Monthly Archives: March 2010

A Brave New World Free of PowerPoints

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TxDLA was a great event this year. Harriet and I did our usual rebel-rousing there. Creating a session PowerPoint is usually difficult for us, since we usually don’t prepare any preset material.  We like to discuss, interact, and have some interesting conversations. But since most educators have to have something to look at, we usually put up a PowerPoint with pretty pictures (here is our old set of purty pics).

This year, Harriet created a Prezi presentation.  Prezi is pretty cool in that it can be very non-linear.  You can click and scroll around on the presentation as you like. This gives me hope for a future of conference presentations that are free of PowerPoint overkill.  Here is what I am thinking:

Someday, someone will come up with an iPad competitor that doesn’t have all of Steve Job’s weird hang-ups about Flash.  Prezi is built in Flash, so this is key. Oh, and it will run a real operating system instead of iPhoneOS.  Then they will create a cheap adapter that hooks this superior iPad product to projectors. Then the fun will begin.

Image if you could just create a map of all the concepts you want to discuss in a presentations in Prezi.  Then use this better iPad model to run the presentation.  Using the touch screen, you can scroll around and zoom in on concepts as they come up in the discussion. Non-linear, interactive presentations, controlled by a light, portable touchscreen pad.  That would make any session much more active and connected.

Also consider how this could change your classes. Or maybe this already exists and I am just not buying the right products?

Anyways, here is the Prezi from our TxDLA session (which is still linear – we didn’t want to blow too many gaskets in one session):

Outside the Box: Changing the Mindsets of Educational Zombies on Prezi

Next time I hope to go in to some thoughts about some of the discussions and feedback we had at the conference – it was some great stuff.

(this post was cross-posted at EduGeek Journal)

Getting Started? Part Two

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As promised, below are the rest of the tips for getting started with technology:

  • Do not assume all students are tech whizbangs.

    Many have discussed the juxtaposition of “digital natives,” aka, students, and “digital immigrants,” aka, many instructors.  Consequently, the general perception is that students are tech-savvy, multi-tasking individuals who can do anything and everything technological without blinking an eye.

    However, plenty of case studies will point out that many students can be surprisingly tentative, nervous, and tech-averse.  Even if students are adept with texting or downloading MP3s, they do not come to your class automatically ready to blog about course topics or eager to create a digital story based on their analysis of War and Peace.

    Be honest and open with your students.  Even if you are comfortable with the technology, you may need some time to adjust to the new approach, and your students may need even more time and guidance to adjust.  Everyone can benefit from a “we’re in this together” approach.

    Additionally, you might consider asking students about their previous experiences with technology-enhanced learning.  Unfavorable past experiences can predispose students to be resistant to future encounters with technology in their courses.

    •  

  • Be prepared for things to deviate from expectations.

    Using a tech tool for the first time is like using any other tool for the first time: Unpredictable things can happen.

    We all know technical difficulties can occur at any time.  Planning ahead and testing help ward off major snafus, but some glitches may not be discoverable until a course goes live.

    Try to remain calm and go with the flow.

    Adopt the attitude that if some aspect does not go quite as planned, then it is a learning experience.

    Instructors are always evaluating their teaching by assessing what works and what does not work. Stir the use of technology tools into your usual reflections upon your teaching.  If something technology-oriented does not work as anticipated, learn from it, and do it differently next time.

    •  

  • Consider re-thinking some approaches.

    • Technology often requests that you re-think some established ideas.

    For example, how do you define cheating on an online quiz?  Classic deterrents to cheating on auto-graded quizzes are the use of pools to randomize questions and the application of time limits.  Despite such tactics, motivated, determined students can find ways to look up or share answers.

    Maybe you could re-think this kind of cheating.  Maybe the goal is for students to spend maximal time with the content–no  matter what form that might take.  Maybe referencing books and notes is not all bad. It depends on the content and the learning goals.

    Yes, technology can facilitate some kinds of cheating. Nonetheless, students who prefer cheating to studying will always find ways to cheat, even if they are in the room with the instructor.

     

  • Think of technology as just another family of teaching tools.

