Riding the Google Wave

Last week, I wrote a short post titled “What Is Google Wave?” and included some videos about Google’s new tool that “will be available later this year.” According to the Official Google Blog, a “‘wave’ is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more” (“Went Walkabout. Brought back Google Wave“).

Since the announcement, a lot of people have been writing about it:

• ReadWriteWeb > “Google Wave: Our First Hands-On Impressions” (6-2-09)
• Cole Camplese: Learning and Innovation > “More Waving” (6-2-09)
• EdTechatouille > “Digesting Google Wave” (6-1-09)
• Web 2.0 Journal > “Google Wave: The Possibilities for Patient-Centered Communication” (6-1-09)
• e-Literate > “Does Google Wave Mean the End of the LMS?” (6-1-09)
• Cole Camplese: Learning and Innovation > “Google Wave” (6-1-09)
• Mashable > “Testing Google Wave: This Thing is Tidal” (5-31-09)
• Mashable > “The Top 6 Game-Changing Features of Google Wave” (5-31-09)
• David Coxon’s IT Weblog > “Could Google Wave goodbye to twitter?” (5-31-09)
• EdTechatouille > “Google Wave & Education, First Impressions” (5-29-09)
• WATBlog.com > “Google Wave for Dummies: A Complete Review” (5-29-09)
• Wilbert’s work blog > “Google Wave and teaching & learning” (5-29-09)
• Mashable > “Google Wave:  A Complete Guide” (5-28-09)

Videos about Twine

more about “Twine“, posted with vodpod

 

 

Watch these videos by the CEO of the company:

• “How to use Twine.com (Part 1 of 4)“
• “How to use Twine.com (Part 2 of 4)“
• “How to use Twine.com (Part 3 of 4)“
• “How to use Twine.com (Part 4 of 4)“

These videos were all added to YouTube last week.  I have a Twine account, but I just haven’t had time to do anything with it.

Video: “BAAGZ: Introduction”

more about “VIdeo: “BAAGZ : Introduction”“, posted with vodpod

 

 

Progress with Sloan-C SL-NET

After the meeting on Aug. 3, it was clear that some people were interested in organizing groups based on topics of mutual interest in addition to committees for organizing events.

It seemed logical, then, to divide groups within SL-NET into two categories: committees, which are responsible for organizing and facilitating the group and its activities, and research or study groups, which people can set up to pursue their interests.

We have three committees already:

• Social Networking–to plan and organize strictly social activities
• Professional Development–to plan and organize discussions, classes, etc., related to the use of technology in higher education
• SL Skills Workshops (name TBD)–to plan and organize workshops to train members in SL skills like building, scripting, and so on

I’d like to have one more committee that would be responsible for communication, outreach, scheduling, etc.

At the meeting a lot of people were interested in a group to research effective practices. I expect to see some interesting things come from them.

As a result of the meeting, it was also evident that we needed some way of facilitating our organization and discussion in real life beyond the mailing list. It was suggested that we use Moodle forums on the Sloan-C web site, but another member of the group recommended that we look at a Ning social network. The Ning network has advantages over Moodle because it’s publicly visible, and members can create their own groups and forums as well as customizing individual pages.

Because a couple of people had trouble with the SL-NET social network the day I set it up, we’re doing a “beta test” by anyone who is interested to see if it there are any problems using it. So far, it seems to be okay.

As of this morning, we have 30 people in the Ning-based social network, 44 in the SL-NET group in SL, and 67 in the mailing list. I expect that we will be using the social network, and I’d like to move all discussions to it, leaving the mailing list for announcing events and any urgent situations like the one Friday where a member of the group was doing a presentation on SL and education to a group of legislators in the afternoon and requested suggestions for sites in SL to show them.

SL-NET Communication

To facilitate communication within SL-NET and with people outside it, I set up a mailing list hosted by FreeLists, started an SL-NET group in Second Life, and created a Google calendar for scheduling our events.

Anyone can subscribe to the mailing list by sending an email to sl-net-request@freelists.org with ’subscribe’ in the Subject field.

Someone can join the SL-NET group in Second Life by using the Search function to find the group, and then clicking on the Join button.

The Google calendar is public. Anyone interested in our events may open it in a browser or subscribe to the feed.

We’re also looking into ways to provide forums for RL discussion.