Corcoran Studio: Information About Tom Corcoran, Graphic Designer

Podcasts

While working at Heartland Community College as a part-time Lab Assistant and then as the full-time Media Technologist I scripted, narrated, recorded, edited and produced over 60 audio podcasts for the Instructional Development Center between 2007-2008.

These weekly podcasts contained information about news and events pertaining to the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as instructional technology tips and tricks.

These podcasts were displayed on the Instructional Development Center web site and shown within the Apple iTunes podcast directory. The recordings were performed using the Apple GarageBand software or Audacity freeware audio recording and editing software and a Sony F-V320 handheld microphone.

Below you will find all 63 weekly Instructional Development Center podcasts for Heartland Community College recorded between January 2007-April 2008. Each audio file will load when the play button is clicked.

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for April 28 - May 2, 2008

Podcast Number

63

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

April 28, 2008

Length

6:39

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, a big thank you goes out to all who participated in the Spring Faculty Academy discussions, Writing Across the College workshops, and GradeBook presentations. In the Tips and Tricks section I discuss the twelfth of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers ePortfolios.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 63 for the week of April 28th - May 2nd of 2008.

IDC News

Last week in the IDC we finished up with our final workshop of the Spring semester. I'd like to thank everyone for attending the discussions, workshops and training sessions held in the IDC. And big thank you goes out to Jennifer Swartout for delivering the Writing Across the College workshops, Carol Reid and the HCC Library staff for hosting the book discussion groups, Padriac Shinville and Rachel Hills for hosting the Faculty Academy I and II discussions and Terry Mullin for his work on the Gradebook Project demonstration and hands-on training. Be sure to check on the IDC web site and continue listening to the IDC podcasts for information about future IDC workshops. If you have a thought about a workshop you'd like to see offered in the IDC make sure you contact us.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I am continuing with the web 2.0 discussion topics. So far we've talked about a range of items including blogging, Skype, youTube, and collaborative writing. This week it is electronic portfolios.

Electronic Portfolios, or ePortfolios are beginning to take hold in education as a way for students and instructors to track student progress, show evidence of learning, and maintain a large collection of student work that students can take with them after they have graduated from an institution. So unlike Learning Management Systems, after a student is finished with a course they still have access to all of their papers, assignments, etc. they completed for that course in one central location. Most ePortfolios are simply web sites that allow the user to upload documents such as Word files, PDFs, and other electronic media. The student manages their own account, which are often free, and they keep the account for as long as they like. One examples of an ePortfolio web site is at http://www.rcampus.com. rCampus (the letter r and the word campus) uses an Open Education Management System which allows students and instructors to create an account for free and set up their own ePortfolio web site. Once you've set up an account you are able to create a web site using rCampus' simple system. The style of the web pages are similar to setting up a wiki. After an ePortfolio has been created users can invite others to view their content by sending them an invitation via email and giving the invitee the access code necessary to see the electronic portfolio materials. So electronic portfolios could be created by students for all of their course work, a learning community they are involved in, or simply to keep track of an individual courses' material.

No longer will students be able to use the excuse that they cannot access their papers, or other class materials. As long as they have access to a computer with an Internet connection they will have access to their materials. Also, instructors can be invited to view the electronic portfolio so as the instructor you can keep tabs on the progress of the student.

Benefits to students include the ability to store all of their information, papers, and projects in one central location increasing their organization skills. And they can take these projects with them into the future. So if they are going on to a 4 year institution or just as future reference they have easy access to all of this material. This is useful for reflection on how far a student has gone over their two, four, or more years of college education. For instance, a student can easily read a paper they might have written for an intro course several years earlier and compare that level or writing to a more advanced course and see their own progress.

Of course the downside to using an ePortfolio would be the extra work required to upload and manage all of this content. Students might not want to put the extra effort required into managing all of their papers and other materials over the web. Also depending on how comfortable students are with the Internet and using the specific interface the learning curve might be steep for some. And you always have to consider the "digital divide" and whether each student has a computer to start with and a fast enough Internet connection to store and retrieve this material.

Another example of an free ePortfolio site is at Zunal and their zPortfolio system available at http://www.zunal.com/portfolio.php.

Sometimes ePortfolios are part of a larger learning management system like Desire2Learn or ePortfolio.org. In cases such as this the electronic portfolios are not free for students to sign up and they require a commitment and purchase by the institution to access the learning management system and ePortfolio features.

Another possibility is to have students use a blog or wiki if they are more familiar with that technique. They might even already have their own blog, wiki or web site that they could use for this type of ePortfolio. Check out the IDC Podcast episodes number 49 and 50 for more information about blogging and wikis.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. Our IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College and educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of any assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or you have any questions or comments check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's it for another IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for April 21 - 25, 2008

Podcast Number

62

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

April 21, 2008

Length

6:32

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the 5th Writing Across the College of the semester on "Grammar and Writing Assignments" on Thursday, April 24 at 3:30 pm in the IDC. In the tips and tricks section I discuss Clickers.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 62 for the week of April 21st – 25th of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, on Thursday April 24th from 3:30 to 4:30 pm Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the fifth Writing Across the College of the semester. This time the topic is "Grammar and Writing Assignments." Jennifer will focus on assessing grammar in student writing, and how grammar fits into the big picture of writing assignments in your specific course or discipline. If you can't make it to this workshop Jennifer is available for individual programs and to speak with disciplines. Contact her at Jennifer.Swartout@heartland.edu to set up an individual session.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I thought I'd take some time to talk about clickers. What are they, how are they used, and why use them?

Also known as classroom response systems, clickers allow instructors to gain instant feedback about questions they pose to the whole class using small wireless devices that each student uses not too much bigger than a cell phone or Gameboy type of device. Typically these clicker devices have buttons for answering yes or no, true or false, choices for A, B, C, D, etc and the ability to punch in number answers. Think of it like a telephone keypad with a few more button options. The students can respond to a question you pose projected on the screen in a format similar to PowerPoint slides. On screen you can monitor how many students have answered the question and then gain feedback about their answers in the form of graphs. If answer A for instance was the most common answer the class gave to your question then you will see a graph with choice A with the greatest frequency. You can also see the number of each answer chosen.

With a classroom response system you won't have to wonder if students are understanding the material you are presenting. You can ask them questions about content you have just covered and have everyone respond at the same time. No more deer in headlights looks. Well you might still get some of these from under prepared students. Or you can use this to pre-test your students' understanding of concepts allowing you to adjust the time management of each lecture to better suit the needs of that particular group of students. If you start a class period out with a set of questions about the chapter material and you find that students generally get the material covered you can devote more class time to discussion, and dig deeper into a few key points. However if your pre-test shows that students aren't getting a particular concept from the reading then you can spend more time covering that material. So clickers provides instructors with an instant feedback system that you can use to improve your teaching methods, tweaking the delivery method and timing to increase student participation and understanding. It also is a way to "force" students to show up prepared because they cannot hide in the back of class hoping that you won't call on them. You can tell if there are students that are not participating in answering questions.

Students will benefit through the use of clickers by giving everyone a voice. From the most gregarious student in class that always seems to have an opinion to the quiet, mouse-like student that you aren't sure if they are just shy, not prepared, not listening or what. Each student can anonymously respond to your questions. Used correctly this can lead students to see that they can interact with the course, with the material and with you as the instructor rather than being passive recipients of the material.

Now generally it is thought that clickers are best used sporadically in class and not used as the main teaching method. You probably wouldn't want every second of the classroom devoted to having students use the clicker. Even just a few questions per class period might be all you need to spur some real in depth discussion and get more students engaged. Leaned on too heavily and the focus on the clickers drives attention away from the real task at hand. You would have to decide how much or little use of the clickers you want in each class period or course. Clickers can best be used as a supplement to the things you are already doing well.

At Heartland Community College we use the Senteo classroom response system. More information about these clickers is available at http://www.smarttech.com. Here you can watch a demo of what the Senteo system is and how it works. Also check with Lydia Cochran, Program Assistant for ITS for more information on how you can utilize this technology in your classroom.

More information about classroom response systems in general and how they can be used can be found at: http://www.classroomclickers.com. This site includes links to other universities that use clickers, teaching ideas, best practices and what research says about the use of clickers.

Closing

Thanks for listening this episode of the IDC podcast. Our IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College and educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or you have any questions or comments check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's it for another IDC podcast... signing off until next week from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for April 14 - 18, 2008

Podcast Number

61

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

April 14, 2008

Length

3:47

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the 3rd Writing Across the College of the semester on "Using Essays as a Tool for Learning" on Monday April 14 at 2 pm in the IDC. In the tips and tricks section I discuss some new educational programming PBS has made available for free on iTunes University.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 61 for the week of April 14th – 18th of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, on Monday April 14th from 2 to 3 pm in the IDC Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout will be hosting a repeat of the third Writing Across the College of the semester on the topic "Using Essays as a Tool for Learning." This workshop was rescheduled from last Monday. Jennifer will discuss how to assign papers (including research papers) that will help your students learn and options for assessing essays. If you can't make it to this workshop Jennifer is available for individual programs and to speak with disciplines. Contact her at Jennifer.Swartout@heartland.edu to set up an individual session.

Tips and Tricks

In the tips and tricks section of this week's podcast I wanted to mention some of the new additions to iTunes University provided free from PBS television. Programming from KQED, WETA, WGBH out of Boston, WNET in New York and Ideastream, a non-profit organization providing educational materials are all available on iTunes U. These podcasts can play straight out of iTunes University by double clicking the podcast video track you'd like to view or can be subscribed to and saved onto the computer for repeated viewing. Topics include everything from arts and science to economics and politics and health. Often these videos come with educators guides saved as PDF files that can be downloaded. If you are looking to add video content to your classroom experience check out this resource. To find this content you will need to load the iTunes software, go to the iTunes store, then click on iTunes U along the left side of the screen. This will load the iTunes University content. Once here you will see a graphic for PBS. Click this graphic and it will take you into the PBS section of iTunes U. iTunes University provides video and audio content presented by over 50 universities, colleges, community colleges and other providers of educational material which can be found in the lower right of the main iTunes University screen. iTunes is free download available at http://www.apple.com.

Closing

Thanks for listening to episode 61 of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or you have questions or comments check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next week from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for April 7 - 11, 2008

Podcast Number

60

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

April 7, 2008

Length

4:24

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the 3rd Writing Across the College of the semester on "Using Essays as a Tool for Learning" on Monday April 7 at 2 pm in the IDC. Terry Mullin will be demonstrating the Grade Book Project in the IDC on Friday April 11th at 11 am and again at 1:00 pm. Jennifer Swartout will also be hosting the 4th Writing Across the College on "Assessing Writing Assignments" on Friday April 11 at 1 pm. The HCC book discussion group will be discussing "From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean Up America's Rivers" by former HCC student Chad Pregracke on April 9, 10 and 14 in the Heartland Cafe. And finally the third Your World Exposed HCC Speaker Series event of the semester is on Tuesday April 8 in CCB 1407 with the topic "Human Rights and the Role of Civil Society" presented by IWU professor Taye Woldesmiate.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 60 for the week of April 7th – 11th of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, on Monday April 7th from 2 to 3 pm in the IDC Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout will be hosting a repeat of the third Writing Across the College of the semester on the topic "Using Essays as a Tool for Learning." Jennifer will discuss how to assign papers (including research papers) that will help your students learn and options for assessing essays. If you can't make it to this workshop Jennifer is available for individual programs and to speak with disciplines. Contact her at Jennifer.Swartout@heartland.edu to set up an individual session.

On Friday April 11th at 11:00 am or 1:00 pm in the IDC (Student Commons Building 2401) Adjunct Faculty of Social and Business Sciences Terry Mullin will be hosting a hands on workshop on the Grade Book Project. Come learn how the Grade Book Spreadsheets are set up and how adaptable they are to your needs. Contact Terry Mullin for more information about the Grade Book Project at Terry.Mullin@heartland.edu.

Also on Friday from 1:00 to 2:00 pm Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the fourth Writing Across the College of the semester on the topic "Assessing Writing Assignments". Jennifer will discuss tips for effectively responding to student writing. Again if you can't make a workshop Jennifer is available for individual programs and to speak with disciplines. Contact her at Jennifer.Swartout@heartland.edu to set up an individual session.

Don't miss the HCC Library Book Discussion groups covering the book "From the Bottom Up: One Man's Journey to Clean up America's Rivers" by former HCC student Chad Pregracke. Several events are scheduled including book discussions on April 9, 10 and 14 at noon in the Heartland Cafe. These discussions are open to students, staff and community. Contact HCC Librarian Carol Reid at carol.reid@heartland.edu for more information on the HCC book discussion groups.

And finally at Heartland Community College this week, the third Your World Exposed speaking series presentation of the semester will be held in the Community Commons Building Room 1407 on Tuesday April 8th, from 7 to 8 pm. IWU professor Taye Woldesmiate will be discussing "Human Rights and the Role of Civil Society" in this presentation which is free and open to the public. What can you do as a single individual when it comes to global human rights violations? Are there actions you can personally take? Join us for this presentation on April 8th from 7 to 8 pm in the Community Commons Building Room 1407.

Closing

Thanks for listening to episode 60 of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or you have questions or comments check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next week from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for March 31 - April 4, 2008

Podcast Number

59

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

March 31, 2008

Length

3:41

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Terry Mullin will be demonstrating the Grade Book Project in the IDC on Friday April 4th at 11 and again at 1:00 pm. In the Tips and Tricks section I discuss the eleventh of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers Flock.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 59 for the week of March 31st – April 4th of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, on Friday April 4th at 11:00 am or 1:00 pm in the IDC (Student Commons Building 2401) Adjunct Faculty of Social and Business Sciences Terry Mullin will be hosting a workshop on the Grade Book Project. Come learn how the Grade Book Spreadsheets are set up and how adaptable they are to your needs in this Demo. Terry will also be offering hands-on workshop as a follow up to this demo on April 11th.

Remember you can check the IDC web site for all of the semesters events, workshops, and more including teaching tips, quotes of the week, and more resources regarding teaching and learning at http://www.heartland.edu/idc.

Tips and Tricks

For this week's tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. Our topic this week is the browser Flock.

Flock is a web browser created on the same codebase as Firefox but is very different than most browsers. Flock allows users to tie in their youTube account, Flickr, Twitter feeds, other RSS news feeds and more. It is available for free at http://www.flock.com. It takes the basics of a web browser and turns it into a more powerful application tying your web browsing into all social networking, blogging, photo sharing and other web 2.0 application on the Internet. The built in photo uploading application allows you to easily add photos to a Flickr or Picasa account right in Flock. It also allows for easy access to web mail based email accounts. Basically this browser is built for a tighter integration of browser with other web 2.0 applications.

Could Flock be used in Higher Education? This could be a good browser for those that are really into the whole web 2.0 experience. If a student has multiple instant messaging, blogging, photo sharing, web mail and other accounts this type of browser was designed for them.

Closing

Thanks for listening to episode 59 of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or you have questions or comments check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for March 24 - 28, 2008

Podcast Number

58

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

March 24, 2008

Length

8:15

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, the second HCC Library book discussion group of the semester is on Tuesday March 25, at noon in the IDC. This week's book is "Into the Wild". Jennifer Swartout hosts the third Writing Across the College of the semester in the IDC on Thursday, March 27 from 12:30 to 1:30 on the topic "Using Essays as a Tool for Learning". The sixth Faculty Academy II workshop hosted by Padriac Shinville will be on Friday March 28, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm with the topic "Wrapping Up". And finally the AQIP Campus Conversation Day #4 will be on Friday March 28 from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm in Community Commons Building Room 1406/1407. In the Tips and Tricks section I discuss the tenth of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers Second Life.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 58 for the week of March 24th – 28th of 2008.

IDC News

The IDC will be holding the second HCC Library book discussion group of the semester on Tuesday, March 25 from noon to 1:00pm in the IDC. This time the discussion is on Jon Krakauer's book "Into the Wild". A fascinating story of a young man who drops out of society, leaving his family and life he has always known behind to eventually live in the Alaskan wilderness. If you'd like to discuss this book feel free to come into the IDC, Student Commons Building Room 2401 on Tuesday March 25 at noon.

On Thursday, March 27 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm held in the IDC Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the third Writing Across the College of the semester on the topic "Using Essays as a Tool for Learning." Jennifer will discuss how to assign papers (including research papers) that will help your students learn and options for assessing essays. If you can't make it to this event the topic will be repeated on Monday April 7th from 2:00 to 3:00 in the IDC. If you still can't make it Jennifer is available for individual programs and to speak with disciplines. Contact her at Jennifer.Swartout@heartland.edu to set up an individual session.

