Easy Podcasting

In distance learning, students love to hear their professors' voices. It helps them connect to the instructor, when they don't sit in the classroom with them.

One easy way to do this, is to record podcasts for your class announcements and weekly wrap-ups. My new favorite free podcast tool is called "Cinch". You can create an account at http://cinch.fm. What's great about Cinch is that you can create a different folder for each of your classes. You can record from your computer, OR make a phone call! You can even record and manage the podcasts with their Iphone App. It works like Twitter, and you can place a 'feed' on your Moodle coursepages, so students can easily listen to your last podcasts.

This is how it looks on our coursepages! (see left side)

XBox Kinect and 'Best Practices' for Student Learning

If you want to better understand how to redesign your courses for future students, you need to play Dance Central 2 on the XBox Kinect. Here's why:

1. Personal Learning plans for students with a wide variety of experience levels
2. Intermediate 'assessments' that reward and encourage in a safe environment
3. Information is presented in a variety of ways to allow students to build skills they need, and skip those they have already mastered
4. Collaborative learning environments both face-to-face and virtual.
5. Fun and creative ways to practice skills combining music and visually appealing graphics

There is a lot of information on Game-based learning and Gesture-based computing, but I believe that just playing Dance Central for 30 minutes will help you understand these theories much better.

Building Rubrics

I'm always saying how a rubric can help eliminate arguments with your students about grades, because it helps them understand why they received the grade. I also believe in posting the rubric before a project, to clarify what your expectations are for students.

I saw this really fun online tool for creating rubrics. Yes, it is geared toward K-12 grades, but it works well, and sets up a nice format. The website is called Recipes4Success and the link is: http://recipes.tech4learning.com/index.php?v=pl&page_ac=view&type=tools&tool=rubricmaker

There are templates you can use, or you can create a custom rubric. Enjoy!

What Students Want

Recently I read through a study submitted to the Sloan-C Conference by Ellen Smyth about student perceptions of what makes a good professor. I put out the same questions to our Thunderbird students, and received this response: Thunderbird Survey Results


Our students claim that because they are working full time, with families and other responsibilities, the organization and structure of a course are vital to their success. They also feel that feedback is critical by citing Communicative and Responsive in the top 5.


Here are some tips to improve in those areas:

For Organization

• Make informaiton available in multiple spots, as well as your syllabus


• Make sure the information is consistent in the multiple spots


• Don't clutter coursepages with too many links


• Focus on naming conventions for files. Make sure it is something students understand, not just what you named it for your computer.

For Feedback:

• check forums and emails daily, respond quickly


• use audio and video feedback to reach students on assignment feedback (students love to hear your voice!)


• use first names, and let students know when they've done well


• get outside sources to give additional feedback, don't forget about peer feedback


• Don't just give a 'score', it will only frustrate students. They need to understand how that score was given. Use a rubric if you don't have time for detailed feedback.

Twitter in Moodle

We just added a Twitter feed into our Moodle coursepage for Global Enterprise class, and the students really liked it. It was simple to do. Just go to www.twitter.com/goodies/widgets, and get the code for embedding a specific Twitter account. You can use a professor's personal Twitter account, or a more general one on a specific topic that's appropriate to your class.

Then go into Moodle, and add an HTML box, and paste in the code. It looks really nice, can be color-coordinated with the design of the page, and it is a great resource for students.

Fun Announcements

One of my colleagues showed me this website, and it was so much fun, I had to share it!

Corkboard.me is a shareable bulletin board that allows anyone to put up post-it notes. The website will give you a link that will be your own personal corkboard. You can share the link, or embed it into a website. I did notice that it didn't work well with IE7, but worked perfectly with Firefox.

I linked it into our Moodle LMS, and thought it looked good (see image). I'm thinking of using it to remind students about coming exams, filling out their evaluations, and letting them know about new additions on the coursepage. The students can also create one, and post reminders about the team projects, or just a 'quote of the day' for some social interaction.

Student Suggestions for Online Teams

Recently, we had some of our new graduates talk to our Thunderbird faculty about their experiences with online group projects. They had some interesting comments, and I thought I would share them with you:

• The ideal virtual team size is 3-5 students (Shorter projects = smaller teams)


• Give specific guidelines to teams at beginning of class that include responsibilities, grading rubrics, and technology


• Require teams make initial post early in the week (Wednesday) to make sure discussions aren’t last minute


• Make the Peer Evaluation worth a significant part of the grade


• Consider doing a Peer evaluation at the midpoint of the assignment to determine whether everyone is involved.


• Create a process that will allow a team to ‘fire’ a member that isn’t participating


• Grade inflation and giving every post 100% does not encourage discussion


• Consider forming teams by having students select specific topics they are interested in


• Have more emphasis and training on team building during orientation sessions

Some of these ideas are just common sense, but it's a good checklist for any online group assignments you may considering.

