Week 11 Report/Reflection

Week 11.  The week of webcasts, and the application of my creative commons license. 

 

Source: http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/690/043/988.gif

A webcast is a distributable presentation via the internet using streaming media technology services.  Webcasts can be done either live or pre-recorded.  Webcasts are not exactly a new concept in 2014 and have had a chance to flourish and branch out into several genres.  From CBC radio programs to that guy in his basement with a collection of tinfoil hats, people have been using webcasts effectively for years to make their voice heard worldwide.  Whether anyone truly listens to the latter is another matter.  

 Source: http://o.onionstatic.com/images/5/5577/original/700.hq.jpg?2545

One popular format of webcasting is called podcasting, which is essentially a streaming audio program, typically of someone's voice.  They are commonly used for talk radio shows and blogs when you want to access a previous show or when the typed word simply does not properly convey your thoughts and feelings.  Since there is no governing body to censor out content, people are free to say whatever they want.  I myself am not a big fan of talk radio, but it gives the person the ability to touch upon issues considered too controversial, politically incorrect or even too boring for public radio.  

Screencasting, another popular format, is essentially a podcast with video.  This is commonly used in DIY and tutorials.  They are definitely the more popular format nowadays with the rise of YouTube where people even make a living off making these videos!  I myself would love to do something like this (given there's money involved), but unfortunately I'm not so sure I have anything new or unique to bring to the table.  

Another very popular and practical use of screencasting is online lectures.  There are tons of videos on YouTube of educators teaching things from learning your times tables to rocket science.  Several universities have also started implementing the use of screencasts to upload their lectures either for online only courses or just regular classes so students that could not make it to class have no excuse.  This was done in my online only astronomy course I took last semester (ASTR 1P01) and definitely helped when I needed additional knowledge on a certain part of the course.  I didn't even need to buy a textbook for it!  I definitely would like to see screencasts implemented in my other courses, even the ones that aren't online and especially my more challenging courses.  Students can only pay attention for so long and the ability to replay moments where you may have zoned out in class can be extremely helpful.  It can also completely eliminate the need for dreaded 8 AM classes and frees up classroom space as lecturers can teach in the comfort of their own home, given a board/projector or sorts is available.  One of professors told me Brock is at a 90% classroom capacity rate and investing in cameras to record lectures can save a lot of money versus building new classrooms.  Online lectures definitely have boosted my learning and I wish Brock would embrace this learning style more.  

I can understand why some lecturers would prefer not to do this however.  Sometimes you need a live audience of sorts to gauge whether they are presenting the content in a clear manner or whether additional explanation is needed to cement the concept in the students' heads.  Otherwise, they must prepare themselves for a potential lineup of people during his/her office hours.    

I have taken an online course where there were no webcasts available.  The only materials provided were the textbook, powerpoint slideshows and discussion forums.  I feel if webcasts were provided, my learning in the course would've been accelerated and would've saved me time in the process.  Sometimes slideshows are simply insufficient in getting the point across and can be described better with visuals and spoken word.

Webcasting differs from many of the other tools we have used so far (save for VoiceThread) in the sense that we can use our voices and body instead of written words.  Sarcasm is a great example of a thing that is not translated very well onto paper for example.  Using these tools, you can, well, be as sarcastic as you want with far less misunderstanding.  

Webcasting is something I definitely support and have supported before this course started.  It just did not occur to me at the time to add it to my PLE.  It is definitely going in.

This week's Feedly contribution comes from the Huffington Post.  It has to do with a certain dictator staring at you on my blog at all times ordering all males to get the same haircut as him.  News reports of Kim Jong Un ordering all university males within North Korea to get the same haircut as him went viral this week.  (Un)fortunately, it appears the report was nothing more than a hoax as it appears no one has followed through with their new mandatory hairstyle yet when the order was given weeks ago.  Here is the article.  

Have a good week everyone.

Week 10 Report/Reflection

Entering double digit territory in Week 10.  This week we look at slideshow creation/enhancement tools.

The tool that seems to be the most popular and supported is Animoto, which is the tool I will be focusing on this week.

Source: http://thephotographeracademy.com/assets/uploads/images/sponsor-images/animoto679x300.png

Animoto is a(nother) cloud based service that produces slideshows from your uploaded music, videos and images.  The interface was simple to use and pleasant on the eyes.  Creating a free account enables you to make a 30 second slideshow with either your uploads or it's many templates.  Making a last minute slideshow, while perhaps very stressful, is doable with this tool.  I honestly believe it can overtake Microsoft Power Point one day as top slideshow creator, but it will take time as the app is still relatively new.  It took us years to accept tablets as useful tools and this likely will not be much different.  In order to get there, some changes will likely have to be made in terms of subscription fees.  5 dollars a month is far too expensive for something you will seldom use.  As a student, I am not really interested in paying these fees for a school project when PowerPoint is readily available and a 30 second slideshow is not nearly sufficient to give a meaningful presentation.  Once they introduce a more realistic and affordable payment scheme (ie. free), I may hop on the wagon. 

