Campus Tech Connection Podcast #8 Back to School Edition

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Jeff, Laura, and Jeff discuss tech tools to use as school gets back in session.

Back to School Tech Tools, Part I

In honor of back to school prep, the Campus Tech Connection crew wanted to share various online tools, resources, gadgets & more that professionals & students in higher ed should take advantage of this academic year.
At anytime we welcome listeners or comments from the twitter sphere to share school tech tools suggestions. This initially started with a great blog post from Steve Wheeler (@timebuckteeth), who is a great edtech educator in the UK who discussed Tools of My Trade in a blog post back in March.
To re-cap a few of the online resources we chatted about during the CTC podcast #8, here’s a quick reference list for you to check out:

• New Kindle – cheaper… better… but what’s the socioeconomic impact for this development & consumption? Please let @jacksonj know your thoughts on the $139 latest model
• We are BIG fans of Google, and here’s the key things we like to utilize for productivity and document management:
  • Google Docs – share links for viewing, editing, store files
    • Google Forms – survey others, forms for conferences, contact sheets & transfers into a spreadsheet format
    • Google Presentations – collaborative development, no flash drive needed, sometimes temperamental when presenting, but easy to convert to PPT/Keynote
  • Google Wave – new communication tool that we are attempting to utilize more to plan the CTC podcast & more; Great
  • Google Talk – IM & audio/video embedded in your Gmail account; also able to embed into a portal environment, i.e. Meebo
  • Google Gadgets for your website/blog – how to embed
  • Google Calendar – keep up with dates, “to do” list, sync calendars, link to smartphone/tablets, share a calendar or event with friends/students/colleagues
  • This Week in Google – weekly podcast; hoping to get Gina Tripani onto the show later this year or early next

• Social Networks are great ways to grow your personal learning network (PLN)
  • Facebook – most popular social network; Jeff Jackson is looking for a few friend in YOU! http://www.facebook.com/jeffjackson (Send a message SA pros & he’ll add you to his Friends)
  • Linked In – professional networking site; great association groups & connection; could be utilized more
  • Twitter – Common connection & microblogging with
  • The Networked Student – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA
  • The Web Means the End of Forgetting (NYTimes) Article to check out from @jefflail http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html?_r=2
  • Social Bookmarking – great for collecting articles, journals, resources & websites for later; ability to share with others; great for training & archiving information with social tagging
    • Delicious – add laurapasquini & jeffjackson to your network to share; able to bundle resources by topic
    • Digg
    • Google Reader – customize subscriptions
    • Diigo – highlight, add sticky notes, images & bookmark
    • Reddit – create your own customized room
    • StumbleUpon
    • Wikis – working in a group online made easy for class management, research, team meetings, project planning, and more in an online platform. .
      • PbWorks – @laurapasquini’s fav wiki to use
      • Wikispaces – example of a great online class: http://eci831.wikispaces.com/
      • Wetpaint
      • Social media policy & regulation of student affairs – please share any guidelines & suggestions with the CTC podcast team and we’ll share them on

www.BreakDrink.com

• @lvanlysal called and is researching with Steve Worona from EDUCAUSE is working with Higher Ed’s role and the new digital media. Steve posed the question: Does student affairs actually care about this? Is there a role for [SA pros] to play on campus? Or is this something SA pros would not rather dirty their hands with? Something to ponder…
• Screencasting, screenshots & slidesharing…

• • Screen Capture tools
    • SnagIt – screen grab tool for Window users; purchase required (test out the 30-day trial version)
    • Grab – a tool included in Mac computers to get screen shots/images
    • Jing – great for screen capture for image or video for any platform, able to do voice-overs & it’s FREE! @jacksonj is a fan!
  • Slide Casting
    • SlideShare – online community forum to share slides (& audio) with students and others; able to match audio recording with slide content easily; able to sync into LinkedIn; easy to add audio content to the PPT slides; add documents
  • Screen Casting
    • Camtasia Studio – record, edit & share on screen activity; costs $
    • Camstudio – FREE streaming video software for screen capture
    • Captivate by Adobe – for those who are serious about their online learning and visual screen capture; purchase required (pricey even with education discounts, but worth it if used often) => free trial available
  • Video Content Storage Online
    • YouTube EDU – YouTube videos posted for learning; great for archiving teaching material for your students

We would LOVE to hear from you! Please contact the Campus Tech Connection with your feedback, suggestions, comments & more. Leave a message at 732-98-BREAK (27325), tweet with the hashtag #CTC or post a comment on the Break Drink Tech section:: http://breakdrink.com/category/technology/

Stay tuned next week, as we continue with the Back to School Tech Tools, Part II where you can learn about Google Voice and more!