iGoogle: An educator's homepage

Educators often search the web for materials to incorporate in their lesson. These online resources range from news articles, images, charts, dictionaries, blogs, and interactive activities. While we often make use of the bookmark function on their web browsers to return to these sites at a later time, these bookmarks pile up and the sites end up being buried in oblivion.

In the past few years, teachers have discovered the educational functionality of a personalized homepage provided by Google that saves time and the hassle of finding these useful resources.

Originally launched in May 2005, iGoogle (formerly Google Personalized Homepage and Google IG) is a practical service available in 42 languages, and in over 70 country domain names, in which users can add web feeds and Google Gadgets (similar to those available on Google Desktop) to their homepage.

Web feeds and Google Gadgets are arranged in small windows which are stacked in the homepage. Here is a screenshot (click for larger image):

As you can see, iGoogle becomes an organizer and a posting board of sorts so everything one needs is all in one place. Bookmarks are kept in a list to one side of the homepage for easy access. The web feeds are customizable so the user can find all the pertinent and updated information for the day.

These interactive gadgets are dynamic web content, such as games, mini applications, news feeds, and maps, that can be placed on any page on the web. Google allows the public to create gadgets which are then hosted for free for other people to use. While some of these gadgets are merely ways to communicate with friends and family (GoogleGram gadget) or share pictures with others (Framed Photo gadget), there have been many gadgets that can be used in education or have been developed specifically for classroom needs for every subject.

Since every educator has different needs for different levels and subjects, here are some of the many suggestions posted online on how iGoogle can be used for education:

General Education:

• Customize content by grade level and subject area.
• Add any blog that has an RSS feed.
• Provide easy access to text, photographs, audio and video.
• Add a to-do list, and use it to post assignments and due dates.
• Gather educational gadgets for presentations.

Language Arts:

• Use the “Word of the Day” for in-class writing assignments.
• Look for famous or inspirational quotes to use as writing prompts.
• Find an online English Grammar site with an RSS feed, and use the articles for discussion in class.

Science:

• Discuss one of Discovery Network's New Top Stories as a way to start the class.
• Science @ NASA and NASA TV – Live Video feeds can be used for explorations and ideas.
• Scientific American has all the latest science news and topics.
• Discuss the Einstein Quote of the Day.
• View Weather Maps for the weather conditions around the world.

Math:

• Challenge students with the NumberCruncher game.
• Consult the Math Dictionary for hard-to-explain math terms.
• Try Math in a Minute to sharpen core math skills in two minute workouts.

Social Studies:

• Discovery News has the latest on archeology finds.
• Use This Day in History for discussion.
• Visit Geography Zone’s Geography Challenge and have the class put the world together one country at a time.
• Access Encyclopedia Britannica for research.
• Discuss the daily entries for the World Heritage of the Day Site.

Art:

• Use Famous Optical Illusions to start the class.
• Explore the work of the Artist a day: Featured Artist.
• Visit Art Slide Show of the Day.
• Look at the U.S. Geological Survey Earth as Art site for new views of the planet.
• Take a digital fieldtrip to the Latest Exhibitions from MOMA.

Foreign Language Education:

• Learn the Spanish Word a Day, or any other language for the course.
• Listen to the Audio Word of the Day.
• Use the Dictionary Search to translate the Word of the Day.
• Do a virtual tour of Paris with the Eiffel Tower Web Cam, or other locales.

Here is a short clip about iGoogle:

For more information about iGoogle, visit the following sites:

• Google's web search help entry on iGoogle: http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=20324
• Create your own iGoogle homepage: http://www.google.com/ig
• Wikipedia entry about iGoogle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGoogle

(Images from iGoogle, Purdue.edu; Suggestions from http://sites.google.com/site/dawncorley/igoogle-productivity)

RCampus: A learning management system

The popularity and implementation of Learning Management Systems [LMS] have been increasing as more schools and teachers lean more towards automated administration, tracking and reporting of training events. LMS, which go beyond the basic school website in the promotion of the school and its curriculum, range from commercially-developed applications for corporations to simpler solutions that are free of charge. One such popular and cost-free LMS is RCampus.

