Finished!

So i think i can say this task has been a little bit easier than task 1? I feel like i had more knowledge on my blog and my website that made things a little bit easier and faster.

Overall i think i have done quite well on this assignment, i suppose i will just have to wait to get my marks back to know if i did well or not!!

This time around was good as well because i am closer to the people in my class. I am so grateful for my wonderful group "The Meerkats" through this assignment. Brennan, Grant and Josie were my support team and we all helped each other through parts of this assignment. Its great being able to work together and ask for advice from your peers as we all have different knowledge and can help each other through thing we don't no.

I feel very confident using Jing and will use again in the future as for Endnote i still am not a fan and will stick to my normal referencing tool i have available on my word! I am now on a week study break but will be starting my task 3. There is no real holidays when your at Uni!

Unit content during Task 2

So of corse during the past few weeks a lot of our corse content in this unit has been focust on Task 2. In our work shops and lectures we have focust on the task buy learning about things such as, how to screen cast, how to use our referencing tool, copyright and how to work as a group.  

During the last few weeks we have also learnt about a few direct learning styles as discussed in week 6 with the lecture with Jenni. I have attached a few pictures from one of the lectures i found very engaging. These screenshots are from week 6 were Jenni spoke about a few different styles of learning and teaching. 

 So of corse during the past few weeks a lot of our corse content in this unit has been

Learning and Problems with Endnote

Endnote. Now i am going to be honest and just say that i hate it.

It has caused me troubles since downloading it and i will be ever so grateful after this task that i never have to use it again!!!!

The first problem i had was downloading it. Once it was downloaded it kept asking me for a licensing key that i obviously didn't have. After closing it and opening it a few times with the same problem i then learnt that you had to drag it onto the desk top to open it with out it requesting the licensing key.

Once i got it opened it was quite simple how to create a reference (This is explained in previous posts). You could pick what style referencing you wanted and what you were referencing for it to be made correctly.

Myself along with Josie, who is a member of my group both have Mac laptops. These mac laptops made it impossible for us to use Endnote note on word. Apparently on windows systems endnote would just pop up as a tab on there word documents but not for us! This has caused a large amount of problems for my screen cast as i cannot demonstrate how to import citations and references from endnote to word, which is part of the task! At this point I'm at a bit of a loss and i am thinking I'm going to have to do two screen casts. Brennan who is another member of my group has a windows system and i think i will have to do a small screen cast on his computer at uni tomorrow and upload that. As there is no way i can use it in conjunction with word on my computer.

I understand for this task we needed to use Endnote to demonstrate how to use a referencing tool but when i reference i just type into Google 'referencing tool'. This search comes up with hundreds of very simple and easy to use tools that i don't need to download. ALOT easier than fighting with endnote. When doing it online like this i can just simply copy and paste, instead of having to export and import.

I would never use Endnote again in the future as it is to hard to use and is not user friendly. I also wouldn't use it as there are many online free referencing tools that do the job with out all the troubles. I do not plan on using Endnote in my career as a teacher.  

Learning and problems with Jing

So i am coming to an end of my task 2. Thank goodness.

During this task i have learned a few different things, one thing i have learnt is how to do a screen cast. A screen cast is something i knew little about and defiantly didn't no how to do but after this task i have worked it out! The software i used as mentioned in my previous blog posts was Jing. I really liked Jing and found it very easy to use. I think using screen casts are a great tool to use in the class room. A Screen cast is something i could demonstrate to my my students when i am a teacher to show them all at the same time how to do something  on the computer. Doing a screen cast like this on a big screen is defiantly more effective than going around to each student one buy one or having 30 students crowd around one computer to find out how to do something that could be quite simple. The best thing about Jing is how simple and user friendly it is. I think i will pick Jing in the future if i need to do another screen cast.

In regards to problems i didn't have any with Jing which is refreshing.... i wish i could do a screen cast on how to use this! Its a great easy to use application and i would recommend it to anyone wanting to do a screen cast.

Tired and overwhelmed.

I don't no why but i have not been motivated to do this assignment... I am so close yet so far from finishing!!!! I need to hand it in tonight for my peer reviews but am yet to finish my screen cast. I just feel so tired and over it really! Not just this subject but all. Defiantly due for our mid semester break i think!!!!

Word and Endnote?

I have no idea how to get my Endnote to my word document! I am starting to think its because i don't have the full version??? My computer is also behaving horribly and being very sloooowwww. Ill have to go on the lms website now and see if i can work it out!

Endnote

So Endnote is the referencing tool we are using for the task. This tool again is a free download for a period of time. Endnote is what we will use to reference different things like books, dvds, newspaper articles ect. You can also choose many styles of referencing such as APA 6 and Chicago. For this Task we are using APA 6. 

The first thing you need to do if of corse down load the free trail. This is done at their website endnote.com. There is 2 different options for your download, either for mac of windows. I am using mac so i pressed this to start my trail. 

