Category: technology

How To Get Efficient at Using Your Computer

~ joanvinallcox ~ 4 Comments

Well, that may be a title for a book rather than a post, but I have many very smart friends who declare themselves Luddites or troglodytes when it comes to anything beyond email. I keep thinking that there must be a way to entice them into learning more about the computer and the web.

I know I don’t help them by whizzing around the screen and doing stuff in front of them (but knowing that doesn’t always stop me from doing it). I know telling them how easy it it just causes the, voiced or unvoiced, response, “For you, maybe” and cynicism. I created my thesis, Following the Thread, as an exploration of how I managed to move from hating and fearing the computer to my current absorption with it. I discovered some things:

Then

  1. I was forced to use the computer as part of my job. Having no choice is very motivating.
  2. I learned from my students. I could make “deals” where I earned my teacher “cred” by coaching students in their writing, and they earned their learner “cred” by showing me how to use wordpro and the web. (It worked in the mid-Nineties but it might not as much now.)
  3. My college had ongoing half-day hands-on tutorials that I could take over and over till I “got” it. I think was especially useful because using the computer and the web required a fundamentally different understanding, and I needed a lot of guided repetition before it started to make sense to me. In a way, it was like learning a new language where it takes a while to “think” in it. Before I could get “fluent”, I had to grasp the pattern, and it was radically new. (I find it interesting that many ADHD sorts “get” this new pattern faster than the more academically inclined. My most helpful students were often dyslexic and really struggled with writing, but they grasped computer and web understandings very quickly.)
  4. Having real-life projects drove my learning. I found weekend courses on creating web sites excruciating, but I was happy to work on material for my teaching all weekend till I figured out how to make stuff work. (I soon discovered a great passion for WYSIWYG, the essence of user-friendliness in my opinion;->)
  5. Having a loose network of friends with expertise in different aspects of using the computer and the web allowed me to ask for help when I was stymied for too long. Joining the committee that created P.D. events to help teachers learn how to use the web for teaching (and volunteering to share what I knew) was a great leap forward for me, because I had a more structured network of experts to get help from.

Because I was one of the pioneering teachers on the web, these approaches helped me learn, however, I think the landscape and culture have changed, and some of the approaches would no longer work.

Now

What changes in this list might work now?

  1. Having a strong reason/desire for having to use the web is essential. If a group decides to use a wiki, or a family decides to set up a Ning network, or friends start using Facebook or Flickr, that might be the kind of pressure that encourages learning. Work demands are always “encouraging”.
  2. Learning for social reasons also creates a situation where you can learn from others; asking questions from your fellow learners or the group’s “experts” works really well. (I remember, when I was learning wordpro, just asking my cubicle neighbour the same question over and over, and she graciously answered me over and over.)
  3. Repetition is highly under-rated as part of academic learning, but dancers, musicians, athletes understand its value. If you want to learn something that’s difficult, repeat it as often as you can. Using Slideshare, you can repeat watching presentation as often as you want.
  4. Agree to take on web projects that stretch you. (Make sure someone can answer your questions; ask either someone you know or make sure you know where the “Help” button is – it might help.)
  5. Having a network of people you work or play with is still very helpful. The biggest change since the early stages of my computer and web learning is all the help that is now available online. Search for sites to learn from and bookmark blogs that offer on-going tips for whatever it is you want to learn. If you follow a few blogs regularly, and comment occasionally, you may find yourself part of a “community” and comfortable asking questions in comments or by email.

My blog is aimed at providing helpful information for those who are learning more about using the web. Finally, I suggest you set up a del.icio.us account, if you haven’t already, and an RSS reader, either Bloglines or Google Reader to use the web to help yourself learn about it.

Zemanta Pixie

Three Years After my First Wiki

~ joanvinallcox ~ 3 Comments

In 2005 I taught an undergrad university course on computers and communications. I used JotSpot, then in beta, a wiki I had discovered through Stephen Downes‘s OLDaily newletters. JotSpot worked really well for the class and, as I got to use it for free, I wrote up a report on the experience, which is attached: Using JotSpot.

Frequent readers will know that I am a wiki enthusiast, favouring Wikispaces for its ease of use and cheap cost and PBWiki for its ease of use and visual attractiveness. However JotSpot was adopted by Google, and has now been released as GoogleSites, and I have to say it looks very good, at least in the videos

Google Sites, the grown-up JotSpot, looks very interesting and useful, plus it’s free! I’d love to hear what you think of it.

