Over the past 2 weeks we have become familiar with Skype. It has been a bit of fun installing Skype and getting used to the facility of the software. To be an effective Skype user you should consider investing in a headphone/microphone set.

Now that you have time to explore and think about this new technology I am interested in your suggestions for how we can use this in the classroom. What can we do with Skype? How can it extend our classroom walls? How can it promote collaboration and interaction and discussion abotu our ITGS material?

I look forward to your comments. 

I have started a new online podcasting site at Podomatic. Here is our recent podcast about ELGG that has been uploaded to Julie's Flat Classroom. 

I have tried to embed it here but ELGG will not allow me to do this it seems as this is what comes up:

Click here to get your own player.

 
So, here is the direct link to the podcast.

Please post any further comments you have about the podcast and ELGG. Also, explore Podomatic and post your impressions about this online tool. How useful will this be for our podcast projects at school?

 

OK, a little later than the end of October...but here it is. The blogger of the week for the end of October is Cannelle. I would also like to give honourable mentions and encouragement to Shakila, Atif and Sanjida.

Well done to you all for consistent and interesting blogging!! 

I invite all students to respond to this posting and tell me what you consider to be 'best practice blogging' techniques so that we can devise a class list of how to be a great blogger. I look forward to reading your responses. 

Image Citation:
Zyryntyrah Photostream. 12 November 2006. <[Click to view link]>. 

Competition Time!

Do you use social networking websites? Of course you do! I think this article is referring particularly to MySpace or others like this. However, we have already established that ELGG is a form of social networking blogging.

 The BBC program, Click is looking for people your age to be on a show talking about how they use social networking. Read the article here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6137616.st

It would be great to hear your views. 

Congratulations to Sabbab! He is our 'Blogger of the Week' for the middle of November. I am very impressed with Sabbab's dedicated postings over the past 2 weeks and his interest in cross-referencing between the community ITGS blog and his own. He also took the initiative to post a summary of our class last week for those who were absent.Well done Sabbab!

I would also like to highlight Sabbab's excellent wiki work so far this year. His Iris and Retinal Identification and Open Source Software for Education Purposes have both been developed recently and show him as an expert in the area.

  Image Citation:
BK Punk. "All Seeing Eye". 10 November 2006. <[Click to view link]>. 

Today in ITGS I shared the screencast I made over the weekend about how to use Evoca for audio recording and sharing podcasts. This can be found on the Resources page of our Flat Classroom Project.

Your task this week is to join Evoca, create an audio recording and upload it to your account and then embed the HTML onto the Groupings wiki page. Then you should add it to our Flat Classroom group. This sounds complicated but if you follow the video tutorial (screencast) you will not have any trouble.

The important thing to remember is that with the help of the technology you have an opportunity to introduce yourself to another student on the other side of the world. What would you say if you were face-to-face? What questions would you ask them? What are you curious about? Think of these thinkgs when you record your personal introduction. Try and share a part of yourself so that your partner, and others, can get to know who you are and what you think.

Topic: Computer networks and security

Basic network knowledge: connections, components, security

A network is two or more devices communicating with each other eg a PC and a printer

INTRANET

LAN: topologies to make this work

Initially a BUS topology was used: cable and nodes with two terminating points

Security: make networks unavailable to outsiders, make sure data maintains its integrity 

Available, confidential and maintain integrity

Also, physical security is important 

Cables: twisted cables 4 x pairs (UTP used at school, STP is more costly)

Star topology: UTP cabe up to 100m, after that strength and data quality is lost. A repeater put in after 100m to boost the signal.

Hub acts as a multiple repeater

Seven layers: Physical, Data, Network, Transport etc

Switch (like a Hub): each device has a MAC address, this is a unique number on the LAN 

VLAN: virtual LAN gives greater control over the network, directs communication channels/groups

IP address: what is it? what do you do with it? IP based access control is the most common

Router: maintains an ACL (access control list) 

INTERNET

Accessing the outside world via WAN using a router

Gateway is an IP address of the router

Firewall to stop outside world coming in

NAT: Network Address Translation 

 

As a preliminary activity to our Flat Classroom project you have been asked to record an audio introduction to your partner in Camilla, Georgia and embed in the Groupings page of the flatclassroomproject wiki.

