What if, however, you want to present students with a list of web pages you want them to visit in a particular order?  Again, you create such a list on a course web page, but you won’t be certain that students visit the indicated pages in the specified order.  That’s where the tool reviewed in this edition of Web 2.0 Weekly comes into play.

Jog the Web is a simple app that allows the user to create an ordered list of web sites for visitors to sequentially step through.  These lists are called “jogs”.  Below is a screenshot of an example jog I created (click the image to see it full size).

You can see that Jog the Web places each of your websites in a navigational frame.  Clicking the “<” and “>” allows you to move forward and back through the list of sites.  You can also click on a particular web site’s listing to jump directly to it.  The top frame provides the position number of the view page in the list, it’s URL, and also gives the jog creator the opportunity to insert a brief description or comment.  This last feature is great for providing students with instructions or other information.

At the end of every jog (at least those created by non-premium users), are two special pages.  One gives registered users the opportunity to comment on your jog.  The second provides users with links to other recommended jogs.  Note that these pages do have advertisements.

Strengths

• Easy to create jogs
• Navigational frame provides easy sequential access to web pages
• Teacher can leave instructions or comments for each page

Weaknesses

• Navigational frame can limit amount of screen real estate available for displaying content on lower resolution monitors
• Advertisements are added to the two special pages automatically included on each jog (unless you are a premium account holder)
• Premium service is very expensive (~$40/month)
• Free account holders’ jogs are listed on the Jog the Web directory

Jog the Web offers two levels of service: the free service and a premium version.  As mentioned, the premium service is quite expensive at roughly $40/month.  To make use of Jog the Web, you will need an Internet-connected computer with a modern web browser.  Creating jogs requires the creation of a user account (you will need a valid email address for this), but anyone can view jogs.  Jogs can be shared but note that the URLs are quite long (http://www.jogtheweb.com/run/TPOxCvEq8u8C/LuthEdGuild).  A URL shortening service might be helpful here.

Part of that online experience is a tool called Wildlife Filmmaker.  This online tool allows the user to create a short wildlife film using provided video clips, sounds, and music.  The user can also create and add their own captions to the film.

Strengths:

• Video clips provided
• Uses timeline for arranging clips
• Easy-to-learn interface
• No user registration

Weaknesses:

• Inability to save/embed videos
• Interface does unexpected things occasionally
• Email sharing seems to be broken

Wildlife Filmmaker is a fun little tool.  It would be great for younger students to experiment with creating videos, as the video clips are premade.  It might also be a nice introduction to using a timeline-based clip and editing system for older students (Apple’s iMovie uses a very similar system).  Unfortunately, experimentation is probably the only serious classroom use for this Web 2.0 tool, as there is no way to move created videos from the National Geographic server to your own computer or even embedded them in another page.  You can save videos to their server and retrieve them through the use of a numeric code.

This Web 2.0 application is free to use and has no user registration.  You will need a computer with a broadband Internet connection, and Adobe Flash.

If you are interested in seeing my film, click “retrieve saved film” and enter code “681813297″.

For this technology review, I’ll be taking a look at Dimdim.  Dimdim is an online conference tool with some very powerful features.  It has the standard features such as desktop sharing and whiteboards, but it also adds video and audio capabilities.  Dimdim also allows you to record a conference for later playback or even embedding on a website or blog.  Even better, Dimdim supports Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Strengths:

• Free for up to 20 users
• Moodle integration
• VoIP capabilities in free version
• Supports Mac OS X and Linux in addition to Windows
• Recording capabilities

Weaknesses

• You can only share .ppt, .pptx, and .pdf files
• Free edition only allows for host to have webcam
• “No installation” means “little installation.”  Some plugins may need to be installed
• Difficult to determine the differences between the various editions

Dimdim should be of interest to anyone who needs a quick and easy online conferencing solution.  Because it supports all three major operating systems and has a free edition for up to 20 users, it is an excellent tool for teachers wanting to conduct online interactions with authors, scientists, historians, etc. or even with other classrooms in collaborative projects.

