Alright here we go… since I used examples as opposed to a concrete presentation the six topics below begin to flesh out the information that we went through in the session.  Additionally, I will continue building out each topic as I have been lax in that area.  Links to the expanded information are below this post.

Now this by NO means is planned to be a complete list, an expansive list, or even dare I say it the “best of the best” but they are good solid resources that should help to guide folks in a direction. Remember there ARE and will always be alternatives.

However, I do recommend settling on a set of tools and growing with them until you really outgrow them. So, to avoid feeling overwhelmed, look to see where you feel you need a tool to help simplify what you do, enhance what you do, and or expand what you offer.

On to my choices.

[side note: while writing this post I came to the conclusion that I need to break out each of these resources into separate posts to provide more information as well as links to possible educational uses to add value to the WHY should you add these types of resources to your arsenal of learning and teaching tools.]

Additionally, I wanted to provide a category for each set of resources so if the one I mention doesn’t meet your needs you can do a quick search to find another. As an overview, I would recommend getting an online resource for: office applications, bookmarking, photo sharing, RSS newsreader, notebook / annotation, tagging, and social networking. If you look hard at this list, it becomes apparent that most (if not all) of these resources can be handled by offline Microsoft products (IE, Outlook, OneNote, Live Photo Gallery).

The main reason I recommend moving these resources online is for the flexibility it provides YOU the user. I’ll come right out and say it… I AM A HUGE FAN OF MICROSOFT, however, that said, I HATE being tethered to one machine (although you will rarely find me without my tablet). With resources floating in the ether you can access them from anywhere there is an internet connection. If you don’t think that this is important ask yourself a couple of questions: Have you ever really needed a link that you know you saved on your home or school computer and now you are somewhere else? Have you had your personal computer crash the day before a huge presentation / project was due? Have you wanted to connect with others about a topic but did not know where to begin? Well… yes you need to begin moving into the “cloud.”

Social Networking:

twitter – By far twitter has become the one tool above all else that all educators should become involved with. A brief description is that twitter is a microblog… your life in 140 characters or less in the moment that it is happening… but it is so much more. It has revolutionized and become a huge piece of my personal learning network. The amount of targeted and useful instructional information I get from my twitter network is staggering. So much so, I have created a folder in my favorites called “Twitter Links to Review” as I cannot get to everything in real-time… feel free to add me to your network my twitter handle is vanishingpoint

Online Office Suites:

Zoho.com is my choice for office productivity in “the cloud.” The folks at Zoho have created a HUGE suite of applications that well… all work! Writing, Spreadsheet, Presentations, wikis, project management, databases, an online NOTEBOOK and much more. The biggest reason that I really am taken with Zoho is both the integration of their tool set as well as their focus on collaboration. Additionally, they are continuously expanding their offerings. Did I mention that all of their apps are FREE!

RSS Aggregator (reader):

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a tremendous way to simplify your processes in searching and gathering information. In short, once a “feed” is setup, information comes to you as opposed to you hunting for it. My choice of RSS Reader is NewsGator. With NewsGator is pull in news stories from around the world as well as educational and instructional blogs. Additionally, most magazine type services (and all search engines) have RSS feeds embeded into their sites that you can tap into. This type is resource allows you to become a “grazer” of information as opposed to a hunter of information. One of my main criteria for an RSS aggregator was that it would function both online and via a mobile device. The majority of time I access NewsGator through my Motorola Q Global via NewsGator Go!. Additionally, NewsGator allows me to “Clip” a post or piece of information that I find valuable and save it permanently. This is huge as it keeps me from having to use an additional service like Furl for that purpose.

Bookmarking:

I have used Del.icio.us for about a year, and have been very happy ALWAYS having access to my bookmarks and important links. Additionally, with del.icio.us’ use of tagging, I don’t really have to remember the exact name for resources … just a “category” or idea that I have “tagged” the site link with, and poof it is there… even better, I can pull ALL the resources I have tagged with a certain word at one time… and I can share them, and receive links from others in my personal network. The idea of social bookmarking is not new (we have all shared bookmarks and links with friends in the paper world… del.icio.us brings speed and efficiency to this process. Lee Lefever has a great video that explains social bookmarking well.

