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All are invited to the last Fall 2012 Lunch Time Technology Talk:
Meeting times by location for all talks are:
1:00 pm Hartsdale
1:15 pm Newburgh
12:00 pm Nanuet.
Diigo – Social Bookmarking
Easy to use web page bookmark repository for text, video and pdf’s, engage students in discussion, create private work groups.
www.diigo.com
Tuesday, 11/27 – Hartsdale
Wednesday, 11/28 – Newburgh
Thursday, 11/29 – Nanuet
NOTE: The Lunchtime talk on Open Education Resources and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC’s) was cancelled due to hurricane related issues. A discussion on MOOC’s was presented during the HVC November Center Meeting Tiara Time by Mark Lewis and Linda Treinish. Contact Mark Lewis if you would like to arrange a consultation on possible uses of MOOC’s in your studies.
Contact Mark Lewis for more information.
All are invited to the Fall 2012 Lunch Time Technology Talks:
Meeting times by location for all talks are:
1:00 pm Hartsdale
1:15 pm Newburgh
12:00 pm Nanuet.
Dropbox and other file sharing service
Web 2.0 file sharing services are useful for distributing and collecting files as well as collaborating with colleagues and facilitating student group projects.
www.dropbox.com
Tuesday, 10/2 Hartsdale
Wednesday, 10/3 Newburgh
Thursday, 10/4 Nanuet
Diigo – Social Bookmarking
Easy to use web page bookmark repository for text, video and pdf’s, engage students in discussion, create private work groups.
www.diigo.com
Monday, 10/29 – Newburgh
Tuesday, 10/30 – Hartsdale
Thursday, 11/1 – Nanuet
Open Education Resources
What is new, what has changed and a discussion about recent trends with MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses).
Monday, 11/26 – Newburgh
Tuesday, 11/27 – Hartsdale
Thursday, 11/29 – Nanuet
Contact Mark Lewis for more information.
The following announcements were made at the August 28th center meeting:
SUNY Innovative Instructional Technology Grants
The faculty instructional technologists were awarded an Innovative Instructional Technology Grant from the SUNY Provosts office.
- The project is titled “Supporting the needs of 21st Century Learners: Faculty Development with Tools of Engagement”.
- Anyone that works at the Hudson Valley Center can participate.
- The project involves the development of a module-based blended training program designed to introduce several types of technology tools that have been shown to increase student learning and engagement and emphasize how mentors can incorporate 21st century literacy into teaching.
- The development of instructional materials will be conducted in the Fall 2012 semester, and the roll out will be held in Spring 2013.
- Research using pre and post project assessments and focus groups will be compiled and analyzed and the results of this project will be presented at the SUNY CIT conference in 2013
- Participants who complete one of the four modules in the program will be entered into a drawing to win one of several technology prizes. In addition, faculty and/or staff who complete all of the modules will receive a certificate of completion.
- There will be food and beverages at all face to face meetings and focus groups!
Look for additional announcements on this project during the Fall Terms.
Lunch Time Talk Topics
The lunch time talk series on technology will resume this fall, the exact dates will be confirmed in the next week.
Dropbox and other file sharing service – September
File sharing services are useful for distributing and collecting files as well as collaborating colleagues and facilitating student group projects.
www.dropbox.com
Diigo – Social Bookmarking – October
Easy to use web repository for text, video and pdf’s, engage students in discussion, create private work groups.
www.diigo.com
Open Education Resources – November
What is new, what has changed and a discussion about recent trends with MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), including a first-hand description of what it is like to participate in a MOOC course.
Zotero – December
The free online reference management tool that includes integration with popular word processing programs
www.zotero.org
Elluminate is Now Collaborate
The upgrade to Angel version 8.0 also included an upgrade to Blackboard Collaborate 12 (formally called Elluminate). There is a new easier to use interface, better performance and the ability to create scheduled Collaborate sessions in any Angel study course shell, Community Groups or your Study area including student moderated sessions and archived recorded sessions. Additionally you can still request an Elluminate room independent of Angel.
See the following articles for more information:
Collaborate – How to Request a Room
Elluminate Live Web Conferencing Tool to be Upgraded to Blackboard Collaborate 12
Mobile User Group
There are now a number of center faculty and staff that have iPads, iPhones, Android phones, Nooks, and Kindles. These devices often have similar “apps” available that are useful for productivity, education and entertainment. The Mobile User Group can be a time when everyone can share how they use their mobile device and what “apps” are their favorites and have some fun.
The HVC FIT will be meeting with each location to determine interest in starting a Mobile User Group as well as the best way to facilitate group meetings.
For more information about these announcement:
Contact the HVC Faculty Instructional Technologist (FIT) Mark Lewis at mark.lewis@esc.edu.
