Master Tool List

 I'm not sure how I missed this last week, but there is now a master of all the tools we've experimented with during class. It was posted in week 7 module overview.  Make sure to take a look at it! I've already forgotten some of them and it was a nice reminder. 

Fourth of July and PTSD

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! 

🎇🎇🎇🎇🎆🎆🎆🎆

           

Fourth of July is a celebration when all Americans feel pride in their country and celebrate with beautiful explosions in the sky. This year especially is a year for celebration. We have almost defeated (or at least tamed) Covid-19. We have taken time to open wounds and look at our history as well as our present way of existence. I've always loved watching fireworks and experiencing their beauty through all senses. 

But this year, things have gotten a little bit more complicated. I have been diagnosed with PTSD and a seizure disorder. I don't think I will be able to partake in a full firework display this year but I will still celebrate my country and  enjoy time with my family. 

People often think of veterans and pets when it comes to fear of fireworks, but PTSD can include so many more of the population. Trauma can manifest into PTSD in a variety of ways.

 PTSD symptoms can include:

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/

I do not expect people to not set off fireworks. That is their right and it is up to me to protect my well-being during the holiday. There are many ways that I can ease the tension during this time. Here is an example that talks about some strategies:

https://www.smore.com/hasdz-expressive-arts-therapy-e-news?epik=dj0yJnU9b1IyVnBPU1pTQy1GQl84d19VWnlMZ1ZBOVVzOURzOUwmcD0wJm49Z00wT3pOMWVJMzJNWUdhaUxLVmhHZyZ0PUFBQUFBR0Rjak1Z

However you choose to celebrate this year, Happy 4th of July!

Training a Service Dog-Apollo Learns to Like Brushes

Training a service dog is a life long process. It isn't a process where all of a sudden your dog is trained and he'll be perfect from then on. Training starts with basic obedience then progresses to learning tasks that help accommodate a person with a disability. All of these skills must also be practiced out in public in various situations. For example, Apollo was practicing looking at me in a grocery store instead of paying attention to all the food around him (VERY hard for a golden retriever). 

Public access for service dogs in training is allowed with no restrictions in the state of Florida. Some states restrict access for those dogs that are still learning. Apollo has been going to a variety of places since he was 3 months old. To be honest, his public behavior is much better than at home. He turns back into a 9 month old puppy when we get home 😆😆!

The video I will post on Apollo's FB page will show how I am working to desensitize him to being brushed. For whatever reason, he does not like it. I will also have a helper from my other dog Isla who is 4 years old and loves to get brushed. Apollo follows Isla's lead for a lot of things. By posting to his FB page, I also hop it will increase my traffic to his page. Homemade videos tend to draw more people. Most likely because they are attracted to Apollo's adorableness 😀😀💓

Here's the link to his training video...make sure to stop by his FB page too!

Apollo's Training

https://www.facebook.com/apollototherescue

Practice with Voice Thread

Today's blog focuses on practicing with VoiceThread for my upcoming assignment. Although nervous at first, I got in to the hang of it pretty quickly. The recording was simple and easy to edit. I also deleted slides as I went along. I used a previously created presentation from an old job about GED testing. I knew the material well, but setting it up in this format took a little more practice. 😎

Please feel free to take a look at it and leave comments! 

Nicole's Voice Thread Practice

Internet Safety-The good, the bad, and the heartbreaking

Internet Safety

I have a 5 year old so I have yet to deal with internet safety issues personally. I know I will need to start teaching him soon. How much control should I have over his access? Some believe that teens should have no monitoring by parents and to trust they will do what's best. 

https://time.com/5523239/parenting-behavior-technology-social-media/

On the other side of the argument are parents trying to keep kids safe by monitoring their social media. Take a look at this heart breaking story about a family that lost their son because he thought he was buying pharmaceutical drugs online. It turns out they were pure fentanyl. The parents aren't totally against social media, but want certain companies (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat) to work with them on using monitoring software/apps.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/family-pushes-social-media-apps-to-allow-access-for-parental-control-tools-115288133596

My heart goes out to these parents. May they find some peace in the advocacy that they have started to prevent what happened to their son to other children. 

So where do we start? When do we get involved? I think it's important to start talking about it early. Heck, I had to teach my four year old about not clicking on ads for online education games. Maybe we start simple, like starting with letter sounds for reading. I don't believe it's all about parental controls but it should be a combination of education, discussion, and monitoring. It will always be a hard job to keep our kids safe whether if it's in the virtual or physical world. 

