Google Reader - yes, embedded into my iGoogle page (& now into Vista’s Sidebar)
Gmail - yes - again into iGoogle (though not the Vista sidebar … but I have added it to my OLPC as an application)
Skype - yes, but not often, as we’re not meant to use it at work; so tend to use FlashMeeting instead for work.
Google calendar - to an extent - but it doens’t integrate with either the Groupwise or the WebCT Vista calendars (and they don’t with each other, either)
Google Docs - yes (yet another gadget on the iGoogle page)
Jing - I’ve recommended it in the past, though tend to use Captivate, just because we have it on the machines.
PBWiki - got an account, though I’ve used Wikispaces more with students (and hope to have a local install of MediaWiki for next academic year)
PollDaddy - I’ve heard of this, but not really investigated, as though I’ve read about quite a few online survey tools - I’ve not had to use one in anger … yet (and as I do a lot of work with our Perception server, I know that tool really quite well!)
Nvu - I’ve got this installed; however, it’s not been updated since 2005, and I’ve also read that Kompozer is where they are now doing the updates, so that’s what I’m using more now as an alternative to Dreamweaver etc.,
Yugama - another one that’s new to me. Seems to be an alternative to Flashmeeting etc., I may have to investigate (and you can have up to 10 people for free, which is more than Elluminate’s Vroom)
Ustream - heard of, watched, but not tried broadcasting. Yet!
Ning - guess it had to come up. I really don’t like Ning. Though I know many others do. Oh well.
Freemind - I’ve used it, and quite like it - though tend to use Inspiration more. (Just wish either made as good use of the stylus input on a tablet as Mind Manager can.)
eXe - really must re-test this, now that we have a version of WebCT that it works with. Looked a really useful tool when I looked before (until I couldn’t import anything!)
Twitter - using it, but hardly what you’d call a devotee.
This seems to be a generally comprehensive list; of course, there are things I’d have put in instead, but there again, she did create it from others’ recommendations.
Not sure what I make of this, but though provoking none the less.
(maybe not a good time to post this - right after so many have just left summer institutes where differentiated instruction seems to be the theme of the day...)
All of us receive information from a variety of sources. Three of my favorite resources include:
TechMeme (hot news stories about technology from around the globe).
Stephen's Web (daily or weekly email newsletter with interesting coverage of educational issues plus commentary by Stephen Downes).
Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day (Jane Hart of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies shares information about learning technologies. Additionally, Jane maintains a website displaying "Top 10 Tools for Learning 2008" listings shared by instructors and instructional designers from around the globe. An excellent list on Jane's website is the "Top100 Tools for Learning."
I’ve used Slideshare quite a bit since I discovered it (apparently I first mentioned in it June 06), and I’ve also looked at other sites that offer similar functionality, though have tended to stick to slideshare as I’m used to it.
There are other sites, though, that have additional functionality, and I do rather like the look of (though not sure that I have the time to fully investigate them!)
Sharing:
Scivee: Which I’ve mentioned in the past is aimed at the science community - and allows the upload of presentations, papers, videos, audio etc.
Scribd: I’ve looked at this in the past & might well have used it, had I not already been using Slideshare. It allows documents as well as slides to be uploaded (though, as far as I can tell, it doesn’t allow audio tracks to be embedded in the same way. They’re using “iPaper” - which also allows you to create iPaper documents and embed them on a website. TOny Hirst created a useful bookmarklet to enabled the creation of iPaper documents.
Creating presentations.
VUE. This looks interesting. It’s a java application, so requires installing, rather than running online. It’s also probably somewhere between a mind map & a presentation tool. It allows the same presentation to be presented in a number of different formats/ orders.
Sliderocket. I have just been invited to the beta testing of SlideRocket. It seems to be a presentation tool where there are a lot of options for transitions etc., Personally, I prefer something plainer. But, then again, I’m not a graphic designer!
Share & create
Google Docs/ Zoho / Ajax Presents etc. all offer the ability to either create online, or to upload existing presentations (Powerpoint, Open Office, though not always Mac keynote) - and to share as required.
I’ve used Slideshare quite a bit since I discovered it (apparently I first mentioned in it June 06), and I’ve also looked at other sites that offer similar functionality, though have tended to stick to slideshare as I’m used to it.
There are other sites, though, that have additional functionality, and I do rather like the look of (though not sure that I have the time to fully investigate them!)
Sharing:
Scivee: Which I’ve mentioned in the past is aimed at the science community - and allows the upload of presentations, papers, videos, audio etc.
Scribd: I’ve looked at this in the past & might well have used it, had I not already been using Slideshare. It allows documents as well as slides to be uploaded (though, as far as I can tell, it doesn’t allow audio tracks to be embedded in the same way. They’re using “iPaper” - which also allows you to create iPaper documents and embed them on a website. TOny Hirst created a useful bookmarklet to enabled the creation of iPaper documents.
Creating presentations.
VUE. This looks interesting. It’s a java application, so requires installing, rather than running online. It’s also probably somewhere between a mind map & a presentation tool. It allows the same presentation to be presented in a number of different formats/ orders.
