Virtual Insight

This presentation is a brief overview for using PowerPoll within your PowerPoint presentation. Follow these quick steps to import polling boxes within your presentation for audience response capturing capabilities.

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Rebecca Felkner is the Project Manager of the Ohio eBook Project created by the State Library of Ohio. In this short presentation she will tell you what the Ohio eBook Project is, how it works, what it can do for your library, how it can save your library money, and what the requirements are for participation in the Ohio eBook Project. Rebecca Felkner is a Library Consultant at the State Library of Ohio in Columbus. You can reach her at rfelkner@sloma.state.oh.us.

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The Clermont County Public Library in southwest Ohio is honoring the famous ice storm of 2007 with photos and ice poetry.

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Hello, this pictures depicts our hardware setup for capturing presentations at a professional conference. Using two computers allows us to record presentations as enhanced podcasts and capture backup audio and video of the screen.

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Subscribe to this enhanced podcast feed at:

http://hcs.osu.edu/insight/podcast/Virtual_Insight.rss

The Ohio State University’s Buckeye Turf portal uses the latest Internet technologies to deliver timely technical information and educational resources to turfgrass professionals who manage golf courses, parks, athletic fields, and recreational facilities. More than a collection of web pages, this newly designed portal brings together an abundance of content produced by an interdisciplinary group of Ohio State faculty and staff who specialize in the study of turf management strategies.

“A true e-learning experience for anyone interested in turfgrass management, Buckeye Turf serves industry professionals around the globe,” explains Karl Danneberger, a professor in the Horticulture & Crop Science Department. “We invite users to download educational podcasts, read timely technical turf notes in multiple turfgrass science disciplines or sign up for a distance education experience.”

By working closely with inVirtual Perspective Technology Team leader Tim Rhodus, the OSU Turfgrass Science Team has used cutting edge Internet technologies to better communicate turfgrass science management techniques for many years. Buckeye Turf combines these technologies into one location that complements the content generated by the Ohio State faculty and staff. Rhodus and team members Bud Witney and Victor van Buchem designed Buckeye Turf using a content management system (Joomla) that boasts an extensive use of RSS Feeds, blogging software, multi-language podcasting, multifunction search capabilities and photo management archives. The site design also allows users to change the width of the content displayed on their monitor.

Buckeye Turf is the new home for longtime successful turf outreach and education initiatives, such as TurfNotes, SportsNotes and International SportsNotes, and now adds new services through enhanced podcasts, LandscapeNotes and distance education opportunities. Users are encouraged to use RSS Feeds to subscribe to a syndicated feed from Turf News, TurfNotes, SportsNotes and Podcasts sections. Additionally, users are invited to sign-up to receive e-mail notification when a new posting has been published to the website.

Via Buckeye Turf Podcasts professionals and students can access, download and watch the latest OSU research reports and presentations on turfgrass pests, cultural programs, and case studies delivered as enhanced podcasts. Since August 2006, OSU faculty, staff and graduate students have contributed over 50 presentations to this multimedia resource which delivers full-screen playback through the QuickTime player or iTunes music software.

Dr. Danneberger also developed an innovative method for creating an international turfgrass educational tool by having visiting researchers and students Aneta Studzinska, Marcela Munoz and Jia Yan perform the voice-overs for the Polish, Spanish and Chinese versions of the Buckeye Turf Podcasts. iTunes subscriptions are available for all the podcast series: English, Spanish, Polish, Chinese and Research Reports and make downloading newly published podcasts a seamless and automatic process.

Modeled after TurfNotes and SportsNotes, the new LandscapeNotes will deliver timely technical tips for turfgrass selection, weed management and lawn care maintenance. Coordinated by Dave Gardner, associate professor of Turfgrass Science, frequent contributors to LandscapeNotes include Extension pathologist Joe Rimelspach and the Bug Doc, Dave Shetlar.

With the demand for distance education increasing, Buckeye Turf will soon be launching an online Sports Turf Management Certificate Program which incorporate the lecture materials presented in a Sports Turf Management course organized by Ohio State Sports Turf Extension Specialist Pam Sherratt. This certificate program was developed for turf professionals who can not attend The Ohio State University, but still want to attain a higher knowledge about maintaining athletic fields. All of the course content was packaged as podcast files by the Digital Technology Team from lectures presented by Sherratt, Danneberger, Gardner, Shetlar, Rimelspach, John Street and Mike Boehm. Sherratt, who manages SportsNotes anticipates high school, collegiate, and recreational facilities field managers and their employees will benefit from this new educational opportunity.

In addition to engaging Ohio’s turfgrass industry through outreach efforts, Buckeye Turf is also an academic resource hub that highlights courses offered at OSU, student club activities, research programs, and opportunities to support OSU through endowments. The site uses integrated Google mapping for locating various facilities on the Ohio State campus and also offers an extensive plant science career resource that includes profiles of over 100 alumni. The News Feeds section of the site uses RSS feed capability to deliver live turf related content from numerous professional and academic sources around the country.

“Buckeye Turf promises to serve anyone who has an interest in acquiring turfgrass science knowledge,” says Danneberger. “This site is a resource for knowledge and current events within the Ohio State University Turfgrass Science program and the turfgrass profession. We hope to reach interested turf professionals through a visually pleasing and easy-to-navigate website that presents useful content to its users.”

