WEEK SIXTHEEN

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