Congratulations to Atif, Salmaan, Omar, Sabbab and Salvi for having completed this by today! I enjoyed listening to your comments and feel sure that your partners will also learn about you and your life from these posts. Don't forget to also join the flatclassroom group on Evoca and add your audio/podcasts to this as our project develops.

Congratulations to Omar for being the ITGS Blogger of the Week! Although not a prolific blogger Omar has continued to add interesting articles to his blog that are relevant to our ITGS course. See his latest on the use of MySpace to help policed do their job.

Also, well done Omar for your wiki page contributions this term.  I suggest you all read Omar's pages on Encryption at ISD,  Copyright, Open Source Software.

Unfortunately I have had to add a Blogger Blacklist entry this week. This goes to Salmaan for not having posted anything to his blog all year! OK, if you have Salmaan then you are posting as Private which means I cannot read it. I hope this motivates you to do better next week as we are all going to watch your blog and post comments as soon as you put something up there!

 

Well, a great start to our Flat Classroom Project this week. For those of you who were not in class today, one other exciting piece of news is that the author of The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman, emailed me!  Yes, the very same author!

This is what he said:

Dear Julie,

I read your blog about the flat world classroom. I was delighted to see it! Tell me how it goes. Yes, this is really Tom Friedman. Allbest, Tom

 

If you remember I did mention that this project will be viewed internationally. So there you go, I know that Thomas will check back to see how our work develops.

So far this week you should have completed the following:

1. Created your audio podcast to introduce yourself with evoca and embedded it on the wiki page for groupings
   
2. You should then go to your own wiki page, the one just for your topic with your partner, and write a message in the discussion area with your initial ideas for the project
3. You can also start to put up some ideas and material on the wiki page, but remember to follow the template. We will talk about this more in class tomorrow.
4. Your email and skype addresses have been sent to your partners. They will email you. They have already invited you to join their skype, so please repond to this asap.

On Wednesday evening this week from 6.30-9pm your partners will be available in their classroom for Skype talking and chatting. Please set up webcams, microphones etc and try to get the communication going. If the Internet is slow resort to chatting, at least it will be synchronous. This will be your chance to ask questions and get to know your partner in real time.

Well done so far! Remember to be online and active as much as you can over the next 2 weeks and communicate with your partner.

As part of our Flat Classroom Project you have been asked to communicate with your Georgian partner in a variety of ways. Let's review these now:

1. Audio podcasts using Evoca.com. You should have all joined Evoca.com and created at least one audio file. It was recommended you create this in Audacity first, save as an MP3 file and then upload to Evoca. I have found that the online podcasting does not work so well if the Internet speed varies. You should have then embedded this recording into the Groupings wiki page. Remember you can record more audio messages whenver you want and send your partner a hyperlink.
2. Using Skype. Your partners have all been given your Skype addresses and have invited you to add them to yours. This means you have to open Skype and accept their invitation! I heard from Vicki today that some of you have not accespted the invitation yet. Please do this asap. Tonight I know that Cannelle and Casey both managed to connect. Casey was at school and Cannelle at home in the evening. Being 11 hours in time difference the real time connection opportunities are few, but if we set up some times try to make yourself available.
3. Using the discussion tabs on the project wiki. Use this on your own wiki page for your topic. I see that some of you have used the Groupings page discussion tab. It would be better to keep it specific to your project and on the page where you can find it all the time. Also, I need to see you participating in this project and collaborating with your partner so I will be looking for activity in the discussion areas. Check the rubric and the awards pages for where this will count for assessment and for possible awards.
4. Email. Your may exchange emails via Skype. Your partners have been given your email address as well.
   
5. Using video clips. After our talks today I want you all to reflect on your topic and consider how you can use video to interact with your partner to help each other produce their video. Vicki had the idea of her group answering questions and you could video yourselves asking the questions. This sounds like it has great potential if organised correctly. I have tried to take some video footage this week but ran out of time....next week we will start.
6. Information pages on the wiki. Our partners have uploaded a great page on quail hunting! Think how you can contribute information and images about Dhaka and Bangladesh. It doesn't have to be complicated or take a lot of time. Don't forget that you can upload images to flickr.com and tag them with flatclassroomproject06. I can upload them for you if you have not made an account yet. Let me know if you wish to create extra topic pages, I encourage this as a good activity to share cultural and lifestyle differences.

Keep up the good work Grade 11! We have had many international guests to our blog and to our wiki so far this week. They are curious about the project and also very supportive of what you are trying to achieve.