Nicole Explains Networked Knowledge Activities-POWTOON

Look what I made! I used the tool PowToon to create a simple explanation of the 6 activities within NKA. The unlisted YouTube video link is below. Please look at it and give me feedback! I'm still learning how to edit video so excuse the weird parts of that. 

Nicole's PowToon

Google Drive meets Google Tools

My procrastination led me to take an insider look at Google Drive and all that it has to offer. I basically thought the drive was a place to cloud sharing work that Microsoft Office could not do. So, basically it could do a word doc, spreadsheets, and power points. Oh how I was wrong. After hitting the 'more' part of the 'new' button I came across 8 additional apps that could be used. I briefly looked at all of the options and was excited to see all the possibilities. 

Take a look at this list I pulled from the following website: 

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/37-Google-Drive-Apps

There are even more (FREE!) apps since this article was written. So cool! Take another spin around Google Drive when you get a chance. They have educational and corporate uses!

37 Google Drive Apps

FEBRUARY 4, 2013 • SIG UELAND

Google Drive, Google’s cloud-storage solution, lets you store and access your files anywhere. With the first 5 GB free, it’s a valuable resource for small and mid-sized businesses. However, Google Drive’s greatest feature is its integration with other Google and third-party applications.

Here is a list of productivity applications that work with Google Drive. You can find the complete list of apps at the Chrome Web Store. There are both free and paid apps to create your own productivity suite in the clouds.

37 Google Drive Apps

Google Docs. Access, create, and edit Google docs in Google Drive. Edit documents with collaborators, and see changes as they type. Price: Free.

Google Docs.

Google Slides. Create presentations with rich animations, drawings, transitions, themes, and more. Presentations are automatically saved and stored in Google Drive. Price: Free.

Google Sheets. Create and share spreadsheets. Then publish them publicly, share them with others, or keep them private. Price: Free.

Google Drawings. Build diagrams, and create flowcharts. Easily add them to other documents, or embed them on a website. Price: Free.

Google Forms. Create online forms and surveys, then check the results in a neatly organized spreadsheet. Share forms from a link, embed them on your website, or right inside an email. Price: Free.

Google Forms.

Google Apps Script. Google Apps Script is a JavaScript cloud scripting language that provides easy ways to automate tasks, across Google products and third-party services, and build web applications. Price: Free.

SlideRocket. Create stunning presentations. Save and share directly from Google Drive. Manage a library of presentations, slides and assets. Price: Lite is free; Pro is $24/month.

Pixlr Express. Pixlr Express is a photo editor with nearly 250 effects, including borders, overlays, color adjustments, crop and rotation editors. Price: Free.

PicMonkey. PicMonkey is a free photo editor with collage, touch-up, fonts, effects, filters, frames, and stickers. Price: Free.

PicMonkey.

draw.io. draw.io is a free diagramming application that enables you to draw flowcharts, network diagrams, wire-framing and mockups, and more. Price: Free.

Pixlr Editor. Pixlr Editor is a full-featured web-based photo editor. Tools include drawing, clone, sharpen and blur, filters and adjustments. Price: Free.

Floorplanner. Floorplanner gives you the tools to make floor plans fast. Recreate your home, garden or office with a library of objects to reshape, resize and rotate. Price: 1 project is free; 5 projects is $14.95/year.

HelloFax. HelloFax makes it easy to sign documents and send faxes online. Send and receive faxes. Sign documents and fill out forms. Price: Up to 5 fax pages per month free.

HelloFax.

Lucidchart. Lucidchart is an HTML5-based visual collaboration tool for drawing diagrams. Work together with an unlimited number of others to create and edit diagrams in real time. Changes merge and sync instantaneously. Price: Personal plan is free to $9.95/month.

Cacoo. Cacoo is a user-friendly online drawing tool that allows you to create a variety of diagrams such as site maps, wire frames, UML and network charts. Price: Up to 25 sheets free.

HelloSign. HelloSign is an easy app to sign documents and request signatures. Price: Free.

Hojoki. Make all your cloud apps work as one. Get push notifications and discuss your work as it happens. Works with Google Drive & Calendar, Dropbox, Evernote and many other productivity apps. Price: Free.

Hojoki.

Gantter. Gantter is an enterprise cloud-based project scheduling application. Easily import and open existing Microsoft Project files. Price: Free.

💓💓Marqueed. Marqueed is a collaboration tool to discuss and work on images and designs. Easily add collaborators. Get instant notification on activity. Price: Free.

PDF Mergy. PDF Mergy provides a simple way to merge PDF files. You can either select the files you want to merge from you computer or drop them on the app using drag and drop. Price: Free.

