Tiger TechnoBabble
Instructional Technology Newsletter / Cowley College
Cowley Westside Center, 8821 W. 21st St., Wichita, KS, 67205
www.cowley.edu rorabaughj@cowley.edu 316.721.7103
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1 Welcome to Fall 2010!
1 BbWorld 2010
2 SIDLIT
3 Android For Work
4 Faculty Feedback
4 Cool Tools!
Technology in Action
Eddie at BbW recording a
session with a Flip camcorder.
August 2010
Volume 1 Issue 2
Welcome to Fall 2010!
Julie Rorabaugh – Director of Instructional Technology
I’d like to be among the first to welcome you to the 2010-2011 school
year! As always, it looks like we’re going to have some busy and
productive semesters ahead of us.
If you’re like me, you’re always looking for some new way to engage
your students and to make your teaching fresh and relevant. To that
end, I’d like for you to try just one new thing, during the coming year
that I present to you in Tiger TechnoBabble.
Send me your results (good or bad) and I’ll publish them the Faculty
Feedback column in an upcoming issue…AND you’ll win a fabulous prize!
Babble on!
Julie
BbWorld 2010 – Orlando, FL
On July 13th – 16th, Eddie Andreo (Director of Instructional Support) and I
attended our first BbWorld conference, held in Orlando, FL. With
attendees from 21 countries and 48 US states, it was a truly impressive
gathering of some of the leaders in the education field. Though Bb users
outnumbered ANGEL users by a ratio of about three to one, there were
plenty of ANGEL sessions to attend, and we learned some valuable
information that will affect our future implementation of the product
here at Cowley.
The purchase last year of ANGEL by Blackboard (Bb), created much
speculation about the direction that both the ANGEL and Bb products
would take going forward. Some of the information that was given at
BbWorld and in a subsequent statement to the ANGEL community was:
They are extending the support for 7.4 (what we currently use)
until 2014
Please see BBWorld 2010 on page 3
 Page 2 Tiger TechnoBabble

SIDLIT-Johnson Co. Community College

8/5-6/10 It’s over, and if you weren’t there you missed one of the
premier teaching and technology conferences in our region! And it was
FREE! Some of your Cowley colleagues who attended were: Eddie
Andreo, Mark Britton, Mary Nichols, Jenny Roberts, and yours truly.

To Become a Member The good news is that you can count on a repeat performance next year,
of so clear your calendars NOW for the first Thursday and Friday of August
Colleague2Colleague 2011. (Date is not firm, but it should be soon!) Become a member of the
http://www.c2conline.org/ sponsoring organization, Colleague2Colleague, and you will receive news
user/register and updates automatically via the monthly newsletter.

The Keynote Session for the two-day event, took a little different twist in
that it was a panel discussion of the PBS series,

“digital_nation: life on the virtual frontier”

(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/)

The 300+ attendees watched clips from the series and listened to the
panel’s thoughts and comments. Participation is still encouraged, as a
VoiceThread for the conference/keynote has been created, and
comments are welcomed. http://voicethread.com/#q.b1268213.i6815575
Do yourself a favor and view some (or all) of this program. It may change
the way you look at your students, technology, and the world around you.

I had the opportunity to attend many great presentations, and even

presented a session on creating online Avatars. Some of my favorite
sessions included information on:
Animoto (http://animoto.com/)
Fotobabble (http://www.fotobabble.com/)
AVATAR Session
Julie teaching participants to create
Blabberize (http://blabberize.com/)
their “virtual” personas Comic Life (http://comiclife.com/education)
Posterous (http://posterous.com/)
VoiceThread (http://voicethread.com/)
Prezi (http://prezi.com/) <featured last month in TTB!>

Be on the lookout for more information about the applications listed

above in future issues of Tiger TechnoBabble. See you at SIDLIT 2011.
 Tiger TechnoBabble Page 3

BBWorld 2010 from page 1

They will release ANGEL 8.0 in mid-2011, but it will not be

necessary to upgrade to 8.0 from 7.4 to migrate to Bb Project NG
Project NG will combine the functionality of ANGEL and Bb, and
should begin release in the next 18 months
They are already starting to incorporate some of the ANGEL
features into the Bb product: LORs, grading rubrics, etc.
They will release a version of Bb Mobile Learn ™ for ANGEL by the
end of 2010
Another first for the conference was my induction into the “Ask Dr.C”
group! (http://discussions.blackboard.com/) “Ask Dr. C” is a free
(Some of) The Doctors are IN!
question-and-answer service moderated by a group of international Bb
clients, now including ANGEL users. It was fun to meet so many attendees Julie Rorabaugh (me! Cowley College), Henk

of the conference, and to meet my fellow Dr.Cs! van Rijssen (ROC Midden Nederland), Sahar
Javadi (Blackboard), Glen Parker (U of So. FL),
Oh yeah, I also got a spiffy lab coat with my name embroidered on it!
Kevin Reeve (Utah St Univ), Eric Kunnen (Grand
Rapids CC), Paige Brooks-Jeffiers (KY Com &

