Category: instructional technology

Screenshot of Playback app
Distance Ed, instructional technology, iPad, Mobile, Presentation, TLT

iPad Screencasting Apps to Create Demonstrations and Lectures

Mendi Benigni

With more people flipping their classrooms and teaching online screencasting has become a popular way to deliver content.  Screencasting is a video recording of what occurs on a computer screen.  Normally, computer screencasting apps will allow you to record anything that you do on the computer.  Screencasting on an iPad is slightly different.  Currently there is no app that records everything that you do on the iPad but there are apps that let you record many of the things that you would use in a lecture or a lesson.  Over the past few days I tested ten different screencasting apps (some paid, some free).  While they all allow for voice recording over a whiteboard many of them offered extra features that set them apart from each other.  I was looking for the ability to add presentations, images and files, a whiteboard, and overall flexibility.  The iPad Screencasting App Matrix is a full matrix of each app’s features, price and restrictions.  Below are the apps that I evaluated and my thoughts of each.  Keep in mind that this is my opinion.  I encourage you to choose a couple and try them yourself.

Playback – Screencast Creator for Dropbox (free)

Screenshot of Playback app
Image 1

Playback is a free screencasting app.  It’s primary focus is as a whiteboard app.  You can create a Playback session from an image or a PDF but you have to do it at the beginning, before you begin the recording.  You can’t add images or PDFs on the fly.  What I don’t like is that you have to open these PDFs and images from Dropbox or your iPad and then send them to Playback.  Playback also has the ability to record the camera on the iPad (see image 1).  It allows you to have the small camera image in the upper corner or you can have it display larger in the middle of the screen, which is a unique feature.  However, on playback, the video in the corner, shot from the camera, was way behind the audio and it was very distracting.

 

Explain Everything ($2.99)

Explain Everything screenshotThis is my personal favorite. It allows the most flexibility of any of the apps I looked at. You can import most any file type (doc(x), ppt(x), xls(x), pdf, jpg) which gives you so much freedom.  You can also insert a web browser that allows you some basic web navigating to allow you to show websites and discuss them.  You can also insert video and audio files.  All of these can be added on fly while recording the session.  Because it has so many features it is not as easy to use as some of the others and zooming and scrolling requires a special tool instead of just allowing you to pinch and stretch like other apps.  It does allow you to add a video recorded with the iPad camera but it’s not a constant recording like in Playback.  Overall, I think it’s worth the time to learn to use it.

ShowMe (free)

ShowMe ScreenshotShowMe is a simple to use app and is good for those who are wanting a whiteboard app for uses such as explaining math problems or diagramming.  You can only use the whiteboard feature and import images from the Camera Roll.  When it comes time to export and share you upload it to ShowMe’s public website.  This makes it easy to share with your students via a web link but it’s also available to anyone who goes to the public site.  I don’t like that you can’t import other formats or from anywhere else but the Camera Roll.  For me, I like an easy upload but I also like to have the option to save it to my Camera Roll so I can edit it if necessary.  One feature that I didn’t like was that the recording paused when I added an image.  I’m assuming this was to save recording time but the problem I encountered was remembering to turn the recording back on after I added the image.  I ended up annotating and speaking over the better part of a slide that didn’t record due to this feature.

Knowmia Teach (free)

Knowmia Teach ScreenshotKnowmia offers many of the same features in Explain Everything but with the iPad camera recording like in Playback.  There are several things I really like about this app.  First it is set up in Stages and you can record each stage or slide individually instead of recording straight through like in other apps.  There is also a area at the bottom where you can add additional items that you can bring into the session on the fly.  It’s feature rich and fairly easy to use.  My two complaints are as follows:  First, while free to both instructors and students, videos created with the student account are only kept on their server for 30 days then they disappear.  They are not downloadable so they can’t be kept.   Second, it kept freezing up on my.  I estimate it froze 10 times while trying to create a 5 slide session.

These are just a few of the apps that I tested out.  For a full listing of the features compared check out the iPad Screencasting App Matrix.  If you are interested in incorporating any of these apps into your course contact your Instructional Technologist.  We’re happy to help.

CellyNewLogoTransparent2
1-1-1, Collaboration, Faculty Showcase, Faculty Technology Institute, Innovative Instruction, instructional technology, Mobile, Productivity

Faculty Guest Post: Paul Collins Talks about Students Helping Students with Celly

Amy Ostrom

Our guest poster this week is Paul Collins, Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance.  Paul attended the Spring 2013 FTI.

As part of the Scenery and Lighting Design and Production concentration in the Theatre major, students are required to take a course in which they learn Computer Aided Drafting and Design. The software on which the students learn is brand new to nearly all of them, and very complicated. We spend time in class going over the necessary skills and tools, but the students are then expected to complete exercises in the computer lab as homework. Because of the complexity of the software and the lack of experience that the students have with it, struggles are very real and frequent, and I spend a lot of time with individual students working through the process.

