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Good Night favorites, Diigo is our new library tool!

Diigo has become one of my new favorite technology tools.  I can’t imagine using favorites to save all of my important resources for my school projects/research papers and professional resources.  Now that I have a solid knowledge of Diigo’s features, completing the literacy project using Diigo with my staff seemed like a great idea.  I started by giving a workshop to the staff about Diigo’s features.  Once they became comfortable using Diigo we started bookmarking items into our Advising  Library.  The goal was to create a digital library with information about higher education that we could use to start a department blog/discussion board.  The collaboration and participation of the department was great because everyone wants to stay informed about higher education issues and trends to better serve our students to promote academic success.  Check out our library to see a wide range of topics that have utilized many of the Diigo features.

https://www.diigo.com/user/goodwinadvising

Below is the survey that I used to poll the staff about their Diigo experience.

I Need to Register for a College Class

Xtranormal was a fun web 2.0 tool to create a movie with.  I love that it allows you to be creative with the entire process.  Starting with a template and being able to choose the setting, the characters, the movements, and background sounds made this a fun learning experience.  The noise you hear in the background (which sounds like static) is an option called "rain in the background".   The process was easy to follow.  It guided you step by step to the publishing phase. The only problem I had was with the preview option.  Every time I tried to preview my movie an error message appeared stating “try again later”.  I never got to preview before I published it.  You also have to be mindful of word pronunciations.  The female student was stating her grades and the letter A was not correct.  The next time I have the opportunity to work with students, I will be using Xtranormal.  I think they will love creating a movie that relates to college academic success.

A Digital Footprint Message

What a great piece of software that can be used in any academic setting with any age.  It was really fun creating this Voki.  Having so many options (backgrounds, clothes, voices, etc) to create this "public service announcement" is amazing for a free account.  One mistake I made was creating a complete Voki and then realized to publish it you had to have an Educator's account.  I lost my first dialog and could not remember what I had typed in the text box!  The graduation cap on the characters head indicates that you must have an educator's account to use that character.  I did explore the site and there are many things that you can do with your students (lesson plans for teachers, calendars and photo collages.

Navigating Registration, My Digital Story Journey

My digital story was created so I could incorporate registration awareness into my daily advising sessions with applicant and current students.  Creating a story that would benefit the students I work with was important to me when thinking about ideas for this project.  The purpose of my digital story is to educate students about the registration function of the college’s online web based computer system.  Students meet with their advisors to discuss course selection but not everyone understands how to use the registration portal.   I hope that when students view this tutorial they will have a clear understanding of how to register for their semester courses.  The goal is to have all applicant students proficient and aware of the software.  This will enable them to register and complete their degree requirements on time.

Using Photo Story as a platform to create my digital story was a great learning experience.  I was amazed at how easy it was to create the story.  The program walked you through a step by step process.  I am going to use this program in the future to create additional stories that contribute to academic success with college students.

The Beginning of the Story....

This is the rough, rough draft of my digital story!  As of today, my experiences with Photo Story have been positive.  I watched several videos on how to use and format Photo Story.  They were very helpful for starting the digital story process.  What I like about Photo Story is the step by step process of the software.   For a first time user, creating the story has been easy.  Once I uploaded the pictures I found that I did not completely stick to my original script that I wrote on the Story Board template.  After I finish creating all the voice narrations I will make a decision on the style of music that I will use.

I am creating a digital story that I can incorporate into my advising and or orientation sessions with new students.  It will instruct them how to register for classes using our live web based computer system.  I know this will benefit students who do not know how to use our system.  The goal of the staff is make sure all students are aware and proficient of the software so they are able to register and complete their degree program on time.

Creating a Digital Footprint with Social Media

With all of the recent stories on the morning news programs, I feel compelled to blog about social media, especially Facebook.  I am very interested in reading about any issues that relate to Digital Citizenship or creating or adding to one’s digital footprint.  Everyone I know has Facebook and they keep asking why I am not on Facebook.  I am very torn about the decision.  I do not want to publicize my life publicly  but I do like keeping in touch with what is going on with my family and friends.  I can see how an individual could spend a great deal of time on Facebook.  I don’t have that kind of time to spend surfing Facebook or any other social media outlet.

The other topic that needs to be addressed with college students (I mention this group because I work with college students) is what they post on social media outlets.  I am amazed at what some students deem appropriate to post for the world to see.  I wonder if they realize that what is being posted is out there for everyone to see even if it is private.  I really feel that a class or workshop should be built into a freshman curriculum to teach students about proper netiquette, how social media outlets work, privacy rights and posting.  The key thing to remember is that students in college are getting ready to start careers and what they post today could hurt their chances of getting that dream job.  Facebook was a topic that Richardson devoted time to in his book that we read for class.  Once a post or pictures are posted, that digital footprint is created for everyone to view for eternity!   As a test, Google yourself and see what your footprint says about you.

