Emerging Technologies for Educators

Free Conference Calls

2010-02-23T09:19:00.002-05:00

Free Reservationless Phone Conferencing

Free conference calls are simple and easy to use, requiring only a name and an e-mail address to receive an instant account. Once you enter your name and e-mail address, you will be instantaneously provided with a dial-in number and access code for immediate phone conferencing.Your teleconferencing line is available to you 24/7 and there is no need to schedule or make reservations. Each conference call account accommodates 96 callers on an unlimited number of 6 hour free conference calls.

It works - it's free - it's available.

UFRAW and GIMP

2010-01-08T01:42:00.004-05:00

If you edit photos, GIMP is worth trying out. GIMP is far more capable than any low priced photo editors I have come across and is at least as good as Photoshop Elements. In some ways, it approaches the capabilities of Photoshop CS. However, the usability is clunky compared to the Photoshop variants. For example, GIMP does allow for bulk processing but you need to write the script. On the other hand, Photoshop allows for the easy recording of a set of actions that makes bulk processing a breeze.

If you shoot RAW, GIMP has the free UFRAW plugin available. This is well worth having even if you have the latest versions of Photoshop CS and Adobe Camera RAW (ACR).

My current DSLR came with a Silky Pix based software and even the internal JPEG engine is Silky Pix based. Silky Pix is a great stand alone RAW converter that many do prefer to ACR. The problems are that it is not cheap and it can not directly export the converted photo to photo processing software. I do prefer the look of Silky Pix to ACR but would like the abilities of RAW to fix things before making the final photo. Being able to go from the RAW converter to the photo processor is close to being a must as well.

UFRAW is DCRAW with a good GUI. This GUI is on par with that of ACR. Like ACR, you do need to work with it a while to really understand what is going on. On the other hand, UFRAW is more capable although it does not perform sharpening and may take longer to understand. Also, do not forget to load the color profile for your camera. This should be somewhere on your camera's RAW converting software CD.

UFRAW has sliders for both gamma and linearity. The combination of these two can provide a very nice fine tuning of the photos tonality. Setting the gamma to 0.45 to 0.50 and the linearity between 0.90 and 1.00 will produce natural, Silky Pix like results. I do see a little more colder but more realistic rendering with UFRAW. A slight boost on saturation or a slight boost in the warmer colors through GIMP can take care of the colder look.

I also found that I can get a more dramatic film like look by cutting the gamma slightly and boosting the linearity past 0.1. This look is further improved by the push button option for a more film like handling of highlights. This tones them down slightly and brings out a considerable amount of highlight detail.

After one is done with the RAW conversion, the photo can be opened directly by GIMP. GIMP does perform the standard photoshop tasks which makes using UFRAW preferable for me over converting in Silky Pix, saving as a tif file and then opening in Photoshop. Although GIMP is not quite as nice to use as Photoshop I much prefer the UFRAW/GIMP combination if I shoot RAW. ACR is good but UFRAW works better for me with the files from my camera.

Brothersoft

2009-06-17T15:53:00.002-04:00

A clean download site you can depend on. Lots of really good software sits here before going commercial.

Flowgram

2009-06-10T10:51:00.002-04:00

Create interactive guided presentations by combining web pages, photos, PowerPoints slides, and more with voice, notes and highlights.

Viewers can control the pages, scroll, click on links, view videos and more.

It is worth a look.

Bill

Zotero

2009-01-22T12:32:00.002-05:00

Zotero is another plug-in for Firefox. Where Clippings allows the user to have multiple clipboards unlike the single one in MS - Zotero allows the user to keep a reference card file of web sites and information.

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. It lives right where you do your work — in the web browser itself.

Works with Windows, Mac, or Linux. A part of Open Source. Works in over 30 languages.

Take a look.

Bill

Flat World Knowledge

2009-01-22T12:28:00.002-05:00

Online textbooks - developed by teachers / educators / professors /students currently involved in the subject at hand. Their philosophy is: "We preserve the best of the old - books by leading experts that are rigorously reviewed and developed to the highest standards. Then we flip it all on its head. Our books are free online. We offer convenient, low-cost choices for students – print, audio, by-the-chapter, and more. Our books are open for instructors to mix, mash, and make their own. Our books are the hub of a social learning network where students learn from the book and each other."