The sixth of the Faculty Academy II workshops hosted by Padriac Shinville will be on Friday, March 28th. These Faculty Academy II workshops are based on the book "The Courage to Teach" by Parker Palmer and this week's topic is the "Wrap Up" with the discussion held in the IDC from 2:00 to 3:15. Contact Padriac Shinville at padriac.shinville@heartland.edu for more information about the Faculty Academy II workshops.

Also on Friday, March 28th the 4th AQIP Campus Conversation Day will be held from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm in CCB 1406-1407. Come find out what is happening with current action projects and possible upcoming projects. Breakfast and Lunch will be provided. For more information about the 4th AQIP Campus Conversation Day contact Coordinating Committee Co-Vice Chair Paul Folger at Paul.Folger@heartland.edu.

Tips and Tricks

For this week's tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. This week's topic: Second Life.

Second Life is a web based virtual world that takes the concepts of social networking and instant messaging to an extreme form allowing people to create avatars which you control to represent yourself in this world, communicate with others in Second Life and even own land, create 3D objects and use virtual money. Second Life can be found at http://www.secondlife.com. It was created in 2002 and has grown in popularity ever since. When you are a part of Second Life and you are active in logging in you are referred to as a resident. The virtual world in Second Life is made up of a grid, which is the entire Second Life world. In the grid there are islands which can be privately owned depending upon if you are a basic user or a premium user. The deeper you get into Second Life the more expensive it becomes. It is free to use the basics of Second Life but you can purchase items such as clothing, cars and other objects or land. Your avatar can move around in this world and even fly (with or without the aid of an airplane or helicopter). You can even teleport yourself from one place to another instantly. As I stated, you communicate through instant messaging rather than speaking into a microphone and your messages can be directed specifically at another person or can be made public for whole groups of people.

Could Second Life be used in Higher Education? Many types of organizations ranging from churches to virtual art galleries use Second Life as a meeting place for it's members or audiences. There is a virtual library in Second Life created by the Alliance Library Network here in Illinois where real world librarians staff the reference desk and provide answers to user's questions on all types of subjects just like a real library would provide. So it is no surprise that some major universities such as University of Louisville, Rice University, Vassar College and others have started using Second Life as a way to offer virtual classrooms.

One potential use of Second Life in Higher Education would be simply to study the sociological aspects of this type of human interaction. Do people differ in their interactions in cyberspace compared to real life? What causes these differences? A sociology or social psychology class could delve into the research. Another use would be to use Second Life as a full virtual classroom experience where students log in and interact through their avatars with other students and their instructor in an immersive virtual environment. Or virtual office hours could be set up where you are logged in at specific times and can hold office hours with students.

A potential downside to Second Life (besides taking a huge chunk of time from your first life) is the amount of commitment you would have to make to using the application and the learning curve for both instructor and students. Seeing that most people haven't really ever used a virtual environment application like Second Life it becomes challenging to learn how to use the application in even it's most basic forms. And I would think that users and instructor alike would have to be extremely comfortable using this type of application in order to reap the true benefits that this type of distance learning could offer. More information about the research behind the learning curve and possibly benefits of Second Life can be found on the Educause web site at http://connect.educause.edu and doing a search for "Breaking the Second Life Learning Curve", by Joe Sanchez, a researcher and instructor at the University of Texas at Austin who has spent time studying and using Second Life in Higher Education.

For more information on using Second Life specifically for education see the link http://secondlifegrid.net/programs. On this site you can find information about using second life in education and some specific or special benefits offered to educators just trying Second Life out for the first time.

Closing

Thanks for listening to another episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or you have questions or comments check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for March 17 - 21, 2008

Podcast Number

57

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

March 17, 2008

Length

4:56

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, the fifth Faculty Academy Workshop hosted by Rachel Hills will be on Thursday, March 20 at 9:30 in the IDC. On Friday March 21, Padriac Shinville hosts the fifth Faculty Academy II workshop with an online discussion on "Learning in Community". In the Tips and Tricks section I discuss the ninth of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers Skype.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 57 for the week of March 17th – 21st of 2008.

IDC News

Assistant Professor of English in Alternative Learning Rachel Hills will be hosting the fifth of her five part Faculty Academy I series of workshops on Thursday, March 20th from 9:30 to 11:00 am held in the IDC. This week's topic is on "Wrapping Up". Contact Rachel Hills at Rachel.hills@heartland.edu for more information on participating in these Faculty Academy workshops.

The fifth of the Faculty Academy II workshops hosted by Padriac Shinville will be on Friday, March 21st. These Faculty Academy II workshops are based on the book "The Courage to Teach" by Parker Palmer and this week's topic is "Learning in Community" with the discussion held online in WebCT. For more information on participating in these Faculty Academy II workshops contact Padriac Shinville at padriac.shinville@heartland.edu.

Tips and Tricks

In another installment of the tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. This week's discussion is on Skype.

Skype is a computer program that you can use to make free phone calls to other Skype users through a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) connection. You can also use Skype to call cell phones and landline phone numbers for a fee. However it cannot be used for calling emergency numbers. The program is free to download and is compatible and available on all major current operating systems (Windows, Macintosh, and Linux) and can be found at http://www.skype.com. Some of the additional features of Skype include video conferencing using your computer and a web cam for free, and instant messaging and conference call and group chat functions for a fee. The only thing you need besides the computer, application and internet connection is a headset with a microphone to speak your calls into.

Is this something that could be used in Higher Education? Skype could be incorporated into distance education quite nicely if both the faculty and student has a web cam and a computer capable of running voice over internet protocol. If that is the case then live, video office hours could be held where students call your Skype number and chat with you as if you were face to face. And remember with Skype to Skype calls this is a free call.

There are also potential security issues with using a technology like Skype. The way that Skype works turns other computers on the same network into "nodes" using their bandwidth to assist with the Skype call. Although there is some disagreement as to what exactly Skype does and does not do on a network some Universities consider this to be a serious enough problem to discourage Skype use and possibly even ban the use of Skype. The fact that Skype apparently works over a dial up connection discredits some of the controversial statements made about this technology. More information about these issues can be found by doing a search for Skype and Higher Education.

More information about Skype including downloading this application for your computer is available again at http://www.skype.com.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC, have questions or comments check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for March 3 - 7, 2008

Podcast Number

56

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

March 3, 2008

Length

7:05

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, on Wednesday from 2-3 pm Jennifer Swartout will lead a repeat of the third Writing Across the College on "Linking Course Goals to Writing Assignments", on Thursday at 9 am in the IDC, Rachel Hills leads the Faculty Academy workshop on "Engaging Students: Discussion as a Way of Assessing". Also this week, the Faculty Academy II on "Teaching in Community" is hosted by Padriac Shinville with an online discussion in WebCT on Friday, March 7. Also at Heartland Community College this week, the second Your World Exposed HCC Speaker series presentation will be Tuesday, March 4. Join HCC's own John Muench as he discusses "The Real Truth: Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change." in the CCB 1407 at 7:00 pm. In the Tips and Tricks section I discuss the eighth of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers miniblogging and twitter.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 56 for the week of March 3rd – 7th of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, a repeat of the second Writing Across the College of the semester hosted by Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout will be taking place on Wednesday March 5th from 2-3 pm in the IDC. The topic: "Linking Writing Assignments to Course Goals". Contact Jennifer Swartout at Jennifer.swartout@heartland.edu if you cannot make this time to make arrangements to meet with her individually.

On Thursday, March 6th from 9:30 to 11:00 am held in the IDC, Assistant Professor of English in Alternative Learning Rachel Hills will continue with the Faculty Academy series of workshops. This week's topic, the fourth in the series, is titled "Engaging Students: Discussion as a Way of Assessing". Contact Rachel Hills at Rachel.hills@heartland.edu for more information on participating in these Faculty Academy workshops.

Also this week, Associate Dean of Academic Support Padriac Shinville will be hosting the fourth of a series of Faculty Academy II workshops based on the book "The Courage to Teach" by Parker Palmer. This time the topic is "Teaching in Community" with the workshop held on Friday, March 7th with the discussion to be held online in WebCT. For more information on participating in these Faculty Academy II workshops contact Padriac Shinville at padriac.shinville@heartland.edu.

Also this week at Heartland Community College, the second Your World Exposed HCC Speaker series will be on March 4th from 7 to 8 pm in the Community Commons Building Room 1407. This time the speaker will be HCC's own John Muench, Associate Professor of Chemistry. The topic will be "The Real Truth: Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change". This presentation is free and open to the public. Join us for an engaging discussion of one of today's most controversial and thought provoking topics. Are we causing global warming? What role does carbon dioxide play in climate change?

Tips and Tricks

In another installment of the tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. This week's topic is miniblogging and twitter.

We've talked about blogging in a couple of past IDC podcasts with the most recent being the episode #49. Blogging provides a easy way for you to communicate ideas to others, post content like videos and audio and even create feeds of your content to send out to subscribers. Well services like Twitter, available on the web at http://twitter.com allow you to take an aspect of blogging and combine it with instant messaging to form a whole new category called miniblogging, or sometimes referred to as nanoblogging.

With this web 2.0 technology you can stay in touch with friends, co-workers or other groups finding out what they are doing and sending them messages about what you are doing. Twitter keeps these blogs (called tweets) to just 140 characters, so you have to keep it short. So instead of writing up a whole blog you can use it to instant message whole groups or whoever is subscribed to your twitter.

To get started with Twitter you go to their web site, click the join button and create an account with a username and password. The address to find all of your twitter entries then becomes http://twitter.com/USERNAME. From there you are prompted with the basic question, "What are you doing?" You enter your answer such as, "I'm going to the new U23D movie at the Galaxy theater at 7:20, Anyone want to join?", or "Heading to the library to research the painter Edward Hopper for my art history course." This becomes a form of communication that is excellent for in the moment, but doesn't really work for longer lasting entries like blogging can. The twitter entries you send out can be public so anyone can follow what you are writing about or you can make your tweets private so you have to authorize others before they can follow your entries.

Twitter works on mobile phones sending out the entries that you have chosen to follow as a SMS (or short message service), which would require a mobile phone with unlimited data plan or your charges would quickly mount, or you can view a mobile smart phone version of the twitter website at http://m.twitter.com. This allows users to stay in contact with their fellow twitter users when they are away from there computers.

Could this be used in higher education? A few possible ways it could be used include using it as instant messaging for group collaboration. If students need to collaborate when and where they are going to meet in the library, like the example I gave previously, then this type of communication could be used. Also instructors could have students send in short communications about how they are doing on projects, research or if they have questions.

I've heard Twitter described as one of those technologies that either people are using and using regularly or don't know anything about at all. It is a particular niche in the whole communication spectrum lying somewhere between email and full blogging and represents another growing web 2.0 technology.

Closing

Another web 2.0 discussion will be coming after Spring Break week. Stay tuned.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC, have questions or comments check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week and a great Spring Break!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for February 25 - 29, 2008

Podcast Number

55

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

February 25, 2008

Length

9:21

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, on Thursday at 9 am in the IDC, Rachel Hills leads the Faculty Academy workshop on "Engaging Students: Discussion as a Way of Teaching Content". The HCC Library Staff is hosting a book discussion group in the IDC on February 28, at noon on the book "Angels and Demons." Also this week, the Faculty Academy II on "A Culture of Fear" is hosted by Padriac Shinville in the IDC on Friday February 29 at 2:00 pm. In the Tips and Tricks section I discuss the seventh of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers social networking.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

This week in the IDC, on Thursday, February 28th from 9:30 to 11:00 am held in the IDC, Assistant Professor of English in Alternative Learning Rachel Hills will continue with the Faculty Academy series of workshops. This week's topic, the third in the series, is entitled "Engaging Students: Discussion as a Way of Teaching Content". This series of discussions is a continuation of the dialog started as part of Rachel's Spring HCC Faculty Best Practices presentation from January. Contact Rachel Hills at Rachel.hills@heartland.edu for more information on participating in these Faculty Academy workshops.

Also on Thursday February 28 in the IDC from noon to 1:00 the HCC Library Book discussion group will be meeting to discuss the book "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. Come share your thoughts on a book Publishers Weekly called "well plotted and explosively paced".

Also this week, Associate Dean of Academic Support Padriac Shinville will be hosting the third of a series of Faculty Academy II workshops based on the book "The Courage to Teach" by Parker Palmer. This time the topic is "Knowing in Community" with the workshop held on Friday, February 29th from 2:00 - 3:15 pm in the IDC. For more information on participating in these Faculty Academy II workshops contact Padriac Shinville at padriac.shinville@heartland.edu.

Tips and Tricks

In another installment of the tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. This week's topic is social networking sites such as mySpace and Facebook.

To start out with what exactly is a social network site or service? Social networks at their most basic are just web services that people who share an interest in a particular subject, lifestyle, or opinion can interact. By interact I mean using the web to chat, email, do file sharing, engage in discussion, etc. Within this broad definition the whole internet can be thought of as a social network because the Internet is used to transfer email and connect people.

Social Networking has gotten some bad press in recent times due to the sometimes bizarre statements people put in their own profiles, the openness of the information, the potential for identity theft, controversy over who owns the content and when you can opt in or opt out of services offered and the like. In many cases the information that you put on a social network becomes a permanent part of the web's history that you can never take back, similar to having your own web site archived by search engines. Some even believe that social networking is bad for education. But for better or worse these are technologies that exist and many people use daily.

MySpace and Facebook are two of the most popular social networking sites currently available and can be found at http://www.myspace.com and http://www.facebook.com respectively. Just how do these sites work? Each works in a similar way to the other web 2.0 applications discussed so far. You will be asked to create a username and password to create an account for your social networking site. Then you can upload graphics, pictures, text, and other content. Once you get your site established you can start receiving "friend" requests of people who want to join your network. You can accept new friends and then they become part of your network and can interact with you via email, chat features, and file sharing.

There are basic arguments for using or not using social networking sites. The pro-social networking argument usually says something like "join the student's where they are. They are familiar with these technologies and many already check their sites daily to see if friends have contacted them." The side not in favor of social networking says, "students consider this a non-education tool used for fun and don't associate it with serious academic study. Often times there are outlandish pictures, words or videos associated with social networking sites and thus they get a bad reputation. This kind of atmosphere has nothing to do with education."

Unfortunately many students often don't know how to use resources such as these responsibly because they have never been taught how. So this could be an excellent opportunity for a discussion of what should be included on a student's social networking site, how it reflects back on them in terms of their own professionalism (or lack thereof) and how more and more potential employers do a search for social networking pages on potential employees before hiring them. It is a sort of background check that often reveals the true you to your next employer. I wouldn't recommend putting anything on your own web page or social networking site that you wouldn't want a potential future employer seeing about yourself.

Social Networking sites have the potential to create learner centric activities where the student drives their own learning. In this way these sites could be used as a sort of electronic portfolio (more on this in future episodes in the coming weeks). The ability to upload content, link to videos, chat with other students and more put the students in their own driver seat interacting in a community atmosphere. In this way it can be thought of like a course management system but more open and focused specifically on the student, which has its own set of pros and cons. The pros include the course management system being more learner centric rather than content centric and the concept of an open course management model might convince some students that learning can take place anywhere and is not just confined to the traditional classroom model. However, the open idea also opens up security issues, privacy issues and the instructor would have less control over the learning environment. Each instructor would have to be the judge for themselves whether this type of web 2.0 interaction is worth the possible downsides social networking sites present. Another way social networking could be used in higher education might involve a sociology or social psychology class discussing how social networking sites are changing the way we interact as a society. So rather than using the social network itself, simply discuss the pros and cons with students of these sites.

Some alternatives to the larger mySpace and Facebook exist. One is Ning available at http://www.ning.com. Ning allows users to create their own social network about any topic they wish. Ning provides the hosting/server space, and the templates as well as ability to socially interact but it places advertisements on the users pages just like the bigger mySpace and Facebook. Another social networking site can be found at http://www.bebo.com. The name Bebo comes from the phrase "Blog early, blog often" and works in the same way as the other social networking sites. This is just a short list of the many social networking sites that have sprung up over the past year or so.

If you have questions about social networking web sites contact me at tom.corcoran@heartland.edu. Further contact information is listed on the Heartland Community College Instructional Development Center web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc.

