Technology Tool Assessment

Over the course of this fall semester, I have been introduced to a number of technological tools in my audio visual class. There were some that I absolutely loved and others that I did care for too much. In this blog I will go through the pros and cons of eight technological tools that I have been introduced to and used over the course of the semester. I will also assign ratings to each tool that rank from "two thumbs way up," (which is the highest and best rating) "one thumb way up," "okay, not so bad," and "boo, you stink!" (which is the lowest and worst rating).

The Mozilla Firefox Web Browser:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Up until this semester, I was always an Internet Explorer kind of woman. This was mainly because that was the internet browser that came standard with whatever computer I bought or used and also, I’m somewhat hesitant of new things and the idea of change. So when I learned that there were other internet browsers out there, which I actually did not know, I decided to try one out on my lab top. I happen to choose Mozilla Firefox and I am glad that I made that decision. Firefox was not difficult to learn how to use and it did not take long before I ditched Internet Explorer completely. One feature that I liked about Firefox is that when you are typing a blog or an e-mail, for instance, it spell-checks for you, much like a word processing document would. That feature saved me the trouble of having to open up a separate word processing document for quick e-mails or blog postings. Another feature that I liked about FireFox was that unlike Internet Explorer, I did not have to do additional downloads in order to play online games. I also like that when you save something off the internet, a separate dialogue box opens, scans your document, and then saves a list of all the things you download off the internet. It also did not hurt that Mozilla was a lot faster than Internet Explorer! As a result of all these positive features, I give Mozilla Firefox “two thumbs way up!”.


Moodle’s Thinking Distance Classrooms:
http://www.gaughin.thinkingdistance.org/
I’ve never had a class that based online. In fact, I have never had a class that required me to do more than research online. So when I was introduced to the audio visual classes’ Moodle site, I hesitated because I frustrate easily when technology does not work with me, which is too bad because I own a PC, but that is another story for another time. However, I was pleased to find that Moodle was not difficult at all. Moodle was easy to navigate, which is a plus because I’m not fond of exploring when under the pressure to get something done. I liked Moodle because it allowed me to keep track of the class events without having to hull around a binder full of class assignment deadlines and requirements. I liked how everything I needed to know about my audio visual class was right there at my finger tips and I even had resources to communicate with group mates about up and coming presentations and projects. I even got to view my grades and any comments about assignment submissions. Overall, Moodle was an effective way for me to keep track of my classes’ progress and to communicate with my classmates and instructor. As a result, I give Moodle “two thumbs way up!”.


Google Suites:
http://www.Google.com
Much like I was an Internet Explorer kind of woman, I was also a Yahoo! kind of person. However, this semester, I had to stray from my beloved Yahoo! to sign up for a Google e-mail address for audio visual. With this e-mail sign up, I had available to me a wealth of other applications that are extremely useful. The ones I found particularly interesting or useful were iGoogle and Blogger, as well as G-mail. With iGoogle, I was able to choose a great deal of applications such as Chuck Norris jokes of the day, the daily literature quote, the short story of the day, or the interesting though of the day and have all these application appear on one webpage for my viewing pleasure, rather than having to link to different pages. In addition to easy access to fun stuff, G-mail, Google’s e-mail address name, was easy to use. I was particularly found of the chatting abilities within the actual e-mail page. I never had to download another feature or open another program or window to chat with someone like I did with MSN Messenger. Also, the G-mail chat saved all chat discussions within my G-mail inbox. This I liked because I did not have to search my own files for chat sessions. It was all stored neatly away in my e-mail account, which also saved me some place on my computers memory. Blogger, however, was my absolute favorite. As the name implies, it is a blog and this particular blog is very easy to use and allows you to easily embed pieces from Slideshare.net or post videos. I’ve had other blogs, but none that were as easy to work with and interactive as this Google Blogger. For its multiple functions and applications that are easy to use, I give Google Suites “two thumbs way up!”.



Delicious:
http://del.icio.us
One thing I always hated about using th compute somewhere else, like at an internet café or in a computer lab at school, was the fact that whatever I had saved on my internet service provider’s bookmarks, I could not access on another computer. Delicious solved this problem. Delicious is a social bookmarking site that enables users to bookmark sites, give descriptions, and organize them into meaningful categories. Not only was I able to keep tab of my favorite sites on-line, but when I typed in a tag that I gave my specific website of choice, I could see how many other people bookmarked the same site and then link to their lists and discover their bookmarks, which lead me to other interesting sites that I had interest in. For me, Delicious was the place of discovery and linked me to other people with similar interests. Despite Delicious being addicting, the only other problem that I had with Delicious was the fact that when I decided to create bundle or categories, I had to remember or write down what I wanted to include into the bundle because there was no selection list. This annoyed me and as a result, Delicious gets an “one thumb way up”.


