Week 13: Distance education and virtual schooling

Our discussion in class today provoked a lot of serious questions about the future of college as we know it.  Our instructor showed us Second Life, a virtual world where users can create a character and travel around lifelike places.  Second Life is already being used by universities to hold online classes.  Students can go online and essentially "meet" their instructor in a virtual museum and go on a virtual tour.  

I think the potential is absolutely enormous for what can be done with this technology.  I am enrolled in a couple of online, distance learning classes at U

F right now.  Currently all I do for an online class is log into my e-learning account and check updates on assignments and tests.  There is little room for instructors to be hands on or personal.  In fact, in most of my online classes I hardly have contact with any other classmates or the instructor.   

If technology like Second Life continues to develop and improve, classes will be able to be held online and be even better than classes in person.  In my journalism classes now, I have to meet with instructors to go over my writing and learn how to improve it.  These classes are impossible to put online with UF's current system, but with a combination of Second Life, video chatting, and a few other resources, it could definitely be made possible.

Here is a screen shot of the current system for online classes at UF: e-learning.  Compare this 2-D, simple layout with the screen shot of a class being held in Second Life below.  Second Life is already being used for distance learning at some universities.

Week 12: Creating a Professional Web Presence

I've always been interested in learning about how to create a Web site.  I would like to continue learning more about HTML and coding so that one day I can create my own site.  This week in class we learned how to make our own professional web presence sites on Google sites.  Google sites allows you to create a site without knowing HTML, coding, or anything too complex.  I created my whole site and uploaded information in just a few hours.  There are many other ways to make personal sites for free, Google Sites is just one of them.  

My professional web presence site is something I can continue to use after this class is over.  I have already uploaded my resume, examples of my work and links to some articles I have written.  It is a great tool to have as a journalist and if tweaked, can really be turned into something valuable.  It is something that potential employers can look at to learn more about me and my experience.

Check out my site here

I am considering buying a domain name for my site so that I can list it as a regular .com URL.  You can buy domain names through Godaddy.com. Some Domain names cost less than $10 a year.

Week 11: Open Source Software

Open Source software is the wave of the future.  More and more programs are being created in open source formats and are beginning to compete with the titans of the software industry like Microsoft and Adobe. The move towards open source software is very convenient and beneficial for most people. Rather than having to pay hundreds of dollars for expensive name brand software, anyone with an internet connection can now use comparable tools for free. The other important benefit is that the software can be updated by multiple people and continually adjusted to fix bugs and improve it overall. Although major software companies are still the industry leaders, I think they will have to start lowering their prices if they want to continue to sell.

Open source software affects everyone. Even as a journalist, open source software can be used. Microsoft Word has been the industry norm for word processing, but even that is being shaken up. New open source programs are coming out that are even better. Photoshop was also the clear cut answer for photo editing software for years. Now Gimp, an open source equivalent is available for free. It is also constantly updated and changed so that it is getting better and better. In the past you had to pay hundreds of dollars to install a program like Photoshop. Now you can download an equivalent for free on any computer.

This image is a perfect example of why you have to be careful when using Photoshop.  As you can see here, the employees at Maxim needed a hand.

Week 10: Tech Tools for Critical Thinking

There are so many interesting tools on the Internet now that its getting hard to keep up. We learned about concept mapping in class this week and a bunch of sites that let you create your own for free. I think concept maps are pretty useful and are good visuals for projects and presentations. I created my own concept map that related some tools on the web to my field, journalism. You can see my map a few posts down on my blog. I used Gliffy to create my concept map, but there are other sites out there as well.

Concept maps are great for planning and personal use also. In journalism they can be used for multiple purposes. I think they are a great way to lay out and organize a newspaper. I was the editor-in-chief of my high school's newspaper and I know that the planning and assigning stage is the most critical part of putting together a paper. People are all over the place trying to find stories and working on leads, that it can become difficult to keep track of who is doing what. With a concept map, especially one created on a site like Gliffy, you can keep track of all the assignments and allow anyone to update the map from anywhere.

This is what the Gliffy interface looks like. You can create and edit your concept map using a variety of shapes and tools. Anyone can sign up for free and try it.

Week 9: Social Tools and Cloud Computing

This week in class we learned about a new wave of technology that is sweeping the Internet. Cloud computing allows you to use server-based applications as a service rather than being tied to a specific platform on a specific machine or device. Sites like Google for example are already producing applications and tools that use this technology. Google Docs allow you to create or edit documents from any computer and virtually save them. This makes it very easy to work with a group or share your documents with people all over the world.

Cloud computing can be used all over the journalism field. I've already used Google Docs to write stories and edit them. It makes it very convenient, especially when you are on a deadline. Some times I am out interviewing sources and cannot access my computer or go home to write on my own Laptop. If I use Google Docs, I can still get to my story and work on it from any location.


Here is a Youtube video that explains cloud computing in simple terms. I think this is an important concept to understand and definitely worth a few minutes of your time to check out.

Journalism and Social Networking Tools

Here is the concept map I created to show how social networking tools can be used in Journalism

Week 7: Digital Storytelling

In class we discussed and looked at a bunch of different sites that allow you to create videos, slideshows, animations and other examples of digital storytelling. Digital storytelling is clearly the wave of the future. We watched examples of simple animations that were used to teach lessons and tell stories. They were far more interesting and captivating than a lecture would have been. Digital storytelling can be a great tool to be used in classrooms to keep the attention of students. I was surprised to learn about all the sites out there that you can use for free. For homework we had to create our own example of digital storytelling using one of the sites, and I used Animoto. Animoto lets you upload pictures and music to create a soundslide presentation. The most amazing part is that the whole thing takes less than 15 minutes to put together.

Digital storytelling may even become the future of journalism. As newspapers decline in readership and advertising sales, it is obvious that they will not be around forever. As a journalist, that means you must be able to tell stories and relay information in many other ways. I am very happy I got a taste of digital storytelling and now know how to put some stories together. This is a really cool tool that I will definitely use in my journalism classes in the future.

Here is a link to a really cool site dedicated to digital storytelling. It is a non profit organization that shares people's stories and assists them in using multimedia to tell them.

Center for Digital Storytelling