Well, the semester is almost over and I am looking forward to a break! The 3D learning Ning discussion allowed me to vent a little. I really think that Second Life is a waste of students' time. I tried to access it in a previous class but couldn't even thougy my video card was on the "approved" list. That was the final straw for me!
What is being done with SMART technology is exciting, however. The use of multiple SMART Boards is a great way to "immerse" students into the learning activity. This technology is ideal for kinesthetic learner, especially younger students with less developed small motor skills.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Cascading Style Sheets.
Cascading Style Sheets.
I. What is CSS
CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, are first of all style sheets. They are designed to control the style of a web page. HTML can be used to identify the elements of a web page, but the current thought is to separate the content of the page from the presentation. HTML tags such as <H1>, <UL>,<TABLE>, and <P> can indicate a heading, bulleted list, table, or paragraph but should not be utilized to indicate how those elements should be displayed. The additional challenge is displaying a single page in different media – computer monitor, handheld device, or print. The World Wide Web Consortium, W3C, created CSS to provide an solution to these problems.
The “cascading” portion of the name is an indication of the hierarchy and inheritance in CSS. For all documents there is a default style sheet provided by the browser. These style settings are applied to any element, or element property, without a explicit style definition. The next level up from the default settings are those in an external style sheet. An external style sheet is coded outside the HTML file and referenced in the <HEAD> area of the HTML document. There can also be an internal style sheet defined within the <HEAD> of an HTML document. The internal style sheet will take precedence over the external style sheet unless the external style sheet link appears after the internally coded style sheet. Style elements can also be coded directly with the applicable element within the HTML code. These inline styles take priority over all other style sheets.
II. The relationship between CSS and ADA
CSS is used extensively to meet the requirements for ADA. Three media types have been created specifically for ADA –
· aural for speech synthesizers.
· braille for braille tactile feedback devices.
· embossed for braille printers.
III. Why use CSS
CSS is an easy and effective way to create a consistent web “look and feel”. Daniel Frommelt, the Web Coordinator for University of Wisconsin - Platteville, requires all websites to use the CSS files that he creates. Using this policy, the look of the entire university website can be updated by changing a single file or very limited number of files.
In the past web designers relied on tables to format and position information on the page. This outdated method weakens the power of most search engines to capture the essence of a web site. Tables should only be used for tabular information not for formatting. Formatting can all be done using CSS and the appropriate classes within the HTML document.
IV. Three examples based on your html page assignment
I made use of CSS in my multipage website for formatting the various elements. First of all I used the CSS template provided by Daniel Frommelt at the 2008 HELIX Conference to create a two-column presentation. Another example from Daniel’s example that I use frequently is the formatting of navigation tabs from unordered lists. I also try to include a print style sheet with each HTML file that “hides” the left-hand menu, banner heading, and footer.
V. Is there any disadvantages of CSS?
One of the disadvantages of applying any style to an HTML document is the lack of standardization among browsers. Some formatting is handled differently by IE and FireFox. This requires that the web site be tested with all operational browsers.
VI. Other info about CSS
I did learn some new tricks while browsing the CSS tutorial, www.w3schools.com/css.
· The z-index can be very useful to overlay an image with text. The z-index defines the “layer” when multiple elements are co-located on the webpage.
· The “Fixed” value for the position attribute can cause an element do remain fixed on the screen while scrolling up and down the page.
· I had never used “opacity” before and this is a great attribute for controlling images
· Using “overflow: scroll” within explicitly defined area can save “real estate” on the screen.
Monday, April 6, 2009
HTML Continued
This week we delved a little deeper into HTML. I decided to convert some of the work that I have done on the Semantic web into web pages. I used the PowerPoint presentation last Friday for the College-to-College (C2C) Spring Forum. This year they decided to try a video conference format. There were 5 sites including, Ft. Hays State, KU - Edwards, K-State, Washburn, and UCM. The VC was not well attended. Only a half-a-dozen or so at each site.
I used some of the CSS techniques on my site that I learned from Daniel Frommelt at last year's HELIX conference. You can take a look at the site on my student web page - Semantic Web
I used some of the CSS techniques on my site that I learned from Daniel Frommelt at last year's HELIX conference. You can take a look at the site on my student web page - Semantic Web
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
HTML
The next two week I expect to be less stressful. I have completed my two in-person presentations at TechNet and HELIX and the next one is a teleconference and I plan to use my presentation materials from the TechNet conference.
