Week #11

Hi everyone,

This week is our final blog post and I can't believe how fast the term went by. We had to explore a webcasting tool this week for ADED, and I chose Garageband since I have a Mac. I have used Garageband previously for school projects and I found that it was a great tool for both school and recreation! Garageband is easy enough to use if you are trying to create a simple but good video, and it also allows you to do much more complex stuff if you want. Even though I had used Garageband before, I had never made a podcast. Actually, I didn't even really know what a podcast was until this week! Creating a podcast through a webcasting tool, such as Garageband, is a great way to share information in the digital world. Podcasts are more complex and interesting sources of information that can include videos, voice clips, images etcetera all in one source. With children and learning becoming more and more involved and evolved in the technology world, learning is no longer associated with being boring and involving a ton of reading and textbooks. Instead, resources like podcasts are becoming extremely popular. Therefore, being able to create and find podcasts really enhances your ability in the digital world, and can contribute greatly to your learning.

Webcasting tools obviously differ drastically from the traditional learning tools, such as books, but they also differ from the other tools that we've learned about in ADED this term. Many of the tools we have learned about can be very impersonal, and you really have no idea who you are learning from or who is learning from you! The Internet allows everyone to be hidden behind a computer screen and remain anonymous basically. Once something is put up on the Internet it gets thrown into an enormous database with everything else and it all just becomes a blur of information to the users. However, podcasts or other resources created through Garageband, for example, allow the creator to show themselves and make it more personal. Podcasts create a more real life and traditional learning environment compared to blogs or wikis, while still utilizing the digital world. I personally really like this about webcasting tools compared to the other tools, hence, I would definitely add it to my PLE.

As I mentioned, Garageband is great for both learning and recreation purposes, and can even mix both of them! An article I found on Feedly this week discussed some of the best apps for children, which I thought was interesting because children are being exposed to technology and the digital world at a much younger age now and there are so many apps that are being developed specially for them. One of the apps mentioned in the article was Garageband, due to its musical aspects, which goes to show the many uses of Garageband.

10+ Awesome Art Apps for Kids

Jesse

Applying a Creative Commons License

The Creative Commons website gave me this code after I picked all of my preferences:

<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>.

Along with this icon:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Weekly Report #10

Hi everyone,

This week for ADED 1P32 we had to learn how to use a slideshow tool to increase our digital literacy. I chose to explore the tool Animoto in order to create my slideshow about copyrights. Animoto had a lot of different styles that you could choose from and I really liked this about Animoto because it allowed me to choose a style that really suited the topic of my presentation. Once I began to create my slideshow I found it easy to add my pictures and choose music for my slideshow. However, when I started to add text to my presentation I found that Animoto did not provide me with a lot of space to explain my pictures and to source them correctly. As a result, Animoto made it hard for me to be a good digital citizen, which was the whole purpose of my slideshow!! I also did not like how hard it was for me to try and share my video once it was done. I believe that many of the poor aspects of Animoto may be improved with the full version because I only got to try the trial version. I must say that Animoto wasn't one of my favourite tools that I have discovered through the class, and I would not add it to my PLE.

Retrieved from: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JQs23wY5AEE/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAHA/s9L9cjyBzRA/photo.jpg

Creating a slideshow about copyrights really helped me learn about copyrights though. Learning how to use the advanced search on Google Images will really assist me in the future when I want to specify my search for material that I can edit or even just search for a certain image size etcetera. It also made me think about how easy it is to infringe on copyright rights without even noticing. With the amount of work we do using the Internet and making presentations with pictures and so on the normal student will   copy and paste pictures from the Internet into their work within seconds and not think twice. However, this week I realized that anytime that I use a picture that is not mine I need to source it very clearly under the picture. This may not seem ideal or easy, but it is what is expected from a good digital citizen.

To reinforce the importance of digital literacy, this week from my Feedly I read an article on digital strategies used for the 2016 presidential campaign:

Digital Strategies Fuel 2016 Campaign Launch Decisions

It was an interesting article that highlighted how influential and useful digital tools, just like the ones we learn about in class, can be! Sometimes it feels like the skills you learn in school can't be applied to the real world, but this article goes to show that the digital literacy we acquire in ADED 1P32 can actually be dry useful in a very professional setting.

Until next week,

Jesse

My Slideshow

Animoto:

This week I had to learn how to use the tool Animoto to create a slideshow about copyrights. Animoto is a good tool that allows you to create interesting slideshows that include music, videos, and pictures easily. Animoto is another tool that enhances my digital literacy, which improves the quality of my work. However, I found it hard to cite the images that I used in my slideshow because Animoto only allows you to have a limited number of characters in the caption space provided. Consequently, I would not say that Animoto is one of my favourite tools because it makes it difficult to be a good digital citizen  and be digitally responsible. Moreover, to access all of Animoto's features, you must pay. 

Here is my slideshow:

What You Need To Know About Copyrights

My slideshow explains what a copyright is (a creator's exclusive legal right to their creative work that is enforced by the law), and the most common excuses for infringing copyrights. The purpose of my slideshow is to inform my audience on the basic principles of copyrights and the consequences of breaking the law. 

Jesse Tubbs

Weekly Report & Reflection Post #9

This week we added another usesful tool, VoiceThread is an apparatus where one can create a slide show. The interesting part is that other people such as friend, classmates can comment on the slide how in many options such as voice sounded comments or an usual written comment. This can enhance ones slideshow because constructive criticism, tips or compliments on the slideshow can be made in present tense to the creator of the slideshow. This tool can be very much useful in a classroom such as seminar when one is presenting. For example an individual can be presenting and classmates can comment upon the presentation, this is really useful for individuals that may be shy to speak in class.

