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Top 10 Tech Tools for Extension Agents
(or their Web Managers)
Dave PalmerInstructional Media Extension Agent
UF / IFAS / Extension
About Me
Dave Palmer8 years Horticulture Extension Agent2 years Instructional Media AgentM.Ed. Instructional Technology
Professional development from a technology perspective.
About You
Who are you?
How many of you are Extension Agents?
How many are IT support?
How many are IT administration?
Who has a position similar to mine?
- As of November 2007, 71.4% of the U.S. population was using the Internet.
- In one month alone, September 2007, 9.4 billion searches were performed in the U.S.
Why Use Technology?
(http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/)
If we don’t adapt to existing and upcoming technologies…
…those clientele using communication mediums different than the ones we’re using will rely on others (not us) for information, solutions, products, and services, if they’re not already doing so.
Less relevance means fewer clientele. Fewer clientele mean less funding. Less funding can lead to even less relevance (or extinction).
LessRelevant
LessFunding
FewerUsers
LessRelevant
Death Spiral
Result – We become less relevant.
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3 Points• It’s not about the technology,
it’s about the people• Change is the only constant
(a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor)
• Change is inevitable – progress is optional
Top ToolsOverview
Productivity Tools
Research Tools
Content Tools
Client InteractionTools
Meeting &Collaboration
Tools
Web Analytics Tools
Website & Delivery Platform
Online Registration FormsSurveysAuto RespondersOnline Invitation Svs
ElluminateOnline OfficeGoogle DocsGroups
Google Analytics
HardwareSoftwareOnline tools
Various types of search engines
PowerPointArticulateEngageQuizmakerOpen Office
Security
AdobeAcrobat
E-mailencryption
Send Large Files for Freehttp://www.yousendit.com/http://www.sendthisfile.com/ no file size limit??http://www.driveway.com/ 500 Mb size limithttp://www.sendspace.com/
YouSendIt Free Account offers:Files up to 100MbFile stays posted for 7 daysCan be downloaded up to 100 times.
How it Works
Step 2e-mail notification
Step 3download
Step 1 upload & add an e-mail address
Shorten that URL!
http://tinyurl.com/http://301url.com/http://ataja.es/http://elfurl.com/http://notlong.com/http://urlx.org/
Useful when:- Trying to type a long URL – too many typos- Long URLs “wrap” and break in an e-mail- Trying to read a long URL over the phone- Free! and permanent
http://district4.extension.ifas.ufl.edu/Tech/technology.html
Becomes
http://tinyurl.com/2udulr
Shorten that URL!
Another option - purchase a separate redirect URL
http://prohort.ifas.ufl.edu/
became
www.prohort.net
Prices start at $5-$6 per year
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Flash drivesFlash drives - 1.0 - Huge amounts of data storage on small devices.
Flash drives - 2.0 -“Smart(er)” flash drives run active programs such as web browser w/ bookmarks, e-mail program w/ e-mail addresses, your IM program
A short story…
Auto responder
Semi-automated E-mail list
Users can subscribe & unsubscribe by themselves – no extra work by staff.
Auto responder
- Broadcast e-mail to everyone on the list or target specific segments of your list
- Prepare and schedule e-mails in advance.- Track how many open the e-mail, track how many click on links in the e-mail.
www.Aweber.com
Track multiple lists in multiple Websites Track open rates & link clicks
Wording on the Subject line is directly related to the open rate.
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Website – a delivery platformA well designedWeb site:
Is a delivery platform for publications, podcasts, and online classes, etc
Website – a productivity tool
A well designed Web site:- Is a productivity tool use it to post information that others call you for. - Reduce your phone calls.- Can also boost your credibilityand visibility.
Web Statistics
Free!
Deep data
Fairly accurate
Look at the trends, not the numbers
DON’T track “hits”instead track visits among other measures.
Examples of Google stats
Continent, county, state, city stats both visually… …and in chart format.
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Keyword stats Content stats by page name
Content stats by page title
“Site overlay” stats
This overlay offers a view of a Web page and the % of visitors that click on each link on the page.
Individualize Agent Statistics
9 Agents
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Search EnginesTo find what you need online quickly and successfully, you need to be a proficient searcher.
Meta-Search EnginesThese search engines pull results from multiple search engines.
Dogpile.com - Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask
MetaCrawler.com - Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask
PowerPoint
THE standard presentation tool
Hundreds of plug-ins to extend the capabilities
Concerns regarding mis-use
Personal online presentationsauthorSTREAM.com *Demofuse.comEmpressr.comPreezo.comPreZentit.comSlideAware.comSlideBurner.comSlideShare *TeamslideThumbstacks.comZoho Show
Articulate PresenterBegins with any PowerPoint presentation – narrated or not
Allows narration to be added.
Converts the result to Flash format – smaller files for easier download
Can be used from any server, but without tracking capability.
Offers secure hosting service that includes tracking.
Example…
Quizmaker – Articulate plug-in
Creates Flash quizzes to add to Articulate Presenter classes.
21 different types of questions.
Many options and features.
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Engage – Articulate plug-in
Adds Flash-based interactive content by using several pre-designed templates.
Example…
Wikis
Specialized Web site created to help people collaborate on projects and documents.
A short story…
www.pbwiki.com
www.RegOnline.com http://www.openoffice.org/
Word ProcessorSpreadsheetPresentation toolDatabase
PDF Creation
Compatible with MS Office
Free (!) to download, use and distribute.
Adobe Acrobat“Freezes” the formatting of documents. Useful, flexible.
Anything that can be printed can be converted to pdf format.
Multiple levels of security
$270 - $450 retail
1st choice for posting documents online
Don’t post documents that can be changed, add security.
