EdTech @ ADW

Here is where we are up to at the moment. A number of the team are regular Blog readers and come across links that the would like to share with the team and others. In preparation for our open day we are trying to work out a way of doing this effectively.  Here are the details of our first attempt

1. As we come across items that are worth sharing they are tagged in our personal Delicious bookmarking sites. (We use a specific tag for the links that we want to share eg EdTechShare) Doing this means that in one go each individual can read articles of interest, save items for future reference  and tag them for sharing without doing any extra work!
2. (This point needs to be done once only) We take the RSS feed in Delicious for the tag that we want to share with the group and make it available to our team members (for their own news readers) and subscribe to it using our team’s Google Reader account (for others to access) The advantage of this step is that each team members’ feed from Delicious contains items that they believe are worth saving. As fellow Ed Techers, we get the opportunity to quickly peruse items that are likely to be more relevant to us.
3. The final part of the process is completed by one of the Ed Tech team (me!) In our team’s Google Reader account, I share the new items that have been aggregated from our team members’ Delicious bookmarks. These shared items are available on the Google Reader Shared Items page which can be made available to anyone interested. Remember, this contains each team members’ bookmarks that have been aggregated into one page which is available here.

This is our first attempt at aggregating our team’s links (that have already been saved by individuals) and making them available to others. Lets see how this develops over the next few weeks.

I came across these videos a few months ago, from Commoncraft.com when researching content for a Blended Learning project that I was working on. I thought that they were simple to understand made it easy to conceptualise new ideas and technologies. Have a look at this video to see what I mean.

There are a number of videos on Web 2.0 technologies available for non-commercial use on their site Check them out to gain a solid understand of new technologies and their uses.

I came across a lovely video made by Commoncraft on YouTube after setting up a Google Reader site for the department.

It provides a simple explanation of the necessary role that feed reeders have in keeping up with all our favourite websites. Now getting back to what we are reading - we have subscribed to 35 of the most up to date Ed Tech blogs where there are collections of ideas, opinions and tips how to do things better.  When we find something that is worth keeping it is shared using the social bokmarking site, Delicious.

Here is an excellent overview of why you should  start using social bookmarking sites.

Check out what we think is worth sharing in our Google Reader Shared Items and later on our Delicious shared bookmarks Now all that remains is to read, bookmark and share!

In preparation for an upcoming open day, an idea was raised about demonstrating some Web2.0 technologies to faculty. Tumblr and Twitter have been set up for the department. Keep an eye on them for up to date info about the department and the open day on November 4th. Lets see how this develops.

CAUSE:

Blackboard Vista doesn’t allow blank (null) passwords. Sometimes students change their computer password and mistakenly set this password to blank (i.e. it has no characters).

SOLUTION:

Changing Password in Windows Vista:

1. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE > Click ‘Change a password..’

2. Have student type old password (this password should be left blank (null) for reasons specified above)

3. Have student type new password in New Password field, re-type their new password again in the Confirm Password field > Once they’ve typed it in twice, click the blue arrow to proceed. and then press ENTER.

Click OK button to continue with Vista > Tell student they must use new password to log on to Vista from now on.

CAUSE:

Sometimes students will bookmark the blackboard vista page that occurs after the login page – resulting in a system conflict because Blackboard Vista thinks you are trying to enter the site without first logging in.

SOLUTION:

To fix this problem, do the following:
1. Type the site URL into the IE7 Browser address bar: blackboardvista.hct.ac.ae (http://www. not necessary)

2. Tell the student to delete previous Blackboard bookmark.

3. Tell student to bookmark this login page before actually logging into the site > Log in to Blackboard Vista.

CAUSE:

Currently Blackboard compatible versions of JAVA are between version 1.5.0_07 and version 1.5.0_11. Anything above or below these versions can cause problems with certain features within the Blackboard Learning Management System.

Uninstalling Incorrect Java Version in Windows Vista

Open Start Menu > Click on the Control Panel menu option > Click on the Uninstall program option option under the Programs category. This option is shown by the arrow in the image below. If you are using the Classic View of the Control Panel, then you would double-click on the Programs and Features icon instead.

