Last post for Fall 2007

Thanks for an interesting semester! I will be blogging about a variety of things, including the occasional emerging technology-related post, in my advisee blog. Feel free to check it out (and add it to your blog reader!)

New DRAFT widgets in Blogger

According to a recent Blogger for Dummies blog post, there are some new widgets available for you to add to your blog in Blogger draft (including a slideshow, a search box (!), and a way to add some of the many google gadgets).

(when you go to Blogger draft it will open just like your regular Blogger account but you're in the draft version. One way to tell if you forget where you are...the Blogger "B" is blue in draft vs. orange in the regular version of Blogger.)

Please complete the post class assessment

Now that the projects for this class have been completed, it's time to complete the post-class assessment (worth 1 credit). I've posted a link in BB and sent it to your Drake email.

Have a great holiday!
Robin

TWO ways to add audio to your blogger blog

OK, we learned in class that you can't add an audio file directly into your blog. That's true, the over all process to getting audio into your blogger blog is:

• Create audio file in mp3 format
• Upload to some serverspace (we used Googlepages)
• Create a link in your Blogger blog to take you to your server space.

When you add audio using Googlepages, it looks like this:

Click here to go to my audio file stored on Googlepages.

(Good news--100GB of storage. Bad news--it's kind of cumbersome for the user; a solution, but not an elegant solution.)

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But I did just find another way to do this that is MUCH more elegant for the user, but a bit more complicated for you as the blogger (it involves adding some HTML code. Here's what it looks like: This audio file is linked using FileDen.com

(Good news--it's 1GB free storage and can be direct linked which looks MUCH more elegant. Bad news--you have to continue to PASS on the large number of "special offers" they throw at you before you get to the upload screen.)

The instructions to do this are on the Templates Tips and Tricks blog. It's a bit complicated, but the result is defintely more elegant looking and I'll probably do this from now on even if all the "special offers" drive me crazy.

GREAT Resource for Learning Computer Applications

As Drake students, you have access to a wonderful resource: a library of online tutorials to help you learn a variety of software programs. Check out this post on my advisee blog to learn more.

Charity, Volunteering & Fund-Raising Websites

While not specifically collaborative technologies, this Mashable blog post lists 20 to help you give of your time & money and tools to help you with your fundraising.

Obviously the purpose of these websites are to try to connect the people who want to give with the people who need donations and volunteers. My challenge: how can you take this similar concept of connect those who have (time, skill, knowledge, etc.) with those who need it in your environment?

Collaborative Technologies + Corporate Learning

October's Chief Learning Officer (CLO) magazine has an article on when Social Networking Meets Corporate Learning. At this point it's not new news to any of you, but you may want to share it with someone who hasn't been in this class! :-)

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The November issue of CLO also has an interesting article on where the 2007 organizational learning budget is being spent and on what (according to a survey of the CLO magazine Business Intelligence Board members.) There are some interesting results according to this survey including:

• The learning budget growth is slowing in 2007 (continuing a slow down that started in 2006)
• The top learning investment areas are e-learning, and then a 3-way tie between leadership/executive development, performance management, and design/development of in-house training.
• The top learning technology investment is Learning Management System (LMS) at about 50% response rate compared to the next closest response at a little over 30%.
  
  

The November issue of CLO is not yet posted on the website, but you can access the Chief Learning Officer magazine throught the Drake online databases if you want to read this article.