Google Docs in Plain English

If you've participated in a Web 2.0 class on the Eighth Floor with me, then you know what a fan I am of Lee LeFever and the Common Craft Show.

Well, it looks like he's been busy working with Google and has created a quick video in plain English discussing how the average Joe or Josephine can share a variety of documents ONLINE via Google Docs. As usual, he makes it look pretty darn easy.



What a great use of YouTube. I can absolutely see students creating instructional videos just like this one for each other.

Thanks!
Lee Anne

ODLA & The Eighth Floor!

Yes Lee Anne! The ODLA conference in November provides such a great opportunity for educators at all levels. Please look for the Eighth Floor staff and say hello...we will be all over the place! If you do not know what we look like then I encourage you to check us out at our web site www.eighthfloor.org
See you there!
Lisa

ODLA Free Conference - Web 2.0 in Education

You know if it is a "good thing" and it is FREE I'm going to share it with you.

The Oklahoma Distance Learning Association is hosting a FREE conference at OSU - Tulsa this November 5th and 6th focusing on Web 2.0 in Education. The keynote speaker is Wes Fryer, Director of Education Advocacy for AT&T Oklahoma . I'm sure you have heard me mention him many, many times. Check out his blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity.

Larry Cochran, President of ODLA, shared some of the presentation submissions with us. This list will probably change, but will give you an idea of "what's going on" at the conference and why you should be there.

Presentation submissions are in, and include in no specific order:
1. Camtasia desktop video/audio creation.
2. Free web-based audioconferencing.
3. Podcasting.
4. “Smart” clinical observation system.
5. Negotiating training via Blackboard learning environments.
6. Sprint's WiMAX/2.5 spectrum plans for Oklahoma and national deployment.
7. Web 2.0 best practices.
8. Advanced e-learning development project in a virtual office environment.
9. A team approach to building online web 2.0 courses.
10. Inventing the Future: Safely Empowering Learners in the Read/Write Society (Keynote Address by Wesley Fryer).
11. RSS – What is it good for?
12. Social bookmarking with delicious: It’s about information, collaboration, communication, and access.
13. Digital audio hardware, compression, bit rate vs. quality, software.
14. Animated characters and 3D in course & college communications.
15. Mission possible: Our path to an open source LMS.
16. Unplugging from the commercial software grid: A strategic path.
17. Audacity: A free and powerful audio utility for the web.
18. Two vendor-based presentations are pending.

Looks like a little something for everyone!
Scott and I hope to be both attending and presenting.

See you there!

Thanks,
Lee Anne

The Best PowerPoint Advice a Girl Can Get

I know I have shared this hilarious video by Don McMillan with some of you already - I'm just a sharerer! Everybody loves to laugh, right? This guy will make you laugh at other people AND yourself. If you are a PowerPoint user, then you are a PowerPoint loser. He has graphs and bullet points to prove it!

I noticed on the calendar that we have a PowerPoint for the Classroom course coming up on Sept 20th. I'm just sayin', you might want to check it out. This class starts with beginning skills and finishes with some pretty sophisticated tricks. In addition to this day long class, we have several two hour classes throughout the semester in the evenings and on Saturdays.

If you are interested in other resources to help you shed your "PPT Loser" status, we shared some great ones in a previous post on being a PPT Loser. (We've been aware of this problem for some time. )

As always, if you have comments or questions, you know where to find me!

Thanks!
Lee Anne
lamorris@eighthfloor.org

What About Blogs - Vinita August 2007

Welcome to the Eighth Floor class, "What About Blogs."
We thought you might be interested in looking at a few of the blogs we find particularly relevant to education and technology integration. There are thousands and thousands of blogs out there. You will find blogs on any topic, from pet grooming to dissertation research. People of all ages are drawn to blogging as a form of expression. As a collaboration and communication tool, blogs have found their place in education. Many teachers use them for professional development and continued learning.

