Diigo vs. Delicious

Web site bookmarking…

Currently I save my bookmarks on my hard drive of my computer.  I’ve started to use Google bookmarks and find it very easy to use and like the new List feature they have. It reminds me of folders but is not exactly the same.  I don’t like that they don’t help you out with tag or label suggestions, both diigo and delicious have that option.  Five years ago when I was a computer lab teacher in an elementary school I used www.ikeepbookmarks.com.  It was a great site and exactly what I needed at the time.  I have hundreds of sites that I used and teachers in my school.  I kept folders for different grade levels and folders inside those for different projects they were working on.  I loved the organization.  However, I have since forgotten my password and don’t have access to the email account anymore, so I can look at all those bookmarks but I can’t save them anywhere else.  So learn from my mistake, don’t use your school district email address for an account like this.  It’s a sad, sad day when you find you have to save them one by one on a site like diigo.com or delicious.com.

I first learned about diigo.com for this class when our instructor had us use it to find the web sites we needed for this class.  I found it very confusing and didn’t know really what I was looking for or at.  I think my problem was the lack of folders, which is what I was used to in ikeepbookmarks.com.  I’m not a real fan of the list format.  Now that I have my own account and have played around with it I find it very useful.  I especially like the highlight option.  Bookmarking sites is great but when you can highlight the part that is most meaningful, WOW, I find that amazing.  I like the ease of set up and the easy bookmark tool, diigolet you can put on your toolbar.  I like that you have the choice of highlighting, bookmarking or sharing right from that tool. 

I signed up for a delicious.com account and found the set up very easy.  It seems as easy to use as diigo.com but again did not have the folders I really like.  It also did not have the option of highlighting parts of the site and saving it with your bookmark.  Delicious.com is a Yahoo product and I don’t like all the ads associated with Yahoo.  I think this is why I like Google products better.  I know in the end they are all just out to make a buck but I don’t like Yahoo’s style of IN YOUR FACE advertising. 

In the end I think I like diigo.com better because of the highlighting option. I think in education students will be able to see at a glance what they found interesting about a site because of the highlighting.  When students have so many classes keeping information at their fingertips like this will be very helpful.    

Virtual Worlds and Learning

I started my research on Virtual World Learning in general, not specifically Second Life and I found some very interesting articles.  I was disappointed on the dates of most of the information I was finding, everything seemed to be from around 2006.  I thought this was very old for such a dynamic topic but then got to thinking that maybe this is when the popularity was increasing and it was the big buzz.  So maybe, just like good teaching, the ideas and concepts behind Virtual World learning might not have changed that much in the last 5 years or so. 

The most informative and helpful article was by 3 men; Tony O'Driscoll from IBM On-Demand Learning.  Eilif Trondsen,director of  Learning on Demand project at SRI Consulting Business Intelligence and founder of eLearning Forum.  Jay Cross author of Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways that Inspire Innovation and Performance.  From looking at their credentials, I found them and their opinions very valuable.  Some of their main points were: (my thoughts/comments will be in italic)

·         Virtual learning will not replace other forms of learning but it will enhance the experience and transfer of learning.  Virtual Worlds won’t every replace good teachers (hopfully).

·         VWs are somewhat a solution looking for a problem. VWs can provide a platform for collaboration, community, and commerce, but so can a sofa. Aside from entertainment appeal, what's new here? The most powerful learning technology ever invented is conversation, but most VWs lack the horsepower to entice people to converse naturally. Time will bring voice, more expressive avatars, and higher resolution to VWs. When the virtual environment functions much like the real world, conversation will flow-making it easier to mentor, coach, teach, brainstorm, discuss and manipulate prototypes, and to collaborate on problems. Sometimes I think we’re putting the cart before the horse with the technology, and I’m skeptical of those that make money off education and kids.  But if it’s useful and engaging enough teachers should be using it. 

