EDUCATION

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ICT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

AUDIO VISUAL AIDS

Audio Visual Aids for teaching of computer science

AUDIO

Impact of Computers

Impact of Computers on Society

In the globalized age where boundaries have been nullified, where technology has made the World a small space, the impact of science and technology needs to be analyzed to get a better understanding of the influence it can create throughout various kinds of people and places. Technology is practically everywhere today-it has changed the way we prepare food, we buy our clothes, and we build our homes. It has changed the way we send our posts, we take our exams, we fill up our forms and the way we resort to comfort and entertainment. Computers, the most visible impact of technology have come a long way from being huge machines locked up in a room to tiny palmtops with more features added everyday. It has all the functions of a calculator, a music player, a home theatre, a video camera and practically a better tool than a pen and a sheet of paper. With more features and functions, computers have led to loss of jobs for millions. In this context, we can look at the impact of technology, especially computers, in the Indian context.

Computers arrived in India in the 1970s and with the formation of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) in 1976; India formally entered the computers club. Interestingly, HCL launched its operations in India a month ago before IBM came to the Indian market. By the 1980s, HCL introduced data operating and processing computers in Indian corporations. However, it was after 1986, when the then Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi took the initiative to lower duty on hardware and software, the Indian computer Industry began to grow. However, this growth was not smooth. In 1992, when Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) organized a huge launch of their computers in a function at Calcutta displaying the need of every office in the state to use computers; there were huge demonstrations and protests. The reason- people were about to lose their jobs as the work previously done by them would now be done by the computers. This kind of outburst is not rare; every developing country where computers have now become an integral tool has experienced such protests which can not be termed as baseless. Many people, particularly in the accounts department of every office, lived in the fear of being sacked anytime-then he would either have to find himself another job or remain unemployed. The ideas of multi tasking and multi skilling have not yet touched the Indians and as a result, they remained skeptical about the use of computers.

Now, how much computers have touched the people, barring the urbane remains to be asked. In 2002, in Vardhaman district of West Bengal, the ruling CPI(M) government boasted of modernization in villages and availability of computers in every rural school. That was not merely a claim; the schools were actually provided computers. But the irony is that, in the district, which was declared the most literate district, literacy remains at writing one’s own name without even knowing the alphabets. So computers remained government toys without any objective of being there.

On the other hand, in Kerala, officially the most literate state in India launched a similar programme. There, most of the school kids not only knew why they need to know computers, but their parents also knew the usefulness of learning computers. They have an objective to learn computers-to be more equipped so that they get good jobs.

Now, the difference is clear, computers and technology can become useful tools, only if ones progresses knowing the need to learn that. Just by introducing computers without any objective can prove a loss, both of government money and human resource. The basic infrastructure needs to be developed to a large extent. Basic education must be ensured in each and every place in India, across diverse social groups, if India wants to feel the impact of computers and stay ahead in the race.

In the same context, we can look at the New Media students, the graduate ones in Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. When they were asked if would like to join New Media after they complete the course, everybody, except a mere five students replied in the negative. They cited the reason that Indians are still to accept the internet revolution and they do not want to compromise their careers for a bleak future. They opted for new media only because they knew it would help them to become good entrepreneurs or as it would help them in their business, not because any technological innovation has taken place.

The dotcom boom happened in India during 1999-2000, when new media actually picked up pace and made some real impact. However, convergence was yet to follow. We can safely say that Indians were so overboard with the internet revolution, they didn’t quite pay attention to the development of infrastructure and to plan out the basic objectives of learning computers. True that with the rise of the cyber cafes (starting as a coffee shop called ‘Coffee Day Cyber Cafe’ in 1995,in Bangalore, India have come up a long way to popularize the internet movement. Yet, the reluctance of Indian Companies like HCL and Infosys to continue with hardware development still makes it a distant dream for the lower middle class and the lower class to afford computers. Although India now has a huge global share of internet and computer users, it mostly due to the over populated metros. The economic issue has surely improved, but the infrastructure is still to be looked at more carefully and steps must be taken up to negate the impact of diversity in a huge and multifaceted country like India ; where only three fifth of the people are literate, most of them only able to ‘draw’ their names!

