This space is for reviewing the different technology that I have come across during my travels. Whether it be for use personally, for individual work, or for collaborative projects, the MET program has encouraged exploration and critical, purposeful and reflective implementation. Without a full understanding of why or how technology effects and affects our lives, we may be guilty of perpetrating or supporting power inequities within our different social frameworks.
"The medium is the message."(Marshall McLuhan)
Everyone knows that there are constantly more and more software and apps available, and that not all of them are necessarily improvements or time efficient. The following records the programs that passed the initial requirements: useful, accessible, time efficient, and free.
"All the modern inconveniences." (Mark Twain)
Tools: Processing and Presentations
Haiku deck is a clean presentation software that produces attractive presentations with interesting photos and fonts to choose from. I have used it a couple times in a few projects and have been pleased with how easy it is to incorporate into other, larger frameworks (like websites). The main problem is that it is a paid service. You can, however, make up to 3 free decks as a trial.
Issuu is an online publishing service that creates virtual magazines with any files that you load into it. While the paid services make for a more finished product, the free version allows you to create a file that can still be accessed on platforms outside of the website. It was easy to load my issuu onto a webpage to create a more engaging experience than simply text.
OpenOffice is great. Ever since I found out that you have to pay extra for Microsoft Word, I started using OpenOffice. It has all of the same basic functions as Word and is a little less slick, but is FREE (open source)! However, the formatting between a.doc and a .odt file (OpenOffice save type) is different, so when trying to save as a .doc file, which most companies and other computers require to access the file, the formatting becomes a bit wonky. The work-around is to just save it as a .pdf so the formatting remains the same. The PowerPoint equivalent doesn't transfer over as well, so extra time would be required to make sure that the show is presentation-ready when using a different device. But, it's free!
Using Piktochart is a very satisfying way to create a free infographic. The site has loads of different templates that are easily customizable and can import from multiple sources -- last I checked, they import data from Survey Monkey. Understanding the nuances of the program was a little more difficult, and I had some challenges with saving my file, but this is a program that I would return to in the future.
Prezi is ubiquitous now in schools. It seems that most of my students have used this presentation software at some point during their elementary age, and are now pros in high school. It creates attractive presentations with interesting visual guides, as well as the opportunity to add in other media. The major issue I see with the students that use it is that they rush through the content and only focus on the flash, so images are cramped together, there is too much text, or any other number of issues. Also, there is a slight sigh in the room when someone opens it for a presentation. It seems that the allure has faded.
Scribus is open source (free) publishing software, similar to Photoshop, and I love it. I used it to compile together my media studies project. It was fairly intuitive, and didn't take me that long to figure out what each function did. My main issue is that I couldn't manage to create hyperlinks on the page at the time. I also got an error about Ghostwriting whenever I opened the program. Finally, I couldn't figure out how to add solid colour backgrounds, so I had to add in colours that I generated from Paint. Overall, though, I was pleased.
VideoScribe is one of those popular presentation platforms that show the progression and connection of ideas that are so popular in both the education and the advertising worlds. Whiteboard-style images are generating and timed with audio recordings, creating a cohesive video experience. The program is relatively easy to learn and has a bank of images and content to play with. The problem? VideoScribe for the desktop is only a 7-day free trial, then you have to pay. There seems, however, to be an app version that is free for use on the iPhone and iPad that I'll be playing with.
Tools: Supplementary Presentation
Bitstrips is a fully customizable, free to use software that allows the creator to create a comic. You can use it to re-cap the plot of a book, invent a new conflict, or really anything. There's lots of different templates, backgrounds, and characters -- and even more if you want to give them some money for the program, too. I'm not convinced that Bitstrips is that transformative for the amount of time it takes to set up and play around with the different functions; however, it is nice to have it in the toolkit.
Coggle is a fully collaborative diagram-generating software. In it, there is a chat system, multiple customizable icons, and the opportunity to load in personal photos and images. The free version only allows users to have one private diagram, but it does allow for unlimited public ones. It is fully intuitive, attractive, and saves time from using clunkier software (or generating diagrams using a word processor). You can also share and embed the diagram once you're done.
