Sunday, 21 April 2013

Screen-Cast

Hey Bloggers!!

Finally I feel like I'm getting somewhere! After hours and hours of dabbling around with EndNote I'm confident in how to add a reference to the EndNote library and incorporate that reference into a Word document. I'm still concerned about using EndNote x4 but I can't do anything about it now.

When creating my screen-cast for this assignment I selected to use a program called Screenr. This was a great and easy little tool to use and I'm very happy with my end result.

This assignment I found extremely difficult and it really did test my patients!  I'm glad to have everything up and running on my website but I don't know how I'm going to go on this assignment. 

Keep reading bloggers!

EndNote Will Be the Death of Me!


Hey Bloggers!

My journey with EndNote hasn’t been exactly ‘smooth sailing’. Combining my endnote into Microsoft word has been crazy. After flailing around the cyber-space of my laptop with no success, I tried using my mother’s computer- also a mac- to try to get a fresh start on the whole process.  I even tried downloading , installing and using zotero, which is another referencing program- but being the absolute technological genius that I am (not), I couldn’t stop my mac from stopping the pop-ups and freaking out the whole process. I ended up having to find a website that hosted a file for the earlier version of EndNote; EndNote X4- The latest version (X6) was too disagreeable and so this really was my only option.While I have my concerns about endnote X4 not being up-to-date on all the necessary referencing styles (mainly APA 6th) what choice did I have? It feels like everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong with this assignment!

Keep reading bloggers!!!

Technology Tool

Hey Bloggers!

This week I selected my technology tool. I have settled on EndNote, giving this technology tool another go and see if I can get it working this time. I am fast regretting this decision though!

First of all I did have a look at the other two referencing resources suggested to us in the assignment information; Zotero and Mendeley. I think it may have been because I've used EndNote before and had an understanding of how it runs, and  I just found these two tools a little confusing.

While installing EndNote I came across a step were I was asked to enter a password. I just though it was asking me for my student number and password. After a number of failed attempts at accessing EndNote I headed to LMS to ask if anyone else was having this problem. I couldn't find anyone else having the same problems on the discussion board, so I was feeling a bit lost. I think the root of MOST of my problems is due to the fact that I am using a version of mac operating system on my macbook laptop. I sometimes get the feeling that a lot of programs are coded for windows operating systems and then get a rough 'port' or a haphazard 'do-over' to make the program compatible with the mac operating system. After endless forum searching for people who've suffered the same technical difficulties, and uninstalling/re-installing and crossing my fingers (and eventually all my appendages) I finally managed to swing my luck around and got EndNote to 'sync' with my microsoft word program and the integration, albeit ridiculously hard to initiate, ended up working like a charm. I want to share my pain with you all though, so don't expect this to be the last blog about damned EndNote integration.

Keep reading bloggers!

Wednesday, 17 April 2013

Here we go again! Task 2 - The Researcher




Hey Bloggers!

Reference
Uni break is over and we're straight back into it! The next assignment in the Living and Learning with Technology unit is Task 2 'The Researcher'. This assignment is all about referencing and the different technology tools that can help you. Referencing is acknowledging another persons work that you may quote or refer to. To not reference another persons work is classified as plagiarism, which is basically stealing. So it is extremely important to reference!

Before starting this assignment I read through the brief instructions supplied to us in the unit guild. My first  thoughts are 'crap'! I have completed a previous assignment that required me to use EndNote, but that assignment did not run so smoothly. I do have an understanding of how to use this tool but putting EndNote into practice was a struggle throughout the assignment, so I am a little apprehensive about using this referencing tool again. Looking through the unit guild there are other referencing tools suggested which I'm going to look into before deciding which tool I'm going to select.

I'm very nervous about this assignment. The sooner I start it the better.

Wise me luck!

Keep reading bloggers