My Digital Footprint - A work in progress - Wk12

Retrieved from: http://intersticia.com/blog/?p=482

When I started this journey I referred to myself as a digital ghost because I was nowhere to be found online.  My online experience was one of voyeurism and not creationism but I have since then started to make contributions in the digital environment.  From this blog to publicly accessible presentations in Google Docs & Prezi or Spicenodes, I am starting to leave my mark.  Although "Google-ing" my name doesn't list all of these items, I've had over 200 page views on my blog to date so evidently people are finding their way to my blog and others surely have viewed the other content that is publicly accessible online or linked in my blog.

As digital citizens just like as citizens of our local communities, I feel like it's important to not only take but also to give.  Learning about the subject has encouraged me to give back and try to share some of my ideals, thoughts and creativity.  I plan to keep this blog active going forward in my learning journey as a mean to journal my own progress/growth and also share with others in hope that it may help them reflect on their own journey.

One thing about digital citizenship that has really opened my eyes is where and how I use my smartphone.  I've always been known to be pro technology and within my last working environment was among the group of people who use cellphones the most.  However, my recent return to the conventional educational environment of the classroom, has opened my eyes to how bad this phenomenon truly is.  People use them wherever and whenever, despite being told they wouldn't be tolerated in class. Not only has our behaviors in using these technologies become, at times, disrespectful, unprofessional and truthfully embarrassing, but it is also become a social crutch.  Much could be said about this topic but for the purpose of this discussion we'll just leave at the fact that this is one of the topics that I found very relevant to me personally and my current situation. I plan to try and share my knowledge on this matter to help increase awareness on this topic with others.

When it comes to educating others about digital citizenship I believe that teaching our kids is very important.  Many kids today are born in a world where all these technologies are available to them and have never known a day where they didn't exist.  Our stories about typewriters and dial-up internet can seem as irrelevant to them as our grand-parent's stories about walking 8 miles uphill to school with their desks on their backs.  Although the later was surely exaggerated, we tend to forget that being born in the digital era doesn't automatically make you aware of all the precautions that need to be taken when using the internet much like being born in the jungle doesn't automatically mean you know which wild fruits are poisonous or not.  In other words, we need to teach our children about safe usage. Planetnutshell is a great resource on the topic and can be found here, I have shared this in a previous blog post but hopefully it reaches others that may have missed it the first time around. 

In clonclusion, although my current digital footprint is probably the digital equivalence of a footprint in the sand at the centre of an enormous desert, I can at least say that I now have a footprint and that with time, it may grow into a learning path for others to follow if they were to venture down the same road. 

Mat

Communicating online without text - screencasting & podcasting - Wk11

Retrieved from: http://www.ufunk.net/en/gadgets/the-typescreen-transformez-votre-ipad-en-machine-a-ecrire/

Because using text is not exactly the most modern of communication methods and because the internet has greatly increased the ease with which we can share bigger files like videos, we take the time to explore two options that stray from the conventional black text on white background.  Screencasting and podcasting are some of the most common and popular alternatives sharing ideals through text. 

The first involves the visual sharing of what is happening on your computer screen with the added ability to narrate over what is happening on said screen.  Podcasting is the practice of sharing by recording your voice or voices into a file that can easily be downloaded or streamed for people to listen.  Some podcasts feature a single person while some take a more interactive approach, akin to popular talk radio shows. Examples of both mediums can be seen on this post from my blog. 

Due to my learning style, I personally really enjoy alternatives to textual explanations when I am looking for directions or instructions about how to accomplish or do something.  For years now I've relied on Youtube as my go to ''How To'' video source.  Many videos aimed at showing you how to do something on a computer is done through screencasting.  Whether you are a visual learner or not, it is really hard to beat the ease and efficiency with which you can follow a narrated video along to learn something.

