Having yesterday submitted our team website project I think that the most important lesson I have taken away from this project is a discussion we had concerning the systematic approach to designing a website.
The most technically difficult stage of producing a website is in making small changes at the end of a website project. As all web pages are linked into a complex filing system and a common appearance has to be maintained among all the sites pages, the simplest of changes, for example changing a comma or inserting a new picture, can turn into a complex process and entail changes being made to a number of different pages.
However with a systematic approach the need for small scale changes can be reduced at the end of a project or even be eliminated. A fellow team member pointed out that a systematic approach was patented in the 1990s. And having been through two website projects on this course, I can personally see the benefits in adopting this approach. For example in my own website project I spent an awful lot of time implementing small changes as the deadline loomed.
Such an approach would presumably mean that a project would progress through a number of stages, with each stage having to be signed off at a certain date. Each stage would be mindful of the end product, and of the consistencies that are needed in the final product. By signing off each stage, there should in theory be no need to have to make any changes at the end of the project.
This approach I think, would also work on any type of project, and it is something that I now wish to apply to all of the remaining assignments on this course. Hopefully this will allow me to manage my time better, and hopefully produce better work.
Brian.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Considering the User
During this team website design project I have realised the importance of considering who the website is being designed for. Though we have been taught to consider the user from the beginning of this course, this project, for me, has made me properly appreciate this point. This is perhaps because the project involves the design of a website that could be potentially used by the public.
Not only does this emphasise that we learn more from projects that are authentic or have a real component to them, but also that we are not just learning to develop content on this course, but also to design.
The reason this point was highlighted for me in this project was because of the needs of the different groups we have had to cater for in the design of the website. Content was needed to explain the relationship of the UL Practicum to the project. There were partners information that had to be publicised in the website. Then, of course, the public had to be encouraged to engage with the website and to become involved in the project.
During all of these considerations it is easy to lose sight of who is the user of the website. This is is of course, the public. The project does not work without them, and the website is one of the most important tools in generating their interest in it. The website can't be weighted too much towards the partners or the practicum therefore and the public must always be born in mind.
Therefore the website is designed for a specific purpose, with a specific audience, and is not just fulfilling a list of requirements, though these have to be kept in mind throughout the project also.
This is definitely a consideration to remember in further development projects.
Brian.
Here's a link on the subject of the user in web design: http://www.stcsig.org/usability/topics/articles/ucd%20_web_devel.html#1-involve-users
Not only does this emphasise that we learn more from projects that are authentic or have a real component to them, but also that we are not just learning to develop content on this course, but also to design.
The reason this point was highlighted for me in this project was because of the needs of the different groups we have had to cater for in the design of the website. Content was needed to explain the relationship of the UL Practicum to the project. There were partners information that had to be publicised in the website. Then, of course, the public had to be encouraged to engage with the website and to become involved in the project.
During all of these considerations it is easy to lose sight of who is the user of the website. This is is of course, the public. The project does not work without them, and the website is one of the most important tools in generating their interest in it. The website can't be weighted too much towards the partners or the practicum therefore and the public must always be born in mind.
Therefore the website is designed for a specific purpose, with a specific audience, and is not just fulfilling a list of requirements, though these have to be kept in mind throughout the project also.
This is definitely a consideration to remember in further development projects.
Brian.
Here's a link on the subject of the user in web design: http://www.stcsig.org/usability/topics/articles/ucd%20_web_devel.html#1-involve-users
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Thoughts on the Team Website Development
Putting forward our proposal for the development of the Practicum website last week was a positive learning curve from my own perspective. I took away a valuable lesson which I hope I can apply to my future working habits. This lesson was the imprtance of minute planning of a development project.
While this seems a simple thought, it is true that the best lessons are often simple ones. Planning is something that has been missing from my own work habits. My predominant method is to begin with furious activity and hope that everything comes together in the end. As well as creating needless extra work, this method is not good for getting the best details into a website. There are so many elements to a website that despite good intentions, it is very difficult to get it to come together if all of these details have not been thought through and worked out before hand.
