I thought I’d share this web application I came across in my quest to find a relatively simple app to help us manage our mentoring data in the DL Orientation. Our specific needs were that it be a free online database, password protected, had the capability of rapid form development without too much programming knowledge and was easy for the end user to use. The application that met these requirements was Zoho Creator (http://www.zohocreator.com/) a part of a suite of online applications including word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, wikis, organizers and more. What’s great about Zoho Creator is that they have an online repository of applications already developed that you can download to your account and use for free. Initially, I tried some of these applications, but it was overkill for our needs. Zoho Creator can do a lot if you know programming and they have a pay model where it allows you more flexibility and features. I think Zoho Creator would be a useful tool for both the novice and advanced user who need to design a database application that manages their data needs. The only concern that I would have is storing any personal identifying information since this is a third party system. All DL Orientation mentors will have a chance to use this application in our upcoming orientation course. We’ll see how it works outs.
This year's Schools of the Future conference was an information-rich event. When we think of the future, more than a few of us probably also think of technology. That association certainly carries over in the interpretation of the conference title Schools of the Future . Indeed, many topics besides educational technology were covered; however, the technological advances were a strong highlight at the conference in my view. As mentioned in one of Cassie's previous posts , there are online classes everywhere. The first few links on my list reference ways to learn on your own (i.e., ways to acquire knowledge). The second set of links refer to ways of representing knowledge. **Note: All icons link to the affiliated website. Academic Earth has hundreds of free online lectures from prominent university professors, including Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, The University of Houston, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Michigan State, Princeton, Rice, UCLA, UCSF, and the list
Comments
I think the application that Clinton has for the orientation will work well for our purpose and allow us easy access to information and tracking. Mahalo for sharing.
A feature I found useful in Zoho is the filter for all the fields that appear. It's great that we can sort according to fields specified. In addition, the bulk editing feature is ajavascript:void(0)lso useful when making introduction calls.
Mahalo Clinton for working on this to make us more efficient.
Kelly
I was curious - how many participants can you have with the freebie? I notice the first level pay per contact is $5 per person per month which is kind of stiff. I also tried the meeting feature and you can't chair a mtg from a Mac. Scratch that one for me! 8-)
I like the flexibility of the site and its really powerful for a freebie. Guess they make it up on sales - so clarifying - the data is stored on their server? When i clicked the mtg video demo the voice was decidedly Indian and I got nervous. heh heh
It's great that it has a wide variety of applications that work together. I wonder how compatible they are with other programs like MS Word etc. Anyway, thanks for adding another useful tool to our arsenal.