Creating them as I have touched on in the above linked post is fairly easy.  My biggest struggle turned out to be my lack of experience or practice in recording such a video or audio files.  I found myself restarting over and over until I was successful in recording a hiccup free file that I was satisfied with.  That being said, I was only recording a files of a 2-3 minutes so restarting wasn't as painful as restarting a 15min video.  The more basic Web2.0 tools don't give you the ability to pick up from where you want to fix a given hiccup and also limit the video's length.   Those of you looking to record long videos may want to research more feature rich screencasting or podcasting software/tools and will definitely want to script/rehearse before pressing record.   

These creative tools are, in my opinion, PLE must haves because they will allow you to diversify your content, reach a broader audience and take full advantage of what Web2.0 technologies and the internet itself, have to offer. When it comes to protecting your work, I couldn't believe how easy it is to add Creative Commons license on content by using their quick tool available here.

Keeping up with tradition,  I share with you a tool I discovered through my PLN.  SummarizeThis, as self-explanatory tittle indicates, is a tool that quickly and concisely summarizes anything you cut and paste into the site's text box.  Not only can this help you cut down on your reading time but as a learner can help you get a great ideal of what certain articles are about in order to determine if they will benefit your research or not.  In a world where more information is available than what is humanly possible to sort through, I see this as a very valuable time saving tool.

How do you feel about screencasting and podcasting tools? Have you used them? Do you simply prefer plain old text? Share/comment below.

Mat

Prezi - Web 2.0 presentation tool

This is a more in-depth look at Prezi then the one in the copyright and creative commons post.  I personally really like prezi for the fact that it has very good templates and transitions that can help you showcase your creativity and produce a presentation that stands out from the majority which are usually made in Microsoft's PowerPoint.  Some of the templates available, like; timelines, ideals, family tree, mind maps and more, can help you emphasize your point or tailor your presentation to your topic.  The ability to start from scratch with a blank template is also available and again opens up more possibilities than other similar services but I haven't ventured down that road yet.

With great templates and unique transitions come more restrictions however as you have to keep your content within the boundaries of the template.  That can sometimes by problematic if you need more slides than the template allows for.  Images can also only be re-size proportionally which I found restrictive.  Text only has three different available fonts and 30 colors.  When you are used to working with the full array of options available in other tools, the limitations quickly become evident.

As for ease of use, I am a bit thorn because if you are just looking to add text and pictures in a template then odds are you will find it rather user friendly but if you have specific ideals in mind and want to customize the template a little, things quickly become unintuitive and even complicated at times.  Despite my limited experience using Prezi, using other tools that are less complicated leads me to believe they could still make it easier to use. In the end it's all about compromise, if you are making a basic presentation without any bells and whistles, Prezi probably won't be your go too tool, but if you like to create something more unique that will stand out, you probably won't mind spending the extra time needed to reach that goal and will therefore probably love Prezi.

One point I touched on in the aforementioned post was Google Docs' superior collaboration capabilities but I have recently discovered that Prezi also has a surprising array of collaborative capabilities.  I still think that collaborating in Google Docs would be a more pleasant experience but if you decide to make Prezi your go to presentation tool, you will be happy to find out about their collaborative options, as long as you don't mind paying for those capabilities.



Taking the comparison between Prezi and other similar tools, in this case; Microsoft PowerPoint, here is a nice comparative table I found using my PLN.  As you will see, the Scribd created table below confirms some of the points I elaborated on in my analysis of Prezi. 

Tapping into our previous learning about creative common licenses in my last post, take the time to look at the license for this Scribd by Chris Clark, located at the bottom of his table. 

PowerPoint-vs-Prezi

In conclusion, if you have been relying on presentation tools like PowerPoint or Google Docs and have never tried Prezi, you should really take it for a test drive.  We all know how boring presentations can be for learners but if you are willing to invest a bit more time creating with Prezi, you may just manage to keep their attention instead of loosing it. 

Good luck with your discovery.

Share your feedback below about your personal experiences using Prezi.

Thanks

Mat

© & (CC) Prezi - WK10

This post is the means by which I want to simultaneously demonstrate a great Web 2.0 presentation tool called Prezi and help you understand media copyrights © and Creative Commons (CC) licenses.