These are also the benefits of working on a team where you get to observe the methods of other people, and thereby what it is that is deficient in your own habits.
This is something I will take from the project, and hopefully will apply to good effect in the future. Teamwork it seems, does quicken the learning curve.
Brian.
Speaking of details, here is a good link for help with picking a colour scheme for websites. It offers more options than the colour tool on Dreamweaver, and it will also suggest a colour scheme based on the predominant colour that you wish to develop with.
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
While this seems a simple thought, it is true that the best lessons are often simple ones. Planning is something that has been missing from my own work habits. My predominant method is to begin with furious activity and hope that everything comes together in the end. As well as creating needless extra work, this method is not good for getting the best details into a website. There are so many elements to a website that despite good intentions, it is very difficult to get it to come together if all of these details have not been thought through and worked out before hand.
These are also the benefits of working on a team where you get to observe the methods of other people, and thereby what it is that is deficient in your own habits.
This is something I will take from the project, and hopefully will apply to good effect in the future. Teamwork it seems, does quicken the learning curve.
Brian.
Speaking of details, here is a good link for help with picking a colour scheme for websites. It offers more options than the colour tool on Dreamweaver, and it will also suggest a colour scheme based on the predominant colour that you wish to develop with.
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Online Discussion Boards
Doing my essay this week I was reflecting on the impact the discussion threads concerning various third-level educational issues had on my writing. In this essay, compared with the others done before, I have found that I have grasped the issues much more quickly, and that the fluidity of my writing has improved - I am guessing that this is also to do with having a better grasp of the issues with which the essay deals.
I am driven to conclude first of all that there is significant educational value in online discussions thread. It's particular value for me, is the way in which it forces you to make an opinion. When addressing a subject in a thread, you do feel the need to progress the subject, or at least add something that hasn't been said before.
In my opinion I think the discussions our class was involved in helped develop my own essay style in a way which merely writing the essay on its own would not have done.
My thinking now is that the more they can be used the better. At the moment I am wondering if they are used on Arts courses, and whether they would be of benefit.? I, of course, think that they would, but it is an issue that definitely warrants debate.
Brian.
I am driven to conclude first of all that there is significant educational value in online discussions thread. It's particular value for me, is the way in which it forces you to make an opinion. When addressing a subject in a thread, you do feel the need to progress the subject, or at least add something that hasn't been said before.
In my opinion I think the discussions our class was involved in helped develop my own essay style in a way which merely writing the essay on its own would not have done.
My thinking now is that the more they can be used the better. At the moment I am wondering if they are used on Arts courses, and whether they would be of benefit.? I, of course, think that they would, but it is an issue that definitely warrants debate.
Brian.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
World's Worst Website
For those of you desigining websites at the moment, here is a link for you. Rather than provide any salient advice I thought I would show you something that might cheer you up.
The World's Worst Webstie is a nice example of some of the pitfalls we may stumble over as we grapple with our designs.
At the very least it is nice to know that there will be at least one website that ours will be better than.
Brian.
World's Worst Website: http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/main.htm
The World's Worst Webstie is a nice example of some of the pitfalls we may stumble over as we grapple with our designs.
At the very least it is nice to know that there will be at least one website that ours will be better than.
Brian.
World's Worst Website: http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/main.htm
Sunday, March 6, 2011
My Role in the Project
In dividing up the responsibilities in the report I was allocated the role of dealing with the references and appendices. While at first I thought that this would be a small role it proved to be larger than what I had originally anitipated.
Essentially the role involved gathering the team's references and listing them according to the Hrvard style. I also had to go through the report and check that the references in the text were properly done.
As I was in charge of this, it allowed other team members to give me the essential details of their references without having to worry about them being in the correct format. This also freed up their time so they could concentrate more on the content they were producing. Going through this list took me more time than I thought it would. Between editing my own podcast section of the report and formtting the reference list, the task took about two days. The most time consuming aspect of this was making sure that the internet links referenced worked, and using the cite it right templates to make sure the details were listed correctly.