Closing

Stay tuned for another episode of the IDC podcast. Next week we'll continue with the web 2.0 discussion with miniblogging and twitter.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or you want to leave feedback about the IDC podcasts check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for February 18 - 22, 2008

Podcast Number

54

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

February 18, 2008

Length

10:03

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Rachel Hills leads the Faculty Academy workshop on "Engaging Students: Discussion as a Way of Reflecting" on Thursday at 9 am in the IDC. The Faculty Academy II this week is on "A Culture of Fear" as is hosted by Padriac Shinville in the IDC on Friday at 2:00pm. Author and Certified Financial Planner Sheryl Garrett comes to Heartland for the "Your World Exposed" HCC Speaker series to discuss "Strategies for You and Your Money in the Current Economic Environment" on Tuesday February 19 in CCB 1407 at 7 pm. In the Tips and Tricks section I discuss the sixth of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers social bookmarking.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 54 for the week of February 18th – 22nd of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, on Thursday, February 21st from 9:30 to 11:00 am held in the IDC, Assistant Professor of English in Alternative Learning Rachel Hills will continue with the Faculty Academy series of workshops. This week's topic, the second in the series, is titled "Engaging Students: Discussion as a Way of Reflecting". This series of discussions is a continuation of the dialog started as part of Rachel's Spring HCC Faculty Best Practices presentation from January. Contact Rachel Hills at Rachel.hills@heartland.edu for more information on participating in these Faculty Academy workshops.

Also this week, Associate Dean of Academic Support Padriac Shinville will be hosting the second of a series of Faculty Academy II workshops based on the book "The Courage to Teach" by Parker Palmer. This time the topic is "A Culture of Fear" with the workshop held on Friday, February 22nd from 2:00 - 3:15 pm in the IDC. For more information on participating in these Faculty Academy II workshops contact Padriac Shinville at padriac.shinville@heartland.edu.

Also this week at Heartland, the first Your World Exposed HCC Speaker series of the semester is going to be held on Tuesday, February 19 in the Community Commons Building Room 1407 from 7 to 8 pm. Speaker Sheryl Garrett will be sharing her thoughts as a Certified Financial Planner on "Strategies for You and Your Money in the Current Economic Environment". If you want to hear sound advice on money matters ranging from global issues to personal financial issues come hear this speaker. The event is free and open to the public. Ms. Garrett has been named "one of the top 25 most influential people in financial planning" and has just authored the book "Personal Finance Workbook for Dummies". Good timing for those of you preparing for tax season.

Thank you to Ginny Washburn from Smart Technologies for sharing information with us on the Senteo student response or "clickers" system and the Sympodium SmartBoard technology last week on Tuesday, February 12th. If you want to practice using the Sympodium and Notebook technology to capture your own handwritten notes from Word or Powerpoint documents or from any other screen shot we have a Sympodium in the Instructional Development Center office area within Academic Support on the second floor of the Student Commons Building for your use. Feel free to come in and try out this technology. For more information on Smart Technologies see the web site http://www.smarttech.com. And finally for more information on using clickers in your classroom check with the ITS department.

Tips and Tricks

In another installment of the tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. This week's topic is social bookmarking.

Do you ever go from one computer, say your home computer, and go to login at work and think, "I wish I had my bookmarks or favorites with me on this computer." Well with social bookmarking you can access your bookmarks from any computer. Another web 2.0 example, social bookmarking is the act of storing web sites you have bookmarked into a web based application that you can add keywords to, check to see what other web sites people have found similar to what you have bookmarked and share your bookmarks with others.

One of the most popular social bookmarking web sites is at http://del.icio.us (pronounced delicious) which is owned by Yahoo.com. This web site allow you to create an account, login and then anytime you are on a web page you want to save in your favorites to view later you simply add that to your del.icio.us bookmarks using a plug in that goes directly into your browser. You will see a little icon near the top of your browser window that says "Tag". When you click this the del.icio.us web site will load in a separate window asking you to login. Once you do this the web site is added to your del.icio.us bookmarks. Then from any computer you can see all of the sites you have bookmarked using this method by going to del.icio.us and logging in. You can even group your bookmarks by keyword(s), and a short description of that web site and why you thought it was important enough to bookmark. You can not only see what you have bookmarked but also search what other users have bookmarked by keyword and even subscribe to other users bookmarks by RSS feed. So every time some other user updates their bookmarks you get a notification that new bookmarks have been added to their account and what those bookmarks are. Whole groups can even create an account to store all of the group members bookmarks.

As stated last week, this type of web 2.0 user tagging or keywording of information is termed folksonomy. It is one of the hallmarks of web 2.0 technologies as web 2.0 tends to be driven by user generated content. Folksonomy is so important because all of this user generated content would just get lost on the internet without the keywords. And as it turns out people actually like adding their own keywords to their content such as videos on youTube, photos on Flickr, or bookmarks on del.icio.us. These socially generated keywords make it possible to find content similar to your own without having to search through page after page of search engine results and as a matter of fact folksonomy is often viewed as a counter reaction to the whole concept of search engines. Whereas traditional static web pages are typically based on what could be called a "closed classification system" where the keywords are provided by the creator of the web page as meta data, folksonomy is just the opposite. The keywords are provided by the average user in an open system where you get to choose your own keywords.

So back to social bookmarking. How could it be used in Higher Education? Well the most obvious way would be with group research projects. Students could create an account on a service such as del.icio.us and as each student in the group finds internet related research pertaining to the topic they are researching they could bookmark it into that one account. That way everyone in the group can see what research has been found. In this way social bookmarking is another excellent example of group collaboration over the web. This would also be handy from an instructor point of view because then you can check up on your students' progress of their research and maybe even suggest web sites that your students have overlooked as possible sources of information. Another way it could be used in higher education involves the social aspect. If students can view other users bookmarks by keyword then they can get a sense of what other web sites people have found interesting or useful on a particular subject. And just in general it is a great way to enable you to have your favorites follow you from computer to computer rather than being stuck on one machine. This can be especially handy for students at an institution like Heartland Community College in which the student goes from class to class working on possibly several different computers over the course of a day or the week. This way they can bookmark into del.icio.us and not have to worry about what computer they did their research on as would be the case using the regular bookmarking or favorites feature in browsers such as Internet Explorer, Safari or Firefox.

If you have questions about social bookmarking web sites contact me at tom.corcoran@heartland.edu. Further contact information is listed on the Heartland Community College Instructional Development Center web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc.

Closing

Next week we will continue with another web 2.0 discussion with the topic of social networking sites such as mySpace and Facebook.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or want to leave feedback about the IDC podcasts check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for February 11 - 15, 2008

Podcast Number

53

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

February 11, 2008

Length

9:50

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Rachel Hills hosts the first of five Faculty Academy workshops on "Engaging Students: Discussion as a Way of Inquiring". The Writing Across the College from last week has been rescheduled and will feature "Linking Assignments to Course Goals". Also this week, the first of a series of Faculty Academy II workshops will be held on Friday February 15 hosted by Padriac Shinville and will be on "The Heart of the Teacher". In the Tips and Tricks section I discuss the fifth of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers photo sharing.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 53 for the week of February 11th - 15th of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, the first of a series of Faculty Academy workshops lead by Assistant Professor of English in Alternative Learning Rachel Hills will be on Thursday February 14th, from 9:30 to 11:00 am in the IDC, Student Commons Building 2401. This series of Faculty Academy workshops is designed to further the discussion that followed Rachel's January Best Practices presentation on leading an effective classroom discussion. The first topic of five consecutive Thursday workshops will be on "Engaging Students: Discussion as a Way of Inquiring". In following weeks topics include: Discussion as a Way of Reflecting, as a way of Teaching Content, as a way of Assessing & Discussion as a way of Wrapping Up. Contact Rachel Hills at Rachel.hills@heartland.edu for more information on these Faculty Academy workshops.

Rescheduled from last week the second Writing Across the College workshop of the semester on "Linking Writing Assignments to Course Goals" hosted by Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout will be on Thursday, February 14 from 3:30 to 4:30 in the IDC, Student Commons Building 2401. Stop in if you want to learn more about bringing your writing assignments and coarse goals in line with each other. Bring your questions, current writing assignments, or just show up. This workshop will also be repeated on March 5th from 2 to 3pm. Contact Jennifer Swartout at Jennifer.Swartout@heartland.edu if you cannot make either of these times to make arrangements to meet with her individually.

Also this week, Associate Dean of Academic Support Padriac Shinville will be hosting the first of a series of Faculty Academy II workshops based on the book "The Courage to Teach" by Parker Palmer. The first will be held on Friday, February 15 from 2:00 – 3:15 pm in the IDC and is titled "The Heart of the Teacher". For more information on participating in these Faculty Academy II workshops contact Padriac Shinville at Padriac.Shinville@heartland.edu. These Faculty Academy II workshops will be held on consecutive Fridays from Feb 15 through March 28, excluding Spring Break week, and include workshops on "A Culture of Fear", "Knowing in Community", "Teaching in Community", "Learning in Community", and a wrap up on March 28.

Tips and Tricks

In another installment of the tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. Last week was youTube and now this week's topic is photo sharing.

Similar to last week's topic on youTube, photo sharing web sites allow users to upload their own content (a very web 2.0 concept) and view other users content. In this case though, instead of videos it is still digital photos. There are many photo sharing web sites out their but I will be focusing on just a few. Namely Flickr and Picasa.

Flickr (spelled F L I C K R) at http://www.flickr.com is Yahoo's photo sharing service which hosts over 2 Billion photos. If you have a yahoo email address then you can already use Flickr. Photo sharing web sites allow users to log in, upload their digital photos and easily share them with friends, family members or even the world at large. Images can be tagged with keywords for organization and they can even be edited using crop and resize tools if you are using Google's Picasa application available at http://picasa.google.com. Picasa (spelled P I C A S A) which is a play on the name Picasso and the Spanish word for house, casa, is an free application that you can download to a Windows platform computer and allows for even more photo editing possibilities including the ability to edit photos, print, and burn CDs. Macintosh users can download a plug in for Apple's iPhoto program which integrates with Picasa. After uploading and editing, the images can be emailed, printed, and shared with only a certain number of friends and family or you can make your photos public so anyone can view them. You can even forward photos onto your blog for insertion there. One of the real powers behind these photo sharing sites is their ability to help keep photos organized by keyword. Within web 2.0 terminology this tagging of photos, videos, bookmarks and more is referred to as folksonomy, which is defined as the average computer users creating keywords for their own content uploaded to the web for others to find. Another power behind an application like Flickr is its ability to allow for group uploading of photos. So rather than having separate user accounts, several users can upload their photos all into one large pool. This lends itself to easier group collaboration.

Another feature of Flickr is its ability to allow users to release their photos for general use under a creative commons license. These free licenses allow users to legally use, edit, and share other people's creative work while still allowing the original creator to retaining some of the rights to the original work itself. A creative commons license allows content creators to create work that spans the distance between full copyright protection where your original work is restricted and public domain work where the copyright has expired and the work is now available to be used by anyone freely. As they say on the Creative Commons web site their licenses create a "some rights reserved" condition rather than an "all rights reserved" like copyright or "no rights reserved" like public domain. More information about creative commons licensing can be found at http://www.creativecommons.org.

O.K. How could photo sharing be used in Higher Education? In a photography course photo sharing web sites can be used to critique other students or even other photographers work they find on these web sites for lighting, focal depth, and other photo composition elements. In a creative writing course, student could be asked to write a story based on photographs they've found on these sites. Or students could be asked to upload their own photos as part of a project or as part of an electronic portfolio in a wide variety of subjects or courses. With the ability for group uploading on Flickr, whole classes can take advantage of pooling their photos together for group projects.

Speaking of large collections of photos... the Library of Congress just release a large collection of photographs from their archives on Flickr available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/. Here you can view photos from the early 20th century up through World War II. They have an amazing collection of color photographs from the 1930s and 40s in extremely sharp detail. If you have an interest in history in general or the history of photography in particular this collection is a must see.

If you have questions about photo sharing sites such as Flickr and Picasa contact me at tom.corcoran@heartland.edu. Further contact information is listed on the Heartland Community College Instructional Development Center web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc.

Closing

Next week we will continue with another web 2.0 discussion. This time on social bookmarking with a bit more discussion on folksonomy and its uses in higher education.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or want to leave feedback about the IDC podcasts check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for February 4 - 8, 2008

Podcast Number

52

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

February 4, 2008

Length

7:54

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout hosts a the second Writing Across the College of the semester on "Linking Writing Assignments with Course Goals". In the tips and tricks section I discuss the fourth of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers youTube.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 52 for the week of February 4th – 8th of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, the second Writing Across the College workshop of the semester on "Linking Writing Assignments to Course Goals" hosted by Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout will be on Thursday, February 7 from 3:30 to 4:30 in the IDC, Student Commons Building 2401. Stop in if you want to learn more about bringing your writing assignments and coarse goals in line with each other. This workshop will also be repeated on March 5th from 2 to 3pm. Contact Jennifer Swartout at Jennifer.swartout@heartland.edu if you cannot make either of these times to make arrangements to meet with her individually.

Tips and Tricks

In another installment of the tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. For the fourth of several web 2.0 podcasts as promised this week's topic is youTube.

So we've covered how blogs, wikis and collaborative writing can be used in higher education. This week we shift gears into video and specifically youTube. What is it and how can they be used? YouTube is a website, now owned by Google, that allows average computer users to post, watch, link to, and comment on video content over the Internet. With a camera ranging from an inexpensive digital point and click camera in video mode to an advanced professional video camera and any type in between anyone can post videos on any subject online for free. All you need to do is create an account with Google by typing in an email and a password into the registration at www.youtube.com. Just go to youTube and click on sign up. You can find videos on virtually any topic you can imagine on this web site. This year youTube is even hosting videos related to the upcoming presidential election 2008. You can watch videos about the candidates and even primary and presidential debates all online. There are even questions that citizens have asked of the candidates via video posted on youTube. So depending on how you use youTube it can be a source of entertainment from the humorous to the downright bizarre or it can be used as a source of information and education.

So the first step would be to shoot your own video. After you've shot your video connect the camera to the computer and transfer the video over to your computer following your camera's instructions. Then you can login to youTube and upload the video to their service. The resulting uploaded videos can then be embedded into blogs and web pages or viewed right in youTube by providing viewers with the link to your video.

Sounds easy enough but how could video sharing be used in Higher Education? If you had group presentations you wanted your students to perform this is one way you could have them demonstrate their understanding of the material. Rather than having students give a presentation in front of the class have them give the presentation in front of a camera. The resulting effort given by students will likely be of higher quality because they will take their presentation more seriously if they know that it is being shown public rather than just in a private classroom in front of their peers. Another use could be for you, the instructor, to post demonstrations, visual examples, or any type of tutorial you'd like to share with your students. There are whole web sites devoted to teaching viewers how to perform certain skills. The DIYNetwork at http://www.diynetwork.com/ has videos of projects uploaded by the web site's audience about topics ranging from home improvement to auto repair. Another web site that is specifically devoted to video content is teachmac at http://www.teachmac.com. This web site allows the audience to upload video content of tips and tricks related to computers, both Macintosh and PC platforms, as well as view other members tutorials that they have uploaded.

If you are looking to shoot some video we have a FlipVideo flash memory based video camera available for check out in the IDC. This extremely easy to use small, video camera has a built in USB connection and video editing software available right on the camera itself. So you just take the FlipVideo camera, hold it or set it up on a simple tripod, press record and press record again when you are finished. It takes about 60 minutes of video and can be used to record student demonstrations, your own presentations, or any other video you'd like to shoot. When you are ready to transfer to the computer and edit you simply flip the USB connection open from the side of the camera and connect to a USB port on the computer. The camera downloads the necessary software onto your computer and you can do simple editing like trimming off the front and back of the timeline. Then you can transfer it to your computer or even upload the video straight to the web on youTube. More information about the FlipVideo camera is available at http://www.theflip.com. If you are in need of more advanced video editing such as adding transitions, voice over narration, opening and closing credits and more stop into the IDC and we can help or you can contact me at tom.corcoran@heartland.edu. Further contact information is listed on the Heartland Community College Instructional Development Center web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc.

Closing

Next week we will continue with the web 2.0 discussion on photo sharing sites such as Flickr and its uses in higher education.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for January 28 - February 1, 2008

Podcast Number

51

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

January 28, 2008

Length

6:48

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout hosts a repeat of the first Writing Across the College of the semester on Designing Writing Assignments. In the tips and tricks section I discuss the third of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers collaborative writing.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 51 for the week of January 28th - February 1st of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, Jennifer Swartout will be hosting a repeat of the the first Writing Across the College workshop of the semester on Designing Writing Assignments. The event will be on Friday, February 1st at 1:00 - 2:00 pm in the IDC, Student Commons Building 2401. If you have questions and issues regarding creating effective writing assignments in your discipline stop into the IDC. If you cannot make this time slot Jennifer is available to speak with you individually by contacting her at Jennifer.swartout@heartland.edu.