Check out the following education/professional development focused blogs:
Webblogg-ed
Moving at the Speed of Creativity
Teachers Teaching Teachers
Blog of Proximal Development
2 Cents Worth
The Good Habits Blog

Several teachers are using blogs in the classroom as a tool for collaboration and communication. They find that blogging results in much more authentic learning for students.

Check out the following education/classroom use blogs:
Mrs. Watts Second Grade Computer Classroom
AP English Literature and Composition
English 12
Maybry Online.org - Classroom and Teacher blogs
Applied Science Research Blogs Alan November - Examples in Education
Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom Blog (1st and 2nd Graders)
Blogical Minds

Check out the following education/safety focused postings and articles:
MySpace Education
Change Agency BlogSafety.com

Blogging Tips and Tricks:
Web Blog Basics
Blogs - Anatomy
Bogs for Learning
Evaluating Blogging
Blogging Best Practices

Being as this is a class about blogging, we think you ought to do a little, well, blogging. (Those of you reading this who are not enrolled in the class, please jump in!) We’d like you to share some of your thoughts or concerns about setting up and using blogs either professionally or in the classroom.
--------------------------------------------------------
Here are some questions to get you started thinking:
- What do you want to know about blogs?
- What do you already know about blogs?
- How do you think you can use blogs?
- How do you see others using blogs?
- What are you concerned about when it comes to blogs?
- What experiences (good or bad) have you already had with blogs?
- How important is digital literacy for our students?
- OR anything else you would like to blog about.
----------------------------------------------------------
YOUR TASK:
Come up with at least one idea for using or creating a blog - it doesn't even have to be "school" related, and post a comment at the bottom of this post. Share any other thoughts you might have. If you can't think of something to "DO" with a blog, then share something you have learned about blogs or blogging.

Post your thoughts as a "comment" by clicking on the “comments” hyperlink at the bottom of this post. You can contribute as “other.”

Be sure to include your name somewhere.
Read others’ comments and feel free to comment on their comments.

Thanks!
Lee Anne

Will Wikipedia Last?

I was reading a blog post by George Siemens last week on his Connectivism blog titled Wikipedia and Google: Control vs. Emergence, and in light of the many, many conversations I've had this summer with Eighth Floor participants regarding the integrity of Wikipedia, I shared the blog post with several people in recent classes. One participant, Dana Sterling, wrote back. I love her passion, and you will too. I've been bugging her to start a blog, maybe if I share her comments here, she will be inspired!

The issue is kind of beside the one this writer is getting at. Academics worry that people are using Wikipedia and not understanding the quick and dirty, amateurish nature of the entries. This is where Britannica differs from Wikipedia. With ritannica, the entries are vetted and peer reviewed ahead of time. Like traditional academic journals and the journalism publications. Same editing and verification process, just taken to the web.

With Wikipedia, that process happens out in the open, in real time, in a kind of democratic way. That appeals to the grass roots activist, mistrustful of the mass media reader. I'm sure you have seen the student journalist criticism when Emory banned Wikipedia as an academic reference.

So I believe Britannica and Wikipedia are more different than he makes it seem. Though it is true that they are alike in that they are allowing the few to make information decisions for the many.

Google is indeed giving you everything, in one big shovel, and not sorting it at all. But he drastically underplays the impact of advertising and the desire to make money on Google searches. The hits are weighted by frequency and by sponsorship. They are not neutral either; far from it. And the China issue -- Google is willing to play ball with the Thought Police in order to make money. This deeply, deeply disturbs me. Yahoo is too.

Journalists and librarians believe in THE EDITOR! Someone has to make sense of the information, weigh it for authority and objectivity. No average consumer or student has the time to do that. It's an incredibly valuable function. It's not sinister. But the media have blown it and the people don't trust us. They think we are biased. We did it to ourselves by embracing opinion journalism instead of clinging to objectivity as a professional value.

See, this was a blog post. I gotta get one for my academic side!
Thanks for the link.