Launched in 2005, RCampus is a web-based LMS that is free for students and teachers from K-12 through higher education. It is also available for educational institutions and corporations with licensing or hosting options. School and corporation editions come with administrative tools. RCampus comprises of an e-learning platform, Assessment System, ePortfolio System, Virtual Campus Community System, Online Book Exchange Network, and others.

Here is a list of features found in RCampus:

• Building multimedia class portals/websites
• Adding students automatically or manually
• Automatic building of the roster
• Copying and distributing coursework and assignments across multiple classes
• Email alerts for reminding upcoming tasks
• Collecting assignments using different submission settings
• Assigning and collecting multiple ePortfolios
• Managing and sharing documents and files using document center
• Grading students using gradebook complete with statistics and interactive graphs
• Organizing questions in the test bank
• Building quizzes for print or online assessment
• Using rubrics for communicating expectations and quickly assessing student work
• Building teams with dedicated team menus
• Using threaded and hybrid class communication and messaging tools to send messages to any combinations of recipients
• Managing events and assignment deadlines using Calendar complete with automatic synchronization with students calendars
• Tracking to-do items
• Networking with others through eCommunities
• Bookmarking favorite items
• Many navigation shortcuts

The system also hosts personal and group websites, archives academic artifacts, and allows for collaborative work.

Content development can be as complicated or easy depending on the user's needs. The teacher can create new coursework and file them under different types of activities (e.g. quizzes, assignments, homework).

Content delivery is straightforward in RCampus. Once registered, students can check their progress and new coursework, download assignments and handouts, and submit their work online.

However, the delivery can be problematic in a number of ways:

1. The student's use of the online management site may be hindered by limited access to computer equipment and/or the Internet both in the classroom and at home.
2. Teachers may receive low response rate from parents.
3. The students' level of computer literacy may be obstacle to following directions for coursework. Students who do not know how to execute certain computer tasks may not be able to submit work or even access the student-end module of the LMS.
4. Learning how to interface with the LMS can be taxing for both teacher and students. Stakeholders who oppose the implementation of an LMS can argue that learning a system should not take time away from instruction of the subject matter.

RCampus would be an effective LMS for computer savvy students, adult students, and homeschooling programs. It would also be effective as a supplemental resource to traditional classroom methods. Also, advanced users can make the most out of an LMS by designing activities with a lesson construction application (e.g. HotPotatoes), and directing submissions to a web server via Common Gateway Interface (CGI) script.

On the other hand, RCampus would not be effective if a single factor prevents the use of the system. For example, students who do not have computer access at home cannot complete an online homework assignment.

Another downside is that the work involved in transitioning from a traditional system to an LMS can be overwhelming for teachers. But if a school has the resources, a teacher (or a group of teachers in the same grade level or under the same subject), with adequate time, can “digitize” the material before implementing the use of an LMS in the classroom. In time, the benefits will outweigh the initial effort invested because all the digital material will be formatted and ready to be reused every year.

Here is a two-minute video about RCampus that can be found on its official website:

For more information about RCampus, visit the following websites:

• RCampus official website: http://www.rcampus.com/index.cfm
• Vatornews review: http://vator.tv/news/show/2008-09-12-company-review-rcampus-education-tools
• Wikipedia article about Learning Management Systems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system

(Image from RCampus)

OpenOffice.org: A free alternative to MS Office

Whether as Mac or Linux users with some experience with Microsoft [MS] Office, or as Windows users who probably use MS Office by default for word processing, many people out there will naturally want to know about a competitive alternative to the status quo. While there are a whole slew of suites available in the market, OpenOffice.org has been notably generating a lot of buzz since its release in 2000.

OpenOffice.org is a free, open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. OpenOffice is available for a wide variety of operating systems, including MS Windows, Linux and Mac OSX. It supports over 80 languages and works on most computers. It can read and write most of the file formats used in MS Office as well as other applications.