Tips and Tricks

In another installment of the tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. Last week it was wikis and before that blogs. So we will be staying on our writing theme with collaborative writing this week.

So we've covered how blogs and wikis can be used in higher education but what about collaborative writing in the purest sense. What is it and how can they be used? Collaborative writing is a fairly recent web technology and is gaining in popularity. Sometimes referred to a social writing this technology makes it possible to share documents such as research papers, outlines or other written materials entirely online. Users can log into an account and access their documents online from any computer with an Internet connection. No longer can students use the excuse that they left their paper at home (or the slightly antiquated "my dog ate it!"). Now you can go from computer to computer with no external hard drives to lug around, no small flash drives to misplace, no disks to have crash or become corrupt. All of it is stored online so you can access it from anywhere. The other real power behind this technology as the name implies is that it is easy to collaborate with other writers on projects in real time. One person generally creates the initial account and shares that information or invites other users to log into the file and access the document.

So how can this be used in higher education? This is another technology where peer review and group projects/collaboration excels. Using a collaborative writing application students can learn to delegate work, interact with a group and increase their communication skills all the while with the convenience of not having to mix and match schedules with everyone else in their group. It can all be done online. Again this is another tool like wikis and blogs that can be used to meet core learning outcomes of developing communication and critical thinking skills in students.

Several collaborative writing web based applications exist. One of the most well known is Google Docs which is available at http://docs.google.com. Google docs is also a good substitute if a student doesn't own Microsoft Word as it allows documents to be exported out of Google Docs as Word Documents, PDFs, Rich Text Files (RTF) or even plain text documents. And Google Docs is free to access over the Internet. Google Docs lacks the most advanced features of an application like Microsoft Word but would be a suitable replacement for basic word processing. With Google Docs one first student would initially create the document file and then that student invites other collaborators to share the document with. Then multiple students can work on the same document, at the same time. Other collaborative writing applications on the web include Zohowriter at http://www.zohowriter.com, and Writeboard at http://writeboard.com. The way these applications invite others to become collaborators is generally driven by email address. You either can send the person an invite by email through the application or the application bases the collaborators by their email address. So if I want to invite you to collaborate on a Google Doc, for instance, I enter your email address into the Invite People text box and then you automatically have access to the document once you log into Google Docs. These are all web based applications that are free to use so no download is required and they work regardless if you are using a Windows or Macintosh platform. Each works in slightly different ways so it is generally up to the user which one works best for them but in all cases the documents that are created using these Web 2.0 applications can be accessed from any computer that has an Internet connection.

If you have questions about collaborative writing feel free to contact me. My contact information is listed on the Heartland Community College Instructional Development Center web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc.

Closing

Next week we will continue with the web 2.0 discussion youTube and its uses in higher education.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... Signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for January 21 - 25, 2008

Podcast Number

50

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

January 21, 2008

Length

8:50

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the first Writing Across the College of the semester on "Designing Writing Assignments" on January 23 at 3:30 pm. In the tips and tricks section I discuss the second of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers wikis.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 50 for the week of January 21st – 25th of 2008.

IDC News

This week in the IDC, Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the first Writing Across the College workshop of the semester on Designing Writing Assignments. The event will be on Wednesday, January 23rd, from 3:30 - 4:30 in the IDC, Student Commons Building 2401. Stop in and discuss your concerns, questions and issues regarding creating effective writing assignments in your discipline. If you cannot make this time slot the workshop will be repeated on Friday, February 1st at 1:00pm also in the IDC. And if you still cannot make this, don't fret. Jennifer is available to speak with you individually by contacting her at Jennifer.swartout@heartland.edu.

You can find a complete list of events happening in the Instructional Development Center by going to our web site at: http://www.heartland.edu/idc/. We currently have a full slate of Writing Across the College workshops scheduled.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section we will continue with the discussion on web 2.0 in higher education. If you missed the first discussion of what web 2.0 is and how it can be used check out the previous podcast, episode #49, from January 14th.

In last week's episode I discussed blogs and now this week, wikis. What are they, how do they relate to web 2.0 and how can they be used in higher education? Well wikis are also web sites that require very little html/web page design knowledge to set up and contribute to just like blogs. A wiki is a web site that multiple users can contribute to by logging in and editing, posting new content, and just generally allow for more interaction than the traditional static web page. The viewer of the web site can become a contributor. The way blogs and wikis differ is that on a blog usually one person is the blogger and the audience simply makes comments as to the opinions or posts shared by the blogger. With a wiki the contributions to the web site are larger and it is possible to edit other user's text, images, and other material. In other words wikis take the web design work out of web design by having a pre-built template for the web site and interface that anyone can learn. The most popular wiki that most people have at least heard of is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia where users contribute knowledge and edit each others work. According to the book, "Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools" by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum (2007) Wikipedia has more up to date entries than the Encyclopedia Britannica. So wikis allow users to collectively comment on and decide upon knowledge. Some people have coined this term wikireality, where facts are defined by the collective masses. Now most wikis probably don't aspire to be quite that profound and the average wiki can have it's uses in higher education.

So how can this be used in higher education? Well, again, just like last week's discussion of blogs, wikis can help students become better communicators and possibly better critical thinkers by posting their own thoughts on subjects and editing other students work. A wiki could be set up by the teacher of a course, say on psychology (or any subject). Then each week one assignment could be for student's to each make a contribution to the wiki pertaining to what they found most interesting, controversial, or timely that the class discussed from the previous week. In their own words they would be contributing to the wiki, helping other student's see the material through their own eyes all the while building knowledge in a controlled environment that still allows the students to feel like they are in control of their own learning. And all of this can easily be monitored by the instructor simply by logging in from any computer that has an Internet connection. Most wiki's allow the users to track changes to the wiki in a section titled, "history" (or something similar) so you can see when changes have been made and by whom. This all makes the classroom more collaborative and adds a dimension of interactivity that can sometimes be overlooked. And in many cases the wiki itself is private so only students from that class can view, edit and collaborate on the wiki, although other wikis are public meaning that anyone who knows the URL to the web site/wiki can log in and make changes to the content.

If you want to look at an actual wiki being used in education, one to check out is at http://welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com/. This wiki won the Best Educational Wiki in the 2007 Edublog Awards and focuses on economics. It has useful information for both students of economics and teachers alike. At this wiki you can see how one instructor has chosen to set up a wiki, obtain feedback, provide for discussion, post assignments, and post audio/video content and further online resources.

However, just like blogging, wikis have a potential downside. Students could read information on a wiki such as Wikipedia and take it as fact. Again like blogs, with any research source it can be explained how much or little weight the wiki holds for research purposes.

Wikis are very easy to set up. A popular site for educators is http://www.wikispaces.com. It is free to set up a wiki that is public and costs a slight fee to make your wiki private so only the persons you choose can access your wiki. Another possible wiki setup site is http://www.pbwiki.com. They have a good overview of how using a pbwiki in your classroom can increase student involvement and hopefully engagement and learning by going to the web site http://pbwiki.com/education.wiki. Also, the website http://www.mediawiki.com has a good explanation of what a wiki is if you are interested in more information about wikis.

If you need assistance with setting up a wiki or have questions feel free to contact me. My contact information is listed on the Heartland Community College Instructional Development Center web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc.

Closing

Next week we will continue with the web 2.0 discussion and talk a bit about more collaborative aspects of the web 2.0 movement including Google Docs, WriteBoard, and Zohowriter. All of these are online collaborative writing applications that can be used in Higher Education.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in as well as news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College and educational technology tips and tricks. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Footnote: Solomon, Gwen and Lynne Schrum. Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education, 2007.

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for January 14 - 18, 2008

Podcast Number

49

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

January 14, 2008

Length

11:53

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, a big thank you goes out to all of the presenters and attendees of the Spring HCC Faculty Best Practices day. In the tips and tricks section I discuss the first of several podcast episodes regarding Web 2.0 and its use in higher education. This week's topic covers blogging.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 49 for the week of January 14th - 19th of 2008.

IDC News

Thank you to all you attended and presented at the Spring 2008 Heartland Faculty Best Practices event on January 10. If the presentation(s) from this day sparked an idea you would like to pursue regarding educational technology, the Gradebook project, WebCT or other instructional development opportunities such as Writing Across the College, classroom discussion or using case studies stop into the IDC and we can assist. Terry Mullin is available to assist you with using the Gradebook project in your course assessment and to provide feedback to your students about specific learning outcomes. Jean-Marie Taylor is here to assist you with all things WebCT related. You'll find her hours and contact information available on the IDC web site. And of course I am here to assist with your educational technology, web, graphic and multimedia design needs. Feel free to stop by my office or the Instructional Development Center lab for assistance with any of these areas.

With the start of a new semester I thought I'd take the time to remind you that you can find an archive of past IDC podcasts, transcripts of all of our podcasts and information about podcasting and other instructional development resources on our IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I thought I would begin a multipart podcast on the topic of Web 2.0. What is it? What does it mean? How can you use it in higher education? Each week I will be presenting a different web 2.0 topic and how it can be used in education as a communication and interaction tool to get student's more engaged in the material and hopefully developing in them a desire to become lifelong learners.

So what is web 2.0? Web 2.0 is a shift away from the Internet being used to statically display information like a one way street. With traditional web sites, the information is simply presented in a textbook like manner (nothing wrong with that) and the user has very little interaction or say in how the information is presented (could be something wrong with that as it pertains to education and learning). What Web 2.0 does is it gives the user more interaction with the information. How information is being presented, the ability to comment on other people's work, the ability to access your own information and even entire applications from any computer. These are just a handful of ways the world wide web is changing. Hence the name Web 2.0, as this new shift is thought of as a second incarnation of the world wide web.

Ultimately education can be thought of as structured communication and opportunities for interaction with the material being presented. Traditional web sites are excellent for structured communication. Think about how often you access web sites to look up a definition, information about a product or service offered, time an event starts or even using the web for entertainment. Everything from email to youTube videos exist as forms of communication on the web. Unfortunately that is where most web sites stop. All structured communication but no interaction by the end user. Basically most web sites are just electronic copies of books, magazines and periodicals. And hypertext transfer protocol or HTTP is just that... a way simply to display and link pieces of information to each other. However web 2.0 web sites tend to do both areas well. They not only convey information to be shared (think an encyclopedia) but also offer opportunities for engagement with the material. An example of a web 2.0 site is MediaShift by PBS available at http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/. This web site is a blog where journalist Mark Glaser tracks how these new forms of media like blogs and podcasts are changing our society and how we interact. Viewers of this blog are allowed to make comments on the stories being reported on and even allows for open ended discussion under a section called "Your Take" where users can make comments on timely topics. The site even provides an RSS (really simple syndication) feed so you can subscribe to the blog. That way whenever new information is posted to the blog you can check your subscription feed and the new postings will appear there. Each of these methods, RSS feeds, blogging and allowing for user comments provide for more interaction and are prime examples of web 2.0 functions although they are just the beginning of web 2.0 interaction.

So how can this be used in higher education? Well it should be obvious that if much of education is structured communication and interaction with material that web 2.0 should be an excellent tool or set of tools that can be mixed and matched to meet the needs of virtually any course. As a first example let's take blogging. The term blog is a shortened version of web log and is used by everyone from the average everyday user up to professional journalists to make comments on everything from their favorite television, movies and books to political opinions and timely (and often hotly contested) news topics. The big power behind blogging is the fact that it is extremely easy to set up a blog, and after it is set up anyone can communicate/publish their ideas regardless of age, education, and level of web site design knowledge. No longer do you need to be a published author to get your voice out to the masses. More people contributing to the global or societal dialog sounds like democracy to me.

Blogging could be used as an excellent tool by an instructor to get students interacting and engaging material. Some uses for blogging could include having your students set up a blog in an English composition class, or any course where papers and writing is taking place as part of the curriculum, and have the students post their observations and written material or research papers up to their own blog. That way they can use their blog as a sort of electronic learning portfolio of their own work they can access from any place with an Internet connection and they can use the blog even after the semester has ended. In this way the students will see that their learning extends outside of the classroom and even across semesters and continues into the future after they have graduated. Also peer reviewing is made much easier. Students could pair up, exchange URLs to their blogs and then each student could make comments on the others blog suggesting changes, revisions, and developing critical thinking skills. And since blogs are freely accessible web sites on the Internet teachers and parents can check on their students/child's progress. And blogs tend to be time stamped with the date and time of the posting or comments. So if peer review is due on a certain date as the instructor you can check your student's blogs and make sure each has the appropriate time stamp within the due date range of the assignment. Using blogs in higher education meets several of the core learning outcomes including developing effective skills at communicating and critical thinking skills. Blogging is also one area that many of today's students are already familiar with and even use regularly either creating their own blog postings or reading and commenting on other blogs they visit regularly.

One potential downside to blogging is that because there is no real editorial process much of the information contained in blogs could be misinformation or misleading. Students could read information on a blog and take it as fact just because it exists in print on the Internet. However just like with any research source it can be explained how much or little weight should be ascribed to the information on a blog similar to describing how important tertiary, secondary, or primary sources of information are from other research sources on the web or in traditional libraries.

A few places to get started with blogging and actually setting up a blog are http://www.edublogs.org, http://www.blogger.com, or http://www.wordpress.org. Each of these is free, easy to set up and edublogs was specifically created with educators in mind so they are advertisement free. Blogger.com is owned by Google so if you have a google email address (also known as a gmail address) or have signed up for other google services you can use your existing login and password to create and access a Blogger.com blog. With WordPress you can even set up a blog on your own web host so you can have a blog with any available URL such as www.heartlandblog.com or whatever name you choose. Each of those web sites has information on what blogging is and what you can do with it if you want to find more information on blogging. Edublogs.org specifically has a link on their home page to an article about "10 Ways To Use Your Blog With Students" full of additional ideas on blogging in education.

If you need assistance with setting up a blog or have questions feel free to contact me. My contact information is listed on the Heartland Community College Instructional Development Center web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc.

Closing

Next week we will continue with the web 2.0 discussion and talk a bit about wikis. Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for December 10 - 14, 2007

Podcast Number

48

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

December 10, 2007

Length

11:17

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, an interview with Political Science faculty member Paul Folger speaking about the upcoming Spring 2008 HCC Faculty Best Practices event on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 is presented.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 48 for the week of December 10th – 14th of 2007.

IDC News

In this week's IDC podcast I'll be interviewing Paul Folger, former IDC Director and now Political Science faculty member here at Heartland Community College. We will be discussing the upcoming Spring 2008 Heartland Faculty Best Practices.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

For the IDC podcast for this week I will be interviewing Political Science member Paul Folger and we will be discussing the Spring Faculty Best Practices for 2008. Welcome, Paul.

Paul Folger speaking:

Thanks Tom. Good to be here.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

We can go ahead and dive right into it then. When and where is the Faculty Best Practices held?

Paul Folger speaking:

Yes it will be the same old place Tom. It will be in the CCB Community Commons Building 1406/1407 where it has been the last several years.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

OK. And that is on what date is that going to be?

Paul Folger speaking:

It is January 10th. That is a Thursday and it is faculty second day back. I believe the ninth is our first day back and so it we will have it the tenth. It will start about 8:00 am with some munchies and breakfast type food and the program will start right at 8:30 maybe a tad before and also we will serve lunch to participants from noon until 1:00 pm. And then IT will be presenting some updates from 1:00 until 2:00 so the full day runs roughly from 8:00 in the morning until 2:00 in the afternoon on Thursday, January 10th.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

OK. And what should faculty members expect if they come to the Faculty Best Practices?