As we explored Digital Rights and Responsibility throughout the past weeks, we discussed our responsibility to follow copyright laws and giving credit where it is due when utilizing media. The short presentation below not only helps clarify the term copyright but also provides insight as to what the various (CC) license logos represent so that you know exactly what you can or can't do with the media.

Prezi is a great tool for online presentation.  In contrast with Google Docs, it doesn't have all the fantastic collaborative tools but it has the templates and effects available to give your presentation the wow-factor that I had mentioned wasn't available in Google Docs.  Prezi allows for much more creativity and you can even make a fully unique presentation by omitting to use a template and simply start with a blank presentation.  You contributions on Prezi are also available to everyone online which helps you increase your digital footprint.

* The Prezi is best viewed in full screen mode by clicking on the icon on the lower right.

 
So where can you find images for instance, that you know you can use, share, remix or modify, in your own presentation? Flikr.com is a great place to start but you can also use Google so search images with specific licenses, follow the video tutorial below for instructions on how to conduct such a search.


In conclusion, these tools will not only help you make very creative and original presentations but it will enhance your digital citizenship by making sure you know how to access content that you know you can use in the manner in which you intend to use it.

Now all that's left to do is to let your creativity flow.

Have fun!

Mat

Collective knowledge building tool Voicethread and Online Polls/Surveys - Wk9

Retrieved from:  http://fluidsurveys.com

As indicated in my previous post dedicated to Voicethread,  is a service that allows you to creation and share content while incorporating video/audio narration.  What sets it apart is the ability to post comments that are audio, video or the usual text method.  Most services have text based comment or response capabilities only,  which limits learning possibilities, outcomes and engagement.

As a learning tool I can easily see this being used instead of live chat in online courses where it can be extremely difficult to get everyone together on something like Google Hangouts to have a discussion.  I also see this as a more engaging and more interactive than strings of typed comments in a forum.  It would allow learners to post a audio/video responses to discussion topics and produce something that is much closer to a live discussion than forum posts, especially when viewed after everyone has contributed. 

I see this tool as allowing for a more authentic discussion experience than say, a forum.  That is probably one of the ways I would incorporate it.  While I consider this a collaborative tools,  the collaboration is about the learning more than the content itself.  Learning from one another is beneficial but learning from one another in a way that is a bit more human than text is even better.

Polls and Surveys

I've used FluidSurveys before, a Canadian site might I add, and I was really satisfied.  These are great learning tools as far as feedback is concerned.  Feedback is gateway to improvement but often we don't receive feedback about things we've done or are scared to ask for some by fear or criticism.  What's great about this is it can be done anonymously so people are therefore more honest.  This is also a great way to encourage people to answer questions they might not be as comfortable to do so, especially if their point of view goes against popular beliefs.  Finally it's a great way to get statistical data to supplement research or arguments for instance.  I strongly believe in asking for feedback from my learners as a way to get a pulse of what works for them and what does or which of my techniques or methods they prefer.  The best way to improve is by being told what you do well and where you could improve.

I took a few minutes to build a quick anonymous survey on digital media piracy, available here, and included it to my scenario.  I'm excited to find out what kind of results I get and hopefully more than two people take it.

Privacy being one of the most talked about subject of the digital world, this week I decided to share a great link I found through my Feedly on educating children about the many facets of digital privacy.
Click here to access these great little videos

Post your comments, opinions, suggestions below as usual.

Mat

Technology use scenario #10 - Video Game (movie/music) Piracy + 2 min anonymous survey

Scenario 10

Kevin has just purchased the latest video game, Too Fast '22. He and his friends enjoy playing games on the computer.  His best friend Vince also likes to play video games, but doesn't have the money to buy the latest games.  Kevin decides to be a good friend and give a copy of the game to Vince.

The following scenario was retrieved from:
Ribble, M., Digital Citizenship in Schools (2nd Ed.), 2011, p. 93.
ISBN: 978-1-56484-301-2.    

