Manage your Twitter Followers

Fllwrs is a cool site for those of you who use twitter and would like to know who is following you and who is opting out.  This is a cool service that is free and easy to sign up for.  I have seen a few of the small businesses that I follow use this service and when people unsubscribe they ask why, and they send out a personalized thank you to those who newly subscribe.  Very cool.

Do you use this service?  If so what has your experience been?

 

Teacher Challange My Post

Well here it is!   I couldn't be more excited than to have been asked to write a post and then have it posted online.  The Teacher Challange is a great concept and I will continue to follow and participate in every post.  Thank you again Teacher Challnage.

To read the full post click here

Wage's Wall by Mr Riley

Wage's Wall by Mr Riley

Missing the NYT?

Tech Chrunch Posted a link on how to get New York Times articles online.  This is a fun read and even better is the link to FreeNYT on Twitter.  Thats right you can add FreeNYT to your reader subscription and enjoy all the NYT you like =)

My Edublog Teacher Challange Guest Post

Last night I submitted my guest post to the Edublog Teacher Challenge Guest Post.  I really enjoyed the Challenge in early January and when the opportunity came up to create my own post I was very excited about it.  I wrote my post on how to create a self grading multiple choice quiz using Google Docs.  I thought that this would be a useful tool for other educators and something that I already use.  Google Docs has a lot of great features, the first being that is is free!  The other great features is how much support Google gives this tool and how easy it is to set it up.  As with other services it is the application of the tools that can be difficult.  I don't want students to use an online tool that the school district can not control.  Meaning I don't want them to sign up for a service, I don't want them to see outside advertisements, I don't want to be hampered by slow Internet connection speeds.  This narrows down what I am able to introduce.  Sure I would love to teach students how to use Google Docs to create an online presentation, work collaboratively and show how cloud based services are the way of the future.  Unfortunately to use this students would need to sign up, leave district control, and be subject to our bandwidth.  I created the self grading multiple choice quiz for a few reasons.  It introduces students to Google Docs that is bandwidth friendly, free of outside advertisements, and saves me a lot of time.  Students like it, Administration likes it, my peers like it. 

I am not going to give away my post on the challenge just yet, however it should be online between now and April 15.  Thanks again Edublog for the opportunity.



Tech Crunch TV discussing Search Engines

This is a video that discusses the new type of searching.  Blocking results, removing spam, and how the search engines are evolving.  Danny Sullivan answers questions posted by Tech Crunch.  One thing Danny does mention that stuck out with me is that some sites create content to be searched, quality site create content regardless of what people are searching for.  So the moral of the story for me is to create your own content, if its quality then people will find you.  Danny also mentions that Bing is a contenter and is giving Google some friendly competition to improve. 

How would you use Technology money?

Free Technology For Teachers posted a poll on how you would spend money on technology if you were asked.  This was my comment to his blog posting.  We are fortunate in my school to have 2 computer labs with 25 computers, a library with 25 laptops, and 2 laptop carts with 25 laptops each.  This sounds great in practice however, the batteries in the laptops are all dead and must be replaced.  $11,000.  The WiFi access points are unreliable as the carts travel room to room.  Laptops have a way of getting "lost" for various reasons.  I am against laptops in everyway.  I vote for first get a class set of desktop PC's, then form a technology migration plan to get new PC's at whatever rate the district can.  Place the older desktops in each classroom so students have access to atleast 1 comupter.  Just my $.02

http://ocean.si.edu/

This free site put up by the Smithsonian has great resources for all things ocean related.  If you are looking for a resource to educate students Tsunami events,understanding the earthquake in Japan, and more.  This is a free site.

Thoughts?

round up

Hacker Education posted a cool article about how you can use cell phones in education. Whats nice is this article gives some great sites and some keys for application.  It embraces the technology.  I am sure that these same tools can be used for small business promotions.  I don't know if these tools should be used in a classroom but how cool would it be if you Incorporated these tools during a class trip? 

Round up

The NY Post has an article discussing how a Teachers Facbook Posts got her fired, or at least in hot water. I have no comment on this :-/

Google Operating System Posts about upcoming changes to Blogger.  They also post a video.

