews of more complex topics. The fact that anyone can edit a wiki (such as Wikipedia), has its benefits and drawbacks. Although it is a great way to learn from others, due to the aforementioned statement, it is important to have peer reviewed references that support what was said, to ensure that the source was credible. 

In comparing Wikis with Google Docs, I foresee Google Docs being of greater use for me, personally. Due to the nature of the work that I complete throughout my courses, it is beneficial to be able to see the information that is being shared synchronously via a google doc. I find that it is also more beneficial to have a suite where documents can be saved and edited in file formats, whereas a wiki tends to encompass several links to different pages, all accessible via a single webpage. In terms of the comparison between Wikis and Google Docs, I found this table to be very helpful in distinguishing between the two and to pinpoint the key pros and cons of each. 

In my exploration of digital rights and responsibilities, I noted that citing resources, being respectful of other users, and privacy were my top 3 choices in this category. The diagram below is a mind map that briefly outlines each right and responsibility that digital citizens should have a general understanding of. 

Brown, M. (CC) 2016

This Week's Feedly Reader Article

This week, I added a few new blogs to my Feedly reader that pertain more to digital citizenship. Since we have been studying collaboration tools, I decided to share this link that talks about OneDrive. It gives a general overview of OneDrive, which is very similar to Google Drive, but more specific to Microsoft devices. It is cloud based storage that allows for file sharing and collaboration.

Until next week,

Megan