Now, the question is…which one is better? Dropbox vs. Box.net!

I’ve been using Dropbox for over a year while using Box.net only a few months. I like them both. I can access to my files on both of cloud services via my mobile devices. They are pretty easy to use. I prefer Box.net over Dropbox because Box.net offers more storage. And, Box.net offers a plug-in for Microsoft Office suite. You can directly upload a file through Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. This is very convenient!

I still use both of them. If you really are interested in comparing between both services, I found a website that provides you a very detailed information. The author broke down the comparison into several interesting points, such as file restrictions, team collaboration, and enhanced features. Click here to view the article.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCOQEKtshHs

I love clickers! Enzo responded very well with the clicker. I have been constantly using the clicker as positive reinforcement to provide him with instant feedback (reward).  Basically this takes advantage of the fact that dogs learn by the immediate consequence of their actions. What this means is that if we provide and control these consequences we will in fact be controlling our dog’s behavior. In clicker dog training the sound of the clicker becomes associated with receiving a reward (i.e., Classical Conditioning). When Enzo hears the click, he will expect a treat! This becomes very useful when Enzo ran out in my backyard, and I needed him to come in the house. All I had to do was push the clicker, he would run for his life to me, and he surely expected a treat.

Enzo Ferrari

Nevertheless, Gurupreet did not demonstrate how to use that kind of clicker…. Ha! The clickers we learned today were remote personal response systems using infrared or radio technology to transmit and record student responses to questions. Clickers look like small TV remote control devices. Instructors will have a receiving hub connected to a computer in front of a class. I ran across an article about the Clickers. If you are interested to read about the application of Clickers, please click here.

I remember that 4-5 years ago I were asked to lead a project called Workshop Collaboration Tool (WCT). I assisted in designing the graphical user interface, developing the program algorithm, installing and testing the tool, and managing the project. I worked closely with a programmer to develop the tool. The purposes of WCT are to use in conferences or workshops where participants provide feedback to presenters or facilitators, work collaboratively on policy development, and make decisions as a whole. The WCT allows participants to submit questions during a presentation. Presenters can ask participants to answer questions, vote, and rank items. The tool also displays the results at the end. The WCT was used in several conferences and well received although several areas needed improvement.

The WCT shares the same concepts with the Clickers, except the Clickers can operate only basic functions. For example, students can press either numbers or letters on the Clickers. Students cannot elaborate more on their responses and answers. Students will have to discuss verbally as a group. But, I do like the fact that it is easy to create questions in Microsoft PowerPoint and operate the Clickers. That statistical results display very nicely. However, during the training we ran into a huge problem when starting a set of question, all the Clickers could not connect to the receivers. We could not do anything. We did try to turn it on and off several times, but no luck–no clicks. Oh..well..we definitely need to test them out again and find out what the issues are. It is possible that it is the software issue.

Last week I found a new tool, called “SoapBox.” It is very interesting. SoapBox has all the WCT’s features and more. Although SoapBox is pretty new and still a beta version, it has great potential. Students can access the tool via the Internet, smart phones, and mobile devices. I would love to test it out. You can view demo videos of SoapBox below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q44W-qR6sw

All and all, I like Clickers’ concepts and simplicity, but I prefer to use some kinds of tools that can handle more than just yes/no answers, polls, and basic responses. It would become more effective tool if students can post questions anytime they want during a lecture or presentation, they can elaborate or describe their responses or answers, or they can rank items. Also, the tools should be easy to operate and access. With those features, it would be such fun and engaging learning experience for students.

Thanks to Sylvia who starts to appreciate Twitter! She reads and tweets regularly, and she is interested in conducing the survey with me. Yay!! So, we have been working on questionnaires for a week or so. We should be able to collect data soon. Our survey focuses on the use and popularity of Twitter at the USA, and then we want to create an inforgraphic.

An Example of Infographic

And  then I asked myself when I joined Twitter? Hmmm I forgot and I could not find the joining date under my profile! Well, I used google to find a tool to answer my question. It’s very easy. If you are like me wondering the date you have joined Twitter, go to http://www.whendidyoujointwitter.com. Type your username and click “Find Out!” button.

I joined Twitter since March '09

Wow.. it has been two and a half year since I joined Twitter! I have quite an experience with Twitter. Just like any relationship, I have ups and downs with Twitter. I can see why people stop tweeting after they have joined Twitter only a few weeks or months. Twitter has no fun if you cannot interact with your Following and Followers. You can follow people as many as you want, but it doesn’t mean that those people will follow you back. It is like one-way communication when you follow a person, but that person doesn’t follow you back. You can only receive information or tweets from that person, but that person will not see any tweet updates from you unless he/she visits your profile or timeline. Guess what? It  has no fun for stalking people or one-sided love relationship.  People might say they enjoy reading Following’s tweets, but I wonder….for how long?

What I am trying to say is that Twitter will become more enjoyable when two-way communication has occurred — a good balanced number of Following and Followers. And, it’s not easy to gain numbers of Followers because it takes time to build your own Twitter fan club who enjoy reading your tweets. I probably will blog about ways to increase your Followers next time I blog about Twitter. Basically, the more people follow and read your tweets, the higher chance you get mentioned on Twitter if you tweet regularly. That’s how 2-way communication, interaction, and engagement have occurred, and the number of Follower comes into play.

So, it will be interesting to see how Twitter has been used at the USA, how many people heard about Twitter, but never used it, how many professors currently use Twitter in their courses,  how many students enjoy using Twitter, etc. I’m looking forward to the results!

OK… don’t forget to FOLLOW ME!

Thanks to Sylvia. I saw her Wordle on the twitter and I loved it!

I already started two Paper. One is “My Twitter Daily” and another is “Golffy Newsletter.”  I will publish the newsletter weekly. The screenshots of my paper are below. If you are an active twitter user, you should try this Paper.Li!! Don’t forget to visit Sylvia’s and Marry’s papers!

Like I said.. I’m digesting haha! Facebook timeline went all the way back to the date I signed up an account. Can you believe that? I mean.. you have to try it for yourself and then you will see what I mean. The process to change the interface isn’t bad at all. You can follow the instruction here.

Try it and let me know what you think!

You can read more information on LifeHacker

Tonka and Sylvia did a great job as usual. I just helped around and made sure the faculty complete all the assigned tasks. I also tried to remember what needed to be trained for the part 1 because I will have to teach next month. Part 1 is very important. The overall concepts and Sakai basic tools and settings were introduced to the faculty in this part.

So far our training approach has been working very well. We introduced the tools, let the faculty watched the tutorial videos, and asked them to complete the activity. They can use the given job aids or ask for any assistance during the hands-on activity.

After long hour workshop, we stopped by Cold Snap yogurt ice cream shop. It was OK, little pricey. But, I liked the concept of make-it-yourself ice cream. They offered a lot of toppings and they all looked yummy!

We learned how to access the Kaltura via Sakai, upload a file, create a collection, and change the privacy settings. Although the Kaltura is still under development, it will be available to the USA faculty in the next couple of months.

Click here to read the data sheet of Kaltura MediaSpace for Education