Webcasting Tools

This week we explored different sites to create podcasts and screen-casts. I have never created a podcast or screen-cast before so this was a new experience for me. I tried out a few different sites but I ended up choosing Soundcloud to make a podcast, as I was already familiar with this tool. I believe podcasts and screen-casts contribute significantly to my digital literacy, because it is a completely different way to learn about information as opposed to just reading text. When you share your own podcast online you are actually sharing your voice with the world allowing others to better connect with what you are saying. I believe this is such a great way to develop yourself as a digital citizen.

https://soundcloud.com

Whether I will add podcasts to my PLE is still undecided. I enjoyed making a podcast and learning about new ways to share information, however I don't see myself making any more podcasts in the future. Another tool which I explored was Garageband. I have a Mac and have seen Garageband on my computer before but I have never really used it. I really enjoyed the time I spent exploring this tool, and I will have to spend more time in the future learning more about it. As for now however I don't think I will be adding Garageband/Soundcloud to my PLE, but who knows things could change in the next couple of weeks.

Another thing we have been learning a lot about recently is copyrights and protecting your own work. This week we applied a creative commons international license to our blogs which basically lets others know that they are free to use information from my blog as long as they apply proper credit. I am learning a lot more about how important it is to credit work, especially now that I have created a lot of work of my own. After posting my podcast especially, if someone were to use my voice I would like to be credited. I ended up having to change the whole layout of my blog to add in this license, as my old layout didn't have an option to add a footer. So if you noticed that my blog looks a little different this week now you know why.

The article from my feedly which I chose to share this week is titled: Chocolate Marbled Italian Easter Bread. I decided to share a delicious looking recipe this week for anyone who wishes to make this too celebrate Easter. I am looking forward to celebrating Easter this year with my family, and making this delicious looking treat may not be such a bad idea. Hopefully everyone has a great weekend ! and if you do end up making this recipe or another Easter recipe let me know as I am always interested in new things to make.

My Slideshow

This week we experimented making slideshow presentations on different applications such as: Animoto, Prezi, photopeach etc. The one I ultimately ended up choosing to make my presentation with was Animoto. Animoto is a very easy to use tool, that I was able to grasp rather quickly. I had a lot of fun making my own short video with this tool and I was happy with the end result. I have used tools similar to this before such as Prezi, however I have to say I enjoyed using Animoto much more. Since you have to pay for full access I was only able to use the free trial version but it still exceeded my expectations.

Higherlearningnow.com

I can definitely see myself adding Animoto to my PLE diagram. I would have to add it to my presentation applications alongside google docs, and PowerPoint. What I liked more about this tool compared to Google Docs and PowerPoint is how it limits the amount of words you can say on one slide. Often times people create PowerPoint slides where there are way too many words on one slide, making it look very cramped. Animoto restricts your ability to add to much information keeping a nice clean layout throughout. Like I said before making my slideshow on Animoto was a lot of fun, but not only did I have fun making it I also learned more about becoming a digital citizen in the process. The whole point of making this video was to express the importance of citing images and present it in a fun way. After creating my own video I thought about how I would feel if someone used it and didn't credit me. In all honesty it wouldn't feel so great, and I would like to be mentioned for something that I created. So I would say more than anything that creating this video helped me to realize how important it is to cite work if it's not your own, as I was able to put it in perspective with my own work. I am looking forward to seeing what other people in the class have made, and I also encourage others too check out my video and leave comments !

The item from my feedly that I will be sharing this week is an article titled 6 Floating Buildings Powered by the Sun. This article instantly caught my eye on my feed this week as I am often amazed by very unique and different ways of doing things. With the population growing there is less land to build homes, so many individuals are turning to water to make their own self sufficient homes. I am not sure if this is something I would ever live in permanently but it is definitely a very cool idea. 





 

VoiceThreads

Week 9 already !! it's amazing how fast the semester has gone and how much we have learned. This week we experimented with VoiceThreads, polls, survey's and even learned more about what it means to be a digital citizen. VoiceThread is a very cool application, which allows users to collaboratively add information to a slideshow in different ways. Instead of just using text as in Google Docs, VoiceThread actually allows you to add a voice recording to the presentation (hence the name). I found this tool very intriguing as I learned more about it. What I found to be so intriguing was how much the use of voice tools enhances the presentation. When we use tools on the internet or create presentations we only use text to communicate, however using speech is a much more effective way to get a point across.

https://voicethread.com/image/homepage/powerful-simple.jpg

Another tool we used this week was PollDaddy. This tool allows you to create surveys/polls which you can post in your blog or on social media. I found this to be a useful tool and currently very relevant to me. I found this tool useful because of how I can use it for my other classes, such as Marketing Research. In Marketing Research right now I am required to create surveys and gather information for my project, and learning about different survey and poll taking tools can be helpful when deciding how to collect my data. I am not sure if I will add this tool to my PLE but I will definitely give it a try and make a decision. I might post a poll this coming week to my social media and see how much data I can collect for my project, who knows maybe it will end up being one of the more useful tools for me. 

