Scopia is one of the systems we have been using at work. When I am unsure of how to get something to work, this is where I go for documentation. Saving this here, just in case my book link gets lost.
Category Archives: Internet
My First Chicago Geekfest Meetup
I experienced my first Chicago Geekfest Meetup yesterday. The meetups take place every Tuesday at the local Groupon offices. Yesterday’s session was a series of lightning talks:
- Components of an Effective Onboarding Program (Ashish Dixit)
- Running a Successful Meetup from Day One (Brian Kung)
- Static website generation using LambdaPad (Garrett Smith)
- Email Integration Into Your App Using Obindo (Chuck Kreuser)
- Greenscreen: Digital signage, powered by Chromecast (Chris Powers)
Video recordings of the presentations should be up soon on Vimeo.
Phishing Email Of The Day
E-ZPass Phishing Email
This has to be my phishing email of the day. The “here” link obviously goes somewhere you don’t want to follow, but the email is targeted well for the unwary.
Shindig
Shindig
I (and two of my work colleagues) got a chance to see Shindig in practice last Friday. Shindig is a video collaboration service that is currently in beta. The user interface is particularly impressive – at work we use tools like this on a regular basis, and typically students and faculty need significant assistance to collaborate. Shindig was something that “just worked.”
However, Shindig is still in beta. I get the impression that the company is still trying to find its way, and work out the best way to make money. Thus, the company is now reaching out to education. This could be a tough sell – education does not have money to spare. There a some important features that Shindig does not have just yet, such as:
- Native recording of video events.
- Native recording of text-chat.
- Polling / quizzing functionality.
- Mobile client (service only works on desktop browsers).
- LTI (Learning Tool Interoperability) API (Application Programming Interface)- i.e. works with all the major LMS ( Learning Management System) platforms.
Additionally, some of the ways that the company markets itself via the website and YouTube sends the wrong message. I get the impression that the company is in a somewhat precarious position.
I hope they make it. I really liked the user interface and basic functionality. Shindig felt like a product where I did not need to crack open the manual.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JwZoQYnnKc&list=PLRhWiq5YAdTtyuCgLxq0-08jxrm1To-NM
http://youtu.be/ICsNKttfsOE
iPad Lecture Capture
I am presenting an Information Session (iPad Lecture Capture: Information Session I-3) at the 30th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning. The presentation will take place on Wednesday 13th August from 10:30-11:15 a.m. This will be part of the Technology, Tools, and Media track.
The presentation notes, hyperlinks, and PDF can be accessed here: http://condor.depaul.edu/jmoore/ipad-capture/
Teaching Online: Guide To Four Complex Learning Theories
I am currently in Week One of the MOOC “Teaching Online: Reflections on Practice,” and already there is a wealth of material that I am putting to (good) use. My primary reason for taking the course was to get a deeper experience of Canvas (a Learning Management System), but the course aligns nicely with work and my interests.
One of the resources shared this week was an infographic for “A Simple Guide To 4 Complex Learning Theories” (Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, Connectivism). Very useful, and worthy of sharing:
A Simple Guide To 4 Complex Learning Theories
Source: Edudemic
Shutterfly Marketing Hiccup
It seems like everyone on the Internet received a “Congratulations on your new arrival” email from Shutterfly this morning. Whatever algorithm they are using to predict new parenthood is not as finely tuned as it could be…. Unless this was their cunning plan.
Adobe Voice (looks promising)
Adobe just released an iPad app (Adobe Voice) that allows the user to create narrated videos. This looks to be a pretty versatile tool, and pushes the creator into following a scripted storyline (with calls to action). Images come from Creative Commons.
I have downloaded, and will be testing.
Google’s News LMS (Apps for Education)
A colleague at work alerted me to the news that Google has a new free LMS for schools. Google Classroom will be the new tool that adds a Learning Management System to Google Apps for Education.
Campus Technology has a brief piece of news here, and Google has a page where you can sign up for an invite.
There is a certain degree of déjà vu all over again with the news. Google has released, or announced, similar initiatives in the past:
- CloudCourse. Launched in 2010 as a course scheduling system, but no longer maintained.
- OpenClass. Announced in 2011, this was a collaboration between Pearson and Google. Abilene Christian University migrated to the system in 2013, but many faculty found the system with too simplistic and started using Blackboard’s CourseSites.
- Course Builder. Released in 2012, this was Google’s free tool for building online classes. Google helpfully provides a list of courses built with the tool here.
- edX. In September of 2013, Google announced that they would continue to maintain Course Builder, but would focus on edX (and provide an upgrade path).
Google is known for discontinuing great products and services (such as Lively, Wave, Google Reader), seemingly because a product manager leaves or moves on to another project. Whilst being a free option, there may be some risk in committing to the new Google Classroom.
The Science of Creating Must-Click Content on Twitter
Courtney Seiter (Buffer) and Jimmy Hang (Twitter) presented a Hangout on “The Science of Creating Must-Click Content on Twitter.”
The presentation contained some useful advice and statistics that can be gleaned from watching the recording, or grabbing the slides from SlideShare.