Daniel J. Solove’s “The Future of Reputation”

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The Future of Reputation is an interesting overview of what is happening to humans today as we become more and more enmeshed in our communications technology and culture. Solove says:

In the past, oral gossip could tarnish a reputation, but it would fade from memories over time. People could move elsewhere and start anew. The printed word, however, was different. As Judge Benjamin Cardozo wrote in 1931: “What gives the sting to writing is its permanence in form. The spoken word dissolves, but the written one abides and perpetuates the scandal.”90 In the past, people could even escape printed words because most publications would get buried away in the dusty corners of libraries. The information would be hard to retrieve, and a sleuth would have to devote a lot of time to dig it up. The Internet, however, makes gossip a permanent reputational stain, one that never fades. It is available around the world, and with Google it can be readily found in less than a second.

This is how our reputations are formed and found currently.

The Future of Reputation is available online for free – http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Future-of-Reputation/text.htm

Tipping Towards Brevity

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Felt Tip EP album coverImage via Wikipedia

My (New) Blogging Pattern

I used to try and blog once or twice a week – and felt badly if I failed to keep my blog current. My earliest blogs were long ruminations, almost essays, using academically correct formatting and referencing. I actually kept two, sometimes three blogs, trying to keep my professional, academic, and personal interests separate. At that time, I got many of my inspirations for what to write about from reading the blog posts I collected, using RSS, through Bloglines.

Too much! It turned a pleasure into a “should” and felt prison-like. Over a period of time I moved to one dominant blog, leaving behind a few orphans. I created a WordPress blog, because I could add niftly little widgets and make my blog both look attractive and work as a repository for much of my life on the web.

This setup was more comfortable, but when I got busy, I still neglected both my Bloglines and my blog.

I joined Facebook, because I read about it on blogs and in newspapers, and my daughter told me to;-> I found aspects of it interesting and handy, but wasn’t all that keen on some parts of it so I took (take) a conservative approach. However, through Facebook I discovered Twitter. And I’m hooked. I love eavesdropping on the partial conversations and I scavenge news and info through the links. If someone seems to be using Twitter without contributing, or is just boring, I stop following them. It’s easy, like sliding away from the bores at a large, noisy party. Then I followed the web metaphor, and I linked my Twitter stream onto my blog. And, copying something I’d seen on other blogs, added my del.icio.us saves to my blog.

The tipping point that I recognized this week was that, although I am continuing to semi-neglect my Bloglines and its inspirations, I now collect the stuff that intrigues and feeds me through Twitter. Then, using my online bookmarking tool, del.icio.us (and diigo, too) I share it. The items I save to del.icio.us now automatically create posts on my blog even when I don’t compose and write one up. I write less, but share as much, I think, but in a briefer, more discontinuous manner. I am, however, increasingly taking the (brief) time to annotate the links I save and share, to create more context.

Maybe my attention span has shortened, or maybe I’ve moved to the efficiencies (Twitter and automatic posting of saved items) that the web creates and encourages. Whatever the rationale I use, I have definitely tipped over into a new pattern of keeping up and sharing.

I think, (I’d appreciate feedback here) that my blog is still useful to others, at least to those who share some of my interests, because what I collect from Twitter (and from time-to-time from my Bloglines account) winds up on my blog through the del.icio.us posts.

It’s what I do now, and I enjoy this pattern.

Learning Wikispaces With Readability

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People decide about what to read, on paper or on the web, before they de-code a single word. If the page looks dense and/or difficult, readers, unless they are highly motivated, will just move on. When people learn to write or to create a web page, they should, IMHO, learn about readability as the same time as they learn how to use the application. I’ve tried to combine information about the Wikispaces icons and readability in this document, aimed at the new user, especially if they are not too familiar with web layout and usability.

wikispacesicons

BTW, if you read this blog regularly, you will have noticed that the links I bookmark are now being added as a post on a daily basis. I have found many interesting and helpful links on the blogs of others who also do this, so I figured out how to for mine. Hope some of them are helpful or interesting for you.