In addition, I am very comfortable with HTML as I use it most every day in my work.
Here's what I created for the Week 10 Assignment
Send me an email.
Link to the UCM website.
Link to my blog site.
In addition, I am very comfortable with HTML as I use it most every day in my work.
Here's what I created for the Week 10 Assignment
INST 5400 HTML Project
Three paragraphs
Paragraph one is Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Paragraph two is Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Paragraph three is Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
An email and a regular link
Email link
Send me an email.
Regular Link
Link to the UCM website.
Link to my blog site.
An ordered and an unordered list
Ordered List
- Item one in an ordered list
- Item two in an ordered list
- Item three in an ordered list
- Item four in an ordered list
Unordered List
- Item one in an unordered list
- Item two in an unordered list
- Item three in an unordered list
- Item four in an unordered list
Comments
Comments are created by surrounding the comment text with
"<!--" and "-->"
Special Characters
Some characters have special meaning in HTML and must be encoded to display properly on a web page. This can be done using the ASCII code or HTML recognized literals. In either case the code or literal are prefixed with an ampersand (&) and suffixed with a semi-colon (;)
| Special Character | HTML Code |
|---|---|
| < - Less than | < or < |
| > - Greater than | > or > |
| & - Ampersand | & |
| ; - Semi-colon | ; |
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
PowerPoint Slide Masters Tutorial
I found it a little rushed to try and fit in all of Master Slides into just 5 minutes.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Darn it anyway
Well I missed the part about adding my del.icio.us tags to my blog! But I've added them now. I guess I need to remember to read the fine print.
Anyway, this PhotoStory assignment is going to require some thought. I guess I could use the pictures that I took in Quebec a year ago and do a sort of "walking tour". That seems a little lame though.
I started becoming active with my Facebook account this week. I set up an account months ago, but never did anything with it. I now have as "friends" all my in-laws in New Hampshire, my daughter in Germany, and some friends both here on campus and back in New Jersey. I'm still waiting to see the benefit, however.
Anyway, this PhotoStory assignment is going to require some thought. I guess I could use the pictures that I took in Quebec a year ago and do a sort of "walking tour". That seems a little lame though.
I started becoming active with my Facebook account this week. I set up an account months ago, but never did anything with it. I now have as "friends" all my in-laws in New Hampshire, my daughter in Germany, and some friends both here on campus and back in New Jersey. I'm still waiting to see the benefit, however.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Semantic Web Introducation
This is my first podcast. I found that having a formal script helped a lot. This was a tip that I learned from Mike Jeffries during Adobe Presenter training.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Van Horn - Week 5 - Copyright
Copyright and Fair Use
Jim Van Horn
The founding fathers understood the importance of intellectual property and provided for it in the Constitution.
“To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” (Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution).
They understood that in order to encourage artistic and scientific pursuits, the creators had to be able to derive financial gain from their creations. Copyright is one form of intellectual property .
In short, copyright is “the right to copy”. Copyright protects more than just the creation of a facsimile, however. Copyright provides protection for:
“…original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.” (1976 Copyright Law 17 U.S.C. § 102).
In order to have copyright protection the work must first be original. One cannot copyright a piece of work just because no one else has copyright ownership – the work must be original.
Copyright protection no longer requires formal application and registration. Once it is “fixed in any tangible medium” the author has ownership and copyright protection. The legislators allowed for future technological advances by indicating that the medium could be “now known or later developed.”
The copyright law gives the original author the right to reproduce the work, prepare derivatives of the work, distribute copies for sale, perform the work if it is musical or dramatic in nature, and to display a visual work publicly. By granting these exclusive rights to the author, the law disallows these activities to anyone else.
The copyright law attempts to balance the benefits of creators and consumers. The creator has the right to benefit financial or otherwise from his work. This benefit is what fuels the fires or creativity. But the author’s benefit must be weighed against the general publics benefit – access to creative works. How then can teachers use original works?
First the teacher and their students can purchase copies of the work. The school could also purchase a license to make copies of the work. This license can be obtained directly from the copyright holder or through a copyright clearinghouse. Copyright clearinghouses act as brokers between content creators and content consumers. Consumers pay a flat rate and are allowed access to copyrighted materials from multiple content creators who have signed up with the clearinghouse. The teacher can obtain permission to make copies of the work directly from the copyright owner. In some cases no permission is necessary.