Recently there has been a TON of twitter traffic about Diigo. While I have not used it at all, I am beginning to investigate it and its possible uses. Kristin Hokanson wrote an excellent blog post called Dig-ging… Diigo today about the power and value of Diigo which provides compelling reasons to switch and consolidate a number of resources to Diigo… Here is a link to my new Diigo profile.

Photo Sharing:

I absolutely LOVE Flickr! Flickr like others allows anyone to upload photo and share them with family, friends, and or the world. I use the camera in my Motorola Q Global daily, and mms my photos immediately to flickr (and a number of other folks) through my phone. This way my family around the world can see my kids and the things I am getting involved in well… daily! My flickr account is even linked to my blog… look to the left to see what pictures I took today

NoteBook:

If you have used Microsoft OneNote, or have wished that you could move ANY type of information into a digital notebook that you can annotate, enhance, or share, you really need to look at Zoho Notebook. Think of it as a digital three-ring binder that you can put ANY information, resource, tool (live or static) into. You can then collaborate with other on it, or share the entire notebook, a page, or even an object with anyone! You can even publish it for the world to see. Here are a couple of examples from notes that I took during a conference sessions at IL-TCE 2008. Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 (Example 3 shows quite a bit of the capabilities of Zoho Notebook).

This post has grown exceeding long and I an exceedingly tired… If you have thoughts or comments, I am welcome to all views!

Scott

Photos from Flickr: Dazed81, just Mike is fine and Lady Ying

Related Posts:

• In the Cloud Expanded – Part 1 Professional Social Networking
• In the Cloud Expanded – Part II RSS Aggragators
• Digital Notebooks for Research, Clarity, and Organization

Coming out of the IETC Conference in Springfield, IL. I have been doing some thinking about my personal practices and how I use the Microsoft Office suite.  I have to say that I LOVE Office 2007.  There are some truly amazing things that you can do so easily in 2007 some of which cannot even be done in other products.  However, that said, I also feel that there are a number of limitations in Office because it simply lives offline.  YOu need to discount what Microsoft says about "Office Live" it is NOT really live, or online in any other way than acting like a file storage area… According to my discussions with Microsoft, Office will be releasing true online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote in the next year or so… we’ll see how that goes. 

On to my premise and the reason behind this post. I gave two presentations at IETC that were really based on "the cloud."  Most if not all of the resources that I referred to in the presentations were completely web-based.  Additionally, almost all of the source material for the presentations came from the net… So, I got to thinking… I use Zoho for some limited docs, I use Zoho Notebook for all of my conference sessions and notebooks as well as for a number of other things, I use Zoho wiki for my personal and VP’s wiki. Slideshare puked on all 3 of my presentation uploads, but Zoho Show not only accepted them, but I used it to embed them into my session blog posts without an issue… (even though one was 4MB over their "recommended upload size of 10MB), I use Zoho Creator for 2 small applications, and just last week I began using Zoho’s 24×7 site monitoring service to keep tabs on my school’s website.

However, I use each of them when I have a need, not as part of my every day activities… This week I am going to attempt to change that pattern.  This week, I am going to exclusively use the Zoho suite of products for all of my Office activities, minus email (even though Zoho has a great email client) as I need my email / calendar integration to my Motorola Q to survive.

Ok, the question that usually come up at this point is "why Zoho and not Google?" well… while I have used Google’s "Docs and more" apps, they are not nearly as refined or as well integrated as Zoho’s.  Additionally, while Google has a ton of tools geared around their strength of search, Zoho’s tools are completely geared around Business apps and the Office suite.  They are tighter and more robust as well…

Please feel free to argue with me on that point.  I am always open to learning more about any tool that will assist student learning and increase efficiency.

I will update with challenges and successes in the coming days. I will tell you it was great to see that with very small changes to the slide master for each of my IETC presentations they were easily uploaded, converted, and embedded into this blog without issue. WTG Zoho!

If we were working toward a SOLUTION session, I would be meeting with you (preferably individually) and working with you to adapt your curriculum, teaching practices, and focus toward your goals.  Really, the goal of that type of a session would not only be to provide insight and ideas and to encourage and motivate you, but would also be to assist you in developing the patterns and habits to empower you to achieve the skills based curricular changes and adoption necessary to reach the level of student engagement you desire.  That is not something that I can do in a 50 minute session :0)  But if you are interested in continuing discussions along those lines, please drop me a note I’d love to help.