Paul Folger speaking:

Great question. We've really tried to listen to faculty comments on our evaluation sheets of the past several Best Practices. And so what we've really tried to do is set up the Best Practice so that all of those comments are taken into account. So after breakfast the first thing we are going to do from approximately 8:30 to 9:30 is have a keynote speaker. And our speaker is Eli Collins-Brown who recently got her doctoral degree over at Illinois State University. And she is currently the Director of Instructional Technology at Methodist College of Nursing in Peoria. And she is going to be showing us the video that many of you perhaps saw that Padriac Shinville sent around on the youTube, talking about what today's students want and what today's students expect out of the classroom. And we hope the keynote will be a nice discussion for us, a nice interactive situation so that we can think about what it is in terms of our teaching and what it is perhaps of technology or not using technology that we can do to reach the current student or the modern student. And then after the keynote we will have a series of presentations from faculty members here at Heartland. Professor Nancy Evans in Business is going to talk about things that you can do sort of your first day in class to mold and shape positive classroom behavior the way that you want to set the tone for the rest of your semester. Rachel Hills in English and ASC is going to lead a workshop on effective classroom discussion. Terry Mullin is going to talk about the assessment Gradebook Project. Jane Chapman is going to talk about using case studies in classes and some of the techniques and theories behind it. And in our morning session Jennifer Swartout will give some information about the Writing Across the College program from the English Department. So what we are doing, Tom, from 8:30 to 9:30 is having just some short 10 to 15 minute presentations with those topics that I just gave you. And then after those introductory topics we will have formal breakout sessions from 11:00 until noon roughly where you get to decide as a faculty member or participant which of these sessions you find most interesting and then you get to get the 50 minute in depth workshop interactive experience. And our keynote speaker is also going to give a workshop at this point from 11:00 to 12:00 as well. And then we come back for lunch from noon to 1:00 and then Doug Minter and his IT staff will be going from 1:00 to 2:00 and they are going to be talking about the Clicker Project. I know at past Best Practices if you happened to have attended that we have talked frequently about the use of clickers in the classroom. And they are about to set up and start a pilot project I believe in the Spring and so they are going to be talking to faculty about the results of what they have been doing so far and what is on the horizon as far as clickers in the classroom is going. And I am sure IT will have some other comments and updates on things that they are working on as well. So I know that is long winded Tom and I haven't let you get a word in edge-wise here but we hope to have a full schedule. One last thing about the schedule here is that our lunch is going to be a Mexican theme. We've gotten several reports that perhaps we can improve or do something with the food, and so we are going to work on having a Mexican theme and we hope that the food is to everyone's liking. There will be a vegetarian option as is typical, but we look forward to see if we can work with our catering to see if we can bring you some good food.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

OK. It sounds like quite a full day and interesting day of activities. A couple more question I have here for you. Do faculty need to RSVP then if they are going to be attending Faculty Best Practices?

Paul Folger speaking:

Yes we appreciate an RSVP. You absolutely don't have to. Don't feel that you can't come if you haven't RSVP'd. But it helps us with the food count when we are ordering food and it helps us with the payment and all of that. Marsha Heustis should be sending out an appointment either this probably this week. We simply ask that if you are attending Best Practices that you click on the appointment and hit accept and that will give us an idea of how much food to order so we do ask that you do that. But please if you haven't RSVP's come anyway and we will share more food. And there is always food left over so we will be fine.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

OK. And are adjunct faculty members going to be at least partially compensated for their time at this event?

Paul Folger speaking:

Absolutely. It is something that we try to do here at Heartland is that we recognize how valuable everybody's time is but we also try to recognize that adjunct faculty members will be receiving some partial compensation for their time. I believe the stipend is approximately $30 for the session give or take. So it is not a whole lot of money but at least it is a token because we know that you are giving up some of you time. And we certainly encourage adjunct faculty colleagues to try to make the time if they can to come to Best Practices. It is a great way to meet other members of your department who are full time, other adjuncts who are perhaps teaching the same kinds of courses that you are and the day in general is just a way for us to talk and celebrate and think about teaching and learning.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

It sounds like an excellent professional development opportunity. Do faculty need to bring any materials or resources with them for the presentations or the breakout sessions?

Paul Folger speaking:

Not that we know of at this point and time, Tom. Things sometimes are done a little bit on the fly here so it might change just a little bit. But I think that right now probably something to write with and maybe something to write on are essentially all that you need. And as is typical or at least the recent past, we will have packets for you that will contain any of the readings or any of the handouts that the speakers or the workshop leaders will deem necessary for you to use. And so I think if you just come, come with a good attitude and bring something to write on and bring something to write with that should pretty well take care of it.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

OK. Sounds great. If faculty members have any more questions who should they contact about the Faculty Best Practices Day?

Paul Folger speaking:

Oh there are several people on the committee but I am heading up the committee so I might be the best person to call. And again my name is Paul Folger, and I am an instructor of Political Science down in SBSS and my extension here at Heartland is 8414. And always feel free to email me to with questions. And if I can't answer it we will get it to other members of the committee who will be able to answer it. And Tom if I might right now I'd really like to thank the members of the Best Practices committee who have been working so hard to make this a good event. Barb McLaughlin-Olson, the chair of the Assessment Committee, and Pete Betz, who is the chair of CAS, they are both on this committee. Lisa Cole, Joe McCauley, Terry Mullin, Jean-Marie Taylor, and of course Jennie Kearney our secretary in the ASC. And so All of those folks have been working really hard to bring Best Practices to you.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

Is there any other items that you'd like to add that we haven't covered yet today?

Paul Folger speaking:

I don't think so Tom. Again I just hope that people show up and when you see that appointment accept it so that we have a good head count. Think about teaching, learning, technology, what to do your first day of classes, how to engage in effective classroom discussion, think about the Gradebook Project and assessment and using case studies because those will be the themes and the types of things that we will be talking about both briefly with the whole group and then in specific workshop sessions between the 11:00 to noon hour.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

OK. Thank you Paul for sharing this information on the Faculty Spring Best Practices.

Paul Folger speaking:

OK Tom. Thank you very much.

Tom Corcoran speaking:

Again thank you to Political Science faculty member Paul Folger for sharing the information about the upcoming Spring Best Practices with us.

Closing

In closing I wanted to let everyone know that the IDC podcast will be back for another semester of events, tips and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College after the New Year. Be sure to check with our IDC web site at www.heartland.edu/idc/ for resources, staff hours and events taking place in the IDC.

That's all for this week's IDC podcast. I hope everyone has a great holiday and safe and happy New Year!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for December 3 - 7, 2007

Podcast Number

47

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

December 3, 2007

Length

3:38

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, a quick thanks to all who delivered workshops and book discussions in the IDC and all who joined us for these events. We look forward to seeing you in the coming semester. In the tips and tricks section I discuss tips for ending the semester memorably.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 47 for the week of December 3rd – 7th of 2007.

IDC News

As our last scheduled event for this semester was last week I wanted to quickly thank everyone for coming to the Podcasting 101 workshops, the Writing Across the College workshops, and Book Discussion Groups held in the IDC. Also a big thank you to the HCC Library staff, John Dotta, and Jennifer Swartout for all of your hard work making each of these events happen this semester. Be sure to check our IDC web site for updates on events happening in the Spring 2008 semester.

Speaking of Spring 2008 the tentative schedule for the Spring 2008 HCC Faculty Best Practices day is out. The event will be taking place on Thursday, January 10 in the Community Commons Building Room 1406/1407. Watch for more information on this days events by checking the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/ faculty/bestPractices.jsp or contact Paul Folger for more information.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I thought I would discuss the end of the semester. Specifically hopefully avoiding that feeling of the end of the semester coming up so fast that there is really no closure. One thing I have observed in studying media technology is that it is always best to end a video, presentation, or any type of learning exercise with something memorable. If you are looking for ways to end this semester on a memorable and meaningful note check out the University of Arkansas' Teaching and Faculty Support Center web page specifically on tips for better endings to the semester. Their site is available at http://www.uark.edu/misc/tfscinfo/resources/
teaching_tip/better_endings.html. They have a compilation of excellent tips for ending the semester off on a memorable note.

Closing

And speaking of memorable notes... thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for November 26 - 30, 2007

Podcast Number

46

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

November 26, 2007

Length

4:16

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, a quick reminder about the next Book Discussion group held in the IDC is given. In the tips and tricks section I discuss a potential problem with viewing PDF files.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 46 for the week of November 26th – 30th of 2007.

IDC News

The next Book Discussion group held in the IDC (Student Commons Building Room 2401) is on Thursday November 29th from noon to 1:00 pm. HCC Librarian Chris Sweet will be discussing the book, "From the bottom up: One man's crusade to clean up America's rivers" by Chad Pregracke, a former Heartland Community College student. For more information about the Book Discussion Groups at Heartland contact HCC Librarian Carol Reid.

For more information on the events, services, podcasts and other resources related to instructional development at Heartland Community College see our web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/.

Remember if you are looking for teaching and learning events, conferences on assessment, innovative educational practices and more see the IDC web site's Teaching and Learning events section at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/ faculty/teachingLearningSchedule.jsp . We have conferences listed through the end of 2007 and into 2008 and are always adding more conferences.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I discuss a possible problem with viewing PDF files. Are you having trouble with a PDF displaying on your computer? Do you get garbled text on the screen but all of the graphics appear just fine? The solution to this problem is to remove all of the following font files from your font folder on a Windows computer. To navigate to that folder click the start button in the lower left. Go up to settings and over to Control Panel. Click on the control panel to load it. You should see a folder called Fonts if you are in Classic View. If you are in Category View you will need to click the link along the left side of the Control panel dialog box that says "Switch to Classic View". Double click on the Fonts folder and look for the following fonts: WWFONT.TTF, SUBVNI.TTF, SUBVNI2.TTF, SUPVNI.TTF, and SUPVNI2.TTF. If you see any of these fonts drag them out of the Fonts folder and onto the desktop. These fonts are blocking the real font from displaying your text correctly in the PDF file. Once these fonts have been dragged out of the Fonts folder you should be able to load the PDF file successfully. You can then delete all of the fonts you dragged out of the Fonts folder from the list I just gave.

Remember to stop into the IDC or contact us if you need any assistance with any of the services we offer.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for November 19 - 23, 2007

Podcast Number

45

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

November 19, 2007

Length

4:02

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, a quick reminder about the next Book Discussion group held in the IDC is given. In the tips and ricks section I discuss creating groups in Groupwise.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 45 for the week of November 19th – 23th of 2007.

IDC News

A quick reminder that the next Book Discussion group held in the IDC is next week on Thursday, November 29th from noon to 1:00 pm. HCC Librarian Chris Sweet will be discussing the book, "From the bottom up: One man's crusade to clean up America's rivers" by Chad Pregracke, a former Heartland Community College student. For more information about the Book Discussion Groups at Heartland contact HCC Librarian Carol Reid.

Also the Heartland Bookstore is holding their faculty and staff event to celebrate their partnership with Heartland Community College on Tuesday, November 20th. It will be from 11 to 4:00 pm in the Heartland Bookstore.

For more information on the events, services, podcasts and other resources related to instructional development at Heartland Community College see our web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I discuss creating Groups in the Groupwise email application. If you belong to any committees or other groups that you send frequent emails to you can create a group of email accounts rather than sending the email to each person. To create a group you simply open the Groupwise application, go to File and New and scroll down to Group. Here you will see a window called New Group (frequent contacts). You can give your group a name and then click the add button along the left side of this box. This will allow you to select the group members. You highlight the name or names from the address list and click To: button at the top of the screen. If you want to add multiple names at once you hold the control key down on the keyboard and click the names with the mouse, then click the To: button. If you make any mistakes you can always remove members from this list by highlighting their names on the right side of this window and clicking the remove button at the bottom. Once you are done you click ok for that screen and ok on the New Group window and your group has been created. Then you can just type your group name into the To: location in your new email composition and the email will be sent to everyone in that group. Now you could say that you are wise about creating groups in Groupwise. Sorry I couldn't resist.

Remember to stop into the IDC or contact us if you need assistance with any instructional development needs.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week and enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for November 12 - 16, 2007

Podcast Number

44

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

November 12, 2007

Length

5:11

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, the fourth Writing Across the College titled "Grammar and Writing Assignments" is announced. In the tips and tricks section I discuss the Discussion Board in WebCT.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 44 for the week of November 12th – 16th of 2007.

IDC News

This week in the IDC on Wednesday, November 14th from 1:00 to 2:00 pm the IDC will be hosting the fourth Writing Across the College of the semester titled "Grammar and Writing Assignments". This is a repeat of the workshop held on November 6th. This seminar will focus primarily on assessing grammar in student writing, and fitting grammar and mechanics into the "big picture" of writing assignments. If you have questions about the amount of weight you should ascribe to grammar and how you should go about grading grammar in your students' writing assignments this is the seminar for you. This discussion will be held in the IDC Student Commons Building room 2401 from 1 to 2 pm November 14. For more information about the Writing Across the College initiative at Heartland Community College contact Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout.

For more information on the events, services, podcasts and other resources related to instructional development at Heartland Community College see our web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I discuss the WebCT Discussion Board. Specifically making private topics. The Discussion Board in WebCT allows you to create forum topics that you and your students can comment on. These forums can be public which means that all students have access to view and comment on the topic or you can create private topics. Private topics allow you to limit the access of a particular topic to a specific set of students that you decide upon. To create a Private topic go to your Discussion Board area. If you haven't created a Discussion Board area yet choose Control Panel and Add Page or Tool. Then click on Discussions under the Communication Tools section. Once you have navigated to your Discussion area you can click the button labeled 'Create topic' under Options on the right side of the screen. You'll see this area in gray. Give your topic a name and click create. Now you can set the topic as private by clicking on the Private checkbox in the same row as your new topic. You'll then click the update button which is under the lower right portion of the Discussion area. The topic name will no longer be available as a hypertext link showing that you don't have access to the topic. You must add yourself and any students as members to view and edit that topic. To do this you simply click the checkbox next to the topic's name and click 'Manage members' from the right side of the screen. This will bring up a screen to select members. Click the 'Select Member' button to bring up a list of students, TAs and yourself. Then you click the checkbox next to anyone you wish to add to this private discussion. Click update when you are finished and then click done. If you added yourself as a member of this discussion you will be able to click the topic's name and be taken into the Discussion Messages area where you can compose a message under this new private topic. One tip is that you will probably always want to add yourself to private topics as a member so you can go into these messages and view what other members are posting. If you don't add yourself you will not be able to see what is inside of that private topic area.

Stop into the IDC or contact us if you need assistance with WebCT or any of the services we offer in the IDC.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as educational technology tips and tricks. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for November 5 - 9, 2007

Podcast Number

43

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

November 5, 2007

Length

8:12

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, the fourth Writing Across the College titled "Grammar and Writing Assignments" and the final Your World Exposed HCC Speaker Series event are announced. In the tips and tricks section I talk about uploading multiple calendar entries into the WebCT calendar.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 43 for the week of November 5th – 9th of 2007.

IDC News

Coming up this week in the IDC on Tuesday, November 6th from 2:00 to 3:00 pm the IDC will be hosting the fourth Writing Across the College of the semester titled "Grammar and Writing Assignments". This seminar will focus primarily on assessing grammar in student writing, and fitting grammar and mechanics into the "big picture" of writing assignments. If you have questions about the amount of weight you should ascribe to grammar and how you should go about grading grammar in your students' writing assignments this is the seminar for you. This discussion will be held in the IDC Student Commons Building 2401 from 2 to 3 pm on November 6th and again on Wednesday November 14 from 1 to 2 pm. For more information about the Writing Across the College initiative at Heartland Community College contact Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout.

Also this week Heartland Community College will be holding it's third "Your World Exposed Speaker Series" of the semester with guest speaker Carolyn Treadway. Ms. Treadway will be speaking on "Reversing the Climate Crisis" in the Community Commons Building Room 1406 on November 6th from 7 to 8 pm. In January 2007, Carolyn Treadway was trained by Al Gore and his team of top climate scientists and environmental educators to be one of his "1000 Messengers" to take the climate crisis message across the land at the grassroots level. Since then she has given nearly twenty climate presentations, personally engaging over 500 people with the issues of climate change, and is committed to giving many, many more. Come hear this free presentation on Tuesday, November 6th from 7 to 8 pm at Heartland Community College in Community Commons Building 1406. There will be a discussion after the presentation and time for your questions. For more information about the Your World Exposed HCC Speaker Series contact Instructor of Political Science, Paul Folger.

For more information on the events, services, podcasts and other resources related to instructional development at Heartland Community College see our web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I am going to be covering a quick WebCT Calendar trick.

Did you know that you can import all of your WebCT course calendar items from one plain text file? All you need is a plain text editor such as Notepad, Wordpad, Microsoft Word or TextEdit. For each calendar item you will need to follow the following format: :date(dd/mm/yyyy),summary,URL,internal link ,start time(hh:mm),end time(hh:mm),detail

So for instance if you have an on campus speaking series event you want your students to attend coming up on Tuesday November 6th you would type, :06/11/2007,Speaker Series Event,http://www.heartland.edu,,19:00,20:00,Please attend the speaker series event on "Reversing the Climate Crisis" on November 6th at 7 to 8 pm in the Community Commons Building Room 1406.

You will notice that the times need to be in 24 hour or military time to get the am/pm settings correct. You will also notice that I did not include an internal link so I simply left that alone and just typed two commas in a row. You can add more entries by hitting the return/enter key once and starting your new calendar entry on the next blank line in the text editor. Don't forget to start your new entry with a colon and follow the exact format each time. Once all of your entries are typed up in a single plain text file, save your file with a .txt extension and with no spaces or punctuation in the title of this text file.

