Colgate Content Management System (CMS) - Overview

I'm posting a short teaser video, which looks at the new Content Management System here at Colgate:
This video is only an overview, and it will be followed by a longer, more detailed video soon.

HTML 5 + JavaScript = Web 2.1

HTML 5, CSS3  and Javascript are the backbone of the new Web 2.0 (call it web 2.1?) era. Animation, multimedia presentation, web-based fonts, autocomplete and so much more are implemented using mostly client-side (web browser) technology with a sprinkle of server-side magic.

This new era in web design and functional websites are moving from a text based, semi-dynamic framework to a web application framework. While hand-coding this functionality is beyond the scope of most there exists a slew of tools that make taking advantage of advanced web functionality a breeze.

JQuery and JQuery UI

JQuery is not new, but certainly worth mentioning. JQuery is a javascript library which makes adding elements like calendars, autocomplete, advanced buttons and form elements relatively simple and straightforward. JQuery Mobile is a library for creating HTML 5 optimized for mobile devices. JQuery UI provides the Web 2.0 look and feel with rounded corners, subtle gradients and integrated icons.

Brackets

Brackets is an open-source editor for web design and development. The project was created and is maintained by Adobe, and is released under an MIT License. Brackets focuses on providing  in-line views that provide context-sensitive access to your content, without taking you away from your code.

CreateJS

CreateJS is a suite of modular libraries and tools which work together to enable rich interactive content on open web technologies via HTML5. These libraries are designed to work completely independently, or mixed and matched to suit your needs. The CreateJS Suite is comprised of: EaselJS, TweenJS, SoundJS, PreloadJS, and Zoë.


A myriad of examples, code snippets and tutorials abound to get started with these tools. Below are some helpful links to get you started.

• HTML, CSS and WebFonts
• JQuery: The Basics
• JQuery UI
• Brackets
• CreateJS

New Document Camera Overview

This summer, many of our multimedia classrooms were outfitted with a new document camera, the AVerMedia Avervision document camera. We've prepared a brief video to provide an overview of the camera's operation and companion software.

Update: A new video has been uploaded with additional details on 9.28.12

Google Drive for iOS

Google has been working at upgrading what was formerly known as Google Docs. Their new and improved product is Google Drive. Drive is Google's cloud storage solution, very similar to Dropbox. You get 5GB of storage and can sync and manage files across multiple computers with a desktop app. A huge benefit to Drive over other solutions is the ability to collaborate on work from your computer and the Drive viewer which supports viewing a variety of file types like Adobe's Illustrator or CAD files without needing the software installed. Click here for more Drive features. 

Google has just updated its app for iPads and iPhones.In Google Drive's first release on the iPad/iPhone, you were only be able to view items that you had in Google Drive/Docs and edit the document's permissions. With the newest version, you can now create and edit documents too!

If you are collaborating with someone on a document, the app will continue to refresh every couple of seconds so that you have a similar experience as you do when collaborating on documents from your computer.

The app also supports richer presentations with animations and speakers notes so it has a great potential to lighten your load. If you haven't started using Google Drive yet and would like some help visit during out office hours or email itshelp@colgate.edu  and some one will get back to you.

Make any web page printer friendly

Take a moment to relax, perhaps grab a cup of tea, and picture the following scenario.  You've stumbled upon a brilliant article, on the internet, containing some of the most relevant information on a particular subject of your choice, and your only wish is to share said information with your friend, who just happens to have no internet connection, or a computer.  What do you do?

Concept Maps with Google Drawing Tools

Cristian Opazo, a Senior Academic Computing Consultant at Vassar College, recently posted an interesting article on the blog, RAIL:  RECIPES FOR ADVANCING INFORMATION LITERACY.

Cristian's post is about how Google drawing tools can be used to create concept maps.  At Colgate, we have had several professors use the Webspiration Concept Mapping tool with their students with some success.

Because all faculty and students now have the full suite of Google Apps at their disposal, the idea of using the Google drawing tools is very powerful as students would be able to collaborate both in class and out of class on the same concept maps.

