Confessions of a Blogging Slacker

I have not blogged since the 2008 eLearning Summit in May. While I thought about this blog and had the desire to post, work and life got in the way. I admit to being a blogging slacker. To get back to my blog work, I googled “blogging slacker” and Google returned 412,000 results on this phrase. So it seems that slacking happens. The hiatus (slacking) from the blog is due to work and family priorities and not lack of things to blog about. My work and family commitments will allow a few quick posts over the next few days about work, work related conferences, keynotes, and presentations I attended since May.

Where Are the Women? An Action Research Project

The presentation Where Are The Women? An Action Research Project was created in Powerpoint and uploaded to VoiceThread as an experiment. In 2007 I made a post that listed a series of personal goals connected to this blog. Number 5 had three parts, connect blogging to at least 3 professional development activities over the course of the next 12 months to include:

a. Conference presentation

b. Submit a paper to a journal

c. Host a webinar

This conference presentation took place at the eLearning Summit on May 22, 2008. I am working on the journal article, and am wondering if this VoiceThread will count as the webinar? "A VoiceThread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish. They can even be exported to an Archival Movie for offline use on a DVD or video-enabled MP3 player. A VoiceThread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world".

VoiceThread has free and pro options and can be used commercially, in higher education, and in K-12. I am trying out the free option, but am considering the pro option. I am not quite sure how to use all of the options this tool provides. According to the print information, one can doodle or video doodle, comment in text, or record a comment to a VoiceThread.

According to VoiceThread, here are some of the limitations on my Free account:

* Archival Movie exports, $2.99
* the presence of advertising
* single file size limit of 25 MB
* no downloads
* send 50 invitations per day

* create 3 VoiceThreads
* 75 MB of storage
* 3 phone commenting minutes
* no uploading MP3 comments
* 30 min webcam commenting

Enhancing Visual Effects in PowerPoint Presentations

Another example of the good work located on Slideshare.

"How to" : Visual Effects in PowerPoint 2003

From: mjamesno, 1 year ago

| View | Upload your own

Brief Guide to some viusal effects for Presentations using PowerPoint 2003


SlideShare Link

Death by Powerpoint (and how to fight it)

Good stuff can be found on Slideshare!

Death by PowerPoint

From: thecroaker, 9 months ago

| View | Upload your own

Fighting death by PowerPoint... How to make a presentation and not to bore your audience to death.


SlideShare Link

May, Spring, Rainy, Cold, and too much work

May is a cruel month this year. Spring is late and cold, it is a rainy fishing opener, and I have too much work to do. The only good thing about the cold and rainy weather is that it keeps me in the house and so I am getting work done. Being able to sit at home and search the Internet is great and although it is easy to get overwhelmed with all the information that is out there I am always astonished by the caliber of work people are sharing in the cyberworld.

Just joined a local social networking site(Mooseworks) created by Ken Graetz a Minnesota State Colleges and Universities colleague and just do not have time to socialize! I got a Mooseworks badge with my membership and will share it here. Once May winds down a bit I will come back here to learn more about what some of my favorite Minnesota eLeaders are up to.


Will need to catch up with the fast runners in Mooseworks, but in May I just plan to visit and read about what others are up to. I am working on a presentation about this blog for the eLearning Summit at Normandale "held every 2 years" this conference is an event we look forward to in Minnesota. I am looking forward to hearing Dr. Wesch as keynote.


View my page on MooseWorks


Powerpoint is everywhere and though people poke fun at its use and point out its misuse, I find that a visit to Slideshare every now and again allows me to look at some really fine examples of its use.

Two presentations that I admired this week included:

1. Death by Powerpoint (and how to avoid it)

2. Enhancing visual effects in Powerpoint presentations

Learned a new word this week, Ning.

Earth Day 2008, EdTechTalk, Women of Web 2.0

Got an email yesterday. I read it today and so just found out about a 24 hour long conversation on the health of our planet that EdTechTalk is hosting. It started at 12AM today, but there are still hours left in the day to attend. EdTechTalk is looking for people from around the world to join the discussion at Global times as they moderate the "students, teachers, local leaders, environmental advocates, scientists/engineers, politicians, grassroots leaders, etc., that participate. EdTechTalk encourages lurkers as well as participants.

They follow up this 24 hour long conversation with a Spring Community Assembly, and the "Women of Web 2.0 will be on the air immediately following the Community Assembly to provide a roundup of the Earthcast 2008 experience".

Have a look at EdTechTalk they have an easy to get around in website with lots of good stuff to read and listen to!

How to use Second Life in Science Education & Blip.tv

Read about Blip.tv in a Lodestar Learning Web Journal article and then went to investigate and learn about another resource that lets people share videos. Snooped around the Blip.tv site and found an interesting video about Second Life from Colleen on how one might use different kinds of science resources available in Second Life in experiential learning environments.



