So I began this Master's program as a god whisper..or more like a God push and he said, "It was my time, he had work for me to do and I needed to not be afraid.." When I cried and said, I don't have time, he replied, "It's okay, I'll be there to support you."
I thought is was just for Stronger Than Espresso, but I wasn't thinking big enough. My husband came to me last night and discussed a project he has been given by a non profit organization to do on the side. My husband is an amazing marketer for a Fortune 500 company so he was a good choice for the work. As we discussed the objectives I began talking about using social networks since they are free and how to leverage the objectives. I was talking about Google Reader and RSS feeds and simple Widgets with a learning focus. He just stared at me and we realized that between us we have the knowledge base to let God's work happen through us for this non profit. How awesome is that!
Be Blessed,
Brooke
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Creating Ning Class
Good morning,
Spent time this morning working on next week's assignment to create a class in Ning. It was very easy to do and I completed all but one of the steps in the PDF guide. I was not able to add the Group feature because it was grayed out. All the other pieces were extremely easy to create. It took me a very short time to make the class. If I had my syllabus, course objectives and other materials I could very quickly load the information into the class format in under one to two hours. Once loaded it could be the format for a current class or for future classes. Adding the widget was very easy and I am amazed that I didn't realize that there were companies forming all around me that create widgets. Have I been living in a black hole? Wow, there is so much opportunities out there.
Spent time this morning working on next week's assignment to create a class in Ning. It was very easy to do and I completed all but one of the steps in the PDF guide. I was not able to add the Group feature because it was grayed out. All the other pieces were extremely easy to create. It took me a very short time to make the class. If I had my syllabus, course objectives and other materials I could very quickly load the information into the class format in under one to two hours. Once loaded it could be the format for a current class or for future classes. Adding the widget was very easy and I am amazed that I didn't realize that there were companies forming all around me that create widgets. Have I been living in a black hole? Wow, there is so much opportunities out there.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Ning Comparisons
I have been asking myself the differences between Ning, Facebook, Linkin and other social networking sites trying to understand why a consumer, business or educator would choose one over the other. I do believe that Ning was the easiest format for me to navigate and allowed total control in my design and numerous applications at my fingertips. The customization I like. What concerns me is the cost which would require anyone in my network to also be paying a fee. I found some blog information that is good content on how others feel about the Ning network.
http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/07/using-ning.
by Lisa Barone July 20, 2009
http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2009/05/privacy-potential-pitfalls-using-ning-to-create-community-part-three.html
by Michael Stephens on May 19, 2009
http://techcrunch.com/2007/02/26/ning-in-full/
by Michael Arrington on Feb 26, 2007
They were informative to read about Ning.
Brooke
http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/07/using-ning.
by Lisa Barone July 20, 2009
http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2009/05/privacy-potential-pitfalls-using-ning-to-create-community-part-three.html
by Michael Stephens on May 19, 2009
http://techcrunch.com/2007/02/26/ning-in-full/
by Michael Arrington on Feb 26, 2007
They were informative to read about Ning.
Brooke
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Facebook as a Learning Technology
Spent this morning reviewing Facebook understanding the applications that are available. The real time comments, photo sharing, event planning, beta tsting, knowing who is online, forming groups and the ability to generate targeted Facebook ads all are applications tha are important to me. I found some new applications that I didnt know about: Coin Can Avatar which is Second Life but even stranger. Visual Bookshelf which sounds like a good idea. Family Tree was new for me and that really makes alot of sense. Updating my Facebook account hasn't been a priority for me and I don't use it as blogging tool to update every movement I make in my life like others do. Finding the balance between keeping an update and overwhelming information is a personal choice. How can we apply to education? With the ability to know who is online, course curriculum and attendance factors could be inplace. Group discussions, debates and collaborative projects could be done in "real time" despite the local of the participants. Posting syllabus', assignments and other course preparation is an easy way to reach the intended interest group. Separating the friends, versus professional groups is important to categorize different information needed for specific individuals. What risks do we face by providing all of that information "in the cloud"? Once its online, its there. So don't say or publish anything you would not want to be reviewed at a later time.
How do you think Facebook could be used as a learning technology?
How do you think Facebook could be used as a learning technology?
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Reviewing the wikis of my classmates
I had an opportunity to review the wiki concepts from several classmates and found the wiki applications are very diverse and much greater than I had imagined. We have K-12 teachers from all different specialities and corporate trainers from many industries all proposing a unique application to use wikis in our instruction.
Last night I began to detail how I can create my wiki framework and develop the resource bank wiki that I want to create. I am answering the following questions:
What is my specific purpose?
What links will I create for specific information?
How will I use Scaffolding in my design to aid in content formation?
Will I design a contact template so individuals can easily fill in the resource information.
Will I limit it to enrollees in the program, program administrators and beyond?
Will I break down the resources by States or by regions?
How will the teams: plan, brainstorm, communicate and practice?
What will I assess? How will I assess it?
Once those items are clearly defined, then it is a matter of building each page in the wiki for testing.
Excited about the possibilities. share your thoughts?
Brooke
Last night I began to detail how I can create my wiki framework and develop the resource bank wiki that I want to create. I am answering the following questions:
What is my specific purpose?
What links will I create for specific information?
How will I use Scaffolding in my design to aid in content formation?
Will I design a contact template so individuals can easily fill in the resource information.
Will I limit it to enrollees in the program, program administrators and beyond?
Will I break down the resources by States or by regions?
How will the teams: plan, brainstorm, communicate and practice?
What will I assess? How will I assess it?
Once those items are clearly defined, then it is a matter of building each page in the wiki for testing.
Excited about the possibilities. share your thoughts?
Brooke
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Linking Blog, Web Site and Twitter
Good morning,
Well its been amazing that the blog, twitter, web site and wiki are linked together. I need to call the web provider and ask some questions about my Sitebuilder. I know how to add the RSS feeds and the Script in the site, but it won't update the way I desire. I would love to have this blog update the website. I can load the script but it doesnt "activate" and show. I have learned so much.
The next few weeks I will design the classes and am excited to design the wiki. I wonder how many resources we can really get for individuals to access. It would be awesome. I am not sure how to leverage all of this new technology, but know that I am answering God's calling in the venture. He pushed me to go to this program and said he had work for me. He was right.
Today I looked at my website and there are so many updates I want to make to make it more interactive and dynamic. Over the next year it will develop into the new dream.
Assignment 1-3 due this week...the blog, the twitter and the begining of the wiki. I was able to get them all up and running and linked this week. Good news.
What dream do you have that you would like to develop?
Well its been amazing that the blog, twitter, web site and wiki are linked together. I need to call the web provider and ask some questions about my Sitebuilder. I know how to add the RSS feeds and the Script in the site, but it won't update the way I desire. I would love to have this blog update the website. I can load the script but it doesnt "activate" and show. I have learned so much.
The next few weeks I will design the classes and am excited to design the wiki. I wonder how many resources we can really get for individuals to access. It would be awesome. I am not sure how to leverage all of this new technology, but know that I am answering God's calling in the venture. He pushed me to go to this program and said he had work for me. He was right.
Today I looked at my website and there are so many updates I want to make to make it more interactive and dynamic. Over the next year it will develop into the new dream.
Assignment 1-3 due this week...the blog, the twitter and the begining of the wiki. I was able to get them all up and running and linked this week. Good news.
What dream do you have that you would like to develop?
Friday, July 23, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)