Screencasts

I have recently been tackling a screencast of the changes in Moodle 2.3 for the DePauw community. As always, I have been following the tried and true ADDIE process. The analysis stage was fairly simple since it was a basic comparison between the features found in 1.9 and the features found in 2.3. Moving to the design phase, things began to get more complicated as I had to narrow down and specify what topics would be covered in this short video. I was able to narrow it down to the new navigation, the new file structure, the addition of the drag&drop feature, and the new activity chooser. This video has quickly become focused on the course creators, rather than the students. Because of this, I would like to create one focused on the changes from the student perspective as well... but that is for another post.

Moving onto the actual development of the video, I was quickly surprised by how difficult it is to write a script! I found myself wanting to ramble on about the technical details, rather than simply showcasing the changes. I once again narrowed my focus and wrote a script for each separate topic. I added in a screenshot to keep my focus and know what exactly I would be showing at the time I was speaking. This strategy really helped and I was able to quickly finish the script. I recorded the script separate from the screencast recording which increased my edit time significantly. Rather than editing one document with video and audio, I had to edit the audio first and then match the video and edit it second. One thing that was extremely helpful was to complete the audio edits and then play it while completing the screencasts. This prevented the video from needed significant edits. After a few more revision cycles, I will be posting the video for all to see!

-Mikah

R625: Laying the Foundation

This semester I am taking R625: Designing Instructional Systems. This course uses authentic consultation experiences to teach how to be professional consultants. The past several days I have been rattling my brain trying to come up with a legitimate project that I can use for this course. It seems that the project should be outside of our typical working hierarchy, which makes the majority of what I might consider irrelevant. Additionally, my main job functions tend to be short-term consultation and planning. Some projects to consider:

• Moodle upgrade to 2.x - I will be planning and implementing an upgrade but the timeline is too long for one semester. Rather than tackling the entire upgrade, I had considered focusing on a smaller portion of the overall project such as archival of courses, development of training materials, ect.
• Digital Storytelling Project for Civic, Global & Professional Opportunities (CGPOpps) - CGPOpps is interested in having students who return from off-campus internships develop digital stories of their experience. I would be working with them with one of my co-workers to develop a training plan for the students.
• Non-profit website creation - I had previously been approached about developing a website for a non-profit organization. They were in the planning stage and nothing concrete had been finalized. This might be a good opportunity to open the lines of communication for this project.
• Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW) - The last week of October is CSAW, which I and my interns will be planning a strategy for
• IS KnowledgeBase - Another possibility is working with the HelpDesk to develop materials for the IS KnowledgeBase. I currently maintain the Moodle & DyKnow material, but would be interested in increasing the instructions available. Moving into video tutorials has also been discussed.

Those are the main projects that I think could be applicable for the course. I might find that all of them won't work for one reason or another, so I am going to keep my mind open and searching for a project!

Mastering Prezi for Business Presentations

Last academic year I was approached by Packt Publishing to be a technical reviewer for a book on Prezi. They approached me through email as a result of one of my blog posts. I was not familiar with Packt, so I conducted the typically email scam investigation. They seemed legit, so I agreed to become a technical reviewer for the book.

The book was Mastering Prezi for Business Presentations by Russell Anderson-Williams, a true Prezi Master. Before reviewing this book, I felt that I knew Prezi fairly well. In fact, it has become my default presentation software. I can even boast that I do not make people sea sick! (which I think speaks volumes of my Prezi skills) Despite my overall comfort and knowledge of Prezi, I can say that I honestly learned more about Prezi work-arounds and tips&tricks than I previously knew were possible. With Prezi's ever expanding product, I imagine most of these work-arounds will be a relic of the past but I can at least make it do what I want in the present. Russell was incredibly knowledgeable and I highly recommend this book (not just because of my fantastic bio!). While this book does have a decided business focus (couldn't pick that up from the name, could you?!), it really can be applied to outside the business world.

The Table of Contents is fairly robust:

Preface
Chapter 1: Best Practices with Imagery
Chapter 2: Using Audio
Chapter 3: Inserting a Video
Chapter 4: Approaching Your Prezi Design
Chapter 5: Projecting Your Prezi
Chapter 6: Prezis for Online Delivery
Chapter 7: Importing Slides into Prezi
Chapter 8: Prezi for iPad and Android
Chapter 9: Mastering the Newer Prezi Features
Chapter 10: Prezi Meeting
Chapter 11: Getting Prezi through the Door

What most impressed me about this book was that it went beyond the simple details of how to create a Prezi and a path. Sure it covered raster vs. vector images and the different ways of inserting sound, but more than that it covered the idea of Prezi as the anti PowerPoint. This fact is often lost on new Prezenters as they find the familiarity of the slide-by-slide presentation comforting. The approach that this book took really empowered the reader to forge into the non-linear relationships that are at the heart of Prezi's design. Plus, the technical how-to of the book was also spot on (I humbly admonish with little to no pride as that was my focus as a technical reviewer). If you are interested in learning Prezi, give this book a try.

Before ending this post I would like to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly my Packt liaison answered questions and responded to my messages. My overall experience as a technical reviewer was fantastic, even though it was more time consuming than one would imagine. I think I gained a lot of great experience and have developed an interest to assist with more projects like this. As a technical reviewer I was given one print copy of the book I reviewed as well as a choice of one digital book. I chose the book HTML5 Games Development by Example, so I will be providing a review on that book in the future.

My Google Chrome Extensions

I have bounced around in my web browser preference over the past several years. I used IE for the majority of my K-12 life, then switched to Firefox during undergrad. With my new position and my grad school both being Google campuses, I can now say that I've made the switch to Google Chrome.

Since switching to Google Chrome, I have downloaded and used several extensions. Here are my tops picks, which are also my most used extensions.

