HootCourse- twitter for online and face to face courses

As I mentioned about a month ago, along with experimenting with mobile learning in my course this summer, I also decided to test out HootCourse.  HootCourse is a Twitter tool that allows you to create courses, invite students, and automatically adds a hashtag for your course.  Like other Twitter tools, it performs a search based on the hashtag and keeps those tweets inside “your course.” In my testing, I was able to post inside HootCourse successfully, and I was able to post inside Tweetdeck and Twitterific if I added my course’s hashtag. Over at the “Free Technology for Teachers” blog, Thomas, one of the developers for HootCourse, explains in the comments a little more about the public v. private versions of HootCourse.

You can see in the screen shots below, that my course hashtag was #idt7064.  Hootcourse automatically added this.  I had to add this inside Tweetdeck (on my desktop) and Twitterific (on my iPod Touch and iPad).  Because Hootcourse is automatically adding the hashtag, it goes ahead and subtracts the number of characters in your hashtag from your 140-limit for Twitter.

I really liked being able to retweet posts and share these with my students directly from Tweetdeck and Twitterific.  In addition to being able to tweet inside HootCourse, you can also write longer posts — beyond the 140-word-limit — and these will post to a blog.  With only a small amount of difficulty and a quick email out to support, I was able to connect my HootCourse account to my own Wordpress (Viral-Notebook) instead of the suggested Wordpress.com account.  (I also found out from the tech support that this feature had been enabled by one of the developers, but the other didn’t know it. ) So, longer posts can go into my blog and then tweeted.  In Derek Bruff’s blog you can see where he did just this (and explains a number of features too), and this is a test post that I used as well.  I found that I didn’t use this feature very much for my online course that I was teaching.  But, I’m interested to figure out whether I might do this in a standard 15-week course with a little more forethought and planning.

The last feature that I’m interested in trying out connects nicely to Dr. Rankin’s Twitter experiment in her large class.  This is a classroom version of Twitter for face-to-face discussions.  In essence, it’s creating a backchannel for your classroom.  You can see from the screenshot below that HootCourse sort of strips down everything and makes the posts large so you could project these during a lecture of classroom discussion.  I didn’t use this feature in my online course, but I’m interested in trying this with some face-t0-face courses to see how it might work.

There are a number of folks testing out HootCourse right now, but I haven’t seen many reviews or posts of actual implementations.  So, I hope some folks come out with those.  Are you using HootCourse?  How’s it going?  Are you doing it online or face-t0-face or both?

Bookmarks for March 17th through April 13th

These are my Jumptags for March 17th through April 13th:

• Problems with ADDIE –
• Moving Your WordPress Site and Database « Weblog Tools Collection – here comes a time you may have to leave one web host for another. No matter the reason the idea of relocating an entire website – especially one that has been online for sometime – can seem very daunting. With a WordPress based site – I found it easi…
• You Are Not a Gadget: The Continuing Case Against Web 2.0 – Jaron Lanier was a pioneer of "virtual reality" in the early 1980s and in his book, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto, he makes the case for …
• Horizontal Attention Leans Left (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox) – Web users spend 69% of their time viewing the left half of the page and 30% viewing the right half. A conventional layout is thus more likely to make sites profitable.
• Teach Science and Math – Estimates are about 80 percent of Math Education at the K-12 level is strictly focused on solving math problems without any real-world context (Computational Thinking and Math Maturity: Improving Math Education in K-8 Schools, Dave Moursund, 2007). S…
• Space Station Close Encounters With Space Junk: Project Based Learning Activity that Involves an Inquiry Approach – The space station's near misses with debris are a continual issue, which provides excellent resources for scientific project and problem based learning in science.
• The Periodic Table of Periodic Tables / – The web has hundreds of periodic tables and dozens of collections of periodic tables — but it never had a periodic table of periodic tables. Until now. Researched in profound and excruciating detail over the course of a couple nights on Google, we p…
• Fred Wilson’s 10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps | Carsonified – In February 2010 Fred Wilson, a New York based tech investor, spoke at the annual Future of Web Apps Miami conference. His talk, clocking in at just under
• Envisioning the Post-LMS Era: The Open Learning Network (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE – Although central to the business of higher education, the LMS has also become a symbol of the status quo that supports administrative functions more effectively than teaching and learning activities.
• Write Better CSS With Best Practices | Pro Blog Design – Everyone has a slightly different approach to CSS. That's part of the reason it can be a nightmare to edit someone else's code. But there are a few good practices you can use in your CSS to make your stylesheets easier for you to read, and easier for…
• Techniques for Squeezing Images for All They’re Worth | Webdesigner Depot – An image’s dimensions on screen are measured in pixels: width and height. An image's quality is determined by less tangible factors: composition, mood,
• What Students Expect from Instructors, Other Students – Some years back The Teaching Professor featured an article highlighting Mano Singham’s wonderful piece describing how he moved away from a very authoritarian, rule-centered syllabus (reference below). It’s one of my very favorite articles—I reference…
• Starting Out Organized: Website Content Planning The Right Way – Smashing Magazine – So many articles explain how to design interfaces, design graphics and deal with clients. But one step in the Web development process is often skipped over or…
• Free Stuff – Educational Technology – ICT in Education – The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book lists over 100 projects with objectives, defined grade level or age range, links to additional information (including how-to's) about the project, and tips for teachers planning to use the project.