The most dfficult task - and which took me all of Tuesday and Wednesday to complete was getting all of the details into the final report. This was mainly because the final draft was updated on Tuesday night, so much of my work on an earlier draft had to be redone into the completed version. Also on Wednesday I had to get extra details off team members so that all of the references could adhere as closely as possible to the templates.
However I learned a lot from the experience, and it definitely improved my attention to detail. It also introduced me to an essentail part of working in a collaborative effort to produce a document, which is dealing with the numerous updates to the final product which occurs frequently in such projects.
What I found is that my role was about being prepared to make changes and to deal with whatever occurs for the sake of producing a better document, which is what working in a team is about. And while my role didn't involve producing as much content as the others, it did take a lot of time to complete properly, as the content that I did produce had to adhere to specific templates. Therefore my time was taken up in communicating with other team members, co-ordinating my efforts with the editors, and chacking and rechecking all of the relevant details.
I also learned that spending time on small details is no bad thing, and that just because a role seems small at first does not mean that it is unimprtant.
However it was a different role than anything I had performed before, and it was exciting to be fully involved at the end of the project when the activity was at its highest. All in all, I found it to be a satisfying role, particularly when I handed over my finished work to the team editor on Wednesday.
Brian.
Essentially the role involved gathering the team's references and listing them according to the Hrvard style. I also had to go through the report and check that the references in the text were properly done.
As I was in charge of this, it allowed other team members to give me the essential details of their references without having to worry about them being in the correct format. This also freed up their time so they could concentrate more on the content they were producing. Going through this list took me more time than I thought it would. Between editing my own podcast section of the report and formtting the reference list, the task took about two days. The most time consuming aspect of this was making sure that the internet links referenced worked, and using the cite it right templates to make sure the details were listed correctly.
The most dfficult task - and which took me all of Tuesday and Wednesday to complete was getting all of the details into the final report. This was mainly because the final draft was updated on Tuesday night, so much of my work on an earlier draft had to be redone into the completed version. Also on Wednesday I had to get extra details off team members so that all of the references could adhere as closely as possible to the templates.
However I learned a lot from the experience, and it definitely improved my attention to detail. It also introduced me to an essentail part of working in a collaborative effort to produce a document, which is dealing with the numerous updates to the final product which occurs frequently in such projects.
What I found is that my role was about being prepared to make changes and to deal with whatever occurs for the sake of producing a better document, which is what working in a team is about. And while my role didn't involve producing as much content as the others, it did take a lot of time to complete properly, as the content that I did produce had to adhere to specific templates. Therefore my time was taken up in communicating with other team members, co-ordinating my efforts with the editors, and chacking and rechecking all of the relevant details.
I also learned that spending time on small details is no bad thing, and that just because a role seems small at first does not mean that it is unimprtant.
However it was a different role than anything I had performed before, and it was exciting to be fully involved at the end of the project when the activity was at its highest. All in all, I found it to be a satisfying role, particularly when I handed over my finished work to the team editor on Wednesday.
Brian.
The End of the Collaboration Project
This week saw the hand in of the collaboration project. It was a busy week spent tying up loose ends and trying to present a complete unified project for the team. It was a fascinating experience which introduced me to new tools and a new way of going about a project. As a team, I think we were all satisfied with how it all went in the end.
At the beginning of the week we met on Monday to co-ordinate our final three days of activity. Here we discussed the details of the report such as the use of bullett points and how we could get the whole report looking the same way. We also discussed the logistics of passing the report around so that everyone could put their final contributitions into the report. I was in charge of the appendices and references so this was important for me to know as a lot of my work had to be done on the final version of the report.
We also discussed the structure of the conclsuions and reccomendations section and what Katrina was going to put in here. We gave some of our perpspectives, as the job involved distilling our own individual reports. Podcasts were discussed quite a lot in this regard as it was largely found that they were not the most effective communication tool for collaboration in a project such as this. For example it was mentioned that podcasts were good at giving information from one to lots of people, but that in a small group there were other tools that were more effective in doing this. But it was mentioned that they did help shape the social dynamic in the group and so in this repect they had a positive influence.
