Developments in computing technology have transformed the Internet. Starting as an obscure file sharing network between researcher’s computers, the Web has become a robust virtual world of media and information. Skills with online marketing, branding, and collaborative work are now vital for the growth of modern businesses. Competitive companies expect their employees to be technologically literate and wish to hire and promote employees who are comfortable enough to create, communicate, collaborate, and innovate with emerging technology tools. Accordingly, mastering Web 2.0 technologies gives students a strong edge within industries, such as Fashion Merchandising, which are quick paced and rapidly evolving.
Dr. Gallayanee Yaoyuneyong, my colleague in fashion merchandising at the University of Southern Mississippi, and I gave a presentation yesterday at the 2011 Creating Future Through Technology Conference (CFTTC) in Bilxoi, Mississippi. In this presentation, we introduced three groups of Web 2.0 technologies (collaboration tools, presentation enhancers, and branding and promotion tools). We believe that familiarity with these categories of tools will increase students’ marketability and help them succeed in their chosen careers. In addition, we offered recommendations on numerous Web 2.0 tools and provided examples on how students can gain experience using these tools for real-world scenarios and tasks pertinent to the Fashion Merchandising industry.
Below is our presentation, please feel free to offer your comments and suggestions. Thanks.
For any would be career hunter it would be to your benefit to familiarize yourself with as many different types of tech tools as possible. The career market is tight and the more you know and how to do the more of an asset you make yourself. And employers indeed expect employees to handle any problem given to them. These tools could very help.
In the presentation a number of tools were suggested for a variety of uses. I feel the collection of tools for collaboration may be the most important especially when it comes to delegation of work. Out of the four I am familiar with three. I like the ability to store work off site and I can then get to anywhere anytime as long as access is available. It also makes for a good back up site for work storage. Since being introduces to Diigo a few weeks back I have since opened a second account with the other teachers in my dept. I have used it more than I thought I would but has come in quite handy.
The presentation tools, I have used all on the job except ScreenToster. Jing has come useful in creating video instructions. Prezi was the most impressive, I thought, it was the most different in terms of actual presentation software.
I’m still kicking myself for missing this presentation. I can’t remember which one I went to instead which means that it wasn’t nearly as good as what you guys did. Some of these tools have been “game changers” for me and my success in my own work as well as my classroom.
Dropbox is an outstanding tool! I didn’t understand the difference between it and other “cloud based” storage services like Google Docs or Microsoft Live until I began using it. Dropbox works very similarly these other services in that you can go to dropbox.com and upload files and share folders with other users. It is different because you can download a client to your computer and you have a dropbox file that works just like your “my documents” file on your computer. I can install this on multiple computers and it will automatically sync it across every computer that I have connected to my dropbox. It is a great tool!
Audacity is fun too! It is a very high quality audio editing tool and is very similar to functions you may find in Adobe Soundbooth and Apple Soundtrack Pro. Audacity is only a single wave editor, but a creative person can find ways to overcome this limitation. It is a very fun and very free tool.
Right up there with dropbox for me is Prezi. I had just begun to learn how to use Adobe After Effects when I discovered Prezi. Prezi is a very simple way to make presentations or motion typography videos. It is eye catching and interesting. Prezi makes great use of chunking and grouping data and keeps the users visually stimulated. Just be careful not to make people sick
There are some programs in this presentation that I’ve never heard of so I’m very much looking forward to trying them out. Thanks for posting this.
This was a very impressive presentation with an abundance of technology resources for any educator. Some of them I recognized but many I did not, and will soon be exploring their functionality. As the presentation indicated many want to have their technology tool be the brand identifier since this helps to ensure success in a flooded market.
When a technology product becomes a brand identifier it means that when a person refers to that technology it is known by one name. For example social networks people often think immediately of Facebook, or videos people think of YouTube. Some of the technologies mentioned in the presentation that I have used are Diigo a site that allows users to share bookmarks/favorites, Prezi, Slideshare both presentation types of Web 2.0 technologies, Blogger, WordPress, YouTube, and Twitter.
Prezi I have had limited experience with, but recently I have noticed more presenters are beginning to use it. Slideshare is one that I have worked with a few times and believe it is a wonderful way to add audio to presentations. Recently I learned of Dropbox and downloaded it to my computer, although I have not worked with it. The idea of having all of your files synced to one dropbox regardless of which computer you are on is very appealing.
Soon I plan to explore the rest of the technologies identified in the presentation, and explore their functionalities and features.
I appreciate the fact that this presentation has highlighted many of the Web 2.0 tools that my colleagues and I already use in my EdTech program at the University of Hawaii. under “Collaboration Tools” I did expect to see some mention of Google Docs as it has been extremely helpful when collaborating both synchronously and asynchronously.
Many of the other tools are very useful and require little training for general users to accomplish common tasks. Prezi has definitely granted my presentations some ohh’s and ahh’s although it is a little tricky to use.
Looking forward to reading more of your blog postings!
-Billy