You will then upload this file into WebCT by going to the Control Panel in WebCT, click Manage Files and click the upload option on the right side of the screen. Navigate to your plain text file you just created by clicking browse and opening the text file. Once it is opened you click upload and your plain text file will be added to you're My-Files in WebCT.

Now you navigate in WebCT to your calendar. Click import entries, browse to your plain text file that you just uploaded into you're My-Files, select it and click add selected. Then click import. An import confirmation screen will then show you the entries you are going to load into the calendar. If everything looks ok click continue and your entries will show up in the WebCT Calendar.

If you have a mistake in your entries you can always go back to your plain text file and edit the mistakes there and re-upload it into WebCT, or you can use WebCTs built in text editor by going to Control Panel, Manage Files, navigate to your plain text calendar file and click the files name. You will need to re-import your calendar if you make any changes to the plain text version. Or just go into an individual calendar entry and edit out any problems from inside the calendar.

If you need assistance with WebCT or any of the services we offer in the IDC feel free to contact us or stop into the IDC.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer check our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for October 29 - November 2, 2007

Podcast Number

42

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

October 29, 2007

Length

9:44

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, a Writing Across the College workshop about "Designing Writing Assignments", the Book Discussion Group on "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", and the next Your World Exposed HCC Speaker Series on "Reversing the Climate Crisis" are announced. In the tips and tricks section I discuss xml, RSS readers, and Feedburner and how they all relate to podcasting.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 42 for the week of October 29th - November 2nd of 2007.

IDC News

Coming up this week in the IDC on Tuesday, October 30, Jennifer Swartout will be holding a repeat of the second Writing Across the College workshop on "Designing Writing Assignments." If you are in need of assistance with creating short or longer writing assignments for your students or would like to brainstorm ideas concerning writing including assessing student writing stop into the Student Commons Building Room 2401 on Tuesday, October 30 from 1:00 to 2:00 pm. For more information on the Writing Across the College initiative here at Heartland Community College contact Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout.

Also this week, HCC librarian Carol Reid will be hosting the October Book Discussion Group on Wednesday, October 31. Bring your thoughts and comments about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows to the Student Commons Building Room 2401 from noon to 1:00 pm. Again that is on October 31 in the IDC.

A quick reminder that the November Book Discussion Group will be held on November 29th in the IDC. HCC Librarian Chris Sweet will be discussing the book "From the bottom up: One man's crusade to clean up America's rivers" by former Heartland Community College student Chad Pregracke. Stop in the Student Commons Building Room 2401 at noon on Thursday, November 29 to share in the discussion. For more information about the Book Discussion Groups held in the IDC contact HCC Librarian Carol Reid.

Next week Heartland Community College will be holding it's third "Your World Exposed Speaker Series" of the semester with guest speaker Carolyn Treadway. Ms. Treadway will be speaking on "Reversing the Climate Crisis" in the Community Commons Building Room 1406 on November 6th from 7 to 8 pm. In January 2007, Carolyn Treadway was trained by Al Gore and his team of top climate scientists and environmental educators to be one of his "1000 Messengers" to take the climate crisis message across the land at the grassroots level. Since then she has given nearly twenty climate presentations, personally engaging over 500 people with the issues of climate change, and is committed to giving many, many more. Come hear this free presentation on Tuesday, November 6th from 7 to 8 pm at Heartland Community College in Community Commons Building 1406. For more information about the Your World Exposed HCC Speaker Series contact Instructor of Political Science, Paul Folger.

If you are in need of more information on the events, services, podcasts and other resources related to the Instructional Development at Heartland Community College see our web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I thought I would round out my Podcasting theme for this month and talk about XML files, RSS readers and Feedburner.

XML is what makes podcasting ultimately possible. Without XML all you would have are a bunch of audio files with no way to widely distribute them to your audience. XML stands for extensible markup language and is similar to HTML in that it is made up of tags that a browser or in this case other types of electronics devices such as cell phones, pda's, smart phones and other computer applications such as iTunes or other feed readers like Google Reader can read. The xml tags pass information to these devices or applications and can be used to display and manipulate all sorts of functions pertaining to that device. The reason it is called "extensible" is because you can create your own user defined tags. You are not locked in to a set of predefined tags like HTML.

But getting back to the podcasting side... once you create your podcasts as a .mp3 or .mp4 file and want to make the content subscription-capable you use the .xml file to handle the data to be exchanged between the device or application and your your mp3 audio file saved to a web server. There are fairly standard formats for creating podcast based .xml files and these can be found on the Internet by doing a search for the terms "xml feed" and "podcast". We have a template saved as a Microsoft Word document on the Instructional Development Center web site here at Heartland Community College if you would like to download an example of a template that you can fill out with your own podcasts information and then save with a .xml file extension right out of Microsoft Word. The template has all of the .xml tags you need to create an iTunes based "subscribable" podcast. If you are not specifically directing your podcasts toward iTunes users then you just delete all of the tags that have to do with iTunes. They all start with itunes and a colon. Leave the rest of the tags in place and simply fill in your own specific podcasts content information like the author, publication date, and summary following the boldfaced instructions. These boldfaced instruction items can then be deleted along with the double slashed statements which are just comments on how to fill out the xml file.

To validate that your xml file is actually a valid file go to www.feedvalidator.org after you have saved your .xml file and posted it to the location on a web server. Feed validator gives feedback about what needs to be fixed in your xml file which would cause a feed reader like Google Reader to have problems reading your file.

That brings us to RSS readers. This is what the end user of your podcast is going to be using to subscribe to your podcast. Some of the most common feed readers for podcasts are Google Reader, iTunes, Juice, and Doppler. Each of these readers is free and can be used to subscribe to podcasts. Sometimes these applications are referred to as aggregators or feed aggregators or podcatchers. The terms tend to be interchangeable. Just think of this as a sort of mailbox that your podcasts will be delivered to once a user subscribes to your audio file usually by clicking on a link on your web site. The real power in podcasting is that it gets "pulled" into the audience rather than getting "pushed out" to the readers like instant messaging and email and to do that you use an .xml file in conjunction with the .mp3 file. This gives the end user more control over when they decide to listen to or read the RSS feed(s) or if it gets downloaded to an .mp3 player and listened to on the go.

Finally, you can track how many people are subscribing to your podcasts by using a web site called Feedburner.com. Once you have an audio file saved out as an .mp3, and your .xml file is filled out and saved to a web server and it has been validated, you can go to www.feedburner.com and type in your hypertext link to your xml file. Feedburner will have you register to create a quick account with them that you can use to log into and see the number of subscribers of your podcast. It will also give you options for creating hypertext links that you can place on your own web site which link to several of the most popular feed readers like Google Reader, iTunes, and Doppler. This will allow users to click right on the icon on your own web site and be redirected to their feed reader of choice subscribing to your content.

If you are interested in creating your own podcasts and would like assistance with any of the steps involved feel free to stop into the IDC or contact me. The IDC staff contact information is listed on our web site at www.heartland.edu/idc/

Closing

Thanks for listening to episode 42 of the IDC Podcast. The IDC podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College. If you have questions, comments or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC check out our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for October 22 - 26, 2007

Podcast Number

41

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

October 22, 2007

Length

7:24

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, we will be having another set of Podcasting 101 workshop on Friday 26th. Also this week, a repeat of the third Writing Across the College on "Assessing Writing Assignments" is held on Friday in the IDC. A reminder about the upcoming book discussion group and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is also announced. In the tips and tricks section I talk about iTunes University and how it relates to podcasting along with some information on the Google Reader, a free RSS feed aggregator from Google.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 41 for the week of October 22nd - 26th of 2007.

IDC News

Coming up this week, John Dotta and myself continue with podcasting month at Heartland Community College. Each Friday this month we've been offering Podcasting 101 a hands-on workshop where you can learn how to create your own podcast. If you are curious about what podcasting is and how it is done than stop into Room 2602 of the Workforce Development Center on Friday October 26th from noon to 1:30pm or from 2:00 to 3:30 pm. Bring a short script if you wish to have some material to narrate and record your own podcast. Hope to see you there.

Also this week, on Friday October 26th from 1:00 to 2:00 pm in the Instructional Development Center Room 2401 of the Student Commons Building, Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the third Writing Across the College of the semester entitled, "Assessing Writing Assignments". Jennifer will be offering tips for effectively responding to student writing... without pulling your hair out. If you have questions about assessing the writing assignments you are assigning in your classes stop into the IDC on Friday from 1:00 to 2:00 pm. For more information about the Writing Across the College program, contact Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout.

A reminder that on October 31st the IDC will be hosting next Book Discussion Group. HCC Librarian Carol Reid will be leading a discussion of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling. Stop into Student Commons Building 2401 at noon and feel free to bring a lunch and share your thoughts on the last of the Harry Potter books.

For more information on the events, services, podcasts and other resources related to the Instructional Development at Heartland Community College see our web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/.

Tips and Tricks

In this weeks tips and tricks section I thought I would continue with my Podcasting theme for this month and talk about iTunes University.

iTunes University is a service provided by Apple, Inc. that makes it possible for a college or university to store all of their podcasting content, audio and video files as well as Adobe PDFs, in one central location for faculty, staff, students and community members to access through the program iTunes. The files are maintained by Apple rather than using server space at the originating college and all of the "back end" computer work to make the files "subscribable" is also done by Apple's staff. All the college has to do is make the content and upload it, similar to the way a course management system like WebCT works. Apple provides this service free of charge to colleges.

Once the content is uploaded to the college's web presence within iTunes U, which loads inside of the iTunes application, the podcasts can either be accessed by anyone or can be closed off behind a login allowing only students of a particular class, for example, to have access to those files.

iTunes University has been an ongoing project of Apple's education department for 2 years with Stanford University serving as the test partnership with Apple. Since that time several colleges and universities have joined iTunes U. including Yale, Duke, Texas A & M; and closer to home the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Typically colleges provide podcasts and vodcasts with information about events and speakers, student orientation materials and some lectures and other course materials through iTunes U. I would imagine that most of the course materials are kept behind a password login which allows the college to maintain control over the distribution of course materials but also allows the general public open access to speeches and information about other events taking place at the college. In some cases a few classes representing each academic division or department are posted and freely accessible to the general public. This serves as a marketing tool to get people interested in taking courses within that department or even with that particular professor. It also allows the general public to see what is going on behind all of those closed doors of a college in their community.

Some potential problems with iTunes University include the fact that iTunes U. requires versions 6.0 or later of iTunes to work, iTunes would need to be installed on all lab and classroom machines here at Heartland Community College, and the downloaded podcasts don't go with the end user. By this I mean that iTunes U. allows users to download the content but it is not accessible via a login, it is stored locally on the machine you use to subscribe to the content. So you would have to subscribe on each computer you use. I think this last issue is the biggest drawback. The subscriptions aren't portable. Google Reader is a RSS reader that does allow the end user to subscribe to podcasts, articles and news content and then access those feeds from anywhere users have Internet access. And Google Reader is also free. The only drawback to Google Reader is that they don't store and manage the podcasts for you like iTunes U. does.

More information about iTunes U can be found at http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu/

If you are looking for examples of what other higher education faculty and staff are doing in terms of podcasting this is a great resource to check out.

If you'd like more information on the Google Reader see: http://www.google.com/reader/

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. Our podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or have questions to ask of the staff check out our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for October 15 - 19, 2007

Podcast Number

40

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

October 15, 2007

Length

7:41

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, two Writing Across the College events are coming up this week. Come learn about tactics for assessing writing assignments and using essays as a tool for learning. Also this week we will be having another Podcasting 101 workshop on Friday 19th. In the tips and tricks section I talk about tips for making better podcasts.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 40 for the week of October 15th - 19th of 2007.

IDC News

On Tuesday October 16th from 2:00 to 3:00 pm in the Instructional Development Center Room 2401 of the Student Commons Building, Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the third Writing Across the College of the semester entitled, "Assessing Writing Assignments". Jennifer will offer tips for effectively responding to student writing... without pulling your hair out. If you have questions about assessing the writing assignments you are assigning in your classes stop into the IDC on Tuesday from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. For more information about the Writing Across the College program, contact Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout.

Thanks to all who have joined us for Podcasting 101 each Friday this month. If you haven't had a chance to come learn about podcasting in a hands-on workshop stop into the Workforce Development Center Room 2602 on Friday October 19th from noon to 1:30 or on Friday October 26th from noon to 1:30 or 2:00 to 3:30. In this workshop you will not only learn what podcasts are and how to make them but you will be able to create your own podcast. Bring a short script if you wish to have material to narrate and record your own podcast. This workshop is presented by John Dotta and myself and the next Podcasting 101 is on Friday October 19th in the Workforce Development Center at noon to 1:30.

Speaking of Writing Across the College... on Friday October 19th from 1:00 to 2:00 pm the IDC will be hosting the first Writing Across the College workshop which was rescheduled from September 21st on "Using Essays as a Tool for Learning". Jennifer Swartout will be available to help you learn how to assign papers (including research papers) that will help your students learn. Options for assessing essays will also be discussed. Again for more information on the Writing Across the College program contact Assistant Professor of English Jennifer Swartout.

For more information on the events, services, podcasts and other resources related to the Instructional Development at Heartland Community College see our web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/.

Tips and Tricks

In this weeks tips and tricks section I thought I would share some podcasting tips I have found helpful during the time I've recorded the IDC podcast.

First, get a good microphone. The quality of your voice will only sound as good as the quality of microphone you use. And make sure that you have the input set to the microphone in the volume or sounds settings. Try a few test takes to make sure everything is set up correctly before diving into your podcast.

Also, drink water before you go to record your voice. This will help keep your vocal chords clear. Some liquids to avoid include pop (the carbonation can disrupt your breathing) and milk or any type of dairy product.

If you can avoid holding the microphone do. Use a mic stand, set it in one location and avoid touching it as you record. This will cut down on the amount of interference or extra clicking sounds that will be recorded while you are speaking.

Record in a quiet location. The more sound proof you can make the room the better quality of recording you will be able to make. One easy way to record a more professional sounding podcast is to position the microphone in front of pillows. Yes, pillows. The sound won't echo and you'll sound like you are in a recording studio. If you want to get really professional without actually building your own studio also have something behind you that will absorb any echo. This can be something as simple as another pillow or comforter.

For some people using a script is best. If you are good at ad lib then you may just need some preparation time with no script but if you think that you will wander off topic or forget whole sections at least use an outline if not a full script. The amount of time you save in editing will be obvious.

Smile while you talk. I know this sounds crazy but smiling will change the sound of your voice from a monotone to an upbeat, happier vocal. Unless you are talking on a very somber topic and want to present yourself as extremely serious try smiling.

Come up with a format for your podcast. Similar to when writing an essay have an introduction, body, and conclusion. If you have certain elements that remain the same each week (like having a tips and tricks section) this gives the podcast a polished feel. By format I mean if you do an interview, take listener email comments and do a review of a product keep them in that order each week so listeners can know what to expect. This will also keep you more organized because you'll know what sections need to be prepared.

Slow down and take your time. Also don't worry about making mistakes. The less worried you are about making mistakes the less you will make and in turn you'll save yourself time editing out all of the ums, ahhs, starts and stops.

Practice out loud a few times before you sit down to record. This will also allow you to feel more relaxed, you will spend less time doing any editing and you will have a rough idea of how long the podcast will be if you practice a few times.

And finally have fun. Podcasting isn't necessarily meant to be a serious, formal, somber exercise. Make it what you want it to be. Try a few different formats and play around with it a bit. Add music introductions and other sounds if you want. And remember it doesn't have to sound flawless to sound well done. Keeping some of the mistakes in the podcast allow listeners to know that you are human and they can make a connection with you.

I hope these podcasting tips help improve your own podcasts.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. Our podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College. If you are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC or have questions to ask of the staff check out our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for October 8 - 12, 2007

Podcast Number

39

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

October 8, 2007

Length

7:20

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, a reminder that October is Podcasting Month and we are holding Podcasting 101 workshops every Friday in October. Also Tuesday, October 9th is the second "Your World Exposed HCC Speaker Series" entitled "Be Your Own Boss: A Shared Experience of Successful Entrepreneurs" held in CCB 1406 at 7 pm. In the tips and tricks section I follow up on last week's topic of MP3 files.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College I am Media Technologist Tom Corcoran and this is the IDC Podcast episode number 39 for the week of October 8th - 12th of 2007.