I first used polldaddy to answer one of the question in our weekly task. After experiencing PollDaddy one is able to post their survey question and have it answered. This tool was used in my first year biology class, the prof will post a question online and the class will enter their answer using there phone or laptop. This was done at the beginning of the class and really intrigued the attention of us students.

I can add PollDaddy and VoiceThread to my personal learning experience when I am doing my next seminar presentation. I will purpose question through PollDaddy. This can create a positive personal learning network, by having a inclusive environment this will give everybody the opportunity to participate. With VoiceThread classmates will be able to ask questions on the material I'm presenting.

This tool differs from tools such as Blogger, Pintrest and Evernote because the other tools we used had multiple purpose. Compared to VoiceThread and PollDaddy that specify is answering polls and slideshows.

On my journey of becoming a digital citizen I picked up some quality tips that will morally better my internet interaction. Digital citizen made me well acquainted with digital etiquette, the responsibility and respect that acts as a code of conduct over the internet. Having a ethical guideline to follow provides regulation of the internet, creating a safer and better world wide web.

I wrote an essay this weekend on an issue raised by the Supreme Court of Canada declared that the police require warrants to gain information about individuals’ internet activities. This central issue directly relates to the major aspects of every Canadian citizen: their fundamental rights and freedoms according to the Canadian Charter of Rights, and Canada. In the article an outstanding mudslide of the citizens of Canada refused the government having access to personal internet activities. This relates to my Feedly because it made me realize that privacy and security is important and violating it makes people uncomfortable.

Week 8 Reflection

Hi everyone,

This week we added yet another tool to our repertoire: wikis. Wikis are websites that anyone can post and edit on. I think that wikis are very similar to blogs because they provide information that is open to the general public to view, unlike Google Docs and Evernote, which are more private and are shared with selected people. Wikis are also similar to blogs in respect to the ability to comment on the post. Blogs and wikis both encourage discussion on the information being shared in order to acquire different perspectives and opinions. This helps the reader learn even more about the specific topic. In my opinion, the most beneficial thing about wikis is their convenience for conducting research. I have never had trouble finding a wiki about a topic that I am studying! However, I am sure most of you are aware of the dangers of wikis. Since wikis can be edited by anyone, there is no verification that the information you are receiving is correct. As a result, you should always try to find other sources to support the information you find on wikis! Even though I have always been told to be cautious about wikis, I have found that Wikipedia tends to be very good at monitoring the accuracy of the information that is shared on their website. You can never be too safe though!

This week, we also learned about the importance of rights and responsibilities to digital citizens. The legitimacy of wikis would be greatly improved if everyone obeyed good digital citizen rights and responsibilities! Sadly, this is not the case and people abuse the digital world every day. Here are the three most important rights and responsibilities, in my opinion, that would drastically change the Internet if everyone followed:

1) The right to posses you own material
2) The right to freedom of speech
3) The right to feel safe.

I also got to learn how to use Bubbl.us this week to brainstorm rights and responsibilities. I really enjoyed this part of the learning activities! This is what I came up with:

To learn more about wikis this week, I followed the Wikipedia Featured Articles Feed on Feedly. The featured article for March 8, 2015 was Lost Luggage (Video Game).

 

The article gives an overview of the game, the development of the game, and information about the release and reception of the game. It was an article that I would have never found without my Feedly, which goes to show how useful Feedly can be! It also shows how there is a wiki page on almost everything. Overall, I enjoyed exploring the Wikipedia Featured Articles Feed and finding random wiki pages, such as Lost Luggage, that I would have never learned about on my own.

 

Jesse



Week 7

Hello fellow bloggers!

I hope you all had a good break. Over my reading week, I spent a lot of my time utilizing my new Evernote account. After using it for researching digital literacy for ADED and realizing just how useful it was, I decided to use it for personal research too. I created a new notebook all about health and fitness:

I had so much fun learning about a topic that interests me and being able to use Evernote to organize my research for future use! I plan to continue my research and continuously expand on my notebook.

This week, however, I got to explore Google Docs for ADED. Yet again. ADED has introduced me to another tool that is extremely useful to a student like myself. Google Docs is very similar to the well-known Microsoft applications (that I had to pay for unfortunately) but it's free! The tool allows you to upload and store your documents to your account and then you can access them from anywhere. This means that I no longer have to always remember to bring a USB to school or email files that I will need for class etc. I will admit that this will probably help me a lot in the future! Google Docs is also very convenient because everything can be done within the one tool. For example, you can share your work on Google Docs, and therefore, you no longer need to open your email as well as all of your other applications. This is great for group work because constant emails back and forth between multiple people gets very hectic and confusing, especially when people reply to the sender only and not the entire group. Google Docs is also good for group work because everyone can view, edit, and comment on the document at the same time, and see the updates almost immediately. It makes working together via technology so much easier.

As per usual, the first thing I do when I have to learn about a new tool is search it on my Feedly! This week when I searched Google Docs on Feedly I found out that Google Docs has their own blog. I chose to read an article on their blog about their Google Docs app for phones:

Mobile Apps

From :http://googledocs.blogspot.ca/2015/01/updated-mobile-apps.html

The article explains some of the apps new features, and personally, I found the editing feature the most useful. When I realized that I could now access Google Docs on my phone, it became an even better tool! Now, I can access my work on-the-go, anywhere and at any time! Even though doing work on a phone may not seem the most practical or easiest, it is great in case of emergencies and very urgent matters when I may not have access to a computer.  

I will definitely be adding Google Docs to my PLE because I can see it being of great use for my future school work, especially in respects to group work. Each week, I have been adding these tools to my PLE and I don't believe that I need to remove any. I enjoy allowing my PLE to continuously grow as I am educated on these new tools. They are all different and they all have their advantages, so why not embrace them all?! 

I can't wait to see what I can add to my PLE next week. 

All the best,

Jesse