    • Try to think of technology as just another tool or method in your established portfolio of teaching tools and methods.  In and of itself, technology is neither good nor bad, magical nor toxic.  The way technology is used is the key.

    Ever since technology burst upon education, it has been examined in isolation, perhaps because of its newness, its novelty, its steep learning curve, its variety, and its constant change.

    However, by separating technology from established instructional methods, we risk making it seem bigger, scarier, and more difficult to incorporate into teaching and learning than anything other tool or approach.

    For those who are new to teaching with technology, using such new tools may still feel that way.  The good news is that they are learning and experimenting despite it all!

    Going forward, technology would, ideally, be examined and studied alongside other teaching tools and methods.

     

  • Be open to growth and change.

    • Technology is constantly changing. New possibilities present themselves before we feel comfortable with what was “new” five minutes ago.

    Teaching is similarly dynamic.  Instructors are continually reflecting upon their teaching and striving to make it more effective.

    Combining these two active and productive fields means growth and change are always on the horizon. The more you work with technology, the more comfortable you will become with the changes and the more adept you will be at identifying which tech tools can effectively help you and your students achieve your teaching and learning goals.

Gardner Campbell’s ideas on Web 2.0 and Assessment

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Lana Rings

Lana Rings

Since my comment to Matt’s post of March 15, as well as his comment regarding Moodle, is awaiting moderation, I’ll just go ahead and make it a post:

Wow. If Moodle can facilitate all that interaction, then that really connects to what Gardner Campbell was saying in his podcast (see below). I remember years ago when my California friend Peter Bach, who already had a doctorate in Ed, and was getting a second one in German, was talking about having students involved in their own grading… But back to this idea — I think that Matt and Gardner are sending out similar ideas….

Here’s what I wrote to the Modern Languages and the Active Learning Committee listservs:

W. Gardner Campbell from Baylor (Gardner’s research interests: English Literature, Science Fiction, Technology, Literature and Music, Renaissance Literature, Technology, Critical Theory, …) is Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning at Baylor University, where he also serves as Assoc. Prof. of Literature, Media, and Learning in the Honors College. His ideas are highly thought-provoking. I’m quoting here from his podcast. (He was at one point at Mary Washington, where Jim Groom, who visited UTA recently, is Technology Specialist.)

These comments below are from my notes made upon hearing the podcast:

A one-kind fits-all curriculum is likely to take children away from the objects that compel them. A one-kind fits all mode of assessment is going to ensure that we miss the richest opportunities for bonding for the deepest kind of learning.

Web 2.0, learning, and assessment: thoughts by Gardner. If any of this intrigues you, here is the audio:
http://www.gardnercampbell.net/podcast/assessment.mp3
and here is the blog post:
http://www.gardnercampbell.net/blog1/?p=1231

1. User-generated content makes the web richly interactive and helps us co-create the web. … Interesting comment: Wikipedia, a “thing that will never work in theory; it will only work in practice.” Look at it carefully. Look at the way the community presents itself. Look at the discussion page. Look at the user page where the people who have contributed to the discussion have accumulated a lot of interaction on their own. … Think what that would be like if we had pages for our best teachers, … testimonials. Appreciative inquiry in a collection of rich layered narratives of outstanding teaching? … How inspiring would it be to read that stuff, to find out over many decades how these teachers have made a difference in students’ lives. … A startling demonstration to the world of the magic that happens.
2. Idea of network effects: can scale at the point of the reader, at the point of the student. The more you have in the mix, the richer the experiences. … Lifelong learning online environment.
3. The idea of the long tale. Much value emerges slowly over time.
4. Perpetual beta, … meaning subject to improvement at any time. Not a contract, but a starting place. Idea of syllabus as contract anathema to the idea of a learning experience. … Students come up with their own learning objectives; that’s their assignment at the beginning of the semester. (a la Barbara Sawhill!) Frightening, because it means that “all the targets are moving. Of course they are. Anybody ever been in a relationship before? The relationship changes the people in the relationship. Oh, dear. What if you adjust to your spouse, and your spouse adjusts to you, and now you have to adjust to the adjustment? You work at it.

