Top 30 Tech Tools for Extension Agents

(and their Web Managers)

Dave PalmerInstructional Media Extension Agent

UF / IFAS / Extension

3 Important Points

• It’s not about the technology,it’s about the people

• Change is the only constant(a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor)

• Change is inevitable – Progress is optional

Goals of this presentation…

• Increase awareness of numerous tools potentially useful to teachers

• Facilitate discussion of tools currently being used by participants

• Define and explain Web 2.0

ToolsOverview

Productivity Tools

Research Tools

Content Tools

Client InteractionTools

Online Meeting &Collaboration Tools

Web Analytics Tools

Website & Delivery Platform

Registration toolsFormsSurveysAuto RespondersBlogs – Ours & TheirsOnline Invitation Svs

ElluminateWikisSharePointGoogle DocsGroups

Google Analytics

HardwareSoftwareOnline tools

Various types of search engines

PowerPointArticulateEngageQuizmaker, etc.

Send Large Files for Free

http://www.yousendit.com/http://www.sendthisfile.com/ no file size limit??http://www.driveway.com/ 500 Mb size limithttp://www.sendspace.com/http://www.transferbigfiles.com/ up to 1 Gb

YouSendIt Free Account offers:Files up to 100MbFile stays posted for 7 daysCan be downloaded up to 100 times.

How it Works

Step 2e-mail notification

Step 3download

Step 1 upload & add an e-mail address

Shorten that URL!

http://tinyurl.com/http://301url.com/http://ataja.es/http://elfurl.com/http://notlong.com/http://urlx.org/

Useful when:- Trying to type a long URL – too many typos- Long URLs “wrap” and break in an e-mail- Trying to read a long URL over the phone- Free! and permanent

http://district4.extension.ifas.ufl.edu/Tech/technology.html

Becomes

http://tinyurl.com/2udulr

Shorten that URL!

Another option - purchase a separate redirect URL

http://prohort.ifas.ufl.edu/

became

www.prohort.net

Prices start at $5-$6 per year

Flash drives

Flash drives - 1.0 - Huge amounts of data storage on small devices.

Flash drives - 2.0 - “Smart(er)” flash drives run active programs such as web browser w/ bookmarks, e-mail program w/ e-mail addresses, your IM program

A short story…

Autoresponders

• Automated sequential hosted e-mail system• Create custom subscription forms to collect

demographic information• Sort the list by demographic info collected• Target relevant e-mail to specific groups• Program sequential e-mails up to 1 year out• Users self-subscribe – no staff time needed• Track open rates and link clicks

www.Aweber.com

Track open rates & link clicks

Wording on the Subject line is directly related to the open rate.

Website – a delivery platformA well designed Web site:

Is a delivery platform for publications, podcasts, and online classes, etc

Website – a productivity tool

A well designed Web site:- Is a productivity tool use it to post information that others call you for. - Reduce your phone calls.- Can also boost your credibility and visibility.

Web Statistics

Free!

Deep data

Fairly accurate

Look at the trends, not the numbers

DON’T track “hits” instead track visits among other measures.

Examples of Google stats

Continent, county, state, city stats both visually…

…and in chart format.

Keyword stats

Content stats by page name

Content stats by page title

“Site overlay” stats

This overlay offers a view of a Web page and the % of visitors that click on each link on the page.

Search Engines

To find what you need online quickly and successfully, you need to be a proficient searcher.

65%

20%

10%

5% All others

Meta-Search EnginesThese search engines pull results from other search engines.

Dogpile.com - Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask

MetaCrawler.com - Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask

1) A metasearch engine will probably provide better (more inclusive) results than a single dedicated search engine.

2) Using more than one metasearch engine will provide even better (more inclusive) results than a single metasearch engine.

What it means:

Meta Search Engines

• DogPile - Google, Yahoo! Search, Live Search, Ask.com, About, MIVA, LookSmart, and more

• MetaCrawler – Same as above

• Ixquick• Mamma• Vivisimo• Kartoo

Web 1.0

• Mostly static pages

• Little opportunity for user collaboration or visitor interaction

• Content created by individual publisher or organization

Web 2.0

• More dynamic pages

• Significant opportunity for visitor interaction

• Content partially or entirely shaped by the users

Web 2.0 Examples• Wikipedia – Collaborative online

encyclopedia• MySpace, FaceBook, LinkedIn - Social

networking• Flickr – Photo sharing• Digg, Mixx, Reddit – Social news sharing• Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon – Bookmark

sharing• YouTube, TeacherTube – Video sharing

Personal online presentations

authorSTREAM.com *Demofuse.comEmpressr.comPreezo.comPreZentit.comSlideAware.comSlideBurner.comSlideShare *TeamslideThumbstacks.comZoho Show

Wikis (Web 2.0)

A collection of web pages that can be edited by a group. Permission-based.

