workin' the web conferencing

i dont know if it's because i had such a useful meeting with the connect pro guy, but i really got into preparing my meeting room for tomorrow's class. i started playing with the different layouts and pods, and even created a little poll that i hope to try out tomorrow. as the man said - and how many times have i said the same to my own students - you just need to get in and play with it. looking forward to see how the students find it all tomorrow

Cool tools

>hr>
http://www.wordle.net/


Also here is another tool for Firefox browsers for downloading videos to your desktop and it can reformat too

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006

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The Learning Society

Continual acquisition and sharing of knowledge and skill to cope with our changing environment defines homo sapiens.  Learning to survive and gain partial control of our environment has involved the invention of powerful mediating tools and the social constructions of complex systems of language and culture.  Learning to use these tools and language systems has been intimately linked with the work of developing them through most of human history .D. W.,  . . but the quest for knowledge has been the most distinctive intrinsic feature in the origin of our species. In this respect human societies have always been learning societies.  (Livingstone, 2004, p. 2) Livingstone's statement presents learning societies as an inherent component of the human experience; others maintain that the learning society is a modern day myth that has neither been realized nor is close to existing (Smith, 2000). Reality or myth, a common theme in the literature is that the concept of a learning society helps us to make sense of the profound social and economic changes that are occurring in this era of globalization.  Further to this, it has been proposed that the importance of the learning society is that our future survival depends on our ability to adopt the habit of mind of lifelong learning as well as the intentional action towards its realization.

The learning society model put forth by Keating and Hertzman in Developmental Health and the Wealth of Nations contributes a theoretical framework of understanding based on deep consideration of the social, biological, and educational dynamics of developmental health and the promotion of a future healthy and prosperous global society by ensuring quality developmental experiences in the early years.  A most compelling reason stated for understanding the significance of a learning society concept is in relation to the global momentum toward innovation-based knowledge economies.  As human resources are a key component to innovation, societies that do not invest in their human resources stand to limit their chances to prosper in future growth economies.  Keating points out that it is not only the availability of human resources that matter to well-functioning societies and economies, but also how those resources are organized:

adobe connect pro web conferencing

had a meeting with the adobe guy today. i had a bunch of questions and learned some interesting things.

* new release 7.5 will allow capturing phone conferencing through third party
* VOIP works better with headsets and in particular USB headsets as they dont just rely on the sound card. so technically the hands-free should work for everyone but built-in mics are more likely to have problems with feedback, echo etc.
* i learned how to change 'enhanced participants rights' so that everyone who has a camera can share their video

most of all i enjoyed getting into connect and playing around. i wish i could do it more...i need to find people who want to play in there with me

Another class, more to learn

here i am teaching another technology course and what i love about that is that it gives me an excuse to take time to pick up the playing with technology. i'm looking forward to playing more with web conferencing, google tools, blogs, and of course seeing what projects the students decide to work on.

some post class thoughts...

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two posts in one day -- i'm amazing even myself :0)

so i thought that today's online session went well even though at one point i think i inadvertently kicked myself out of the webconferencing system. funny, this time i was annoyed whereas early on in the course i panicked when i lost my connection. i'm really looking forward to seeing what my students say - hopefully they'll talk to how the class went for them. we saw lots of interesting things and i was able to use Jing to demonstrate creating a screen capture on how to add delicious bookmarlets into one's browser toolbar. then i uploaded the screen capture to screencast.com. it all worked except that i just realized in reviewing the class session archive that my students couldnt hear the sound in my screen capture. i noticed the same thing a few weeks back when Jennifer was sharing a video that she uploaded to her blog - i could hear it but the others couldnt. i suspect it might be related to my headset but that's something i need to look into for the future.

a sense of something evolving

this has been an exciting week for me on the technology front. i feel as if i have been transitioning into a new level over the last few months. my tech course has certainly helped as it has made me spend more time playing and thinking about web 2.0 for my classes. but it truly is interesting how after a while things dont seem as intimidating or overwhelming. i am starting to sense a shift in my self concept about my facility with these tools. it's hard to explain but all i can say is that i think it is directly related to the increased time i have been spending exploring, nosing around and searching what's out there and what people are up to. and i have to say i'm truly jazzed by what i've been discovering. using igoogle to help organize this has also been very helpful. for example, i've starting using my google reader [rss] to bring in sites and networks that are related to my interests in technology and education. there are lots of people doing some cool stuff out there!