IDC News

Just a reminder that October is Podcasting Month at Heartland Community College. John Dotta and myself will be presenting Podcasting 101 each Friday this month. If you want to learn more about how to create your own podcast stop into Workforce Development Center room 2602 on Friday the 12, 19 or 26 from noon to 1:30 pm. Additional times from 2:00 to 3:30 pm on Friday the 12 and 26 have been added if you cannot make the noon workshop. In the Podcasting 101 workshop you will learn in a hands-on lab how to create your own podcast. Bring a short script if you'd like and join us for Podcasting 101. The next workshop is on this Friday the 12th from noon to 1:30 and from 2:00 to 3:30 pm and again that is in the Workforce Development Center room 2602. Thanks to all who joined us last week for Podcasting 101. If you have questions feel free to contact me.

Remember you can find more information on the events, resources, podcasts and other materials related to the Instructional Development at Heartland Community College. See our web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/.

Have you ever wanted to be your own boss? But you have questions about running your own small business. On Tuesday October 9th at 7:00 to 8:00 pm in the Community Commons Building room 1406, Heartland Community College will be holding the second "Your World Exposed HCC Speaker Series" entitled, "Be Your Own Boss: A Shared Experience of Successful Entrepreneurs". A panel of local small business owners including Jamey Zehr Apps of Roberts Trophies, Jan Cluver of Edible Arrangements, and Ken Ropp of Ropp Jersey Cheese will discuss their experiences as small business owners. Also speaking will be Mr. Richard Kane, an academic advisor at Illinois State University and emerging entrepreneurship educator, as well as the evening's moderator Dr. Nancy Evans of Heartland Community College. All "Your World Exposed" presentations are free, open to the public and are held in the Community Commons Building Room 1406 at Heartland Community College. Feel free to bring your questions about starting and maintaining your own small business to ask of our panelists.

Tips and Tricks

As a follow up to the last tips and tricks section I thought I would talk a bit more about MP3 files. Specifically how you can convert other files types such as WAV files or Windows Media Audio files into MP3. The easiest way to do this is to use iTunes. iTunes allows you to convert audio files you import into iTunes to other file types with just a few clicks of the mouse. First you need to load iTunes. If you don't have it installed on your computer it is a free download from Apple.com. Simply go to http://www.apple.com and navigate to the iTunes section. From here you will see a link to Download iTunes 7. Once you have iTunes, open the program by double clicking it's icon. Next you will need to choose File and Add to Library. Navigate to your WAV, Windows Media Audio or other audio files you'd like converted into MP3 and open them in iTunes. This will bring your audio tracks into the iTunes music library. Then you need to set the converted audio type under the preferences section in iTunes. On a Windows computer preferences is located under the Edit menu. On a Macintosh it is located under the iTunes menu. Scroll your mouse down to Preferences and click the mouse button. This will bring up a dialog box for all of the settings in iTunes. Choose Advanced along the top of this dialog box and then choose Importing. You will see an area that says Import Using: and a drop down menu allowing you to choose the file type you'd like to convert your audio files into. Choose MP3 Encoder. Then choose Custom under the Setting: drop down box. This will allow you to set the Stereo Bit Rate which is the quality of the sound the MP3 file will be. I tend to use 64 Kbps for podcasts. This will keep the file sizes small but still allow you to sound clear. You can leave the rest of the settings the same and click ok. Click ok again and you will be back out to your main library music files in iTunes. Now you can select the files you'd like to convert to MP3 by highlighting each track. If you have multiple tracks you'd like to convert simply press control key on the keyboard (command key on a Macintosh) and use the mouse to click on each track you'd like to convert. Then right click on the screen and scroll down to Convert Selection to MP3. iTunes will handle the rest. Then you will have MP3 versions of all of your audio files you selected. The new MP3 files will be inside of your iTunes music library folder on your computer. On a Windows machine this is inside of your My Documents folder under My Music and iTunes. On a Macintosh the files will be inside of the Music folder in iTunes under your home account folder. If you have any questions about converting audio files to MP3 feel free to contact me in the IDC.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. Our podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College. Again, if you have any questions or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC check out our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for October 1 - 5, 2007

Podcast Number

38

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

October 1, 2007

Length

9:01

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, the second "Writing Across the College" on "Designing Writing Assignments" and the Book Discussion Group for October are announced. Also, October is Podcasting Month at Heartland. Each Friday in October we will be having a Podcasting 101 workshop. In the tips and tricks section I discuss MP3 files.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College this is the IDC Podcast episode number 38 for the week of October 1st - 5th of 2007.

IDC News

If you are looking for assistance or an instructor to bounce ideas off of when it comes to creating short writing assignments or even longer papers then come into the IDC on Friday, October 5 from 1 to 2 pm. Assistant Professor of English, Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the second "Writing Across the College" workshop for the Fall semester titled "Designing Writing Assignments". This workshop is a repeat of the workshop held on September 25. Jennifer will be available to assist you and discuss with you options for planning, implementing or assessing writing assignments in your classes. If you are in need of assistance with assigning and assessing writing join us in the IDC for this workshop. For more information about the "Writing Across the College" program, contact Assistant Professor of English at Heartland Community College Jennifer Swartout.

You are obviously on the cutting edge since you are listening to the IDC podcast but do you know how to create a podcast of your own? Join Photography Instructor John Dotta and myself, IDC Media Technologist, Tom Corcoran for "Podcasting 101" in October. Each Friday in October John Dotta and myself will be teaching you how to create your own podcasts in a hands-on workshop. If you want to get into recording your own podcasts for classes or personal use, want to be able to tell your students how to podcast, or you just want to see what all the fuss is about with podcasting, stop down to the Workforce Development Center Room 2601 from noon to 1:30 on either Friday October 5, 12, 19 or 26. The first "Podcasting 101" in October will be this week on October 5th. If you wish, bring a short minute or two or longer script of narration content you can use to create your own quick podcast. Hope to see you there.

Thanks to all who joined in the Book Discussion group last week. October's book discussion will be held on the 31st at noon in the IDC. Join HCC Librarian Carol Reid for a Halloween edition of the Book Discussion group as she discusses "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." If you'd like more information on the book discussion groups at Heartland Community College contact Librarian Carol Reid.

For more information on the events, resources, podcasts and materials related to the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College see our web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/.

And another quick thanks goes out to all who joined us in the IDC last week for the IDC Open House. It was great meeting and engaging in ideas with everyone. If you have questions about adding rich media such as podcasts, video, other audio, screen recordings or flash based interactive presentations feel free to stop into my office, into the Instructional Development Center, or give us a call or email. For questions about the Gradebook project contact faculty member and IDC staff member Terry Mullin.

Tips and Tricks

In this week's tips and tricks section I thought I would share some information about mp3s. What exactly are these and how do they differ from other file types? MP3 files are audio files that use a compression method that gets rid of most ranges of sounds the human ear cannot hear anyway. This makes the file sizes smaller than say a Wave (WAV) file or an Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) file. Those two types of audio files are usually not compressed and so they actually represent a "truer" version of the actual recorded sound. However the file sizes of those two types becomes so large that it wouldn't be practical to save podcasts or music in this format. So to save space and allow for easier delivery on CD or over the Internet people commonly use MP3. The Moving Picture Experts Group is the group that is charge with the oversight and development of standard audio and video compression methods hence the file types names. MP3 stands for MPEG (motion picture experts group) 1- Layer 3 which is the full title of the file extension MP3. Windows Media Audio or WMA file types are a direct competitor to the MP3 file type. WMA files are proprietary technology that Microsoft incorporates into their Windows Media Player software and into the Zune, Microsoft's portable audio player and that uses a compression technique similar to MP3. One of the features about MP3s that make them more attractive as a file type other than the compression size is what are known as IDE tags. These tags allow users to embed metadata about the file into the file itself. Usually this data is the title of the episode/audio track, the artist, album, a track number and the genre or type of music such as rock, jazz, country, gospel. This way if you create a MP3 and you want to add your name as the author, and an album title you can do that and end users can see on the screen who the author and title is as they play the audio in say a player such as Windows Media Player. The next development in audio compression is the MP4 which is the shortened file extension of MPEG 4 Part 14. What makes MP4s so special is that they can carry other information other than the metadata provided by MP3 IDE tags. MP4s can carry still images, subtitles, chapters and hypertext links. So if you are recording a lecture on a topic and you'd like still images to appear on the screen while your audio plays you can use an MP4 file type to add this information. Commonly MP4 used in podcasts or other audio files with still images, chapters, and hypertext links are referred to as enhanced podcasts. The file extensions of these "enhanced" podcasts are either MP4, M4a, or M4b. M4a and MP4 are pretty much the same extensions and can be used interchangeably. M4b adds a feature used on Apple iPods for audiobooks or podcasts. If you are listening to an audiobook, stop and listen to some music, shut down the iPod and then come back to the audiobook at a later time, audiobooks that have the M4b extension will "remember" the spot you left off and start the audiobook at that position. MP4s are specific to certain portable audio players like iPods and can be played back using QuickTime or iTunes but not Windows Media Player. Hopefully this sheds some insight into MP3 and MP4 audio file types.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. Our podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College. Remember we have complete transcripts and an archive of past podcasts on our web site. If you have any questions or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC check out our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for September 24 - 28, 2007

Podcast Number

37

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

September 24, 2007

Length

3:59

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, the second Writing Across the College workshop for the Fall semester is announced on "Designing Writing Assignments." Also this week, "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri is this week's book discussion group title hosted by Heartland Library and held in the IDC. Finally, the IDC will be having an Open House on Thursday September 27 from 2 -4pm. In the tips section, the educators savings week begins at Borders on September 26.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College this is the IDC Podcast episode number 37 for the week of September 24th - 28th of 2007.

IDC News

On Tuesday September 25 from 2 to 3 pm in the IDC Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the second "Writing Across the College" for the Fall semester. The title of this workshop will be "Designing Writing Assignments". Jennifer will be available to assist you develop options for creating short writing assignments, and longer papers. She will also discuss options for assessment for the assignments you create. If you are in need of assistance with planning, implementing or assessing writing assignments in your classes bring your questions and join us in the IDC for this workshop. For more information about the "Writing Across the College" program, contact Assistant Professor of English at Heartland Community College Jennifer Swartout.

Also on Tuesday September 25 in the IDC at noon Director of Library and Information Services Rachelle Stivers will be leading a discussion of the book "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri. This title was named one of the New York Times Best Books of 2003. For more information on the Book Discussion Groups at Heartland Community College, contact Heartland Librarian Carol Reid. Be sure to check with the staff of the Heartland Library to see if a title you'd like to read is available through the Heartland Library or can be borrowed through interlibrary loan.

On Thursday September 27 the IDC will be holding an Open House from 2 to 4 pm. Stop in and meet with faculty member and IDC staff member Terry Mullin and myself, Media Technologist Tom Corcoran to discuss your instructional technology needs. Terry Mullin will be available to assist you with implementing the Gradebook project, an excel based way of tracking assessments by learning outcomes. And I will be on hand to talk with you about any questions you might have regarding audio/video production, podcasting, and other rich media you might want to implement in your classes. Stop into the IDC in the Student Commons Building Room 2401 on Thursday September 27 from 2 to 4 pm for the IDC Open House.

Tips and Tricks

In the tips section I thought I would mention that starting on September 26 Borders bookstores will be holding their educators savings week. Current and Retired educators can save 25% off the list price of materials. So if you are in the market for books, dvds or other supplies check out the local Borders bookstore.

Closing

Thanks for listening to another episode of the IDC Podcast. Our podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College. If you have any questions or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC you can contact us by phone, by email or in person by checking our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for September 17 - 21, 2007

Podcast Number

36

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

September 17, 2007

Length

5:37

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, Constitution Day is Monday September 17th. Join us for events in the HCC café regarding the U.S. Constitution. The first "Your World Exposed HCC Speaker Series" for the Fall 2007 titled "American Gulag: The Internment of Japanese-Americans During World War II" is announced. Also the IDC will be hosting a "Writing Across the College" program on September 21 on "Essays as a Tool for Learning". And the "Technology Users" group is discussed in the Tips and Tricks section.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College this is the IDC Podcast episode number 36 for the week of September 17th - 21st of 2007.

IDC News

Monday, September 17 is Constitution Day across the United States and Heartland Community College will be holding events in celebration of this day from 11 am to 2 pm in the Heartland Café. From 11 am to noon a discussion of the "Constitution and Surveillance Issues" with Attorney Cary Barr will be taking place. Come hear about issues regarding your rights, privacy and the government. Then from noon to 1:15 pm there will be a panel discussion with the topic "Has 9-11 replaced 9-17 as the most important date in our Nation's history?" How does the perception of the terrorist attack on America on September 11, 2001 stack up in importance to the adoption of our U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787? Also available from 11 am to 2 pm there will be information tables where you can learn how to get involved in area chapters of the League of Women Voters and the Living Democracy Committee, you can also have a chance to register at our voter registration tables and see a display of Heartland Library materials related to the Constitution. Join us in recognition of Constitution Day on Monday September 17th in the HCC Café from 11 to 2 pm.

On Tuesday evening September 18 from 7 to 8 pm in the Community Commons Building Room 1406, Heartland Community College will be holding the first Fall 2007 Your World Exposed HCC Speaker Series. The evenings presentation will be titled, "American Gulag: The Internment of Japanese Americans During World War II" and will be presented by Daniel I. Ogata, retired Presbyterian minister. Mr. Ogata will be speaking about his and his families experience during World War II as interned Japanese-Americans. All of the Your World Exposed speaking series events are free and open to the general public so make plans to join us for these events. Again this event is on Tuesday evening September 18 from 7 to 8 pm in the Community Commons Building Room 1406 at Heartland Community College.

Also, this week in the IDC, on Friday September 21 from 1 to 2 pm Jennifer Swartout will be hosting a "Writing Across the College" program on "Using Essays as a Tool for Learning." This Is a repeated workshop from Tuesday September 11. Included in this discussion will be information on how to assign papers that will help your students learn. Options for assessing essays will also be discussed. Feel free to come down to the IDC Student Commons Building Room 2401 and share your thoughts on essay assignments. If you have questions about the Writing Across the College program at Heartland Community College contact Jennifer Swartout, Assistant Professor of English.

Be sure to check our IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc for details about events, resources and staff hours.

Tips and Tricks

Are you looking to add technology to enhance your classroom but you aren't sure where to start? Maybe you have ideas but you'd like to bounce them off of an audience first before implementing them. Well you are in luck. Join us for the next Technology Users Group. This is an informal group made up of staff, administration and faculty here at Heartland that is meeting every few weeks to discuss and brainstorm ideas regarding using technology in the classroom. Feel free to join us and bring your questions and ideas. Look for an email announcement coming shortly about the next Technology Users group.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. Our podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as instructional technology tips and services offered. If you have any questions or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC you can contact us by phone, by email or in person by checking our contact information on the IDC web site available at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for September 10 - 14, 2007

Podcast Number

35

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Media Technologist

Date

September 10, 2007

Length

9:09

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, the first Writing Across the College program for Fall 2007 is on September 11 held in the IDC on "Essays as a Tool for Learning". Also the first Your World Exposed HCC Speaker series is announced. In the tips and tricks section I discuss the 4th in a 4 part series on choosing the right computer for you.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College this is the IDC Podcast episode number 35 for the week of September 10th - 14th of 2007.

IDC News

Coming up this week in the IDC, on Tuesday September 11 from 2 to 3 pm Jennifer Swartout will be hosting the first "Writing Across the College" program on "Using Essays as a Tool for Learning." Included in this discussion will be information on how to assign papers that will help your students learn. Options for assessing essays will also be discussed. Feel free to come down to the IDC Student Commons Building Room 2401 and share your thoughts on Essay assignments. If you have questions about the Writing Across the College program at Heartland Community College contact Jennifer Swartout, Assistant Professor of English. If you miss this there will be another opportunity to attend next week on Friday September 21 from 1 to 2 pm also held in the IDC.

Be sure to check our IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc for details about events, resources and staff hours.

Coming up next week on Tuesday evening September 18 from 7 to 8 pm in the Community Commons Building Room 1406, Heartland Community College will be holding the first Fall 2007 Your World Exposed HCC Speaker series. The evenings presentation will be titled, "American Gulag: The Internment of Japanese Americans During World War II" and will be presented by Daniel I. Ogata, retired Presbyterian minister. Mr. Ogata will be speaking about his and his families experience during World War II as interned Japanese-Americans. All of the Your World Exposed speaking series events are free and open to the general public so make plans to join us for these events. Again this event is on Tuesday September 18 from 7 to 8 pm in the Community Commons Building Room 1406 at Heartland Community College.

Tips and Tricks

In the final installment of this 4 part series I will be finishing off my discussion on "How to find the right computer for you."

