Glogster

Through this experience I found it very frustrating and time consuming to start with.
I couldn't figure out why the video of Willow Smith was not playing when I uploaded it!
I tried allsorts of things like using other videos of hers... until I tried another you-tube video.
There must be of course to my findings copyright issues over publishing it in other forums. A lesson learnt after a very long time. I left it in there as an example that not all videos can be uploaded. I thought it was initially to do with navigating away from the teacher tube until I was able to upload another video.  I did get around that though and that's the beauty of Glogster, use the link to you-tube instead which I did with the cassette player.

I have provided a SWOT analysis below.
Until you really use this tool you will never know what it's capable of and how learning its functions/challenges to get an end result. Thus, shall I stress the importance of really getting to know these tools before giving them over to students!
I did try using Glogster a couple of weeks ago and gave up on it, simply because I was confused by the navigation and found the site very busy.  But I idn't want o give in and I wanted to use it as one of my tools.  I can see a lot of benefits, and after getting comfortable navigating through it, it becomes very fun and creative.
It even has the capacity to embed its code in any online platform you can think of - although it took me a while to figure out that you have to embed the code from the Glogster site to upload it, it cannot be uploaded from the blog itself. And it it uses a lot of memory and processing time so it could crash or be very slow when processing, even when it's in the blog it self, it slows it down so it's important to make sure the schools even at home or office that the computer you're using has enough Ram, good graphics card, dual intel or quad intel processing system.





Strengths:

• Free & do not have to register to use it
• Supported by education,
• Interactive and includes multimedia - images, videos (own - supports all formats, school tube, you-tube), audio (own files & more), (all can be uploaded instantly from computer camera & microphone) animation and texts & graphics is numerous including categories of designs - retro, punk etc
• Easy to edit each item uploaded by changing colors, effects, zoom, and deleting it
• When registered: can save and publish blog and have others view it or have it private;  search other gloggers, new glogs, top glogs, and glogs by categories; comment on other glogs and can rate on other glogs; can add glogs to favorites, online chat, and email
• Can create a glog for each student in class
• Can create a glog for any subject to present information
• Glogster can be set to private or public!
Weaknesses:
• Have to be registered to view other glogs and allow more access to other items online
• Age restriction or 13 years or older to be a registered (see Terms of Use below) member & some content may not suit primary students depending on topics produced - history & war even
• Need a good processing unit for content of multimedia - sometimes could be a bit slow when loading because of all the file sizes of audio, images and videos if not compressed.
• Save work frequently to avoid losing files
Opportunities:
• Can use all multimedia, used as a medium to exhibit work, global learning with access to out of classroom resources ie: websites for research, broadens research skills which will help them also out of the class to know how to access and find information
• Creative and expressive plus individualised work.
• Easy to add text, video clips, audio files, and photographs
• Creativity encouraged and a medium for assessment as opposed to traditional settings
• Encourages collaboration with others by commenting on their peers' glogs
Threats:
• Content not appropriate for younger viewers depending on content studied - nudity, war & other topics
• Media such as videos may not be supported by school computers - may not have programs - ie: if a movie was made by a student in quick time, windows media or other programs the computer software may not support it to upload it
• It maybe bocked by school
• Media sourced online maybe blocked on the school system, ie: you tube.
• Cyber bullying can occur as anyone can have a glogster. Including public accessing or start online chatting.                       
Reference:
Glogster - Poster Yourself, (2011). What is glogster EDU, retrieved from http://edu.glogster.com/what-is-glogster-edu
Glogster - Poster Yourself, (2011). Terms of Use, retrieved from http://www.glogster.com/terms-of-use/