I think the the ability to embed video and gifs into the slideshow is awesome, though others may view it as nothing more than a gimmick. 

As a 4th year student, my days of presentations are largely over.  I was not even in a presentation heavy program to begin with.  While this is a nifty tool, I am uncertain if I will ever need it.  If a course decides to surprise me with the task of creating a slideshow or presentation of sorts, I would probably still not use it as a 30 second slideshow is not enough to get the point of a topic across to a classroom of people.  I don't exactly make slideshows on a regular basis, so this tool is largely useless to me.  If I need to make a slideshow in a pinch, I have Google Docs.  

Animoto will not be making it to my PLE.  While I am intrigued by it and the concept of the service is neat, there are too many conditions and reasons this tool is simply impractical for a student.    

This week's Feedly contribution comes from gaming blog Kotaku.  In it, writer Patricia Hernandez (who I am not a very big fan of) posts a video from PBS Idea Channel.  As we all know, internet memes have taken the internet (go figure) by storm.  These days, no matter where you go, they're damn near inescapable.  From Bad Luck Brian to "never doing leg day" gym memes, some of them are funny, some were never funny, some you just got sick of.  This video attempts to explain when and why memes stop being funny.  I started watching it and after a while, noticed he was going in circles about the same ideas.  Then I looked at how long the video was.  10+ minutes...

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWIOhrCWJnOu7oRNaAU-48aFGqZzZe77h9ifPfGQeX9cCZ3Jqt2H_yVEr-90ItVK_wtl2AGlr_8eRm13k3IyQKCIRh57BJ9EAtQTDF_e3y7mUbT7u-HAgE2lCT58VYddyWxb-Ez6wDY4r2/s1600/ed-nortan-laptop.gif

If you want a great explanation that takes you 5 seconds to comprehend, I'll give you one.  Why don't we hear Gangnam Style on the radio anymore? 

If you want to be pseudo intellectual and indulge yourself, feel free to watch the video below that I've taken the courtesy to embed.

Have a good week everybody :)

Week 9 Report/Reflection

In Week 9 of my ADED 1P32 journey, I look at VoiceThread.

VoiceThread is somewhat like Google Docs on a much grander scale.  It allows you to share slideshows and documents and have people comment on it publicly, very similar to popular music streaming service SoundCloud.   People can also get in and collaborate on your work.  While Google Docs only allows you to comment on work via text, VoiceThread will allow you to comment on works via voice (hence the "voice" in VoiceThread) and even video.  Discussions on the work can be held in a meeting like fashion and not being in attendance is no longer an excuse.  You can just upload your say whenever you have the time.  If expressing your feelings or opinion with text is insufficient (which I found to be the case at times with Google Docs), your voice, body, or a combination of both can be used to ensure you and the creator are seeing eye to eye.

Source: http://technology.wfu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/VoiceThread-Logo_2.png

Voicethread is a useful tool in limited scenarios.  While I will add this to my PLE, likely where sharing media is involved, it will be likely be seldom used.  I personally cannot see instances where tool will provide much utility, but I think it can aid others greatly.  A great way this tool can be utilized is a teacher that requires commentary on a slideshow from her students as an assignment.  Unfortunately, teaching is not on my radar for future career at this point.  Just in case, VT will be slipped in my back pocket for now.  

This week's Feedly contribution comes from the Huffington Post.  It is about an elementary school boy that was bullied as a result of his love of My Little Pony and chooses to show his fandom in the form of a knapsack.  They are commonly referred to on the internet as "Bronies".  The elementary school took action and prohibited him from bringing the bag to school and his mother was upset.  I am willing to take on the role of the devil's advocate here and wonder why his parent did not step in when he bought this bag?  While the bullies should no doubt in my mind be punished, the entire situation could've been avoided if his parent stepped in when buying that backpack and told him not to get it.  A boy displaying fandom for a show clearly aimed at young girls is not exactly an obscure target for people at which to poke fun.  Kids are mean, and if the parent is not going to take action, the school should, and appropriately did, in my opinion.         

Week 8 Report/Reflection

Week 8, the week of wikis.  A great tool indeed.

In case you haven't been on the internet for the past 5-10 years, a wiki is a website anyone can edit using a web browser.  Generally, it will offer encyclopedic style knowledge on topics that are either non-fictional, on fictional universes and even weird underground cult hits.  

The most popular and extensive wiki in the world, without a doubt, belongs to Wikipedia, which I am sure you have all been to at least once in your academic lives.  Wikis are a great free database for knowledge.  It does give you a excellent summary of the topic at hand but where it really shines is giving users cited sources to use for research purposes.  Many academic supervisors discredit the use of Wikipedia, but they cannot deny the sources.