Sliderocket. I have just been invited to the beta testing of SlideRocket. It seems to be a presentation tool where there are a lot of options for transitions etc., Personally, I prefer something plainer. But, then again, I’m not a graphic designer!
Share & create
Google Docs/ Zoho / Ajax Presents etc. all offer the ability to either create online, or to upload existing presentations (Powerpoint, Open Office, though not always Mac keynote) - and to share as required.
Bryan Chapman culled these from Brandon Hall surveys of real life experiences - in answer to how long does it take to develop training materials? development time: delivery "seat" time -
Ratio for each Type of learning
34:1 Instructor-Led Training (ILT), including design, lesson plans, handouts, PowerPoint slides, etc.
33:1 PowerPoint to E-Learning Conversion. Not sure why it takes less time then creating ILT, but that’s what we discovered when surveying 200 companies about this practice
220:1 Standard e-learning which includes presentation, audio, some video, test questions, and 20% interactivity
345:1 Time it takes for online learning publishers to design, create, test and package 3rd party courseware
750:1 Simulations from scratch. Creating highly interactive content
Here are the bibliographies for each, in case you want to cite these in research:
34:1 Chapman, B. and the staff of Brandon Hall Research (2007). LCMS Knowledgebase 2007: A Comparison of 30+ Enterprise Learning Content Mangement Systems [online database, no page numbers]. Published by Brandon Hall Research, Sunnyvale, CA
33:1 Chapman, B. and the staff of Brandon Hall Research (2006). PowerPoint to E-Learning Development Tools: Comparative Analysis of 20 Leading Systems. Published by Brandon Hall Research, Sunnyvale, CA, p. 20.
220:1 Chapman, B. and the staff of Brandon Hall Research (2006). PowerPoint to E-Learning Development Tools: Comparative Analysis of 20 Leading Systems. Published by Brandon Hall Research, Sunnyvale, CA, p. 20.
345:1 Private study, done for a consulting client, information was not published. No bibliographical reference.
 750:1 Chapman, B. and the staff of Brandon Hall Research (2006). Online Simulations 2006: A Knowledgebase of 100+ Simulation Development Tools and Services [online database, no page numbers]. Published by Brandon Hall Research, Sunnyvale, CA
Of course I would add two more ratios with innumerable citations:
I’ve just updated WordPress to 2.6 - which seems to be promising quite a few new features:
I’ve also been beta testing the Elgg 1.0 over the past few weeks. It seems to have a lot of new, useful features - I’m looking forward to being able to install & have a play soon.
I’ve just updated WordPress to 2.6 - which seems to be promising quite a few new features:
I’ve also been beta testing the Elgg 1.0 over the past few weeks. It seems to have a lot of new, useful features - I’m looking forward to being able to install & have a play soon.
ONLY 21 PERCENT OF the executives surveyed by McKinsey this year (2008) said they are satisfied overall with Web 2.0 tools, while 22 percent voiced clear dissatisfaction. By contrast, over half the executives surveyed by McKinsey last year (2007) said they were pleased with the results of their investments in Internet technologies over the past five years, while a mere 13 percent say they are disappointed with previous investments.
The reason? McKinsey’s findings suggest that companies are coming to understand the difficulty of realizing some of Web 2.0’s benefits. “However, fundamental changes are beginning to take place among the satisfied companies… [They] are not only using more technologies but also leveraging them to change management practices and organizational structures. Some are taking steps to open their corporate “ecosystems” by encouraging customers to join them in developing products and by using new tools to tap distributed knowledge.”
Mix of technologies used is changing: Blogs, RSS, wikis, and podcasts are becoming more common, perhaps because companies have a greater understanding of their value for business (Exhibit 1).
More technologies are in use: Overall, the respondents say that their companies are using 3.4 technologies from an expanded list, versus 2.2 in 2007. Companies use Web 2.0 technologies more frequently for internal than for external purposes, and the rate of deployment remains high for almost all kinds of uses (Exhibit 2).
Web services remains highest used: Respondents rate Web services (software that makes it easier to exchange information and conduct transactions) as the most important tool, with Europeans providing the highest marks. Companies in all regions perceive wikis and blogs as fairly important, and the use of both tools has increased over the past year.
Satisfaction varies markedly by geography: The developed countries of the Asia-Pacific region had the largest percentage of respondents expressing the highest level of overall satisfaction with Web 2.0 tools, and Latin America had the lowest (Exhibit 4).
Luhmann writes: "Es geht nur um eine Präzisierung" (Luhmann, Niklas, Organisation und Entscheidung, Westdeutscher Verlag 2000, S. 242), which is what has been going on behind my commucative curtains lately.
The uncertainty about the future of EduSpaces added a further momentum not to use this blog as a publishing platform.
Well, this is all going to change - once again. On the scientific side, I have made great progress in unfolding a theory of elites, basing it's insights on current knowledge from as diverse fields as neuroscience, cybernetics, logic, psychology, mathematics, philosophy, biology and sociology.
We have to observe our own observations and accept the limitations of our observational abilities og cognitive capacities, wether the observer is a social or psychological observer. Elites can only emerge, if - and only if - there are societal observers willing to let elites act as such, freeing the non-elitarian observer from the burden of acting elitarian.
