In this week I learned about my classmates
presentations of the most principal web 2.0 tools that are:
Twitter
Google Maps
Podcasts
Authorstream
Wikispaces
Mappy Friends
Flickr
K12 Lesson plans
Podomatic
WebQuests
Dokeos
Edmodo
Nicenet
In my case I have to present on Tuesday about Nicenet.
Nicenet is a web-based tool for running an
educational program at any level: a
college course, a second-grade class, or a medical school course. It has capabilities for two-way communication
between members; for announcing
schedules and schedule changes; for reminding you of tasks; for sharing
useful web links with other members; and for submitting text information
electronically. It is accessible from
any computer with an internet connection and web browser, so no matter where
you are, you can always get to it. It is
free, has no advertising, and does not share your personal information or
e-mail address with any commercial entities.
Nicenet's Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA)
allows virtually any classroom, even those with modest resources, access to
powerful tools. Everything in Nicenet is offered free for public use, and
Nicenet makes no profits from your participation.
Here there are some things you need to follow
such us:
Click on “Join A Class”
In the box labeled “Class Key:” type your
teacher's class key. (Don't worry, you
will never need this number again.) Then
click the button labeled [ Join the Class--> ]
On the screen that follows, enter the
information requested. Entering an email
address makes it possible for you to recover a lost password. You can enter an email address into your
profile at a later time if necessary.
For your username, use anything you wish, but
write it down and keep it. You might
have to try several usernames to find one that has not been used before.
Make up your own password, and be sure to
remember it! If you forget your password
and didn't enter an email address, I can't help you.
You must enter your real name. . . non class members and bogus names will be
deleted. Nicenet does not share your
name or e-mail address with any other organization, and you will not receive
any junk e-mail from Nicenet.
Then click the button at the bottom [Join the
Class!]
On the following screen, click the button at
the bottom [ Finish Registration ] to finalize your enrollment. You will be
taken directly to the Log In screen to enter your username and password.
After entering your username and password click
on [Log In to the ICA] to join our
Nicenet website. You can browse around and see what is available
on-line.
Log on to Nicenet daily to keep up with new
developments in our class. Click on
Class Schedule to see important dates.
Note that all content on Nicenet remains “internal:” you must login to
read it. Any e-mail account(s) that you might have are entirely separate from
Nicenet. Nothing is automatically delivered to your e-mail account, so don't
expect to see it there.
Subsequent logons are much easier; in any web
browser on any internet-connected computer, go to www.nicenet.net Enter your username and password in the
boxes. Click the button labeled [Log in]
You will be taken directly to our Nicenet
class.
The main Nicenet functions are listed in the
ugly green vertical box on your left as you look at the screen. In a nutshell,
these functions are:
Conferencing.
This is the function you should be using most often. When you post messages under Conferencing,
all participants in the forum will be able to see them, learn from them, and
respond to them. This is the place to
post educational questions (Example: “MicroType Pro sometimes doesn’t want to
type the letters I’m typing on the keyboard.
What’s happening?”) If you have
a particular question, then half a dozen other forum members have the same question. So you might as well post the question in
conferencing, where everyone can see it and benefit from the answer.
Link Sharing.
In this section there are links to useful websites. Clicking on a link will open it in a new
window. Nicenet will remain open and
active in a window behind. When done
with that link, don't click the browser's back button; instead, close that
window.
Documents. This is where you can see your
documents that have been turned in, and see the work of others.
Class Schedule.
This is where all of your class assignments are posted and where many
assignments are turned in. Check here
daily.
Class Members.
This shows who is signed up in this class and some contact information.
Personal Messages. This function is over-used. Use it if you need to send a message that is
truly personal, i.e., it applies only to one, or a handful, of class participants. If you are about to check off the “send to
all” box, then you should be using conferencing instead.
You can include html tags in your messages to
change fonts, insert pictures, include links, etc.
Edit User Profile.
This page gives you options to change your email address, add or delete
your phone number, edit your name, change which class comes up first if you are
enrolled in more than one Nicenet class, and whether or not to show personal
information such as your email address or phone number, etc.
Handing in Assignments. . .
Save your document in your folder and then
follow the directions in the Nicenet class schedule for turning in that
particular assignment.
In Nicenet
Click on the [Turn in] button next to the
assignment title in Nicenet.
Paste the code into the document text box in
Nicenet.
Use your period number as the document title.
Click on [Add Document] at the bottom of the
page in Nicenet.
Check to see that your document is viewable in
the Documents section of Nicenet.
Don't compose documents directly into the
Nicenet window. You will be logged off
of Nicenet after a while and will lose all of your work.
Logging Out of
Nicenet. Don't forget to click the [LOG OUT] link when
you leave your workstation. If you
forget to do this you might become a victim of identity theft, others can
hijack you profile, edit your password, change your email address and prevent
you from getting at your own work.
I hope Ill do a good presentation next tuesday