The video was interesting because while things I find on Second Life are often fun to look at, they don't always provide practical resources and tips on how they might be used in education (this one does), but I digress.

So Back to Blip.tv, according to Digital Inspiration there are 10 Reasons Why Blip.tv is better than YouTube for Uploading and Sharing.

Here is a shortened version of the 10 reasons, but I encourage you to go to the detailed and easy to read article on Digital Inspiration for the comparison:

1. Blip.tv supports supports more video formats, including one called FLV files that uploads faster.
2. Blip does not have the time or file size limits of YouTube because of FLV.
3. People can watch videos in flash or original formats while YouTube offers only branded YouTube Player format.
4. Blip backups your videos to the Web Archives automatically.
5. Blip.tv allows custom thumbnails images to search that may increase the chance of your video being watched.
6. YouTube does not like it when people download their videos while Blip.tv makes downloading easy to do.
7. Blip.tv provides authors with more stats on how the video is being used rather than just the ratings, number of views, etc.
8. Blip.tv does not require registration for a visitor to leave a comment.
9. Blip.tv supports rich text formatting for video descriptions and YouTube does not.
10. Videos are not resized in Blip.tv

Technorati-Wondering if Pinging and Charting are Working

English posts that contain International Edubloggers per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

When I go to Technorati , I can find several pages of posts on International Edubloggers Directory, but the chart that tracks post does not reflect the buzz. Am also seeing conversation and questions to Technorati about pinging and having blog postings updated. Just wondering what is going on and will read and research a bit to see what is going on.

Growing Roster of Members on International Edubloggers Directory

Eureka! Supposedly, an exclamation used by Arichimedes as an interjection to celebrate a discovery. I am using the term to celebrate my discovery of a new bloggers directory. Although I did not realize it when I signed up, the International Edubloggers Directory is just the kind of resource I have been looking for to lead me other bloggers on education topics.

While sites such as Blogher, Technorati, and Blogs by Women were helpful, they did not have an education focus and I was not able to watch them develop in real time. Nor did they have they have the cool tools that make watching this directory site develop so much fun. The use of Scribd, Mofuse, Twitter, and other Web 2.0 tools to allow members to get introduced into the cyberworld and other bloggers is impressive. While not all of the members are women, there are enough of them (Gender Split Male - 58%Female - 42%) listed in this directory to have a look around. It seems I need to carve out some time to read author Patricia Donaghy, and to learn about the members who blog on education. The membership roster is growing all the time, but I look forward to the task.

See video on Archimedes from the Internet Archives:

International Edubloggers Directory

Thanks to this new blog directory I can see me now and perhaps others will too.

Just signed up for membership on the International Edubloggers Directory. The directory launched in January of 2008, will provide "an up to date directory of edubloggers from around the world", links to other edubloggers and to the topics they blog about. Members of this directory are posted on Twitter, Facebook, Mobile Versions, and Blog Widget. After I received a personal welcome as an Edublogger member in an email, I went back in to explore this sight and learned about Mofuse.


Mofuse creates mobile websites for bloggers and provides a fast and easy method to make blogs mobile compliant at no cost. The International Edubloggers Directory has a variety of tools and feeds to connect bloggers around the world. RSS feeds, a members calendar, and a chance to share the membership wiki and to connect with other education bloggers are appealing to me. I am pleased to be a member and look forward to reading the growing blog roll and seeing members information posted in real time.

A Potential SATO Without a Home

Rethinking Academic Technology Leadership in a Era of Change, an article in The IT Practitioner’s Journal (EQ) Educause Quarterly (Vol.31 -2008) does a grand job outlining the sweeping instructional technologies that are changing the face of higher education and a need for Senior Academic Technology Officers (SATO) in institutions across the nation. To support the need for SATOs in all institutions, Albright and Nworie (2008) point to the growth in use of technology in higher education and the low numbers of people in senior-level positions “dedicated exclusively to providing vision, leadership, direction, and accountability for technologies and services supporting teaching and learning” (p. 16).

Are you looking for definitions of instructional technology? Information on the scope of an Instructional Technologists work? You can find both in this article, but it is the case the authors make for SATO as technology leader, the outlined SATO roles and responsibilities, and the SATO qualifications that made the article noteworthy.

Some of the ideas detailed by Albright and Nworie (2008) article are provided in this list:

*SATOs were described as tactical and as, “visionary, leader, director, planner, facilitator, collaborator, catalyst, advocate, and evangelist” (p.19).

*SATOs had an impressive list of status and qualifications compiled from position announcements reviewed by the authors of the article since the early 1990s.

*SATOs and CIOs positions were compared, contrasted, and clearly delineated.

*SATOs importance as a full-time position and a caution that it should never be “part-time job” or an “assignment for marginal players with dubious credentials” (p.21).