•         VWs are what we like to call a Learnscape. They are learning/working ecosystems that by their very nature embrace:

• Flow, balancing inactivity and challenge in just the right proportions to keep people moving through the experience
• Repetition, which allows learners to try-and-try again as many times as they choose.
• Experimentation, encouraging learners to try new things and learn in the process.
• Experience that is much more engaging than other digitally mediated technologies.
• Doing, because practice makes perfect and VWs are big practice fields.
• Observing, because if you're not ready to act now, you have plenty of opportunities to observe others and learn from them.
• Motivation, because all of these factors culminate in an environment that cultivates teachable moments at every turn. Motivation is baked into the context as people want to learn within it.  All of these take TIME and classroom time is so precious, I would hope most of this could be done as homework.  But then we keep saying kids should be restricted to how many hours a day they spend in front of a screen.  It’s a hard balance.
•  The industrial-age approach to learning put a wall around schools and training departments. This "protected" the learners from outside interference and distraction. Children were kept at school rather than sent out into the community. Workers left work for training. Talk about artificial life! It's so much more effective to learn from the real thing, and VWs are the closest we've got for practicing without customer consequences.  I agree that getting them out into a community is a great learning experience.  I can imagine how much time and money could be saved it a 3^rd grade class went on a virtual field trip to the zoo instead of the real thing.  However, if the real experience is available it should be obvious choice. 

I enjoyed doing this research on the bigger picture rather than specifically Second Life.  I did poke around in SL using my Tracy Mellow avatar again, she was brought to life in my Communications class and has been idol ever since.  I’m not a huge fan of the virtual world, it just doesn’t appeal to me.  I first landed on Moose Beach Info Hub (58,57,24) and heard all these people talking about strange foods they have eaten.  It was strange and intrusive I thought to be walking in on someone’s conversation.  So I teleported to UCMO and walked around.  I had never noticed the little airport before so I checked that out.  Is there an aviation department at UCMO, or is this just for fun on SL?  Then I noticed a brown unicorn and went to investigate, but it turned out to be the UCMO Mule, so I pet him and took my picture.  I never chatted with anyone, I’m not a real conversation starter and didn’t see anyone to chat with at UCMO so I just checked out the campus a bit more.  It’s fun and I appreciate getting to spend a bit of time in SL.

Mobile Technology- I LOVE my iPhone

I was looking forward to February 10, 2011 for several months.  I didn’t sleep well the night before worrying about out of stock situations.  Verizon and Apple were finally ready to work together and I got my first iPhone.  I’d never had a smartphone and had been out of Mac loop for about 5 years and missed it terribly.  I’m having a lot of fun with the phone and see a ton of education and learning opportunities.  There are some limitations but I think the advantages far outweigh them.    

            Tablets and netbooks are similar in their performance but netbooks have a keyboard attached.  There are after-market portable keyboards but if you really need to type that much a netbook might be the best choice for you.  The iPad 2 has 512 MB of memory, up to 64 GB of storage, up to a month of standby battery life and is only 1.3 pounds, it starts at $499.   A Dell Mini netbook has 512 MB of memory, an 8 GB of storage and 4 hours of battery life, weighs 2.28 pounds and starts at $399.   The keyboard on a netbook is not a standard full size but is very close.  So depending on what you want to do there are pros and cons to each.  If you are briefly browsing the web, watching video or keeping in touch with social networking sites than a tablet is really all you need.  But for any more complex tasks like playing games getting home or school work done a netbook or pc is probably going to be a better choice, but mostly because of the keyboard.  From a teacher and computer lab teachers’ point of view I would also be considering durability as an issue.  I would think the protection of the top would be a good idea.  But they don’t have the apps you can use on the smartphones and tablets.