 

Survey Monkey

The following is a list of questions and answers I researched after my SurveyMonkey class.  I like SurveyMonkey and feel that it is a very powerful tool.  I especially like the level of customer service they provide.  Survey Monkey is a site that you will need to pay for to get the most out of.  I like them and when the need arises for a formal survey this is where I will turn.

 

Exporting to SPSS

You must be a GOLD or PLATINUM user, to have access to the SPSS export option to download a .sav file for SPSS.

1.     Click the Analyze icon to access the Response Summary page.

2.     Choose the All Responses Collected type of download.

3.     Pick the SPSS format.

4.     You can enter an email address to receive a notification and download link for when the export is ready, or just click the [View Download History] button later to access your current export requests.

5.     This will deliver a compressed folder containing the .sav file.

NOTE: You will need to have SPSS software in order to open this file type. This export format supports SPSS 17.0.1 and onwards.

SPSS views:

·         The Variable view defines what each question is and its possible responses.

·         The Data view is the spreadsheet-style view with all the responses.

Measure:

This is defined by the type of question used in the survey:

·         Scale is used for Rating Scale and Numerical Textbox questions

·         Nominal is used for all other questions. 

 

Google Docs users

You can export a spreadsheet in several different file formats, including .xls, .txt, .csv, .pdf, .html, and .ods. Note: it's not possible to export a spreadsheet as .xlsx.  Once exprted as an excel file you should be able to import the data into SPSS software.

To export a spreadsheet, just choose File > Download as and select a file type.

·         .txt - In this format, you can only export a single sheet.

·         .csv - If you choose .csv, the file will export in UTF-8 and will not open directly in Excel or other applications. To edit a .csv file in Excel, open Excel, select File > Open, and then browse for your .csv file.

·         .pdf - This is the best option for printing spreadsheets when formatting and styles are important. It's a good alternative to the Print menu option. There are many options available when exporting as a .pdf:

 

Analyzing data within SurveyMonkey

There are multiple ways to sort and filter data.  These options are only available to paid users.  Survey Monkey has a step by step tutorial on how to filter, graph, and create cross tabbed reports. 

 

Blocking users from taking the survey twice or placing time limits

SurveyMonkey determines a "response" to be a response to the survey, no matter the number of questions answered. While the Web Link can limit the number of responses per computer, the Email Invitation truly allows only ONE response at all times.  These settings are found under collector settings in the survey, 

 

How to import an email list

·         First export your contacts into an excel file

·         From here you will have to move the columns around so that the Email Addresses are in column A, First Name in column B, Last Name in column C, and any Custom Data in column D.

·         Please delete the rest of the columns so you only have the 4 columns.

·         Save the file in the .CSV format.

·         Open that file using Notepad, and then copy and paste all of that in to the import box in email list collector you have created in survey monkey

NOTE: A Professional (paid) account list may contain up to 10,000 emails. A Basic (free) account list may contain up to 100 emails. You can create multiple lists, but each one will be limited to this amount.

·         If you do not see the .csv file in the Open prompt menu, then select the All Files type from the "Files of Type" selector.

·         When the .csv file opens in the plain text program, it shows the emails in the correct format needed to copy and paste into the [Add Manually] textbox.

·         Highlight the emails in the text file with your mouse/cursor and copy them. Paste them into the [Add Manually] textbox of the collector or inside the Address Book. 

·         When you are inside the Email Invitation collector, choose to Add Recipients Manually.

·         You are first prompted to review and agree to our terms of use.

·         Paste your emails from the Notepad (or plain text editor) file into the textbox.

NOTE: When you are inside the Address Book, click the [+ Add New List] button to begin the email upload. Once the list is saved, you can then pull those emails into any collector.

 

 

How does SurveyMonkey analyze text?

1.     Click the Analyze icon  associated with the survey to access the Response Summary page.

2.     For any question that has comments, click the Show Responses button.

3.     Click the Text Analysis tab to see the Cloud View and List View. This may give you some ideas for potential category names.

4.     Under the My Categories tab: Click the [+ Create New Category] button, name it, and assign a color value to it. 

5.     Under the Responses tab, you can view all of the comments and assign them to the saved categories. Click the [Categorize As] button next to a response to place it into a category. Or select multiple responses at once by ticking off the box next to them and then click [Categorize As]. Click the Filter by Category button to apply a filter. Once it is applied, you will only see those comments. 

