Adventures in Diigo and keeping up with other tools...

Another week, and another application.  This week we researched and used Diigo.  This was interesting to me, as I had never thought about organizing bookmarks.  Diigo is an application that allows the user to house bookmarked URLs in one location and add notes, annotations, and tags to them, so they are easier to access for the user.

The set-up was relatively simple.  We were asked to upgrade to the free teacher version; however, as I do not have an active educator email, I was unable to do this.  I am hoping that the limits I found for this application are answered when teachers use the educator side.  I was able to join the Diigo for the class #etec527.  I went ahead and installed the chrome add on, so I could easily link information to my account.  After searching for a website or video, I could click on the d in the upper right corner, and it would automatically add it to my list and add tags for sorting later.  It is a quick and easy feature that allows everything to be saved in one location.  I was not able to add Diigo to my main Protopage as a website, but I was able to place it as a bookmark on one of my tabs in Protopage. 

I can see many benefits to this application.  If you are a teacher that has a desktop computer, doesn’t have a special drive on the school’s hard drive to save documents, bookmarks, etc. too, this would allow you to have access when relocated or if you needed to find information at another location other than your classroom.   I am not one that usually bookmarks information.  I tend to find what I need when I need it and either save it to my desktop or to my google drive.  I don’t like that the platform is so wordy.  I don’t see this being of benefit to any small children in elementary or even middle school.  This tool could be used in the professional and upper school levels for student/teacher use.  I see how this would have been useful for me when looking for articles in databases.  I was just creating a word doc and pasting the URLs into it; this would have been easier to keep a running compilation of possible articles to reference.

I tweeted a few times this week.  I am still grasping Twitter and really only like it when using the Tweet Deck application.  I find the main platform of Twitter not as user friendly as Tweet Deck.  Ironically, my husband got locked out of Twitter this week and has been in withdrawal and mourning.  His account was hacked, and when he fills out the form for Twitter to release his information, the form won’t load, nor is there anyway to contact Twitter via any customer service phone number, email, or website.  I found it interesting that the only way to reach out was via an online form.  He is debating starting a new account; he uses twitter for his main news and sports sources.

The Twitter playlists are one of my favorite features about having a YouTube channel.  I did find one huge drawback, and that is you cannot save to a playlist if a video is marked safe for children.  I wanted to create a channel for celebrities reading children’s books from Storybookonline, and I was not given the option to save them.  This is a huge drawback for me as a librarian or for someone needing to save videos for elementary students.

Aggregate Pages - Protopage

Our challenge this week was to try a site for aggregating pages.  I chose Protopage.  I had no idea what an aggregate page, but I quickly found out, after creating a login, it was a housing site for all forms of created multimedia and information.  I was able to quickly review the page and delete prefilled widgets to create a blank canvas.  I renamed my prototype page and played with the color filled widget boxes.  I uploaded a picture to use as my background.  All of this was very easy and straight forward.

I reviewed the assignment and started to add the required feeds.  I clicked on add a widget and chose to add a Twitter feed by search type.  I entered the #ETEC527, and it created a widget for that search on the site.  It was easy to click, drag, and resize the widget on the screen.  I was able to add my personal Twitter feed, a link to my blog, and a link to our class syllabus. 

Then, came the downfall.  The task was simple: imbed your YouTube channel and playlist.  I added a widget and tried every which way I could to add my YouTube channel.  I tried as a website, newsfeed, link, etc.  Each time it said unable to be found with a sad face ☹ I think started googling.  I watched YouTube videos on how to imbed a YouTube channel; none of the suggestions worked.  I went in and cleared all my cached information and deleted cookies – still nothing.  The only thing I could get to work with YouTube was just by imbedding each individual video by itself, which really defeats the purpose of how the hosting site is to be used. I created an additional tab, renamed it YouTube, and posted a few videos from my channel on there.  I could have gone ahead and created a different tab for each playlist and then linked each individual video under the tab, but that’s what YouTube playlists already do.  It really defeats the purpose to do it twice.

Overall, Protopage is useful.  I can see it is similar to a wiki site wear you could have your own personal class webpage.  You could also create a different page for each unit you are covering in class or for each six weeks.  It is user friendly, and maybe someday I can figure out how to correctly link YouTube.

YouTube, Twitter revisited, & Screencastify

I have several people I am friends with on Facebook that always post their YouTube videos and state, “Make sure to subscribe!”  I had never created a YouTube account, so this was not an option for me; well, not anymore!  This week’s Web 2.0 tools required me to set up a YouTube account.  I found that when I went to YouTube on my desktop, I was logged in through my Google account.  I knew I needed to share my YouTube channel name in the ETEC527 class document, but I had a hard time finding my channel name.  I figured out it was because I did not have any content on the channel.  I uploaded a video, and then I still wasn’t sure what the name was.  I email my husband a test link, and it worked.  My review on the initial set-up is so-so; it was confusing but not too difficult.

I did upload a video and noticed I needed to complete a caption/title and then a description.  It also required me to chose if the content was kid friendly.  I noticed if I chose that option, a few other options disappeared from the screen.  I wanted to upload a thumbnail for one of the videos, and it said I need to verify my account.  I chose to do that, and it sent a confirmation to my phone to verify.  I wanted to chose the last moment of my son’s Lego video to allow someone finding it to see the finished product before they clicked on the time-lapse.  I was not successful in doing this.  It only gave me a few video options to chose from for the beginning image.  When posting the video, it allows the user to share the video via other platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.  I chose to tweet my videos with our class hashtag to see how it posted/viewed from the Twitter side.