Should I cave and join Facebook to connect with family and friends?

What are your thoughts or ideas about educating students on safe and proper social media usage?

My Digital Library

I really like using Diigo as a digital library.  It is very convenient having all my documents stored in one location.  Previously I had been using the favorite icon on different computers.  I found myself e-mailing or printing documents as I needed them.  Diigo is very user friendly and easy to set up.   I can’t believe that I have been missing out on this great technology tool!  It offers so many features to keep your documents organized.  Creating sticky notes, highlighting documents, previewing a document with the read later notation, creating notes in the text box, being able to keep documents in the library marked private and being cloud based without having to keep a backup are many of the reasons why I have enjoyed creating and maintaining my personal library.   Most convenient to me is the Tag option.  I like that it allows me to quickly scan the tag list on the left and locate documents with scrolling through my entire library.

I plan on using Diigo for the rest of my courses and expand my digital library.  It will be very helpful next semester when I take Educational Research.  What features do you like about Diigo?   Do you find it as user friendly as I do?


The short video below was very informative when I was setting up my library. It discusses the many features I mentioned in my blog post.   I thought it would be helpful for others getting started.

My Diigo Library

Diigo V5: Collect and Highlight, Then Remember! from diigobuzz on Vimeo.

What I Learned from Twitter

Who would have thought that when Twitter started several years ago,  it would evolve into what it is today.  I never used Twitter until last year.  I tend to resist using new technology until I have no choice but to embrace it!  Once I get over the fear of trying out a new piece of software and or technology, I usually end up loving it and can’t imagine why I did not start using it earlier.  Twitter was one of those things, I should have been tweeting!  One thing I did decide, I would only be using it for professional purposes.  What I found was a plethora of information from other professionals in higher education.  You are tweeting with people you do not know but are willing to share ideas, best practices and share professional wisdom and advice with you.  The resources that you can tap into from others across the country are amazing.  Using Twitter as a method of professional development is beneficial to educators and their students.  The objective of Twitter is to get enough people to follow you and reply to tweets.   If you are using this as a teaching method for a lesson with your students the outcome/purpose of Twitter is going to be different.  There will be safety concerns and privacy of information to be aware of with students.  I am using it for professional development purposes so my search is only for people in higher education with an academic background. 

Below are two good short (2.5 minutes) video on “how to get more people to follow you” and “how to get more leads on Twitter”.  These are good if you are getting started and want more followers to your account.  I found them helpful to get the Twitter process started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wwJrYlcwTHI

A Campus Tour Using Animoto

When I first started to think about this project I did not know how I was going to create an Animoto relevant to my professional area. Working with college students as an advisor, I meet with prospective students to educate and inform them about Goodwin College.   Not being in the classroom and trying to keep with the theme of the project, creating something I could use to educate students with I came up with the idea of a tour of the campus. 

My Animoto will be a tool that I can use to give students a visual view of the many features available on campus.  This Animoto can be incorporated into my daily advising sessions for students who might possibly inquire about the library, computer labs, where the student lounge is located and what floor are the sciences labs located on.  The college will become a student’s second home and we want them to feel comfortable navigating the campus. I enjoyed learning how to use this piece of technology and creating a project with it.  Animoto is a great teaching tool that can be used to educate students incorporating technology.  I think students would enjoy creating their own Animotos for many different class projects.  I have plans to use it for my travel pictures and an upcoming family reunion gathering.

Safe Blogging

We all know that blogging is a very popular mode of communication today.   Many of us use it as an academic tool with students.   Blogging has become a great way for our students to share information.  It provides us the opportunity to have someone respond to what we blogged about.  Personally, I like hearing people’s feedback about my posts.  Online safety is something that we must be concerned and aware of with our students at any level.  Richardson talks a lot in Chapter One about online safety measures that are important to implement before going online with a class project.  Working with college students, the safety precautions can vary from those for elementary school students.  Across the board, protecting the privacy of students and not sharing any personal information is key for students at any level of education.  As the administrator of a student blog, I would always review student responses/posts before publishing them.  I am happy to report that I never had an issue with not being able to post something that a student wrote. Talking about online safety measures and proper netiquette was part of the introduction of the blog project with the students.  Blogging is a great technology teaching tool but the safety of our students is most important.

What safety precautions do you implement as the administrator with your student blogs and do you have discussions about the importance of online safely? 

