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Pam Jeffrey

Digitally Speaking / Blogging - 169 views

digitallyspeaking.pbworks.com/Blogging

web 2.0 blog

shared by Pam Jeffrey on 18 Oct 09 - Cached

  • Using Feed Readers

     

    Feed readers are probably the most important digital tool for today's learner because they make sifting through the amazing amount of content added to the Internet easy.  Also known as aggregators, feed readers are free tools that can automatically check nearly any website for new content dozens of times a day---saving ridiculous amounts of time and customizing learning experiences for anyone. 

     

    Imagine never having to go hunting for new information from your favorite sources again.  Learning goes from a frustrating search through thousands of marginal links written by questionable characters to quickly browsing the thoughts of writers that you trust, respect and enjoy.

     

    Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?

     

    It's not!  Here's a Commoncraft tutorial explaining RSS Feeds in Plain English:

     

    Feed readers can quickly and easily support blogging in the classroom, allowing teachers to provide students with ready access to age-appropriate sites of interest that are connected to the curriculum.  By collecting sites in advance and organizing them with a feed reader, teachers can make accessing information manageable for their students. 

    Here are several examples of feed readers in action:

     

    Student Blogs

    http://www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/20982438

     

     

    This feed list includes several elementary, middle and high school blogs that students can explore during silent reading or while online at home.

     

     

    Current Events 

    http://www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/16714925

     

    This feed list includes links to several news websites that cover topics that are a part of one teacher's required social studies curriculum. 

     

    Global Warming

    http://www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/22534539

    Used specifically as a part of one classroom project, this feed list contains information related to global warming that students can use as a starting point for individual research. 

     

    While there are literally dozens of different feed reader programs to choose from (Bloglines and Google Reader are two biggies), Pageflakes is a favorite of many educators because it has a visual layout that is easy to read and interesting to look at.  It is also free and web-based.  That means that users can check accounts from any computer with an Internet connection.  Finally, Pageflakes makes it quick and easy to add new websites to a growing feed list—and to get rid of any websites that users are no longer interested in.

    What's even better:  Pageflakes has been developing a teacher version of their tool just for us that includes an online grade tracker, a task list and a built in writing tutor.  As Pageflakes works to perfect its teacher product, this might become one of the first kid-friendly feed readers on the market. Teacher Pageflakes users can actually blog and create a discussion forum directly in their feed reader---making an all-in-one digital home for students. 

     

    For more information about the teacher version of Pageflakes, check out this review:

     

    http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2008/02/pageflakes-for.html

     

     

    For more information on using feed readers to organize and manage information, check out this handout: 

  • Meredith Stewart on 18 Oct 09
     
    Checklist to use before embarking on a blogging project with students
D. S. Koelling

Embracing the Cloud: Caveat Professor - The Digital Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Ed... - 37 views

chronicle.com/...127384

education students cloud computing security data

shared by D. S. Koelling on 13 May 11 - No Cached
  • My work as chief privacy and security officer at a large public university has, however, given me pause to ask if our posture toward risk prevents us from fully embracing technology at a moment of profound change.
  • Consequently, faculty members are accepting major personal and institutional risk by using such third-party services without any institutional endorsement or support. How we provide those services requires a nuanced view of risk and goes to the heart of our willingness to trust our own faculty and staff members.
  • The technologically savvy among us recognize that hard physical, virtual, and legal boundaries actually demark this world of aggressively competitive commercial entities. Our students, faculty, and staff often do not.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • But can we embrace the cloud? Can the faculty member who wears our institution's name in her title and e-mail address, to whom we've entrusted the academic and research mission of the institution, be trusted to reach into the cloud and pluck what she believes is the optimal tool to achieve her pedagogical aims and use it? Unfortunately, no. Many faculty and staff members simply use whatever service they choose, but they often do not have the knowledge or experience needed to evaluate those choices. And those who do try to work through the institution soon find themselves mired in bureaucracy.
  • First we review the company's terms of service. Of course, we also ask the company for any information it can provide on its internal data security and privacy practices. Our purchasing unit rewrites the agreement to include all of the state-required procurement language; we also add our standard contract language on data security. All of this information is fed into some sort of risk assessment of varying degrees of formality, depending on the situation, and, frankly, the urgency. That leads to yet another round of modifications to the agreement, negotiations with the company, and, finally, if successful, circulation for signatures. After which we usually exhume the corpse of the long-deceased faculty member and give him approval to use the service in his class. We go through this process not from misguided love of bureaucracy, but because our institutions know of no other way to manage risk. That is, we have failed to transform ourselves so we can thrive and compete in the 21st century.
  • But our faculty and staff are increasingly voting with their feet—they're more interested in the elegance, portability, and integration of commercial offerings, despite the inability to control how those programs change over time. By insisting on remaining with homegrown solutions, we are failing to fall in lockstep with those we support.
  • Data security? Of course there are plenty of fly-by-night operations with terrible security practices. However, as the infrastructure market has matured (one of the generally unrecognized benefits of cloud services), more and more small companies can provide assurances of data security that would shame many of us even at large research-intensive institutions.
  • If higher education is to break free of the ossified practices of the past, we must find ways to transfer risk acceptance into the faculty domain—that is, to enable faculty to accept risk. Such a transformation is beyond the ability of the IT department alone—it will require our campus officials, faculty senates, registrars, and research and compliance officers working together to deeply understand both the risks and the benefits
Scott Vonder Bruegge

join.me - Free Screen Sharing and Online Meetings - 108 views

join.me

shared by Scott Vonder Bruegge on 17 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • jodi tompkins on 17 Sep 10
     
    Easy and simple way to share your screen with others.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • jodi tompkins on 17 Sep 10
     
    Great way to help instruct students or fellow teachers on how to use a program or just to quickly and easily share information with others.
  • Marc Patton on 19 Jul 12
     
    Get everybody on the same page, when they're not in the same room, instantly. Review documents and designs. Train staff. Demo products or just show off. join.me is a ridiculously simple screen sharing tool for meetings on the fly.
  • Scott Vonder Bruegge on 09 Oct 15
     
    project your screen to any device
Maggie Tsai

Bill Wolff's Composing Spaces » Blog Archive » diigo anounces diigo education - 0 views

williamwolff.org/...diigo-anounces-diigo-education

diigo education review

shared by Maggie Tsai on 25 Sep 08 - Cached
  • The outstanding social bookmarking and annotating application, Diigo, has announced the release of Diigo Education.
  • Diigo Education has the following features: Teacher accounts must be approved Personalized Teacher Console A teacher can create student accounts for an entire class with just a few clicks (and student email addresses are optional for account creation) Students of the same class are automatically set up as a Diigo group so they can start using all the benefits that a Diigo group provides, such as group bookmarks and annotations, and group forums. To protect the privacy of students, student accounts have special settings which only allow their teachers and classmates to contact them and access their personal profile information. Ads presented to student account users are limited to education-related sponsors. Educators, especially those in K-12 settings where Diigo is blocked by Internet filters, will benefit from this version. I strongly recommend you apply for a free Diigo Educator account and/or check out the FAQ and Getting Started tutorial.
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