When we discuss the impact of technology, these questions need to be analyzed as they show the weaker side of the revolution. Technological progress can not be totally successful unless we increase awareness in the grass root level. It shows how far behind we have remained to catch up with the developed nations. We can not boast about a global village or the world in fingertips unless we show al the people what and how computers are used, technological innovations take place. Only then, the impact of technology will come a huge way forward and science and technology can touch lives, all over the country-not just in metros, but in the rural areas too.

BLOGGING DECIPHERED

BLOGGING DECIPHERED:

            Contrary to popular assumption, blogging is not achieved in a single swoop. There are three distinct processes and three not-so-distinct entities involved in blogging.

v     A Blogging Client:

          The post content is prepared using a blogging client. Client allows the blogger to forget about the intricacies of creating a web page in HTML and allows to focus on creating the content. A client usually includes a text editor the allows text formatting, it may include additional tools to facilitate the inclusion of pictures or other files into the blog.

v     A Blogging Platform:

          A Blogging Platform is the software part of a blog which contains the code that grants a blog it is features and layout. A Blogging Platform needs to be installed on a server, along with other essential add-ons for the blog to be functional. Add-on include the language interpreter in which the platform is coded, like PHP or Perl and a database where the posts are stored, like MySQL.

v     A Blog Host:

              Every site on the internet is hosted on a web server. Web host is the entity that offers the web space and web server to publish web pages.

STUDENTS ACTUALLY LEARN MORE EFFECTIVE FROM THE BLOG THAN FROM TRADITIONAL MATERIAL

STUDENTS ACTUALLY LEARN MORE EFFECTIVE FROM THE BLOG THAN FROM TRADITIONAL MATERIAL:

           

      The most important aspects of the Blogs are its educational nature. That is, will students actually learn more effectively from the Blog. The following factors were considered and taken care of for designing the Blog.

• Review the Entire Course :

                        Instead of creating a Blog for a specific topic, it might be beneficial to critically review the entire unit or course. There are number of innovative techniques that can be used, and blog is one of these. Some examples are guided self-study, the use of presentation tools, gaming tools, and replaying tutorials with a case study approach. By reviewing the particular topic the investigator identified that the presentation approach i.e, the presentation of the topic in an blog best suited.

• Appeal :

                        Simply presenting information in a clear and logical way is not enough. The information has to be presented in an attractive way. Like an attractive and successful advertisement, the programme should pique the user’s curiosity and imagination and lure them into the content. Even the dullest and difficult information can be rejuvenated by clever use of examples, interactivity, graphic design, animations, sound etc.

• Flexibility:

                        Most computer programmes are written to solve a particular programme on a particular machine. The development of blog can be reused in some other but similar or unsimilar situations. The examples that are used animation or pictures for she same might be able to use by some other. The present blog has been designed and developed with the needed flexibility keeping this crucial factor in mind.

• Modularity:

                        It means splitting the topic into modularity or independent parts for convenience. The modules can be presented in similar other blogs. Such an idea helps the investigator to ease the development task greatly.

POST AS A BLOG & PROCEDURE FOR POSTING BLOG:

POST AS A BLOG:

Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog. Topics may include brief philosophical musings, movie talks, music, electronics, commentary on Internet and other social issues, and links to other sites the author favors, especially those that support a point being made on a post. Special care should be taken for grammars, spelling mistakes while posting blogs.

PROCEDURE FOR POSTING BLOG:

• The first page of the wizard requires to fill some basic details about the blog like title, description, search text, keywords, technology etc. Be careful to fill the details. After filling the details click "Save & Continue".
• The second page provides an editor where can paste and format the blogs.Tool bar in the editor provides to insert pictures, insert tables and many more formatting options. The contents of the blog should be proofread for grammars, spelling mistakes. Please don't copy and paste contents from doc files. Click "Save & Continue".
• The last page to upload images (if any) that inserted in previous page. If there is any source code with the blog can also upload that in this page.