Course Contracts in Web Classes

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A few years ago I read an article about how professors were using course contracts in their live classes. The argument is that having students sign a course contract outlining course policies and expectations helps to avert discipline problems in class, and provides faculty with a firm ground from which to react when problems arise with students. (I wish I could find the original article to link here, but I can’t, sorry!). The kinds of items that can go on a class contract are: attendance rules, policies regarding tardiness and plagiarism, classroom comportment, etc. I’ve experimented with such contracts over the years and did not like them that much. They really do set an unfriendly tone, and if they make a difference maybe it’s because they scare students. Plus, no one wants to be treated like a criminal, and course contracts can send the wrong message to an entire class when there are only a handful of prospective flakes in it. Be this as it may, the point is that course contracts are a way of making students stop to read the fine print and gain awareness of what is expected of them. By having students sign a document, you ensure they pay attention to your ground rules.

What I have really been enthusiastic about over the past few years is using contracts in my web classes. My favorite version of this is to require students to fill out a course clearance form before being cleared for registration. This is only possible if you have a supportive department chair and office staff willing to work with you on implementing this extra bureacracy. (Below I will speak about an alternative approach to the same concept, one not requiring office staff to manage contracts for the faculty member.)

My course clearance form, which varies from semester to semester depending on my needs, course to be taught and experiences, requires students to initial and acknowledge that:

  • They understand where to go for information about the class (my course announcement page, or bulletin board).
  • They understand that I will send them instructions on when and how to begin in the class to their UTA email address.
  • They understand important requirements.
  • They understand that it is their responsibility to start their web class on time.

The reason I began implementing this is because I was having problems with students not logging on to their web classes until 3 weeks after the start of classes and then pleading ignorance about where to go to begin. Also, students would get anxious and start calling me and our office staff for information about the class, creating extra stress and pressure for everyone involved. Another problem I had was that student expectations of what would be entailed in a web class did not track with mine. The course clearance was a way to make students aware that what they were getting themselves into was a class that would be appropriately challenging. Finally, there are also students who claim ignorance about the importance of having and checking their university email accounts, and the course clearance form helped me avoid the whole “I never check my UTA email, please email me at wackycentipede@coffeebeansEmporium.com”.

I quickly noted a difference after I began using a course clearance form. My students were better across the board and many students who inquired about the class did not end up registering. I had succeeded in doing some weeding out and streamlining my own work flow during the semester.

Here is a copy of one of my course clearance forms.

OK, so what if a course clearance form is not an option for you because asking this of your local department staff is out of the question? The same principles behind my course clearance form can be incorporated into a quiz or assignment that requires students to acknowledge elements of the class and your policies. For example, you can quiz students on your own syllabus, and make it worth 5% of the final grade. The point is, you want your students to know how your class functions and what your expectations are from the outset. This enables you skirt all subsequent discussions of “I did not know that I had to do X” or “Can you please accomodate me with this?” etc. etc. Save your negotiations with students for things that really matter, and take the annoying, piddly stuff out of the equation. Help students internalize your expectations right at the outset, it will make your life easier.

–Christopher Conway

Mobility initiative?

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Does anyone know if there is a mobility initiative at UTA? Or does OIT have plans for a mobility initiative?

I’m torn between buying a class set of the iTouch or the iPhone for my Computers and Fiction Writing class and would welcome advice. Might OIT support either? Any sign of daLite lecterns or other kinds of support?

I will talk to the folks at UTD who made such a splash at SXSW to see how they are handling things. (Was anyone there for the presentation?) Their locative media works and initiatives are making waves.

cg

Creating a Virtual Presence For Your Students

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At some point, I do plan on getting to blogging about the future of education and the new vision that is emerging in the Ed Tech filed for changes to the Learning Management System. But for now I am going to continue on with the practical ideas – things that current online instructors can use to add new life to existing classes, or things that new instructors can use to make their classes stand out from the pack. Most of the ideas I have shared so far are things that have been used in classes successfully at some point (even the EFGs are currently being used in one school). These ideas may not be for everyone, but they are some interesting ideas to dig in to. After I get all of these practical ideas out, then I will probably move on to the three C’s of social media usage in online learning (also known as “how you are using Web2.0 wrong and may not know it”) as well as hitting on some crazy ideas for the future.

