Activity 10: YouTube

This week you will be examining the video sharing tool, YouTube. This assignment (the last assignment) is due Tuesday, November 24.

• Read the Wikipedia entry on YouTube.
• Read "7 Things You Should Know About YouTube.”
• Read “College Students Love Their Video.”
• Explore YouTube and find a video that you think is fun or entertaining. Follow the directions here to place the YouTube video in your blog.

Post in your blog:

1. Label this post Activity 10: YouTube
2. Have you ever posted a video to YouTube? What about Facebook?
3. Did the statistics in the “College Students Love Their Video” article surprise you or seem accurate? Why?
4. Why did you choose the video you put in your blog?
5. Where else do you search for video?
6. What makes YouTube a Web 2.0 application?

Activity 9: Online Collaboration Tools

This week we’re exploring Online Collaboration Tools like Google Docs and Zoho. This assignment is due on Tuesday, November 17.

• View the video “Google Docs in Plain English” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRqUE6IHTEA)
• Take the Google Docs tour (http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html)
• Read the Web page, “Google Docs for Students” (http://www.google.com/google-d-s/college/#utm_campaign=docsb2s&utm_source=en-na-us-studentblog-docsb2s&utm_medium=blog)
• Read some of the posts on the Google Docs blog (http://googledocs.blogspot.com/)
• Read the Wikipedia entry on Google Docs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Docs)
• Try Google Docs (http://docs.google.com/?pli=1#)

Post in your blog:

1. Label this post Activity 9: Online Collaboration Tools
2. What is one main advantage of using an online collaboration tool such as Google Docs?
3. If you've used Google Docs or a similar tool before, for what purpose did you use it and what did you like about it?
4. How do you think you could use these tools for projects (for school, work, or fun)?

Activity 8: Podcasting

This week we’re exploring Podcasting. This assignment is due on Tuesday, November 10.

• View the video “Podcasting in Plain English” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c).
  
• Read “What Everyone Ought to Know about Podcasting” (http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2009/05/26/what-everybody-ought-to-know-about-podcasting-part-i/).
  
• Read Bennington, Adam. 2007. Stick it in your ear: Keeping current with podcasts. Online (May/June): 30-33 (http://libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?URL=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24981995&site=ehost-live).
  
• Go to KVSC.org podcast page for Henry Oertelt, Holocaust survivor (http://kvsc.org/podcast_list.php?id=5). Listen to the introduction and part one. Using the Bennington article as a guide, evaluate the podcast.

Post in your blog:

1. Label this post Activity 8: Podcasting.
2. Share your evaluation of the Oertelt podcast.
3. Are any of your professors at SCSU using podcasting for their lectures? If not, is it something you’d like professors to do? Why or why not?

Activity 7: Twitter

This week we’re exploring Twitter. This assignment is due on Tuesday, November 3.

• View the video “Twitter in Plain English” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&NR=1) and the video “Twitter Search in Plain English” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGbLWQYJ6iM&feature=video_response)
  
  
• Read the following short articles on real-life applications for Twitter:
• “Amazon Learns a Painful Lesson about the Twitter Hashtag” (http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/04/amazon_learns_a_painful_lesson.html)
• “Twitter Craze is Rapidly Changing the Face of Sports” (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/the_bonus/06/05/twitter.sports/index.html)
• “Now 4 Restaurant 2.0” (http://www.newsweek.com/id/187008)
• “A Twitter Timeline of the Iran Election” (http://www.newsweek.com/id/203953)

• Sign up for a free account at Twitter (http://twitter.com/). Your name and username will be visible to Twitter users, but you can choose to keep your updates (tweets) private or put them on the public time line. Only approved friends will be able to see tweets for protected or private accounts.
  
  For more details on how Twitter works and your Twitter page, as well as a brief overview to using Twitter, you can also read this beginner's guide: (http://www.webjunction.org/social-software/articles/content/449889)
  
  
• Then, find some people to follow and try a few tweets!

Post in your blog:

1. Label this post Activity 7: Twitter.
2. Talk about your experience with Twitter, either previously or after completing the activities in this assignment.
3. Did you like micro-blogging? Do you love it, hate it, or are you ambivalent? Explain.
4. Based on the ideas in your readings, how might you imagine using Twitter in your future career?

