In the Clouds

This week we were introduced to the concept of cloud computing and is impact on education.  As we explored the various ways the cloud makes it easier to store and transfer data – we had the opportunity to visit several cloud application that are used for educational purposes.  My thoughts on Diigo are mixed.  As I think about its benefits, I recall a site called Pintrist which my wife uses.  As I described Diigo, she said it sounded similar.  I am not really sure why I would have to go through the trouble of subscribing to Diigo and getting yet another annoying toolbar in my browser just to bookmark a page, but I guess it has its benefits.  

As I glanced through the list of cloud applications, I immediately got sight of Canvas by Instructure http://www.instructure.com/  I am no stranger to Canvas, for this is the new Learning Management System that was recently introduced to our campus at Terra State.   One of the main reasons why Terra choose to go with Canvas over other such as Moodle and Blackboard was its ability to work in the cloud and provide both teachers and instructional designers the ability to develop a user friendly experience to students.  

As I continued through the list, I also found Learnable @ https://learnable.com/ interesting because of its subject – Learning Web Design. As a Web Design teacher and a digital media guru, I enjoy learning about the various ways to develop web content.  I especially found the format pleasing by seeing that they offer books, courses, and videos to aid in the instructional process.  This is a great resource for teachers who have a variety of students with different learning styles.  It also promotes the use of collaboration among peers to develop web content which is always a plus.  As I have been primarily focusing on instruction in HTML, Learnable offers other web languages such as PHP, Ruby and iOS.

The third cloud application was Thinkbinder  http://www.thinkbinder.com/ .  As there are many tools available to students to collaborate together, Thinkbinder focuses on the real-time interaction that is required for study groups to quickly complete a task.  With features such as chat and whiteboard capabilities, this distance learning solution appears to be among the elite.

As we then were required to follow a group in Diigo, I found a special interest in Make Better Media.  As a digital media instructor, my work centers around digital video production.  Either in the actual classroom, or creating video instruction for a distance course, there is always a way to improve one’s video filming and editing skills.  Make Better Video offers some tutorials and tips on how to improve video projects for any media field.  As many of topics are relevant to my profession, I fell this group may be a perfect fit.

As I reflect back on this week’s lesson, I still question some of these concepts in general, as well as specifically for education.  I am having a difficult time grasping the concept of the word cloud on Wordle.   I guess from a visual point of view, it is a great way to enhance typography, but it seems to be overused in advertising and marketing to somehow brain wash you.  If it works, I guess I am willing to try anything.  From our reading on Wikipedia, it seems that Cloud Tags are specially geared toward keywords that one would use to search for a topic on the website. As I think about the term keyword, it is a lifesaver for many things.  I love plugging in a few words and getting exactly what I need.  

On Edunology, the use of word clouds in education is pretty cut and dry here. In the future I think I may try the student profile lesson.  Each course I have the students introduce themselves by having students engage in a discussion board.  I am going to have them copy their post and produce a Wordle Cloud so that I can post them into a gallery within our course site.     

As I also grasp the concept of the cloud, I think it is just an unlimited amount of server space that we have always been exposed to, but now its unlimited power is a marketing tool to make you more aware.  I believe this is a great concept for unlimited resources can improve one’s ability to share knowledge in an educational environment.  I particularly utilize the cloud space of You Tube.  This has been for many years now, the prime location for me to place video tutorials on the various software packages I teach.  As I do not get paid for these, the feedback from viewers helps improve my instruction and there questions encourage me to continue becoming educated within the field.  Offering my lessons to the public helps me determine what is hot and what is not in digital media.  

I also use Adobe’s Cloud for my multimedia needs.  At a reasonable educational rate, a student in my program can obtain access to all software they will need during their time at the college for a low fee of $20.00 a month.  The overall package runs for a few thousand, and it would take a student several years to actually pay that much off, so the cloud concept has opened up great opportunities for students in the digital arts.