Response

Kevin's action here is inappropriate because copying and giving away copies of a video game is illegal.  The license he acquired when purchasing the game allow him to play the game on his computer, not to copy and distribute it, regardless of if he is making money off the copies or not.  Video games, like movies and music, is protected by copyrights and laws against this sort of behavior.

If Kevin felt that bad about Vince not being able to afford to purchase the game, his best course of action would be in have him over so he can play it on his computer.

The video games industry has become increasingly better at preventing/combating such behaviors, to such extent that, in some cases, you can't even lend one of your friends a game you have for one that he has like many of us probably did growing up. 

Now if you are not a "gamer" simply substitute the game for a movie or a music CD, two scenarios which I would argue are way more common.

In your opinion was Kevin's action wrong?  Should Vince accept the copy? How else could Kevin have been a good friend to Vince?  Why do so many people engage in this type of behavior? What are the effects of such behaviors?

Please take two minutes to participate in an anonymous survey by clicking here

I am really looking forward to read your comments/opinions on this topic!

Mat

                                                                   

Wikis

Retrieved from: http://socialweblearning.blogspot.ca/p/wikis.html

This week's exploration is all about Wikis,

Wikis are another great collaborative tool, they vary from what we discussed last week about Google Docs but still have features that make for a great collaborative experience. When compared to Google Docs, I somehow see wikis as having an edge for long term ongoing projects.  The fact that others can also add to your group's work adds value to the learning experience.

The video found by Common Craft found here gives a very simplistic ideal of how wikis can be used to collaborate.  Despite not being a big fan of their style of video, it provides a good simplistic introduction.  I personally don't think that I would use a wiki to collaborate on a camping list but can see how it works better than Email.  However, despite how simple it looks and how much faster it may be, human nature has clearly shown us that how we sometimes rather stick with what we know or prefer - case in point, many of us will text back and forth for 15 minutes to exchange information that would have taken 2 minutes to exchange by calling each other.  I am guilty of that as well but  I can certainly see how it would be a great tool for collaborating on a group project and aim to use it in the near future. 

I can see this being used to prepare for an exam for example, everyone pics a topic or chapter and posts his summary on a wiki. Everyone must then review at least one or two of their peer's content to ensure nothing is missing (proof it - peer review) and voilà, collaborative studying where everyone participates, is engaged and therefore retaining more of the knowledge. What's even better is that now it is accessible to others to learn from online.

Similarly, Richard Bryne, one of the educational bloggers that I follow on my Feedly, discussed the topic of students using text messages to study - read more here.  Each creates a database of questions and then quiz each other on the material.  This of course is a great way to get people so study collaboratively.  It engages by making them do it in a way that is appealing and turns what would normally be the chief distraction into the learning mechanism.  Although I personally prefer the concept mentioned earlier about using a wiki, I did previously mention that people don't always do what is simplest or easier so maybe this is a great way to engage learners.  It is proven that learning from one another helps us better understand and retain information so either method is sure to help in some way. It would be interesting to have a group of learners try one method and another try the other method then give both groups the same test, compare results and have a discussion about their experience. Not every study technique works for everyone but I'd be interested to see which appeals to most and which seem to yield the best results.

Finally, I must say that I've always been one to dread collaboration, especially in an online context but the collaborative tools I have discovered, explored and had the chance to use in the last few weeks have really changed my perspective.  Group work will always present challenges but many great online tools are helping ease the process by making it easy for multiple learners to work together on a project.

What have your online collaborative group project experiences been like? What is your favorite collaborative tool? Will having learned more about it encourage you to give it a try? In what original ways have you used these tools in the past?

Share your ideals below!

Mat

Google Docs, a collaborative adventure.

