Activity 8.2 - Knowledge Marketplace

Selling = my skills / abilities that may be of interest to my peers

• Selling - screen cam program use
• Selling - Zotero - referencing utility
• Selling - basic but often not used utilities in MS Word

Buying = skills / abilities that I hope to learn from my peers

• Buying - remote technical support strategies
• Buying - Twitter users?
• Buying - Web 2.0 applications for use in

Selling - screen cam program use

I have made extensive use of screen cam programs such as Captivate ($), Camtasia ($ .. now free), Camstudio (Open Source) and Jing (free) to support remote demonstration of computer based activities. Useful for "showing" clients how to set something up or how something is "supposed to" work on the computer AND for leveraging one's already very limited time.

For example, I received many requests from faculty asking how to realize a listing of student email addresses. I shared with them how to use the CONCATENATE function in MS Excel to do this. I used Jing to support it.

The same information can be placed on an institutional server or remotely (i.e. Jing) for future access.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Selling - Zotero - referencing utility

I have become a habitual user of Zotero (Open Source) as an alternative to EndNote or RefWorks. It is built into Firefox and with the help of a Plugin can be used to easily cite within MS Word. Have used it to create libraries plus related online notes for each Unit of H808.

If you aren't familiar with Zotero... here's a more detailed review (Open U - password protected) I put together back in October 2008 which aims to describe it and present a value proposition.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Selling - basic but often not used utilities in MS Word

Embedding sound files to create listening jigsaw activities, password protecting documents to secure individualized tests, and bookmarking to support digital lesson plans for students.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Buying - remote technical support strategies

Looking for others who have dealt with the problem of remote technical assistance and what other strategies they have found useful / effective. Another technical tool that I'm currently exploring is Yuuguu

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Buying - Twitter users?

Currently used in our department (spread across 2 campuses) to quickly call for and share expertise amongst us. Interested in learning how others might be using Twitter as a communications tool in either an educational or business or support setting .. perhaps setting up a similar support arrangement amongst fellow H808s.

If you aren't familiar with Twitter .. here's a more detailed review (Open U - password protected) I put together back in October 2008 which aims to describe it and present a value proposition.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk

Buying - Web 2.0 applications for use in

Some of this I've already started to explore but would welcome learning from others who have experience with innovative applications of Web 2.0 tools in such subject areas as Visual Arts, Mathematics and Statistics.

Jim Buckingham -email jab226@student.open.ac.uk