Google Extensions

Google Calendar Checker (by Google)

This extension is as useful as it is simple. The Google Calendar Checker displays a small calendar icon next to your address bar that informs you how long you have until your next Google Calendar event. This is a fantastic extension for time management. Don't miss that important webinar or meeting because you got caught up in work... or surfing the web.

Google Reader Notifier (by Google)

The Google Reader Notifier is similar to the Google Calendar Checker. A small reader icon is displayed with the number of unread items. When the icon is clicked, it will provide the title of the unread item as well as a drop-down menu which allows you to filter based on your collections. You can then open Google Reader directly from the extension.

Chat for Google 

I just recently added this extension, and honestly haven't seen much difference from the chat that opens in my Google Mail. I suppose the fact that I always have my mail open has something to do with the multitude of chat boxes that open for one message. I could see this being useful for those who don't leave their mail open.

Social Extensions

TweetDeck

I highly recommend TweetDeck for anyone who has multiple Twitter accounts they would like to manage. TweetDeck has a user-friendly interface and a small learning curve. You can also connect a Facebook account, which is helpful. Posts can be set to send at a specified time, making your social media use seem second-nature. This is a must have extension!! It should be noted that this extension does not appear as a button on the browser, but rather as a button on a new tab.

Hootsuite 

I think it's obvious that I am a TweetDeck fan over Hootsuite. Hootsuite does have a perk of linking with a LinkedIn account. However, the interface is cumbersome and makes you feel like you are doing just as much work as signing into separate accounts. I haven't even had a chance to delve into the features available (although I know that you can time your posts as well as link to Facebook and post to multiple places) as I was discouraged by the complexity and overall slowness of posting.

Pinterest Pin It Button (by Shareaholic) 

I've only recently taken to Pinterest. However, in my short time pinning, I found that my pins increased dramatically after installing this extension. This extension places a button in your browser. When clicked, the button grabs all available images from the current webpage that can be pinned while hyper-linking the page. A must-have for Pinterest users!

Productivity Extensions

Evernote Web Clipper

While my colleagues swear by Evernote, I haven't entirely made the leap yet. However, I do have an account and have added this extension. The Evernote Web Clipper allows notes and webpage URLs to be saved in different Evernote notebooks. I have found this useful for organizing important URLs for projects that need to be addressed later.

Diigo: Bookmark, Archive, Highlight & Sticky-Note

Diigo allows annotation of webpages. I have found this extremely useful during my research on different topics. Your annotations are saved on the Diigo website. When returning to a previously annotated page, the Diigo extension will notify you that you have a saved annotated copy of the webpage. Your annotations can be shown on the page and you can continue to add notes.

Screenshot Extensions

Awesome Screenshot: Capture & Annotate

Awesome Screenshot allows a person to capture the visible part of a page, the whole page, or a portion of a web page. The image can then be annotated and shared on Diigo.com. The annotation screen is extremely user friendly and provides an undo and crop button. The image can also be temporarily saved on Awesomescreenshot.com, saved as a jpeg, copied to the clipboard, or be printed. I highly recommend this screencapture extension for Diigo users and those creating instructions, as most annotations are done in another program.

Screen Capture (by Google)

Screen Capture by Google is similar to Awesome Screenshot in that it allows you to capture the visible part of a page, the whole page, or a portion of a web page. Screen Capture also allows a user to capture a screen region. The annotation features are a little clunkier than that of Awesome Screenshot, but provides more colors an options for annotation. Screen Capture can be saved to your computer or shared to Picasa Web, Facebook, Sina Microblog, or Imgur. I recommend Screen Capture to those sharing with Picasa Web, Facebook, and Sina Microblog.

Download Extensions

Download Master

Download Master downloads all files linked on a web page. All files are placed into a .zip folder that can be opened later. I found this extremely useful for Moodle Assignments when the Download All button is not displayed. A button is placed on the browser that will display the number of available downloads on the current webpage.

Soundcloud Infinite Download (Currently Not Available in Chrome Web Store)

The Soundcloud download extension is not a button on the browser, but rather created a button on Soundcloud songs that allows them to be downloadable.

YouTube Downloader: MP3/HD Video Download 

The YouTube Downloader allows any video from YouTube to be downloaded as an MP3 or HD video. Like the Soundcloud extension, the download button will display on YouTube videos.

FVD Video Downloader

FVD Video downloader allows easy video, MP3, flash game, music, or HD download. A button is placed on the browser that will display the number of available downloads on the current webpage.

Multiple Google+ Accounts

I've recently ran into the issue of having multiple Google+ Accounts. I have my personal Google Account that I decided to create a Google+ account for to network both personally and professionally. However, I also work at a University that utilizes Google Apps for Education. For networking within the school I have created a Google+ profile to test and contact Faculty Members, Students, and Staff in a closed environment.

The issue of having both these profiles is that there may be confusion on which profile certain individuals should add. When in doubt, I would prefer individuals add my personal Google+ account, which will follow me throughout my professional career. Since my University account is attached to the University, it will be terminated and all the information and connections might be lost. To ease this confusion, there are some simple steps that can be done to hide your University Google+ account from search engines.

1. Login to your University Google+ Account
2. Click Profile
3. Click Edit Profile, located above your cover photo
4. Click Profile Discovery
5. Uncheck Help others discover my profile in search results.
6. Click Save

This will help hide your profile from search engines. Each individual field on your profile can set individually to hide your information from the public eye by:

1. Click on the desired field
2. Change the default "Public" setting to either the "Your Circles" or "University"option
3. Click Save

It will take several days for your profile to begin falling off of searches. These changes should begin hiding your University Google+ profile from the Public eye, while allowing your Personal/Professional profile to continue appearing in search results.