Activity 6: RSS

This week we’re focusing on RSS. This post will give you a brief overview of the technology and explain the activities for the week. This assignment is due on Tuesday, October 27.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the Web.

1. Read the articles “It Really Is Really Simple: RSS for Educators” and “News á la Carte,” and watch the RSS in Plain English video.
2. Set up an aggregator account with Google Reader.
3. View the Google Reader in Plain English video and add at least three (3) news feeds, blogs, or Web page updates to your account. The video demonstrates several ways to locate and add RSS feeds. You might also use one of these:
• When visiting your favorite Web sites, look for the orange RSS icon. Often a feed icon like this will be displayed somewhere in the navigation of the site.
• Do a blog search in Google. This search limits results only to blog postings.
• Look at the list of RSS feeds available for CNN.
• Do a search in Technorati. Technorati is a popular blog finding tool that lets you search for blogs.
4. Subscribe to the feed for this Learning 2.0 @ SCSU blog. Go to http://learning2scsu2009.blogspot.com/. To subscribe to this blog, look for the section “Subscribe To... Posts” located on the right side of the blog. Click on the pull down menu and select "Add to Google" from the list of aggregators/readers. Now, each time we post a new assignment, the link will be listed in your Google Reader account.
   

Post in your blog:

1. Label this post, Activity 6: RSS
2. What is convenient about RSS and newsreaders? Include some examples from the readings and/or videos.
   
3. Do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life? If yes, how and if no, why not?
4. Which tool for finding feeds was easiest to use?

Activity 5: Social Networking

This week we will look closely at Social Networking. This assignment is due Tuesday, October 20.

• Read "How to Avoid Facebook & Twitter Disasters"
• Read "'Flocking' Behavior Lands Online"
• Read "Does Social Networking Breed Social Divison?"
• Watch the Common Craft video, "What is LinkedIn?"
  
  

Post in your blog:

• How concerned are you with privacy issues in social networking sites? If you have a Facebook/MySpace profile or Twitter feed, what do you do to ensure your own privacy? Having read the first article above, is there a tip or technique that you will incorporate in your own use of social networking sites? What do you think about the etiquette described in the article?
  
• From the readings above and your own experience, do you think social networking sites bring people together or keep people separate? Please explain.
• The "'Flocking' Behavior..." article describes many different studies that examine the effects of social networking on human relationships. In your experience, which one seems to be the most accurate and why?
• How is LinkedIn different from Facebook or MySpace? Name one advantage and one disadvantage of the LinkedIn social network.
  

Activity 4: Social Bookmarking

This week we’re focusing on Social Bookmarking. This assignment is due on Tuesday, October 13.

1. Watch the Social Bookmarking in Plain English video. Read “The Brave New World of Social Bookmarking: Everything You Always Wanted to Know But Were Too Afraid to Ask” and “7 Things You Should Know About Social Bookmarking."
   
   
2. Do some tagging in your own blog. You can tag (Blogger calls them labels) your earlier Blogger posts with keywords or phrases. From the Blogger Dashboard, go to Manage Posts and choose the post you want to add tags to. Enter the words in the Labels for this post box in the lower right. Type in your tags (commas in between each word or phrase). Click Publish Post to re-publish the post with its labels (tags) to your blog.
   
   
3. Login to the class Del.icio.us account (username=IM204, password=b00kmarks (0=zero)). Next, go to Google and find at least one Web site related to Web 2.0 or social software and tag it. Make note of the tags already used in this account and if possible, use one of them as well.
   To tag a Web site in Delicious: Explore the site options and try clicking on a bookmark that has also been bookmarked by other users. Can you see the tags they used to categorize this site?
• Login to our class Delicious account
• In the upper right, click on "Save a new bookmark"
• Type or paste in the url of the Web site you want to add, then click Next
• Type in some tags to describe the site -- separate each tag with a space and use an underscore (_) to create multiple word tags, then click Save
  
  You may also want to create a Del.icio.us account for yourself and discover how this useful bookmarking tool can replace your traditional browser bookmark list. Add a few websites and add your own tags to each of your links.
  
  If you like Del.icio.us and want to easily add bookmarks to your account, you can put buttons on your browser toolbar. Instructions are available for Internet Explorer and Firefox. For more information, view this 8-minute Del.icio.us tutorial to get a good overview of its features.
  