            The apps are what make the smartphones are what make them so fun, productive and useful. I’ve been using Evernote as a digital organizer.  For students it would be a great way to keep track of assignments, taking notes and organizing your schedule.  I also love the app Vocab Ahead, Word of the Day.  I get the email version, so I didn’t have to pay the $1.99 fee.  It gives a word each day and the definition is animated.  It’s great for SAT prep.  I also use a few apps with my 5 year old and 3 year old.  They like the newness of the phone and touch screen, so it’s very fun for them.  Preschool Memory Match is a great one for increasing their memory and is available in easy, medium and hard.  Kids Math Fun is a great one we’ve been using a lot with my kindergartener.  There are versions for different grade levels and it’s free.  ABC Tracing is one both girls have been using and really enjoy.  The only negative I’ve heard about this is that the kids are not using a pencil to learn to write their letters, they are using their fingers but it is great in my opinion for learning letter recognition and how to make the letters. 

            For my own personal school work I have downloaded the Blackboard app, but I have only used it a few times.  I just don’t have the need since my situation does not call me to be far from a computer for long periods.  I do check my discussion board on Facebook on my iPhone a lot.  I can read new posts when they are posted and give them some thought and then respond when I’m at my computer.  I feel connected and up to date but it doesn’t make me feel like I can respond and get actual work done.  

Moodle vs. Blackboard

     I think both Moodle and Blackboard applications are great, and it was a lot of fun to see behind the scenes. I’ve often wondered how and what the instructors see from their point of view.
     After a few sessions of poking around, I think both offer the same capabilities so the only major difference I see is the layout or look. So I think it is totally subjective whether one is better than the other as far as the feel goes. I think their functionality is the same, but I don’t know if they will interface with district Student Information Systems well or at all. So from a teacher stand point, I think they are both great. I will say I preferred the layout of Moodle, it just felt easier to navigate and I found the vocabulary they used more straight forward. Ever since my first class with Blackboard, I’ve found I had to dig and dig to find what I was looking for and never felt like I was digging in the right place. I haven’t had to use Moodle for a class and have only seen brief presentations on it from other classmates in other classes, so I haven’t worked a lot with it. I liked the Moodle format where you add assignments and such from the calendar view.
     If I was in charge of picking one of the other, I’d have to make sure it worked well with the district Student Information System and if Moodle did, I would have to go with them. Who can argue with FREE. When I was first poking around, I kept saying to myself, “WOW, this is free?” It looks so professional and polished and it had every single choice any teacher could ever think of for creating an online class. As you can tell, I was very impressed. Go Moodle!!

Camtasia vs. CamStudio

And the winner is...CAMTASIA by a landslide.  The victory was a total embarrassment for CamStudio who showed no skill or any finesse.  Seriously, I had so much trouble with CamStudio and will never again use it.  I could use the so called software properly but when I tried to save to the SWF format I got error after error.  I uninstalled 3 times and continued to have the same problems and then started getting more and different errors.  I finally used my husbands older PC and got the SWF html page to not give me an error, but I don't know if what I submitted was viewable.  I took the AVI format and saved it in Windows Movie Maker and was finally able to save to Youtube.  I can't wait to uninstall for a final time and be done with it.  It has really given Open Source Software a very bad taste in my mouth and will be very hard pressed to try any more OSS again.  Camtasia on the other hand was FUN.  I've used video editing software for a LONG time, iMovie starting back in 2000. I've actually taught a class on iMovie and got my first glimpse of my dream job.  It was easy to use and fun to add elements to.  It came out great in my opinion, although I'd done the Evernote tutorial so many times on CamStudio, I'd lost most of my enthusiasm.
Here is the Camtasia version...

This is the CamStudio version...