When Failure Results in Success

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Last night I gave the first of two workshops on how to use a wiki to board members of a non-profit organization. I had equipment problems. I discovered I should have done some more checking ahead. I had left the Mac dongle for connecting my laptop to the projector at home. My husband (wonderful human) after a panicky phone call, brought it to me. It was from my iBook, and didn’t work with my new MacBook. So … the wikipage I’d prepared – http://wikiwhy.wikispaces.com/ – with its embedded screencasts and SlideShare links was unusable. I couldn’t use the projector. Much frustration, but “the show (or workshop) must go on!”
I had made a paper handout. I started (instead of ending) with that. Then, as my brain fog (“I messed up; what will I do? I messed up – etc. etc.”) cleared, I realized that at least half of those attending had brought their laptops. And the handout had the wiki address on it. So I was able to help them get to the URL of the explanatory wiki that I had planned to project.

You know what they say about always having backups in casse of tech problems? They are right. My paper handout and the explanatory wiki made a big difference! But they were peripheral to what actually made the workshop work. The people there, whenever I would pause, asked each other questions, or me, and figured it out themselves rather than being stuck watching my presentation. They got further along than I had planned/expected. They all joined the board wiki and many made new pages for their particular committees.

So I failed, but they (and the workshop) succeeded! Now for part 2, do I get a new dongle?

How to Be Safe on the Web

~ joanvinallcox ~ 4 Comments

The web is a constantly changing space, and many people are afraid to dip their toes in the web stream for fear of being stung by a digital stingray. And rightfully so. In my experience, weaving through through the email flow, are false warnings and ugly offerings, fraudulent phishers, and identity thieves. The web is also increasingly unavoidable. What to do? Learn how to protect yourself without going hiding; learn to navigate through the web rapids.

One place to go to find out if something is real or not is Snopes.com, a site that tracks rumors and scams. If you suspect an email or a site is a virus, a fraud, or an urban legend, http://www.snopes.com/ is a reputable site where you can find answers.

One additional warning; I have seen emails that assure me that Snopes agrees that whatever this email says is true. Don’t just beleive them and don’t just click on the (supposed) Snopes link they give you. Find Snopes using Google and check out the claim there.

My daughter, who swims in a very different web stream than I do, offers this advice, especially relevant for parents and teachers, IMHO. Apparently some questionable sites have managed to get web addresses very similar to highly popular sites, with only a small typo difference. Make the typo, and you can find yourself in a toxic swamp. Being very careful about web addresses, and/or bookmarking (making them a “favorite”) so you just click is the easiest way to deal with that.

Most importantly is educate yourself on what’s happening on the web on a regular basis. Virtual University – http://vu.org/ is offering a free course on Internet Security. To access it, click on http://vu.org/ and find the box on the right, (three pink arrows point to it in the image below.)

VU Internet Security

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch

I’ve taken courses from the Virtual University before and found them to have good information although perhaps a little ordinary in presentation. I’m going to take the course; you might want to update your web dangers knowledge too.

Using the Web in Schools – Two Solitudes

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Recently I posted a comment on a blog and checked off the little box that okays email notification every time a comment is added. The blog post is on Will Richardson’s Weblog-ed: learning with the read/write web and it is an urgent call for educators, aka teachers, to get more knowledgable about the web and it’s amazing pedagogical possibilities – http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/urgent-21st-century-skills-for-educators-and-others-first/ (Richardson is also the author of a very helpful book, one I’ve purchased myself, called Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.) As I write this, there are a total of 78 comments on Rihardson’s post, with none directly negative, and few even remotely questioning his premise of the importance of teachers of ALL subjects learning how to use the web to enhance their students learning, and their own.

I saw Richardson’s post a few days after my own post on the subject – https://joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/educating-for-the-21st-century/ which links to other posts with the same urgent call. Steve Hargadon has posted a well argued essay on the same subject with the same sense of urgency – http://www.stevehargadon.com/2008/03/web-20-is-future-of-education.html – and gone even further and created Classroom 2.0 a “social networking site for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education”. One of the three hosts who will respond to any questions asked is Canadian edublogger, Konrad Glogowski, who is studying the use of blogging in education.

If you spend any time on the web, even minimal searches will lead you to a very active edublogsphere (strange word, I know, but based on blogsphere as defined in Wikipedia). And, you will see there many very very passionate advocates for using what Will Richardson calls “the read/write web”, what is also called “Web 2.0”, and, increasingly, “Social Media”. Many of these passionate advocates are trying to figure out how to get more of their colleagues to join them in learning about the web and how to use it in teaching and learning. That’s one of the solitudes.