Below is an excerpt from Cristian's post.  Click here to see the entire post.

"The drawing tools provided by Google Docs are very intuitive (think of a simpler version of Illustrator) and they allow you to do most anything you need as far as creating 2-D illustrations: stroke-and-fill shapes, freehand lines, inserting external images, etc. The library of shapes is generous (it features, for instance, 26 different types of arrows), and objects can be arranged into layers and grouped, masked, reordered, etc. The beauty of it all is that since it is natively generates vector graphics, you can create illustrations of arbitrarily large sizes that could be printed out poster-sized in all their vector-based glory. As a consequence, not only you can export your drawings as raster graphics (JPEG, PNG), but also as vector-based PDFs or SVGs. One particularly useful feature is the ability to insert links on your illustration, which takes you to the next level: creating hyperlinked images. This way, for instance, you can associate a URL to every concept in the map, so that when you click on the "Newtonian Mechanics" label, you are taken, for instance, to the respective page on Wikipedia (so you can read it, learn from it, and improve it!) In the best Google Docs tradition, of course, you can review the files history, so you can revert to a previous version just like that, and share your drawing with your collaborators for viewing, commenting or editing. Simply publishing the image file to the web is also possible, and very easy. "

Germany: Facebook must destroy facial recognition database

by Jon Brodki

German data protection officials today accused Facebook of “illegally compiling a vast photo database of users without their consent” and demanded that the social network destroy its archive of files based on facial recognition technology, the New York Times reported. Facebook says that it uses face recognition software to match users’ photos to others and suggest friends to tag in those photos.

A user can prevent friends from seeing tag suggestions when they upload photos that look like that user. But this requires opting out through Facebook privacy settings, which Germany notes is a violation of European law.

iPad app: iMovie for iOS quick FAQs

Did you know you can create video narratives with even just a smartphone? iMovie is just one of the apps available for iOS devices that is being used in classrooms for videos.

iMovie is a simple video editing app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Just recently, Rebecca Ammerman used the iPad 2 and iMovie with her Extended Study Rome group to record and create video narratives on site. You can view her story at the CEL Website.  She brings a unique perspective, as the year previous she and many of her students had brought laptops and video cameras to Athens for a similar project.

Here's a few things you should know about iMovie for iPad.

iPad App: "SlideShark: PowerPoint Presentations on the iPad"

This is a free app, but you must sign up for the online service in order to use it. You get 100MB of storage for free.

The SlideShark app allows you to display PPT slides on the iPad, while maintaining all the fonts, graphics, colors, and animations you used in the original PowerPoint. It also does a good job of making sure it is filling the screen, and you can easily switch between slides.

Getting slides from your desktop onto SlideShark can go one of two ways: You can either upload it directly to the SlideShark.com site on your desktop/laptop computer, or you can save the file into a Dropbox account and open it in the SlideShark app.

I tend to use the Dropbox-to-SlideShark method, so that I don't have to log into another service. I create the PPTx files on my desktop computer, then upload them into my Dropbox account (through the awesome Dropbox for iMac app). Then I open the Dropbox app on my iPad, select the PPTx file I want to open, and open it in SlideShark.

With this method, first SlideShark uploads the files to the online SlideShark server. Then it will appear as an "available" file for you to download on the SlideShark app. You have to click the download button to get the ppt onto your iPad to display it. Once it downloads, you can play it offline from your iPad.

Technically, your files live in the cloud, so at some point you need to be connected to the net in order to upload or download the files.

I have QuickOffice on my iPad for creating/editing ppt files. I was disappointed that things didn't turn out very well when displaying a pptx file I created on the desktop in the QuickOffice app. You can see the screenshot below:

There is a border around the slide, and it also displays the time and battery settings at the top. I also noticed the missing heart in the "Do you ♥ JSTOR..."

In this screenshot you can see how it appears in SlideShark.

It looks much better, doesn't give a big border to the image, displays a more true-to-original color, and fills the entire screen. It also displayed the unicode ♥ just fine. SlideShark will also properly display text and images that you've manipulated in PPT, and overall gives you the same appearance as if you were displaying it on a desktop computer.