Source: http://www.holyroodconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Wikipedia.jpg

  


I use Wikipedia to not only look up things for school assignments and group projects, but also on topics that pique my interest and enjoy in my leisure time.  Not only does it house academic information, but it also can tell you how tall Conan O'Brien is, who Floyd Mayweather Jr. is fighting next and what it means to be Rick Rolled.

The main difference between a wiki and either a blog, google drive or evernote is that everyone is open to edit the topic.  Truthfully, the way I use a wiki is very different from the way I would use blogs, google drive or evernote.  It is already in my PLE and there's no foreseeable date when it will be ever removed.   Blogs I generally use for news, google drive I use for group projects and evernote is for making notes to myself.  I use wikis for thorough knowledge on academic topics and topics of interest.  Nothing will be added, removed, or replaced in my PLE this week.   

Wikis can be a great tool to nurture learning.  When I was younger and had to do more group projects, our teacher's disapproval of Wikipedia was always something that surprised me.  While anyone is able to edit the content of the page, most academic pages were accurate 99% of the time and attempts to present misleading information were usually both obvious and very rare.  It wasn't until my friend pointed out it didn't matter anyways, and then I saw the light.

Source: http://shaqface.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/wpid-nlwkfs.gif

Wikipedia's cited sources section is all you need.  Wikipedia simply aggregates the information and presents it in summary format.  It gives you an idea of what the topic is about and even provides footnotes as to where they got the information so you are not endlessly looking through its provided sources for relevant information.  If anything, I believe teachers should be promoting the use of Wikipedia. 

This week's Feedly contribution comes from NPR.  It discusses the efforts automobile companies are making to make cars increasingly driverless.  With a desire not to be outdone by tech giant Google, several automakers are putting in their efforts to continue their road dominance.  We already have cars that parallel park themselves and check blind spots.  Before we know it, we won't even realize we will have to do none of the work ourselves.  How about we flying cars already instead? 

Week 7 Report/Reflection

After a well deserved (and short) reading week, I'm back at you with Week 7.

On the docket for discussion this week is a personal favourite tool of mine.  It is the hero group projects deserves: Google Docs, or now more commonly known as Google Drive.

Source: http://www.itcentralpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/GoogleDrive.jpg

 

Google Drive comes with your Google Account.  It is essentially your personal cloud based storage.  Initially starting off as Google Docs, it was limited only to storing word documents, spreadsheets, and slideshows.    Google has vastly expanded and improved upon the service where you can now store virtually anything, given you do not go over your 15 GB storage limit.  Even then, you can pay for more.  

 

Now, Google Drive is commonly used to store not only documents, but also pictures, home videos, games, applications, etc.  All photos and videos that you take with an Android phone are automatically backed up in the event of it going haywire and losing all your data and memories.  If you have amassed quite a archive, it has a search feature so you can dig up that embarrassing photo of your friend from the Christmas party or your brainstorming session from months ago.  Just make sure you name it well.   

 

You are not only able to store documents, but with Drive's built in tools, you are also able to edit and share them publicly.  The killer feature of Google Drive, in my opinion, is the fact that others not only view but also edit your work simultaneously, given you have enabled them to do so.  Having used Google Drive already for several group projects, it makes assembly and proofreading of the final draft much easier.  The user interface is very similar to Microsoft Office making it very easy to use with a very little learning curve, if any.  To top it all off, you are able to download the created documents and open them in their respective Microsoft Office applications.  

 

When we were given our collaborative assignment on a digital literacy topic, I intuitively thought of using Google Drive to complete it.  My intuition didn't matter as we were required to use it anyways.  

 

The document portion of Google Drive is useful beyond just for group projects.  They can also be used for writing songs.  Songwriting can be a long process and you will find you must often come back to it and work on it before you are happy with it.  It can also be used to store sensitive information like passwords or locker combinations.  It can also be used for business proposals and presentations.  No more carrying around a USB stick.  It's on the cloud.  A to-do list for group planning would also be a great use for it as others can put whether they have completed it or not right on the doc. 

 

Google Drive is a great tool that is already on my PLE and for good reason.  If my praise of it hasn't made you see its potential, or university group projects haven't made you rip your hair out, I'm not too sure what will.       

Working collaboratively with my partner, Guy Jung, has been a good experience.  This is the second project I've ever done purely online with no personal interaction, and the inclusion of Google Drive has made it much more pleasant.  In my previous group assignment, the stubbornness of my group mates to use and learn new software was rather irritating and between using Facebook and Microsoft Office to get the job done was, quite frankly, a pain in the behind when we could've just used Google Drive to get the job done and not send and resend our work countless times.  I commend this course for exposing us to some great tools like this and can only hope more people will adopt it into their repertoire of school tools.     

Source: http://www.cesim.com/Portals/104692/images/Collaboration.jpg

 

For this week's installment of  Feedly Weekly is an article from NPR.  In it is an interview with Julia Angwin, a writer for ProPublica.  Running 30+ minutes, she discusses the illusion of privacy and anonymity on the internet and how your internet browsing/searching habits are easily re-traceable.  The link to the interview is here.