Post in your blog:

• Label this post Activity 4: Social Bookmarking.
  
  
• Can you see the potential of this tool for your own research or for your personal interests? Please describe why or why not.
  


• Which site(s) did you bookmark and add to the class Delicious account? What tags did you choose?
  


• What are some potential benefits of the social (sharing) aspect of social bookmarking?
  

Activity 3: Flickr

This week we’re exploring Flickr. This assignment is due on Tuesday, October 6.

• Read “7 things you should know about Flickr” and "My friend Flickr: A match made in photo heaven".
• Take the Flickr tour. You can explore Flickr photos, search the tags, view various groups, and more. Then, check out the Library of Congress's Flickr photostream.
• Choose a photo from Flickr and upload it to your blog. Examine the existing tags for the photo.
• Upload the photo to your blog. To do this, either review the video, How to create a blog in Blogger or follow the following Blogger directions for uploading a photo. This feature lets you add photos from your computer or from the Web and choose the placement (layout) in the blog post. The directions are highlighted below:

1. First, within Flickr, right-click on the photo you want to insert into your blog. Then, click “Save Picture As…” and save the file to your desktop or file space.
2. Second, within Blogger, click the little photo icon in the toolbar on the New Post page, in the row of tools above the post box. Follow the instructions to “Add an image from your computer.”

Post in your blog:

• Label this post Activity 3: Flickr.
• Indicate what tags were assigned to the photo originally, what additional or different tags you’d recommend, and why.
• What is exciting about the Library of Congress partnership with Flickr?
• Do you upload images to your Facebook account? How does Flickr compare? What are some differences?
• How do you feel about having your photos public (note that you can mark your Flickr photos private, too) -- any concerns?

Activity 2: Web 2.0

This week we're focusing on the basics of Web 2.0. This activity is due on Tuesday, September 29.

• Watch the videos
• The Machine is Us/ing Us
  
• Social Media in Plain English
• Read the articles:
• "Blogs, Podcasts, and Wikis: The New Names in Information Dissemination"
  
• "Tech-Bastion Mayo is Using Social Media as a Way to Reach Potential Patients"
• "From ATVs to Beauty Products, Companies are Atwitter about Social Marketing"

Post on your blog:

• Title this post, Activity 2: Web 2.0.
• From the examples in the readings, identify one specific use of social networking tools that you think is effective. Why do you think it is a good use of Web 2.0 technology?
  
• What is your reaction to companies using social networking spaces for advertising and marketing? Does this seem like an appropriate way for companies to connect with their customers?

Activity 1: Blogs

Ready to start blogging? Your first Learning 2.0 activity is to set up your own blog and add your first post. You will use your blog to complete all of the Learning 2.0 activities. This activity is due on Tuesday, September 22.

• View the video, "Blogs in Plain English."
• Create your blog.
• View the "How to create a blog with Blogger" video.
• Go to Blogger.com and start your blog.
• Give your blog a unique title. Your title is the name that will appear on the banner at the top of your blog.
• Be sure that you show comments.
  

• Under the Settings tab, click the Comments link and select Show.
  
• Under Who Can Comment, we recommend the second choice, Registered Users.
• Remember to Save Settings.

Post on your blog:

1. Clearly title your post, Activity 1: Blogs.
2. Write an introductory post reflecting on your experience with creating your blog.
   
3. Be sure to mention something you learned from the videos you watched.
4. Email your professor the URL and title of your blog:
• Robin Ewing at rlewing@stcloudstate.edu or
  
• Melissa Prescott at mkprescott@stcloudstate.edu

Learning 2.0 Grading Rubric

The assignment for each week will involve a post to your blog about the topic for that week. The assignment for each week will be posted on Tuesday and due the following Tuesday. Each of your posts should provide insights into what you’ve discovered or learned and any questions or thoughts you have on the activities you’ve completed. These blog postings will be graded according to the following rubric:

A (3 points):

All questions answered completely, and blog posting completed on time.

B (2.6 points):

Some questions answered completely, and blog posting completed on time.

C (2.3 points):

Blog posting does not demonstrate that readings and activities were completed. Blog posting completed on time.

F (0 points):

Blog posting not completed on time.