Interesting concept. I think this is worth watching. Univeristy of West Florida is doing a lot with many forms of Emerging Technologies and this is one.

Bill

Horizon Report on Emerging Technologies

2009-01-22T12:24:00.003-05:00

The Horizon Report is an ongoing look at what is on the horizon in Emerging Technologies.

"The annual Horizon Report describes the continuing work of the New Media Consortium (NMC)’s Horizon Project, a long-running qualitative research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within learning-focused organizations. The 2009 Horizon Report is the sixth annual report in the series. The report is produced again in 2009 as a collaboration between the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE program."

It should be required reading for anyone that is working in or thinking about working in emerging technologies which is all of us.

Bill

Adobe Presenter

2009-01-21T00:19:00.002-05:00

OK, This is not free but you can give it a try for 30 days. I use this fairly often to hold meetings with learners. The Adobe Presenter room, formerly known as Breeze, can support several people having an online audio or video meeting. Attendees can be appointed as presenters, allowing them to show their desktop or share a file such as a PowerPoint presentation.

It works quite well. I have had the opportunity to use a number of competing products that just did not offer the speed nor quality of Presenter.

We at Capella have used this for years but rarely used the full audio / video capabilities. Firewalls can slow down the action. However, using it remotely has opened my eyes to what it truly is capable of. In the summer of 2008, I attended a meeting held entirely within Presenter. The main office in Minneapolis as well as Bill in Florida met together with me in far far away Li Jiang, near the Himalayas in South China. I talked with Bill for at least an hour before the actual meeting and the audio was better than a local phone call on a land line. :-)

ooVoo Free Video Chat

2009-01-16T10:34:00.003-05:00

ooVoo is the next evolution in online communication — a remarkably easy way to have a face-to-face video chat with friends, family or colleagues, no matter where they are in the world.
ooVoo Video Chat is remarkably easy to use: easy to download, easy to install, and best of all:it's FREE!

Joe and I installed and ran a trial session. Very easy on the install. Very easy to setup and run. Once you have your contacts in place it is a matter of selecting one and clicking the green phone.

Clarity of video signal is dependent on your system and cam. We were able to hold a simple conversation (little lag). Joe even gave me a look at his kitchen and living room. He also showed me the snow outside his door.

Overall a good experience. The free version allows up to 3 sessions at once - For $10 a month you can upgrade to 6 sessions at once. The software also allows for recording sessions - taking still photos - higher resolution video.

DVDVideoSoft

2009-01-09T11:24:00.004-05:00

DVDVideoSoft Free Studio Manager. Want to up or down load video and/or audio content from YouTube? DVDVideoSoft Studio Manager allows you to download and convert YouTube content for use on your iPod or iTunes. It is also a DVD/CD Burner - Converter and Audio and/Or Video Dub System.

I have been running it for over a year with no problems. Pull the audio from a YouTube to a temp location - drag it to iTunes and the next time I plug in it is on the iPod. AVS has a plethora of free utilities incorporating most every audio/video format. This is one I highly recommend.

Travelling with Technology

2008-12-30T15:14:00.005-05:00

This past summer, our family went on a long journey through China and took a number of technology tools and toys along. I did learn some imprtant lessons along the way and some more after returning.

Packing a small digital camera is no problem. However, I wanted to take the bigger DSLR. (Digital Single Lens Reflex camera) Mine is a smaller one that runs on AA lithium or rechargeable batteries. I usually have 2-3 sets available to ensure an adequate supply of power.

Lenses can get heavy. I was determined to travel light and started with a 17-70 zoom (24.5-105mm on a film camera) and a 16mm fisheye (18mm field of view on a film camera) to use as an ultra wide angle. I picked up one of my telephoto zooms and returned it to its shelf. Although it was only 20 oz, that was still more than I wanted to carry. I did take a couple of small fixed focal length lenses but used them both only a couple times.

It is tempting to take the kitchen sink. One could use all the lenses and accessories available but they are not all necessary. I could have gotten away with the camera body and the 17-70 zoom. The 16 was a great addition that I was glad to have. The other two lenses were not needed or could have replaced the 17-70. I did take extra batteries, extra memory, cotton balls for lens cleaning and a blower for cleaning the sensor. All this was in a weather proof camera bag that was not very large and did not look that much like a camera bag.