Generic PDF Writers
CutePDF WriterNo security features, few other features, free
CutePDF ProMany features - $90
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E-mail encryption
Several studies show that 85% - 95%of e-mail spam originates from unprotected e-mail addresses on Web sites.
SpamIn 2004, FTC investigators "seeded" 175 different locations on the Internet with 250 new, undercover email addresses.
Within 6 weeks the accounts received 3,349 spam emails.
86 % of the addresses posted to web pages received spam.
If the address had the "@" sign in it, it drew spam. More info - http://www.ftc.gov/spam/
The Solution = E-mail encryption
Several methods – Javascript, ASCII, others?
http://www.upromote.com/emailscrambler.html
http://innerpeace.org/escrambler.shtml
http://hivelogic.com/enkoder/form
http://www.web-designz.com/tools/email_encoder.shtml
[email protected] becomes:<script type="text/javascript">/* <![CDATA[ */function hivelogic_enkoder(){var kode="kode=\"oked\\\"=')('injo).e(rsvere).''t(lispe.od=kdeko\\\\;k\\\"do=e\\\"\\"+"\\\\\\\\\\kode\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\r=hn%gn@gr%hg_f@prqx1huwwz_l"+"_hd%k_h+#?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\@u__i___%d__oprlgws=3nC5i81xgo__"+"hx____#l_%ow@w__h___%_______%?__dA__2A_%,>>_%@{**i>url+3@l>+?rnhgo1qhwj0k,"+"4l>@.,5{[email protected]+w.l,4n.gr1hkfudwDl\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\0+"+",0n0gr@h.{l+n?gr1hhojqkwnBgr1hkfudwDn+gr1hhojqkw40=,**%,{>*>>@r*+i@u>l?3nl"+"g+1rhhjokq4w>0.,5l~@.,n{g@1rkhufwdlD4+..r,hnfgd1Dk+u,w0l\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"+"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\00nrgh@{.+l?nrgh1ohqjwkBnrgh1fkduDw+nrgh1ohqjwk04,=**,\\\\\\"+"\\\\\\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\x>';;=o'(f=r;i<0oiekldn.te;g+h)ic+k{d=.ohercoaeC"+"tdiA- ) f3ci0(c<=)2+;1+8Sxr=nt.irgmfhorCoaeCcd} (o)ekxd\\\\=\\\\\\\";\\\\=x"+"''f;roi(0=i;(<okedl.netg-h)1i;=+)2x{=+okedc.ahAr(t+i) 1k+do.ehcratAi(}) oked"+"x= (+<iokedl.netg?hokedc.ahAr(tokedl.netg-h)1':) '\\\\;=\\\"deko;\\\"okedk=d"+"o.epsil(t''.)erevsr(e.)ojni'()'\";x='';for(i=0;i<(kode.length-1) ;i+=2) {x+="+"kode.charAt(i+1) +kode.charAt(i)} kode=x+(i<kode.length? kode.charAt(kode.len"+ "gth-1):'');";var i,c,x;while(eval(kode));}hivelogic_enkoder();/* ]]> */</script>
www.elluminate.com
Internal meetings
Live classes
Recorded classes
www.elluminate.comCapabilities:
Audio – up to 6 speakersVideo – not always necessaryText chatShared, interactive whiteboardShared applications Record / playback Web tourModerator / participant capabilitiesBreakout rooms
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Elluminate challenges
Firewalls - if your County IT is not cooperative.
Lack of administrative rights – latest Java must be installed prior to each use.
Audio
Whiteboard
Chat
Participants
www.elluminate.com
Threefor
Free
Audio Recordinghttp://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Free
Open Source
LAME MP3 encoder must be downloaded separately
Simple Image Editing
Right click on an imageThen click on “Open With”Then click on MS Office Picture Manager (XP)
(previously known as MS Photo Editor)
MS Office Picture Manager
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Higher Level Image Editing
Excellent capabilities for the average user.
Uses “layers.”
Not intended for the power user.
$60 - $100 Retail(Photoshop CS3$650-$1000)
Zoomerang.com
SurveyMonkey.com PollDaddy.com
Online Surveys PricingZoomerang
Survey Monkey
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Online Invitation Services- Create, customize, manage and track
invitations and responses. - Importing e-mail addresses - Most allow follow-up messages, maps,
directions and more.www.Evite.comwww.waitrose.comwww.sendomatic.comwww.Rsvphq.comwww.mypunchbowl.comwww.socializr.com – Web 2.0 friendly
Evite.com
Online Office Applications
Google Docs – word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, Google calendar, Google Notebooks, includes chat feature, free
Zoho – online/offline, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database, wiki, note-taker, planner, and a project manager
Google DocsImport existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations, or create new ones from scratch.
Access and edit from anywhere
It’s Free!
Collaboration tool
Share changes in real time
Invite people to your documents and make changes together, at the same time.
Includes a chat window.
Choose who can do, or viewDocuments are stored securely online.
They can be published or not
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Zoho GroupsGroups share some of the features of Web pages, wikis, blogs.
Share calendars, files, discussions with others. Groups can be public or private.
Top ToolsOverview
Productivity Tools
Research Tools
Content Tools
Client InteractionTools
Meeting &Collaboration
Tools
Web Analytics Tools
Website & Delivery Platform
Online Registration FormsSurveysAuto RespondersOnline Invitation Svs
ElluminateOnline OfficeGoogle DocsGroups
Google Analytics
HardwareSoftwareOnline tools
Various types of search engines
PowerPointArticulateEngageQuizmakerOpen Office
Security
AdobeAcrobat
E-mailencryption
Resources
Top 100 Tech Tools for Learninghttp://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html