Retrieved from: http://degreedirectory.org/articles/10_Collaboration_Tools_for_the_Digital_Age.html

 

Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/VsH39i

Welcome back,

This week we finally explore a tool - Google Docs, which unlike most of the ones we've discussed thus far, is meant to create collaboratively and does so very well .  You can create a project and invite other members to join in and contribute by adding and editing the content.  Another great feature that highlights the collaborative capabilities of Google Docs is the ability to leave item specific comments and for others reply or rectify what was mentioned.  Emails keeping members updated on the comment stream are also a great way to ensure all parties are aware of the progress being made. The cherry on the sundae for me was the ability for multiple users to work on the project simultaneously because I expected to be limited to one person working on the project at a time like I had experienced in many network shared documents.  If you are familiar with this phenomenon, you don't have to fear the dreaded "read only access" message because it doesn't apply in Google Docs - thankfully.

Using this tool for learning purposes to work on spreadsheets, presentations or documents from any computer that is connected to the Internet eliminates the format compatibility issues that you can encounter when using different programs or operating systems while accessing such a project from a USB sticks or cloud storage like Google Drive.  As a side note, I'd like to point out that using Goggle's tools also, by coincidence, brought me back to my Drive cloud storage account which I had neglected but now find a refreshed interest in.  

As a collaborative tool, I can see it being used in an activity where a cohort uses a table as a means to highlight similarities, differences, advantages and disadvantages of certain concepts on any given topic as a homework assignment.  

It could also be used by a classroom looking to collaborate in an sketching/drawing activity where many people are submitting ideals for a logo, crest, flag, banner, mascot or any other project where various people have been given a particular task in completing the project as a whole.  A school's sports team crest could also be designed by many people within through this method.

The only reason I wouldn't be able to part with some of my other tools in favor for  one is because it lacks the ability to add the dazzle that some other tools can.  The tools' simplicity, in this case, is both a strength and a weakness from my point of view.  If you are someone who isn't looking for any fancy features that can sometimes make your work standout, you will be at home in Docs.

As a parting note I'd like to add that my experience working collaboratively on a presentation with two other members has highlighted the complexities involved in coordinating a time to simultaneously communicate about the status of our project.  Deadlines being what they are and realtime comunication providing the oppotunity to make sure everyone is on target, we finally managed to pick a time and day where our free time lined-up.  Although this won't always be required, we felt like doing so would be another great learning experience and it sure was.  Staying relevant to the challenges of time manageament and the fact that many of us changed the time on our clocks this weekend, I found a very informative blog post by Richard Bryne on daylight savings time and time zones.  You can learn more about the origins and complexities of managing time by visiting his blog here.

Leave comments below on your collaborative experiences or share some ingenius ways you've seen tools such as Google Docs be used in a learning environment. 

Mathieu Leclerc

The Evernote Experience

Retrieved from: http://evernote.com/evernote/

Hi everyone,

This week I discovered a very practical tool called Evernote.  In the past few weeks we explored various different tools meant to accomplish mainly one thing (bookmarking, curating, etc.) but Evernote has the capability to do most of those things in one convenient place.  You can use it on your computer, tablet or smartphone and the information all gets synchronized to the cloud so that it is accessible everywhere and on all your devices.  Let's face it, maintaining numerous and various different tools for individual purposes can be painful and time consuming. Streamlining your PLE will be an ongoing process that you will have to do regularly after finding new tools and abandoning  others.  As was mentioned before, your PLE is an ever changing and living entity that will only get better with time as you keep improving it, personalizing it but also maintaining it by keeping only the tools you actually use.  That of course doesn't mean you can't have a collection of bookmarks for tools you don't personally use or currently use in case you want to use it or recommend it to others down the road ;o)

Coming back to Evernote now, you will want to add the "clipper" tool to your browser in order to maximize its potential. The following video showcases how the clipper tool works on the Chrome browser but it is also available for the other common browsers such as Firefox and Explorer.




Once you've signed up and are ready to go, create a notebook on any topic of interest and add notes to it at any time from your browser whenever you come across an article, picture, video or link of interest to name a few of your options.

Once you've curated information on a given topic in a notebook, you can share it by making it public or what's really nice is that you can also share it with specific individuals.  One of the major downside is that you need to pay the fees for the premium membership to have access to the collaborative features that allow others to modify and add notes in your notebooks.