Blogging about blogs

Everybody today is blogging about something.  Any topic you search there is a blog about that particular topic.   People globally have information to share on a blog.  That is one of the benefits of blogging; you can connect with someone to share and obtain information about a topic of interest.  I have never participated in a blog until I took EDUC 536.  We were blogging as a class, with a section of EDCU 584 and I was administering a blog for my class project with a group of College Experience students from my college.  By the end of the semester I was very interested in blogging especially how it could assist me professionally.  My experience blogging with the College Experience students was great.  I must admit in the beginning I was skeptical, but their participation in the project was great.  As the administrator I enjoyed reading thought out responses and posting my comments.  The topics we blogged about were Cyber bulling and Digital Footprints.  I feel that blogging on those topics was a learning experience for both the students and myself.  My positive blogging experiences shared with the College Experience students has kept my interest in viewing higher education blogs.  I frequently look at blogs to see what other higher education professionals are doing in my area.  One particular blog (entitled: “Confessions of a Community College Dean”) is written by an anonymous dean at a northeastern community college.  His blog covers various topics trending in higher education today.  Two posts that I really enjoyed reading are: “Googling the Job Candidates” and “Peeling the Onion.  The link for the blog is below if anyone is interested in reading any of the posts.  “Googling the Job Candidates” is a good post for anyone interested in the importance of leaving a good digital footprint.

 I believe blogging is a positive teaching tool.  How has blogging impacted or affected your students academically?

https://suburbdad.blogspot.com/

The process of wiki information online

After reading about Wikipedia and its resources, I have changed my opinions about the site.  In my courses professors tell you that you cannot use Wikipedia as a reference for any research.  One site I often go to for information is Wikipedia.  Once I realized that they were not a reputable site for research I stopped referring to them.  After completing the reading in Richardson's text I now have a better understanding of how Wikipedia works and the features and benefits that it provides.   One of the best examples of how Wikipedia works was described in the text by using the tsunami in Asia several years ago.  People added to that particular wiki by providing factual information, pictures, data or their personal accounts of what happened based on their experiences.  This site provides collaborative opportunities for people globally to create wiki's.  Wikipedia could be a good sight for students to create a wiki project.  What do your students use Wikipedia for? has it ever been incorporated into a project to share or create information?

Using Prezi to create a resume

What a great way to utilize Prezi!  I would have never thought to use it as a marketing/interviewing tool.  As someone who reviews resumes I was impressed and it kept my attention.  At the end of the presentation you also had the option of reviewing his traditional resume format.  This would be great tool that Career Services Departments in colleges could use to integrate technology into resume writing classes or workshops with  students.  It would be interesting to know if employers would welcome this type of format.  It is different but creative.  I would certainly remember this applicants name when selecting candidates for the interview process.  Has anyone ever had a student use Prezi for this purpose and what was the feedback from employers   Could this be a new trend in a job search?

Attached for all of you Mac Book and I Pad users take a look at this quick YouTube video.  It highlights how easy it is to create a resume on Prezi.  This might become the new trend.  What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APpQph75NBg

Animoto Blog Post

 I have never used Animoto before.  I am really amazed at the possibilities everytime I am introduced  to a new technology program.  After pre-viewing two in class and one today (The Life Cycle of A Pumpkin) I am looking forward to creating my own Animoto.   I would like to create one with my favorite travel location and one that is work related that I can use at the college to benifit students with online registration.  The topic: Life Cycle of a Pumpkin  did not directly relate to higher education but the process of showing how a pumpkin grows is relatable.  What I took away from this Animoto was I can create one that will show students through a series of steps/pictures of how to register for class with our online system.  It would benefit students who are not familiar with how to use the system and it would intergrate current technology into the advising process.http://rhouse1204.blogspot.com/search/label/Animoto

Digital Footprints

After taking EDUC 536 I became interested in Digital Citizenship issues.  Each week in class we would review articles, blogs and videos in class.  I was amazed how students and adults were not practicing good digital netiquette and foot printing with various online outlets.  I decided that I was going to make this my project and bring these best practices back to my college.  As part of my final media project I worked with a group of students in a College Experience class to promote awareness of this important issue.  Each week I met with the students to discuss Digital Citizenship.  By the end of the semester we were blogging about current social media issues and how they can affect our daily lives.  Many times college students are not thinking about what they post today could affect their future employment opportunities.  I think all of us working in the academic arena, at all levels are responsible for educating or promoting awareness to students about Digital Citizenship issues.  I would like to see colleges offer a course that is dedicated to this topic during the freshman year.  What do you think?  How is technology, social media (to include safety and security) and Digital Citizenship integrated into your degree programs?

The link below is a great activity for adult learners on how a digital footprint is created with information we provide on a daily basis.  There are a series of questions with multiple choice answers.  The total time to complete this activity is about ten to fifteen minutes.  It is a great eye opener!

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/koppel/interactive/interactive.html

Introduction

My name is Frank Ruotolo.  Currently, I am a Academic Advisor at Goodwin College in East Hartford.  I have been working in higher education for twenty years in various capacities.