BP3_2010031_Web2.0Tool1_FotobabbleInc

FOTOBABBLE

After researching the many Web 2.0 Tools and Applications, I finally decided on Fotobabble because it seemed to be the best application to introduce to my students. My students are always taking photos on their cellular phones and digital cameras and uploading them to the computers in my lab. They use their photos as their screen savers. Sometimes they upload inappropriate photos like students with their middle fingers pointing up suggesting foul language, or pictures of famous actors and actresses half naked. Of course I make them change them.

What is Fotobabble? Fotobabble is an application that allows anyone to turn photos into talking photos. A student can create a talking photo in a matter of seconds with just a couple of clicks. They don’t have to purchase any special equipment or software. Fotobabble is a completely free web-based application. Students just upload their favorite photo, record their voice and share their talking photo through e-mail, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or they can embed it into a blog or website (Fotobabble -0.6.8, 2010). However, an account must be established before getting started and that only takes seconds too.

I couldn’t believe how easy it was to learn Fotobabble. I began to think how could I make student learning relevant in my business course using the photos the students already had. Then it hit me; they already have to create a small company as one of their projects this quarter so why not bump up the time line a few weeks.

Every year or so, I go through my old lesson plan notebook to see what projects were a success and what ones I needed to tweek. Creating a Small Company always seemed to be a good one to use but I’ve mostly had them create PowerPoints to share their companies. Even I was getting bored with PowerPoint. So this year I want to see how it will work using Fotobabble. The instructions are as follows:

Introduction




Student Task

Your task is to break up into groups of seven (7) students. Each person will have to choose one of the following roles: President, VP-Marketing, VP-Production, VP-Finance, VP-Human Resources, VP-Public Relations, and an Alternant Record Keeper (who will fill the vacant role if someone leaves the group) and lastly the Board of Directors consist of all of you collaborating together to make important decisions.

After filling each role, your team of executives will come up with a product or service to sell of your choice and the price at which it will sell for. You will also create a snap shop Business Plan for your company. Finally you will discuss ways in which you will raise capital to start you organization. All information must be presented in a Fotobabble presentation.


Questions that must be answered by each department are as follows:

1. What is my primary role and responsibilities in the organization and what is the responsibility of the Board of Directors? (All Departments)

2. President – What procedures should be used when more than one person wants to speak during a meeting? What type of reports/letters must you make known to the public, to your stockholders?
http://www.hvacrbusiness.com/issue/article/176/three_distinct_roles_define_the_effective_company_president.aspx

3. Human Resources – What is a compensation Plan? What are the Administrative Records? What payroll information does your department deal with?
http://www.businesstown.com/people/compensation-plans.asp

4. Production – What will be your product’s packaging/label? What safety guidelines should your company have to take into consideration?

5. Marketing – What type of advertising and publicity campaigns will you use to promote your product (word-of-mouth, commercials, billboards, radio, internet, posters, etc.)? How will you keep up with inventory and where will it be housed?

6. Finance Department – What are financial statements (i.e. Income Statement, Balance Sheet)? What role does your department play in Payroll? What taxes are your department/company responsible for withholding?

7. Public Relations – How will you attract and retain your customers? What are a few ways to handle negative opposition from your product (ex. if your product harms a customer or another company says that you stole their idea)?

Summary
In summary students should have a general idea of what departments an organization has and its duties to the organization, and what it takes to run a company. Some web links have been provided to get students started. Continue to find references to aid in your Fotobabble presentations.

Deliverables: Students must submit talking photos presentation created in Fotobabble to share their findings with other groups in the class.

Another Educational Use
I can really see this as a wonderful educational tool for groups especially. Let’s talk about Googledocs for example; Googledocs allow multiple users to work collaborative on one document in real time, from any location, whether it is in the form of a Word document, PowerPoint, or Spread Sheet application. Just think if multiple students worked on the same project and would never have to meet in one location to complete their assignment just like in Googledocs except they use Fotobabble. They could take pictures, screenshots, or scanned images of artwork, a Word document, PowerPoint slide, or even a Spread Sheet and add commentary behind them with their thoughts and ideas as how to incorporate them into their projects. Want to know what else makes this a great application; it’s a time saver! We talk faster than we type. With a scripted document in place, projects can be completed in less than half the time it would take to type it up. I will recommend this program to everyone I know who uses computers and digital photos.


References
Fotobabble, inc. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.fotobabble.com/


Managing people-compensation. (2003). Retrieved from


http://www.businesstown.com/people/compensation-plans.asp


Smith, R. (2010). Three distinct roles define the effective company

president. HVACRBUSINESS, Retrieved from

http://www.hvacrbusiness.com/issue/article/176/three_distinct_roles_

define_the_effective_company_president.aspx