Ed Tech Funding

I taught in TX for a short while but was very impressed with the standards and funding.  So when I came across this article about the very deep cuts, more so than CA for the next school year I was interested.  It talks about the BILLIONS they will be short next year and some of the cuts, especially to the ed tech funds they will suffer.  It got me thinking more and more about education funding and patterns I've noticed.  In my state of Colorado each  student funding is supposed to be cut by $500 and $600.  So class sizes will increase and non-essential teachers will be cut.  I was a non-essential teacher for 5 years, I taught in a computer lab. 4 of the 5 yrs I was part time and they only had a certified teacher in the lab because we were a low performing Title 1 school that got a lot of money thrown at us.  Most schools in our district have a para making $9 an hour in the computer lab, not to say they are not qualified, but they are mostly showing kids fun stuff on the computer and not working with teachers on quality lessons (in my opinion and from what I've seen).  I had a serious debate with  myself about home schooling my 5 year old next year.  She has 25 in her class now and it's only going be to worse next year.  I just kept saying to myself "This is not good enough for her."  It makes me so sad to think that public school, which I have been a huge advocate for, is not good enough for my daughter.  This degree in Ed Tech might be great but if no one has the money to hire me, than I don't know if it will do me any good.

Web 2.0 and Education

Web 2.0 and Education
     So far I’ve enjoyed this class very much. Not only because of the very interesting tools I’ve seen but also because I know this is the kind of stuff I’ll be using when I reenter the work force. I’m keeping a list of all the tools I’m using and adding them to my resume. It is very empowering to feel like I will bring something to the table when I go looking for a job.
     Since I want to go into the Instructional Technologist arena, I think Jing has been the most useful tool I’ve used to far. I’ve been able to help my parents out with computer issues they have had by showing them how to make Google their home page from 1000 miles away. I think with school financial resources at their limits, helping teachers and staff remotely will be very useful. If someone has a question on how to make Slide Masters in PowerPoint, I can easily make a tutorial and sent it to them electronically. This will save time and money.
     For classroom teachers, some of the Web 2.0 tools can make classrooms very fun places to be. Some of the presentation tools I’ve seen like Anamoto, Prezi and Blabberize can make boring, dry presentation really interesting. The practice sites like Cobocards for making flashcards, and Typingweb for typing practice and Zoodles for preschoolers can be great for rote facts. However, some of these types of sites can be more trouble than they are worth. Sometimes it may be quicker to make flash cards out of index cards. You still must analyze how you need to use the tool.
     There are also many Web 2.0 tools that I think will be universal in education in the near future if they are not already. There are many blog sites that students and teachers can host their blogs, I’ve used Blogger for this class and found it very easy to work with. Social network sites like Facebook, or ones geared to education like Graspr are great ways to communicate and connect. YouTube, TeacherTube and Woopid are very useful for tutorials on technology applications.

Jing & Web 2.0

My Jing is about a Web 2.0 site called Woopid.com. It is a site where you can watch technology training videos or tutorials. I have used Jing last semester but I'm not an expert. It is such an easy program to capture screenshots and video with. The only problem I'm having is uploading to YouTube, it won't recognize the SWF file format. I'm still working on that so I can share it in Youtube. Here it is on screencast.com

Three other sites that I liked were ReadWrite & Think, a site from the International Reading association, busuu.com, a language learning site and blabberize.com, a fun program to make uploaded photos "talk."

What is Cloud Computing?

I think Cloud Computing is doing something on your computer or mobile device when the application is NOT on your computer but on a remote server somewhere. Google is trying to create (maybe they already have) an operating system that is on the cloud. You won't have to download anything, update anything you just connect to the internet. One man in the video called it the "big computer" that we all connect to. For example if PowerPoint was on the Cloud, I wouldn't have to worry about making a presentation and not being able to show it on a different computer because they had an older version of it installed. I could use Google Docs Presentation tool and I'd be able to pull it up on any computer that had an internet connection. Web 2.0 tools are more the applications we use that we can be interactive with. I think of Wikipedia, Facebook, blogs, YouTube when I think of Web 2.0. We might have to have a program on our computer to access these but they can be edited and viewed by anyone with an internet connection. I liked this You Tube of Web 2.0. It really gives you some things to think about.

Animoto vs. Photo Story 3

I did 2 videos using photos of mine of how to make beer. I used Photo Story 3, a Windows program you can download for free. I also used Animoto, a web based download that allows you to do short videos for free or longer ones for a fee.