We also had a meeting on Tuesday, Most of the work was done by this stage. We confirmed that we were all happy with the sections, and discussed some oustanding issues, such as listing the limitations of the project for inclusion in the report. We discussed the structure of the presentation which John had kindly volunteered to do.
By Wednesday the report was handed in to the team's relief. It was a very enjoyable project and a good experience. Overall, the report definitely impovved my knowledge of the vaious tools that we worked with, and how modern communications would work in the workplace. From a learning perspective, my understanding of these tools is a lot more robust. I am really now looking forward to the next team assignment that has already commenced, where we are designing a website for the UL Practicum Project Hopefully I will learn as mcuh in this as I did in the previous project and it will be interesting to apply the knowledge gained in the collaboration project to this new endeavour. Web design is a subject that I am interesting in, so I am looking forward now to my skills evolving in this area also.
Brian.
Here is an interesting link discussing the collaborative potential of wikis, podcasts and blogs. Hopefully a good way of summing up the collaboration project!:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/6/41
At the beginning of the week we met on Monday to co-ordinate our final three days of activity. Here we discussed the details of the report such as the use of bullett points and how we could get the whole report looking the same way. We also discussed the logistics of passing the report around so that everyone could put their final contributitions into the report. I was in charge of the appendices and references so this was important for me to know as a lot of my work had to be done on the final version of the report.
We also discussed the structure of the conclsuions and reccomendations section and what Katrina was going to put in here. We gave some of our perpspectives, as the job involved distilling our own individual reports. Podcasts were discussed quite a lot in this regard as it was largely found that they were not the most effective communication tool for collaboration in a project such as this. For example it was mentioned that podcasts were good at giving information from one to lots of people, but that in a small group there were other tools that were more effective in doing this. But it was mentioned that they did help shape the social dynamic in the group and so in this repect they had a positive influence.
We also had a meeting on Tuesday, Most of the work was done by this stage. We confirmed that we were all happy with the sections, and discussed some oustanding issues, such as listing the limitations of the project for inclusion in the report. We discussed the structure of the presentation which John had kindly volunteered to do.
By Wednesday the report was handed in to the team's relief. It was a very enjoyable project and a good experience. Overall, the report definitely impovved my knowledge of the vaious tools that we worked with, and how modern communications would work in the workplace. From a learning perspective, my understanding of these tools is a lot more robust. I am really now looking forward to the next team assignment that has already commenced, where we are designing a website for the UL Practicum Project Hopefully I will learn as mcuh in this as I did in the previous project and it will be interesting to apply the knowledge gained in the collaboration project to this new endeavour. Web design is a subject that I am interesting in, so I am looking forward now to my skills evolving in this area also.
Brian.
Here is an interesting link discussing the collaborative potential of wikis, podcasts and blogs. Hopefully a good way of summing up the collaboration project!:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/6/41
Sunday, February 27, 2011
A Unified Voice
What with all the talk of the elections this week I think I have been driven to reflecting on the challenges of keeping teams of people 'on message.' In modern politics, with the heavy use of policy advisors and related helpers, politicians have become adept at doing this. A lot of work is put into developing this message and subsequently schooling everyone in its details. However in doing this report, I have found that what at first seemed like a simple process, is in fact quite an organisational feat. And I can't really say that I display as much skill in doing this, as do the politicians from whom I have been hearing quite a lot this past week.
In beginning my section of the report I did not think how my own particular style would look in relation to the other team member's work. However after I produced my initial draft, I could see immediately that it would take a lot more work to get it right. Doing this is quite a skill, but it is one which is aided by the collaborative process. By discussing details, and reworking paragraphs the individual report does in the end begin to come together. Through this process of fine tuning my report began to take on a style that would be appropriate to the overall report.
