Found this video from Youtube that says a lot about how to use technology in the classroom:
Mar
8
2010
Good and Bad Use of Videos Posted by Berlin Fang
Does any of these sound familiar? Youtube, Vimeo, Academic Earth, Youtube Edu, TeacherTube, iCue, Hulu, LinkTV, FloraTV?
You are probably using these daily, but have you considered including some videos in your class (online or in the classroom)? Here are some advice been given by Dr. Bonk and participants in a recent workshop held at the Heartland e-learning Conference held at the University of Central Oklahoma:
Good uses:
- Use videos as supplemental materials;
- Use videos as discussion starters;
- Use videos as ”vaults”, repositories of reusable teaching content;
- Use videos as discussion starters (bringing it all together);
- Use videos to improve memory (something you want students to learn till they get it);
- Use videos of experts students would otherwise be unable to “meet”;
- Use videos as an “add-on”;
- Use videos in a “mix” in a flexible combination of learning objects;
- Use videos as “advanced organizers” to structure a discussion;
- Use videos for “pause and reflect” during your teaching process;
- Use some “summary” videos to end a teaching session (to sustain interest);
- Use “pro and con” videos to present two sides of the argument to promote critical thinking;
- Use videos for healthy competitions;
- Ask students to find, share or even create relevant videos before class meetings.
Bad uses:
- Irrelevant uses;
- Overuse;
- Using videos of poor quality;
- Using videos that are too long;
- Risking copyright violations;
- Having limited time for use (showing a 10-minute videos when you have only 2 minute left);
- Not watching a video yourself before releasing it to students;
- Using video as “babysitter” (use it because you cannot be there to teach the same content);
- Including automatically generated “related” videos that may not be relevant at all.
Also, try to post some of your own videos, if you don’t mind the potential risk of becoming a “Professor Celebrity”.
Aug
26
2009
How to convert footnote and endnote Posted by Berlin Fang
The bibliography application we have is called ENDNOTE, which is used mainly to add and manage research references in various academic styles (such as APA, MLA). It helps you to add a reference in the paper you write, but this is not necessarily the same with the “footnote” or “endnote” you sometimes have in addition to such references or bibliography. They could be the same in some styles, though.
You can add footnotes or endnotesrather easily in Word, and convert footnotes to endnotes or the other way around, provided you have added these notes using Word’s automatic footnote insertion function. Here is a short tutorial on how to do this. Once you click on this link, you will see the North Institute iTunesU page on which this tutorial will be selected. Double click on it to play. Also, you are more than welcome to subscribe to this podcast so that similar tutorials like this can be fed into your iTunes.
As mentioned in the tutorial, using hotkey combinations would make it easy to add such notes:
- For Mac, press Command + Alt (Options) + F to add footnote;
- For Windows, press Ctrl + Alt + F to add footnotes.
Please give it a try and let me know if this will work.
Aug
7
2009
Dr. O’Neal on Online Teaching Posted by Berlin Fang
We recently invited Dr. O’Neal to share with us his thoughts on distance education at Oklahoma Christian University. In this talk he discussed why it is important to have online teaching, how it could extend our mission, and some faculty members who are already very innovative in bringing technology into teaching. Thanks to Dr. O’Neal for sharing!
Dr. O’Neal’s Speech on Online Teaching from North Institute on Vimeo.
Jul
31
2009
Twitter in the Classroom Posted by Berlin Fang
If Blackboard does not improve its chat room functions, more of the following will happen (Thanks to Ann White for sharing the video):
Mar
30
2009
Time Signups Posted by Spencer Goad
Looking for an easy way to allow your students to signup for an advising time slot? You should take a look at our Signup application. Signup can be used for any situation where you need people to be able to sign up for time slots that you make available. This could be advising sessions, presentation days, project checkups, or anything else that requires people to signup for a time or day. The Signup application is available for use by anyone on the OC campus, faculty/staff and students alike. Find out more about it via the links below -
Mar
25
2009
Video Lecture (II): What is the ideal length of your video? Posted by Berlin Fang
When producing an instructional video, one would inevitably come to this question: how long should a video lecture be?
Why you wouldn’t want a 45-minute video lecture?
It is usually not a good idea to provide a mirror image of a full-length, exact replication of classroom lecture online. There are several reasons why this is not a good option. First, it takes too long to upload and download; Second, it is usually rather difficult for learners to navigate for the specific information in the lecture. Third, digital copies of a lecture would increase class absenteeism for students would watch the lecture video without having to go the classroom. Last but not least, it is technically risky to take a mirror image of your entire lecture online. For instance, you broadcast a 45-minute lecture but at the 40 minute your computer crashes. Crying a little may help, but then what?
What are the determining factors?