For this post I want to get to something that I have used myself and that I know other bloggers here have used: creating a virtual office or classroom for your class.

If you back up several decades, before the dawn of the Internet, several researchers were investigating why some teachers were perceived by students as having better teaching styles than others. They found that there were at least two concepts that made the difference: immediacy and social presence.  (there are other words that get used somewhat interchangeably for these two, but I will stick with these because… well… I guess just because I like them the best).

Yes, I know that these are ancient terms by now. Immediacy and social presence are not as slick and cool to blog about today as they were a few years ago.  Maybe if I called it “Social Presence 2.0” it might sound cooler. But a good idea never gets old, so I still find these concepts are crucial to online success.

The surprising thing a few decades ago was that these things didn’t happen naturally in a face-to-face class. Just because instructors were in the room, that didn’t mean that a student felt they were accessible or approachable.  Instructors in face-to-face courses had to work to achieve these concepts, because it  was found that students preformed better when they felt a greater sense of immediacy and social presence.

Obviously, it was also found that this is true for online learning as well. But achieving these concepts in a disconnected asynchronous online course might prove more challenging. Thankfully, many people have stepped up through the years to prove that it is possible.

So how do you give students a sense that you are there and that you are aware that they are there also? Here are a few ideas:

  • One often overlooked way is by participating in class discussions yourself. Don’t just throw a question out there and let students hash it out. That seems basic, but so many professors miss that while just count responses for a participation score. Ask your students to expand on stuff they posted, or let them know that they never even really answered the question. But get in there and let them see your name every week.
  • If possible, turn on avatars. No, not the tall blue people with funky USB-ports for hair… I mean those small pictures that you can put next to forum and blog posts. Those don’t exist everywhere, but I encourage you to enable them wherever they do exist (and then ask students repeatedly to use them). Avatars help students inject their personality in to their work and the class as a whole. I also suggest that you encourage students to use an avatar that is actually a picture of themselves rather than a cute dog or their favorite movie star. That just makes it a bit more more realistic.
  • Create a virtual office online and use an embeddable chat tool for office hours. I know that many LMS programs have a chat tool now, but many of those are open rooms for anyone to come in. Not good for one-on-one conversation. Tools like Meebo can help you have a chat without giving away your AIM ID to students (or making you create a new one to maintain separation of personal and professional lives).  Meebo is basically an Instant Message chat tool. It gives you a web-based widget that lets you chat without installing a chat program. Chats happen through a web browser.  You can place the widget in an online “virtual office” and students can see when you are available for a chat session. (see my virtual office with Meebo here) You sign in on your end and keep that tab open on your browser when you are available.  Google Talk also has a similar widget if you prefer their service.
  • Speaking of Google, I am sure there are many ways to use Google Wave to connect with your students. Assuming, of course, they can all get invites.
  • One of the more radical ideas out there is to use a virtual world like Second Life to create a virtual office or classroom.  While many professors are doing just that, most of us don’t want to shell out money for a small space of virtual land in Second Life to set up virtual lounge chairs. The good news is that Second Life is not the only option – there are free, browser-based virtual worlds out there. One such option is Vivaty. Vivaty is a bit on the “dude, let’s party” side of the web, so take that in to consideration before jumping in feet first. While you get the benefits of a rich, free interactive environment online, the trade-off is that the FAQs tell you how Vivaty makes you look more cool (dude). That may not be a big deal to some, but I thought it needed to be pointed out. Nothing looks worse to students that a professor trying to look hip and cool. But if you avoid those trappings, it might be an interesting site to try out. Vivaty also lets you embed videos and picture slide shows in your room that you create, and that room can them be embedded in a web page.

I am sure there are many other ideas out there. What do other people use to create greater interaction and immediacy, especially in asynchronous formats?

Do blogs eat brains?

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theyrecomingbarbara

While in graduate school at Georgetown, I had one faculty member who, upon learning that I was a student of Russian and Russian Area Studies, noted rather dramatically:  “Cyrillic rots the brain!”  I guess old Cold Warriors never die.