As for the collaborative tools we are using, I found that they faciliated this process quite nicely. Whether this is using them to send and receive drafts, or to comment on other work, the process can be done efficiently using these tools. Furthermore, an unexpected advantage in this honing process is that it allows for periods of reflection. Using collaborative tools, it means that team members are not together in the same location. This has the result that reworks do not have to be produced instantly. This I think adds to the quality of what is ultimately produced and cuts down on the amount of communication that is ultimately required.
In any case, as for the politicians, I have found in producing this report, that speaking with a unified voice is not quite as simple as it initially had seemed.
Brian.
In beginning my section of the report I did not think how my own particular style would look in relation to the other team member's work. However after I produced my initial draft, I could see immediately that it would take a lot more work to get it right. Doing this is quite a skill, but it is one which is aided by the collaborative process. By discussing details, and reworking paragraphs the individual report does in the end begin to come together. Through this process of fine tuning my report began to take on a style that would be appropriate to the overall report.
As for the collaborative tools we are using, I found that they faciliated this process quite nicely. Whether this is using them to send and receive drafts, or to comment on other work, the process can be done efficiently using these tools. Furthermore, an unexpected advantage in this honing process is that it allows for periods of reflection. Using collaborative tools, it means that team members are not together in the same location. This has the result that reworks do not have to be produced instantly. This I think adds to the quality of what is ultimately produced and cuts down on the amount of communication that is ultimately required.
In any case, as for the politicians, I have found in producing this report, that speaking with a unified voice is not quite as simple as it initially had seemed.
Brian.
This Weeks Update on Team Activity
As time draws ever closer towards the deadline for the completion of the collaborative report we find ourselves ever busier and still with some work left to do. Amongst all of this activity we had two team meetings this week where the discussion concerned details of the final report's structure and how everyone was getting along with each of their respective sections.
Our first meeting was on Monday in the Sulis chat-room. During this we discussed our own draft reports and how they were coming along. We also discussed details of the structure of the report and how the final sections would look and come together. To help with this we came up with a rough timetable. It was a useful way for getting us focused and for co-ordinating our activities to achieve a unified voice for the final report.
During Wednesday's chat we discussed details within the report such as font size for the headings. We also worked out who would make the final presentation for next Wednesday. After the team's meeting there was the feeling that the report was coming together and that we were prepared for all of the activities that will be taking place next week.
For my part I was able to submit my conclusions and recommendations to Katrina close enough to the official hand in date as worked out by the team. However my section of the report came along a lot slower than I had at first anticipated. I had mentioned during Wednesday's meeting that my final report would be finished that afternoon. However I didn't have it ready until Saturday - one day late.
The main reason for this was due to my time-management - or lack of. I found that the process of posting to Sulis on the discussion forum concerning the debates on aspects of third level education took up more of my time than I had expected. I hadn't considered that this would slow down the production of my own report. Here I learned a valuable lesson, as I gave too much time to the thread when I could have done just as much by rotating between the two. I found I could have also been quicker in making my decisions on what to post. Thinking about something for an extra couple of hours very rarely made any difference to what I eventually posted.
However learning such lessons are the unseen benefits of doing an MA such as this, and hopefully the lesson learned will stand to me when I am out in the workplace - hopefully in the not too distant future!
However now I am finalising the final section of the report with the report's editor, Maresa. I am just a few final changes away from full completetion of this section and overall I am happy with the way that it is coming together.
Hopefully the amount of work the team has put in this week will stand to us as we get closer to that final deadline - which, as I finish, is now that little bit closer!
Brian.
Our first meeting was on Monday in the Sulis chat-room. During this we discussed our own draft reports and how they were coming along. We also discussed details of the structure of the report and how the final sections would look and come together. To help with this we came up with a rough timetable. It was a useful way for getting us focused and for co-ordinating our activities to achieve a unified voice for the final report.
During Wednesday's chat we discussed details within the report such as font size for the headings. We also worked out who would make the final presentation for next Wednesday. After the team's meeting there was the feeling that the report was coming together and that we were prepared for all of the activities that will be taking place next week.