No permission is required for materials that are not eligible for copyright protection. These include raw facts or ideas and even works consisting entirely of information that is itself not copyrightable.
Work that is in the “Public Domain” is free to be used by anyone without restrictions. The author may choose to place their work in the public domain in order to allow for maximum exposure. Copyrighted material falls into public domain when the term of the copyright expires. Under the current copyright law a copyright expires 70 years after the death of the last surviving author of the work. If the work is created by an employee of a company, “the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.” (U.S. Copyright Office)
An alternative taken by some creators is to register their works with Creative Commons (creativecommons.org). Creative Commons offers a middle ground between copyright (full restrictions) and public domain (no restrictions). Authors can modify the terms for use. The different CC license conditions are:
Attribution Only requirement is to give credit, attribution.
Share Alike You use it only to the degree that you allow others to use your work
Non-Commercial Limited to non-commercial use
No Derivative Only verbatim copies of your work, not derivativ
Works
There are additional exceptions that are important for educational uses of copyrighted materials.
Fair Use Doctrine (Section 107)
Library Exemption (Section 108)
Classroom Exemption (Section 110)
Distance Learning (TEACH Act 2002)
The Fair Use Doctrine is delineated in Section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act.
fair use of a copyrighted work, including … use … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching …, scholarship, or research.”
(Section 107 1976 Copyright Act)
Some of the factors used by the courts to determine fair use are the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount of the portion used, and the effect of the use upon the market value of the work. Nonprofit educational purposes are looked upon more favorably than commercial purposes. The court has also recognized the spontaneity of use in some educational settings where time does not allow for obtaining permission before use.
If the copyrighted work was created for educational purposes in the first place, claims of fair use are less likely to be allowed. In any case, the fair use doctrine cannot be used to avoid purchasing the materials. Copying educational materials that would be considered “consumables” would not be covered under the fair use doctrine.
The amount of the work that is copied is not set forth in the law but guidelines have been adopted by several educational organizations. If more that 10% of a work is copied claims of fair use will probably be denied.
Courts also consider the commercial effect of the use upon the value of the work. If sales of the work are lost due to the teacher copying all or part of the work then fair use may not be granted.
When a teacher plans to continue to use copies of works from semester to semester the teacher must seek and obtain permission. The spontaneous use of the material can only be valid for the first semester that the material is used in a course.
Fair use does not remove the requirement to attribute the work to its original author or the need to display the appropriate copyright notice.
The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act is an extension of the classroom exemption as it applies to distance learning. The intention was to give distance educations the same protection as classroom education. In order for the use of copyrighted materials in distance education to qualify for the TEACH Act exemptions, the following criteria must be met:
- The institution must be an accredited, non-profit educational institution.
The use must be part of mediated instructional activities.
The use must be limited to a specific number of students enrolled in a specific class.
The use must either be for ‘live’ or asynchronous class sessions.
The use must not include the transmission of textbook materials, materials “typically purchased or acquired by students,” or works developed specifically for online uses.
Only “reasonable and limited portions,” such as might be performed or displayed during a typical live classroom session, may be used.
The institution must have developed and publicized its copyright policies, specifically informing students that course content may be covered by copyright, and include a notice of copyright on the online materials.
The institution must implement some technological measures to ensure compliance with these policies. (U.S. Copyright Office)
Educators are granted certain exemptions regarding copyrighted material but they must exercise reasonable caution. Just being on the web does not exempt a work from copyright protection. Fair use only protects reasonable and limited portions and not the entire work. And finally, materials created expressly for e-learning cannot be copied without permission for use in another e-learning course.
Young students can learn about copyright laws by accessing sites like:
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Social Bookmarking
Social Bookmarking
Although delicious and other social bookmarking sites are promoted as web 2.0 social networking applications, these sites are also very useful for personal use alone. By storing your bookmarked websites online, they are available from any Internet connected computer. In the past I have struggled with two different sets of "favorites" - one at work and one at home. With a social bookmarking site I can consolidate my home and work favorites lists and have access from anywhere from any computer.