Then this morning comes this post, found courtesy of the original Edupunk, Jim Groom.  Once you read past the zombie-related stuff (ahem), it is a fairly good explication of what blogs can do for you.  Not brain-rotting in the least, actually.  “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!”

And if you’re not already a reader of Jim’s blog or his Twitter feed, I highly recommend them both for ideas and connections related to teaching and learning in a network age, as well as A-list B-movie commentary.  Among other gems from Jim this past week:  news that the actress who played Barabara in Night of the Living Dead is now a communication consultant in Flagstaff.  How’s that for connectivism in action?!

This line of thought (connectivism and the undead) fed nicely for me into a blogpost I read this morning as well, from Gardner Campbell.  In discussing how today’s more complex learning environments require correspondingly more complex models of assessment, he notes that

Rather than proliferate crude measures of recall or reductive “normed” evaluations of various templated essays, we should think much more deeply and comprehensively about assessment. To do this, we’ll have to start with what it means not only to learn something in the sense of committing it to memory, vital as that is, but also to understand it, to be able to sense and articulate and share the structure of that knowledge as well as the conjectures and dilemmas that surround it and propel it into new areas of inquiry. We need to think about domain transfer, and ask what kind of learning fosters the analogical and metaphorical thinking that leads to conceptual breakthroughs. We need to think about the teacher’s theory of other minds, as well as the students’. We need to master strategies of indirection that empower each other to imagine…

In other words, through rich, digital means of “complexifying” learning such as blogging—at its best collaborative, reflective, and emergent authoring and creation—learners cannot and should not be zombies.  And neither should we.

Getting Started?

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Instructors feel pressure to incorporate technology into their teaching: institutional pressure, collegial pressure, student pressure, and societal pressure.  If you are an instructor who is not particularly comfortable working beyond word processing and e-mail, then technology can quickly become a bête noire.

Below are the first five of ten tips for getting started. The tips are borne out of my experiences working with a variety of instructors with a range of technology skills and affinities. The goal is to make the prospect of teaching with technology a little less daunting and the bête a little less noire.

The progressive thinkers who post regularly to this blog have expansive, forward-thinking ideas that will likely form the basis of future teaching and learning. Those contributors may find this list too provincial.

While I agree that the ideal marriage of technology and education involves rethinking from the ground up, I am not looking in that direction here.  My hope is to encourage those who are starting to walk.  After you walk, you will be ready to run, and then you will fly with the wing walkers.

  • Be sure that content and learning objectives are always your guides. Technology is not the end product nor is using technology the goal. Technology is a tool that is effective only when it helps your students achieve the learning objectives. Technology can be the catalyst for learning.Before you consider using blogs, wikis, or any other technology tool, think carefully think about your content and the learning goals.
    • Is there a goal that your students often have trouble achieving?
    • Is there a task your students regularly have a hard time realizing?
    • Is there an activity your students do not practice enough in class?
    • Are there materials you have always wanted your students to access but that have not been available?

    If you answered yes to any of these questions, then technology may be able to help.

    Even though the advice to avoid using technology for technology’s sake has become trite, it remains sound.  Better to pass on technology than to tack it on to you course because you feel you have to in order to keep up with the times. 

  • Know that one size does not fit all. You know your content, and you know what it takes for students to learn in your course.  Consequently, with your expertise and some exploration, you can identify the kinds of technologies that can potentially help you teach and help your students learn.Like other teaching approaches and tools, a tech tool that works swimmingly for art history may not be at all effective for political science.  Be inspired by what others are doing, but try not to feel like you have to do the same thing. Never stray from the needs of your content.

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  • Start small if you feel tentative.Instructors do not have to start integrating technology into their courses by completely re-working everything from a to z.  Using tech tools is not an all-or-nothing choice.Everyone is at a different place on the tech-savvy spectrum.  No matter where you start, you have plenty of room to grow.
    • Start small.
    • Identify and try a technology tool.
    • Become comfortable with one technology tool.
    • Note how you learned and how you became comfortable with that technology tool.
    • Evaluate that technology tool’s effectiveness.
    • Gain confidence.
    • Repeat the process.