If your studies use videos from YouTube you can create a less visually cluttered viewing environment by using one of these tools listed below. Some tools can be used in Angel, while others work better for face-to-face study group meetings.
SafeShare TV
Generates an advertisement and clutter free view for any YouTube video. There are several background options, however, there is no option for switching to full screen mode.
ViewPure
Generates an advertisement and clutter free view that also permits a full screen mode. ViewPure has a toolbar button which can be installed in your browser bookmarks toolbar that makes generating a an advertisement free view a simple one click operation.
QuietTube
QuietTube will provide an advertisement free view for YouTube, BBC iPlayer, Viddler and Vimeo. QuietTube requires the use of a toolbar button. QuietTube supports the creation of a TinyURL.com short URL to send to students or colleagues. Note that QuietTube does not block video suggestions that appear at the end of YouTube and other videos.
TubeChop
TubeChop has an intuitive method for selecting part of a YouTube video. TubeChop will generate a link and an embed code. Note that the link to the edited video does contain advertisements, while the embed code does not. Useful for an edited advertisement free Angel or Commons video.
VideoANT
VideoANT provides the ability to annotate videos with timeline-based text annotations. The annotated videos can be linked to for viewing on the site or embedded in an Angel or Commons page. Instructors can also provide a link to students so that they can add their own annotations.
synchTube
With SynchTube, you can create a private synchonous “room” where you and your students can watch videos and comment in real time. Videos can be paused for a question and answer period.
For more information or assistance using these tools, contact your center Faculty Instructional Technologist.
This past May, I attended the SUNY Conference on Instruction & Technology which is an annual meeting of faculty and technology professionals. The conference includes keynote addresses by SUNY administrators and education technology leaders, vendor exhibits and the chance to attend presentations by SUNY faculty and staff demonstrating innovative uses of instructional technology. The conference highlights below discuss several of the technologies that have possible applications within the Hudson Valley Center.
Vyou.com & Voicethread
Michael Van Etten (Finger Lakes Community College) presented a series of talks on the technology he uses in his language classes. Two of the technologies provide ways for him to create audio/visual databases that students can use to look up an answer or to ask their own question.
Vyou.com is a web-based application that uses a web camera to provide a simple and direct way to interact with students and add instructor “presence” to learning outside the classroom. While you can’t include text or computer screen images, you can use creative visuals such as hand written signs or diagrams or actual objects. The service is free and Vyou videos can be embedded directly into an Angel shell. Michael Van Etten’s site can be found at http://vyou.com/FLCCML and his video feed is embedded above. His notes for the Vyou.com talk are available at: http://goo.gl/W6p1b
Voicethread (http://voicethread.com/) is another free web-based technology (Pro version is $60/year) that allows you to use a variety of media including images, videos, documents, and presentations in an asynchronous conversation. With VoiceThread your students can have conversations and make comments using any combination of text, a microphone, a web cam, a telephone, or uploaded audio file. Voice thread has the following features:
- Can be embedded in Angel
- Keep the students in Angel and use the Angel grade book, works with “pouring”
- Has demo module for student practice
- Can act as an interactive hub that has minimal technical requirements – useful for bringing independent study students togather
- Recordings/comments can be played in sequence
- It meets 501 Accessibility requirements
- Can record audio controlled Powerpoint like presentations
- Not a Youtube crowd – 90% use is by Education
- IF it can be done in an Angel discussion, it can be done in a VoiceThread
- There are privacy options including not being listed on VoiceThread main page
- You can export an entire study thread to back up the class interactions
- There is comment control
Access to a voice thread can be controlled (including the free account) – Van Etten’s Voicetreads for his classes are not shared, however, Penn State has an excellent site (http://voicethread.psu.edu/) for learning more about using Voicethread in your studies. The following resources are excellent starting points:
- Introductory Videos – http://voicethread.psu.edu/voicethread-introduction-tutorials.html
- White Paper – http://tlt.its.psu.edu/hot-team/2009/files/VoiceThread-WP.pdf/at_download/file
- Sample Assessment Rubric – http://voicethread.psu.edu/VoiceThreadRubric.pdf
- Voicethread Notes – Michael Van Etten – - http://goo.gl/O9MV9
Second Life
Susan Miller and Linda Smith from SUNY New Paltz had a very informative presentation on using Second Life (http://secondlife.com/whatis/) for a fully online art class. Students were able to post work in a virtual gallery and conduct synchronous critiques within the virtual gallery.The instructors indicated that the online work retained sufficient information to determine the type of media and the techniques used – this allowed for a full critique of each piece. The final work was mailed to the instructors at the conclusion of the course.
