Discussions are great educational activities. There’s nothing like a rousing discussion to help students learn about different perspectives on a topic, reflect on their learning, and just generally share information and build community. However, not all students really like the text-based threaded discussions we normally use in our classes: some students are uncomfortable writing for an audience and some just don’t find all that text very appealing.

Fortunately, some new web services out there allow you to easily create threaded VOICE discussions. These services are similar to text-based discussion forums, but instead of typing your post or your reply, you record it! And then, instead of reading all those posts, you simply listen - either at the site or in your favorite RSS Reader (my current favorite is Google Reader because it handles text, audio, and video feeds).

Of course, if you’ve been reading any of the posts in this blog, you know I have a preference for Web 2.0 services rather than software that you have to download. So, I was very happy to find Vaestro. This online service lets you listen to and participate in hundreds of different conversations going on in the Vaestro community… all without even creating an account or downloading anything to your computer! You can also create your own channels, forums, and discussion topics and administer them just as you would any text-based forum. So, go check it out. I think you’ll like it. Or, watch my vaestro overview, administration, and moderation tutorials. They’re not perfect, but they do get the point across.

When I have used this tool more, I will post a more extensive review.

I’ve been using Box.net for some time now for my classes to make handouts available to students who miss class or need another copy.  Last fall, when I was using a blog to keep my students up to date on what what happening in class, I included links to the folders, one for each class.  Since I’m using a wiki instead this semester, I’ve used the widget to embed the class folders on their pages in the wiki.  (I also put in a link in case the files didn’t show up.)

All I needed to set up my free account was an e-mail address.  With this account, I get 1 gigbyte of storage, 10-megabyte file size limit, and 10-gigabyte per month bandwidth.  (More storage and larger file size limits are available with paid accounts.  For more information, go here.)

I’ve been very pleased with the service provided, and I’d strongly recommend it to anyone who needs to make files available online.  I haven’t tried editing documents and images online yet, but I’m sure that will come in handy.  It’s also great that there are no advertisements.

Also posted at 4R x T.

This semester, I’ve been using Wetpaint and PBwikis for my classes, and I have two Wikispaces wikis that I’m using for other professional endeavors. I decided it was time to compare and contrast them:

I really like Wetpaint the best, primarily because of the following:

• automatically generated navigation bar
• social networking features
• easy-to-use editor
• widgets for the services I use (like SlideShare)

The primary disadvantage is the limited amount of file storage (attachments). However, that’s easily overcome by embedding or linking to Box.net folders.

While searching for a Flixn replacement, I stumbled upon:

• veotag - upload videos and then add live tags along the timeline. These tags can be clicked on to take the viewer to specific locations within the video.  Here’s a nice example.
• viddix - upload video and add ‘cue points’ - text, polls, html, rss, images, and other media. The video is played in the left panel and the cue points are played in the right.  See the viddix example.

All of us probably teach courses in which there is some information that needs to be memorized.  In those instances, flash cards can certainly be a helpful study strategy. Knowtes is a free online service that provides your learners with the ability to create flash cards, schedule study intervals with automatic email reminders,  and create study groups to share their flash cards with each other and help each other study.Help your students become better learners.  Tell them about this service. Then, give them assignments to create flash cards (with text and images) related to your course materials and share them with the others in the class.  The act of creating the flash cards would help them learn and then studying from them will help them even more.My Knowtes ID is tektrekker.  Look me up if you create an account! We can share flash cards!

I use Flixn.com quite a bit for quick updates to my learners, so I panicked when I found out they were phasing out their free video recording service.

Of course, there are other services out there: Bubble Guru, Hellodeo, SeeTheFace, and Vlip to name a few. But, since I’d been relying on Flixn, I hadn’t paid any of them much attention. Now, I’ve got less than a month to find something new to replace my old standby. <sigh>

Must-have features for the new online recording service include:

• privacy - I don’t want these messages posted to the web or some social network unless I can make them available to only a select group of people.
• embed-ability (new word!) - I want to be able to paste the video code into my LMS or my private class blog or wiki.
• 3-5 minute record time - I want to have enough time to make a few quick statements and emote a bit.
• free - is that too much to ask, do you think?

A quick (and I do mean quick!) preview of the above-mentioned services revealed that Bubble Guru was not free, Hellodeo was buggy (will have to revisit this), and Vlip was not private. SeeTheFace looks promising but I’m not sure how long the recordings are or how many I can have on the free account. Stay tuned for more info.

In the interim, if you’ve got any suggestions that meet the requirements I’ve listed, please do let me know.

update: after saying that SeeTheFace looked promising, I spent some more time with it and, while it has some seriously cool features, can record for 5 minutes, and can be private, it’s doesn’t have embed-ability. <heavy sigh> The search continues.

In an online teaching environment, it almost seems inevitable that we all get a few files each course that are in a format we can’t open. When this happens, we either have to spend precious time explaining to students how to save their file in a format we can use or learning how to download and install various plug-ins that might make the file more accessible to us. Neither is really an acceptable solution. Fortunately, there are a few online sites that provide us with better options: ZamZar and YouConvertIt.