One thing about Endnote is there is a little bit more information that you need to fill out... I wouldn't call this a negative because its not that much but there were a few people that didn't seem to like putting all their information in for the trial. Its just simple stuff you have to fill out like your names and where you live also what you do for work or if your a student. I wouldn't say this takes about 3 mins to complete. 

Once you have filled out the information needed you just press next, then again it starts with letting you choose which system you want to use. I of corse choose Mac as thats the system i am using. Once pressing try it now it automatically starts to download. 

I along with quite a few people did actually have troubles downloading this application. One thing it kept asking for was the licensing key password. This was frustrating because we have downloaded a trial so of corse don't have this licensing key!!! I finally worked it out after a bit of frustration. In stead of opening it straight from the downloads you actually needed to drag it into you applications then it opened as it should!




 When you open the application this is what pops up first <---- I suggest if you want to do it probably you should press 'learn more about Endnote' I don't no why but i didn't watch this step and am now paying for it because i can work out the basics but really needed to find out more.... Luckily there is a screen cast that shows you what to do on LMS. This is a good example of why screen casts are important!!!!

I straight away went into create new library as this is the first time i have used Endnote. This library will keep all your references and you can export and import these references into a numerous amount of places.

There are many different referencing styles to choose from which is handy as it must be close to impossible to remember all the different styles! Another great thing is it does let you choose what you need reference for whether its a book, article dvd ect there are all different options so you can fill in the spaces to get a perfect, correct reference.

 <--- This is an example of what you do when your writing about your new reference. You choose what your referencing. As you can see i am referencing a Book. You then just fill in the blanks and its all done! Very simple.

Then as you can see my first saved reference is in my library :). I am yet to work out how to export it to word which i no will be very useful in the future. I have a bit more researching to do for this task. I will have to watch the screen cast on LMS for some handy hints! The next thing i have to do is my screen cast then I'm basically done. YAY.

Oops missed a step..... This is how you download Jing!

Sorry i missed a step! Forgot to mention how to download Jing. It is very easy though so don't worry!

The reason i choose Jing is because this is what out Tutor recommended to us. Also Grant who is a student in my group also said this is a great easy screen cast tool so i listened to him and downloaded it.

All i did was type Jing into google search engine and it popped up like this. I went straight to the 'Download Jing for free' section.  ---->

After pressing that it then popped to this page. You just have to do the download for which system you are using. As I'm using a Mac i pressed start the download for the system. Once i pressed this it automatically started downloading... few minutes later it was on my computer ready for using!

How to use Jing

Jing is very user friendly. It is also quite a cute little application.

Jing sits up in one of the corners of your computer ready to use at any time. As you can see in this picture. It has 3 sun rays the allow you 3 different options. You have capture (the top + symbol), history (under the +) so you can see previous recordings and at the bottom settings so you can change things like what microphone your using. Quite simple. 

The ray i am going to be using is of corse capture as this is what i will be using for my screen cast. 

When you press the capture button you have this tool bar -> pop up. This tool bar allows you to take pictures and videos. 

Once you have pressed the Video captures it will pop up in a new screen like this ------> 

This is the screen that will allow you to pause your live recording. It also allows you to cancel the recording. 

To view your recording it is very simple. You just go to your sun rays and click history. Once you have finished recording it will save into your history. In your history that is were you need to press to view what you have recorded. 

<---- This picture here is an example of what your recording will look like. This looks like my desktop but is actually a very short screen cast recording i did for testing purposes. I tested to see if the microphone and the recording was working. It was all working fine which is great! 

So as you can see i have worked out Jing... Hopefully these steps have been useful to you all as well! 

Jing

So for this assignment a big part is the screen cast and being able to show others how to use your referencing tool. For this i decided to use Jing. Jing provides you with a 30 day free trial which is perfect for this assignment. Jing is a application that allows you to screen cast. You can record what you are doing on your computer screen, and also allows you to talk (using a computer microphone) to explain clearly what you are doing. I will be using Jing to do my screen cast to show how to use Endnote (My referencing tool).

Task 2

So after completing task 1 i am now starting task 2. All assignments seem to be building up around me and getting harder and harder!!! I am very happy with how i did in task one so hopefully i can do just as well in task 2!

My understanding of task 2 is that we are to complete a research assignment using a referencing tool and document out steps here, on our blog. I also no we have to make a screen cast of how we use our referencing tool? So far i am a little stuck, but i no as soon as i start i will be able to make sense of it all. We get to do part of this task in groups, and luckily i have a great group. My group consists of 3 other students and we will be able to help and support each other through this assignment. I have left it a little late but to be honest i sometimes feel like i work better that way!!! It means there is no time for distractions or procrastinating i just have to get on with it! I will be documenting my task through my blog! So keep tuned...