The balance

     This discussion was yet another one focused on how to implement technology and Web 2.0 into our education system. The main difference between this one and the others ones that I chose to share with you is that this one is from a teacher’s perspective to his peers, instead of directing towards the students and caregivers.

     I must say that this discussion was most refreshing because it shows me that the ones that we are entrusting our children to really do care. The ideas and thoughts presented in this discussion were very insightful. But none are more important to me than the suggestion that teachers and educators in general must put themselves through a learning regime in order to master the new tools that generations are growing with now. Today, children learn how to play with tablets before they can talk properly and that must be our sign that this needs to be taken seriously.

     I love how the author emphasizes that Web 2.0 is not only the new and greatest teaching tool ever advertised but an actual medium that can allow educators to reach their students at levels never done before. He emphasizes this by stating and reminding us how the world has changed in the last 20 years, and how what we used to believe it was close to science fiction now is our reality. Then he challenge us readers to stop the trend of technology being utilized two or three generations too late for educational purposes. Great read!

Site used:  http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/share/view/4020149

Preparation of students for the future?

     This discussion simply touches at the core of the debate on whether our next generation is prepared to, as seen on the Did you know? video, handle the problems that they do not know we have yet. There are many ideas presented on how to prepare students for their future, especially when it comes to traducing them to new technologies.

     The author of this wiki is a middle school teacher from Kansas, whose main interest is to be able to better and positive influence her students with the limited resources given to her by the State’s educational system. Yet, she is striving and reaching out to other professionals for ideas. She utilizes Wikispaces as a great portal to brainstorm ideas with peers.

     Many share great ideas such as utilizing the devices that this generation is most familiar with (smartphones, tablets, and computers) as part of the academic tools needed for their success. I must say that my oldest daughter goes to a school that implemented this concept and the results are fantastic. She has always been a great straight A’s student but now the motivation and dedication that she gives forth is second to nothing else.  

     Another aspect of this discussion that caught my eye, and made me share it with all of you is the fact that some professionals talk about the fear that teachers and educators may have about technology. To the extent that incorrectly so they may believe that technology is replacing them or simply hindering the development of students simply because they did not have such devices “during their time”. This approach, although it may sound harmless to some, I believe can have major detrimental effects on the long run. These students will not be exposed to the right tools that they will need once they join the workforce and this is simply hurting all of us.

     Once again this discussion is another must read!

Site used:  http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/share/view/1658333?replyId=6415911

The 6C’s for 21^st century competency

     This discussion even though was very short and I would have liked to see more contributions from other members about it, was very well written and stimulated me to think. This wiki presented many differences between the corporate world and our education system. From the beginning, the author (educator) caught my attention when she talked about a quote given to her by her brother (then Senior Vice President for McDonald’s), he stated “the difference between your industry and mine is that in my industry, we have to change before we need to, while, in your industry, you won’t change even when it’s clear that you must”.

     How sad and accurate this statement is; with high school and college dropout rates in the rise it is about time we start being more proactive, instead of reactive. This is the main idea behind this wiki, there is simply no magic fix to the woes on our education system, but if great minds get together and apply concept such as Web 2.0 to our curriculum we may have a golden opportunity here. As a parent I personally understand how influential technology when used properly can be to a young mind. By introducing more computer lab work and interactive lessons, the students may be more influenced to study harder in order to spend more time in front of the technology they have grown appreciating.

     This wiki is a must read, and I guarantee you that it will make you wonder why haven’t we done more?! I know that’s what I am thinking right about now.

Site used:  

http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/The+6C%27s+for+21st+Century+Competency

Del.icio.us Review

     Delicious.com, also known as the former Del.icio.us, is simply the Flickr of social bookmarking. In other words, is a service provided so users can store, share, and discover bookmarked websites. By end of the fiscal year 2008, the creator claimed that over 5.3 million users have bookmarked over 180 million websites (Hartstein, 2007).  

     Delicious.com utilizes a system in which the users are in total control. By allowing users to tag every single one of their bookmarks, the system creates an index based on aforementioned tags. The users also have the ability to group similar tags together for ease of navigation. The site also offers a hotlist and recent bookmark sites to keep all users informed on what is new. In other words, the site is very easy to use and very informative. Plus, you can import all your favorite bookmarks from your personal browser that way when traveling all of them can be easily accessible.

     The use of Delicious.com offers every user an array of advantages but it also comes with a price to pay (disadvantages). Some of the advantages include, but are not limited to, 1) Delicious.com acts as a very big database for all types of websites; 2) if you visit the site regularly you will always stay in touch with what is new and trending; 3) users have the option to have their favorite categories sent directly to their emails; 4) the ease of use of the website is second to none; 5) requires no software installation to enjoy the benefits of it; and 6) RSS feeds are enabled on the website (CCM.net, 2015).