And my Animoto version can be found on their web site.
I preferred Photo Story 3 because if allowed for more control. It let you decide on transitions and let you put voice for every photo you wanted. Neither option was available in Animoto. I felt like I got to do the work and decide how the final product would look. I think you could use Photo Story 3 more in education. However, Animoto has it's good points too. It's really fun and allows you to make very cool looking videos quickly. I can see this being used more for family photos and fun displays of many kinds of work. Over all I LOVED working with both programs. I have loved working with videos for many years and it is one of the only ways I feel creative and successful.
Finally got my Photo Story up on You Tube...

Animoto

How to Make Beer by Tracy Bartlett
My objective for this video is to demonstrate how to make beer using photos from an actual beer making session. This video will be shown to an adult audience of novice beer enthusiasts. Music was provided by Peter Doyle, called Butterfly uploaded from the Animoto site.

Podcast

I used my Podcast assignment as a way to record my resume and career aspirations.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Thank you Jason Shaw for use of your music.

Copyright Protection

Copyright seems to be an easy concept to understand but in reality is difficult to interpret.   It gives the author of literature or art the exclusive right to copy, distribute and make more of their creation based on the original and perform or display the work publically.   Since 1978 you don’t even have to apply for a copyright protection, it’s assumed so the author can have control.  When I was a teacher in Florida, our principal wanted us to realize and model the law and reminded us that we were not allowed to show whole movies in our rooms.  Sometimes as a special reward, teachers would show a Disney movie or something similar.  But we came to realize this was illegal because we were showing the movie to the whole class and this was potentially taking away from Disney profits.  The only time I really think about copyright protection in my life now is when I’m writing a paper for my classes.  But this is always done under the Fair Use condition.

Fair Use is one of the few conditions that copyrighted material can be used without permission from the author.  When I site an author of an idea in a paper, I don’t have to contact the author and ask if I can use the material.  I can do this because it’s for educational purposes and because I’m not using a lot of the material.  But there are other ways you can use copyrighted material without permission.  If you won’t make money from it, if the work is more factual than creative it is considered Fair Use. But these are not the only guidelines and that is why copyright protection can get confusing.  I remember a history teacher that wanted to show Saving Private Ryan to class studying WWII.  But it was decided that he really only should show the first 3 minutes, which is what Fair Use covers, and the students would get the idea of what the fighting was like.  I found a great chart to show teachers how much of copyrighted material they can and cannot use.

Work or Materials to be used for Educational Purposes	Fair Use Restrictions for Face-to-Face Teaching	Illegal Use without Explicit Permission from Creator/Author
Chapter in a book	Single copy for teacher for research, teaching, or class preparation. Multiple copies (one per student per class) okay if material is (a) adequately brief, (b) spontaneously copied, (c) in compliance with cumulative effect test. Copyright notice and attribution required.	Multiple copies used again and again without permission. Multiple copies to create anthology. Multiple copies to avoid purchase of textbook or consumable materials.
Newspaper/magazine article	Same as above. Multiple copies of complete work of less than 2,500 words and excerpts up to 1,000 words or 10% of work, whichever is less. For works of 2,500-4,999 words, 500 words may be copied.	Same as above
Prose, short story, short essay, Web article		Same as above
Poem	Same as for first item. Multiple copies allowed of complete poem up to 250 words -- no more than two printed pages. Multiple copies of up to 250 words from longer poems.	Same as above
Artwork or graphic image - chart, diagram, graph, drawing, cartoon, picture from periodical, newspaper, or book, Web page image	Same as for first item. No more than 5 images of an artist/photographer in one program or printing and not more than 10% or 15% of images from published collective work, whichever is less.	Same as first item Incorporation or alteration into another form or as embellishment, decoration for artistic purposes for other than temporary purposes.
Motion media - film and videotape productions	Single copy of up to 3 minutes or 10% of the whole, whichever is less. Spontaneity required.	Multiple copies prohibited. Incorporation or alteration into another form as embellishment for artistic purposes for other than temporary purposes prohibited.
Music -sheet music, songs, lyrics, operas, musical scores, compact disk, disk, or cassette taped recordings	Single copy of up to 10% of a musical composition in print, sound, or multimedia form.	Same as immediately above
Broadcast programs	Single copy of off-air simultaneous broadcast may be used for a period not to exceed the first 45 consecutive calendar days after recording date. Use by only individual teachers. Copyright notice required.	Same as immediately above. May not be done at direction of superior. May not be altered.