QR Codes for education

Recently I heard about an interesting technology being used in K12 education. QR Codes are those little black and white squares that can be scanned like a bar code by your smart phone.

There have been some fascinating cases using QR codes and cell phones to increase student retention of material. My favorite was an example of a language professor that typed a list of typical Spanish phrases on a handout, and next to each word she put a QR Code. When the student scanned the code, there was an audio file that said the phrase, making it easy for students to practice the correct pronounciation. Another great example is how QR Codes are being used in art galleries to allow people to scan for more information on an artwork, artist, or even a link to a website.

Take some time to think about how to use it in your classroom or your webpages. I've used it to let students scan contact information directly into their phones during orientation sessions, and for quick links to tutorial videos in training sessions.

Here's an example:

Micro-lectures

In the Thunderbird distance programs, we emphasize what we call 'lecturettes'. These are short (15 minute) lecture videos on specific topics. They force the professor to really focus on content, and leave out information that doesn't directly relate. Stories, examples and additional information can be put into a 'conversation' in the class discussion forums.

This article in Smart Classroom, Teaching in One Minute Snippets, talks about 60 second 'micro lectures', and might be an option for those faculty that have content that needs to be updated regularly. A short lecture is by it's nature easier to update with new data, and would take much less time than re-recording an 30 minute video. It's worth a look!

Moodle

Okay, sometimes Moodle can be overwhelming to explain to someone that hasn't used an LMS before. I thought this video did a great job helping teachers understand the power that Moodle can add to a classroom. It's even fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XPZl6LLvik&feature=player_embedded

VoiceThread Technology

Voicethread is a technology that allows faculty to post a video, image or PowerPoint slides and a short narration about it. Then students can watch the narration, and make audio comments, or questions. It also has a nice feature that allows students to draw on the slide or image to better illustrate their comment.

The advantages are that it allows students to ask questions and make comments while listening to the video, rather than watching a video, and then going into their LMS to post a comment in a forum.

The disadvantage is that when a professor posts something, the students have to create a VoiceThread account in order to view and comment. There is a free account, but to fully utilize all the features, there are subscription costs.

To see my sample, Click Here.

To read a recent post by Dr. John Orlando for Faculty Focus on Using VoiceThread in Online Discusions, Click Here.

Light-hearted look at Plagiarism

This is a short, funny video about the consequences of plagiarism put out by the University of Bergen in Norway. (It is subtitled, and a little bit 'suggestive' sexually, but has a good message for college students who consider cheating)

A Plagiarism Carol

Guest Speakers in DL Classes

The world truly is a smaller place. Our students know it. Students can speak with experts in any industry or cultural group through the use of social media. They feel comfortable emailing, SKYPE-ing or following a Twitter thread to find expert opinions, and often find those 'experts' willing to return answers to their questions.

Faculty need to realize how easy it is to bring someone from the business world into their virtual classrooms. Instructors need to take advantage of that instant communication, and help students be able to evaluate those 'expert' opinions. What kind of experts can you bring int? Really anyone is an option from authors of books, CEOs or staff from large corporations, Faculty from other institutions. Here's some ideas:

To bring in a guest speaker to a virtual classroom:

• 
  Use recorded videos from You Tube or Big Think (don't just post it, force students to discuss it)


• Add a guest to a weekly discussion board to add to conversations


• Invite students to join an Adobe Connect classroom with a speaker once or twice during a term


• Ask outside 'experts' to review a short student submitted paper on a topic and give feedback to a group of students. (maybe have them choose the best)

Get students involved by:

• Having them locate an expert, and interview them in a 'webinar' type of project


• Post a video of an 'expert' on an issue, then assign groups to write/research other perspectives that dispute that expert, and present that material.


• Get librarians involved to help students formulate a process for critically evaluating information, and understanding what is valid, and what isn't.

Opening up your virtual classroom to outside experts gets students motivated to learn a topic, and gives them feedback from a variety of sources.

Grading 'Sloppy' Papers

I often hear faculty complain that students don't even do a simple spell check before turning in a project or paper. Dr. Douglas Eder from Southern Illinois University shared with me a solution that he posts in his syllabus. He says that it only takes a student one returned paper to convince them to be more careful with the next. It is called the Fatal Error List.

A Fatal Error List
1. Each different word misspelled
2. Each sentence fragment
3. Each run-on sentence or comma splice
4. Each mistake in capitalization
5. Each serious mistake in punctuation that obscures the meaning
6. Each error in verb tense or subject/verb agreement
7. Lack of conformity with assigned format
8. Each improper citation, or lack of citation, where one is needed

Papers with more than 3 Fatal Errors marked by a professor on any 1 page, will be returned to the student. Students are allowed 1 resubmit within 24 hours, and grade will be lowered by 1 grade.

Your list might be different and could include other things. You might have different consequences. But, start from the beginning with clear and specific expectations, so students know how to succeed in your class.