New book chapter: Supporting technology integration in higher education

I’m pleased to say that another book chapter in completed and onto the presses to be published.  This one was with awesome collaborators, Dr. Drew Polly at University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Joanne Gikas (a doc student of mine), the Director of Online Programs at UofM.  This chapter is on supporting technology integration in higher education.  Together, the three of us offer two different cases of how technology integration has been handled at our respective institutions.  We also offer some good lessons learned from both our experiences as well.

Official title?
Supporting Technology Integration in Higher Education: The Role of Professional Development.

Here’s the abstract:

As institutions of higher education increase access and support the use of educational technologies, there is a need to examine how to best support faculty’s integration of technology into their courses. In this chapter we discuss findings and issues related to supporting faculty’s integration of technology in university-level courses. We share data from two cases: a university-wide faculty professional development project and a professional development center designed to focus on supporting faculty’s integration of technology. Lastly, we provide implications related to faculty professional development.

Need a citation?
Polly, D., Grant, M.M., & Gikas, J. (in revision). Supporting technology integration in higher education: The role of professional development. In D. Surry, T. Stefurak, & R. Gray (eds.), Technology integration in higher education: Social and organizational aspects.  Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

How about the file?
Technology Integration in Higher Education

Visiting Union and Doin’ Some Googlin’

Today, I get to spend the day at Union University with Dr. Anna Clifford’s classes. Anna is always so generous and invites me to come visit with her students and share a little of my knowledge with them. For the past few times, we’ve been concentrating on Google Docs. But I think I’m going to throw in a little Wordle this time, too.

Below are the links and resources we’ll be using from my Resource Wiki hosted at PBWorks.

1. Using Google Docs word processor
2. Using Google Docs presentations
3. Using Google Docs spreadsheet
4. Creating forms and quizzes with Google Docs forms

And hopefully, we’ll have time to do a little Wordle, too, to see how we might use Wordle during class.

Trusting your school with the technology may become the issue

Big Brother is watching … only it’s your vice principal.  If you thought that getting technology into schools was the primary issue or even getting teachers to integrate was bigger.  This might change your mind.  By way of Mashable, I heard about this story:

BoingBoing reports that a recent case filing in Robbins vs. Lower Merion School District, a Pennsylvania school, is a class action suit on behalf of students with school-issued laptops whose webcams have been used to watch the students and their families at home.

It was discovered that the laptops issued by the high school contained software allowing administrators to covertly activate the on-board webcam. The plaintiff, Blake J. Robbins, was disciplined by the school for “improper behavior in his home.” The evidence of said impropriety was brought forth by the school vice principal, who displayed a photo of Robbins taken by the laptop’s webcam.

This was also reported on HLN this morning as well.  The level of weird and creepy in this is enough to require a shower.  This is oddly reminiscent of an episode of Criminal Minds minus the serial killer, FBI, and quirky characters.  Who knows?  Maybe we’ll see the quirky characters unfold in this story?  But I don’t believe we’ll like them as much as Garcia, Hotch, and Reid.

Bookmarks for January 31st through February 9th

These are my Jumptags for January 31st through February 9th:

• Project Cartoon: How Projects Really Work (version 1.5) – How Projects Really Work (version 1.5) How Projects Really Work (version 1.5)
• Malcontent Blogger | bLaugh – Source: ReviewMe Domain: MalcontentBlogger.com
  <img class="comic" title="Malcontent Blogger" alt="Malcontent Blogger" …
• The Whole Internet Truth | bLaugh – Source: Wikipedia Domain: WikisGoneWild.com
  <img class="comic" title="Where is the Secret of Life?" alt="Where is…
• Applying Mathematics To Web Design – Smashing Magazine – “Mathematics is beautiful.” This may sound absurd to people who wince at numbers and equations. But some of the most beautiful things in nature and our universe…
• Here’s How to Add Personality to Your E-Learning Courses » The Rapid eLearning Blog – Tom Kuhlmann offers up advice on how to integrate script fonts into your elearning courses for personality.
• Intel Teach Elements: Project-Based Approaches – Free, online teacher professional development on 21st century learning concepts: Project-Based Approaches from Intel Teach.
• The Principle of Proximity in Web Design – Recently I picked up an old design book that I hadn't touched in a while, and it reminded me of a design principle that many of us put into practice probably
• 10 Tips for Better Print Style Sheets – Print style sheets have been somewhat forgotten, and yet they remain important all the same. Many people print out articles to read while traveling or when they
• 50 Free UI and Web Design Wireframing Kits, Resources and Source Files – Smashing Magazine – Planning and communication are two key elements in the development of any successful website or application. And that is exactly what the wireframing process offers:
• Why E-Learning is So Effective » The Rapid eLearning Blog – Tom Kuhlmann offers up reasons why elearning is popular and effective.
• Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge – A lecture on Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge for students in EDUC6751.