Online Writing Service
Siu Ng and Tara Dolan of Schenectady County Community College talked about their experiences with using an Online Writing Service pilot that used DimDim and then later switched to Elluminate (when DimDim ceased operation). They discussed the potential problems associated with free Web 2.0 services and also talked about student perceptions that face-to-face consultations are more efficient (you can work on the entire paper). Students felt that the online environment works well for focusing on a single issue (citations, problem statements).
Avatars and Student Services
Trista Merrill and Brooke Baker of Finger Lakes Community College discussed how creating an online “Persona” called an Avatar as the face of the writing center online has helped the eliminate stigma associated with asking for assistance. Each person staffing the online center would play the role of the Avatar to present a consistent “personality” or “character” to the students regardless of who was actually “behind the mask”. The service can be used anonymously by students to avoid any stigma and the Avatar prevents the student from possibly encountering someone that they know.
The creation of the Avatar involves making a personality definition, deciding how this “Persona” will react and answer questions and otherwise present a consistent personality. They used a student artist to design the graphic presentation,. A manual on conversational style and how to deal with issues like misuse of the service as a counseling or complaint line was developed.
Finally, there were many other presentations including several presentation by SUNY Empire State College faculty and professionals. Please contact me if you would like a complete listing of the presentations.
What is the Commons?
The Commons (http://commons.esc.edu/) is a growing collection of web sites hosted by Empire State College that have been created using open-source web site publishing software called WordPress. Each commons web site can be used for professional or personal (but not commercial) purposes. Commons sites can be quickly customized and updated, literally with just a few clicks the look of your entire site can be changed. Commons sites are transportable and can be moved to other WordPress sites.
WordPress or Commons sites may sometimes be referred to as “blogs”. The word “blog” is a shorted version of “web log” or to put it another way: web+log=blog. A blog is a special type of web site with “regular” publishing of news or articles and usually includes some way for readers to comment on the articles. Commons sites are very flexible and will allow you to create a traditional web site or a blog site or a combination of the two. The option for reader comments is available for every Commons page, regardless of what “type” of site has been developed.
What can you do with a commons site?
There are a variety of applications for a Commons web site that range from professional or personal web sites to text or audio/visual blogs to sites that have very specific purposes. Commons web sites provide general information, topical news or articles meant to invite discussion or commentary by readers or between the readers and the author. Commons sites be an integral part of a study or provide a service to students. Some examples are listed below:
- Professional web site:
http://commons.esc.edu/chrisrounds/ - Professional web site with study information combined with blog entries:
http://commons.esc.edu/frieda-mendelsohn/ - Direct use in a specific residency:
http://commons.esc.edu/contaminationwaltz/ - Blog site (primarily text) with possible general use in studies:
http://commons.esc.edu/human/ - Blog site (entirely) video to provide information to colleagues:
http://commons.esc.edu/onlinelearningandengagement/ - Tutorial site for students on Information Skills:
http://commons.esc.edu/informationskills/
Additional sites can be found in the Commons site directory located at:
http://commons.esc.edu/faculty-staff-sites/
How do you get started?
After looking over the examples and additional resources (listed below), the first step is to write a short simple plan for what you want to accomplish. The plan can be developed in two 30 minute blocks of time.
First 30 Minutes:
- List the top three goals or objectives, consider how your commons site will address a need that cannot be addressed by another tool or method.
- Describe what your site will include in general terms in about three to five paragraphs. Include descriptions of the information the site will provide or special features or functions – avoid describing visual design or how the site will look.
- Who is the audience? Will the site serve students, colleagues, the public? What will their expectations be for your site?
Second 30 Minutes:
- Review your goals/objectives and description to see if you have any new thoughts or ideas
- Make a Content Inventory that lists the items that you need to include on your site. The list should be specific – examples would include: “Curriculum Vitae”, “List of Studies Taught”, “Portrait Photo (self)”, “”YouTube video of ______” . Note: This is a specific list of items that you want to include on your site, you do not need to have the fully developed or completed items at this time (such as full-text).
- Site Organization (Architecture) – Once you have a list of content, you can organize the content into logical groupings according to the purpose of you site by using an outline:
Outlining – Create an outline that lists all of the content inventory items, group together using different heading levels to identify categories and hierarchies. A web professional rule of thumb is to limit the total number of main categories to a range of 6 to 8 maximum.
“A good hierarchical structure for the Web is one in which information is categorized and content is only a few pages away from the main home page.” (Horton, 2000, p.33)
What if you have more than three goals? Do you need web sites for multiple studies? Would you like a blog, but feel it will detract from your professional information Commons site?
The solution may be to create more than one Commons site. However, creating and maintaining commons sites takes time, therefore creating one site at a time, each with site plan will ensure high quality results for all of your Commons sites. There is no limit to the number of sites you can have!
