Center for Technology Enhanced Learning

A recent video on T4LT (tech for learn teach) about flipped classrooms mentioned these apps:

• ShowMe FREE!!Create videos of any length, and share (or not) from free hosting server.
• DOCERI - free iPad app with free demo, but eventually costs $100 for desktop application. Worth exploring. Read the reviews.
• Educreations’ Interactive Whiteboard - also FREE!! with free hosting and sharing from Educreations.com

This article from Faculty Focus speaks to the need for faculty to address the possible lack of a disposition to succeed by fostering awareness and valuing of these dispositions in courses from day one.

It is the motivation to pursue excellence, a work ethic that reflects the determination to solve problems, the attention to the smallest details, and the desire to be the very best that distinguishes students who make a difference in their given professions.

 

Four new recorded webinars have recently been added to the library:

• Five Strategies to Engage Today’s Students
• Best Practices for Designing Successful Blended Courses
• Learner-Centered Technology: Aligning Tools with Learning Goals
• In 30 Minutes: A Prior Learning Assessment Primer

Time is running out on our one year campus license to this remarkable resource. If you have not yet subscribed to Magna Commons, please see our website for information on how to log in. This resource holds hundreds of recorded webinars offered through Sloan’s Magna Commons. You can access them anywhere anytime until our license expires. If enough of our faculty and staff take advantage of this license, we MAY be able to extend it.

Please see our email to the Online Faculty List, or contact Robin Russell (x4077)  for USM’s authorization code which is needed the first time you log into the resource.

The Faculty Focus Article of May 2 , by Maryellen Weimer, PhD, talks about the value of using mind-mapping or concept mapping in designing your syllabus. The process helps faculty to keep the interconnectedness of the materials in mind while designing their courses and helps students understand the relation of course objectives to content. Dr. Weimer also talks about the value of mapping the connections between content in related, sequenced courses.

If you were intrigued by Jeff Beaudry’s presentation at the Eye on Technology Showcase, this is a good extension of that thinking.

Flipping the classroom has quickly becoming a hot button topic in education.  Have you ever thought about it?  Ever heard of it?

I would like to point you to Salman Khan’s (founder of Khan Academy) TED talk “Let’s use video to reinvent education” for a great introduction to the idea.  Khan Academy has quickly grown into a not-for-profit organization that provides a wide array of video topics which learners are accessing at an alarming rate.  Adult learners are finding that it is useful to reinforce a topic prior to returning to school.

TED talks have produced numerous videos on their site, but they have since expanded to launch TED-Ed.  This is where flipping the classroom becomes fun.  You can take any TED, TEDx or YouTube video and flip it!  Ask targeted quick quick questions, engage students into deeper thought with short answer questions, and allow them to dig deeper on the topic by posting resources that relate to the topic.  Check it out!  Take the tour!

-Shane

Are you looking for a quick and simple way to record your screen?  Look no further….Screencast-O-Matic is for you!

Screencast-O-Matic allows the user to record up to 15 minutes of audio & video right from the online tool.  You’re given the option of preset screen capture sizes, multiple export options as well as a hosting service…for FREE!  If you are a more advanced user, you can purchase a Pro license for $12 per year with no maximum recording limit set, and a host of other features like editing tools.

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

Window of availability for USM is 4/27-5/11.

Instructors in fully online courses can use the following information provided by University College, to direct students to their course evaluations:
Important Assignment!  One of your responsibilities, as a participant in this course, is to spend a few minutes filling out a course evaluation at www.maine.edu/crseval.  This is a secure site.  When you visit the site, you will be asked to enter your MaineStreet login (ex: john.doe) and password.  Be assured that when you submit your evaluation form, your answers will be separated from your ID and will be used to generate an aggregate report, only, of everyone’s responses.  Your ID is used solely to make sure that you have access to the correct course(s), and that you fill out one form, only, per course.  If you have questions, please call University College Learning Services at 1-800-868-7000 for assistance.

There is also an option for you to request online course evaluations if you are teaching a blended course, ITV or videoconferencing course. Contact Heidi McDonald at University Learning Services to request that.