You cannot edit slides in SlideShark, but if you need to display a ppt quickly with only your iPad around, it's a great option. It is very responsive to taps, plus you can swipe forward and back (in case you accidentally skip a slide). You can also tap and hold to bring up a red laser dot to point out things.

It's a free service, and I'd recommend it for displaying PPTs.  Especially if you have a bunch of stock PPTs on your computer that you wouldn't mind being able to display whenever you want to. I've used this app in presentations with image-heavy PPTx and graphs, and I was very satisfied with the performance.

Nine Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom

In a blog post, Derek Bruff describes some potential uses of Twitter in the classroom that include:

1. Notetaking
2. Sharing Resources
3. Commenting
4. Amplifying
5. Asking Questions
6. Helping One Another
7. Offering Suggestions
8. Building Community
9. Opening the Classroom

To read the post go to http://derekbruff.org/?p=472

Bookmarks and TOC in Google Docs

If you often work with a large document, you know that some times it can be difficult to navigate, especially if you aren't the only one working on it. Google provides two tools to make this navigation easier - Bookmarks and Table of Contents. Bookmarks can be defined within in a google document allowing you to create links to them within the document, enabling you to jump around and avoid scrolling . The Table of Contents tool relies on the document formatting and will convert all of the text designated as "Headings" into the topics of the Table of Contents. The topics generated are automatically linked to that section of the document.

I hope you found this post useful and if you'd like some help send an email to itshelp@colgate.edu. Here are some links to some Google help pages to get your started.

Table of contents

Bookmarks 

NowComment is a sophisticated collaboration app

I came across this application when reviewing UVA's SHANTI website.  SHANTI promotes innovation at the University of Virginia through the use of advanced digital technologies in research, teaching, publishing and collaborative engagement.  http://shanti.virginia.edu/

NowComment a sophisticated collaboration app available for group discussion and annotation of documents. It displays documents together with threaded commenting on their sentences and paragraphs to create engaging online conversations literally in context. Brainstorm, debate, and collaborate.  Watch the two minute demo.

If you are interested in using this technology and would like a partner to help explore it, send an email message to itss-acad@colgate.edu and an instructional technologist will connect with you.

Power Searching with Google

I just wanted to pass along that Google is offering a six class course on internet searching. The search techniques and their application will be accompanied with activities to help practice. The first class is July 10, 2012. For more information and registration go to http://www.google.com/insidesearch/landing/powersearching.html.

Keeping your Passwords Safe

After years of working closely with members of Colgate Faculty and Staff, I've come to a very serious realization that a substantial portion of our users have a difficult time managing the vast number of different passwords that are necessary here at Colgate.  Most users have at least a network/banner/portal password, and a gmail password, but some of us also have a local computer password, listserv passwords, personal website passwords, library access passwords, and the list goes on and on.

Using EMS

Academic Technologies team has created a new short instructional video on using Colgate's EMS. The video goes through the process of standard room reservations, and it points out some of the best practices, as well as some of the challenges that one may encounter while using Colgate's Event Management System. The link to the video is here, but it can also be viewed right after this break.

E-books

There is a lot of chatter being generated about e-textbooks, some positive and some negative. Ultimately its up to you to decide where you fall on the spectrum but I want to share my feelings from what I have seen so far. For me the best way to describe e-books is "Dynamic"! I want to highlight a few features which I find useful but if you have any questions please leave comment. 

With some of the ebook readers, you can bookmark, highlight, look up definitions and even take notes right within the book. To make things even more convenient, all of the notes and comments are displayed right in the table of contents, which has made it very easy for me to review at a later time.  Most e-book readers also have a search feature which helps when you are trying to find those few key words or sentences but aren't quite sure where in the book you read them. I know when I was a student, I always avoided writing in my paper textbook because any perceived damage really hurt the buy-back value. 

Another really great feature of some e-book platforms is that your reading can be synchronized between devices.  For example,  I've started reading a book on my iPad and was able to pick up where I left off, while waiting for an oil change, on my iPhone and when I got home and turned on my iPad, the ebook was exactly where I left off on my phone - very cool! 

