Sessions about Technology Training

With the use of AJAX as a model for server/client interaction, new 2.0 user interfaces can reach heights never thought of on the web. This presentation focuses on how to use AJAX to exploit the asynchronous web to provide a rich user experience: one that is triggered by events versus page reloads. As we do this, we will look at performance, proper coding and encapsulation with JavaScript. The Publication Editor, a real application, will be used to showcase AJAX technology and to see how it has been used successfully in Extension. The editor is used by Extension field staff in publications like annual reports, newsletters, news columns and more. We will quickly look at the backend to see how XML can abstract a JavaScript application from the underlying server technology.

A wiki is a type of social networking software that allows the visitors themselves to easily author and edit content. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for mass collaborative authoring. This session will explore the Wiki phenomenon and introduce participants to a variety of Web sites using this technology to facilitate collaborative content development. This hands-on session is open to anyone interested in working in any of the wikis hosted by eXtension, or who wants to learn how to contribute to a Wikimedia project. The goal of this hands-on workshop is to create and appropriately markup a piece of content to share in the Extension Collaborative wiki. In reaching the goal, you will learn about wikis, and how to create an article/page in a wiki using the various features available which may include appropriate use of lists, links, and graphics. Each section of this workshop will include one or more short demonstrations to introduce and explain the topic, and then an assignment to allow the participants to practice and learn the skills involved for the topic. Educational applications of wiki technology will be demonstrated and explored.

Controlling a room's various multimedia and videoconferencing equipment with a single universal remote control. This presentation will showcase the features and programming of the Universal Remote Control model MX-3000.

Knock off the dust of those hours of old archived video or go shoot some new video, but combine them with PowerPoint to create great looking and educational web presentations. This session will demonstrate how to use Adobe (Macromedia Breeze) Presenter, Camtasia Studio, and MS Producer, to combine PowerPoint with stock, talking heading, and/or production video to create and deliver enhanced web based presentations. We will give detailed, easy-to-follow tips from beginning to end on how to use each application to combine these videos with PowerPoint. We also will compare and contrast the difficulty level, start up time, features of each, and expense to creating a final product.

To start-up or get funding for any communication or distance education project, Rule #1 is “Know Your Audience.” This workshop will take participants through a basic hands-on process for identifying issues and audiences. It will start with basic steps and end up with a fully developed potential impact statement that will guide on-going evaluation of their efforts. Each participant should bring with them or be able to characterize a specific start-up project. At the end of the 2-hours session you will have a set of tools for audience analysis and specific information that will improve the competitiveness of your individual projects.

Turn your iPod into a personal Museum Tour Guide. By using the Notes feature, you can add audio and video links to explain interesting points along the way. Documentation will include sample text code and preference files to turn your iPod into more than just a cool gadget.

When you plug your iPod into iTunes, you normally can’t view the audio and video files stored on it. Learn about some free software that allows you to view these files, and then play them full screen on your computer. It’s one more way to turn your iPod into more than just a cool gadget.

“I want to but don’t have time.” “I’m busy on that day”. “There’s no money in the budget.” Sound familiar? Extension employees tend to be short on time and dollars when it comes to staff development on new technologies. Understanding these issues, we began offering regular lunchtime opportunities at a distance (via. Breeze) to teach U of MN Extension educators and staff about technologies they can use to enhance their educational programs and increase productivity. We will share with you our format, a description of session topics, evaluation/findings, and materials we provide to Extension employees.

This session will be a collaboration among different states to identify tools needed to develop online, on-demand training programs to meet the needs of our clientele. Sharing resources between states will help all of us save time so that we each don't reinvent the wheel. One of our goals is to identify one central respository to point our clientele to these On Your Time Trainings. Come with your ideas and be willing to share your resources.

Podcasting (netcasting) is certainly riding a wave of popularity right now. OSU Extension is using podcasts (digital audio recording stored as a mp3 file) in conjunction with a web log (blog) as a technology update for Extension professionals. Podcasts were used as an instrumental educational tool during an extensive domain consolidation in the College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. Podcasts are also satisfying a demand for technical update information for our county Technical Coordinators. As we become more familiar with podcasting, Extension Educators are seeing the benefit of digital audio recording as a time saver, not having to schedule recording time at the local radio station. Podcasts are a very flexible medium as well; an Educator can send the mp3 file to local radio for broadcast or post it to the web for download. This presentation will describe how Ohio State University Extension is using podcasts, a blog and associated RSS feeds, as educational tools for professional development, technology training, and as a pilot project to show Educators the benefits of the technology.

SolutionsForYourLife.com (SFYL) was developed not only as a Web site, but also a resource for all sixty-seven Florida Extension offices. Once the Web site was launched, county offices needed to get customized SFYL templates for their office Web sites. How did we do it? A statewide training session on a program called “Contribute” ensued. This is a software program that makes editing Web sites much easier than using full-blown Web authoring programs, thus making it more inviting to support the new look of the Web site and its template. To maximize the efficiency of the training the sessions were scheduled in conjunction with another set of already scheduled classes. This session will explain the logistics of training, software issues, teamwork, the importance of buy-in, knowing your audience, and meeting their needs.

Review the development of a new training session for county educators. Also, share some assessment results from the initial classes. HELP. Our Internet is down and ICT Support asked me to go to our "network closet". What do all those different pieces of equipment and wires do? We don't have a "network closet," do we? What's a router? This workshop will help you understand your network and what to do when you lose network connectivity (no Internet or email). We will discuss the various network equipment and how each piece fits together to provide Internet connectivity to your office. We'll present general information applicable to all offices, then review participant network pictures.

Vista is Microsoft's new operating system. It has been hyped to no end. Why should I upgrade? That is the question that I will try to answer. Unless you have a new computer, you will probably need to upgrade either your memory, video card or both. Is it worth it? Vista has a number of new technologies that could benefit you. Security is one area that Vista has concentrated a good deal of effort. Is it really more secure? I will explore the new technnologies from both the user point of view and an administrator point of view.