The New Age of Cheating

Gone are those old excuses of hungry dogs, dead relatives, and being deathly ill....
Now The Chronicle comes out with a new excuse, "My paper was stolen by an essay mill!"

I was working with a professor earlier this week, and she asked me if I felt plagiarism was a problem. I said 'most definitely'. Every professor should be, at least, running a sample of student papers through 'Turnitin' on every assignment. I personally prefer to have students do it themselves, as I see it as a 'teachable moment'. This professor was shocked when I said I had found the complete assignment for another professor and course on the web, for free. (I didn't mention that there were half a dozen other assignments for about $20 through the various cheat houses like Echeat, Fratfiles, and CheatHouse)

Professors need to be aware of these easy options to students and combat it by taking time to build more unique and personalized assignments. Curt Bonk's books have a number of great resources on this idea. MBA students should have personal experiences to draw on for papers, and be required to include those specialized bits of information not covered in a general, off-the-shelf essay.

Tegrity Recording

Thunderbird's distance learning programs use Tegrity recordings extensively in all our courses. We generally recommend short (less than 20 minute clips) for each week of classes. Classes generally have 1-4 Tegrity session per week. Most are pre-recorded, and include an overview of the week's assignments, topics, and lecture content. We also have 'technical' sessions for some classes to show the steps for working through a problem, or developing a spreadsheet.

Finally, many professors do a 'spontaneous' Tegrity session to wrap up the week's events, and provide feedback to the students on their case discussions. These recordings are done from wherever the professor is located, and sometimes include airport terminals, or vacation spots with family. I think they add a lot to the personal connection between faculty and students.

Recently, we've also added the feature to allow students to record online presentations for their classes.

Tegrity is holding a number of webinars on incorporating the technology into distance courses. You can sign up here.

Educause Conference

Whenever I am starting to feel burned out, I find that attending a conference (virtual or live) inspires me to keep working toward our goals of having a great distance learning program. Last week, I attended a virtual conference with Educause. One of the great things about virtual conferences, is you can see most of the presentations again, or if you have a conflict, you can watch them later.

I watched this presentation live on Getting our Values Around Copyright Right, and I thought it was fantastic for a number of reasons. One, it really did help me understand how educators could use materials and question some of the ridiculous rules around 'fair use'. Secondly, it was one of the best lectures with PowerPoint that I have ever seen. Too often we dismiss PowerPoint as the death of a classroom, with little interaction or interest. Here you can see how it should be used, as an emphasis to what the presenter is showing, not a distraction or a bore. Enjoy!

InSync Training

InSync offers free online trainings through WebEx sessions. Take a look at the link and see if there is something that you find interesting. They have several sessions on adult learning, effective assessments, and e-learning. Also, if you cannot attend the live session, there are links to recordings of some of them.

YUDU Publishing

YUDU.com is an ePublishing library & marketplace that helps you create, enhance, share, promote and sell digital publications with the world.

Share your interests and expertise with the world.

Find interesting digital documents, magazines and ebooks - many for free and others that you can buy - and save them to your own free library. Add photos and music and bookmark your favorite websites. Start an Interest Group to share your passions and expertise or create a private group online for your club or class. Invite friends and other users to join your group and allow them to add relevant content of interest.

Be your own Publisher.

Upload your Word, Powerpoint and PDF files and convert them automatically into page-turning digital editions, ebooks, ezines and e catalogues which are hosted by YUDU for free. Add YouTube videos and other multimedia with a Plus account. Keep your publications private or share them with the world - YUDU publications are searchable by Google, Yahoo and others. Self-publishing with YUDU is quick and easy!

In addition, upload podcasts, MP3 and photos and bookmark your favourite websites with thumbnail screenshots, so you can remember them easily and encourage others to view them. Organize your published items within albums in your library and promote your digital content on your own site via embedded libraries or embedded single digital publications.

Carbon Neutral Publishing

It's not difficult to imagine the environmental benefits of publishing online with YUDU. Their system was designed with energy efficiency in mind. Each page has the lowest electronic footprint possible, whilst maintaining the highest quality viewing experience - YUDU publications use very little energy.

Use Jing for a variety of things!

I've been playing with a product called Jing. It allows you to make videos that capture your desktop with audio. It's free, easy to use, and allows you to create 5 minute videos. You can then send students links to the videos, or embed them into your coursepages or webpages.

Typically, a professor would use this product for recording content. It's good for showing step-by-step processes. Here's some other ideas that you might not have thought about...

• Have students record a short presentations on the key insights of an article they are reading this week. They can easily share the links in their discussion boards and forums.
• If students don't understand how to work a problem in Excel, have them send you a video, showing them working through it, and you'll be able to see exactly what they are doing wrong. (or right!)
• Rather than having students send an excel file with their answers to a test, have them actually record a video solving a single problem on the test.
• Give students audio feedback on assignments, rather than typing in everything you want to say.

Here's a sample video, so you can see how it looks: http://www.screencast.com/t/6N8TzVsas4