So it’s been out for a little while now, and many of us will have tried it out…but what impact is Google Wave making on schools?

We’re in the process of updating our blog software, and we’ll be looking at options for increasing participation and collaboration. We like Disqus comments, but embedding Google Wave conversations could potentially transform the nature of our communications.

We know that some of our students are using it but are any of the IB’s tech savvy teachers surfing the Wave yet? What are your first impressions?

We had a great response to our request for examples of environmental initiatives that IB schools are involved in. View the thread on your school and green issues to see some of the comments.

The banners and buttons below are available to all IB World Schools. They will allow you to create a link from your school website to your page on www.ibo.org. By placing one of these banners/buttons on your website it will allow visitors to confirm that you are an official IB World School.

How to use

Copy and paste the code for your chosen banner or button into your web page. IMPORTANT - You must change the “XXXXXX” in the first line of code to your IBIS school code (the one used for your school’s page on the IB website). If this is not changed then the link will not work.

Please do not edit or resize the banner. If the banner does not fit your website, please consider using one of the buttons instead. If you have a special request, contact us for assistance.

Great examples

Riverwood International Charter School have put a link right on their homepage.

Contact us to share your good examples here.

Banner, 525 x 110

<a href=”http://www.ibo.org/school/XXXXXX/” target=”_blank”> <img src=”http://www.ibo.org/img/imagebank/banner_en.png” width=”525″ height=”110″ border=”0″ alt=”IB banner” /></a>

Option 2 - Large button, 184 x 101

<a href=”http://www.ibo.org/school/XXXXXX/” target=”_blank”> <img src=”http://www.ibo.org/img/imagebank/large_button_en.png” width=”184″ height=”101″ border=”0″ alt=”IB button” /></a>

Option 3 - Small button, 125 x 69

<a href=”http://www.ibo.org/school/XXXXXX/” target=”_blank”> <img src=”http://www.ibo.org/img/imagebank/small_button_en.png” width=”125″ height=”69″ border=”0″ alt=”IB button” /></a>

Paul Reid, is responsible for iPhone in Ed, a blog that covers a range of potential applications for the iPhone in education.

Definitely food for thought for anyone who is interested in widening access to education through the application of technology.

We need great examples of things IB schools and students are doing to help the environment or to raise awareness of green issues.

From walking to school to saving the rainforests, it doesn’t matter how big or small your efforts are, we want to hear about them.

So if you have examples to share, either Tweet us on Twitter, post a comment on this blog or use our contact form

We look forward to hearing from you!

We need to add two more languages to our blog network, French and Spanish. In most cases, this will simply be a case of providing entirely separate blog content, but in a select few we’ll have a requirement to pass English text to our translation department for like-for-like translation into French and Spanish. In these cases we’ll need:

1. A user-friendly interface to all three language version blogs for our translators and editors to use.
2. A simple language switching option for blog readers to be able to jump from one language to another.

While this may be easily achievable, we’re only just about to embark on it. Any suggestions for great plug-ins or words of warning would be gratefully received!

Watch this blog for news of how we get on.

A quick guide to creating E-newsletters using Campaign Monitor

1. Overview

Logging-in will take you to your ‘Overview’ screen. This screen shows all the campaigns you are currently working on, as well as campaigns you have recently sent. From this screen, choose the following option:

1. Create a new campaign (large button with green cross on right-hand side of screen)

2. Define campaign and sender

On this page you need to do the following:

1. Give your campaign a name - e.g. May 2009 regional newsletter
2. Enter the email subject - usually the same as the campaign name, this is the name your recipient will see in their inbox. The subject can include some personalisation if you have uploaded names or titles with your email address list. Select what to include from this drop-down.
3. A ‘from’ name - for example - IB Communications or an individual’s name.
4. A ‘from’ email address - the email address the campaign will appear to be sent from.
5. A ‘reply’ email address - the email address to which any responses will go.

When you’re done, click ‘Next’.

