EDAD660 (2007)

The summer 2009 version of EDAD660 is available at:  http://edapps2009.globalblogs.org/

Just wanted to say “thanks” for a great summer!  As promised, check back soon for links to the customizable versions of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.  I just need to “tweak” them slightly but they should be available over the next few days.  Also, Robyn, feel free to get in touch regarding the videos we talked about in class.

Second Life in Education (Ohio University promotional Video)

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Virtual Summer Camp (Camp Global Kids, Second Life)

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“Inside the Machinima,” a humorous look at how machinima is created (Unreal Tournament)

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Secondchancetrees.org, a non-profit reforestation project (Second Life)

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King Lear, a high school English project (World of Warcraft)

Random sites of the day!

1. A yet to be released tool called Fuser is being built to aggregate e-mail messages from multiple accounts. Finally you will be able to log into one account via the web and check your hotmail, google and yahoo inboxes! http://mashable.com/2007/07/23/fuser/
2. Colorblinders rejoyce!  colr.org contains thousands of viable color scheme sets!  I will definitely use this site when working on my next big PhotoShop / Flash / Website project!

Our two digital imaging lectures:

Here is the tutorial we will be working through during our introduction to PhotoShop lesson.  You can download a free 30 day trial copy of Photo Shop by visiting Adobe‘s website.

Hey everyone,

Just some random stuff that I wanted to share:

1. Ever wanted to convert a file from one format to another? Here’s a web service that does it all for you, for free! Check out Zamzar – I successfully used it to help Donna convert an audio file into an MP3 file for her podcast (included below)

2. I found a way to include RSS feeds inside of a posting!  To do this takes a little setting up, but the results are very cool (I brought the podcast that’s above this line item into the blog using this technique) – to do it just open up a posting and click on the “code” tab.  Then paste in this code: <!--rss url="http://perassi.org/feed/"--> and replace the URL with your feed’s URL.

Here’s a great video on Web 2.0 – this would be useful for those of you who teach computer concepts (I’m thinking of you, Robyn!)

Here’s how to get around the blog security system and upload your google earth files:

1. Go into your blog dashboard
2. Click on Plugins
3. Click ‘Activate’ next to the DivShare plugin
4. Click on Write
5. Write a new posting and upload you file using the new DivShare upload interface
6. Copy the link that appears and paste it into your blog posting
7. You can switch off the DivShare plugin if you’d like to go back to your previous upload interface

The term “Web 2.0″, in which the “2.0″ is borrowed from the software developer vernacular meaning “upgrade”, represents a shift in thinking about how we interact with the Internet and how the world wide web operates. Some of the key components of this “Web 2.0″ are:

1. A greater emphasis on web-based communities (the social aspect of Web 2.0 makes it tick)
2. True Internet-delivered applications (software doesn’t need to be installed on your computer in order to operate)
3. Free flowing information between sites and applications (all applications speak the same “language” allowing them to quickly share information)

Some new applications that have arisen during this quiet revolution are:

1. Web Logs (Blogs)
2. Social bookmarking
3. Wikis
4. RSS Feeds & Podcasts (the core technology that Web 2.0 is built upon)
5. Web APIs
6. Wikis
7. “Folksonomic” categorization (tags)

Some examples of Aggregation technologies:

1. iGoogle: An easily accessible aggregator that “pulls together” many Web 2.0 technologies (requires an active Gmail account)
2. Edublogs: The free blogging engine we’re using in class also can serve as an aggregator
3. iTunes: Apple’s free music management service can also manage feeds
4. PB Wiki: A free online Wiki hosting provider for educators

Some examples of Web 2.0 tools:

1. Technorati: A vast search engine for the blog community
2. del.icio.us: A social bookmarking site that allows users to self-organize content around a given topic
3. Google Docs: An online word processing & spreadsheet application that allows you to publish your documents to the web. It also allows you to set up collaboration relationships with anyone else in the world.
4. Google Calendar: An online calendar that allows you to schedule events and share calendars with others
5. Google Books: An incredible search engine that allows you to search within printed books
6. Rubistar: A resource for teachers who would like to assess student performance using rubrics
7. Gradefix: A homework management system for students
8. Gliffy: An online diagram creation program that allows users to collaborate
9. Chalksite: A free online course management system
10. Clickcaster:A free online site that allows you to manage and maintain your own podcasts
11. Talkr: A really cool service that will turn any “text” blog into a podcast!

Some examples of Web 2.0 video applications:

1. Google Video
2. Youtube
3. Teachertube

Plagiarism detection software is a class of software that works in a manner similar to an Internet search engine – the software isolates sentences and passages from a student’s paper and attempts to find matching text that could potentially be considered plagiarised.  Most plagiarism detection packages compare documents against a number of databases, including online peer reviewed journals, popular periodicals and the web in general.

1. Turnitin.com : A fairly expensive subscription service that boasts one of the largest databases of student work.  They have been scrutinized in the past for questionable copyright practices (storing student papers in their databases to use in future searches without the expressed permission of the author).  TCNJ has a site licence with Turnitin and all current students can access the package via SOCS.
2. EVE 2 : A desktop based software package that compares the student’s work against the web.  One of the most inexpensive plagiarism solutions (currently $29.99 for unlimited use)
3. Google.com : The largest search engine in the world can also effectively identify signs of plagiarism.  “Googling” suspect sentences is sometimes the best place to start when trying to identify suspect content.
4. Glatt Plagiarism Screening Program : An interesting take on plagiarism detection – this package removes every fifth word of a student’s paper and replaces them with a “blank”.  The student is then asked to fill in these blanks – the software calculates the accuracy of the student’s respones along with a number of other factors to present a “plagiarism possibility” score to the instructor.