Tools

We are going to explore a number of emerging technologies and tools in this course. These tools will belong primarily to the Google family (which means you will only need to register once with Google to access all the tools), but we will also introduce other tools over the course of the programme. On this page you will find short descriptions and screencasts / tutorials on how to use these tools and applications.

Main course communication and collaboration tools

Blog (www.checet.blogspot.com)
Blogger belongs to the Google family and is a free blog tool, which is very easy to set up. This course blog will be used for information sharing, collaboration, communication and reflection. You can subscribe to this blog (which means you will be sent emails whenever new messages are posted to the blog), and you can take part in the conversation by commenting.

Facebook group (www.facebook.com/groups/checet2012 )
To facilitate informal communication, discussions and sharing of information we have set up a Facebook group called CHECET 2012. This is a closed group, for members only. One of the advantages of a Facebook group is the possibility to communicate with the members of a group without necessarily befriending them. We will also notify you of any new entries on the blog through the Facebook group. Per default you will receive updates on the group by email. You can this by modifying the notification settings.

Groups (checet-practitioners@googlegroups.com)
Google groups can be used to facilitate groups discussions or as simple mailing lists. We will use this email address to send information to the whole group.


Google+
Google+ is Google's newest baby, a social network, which is set to become a serious competitor to Facebook, especially because Google's privacy policy is more transparent than Facebook's (at least so far). We are going to explore Google+ as our social network, to serve as an information gateway to other interesting websites, blogs and videos and communication and collaboration platform. You will see that most websites or blogs now have a "share" functionality, which allows you to share information on your social networks (look out for the Google+ button). We will use a public Google+ circle, which will help us disseminate information to course participants.

Google docs (http://docs.google.com)
Google docs allow users to share documents and to collaboratively work on documents online. We will create folders on google docs, which we will share with you. Whatever document is uploaded in one of these shared folders, will be accessible to the group. Google docs also allows you to create online surveys (Google forms), which we will use to collect information from you before the course starts and feedback at the end of the course.

• Click here to watch a screencast on how to create your own Google form (for surveys)

Adobe connect (http://meeting.uct.ac.za/checet/)
Although Google has its own webconferencing facility (Google hangouts), we are going to use a more mature application, which a number of HEI have been buying into, Adobe Connect. Adobe Connect allows you to communicate and chat online with a group of people, you can share applicaitons and documents and record your meetings.

Tips for Adobe Connect:

• To avoid echo use headsets and only connect your mic when you are talking.
• Ideally, use the University network, sit in a quiet space. 
• Check your audio settings before the meeting, give yourself at least 30 mins to login and test your audio settings. To check audio setting, click on the Meeting button, choose Audio Setup Wizard and follow instructions.

For more tips please visit the wiki page on Adobe Connect (thanks Ian!) https://checit.wikispaces.com/Adobe+Connect


Other useful applications

Soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com)
Soundcloud is a free audio recording and sharing platform. You can record podcasts or upload podcasts to soundcloud. Soundcloud also has a commenting functionality.

Wiki (http://checit.wikispaces.com)
Wikis also allow online collaboration. We will use the wiki to improve an existing repository of emerging technologies.

Twitter (#checet)
Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a microblogging application, which is part of what is called a "Personal Learning Environment". Twitter allows you to follow people in your field of research and access invaluable pointers to current articles, blog posts, videos, conferences or just peoples' opinion on their field of expertise. We are using the hashtag #checet to collate all posts relating to this course.


Doodle (www.doodle.com)
Online meeting scheduler

Worldle (www.wordle.net)
Create word clouds