Extension2.0 - SRC

The piece that I liked best about the Extension 2.0 was it gave me 'permission' to stop & take time to investigate many new things out on the web. I have heard a lot about different tools ... but haven't taken much time to look because there is always other work to do (& there still is!) ... but this class really allowed me to take time to learn more & intentionally think about how it might fit with my work.

I think these sessions have really been an 'eye opener' or awareness piece for me. I think it has affected my everyday work because I now have enough basic knowledge about several different tools to ask "what about ..." or "what if ..." ... & to think about the possibilities.

I thought the program was very well designed. I appreciate the ability to do the program at a pace that fits my work load -- I started a few weeks late -- but was able to get caught up with no problem. I wouldn't change very much ... but the one thing that might be interesting would be to have groups of EEs who work together discuss the possibilities as a team ... & what the information and resources could mean to their work. THis might work best in work teams or within areas of expertise ... maybe having a special blogs created for each group to dialogue after each week's lesson.

I would be interested in participating in another enrichment course of this nature if it were offered in the future -- dependent upon the topics or focus. I appreciate not having to drive 150 miles to the cities for training! Thanks!

Posted by Sara Croymans at 1:55 PM | Permalink

Our Youth & Money work team has used the web conferencing a little bit for some of our conference calls. It is very helpful when we have documents that we want to look at together as a group. This morning I participated in a Family Development Distance Education class offered via web conferencing ... it is really a great way to have people from across the state come together for 90 minutes to learn together ... & to allow several people to serve as presenters, sharing documents, ppts, and web sites.

As with most things - the more I use the system the more comfortable I become with it ... & the more I learn about the options available. I will be recommending to our team that we try to use the web conferencing feature more often so we become more proficient with it.

Posted by Sara Croymans at 1:47 PM | Permalink

I don't know about others, but I am feeling overwhelmed by all of the options or opportunities available.

I have very limited experience in this area. I don't even have text messaging on my cell!

As I read about the twitter & its uses in academia I realize I would need to think more about how it could be used in extension-type educational settings rather than traditional college courses. Yes, we have groups of people who take our classes ... & yes, we may want to keep in touch with them around updates or new resources, but I wonder if Twitter is the most appropriate way to do this ...

I think it would be helpful for me ... who obviously can be overwhelmed by all of this to have a check list or perhaps a grid listing all of the opportunities/possibilities available ... anything from blogs to twitters ... indicating the pros & cons & suggested uses ... or how they've been used in other settings .... this might b helpful for me as I think about what my program goals are ... & then to look at what tool might best meet my needs ...

Posted by Sara Croymans at 4:04 PM | Permalink

It is interesting to think about how My Space and Facebook might be used to reach kids with educational content. I am on our youth & money team ... & wonder if the social networking sites are more about of course, social networking, than information transfer. The article about the museum's use of social networking & the listening, energizing & supporting factors is also interesting. However, I don't know if young people would want to connect with others who 'use their money wisely' or 'want to remain debt free', etc ... I'll have to do some more thinking on this.

Posted by Sara Croymans at 3:37 PM | Permalink

I think it would be interesting to spend a little more time trying to use some of these tools. Since I'm not very tech savvy I think the simpler tools that require little risk are the ones I will try to start with.

I think Doodle looks fairly simple when trying to get a group to come to a consensus on a meeting date. The tools appears quick & easy ... & not very risky ... not files to lose, etc.

The slide share site looks interesting ... my support staff are always telling me I have too many ppt on my computer ... so being able to save them in a different place is intriguing ... or the opportunity to be able to share the ppt's with co-workers ...rather than having to email the huge document. However, since I am not always very trusting of technology I can see myself wanting to save the ppts on my computer just as a back up ... which would defeat the purpose.

I also spent a little more time on Picnik with the photos ... I think I need a tutorial or something to investigate the editing features ... or perhaps what I am looking for is in the $25/year subscription package. I'd like to spend more time on this site ...

Posted by Sara Croymans at 2:59 PM | Permalink

Wikis appear to be useful when a group of people who are a distance from one another are working on a project and need to build something together. I seem to be a bit scared to put stuff out there for fear it will be lost or ruined or un-recoverable somehow ... but see as I was looking at the various sites that all of the changes are kept so edits can be done if needed -- however, one would need to review very carefully to see what actual changes had been made.

I suppose using Wikis would make me more comfortable with them!

Posted by Sara Croymans at 4:15 PM | Permalink

I searched for 'youth & money' podcasts on both iTunes & PodNova ... & ended up using "financial education" & some other combinations ... there seems to be a lot of garbage to sort through before I found some podcasts of interest.

Our Youth & Money team has done some focus groups with college students to see if they would be receptive to receiving financial education via podcasts ... it was interesting to hear their responses ... many still seemed to value being able to go to a trusted person for information and advice. Our team is writing up a couple of journal articles on the focus groups. We may eventually develop some podcasts for this audience, as well as high school teachers & students ... should be interesting.

Again, I need to figure out how to download the podcasts to my iPod so I can listen to these during my commute ...

Posted by Sara Croymans at 2:37 PM | Permalink

Photo management can be overwhelming ... so it is interesting to learn about a space where photos can be stored. I wonder about the longevity of the site. I did upload a photo & wanted to try editing ... but must have been something wrong getting into the editing site.

This would be an interesting spot for our work team to post & store photos for future use.

I may return to this site to post more photos ...

Posted by Sara Croymans at 1:55 PM | Permalink

I am slowing continuing here ... & feeling overwhelmed at times. I did subscribe to Bloglines & subcribed to several feeds including the NPR This I Believe (which I now need to figure out how to download to my iPod so I can listen to it on my commute), & a few feeds from the Star Trib (Money & Kara McGuire's column). I initially set the checking for every 5 minutes ... but got impatient & set it for 30 seconds ... but then I was overwhelmed when 40 items showed up in my box. I see there is a box to indicate if we want to 'keep the item new' ... but is there also a way to delete them ... or do they delete automatically? I can imagine my support staff giving me a lecture about saving even MORE stuff on my computer!

It will be interesting to keep up with the articles in the trib .. a co-worker often times sends link of articles of interest to the FRM EE's ... but this willl be even quicker & more reliable.

I seem to be technologically challenged, as I had to go back to lesson 2 to figure out how to post in here again ... so definitely repetition is good ... I

Posted by Sara Croymans at 12:01 PM | Permalink

I am starting the Extension 2.0 program a few weeks late ... but am finding it very interesting. I think I'd like to spend a lot of time looking at a variety of blogs available on topics that interest me.

Posted by Sara Croymans at 12:30 PM | Permalink