Answers to the question of the ideal length involves considerations of student attention span, type of lecture content, file size (that have implication for download speed, etc), ease of navigation, software availability, support resources, storage, bandwidth, network connectivity, and the pedagogy you use in teaching. These all vary with the individual producing the lecture video and the individuals on the receiving end.
In an article about learning object, Professor Harvey of Athabasca University (Canada’s Open University) emphasizes the need to relate the size (length) to instructional design considerations, which all boils down to the golden rule of instructional design: “it all depends.” In this article, Harvey says that the size of the length is determined by “its reusability weighed against the applicability of the LO [learning object] in the instructional context. “ He said it is also possible to aggregate smaller videos into larger ones though doing so may require additional monetary or human resources(Harvey, 2005). However, doing it the other way around (cutting down long videos into shorter ones) is harder unless the user is rather sophisticated in video editing technologies.
How to break a lecture down in minutes?
Most people advocate shorter, granular video clips produced around specific topics. The granular items can come through any of the following channels:
- Competency analysis;
- Task analysis;
- Learning objectives analysis;
- Subject matter analysis;
- Other methods of topical analysis
Is it possible to breakdown a web of concepts, skills, knowledge or attitudes into smaller units? Sure we can, just as we can break a book into chapters, and chapters into sections, and sections into sub-sections. In a classroom lecture, it is a flow of words that consist of instructional topics, clarifications, feedback, discussions, improvised jokes and what not, but if you really look hard at it, much of the content can be separated into discreet units without losing the quality of the teaching or learning experience. It just forces one to reflect on another method for presenting the content. If it is not possible to separate components of a lecture into smaller units, then we should all forget about PowerPoint, which is a combination of specific slides.
What is the normal length of online video clips?
If we can separate content into smaller units, how long should it be? According to Cultural Anthropology scholar Professor Wesch of Kansas State University, the average length of YouTube video is 2 minutes 46.17 seconds (Wesch, 2008) (Source) . It looks like that the norm of online videos are within three minutes. There are some that advocate one-minute mini-lectures as I have shown in an earlier post. However, the availability of ubiquitous high-speed internet connection on campus may make it possible to have a somewhat longer video, for instance, a 50 minute video can be broken down into several 10 or 15 minute ones. The sum may end up being larger than the total of these parts if some of the otherwise classroom activities can be moved online in alternative formats. For instance, some of the discussions can become asynchronous forums while much of the lecturing part becomes video lectures.
When it makes sense to have longer clips?
There are also people who advocate longer video clips. Certain content, such as a speech, deserve to be broadcasted in full because of the close interconnectedness of topics, which may be hard to separate. By the way, who would like to see a basketball game video being cut out into many smaller units? (But then again, there are those game highlights you can purchase for 99 cents.) According to Will Dick of Wikinomics, Obama attracts more viewers during the 2008 Campaign because of his longer videos. As a matter of fact, his videos over 20 minutes attract the greatest number of views. The reason, according to the author, is because people go to Youtube to see more insights that the 5 minutes of CNN coverage may not provide. But please note that these may not be “instructional videos”.
This post is getting too long in itself. So I’d better stop by asking you to think: What’s your idea of the appropriate size for your lecture?
References:
Harvey, B. (2005). Learning Objects and Instructional Design. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 6(2), 1-6.
Mar
6
2009
Hide Courses on Blackboard Posted by Spencer Goad
Are you bothered by all of your old classes showing up in Blackboard? If so, take a look at this quick tutorial video to learn how to hide old courses from your “My Courses” listing.
The steps are simple - 1. Click the small pencil “edit” icon by MyCourses 2. Uncheck the “Display Course Name” box for the courses you want to hide 3. Click “Submit” and then “Ok.”
Feb
3
2009
Using Course Media Manager Posted by Spencer Goad
Course Media Manager is one of the easiest ways to manage and share media files in your Blackboard courses (and with students on their iDevices). If you are still looking to get started with this tool, take a look at this video tutorial. If you aren’t sure if Course Media Manager is the right tool for you, try following the guidelines in this old post by clicking here.
Jan
30
2009
Using Podcast Capture Posted by Luke Hartman
The best way to create video or audio files for students is through Podcast Producer. Podcast Producer lets you record your screen (which could contain PowerPoint, website, etc.), your face (through the MacBook’s camera), just audio, or a video file. These files are then given to workflows that can post them to iTunes U or make them available for students in other ways. Students can view these files on their laptops or sync them with the iPhones or iPod touches for portable learning.
View Podcast Capture tutorial video.
Here is a review of the simple steps for creating a video (follow after you have viewed the tutorial) -
- Open Podcast Capture (It is found in Applications->Utilities)
- Login with your username/password (Server name: abimelech.oc.edu)
- Click on Video
- Click the red camera button to begin recording
- Click pause to stop
- Click publish
- Choose your course from the workflow menu
- Give it a name
- Click Done
If you would like a workflow to process your files or if you would like more information about Podcast Producer, please contact the North Institute.