Evernote is a tool that can do so many things that it becomes hard to determine in which category of your PLE it should be but I would personally put it in information collection and creation because you can do both with relative ease.  I also like how I can access and add things on the go via the mobile app.  Personally, I also found it nice to be able to clip text out of a webpage or article because it provides more context than just adding bookmarks with a title and makes for a nicer experience when curating and sharing.

As we discover more and more tools together I'm really happy with the way my PLE is expanding but mostly I'm excited about the feature rich tools I'm now using as they make my learning journey more rewarding but also they will help me increase my digital footprint as I begin sharing my notebooks for instance.   It has been a goal of mine to increase my online presence and Evernote may just be the tool that will finally push me to do so. 

What about you, have you been using Evernote for some time? Are you new to it? How do you use it and why do you like it? Share your insight with the rest of us.

As final note, I've been using the Feedly RSS mobile app for quite some time now and keep finding good information on a wide variety of subjects.  The tip I would like to share with you today is a little trick on how to customize image size in your Blogger posts.  Click here to find out more about making sure your images always look exactly like you want in your blogger posts.

Take this opportunity to do a fall cleanup of your PLE by keep it up to date and relevant.

Mathieu Leclerc 

Building Your PLN and Microblogging

Retrieved from: http://www.danpontefract.com

This week we explore how to expand your Personal Learning Network (PLN) and the use of microblogging.  We've already explored blogging in its typical form which consists of posts on blogs like the one you are reading right now but what is microblogging? Wikipedia defines microblogging  as a blog post that is much more limited in size. Microblogs involves the exchange of small elements of content such as short sentences, images, or video links.

Twitter, which is probably the most popular tool for this purpose, is the tool that I set out to explore for this purpose.  In his video available here, Brad Flickinger suggested that you should follow at least ten people on twitter to build a decent PLN and gives good advice on how to pick quality sources.  The only problem is that I haven't found very many people to follow that don't either; post tweets that are irrelevant to education or that are doing what is known as hyperblogging which means that they bombard you with so much information that you can't possibly keep up.  Because I was determined to follow ten members I looked past some of these filters and added the ones I felt shared the most interesting information.  I also decided to follow the #edtech list since everyone who posts something with that hashtag should pertain to education technology.  Maybe following that list will also allow me to find good members to follow.

I must be honest and say that the only reason I gave it to the little blue bird they call twitter was because many of the sites I visited regularly had contests they ran using twitter and because some companies release promotions there first.  I don't follow it regularly and my experience going back to it in a bid to expand my PLN reminded me exactly why I was never a big fan in the first place.  The rate at which people post tweets makes me wonder if that is the sole reason for their existence.   Most share good information but if I'm following ten of you who post a tweet every hour or two that means that I'm being sent 10 tweets an hour for 12hours (assuming most people tweet more during business hours) that means that I receive a minimum of 120 tweets a day.  ignore it for a couple of days and you can imagine how quickly that number rapidly grows into an unmanageable amount of tweets to even scan through for what could be good information.  Worse yet is when allot of it is good information. 

I knew that the process of building my PLN would involve the discovery and use of many different tools but I now accept the fact that they won't all suit my style or meet my needs.  So far I've learned that curating content and using twitter are NOT approaches that I am drawn too.  It doesn't mean that I'll give up on them, it just means that I may need to revise what I want or expect out of such tools.  I've followed some of my coursemates as suggested and upon reflecting about the my PLN I realized two things; one being that what I want from a PLN is interactions with people I've come to know and appreciate instead of just being bombarded with information by someone I don't even know. The second was that, in a real work environment, it takes times to make good contacts and network with reliable people that you can trust and who's opinions you truly respect.  That being said, it will take time for me build a quality PLN but as this lifelong building process continues, I will build a solid network of people that make the experience an enriching and rewarding one.  It needs to start somewhere but instead of going on a wild goose chase on twitter to find members who post good quality tweets, I would advise you to start closer and add some of your favorite teachers and go from there.  You'd rather start small and receive a minimal amount of good information that start big and get discouraged like I did but hopefully you can learn from my experience.  Start small and remember that networking doesn't happen overnight. 