The last feature that I would like to highlight is that e-books can contain rich media instead of just text and images. Some of the books we have seen have videos, 3D models, dynamic charts and graphs, and high resolution images embedded right within the text on the pages. This content provides students with new ways to immerse themselves in what they are learning.

E-books are new and their platforms are constantly getting better. Schools are starting to partner with e-book publishers and are able to get even greater discounts on books making them a very affordable. Here is a link to Educause's "7 things to know about the Evolution of the Textbook". The article includes a usage scenario and covers pros, cons and implications of this format. 

If you would like to learn more about e-books ask your Instructional Technologist or email itshelp@colgate.edu

Moodle 2

Technology change is inevitable and  Colgate's Moodle is no exception. Moodle version 2 will be in place for the fall 2012 semester after two years of version 1.

Why must we change? Security updates, software support, and new or improved functionality are the primary drivers. Why don't we want to change? Lost or reduced functionality, new interfaces, time to migrate and re-learn. Simple resistance to change is probably also somewhere in the mix of your, and my, reluctance to switch.

And yes, we in ITS are along for the ride with this change, learning and re-learning and flustering and cursing with you. Much has changed behind the Moodle scenes and we are struggling to understand the new software and create a functional version.

We are maintaining the link http://moodle2.colgate.edu as our starting point for information on the transition to the new version. Check there for the latest server links, Moodle news, and how-to files.

So what about this new Moodle version are we likely to praise? Curse?
Below are some of the changes we are expecting. 

Google Docs Research Tool

Not too long ago Google released a research sidebar tool for Google Docs. It allows you to look up information while working on a Google Doc without having to open a new browser window. You enable it from the "Tools" menu and then do a general search or narrow the search down to images, scholar, or quotes.  Google even lets you filter your results by usage rights.   See picture on the right for a preview of what the tool looks like. 

Also right-clicking on any word in the document  and selecting "Research"  will display results in the sidebar regardless if the tool was on or off. If you look at the picture below you'll also the the ability to preview, insert a link and cite the link. If you cite the link it will automatically insert a footnote for you. 

View a short video on the research tool in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvsTdnHRYhM

As you get into using Google Docs and all of its collaborative features, keep this great research tool in mind. If you would to learn more about this tool ask your Instructional Technologist or email itshelp@colgate.edu

Google Forms

Google Forms is a tool that you can utilize to simplify the collection and organization of information. On campus we have used Forms as surveys, checklists, rosters, and a way to collect RSVPs. After you've created a form in Google Docs you share it and as people fill it out all the responses are collected in a spreadsheet by the same name. This saves having to sift through emails and manually creating a spreadsheet. I've linked a video of one of it's uses here at Colgate, and if you want more information on Forms or need help getting started send an email to itshelp@colgate.edu.

Interesting Links...

Scrivener Makes a Good Transcription Tool  http://bit.ly/KBb3GU

Scrivener is Mac word processing software and in this article, there are helpful links showing you how to use this tool to transcribe audio or video files.

Companies Shape Curricula In New University Partnerships http://bloom.bg/LT9K6m

U.S. companies are reaching into colleges to make contact with students far earlier than they ever have.

Enhancing Teaching & Learning Through Educational Data Mining & Learning Analytics. 

http://evidenceframework.org/

Big data, it seems, is everywhere—even in education. Researchers and developers of online learning systems, intelligent tutoring systems, virtual labs, simulations, games and learning management systems are exploring ways to better understand and use data from learners’ activities online to improve teaching and learning.

How Will MOOCs Make Money? http://bit.ly/LTaet6

A MOOC is a Massively Open Online Course that does not limit enrollment.  In the fall of 2011, Stanford offered a course on artificial intelligence that had upwards of 58,000 students enrolled (NY Times:  http://nyti.ms/MrmLpC).  In the fall of 2012, MIT and Harvard are partnering with a similar effort that they call edX (http://hvrd.me/NxMnUb)