This is evoca.com's audio posting. The quality seems better, but in fairness, I was out of the wind. The procedure for posting is simple: call, record and hang up when you're done, return to your computer and click a button to post to blog. There might be a way to have this automatically post to a blog, but I haven't seen it yet. There is code provided so you can post the audio directly into your WebCT or HTML page.
3.20.2006
evoca
This is evoca.com's audio posting. The quality seems better, but in fairness, I was out of the wind. The procedure for posting is simple: call, record and hang up when you're done, return to your computer and click a button to post to blog. There might be a way to have this automatically post to a blog, but I haven't seen it yet. There is code provided so you can post the audio directly into your WebCT or HTML page.
3.08.2006
google video
Google has partnered with the US National Archives to begin offering video online. Nice. Another powerful resource for educators and those who seek to learn. And personally, I find other video offerings within google interesting as well... particularly the old commercial and education videos.
2.17.2006
Learner Satisfaction
I returned from Savannah, GA this week. I was attending the ITC e-Learning Conference. Both the conference and Savannah were fantastic. This topic seemed to recur in many sessions. And in many sessions presenters were quick to point to statistics that learners are not very appreciative of peer-to-peer collaborative assignments. Other stats seem to show that a majority of online students claim community is not very important to their learning.
I think these stats are mis-guided. I am not doubting that learners dislike being forced onto discussion boards and pushed into groups to produce reports. I am not doubting learners find these activities more wasteful than educational. I am quickly annoyed in courses I have taken with the post once, respond twice routine. This is forced conversation! Do you ever take the time in your F2F class to ask everyone for their answer and respond to two student answers? No, there isn't time for one, and more importantly the idea that everyone's voice is necessary on any given topic is a bit mis-guided.
So, pay no attention to claims that students do not like community. Instead focus your attention on how to better create thought provoking prompts for learners. And allow community to form more naturally. Remove the classroom picture from your head! The online structure is different.
*steps down from soapbox*
I think these stats are mis-guided. I am not doubting that learners dislike being forced onto discussion boards and pushed into groups to produce reports. I am not doubting learners find these activities more wasteful than educational. I am quickly annoyed in courses I have taken with the post once, respond twice routine. This is forced conversation! Do you ever take the time in your F2F class to ask everyone for their answer and respond to two student answers? No, there isn't time for one, and more importantly the idea that everyone's voice is necessary on any given topic is a bit mis-guided.
So, pay no attention to claims that students do not like community. Instead focus your attention on how to better create thought provoking prompts for learners. And allow community to form more naturally. Remove the classroom picture from your head! The online structure is different.
*steps down from soapbox*
2.08.2006
Learn Sth New
An instructor asked me today how to allow students to see results of only certain quizzes in WebCT while not giving them access to the entire list of Quizzes they have yet to take. I replied I didn't really think it was possible as any quiz tool will lead to the same page housing ALL quizzes.But then I was curious so I poked around on Ask Dr. C and found a javascript hack that loads specific quiz results... pretty slick, but not very user friendly (see script below).
I figured my search was over, but when I thought about it I realized I never had any reason in my courses to even try to add more than one quiz tool. So I wanted to see what it would do. It did just what I thought it would do. Created two quiz tool icons pointing to the same quiz listing page. But here is where it got interesting. I noticed a little field I had not seen before. It's in the picture above. That little Quiz listing section. The Select button let's the designer choose which quizzes or surveys to display on the linked quiz page. How cool is that!? Why didn't I know about this sooner?
Here is the javascript hack if you need it (replace the "course_id" and "quiz_#" and note that a return was added to make it fit on screen):
<html>
<script type="text/javascript">
self.location="/SCRIPT/course_id/scripts/
student/serve_quiz_marked.pl?DO_GRADE+
quiz_#+1+VIEW";
</script>
</html>
1.30.2006
Podcast Resc.
This is just the site to help bring understanding to the potential of podcasts:
Educational Podcast Network
Organization is a simple idea, but it can be so useful to our understanding of why and how things work... or can work. I wish I would have taken a picture of my upstairs work room to show you. It wasn't terrible, but there were stacks of CDs, piles of books, mounds of papers... get the picture? There was order, but the the order was too general. Paper was together, CDs were all together. This weekend I took some time to categorize my CDs into backups, software, learning, games, etc. Now, when I look at my CDs they make sense. I think podcasts are kind of like this. There are so many and we have so little time. NCQ Talk is one I try to listen to regularly (I still don't have an iPod or the sort so I can only listen at my computer) and they were responsible for sharing the link above. See if your content area has something interesting. I found one called Podcast Beijing!
