Not oh what! OoVoo!

I received the following comment to my post about Interactive Video Conferencing Classes…

“Hi Bill, Interesting to see your work in this area as I have been looking for similar case studies using free video conferencing.I write for ooVooworld, the unofficial WOM world about the free video chat download ooVoo, and wondered if you think this kind of app is 'the future' as much as the more expensive, supervised systems you discuss here - potentially more democratic and accessible to everyone? Do you have any experiences or opinions of people using applications
like ooVoo in teaching in this way? Many thanks, Molly”

Now, I answered her question and I directed her to Viki A. Davis. I could have directed her to Wesley Fryer or Sheryl Nussbaum-Beech, Patrick Crispen or countless others, but then I got to thinking about her questions and I was wondering if any educators out there are using ooVoo as a teaching application with their classes. Is anyone out there using ooVoo as a teaching tool? My question reminds me of Pink Floyd lyrics “…is there anyone out there?” Let me me know!

Warm Regards,

William Bishop (Bill)

Technorati Tags: ooVoo, free, video_conferencing, classroom2.0, school2.0, wesfryer, Vicki_Davis, Sheryl_Beach, patrick_crispen, william_bishop, lostjohns

Great Opportunity from Teacher Tube

Great Opportunity from Teacher Tube

Did I tell you that I am teaching traditional courses, IVC courses, web-based courses, working on my Ph. D. and the list goes on…With all of the irons that I have in the fire, it’s hard to find time to post anything meaningful or otherwise. Nevertheless, I promise when things like this pop up I’ll do my best to post them for my readers that haven’t given up on me yet or that have an RSS feed of this blog. Teacher tube is going to give some lucky teacher a state of the art classroom. Here is the information.

“We at TeacherTube wanted to make sure our community members were aware of a great opportunity to win an interactive classroom makeover worth over $15,000.00. That\'s right-- $15,000.00! Interwrite Learning and TeacherTube are partnering to bring this contest to classroom teachers. Check out all the details at http://www.teachertube.com/makeover.

Your video submission could be
the big winner!

If you haven\'t been to TeacherTube.com in a while,
please come back and check out all the new videos and groups that have been
added.”

Warm Regards

William Bishop (Bill)

Technorati Tags: teachertube, free, classroom2.0, school2.0, opportunity

21st Century Skills and NCLB

Things that grap my attention....

"College and workforce preparedness, 21st-century skills, and the use of data to inform instruction are among the new points of emphasis in a draft version of a bill to reauthorize the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Proposed by Rep. George Miller, Democratic chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and the committee's senior Republican member, Buck McKeon." ...eSchool News

NCLB has some good points and some bad points, but adding 21st Century Skills to the bill isn't a bad idea. I just hope that the idea is funded and that ample consideration goes into the design process before it becomes law...

Warm Regards,

William Bishop (Bill)

Technorati Tags: eschoolnews, NCLB, 21st_Century_Learning, William_Bishop

Microsoft Office, Open Office, OOXML, ODF, and ISO…

I’m all about free open source software. The main thing I like about FOSS is the price. Nevertheless, to use an old cliché, “you get what you pay for.” Last year there was some talk within my school system about switching over to open office for all of our publishing needs due to the ever increasing price of Microsoft Office. It made sense due to the price, but referring back to the old cliché, it just wasn’t practical. The number one hindrance in switching over is that Open Office isn’t totally compatible with Microsoft Office. Moreover the state department of education, universities, and other entities within my state and outside of my state use Microsoft Office as the standard. Hence, switching to Open Office last year, this year, or in the near future isn’t going to happen. Why? It’s called OOXML.

For those who don't know, OOXML is open office XML an alternative to ODF (the open document format Open Office uses) and recently OOXML has been trying to become the ISO standard.

It’s all about ISO which stands for the International Organization for Standardization. The group describes itself as -
"a bridging organization in which a consensus can be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society, such as the needs of stakeholder groups like consumers and users."

It seems that the OOXML is most likely going to be the next ISO standard from the buzz around hyperspace, but what does this have to do with Microsoft Office and Open Office? Ironically, well formed OOXML documents produced by Open Office will not open in Microsoft Office. In the words of Stephen Walli –

“It means Microsoft Office DOESN'T ACCEPT WELL FORMED OOXML documents not
produced by Microsoft Office.”

Hence, if you receive an OOXML file you won’t be able to open it without Microsoft Office. I’m just glad that I own personal copies of Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007.

By the way, if you are having problems opening Microsoft Office 2007 documents, you should get the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. The Compatibility Pack will let you read Office 2007 documents in Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003. So you can open a .docx file with Word 2003 or .pptx with PowerPoint 2003. Some people are trying to say that you have to upgrade to Office 2007 and that just isn’t the case. However, I do recommend upgrading to Office 2007 when you have the money.

Warm Regards,

William Bishop (Bill)

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, MicrosoftOffice, OpenOffice, ISO, OOXML, ODF, k12, technology, Office2007, William_Bishop