Assignment 3--Scribd

For the Scribd assignment each of us were asked to upload a document or presenation that we had previously created. Initially I was not familiar with Scribd, but found it very user friendly. I found it interesting initially when Dr. Yuen compared it to a YouTube for your research papers. While YouTube allows users to search for video resources, as well as play and upload directly from the site; Scribd allows users multitude of different types of files and the ability to upload personal work. Exploring the site I was surprised to learn that users could even download books for free. With the release of the Kindle and IPad; I could see a lot of potential for this particular feature.

The versatility of this Web 2.0 application amazed me. You can upload documents created in a mirage of file formats including Google Docs. There was also such a variety of resources from school works, resumes/vitaes, books, puzzles, etc. I found Scribd to be beneficial both in the courses I am taking and teaching. By being able to upload documents to this centralized site it acts as a virtual library, allowing users to upload as well as download documents.

When using Scribd everything is utilized from the web browser, and doesn't requre you to download any software. This feature was also impressive to me. Additionally users can embed hyperlinks of their documents uploaded into Scribd into a blog, web page, or directly to their Facebook profiles. With the capability to embed the hyperlinks I see a lot of potential in the courses I teach. By having all of the documents stored on the Scribd server this would ease the resources required by the students. Embeding the URLs into a Blackboard lesson, students could simply click on the link to view the resources versus having to verify they had the correct software installed on their computers. This would simplify a lot of the technology issues I have encountered in the past while teaching introductory concepts courses.

My Scribd assignment can be viewed by going to www.scribd.com/doc/33337060/Podcasting-Qualitative-Study-1