Working with your Faculty Instructional Technologist (FIT)
Your FIT can help answer questions as you develop your plan. Your FIT can also provide training and technical advice for the process of creating the Commons site. This may include questions related to setting up your commons account, creating a site URL (web address), helping you to choose a theme (visual look) for your site – there are more than 100 choices, working with photographs, videos and links, and adding new content and updating the site.
The Commons and Angel
The Commons is not a replacement for Angel for several reasons including the difficulty in creating and maintaining a roster as well as FERPA related security issues. Any postings by students should be suitable for a potentially public forum and should not contain personal or confidential information.
Getting on the Commons
To create your commons site you will need to:
- Log In (follow instructions carefully)
- Click on the Create a Site Link
- Watch the tutorial videos or schedule an introductory session with your FIT
The Commons is very flexible and keeps an archive of all versions of a page – if you make a mistake, you can roll-back to a previous version. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Additional information and resources:
Commons Site Policy and Acceptable Use Guide
http://commons.esc.edu/about/
Blogging in Higher Education – AT Blog article
http://commons.esc.edu/academic-technologies/2011/03/15/blogging-in-higher-education/
References:
Horton, S. (2000). Web Teaching Guide: A Practical approach to creating course web sites. New Haven: Yale University Press.
What is OpenCourseWare?
OpenCourseWare is defined as course materials that are offered on a web site by a higher education institution to individuals and instructors for free. The concept of OpenCourseWare was initiated in 1999 when Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Faculty examined the most effective ways to use the internet to advance the MIT mission. In 2001, MIT announced that it would make its courses available for free on the internet (http://ocw.mit.edu/about/our-history/). Hundreds of other colleges have joined MIT in offering courses under the OpenCourseWare initiative.
Using OpenCourseWare for Instruction
OpenCourseWare allows mentors to include material in a study that is from scholars and researchers around the world. There is a wide variety of learning resources available, including video lectures, PowerPoint files, PDF text documents as well as interactive multimedia learning objects. Videos can often be embedded directly in an Angel course module page or a commons site. Mentors may also suggest that independent study students incorporate the OpenCourseWare resources as part of their study or learning contract.
Mentors should check an institution’s specific licensing and attribution policies, however, OpenCourseWare is by definition free and openly licensed – many institutions use Creative Commons licensing.
OpenCourseWare is also available on Apple Computer iTunes University and there are several OpenCourseWare “apps” for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad that allow mobile access to materials. The MIT OpenCourseWare LectureHall app is available for the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad. Note: To use iTunes U, you must have iTunes installed on your computer and have an iTunes account – you do not need an iPod touch, iPhone or iPad.
Popular OpenCourseWare Institutions
Free Online Course Materials | MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT offers over 2000 courses. The course directories indicate what type of material is available for each course including: lecture notes, exams, online texts, image galleries, multimedia and videos.
Open Learning Initiative – Carnegie Mellon
The Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative (OLI) offers a variety of courses that are available to individuals, students and instructors. A key component of these OLI courses is the use of learning theory and instructional design principles to provide an interactive learning experience that also gives feedback to the students, instructors using the course materials in classes, the course designers and researchers.
http://oli.web.cmu.edu/openlearning
Online Video Lectures and Course Materials – Open Yale Courses
Yale offers lectures recorded in the Yale College classroom and they are available in video, audio, and text transcript format. Syllabus and other course materials may also be available for download.
Open Learning – OpenLearn – Open University
The Open University OpenLearn courses use the same materials that are used by registered student taking Open University classes. There are over 500 study units from 12 subject areas. Study units can take from 1-50 hours to complete and are available from introductory to postgraduate level. Each has learning outcomes, and many have activities and sample answers and provide opportunities to connect with other learners online.
http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn
Stanford on iTunes University
Stanford offers a wide range of audio/visual materials for free, however an itunes account and software is necessary to access the material. iTunes can be used as a stand-alone software package on a computer to view materials – an iPod touch, iPhone or iPad is not required.
Finding OpenCourseWare
With thousands of courses offered by hundreds of colleges and universities the use of search tools is a necessity. The following selection of search tools each has unique resources available on their site.
OCW Consortium
The OpenCourseWare Consortium has more than 200 members from around the world offering courses in more than a dozen languages. The site provides search options for member courseware sites.
Open Culture
Open culture is a resource to find free cultural and educational media on the web. The site includes OpenCourseWare as well as audio books, podcasts and movies.
Commonwealth of Learning – OpenCourseWare and OERs
The Commonwealth of Learning has Google and Yahoo custom searches for OpenCourseWare. The site also provide helpful search suggestions.
http://www.col.org/resources/crsMaterials/Pages/OCW-OER.aspx
Einztein – Find free online university courses
The Einztein site offers an easy to use search interface that includes options for narrowing a search.