Last week I discussed some of the differences between Apple Macintosh computers and Microsoft Windows machines. And this week I will be talking about some ways of purchasing a computer.

Once you have determined the primary function of the computer: Home, Office, Media design or Gaming use you can begin to narrow down just what type of computer you will need. Once you take the specific considerations into account I spoke of in part 2 of this series in podcast 33 like laptop versus desktop, and hard drive sizes and then weighed the pros and cons of Windows versus Macintosh from part 3 of this series you should be ready to purchase the computer.

There are 2 basic ways to purchase a computer: online or at a brick and mortar store in person.

Online there are several ways to go about purchasing a computer. You can go directly to the company web site and check out what models they offer and comparison shop. Companies such as Dell, Compaq, Toshiba, or Apple all allow you to configure, modify and purchase a computer online. The pros of taking this approach include the ability to configure the machine to your needs. If you'd like a larger screen, more memory, or larger hard drive size then you can add additional features. Also often they will have web pages that guide you through the process and will show you just how much each extra component will cost. The cons of purchasing straight from the company include paying the extra for shipping, having to wait for the computer and the possibility of damages occurring during shipping. Returning damaged or ineffective equipment becomes more difficult as well.

Other ways of purchasing online include going through an online superstore like CompUSA, an online office superstore such as Office Depot, Staples or Office Max, or a 3rd party retailer such as Amazon.com. In each case you will be limited to the configurations they have available on their web site. And there is almost no customer support on the web pages themselves assisting you. Although on services like Amazon.com you can read through reviews from customers to see if a computer has worked for other people and see what kind of experience you can expect.

Also you could try purchasing a computer used online through a service like eBay. This becomes somewhat of a gamble as to the configuration of the computer and what condition the item will be in when you purchase it. Depending on who you purchase it from you might not be able to return the item if it doesn't meet your needs or live up to expectations.

The other avenue would be to purchase the computer through a traditional store. Again, there are several sub options here to choose from. The most obvious would be to try a technology driven store such as Circuit City or Best Buy to name a few. The pros of choosing this type of store include the personal service you will probably receive. They will have staff on hand to help you purchase the right computer for you and make sure you have all of the accessories you require. Cons include the limited supply, limited brands and limited configurations of the systems they have available. If you are requiring a larger amount of memory than what their stock systems are pre-built with you might have to settle for something less than the desired configuration.

Going to an office superstore or general retailer is also an option. Office Superstores like Office Depot, Staples, or Office Max also carry computers. However they only carry limited supply and limited brands in limited configurations. The assistance that you will get at this type of store will be somewhat limited as their staff wouldn't be expected to know everything about every brand of computer and configuration that they sell. The same goes for retailers like Walmart. Their supply will be limited and the computer support will also be somewhat limited.

If you are looking into purchasing a Macintosh there are also Apple stores and Apple certified resellers. Apple stores tend to only exist in major cities such as Chicago, San Francisco and New York to name just a few. They will have somewhat limited configurations of Macintosh computers but the personal service will be there to help you purchase the computer that is right for you. Apple certified resellers are located in more places and offer a similar type of service as to the Apple stores.

So overall, online purchasing generally offers more configurations and an easier way to see just how much each component is going to cost you. You also get to do more comparison shopping between brands in an easier way online.

In person at a technology store your choices are somewhat limited and it is more difficult to decipher all of the different options and what additional components are going to cost. But you get the added benefit of talking to a person live and if you need to make returns or exchanges they process can be less difficult.

Often there are educational discount available to staff, faculty and administrators working in higher education when purchasing a computer. Look into the companies web site for specific details to see if you are eligible for a discount by working in higher education.

I hope this series helps anyone out their looking to upgrade or purchase a computer in the near future.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of the IDC Podcast. Our podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as instructional technology tips and services offered. If you have any questions or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC you can contact us by phone, by email or in person by checking our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for September 3 - 7, 2007

Podcast Number

34

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Lab Assistant

Date

September 3, 2007

Length

10:37

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, a reminder about the upcoming book discussion group in September on "The Namesake". I discuss the 3rd in a 4 part series in the tips and tricks section on choosing the right computer for you.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College this is the IDC Podcast for the week of September 3rd - 7th of 2007.

IDC News

A reminder that on Tuesday, September 25 at noon in the IDC (SCB 2401) the book "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri will be discussed. Come join Rachelle Stivers, Director of Library and Information Services and feel free to bring a lunch. This is a title available in the HCC Library or you can check with the library staff to access this book through interlibrary loan.

Tips and Tricks

Following up on the last two episodes I will be discussing the third of 4 parts on, "Choosing the right computer for you." In the first week I talked about the 4 functions of a computer: Home, Office, Media, and Gaming. And last week I spoke of some specific considerations including processing speed, hard drive sizes and laptops versus desktops.

This week I will be discussing some of the differences between Apple Macintosh computers and Microsoft Windows machines.

Microsoft Windows is the most familiar operating system for most people. It is commonly used in homes, office settings and at most institutions. The Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI) goes back to the mid-1980s, was originally just an extension of Microsoft DOS and has gone through several versions since that time including Windows 1.0 in 1985, Windows 3.1 from 1992, Windows 95, 98, 2000 and Windows XP which was released in 2001. The latest version called Windows Vista came out earlier in 2007. All Windows versions have roughly 90% of the market share of all computer user's operating systems. Most computers you can purchase at major retailers such as Circuit City, Best Buy, online retailers or major office superstores have Windows XP or Vista installed on them. Microsoft's business model was to only make the software and allow their operating system to be installed on several different types of computers from various hardware manufacturers such as Dell, Compaq, HP, Toshiba and lesser known names. Each of these companies are then in competition with one another and offer various packages, price points and configurations of their computers. Most people use Windows at home, in the office and for gaming. Manufacturers of software tend to focus their development efforts on windows based software and games because they know they can reach the widest market share.

Apple Computers, now known as Apple Inc., started making computers and their operating system in the late 1970s. One of the first computers they created was the Apple IIe introduced in 1977. Lisa, one of the first computers to feature a graphical user interface, was created in 1983 and then in 1984 the Macintosh was introduced. The original mac and it's operating system was a major influence on all subsequent computer companies. Apple continued to come out with newer and newer models of computers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The latest line of Apple Macintosh computers includes desktop models known as the Mac Mini, the iMac, and the Mac Pro. Their line of laptops are the MacBook and MacBook Pro.

Apple takes a different business model than Microsoft. Instead of relying on third party manufacturers to create the computer which the Windows operating system runs on, Apple not only creates the operating system in house but manufacturers all of the computers to run that operating system. The two components, hardware and software (operating system), are built specifically for one another. They also only sell what could be called high end configurations of their computers and as a result they are not in direct competition with the basic configurations that are often available for half the price or more of a Macintosh.

The pros of buying a Windows based computer include easier to find hardware and software and more software titles are available. Using a Windows machine basically guarantees that you will have compatibility with the vast majority of other people who are also using Windows. You can find the computers in many configurations to suit your needs from basic models to more advanced computing. And finally the wide spread use of Windows means you can sit down at a computer in an Internet café, neighbors house, computer lab at a college or just about anywhere and be fairly familiar with the operating system.

Some of the cons of buying a Windows computer include security issues which every operating system is vulnerable to. Because Windows tends to be the de facto operating system it is also the most hacked, and targeted the most by viruses and other malware. Another potential con is that the GUI takes a nuts and bolts philosophy to its operating system which allows you to make many different configuration changes. This might be a good thing if you like to tinker but tends to confuse people who just want it to work.

The pros of choosing a Macintosh computer from Apple include ease of use. Once you learn the operating system it tends to speed up the work flow for many users. Typically similar functions on a Windows computer take more clicks of the mouse to get to the same settings screen. Also because Apple makes both the operating system and the hardware that it runs on this eliminates many potential bugs and problems that can come up in the Windows style business model. The computer is designed to run the software and visa versa. They also create other programs such as their own Microsoft Office-like suite of applications called iWork that has a word processing, spreadsheet and PowerPoint like presentation software. Another software suite called iLife, which is a bundle of software for producing video, audio, managing photos, creating websites and more, comes with all new Macintosh computers. Historically, Macs have tended to be the focus of multimedia artists, videographers, photographers and designers of all types. Though Apple, Inc. has been selling more computers over the past few years because many people like the simplicity and aesthetic quality to the design of the computer.

The cons of purchasing a Macintosh are there are fewer configurations and fewer retailers. Purchasing is limited to online at Apple.com, Apple stores, at Apple-certified retailers, and Best Buy. Fewer configurations though could be thought of as a pro because it is less confusing when going to make a purchase. Apple tends to be more expensive than the basic configurations of Windows computers because Apple refuses to play the lower price point game and compete with computer manufacturers that sell low end machines. Apple's lowest priced computer is in the $600 range and they go up to over $3000. Where as you can find a Windows computer for less than $400. But again this is because the computers are of different configurations so comparisons cannot really be made.

Apple Macintosh is also harder to find software traditionally, although the newest Macintosh computers have Intel based processors which can run not only Windows operating system but also what are known as "universal" applications which run on both Intel Based Macintosh and their older PowerPC processors. The PowerPC processor models were just discontinued last year. A few software manufacturers have created software than allows Windows to be installed on a Macintosh computer and run either within the Mac operating system or run as if the computer were a Windows machine. So if you have Windows versions of the software you could set a Macintosh up to run Windows and then run the software under Windows.

When deciding on a computer, after you have figured out what the primary use of the machine is going to be for and taken the other specific configurations I spoke of in the previous podcast into consideration, you then will need to weight the pros and cons of Windows versus Macintosh. If you are into media design the choice of professional designers tends to be Macintosh. If you are doing home or office use Windows has historically dominated this market although more Macs are being introduced into the workplace and in homes. Gaming still tends to be dominated by Windows computers. The market share dictates that the gaming software companies will create the most games for the widest market which is Windows users.

In the fourth and final installment in next week's podcastI will be discussing some ways of purchasing a computer.

Closing

Thanks for listening to this week's IDC Podcast. Our podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as instructional technology tips and services offered. If you have any questions or are in need of assistance with the services we offer in the IDC you can contact us by phone, email or in person by checking our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!

Back to Podcast Top

Podcast Title

Instructional Development Center podcast for August 27 - 31, 2007

Podcast Number

33

Narrator

Tom Corcoran, Lab Assistant

Date

August 27, 2007

Length

9:47

Summary

In this week's IDC podcast, thanks to all who participated in the book discussion group. Upcoming book discussion groups for September, October and November are announced. In the tips and tricks section, I continue with the second in a 4 part series on choosing the right computer for you.

Audio

Transcription

Toggle Transcription

Introduction

Podcasting from the Instructional Development Center room 2401 of the Student Commons Building at Heartland Community College this is the IDC Podcast for the week of August 27th - 31st of 2007.

IDC News

Thanks to all who have participated in our Book Discussion Groups held in the IDC. Coming up on September 25 at noon in the IDC, Director of Library and Information Services Rachelle Stivers will lead a discussion of the book, "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri which is available in the Heartland Library.

Other titles coming up for the book discussion group include "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling on October 31st with HCC Librarian Carol Reid. And on November 29 Librarian Chris Sweet with lead a discussion of "From the Bottom up: One man's crusade to clean up America's Rivers" by Chad Pregracke, a former Heartland Community College student.

Tips and Tricks

As promised in podcast episode #32 I will be discussing the second of 4 parts on, "Choosing the right computer for you." Last week I talked about asking the question "What is this computer's primary function?" and broke the function into 4 main categories: Home, Office, Media, and Gaming.

This week I will be going into some more specific detail about considerations like processing speed, memory, hard drive sizes, and laptop versus desktop models.

In terms of processing speed computers keep getting faster and faster. Most computers on the market today run anywhere between 1.8 GHz to over 3.0 GHz. This is compared to computers built ten years ago were running between 300 and 500 MHz or so. To give you an idea of what this means, a computer can do one computation per second with a 1 Hertz processor. So 500 MHz would be 500 million computations per second. 1 Gigahertz would be 1 billion computations per second. Where this all comes into play is in the software. If you are running several applications at the same time or applications that take a lot of processing by the computer like making movies, editing images, creating 3-dimensional animation, the applications I spoke of in the previous podcast under the "media" function then you are going to need a faster processing speed. Even if you are only viewing video over the Internet you will need to have a fairly fast processor just to view the video. Gaming is the same way. The games today take a tremendous amount of processing speed compared to just 10 years ago. So it is kind of a never ending cycle. Computers get faster, the software gets more powerful requiring faster processors and so newer computers and processors are made. Moore's Law is attributed to Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel. It states that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit roughly doubles every 24 months. This prediction has held since the 1960s and Intel is now creating something called Dual-Core Processors which is like getting two microprocessors in your computer in one. These computers can handle two sets of instructions from the software at the same time thus doubling up the efficiency of a computer. Two of the most common makers of processors are Intel and a company called AMD. Each company makes several versions of their processors both single core and dual core and this partially determines the final cost of the machine to the consumer. Again this all comes back to the primary function of the computer you are seeking. If it is for home or regular office use, lower to mid-level computers are very good. If you are heavy into media, video, design or gaming then generally you will be in the mid- to upper-level priced computers.

A computer's amount of memory is another factor to consider. Most computers on the market today come with 512 megabytes or 1 gigabyte of memory. Memory is fairly easy to expand so you can start out with a lower amount and always add more, until you reach the maximum for that machine. Often it is less expensive to buy the memory from a third party and simply install it yourself. The more memory you have the better especially for the higher level functions or if you are running multiple applications and want to switch between them easily. I remember a few years back when I had a laptop with 64MB of memory. It was slow but for the times it wasn't too bad. I decided to purchase a memory card and install it myself. I think it went up to a total of 192 MB and it made a huge difference in performance. I could actually load Photoshop and not have to walk away and make a sandwich while it loaded. This is another example of where the applications you are running determine how much computer memory you need. Checking with the system requirements on the software you want to use will help you get an idea of how much memory you should have.

Hard drive sizes also come into play when deciding on a computer. Adequate storage space is crucial to a computer. Most modern machines come with internal hard disks ranging from 80GB up to 500GB or more. One option for increasing a computers storage space is to purchase an external hard drive that hooks into the computer through the USB port or a Firewire port. If you think that you are going to be storing many photos, videos, music or other media and software then again bigger is better.

A fourth item to consider is the types of optical drive the computer has. Most computers come with CD-ROM and possibly a DVD-ROM drive. These drives can read CDs and DVDs allowing you to view movies, listen to music and get software off of a CD or DVD. If you want to store data, music, or movies on a CD or DVD then you will have to have a CD-Rewritable drive or a DVD writable drive. CDs can store about 780 MB of data, DVDs can store roughly 4.7 GB and dual layer DVDs can store 8.5 GB. If you think that you will be storing photos, backing up data, or transferring any music, movies or other media to CD or DVD, make sure the computer comes with a CD-RW or DVD-R drive.

Finally, the last consideration I will be covering today is laptop versus desktop. Processing speed and memory-wise the two types are fairly similar. It used to be that the difference was a wider gap. A desktop computer was more powerful while the laptop offered portability although lagging in available memory, storage space, and processing speed behind most desktop models. Today desktops tend to be more expandable. They allow you to add more memory, add larger hard drives easier, and add wider screens in the future.

The obvious benefit of a laptop is portability. They come in all sizes ranging from 12 or 13" screen size up to 17" plus. Laptops tend to come with wireless Internet capabilities built in to the computer or a wireless card can be added allowing you to connect to the Internet while on the go. Battery life is an issue though with laptops. Most can last between 4 to 6 hours on the battery before they run out of charge which limits their portability somewhat. Laptops also tend to be more difficult to upgrade with more memory or larger hard drives and their screen size is set unless you purchase an external monitor and hook it up to use it as a desktop.

The prices for desktop versus laptop tend to be similar with laptops still being more expensive generally. So the big question to ask is, "Do I need the added portability of a laptop?" If you are doing a lot of work on the road or want to easily access all of your software and hardware a laptop is an option for you.

In next week's podcast I will be covering issues regarding Apple versus Microsoft. What differences are there and what are the pros and cons of each?

Closing

Thanks for listening to this week's IDC Podcast. Our podcasts are updated weekly with events happening in and news about the Instructional Development Center at Heartland Community College as well as instructional technology tips and services offered. If you have any questions or are in need of assistance with any of the services we offer in the IDC you can contact us by phone, email or in person by checking our contact information on the IDC web site at http://www.heartland.edu/idc/contact.jsp

That's all for this week... signing off until next time from the Instructional Development Center. Have a great week!