Locate Java runtime (coffee cup icon) and click to select it > Click Uninstall button

Windows may prompt you with a message stating it needs your permission to continue. At this screen you should click on the Continue button.

Installing correct version of Java

Click here to install the currently Blackboard compatible version of Java:

Locate this recently downloaded .exe file and click on it to begin installation. Follow installation instructions.

Enabling Java in Internet Explorer 7

Click the Tools button (or menu) and then select Internet Options > Select the Advanced tab > Scroll down to the Java (Sun) category > Check the box to enable Java.

Who reads Blogs anyway?

I was out drinking a fruit juice with a few friends the other night and as the techie member of the group one of my friends asked me what a blog was. I proceed to give the abridged version and then another member of the group asked who reads the blogs?

Anyway it got me thinking so I thought about for a while and wondered……..

So ask part of my social experiment to see who reads blogs could the readers of the Edtech blog site please leave a comment to this blog, kind of like write on the wall just to let us know who is reading the stuff that we write.

Here are my humble thoughts on the issue..

The line between what is a blog and what is not a blog is pretty grey, back in the early days of the web people just had websites, they were generally the reserve of the techie minded who knew a bit of html and could throw up a site. Today with the advent of WZYWIG tool like wordpress etc blogging and reading blogs has entered the mainstream.

So who reads them??

Are they male, female, under 18 over 18, 30.

How much do they earn, do they have blogs themselves…..

So please leave a comment and some none personal information (not your PIN number) so at least we can profile our readers

There are two major issues regarding using Windows Vista’s WebDAV system within Blackboard.

Firstly, in order for WebDAV to function properly with Vista your computer must have Microsoft’s Software Update for Web Folders (KB907306) installed. To install this update click on this link:

Once it has been downloaded, run the patch to update your machine and then delete the executable file (you only have to run the patch once). Then follow the following steps:
1. Enter your Blackboard course and make sure the Build tab is selected.
2. Click the File Manager icon on the ‘Designer Tools’ Menu.
3. Click the ActionLinks menu beside the ‘File Manager’ heading. Then click on View WebDAV Info.
4. A window opens, with the web address of the course folder highlighted. Ctrl-C this web address to the clipboard.
5. To create the WebDAV folder click the Windows Start button, and right click on the Computer item and select Map Network Drive.
6. A window appears. Click the link Connect to a Web site that you use to store your documents and pictures.
7. The Add Network Location Wizard appears. Click the Next button.
8. Click Choose a custom network location.
9. Click the Next button.
10. Paste in the address from step 4 (above).
11. Click the Next button.
12. Enter your username and password.
13. Type in a name, which will be the title of the new folder on your desktop.
l4. Click the Next button.
15. Click the Finish button.

Click on the following link to view an excellent visual guide to the above, presented in PDF format from the University of GUELPH:

webdav_blackboard

The second issue involves a bug in Vista (i.e. it works fine if using Windows XP) regarding the ability to use the Open as Web Folder function within the File Manager action link. Regardless of whether you download and install the KB907306-ENU Microsoft update, you will only see a new window that is blank (whereas you should expect a username password prompt, followed by a display of the files contained within the Web Folder).

Here’s a nice, small (4kb) Flash MP3 player. It’s free and open-source, and you only need to specify the file URL in HTML to embed it within your web page.

Click here to view and download the player.

Some of its features include:
1. Autostart capability
2. Draggable/Clickable seek bar
3. Simple operation with Play/Pause and Stop buttons
4. Buffering with progress bar
5. Volume control

The only drawback is that the sound file to be played must be MP3.

You can download the zip file, which contains the Flash and swf files, as well as Javascript extension scripts that allow for Flash/Javascript interoperability. (Don’t be frightened by the big words - click on the link to discover how easy this player is to use in your web page).

Best of all, because it’s open-source you can feel free to modify the Flash file and code if you so wish.