Ok, I promised that I would post the presentation and some other material for you… Embedding is being “wonky” <– that is a technical term… seriously…) right now.  Remember our engagement lesson with the cell phones? did that go smoothly (there was an object lesson there :0) I set you all up  – wanted to point that out incase you missed it… heehee… I kill me! anyway instead of fighting with wordpress, I created a shared Zoho Notebook for you to access the presentation notes, information and resources.  The additional neat thing, is that I can add information there over time and you will have access to it as soon as I save.  If anyone would like to collaborate on providing information email me and I will give you rights to add content too. I love Zoho!

Here is a link to the notebook: http://notebook.zoho.com/nb/public/sweidig/book/3946000000038225

~ Scott

That said, each of the 4 tools that I didn’t have entirely enough time to present is a powerful tool in it’s own right.  The most robust being Zoho Notebook, and Microsoft OneNote 2007. However, Evernote and Google Notebook are nice in their own right.  As I mentioned, I use Evernote quite often when I need access to information from my mobile phone (both to upload and retrieve information).  When I do this presentation in the future, I think that I will use 2-4 slides (not PPTPlex as well) instead of the nine, and then I will move more quickly into the tools themselves.  I did not even get to show you all how easy it is to add an RSS feed into Zoho, use drawing tools, review and update a live document and spreadsheet… But, that said it was really cool that except for I think one person, everyone stayed 5 minutes into the prep for the next session.  I guess I also owe a drink to the presenters for the session that follow mine for cutting into their time.

If anyone would like more information about how a Digital Notebook could work for your specific situation please do not hesitate to contact me at vanishingpoint@live.com. These are really amazing tools that can aid students in organization, and honestly using higher order thinking skills.

If you we not able to attend, here is the uStream from the session:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/881104 (sorry embed is not working right now…)

Also, Presentation Information can be found on the Zoho Notobook at: http://notebook.zoho.com/nb/public/sweidig/book/3946000000036053 (By the way that is a Digital Notebook :0)

~ Scott

• Student Engagement in the Digital Age

• Resources to Know and Love

• Using Digital Notebooks for Research, Clarity, and Organization

You can find out more information about each of these presentations by clicking on the IETC 2008 Presentations page above, or on the titles above themselves.  I will be adding the actual presentation decks and any handouts / resources to those pages over the next month.  If you have anything you would be interested in me addressing during these sessions or questions, just drop me a comment.

Below is the conference early-bird announcement.  If you are interested in attending the IETC, or will already be there, look below for some great savings on the conference registration and hotel information. 

See you at IETC 2008!

IETC CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

The “Early-Bird” reduced conference fee rate for the Illinois Education &
Technology Conference (IETC) is quickly approaching — OCTOBER 10th!
Register online (http://www.il-edtech.org) and postmark your conference fee
payment by Oct. 10 and you’ll be able to attend both days of the conference
for only $125!  (One day registration at the early-bird rate is only $85!)

DATES OF CONFERENCE:  Thursday, Nov. 20 – Friday, Nov. 21, 2008

WHERE:  Crowne Plaza Hotel, Springfield, IL

WHAT IS IETC?  This conference is an exciting opportunity which will offer
educators, technology coordinators, administrators, and others interested in
improving the quality of education, an opportunity to gain information and
exchange ideas on the application of educational technology in our schools.

REGISTRATION:  Register online at http://www.il-edtech.org.  Register AND
mail conference fees by OCTOBER 10 for a reduced conference rate of $125 for
two-day registration or $85 for one-day registration!  (All conference fees
postmarked after October 10th must be made payable at the “Regular”
registration rate of $170 for two-day registration or $95 for one-day
registration.)
The conference fee includes entrance to the conference (140+ concurrent
sessions from which to choose over the course of the two days), continental
breakfasts, keynote luncheons, evening receptions, and entrance to the
exhibit hall Wednesday evening or Thursday. (The exhibit hall closes
Thursday evening.)

WHO SHOULD ATTEND IETC?  Teachers, Technology Coordinators, Administrators, Curriculum Specialists, Media Specialists, Special Education Instructors, School Technical Staff, Business Managers, Community Leaders, Legislators — anyone interested in educational technology!