A. Cloud View:

Our text analysis feature automatically searches for important words and phrases within your respondents' comments. The Cloud View then shows you these words by presenting them in different font sizes. The larger the font size, the more often that word was used by your respondents.

·         Hover your mouse over each word and a prompt opens to show you the number of times (and the percentage) it was used.

·         Click on the word in the Cloud View to see all of the responses associated with it. 

·         Consider creating category names for these responses based on the important words or phrases.

NOTE - Small number of comments: If you have a small number of responses (around 20 or less), then it won't show the cloud view. You need about 20 or more responses for the word cloud to pick up significant phrases. 

B. List View:

Within this section, it orders the words shown in the Cloud View by highest to lowest number count. You will see the number of times (and percentage) that it appears within the comments. 

C. Categorize Responses:

Create categories to tag responses together based on the content of their open-ended responses. When you need to view responses that pertain only to a specific category, create a filter and apply it to the comments under the Responses tab. Use the "Uncategorized Responses" filter option to quickly view any comments that have not yet been categorized.

D. View Category Counts:

After you have categorized your responses, click on the [Categories] tab. All your categories are listed with the count of comments that you tagged with that category, and their percentage of all responses. In this way, you can do quantitative analysis on your open-ended responses.

 

TeacherClick

I am teaching a class on Dreamweaver at one of our local adult schools.  I was told the class would be on Dreamweaver CS3 and that program would be installed on all computers.  Well as luck would have it the school has Dreamweaver MX 2004.  I am not at all familiar with this verison and I feel like I was prepared to teach Word 2003 and now must teach notepad or Word Perfect. This particular version of Dreamweaver was done being produced and supported in 2003.  Not exactly current technology.  When I was looking for tutorials for myself I found TeacherClick a great site with step by step instructions and support videos.  I can't get access to this version of Dreamweaver where I am so having the videos to help familiarize myself was key.

Thank you TeacherClick

 

If you have other resources that you use please share them here. 

 

Daily Roundup

Instructify posted an article and discussion that he had in his class about facebook.  This is a great post and he placed a great link to connectsafley.  Not only will I use connect safely in class but will continue to hold these discussions to promote positive use of online social networking. 

The Teacher Challange posted a question, Do you have a favorite free webtool?  My reply is simply Yes.  Wordle, Blogger, Picasa, Google Docs, Google Reader, Google Sites, Google News, Partnersinrhyme, Soungle, just to name a few. =)

SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is a very powerful survey tool. I was very impressed with the well written tutorials, customer support and level of accounts. SurveyMonkey exceeded my individual needs, however if I owned a small business or wanted to create a very in depth market research survey then this is the platform to use. I posted a youtube video on a brief overview. For followers of my blog you know that I absolutely love Google. I personally feel that using Google Docs you can create a survey and manipulate data much easier. I have posted a youtube video earlier this year. I have taken multiple surveys on SurveyMonkey and many of these surveys were very basic and did not harness the true power of SurveyMonkey.
I would enjoy hearing from others on their individual experiences with SurveyMonkey.

History of Websites

Today I had a need to look at the history of a website.  There are many different ways to look up how a page looked before it was last updated.  Looking at the Cached image in a Goolge search is one way.  Simply type in the sites URL into the Google search box and then select the Cached image.  Google will display when the site was updated and will allow you to go to a current page.  This only works if you want to go back 1 update.  Another and more inclusive way to see a pages history is to use webarchive simply paste in the website URL and you will be brought to a screen with all available updates.  This is only usefull on sites that are activily crawled however.  Finding out who owns a site is also helpful, the whois records a domain owners information.  I also like to conduct a related search or a linked to search this shows others who are connected to that site.  Type in link: websiteinfo.com into the search bar or a related search.  Related: http.www.website.com

Do you have other tips or tricks that you use?

My Daily Roundup

Speaking of Summer jobs I want! Thanks Tech Crunch

Hack Education posted about Facebook Rumors.  I loved this article and I printed and posted the Kaplan report on my bulletin board.  I also printed and posted this WSJ article from 2008 that Laura Blankenship posted in the coment section.  How do you teach online safety?