Creative Commons Licenses seem to be something that has become more popular since the expansion of the internet. This is a special license that allows the author to keep copyright protections but allows the public to copy and distribute work when they give the author credit.  I found some very interesting authors who are using Creative Commons Licenses.  Flicker, is a photo or image web site that allows the public to copy and use the photos as long as they give the author credit. Nine Inch Nails has given away part one of a 1-4 set and offered the other parts for between $5 and $300 for a full box set.  They have reported making almost a million dollars in sales just from the box set.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourse Ware is also under the Creative Commons License and has over 1900 courses available for free. Wikipedia has changed from a GNU (open source license) to a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. 

References:

A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright. (1997). Copyright and Fair Use Defined. Retrieved February 1, 2011, from http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm#Purpose of use

Teaching Copyright. (2010). Fair Use Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved February 1, 2011, from http://www.teachingcopyright.org/handout/fair-use-faq

Creative Commons. (2006).  Creative Commons About. Retrieved February 1, 2011, from http://creativecommons.org/about

Creative Commons. (2006).  Creative Commons Who Uses CC?.  Retrieved February 1, 2011, from http://creativecommons.org/who-uses-cc

RSS

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1oJv99-ev9JbkNzVzLtpF41NE5Bt_sYjsGmTA13Y9Dlc

RSS, an acronym for Really Simple Syndication, I also found one site that called it Rich Site Summary.  RSS feeds give you information you request sent to your computer so you can read it when and where you want.  It also gives you the updates to those articles or feeds.  I like having one place to keep all my blogs and news articles that I’ve started following since enrolling in this program last semester.  I used to bookmark the blogs and publications that I was following, but this is much better.  I can tell the New York Times that I just want articles about technology or education.  What I find amazing is the amount of  information available out there.  Not only professional journal articles but the amount of laymen blogging is astounding.  I had no problem at all finding 10 to subscribe to.  In fact I’ve found more than 35 in just a few days.  I can’t say I read them all every day but they are ones I will definitely keep track of.

        When I first set up Google Reader, which was as simple as a couple of clicks I was amazed at what it could do.  I liked the organization and how easy it is to organize my subscriptions into folders.  I feel much more relaxed when I’m organized.  Then I installed Feed Demon, mainly because a classmate suggested it but also because in their description it said how it synced up with Google Reader in a couple of steps.  I don’t like doing the same thing twice so this was an attractive feature.  Now that I’ve been using both I think I like Feed Demon better.  One of the main reasons is the ease I’m having with the RSS subscription button on the page.  When I try to subscribe right from the page I want in Google Reader I always come up with a page of code.  In Feed Demon, a pop up window appears and I can tell it which folder I want it in and I’m done.  I think on my home computer I’ll use Feed Demon and then on a mobile device I’ll use Google Reader.  I don’t know why anyone would not use a RSS reader, especially if they are consistent online news consumers.  For instance, my mother is retired and has a lot of time read local newspapers from the many towns she is interested in.  Every day she uses bookmarks to go to the newspaper’s home page and scans and reads.  If she used a RSS reader she could subscribe to the specific sections of the paper she was interested in and have all the information in one place.  It saves time and keeps you focused on the things you are looking for.
        As an elementary school teacher in a past life, I know how precious collaboration time is with other teachers, administrators and parents.  We are all here to help students succeed and sharing information is important.  I know when I find a great article the first thing I think of is “Who can I share this with?”  I recently read an article from my husband’s Wall Street Journal and wanted to cut it out and give it to the principal where my child goes to school.  If I was reading that online, I could have shared it with her and many other people who would have enjoyed it with just a couple of clicks.  I also think RSS readers help students and educators find the information they are interested in.  Like I said before, the amount of information and opinions out there is almost overwhelming and RSS readers send you the information you request.  So instead of reading through a whole magazine trying to find the article about Egypt, you can have the article sent to you.   I typed in Egypt in the Feed Demon subscribe button and hundreds of options about Egypt came up.  I was able to pick from tourism to news to blogs.  Students and teachers can share the sites they like with each other with their RSS readers.  Teachers could keep a class calendar on her blog and all the updates for homework and any important information will be sent to students and parents RSS readers.  I was also thinking it would be another way to inform parents of snow days.