Although I did take two digital cameras, I did take a small, high quality film camera to shoot some black and white. I took the film out of the canisters and stuffed all the film and the camera into a zip lock bag. When going through security, I could grab the bag and ask for a hand inspection. The machines are supposed to be film safe but the film would need to survive about 10 X-rays before being developed.

Line voltage was a major concern. The laptop had a power supply that would work anywhere. The same was true for the phones and my small digital camera. The AA battery charger for the DSLR and the childrens' Gameboy chargers only ran on 110. I did find a 220 to 110 adaptor and thought all would be well.

After almost a week of travel, I plugged the AA charger power supply into the voltage adapter. Just like out of a cartoon, it went poof and a cloud of smoke belched out of my power supply. Fortunately, a friend had a 220 volt AA charger, so we were able to keep the DSLR going. The Gameboys were out of luck. I could no longer trust the adaptor. Since that trip, I bought a multivoltage battery charger.

Getting through airport security can be a hassle. What hurt us was the laptop bag. I did pull the laptop out of the bag at security before sending it through the X-ray machine. However, my computer microphone is rather large and raised suspicions. This would result in a complete inspection of the bag. After a couple searches, I learned to pull the mike out along with the laptop.

All chargers and adapters were placed in a plastic bag and then put in checked luggage. It kept the carry on weight down and eliminated a potential cause for a thorough bag inspection.

The trip went well. The kids survived. I got plenty of good photos. I participated in a very important meeting with people in Minneapolis and Florida while I was in far away, southern China. Using the Breeze room provided a cleaner audio than a local phone call. We also had video. Our guests in the meeting were impressed with the technology. I was too. :-)

I was surprised how well the film turned out and wished I had shot more.

Webkinz World

2008-12-30T14:01:00.002-05:00

Webkinz World is a MUVE (Multi User Virtual Environment) for the young ones. To get in, you need a Webkinz plush toy and the code that comes with it. After going online and odopting it, your pet will receive a room, some gifts and some money to get started.

I do find Wekinz to be quite educational. The owners do need to learn basic computing skills and then learn resposibility in taking care of their pets. There are plenty of games but there is also the responsibility of making money for food, clothing, furnishings and additional rooms. Some things can be relatively expensive, which means the owner will need to save or find a less expensive alternative.

Safety is well managed. Public areas do allow conversations with other pets but the text is prewritten phrases that can be chosen. There is an option for more open conversations and the parents need to give permission. Even then, the messages are highly filtered to avoid many words, phrases or personal information.

Check out their web site and be sure to go through the parents area. There is some good information and tips on using Webkinz world.

Quick Cam from Logitech

2008-10-19T09:56:00.004-04:00

Logitech's Quick Cam
Logitech's Quick Cam is free software that comes with your Logitech Webcam camera. With Quick Cam you can make your own short Vodcast. Instead of just sending an email - use a more personal communication via your picture and voice. Easy to setup and easy to use.

I turn on the Quick Cam which provides a small drop down menu. The choices are take a picture or make a movie, change web cam settings, or setup Video Calling using various IMs. I use the mic on the webcam but you can use a USB ported mic if you want better quality.

When you have compelted your short (I keep it under 5 mintues) movie - save to a file and then post on YouTube.com. It is that easy.

Jing

2008-09-18T13:31:00.003-04:00

Jing is a screen capture open source software. I allows the user to capture and add comment to anything that can be seen on their computer screen. I allows the user to also make up to a five minute video. The resulting files can be hosted on the Jing site up to a maximum of 2 GB or saved and uploaded to a server. The quality is excellent. The interface is excellent. It is very easy to use and work in.

You have to experience it to believe it. Again it is free - it is legal - it is available. Give this one a try.

Give Away of the Day

2008-09-12T07:54:00.003-04:00

Give Away of the Day is a really unique site. They highlight a new and completely free software package each day. You have to check it every day. The Software is only downloadable for that one day. Last few days have highlighted Capture Assistant, iRecordMax, and Wondershare Photo Collage Studio 4.2.8. Be sure to add it to your favorites and check it once a day.

Open Office from Sun Microsystems, Inc.

2008-08-14T11:19:00.003-04:00

Open Office 2.4

Open Office consists of Writer, Impress, Calc, Math, Draw, and Base. The programs are all free for the download. The programs appear to interact with like Microsoft programs. My Word documents come up in Writer and I can manipulate them as if in the Word. This seems to hold true for all the Open Office products. You can also setup Open Office so that it will automatically act as the preferred software for the respective files.