For my part I was able to submit my conclusions and recommendations to Katrina close enough to the official hand in date as worked out by the team. However my section of the report came along a lot slower than I had at first anticipated. I had mentioned during Wednesday's meeting that my final report would be finished that afternoon. However I didn't have it ready until Saturday - one day late.
The main reason for this was due to my time-management - or lack of. I found that the process of posting to Sulis on the discussion forum concerning the debates on aspects of third level education took up more of my time than I had expected. I hadn't considered that this would slow down the production of my own report. Here I learned a valuable lesson, as I gave too much time to the thread when I could have done just as much by rotating between the two. I found I could have also been quicker in making my decisions on what to post. Thinking about something for an extra couple of hours very rarely made any difference to what I eventually posted.
However learning such lessons are the unseen benefits of doing an MA such as this, and hopefully the lesson learned will stand to me when I am out in the workplace - hopefully in the not too distant future!
However now I am finalising the final section of the report with the report's editor, Maresa. I am just a few final changes away from full completetion of this section and overall I am happy with the way that it is coming together.
Hopefully the amount of work the team has put in this week will stand to us as we get closer to that final deadline - which, as I finish, is now that little bit closer!
Brian.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Some Links and Reflections
In this blog I want to provide some interesting links to resources I found useful so far in relation to my research of podcasts.
1.
In this article from 2004, Ben Hammersley looks into the emergence of audio broadcasting on the internet. The piece is of interest as it documents the emergence of podcasts as a popular form of online broadcasting, and shows us some of the reasons why they are now so popular.
2.
The article ‘Collaboration Toolbox’ by Bob Violino, which can be found in the UL library database, looks into some of the business uses of podcasts. When read in light of the previously mentioned newspaper article, it shows how the usage of podcasting has evolved to the point where they are now used in business to deliver sales pitches and deliver CEO addresses to employees for example.
3.
On a slightly different topic, I also wanted to provide a link to the Audacity audio recorder mentioned in some earlier blogs. This can be downloaded at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ This is easy to use and its audio files can be converted to mp3 using the Lame plugin. There are also numerous tutorials on you tube to help with any problems anyone may have have in setting this up - if so inclined.
Some Reflection.
In terms of usage, it seems that podcasting provides a good way for people to capture various forms of human communications be they broadcasts, speeches or discussions, and to deliver them on the internet for the consumption of interested listeners. Hopefully these articles shed some light on this and give clues as to how they can be effectively used in collaboration.
I will be sure to post any more interesting articles I find over the coming days.
Brian.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
This Week on the Virual Team Project
Well, it has been another busy week on the virtual team project. As mentioned in my previous blog, the week began with a meeting on Skype. This went successfully once everything was arranged and it proved a successful way of conducting a team meeting. Here we again made a commitment to producing our draft reports for the coming Wednesday, and we discussed what we had been reading and let each other know how our reports were coming along.
It was also a useful opportunity to get to know each other a little better. John shared with us his experiences of Dublin which were positive. I was able to mention where I had been in America and how much I had enjoyed it. The meeting overall was fun and interactive. As mentioned in my previous blog, I successfully recorded it as a podcast and so did John. We posted both our versions on Sulis. So for my own analysis of podcasts it proved how versatile they allowed the team to be in the type of ways they chose to conduct their team meetings. We know now that we can meet in a variety of ways, and now that the audio will always be recorded and posted to Sulis, thereby documenting our meeting in accordance with the requirements of the project.
The team had another meeting on Wednesday where we discussed the main report. We allocated roles that we would all play. Two editor roles were created, and all of the report’s sections were divided up amongst the team members. For my own part, I was allocated the role of dealing with the references and appendices. As a result, I am trying to get together all the email exchanges the team has made so that these can go in the appendices. It will naturally become busier as the report nears completion and I have to make sure that all of the references are correct.
I submitted my draft report just after midnight on Thursday night – or Friday morning really. It was a good idea we decided to get our first drafts done early. Having read the others who posted I can see already how I can improve my own. It is comforting to know that there is still plenty of time for improvement. Hopefully this bodes well for the report as a whole.