Bookmarks for January 24th through January 27th

These are my Jumptags for January 24th through January 27th:

• Software Project Management Resources — Columbia University – Project management resources: templates, samples, articles, software, lecture notes on software & general PM. Updated January 6, 2009. John Musser.
• Custom E-Learning Training & LMS Solutions Kineo – Tip 35: A Shot of Theory – Elaboration Theory – A synopsis of elaboration theory from the folks at Kineo.
• Forty_three_Interesting_Ways_to_use_Wordle_in – 43 Interesting ways and tips to use Wordle in the classroom.

More Googling at Union

I’m so excited to go back to Union University today.  Dr. Anna Clifford and her students invite me from time to time to come and spend some time with them talking about Google and Web 2.0.  We always have so much fun.  (Anna always remembers that M&Ms are my favorite treats, too.)  Today, I have the pleasure of Joanne G. coming with me to share her expertise as well.  She’s a former middle school teacher with Memphis City Schools and has a wealth of real-world knowledge that can be sure with Anna’s preservice teachers.  I don’t know if we’ll get everything that we want to talk about in or not, though.

Today, we’re going to tooling around with Google Docs/Apps.  In particular, we’re going to take a look at Google Reader, Google Docs word processor, Google Docs presentations, Google Docs spreadsheets and Google Docs forms.

Here’s the links to the wiki pages I’ve created to go along with the workshop.  Anything we don’t get to will be accessible through these links, and please use them liberally.

1. Using Google Reader
2. Using Google Docs word processor
3. Using Google Docs presentations
4. Using Google Docs spreadsheet
5. Creating forms and quizzes with Google Docs forms

And a Google Form for us to try if we have time.

Bookmarks for October 21st

These are my Jumptags for October 21st

• Xtranormal | Text-to-Movie – Use Xtranormal to create movies quickly. Drag and drop actors onto scenes. Add text and the software syncs the actors mouths with the text. Windows only.
• Storybird – Collaborative storytelling – Storybirds are short, visual stories that you make with family and friends to share and (soon) print.
• Uncovering Steve Jobs’ Presentation Secrets – BusinessWeek – For his new book, communications coach Carmine Gallo watched hours of Jobs' keynotes. Here he identifies the five elements of every presentation by the Apple CEO.
• ImageChef – Word Mosaic – In the flavor of Wordle, write a comment or poem in the shape of hearts or other symbols.

Bookmarks for October 13th through October 15th

These are my Jumptags for October 13th through October 15th:

• Weebly – Create a free website and a free blog – Weebly has now added an education section. Weebly is perfect for creating classroom websites, student e-portfolios, and websites for assigned projects.
• Free Adobe Dreamweaver Tutorial | CSS Tutorial for Creating Layouts in Dreamweaver | Layers Magazine – This tutorial covers the process of building a CSS-based layout from scratch using Dreamweaver. Great beginner tutorial.
• Free Adobe Dreamweaver Tutorial | CSS Tutorial – Basics of Working with Cascading Style Sheets | Layers Magazine – This tutorial covers the basics of creating CSS in Dreamweaver using the CSS Rule dialog. Great intro.
• Adobe Flash Tutorial | Creating an interactive story in Adobe Flash part 2 – A simple tutorial for moving around Flash CS3. Part 2.
• Adobe Flash Tutorial | Creating an interactive story in Adobe Flash – A simple tutorial in two parts for moving around Flash CS3.
• Flash CS4 |Timeline Animation | Motion Editor | Layers Magazine – With Flash CS4 now has auto-keyframing, a full-featured motion editor, and—most importantly—the ability to animate each property of an object separately from one another.
• Open Access Educational Technology journals – George Veletsianos – One of the resources developed for my students is a listing of open access journals (name, url, and RSS feed) that publish papers on the nexus between technology and education (educational technology, instructional design, e-learning, online distance…
• Best Time-Tracking Application: Klok – Time management – Lifehacker – Earlier last week we asked you to share your favorite time-tracking applications and then we rounded them up for your review.
• The speed of information – The speed of information between neurons.
• 33 Websites For Vector Images Download | Pro Blog Design – Here is a list of free vector images for download, if you're designer and look for vector images for your design project, you can simply download this…
• 3 Ways To Find The Best Website Color Scheme – Learn how to pick a website color scheme that keeps visitors engaged. Includes a list of questions to ask clients and a color psychology cheat sheet.
• Using John Keller’s ARCS model to motivate online learners « Onlignment – ARCS provides a good summary of the issues to be considered when designing a learning intervention. In particular it makes sense to me when putting together a live online learning event.
• Live Online Learning – a facilitators guide « Onlignment – To download your free copy of “Live Online Learning – a facilitator’s guide” just sign up for the free newsletter.
• Healthcare Napkins wins World’s Best Presentation Contest 2009 | SlideShare Blog – Thousands of presentations are uploaded to SlideShare everyday. But some catch your eye from the moment they get uploaded. Tha's the case with the winning
• 5 Steps to Slide Design for Non-Designers by Ellen Finkelstein | SlideShare Blog – I’ve come up with 5 steps that you can take to create a presentation that will work, even if you’re not a designer.