Android for Work: Productivity for Professionals Tech Col Sys)

at Ask Dr C booth in Exhibit Hall.

My life improved dramatically last November, when I purchased my

Android powered Motorola Droid from my friendly Verizon store. (Note:
I’m receiving no pay from Motorola or Verizon, but am open to that
option if they ask. :-) Oh sure…I was ready to take it back when I couldn’t
figure it out immediately, but then it dawned on me…don’t treat it like a
phone…it’s a COMPUTER that incidentally makes phone calls!
Once we settled the matter of who was smarter (it is), then our
relationship blossomed!
So, it was with great anticipation that I attended a session at SIDLIT
titled, “Android Productivity Tips” presented by Marziah Karch, a Senior
Education Technology Analyst at Johnson County Community College. I
knew that Marziah would have some great tips for working with an Marziah Karch
Android device, and would probably point attendees to some Author
extraordinary applications on the Google Market, but her presentation
exceeded my high expectations! She’s written a book!!!
Some of the topics that she covers are:
Selecting the Android phone that is right for you
Integrating your work email and calendar tools
Navigating business trips and meetings with ease
Finding specialized apps for your profession
Collaborating with coworkers in large and small groups
Harnessing the power of Android customization
http://apress.com/book/vie
You can purchase the book now in eBook form, or wait for the hard copy w/1430230002
due to be released this month.
 Page 4
Faculty Feedback
This month’s fabulous prize winner is adjunct
faculty member, Dr. Dennis Sigle, who teaches
Sociology, Marriage and Family, Philosophy, Ethics,
Cultural Anthropology, and Life and Teachings of
Christ to Cowley students at the Mulvane campus.
A couple of years ago, Dennis created introductory
videos for his classes and they were posted to his
ANGEL courses and YouTube. Just the other day,
Dennis sent me the following email:
“Would you believe? I just got an email from a teacher in
Argentina who saw my Cultural Anthropology video
Cool Tools!
Tagxedo: This application turns words --
famous speeches, news articles, slogans and
themes, websites, RSS feeds -- into a visually
stunning tag cloud, the words individually sized
appropriately to highlight the frequencies of
occurrence within the body of text. It’s very
similar to another app, Wordle, but the save
options and capabilities are more advanced. I
especially like the option of making my tag cloud
conform to the shadings and lines of an uploaded
image. http://www.tagxedo.com/
Don’t miss the tutorial, “101 Ways to Use
Tagxedo”
Julie Rorabaugh
Director of
Instructional Technology
Cowley College
316.721.7103
rorabaughj@cowley.edu
rorabaughj
Tiger TechnoBabble
presentation on YouTube, and wanted some
information. Man, oh man, if I had known we were
going worldwide I would have worn makeup! Ha-ha
Perhaps a great illustration you can use to show how
effective these things are given our present internet
technology.”
Dennis is an engaging and forward thinking
instructor who loves to try new things! As I
challenged you in the Welcome, try just ONE
new thing this year. Who knows? You, like
Dennis, may build your educational network to
global levels.
Animoto: I’ve been an Animoto user for a
couple of years now and was thrilled to see it
featured in a session at SIDLIT. This application
takes your images and automatically produces
professional looking videos, complete with
special effects and music. Not only can you
add photos, but you can use video snippets in
your projects, too!
The presenter used Animoto projects as an
option for student assessment. Students were
given guidelines and the rubric by which their
efforts would be graded. A great alternative to
the usual Death by PowerPoint!
The Basic version is limited to 30 seconds of
video, with the option to buy a longer video
for a one-time charge of $3. The All-Access
account is VERY affordable at $30/year, and
includes unlimited full-length videos,
downloadable video files, and greeting cards
for special events and holidays.
http://animoto.com/
That’s it for this issue. Classes start in just a few days, so
enjoy the brand-new semester and we’ll see you next
month!
Cheers!
Julie