     Nevertheless, not everything is perfect with the site. The following are some of the disadvantages of it: 1) the total control of classification to the users can also lead to tagging websites incorrectly, thus hindering the navigation of the site or simply finding the proper websites when searching for something specific; 2) spamming – because users are in total control of what is posted on the website the chances of individuals trying to spam other users in order to get certain websites noticed are very high; and 3) due to the aforementioned spamming, legit websites will be hard to find because they will be obscured by all the junk being posted by spammers.

     In a nutshell, I believe that Delicious.com is a very useful website that when used to its full potential can be a very productive tool not only to individual users but businesses alike. Go check it out!

     The following is the link to my bookmarked websites: https://delicious.com/luis.aponte28.

References

CCM.net. (2015). What is Del.icio.us and what are the advantages of using it? Retrieved August 25, 2015, from http://ccm.net/faq/874-what-is-del-icio-us-and-what-are-the-advantages-of-using-it

Hartstein, D. (2010). What is delicious? What is social bookmarking? Retrieved August 25, 2015, from http://wiredimpact.com/blog/what-is-delicious-social-bookmarking/

Flickr Review

     Before the creation of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, there was a very popular photo-sharing and hosting service known as Flickr. Although there are many photo-sharing sites, none is easier to use than Flickr. Flickr allows users to upload and share their favorite photos free of charge, while offering many cool features such as tagging, creating albums, gathering statistics about their photos, etc. (Lowensohn, 2008). Another feature that impressed me was the fact that Flickr offer users a whole terabyte of space to upload photos – that is about two million photos!!! (Apple.com, 2012).

     The tagging system not only allowed me to tag my photos as a way of classifying them in the right categories, but it also allows users to find such categories. For instance, I tagged one of my photos as ‘social learning’ and when later searched for that category the search came back with a total of 98, 717 such photos. This is very useful for any user looking for particular information, whether for entertainment or for that very important presentation. In other words, Flickr is very user friendly and I can see many uses besides the standard uploading and sharing of photos.

     Before the creation of this review I personally did not know much about Flickr. Nevertheless, the ease of use of it was a very pleasing surprise. I was able to upload, tag, create an album, change the name and description of my photos without any trouble at all because all the editing options were located on the same location and were easy to find. But if any users were to have any problem the Help section contains a vast amount of Frequently Asked Questions that will pretty much answer anything about Flickr. I must that this hosting site has earned my respect as an easy way to maintain, share and backup my photos. After all, one cannot have too many backups.

     The following is the link to my Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/135783684@N04/.

References

Apple.com. (2012). How many photographs will 1TB hard drive hold? Retrieved August 25, 2015, from http://www.apple.com/shop/question/answers/readonly/how-many-photographs-will-1tb-hard-drive-hold/QTD4TH7TJ7TX4UXH9

Lowensohn, J. (2008). Newbie’s guide to Flickr. Retrieved August, 25, 2015, from http://www.cnet.com/news/newbies-guide-to-flickr/

Google Chrome Review

     For as long as I remember, Internet Explorer has been synonym of surfing the Internet. Arguably the most famous web browser ever created, with every computer that runs a Windows operating system having it installed it became the first option for many users across the globe. Nevertheless, just because it is the default option for Windows users does not make it the best option available.

     In 2008, Google introduced to the world the newest option on web browsing – Google Chrome. Many were skeptical about this software until they realized that when compared to Internet Explorer and other web browsers, Google Chrome was faster and easier to use. It came pre-loaded with great security features, Flash player and PDF reader. It also offered easy ways to bookmark your favorite pages, and easy access to your own preferred add-ons by signing in to your Google account. A simple feature that I like very much is the ease of navigation by simply utilizing tabbed browsing that allows the user to move from site to site without effort (Muchmore, 2014).

     In a control test Google Chrome ranked second on navigating speed with an outstanding loading time of 5.3 seconds (Internet Explorer ranked fifth). But speed is not everything that Google Chrome has over the competition given that it has built-in malware and phishing security features that auto update so you do not have to stress about your security while surfing your favorite sites (Muchmore, 2014).

     But I would be deceiving if during my review of Google Chrome I did not mention that just as with Internet Explorer I encountered some minor site compatibilities and security certificates issues. If Google Chrome deems it that the site to visit is unsecure it would not allow you to continue until you change the security features. This could be troublesome for users that do not have the how-to knowledge on how to manipulate these features without risking their security. Nevertheless, Google Chrome is still a very good web browser that should be a must amongst Internet users. If you like to surf the web at a remarkably fast speed then Google Chrome is the browser for you!

Reference

Muchmore, M. (2014). Google Chrome 36. Retrieved August 18, 2015, from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2373853,00.asp

Gimpshop Review

     Whether you are a professional photographer and/or designer, or simply a user that likes to play with the pictures taken at the latest birthday party I bet you have heard about how great Adobe Photoshop is. The reality is that there is no denying how good of software Adobe Photoshop truly is. With many features “set for image editing and creative compositing” that range from simple blurring and cropping pictures to adding extremely complex effects that will make your pictures look like they were taken by a professional (Grotta, 2015).

