http://www.quia.com/quiz/902320.html

If you could however still get your culminating tasks submitted by the end of the day. They are web based, so I’m assuming that you can still do them from home just as easily as you can do them from school. Just post them to your blog site, and please remember to post them as two separate articles. Give each one a title, and don’t forget to address the main points in the original task description.

I look forward to reading them!

Web 2.0 changed all that. The term “Web 2.0″ is different to the original web of the 1990s, and refers to those websites that provide an opportunity for average users to contribute content, connect to others and collaborate together using nothing more than a web browser. It’s about social networking, uploading as well as downloading, making friends and connecting to others. It’s sometimes known as the read/write web, the collaborative web, or the browser-based web. It has turned the web into a two way medium where people participate actively in the creation of content. It’s about not just being a consumer, but becoming a contributor.

Some of the more well known Web 2.0 applications include MySpace, Blogger, YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Wordpress, Del.icio.us, Flickr and many more… the thing that all these sites have in common is the way they invite people to easily contribute and share content on the Web.

For your culminating task, you need to investigate and report on two different Web 2.0 applications.

You will find a fairly comprehensive listing of W2 websites at http://www.go2web20.net/

Pick two and spend time playing with them, reading their websites and learning what they try to do. Experiment. Play. Explore. Discover. Share.

Once you have spent time finding your two favourite Web 2.0 apps, write a report which highlights at least the following points.

• Name of the site?
• What does it do?
• How does it work?
• Who would use it?
• How does it promote the ideas of communication, collaboration, sharing and social networking?
• What problems do you image it will solve?
• What problems do you imagine it will create?
• Why do you like it?
• Any other information that you think may be relevant.

This is not an exhaustive list, but should be a reasonable starting point. Feel free to add other points that you think might be important to include.

Publish your reviews as two separate posts on your school blog. I’d like you to really make an effort to write a logical, well constructed post, using examples and your own observations. The post can be as long as you like, in fact I wouldn’t expect you to be able to do justice to this task in a couple of paragraphs. I want to see your writing, and to see how well you can use words to communicate an idea and clarify your thoughts. And remember, you are publishing to the web, where anyone can see your work, so make it count.  Spelling, grammar, structure…  it all makes a difference to the way you communicate.

Due by Monday January 15th (no extensions possible sorry!)

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.

Till then, I’m leaving a link here so I don’t forget where I put it!

http://www.quia.com/quiz/902320.html

• December 22 - Your video project is due.  Please make sure it is fully edited and burnt to DVD.  If you can’t have the finished product by this date, you need to submit whatever you do have.
• December 22 (again) - the last day of school before Christmas.
• December 25 - Merry Christmas!!
• January 1 - Happy New Year!!
• January 8 - School returns
• January 19 - Mr B’s last day
• January 25 - Exam week starts

Between the 8th and the 16th, we will be doing some sort of culminating task, as well as an in-class exam.  I’ll need a few days to get all this stuff marked before I finish on the 19th.

Now… if you have any ideas about what you’d like to do for a culminating task, please leave your thoughts in the comments.   I’m open to your suggestions.

Someone showed me this clip, and I’d be really interested in your thoughts. Leave a comment…

http://metaatem.net/words/ 

http://www.bozzetto.com/neuro.htm 

One thing that I look at is how much and how often (and how well) you contribute to these electronic forums we use in class - the blogs, the comments, the wikis.  I do regularly read all of the stuff that happens in our virtual workspaces, and it’s given me a fairly good picture of who contributes and who doesn’t.

I thought I better remind you of this so that you all ensure you are regularly working as a member of the team.  Post stuff on your blog (sure, we do some school stuff there, but I encourage you to use it just to write about anything you like too), leave comments for your classmates, and make sure you actively add to the wiki.

• The Class Wiki - I’ve set up a wiki for every class member to document the video making process. The address is http://commtech.wikispaces.com/. Please use this site to gather together the various resources, collect ideas, write your scripts, etc. If you need help with using it, please ask!
• The due date for the finished videohas not been set yet, but it has to be completed before the Christmas break on Dec 22.
• If you plan to shoot footage off-site (ie, away from the school) you’ll need to have a plan regarding cameras. Unfortunately I cannot loan cameras out overnight to use away from the school. If you have (or can borrow) your own camera, that’s wonderful. If you’re really stuck, please come see me and we’ll try to work something out.
• If you need help with anything, just ask!

And remember, when it comes to making movies, it’s all about teamwork.

The current status of these projects is listed here… please check to see that I have yours listed as completed. (Whether you think it is or not…) This list is independent of whether you have emailed it to me or not!

Those that still owe me the Communications blog entry, please post that as soon as possible to your learnerblog space.

Those that still have not submitted the Flash cartoon, please post the SWF file only to Imageshack (www.imageshack.us - no registration required) and insert the URL to the Flash file in a new blog post. I will get it from there.

Those that have not done both, please see to them ASAP! See me if you are having difficulties. I want to get these marked and returned to you but do not want to start marking until everything is submitted from everyone.

Thanks!

Can you please drop me a quick note in the comments below with your thoughts on the use of a blog as a tool for learning in this course. Is it good? Is it bad? What do you like? What would you change? You don’t have to be shy… tell me what you really think.

The previous version of the Learnerblogs interface did not include these tools, nor did Learnerblogs even support the code to make it happen manually. Now it does, so make the most of it!

Here’s a quick sample…

[googlevideo]-7233445036972827652[/googlevideo]

Spend some time today looking through this introduction to video storytelling. Take some time to look through the sample movies and read the information that accompanies them. We will come together as a group later and discuss what we find.

http://www.atomiclearning.com/storytellingindex.shtml

Work through the different sections - Intro, Grammar, Shots, Rules and Examples.

Leave any thoughts you might have about these ideas in the comments section below.

I saw that some of them were not finished and I think that after all the work you’ve put into them so far you should finish them off. So, if yours is not complete, please take the extra time to complete it, add the music, and sound effects, etc, and resend it to me when it’s done.

Also, I’d like you to publish the finished product to Imageshack so we can link to it. You can upload the file as a Flash .swf file and it works great! No need to even create an account! Thanks Mac for this tip.

Once you’ve finished it and imported it into Imageshack, can you please post a link to the file both on your own blog and also in the comments below…

Here’s a sample… http://img259.imageshack.us/my.php?image=alexjfb3.swf

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/15906184.htm

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments section..

One great example of this dual personality that Flash has is shown in this amazing animated page. Check it out… sure, it’s purely entertainment value but it’s very cool.

Of course, for a more corporate use of Flash, you can’t go past Inside the House, a wonderful virtual tour of the Sydney Opera House. Although this site has been around for a few years now, I think it’s a good use of Flash that goes beyond just using Flash for entertainment value and makes good use of interactivity to meet a corporate purpose.

What other cool, but useful, sites have you found that use Flash? Tell me about them in the comments…

(Has anyone figured out how to embed the YouTube videos into these blog pages?  The normal way doesn’t seem to work?  Is there some trick that works?)

This is the marking rubric for the Flash cartoon. Take a look at it and make sure you’ve demonstrated your ability in each of the four basic areas, according to the criteria I’ve given you.