Category Archives: 522 Feedback

522 Feedback

Website Suggestions

Thanks Bobbi for helping explain and improve the functionality of the site. I too have found the navigation a bit difficult at times.

My suggestions relate to the use of images, icons and colour to help with navigation.  Currently there is some disconnect between the use of image and navigation. For example the titles in the images don’t align with the headings or subheadings. These images would be great for navigation but they would need to connect to other pages.

website design

The image at the bottom of the page is my suggestion for the website design and navigation. I don’t necessarily see a long tab at the top but created this image to show all the possible layers in the site. Perhaps rather than including Week 5-12 as separate tabs, there would be a Week 5-12 tab with images that link to the weeks:

weeks

When the user clicks on a week it would take them to a page with the week’s Introduction, Activities (if housed on the site), Week review/summation and the Comments sections. In this way people would know where to post everything and if they wanted to add an image (which I don’t believe right now is doable in a comment) they could post their review/comment under the correct section.

I think the use of icons would help define various aspects of the site that repeat such as overviews, information, actionable tasks and summaries or critiques. In my image I used a pin to signal information/overview, a checkmark for summations/reviews, a question mark for important questions and answers and a lightbulb for items that require participation or action. I included colour-coding to help participants visualize where they are in the course and on the site. I also used colour to  show progression over the first four weeks (light to dark).  In the best of all possible worlds the front page would be a visual diagram with buttons leading to the 15 pages – from introductory weeks, to weekly activities, to final pitches and Q&A –  keeping this page clean and clear and concise. I’d also like to see the removal of the running stream to the right of the page. It adds visual clutter and would most likely not work on a mobile device.

Finally, I included the YouTube image in my video as I think a quick screencapture video going through the site, how and where to post would be helpful for many people.

Website construction

MTC Kendra

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522 Feedback

Website Suggestion

I have found this website difficult to navigate because I have never used a Word Press site that uses so many of the features. I have one suggestion. There are a few students, esp. Bobbi K (Thank you!) who are reminding or explaining how to use the site properly. I would like to be able to see all of these posts in one place. If there was a ‘sort by’ for helpful hints on the right hand side, I’m sure that would be the first thing I checked every time I logged in.

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522 Feedback, Question and Answer

Website suggestion – 522 anatomy helpful?

As a website feedback suggestion (tagged in the 522 feedback category) I’m wondering if an “anatomy of 522” image might be helpful? I know this is explained with text and images in the intro, but maybe a simple anatomy is more clear?

The biggest learn curve and complication is that “posts” refer to something different in the WP environment (they create separate artifact/post pages), whereas “comments” and “reviews” add  commentary to an existing “post.”  It can be  confusing when we need to submit a post versus a review. In this case, students may refer to the “how to use this blog page”  and see only instructions on how to create a new ‘post’ when what they need to do is submit a review on the bottom of an article/post.

Maybe in the next evolution there is an explanation of reviews on the “how to use this blog” page, and/or more elaboration in weekly tasks to submit reviews using the reviews feature (located at the bottom of a post)?

Anatomy of 522

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522 Feedback

W08 – Review

Through your focus on cloud services in the medical field, I learned a lot about an area I generally do not deal with. Using a focus other than education to examine the merits of a service was a unique experience. Although informative, I am not sure how effectively the topic links to educational technology. Education of staff within the health care system is required with the use of cloud applications, but this is a very small part of your content. Another small link to education was made with the information about educational institutions and how they used cloud services within their medical programs. The layout of your site was simple and easy to navigate, and the “cloud” theme was consistent. The concept of working within our groups was effective and provided a forum for discussion. Unfortunately we had a lot of difficulty using Stormboard. The program is very similar to Padlet and does not lend itself well to extensive discussion or collaborative projects. In the end we used a Googledoc to complete our assessment tool. Although Stormboard did not work for this particular application, now that I have had the chance to experience the program, I can see myself using it for other purposes. A final suggestion relates to the assessment tools created by each group. Right now they are available through links that need to be copied and pasted. It may be more effective and easier to access if they are either added directly to the website page or if hyperlinks are created. Thanks for an informative week!

Monique

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522 Feedback

New features Feedback : )

Thanks David and David for including RSS feed links in the sidebar as well as “Radio 522” for keeping track of recent comments!

This is an asset to stay on top of site activity. I’m wondering if it might be useful to have a brief mention on the Radio 522 page (or elsewhere) informing students how RSS feeds can be used/saved/subscribed to? I had a previous class (565A) which required the use of a feed reader, and I noticed that most classmates had never used one, or didn’t know that they could find/install a feed manager.  Might be useful to list some  browser add-ons/extensions or even apps for this?

Took me a while to realize that I could access and subscribe to the class comments feed by clicking on the feed icon in the sidebar:

feed

I was then able to either bookmark the comments feed using my favorite feed reader for Firefox:

subscribe

Now I can get new comment notifications so I don’t miss anything, which is awesome!

comment-notif

PS. The nested commenting tools work great now!

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522 Feedback

Website Design Suggestions

I had a couple thoughts/questions/suggestions on the website design

There seems to be lots of layers in this website. Is it possible when links are posted that “open in new window” is selected. I know I can right mouse and choose that option but as a visual person I’m better when I have multiple tabs open – across my two screens 🙂 that having to move back to my original screen.

Also, is it possible to get additional features added to comments. Right now I can only leave text-based comments. I’d love to be able to edit the text, use colour, shape and style to keep the reader engaged 🙂 and add links, images, videos.
Thanks

Kendra

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522 Feedback, Analyst Reports (A1), Emerging Markets, Founders Parade, General, Market Projections, Pitch Pool, Venture Forum (A3)

Gartner: 2013 Top Ten Strategic Technologies

Gartner Inc. provides a glimpse into the future. Their report focuses on the next top 10 technologies that have either grown into game changing technology or have the potential to grow into one.

This review will focus on the technologies I feel will have the largest impact education. I have merged some of the top 10 technologies, as I feel they are directly related.

Change: Microsoft is being attacked on two fronts; mobile devices are becoming more popular than PCs and Microsoft only has 20% of the mobile market.

Impact on Education: Every school that has the adequate budget currently has either an Apple computer or PC located in classrooms or libraries. With a shift towards mobile devices will the need for a full labs still be needed? A school that advocated BYOT (Bring your own technology) could potential reduce its need for dedicated computer labs. Apps like Socrative are making mobile devices a viable educational tool.

Change: The storage of information and to a certain degree the running of apps is moving from the traditional PC to the cloud.  People are now expecting access to their information 24/7 regardless of their location (of course Internet needed)

Impact on Education: Traditionally students have been limited to their access to school material and learning programs to a physical building. As the capability of clouds services increases, the opportunity to move educational resources to the cloud will only increase.

In addition, as cloud services get more efficient, the memory capabilities of PCs or handhelds will become less relevant, whereas the need for larger Internet bandwidth will increase. Schools will potentially move away from investing in labs and servers and move towards providing larger Internet bandwidth.

Future Reports:

Gartner Inc. delivers a concise and simple list of potential future technologies. This is an invaluable resource to keep on top of new emerging technologies that could potentially affect education.

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