The "social" part of bookmarking is related to establishing networks and sharing bookmarks. If you have friends or co-workers with which you share a common interest you can add them to you bookmarking network. This allows you directly access all of their networks and view sites that they have bookmarked. Once a person is in your network you can easily forward a bookmark that you find interesting directly to them. This creates a collaborative network for finding an sharing websites related to shared interests
Delicious Features
Tags
Another web 2.0 feature of social bookmarking is the creation of new information. This is done using tags and notes which you supply when you bookmark a website. Tags are one word labels that identify the contents in a bookmarked site. In some ways it is like the file folder paradigm in computer file organization. The difference is that a single bookmark can have multiple tags and effectively be in multiple "folders". Like any good organizational tool the question is not "Where can I put this?" but rather, "Where can I find this later?" Tags can be organized into "bundles" which might be compared to file cabinet for tags. Just like a single website may have multiple tags (folders) a tag can be "bundled" into more than one bundle (file cabinet).
Tags also create a kind of classification system or folksonomy. By adding tags the users create metadata that describes the web content. This folksonomy helps other users to efficiently find the information for which they are searching.
When adding bookmarks you also have the opportunity to add your own notes. These notes can not only be helpful to you when you return to a bookmark after several months but can also be helpful to anyone who might view your bookmarks.
Subscriptions
According to the delicious website "Subscriptions are a way to see the recent bookmarks that everybody has saved with the tags that you're interested in. After you add a tag to your subscriptions, the latest bookmarks for that tag will appear on this page. You can subscribe to multiple tags to create an automatically updated list of interesting bookmarks.
"Subscriptions allow you to watch all your favorite tags in one place. After you add a tag to your subscriptions, Delicious watches for everyone's bookmarks saved with that tag and delivers them to your subscriptions page. It's really a "tag aggregator", good for watching what people are bookmarking about a favorite topic or series of topics."
Subscriptions can help keep you up to date on the latest information available concerning topic in which you are interested. Like tag bundles, subscriptions can also be bundled to aid in organization of your information.
People Counter
When viewing bookmarks there is a count of people that have tagged the site already. This number can be helpful for determining the popularity and possible reliability of the site's tag.
Social Bookmarking in Education
Social bookmarking can be used by both educators and students. The organizational structure for storing website favorites is a great boon to anyone needing to find and reference information. Tags and tag bundles allow the user to easily manage a very large catalog of websites.
The following list of educational uses for social bookmarking comes from an article one the Classroom 2.0 wiki.
- Network with other educators around the globe who share your interests.
- Create social bookmark accounts for your school's academic departments. Teachers within the department all contribute to the growing database of web resources.
- Contact other people for professional networking, based on their social bookmarks.
- Allow yourself and your students to share bookmarks on research topics.
- Subscribe to someone's bookmarks via RSS and receive updates whenever they add new websites.
- Collaborate on projects with other schools, sharing bookmarks between all participating communities.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Van Horn Week 3 - Web 2.0
WEB 2.0 and WEB 3.0
Definition
Web 2.0 is an extension of the original web and for the most part uses the existing components available in the original web. The original web had two classes of users – content producers and content consumers. Web developers created content that was then viewed using an internet browser. Web 2.0 blurs that user distinction. Creating web content is a shared activity. Normal users view, create, and modify content.
Some sites are social networking sites for the expressed purpose of meeting new friends or finding old ones. These sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, allow subscribers to share text, images, and video with their online “friends”.
Other sites use the interactivity available through Web 2.0 to engage in collaborative development. A prime example of such a site is Wikipedia. It would be equivalent to Encyclopedia Britannica providing bound books of blank pages on which they encouraged the users to provide the terms to be defined AND their definitions. Wiki books allow teachers or even their students to write textbooks. Other examples of ground-roots development are the folksonomies created by various Web 2.0 sites that allow users to “tag” items. These tags provide a kind of metadata that describes the content item. Web logs (blogs) are a hybrid including both social networking and grassroots website development.
A new Web 2.0 business model has developed where people are able to gain financial rewards for their creations. This is in addition to online auction sites like eBay and Craigslist which is a type of “social marketing”. Photo libraries like Shutterstock and iStockPhoto allow photographers to upload pictures that are then purchased by web designers or other graphic arts consumers. The websites, themselves, provide the online “shelf space” and shopping cart. I will talk further about these types of applications when I discuss my sample applications.