Common Features
Both ZamZar and YouConvertIt are free web-based services. That means, among other things, that you do not need to download any software to your computer to use these services. Both also allow you to upload and convert up to five files at one time and then send the links to the converted files to any email address. Finally, both services provide conversions for a variety of text, image, audio, and video file formats. Of course, while they offer similar features, each service has some differences - differences that will impact your choice of which to use.

User Experience
Interface - both services have simple, 3-step processes that will have even the most novice computer user converting files in no time! Of the two, I think that ZamZar’s interface is more pleasing, but YouConvertIt’s interface seems less confusing when you are trying to upload more than one document to convert.

Convenience - ZamZar and YouConvertIt convert uploaded files fairly quickly - However, ZamZar had similar conversion times for all file types while YouConvertIt was quicker for audio, similar in time requirements for video, and much slower for text documents. Both also send a link to any email address you specify and the download process is quite simple. However, YouConvertIt keeps your converted files for 7 days while ZamZar only keeps them for 1 day. If you don’t check your email that often, the 7 day window is much more convenient.

Quality - The quality of the PDF and HTML conversions of a word document was similar for both services. Also similar was the quality of their .mp3 files when converted from a .wav format. However, when I uploaded a 24MB QuickTime (.mov) video file for conversion to a flash video file (.flv), ZamZar returned a very nice 1.6MB flash file while the YouConvertIt file was over 100MB and gave me errors. A second attempt with YouConvertIt yielded the same results.

Formats - Both services have a number of file formats that they can handle for conversion. However, each has some niche conversions that the other doesn’t. For example, YouConvertIt handles many StarOffice formats while ZamZar handles MS Office 2007 formats.

Recommendations
Both services are comparable so the choice is not clear cut. For basic text and audio conversion, either will work. If, however, you need the convenience of a 7-day download window, go with YouConvertIt. On the other hand, if you plan to be converting video into FLV or you need to convert MS Office 2007 files, then ZamZar seems the better bet.

I’ve been looking for a quick, easy, instantaneous way of getting info out to my learners. You know the deal - reminders about those upcoming assignment deadlines, encouraging words for deeper social presence, etc.

Since almost everyone has cell phones, I concentrated on mobile technology for my search. I found two possible tools to help: Joopz and AbbyMe. Each has their pros and cons (like all tech).

Joopz
This tool allows you to send and receive SMS messages (text messages on your phone) from a web browser. The messages can be sent immediately or scheduled in advance (woohoo!) and sent to individuals or up to groups of 10. The free version of this service lets you send 50 SMS a month. See Joopz for more info.

AbbyMe
This tool makes it possible for you to send phone calls from a web browser. The calls can be sent immediately or scheduled in advance and they can be sent to individuals or groups (no limit that I can tell). You type in your message and it gets converted to voice on the receiving end. See AbbyMe for more info.

Comparisons
Both of these tools were so easy to use - from account creation to sending the messages (I sent practice messages to myself). One concern I have is that not every person on the planet has an SMS capable phone - that would mean using AbbyMe instead. On the other hand, some folks (especially the 20something crowd) have unlimited SMS but only a handful of cell phone minutes at their disposal. So, for that crowd, Joopz would be better. I do like that you can have Joopz forward SMS responses to your phone if you’re away from your browser. That two-way capability does increase social presence… On the other hand, you can include media files with your message in the AbbyMe service. Neither require the learner to create a new account or sign up for anything.

I think I’ll give both of them a try and see what happens. Of course, I’ll get permission first from each of them. It’s probably not a good thing to send SMS to folks without asking since they have to pay for them.

I’ve no doubt that all of you who read this blog have some great ideas for teaching and learning with technology.  Please, take the time to share your knowledge and experience with others:  present at the Sloan-C Emerging Online Learning Technology conference in Carefree, AZ in May, 2008.

The process to submit your presentation abstract is phenomenally easy and Carefree, AZ is absolutely stunning in May.    So, please, join the fun and submit your abstract.  You’ll meet some great people and learn a few things as well.

Teachers and students frequently find it necessary to present something . Often, in the online world, that means either sharing already created presentations online or creating presentations online.

Share Presentations Online
Most faculty often have previously created presentations that they would like to use. Online services such as MyPlick, AuthorStream, and SlideShare are quite handy for this. I’ve posted the same presentation to all three services so you can compare them: MyPlick example, AuthorStream example, SlideShare example

Create Presentations Online
However, other software gives you ability to create presentations online from scratch! And, those are the ones I’d like to chat about in this post! Three tools, in particular, caught my eye: Preezo, PrezentIt, and Spresent.

Preezo, a very PowerPoint-like tool, is a good choice if you want to create a quick online presentation. Once you’ve created it, you can publish it to the web, email it, or embed it in a blog with a simple click of a button. If you’re already using PowerPoint, this tool will feel very familiar and easy to use.

If you’re looking for a presentation tool that is fairly easy to use and can also support online collaboration, then perhaps you might like PrezentIt. Interesting features include slide transitions, public and private options, and commenting tools. One downside, however, is that although you can invite multiple people to collaborate, you can’t do synchronous collaborations.

Spresent is a full-featured presentation tool that allows for inclusion of audio, video, charts, and other content. This is the tool for you if you need to create multimedia-rich, highly interactive presentations. Of course, because of all the cool options, this tool is a bit more challenging to learn.