The basic edition of Dimdim is free and requires a free user account.  You will also need a computer with a modern web browser, Flash, and internet access.  A microphone and webcam are optional, but recommended.  You will want to have your technology staff make sure that Dimdim will work correctly with your network’s security settings.  The Pro editions of Dimdim are very reasonably priced, starting at $9.95/month or $99/year.

Strengths:

• Free account has 2 GB of storage space
• Copy of files is saved to local computers to allow access if the Internet is unavailable
• Cross-platform
• Easy to use

Weaknesses:

• 2 GB is fine for Office documents but not enough for large numbers of photos or videos
• The lowest level of paid service is too large a jump/too expensive (50GB for $9.99/month)

Dropbox is useful to all users, but especially to those who need to work on documents using multiple computers in different locations.  To take full advantage of the application requires the installation of software on each computer (which may not be allowed by IT security policies).  However, you can access your files using a web browser.

Their post on marketing and search engine optimization made a great point about how to think about marketing our schools.

Marketing Is An Investment
When you invest for your retirement and put money into your 401K or IRA, you expect to get your money back. You also expect to make interest on the money you put in. Similarly, when you put money into marketing, you expect to not only get that money back, but also get additional money.

Consider what your school charges for tuition. For the sake of an example, let’s say it’s $5500, about the average Christian school tuition in the US. Now consider how much additional cost your school has for adding that one student. For the example let’s say it’s $1000 for books and other supplies. (Payroll, utilities and mortgage all stay the same with or without the new student). That gives you $4500 for every new student that enrolls that goes towards your general budget (programs, payroll, utilities, building fund, etc.)

So, if you invest $1500 on marketing and get one new student ($4500) you are $3000 ahead. If you get two new students ($9000), you are $7500 ahead. If you get 10 new students ($45,000), you are $43,500 ahead. I imagine you can do a lot with $43,500.

Cost Of NOT Marketing
Let’s say you have a board meeting and one person wants to spend $1500 on marketing and another person wants to spend $1500 on an event. You have “fun” discussion about it for a while and eventually the board decides to spend the money on the event. What happens? Your school spends the $1500 and has the event and that’s it.

Now, let’s say the board decides to spend the money on marketing. What happens? You spend $1500 on marketing and let’s say you get one new student (a pretty poor marketing campaign). You then have made back the $1500 you spent on the marketing and have an additional $3000. So, you are still able to have the event and you are also able to do something else, maybe paint the hallways or something.

By not marketing, it kept your school from getting the new student (who, by the way, next year and each year after brings in another $4500 as long as they stay) and cost you $3000 in additional money for the budget.

One of the participants in the workshop commented that his school has always done well simply relying on word-of-mouth advertising. But it now struck him, “Where could we be if we had done some marketing of the school? We may have been able to expand.” A great point! Even if you are doing well, could you be doing better?

This is the best explanation I’ve seen yet for why our Lutheran schools need to invest in marketing themselves to their communities. Our schools have something very valuable to share and it’s time to get the word out.

Their first workshop was on using the Web to improve school communication. They have some very solid advice. I wish I could have been there for the workshop myself.

I’ll provide a quick summary, but you can get all of the information on the Christian Web Trends blog.

Benefits of using the Web to communicate:

1. Prevents miscommunication
2. Prevents missed communications
3. Save time – parents can get the info themselves.
4. Saves money – less paper copies
5. Strengthen relationships. When communication is good and people are “in the loop” they feel more connected, more a part of the team.
6. Increases retention. When people feel connected, they don’t want to leave.

12 Ways to Use Your Website to Improve Communication

1. Put all info for prospective students on the website
2. Put all forms and policies on the website.
3. Put all school-wide communications on the website.
4. Email all school-wide communications to parents.
5. Have a calendar on your site and make sure it’s ALWAYS up to date.
6. Post & email a weekly note from the principal. Perhaps a blog.
7. Online event registration
8. Pay for tuition, lunch online
9. Maintain a class web page.
10. Put all class-wide communications from each teacher online.
11. Email all docs or a link to them to parents
12. Private student pages for grades & progress reports

Speaking of Web sites, it is crucial that all of our Lutheran schools have well-designed Web pages. In today’s technologically-driven world, prospective parents often narrow their lists of candidate schools based on information from the Web. Having an easy to use, up to date Web site can definitely help your school get that face to face contact with new families.