Some of the sites I found that I’ve enjoyed reading are The Bill Gates Notes , which talks a lot about school reform and technology, two things I am passionate about.   Mark Wagner Ph. D. also writes a great blog about Educational Technology and Life.  Another blog I’m following is by Clint LaLonde, he is an Education Web Specialist in Canada and has a lot of great ideas and I like the way he writes and how he organizes his blog.

Open Source

WOW did I learn a lot about Open Source software...I think.  From what I read and watched OS is most of the time free software with the source codes available to change the software in order to suit the users needs. Never having written code, this is very difficult for me to wrap my head around.  But one example I saw was if your printer has a bug and you have the code available you could go in and fix it, just as if you can with your cars engine. One confusing think was a lot of the examples of the Open Sourcing software that I saw were more like editing programs, photo, music and art software. It didn't look like you worked with the code you just modified what you were working on. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe you can change the code how you wanted also. There seems to be two camps, one is called the Open Source group and they don't like to be called "free" software because free sounded cheap when they were marketing it.  Then there is the Free Software group that wants all software, codes included to be available for free to everyone.  They don't seem to want anyone to make money on software. The Open Source group seems to be the one that is taking a leadership role, since they are licensing and keeping track of all the available software with open sourcing.  The proprietary software is what we have all been used to using since personal computers have become to main stream.  It's the software that comes with your computer or you buy after market and have no way to change or update it without paying more or installing changes someone else made.  There are some great examples of open source software out there, some I have used myself and some I've seen used.  For education, Moodle is a great course management program for online learning.  They can be found at moodle.org

Firefox is a very well known OS web browser.  It can be found at mozilla.com.  They say they are a faster and safer way to surf the web.  Which would be good in an education environment.  Gimp.org is an image manipulation program and I can see kids in high school newspaper or yearbook classes learning a lot from it. Inkscape.org  is a graphics editor, which allows people to draw freely.  Audacity is an audio editor and recorder.  You can make your own music or be your own DJ.

INST5330 INTRO

WOW look at me, I'm blogging!!  My name is Tracy Bartlett.  I am a stay at home mom to 2 wonderful little girls, 5 and 4 yrs old.  I taught elementary education for about 10 yrs before staying home with them.  We live in Colorado and love it.  We also have an English Bulldog who is snoring so loudly right now I can hear him across the house!  I'm back to school myself now, hoping to train teachers one day.  This is my 2nd semester at UCM.  I've really enjoyed the 2 other online classes I've taken and really look forward to learning a lot of the tools I've been missing out on since playing peek a boo for the last few years.
The book I'm reading right now is "The Other Boleyn Girl"  by Philippe Gregory
I love history and all her books are from the woman's point of view, which I love.  I've read 4 or 5 of her books in the last 6 months or so.  I tend to find an author I like and read everything they wrote.  I don't think I agree with Jobs, that people don't read anymore.  They might not read as many books/novels but all this blogging going on, someone must be reading it.  I think people's attention span is getting shorter and shorter and they want things short and sweet.