This week we furthered our knowledge in digital rights and responsibilities by giving our opinion on a selected scenario. My chosen scenario was regarding a student who was using school computers for unpermitted personal use. I really enjoyed this part of the session as we got to use actual examples that we could relate to. I am very interested to see what other people wrote about in their chosen scenario and I will have to share my opinion on their argument. I also hope that others will leave comments on mine as well, as I am interested in hearing about different perspectives on the situation.

Now I know this week I said I would share a healthy recipe however I wanted to share an item from my feedly which really caught my eye. The title is Modeled After Ants, Teams of Tiny Robots Can Move 2-Ton Car. I just thought this was a testament to how advanced technology is becoming and how we really can do incredible things with technology !

Technology Use Scenario

Scenario #8: Mr. Scott, principle of Rural High School, is walking through the library and sees a student working on a computer. Looking down, he sees that the student is on a music site that requires a credit card to purchase music. Mr. Scott informs the student that the district's acceptable use policy does not allow buying items online using school computers. Should these actions be allowed in school? Why or why not?

In this Scenario the student is using technology in an inappropriate way. This is because the student is violating the districts use policy by going on a site on school property that requires a credit card to purchase music. This act may be considered appropriate to some because the student is actually trying to buy music instead of downloading it illegally. However the fact of the matter is the student is still violating the schools policy making the act inappropriate. As a digital citizen every individual has rights and responsibilities that they should be following. If this student is using a computer on school property in inappropriate ways then it's the students responsibility to learn the rules set forth by the school if they wish to use their property.

I also believe part of the blame falls on the school itself as they have a responsibility to make sure their property is not being misused. The school should have proper fire walls and security measures in place to prevent students from misusing the computers. The teachers also have a responsibility to teach the students about proper technology use. This can be seen here under the rights and responsibilities of a digital citizen.

Instead of the student going on this site on school computers, they should have waited until they were at home on a personal computer. Another way to make this act appropriate would be to ask permission from a person in charge, if they in fact allow you to access this site then the act could be deemed appropriate.

Wiki Week

Week 8 has come already and with it we get to explore Wiki's. A wiki is a website that allows users to collaboratively edit it. I had a basic understanding of wiki's before this weeks session as I have frequently used them in the past to find information. That being said before this course I myself have never actually made any changes or edits to a wiki page. To me i cannot see myself creating a wiki anytime soon. I much prefer to use google docs for online collaboration. Learning about wiki's this week though was interesting however I do not plan on adding it to my PLE diagram at the end of this course.

When creating or editing a wiki other users are trusting that the information you are posting is true. This site represents a great example of using netiquette. What I mean by this is it is so easy to change the information on a wiki page and write false information that could be seen by millions of people.  However in doing so your are not being a responsible digital citizen. There have been many cases of people changing popular wiki pages to get a laugh out of people, and as a digital citizen you should respect other people's work and use proper netiquette. This week we furthered our knowledge of becoming a digital citizen by outlining different rules and responsibilities that we think are crucial for becoming a digital citizen.

My top three were: right to privacy, respecting other users, and the right to citing. There are many different rules and responsibilities that users should follow however I believe these three that I listed top the list. This is because privacy for one thing is such a major concern as people could have passwords, banking information and many other private data stored online. So the right to privacy is a must for any digital citizen. The next one I listed was the responsibility to respect others. This is a major concern as people often abuse the use of online sites by writing negative comments that can sometimes lead to cyber bullying. The last one is the right/responsibility to cite information. This is also very important because if you do not cite information properly the original source does not receive any credit and the information becomes plagiarized.

 

In exploring my feedly this week I came across yet another delicious recipe that I will be adding to my Evernote. This week it is peanut butter and jelly fudge brownies. Peanut Butter and Jelly Fudge Brownies. Next week I will try and share a healthier recipe but this one seemed to go not to share. If you ever end up making one of the recipes I share please let me know as I feel like I save a lot of recipies that look appetizing but never know which ones to actually make !