I recently designed a new website for the Ohio Master Gardener Volunteer program. Program coordinators are able to access useful information, download forms, and access training materials in the “secure” portion of the site. The following enhanced podcast tutorial was developed from a series of screen shots of the webstie and explains the basics of logging in.

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More tutorials will be developed following the same approach.

Buckeye Turf Podcasts are the newest e-learning offering from The Ohio State University Turfgrass Science Program, a team that has been using new technologies to better communicate turgrass science management techniques for many years. Through the Buckeye Turf Podcasts blog turfgrass professionals can access, download and watch the latest OSU turfgrass research reports and presentations on turfgrass pests, cultural programs, and case studies delivered as enhanced podcasts.

Available at http://buckeyeturf.osu.edu/podcast, this podcasting initiative builds upon Ohio State’s strong history of delivering timely technical turfgrass tips to golf course superintendents (SK TurfNotes) and athletic field managers (OSU SportsNotes) via blog-style postings. Instead of relying on text-only publications to educate the industry, Ohio State faculty and staff experts illustrate educational turf tips with photos and graphics. The enhanced podcast learning module format allows for additional photos, synchronized audio, full-screen desktop playback, and portable playback.

“It is with a great amount of excitement that we launch this new initiative! The idea behind the website is to present turfgrass topics pertinent to our students and industry clientele both in a learning and informational format,” explains Dr. Karl Danneberger, a turfgrass science professor in the Horticulture & Crop Science Department. “The topics range from cultural practices to pests, and include case studies and research reports. The enhanced podcasts presentations are between 2 to 4 minutes long, except for some of the research reports which offer more depth. Our podcast delivery is also unique because we offer many of the presentations in multiple languages including, Spanish, Polish and Chinese.”

Dr. Danneberger began publishing Buckeye Turf Podcasts in August of 2006. The website now boasts more than thirty different presentations, many of which are available in multiple languages. By collaborating with graduate students and visiting scientists to convert the audio of the module into another language, Professor Danneberger has developed an innovative method for creating an international turfgrass educational tool. Visiting research assistants Aneta Studzinska (Poland) and Marcela Munoz (Chile) perform the voice-overs on the Polish and Spanish versions of the Buckeye Turf Podcasts. OSU doctoral candidate Jia Yan delivers the Chinese version of the podcasts.

In addition to her weekly SportsNotes and International SportsNotes educational postings, Ohio State Sports Turf Extension Specialist Pam Sherratt is a regular contributor to Buckeye Turf Podcasts who focuses on modules appropriate for athletic field managers. Sherratt has published in-depth podcasts on the renovation of Ohio Stadium, overseeding methods for cool season turf, and the effect of biomass accumulation on a Kentucky Bluegrass stabilizer system.

Podcasting uses Really Simple Syndication (RSS) technology to deliver content directly to those who subscribe to a feed of content. RSS web syndication is thus similar to a newspaper being delivered to your house each day. With automatic updating via the free subscription, turfgrass professionals can “catch” syndicated packages, instead of searching/browsing websites for new content. Subscribers to the Buckeye Turf Podcasts automatically get the latest learning module podcast downloaded to their computer.

Over the years the OSU Turfgrass Science Program has worked closely with the inVirtual Perspective Technology Team to implement new communication technologies. Team leader Dr. Tim Rhodus encourages turfgrass professionals to use Apple’s iTunes software to manage their all their podcast subscriptions. This greatly simplifies the subscription process. For example, Subscribe to Buckeye Turf Podcasts can be presented as a simple hyperlink in any news story or email message. The iTunes software allows users to organize the podcast files and through synching with an iPod, these podcasts become portable learning modules which users can access away from their desktop computer. Users can also watch a full-screen version of the learning module directly from the Buckeye Turf Podcasts posting. To play the presentation file directly from the website requires QuickTime software.

Because the Buckeye Turf Podcasts website uses blogging software, the most recently published podcast appears first on the Buckeye Turf Podcasts blog. However, all the podcast learning modules are organized under given topic areas that are archived in the Categories heading along the right hand side of the website. Categories inlcude cultural practices, diseases, insects, research reports and more. Recent postings and podcasts include presentations on Winter Overseeding of Bermudagrass Fairways & Greens, Fairy Ring, Pythium Blight and Foliar Anthracnose.

This project was partially supported through a grant given by Dr. L.H. Newcomb, College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences Senior Associate Dean and Price Chair in Teaching, Advising and Learning.

We’ve started a new Wiki around the concept of the Virtual Branch library. OHIONET-member libraries can use this site to explore different community building programs being offered throughout Ohio. Please contact Tim Rhodus (email:rhodus.1@osu.edu) to sign-up for an account.

One of the goals of this project is to assist OHIONET-member libraries and librarians develop community building programs using a variety of resources, many of which are tagged or authored by patrons.

See: OSU Virtual Branch Wiki

A group of middle school students in Philadelphia have developed an online exhibition about Benjamin Franklin. This Franklin Remixed: Learners Creating Knowledge article by Dana Devon was published on TechLearning.

Access the online resource directly at Franklin Remixed: Ben – the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

A new plugin for WordPress has been added that allows me to pull in images from Flickr.