I LOVE Paint! Why? What are my reasons? I'm not entirely sure, but I think that it has something to do with how easy it is to use. Does it make beautiful images? No. Does it showcase my creative talent? No. Can I shade in things? I don't think so... maybe? What Paint can do is very clearly give you a set of tools that you can use in different projects. Part of its permanence in my toolbelt is due to the fact that it's always loaded onto any computer I buy/borrow; plus, I've used it for years.
Pixlr is an app that I use mostly on my phone and mostly to create collages when I go away on a trip. It is easy to use, easily customizable, and has a whole lot of free options available. You can also use it on the computer. After using it mostly for personal reasons, I found that there were some scenarios in the MET program where a collage spoke part of the thousand words that I needed to write.
Prisma is a phone app that creates artwork out of your photos with different filters. Unlike Pixlr, it can't be used on the computer (yet), so its immediate application and relevance is not quite established. This doesn't mean that you can't transfer the image that is created to other platforms since it can be saved directly to your own device, which can then easily be emailed or shared in other ways (for instance, social media).
I found thinglink through one of classmates in MET, and then proceeded to think of the possibilities for things like class assignments, etc. You use it to put different links on any image that you choose (including videos!), just like on the 'home' page. It is easy to use, but a lot of the extra features are protected by the enrolment cost of gaining full use of the product. At this point, it seems that you are only able to create hyperlinks to your image with the free version, and not include things like your own videos or images. There also seems to be an online community that has cropped up around this service, too.
Wordle is another tool that is omnipresent in schools, in part because it's a neat idea. You load text -- any text -- into the generator, then you can modify the image so that the word cloud that is generated is the exact font. size, style, colour that you want. One major con is that most of the educational world already knows about it, so students will have seen it before. The challenge is in creating a meaningful assignment or as using it in a supplementary way so that it is not just 'flash' with no content. There are other word cloud generators out there, too.
Tools: Communication
Google Hangouts is a suite of communication tools that make organizing and designing a project easier. Groups can be made with different discussion areas, depending on the project's needs. As well, there is voice and video chat technology embedded into the design, so individuals don't need to go to outside technology to be able to contact group members. Because it's hosted by Google, the interface can be easily adapted and is compatible with other types of software, too -- you just have to think of it, and I'm sure you'd be able to use it.
Kahoot is a wonderful online quizzing program that allows students to connect with any online device (including phones). You can search through a database of public quizzes or you can create your own. Or you can edit others. There's really a lot you can do if you want to get fancy, like add photos, videos, music, etc, or just the basics of adding in questions and responses. It's super engaging for the kids, and it provides immediate feedback on how everyone is doing -- which usually results in a discussion of the correct answer.
Padlet is a great communication tool that allows students to comment and discuss ideas in a more flexible format. The discussion board allows for interactive videos and other content to work in tandem with the discussions, and the movable template allows for flexible viewing space. Plus you can easily monitor the discussion space.
Survey Monkey is my favourite of the surveying programs that I've used. The free version is easy to use and to customize, and the data can be sorted and analyzed effectively with their algorithm. The site links easily to social media and can be integrated into other platforms. It really does everything that I could want it to. There's also a paid option that promises to garner in more respondents for your data collection, should you need.
QR Scanner app. I feel as though all of these are interchangeable to some degree. As long as you have an app that creates QR codes, you can link to various different websites, documents, and even voice recording files in a way that can be more engaging. It requires that the students have a reader downloaded (like QR Scanner or QR Droid) and access to a phone. You can even use Goo.gl to create a shortened URL and then a QR code. The benefit of this is that you can track how many people have visited the data that you linked.
Quizlet is an engaging place for students to make and share vocabulary flashcards. It can be accessed both as an app and on the computer, and there are a bunch of different modes that you can practice on, including some with games. Also, the words are read aloud, which is helpful for ELL students.
Tools: Websites
Google Classroom is an excellent suite for hosting online materials for any class that you teach. It has easy to use, intuitive design, discussion areas, notification for outstanding assignments, integrated marking applications, and a whole host of add-ons to customize the learning experience. Like other Google technology, Classrooms is compatible with a lot of different technology, and is constantly updating based on user feedback. Most recently, for example, they have added more access to parents. The thing to keep in mind is access -- do all students have equal access? Is there any student that would lose out from an online learning environment?
