iPod follies...

So, two iPod Touches and three trips to the Apple store, and I think I've finally got a fully functional Touch. Maybe. But the reason for this post is that I am posting this from the touch after installing my first app: an RSS feed reader so I can keep up with my Feeds when I don't have access to the computer.

I actually like viewing some of the posts better on this device than on the big screen! some nice features, like previews of the photos from my Flickr contacts.

Anyway, last semester was an adventure in technology. Starting tomorrow I enter the wild world of bathroom demolition and remodeling!

Cheers!

Final post for class

So I know tomorrow is technically the last day of the class, but I decided to go ahead and do my wrap up post today since I had some time, and I did a mind map (a first for me) about what I wanted to talk about.

(So, why is a mind map a first for me? I've always written notes pretty linearly, in an outline form. It's always worked for me, and I would just write notes in the margins if something came to me "out of order." But I used Prezi the other day and loved it, and it got me thinking that maybe I ought to try a mind map. So I did.)

What I'll keep:

• I'll definitely keep GoogleReader. Love this! I've had people explain RSS to me before, but I just didn't quite get it. This  helped me get it.
• Jing: Wish I had known about this program years ago. Of course, it may not have existed years ago, but now I know it's here. Will also look into whether or not my organization already has Camtasia. If so, we'll see if that will work for me.
• Blogging. Okay, so you are going to see much less of me here, but I'll probably post if I find something cool now and then. But I'm interested in seeing if a support blog at work would be feasible, and I'm considering starting a different sort of blog once school is over in a year and half. We'll see.

 What I'll ditch:

• Some of my tech feeds on Google Reader. I cleared it out last night, and now it's time to do some unsubscribing.
• Twitter, at least temporarily. I wasn't very active on it, but I'm sort of starting to get it. I think it will continue to be an experiment for me, but on a very, very small scale. I just don't check it often enough to make it work the way it is supposed to. It is information overload, and I've got a lot of that already with school. However, I'm not ready to throw in the towel. Just hang it up for a while 

What I want to work on:

• Delicious (or the other bookmarking site that I can't remember). I'm always finding cool stuff on the web, and I need to find a better way to keep track of those sites and articles without printing them out or keeping them all starred in my Google Reader. I signed up for Delicious, but I haven't had a good chance to dive in and figure out how to really use it effectively.
• Password management. AAACCKK!  This has never been my strong suit anyway, but after this class I just sort of lost it. If nothing else, some of my passwords are in dire need of a reset anyway, so this will be a chance to clean them up. 
• Podcasts: This is something else that I didn't dive into the way I wanted to. Part of it is that I haven't yet figured out how to "dock" my iPod Touch to my in-home or car stereo. My daughter would pull earbuds out, and my car is the place I most often think that I'd like to listen to something other than the radio. I'll be working on some form of solution in the next couple of months.
• A System: Robin talked about a system for managing her life in "social." I don't have one yet. I'm the type of gal that reads almost every informative plaque in a museum. It's hard for me to skim, and it's hard for me to skip. If I'm going to keep any of this stuff, I need to figure out my system, and learn to filter.

What I learned: 

I learned:  

• It is important to keep your options open. 
• Don't be afraid to try something new.
• Use the tools your learners are using to reach them.
• There are lots of resources out there to teach you new tech stuff. When in doubt, call Robin!
• Technology can really be a time suck. Figure out your filters.
• Going mobile makes sense. Except when you are trying to type a long post or email. Then you need the laptop.  

So I think that's it for me. I've enjoyed reading all of you and I hope I'll see you in my reader now and then. You'll probably see me now and then too.

Happy Texting/Blogging/Podcasting/Video Editing/Learning! 

What social media does for journalism.

Photo by somegeekintn

A recent post on Mashable described some of the ways that social media is changing investigative journalism. The use of the crowd, or rather, the community (as they point out - an engaged group of people who are connected) as sources to uncover the solutions to various mysteries seems to be popping up all over.