I had a bit of a problem installing the suite from the web site. I successfully saved the install file - then did a full install. I had no further problems. The full install took less than 30 minutes. I did notice that in Impress a rather complicated PowerPoint would run except for an embedded Breeze Presentation. The audio was there, just not the video. This may need a plug-in for the Breeze to work properly.

Bottom line: The Open Office is free. Open Office appears to work as well or better than my Office 2003. If you have Student-Learners that can not afford MS Office - this is a definite alternative.

Diigo - Social Bookmarking Tool

2008-07-07T13:39:00.004-04:00

Diigo - a social bookmarking tool. Use it for Commenting, annotating, highlighting online sources. It allows the user to make and keep highlighted bookmarks on resources on the Internet. Learners can highlight what they have read - leave remarks - interact with fellow Learners. It is possible to setup a class room connection to online resources - leave comments both private and public.

The cost is free (the best kind) and you need only go to the web site to upload a free account. Several good videos are available on www.youtube.com. Including http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RvAkTuL02A and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX8d701nzsk.

I highly recommend you give this one a try.

Blogs and Wikis

2008-06-11T08:59:00.002-04:00

Blogs and Wikis are growing like weeds. It seems everyone has something to say and is looking for an audience. Two easy ways to accomplishing this are thru Wikis and Blogs. Using a Wiki (http://www.wikipedia.com/) we find that they are defined as:

A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. For example, the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are used in businesses to provide affordable and effective intranets and for Knowledge Management. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work".

A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

The bottom line is – ‘How can you become a part of this information exchange?” The answer is very simple and free (that’s the best part.) A wiki can be started and maintained on http://www.pbwiki.com/. A blog can be started and maintained on http://www.blogspot.com/. There is abundant help and information available on both sites to get you started. Make it a class project. Use it to inform parents, fellow academics, and your students of what is happening. Just remember that a wiki can be interactive and thrives on two way communications. A blog is basically a one way fountain of information.

photobucket.com

2008-05-23T01:37:00.001-04:00

I used to attach photos to messages and thought it would be nice to embed them in the messages themselves. That way, the photo would look to be part of the message and not something the reader had to download. I soon found photobucket.com and used this as a place to host my photos and then would embed them in my online course posts and e-mails using the html and other forms of links available. For this blog and most of my other uses, I use the html code. The other choices of codes and links gives you the flexibility to embed photos in a variety of different types of messages.

Photobucket can now host videos. It is not as good a site as YouTube for searching and looking at each others photos and video. However, my videos appear more clear when hosted on photobucket.

Virtual Worlds Review

2008-05-20T12:58:00.003-04:00

Virtual Worlds Review is just what the name implies. At present the author has about 28 virtual world reviews available as well as published papers. I like to pop in and out of the worlds to see how they are forming - what is going on - what could I use them for - how could I use them.

There is a good short review on each world as well as associated links. You find lots of information as well. The reviews include who owns the world, launch date, hours of operation (not all are 24 hours a day), system requirements, as well as operating systems supported.

The paper " Moving Beyond the Game: Social Virtual Worlds " by Betsy Book is worth the time to read.

Audacity Audio Editor

2008-05-14T08:39:00.005-04:00

Audacity Audio Editor 1.2.6 for Windows is available free from the website at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. Audacity is a wonderful Windows based tool for developing the audio portion of a webcast, podcast, or audio link. In my on-ground classes I use a Philips GoGear MP3 player/recorder to capture my lecture or assignment instructions. My voice is no thrill - so by using free background music I found on the web and using the tools in Audacity - I sound almost interesting at times. My students tell me they like to be able to re-hear what I said and re-listen to the assignment instructions at will.

I use the Windows version with no trouble and no I did not read the instructions - it is that easy to use. There is also a Mac and Solaris verison available. What I did was have a simple web page for the classes and posted my 'podcast' there the next day each time. I learned how to make a podcast by reading and studying Podcast for Dummies and listening to Podcast for Dummies on Itunes.

I recently used Audacity to clean up a recording I made of cloistered nuns singing atop the mountain in Salzburg. Again I used my Philips GoGear to record them and Audacity to clean it up and make it presentable.