I used Weebly to make this site and many others. So what are my thoughts? It is really easy to use and very intuitive with its drag-and-drop features. However, because it lacks the freedom of coding your own page, you don't actually have full customizability. For instance, there are a number of options for pre-set page styles (all of which are fully functional), but if you want to do a minor edit on the style -- remove a button, for instance -- you can't. The learning curb is fast, and I've successfully completed multiple group projects with this software even though my group members hadn't used it before.
Wikispaces is something that has been recommended to me but something that I haven't had time to investigate further. I have used different 'wikis' during the MET program to collaborate on. This provides a customized Wiki-pedia style website that shows off the work of each individual contributor. This program, however, is more similar to a Google Classroom, and allows the teacher to monitor student progress and submissions. I imagine it's good, but there are only so many online classrooms that one teacher needs.
At one point, I tried to use WordPress. I thought that the program was relatively easy to use and it made for an attractive layout without much effort. However, things weren't working properly. My main bone of contention was that the categories wouldn't link back to the appropriate pages when searching through blog posts. I wanted the blog posts to be easy to access, but WordPress wasn't doing that for me. It might be fine if you aren't using the blog function, or if you manage to make things link back, but I gave up.
Tools: Video and Sound
Audacity is an open source audio editing software that is easy to use and allows the user to modify multiple file types. As well, you can easily convert different audio files to splice nicely together with different sound bytes. So when you are trying to create an audio clip with material from open source audio clips online and cell phone recording, you can. With other video editing software, it's all you really need.
Camtasia is an excellent software that allows the user to create fully customizable videos of screen captures. It also has a suite of video editing features and audio editing options that allow all sorts of modifications. However, if you want to just use the basics of this software, that's more than possible too. There is another product, Snagit, that is similar to Camtasia, but allows for less modification and fewer save types (among other things). The best thing about Camtasia: it is free for UBC students.
iMovie is an extremely intuitive software that provides polished results with very little technological know-how. It is easy to change or modify sections of the movie and to load in different media to keep the iMovie balanced. Some of the recording technology is a little harder to use, but you can easily record your voice using a different technology (I used my phone for one project), and then upload it to the software to modify and cut there. It is also easy to load the finished product onto social media sites or to save it in different file formats, no matter the length of the video. The major drawback: it is a paid service and I don't have it anymore.
KeepVid is super useful for downloading videos off of YouTube to show in class. It has the potential to download video from other sites, but it has to be one that isn't protected by specific copyright laws. You can save a file in different formats and resolutions, depending on your own need (including just the audio file). Even if you do have an Internet connection in class, I find that it is often spotty. So "better safe than sorry" becomes "better download YouTube clip in case the Internet isn't working and my entire lesson plan is ruined."
Windows Live Movie Maker was a very frustrating program to use. The actual generation of the media project that I was making was perfectly fine, since it was a similar experience to using iMovie. After a little bit of fiddling, it was easy to balance different sound elements, add video and picture clips, and create titles. It did, however, have fewer free media to choose from, and didn't look as polished once complete. The main problem, though, was that it refused to save the final project in a format that could either be uploaded to the Internet (Youtube, etc) or exported to be opened with a different viewer because the file size that I created was too large. This ended up being an extremely long process that ended in me just screen capping and cropping the video while it played in the Movie Maker software, so that I could share it to be assessed. Not recommended.
Social Media
Peartrees is a social bookmarking site that is very similar to Pinterest. Except, for some reason, there seems to be a different culture than Pinterest that is more centred on education. I still use this site passively and plan to return to it once I have more time to organize myself since it gives you the opportunity to collaborate with others on your collections.
Pinterest is a place where you can socially bookmark sites to share with others or to keep for yourself for later. It's also notorious for being a black hole if you're someone who uses the Internet to procrastinate -- which is most people. This is a good place to find teaching resources and ideas, but you need to sign up in order to access other people's pins. I found it was too distracting and onerous to keep active, so I deleted the app. Also, the culture seems to be focused less on academics and more on popular culture, so it's harder to sift through.
Twitter is something that I always think that I will use more often once 'I have more time.' This is because there are so many different people and news sources that one can stay in touch with and share ideas with. The character limit allows for a quick snippet of opinion or news to be shared or links to be easily compiled and assessed. In terms of balance between technology needs and wants, Twitter is in the 'want' category for me since I use other platforms and get my news in different ways.