Pros and cons?
Each of the categories of Web 2.0 sites has its positives and negatives. An often mentioned quality of Web 2.0 is its “democratization” of information. There is no longer an information oligarchy that controls the creation and distribution of information derived from its economic and technical position.
Another feature is the real-time updates available online. News no longer needs to wait for the “daily addition” or the nightly television broadcast. Blogs, and various news channels provide immediate coverage and comment on events. Textbooks can be updated with corrections and additions without the time and expense of a new printing or new edition.
With all the flexibility comes a risk. Misinformed or misguided individuals can induce errors into the online information. Social networks can be utilized by predators who can take advantage of the naïve.
Sample Applications
I began my search for Web 2.0 applications at go2web20.net which purports to be “the complete Web2.0 sites directory.” Here are the sites I investigated and how they could be used in a classroom.
1. PicNik – A shared photo editing application.
o Could be used by students creating a project requiring original images
o The onscreen cropping tool includes a grid that aids in using the “rule of thirds”
2. Twitter – Social networking “mini-blogging” tool
o I way of encouraging and tracking student progress toward a learning goal
o Project milestones can be self-reported by students and available for viewing by the teacher “follows” the student
3. EduSlide – A collection of grass-roots learning objects that can be shared
o There are complete courses available to which students can be directed for background information
o Because it is also an online learning management system, an instructor could use it as the delivery method for a course.
What is Web 3.0?
I thought you would never ask! I am actually giving a presentation on Web 3.0/Semantic Web at the TechNet conference in March. The short answer is: “Web 3.0 applies meaning, semantics, to a web application.” One or two paragraphs are not enough space so here are some pictures (that should take the place of a couple of thousand words).
(Tim Berners-Lee 2006)
Tim Berners-Lee presented his vision for a semantic web a decade ago. According to him, “The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation.” The “well-defined meaning” is primarily associated with metadata in RDF format. The image on the right is Tim’s “layer cake” showing the semantic web with a foundation of Unicode (that is the way that text is stored in a computer), URI (Uniform Resource Identifier of which URL for website addresses is a subset), and XML (eXtensible Markup Language which uses tags and is the foundation for RSS and other applications). RDF (Resource Description Format) is an extension of XML and is made up of subject-predicate-object triples. An example would be a person’s email. The triple would be Jim(subject) email address(predicate) jdv06820@ucmo.edu (object). Ontologies are graphical representations of the relationships within an area of study and utilizes RDF. A common language for creating an ontology is OWL (Web Ontology Language – the jumbling of the letters in the acronym is a reflection of the influence of Winnie the Pooh on the original developers. You see the owl spelled his name WOL.) In many ways an ontology resembles a concept map with the connecting lines between concepts labeled to indicate relationship such as “is-a” or “is-part-of”. Jim “is-a” human being. Right leg “is-part-of” Jim. These are both triples in the RDF-sense.
The Logic level of Tim’s layer cake will allow computers to compare information in ontologies to discover analogies or synonyms. In a standard web search if you searched on “rock” all you would get back is a list of websites containing the word “rock” or a derivative of “rock”, but you wouldn’t get back websites about stones or pebbles. The meaning, semantics, as well as the syntax must be understood and evaluated.
The Trust level may be manifest using something like the FOAF (Friend of a friend) a “project [which] is creating a Web of machine-readable pages describing people, the links between them and the things they create and do.” FOAF is an ontology.
(captured from: Semantic Universe - Webcast 3: Semantic Web in Use)
Currently pharmaceutical companies are using linked data to discover relationships that can point to additional uses for patented drugs. Web developers are beginning to include micro-formatting in their websites. The microformat tags give specific meaning to metadata such things as name, address, phone, author , and date. Semantics is also being incorporated into many of the more popular search engines.
NASA is using semantic technologies to understand the different vocabularies used by the various disciplines involved in the project to take men to Mars. A single component may have several different names:
- Hardware nomenclature: Flow Control Valve
- Software nomenclature: 3-way Mix Valve
- Telemetry nomenclature: HXB (Heat eXchange Bypass) valve
Monday, February 2, 2009
Van Horn Week 2 - RSS Feeds
What is RSS?
