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Beating the Snow With Technology

Let’s face it: In Portland, we’re very used to mild winters. When freezing temperatures bring snow and icy roads, those who commute tend to go into what could politely be called “panic mode”. When Old Man Winter strikes during the last two weeks of a term, “panic mode” is not an option.

Knowing what technology resources are available to you as a teacher can help to find effective alternatives when travel is difficult or impossible. Here are three examples I’ve seen these past few snowy weeks.

Online Meetings

With the threat of weather looming, many meetings on campus become uncertain. Luckily, with modern online meeting tools there’s no need to cancel or reschedule. On a snowy morning, I was able to connect via Skype video see the other participants and I could see each other’s faces. This really helps to achieve a sense of presence in a meeting. I needed to give an overview of a project and get feedback. By sharing my screen, all attendees were able to have eyes on the relevant content and discuss in real time. It was the next-best thing to being in the same room hooked up to a projector. At UP, we have Skype for Business, which makes connecting with colleagues or inviting in those from other organizations super easy.

Resources

Final Project Presentations Go Digital

If the weather is wreaking havoc with your end of term presentations schedule, consider allowing students to create a video version of their final presentation. While they won’t get the experience of presenting to a live audience, they will get a chance to develop digital literacies and be able to self-asses their own recorded presentation skills. The technology to create digital presentations is readily available. Students can create, edit and upload video directly from their mobile devices. If they need to present slides or use a computer screen, they can utilize UP MediaSpace’s built in screen capture software. The finished products can be shared via link, embedded in a Moodle forum, or uploaded to a Moodle Media Assignment activity.

Resources

Finals Snowed Out? Not Online

Teachers and students unlucky enough to have a final exam scheduled during weather events face some tough realities – canceled exams are often rescheduled weeks later, well after the last review session. One alternative to cancellation is to offer an online exam through Moodle. Moodle quiz activities can be restricted by date and time, so students simply login at the specified time and begin their test online. Now, obviously, online exams aren’t the right fit for every class and every test. A Moodle quiz is a defacto open book, open note quiz. I’ve written before about some easy methods, such as setting time limits and randomizing questions, that can help limit academic dishonesty. Ultimately it’s up to each instructor to decide if a non-proctored online format can support the learning objectives for their curriculum. Therefore, it’s important for faculty to know and consider the options that technology can provide.

Resources

Thinking Ahead

Icy roads and snow getting in the way of your teaching goals? Let’s chat! You can always contact me at: kahn@up.edu to brainstorm (hopefully not brainfreeze) ideas about how to beat the weather winter!

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TLC Tip – Video Lecture Capture Made Easy

capturespace-copyCaptureSpace is the simplest way to turn a presentation into a video to share with students. Faculty can use this tool to capture video as part of a flipped classroom or use screencast videos to provide feedback to students. Also, CaptureSpace makes it easy to record audio as part of podcast lectures for online, hybrid, or technology assisted courses.

In this video Ben Kahn, Academic Technology Services, provides an overview of screencasting with CaptureSpace.

To get started with CaptureSpace visit https://sso.up.edu log in with UP credentials, and click on the MediaSpace icon.

To learn more about CaptureSpace visit

For more information contact AcademicTechnology Services at ats@up.edu or training@up.edu. Faculty can also follow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/upacademictech or IS at https://twitter.com/upinfoservices.

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An Old Dog Learns New Tech Tricks for Teaching

Several paintings and sculptures on display at the Portland Art Museum.
Several paintings and sculptures on display at the Portland Art Museum.

Every summer I teach a course called The Arts in Portland, Fine Arts 307.  It’s a follow up to the core course, Fine Arts 207, but we allow students to take FA 307 as a substitute for FA 207.  That means that some students have not had the basic introduction to film, music, theater, architecture, and visual arts.

I love the design of this summer course.  We meet twice a week in the evening.  Of the twelve sessions, nine are off-campus field trips.  We attend plays and concerts, go to the First Thursday gallery openings and the Portland Art Museum, take an architecture walking tour, and even go to a jazz club.  Students really enjoy these activities and learn a lot more than they would in a lecture.  However, there is a real problem.

Given all the field trips, it is very difficult to prepare the students, particularly the ones who have not taken FA 207.  They need to have a basic understanding of the art form and of some terminology specific to the discipline.  That’s a challenge when you are on the road most of the time.  I have held preparation sessions in theater lobbies and on the sidewalk, but that has not been as effective as I would like.  So, for Summer 2016, I tried a new approach.

I had heard about the “flipped classroom” model.  Frankly, this kind of trendy term is not appealing to me.  I’m definitely not an early adopter; I let others try things out and then consider what seems to work well.

This model employs recordings that the teacher creates in advance and posts on Moodle.  Students are expected to watch the recording and come to class with awareness of the ideas presented.  Most often I hear that this is designed to cut down on lecture time and allow more time in class for discussion.  In my summer course I have little lecture time, so they get the basic material in a recording and follow up with the experience.

PowerPoint slides are the basis for all my recordings.  I already had most of them from teaching FA 207, so it was easy to play them and just talk about them as I would in class.  I had to create a few specific ones for particular field trips, but again, all of the visuals were slides.  I decided that my face need not appear on screen.  They get enough of me already! [Note: the CaptureSpace tool used for recording can capture any combination of computer screen, slides, and/or webcam – Ed]

I’ve learned several things:

  1. Students will not take the recordings seriously unless you test on the material.
  2. I needed help to get started on the recordings.  Ben Kahn, a trainer in Academic Technology Services came to my office and showed me how to do it on my computer.  He even loaned me a USB headset/microphone.
  3. I wrote down everything that Ben told me, step by step, because I forget the specifics about an hour after a training session.  That really saved me.
  4. The most practical thing I learned while recording is that you should leave a few seconds at the beginning and end without speaking.  You will always need to trim the beginning and end.  That’s a lot easier with a few seconds of silence.
  5. I accepted that these recordings would not be perfect.  I’m not perfect in class, so I gave myself permission to be good enough, not perfect.  As I learn more I can adapt and improve.
  6. It’s been invigorating to try something innovative at this stage in my career, after 28 years of teaching.  Maybe this old dog can learn new tricks.

*Featured image for this post: Portland Art Museum by Stacey Kizer used under CCA 2.0