To conclude I'd like to leave you with an interesting post that I first saw on my Feedly but that has also been shared by many on the twittersphere.  It's about the use of colors and the meanings behind them.  We've all seen slideshows where attention to the use of colors was well thought out or very poorly implemented from a visual standpoint. Have you ever considered what messages the colors in your slide might be conveying?

Retrieved from; Free Technology for Teachers

All the best with your PLN!  Feel free to share some of the people YOU follow as part of your network.  

Mat

Cloud Bookmarking and Content Curation - Week 4

Leclerc, M. (CC) 2013

This weekly exploration of tools has me torn between one that I really see a use and practicality for and one which I find has failed to grab me.   Let's get more in depth about both of them.

Cloud bookmarking is a great way to save your favorite bookmarks where you can access them anywhere regardless of which device you are using.  Your bookmarks are no longer trapped locally on your favorite browser.  I picked Delicious to fulfill this duty as it allows to add bookmarks to the cloud fairly easily from my favorite computer browser and has a pleasant interface. 

What I find most appealing so far with my use of cloud bookmarking is that when you add a bookmark it tells you how many others have bookmarked the same link before.  You can add personalized comments to your bookmarks and add tags to group them together or access them faster once you have a very extensive library.  When the bookmark is common the site suggests tags to you based on what others have used in the past.  These tags also allow you to search other bookmarks that have been tagged using key words like; education, learning, science etc. 

Now as it relates to your PLE, which we have discussed in an earlier post, cloud bookmarking is a really good asset.  Most of the tools in your PLE will be Web 2.0 tools which means they will be part of your cloud bookmarks and therefore available anywhere.  With the amount of tools at your disposition and with the variety of tools you may have as a part of your arsenal, it would be hard to remember them all, especially those you use on a less frequent basis so go ahead and "cloudify" them so they are always just a few clicks away and while you're at it, do a quick search to see what the rest of the world is bookmarking.  Great sources of information are hard to find so once you've clicked your way to one you like it's really important to save it for future use and what better way to expand on that then by searching what others are bookmarking for the same uses?

On the other hand, I'm really struggling to see as great a benefit from curating content.  I can clearly see why this is being used in business and marketing tool but struggle to find a way to use it that would validate the time spent curating.  It seems to be a great tool for sharing and involving social media in a way that cloud bookmarking doesn't.  I can see where this would be beneficial if my digital footprint was already well established but as it is in its infancy I don't yet feel like I should be focusing on broadcasting content.  Then again this was one of my biggest challenge when after realizing that this is an area in which my PLE lacks muscle.  As I transition from a spectator to a creator on the internet, I can see how curating content would increase in relevance but in the mean time I'm tentatively dipping my big toe in so to speak in the hope that I'll warm up to the ideal. 

Overall I I would file these tools under Accessing information/Spectator banner of my PLE even if curating shows signs of creation, all that is really happening here is content repackaging and propagating.

I would like to finish this post by sharing an exciting news bit that pertains to the future of technology in education.  If you are as big a fan of using new technology in education as I am then you will be glad to hear that Google is invested in rivaling Apple in the educational tech space.  This will certainly lead to great innovations that learners will benefit from as a result, find out more here.

Please share your comments as to why you've invest in curating content, I'd like to hear what you have to say.

Thanks and happy leaning.

Mathieu Leclerc

RSS Feeds and Content Aggregation - Week 3

Retrieved via Google Images from: http://www.blogdacomunicacao.com.br/

RSS, what does that stand for? You see it online of hear about it but what is it? It stands for

Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication.  Ok great, so maybe that didn't help you at all? If you are like me that still left you wondering what RSS is or what it does.  Often you will hear of RSS Feeds, what RSS feeds do is, just like specialty channels do on your television , they send you specific content about a given topic such as Sports, News, Cartoons or Movies for example.  The RSS Feed does just that but with internet content.  The information on the internet can become overwhelming and most people usually have a few favorite websites that they visit regularly to consume content of interest.

