Resources for Black History Month related to Florida

Susan Ariew, librarian at USF has listed a couple of resources from the the State Library and Archives of Florida.

http://usflibraries.typepad.com/edlibreport/2010/02/truth-and-trumph-the-african-american-experience-in-florida.html

Convert files to PDF Online

Have you ever worked in a group and received a file that you couldn’t open for various reasons. Many times its a Apple vs. Microsoft issue or a newer file type is not accessible in an older program such as trying to open a 2007 Word DOCX file in Word 2003. This can be very frustrating for group members especially if the sender does not know how to save the file in a format that can be accessible to everyone such as a PDF or older file type (ie .doc instead of .docx).

There are websites that will allow you to upload the inaccessible file you just received and email you back a PDF file. One such site is PDFonline (http://www.pdfonline.com/convert-pdf/). 

Recently this site was used to convert a calendar created by a professor in Microsoft Publisher given to a course developer who used only a Mac. PDFonline was used to create a file that the developer could use to retrieve the information without having to disturb the professor while they were on vacation.

BB9 Training Videos

Now that myUSF has been updated to BB9, many of you may have questions on how to use the new system. IT has developed and released new training videos to help you. Follow the link to access them http://media.edo.usf.edu/teachingonline/

Blackboard 9 is now launched at USF!

If you have logged into your my.usf.edu account (blackboard), you will be greeted with a completely new design.

Not only did USF upgrade to Blackboard 9, the media innovation team (MIT) also branded the system with USF colors and unique icon sets. This version of blackboard is suppose to be more user friendly and a lot less clicks.

USF Blackboard 9 Welcome Tab

The new blackboard has a web 2.0 feel, similar to using a website such as Facebook. Even the look of Blackboard can be changed by clicking on the Personalize Page button. The content boxes on each page, also known as modules, can be easily rearranged by click and dragging the top of the box. The navigation has been redesigned to provide easier access to commonly used sections of the blackboard system. Instead of having a long myUSF page, related content is grouped together on separate pages, such as News, Games, and Academics.

Games within the Blackboard System

The system has also provided a My Places link at the top of every page. This will allow quick access to any course or organization the student or faculty is a member. Here a photo can also be uploaded as well as few personal options changed.

My Places, where you can quickly access a course or organization

The Library tab was completely redesigned for the better in my opinion. Now everyone can see the general locations of each USF library, including corresponding contact information. Clicking on the name of the library will take you to the corresponding newly redesigned library site.

Library

It seems MIT was trying to design MyUSF with a edgy and  hip feel, and I think they accomplished that feat.  Many tasks with in blackboard are done with less clicks and waiting, but it will probably take faculty and staff time to learn the workflow for the new system. MIT is creating training videos that will be hosted on their website. The TIPS site will also have quick tips for blackboard hosted on its site as well. For more information concerning the upgrade process of Blackboard you can also visit the myUSF news Blog.

Enjoy your break and we will see you back in the spring!

Free Concept Mapping Tools

This weekend we bring to you some tools for creating information and lessons that will greatly benefit your visual learners.  In the lounge we teach workshops on using digital visuals in education. Students learn how to create thematic webs, concept mapping, decision charts, and venn diagrams. We use a program called Inspiration from http://www.inspiration.com/. Many times in education it maybe hard to find funding for a school or teacher to buy such software. Below are some alternatives tools for creating concept maps other visual aids for teaching and research.

Webspiration – http://www.mywebspiration.com/ – Developed by the people who created Inspiration. It is currently in beta. It is a web 2.0 technology and is a collaborative in nature of creating presentations and visual information.

Visual Understanding Environment – http://vue.tufts.edu/ – Created at Tufts University

Operating systems: Windows (XP and Vista), Mac (OSX 10.4+) and Linux

IHMC CmapTools – Created by the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. The Institute has also developed a Lite version of CmapTools. The lite version has some features missing such as search, compare, and record.
Operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (Intel), and Solaris (Sparc)

MyUSF upgrades to BB9

Friday, USF IT announced that Blackboard will be undergoing a facelift. This will not be the standard update. Blackboard will be updated to BB9. The creators have really tried to implement many web 2.0 features such as Drag and Drop info boxes (similar to your Facebook page), less clicking, and a somewhat redesigned grade center. The creators of blackboard have teamed up with NBC/Universal

Studios, to give professors and students access to the NBC News archive (Hundreds of news video footage from local and national NBC stations and affiliates, grouped by subject.) December 18th the new version of Blackboard will roll out, but if you want to see what it looks like now you can visit: http://bbpreview.acomp.usf.edu/

Tutorials for the new blackboard will becoming over the winter break.

How do you prefer to participate in education?

Converting PDFs e-books for the iPhone and Kindle

In Higher education, professors require their students to read various handouts from pertinent writers of the field of study. Many times professors provide their readings electronically as PDF documents. PDF documents require a reader such as Preview (Mac only) or Adobe’s Acrobat reader (PC or Mac) to be viewed. Many current browsers have a PDF plugin already installed, making PDF a good format to deliver electronic readings for all students to access the content.

Distance learners are many times business travelers or students who are constantly on the go. Many times they are accessing online classes through their laptops or smartphones. Many times the layout of PDFs do not lend themselves for easy reading on small portable devices such as the iPhone or blackberry. A website that I found the other day is www.epub2go.com. This site will allow the student to upload a PDF from their computer or paste in a link to a PDF that is online. The epub2go site will convet the PDF into an EPUB file. The website will either email you a link to download your EPUB or if you are on an iPhone, it will download the file to an app called Stanza. Stanza, which can be downloaded from lexcycle.com, is an e-book reader for the mac or pc with sharing capabilities to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the Kindle.

EPUB

According to www.openbook.org EPUB is a format for reflowable digital books. These books can be easily read and manipulated by many devices since it is basically an XML format.

STANZA

Provided by lexcycle.com, Stanza can be downloaded on the mac, pc, iPhone or, iPod Touch. With Stanza, a student can change the font styling (face, color and size), background color and brightness to make reading the text on screen easier. Stanza app and epub2go.com allow the on the go student to convert online PDFs to ebooks all on the iPhone or iPod Touch with wi-fi connection; no computer needed. The student can now build their library of journal articles on their Apple mobile device to be read on the train, plane, taxi or other similar situations. Below are screenshots from my iPod Touch of the epub2go to stanza app conersion process

Encouraging Writing through Skribit

Writing is still king in education. The tools have changed but many of the challenges remain. Instead of pen and paper, writers are using the computer and blogs to share their stories, ideas, and experiences. After a time almost every writer in his or her career has experienced a lull in their writing, writers block. Many young writers struggle with writing. The barriers range from understanding the language to identifying and fleshing out  a creative idea. Skribit is a social networking tool for bloggers. It allows the reader to make topic suggestions to the writer. Other users can see previous suggestions which should limit duplication of future topic ideas being suggested. Once a topic has been suggested, the writer can quickly provide feedback as to whether they will or will not write about a a particular topic.

This is a great tool for teachers using blogs in their classroom. This is a way for students and teachers to share creative ideas for writing assignments.

ePortfolios the easy way

I have found some very good resources over at TappedIn. One of them is this ePortfolio tool that can be used by students to post artwork, photos, or anything they want to share with other people. It’s free.