A Buzz From Maz

Using Spaces in OSX:Leopard is cool. It helps you minimise the clutter on your desktop. So instead of having one desktop with all opened applications layering over each other, you can now have multiple ones which show groups of applications running on each.

There are many ways in using Spaces. You can pre-add applications to run in different spaces through the Spaces preference setting, or assign applications to different spaces after opening them.

To pre-assign, open System Preferences, click on Expose & Spaces and select the Spaces tab. Click on the + sign to browse and add applications. You can use the default space number given or change it by clicking on the given space number & selecting another.

As for me, I prefer to add applications to spaces base on my needs at the current moment. So as I open an application, I would show all spaces (F8) and drag and drop applications to the space I like them to be in. This way, I will have customised spaces each time to suit my different needs at different times. NEAT!

Read more about Spaces on Apple.com.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Ok so I’m rather disappointed cos for the first time ever I’m not able to install a plugin I’d like to use. The hosting company replied to say that the php upgrade can’t be done yet. Here’s what they replied:

It is not currently possible to perform the upgrade, as there are many applications running on the server on PHP 4.4.3. Before an upgrade our administrators would need to perform thorough testing to ensure all is compatible. We will inform you if it is possible to install PHP5 in the future.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Unfortunately I will have to abide for now cos I do like the hosting company and they charge real cheap too. Well, one can’t have everything…

Popularity: 35% [?]

PicLens is a damn cool Firefox plugin from the Cooliris guys who gave us Preview plugin (link preview on mouseOver). PicLens is also available for Wordpress. With PicLens, I can easily create a picture album in Wordpress and when you activate the Play button, PicLens will transform my site into full view mode with floating thumbnails. It’s just an awesome new way of image browsing on a browser. PicLens folks calls it an immersive slideshow experience.

I’m hoping to install it soon once I get the hosting company to upgrade my php to 5.1 which is a needed requirement or else, you will get this:

ERROR: WP Piclens REQUIRES PHP version 5.1 or greater, your WordPress Blog is using PHP 4.4.3.

So do not install it unless you have 5.1+ or your homepage will be replaced by this error message. It sure got me jumping for a bit.

Later…

Popularity: 30% [?]

I like this tool not just because it’s free but because it’s so easy to use and also very useful for educators and learners. Concept maps are an effective way of representing a person’s understanding of a domain of knowledge. Learners can easily construct and modify a representation of concepts and allow other learners to share in the construction of the concept maps. CmapTools empowers users, individually or collaboratively, to represent their knowledge using concept maps, to share them with peers and colleagues, and to publish them. Concept maps have been demonstrated to be an effective means of representing and communicating knowledge. As a classroom tool, learners are able to display their thought processes and teachers are able to observe nuances of meaning, helping students organize their thinking, and summarizing subjects of study. Teachers can provide instantaneous feedback to guide the learner in correcting misconceptions and facilitate meaningful learning (Coffey, Carnot et al., 2003). As an online tool, learners engage in collaborative co-construction of knowledge and this activity can be further enriched when coupled with discussion forums or wikis.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Overview of Podcasting in Singlish (Singapore English)
Overview of Podcasting in Singlish

Dictionary
• chio bu = pretty girls
• tampok = a little

I created this using Audacity (to apply two different pitching levels to create two characters in a single-track voice recording) and Garage Band (good jingles and sounds). My apologies for the low-quality voice recording. I need to invest in a good microphone and probably do the recording in a quiet room without my cats wanting a part in the broadcasting.

Article:
Wikis and Podcasts and Blogs! What Is a Faculty Member Supposed to Do?

Popularity: 26% [?]

Hey… sorry this took awhile. I wanted to create more Audacity tutorials but didn’t have the time to do it. So I searched the web instead and found some pretty good sites with great movie tutorials. So why created something already available right? So here goes… Remember, there are many ways of doing things, so these sites may have differing techniques or methods leading to similar result. So follow what suites your style. If you discover a better way, share it with others.  Cheers!

• Download Audacity and LAME MP3 encoder (converter)
  
  
• Quicktime movies on various functions and techniques (systematic series): http://etc.usf.edu/te_win/movies/audacity.html
• Overview of creating a podcast. Slightly fast. Recommended for those tech savvy ones: http://www.msiwebvideo.com/pod/pod.html
• My previous posting: http://www.mazlan.net/index.php/teaching-and-learning-with-audio/

Have fun!

Popularity: 31% [?]

Got my Swicki up (see right sidebar)! As I have mentioned in my introduction post, I created this blog to share about educational technologies or technologies to support pedagogies. I needed a name for my swicki, so i thought I just coin the two into technogogies! Sounds awful, doesn’t it - but you get the idea.

I’ll write more when I learn more about this nifty widget. Till then, enjoy this new technogogy!

Popularity: 21% [?]

I’m currently attending a Web 2.0 by Mr. John Larkin and just in the first 5 minutes, I have picked up a new tool - SWICKIS! It’s a combination of a Wiki and a Search Engine. I have no idea what it does but I guess soon enough I’ll find out. But generally, here’s what it does.

I took this from the eurekster.com swicki site.

Search that learns from your users	Results uniquely relevant and tagged for your community	Buzzcloud of searches your users care about

Here’s what I think -

A Swicki is a tool that allows people to collaborate (indirectly) and contribute to a “cloud” of search words tagged to results that interest the community.

I try to add a swicki to my site when i get more info

Popularity: 22% [?]

I’m gonna talk about Audacity - one of the coolest freeware I have ever come across.

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

• Record live audio.
• Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
• Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files.
• Cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together.
• Change the speed or pitch of a recording… and many more!

So how can we use Audacity for teaching and learning? Here are some suggestions.

• Language: spelling, reading, online interactive asynchronous dialogue
• Self-directed learning through listening to your content followed by a reflection exercise.
• Creating stories with embedded questions that prompts the learner to interact with the story.
• Record your voice instructions with background music and insert it into power point for a more engaging and authentic learning experience. 
• Get your learners to upload their voice recordings as a presentation online.
• I’m sure you can think of more…

Get started:

1. Download and Install Audacity
2. Recording in Audacity

See my new post here: http://www.mazlan.net/index.php/audacity-tutorials/

Cheers!

Popularity: 45% [?]

The main reason I started this blog is to share about education but I have yet to get started on it. Actually I did until the day I crashed Wordpress during upgrading. I lost a couple of postings on educational tools and never got a chance to revive it.

So I am gonna start now.

Soon enough

Popularity: 16% [?]