Learning Without The Whiteboard & Markers

In the face of rapid technology advancement, educators in this age of digital information and technology not only have to be proficiently knowledgeable in the field(s) that they are teaching, but must also be skilled in the technologies that are being used to convey the educational content.

As a result, in the educational arena today, there is an emerging breed of technologically proficient educators who are using the information and communication technology to create a better teaching and learning environment. The marriage of content and technology not only provides the teacher with a more effective way to transfer knowledge and information to students, but also enables them to learn in a more productive way. It is fast gaining popularity as a powerful instructional tool for disseminating knowledge and information to the learners.

In the traditional education realm, the role of the teacher is to provide content and information to students. This can be done in the form of many instructional media, such as notes, diagrams, overhead transparencies, models and more. The information or content that is presented is based on the teacher's curriculum and other relevant information for the class. With technology, especially with multimedia authoring technology, the very same content can be converted into the electronic form and presented on the PC. The multimedia technologies used will transform the traditional materials into an interactive multimedia courseware.

When you think of e-learning, you probably might envision students using computers to take online classes. But online learning can be much more than simply studying on a laptop in a dorm room. Today's e-earning tools go beyond computers to include MP3 players, podcasts, blogs and more.

Net generation students are well versed in technology, often arriving on campus adept at communicating by text message, e-mail and message board and armed with laptops, MP3 players, smartphones and PDAs. Many have years of experience with online social networks, blogging and downloading music and video. They're looking to apply their technology and skills to learning, and schools are finding ways to meet those needs with online courses and hybrids that bring new technology to traditional teaching.

These students can take online classes on their personal computers, but they also can download podcasts of course lectures and professors' audio study notes to their laptops or smartphones to review wherever and whenever they want to. Also, they can check and copy information from the professor's daily or weekly blog, including the course syllabus, assignment changes, study notes and other important information.

E-mail or text message friends to set up study sessions and get answers to each other's questions about the material they're studying. They can even send instant messages to professors with quick questions or to set up a time to talk more extensively by phone.

The list is in exhaustive and here are a few more

·         - Log in to an online forum or visit a private chat room to discuss the topics being studied with the professor and other students in the class.

·        -  Take notes, photos or video with an iPod or smartphone during lab experiments or in the field to use later as part of papers, presentations or test preparation.

·        -  Bring work home from campus, share information for a collaborative project or submit a project to a professor with a USB flash drive.

·        -  Buy and use educational software available for PDAs to review the subject they're studying.

·         - Complete written, video or presentation assignments and hand them in via e-mail to the professor.

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With this transformation, multimedia is changing the way we communicate with each other. The way we send and receive messages is more effectively done and better comprehended. The inclusion of media elements reinforces the message and the delivery, which leads to a better learning and teaching environment. The power of multimedia lies in the fact that it is multi-sensory, stimulating the many senses of the audience, which consequently leads to better attention and retention rates.

 As such, many are turning to multimedia as a means to better communicate their message and to foster better feedback on the information exchanged. For many years, multimedia and multimedia developers were housed in selected industries such as advertising, entertainment and edutainment, games and corporate computer-based training (CBT) systems. However, multimedia is now penetrating the education field and changing the way teachers teach and students learn. With the advent of multimedia and technology in the classrooms, teachers can equip themselves with these technological skills and become better communicators of their content materials, and thus enabling the students to learn in a more productive way.

The Secret Recipe Behind Success of E-Commerce

“You’ve got mail.”

Do you remember hearing that? It’s one of those legendary pieces of Internet history formed when the road was still being paved and we were foraging our way through the wilderness of what was the original World Wide Web. These days, we’ve replaced that message with Tweets, likes, and status updates, but that doesn’t mean that our affinity for email is any less. In fact, because of the noise that is social media, one could argue that the inbox has become our virtual dojo, our place of solitude amongst the chaos.

People are inundated with interruption, pitches, and advertisements everywhere they look, and though you might think yours is special, there’s a high probability that to the reader, it looks the same as the rest. This is why it’s important to remember where you are, and use your good manners as a result.

Of course, no email campaign was ever built without getting permission to get started, so first we’ll need to focus on building a sizable email list.

There are many ways you can do this of course. Some prefer to give something away for free while others simply offer a newsletter or product updates.

·         What do I get when I give you my email address?

·         Are you going to spam me?

·         How often will you email me?

·         Will I get discounts?

·         Will I get a first crack at your beta?

·         Will you send me relevant offers or more junk?

These are the kinds of things you’ll need to address if you want to be successful in phase 1. Simply posting “enter your email for updates” isn’t going to get anyone excited to do so. Instead, consider sharing specifics:

Note the Clear and Concise Call to Action in the Examples Above

Email marketing is all about expectations, and it’s up to you to set them. If your call to action is strong, and your follow-up is consistent, then you can count on a positive campaign. However, if you promise to send one email per week and instead send them daily, then you’re setting yourself up for failure. On the contrary, if someone is expecting daily updates or critical product updates and you don’t’ deliver, then they are likely to be just as upset in that case too.

This is why the first follow-up email is so crucial to the success of your email marketing efforts. Almost all email service providers give you the option to create an autoresponder sequence, and it’s imperative that you take advantage of it.

As a rule of thumb, try to use your newsletter as a way to further your relationship with the reader/customer rather than to pitch them. Save the pitch for unique updates, offers, and announcements.