     Nevertheless, not all of us have the ability to spend $700 or more to acquire Adobe Photoshop (Gimpshop.com, 2015). But thankfully, users no longer have to limit themselves to poor quality image editors because Gimpshop has grown into one of the most popular photo and image editing software among professionals and amateurs alike. Gimpshop offers users great features that include, but are not limited to, “layers, channels, masks, filters, levels, advanced pattern matching” and more (Gimpshop.com).

     David Cardinal (2013), a veteran of Adobe Photoshop and a writer for Extreme Tech, states that “when you first load gimpshop, you might be forgiven for thinking that you’d fired up an alternate UI for Photoshop”. The familiarity in features is so striking that many users have no trouble transitioning from one to the other. In other words, Gimpshop is very similar to Adobe Photoshop on all aspects, except the most important to most of us – the price. Gimpshop comes to us free of charge. So what are you waiting for? Enjoy the freedom to restore, manipulate and edit pictures with Gimpshop.

References

Cardinal, D. (2013). GIMP review: This free image editor is no longer a crippled alternative to Photoshop. Retrieved August 18, 2015, from http://www.extremetech.com/computing/169620-gimp-review-no-longer-a-crippled-alternative-to-photoshop

Gimpshop.com. (2015). Welcome to Gimpshop. Retrieved August 18, 2015, from https://www.gimpshop.com/

Grotta, S. (2015). Adobe Photoshop cc review: Photo editing for experts. Retrieved August 18, 2015, from http://www.tomsguide.com/us/adobe-photoshop-cc,review-2618.html

VLC Player Review

     VideoLan Player, better known by many users as VLC, is very powerful open-source media player software that will literally play almost every single type of media ever created. VLC’s vast array of codecs makes it a must have on every computer, smartphone and tablet on the planet, but most importantly of course is the fact that is free! In other words, as Jon Jacobi of PCWorld.com states “VLC is the big dog in the multimedia playback kennel (2013).

     VLC allows the user the ability of playing most videos and music (to include DVDs, podcasts and online radio) without the hassle of surfing and downloading to find the right codec files because they are already integrated within the programming. This is a major convenience when compared to other media players such as Real Player, Windows Media Player, etc. It also offers great features such as track synchronization, effects and filters, subtitles, etc. in order to have a more enjoyable experience.

     If you are thinking ‘why would anyone spend the money to buy media player software when VLC is available’? The answer is very simple. VLC does not play Blu-ray movies; therefore, one needs to look for commercial media players such as PowerDVD for that (Muchmore, 2010). Nevertheless, even with this minor setback VLC remains a must have amongst media players, if for nothing else than having a backup for those files that your favorite software can’t seem to play. The chances are that it will become your favorite media player; I know it happened to me.

References

Jacobi, J. (2013). VLC review: 2.1 “Rincewind” looks the same, plays better. Retrieved August 17, 2015, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/2052152/vlc-review-2-1-rincewind-looks-the-same-plays-better.html

Muchmore, M. (2010). VLC media player 1.0.5. Retrieved August 17, 2015, from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358995,00.asp

More information about Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0?

Collaboration 

Innovation

Solution Watch Review

     Solution Watch is a collection of reviews of new websites and applications. The reviews are well-written and in-depth, giving the users a great idea of the type of website that they will encounter and how useful is the service provided. The blog has a very simple layout that is very easy to navigate, with an easy to access archives that go all the way back to 2005.

    This blog is very useful for users that are looking for new innovative websites. The blog’s reviews guide the user to the specific websites they may need without having them wasting countless hours looking for them in search engines. Sadly, as useful as the website seems to me at the moment of this review there was an Editor’s note on the website stating that the blog has not been updated for more than a year and even though he has no intention of taking it down he currently does not have the time to dedicate to it. Let’s hope he has some free time soon!

Sites used:  http://www.solutionwatch.com/

                  http://viget.com/flourish/top-10-blogs-following-web-20

TechCrunch Review

     TechCrunch seems to be the Disney World of technology – with many different articles about anything that is developing in the technological world. If you are a technology professional or simply an aficionado this is the blog for you. It breaks the norm of a blog maintained by a single author, by having multiple contributors submitting all types of news. This allows the blog to be updated multiple times every day with the entire new buzz.

        The blog has a very easy to navigate dynamic layout that allows the user to not only check the latest blogs but also the most popular ones. For instance, at the time of this review TechCrunch was presenting blogs about not only new advances on smartphones in India, but it was also offering an article on biometric security features that is been implemented by the major companies such as MasterCard in order to protect their customers.

       Overall, TechCrunch seems to be a must follow blog that I personally will subscribe to in order to stay in touch with the latest news of new technology advances around the world. After all, it never hurts to be informed.

Sites used:  http://techcrunch.com/

                  http://viget.com/flourish/top-10-blogs-following-web-20