Doing it the old fashion way requires one to go from one website, forum, video or podcast to the next to have access to all that information but with RSS Feeds all that information gets pushed to you in one convenient location.  Now that is starting to sound interesting doesn't?

For years now I consumed information on the web the old fashion way but I've recently joined the RSS Feed bandwagon and I'm loving it.  As I mentioned before, feeds all get sent to one convenient location but for that to happen you need a content aggregation tool, also known as Feed Readers.  The one I personally chose to use is called Feedly.  It can be used on a computer but I do most of my content consumption on my smartphone or tablet therefore my choice was based on the app more then the web-based version but many other Feed Readers exist out there.

Retrieved from: http://www.thinkbelle.com/

Once I had setup my favorite websites' RSS Feeds in Feedly and that content was being delivered right to my phone, I couldn't believe that I hadn't started using this technology years ago. I started by subscribing to personal interest items like cars, sports and mobile tech news then added feeds from sources I had recently discovered while doing my PLE or by exploring websites that listed the most popular education RSS feeds from websites, blogs and podcast sources. 

Simply put, RSS Feeds are convenient digital media consumption tools but to me the real advantage of content aggregation is in the discovery of new content.  You will be offered to subscribe to other feeds similar to those you already follow.  For instance, you may be given suggestions based on what people who like a certain feed you subscribe too also like.  It gives you a chance to glance at what people with interests similar to yours use as sources of information.  This is great for expanding your horizons as it relates to content sources.  

The only negative thing I can say about my experience so far is that I can't possibly stay on top of all this content that is being pushed to me.  I have too much information coming in, too little time, and sadly allot of it duplicates itself, especially in the area of mobile tech world for example where sites use each others' stories to report the same news.  I may just have to limit myself to fewer similar feeds to minimize that effect.  One of the tools available in Feedly to help you cope with this is the Saved for Later feature that allows you to quickly scan articles and bookmark ones of interest for reading at a later time. 

In the last few weeks I have really developed a liking for the content on www.ted.com also known as TED Talks. This site is filled with videos of very interesting ideals and concepts being presented by great speakers from all fields.  These are available in video or Podcast formats depending on what you prefer.  Lately I find myself listening or watching one of these talks whenever I have spare time instead of turning to other forms of distractions, time wasters or junk media as some may call them. They are rarely longer than 25 minutes, cover many different topics and are generally very interesting and sometimes eye opening.

Here is a good example of a 9 minute talk about the search filters that are present on the internet

(Facebook & Google) and restrict your access to content. Enjoy!

All that being said, I hope you'll have fun selecting your RSS Reader and enjoy your favorite online content being delivered to you by the minute ;o)

Let me know how your RSS experience goes.

Mat

Great Tools - Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a great way to find academic literature like books and journal articles on any given subjects.  While many of you are probably familiar with this tool, I wanted to point out a particular feature of Google Scholar that may help you get quality results from your searches. 

 

Surely if you’ve ever done research with Google scholar you are familiar with the frustrations of finding a great article and realizing that you don’t have the rights to view or save it unless you pay a fee.  Some articles cost a few dollars but some can be very expensive.  If you’re like me, you probably don’t want to spend more money than your education already demands.  You may also be turning to Google Scholar because the online library research tools from your institution are less user friendly to work with.  That’s where Google scholar’s settings come in handy.  

First, go to Google Scholar and access the settings menu at the top.

Then go to the Library Links Tab.

Type the name of your institution in the search field and press ENTER then check the box next to it and click save at the bottom. *Unfortunately not all institution are available :o(

Once you've saved your settings you can perform a search and you will see a quick link to the article that is accessible from your institution's library and that is more than likely available to view or download free of charge by logging in the same way you would at your institutions' online library. 

Hopefully this will help you with your future searches.  More info on Google scholar and perfecting your searching techniques available HERE. 

Happy academic researching. 

Mathieu Leclerc