There’s another, larger, solitude. One of my closest friends hates the computer and the web. She reluctantly uses computers for writing, for email, and in her teaching, where one of her courses is on a CMS (Course Management System), but she is very clear about really disliking the whole experience. She’s very bright, very knowledgeable about pedagogy, and very passionate about teaching well. We have lots of great conversation, and she’s very tolerant of my web evangelism. She acknowledges my passion for the web as a teaching/learning tool, but it’s clear her aversion is deeply rooted. We’ve been talking about why she feels this way, because I want to persuade her that the web can make her life and her teaching easier and richer, as it has mine.

I didn’t start out a lover of the computer. In fact I feared and resented it initially. My credibility and my lack of credibility in this debate come from the same reality: my background. I am a writer and a former English/Communications teacher, and know little about HTML coding and many of the more arcane technical aspects of computers. If it isn’t easy, I don’t want to know about it. That’s why I love Web 2.0, social media, the read/write web – because you can create content, text and images, almost as easily as you can read on it.

I initially felt blackmailed into using a computer; word-processing made putting my thoughts down on paper, writing, much easier than typing or hand-writing. So even though I had to get my husband to navigate through DOS every single time I wanted to write, I couldn’t give up writing using word-processing. Eventually Windows was developed and I learned to turn on the computer by myself. (And eventually I got a Mac and computer life got even better, but that’s another story!) Then the Communications Department at my college was cut and teachers with up to 15 years seniority were laid off, almost half the department. I was traumatized, and when a coordinator whose program I had been assigned to, wanted me to include writing using word-processing and how to file using Windows and other web stuff, I said I’d do it. I was terrified, but I knew some computer experts and made them my mentors. So I understand my friend’s reluctance to use web applications for herself and her students; I’ve been there.

One of my friend’s explanations of why she hates using the web is that she gets frustrated and hates asking for help. Hating to ask for help is, I believe, an occupational overuse syndrome commonly found in teachers. We’re used to being the one in the room who knows the answers. We’re the fount of knowledge, and if somebody else knows more than us, that can feel disorienting, or even threatening. I believe that if I hadn’t been traumatized by the fear of losing my job, I might not have found the flexibility to learn from my mentors and (even scarier) my students. So I understand where my friend’s, and many other teachers’ (and administrators’) reluctance is coming from.

But (and this is central to the issue of teachers in all subjects needing to learn more about the web and infuse their new knowledge into their teaching) there are three realities:

  1. The web is, and I can argue this both theoretically and practically, the most profound change in human communication ever, more profound, even, than the changes coming from the printing press;
  2. Our students are naive wanderers in this new communication wilderness and need to learn how to protect themselves on it, not by hiding from it, but by knowing how to think critically about it and act sensibly on it; and
  3. Our students are unaware of many web possibilities and need to learn how to use the web for their learning and for their future work.

So, what’s the answer? How do I persuade my friend to explore the web more? How do we, the passionate evangelists of the edublogsphere, persuade our colleagues to start exploring the web’s pedagogical possibilities? Of course there is no one answer, but there are some paths:

  • Keep on offering workshops to our colleagues and administrators;
  • Find out the interests of our colleagues (as we would of our students) and show them the web uses they are most likely to find attractive;
  • Explain that although the web was difficult to use initially, it has become much easier to learn about; (nobody needs to use DOS or HTML any more);
  • Show our colleagues and friends that much of their learning about useful web applications can be learned in private, using the web itself – by searching, by reading edublogs, by using the so-called “Tours” that many applications provide to help you learn how to use them;
  • Put up information on the web for those who are interested but wary; and
  • … Any suggestions?

Will Richardson writes a blog and has published a book for teachers – called Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.

Steve Hargadon has created Classroom 2.0 a “social networking site for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education”, especially those in elementary education.

I have a wiki on ways to use the web in teaching and in business – http://jnthweb.pbwiki.com/ – useful for those in secondary and post-secondary education.

And I’m going to continue to use my blog space here to suggest web applications, both long-term and new, that teachers and others might want to use. Please feel free to bookmark this site, until you learn how to RSS to save web site addresses.

(Coming soon;->)

Me & My MacBook