I can see some potential for how educators could harness this, but I can imagine that it would take a significant amount of engagement to create a community that would respond to an inquiry for information. I'm imagining a teacher (or a student) putting out a research question or a class discussion topic to get input from the experts. Or a student doing research getting people to help them out by checking out the price of a gallon of milk. But first, you'd have to have the following, or at least, a responsive community.

I'm not engaged enough to feel like I have this as an option, but I can't help thinking of my other class, in which the professor described the responsive community in her LinkedIn Group, and how a student could ask a question and, because my Prof was the moderator and gave it a spotlight, it got TONS of responses. What a great way to get information fast and from the source!

Online goes offline!

This post on Mashable really strikes me as interesting, and to me, serves as a metaphor for what we're trying to accomplish in our class.

Photo by gilgongo

The post explains that placing a Quick Response bar code on everyday objects, items and products provide consumers with smartphones, iPod touches and other devices with scanning application, instant access to find, price and purchase products on the spot. The idea is that if a customer finds an item they want or need, it saves them time having to go searching for the product, pricing it out, and if you give them a good deal, well, it could lead to instant sales.

I'm already seeing some of this in myself, as I take digital photos of products I'm interested in to make decisions later. If I could scan and save, would I buy on the spot? Probably not, that isn't my nature, but maybe I would.

But back to class. Our goal in using all of these technologies, in the end, is to produce a change in behavior, an action that, due to our *fabulous* instruction online, or through web, video, or audio, will occur offline, in real life. Like the Quick Response bar code, we're hoping to influence our audience, and get them to DO something with their time and their knowledge. We're trying to find as many opportunities to do this, just like advertisers are trying to find more themselves (especially with the shrinking number of people who actually see television commercials, thanks to DVRs).

Learn Baby Sign!

I haven't blogged in a while as I've been focused on my Learning Program for the other class, and of course going to class. But I finally got my video tutorial uploaded. Hope you enjoy it.



I'm not overly thrilled with the quality of the video...somewhere along the line it got pretty lossy, and I'm not quite sure where, but I'll work on that. It was actually pretty simple to film, but I learned some good tips for using Windows Movie Maker.

1. Clip, clip, clip, clip. Clip wherever you feel necessary, before and after mistakes, between scenes, between sentences, wherever it makes sense. You can then move things around, delete or duplicate as needed.
2. Transitions often shorten your video. Think about this before narrating a whole video. Adding audio, unless you are editing the video to match the music, makes more sense after you've figured out your transitions.
3. The "Narrate Video" option works like a charm if you need to do a voice-over. Just be sure you are working in a quiet area and can keep yourself quiet when you need silence, as it can only handle one overall track.

My first Prezi

I just made my first Prezi. WOW!

So much easier than Powerpoint, and feels more impressive, too. It took me much less time than the same PPT would have.

John and Virginia: don't peak! But I made my Prezi for my class presentation this weekend.

Enjoy!

I Spy: Baby's Mind through Baby Sign on Prezi

My First Video, Starring Me!

I just spent the evening making a 10-minute video with Windows Movie Maker featuring me demonstrating a number of signs. It is part of my learning program for my other class, but I just may have to send it to Robin as a replacement for my Jing videos. I'm pleased with how it came out.

It wasn't originally a part of my plan, but as I was designing this program, I realized that if any instructor were going to be able to "pick it up and go," they would need to spend some time with baby sign language. The easiest way to do that would be through a video with demonstrations that the instructor could follow and practice alongside. Sure, I could have suggested one for them to buy or borrow, but if one comes along with the instructor's manual, even better!

I just hope I have time to complete the rest of my learning program materials before Friday! Really, this only took me about 20-30 minutes to film, and about 3 hours to edit, so I don't think that's too bad at all. But I still have a lot of other stuff to do.

Thanks, Robin, for Any Video Converter. My camera outputs .mts files, and I wouldn't have known how to convert it easily so Movie Maker could use it if it wasn't for class. One weird thing, though: it slowed the video, but kept the audio the same speed. Still haven't quite figured this one out, or how to fix it. Luckily, this particular video needed to have the audio stripped anyway.

P.S. The "narrate video" feature in Movie Maker worked like a charm!