The next requirement was to set up specific playlists in my account.  This was the easiest part of using YouTube. I was able to creates specific playlist titles and search for content to add under the playlist.  When logged in, it is as simple as one-click in order to save a video to a playlist.  I was also able to subscribe to two of my friends’ channels.  The playlist I created of my own choice was Young Adult Literature/Library as I will be graduating in August with a masters in educational technology/library science.  I thought this would be a good spot to search and save any videos that I could use to promote novels to middle and high schoolers.

One way I think YouTube would be successful as an educator is to create playlists for each unit that I teach.  I could save any video clips that I would want to use in one location, and I wouldn’t have to search for them every year or save the link on a Word document.

I continued Twitter this week and still prefer TweetDeck when using it.  I think it makes the search feature so much easier, and I prefer to order what I see first in my feed.  It definitely is an “upgrade” to the basic Twitter app.  I was able to search several hashtags including #librarytwitter and #Shakespeare.  I wanted to tweet videos of celebrities or teachers reading elementary books in read-a-louds during this distance-learning time period.  I searched for celebs and books and that did not result in a very “elementary” friendly hashtag return.  I then searched for readalouds and had a few hashtag hits.  One of those tweets used the hashtag #weread, and from this hashtag, I was able to find several videos to retweet.  I am slowly getting the hang of using Twitter.  I see it as primarily a news source and celebrity platform, but I also see the educators’ professional uses too.

I used Screencastify this week to help with our group project as the project required a brief demonstration.  This was, by far, the easiest tool I have used to date.  I was able to download it quickly, and with 4 simple choices, I was recording my desktop or specific tab.  I did note that if I chose a tab, if I wanted to click on a link that opened into another browser tab, it would not record the new tab, so I chose to make most of the videos with recording of the entire desktop.  I used a plug-and-play microphone, and I had no problems with this software.  My favorite part was that it has a shareable link to copy and paste, and it automatically saves in your own Google drive, which is a win for me!  I would recommend this for teachers and students.  Personally, I will try to record lessons for MLA formatting for my seniors and load them onto my webpage or a class YouTube channel for students to access when they “forget” how to do headers or page numbers, etc.

Twitter - Web 2.0

Twitter.  I run a Mother’s Day Out program with ten staff members, and in a recent survey, none of them used twitter.  My husband, on the other hand, is an avid user.  I have been in limbo somewhere; I created an account in 2009, and there it sat until last week when it was resurrected by ETEC527. 

This week, I was able to attempt to join the tweeting world.  The first triumph was tweeting with the #ETEC527.  I was able to quickly move towards retweeting.  This involved searching for specific topics in educational technology, finding articles to retweet, adding a comment, and adding #ETEC527.  I subscribed to the class list created by our professor, and, in turn, found some co-students to follow.  I learned how to tweet to someone in regard to their twitter handle; I found a webpage to tweet about and referenced the creator with his handle.

Initially, I do not like the Twitter homepage on the computer.  It automatically sorts the tweets in top tweet order instead of latest.  In order to search for information for our class, I have to search for our hashtag and then sort the page into latest tweets every single time you log in.  There had to be something better.  Enter TweetDeck.  This platform is fabulous.  You are able to order your page on the right-hand side.  I created a specific search for #ETEC527 and moved that to my second stream.  It automatically updates in real time, so there is no more required sorting.  Que the happy dance!

I did watch the video about Hootsuite, but in order to create a free 30-day log-in, you had to provide a credit card, and I did not feel comfortable doing that.  However, if I become a twitter convert, I might give that platform a chance.  A school media specialist might handle multiple twitter account, and this platform would make it much easier to navigate through the twitter feeds.

There is an app called Periscope for phones that allows the user to post a live feed to Twitter – much like the live feed you can use on Facebook.  The user can search previously live recorded videos by topic or by location.  The location feature shows a map where you can see who has recently filmed live close to you.  For teachers, this app could be used to follow specific authors or presenters that have live weekly feeds.  This would allow you to post the live feed on Twitter for your classes to watch along with you.

To be honest, I don’t frequent that many websites.  I stay on Facebook and am starting to use some Instagram.  I do use Fox News, so I played around on their website to see how they connected with Twitter.  I clicked on the search icon and used one of their subtopics, Education, to get a list of articles.  I then read an article and noticed that there was a little bird next to it allowing me to retweet it.  I retweeted it and added a comment with the class hashtag; it formed a tinyurl and included Fox News’ own hashtags they had used when the article was first published.

As an educator, I know that the more advanced students in high school are using Twitter to stay up to speed with the latest news.  It becomes instant gratification in finding things out in the sporting or political worlds sometimes before it hits the mainstream population.  This platform will allow students to bridge that connect to the teacher outside of the classroom in a neutral space.  For instance, if they have a question on a topic, want clarification, or decided to do their own additional research, they could use the teacher’s twitter handle and send the link even if they don’t have a class hashtag.  This is just one more way to give students another medium to connect in what they view as the most modern technology.