SESSIONS/KEYNOTES:  140+ concurrent sessions will be offered, and many
sessions will be hands-on in our three computer labs.  Luncheon keynote
addresses will be provided by Vicki Davis on Thursday, Nov. 20, and Hall
Davidson on Friday, Nov. 21.  For keynote information and session offerings,
please visit http://www.il-edtech.org/highlights.html.

EXHIBIT HALL:  The exhibit hall will be open the evening of Wednesday, Nov.
19 (6-8pm) and Thursday, Nov. 20 (7:30am-5:15pm).  Evening receptions in the
exhibit hall will be offered both Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

CONFERENCE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION:  Visit the conference website at http://www.il-edtech.org for current conference information.

Hope to see you there!

-IETC Planning Committee
http://www.il-edtech.org

Ok, I have to start with this: I am seriously going to finish the Part III of my “In the Cloud” series but I keep getting distracted. Also, I don’t want my blog to just be about tools and resources. I would prefer to discuss instructional / curricular / and PD issues, thoughts, ponderings, etc. BUT, I keep getting side tracked by Zoho… Dang it all Arvind and Raju stop making your apps work so interestingly! heehee… enter embedding the embedded material… (does your head hurt yet? I think it will in a minute)

OK, so I was responding to a comment that Mike Sansone left on my last post. Mike saw that you could embed a “live” Zoho Writer document right into a Moodle and was wondering how. (If you want to know, click the post link above ) So, i was bouncing between Zoho Writer and my district moodle site when I stumbled into this…

Looking at the editor for Zoho Writer, there was the “Insert HTML Icon” plain as day sitting in the meddle of my screen … just staring at me … I actually think that it “dared” me to click on it… (Frankly, I think it was taunting me… ok I know icons cannot actually TAUNT someone, but it was sitting there peckishly… I SWEAR IT WAS!) Anyway… So, I clicked on it:

and the little embed box opened! Now, at this point I think that my jaw actually was hanging open. I was thinking this is a fluke… there is no way that you can actually embed a video into a document and have it actually play… it’s not like a picture ya know it is well a player of some sort… Then I thought OK, I’ll bite. so I went and got one of my favorite videos, and laid in the embed code and clicked save… and NOTHING changed on the screen… Ok I was right! Ha! I am smarter that the average bear! But, something was still niggling at me… so I clicked on the “< >” icon in the editor and sure enough my embedded code was in there… It just was not visable in the actual document view itself.

Here is a link to the original document I threw together to demo for this post:

http://vanishingpoint.wiki.zoho.com/Zoho-Writer-Embed.html

Here what the document looks like printed as a PDF: Writer with Embed in a document

As yo can see… when the document is viewed natively, or printed you cannot see the embdded code or file… but once you embed the document itself into a webpage or something else you now have a live tool within a Zoho Writer document.

Now, until I can get back on my tablet, or I get less tired this weekend, I need you to click on the link to see what I am talking about. When I get Windows Live Writer back up (or up on this laptop) I will actually embed the documents right into this post.

It is interesting to think about this capability for the future of information literacy. Darren Draper recently wrote a blog post that was “Enhanced” for his Diigo network (of which I am part). While on the surface, the post seems completely normal with all of the detail in the post itself, if you are a Diigo user, and have the sidebar open, you will be able to see all of Darren’s thought about the post itself as annotations. What a powerful way to develop an additional layer of information about a specific page on the world wide web. I see this ability of Zoho Writer to embed a live resource right into the fabric of a document to be right along those lines.

Ok, way too tired, eyes beginning to cross, hope you get he idea I presented here (hey it is late and as of now I have been up for 21 1/2 hours today.) Love to hear your thoughts about possible uses to this “rabbit hole.”

Scott

Quick post here just to get my presentation up.  Later tonight I will post more detailed information on the VanishingPoint wiki.  Additionlly, I will post the raw ppt, videos used, and other links to my wiki and link to it here.   Sorry for the delay I got pulled into a meeting and then the Keynote by Mark Prensky.  Which by the way mirrored almost exactly my presentation I feel so validated!

Presentation from SlideShare

[slideshare id=169118&doc=ietc-web-20-kids-love-it-but-why-1195234909505888-1&w=425]