When one asks what RSS stands for a time frame must also be included, for RSS has had three different meanings at different times. Originally RSS stood for “Rich Site Summary”. Later the acronym was changed to mean “RDF Site Summary”. The current meaning “Really Simple Syndication” is associated with RSS 2.0. RSS is based on XML. Formerly, in RSS 1.0, it was based on a specialized form of XML known a RDF, Resource Description Framework. RDF is one of the foundational technologies for the emerging semantic web.
For the consumer of RSS feeds, it is a technology that allows users to “subscribe” to a web resource: blog, wiki, news source, etc. and receive notification of any new entries. In fact an RSS feed is a url (or more accurately a uri) for an xml file that contains information about the associated resource. The xml file utilizes tags defined in the RSS namespace such as: Title, Author, Publish Date, URL, Category, Author, etc. to provide metadata about the resource. The subscriber views this information using an RSS reader. The RSS reader parses and displays the information in an easily readable format. The RSS XML looks like this:
<item>
<title>Equine Training Teleseminar Series - Starting Jan 2009</title>
<link>http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/equine-training-teleseminar-series-starting-jan-2009/12608920/</link>
<description><![CDATA[
<a href='http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/equine-training-teleseminar-series-starting-jan-2009/12608920/'><img src='http://images.mefeedia.com/entries/12608920/video_120.png' width='120' height='95' /></a><br />
From : Metacafe - Today's Videos by Metacafe<br />Join the teachers and visionaries from the movie in a special FREE teleseminar series starting early January 2009. You are invited to join the experts and the maker of the documentary each week for 5 weeks and learn about the latest thinking in horse training and horse human relationships ]]></description>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:40:12 -0500</pubDate>
</item>
The RSS reader formats the information into something like this:
Issues during the setup/install.
Setting up the RSS readers was pretty straightforward. The main issue for both the online, Google Reader, and installed versions, RSS OWL, was paring down all the delivered feeds. There is just so much data out there in RSS feeds.
With minimal assistance I believe that high school and college students could setup and install either the online or installed reader. Staff, administrators, parents and other adults may need to be assisted and encouraged more, however. I would suggest in a K-12 setting that an RSS reader be part of the standard software image for district computers. Standardizing on one of the RSS readers would help to mitigate many support issues.
Differences between the online and the installed version.
Both versions have there pluses and minuses. Google Reader being part of the Google application suite has the added convenience and can be incorporated into your iGoogle homepage. RSS Owl has the advantage of being accessible even when there is no internet access. I will, however, probable elect Google Reader as my permanent RSS reader.
Interesting RSS links
Inside Higher Education - http://insidehighered.com/
University Business - http://www.universitybusiness.com/dailynewshome.aspx. Although I had already subscribed to the email version, I believe I prefer this one.
Semantic Web blog - http://www.semanticfocus.com/
My son’s photo blog. He is trying to post a new image every day - http://vanhornvisuals.blogspot.com/
How can you use RSS in education
The following list of educational benefits and uses for RSS comes from “The use of blogs, wikis and RSS in education: A conversation of possibilities” (Duffy, Burns 2006).
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/5398/1/5398.pdf
• Lecturers and students can keep track of their favourite websites from one convenient location, without any interface clutter.
• Lecturers and students can be notified of updates from many websites that are relevant to the course topics. This is a very efficient use of time. Whatever the lecture topic, there will be a large number of blogs, wikis, news, research and media sites that are consistently publishing material relevant to the topic; rather than re-visiting all of these sites on a daily basis, using RSS technology learners and teachers can easily track new developments on each of these sites.
• RSS is a better solution than an email list subscription, as it does not require users to give out their email addresses, avoiding the potential for spammers to obtain their email details.
• In using blogs with students, instead of visiting each student’s individual blog teachers can subscribe to an RSS feed that allows them to obtain instant notifications and updates relating to any new content added. This will dramatically reduce their workload. Additionally, students themselves can also subscribe to the feeds of their friends, peers and teachers.
• Lecturers and students can establish RSS feeds relating to assignment topics and areas of research interest. This allows access to up-to-date content on a wide variety of subjects automatically.
• From an administration perspective, higher education portals often offer targeted collections of links for students, staff, parents, visitors, and alumni. Most users start their portal experience with a time sensitive task to accomplish. Users typically ‘pull’ down information from a site. Within the RSS model users can have information ‘pushed’ to them that is customised to their personal interests.
