Yummm! Your Frappuccino Served How You Like It! July 27, 2008
Posted by ramonmendias in Web 2.0.Tags: Feed, News, Reader, RSS, Updated Information
4 comments
I was challenged with information this week. Well, maybe “challenged” isn’t the right word. I was “overwhelmed” with information after digging deep into RSS feeds or subscriptions. If you don’t already know what a RSS (Rich Site Summary) feed is…it’s a way to publish content from your Website to subscribers interested in staying in tune with what you’re doing or saying. RSS feeds can contain blog entries, headlines, or podcasts. Doesn’t sound like much?
A good analogy came to mind as I spent literally HOURS reading through content I wanted. It’s like the way Netflix and Blockbuster was in years past. To see a movie out on video, you had to drive up to Blockbuster to rent. Netflix came along and put a good spin on things and allowed one to order everything online and they’d mail the videos to your doorstep. Using RSS feeds are so much different to me than the old check a few of your bookmarked Websites to see what’s going on. I don’t have to go anywhere but the aggregator I’m using to get all the breaking news I have subscribed to.
I feel so behind, and somewhat upset I haven’t dove into this realm sooner. I thought I was pretty Web savvy up until this point. These greatly important trends we’re kicking back and forth to one another, has revitalized my perception of what the Web can do for me.
Where is your Personal Learning Environment? July 16, 2008
Posted by ramonmendias in Online Learning.Tags: Colloquia, eLearning, Elgg, learning, PebblePAD, peer-to-peer, PLE
3 comments
Oh my, what an exciting topic this turned out to be. I didn’t truly grasp the concept until finding a few good articles with interesting comparisons of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and the new Personal Learning Environment (PLE). Both have their pros and cons, but the PLE gives us such a rich gamut of information that WE control or customize to our learning styles.
The PLE is a learning convention that leverages Web 2.0 tools that we put in place and manage. This reaches far beyond the traditional e-learning type courses, we all are probably accustomed to. The VLE or traditional types can be very structured learning, can cost a lot of money, and all control the way we learn. Many VLE types control the window of time we have to absorb the materials. The static content for these can be uploaded to a server somewhere, and the content can be very old and outdated. As we have learned in the Web 2.0 world, content or information is available to us in MANY different formats. A PLE ties all of our favorite resources into an effective learning tool.
It’s very exciting to see that we may be looking at the classrooms of the future. With the PLE, your learning experience has no boundaries of who you learn from… everyone is networked together, regardless of where you live, what you drive, or your age…Incredible.
Alan J Cann, University of Leicester – What the heck is a PLE?
Michele Martin’s Top10 Learning Tools
Mind Altering Web 2.0! What’s the big deal? July 14, 2008
Posted by ramonmendias in Web 2.0.Tags: ajax, blogging, customized content, Flash, Mashups, O'Reilly, RSS, Web 2.0, wiki
3 comments
There has been much debate over what Web 2.0 is. Every single person that uses the internet is impacted by Web 2.0 and they might not even know it. Web 2.0 is a combination of useful principles with the end-user experience in mind. Web 2.0 creates a rich network for people to communicate and share with each other on the Internet unlike anything in the past.
Three commonly used practices in Web 2.0 are:
Rich Internet Applications – Flash, Ajax (brings desktop functionality to browser, such as drag and drop)
Service Oriented Architecture – Mashups, RSS, Feeds, and Web Services (provides ways to add current news to Websites, APIs such as Google maps can be customized to work in different applications)
Social Web – Wiki, Blogging, Tagging content, Podcasts (User controls much of the data being displayed)
YouTube.com, Wikipedia, Digg.com, and Gmail are some good examples of Web 2.0 applications.
Articles Read:
O’Reilly and MediaLive International Conference – Web 2.0 Origin