OpenOffice is a collection of applications that work together to provide features expected from a modern office suite. For example, it has a word processor similar to MS Word; a spreadsheet similar to MS Excel; and a presentation program akin to MS PowerPoint. It also has more advanced components such as a database management program similar to MS Access, a vector graphics editor and diagramming tool similar to MS Visio, and a tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae similar to MS Equation Editor.

From these application equivalencies, it's pretty obvious what the developers of OpenOffice had in mind. OpenOffice provides a free and open-source alternative to MS Office, which currently controls the market. Because of its commercial-quality functionality and appearance and its interoperability with MS Office and other popular applications, OpenOffice has attracted a lot of attention in the technology industry. So why would anyone give Open Office a try?

First of all, it's free. OpenOffice can be downloaded and used free of any license fees. That means once you download it, you are free to use it for commercial or personal use, free to distribute it, free to install it on as many computers as you like. It is free for any purpose without restriction. The software will never expire and you never have to worry if your copy is legal. A copy of MS Office's Home and Student version can cost $150, with the standard version costing $400, so there is nothing to lose by trying or using a free alternative.

Secondly, the engineering of OpenOffice is a completely open-development process, which makes OpenOffice an open-source software. This means that anyone can report bugs, request new features, or enhance the software. Also, more independent work done on the program results in frequent upgrades and updates.

Other main advantages include its leaner design, the availability of free updates, and a PDF exporter that is absent from other commercial programs. This last one is an absolutely plus, especially when you want to preserve the appearance and formatting of a document.

I may be an advocate of open-source software because I think the predominance of Microsoft stifles progress in many aspects of software development, but let me assure you that I am far from biased when it comes to OpenOffice's shortcomings.

Despite all the praise, OpenOffice has been through a battery of criticism. One of the major complaints is on ease-of-use issues. Users have complained that some tools are not where they usually are, with MS Office as a point of comparison. However, I think this issue stems from people's familiarity with MS Office and not with the program itself. Although I agree that OpenOffice's user interface differs from the MS Office interface, any intermediate computer user will have no problem adapting to the nuances in operation.

To give a simple example of one of the differences, Font is called Character in OpenOffice, but it is similarly placed under the drop down menu for Format on the main bar. Also, the same can be said for Page setup that is commonly found under File in MS Office. In OpenOffice, all page attributes, including backgrounds and borders, can be adjusted by clicking Page, which is found under Format.

Despite all the differences, OpenOffice's navigation layout and functions are highly customizable from a simple rearrangement of the widgets to a complete overhaul if one is so inclined to tinker with the programming.

Another complaint against OpenOffice is that it is lacking in features found in commercial products. OpenOffice does come with fewer fonts, graphic elements (clip art, 3-D font effects, etc.) and templates for different document types (e.g. brochures, memos, etc.) as those bundled with the proprietary competition. However, users who have no need for four different templates for legal pleadings, six different greeting cards, or 10 ways to make a banner will not feel the dearth in prefab content.

Another common complaint was on OpenOffice's appearance. Not surprisingly, OpenOffice is not as “pretty” as the commercial products but its appearance does not mask what fans love about it. What you see is what you get: straightforward and functional.

Critics have also brought up the issue that OpenOffice saves slightly larger files, but this is trivial in our current trend of terabyte drives and 20 gigabyte thumb drives.

The main advantages to using OpenOffice is that it is free of charge and updates are always developed to continuously improve the application. Its main shortcoming is that it's not Microsoft Office and people feel more comfortable using familiar software. But I think as people become more tech savvy, people will be more open to using alternative applications.

On a side note, I think going “open source” is a good way to keep expenses down when setting up a computer or an entire computer lab. And because the program can be used to open and save files in a variety of formats, it is easy to try out OpenOffice and use it with no commitment.

Here are a couple screenshots (top - Writer, bottom - Impress):

For more information on OpenOffice.org, visit

• OpenOffice.org official website: http://www.openoffice.org/
• Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org
• CNET editor's review: http://download.cnet.com/OpenOffice-org/3000-18483_4-10263109.html
• PC Magazine's review: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1850985,00.asp

(Image from OpenOffice.org)