All Capture:
http://www.allcapture.com/eng/index.php
Before I learned about All Capture, I usually employed the use of a digital camera to record anything that was occurring on my computer screen. For instance, when I was tasked with demonstrating an online game, I used my digital camera to record me playing the game, which was difficult not only because I only have two hands (one for the camera and one from the game playing), but also, a digital camera was not the best visual and aesthetically pleasing method. Thankfully, a friend told me about the All Capture software. All Capture is a desktop recording software that allows users to record the activity on their desktops. All Capture can capture sound, as well as be used to high light certain portions of a recording. While All Capture saved me from having to record my desktop activities with a digital camera, which was usually blurry or too dark to see, All Capture is some what confusing for the technological novice such as myself. For instance, when I started my desktop recording, I was confused as to how to finish the recording without having to show that I was opening the All Capture window to press stop as I recorded. I was completely unaware of the small icon that appeared on the menu bar. Also, after I saved my recordings and attempted to add them to PowerPoint presentations or to a Movie Maker document, I was unable to figure out why they would not appear or add to these documents. As it turned out, all files, in order to appear on PowerPoint or Movie Maker, needed to be exported as a MPEG file. If it were not for its usefulness in my technological endeavors I would have given All Capture a low rating. However, despite its lack of direction, its usefulness drives me to give capture a “okay, not too bad!”.


Rubi Star:
http://www.rubistar.4teacher.org
One thing I learned all about this semester both in my audio visual course, but also in my evaluation course, was the importance of rubrics in assessing student work. I have yet to learn exactly how to construct my own assessment rubric and only understand how it should look and that they were important. So when it came time for me to assess student work in my lesson plans that I have created throughout the semester, I was stumped. I searched the World Wide Web for resources on rubric creation and I was lucky enough to come across Rubi Star. Rubi Star contains an application in which users can choose a basic template from a bank of rubrics. After a template is chosen, then users choose the criteria for grading and may edit the criteria via this website. I liked Rubi Star because not only did it help me in rubric creation when I had absolutely no idea how to create my own, but also because Rubi Star allowed me to edit the rubric over the site, as opposed to copying and pasting the completed rubric to a word processing document. However, there were a few things that I did not like. Although I was able to edit via the web, the site only allowed a 40 minute editing session, after which, if the rubric is not published or saved, then users would loose all their work. Also, while there were different templates to choose from, there was not a good variety, which required users to have to search for the most best-fitting rubric or not be able to use the application. However, the editing function allows for variations from the templates offered, in that users can create their own criteria. With that being said, I give Rubi Star an “okay, not too bad!”.


Movie Maker:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx
I have used Movie Maker sparingly throughout my college career, but only gave it a lot of attention this semester. Movie Maker is a Windows application that allows users to create movies or picture shows by allowing users to import music, pictures, movie clips and edit them accordingly. Movie Maker comes with some movie effects such as slow motion or the vintage film function in which movies appear black and white and blurred. Movie Maker is really simple to use in that it is not difficult to locate the key elements in editing the films and it is not difficult to navigate. However, one problem that I had with Movie Maker is that it does not allow users to edit their pictures in terms of the image size. Users would have to edit their photos using a separate application. Further, music cannot be edited in terms of its effects. For example, music cannot be slowed down. Although Movie Maker is extremely easy to use and work with, Movie Maker does not offer many editing techniques that can produce extraordinary movies. For these reasons, I give Movie Maker a “okay, not too bad!”.



Slide Share:
http://www.slideshare.net/
PowerPoint, as a college student, has become the main source of presentational methods that I use. In fact, when the word “presentation” is tossed around the classroom, it is automatically assumed by most professors and students that presentation means PowerPoint. Power Point is an especially popular method for group presentations and one thing about group presentations is that everyone wants the group leader to send them the presentation via e-mail, which for me, is a hassle, since PowerPoint files are usually large. However, I was introduced to another tool in which provides a better way to share digital presentation over the web: Slide Share. Slide Share is a site were users can post their presentations, embed presentations into their blogs, and view the presentations of others. The thing I liked about Slide Share was that it allowed for easy uploading and made it easy for me to share presentations with others around the world, but especially within my class or groups. Further, Slide Share gave me a place to save or back up all my presentations in case I should ever loose my flash drive or should my computer crash. However, there were more things that I did not like about Slide Share. One thing that I did not like about Slide Share was the fact that it would not support certain font types and you could not post transitions, movie clips, or sounds within the saved presentation on Slide Share. The font problem was especially frustrating after I published presentations and then discovering that the text was off set or non-existent. I would then have to edit the actual PowerPoint presentation and then re-post the presentation to Slide Share. The fact that Slide Share does not post sounds or movie clips frustrated me as well, because usually I would utilize Slide Share when pressed for time and then I would have to go search for other ways to show the sounds and movies within my presentation. For these reasons, I give Slide Share a “boo, you stink!”.