While I work closely with each of the students, I have also noticed in previous semesters that the students do a great job helping each other. Sometimes while I am working with an individual in class, another student has a question about something, but by the time I get to this student, a neighbor has helped to solve the problem. I encourage the students to work on their homework in the lab together so that they can take advantage of what I call ‘the collective wisdom of the class’.

During the Faculty Technology Institute (in Spring 2013), I was introduced to a tool that has allowed me to expand this ‘collective wisdom’ beyond the walls of the classroom. Celly (simply http://cel.ly/ in your web browser) is a kind of online discussion board, similar to other discussion boards that you may be familiar with (including the tool available in OAKS). However, the advantage that Celly has over traditional discussion boards is the ability for the user to receive and send messages in a number of different ways: via email, mobile app, online web portal or text. The text feature is what makes this tool truly powerful- by connecting the discussion to a cell phone, posts to the board are more immediately available both to the students and to me. A question can be put up on the Celly, and be responded to almost immediately by whoever gets to it first. Here is an example of one of the conversations (note… read the conversation from bottom to top)

 

 

In this situation, a student asked for clarification about a handout. Within a minute, another student joined the conversation to try to help, as well as giving advice on how to create the shape in question. I also was available to help at this time, and checked the handout so that I could answer the question. Within 8 minutes, I had the problem figured out, and posted a clarification to OAKS to clear things up for the whole class. This is only one example of what is a relatively easy question, but would likely have caused this student to either be unable to continue, or at the very least have to go back and make significant revisions. If the message had gone to a discussion board or email, the response time would not have been nearly as quick as the text message allowed.

There are a few things that I’d like to mention, though: First, this is a small class. With a larger group of active users, receiving the messages via text could quickly become overwhelming (especially if you do not have an unlimited texting plan). There is an online web portal which updates immediately, and you can receive the messages via email or mobile device, but this also brings you back to the response time issue that traditional discussion boards have. Each individual user (student and faculty alike) has the ability to set notification preferences to whatever combination of methods desired.

Celly also allows me to contact the class via text message without sending from my personal phone (and thus sharing my cell number with the whole class). I will send out a ‘how is the homework going?’ reminder message around Friday or so, as the homework is due on Monday. However, if this ‘reminder’ feature is the primary reason for using a service such as this, Remind101 is probably a more appropriate tool (as this service allows ‘outgoing’ text messages from teacher to student, but not vice versa).

Celly also has a ‘private messaging’ feature that allows users within the ‘cell’ to send messages to individuals rather than the group.

When this tool was initially introduced to me during the FTI, I did not think that it would be one that I would wind up using, but I’m glad that I gave it a shot this semester. I think that it is a powerful tool for those students who have chosen to participate, and I will continue to use it in the future.

And the best part: I get to be a robot.

 

Dr. Kelley Mayer White
1-1-1, Assessment, Collaboration, Faculty Technology Institute, instructional technology, Mobile, Presentation, TLT, Video

Guest Post: Comparison of two video projects in an undergrad and a grad class

Mendi Benigni

Today our guest blogger is Dr. Kelley White, Assistant Professor in Teacher Education.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend the summer 2013 FTI (Faculty Technology Institute).  It was a great experience for many reasons.  I met and collaborated with new colleagues and learned about several new tools that could enhance my teaching and research.  Based on what we learned about video projects, I decided to require students in two different courses to create videos as part of their final projects in the course.  In both classes, students were required to choose a topic of interest, read research on the topic and write an annotated bibliography.  Then, they were to choose an audience (parents, children, elementary school teachers, or community members) and create a video to share what they learned about the topic in a meaningful way.  I used a similar assignment in the past, but often simply required students to present their work using PowerPoint for the final presentation.  After seeing what other colleagues had done with video, I thought using video might challenge my students to present their work in a more creative way. I was particularly interested in how they would create the video with specific consideration of the audience they selected. A majority chose to make videos for parents or teachers, but I had one create a video for young children.

As far as tools go, I gave the students the choice of using iMovie, MovieMaker, VoiceThread or Splice, but a majority of the students chose to use iMovie. Honestly, I did not provide a whole lot of support to them in class in regards to use of technology or in creating the videos beyond providing them with a rubric. I did make myself available for individual meetings if needed, but very few requested them.  The majority of the rubric focused on evaluation of video content, implications and consideration of audience, but I also evaluated creativity, editing and video construction. Looking back though, the rubric needed to be much more specific in differentiating levels of quality in regards to “good editing” and “smooth transitions.” It’s also important to note that this criteria was worth only 15% of the grade on the project so it may have needed to become a more significant portion of the grade in order for students to better understand its importance.