*The assertion that SATOs “should never sit lower than one echelon below the CIO or two levels below the vice-president of academic affairs if the CIO is not at the VP level” (p.21).

*The failure in higher education, depicted by data, to connect and nurture these positions as senior leadership positions.

The authors asks to consider whether a university would allow the library’s operation without a library director or dean or a coach to report to someone other than an academic director. They then pose the question, why do so many institutions fail to provide senior level managers for academic technology in our institutions?

You will find a good read and compelling evidence connected to the importance of assigning appropriate status for SATOs in meeting institutional goals in this article. As many institutions move these positions further and further down the organizational chart to save a dollar, this article is a reminder that we will get exactly what we plan, post, and pay for.

P.S. Check out Educause Connect lots of blogging, podcasting, wiking (is that a word?) going on.

A Journal for Women in Higher Education (WIHE)

Do you know about the Women in Higher Education (WIHE) Practitioner's News Journal? I love this small jewel of a journal by Mary Dee Weninger. Weninger started this news journal to “help smart women on campus get wise about how gender affects their being successful in the male-dominated world of higher education”. The WIH invites readers to submit articles on wide range of topics. February 2008 article titles included, What Brings Career Satisfaction to Women Administrators, Women Describe Becoming Resilient through Diversity, Faculty as Classroom Leaders, The Last Laugh: What if a Woman Won Election to President.

A one year online subscription to WIHE will cost you $66, but there is a try before you buy option and visitors are allowed to sample three (3) free issues. Stats on salary and gender gap are available here and provide some food for thought, but the waaay cool thing about this site is its Job Search. WIHE posts announcements “from schools actively seeking qualified WOMEN candidates for administrative and faculty positions”. You can search by title, region, Canada, or international and then lots of positions and information is served up to the job seeker.

WIHE has a great quotes page by and for women. All were good, but these resonated with me.

Let's stop apologizing for our competence. - Zerrie Campbell

Transformational leadership feels right to women because it's not asking anything that they haven't done. - Jacquelyn M.

If they don't select you, they may not have been prepared for you. And in that case, they don't deserve you. - Maria Perez

For all women seeking to be wise or to get some wisdom, this is a resource worth looking at.

Progressive Education Compare & Contrast

Yesterday 1940's



Today 2000's

Positive & Negative Sides of Work and Women Keynotes

On the positive side of my work life, sometimes my work involves travel and conference attendance and on Thursday, February 21, 2008, I listened to a keynote by, Julie K. Little, Ed.D., Interim Director, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, presented at Council of College and Military Educators (CCME) in San Francisco on Web 2.0 and Net Gen learners. CCME sessions and conversations given by military and individuals from military friendly institutions are the similar to conversations and presentations at SLOAN, MERLOT, WCET, and EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). The CCME presentations explored benefits and challenges of technologies and their effect on teaching and learning, especially those presented in online learning and via distance education. I enjoyed the strong keynotes by women leaders on higher education, education technology, and the military.

According to CCME, “it is the only National Organization for professional military educators” and while the emphasis was military, the acceptance of distance learning, conversations about accreditation and quality in online learning made me feel right at home.The CCME is a conference to attend for those in higher education who are interested in serving military students online and a great place to see women leaders in action.

On the negative side of my work life, yikes! No postings or follow-up on my plans to report on what I learned over the course of my blogging. Numerous work projects during December, January and February kept me from thinking, reflecting, or writing on anything not connected to the projects. While the pace of work will remain fast, I should now be able to push the work rather than having it push me. So will need to follow through and finish personal goals related to this blog.

Will be meeting a few of the goals connected to my blogging activities by submitting a proposal to the 2008 MINNESOTA E-LEARNING SUMMIT scheduled for May 21-22, 2008 at Normandale Community College, in Bloomington, MN.

Swiki Chart from Technorati

Swiki per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

What the heck is a Swiki?

First time to post twice on the same day, but found a site builds a widgets called swikis and am excited about sharing the information with others. There are several kinds of swikis to use, but I wanted to play with the Video Swiki. Instructions to create the widget were easy and straightforward and voila---my Proedportal blog has a video swiki with keywords and terms I pulled out from my postings. The videos are pulled up by key word search and when you mouse over the video an extensive list of videos related to the search term is pulled up. Am having fun looking at the results and hope to learn more about how to use this unique search tool.


Check out the Social Search tool called a swiki. According to the website that provided me with mine, "swickis learn from the search behavior of a community of enthusiasts and experts, making it easy for you to quickly find what you’re looking for within a particular topic. In addition, you can easily share a swicki with others and add a swicki buzzcloud to your site or profile (“grab” a swicki), which will dynamically display the hottest searches and give you quick access to that swicki and its community."