    The first venture is usually the most difficult.   After navigating and surviving once, you will be calmer, more confident, and better equipped to consider other technology tools that can help you and your students achieve more learning goals.

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  • Plan ahead.Generally, planning and developing prior to launching contribute significantly to the effectiveness of technology-enhanced instruction.Ideally, time would be available to
    • Think through the teaching and learning needs.
    • Learn and reach a comfort level with the technology.
    • Plan carefully your use of technology.
    • Test your technology piece (so you can identify kinks and troubleshoot as many problems as you can before students find them).

    Realistically, time is a luxury. You may not have time to design, develop, and test your technology before your course starts, so you have no choice but to develop as you go.

    If you do have a choice, then start planning and developing before launching. My guess is that if you were to ask instructors who have implemented technology-enhanced instruction both by developing ahead of time and by developing while teaching, they would recommend developing ahead of time if at all possible. 

  • Become well acquainted with the technology you are using.You do not have to become a card-carrying member of the Best Buy Geek Squad, but you will feel more sure of yourself if you attain a comfort level with your technology tool before asking your students to use it.Even though UTA offers many resources for tech support, your students will ask you questions about how to post comments to your blog or how to record a clip with Audacity. Completely unforeseen questions will arise.  They always do.  At that point, of course, you can take time to research or call upon tech support.  If you can help with the basics, though, everyone benefits.

Teaching and Technology in German

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One of my students, Patrick Modrovsky, is majoring in broadcasting and minoring in German. He thought that interviewing me and talking about the way I use technology in the classroom to teach German language and culture might be newsworthy. Here is the link:

http://utanews.com/ March 11, 2010 (The date is important, because as time goes by, older news items “are scrolled” down to the bottom of the page.)

I understand from Pete Smith that Peggy Semingson does a lot with video. I couldn’t find what you have your students do with video, Peggy (I need to go back to your post), but found your blog and your youtube site again, Electronica and Literacy (http://www.youtube.com/user/peggysemingson). Students must be thinking, judging, involved, and engaged when producing something that could be used as a portfolio piece.

It seems there are two areas where technology can intersect with active learning: 1) instructor methods and materials and 2) student interactive learning and demonstration of learning/thinking.

The Web Is Changing: It’s Time to Dethrone the LMS!

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Do you know what bugs me about the Learning Management System (LMS)?

Well, a lot – but I will start with just two things. Whether you have noticed it or not, the web is constantly changing. Does anyone remember when they predicted that all colleges would have at least one class offered online through AOL?  What happened to that? LMS software updates have long production cycles – leading to out-dated “new” features appearing whenever a “new” version is released. The model is too slow to keep up with the web. Aren’t we on Web5.0 by now anyways?

Another thing that bugs me about the LMS is the name itself – one that is straight out of the business world from whence it sprung. Learning is to be managed? How about setting it free to explore and investigate?

Harriet Watkins and I (along with some covert input from Pete Smith) have been theorizing what a new LMS could look like if we turned the whole concept inside out.  What if we had Social Learning Environments instead of business-like management tools?  We have a few ideas that we are going to be presenting at the Texas Distance Learning Association’s 2010 conference in Houston – march 21-14th.

  • The Web Is Changing: It’s Time to Dethrone the LMS!

    Rapid changes in online learning concepts such as learning communities, personal learning environments, and complexity are driving a need to dismantle the learning management system as we know it. LMS systems and instructional design are in need of major overhauls and are in danger of becoming obsolete if they don”t evolve. Students need a place to connect and collaborate at complex levels rather than hide behind a “walled garden.” Two colleagues at UT Arlington will present a new paradigm as an innovative alternative to the existing LMS concept as we know it.

Come hear us talk about the challenges that LMS companies face, as well as where they could go in the future to address those problems. Be sure to stop by and say “Hi” if you do come.

If you haven’t been to TxDLA before, I would highly recommend checking it out. We’re going to be covering a wide range of topics from practical ideas to emerging technologies. There is going to be between 800-900 other distance learning practitioners gathered together to learn, network, and have a good time. Oh – and there will be Laser Tag this year 🙂