In addition , administrators can keep informed by subscribing to journals such as Inside Higher Education, and University Business.
The London School of Economic and Political Science is using enhanced RSS feeds from each training organization on campus to consolidate all the training available on campus into a common portal. In addition to the standard RSS tags in the feed they have added their own tags such as <location>, <schedule>, and <audience>. (Secker and Fryer 2008) Once a feed is created and accessed, its use is not limited to a standard reader. Applications like the one at LSE can be built to take advantage of the metadata available in the feed.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Open Source
The Open Source (OS) movement is in many ways a return to the software world before Bill Gates. Bill had a hard time convincing people that software was a commercial product and that you had to pay real money before you could use it. In the 80's I belonged to a software club that sent out a floppy disk each month with new applications and utilities that I could load into my computer. The cost of membership could be paid by real money or contributions to the software library. This model worked well for an emerging industry.
A key component to OS that most users don't consider is that you can have access to the source code and not just the executable code. With access to the source code, developers can modify the code for their specific and unique purposes. Once a developer makes the modifications they can opt to share the modified code with the OS community. An insightful developer will probably supply their code as an add-on to the delivered code. This way when revisions are made to the application, the developer doesn't need to edit the new version's code to apply his new code. As an add-on, it is available to the new version as well without the need for additional coding.
Open Source is not synonymous with "Freeware". Freeware does not usually make the source code available to the user. OS is not necessarily free! I downloaded a database design tool (DBDesigner) that is so complicated that for-fee training and consulting is necessary. OS is just a different business model. The company gives away the code but charges for other necessary services.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Week 2
This semester may be the most challenging of all my semesters so far. I am taking the two classes and my workload is increasing at UCM. In addition to a rather high-profile project, constructing a data mart for the academic departments, I have several smaller projects building web sites for various university departments.
At least with this class I think I will really get some practical experience and knowledge. I support the shift in focus of the Ed Tech degree toward distance learning and away from computer system support. My interest is in adult/post-secondary education but the program still appears to be aimed at K-12. Except for the MO VIP program I haven't seen much distance learning for public school students.
This weeks assignment of creating a PowerPoint tutorial will be interesting. I have had to create several such tools for our reporting tool. I haven't been able to spend much time on it so far because of other pressing work and home issues. I guess that's what the weekends are for.
At least with this class I think I will really get some practical experience and knowledge. I support the shift in focus of the Ed Tech degree toward distance learning and away from computer system support. My interest is in adult/post-secondary education but the program still appears to be aimed at K-12. Except for the MO VIP program I haven't seen much distance learning for public school students.
This weeks assignment of creating a PowerPoint tutorial will be interesting. I have had to create several such tools for our reporting tool. I haven't been able to spend much time on it so far because of other pressing work and home issues. I guess that's what the weekends are for.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Who is Jim Van Horn and why is he sending this message?
Well to begin with I am doubtlessly the oldest member of this class. On the other hand, I may be the youngest person you will ever meet that lived during WWII. I was born a half and hour before the Japanese surrendered on August 14, 1945.
My job is here at UCM in the Information Services department. I am an Applications Manager responsible for several web-based applications as well as the ad-hoc reporting tool used by much of the campus community to report against the university data stored with our Banner system.
I received my MS in Information Technology in '07 and plan to finish the MS in Ed Tech degree in the fall. All this is in preparation to RETIRE. After I retire from UCM I plan to continue working, teaching online or F2F classes to adult learners.
Over the winter break I was able to read some interesting books.
- Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school by John Medina. brainrules.net
- Teach beyond your reach: an instructor's guide to developing and running successful distance learning classes, workshops, training sessions and more by Robin Neidorf, FreePint.com website. I could never access the book's advertised companion website electric-muse.com
- Make money teaching online: how to land your first academic job, build credibility, and earn a six-figure salary by Danielle Babb teachonlinebook.com
- slide:ology: the art and science of creating great presentations by Nancy Durante. Nancy's blog blog.duarte.com/. Nancy and Garr [see below] are part of a mutual admiration society.
- And what I think should be a required read before granting a PowerPoint “driver’s license” -- Presentation zen: simple ideas on presentation design and delivery by Garr Reynolds. presentationzen.com. Here's a YouTube video of a presentation that Garr gave to Google's staff
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