Girls Blog more than Boys: 93% of Teens are Online

Mills (2007) reported on differences between girls and boys use of Internet. Based on the Mill's article and Pew Internet Research on Teens and Social Media it appears that girls are blogging (write) more, but boys are posting more video content. A few highlights from the Pew research data in the Mills article included:

• 35% online teen girls blog while only 20% of the boys blog.
• 54% of girls post photos compared to 40% of boys, but more boys than girls put videos online.
• 28% of online teenagers have blogs compared to 19% in Pew's 2004 data.
• 27% of teenagers have their own web pages.
• 66% of teens protect personal information online.
• 70% of teens use cell phones daily and cells phones are primary communication sources for 63% of them.

Follow this link to the Pew Internet & American Life Project for more information and read the Pew Internet Teens & Social Media Report pdf for complete details.

Depending on their point of view, K-12 and Higher Education faculty may find the Pew report that 2/3 of online teen are content creators exciting or disturbing news. In any event, look out here they come!

Why Technology? Why YouTube?

I am always delighted when I find YouTube creations that I believe are a mix of great music, images, and eloquently express the view point of their creators. Why debate the use of technology in education with anyone? Just send this video, Why We Need To Teach Technology In School, and ask them to watch the images, read the text, listen to some good music and who knows, maybe they will change their mind. Very much enjoyed this creation by anderscj (Carl Anderson) and while looking around at some of the other videos posted on YouTube by anderscj found some tutorials:

-Finding a Place to Build in Active Worlds
-Virtual World WebQuest Tour
-File.Extensions
-Waterless Lithography

They are all worth a look.The author of these good works appears to be a student of both art and technology.

8th Annual MERLOT International Conference (MIC08)

The Call for Proposals for the MIC08 is open through February 15, 2008. Never been to a MERLOT Conference? Consider submitting a proposal and attending the conference hosted by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The MERLOT Conference Committee invites you to attend the eighth Annual MERLOT International Conference (MIC08) to be held in Minneapolis, MN (August 7-10, 2008).

This year's conference theme is, MERLOT: Still Blazing the Trail and Meeting New Challenges in the Digital Age. The MERLOT International Conference is designed to foster learning, innovation and practice in the use of information, instruction, and communications technologies in higher education. It is the venue for educators, administrators, and technologists who have interests and expertise in technology-enabled teaching and learning and who recognize the need to remain current in this rapidly advancing field of educational practice and theory.

Keynote speakers scheduled for the MIC08 are:

Dr. Darcy Walsh Hardy, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Director of UT-Telecampus, is a "distinguished distance learning trailblazer" and editor of Dancing on the Glass Ceiling: Women,Leadership, and Technology.

Dr. Robbie Kendall-Melton , Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Education Technology and the Tennessee Board of Regents' Executive Director at the Renaissance Center (TBR), is an author, presenter at national and international conferences, directs staff and faculty training, and has taught various seminars and courses in the area of "Effective Teaching and Enhanced Learning Employing Technology".

Dr. Bernie Dodge, is WebQuest creator and Professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University where he teaches courses in technology integration. Dodge received a MERLOT Teacher Education Classics award at the MIC07 for creating "Quest Garden, a low-threshold application for and hosting WebQuests". Dodge's Quest Garden provides a template that allows users to publish their materials as a finished WebQuest.

Liz Straus on Blogging Mojo and getting the Kudzu Out

Not sure that I ever had Mojo, in fact the only Jo I have is my middle name, but I do know what kudzu is. Kudzu can be found all over the south. A fast growing imported vine, it grows eerily overmuch of the landscape in southern states. Kudzu is aggressive and hard to control. It chokes out trees and other plant vegetation. Thanks to Liz Straus and her post on both Mojo and Kudzu, I found the motivation to blog after about a month’s absence. Kudzu can be found in Mississippi (and other places in the deep south) and that is where my mind and I were in October and November. My mother-in-law was seriously ill for awhile, recently died, and was buried on the 15th of November in McCool, Mississippi. So while late September,October, and November found my thoughts elsewhere, November is my blog’s birthday and I have some reflecting and related postings to write up as 2007 wraps up.

Liz says there are 10 ways to kill Blog Kudzu they are:

1. Step back from your blog and the blogoshere and remember it does not need you to survive.
2. Find security in the knowledge that your blog and its links will be there when you return.
3. Figure out someway to have an experience then blog it!
4. Get up and go somewhere.
5. Talk to friends.
6. Read, think, and make up stories to tell yourself.
7. Tell people you are a web publisher. Listen to their stories and think about how you might translate them.
8. Get advice from young children and follow it when you can.
9. Spend some time with you and enjoy your own company.
10. Read your blog archives and pick your favorites. Try to do it again.

The 11th piece of advice from a friend of hers, says to allow yourself to take some time off because you will work better when you return. Mojo has several definitions, I choose to use the one that connects it to magic. The photo of Kudzu was found on Wikipedia.

Thanks Liz!