Tag: Voicethread

1-1-1, Faculty Showcase, Innovative Instruction, Round Table Discussion, TLT

Student Zombies No More: Faculty Showcase Recap

Jessica Smith
Your students will be zombies no more!
Your students will be zombies no more!

A “spooktacular” time was had by all at the TLT Faculty Showcase!  A hearty thank you to the faculty who shared their innovative teaching strategies:  Gustavo Urdaneta Velasquez, Mary Ann Hartshorn, Laura Penny, Sherry Wallace, and Lancie Affonso.  Not only did we learn how to more effectively engage our students and manage our classes, we also played Plinko and enjoyed trick-or-treating!

Plinko!
Plinko!

 

 

For those who couldn’t attend, the following applications were discussed:

Google Docs (Free; Web, iOS, Android) is a cloud-based word processor that allows users to create and share work from any device that connects to the Internet.  Users can work on the same document both synchronously and asynchronously, making it ideal for collaborative projects.  Mary Ann Hartshorn’s students use Google Docs to crowd-source references for research papers.  The students each contribute to the annotated bibliography then collectively edit the document for proper APA formatting.

To establish community and encourage communication, Mary Ann asks her students compose a “Where I’m From” poem at the beginning of the semester, which they share in the OAKS Discussion boards.  In addition, throughout the semester, students take turns as discussion leaders charged with facilitating the boards. Mary Ann has found this continuous interaction throughout the semester encourages students to complete the assigned readings, engage in peer teaching, and establish relationships with one another.

Using Google Docs and the OAKS Discussion tool
Using Google Docs and the OAKS Discussion tool

What student wouldn’t love to play games in class?  Kahoot (Free; Web) is a student response system founded on game-based digital pedagogy.  Gustavo Urdaneta Velasquez tests his students’ understanding of Spanish vocabulary and grammar by creating quizzes that incorporate text, images, and video.  Using any device with a Web browser, students play against each other hoping to top the leader board.  Gustavo is able to see how well his students understand course content and use the students’ answers to provide “just in time” feedback.

Lancie Affonso starts his “flipped” classes by checking his students’ pulse.  LinkedIn Pulse (Free; Web, iOS, Android) is an RSS aggregator that exposes students to industry-specific resources and professional networking.  Students get up-to-the-minute news from industry professionals, business publications, and news media, which inspire lively class discussions.

If you’ve ever wished you could scribble all over PDFs or Powerpoint slides while lecturing, Laura Penny has found the app for you.  Goodnotes ($5.99; iOS) is a note-taking, annotation, and digital whiteboard app.  Using the external display feature, Laura projects her iPad screen to the class and annotates while she lectures.  She can then export those annotated slides and share them with her students.

Socrative (Free; Web, iOS, Android) is a student response system that helps instructors assess student understanding through quizzes, polls, and games — no clickers or subscriptions required!  Sherry Wallace uses Socrative in her art history classes to evaluate students’ knowledge based on their exploration of websites such as the Louvre and Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.  Socrative captures students’ responses in real-time, which encourages discussion and allows Sherry to clarify confusion.

Looking for a way to deliver content while encouraging discussion, especially in an online class?  Instructional Technologist, Chris Meshanko, shared the perfect tool to accomplish these goals — Voicethread (Free; Web, iOS, Android) is a cloud-based application that allows users to upload, share, and discuss documents, presentations, images, audio files and videos.  Chris has devised twelve fantastic ways to integrate Voicethread into your classes including icebreaker introductions at the beginning of the semester, guest lectures, syllabus question & answer, peer evaluation, and a variety of formative assessments. Making Voicethread even better are the College’s site license and its integration with OAKS.

If any of these tools sound promising to you, contact your Instructional Technologist to learn more.

We hope you’ll join us for the November Faculty Showcase on 11/20/14 from 11:00-12:00 in Tate Center 202.

Your fun-loving Instructional Technologists: Mendi, Chris, and Kaitlin
Your fun-loving Instructional Technologists: Mendi, Chris, and Kaitlin
Dear TLT
Dear TLT

Dear TLT: What’s the Best Way to Access VoiceThread?

Chris Meshanko

Dear TLT,

I just discovered VoiceThread, and I love it!  What is the best way to access VoiceThread and share my presentations (with my students)?

Sincerely,

Professor S. Snape
Chemistry 

[hr]

Dear Professor Snape,

We love VoiceThread too!  With our site license, you no longer have to log on to VoiceThread.com.  Instead, you can go through the Multimedia Resources widget on your “course” homepage (in OAKS).

Screenshot_092214_112533_AM

This will take you directly to your MyVoice page.  It will also create a course folder under College of Charleston (on the left).  Please encourage your students to access VoiceThread in the same manner.

Screenshot_092214_115240_AM

To share a VoiceThread with your students, simply left-click (and hold) on it and drag it over to the appropriate course folder.  The folder will turn yellow when selected.

share

A message will appear once the VoiceThread has been successfully copied to the folder.

Screenshot_092214_015136_PM

Don’t forget to let your students know when you post a new VoiceThread to the course folder via an OAKS News Item or email.

Please contact your instructional technologist, if you have any questions or concerns, and check out our upcoming VoiceThread training sessions at http://tlt.eventbrite.com.

Best regards,

TLT

 

Have a question for Dear TLT?  Submit the following form to see it featured on our blog:  http://goo.gl/n1N2tq.

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