3. Select the format for this campaign

This page allows you to select the format of your campaign. You have three options:

1. Create your own HTML page and plain text version and import it into Mailbuild. This allows you to send completely custom designs through Mailbuild and to take advantage of its tracking and reporting features. This should not be used without contact Communications first and is generally best for one-off campaigns that use lots of graphics or unique formats.
2. Send a plain text only campaign. This sends a basic plain text email, but still retains all the tracking features of Mailbuild.
3. Use one of my templates - this should be your default choice. Templates created by the web team in Communications are available here. For changes to templates contact web@ibo.org

For the purposes of this demonstration, choose one of the templates. When you’re done, click ‘Next’.

4. Define content

This page allows you to add and edit content.

How do I edit?

The icons on the page allow you to edit and delete existing items, as well as to add new items.

Some areas of the page cannot be edited and will update automatically, such as the menu under ‘In this issue’ which is created from every title you add.

Adding content

You can cut and paste content directly into any of the screen areas. When you cut and paste content you will be asked to create a plain text version as well. The plain text version may require some formatting to ensure it fits onto the recommended screen size and that it’s formatting is appropriate.

Adding new sections happens automatically when you hit ‘Add new item’. You should try and work with this format wherever possible, to keep the presentation of IB newsletters consistent and recognisable. If you have absolutely unique requirements, contact web@ibo.org

Adding images is managed automatically and images are resized in order to keep the filesize small. If you require bigger images, contact web@ibo.org

Some changes can be made directly in the HTML of the page. If you don’t feel comfortable working with HTML, contact web@ibo.org

When you have added your content, click ‘Preview’ to see how your newsletter looks.

If you’re happy with this, click ‘I’m done, return to the snapshot’.

If you need to make more changes, click ‘Make more changes’.

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to ‘Snapshot’ next.

5. Snapshot

This page is your campaign homepage. From here you can preview and edit both HTML and plain text versions of your email.

Click ‘Define recipients’

6. Define recipients

This page shows all the subscribers you can send to. Subscribers can be added via pre-existing lists, or individually. Adding lists requires a seperate tutorial, but is easily done via CSV files.

Select the subscribers you want to send this email to and click ‘Next.

This will return you to the Snapshot screen.

7. Test

From the snapshot screen, you will need to click the ‘Test and define delivery’ button. From this screen you can send a test version of the email to yourself and as many approvers are required.

Send yourself a test email every time!

When you receive your test email in your inbox, and are happy with it, click ‘Next’.

8. Schedule campaign delivery

You now have the option to either send your campaign immediately, or to schedule it for future delivery. This is useful because you can stagger your email delivery times. For example, you might want to create an email on Friday afternoon that needs to arrive Monday morning. Simply set the scheduled delivery time for Monday morning and the system will do the rest. Certian times of day achieve better open and read rates than others, check your campaign analytics to see what works best for you.

When you’re done here, click ‘Send campaign’ and you will be taken to the payment screen.

9. Payment

The final screen allows you to pay for your campaign. Enter credit card details and you’ll be charged and the campaign will be scheduled.

Further reading and tips

Remember: if you are importing a lot of new subscribers, you will have to wait for your list to be approved. This is to avoid sending to subscribers whose details we are not allowed to use. BE PREPARED to wait 24 hours for large amounts of new subscribers to be approved.

Remember: This system has been created for ease of use and general applications…if you have something different to send, contact web@ibo.org

Remember: You should always check you have the latest email lists before you send. Mailbuild will track unsubscribes and avoid sending people information they don’t want, but it will not automatically add new subscribers in external databases.

Remember: You should not send files to hundreds of addresses via email as an attachment. You should always try and upload the file to a website and send a link.

More general advice on creating great e-newsletters is available on the Campaign Monitor website. Campaign Monitor is the new name for Mailbuild.

Campaign Monitor email design guidelines

Campaign monitor improving your results guidance

Has Google found the next killer app?