Can help people collaborate on projects and documents from a distance.

www.pbwiki.comA short story…

PowerPoint

THE standard presentation tool

Hundreds of plug-ins to extend the capabilities

Concerns regarding mis-use

Articulate PresenterBegins with any PowerPoint presentation – narrated or not

Allows narration to be added.

Converts the result to Flash format – smaller files for easier download

Can be used from any server, but without tracking capability.

Offers secure hosting service that includes tracking.

Example…

Quizmaker – Articulate plug-in

Creates Flash quizzes to add to Articulate Presenter classes.

Many options and features.

Engage – Articulate plug-in

Adds Flash-based interactive content by using several pre-designed templates.

Online registration & payment

www.RegOnline.com

http://www.openoffice.org/

Word ProcessorSpreadsheetPresentation toolDatabase

PDF Creation

Compatible with MS Office

Free (!) to download, use and distribute.

Adobe Acrobat

“Freezes” the formatting of documents. Useful, flexible.

Anything that can be printed can be converted to pdf format.

Multiple levels of security

1st choice for posting documents online

Don’t post documents online that can be changed, add security.

E-mail encryption

Several studies show that 85% - 95% of e-mail spam originates from unprotected e-mail addresses on Web sites.

SpamIn 2004, FTC investigators "seeded" 175 different locations on the Internet with 250 new, undercover email addresses.

Within 6 weeks the accounts received 3,349 spam emails.

86 % of the addresses posted to web pages received spam.

If the address had the "@" sign in it, it drew spam. More info - http://www.ftc.gov/spam/

Potential Solutions

• Reactive – use spam filters

• Proactive – use e-mail encryption

• Best possible solution – use both

E-mail encryption

E-mail encryption

dkp205@ufl.edu becomes:

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"><!—ML="5-\"!@.f/= dko>E0pit<u:lar2hem";MI="CG9JHK682LGAFB<E:;@I?04D6F5K:D2=>1LGAF9LK3C7G=";OT="";for(j=0;j<MI.length;j++){OT+=ML.charAt(MI.charCodeAt(j)-48);}document.write(OT);// --></script><noscript>You need JavaScript to see my email address</noscript>

Result of E-mail Encryption:

It looks like a e-mail link, acts like an e-mail, but your e-mail address is no longer vulnerable.

E-mail Encryption Sources

Several methods – Javascript, ASCII, others?

http://www.upromote.com/emailscrambler.html

http://innerpeace.org/escrambler.shtml

http://hivelogic.com/enkoder/form

http://www.web-designz.com/tools/email_encoder.shtml

…or use any search enginetype in “e-mail encryption”

www.elluminate.com

Internal meetings

Live classes

Recorded classes

www.elluminate.comCapabilities:

Audio – up to 6 speakersVideo – not always necessaryText chatShared, interactive whiteboardShared applications Record / playback Web tourModerator / participant capabilitiesBreakout rooms

Elluminate challenges

Firewalls - if your County IT is not cooperative.

Lack of administrative rights – latest Java must be installed.

Audio

Whiteboard

Chat

Participants

www.elluminate.com

Threefor

Free

Online Surveys

Online Surveys

PricingZoomerang

Survey Monkey

Online Invitation Services- Create, customize, manage and track invitations and responses. - Importing e-mail addresses - Most allow follow-up messages, maps, directions and more. www.Evite.com www.waitrose.com www.sendomatic.com www.Rsvphq.com www.mypunchbowl.com

www.socializr.com – Web 2.0 friendly

Evite.com

Meeting / Scheduling (Web 2.0)

www.meetingwizard.comwww.doodle.chwww.setameeting.comwww.agreeadate.comwww.timebridge.comhttp://www.meetomatic.com/calendar.phphttp://www.dimdim.com

Google DocsImport existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations, or create new ones from scratch.

Access and edit from anywhere

It’s Free!

Collaboration tool

Share changes in real time

Invite people to your documents and make changes together, at the same time.

Includes a chat window.

Choose who can do, or view

Documents are stored securely online.

They can be published or not

Groups

Google Groups

Yahoo Groups

MSN Groups

ToolsOverview

Productivity Tools

Research Tools

Content Tools

Client InteractionTools

Online Meeting &Collaboration Tools

Web Analytics Tools

Website & Delivery Platform

Registration toolsFormsSurveysAuto RespondersBlogs – Ours & TheirsOnline Invitation Svs

ElluminateWikisSharePointGoogle DocsGroups

Google Analytics

HardwareSoftwareOnline tools

Various types of search engines

PowerPointArticulateEngageQuizmaker, etc.