How do you easily hold virtual office hours? How do you have a meeting with a student or a colleague when they/you can not physically get to campus?

The CTEL staff and their faculty assistants have used this space in the past to talk about the possibility of ‘virtual meetings’: spaces where you go online to have a meeting when you can’t physically be there. These include things like FreeConferenceCall.com, Blackboard Collaborate (FKA Elluminate), as well as Skype, Facetime and the one all of the students, staff, and faculty have access to right from their email web interface if they choose to use it, Google Chat.  One feature all of these have in common is the requirement for a login and a ‘co-acceptance’ by the parties involved (ie. Everyone needs to be on the same platform, usernames have to be shared, there has to be buy-in, so to speak.)

This co-acceptance model can be a hard sell for many due to the variety in “tech-savviness” and tolerance for what I like to call the ‘fiddletude’ of programs.

Enter Meetings.io .    This is a Flash based website that requires no log in, no username, accesses the installed camera and microphone drivers on most systems and allows for a fast way to have a meeting virtually (free version also can have 5 different connectors I hear).

You create a meeting space with a click of a button:

The server will assign you a meeting room and give you a very simple URL you mail, IM or phone to your co-participants.   Then the program will load using the Adobe Flash player that is the plug-in in most modern browsers (sorry iOS users, but you have Facetime… so..).  At this step there may be a few ‘do you wanna do this?’ check off boxes to enable you to use your mic and cam and start a peer-to-peer session. At that point you are in the meeting space:

The sound is decent even with normal built in mic options and camera is completely optional, but for a fast simple virtual presence that allows you  to hold virtual office hours or ‘phone it in’ for a meeting at a remote location, it really doesn’t get much simpler in terms of software setups. (ie. There is none!)  Now, regardless of the “tech-savvyness” of your colleagues, you or your students, if you can click a link, you can have a virtual office space.

After another successful Eye on Technology showcase on April 6, I contacted presenters for presentations.  In this blog entry, you will find six presentations that faculty approved for posting and sharing.  Please click on the topic title to view the presentation.  You will be able to download (if you wish) by choosing “File -> Download As” from the Google Docs Viewer.

Recording with Camtasia – Bob Boothe
Service Learning – Betty Robinson, Heidi Gage
iPad vs Laptop – Prashant Mittal
Using iPads to Connect Face-to-Face Class to Online Class – Maureen Ebben, Julien Murphy, Glenn Wilson
Xtranormal Animation Software in the Writing Classroom – Joe Hessert
Sloan-C Certificate Program – Sharon Timberlake

Blackboard is offering a FREE course with open enrollment beginning this coming Monday, April 23.  The course runs for 5 wks, April 30 – June 4.  For more information, please see the following open enrollment announcement.

****************
Course Title: Instructional Ideas and Technology Tools for Online Success

Description: Motivating students and creating community within blended and online learning environments is crucial to academic achievement and success. This open course will provide both theoretical concepts and practical tools for instructors to improve motivation, retention, and engagement within blended and online courses.

Course Objectives:
· Identify and apply relevant motivational strategies and instructional techniques
· Construct thinking skill options for different types of learners and subjects
· Design and share innovative thinking skill activities as well as unique cooperative learning
· Map and apply instructional models and ideas to online learning tools

Enrollment: Open Enrollment begins Monday April 23, 2012. Please fill out the interest form to learn more. (http://events.blackboard.com/open)
Course Duration:  April 30th- June 4th ( A total of 5 weeks)

About Dr. Curtis Bonk:  Curt Bonk is Professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University and President of CourseShare. Drawing on his background as a corporate controller, CPA, educational psychologist, and instructional technologist, Bonk offers unique insights into the intersection of business, education, psychology, and technology. A well-known authority on emerging technologies for learning, Bonk reflects on his speaking experiences around the world in his popular blog, TravelinEdMan. He has coauthored several widely used technology books, including The World is Open, Empowering Online Learning, The Handbook of Blended Learning, and Electronic Collaborators.

****************
Scott Kimball, CTEL Course Designer, has had the pleasure of listening to Curt Bank present in person a couple of times and mentioned that he’s a very engaging presenter.  This course is well worth checking out!