As mentioned previously, I used different versions of this project in both a freshman class and a graduate course. In the freshman course, students worked collaboratively to create the videos.  In the graduate course, it was an individual assignment and the requirements for topic selection, length of video, annotated bibliography and sources were more rigorous.  As you might expect, the projects were fairly different in quality. The freshmen did not seem to be as concerned with quality of the video.  Several had major problems with audio and transitions. Whereas it was obvious that most of the graduate students spent a good deal of time editing and polishing their work.  The graduate students were also much more thoughtful in their consideration of audience and in how they integrated research and theory.

If I were to do this again, I would provide more support across the semester to the freshmen in particular.  I would require them to check in with me at least once prior to the end of the semester with a detailed plan for the video. Perhaps, requiring them to plan their video using a storyboard and incorporate it into their grade. I also would take more time to better review my expectations for quality of the video (beyond what I included on the rubric), show more examples, and spend more time in class teaching them how to appropriately edit.  Finally, I would also consider requiring use of a specific tool (Splice, for example) so we could troubleshoot and discuss video construction and quality together as a class.  Overall, it was a good experience for me and for the students and I would definitely try it again.

Rubric available upon request

Dr. Reid Adams
1-1-1, Faculty Showcase, Faculty Technology Institute, instructional technology, iPad, TLT

Guest Post: Evernote and Remind101 for Teaching and Scholarship

Mendi Benigni

Our guest blogger is Reid Adams, an Assistant Professor in the Teacher Education Department.

During the 2013 FTI, we were introduced to a number of iPad applications and given tutorials on how they might be implemented into our courses and in a few case, our research. The applications all seemed interesting, convenient, and relatively easy to use. Some of the apps were specific to video editing (Splice, ScreenChomp), some to document editing (GoogleDrive,  and others to aid in the delivery of lessons (AirSketch, SyncPad) and apps used for organization and communicating with students (Remind101, EverNote, Dropbox). The next step was deciding which ones made the most sense to incorporate into existing courses I taught or current research projects.

I chose two apps to use based on a couple of existing needs. First, I was looking for a better way to organize the work I was doing on a couple of manuscripts being developed and an ongoing research project. Evernote seemed the obvious choice and I began using it as soon as the FTI ended. It allowed me merge a number of existing digital texts (notes from other iPad apps, articles for lit reviews, links to articles online, videos) into one central location. Better yet, I could take this collection anywhere with the iPad and also run the same application on my home and office computer while keeping all three synced. So far, this app (Evernote) has allowed me to streamline how I work on manuscripts and also allowed me a new tool to help keep texts organized for courses I teach. In short, the app allows for easy organizing.

The second app I chose was based on my effort to communicate more efficiently with my students and provide another level of access to them. I often teach field-based courses that don’t allow as much face time with students that one gets in traditional courses so I am always looking for new ways to interact with them. I decided to try Remind101. The app is fairly straight forward.  It allows you to send text messages to students. Most of us are aware that students spend a good bit of time texting and that many of them find texting more efficient than emailing. I used Remind101, along with email, to send students reminders about assignments in all courses but the app was really helpful in getting “last minute” messages to students when scheduling was disrupted or changed in field- based courses. These were instances when they may have not had access to email or they weren’t checking email regularly. With Remind101, they would receive a text (IM) from me and be alerted to it on their phones immediately. Students do have to register for the app to work but it is free and fairly easy to initialize. I informally surveyed all three courses and most students agreed that getting texts from me was much easier than having to check emails. I saw a slight bump in student evaluations regarding access and I feel like this additional tool probably helped.

Overall, the apps discussed in this post were very helpful. It was nice to find ones that applied to teaching as well as scholarship and I plan to continue using both. Since both apps are straightforward in their use and setup, I would encourage other faculty to give them a try.

screenshot of the article
Innovative Instruction, instructional technology, Pedagogy, Tech Happens! Un-Grant, TLT

Scanner Self-Portraits: Utilizing a scanner as a way to express identity

Mendi Benigni

Our  guest blogger this week is Tracey Hunter-Doniger in Teacher Education.

scan of a student's hand and artifactsThe Tech Happens! Un-Grant is a small one-time grant intended to assist CofC faulty with innovative technology purchases. These purchases can range from $10 to $200. Through this Un-Grant I purchased a portable scanner to use in my education courses EDEE403 Visual & Performing Arts in Education, EDEE 655 Creativity/Creative Arts in Education, and my spring FYE course.

In each of my courses we discuss life histories and identities of the students through written narrative reflection, and visual narratives (artwork). The theoretical framework of this component is based on McAdams’ (2006) theory of Life Story and Identity, which includes three main segments of inquiry designed to explore one’s identity. These segments are the past, present, and future selves. My students focus on their past self when they create their original scanner self –
portraits.