18 "R"S OF HIGH QUALITY BLOG CONTENT

18 "R"S OF HIGH QUALITY BLOG CONTENT:

1. Radiant: Immediate visual impression of credibility, authority, and propriety via color, design, typography, logo, and upfront corporate or personal identification.

2. Relevant: Having an obvious pertinence, appropriateness, application, or affinity with the topic at hand. Not trying to be all things to all readers. Not wandering off into multiple tangents or side issues.  

3. Rare: Unique, idiosyncratic, not redundant, not commonly found, in this form, or with this degree of completeness, in other information resources.

 4. Rich: Loads of good stuff for users to enjoy, absorb, and ponder, rather than meager, mediocre, same offerings that are not worth waiting for the site to download into the browser.         

5. Radical: Beyond platitudes, pleasantries and proverbs provide the blog readers with fresh thinking that challenges pre-conceived, outmoded, or erroneous (but popular) notions.

 6. Rapacious: Investigating, exploring, accumulating, and stockpiling all the information that is known to be available on a topic.

 7. Recrudescent ("breaking out afresh, renewed action"): Providing the blog readers with facts that are emerging in various locations and scenarios, but have largely gone unnoticed by other bloggers.

8. Rectilinear ("characterized by straight lines"): Driving right to the heart of the matter, no lengthy digressions, irrelevant filler, or off-topic meandering.

 9. Resolute: Firm in purpose, exhibiting confident clarity, and presented aggressively or creatively to be more memorable and persuasive.

10. Recondite ("beyond ordinary perception, profound, dealing with complex or obscure subjects"): Sublime, extraordinary, "Eureka!" type insights that contain the solution for obstinate or pervasive problems.

11.Repositorial: A blog is considered to be a dependable repository, reservoir, or collection of all necessary facts or contains references to the major resources dealing with the subject, obviating the need for the readers to bounce all over the web, hunting down the relevant data.

12. Realistic: Rational, pragmatic, capable of immediate application to actual situations, not overly theoretical, hypothetical, utopian, fanciful, or abstract.

13. Reverberant ("to re-echo"): A blog's content reflects the blogging goals and the needs of your audience. Be sure the goals and the audience's needs are clearly and comprehensively understood and defined.

14 Refluent ("flowing back, as an ebbing tide"): The links back to source or substantiating material.

15. Refrangible ("can be refracted, bent, as light rays entering a glass"): The information in the blog is capable of being "tilted" toward differing conditions, flexible in implementation, not rigidly relevant to a severely limited range of applications.

16. Remonstrative ("pleading in protest or rational complaint, maintaining a reasonable opposition toward something"): As demanded by the situation, is not shy or timid about protesting what you consider, in good conscience, to be wrong, insincere, and unethical, morally corrupt, unprofessional, or factually incorrect.

17. Responsive: The blog, filled as it is with such great content that fulfills the above 17 criteria, is nonetheless still open to user-generated, client-mandated, or corporate-dictated corrections, elucidations, critiques, revisions, amplifications, alterations, and questions.

BLOG SOFTWARE

BLOG SOFTWARE:

            Blog software also known as blog ware or weblog software, is the software that is used to set up, customize and maintain weblogs or blogs. It supports content and image management, content publication, comment moderation and content syndication. Blogging software can be of the hosted type, the server model type or a hybrid of both.

            Hosted blogging software means blog software that does not need to be hosted by users on their own websites. It is usually free and the hosting company is responsible for content storage and database maintenance. All blogs are stored on the company's central server.

The blog can have a customized domain name. Blogs hosted on server models can have unlimited bandwidth and no content restriction. Content on hosted blogs is usually subject to the host company's policies.