Dana

Dana spent the summer on the Eighth Floor in the Online Learning Series. I find many of her "takes" on things to be interesting, and as I said before, passionate. Dana spent 20 years as a newspaper journalist and TV reporter and now teaches journalism and writing at ORU and TCC.

I appreciate Dana's willingness to share her thoughts. If anyone else is interested in contributing to the Eighth Floor blog, just let me know!

Thanks!
Lee Anne

Can You Subscribe to a YouTuber?

YouTube (and now TeacherTube) are becoming quite popular - wouldn't you say - just a little, maybe? Yeah, yeah, there are definitely some inappropriate "things" to watch for, but there are more way cool "tubes" for kids and teachers.

Recently, one of the Eighth Floor participants, Lynn - The Raving Librarian - said she had a favorite YouTuber that she wanted to subscribe to. She wanted to know how to do that. Subscribing you YouTube is a bit different, but she found a way! Check out her blog at The Raving Librarian. Lynn pointed out that if you subscribe to someone, then you don't have to "go out there" and accidentally run into something you don't want to see. Excellent!!

Thanks, Lynn, for sharing with everyone.

Thanks!
Lee Anne

What About Blogs - July 2007

Welcome to the Eighth Floor class, "What About Blogs."

We thought you might be interested in looking at a few of the blogs we find particularly relevant to education and technology integration. There are thousands and thousands of blogs out there. You will find blogs on any topic, from pet grooming to dissertation research. People of all ages are drawn to blogging as a form of expression. As a collaboration and communication tool, blogs have found their place in education. Many teachers use them for professional development and continued learning.

Check out the following education/professional development focused blogs:
Webblogg-ed
Moving at the Speed of Creativity
Teachers Teaching Teachers
Blog of Proximal Development
2 Cents Worth
The Good Habits Blog

Several teachers are using blogs in the classroom as a tool for collaboration and communication. They find that blogging results in much more authentic learning for students.

Check out the following education/classroom use blogs:
Mrs. Watts Second Grade Computer Classroom
AP English Literature and Composition
English 12
Maybry Online.org - Classroom and Teacher blogs
Applied Science Research Blogs Alan November - Examples in Education
Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom Blog (1st and 2nd Graders)
Blogical Minds

Check out the following education/safety focused postings and articles:
MySpace Education
Change Agency BlogSafety.com

Blogging Tips and Tricks:
Web Blog Basics
Blogs - Anatomy
Bogs for Learning
Evaluating Blogging
Blogging Best Practices

Being as this is a class about blogging, we think you ought to do a little, well, blogging. (Those of you reading this who are not enrolled in the class, please jump in!) We’d like you to share some of your thoughts or concerns about setting up and using blogs either professionally or in the classroom.
--------------------------------------------------------
Here are some questions to get you started thinking:
- What do you want to know about blogs?
- What do you already know about blogs?
- How do you think you can use blogs?
- How do you see others using blogs?
- What are you concerned about when it comes to blogs?
- What experiences (good or bad) have you already had with blogs?
- How important is digital literacy for our students?
- OR anything else you would like to blog about.
----------------------------------------------------------
YOUR TASK: Come up with at least one idea for using or creating a blog - it doesn't even have to be "school" related, and post a comment at the bottom of this post. Share any other thoughts you might have. If you can't think of something to "DO" with a blog, then share something you have learned about blogs or blogging. Post your thoughts as a "comment" by clicking on the “comments” hyperlink at the bottom of this posting. You can contribute as “other.” Be sure to include your name somewhere. Read others’ comments and feel free to comment on their comments.

Thanks!
Lee Anne

LeeAnne's podcast

Give it a listen!

Podomatic for Audiocasting




Enjoy! -- LeeAnne Morris

VoiceThread WOW!

I've been playing with a wild new Web 2.0 tool.

VoiceThread

Check it out.



Let me know what you think.

Thanks!
Lee Anne