The Russian scanner artist, Yulia Yukashova, is the inspiration for the students as they focus on their past. Using a scanner provides a medium ideal for telling a visual story that is likely to have a multitude of items such as trinkets, photos, images, ticket stubs, jewelry, and personal notes. To the students each and every item has a meaning, a memory and a powerful purpose significant to the participants’ past. This modern form of multimedia artwork gives everyone the chance to be an artist. After the portrait is created the students create a written narrative that explains the significant items found in their self-portrait.

Click to view the article in its original format.

Pecha Kucha Night by Chrys Rynearson
instructional technology, Pedagogy, Presentation, Research, Share

Pecha Kucha in the Classroom

Mendi Benigni

Pecha Kucha is a simple presentation format devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham where you show 20 slides or images, each for only 20 second.  The images or slides advance automatically to keep you on time and you can only talk about each slide or image while it’s being displayed.  Designed to keep presentations short and to the point, each presentation is only 6 minutes and 40 seconds long!

Why use it in your classroom

The goal of pecha kucha is to encourage the presenter to be concise but also a bit more creative and informal.  It’s suggested that the presentation consist mainly of images, photos, or graphics with little to no text.  These images should advance your story and emphasize your points. and The absence of bulleted text tends to steer the speaker more toward story telling and conversation than a rehearsed and robotic presentation.  The time constraint is great for student presentations because twenty seconds is long enough to make a solid point but not enough to prattle.  The pecha kucha time and slide constraints prevents the student from mentioning everything they could find on the topic in hopes that they hit upon the point you wanted them to make.  This encourages the presenter to know the topic well enough to distill what is important and needs to be covered in the 20 slides.  Lastly, when the fast-paced presentation is over the speaker(s) then open the floor for questions and dialogue with their audience, further allowing them to demonstrate their understanding of the topic.

How to use it in your classroom

There are some basic rules to pecha kucha.

20 for 20:  I’ve already mentioned that an entire presentation must consist of 20 slides, no more, no less.  Each slide is only allowed to remain on the screen for 20 seconds so it’s important to know how to create an autoplay slideshow.  You can find short video tutorials on how to create pecha kucha style presentations in Keynote, PowerPoint and Prezi at then end of this post.

Images over Text:  Try to use images that advance your story and illustrate your points.  When using words steer clear of bullets and use phrases that have an impact and represent the essence of your point.

No transitions or animation:  Avoid slide transitions and fly-in text.  This eats up time and detracts from the focus of this fast-paced presentation style.

No video or audio:  While you can add audio and video files to your presentations they need to fit into the 20 second time frame and normally don’t work well with this presentation style.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse:  While this is meant to be more informal and conversational you must make sure you get your important points across and you won’t be able to do that successfully if you don’t practice.  20 seconds is a short time and every slide where you go over that time forces you to speed up on all subsequent slides to make it up.  Practice is critical.

Jennifer Welsh in History has used pecha kucha with her students and here’s what she says:

It was a very interesting experiment (for me, at least; not sure how the students felt), and one I’d like to do again using what I learned the first time. I think that next time, I would watch some examples with the students in class, and talk more about the structure of a Pecha Kucha-style presentation, as well as what makes a good (or bad) PowerPoint slide. The main problem students had was putting all their text onto their slides and then trying to just read everything on there. That doesn’t work with the format, since Pecha Kucha doesn’t spend that much time on each slide. The best students were very engaging, and extremely creative in their work, incorporating interesting maps and images, and working well with minimal notes.

If you are interested in reading more about pecha kucha in the classroom go to Richard L. Edwards’ blog, Remixing the Humanities.  He wrote a post entitled Pecha Kucha in the Classroom: Tips and Strategies for Better Presentations and it is one of the resources that I used for this post.

If you would like to learn how to create pecha kucha style autoplay presentations I have created some basic video tutorials for you and your students:

PowerPoint – http://youtu.be/l9zxNTpNMLo

Keynote – http://youtu.be/KrYTB3NpNM8

Prezi – http://youtu.be/BSQlsqZWtV0

Resources

Edwards, Richard L. “Pecha Kucha in the Classroom: Tips and Strategies for Better Presentations.” Remixing the Humanities. N.p., 03 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2012. <http://remixhumanities.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/pecha-kucha-in-the-classroom-tips-and-strategies-for-better-presentations/>.

Jones, Jason B. “Challenging the Presentation Paradigm (in 6 Minutes, 40 Seconds): Pecha Kucha.” ProfHacker. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 02 Nov. 2009. Web. 28 Aug. 2012. <http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/challenging-the-presentation-paradigm-in-6-minutes-40-seconds-pecha-kucha/22807>.

“PechaKucha 20×20.” PechaKucha 20×20. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Aug. 2012. <http://www.pecha-kucha.org/>.

Rynearson, Chrys. Pecha Kucha Night Charleston. 2009. Photograph. Charleston. Flickr. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrys/4035453312/>.