Educational Podcast Network
Organization is a simple idea, but it can be so useful to our understanding of why and how things work... or can work. I wish I would have taken a picture of my upstairs work room to show you. It wasn't terrible, but there were stacks of CDs, piles of books, mounds of papers... get the picture? There was order, but the the order was too general. Paper was together, CDs were all together. This weekend I took some time to categorize my CDs into backups, software, learning, games, etc. Now, when I look at my CDs they make sense. I think podcasts are kind of like this. There are so many and we have so little time. NCQ Talk is one I try to listen to regularly (I still don't have an iPod or the sort so I can only listen at my computer) and they were responsible for sharing the link above. See if your content area has something interesting. I found one called Podcast Beijing!
1.17.2006
MLK Jr Day + Online Learning
Yesterday was MLK Jr. Day. The college organizes an in-service day with educational presentations, food and more. I couldn’t help but dwell on some of the comments made and how they relate to online learning.
“…their quest for education”
The concept that education is indeed a quest interests me. Students who attack their education like Don Quixote chasing windmills, but maybe not as delusional, are going to succeed in ways unimaginable to those who merely receive their education. Unfortunately, many of our students are not sure what the goal of their quest might be. As instructors of online learning, it may be more difficult to engage students in spontaneous post-class advisory sessions. Look for ways to help students discover their quest. Encourage students who seem bored or lost, to speak with an advisor.
“…the perception of differences”
The keynote speaker stressed the concept that perceiving differences is not racism. Actually, the perception of our differences ought to be the fuel for our conversation. It’s what can be the most interesting. Everything I can learn from you is defined by our differences. The anonymity that online learning can provide works against this. Many school systems are now incorporating student photos into their LMSs. I believe this is a positive addition. I predict conversations will be more real and ultimately more meaningful.
“…Conversation is a process”
This is kind of a no-brainer, but it’s good to be reminded. There is no need to treat our interactions with students as Q&A. Have conversations instead. Encourage students to talk with each other and teach each other.
“…social-ability: 63.3%”
Incoming first year students reported that the social aspects of their college experience are rather important. If your online course doesn’t allow for social interaction, your students’ expectations and needs are being ignored. Add a discussion board that permits off-topic discussion, call your students, blog with your students, skype, podcast, IM….
The remaining thought I had yesterday doesn’t really relate to online learning: I will not be putting in a water garden any time soon! Just way too much work. Or maybe this does apply… show learners up front what is involved in a course and the outcome of their labors. I now know that even though the outcome of water garden can be spectacular, I would not enjoy the process or the maintenance.
“…their quest for education”
The concept that education is indeed a quest interests me. Students who attack their education like Don Quixote chasing windmills, but maybe not as delusional, are going to succeed in ways unimaginable to those who merely receive their education. Unfortunately, many of our students are not sure what the goal of their quest might be. As instructors of online learning, it may be more difficult to engage students in spontaneous post-class advisory sessions. Look for ways to help students discover their quest. Encourage students who seem bored or lost, to speak with an advisor.
“…the perception of differences”
The keynote speaker stressed the concept that perceiving differences is not racism. Actually, the perception of our differences ought to be the fuel for our conversation. It’s what can be the most interesting. Everything I can learn from you is defined by our differences. The anonymity that online learning can provide works against this. Many school systems are now incorporating student photos into their LMSs. I believe this is a positive addition. I predict conversations will be more real and ultimately more meaningful.
“…Conversation is a process”
This is kind of a no-brainer, but it’s good to be reminded. There is no need to treat our interactions with students as Q&A. Have conversations instead. Encourage students to talk with each other and teach each other.
“…social-ability: 63.3%”
Incoming first year students reported that the social aspects of their college experience are rather important. If your online course doesn’t allow for social interaction, your students’ expectations and needs are being ignored. Add a discussion board that permits off-topic discussion, call your students, blog with your students, skype, podcast, IM….
The remaining thought I had yesterday doesn’t really relate to online learning: I will not be putting in a water garden any time soon! Just way too much work. Or maybe this does apply… show learners up front what is involved in a course and the outcome of their labors. I now know that even though the outcome of water garden can be spectacular, I would not enjoy the process or the maintenance.
1.10.2006
Bloglines + Odeo
Bloglines: This site collects and organizes all your blog (or any RSS) feeds. And it's free. There are some potentially pedagogical applications that leap to mind: research - all the news comes to you; community - share your favorites and explore your students' collections; save time - if your students have their own blogs this one stop will save you a bunch of time...