The End of the Internet

Shout out to @disceverum for re-posting Steven King's Tweet about the end of the internet. King's tweet says:

"I reached the end of the Internet. There's a sign there that says WELCOME TO OBLIVION. Beyond, just the dark."

Take a look at this funny website about the end...

http://endoftheinternet.com/

Have you ever felt that way? After going down rabbit hole after rabbit hole, it feels like it's too much. For example, while creating this blog, I have been buying my son swimsuits, then some school shirts on another site, looking at three different sites for buying a new dining room table, multiple (even some duplicates) sites for class, and God knows what else.

It's been proven that the human brain cannot multi-task, but rather just switch from one task to another at a relative speed.

Can People Really Multi-Task?

Rosen, C. (2008). The Myth of Multitasking. The New Atlantis, (20), 105-110. Retrieved June 15, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43152412

My brain is apparently on the slower side of switching tasks, because it's taken me close to 3 hours to get stuff done.

I can't help but think about Douglas Adams' book series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". If you haven't read it, please do because it will have you laughing with tears in your eyes. The movie isn't bad, but the series continues with hilarious non-sensical humor. I put it in our Goodreads leisure folder. (Talk about multi-tasking 😉)

Anyway, I'm off to do dive head first into a bunch rabbit holes.

How many windows do you have open right now?

Excuse me, may I Pinterest you in a vision board?

What's a vision board? Well, it's literally a way to visually represent your goals and beliefs. They can be made with posters and magazine cutouts or can be curated online.

Here's a couple examples of tangible boards

Dictionary.com defines a vision board as:

"noun

a collage of pictures, text, and other items that represent and affirm one’s dreams and ambitions, created to help visualize and focus on one or more specific aspirations"

But, vision boards can also be created online using a variety of Web 2.0 tools. Pinterest is one of those tools which makes it easy for a user to scroll through a bunch of pictures which are link bound and add them to a 'board' in which they can use as a vision board. 

Take a look at this list of 11 popular sites to help create boards in a variety of ways.
https://www.developgoodhabits.com/online-vision-board/

I played with Canva and was a little overwhelmed with all the features, but if I could stay and play longer, I know it would be a great resource. 

Of course Pinterest is familiar to most people, especially if you've ever planned a wedding😂😂😂

Earlier this week, I started to create a Pinterest vision board. I focused mine on a envisioning a new career, information on Instructional Technology, and online teaching tips. I will continue to add to this board frequently.

Here's a link to my Pinterest vision board:
https://pin.it/11skifW

One pitfall of Pinterest, is that I tend to post stuff and then never go to the links to read the information. Because unlike some of the other vision boards, the visuals can take you to other sites that provide articles and other valuable information.

 

How many of you frequent your pins on Pinterest? Do you look at every pin's link as soon as you add it? Do you come back to read them later or just have fun posting more stuff? I suppose you might not need to click on the links and just use the visual as part of the motivation. How do you Pinterest? Comment below to let us know!

Library of Congress goes Tweet Tweet with Your Digital Footprint

 Ummm...did you know your tweets are being archived through the Library of Congress. I sure didn't. To be clear, all tweet collections have stopped as of 2017 and only those that seem relevant to the time will be archived. 

                                              

A 2017 CNN article reports, "That means tweets from President Trump and other newsmakers will continue to be archived, but your (allegedly) witty rants on “The Last Jedi” may not be. "Generally, the tweets collected and archived will be thematic and event-based, including events such as elections, or themes of ongoing national interest, e.g. public policy,” the Library said in a statement.  

What does this mean for your digital footprint? It means that some of your tweets might have been stored at that huge library in D.C. Well at least prior to 2017.       

What do you 'meme'?

When you stumble across a good meme, it can really make your day. I know it does for me. (All of my blog posts will contain memes this week 😄😄😄)

 But, when you share a meme are you doing so illegally? 

I read several articles (including law discussions-EWWW) about the usage and redistribution for memes. For lack of a better term, the laws are extremely murky. In the article below, I think it sums up a very important point. If someone tries to use a meme for profit, it can cause some interesting legal issues including copyright infringement. 

"If a person or entity wants to use the underlying content from a meme to generate revenue, even use of a modified version of such content risks a copyright infringement claim. The copyright owner may not care much about people using the copyrighted content to make and share memes through social media, but any effort to monetize the content is much more likely to be noticed." (LaLonde 2021)

One article mentions that even the person in the meme is given legal protections. Most of the laws talk about gaining permission of the creator or subject of the meme prior to using it for profit. I've always wondered about this. 