A number of blogging applications can be used with both hosted or server model blogs. These include applications for calendars, tag clouds, RSS feeds, blog traffic statistics, spam filters and post sharing options. Users can add different kinds of functional widgets for clocks, news, books, music, photographs and so on.

Blogger, LiveJournal and Type pad are some popular and free hosted blogging services. Blogger also has a free hybrid model that can be hosted on the user's domain, keeping the server code on the company's server. Server blogging services include WordPress and Movable Type.

USES OF BLOGS IN THE CLASSROOM & ADVANTAGES

USES OF BLOGS IN THE CLASSROOM:

           There are numerous educational benefits of blogs. Blogs are:

Highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in class rooms.

v      Excellent opportunities for students to read and write.

v      Effective forums for collaboration and discussion.

v      Powerful tools to enable scaffolding learning or mentoring to occur.

ADVANTAGES OF BLOGS:

The advantages of blogs from an organizational perspective include the following:

v     Blogs have potential to help the organization develop stronger relationships and brand loyalty with its customers, as they interact with the ‘human face’ of the organization through blogs.

v     Blogs, in an intranet environment, can be an excellent way of sharing knowledge within the organization.

v     Blogs can be a positive way of getting feedback, and keeping your finger on the pulse, as readers react to certain pieces, suggest story ideas, etc.

v     Blogs can build the profile of the writer, showcasing the organization as having talent and expertise.

USES OF BLOGS IN EDUCATION

USES OF BLOGS IN EDUCATION:

Blogs can serve at least four basic functions.

1. Classroom Management: 

            Class blogs can serve as a portal to foster a community of learners. As they are easy to create and update efficiently, they can be used to inform students of class requirements, post handouts, notices, and homework assignments, or act as a question and answer board.

2. Collaboration:

            Blogs provide a space where teachers and students can work to further develop writing or other skills with the advantage of an instant audience. Teachers can offer instructional tips, and students can practice and benefit from peer review. They also make online mentoring possible.

For example, a class of older students can help a class of younger students develop more confidence in their writing skills. Students can also participate in cooperative learning activities that require them to relay research findings, ideas, or suggestions.

3.Discussions:
            A class blog opens the opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every person has an equal opportunity to share his or her thoughts and opinions. Students have time to be reactive to one another and reflective. Teachers can also bring together a group of knowledgeable individuals for a given unit of study for students to network and conference with on a blog.

 4.Student Portfolios:
            Blogs present, organize, and protect student work as digital portfolios. As older entries are archived, developing skills and progress may be analyzed more conveniently. Additionally, as students realize their efforts will be published, they are typically more motivated to produce better writing. Teachers and peers may conference with a student individually on a developing work, and expert or peer mentoring advice can be easily kept for future reference.

THE IMPACT OF BLOGS & BLOGGING

THE IMPACT OF BLOGS: 

            Blogs have made the creation and publication of content as simple as browsing the Web. Blogging tools have removed virtually all the technical barriers that previously prohibited publication by the masses. Now, everyone with something to say or share can do so without needing to learn new skills.

Giving the power of publication to the masses signals the end of the Gatekeepers. There are no more gates to keep when everyone on the planet can publish to everyone else. The paradigm has shifted. Now individuals can run their own mini-Publishing Empires and this has the former Gatekeepers wringing their hands and trying to figure out their role within this new paradigm.

            Within this emerging landscape a debate is ranging among bloggers, technologists, former Gatekeepers and self-proclaimed pandits about the true impact of blogs. Many argue that blogs are merely a passing fad while others believe that blogs will soon replace much of traditional media methods. The truth is probably somewhere in between the extremes but it is interesting that blogs share some characteristics with the Open Source and Peer-to-Peer movements. Blogs are:

• Decentralized
• Driven by community rather than profit
• Often subversive to existing power structures
• Un managed and often unmanageable

                   It is those very characteristics that make the future of blogging so difficult to predict and the impact so hard to measure. Yet, while this debate rages on, a very significant aspect of blogging is being entirely overlooked. That aspect is not how blogs are affecting the Web or media as a whole but how blogs affect the individual. So the Blog helps to learn and Blog saves the time.

