Technology Communications
for the 21st Century Business Professional
From a bag of technology tools, three different technologies were integrated into the academy’s workshops:, wiki technology, social networking, and social bookmarking. If you have an interest in practicing one, two, or all three, next are explanations and instructions. (You can see the bag of tools in the wiki and social network).
Wiki Technology with
http://www.bmmtteacher.pbwiki.com
The wiki technology is for the purpose of many users creating or discussing one document. It replaces email attachments of drafted documents and keeps comments directly in the document. To practice the wiki technology, we have a bmmtteacher wiki at pbwiki.com (one of the better educator friendly free wiki sites).
A benefit of getting familiar with wiki technology is that oftentimes teachers need to collaborate in creating documents. In addition, many BMMT courses can have students using a wiki for creating course assignments. Resumes and business communications are excellent examples of student work that can be effective using the wiki technology. A wiki can be created as read only or read and write.
The purpose of using a wiki technology for BMMT is increased learning while enhancing student’s technology and 21st century skills
Instructions for getting access to the bmmtteacher wiki.
If pbwiki prompts you to register with them or login, follow those prompts. Once logged into the main pbwiki website, a box may ask for the name of the wiki you want to enter (not create), type bmmtteacher.
- Click “Contact the owner” at the bottom of the bmmteacher wiki as shown next.
- Complete the input form as shown next.
- Once the owner adds your email to the wiki, you will get an email. That is it, now come and experiment in our wiki.
- If you have any difficulty getting access, send Eileen an email at edittmar@charter.net and whatever it is can be corrected quite fast on her end.
Social Networking with
http://www.bmmtteacher.ning.com/
Social networking offers value for people who have similar interests. Social networking is for professionals, families, friends, and has become a tool teachers and students can use. Social networking is mostly known as facebook and myspace; however, there are other sites available for taking advantage of networking.
Social networking offers ways to have all your things in one place that you want to share. The sites can be established as private (only invited people will enter) or public (career changing and job shopping has taken on a new twist). Cluttered or disorganized email can be avoided. The social network site has features of blogs, forums, photos, and just about any gadget you’d want.
To practice the social networking technology, we have a bmmtteacher social network at ning.com (a good educator friendly free social network site). In our site, we can discuss ways to use this in our classes.
Instructions for getting access to the bmmtteacher ning site.
- Send Eileen an email “request invite for bmmtteacher social network. edittmar@charter.net
- Once she enters your email into the site, you will receive an email confirmation. Then you can come into the site, enter your email, password, and join in the discussion. This site is what YOU want from it, so experiment.
Social Bookmarking with
http://www.backflip.com
Every URL shown by all presenters during the academy is housed in a shared folder on a Website that participants can get access to from any computer.
Shared URL folder entitled Summer Academy is at www. Backflip.com. This is a private (invited users) folder instead of public (open for the world to see and use).
A benefit of getting familiar with Backflip and file sharing is that teachers may find this useful for sharing URLs with students. The URLs are not stored on one computer, but are accessible from any computer with Internet access.
The purpose of sharing URLs this way is increasing time and efficiency when many people need to use similar websites.
Instructions for getting the backflip Summer Academy folder of URLs
1. You need to have an account established at www.backflip.com (it is free).
2. Email the creator of our folder (Eileen Dittmar at edittmar@charter.net) and ask to be added to the folder.
3. The creator of the folder adds you and then you get an email receipt. The subject will say Backflip: Summer Academy folder.
4. In the email, take the link and follow the prompts to view the folder, approve the folder to be copied into your backflip, you will log into backflip by entering your id and password, and then a third instruction will ask “are you sure.” Skipping any of these will fail to get the folder into your account.
5. Check your backflip account to see if the folder is there. If you do not see it, trouble shoot by opening a fresh browser (that won’t have cookies taking you to your original backflip before the folder was added) and login to your backflip account. If it isn’t there, then repeat #4. If you still cannot see it, email Eileen for a 15-minute appointment (you’ll be on the phone and in backflip at the same time so the sharing can be completed).