In the Bernie Sanders meme below, do I need to give him a call before I put it in my for-profit blog? How does one ask for permission to creators? Has anyone done this? Comment below with your experiences. 

Resources:

LaLonde, Roger, https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/how-memes-can-go-from-viral-to-profitable (2021)

Ahmed, A. (2018). IP and social media: A guide for content creators and meme sharers. Retrieved from: https://www.udl.co.uk/insights/ip-and-social-media-a-guide-for-content-creators-and-meme-sharers

Can You Spot the Fake News?

Fake news, Fake sites, Fake information...Where is the truth? How do I find it?

Information sharing has officially moved away from things like TV, newspapers, and radio. Psychology suggests that we have an innate tendency to share information with each other. 

Askew (2017) commented that, 

People tend to trust what they read in the news, because low and behold, it’s the news, which is written by trained journalists. When Facebook first caught fire, people started spreading images with due warnings about everything from Monsanto to onions removing flu bacteria from the air if kept in your bedroom.

To be honest, I find most of "Breaking News" when I see it on FB. If it is of importance to me, I then move on to the news sites to find more information. It's quite interesting when I do this and the information contradicts each other. I tend to believe what I see on CNN.com versus what my great Aunt's neighbor might post. But are the news sources posted by trained journalists accurate? 

Take a look at the below chart of reliability (adsource media) of news sources. It is updated every few months. Where do you get your information? Do you care about the credibility of the info? 

Share in the comments your thoughts about 'fake' news. 

Osatuyi, B. (2013). Information sharing on social media sites.Links to an external site. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 2622-2631.

Lauren Askew, https://miappi.com/reliability-of-social-media-news-source/

https://www.adfontesmedia.com/

Instagram Memorial Day Scavenger Hunt

The Instagram challenge this weekend was quite fun! I loved that Vanessa said the pictures needed to be found at home. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPjrTbBBgrZ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

We did go out for awhile on Sunday, and I tried to find the social media posts. I found a few, but couldn't complete the whole challenge. 

Here's some of them...

 

I was kinda of pushed into Instagram last fall when we got our service dog in training puppy. Our trainer recommended that we keep track of his progress through Instagram with the use of pictures and videos. It's a cute way to share with family and friends, but our trainer also shared that she has used her Instagram account to prove her dog was 'legit' as a service animal. The ADA laws do not require any sort of documentation (certifications, tags, etc). In fact, a service animal does not even need any gear (i.e. a vest) to enter public/private buildings. 

Apollo had a big weekend. On Saturday we went to Universal Studios, (which he had walked around in before), but it was his first time riding the rides! He was awesome of course. The most important thing with training service dogs is exposure. 

But in the end, he's still a goofy Golden puppy that we love so much!

Remember to follow Apollo's journey...

@apollo_service_dog_superhero

Neil deGrasse Tyson Has Spoken

 I came across this picture in my FB feed yesterday. 

I dutifully follow Neil because I love his posts that make your brain ponder deep thoughts about the universe. 

My thoughts when I saw this picture, "That's an awesome jacket! You go, Neil!" And that was that. I moved on. 

Over 8,600 people had to comment on this photo. Unfortunately, it devolved into an ugly discussion about proper usage of the American Flag. 

Which brings up the point...when is it appropriate to comment and when is it appropriate to shake your head in disagreement and move on? 

Here's what Mr. deGrasse had to say...

Well, this has been an illuminating thread. Allow me to offer some perspectives...
1) The photo is from the USS Intrepid, a WWII-era aircraft carrier parked near 42nd street on the West Side of Manhattan, NYC, my home town.

 

2) When I have the occasion, I prefer symbolism to words. A photo of me in a jacket with a US Flag pattern, on the deck of a Navy ship represents my silent offering of respect for Memorial Day.

 

3) Social media threads need not devolve into tribal conflict for every possible post. What is accomplished by this, other than the fomenting of division?

 

4) My read of the US Flag Code is that it applies to actual Flags, and not to apparel with a pattern of the Flag sewn into the material.

 

5) But maybe the real question is, How free is a country that constrains the ways one show respect for those who have died for that freedom?

 

A warrior's ultimate act is to lay down his sword.

- Hero (2002)

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Neil deGrasse Tyson, New York City.

So, where does this leave us? A picture of a man in an American Flag jacket bring more divisiveness to a country who is already struggling with this topic? Sometimes, it's better to just keep your mouth shut (or stop your typing), Karen.