Audacity allows for simple multiple channel recording and mixing. You can cut and paste to your hearts content. It is free. It is easy. It works.

YouTube

2008-05-02T18:29:00.004-04:00

Youtube is a free video hosting site. One can upload videos or one can record directly to youtube from one's own computer's web cam. Then, the videos can be added to e-mails, online classes, or chatroom posts via the video's URL or the provided html code.

I started to use YouTube to host the video messages that I post in my online classrooms. The videos not only provide important announcements, they also give the learners a chance to see and hear from their instructor. I am no longer a faceless, typed message but a real person.

Here are examples of the different video capture methods and some of my reasons for using video.

Shot with a digital camera and uploaded

Quick Capture

Here is how I posted the videos. I type my message in the Compose or WYSIWYG view.

When it is time to add the video, I go to youtube and copy the html.

I then go back to my course room post and switch to the html view and paste the code. It is the highlighted area in the photo.

The posted message then looks like this, with the youtube video as part of the message.

Incidentally, the photos used in this post are hosted on photobucket.com. I have been using this site for hosting my course and web photos, and I have been quite pleased with the results. They have now added video hosting that can be used in a similar manner to how I use youtube. Please check out my blog post about photobucket and how it can also be useful tool.

yackpack

2008-04-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

yackpack

http://www.yackpack.com/

The power of the human voice in a cheap easy to use internet based format.
According to yackpack it provides:

. Instant, effortless communication.
Private groups.
Superb sound quality .
No ads or spam

At http://www.yackpack.com/education.html you will find a complete page on Educational uses for yackpack. I first heard about it at the 2007 NISOD Conference in Austin. It seems quite a few Community Colleges are using it as a communicaton tool.

Yackpack seems to add a dimension missing from a majority of online asynchronous communications. It allows voice in a secure scenario. You can use it to discuss topics, answer questions, give assignments and presentations, and other audio uses. It can be archived for later use, it can include a group or a single individual, and you control who and when. It can even be used to collaborate with other classes. It is safe from outsiders and that is very important these days.

This is a free tool that allows you to interact with your students, administrators, parents, advisors, peers, and classes around the world.

When I say free - it is free for now. They do expect it to cost about $2 a month at some point but till then enjoy.

My yackpack address is Dr. Bill Burkett.

Google Docs

2008-04-24T15:56:00.000-04:00

Google Docs
http://docs.google.com or http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

According to Google "Create and share your projects online and access them from anywhere"

Google Docs can be used as a repository for your documents, large files, presentations, and graphics that you need to make available to a group of individuals.

You can determine who can access them or make them available to the public at large. Google Docs allows you to involve multiple individuals in the editing, composition, or reading of documents.

Great for groups that need to work on a document and have access at various times. This keeps one document that is common to all - do away with versions and trying to figure out who has which version.

Many Word type features are available such as comment, spell checker, strikeout, and bookmark. It also reads PDF, Word, RTF, and HTML versions of documents.

It's easy to use, it's available on any computer connected to the internet, and it's free.

Introduction to ET4Educators

2008-04-24T15:30:00.003-04:00

Welcome to ET4Educators. A blog where you will find new, exciting, and cheap Emerging Technologies. Each week different Emerging Technologies will be spot-lighted. The weekly blog will contain the ET internet address, reviews of the ET, ideas for use of the ET in educational settings, and links as available.

My name is Bill Burkett and I am a Faculty Chair for the Undergrad IT Department at Capella University. Joe Johnson, Core Faculty, Capella Univeristy, will be joining me as co-editor of ET4Educators. Joe loves working with audio and video equipment and introduces elements of this into his courses. So with that in mind - Joe will be handling this portion of the ET and I will be looking at software and iternet solutions. Join us in this exciting look into Emerging Technologies. Better yet jump in - give us your two cents worth - agree / disagree / add to the knowledge base.

Be sure you join the Association of Virtual Worlds at http://www.associationofvirtualworlds.com/index.htm and obtain the free 'The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds' at http://www.associationofvirtualworlds.com/publishing.htm

See the Index at the top of the page for planned reviews.

If you have a favorite ET you would like to include, review, or ask about. This is the place to join in. Leave your comments and lets make this a usable academic blog.

Thanks,

Bill Burkett, Faculty Chair, IT/SoUS

Capella University