WCET 2008 Presentation

Friday, November 7, 2008

Phoenix, Arizona

Ann Randall, Faculty Development Coordinator

Distance Education

Boise State University

Following are 10 free, user-friendly tools that can streamline frequent tasks for administrators, technologists, and faculty. If you’re an experienced Web tool user, you might find an additional one or two you haven’t tried. If your’re new to Web 2.0, here’s a good place to start.

Below the list of tools are additional resources, including alternative tools, additional tools, and links to more information about them. Enjoy! Ann

Ten Top Free and Easy Tech Tools

These are listed in reverse order, as they were in my presentation at the WCET Conference.

10. Firefox Web Browser

How to install Firefox:

• Download application from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
• Double click on downloaded file to install.

Firefox is configurable by using add-ons to customize what it does and to make work easier. You can install plugins by using the dropdown Tools > Add-ons menu. The three types of add-ons available are Extensions, browser Themes, and Plugins. To look at most of the add-ons available, click the Get Add-ons button, then click the link just under the button bar that says Browse All Add-ons. Here are some add-ons I use.

• TwitterFox (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5081) keeps track of Twitter updates from your friends in a box that pops up from the bottom bar.
• FireFTP (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/684 ) allows you to use Firefox as an FTP client to upload to the Web, if that’s something you do.
• TinyURL Creator (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/126) makes is possible to add an icon to the toolbar. Clicking on the icon creates and copies a compressed URL from the Web site currently being displayed so it can be pasted into e-mails, blogs, wikis, or other documents. This is makes it much easier to share the long URLs encountered at many Web sites. (For more information see Tool #1 below).
• Ubiquity is a new extension still under development at Mozilla Labs. It can be downloaded from https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Ubiquity. Ubiquity uses keystrokes to invoke many handy actions, such as math functions, wikipedia searches, spelling checks—and more all the time.
• Personas for Firefox is another extension by Mozilla Labs. It can be downloaded from http://labs.mozilla.com/projects/. It’s a nice alternative to browser themes that allows you to display a variety of backgrounds behind the toolbar. My favorite is called “Tranquility.”
• Foxmarks—see below.

9. Foxmarks

The extension I use the most is Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2410). It enables you to keep your bookmarks on all your computers synchronized. Here’s how to install it in Firefox:

• Open Firefox browser.
• Select Tools > Add-ons
• In the toolbar at the top of the dialog box that pops up select Get Add-ons
• In the field immediately below the toolbar type in foxmarks and enter
• Click the install button

  (If Foxmarks does not appear automatically, click the link near the bottom of the dialog box that says see all results

• Click Add to Firefox button and, when it appears, Install Now

How to create a Foxmarks account:

• Restart Firefox
• Follow the instructions to create an account and export your bookmarks to it
• Now install Foxmarks on your other computers, sign in to your account from them, and (after making a backup copy of your existing bookmarks) synchronize with the Foxmarks server.

8. Google Gmail

Even if you have another account for your primary mail account, a gmail account (http://mail.google.com/mail/) will make any e-mail lists (listservs) you subscribe to much more manageable. Topics and their replies are grouped as “conversations” so that instead of a separate line for each e-mail there is just a separate line for each topic. I have a special gmail account set up for my Second Life Educators (SLED), Second Life Researchers list (SLRl), and a couple other virtual world researcher lists. It has reduced the time it takes me to scan through the topics by at least half.

7. Google Reader

News readers provide an easy way to keep up with new research and developments in distance education and technology by scanning headlines. I like Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/), since it is easy to use and easy to share. Here are some feeds I track:

• http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews/backend.php (Distance Educator)
• http://www.thejournal.com/the/rss/ (THE Journal)
• http://www.innovateonline.info/innovate.rss (Innovate)
• http://itcboisestate.wordpress.com/feed/ (Academic Technologies - Boise State)
• http://ubernoggin.com/feed/atom/ (Ubernoggin by Sarah “Intellagirl” Tully)
• http://janeknight.typepad.com/pick/atom.xml (Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day)
• http://sl.nmc.org/feed/atom/ (NMC Campus Observer)
• http://www.technologyreview.com/rss/rss.aspx (Technology Review Top Stories)

6. Google Calendar

Google calendar (http://www.google.com/calendar/) allows you to compile separate, concurrent calendars, such as your academic calendar, faculty workshops, and projects. Each calendar is on a separate color-coded line, so it is easy to visualize how the various activities intersect.

5. Elluminate vRoom

Elluminate’s free vRoom is limited to three participants at a time, and sessions cannot be recorded. However, it is an efficient way to support online faculty by demonstrating software applications, troubleshooting LMS formatting problems, or giving personal orientations. It is also an effective way for online faculty to individually discuss student projects, explain written feedback, answer questions, or connect with faltering students.

Elluminate includes a whiteboard; text, audio, and visual communication; and screen sharing. To get an Elluminate vRoom, go to http://www.elluminate.com/vroom/, sign up, and access it using the confirmation e-mail from Elluminate. The page that you access is the portal to your vRoom. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to invite others to join to a conference. You can specify the time and date in your message. The e-mail you send will have a link that enables invitees to sign in to the vRoom using their own names. Send yourself an invitation to get a copy of the guest access link.

4. Online Scheduling

If you want to schedule a meeting, the easiest way I’ve found to schedule it at the most conventient time is using a Web-based scheduler such

as Doodle (http://www.doodle.com/main.html). You do this by creating a “poll” listing all the available meeting times, then notifying those you want to attend to “vote” for the times that fit their schedules. Doodle keeps track of which meeting times have the most votes.

3. Social (Group) Networks

My favorite group network is Ning, because it is easy to set up and easy to use. It can either be public or private. Members can use it to blog, join in discussions, and create personalized profiles.

I find that group networks are very effective for collaborating on a specific project or increasing interaction in an online class. Don’t expect group networks to create communities, however. Only one of the Ning groups I belong to has enough activity for me to follow it closely.

I would like sometime to experiment with a group network in which an individual or individuals were responsible for adding blog posts, announcements, and calendar updates on a regular basis, at least once or twice a week. I’m guessing that such continuing activity might increase community-building effects.

2. Group Wikis

Wikis are specifically designed as a collaborative tool for building knowledge, so they work well for group projects or class projects. Wikis may well be the most useful Web 2.0 tool for education and are a perfect accompaniment to an online course. I have primarily used PBwiki and found it to be easy to use, of high quality, and have excellent support. PBwikis can be either private or public, and the creator can choose how many privileges to give to those who are invited to join.

Here are two examples that demonstrate how wikis can be used in a virtual classroom setting:

• http://edtechprojectwiki.pbwiki.com/
• http://edtech582.pbwiki.com/

1. TinyURL

This tiny tool creates and stores short substitute URLs for Web sites with URLs so long that they are difficult to include in Web pages or share by e-mail or in blogs. Go to http://tinyurl.com/ to find out how to use it. I followed the directions at http://tinyurl.com/#toolbar to add it to my browser’s toolbar. There is also a Firefox add-on (see #10 above) that makes TinyURL quick and easy to use.

Additional Resources

Other Configurable Browsers

Another Mozilla-based browser tailored to social networking is Flock. You can use many, though not all, Firefox add-ons. Some Firefox add-ons are unnecessary, since the activities they streamline, such as Twitter feeds and blog posting, are integrated into the Flock browser.

Safari has some extra capabilities and is faster than most Web browsers. It is built on the Webkit engine, and add-ons are expected to become increasingly available, since Google’s new browser is also based on Webkit.