So You Want a Web Presence? Choosing the right Tufts tools for the job.
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So You Want a Web Presence? Choosing the right Tufts tools for the job.
Transcript of So You Want a Web Presence? Choosing the right Tufts tools for the job.
So You Want a Web Presence?
Choosing the right Tufts tools for the job.
Goals of this SessionAt this end of this session you should know:
– What Tufts tools are available to you for web-based publication, communication, and collaboration
– The main features of each of the tools.
– Where to go for support and help.
Outline• A look at the tools
• Case studies - how others at Tufts are using them
• Your projects – enough about me, let’s talk about you!
• Ask questions at ANY time!
The Tools• Spark WordPress (http://spark.uit.tufts.edu)
• Spark Wikis (http://spark.uit.tufts.edu)
• Trunk Project Sites (http://trunk.tufts.edu)
• Spark Podcasts (http://spark.uit.tufts.edu)
• iTunes U (http://go.tufts.edu/itunesu)
What all the tools have in common?• Supported by UIT-ESTS
• Available at no cost to everyone with a Tufts Username
• Content can be made private, or group accessible, or completely public. With the exception of iTunesU (for now)
• Provide access for content creation and collaboration to non-Tufts users.
What all the tools have in common?• They all provide for rapid development of a web presence in
some form. Quick and easy. If you know the basics.
• They all do SOME things REALLY well.
• They all do SOME things NOT SO well.
• They can ALL work together!
WordPress• Is a content publishing tool for the web. Originally designed as
a “blogging” tool, it is now a fully featured, custom website, creation tool.
• Is good for:
– Rapid development of and attractive, easy to use, publicly accessible web sites.
– Mixing blog content with static content for an informative and up-to-date “news” type web site.
WordPress – Tufts Examples
WordPress – Best Features• Gallery of pre-designed, but customizable themes. From very
basic to advanced.
• Easily create and manage your site’s menu of pages.
• Widgets and plugins that extend your site’s functionality.
• And of course, blogging!
WordPress – Not So Good At• Mixing public and private content in an easy to use manner
for site owners.
Wikis (Confluence)• A wiki is a web-based tool that allows groups of individuals to
easily collaborate on the creation of content.
• Very good for:
– Creation of departmental knowledge-bases.– Collaborating on course design.– Student group writing assignments.– Evolving document repositories.
Wikis – Tufts Examples
Wikis – Best Features• Shines as an internal document creation and management
tool.
• Great for mixing public and private content.
• Great for access control to various pages (e.g. only allow some individuals into certain sections).
• Asynchronous content creation tools. Keeps track of who changed what and allows you to revert back to older versions.
• Email notification of when changes are made.
Wikis – Not So Good At• Custom designed web-sites. The themes are few and simple.
• You can create a custom theme but it’s a difficult to use tool.
Trunk Project Sites• Designed to facilitate online collaboration.
• Can be used to support a wide variety of activities, from students working on class projects or clubs to scientists collaborating on grant proposals, faculty participating in a search or tenure committees, or administrators revising the undergraduate curriculum.
• Good for managing a the activities of a group who interact with each other around a common set of tasks or subjects.
Trunk Project Sites - Examples
Trunk Project Sites – Best Features• Specific tools for communication amongst group members
e.g. forums, messaging, announcements.
• Specific tools for group organization e.g. calendar, resource repository
• Very easy to manage users.
• Only select the tools you need!
Trunk Project Sites – Not so good at• Fixed look and feel. Beyond changing your site description and logo you
cannot change the colors and positioning of site elements. It is what is it!
Spark Podcasts• A tool for publishing an episodic series of audio or video files.
• People can “subscribe” to a podcast using a number of different kinds of multimedia players such as iTunes, WinAmp, etc.
• Very good for:
– Publishing a series of recorded lectures.– Publishing a series of student created digital stories.– Publishing marketing videos for a department.
Podcasts – Tufts Examples
Spark Podcasts – Best Features• People who subscribe to your podcast automatically receive new
content as soon as it is made available.
• Your materials will be iTunes U ready (if you are thinking of doing that).
• Super easy to use once you’ve set up your podcast channel. Just upload new episodes and your podcast feed automatically updates.
• People can “embed” your podcast feed in their own web site.
Spark Podcasts– Not so good at• It’s a one trick pony! That’s all folks.
iTunes U (New Service!)• iTunes U delivers free educational content to the world via
Apple’s iTunes Store. By publishing content to the Tufts iTunes U site you will be serving a global audience of lifelong learners and contributing to the open education movement alongside many other institutions.
• Very good for (same as Spark Podcasts):
– Publishing a series of recorded lectures.– Publishing a series of student created digital stories.– Publishing marketing videos for a department.– Publishing to a global audience!
iTunes U – Tufts Examples
iTunes U – Best Features• Content placed on iTunes U will be mobile-device friendly.
• Worldwide audience can “discover” your content.
iTunes U – Not so good at.• Like Spark Podcasts, it does one thing. Disseminate episodic
content.
• However, we are also exploring iTunes U courses and iTunes U private collections for inclusion in the Trunk course sites.
Tool Re-Cap• WordPress – good for public sites that really need to look good and are
easy to navigate.
• Wikis – good for collaborating on content creation and mixing private and public content.
• Trunk Project Sites – good for creating an online gathering place to manage people working together.
• Spark Podcasts – good for disseminating episodic, multimedia content .
• iTunes U – good for disseminating the same content to the world.
Case Studies• Learning Community Institute – a network of professionals
researching and improving medical school education.
– Needed a web presence to market the organization.– Needed a private community to allow members and working groups to collaborate with
one another on.
Case Studies• STOMP - Program partnering Tufts students with K-12 educators to create
engineering curriculum.
– Needed a site that would allow their student to collaborate on lesson plans.– Needed a way to keep track of members and archive materials.
Case Studies• Islam on the Indian Ocean Rim – Tufts History Course
– Needed a site to market the course to prospective students.– Needed a place to collate possible course materials before publishing to the
course site.– Needed a way to disseminate pre-recorded audio lectures to wide audience.