WHAT'S NEW AND COOKING!

Pinterest 

Most of you are probably familiar with Pinterest  by now. Everybody is pinning these days it seems to have become very popular via the mobile platform. But I’m willing to bet most of you had never even heard of Pinterest this time last year. So why did Pinterest go from zero to hero so quickly? If you’re someone like me who hopped on the Pinterest bandwagon in 2012, the answer is immediately obvious:

Pinterest is visual, entertaining, and most of all it’s easy to use.

I myself downloaded it via the Apple Apps store as the features of Pinterest were extremely interesting. However, since most of my friends did not have an account, I eventually left. But now they are starting to get onto it. Hence, I might be jumping back onto it soon!

So what is so special about Pinterest? Well the visual new social network highlights the connection between visually compelling design and user experience. We are no longer in Netscape anymore.

The Internet then…

…The Internet now. 

Where social media sites like Flickr are great web 1.0 photo sharing networks, Pinterest takes interaction and engagement to the next level with exciting design and a dead-simple interface. Of course Pinterest’s uniqueness has been widely duplicated by this point, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery right?

Beyond an exciting UI for end users, Pinterest has also skyrocketed to success because of the natural way brands can promote their products on Pinterest. Pinterest can refer more traffic than Facebook, Yahoo organic search, and even Twitter depending on your niche. No wonder brands love the platform.

Lastly, this video will show you the growth of Pinterest as a social network site, from a marketer’s point of view!

IS SOCIAL MEDIA REALLY SOCIAL?

          Social media has become so intertwined in today’s society that it has revolutionized the way we communicated. Today several social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter, orkut, MySpace, Skype etc., are being used extensively for the purpose of communication. One of the most important advantages of the use of social media is the online sharing of knowledge and information among the different groups of people. Sharing of information online also promotes an enhancement of communication skills among people, especially the students of educational institutions. Online tools and technology has not only mediated communication in countless ways, but that the very ways we communicate and even the ways we talk and think about communication are changing as a result. Social media have the potential to fundamentally change the character of our social lives, both on an interpersonal and a community level. This then brings about several outcomes and then the question arises, if social media is actually an effective tool for group communication.

Social media creates the platform for one to share information with the mass via online. The particular feature alone is extremely beneficial for group communication. It enables an individual’s opinion to be projected to the mass with ease and simultaneously receive feedback with regards to one’s opinion. Several companies and service providers have capitalized on this particular feature of social media to reach out to their customers and it has not only made the companies more attractive, but also successful. The customers are generally pleased with the attempts made by the company to reach out to them as they feel a sense of being valued and appreciated. Companies such as Dunkin’ Donuts have allowed for customers to provide feedback via their websites and this has helped their sales to flourish. Customers feel that their opinions are more valued and they feel a sense of belonging when the companies take action on their opinions.

However, social media can hamper group communication too. Some become too involved in social media that they are often hooked onto their devices and they tend to neglect the other party right in front of them. Hence, interpersonal communication can be impacted and the value of face to face interaction is lost. “Phubbing” then becomes a prevalent action, whereby groups of people meet and there is no form or minimal interaction going on between them as they all are engrossed in interaction via social media. 

Moreover, when it comes to group communication, it is very important to be able to handle any form of conflict that results in a professional level. However, most people choose to handle conflict via social media rather than via face to face interactions. Conflict is extremely important for building group dynamics and if handled properly, it can create wonders. When conflict is not handled properly, it alleviates the consequences of  the conflict and impacts the entire group’s dynamics.

That's Not My Domain Name!

Domain names are used for organizing information available on the web, helping us to navigate and understand the Web. Without domain names attaches words to the numbers that make up URLs and IP addresses. Hence without them, URLs would be a series of numbers, or IP addresses, which would then make it a hassle for us to remember. By attaching words to a series of numbers, a domain name gives us an address that is easier to recall. A domain name is key to doing just about anything on the Internet, from setting up a website, to sending and receiving email, to building an online store. 

Have you ever wondered how does the web function is helping you to retrieve the right website you have requested? Basically, the domain name functions in helping the web in retrieving webpages. How is this done? Well it is got to do with the structure of the domain name. The domain name can be broken down into three parts, which are the top, second and third level domain. The label furthest right represents the top-level domain and to the left of that label is the second-level domain. Any labels to the left of the second-level domain are considered to be subdomains of the second-level domain (sometimes even called third-level domains).

The third-level domain contains the host name, which usually takes the form of "www." However, it is u to the user's preference.

The second-level domain contains the organization's name that is easy for the web users to remember and the subdomain contains the document or file name.

The top-level domains (TLDs) can be split into two categories. The generic TLDs usually take the form of ".com" which stands for commercial websites and ".org" which stands for websites of organizations. the other category are the country code TLDs, which indicate which country is the webpage from. They usually contain only two letters. Examples include, ".my", ".uk" which stands for Malaysia and the United Kingdom respectively.

So how does the entire process of retrieving a website work? Once you have entered the web address into your browser, this generates a DNS query. The query is then transmitted to an authoritative name server via your ISP. The authoritative name server then matches the query with the right IP address by going through the different levels of the domain name. The website with the IP address that matches the query is then sourced out from the site host and displayed on your screen! Hence you are able to locate the right website without having to remember the IP address. Now that's the mechanics behind the web's process in locating any websites you request via your browser.

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