Odeo: This site was cool when it only provided podcasting subscriptions, but now it can do so much more. Once you register (and it's free!), you can create your own audioblog without the need for any recording software. Granted, you won't be able to edit without some extra tools, but as there is no time limit, why bother editing?! You can even set up your account to record phone in messages that are then instantly blogged. And you can quickly make your channel public allowing anyone with interest subscription potential. This is very cool! Think about having your students record their oral reports, engage in debates, dramatic readings of poems, etc....
Odeo: This site was cool when it only provided podcasting subscriptions, but now it can do so much more. Once you register (and it's free!), you can create your own audioblog without the need for any recording software. Granted, you won't be able to edit without some extra tools, but as there is no time limit, why bother editing?! You can even set up your account to record phone in messages that are then instantly blogged. And you can quickly make your channel public allowing anyone with interest subscription potential. This is very cool! Think about having your students record their oral reports, engage in debates, dramatic readings of poems, etc....
12.12.2005
Notes on Edu Gaming Conf. P1
The New Media Consortium hosted an online conference on educational gaming last week (November 7 & 8, 2005). I was privileged enough to attend. Posting a few thoughts about what I saw, heard, and yes, learned would be useful to organize my thoughts and also share these ideas with anyone interested.
- The educational model of gaming, particularly Massively Multiplayer Online (Roll Playing) Games (MMO[RP]G), is about motivating learners, training learners, and helping educators better understand the processes of peer support and social aspects of learning.
- Many claim that processes lend themselves to the educational game arena better than content heavy subjects. IOW, the process of how to dissect a frog might be a better candidate for a game than learning the names of the frog’s organs. I have my doubts whether or not this is true. Many games seem to have the capacity to help learn or motivate us to practice content heavy subjects. And who is to say where content ends and process begins?
- There are at least three main methods for bringing games into a curriculum: 1. a commercial game that is useful to the subject matter (e.g. Doom has been used in military training). 2. a commercial game that is useful to build community (e.g. World of Warcraft for collective work towards a single goal). 3. developing a game yourself (or with IT help) that specifically addresses your instructional needs (e.g. yet to be released Ancient Spaces). These were the main ones, but our pedagogical imagination is the true limitation here.
The future seems wide open with possibilities. I’ll need to look into more titles to see if currently available selections could be of use to those in
11.23.2005
Scanning Money
So my new scanner arrived yesterday. And I naturally had to see if it's true that Photoshop would refuse to open a scan of a $20 bill. It did refuse! Kind of impressive and a little annoying. This is the error message received:
"This application does not support the unauthorized copying of banknote images..."
It goes on to direct users to the rulesforuse.org website where the rules for use are in fact given. They are quite restrictive and include size of original specs.
So I returned to Photoshop and changed the target size to 50% of the original bill. Sure enough, Photoshop opens the image. Kind of slick. But still a little annoying.
As a work around, I was pleased to see I could scan and open a 1200 res image in Fireworks. But how long will that last since Adobe has purchased Macromedia?
There are many discussions and tips and tricks out there. Here is one such link to Freedom to Tinker.
"This application does not support the unauthorized copying of banknote images..."
It goes on to direct users to the rulesforuse.org website where the rules for use are in fact given. They are quite restrictive and include size of original specs.
So I returned to Photoshop and changed the target size to 50% of the original bill. Sure enough, Photoshop opens the image. Kind of slick. But still a little annoying.
As a work around, I was pleased to see I could scan and open a 1200 res image in Fireworks. But how long will that last since Adobe has purchased Macromedia?
There are many discussions and tips and tricks out there. Here is one such link to Freedom to Tinker.
11.14.2005
WebCT Anchor
Some of the simplest web page activities become rather tricky when put in the WebCT environment. Like the anchored link -- the link that jumps down or up to a particular spot on your web page. Here is a little trick I recently found to create an anchored link on your WebCT homepage. Say you want to link from a button (e.g. Office Hours) at the top of the homepage to a position at the bottom of the homepage. And say you have three sections on your homepage: an upper textblock, a tool area, and a lower textblock. Your lower textblock contains your office hours preceded by the following anchor name:
In a normal webpage you would simply include the following anchor link code to jump down to a position in the same page:
But in WebCT we have all kinds of javascript going on that needs dealing with. So the simple anchor tag needs to be replaced with the following slightly more complex code:
This seems to work well in Campus Edition 4.1. Not sure about 6.0. Cross that bridge when we come to it.
<a name="officehours">In a normal webpage you would simply include the following anchor link code to jump down to a position in the same page:
<a href="#officehours">Office Hours</a>But in WebCT we have all kinds of javascript going on that needs dealing with. So the simple anchor tag needs to be replaced with the following slightly more complex code:
<a href="javascript:void(self.location='#officehours')">Office Hours</a>This seems to work well in Campus Edition 4.1. Not sure about 6.0. Cross that bridge when we come to it.
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