At this stage I am looking forward to another full and busy week for the virtual team project. We have the regular meetings scheduled, and our overall goal is beginning to come into focus. For my own part I hope to make more podcasts and try and find more ways to use them in collaboration. In my next blog I hope to share the variety of ways that podcasts can be used, and reflect on how they can be of most use in virtual team collaboration.
But until then I hope to stay busy and keep exploring podcasting.
It was also a useful opportunity to get to know each other a little better. John shared with us his experiences of Dublin which were positive. I was able to mention where I had been in America and how much I had enjoyed it. The meeting overall was fun and interactive. As mentioned in my previous blog, I successfully recorded it as a podcast and so did John. We posted both our versions on Sulis. So for my own analysis of podcasts it proved how versatile they allowed the team to be in the type of ways they chose to conduct their team meetings. We know now that we can meet in a variety of ways, and now that the audio will always be recorded and posted to Sulis, thereby documenting our meeting in accordance with the requirements of the project.
The team had another meeting on Wednesday where we discussed the main report. We allocated roles that we would all play. Two editor roles were created, and all of the report’s sections were divided up amongst the team members. For my own part, I was allocated the role of dealing with the references and appendices. As a result, I am trying to get together all the email exchanges the team has made so that these can go in the appendices. It will naturally become busier as the report nears completion and I have to make sure that all of the references are correct.
I submitted my draft report just after midnight on Thursday night – or Friday morning really. It was a good idea we decided to get our first drafts done early. Having read the others who posted I can see already how I can improve my own. It is comforting to know that there is still plenty of time for improvement. Hopefully this bodes well for the report as a whole.
At this stage I am looking forward to another full and busy week for the virtual team project. We have the regular meetings scheduled, and our overall goal is beginning to come into focus. For my own part I hope to make more podcasts and try and find more ways to use them in collaboration. In my next blog I hope to share the variety of ways that podcasts can be used, and reflect on how they can be of most use in virtual team collaboration.
But until then I hope to stay busy and keep exploring podcasting.
Brian.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Progress So Far
Now that we are about two weeks or so into the virtual team assignment, this first blog will concern mainly our team’s progress so far.
My first piece of work after the team was formed was deciding which collaborative technology to choose. After some deliberation I decided to do podcasts. I thought that this would be an interesting challenge for me. I, of course, had heard of podcasts, but didn’t know all that much about them and had never used them before.
In my initial research about them it was clear they were a popular form of internet entertainment. They seemed to be most popular for delivering radio shows and things of that nature. I also knew that they were used to deliver audio lectures here on our course in UL. So it seemed interesting to see how they would work out for team collaboration, as opposed to just delivering audio to listeners.
Our first team meeting took place on Feb 7 and was held in the Sulis chat-room. Here we all confirmed the technologies we would each be researching. This was also our first opportunity to meet with our two American colleagues John Savage and Stacey Marmonstein, and get to know them a little better.
My first podcast was posted on Feb 10. This podcast recorded a team meeting amongst the Irish team-mates: myself, Maresa Molloy and Katrina Slammon. Here we reflected on our experience so far on participating in a virtual team. For me the most interesting part of this exercise was learning about the software needed to make a podcast. After looking at You Tube tutorials I downloaded Audacity. This is a freely available opensource sound recorder. To allow you to convert the audio files to mp3 I downloaded a piece of software called Lame and plugged it in to Audacity. It worked well in recording this meeting and the sound quality was ok.
The only drawback to Audacity is it can crash as happened when trying to record our team’s meeting on Skype which took place on February 14. I’m not sure if this was to do with the length of the recording, or the fact that Skype was open at the same time. But again using You Tube tutorials it was easy to learn how to recover files using the Audacity Recovery Utility. The project so far has definitely improved my knowledge of sound recording and fixing problematic software in general.
So far the collaboration has been fun. It will be interesting to see how all of the tools work out and which are the most advantageous for use in collaboration.
Brian.
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