That’s not for me to say. The way in which we communicate changes so fast that I wouldn’t bet on anything anymore. From letters to telephone to pager to email to mobile phone to texting to msn to picture messaging to Youtube to facebook. I’ve probably missed out a bunch of technologies and even put them in the wrong order, but that’s not the point. Technology and organisations like Google who push technology is allowing us to talk to one another in extremely interesting ways. And the best thing about Google…it’s all for free. That’s why I think Google’s latest development will catch on because anyone, anywhere can get hold of it and use it. So what is it?

Well, Google’s latest endeavour is an open-source web app called Google wave. To quote Google…

“Google Wave is a new model for communication and collaboration on the web”

It’s quite hard to explain how it works but basically each message you send is called a wave. There is a huge number of things you can do with a wave. (To further quote Google…)

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

A really exciting aspect of Wave for me is everything is done in real time. When you contribute to a wave those who are part of the conversation see it being typed live. Pointless you may think but it can dramatically reduce waiting time for receiving messages. You can start responding or formulating your response while the other person is typing.

Other cool features of Wave is that it can be embeded into a web page and a conversation can take place live on a web page. You can also have a chat with someone through a web page but the other person can be using their Wave account to access the wave or even a different web page that it may also be embeded in. There is also infinite embedding possibilities through the Google Wave APIs.

Some may think that this is just email, with fairy lights, and possibly you’re right. But I also think that it’s a really useful communications tool. Google Wave is IM, email, document management, collaboration, sharing, real time, free and many other things.

Would this be useful at the IB? I think so. We have so many telephone conversations, email conversations,  video link up’s and with each there is always annoying problems such as connection problems and dialing in issues. Time lost through trying to connect with eachother. Google Wave could provide an answer to these kind of problems through integrating many communication technologies and putting them all into one web based app.

It’s being released later this year and I’ll be putting some of my time aside to test out it’s features and capabilities.

You really need to see it to understand what it can do. The video below is a preview of Google Wave given at a Google conference this year. It’s pretty long at 2 hours, but it’s worth watching it, maybe over a few sittings like I did. Enjoy.

As any Iphone user will tell you, there’s ain’t much you can’t do with web apps.

Apple’s lightweight device has demonstrated just how capable you really can be with just an internet connection and a load of cloud-based applications. It doesn’t need lightning fast processors or fat-pipe internet connection…it just works. In addition, Apple’s famous virus-resistance has been carried across to the Iphone, and it appears to be something Google will be implementing in their recently announced Chrome OS.

We’ve seen a lot of blurring of the lines between online and offline recently. Google Gears took us one step beyond simple online/offline sychronization and enabled us to use our favourite web apps without an internet connection. More recently, Adobe Air platforms have begun to extend the functionality of API enabled web apps like Twitter into that rarely navigated purgatory previously occupied by nefarious adware products. It’s increasingly apparent that our installed desktop applications are dating fast in comparison to our web apps, and without periodic synchronization or updates some of them are becoming archaic.

How long will it be before my creaky CS3 Adobe suite starts to look completely outclassed by free online apps? I might not be using Photoshop online right now, but if my browser was online and I could be running it all off a Netbook…hmm.

From an IB perspective, this fits well with our organizational ambitions - to be mobile, reactive and lightweight. Anything that reduces the burden of support is good for our business. What will be interesting, is to see how these products mature beyond offering cut-down but functional alternatives to the installed leviathans we rely on.

Beyond the move to cloud computing, I’d be very surprised if Google didn’t take this opportunity to push Google Connect as part of the package. If they score with their OS, the packaging of a single sign-on solution alongside it as an innocent freebie could just make Google OS the next big thing.

Read more on cnet.com

The IB online team are excited to be attending Wordcamp 2009 in Cardiff, UK.

We’ll be looking for great examples of Wordpress as a multi-lingual, collaborative and secure platform to help us deliver on the IB’s mission values of ‘Quality, Access, Infrastructure’. How are we going to do that? Well, hopefully by providing support and advice, but also by creating appropriate forums for ideas to emerge and evolve amongst the IB community.

If you’re going be there, get in touch!