BLOGGING :

The internet has made it possible to get connection with anyone in the world. It is a ubiquitous tool for reaching out to masses. Using blogs and forums as media for exchanging information and expressive views has become a common feature. While these online communities and blogs provide one with tremendous usability, they are associated with some inheritances also. India his kind of web publishing is governed by the IT Act 2000. This Act, not only stops the person from posting obscene content but also punishes those who are involved in such crime. 

The Purpose of Blogging:

             Blogging has now evolved into an online diary where Internet users from all around the world can post comments, ideas or views online. One of the earliest known bloggers is Brad Fitzpatrick. Blogs are no longer just personal diaries. Now they are used to take various forms, ranging from various topics such as news, politics, travel and fashion. Most of the time, blogs are 'posted' as events occur, making blogs a good source to get news or views fast, but not necessarily accurate. In some instances, blogs have news or discussions on current events even before they are published in newspapers or broad coasted on the news.

PODCAST

PODCAST:

            An audio blog or podcast combines the power of a blog. The most popular of which has been Apples ipodcast, which incredibly stores 60 gigabits of files or 15,000 songs. The files can be photographs, music etc and with an adapter it can be transferred from a memory cards to a computer or even directly to a camera. With another adapter, the user can digitally record their voice, and broad cast or podcast this across the web for listeners to hear either synchronously, or can download for later listening through on-demand control.

• Fishing for learning with a podcast net:

                    Communication through the internet has quickly evolved from email, listservs, discussion boards, instant messaging, blogging and now to podcasting. Many of these communication tools have been exploited by the educaional communitya nd the latter appears to be no exception.

A podcast is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and downloaded through web syndication. The mode of delivery differentiates podcasts from other ways of accessing media files over the Internet, such as simple download or streamed webcasts: a centrally-maintained web feed on the distributor's server lists all files associated with a given series, and special client software applications known as podcatchers (e.g., iTunes, Zune, Juice, and Winamp) are used that can automatically identify and download new files in the series when they are released, by checking the feed for updates. New files are thus downloaded automatically and stored locally on the user's computer or other device ready for offline use, giving simpler access to episodic content. The most common audio file format used .

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION

 Definitions of blog on the Web:

Blog :-  a journal or diary that is posted on the Internet.

v     A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary.

v     (Weblog - usally shortened to blog) Blog is an abbreviated version of Weblog, which is a term used to describe Web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. A blog is a frequently updated, personal Web site featuring diary-type commentary and links to articles or other Web sites.

v     A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog.

v     read, write, or edit a shared on-line journal.

v     web log: a shared on-line journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies; "postings on a blog are.

v      A personal or corporate website in the form of an online journal, with new entries appearing in sequence as they are written.

v     Blogger - a person who keeps and updates a blog.  

v     blogging - The design and editing of a blog; weblogging

v     Short for "Web log," a specialized site that allows an individual or group of individuals to share a running log of events and personal.  

v     A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. 

v     A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

ICT in Higher Education

TYPES OF BLOGS

TYPES OF BLOGS

       The word “Blog” give the impression that the account is textual in nature, probably due to the association with the diary. It has many types. There are

·        Photo blogs

·        Audio blogs

·        Moblogging

Photo Blogs :

       The net is commonplace to blogs with pictures are called photo blogs.

Audio Blogs :

         Audio blogs incorporate audio clips (Why type out a long message when it can be recorded and played back)

A Mobile blog: 

          A mobile blog is a type of blog that is written and submitted via a cellular telephone, internet-connected PDA or other connected portable device in most cases. The advantage of a mobile blog is that it gives the writer a chance to record his or her thoughts immediately, instead of waiting until there is access to a computer, when things can be forgotten. As cell phones, and especially smartphones, have gotten easier to use, this type of phone blogging has become more popular.

INTRODUCATION

Blog is very useful for students.
we can esay to create a blog without any ICT skills.