For the New Year, New Semester, a reason from a Colleague

Try something new and listen to the comments from your colleagues on why they use Lecture Capture in their classrooms for face to face students

  • Allows students to hear and see the lecture or aspects of the lecture more than once especially if they are struggling with concepts; this is direct comments from my students as to why they re-watch the videos.
  • If a student is ill or has a family emergency, they can watch the video and then seek clarification of questions along with hearing their peers questions and my responses from the lecture section.  Bonus is that I have lectures from previous year in case I become ill, campus closures, or cancelled guest lectures to be able to fill in quickly.
  • I have heard faculty state they don’t want to record because it could encourage students to skip class; the university has a policy on excused absences that I enforce.  My lectures has mini-quizzes (clickers) or learning activities and the students that skip are not allowed to make the missed points unless it is an excused absence.
  • I record the student’s presentations and make them watch the video, this provides them the opportunity to view themselves and evaluate themselves to improve future presentations (aspect of enhancing professionalism).
  • I watch a couple of videos each semester, especially when I feel a lecture didn’t go as well as I had planned it to go, in order to critique myself and make improvements in my teaching.
  • Evidence for me when a student states that I said something in class, I can go back and view to determine what was actually stated during the session.

And from another colleague Jo Naylor, PhD.

“I want my Distance Education Students to have the same opportunities as my On Campus Students to watch my lectures during the scheduled class time if they are able. I also want my On Campus students to have the opportunity to watch the lectures during their class time if they are home due to illness or were not able to return from a holiday because they have the class time built into their schedules.”

Web conferencing with Saba

I know I talk/write often about lecture capture but there is another tool available to faculty and students which can be used for both synchronous and asynchronous delivery. Some faculty use it along with their lecture capture.  The tool has become more user friendly than its former name Centra.  Click on the picture to find out more or contact OET for a demonstration in real time!sabameeting

Saba Meeting is a Web conferencing program where a group of people interact in a virtual online meeting environment. Saba Meeting can be accessed live anytime, anywhere attendees have an Read more

So what are you doing?

Please share here with a comment or send me an email, have you tried something different this semester, is it working or did it bomb?  Have you heard of a new  or old tool that you want to try?  

When talking to CAHS students recently one comment that was made was how some faculty really make you think and solve problems.  What are some ways you get students to “go outside of the box”?

Let’s make this a collaborative effort, please share!

New Year? New Semester? Update Course?

As the ITC for our college I can do more than monitor room recordings.  The ITC page on the OFE website describes “The role of the ITC is to promote, support, and help integrate digital technologies into learning and teaching at East Carolina University and to empower faculty members in the use of technology in education. . .assist in the use of Blackboard for course material delivery, advise on the organization and presentation of course materials, support the creation and presentation of multimedia components, and teach web page creation and design. They must be able to make creative proposals for course design, supervise projects, direct personnel, and carry through from design to course delivery.”

So take advantage of my skill set and let me help you try something different with your course or maybe just a bit of tweaking!

Turning Anywhere?

Many faculty have used Turning Point with PowerPoint but did you know that you can poll using Anywhere Polling part of the Turning Point 5 Dashboard.  Using clickers and a receiver Anywhere Polling lets you poll atop web page, videos, documents of any application using a floating interactive toolbar. anywherepolling Set up a series of generic or specific questions and you can “ask the audience”.  More info and tutorials can be found at the Turning Point website http://www.turningtechnologies.com/  PC Training 

Turning Point also features the Self-Paced Polling environment which allows participants to take a paper-based test on an XR or NXT ResponseCard.

Contact OET for a demo or schedule a time to use in your class! 

Try it out!

This woman is heading west!

But just for two weeks, staring Friday, 10/2 through Friday 10/16.  My assistant Michele panicom12@students.ecu.edu will be in the office while I am away and then sadly will be moving on to Greensboro in mid-October.  If she cannot assist you while I am gone following is a list of resources that may be able to help:

  • Help Desk (Michael Davis and Billy Igoe) for this building 744-2903
  • Blackboard – Matt Long, Cindy Bowers, Adam Brewe
  • SABA – John Southworth
  • Mediasite Troubleshooting –  Jarret Shafer, Josh Brown
  • My Mediasite – Dennis Allen
  • Tegrity – Perceival Murphy
  • WordPress Blogs – Cindy Bower
  • Academic Technologies – Ginny Sconiers

http://sites.ecu.edu/OET/ This blog

http://blog.ecu.edu/sites/medrec/   Mediasite, Tegrity and Saba Blog

http://blog.ecu.edu/sites/blackboard/  Blackboard Blogs

 

Making a connection

Software videoconferencing is ideal for one-on-one interviews, peer discussions, distance learning, CME programs, class lectures or guest instructors.

Cisco Jabber

Conference with anyone, from anywhere, at anytime from your own Mac or Windows desktop or laptop using Cisco Jabber.

Features include video, desktop sharing and conferencing. Camera, microphone and speakers required.

Submit the Jabber Account Request form through the IT Help Desk online service request system. Approval processed within two business days.

Near and Far, Lync Keeps You Connected

Microsoft Lync 2013 is an easy-to-use and versatile communication tool.

Available to students, faculty and staff, Lync integrates seamlessly with email, calendar and the ECU address book* to allow instant text messages, video conferences, online presentations and even group conferencing. Lync allows true collaborative desktop sharing among attendees for quick project edits and live brainstorming.

One of the most-requested Lync features is the ability to invite non-ECU participants to a meeting or presentation.

 

As the semester really gets rolling, some reminders!

Safe Assign – make sure to Synchronize your Course prior to deploying a Safe Assignment. Safe Assignments are now an option within Assignments.

Want to use Respondus LockDown Browser – make it available to use by going to Control Panel, Customization, Tool Availability and click Respondus LockDown Browser to make it available.

Need link for students to download Respondus LockDown Browser – here it is http://www.respondus.com/lockdown/information.pl?ID=745639734

Need to download gradecenter? – go to grade center and click Work Offline.   Save the gradebook to your Piratedrive for safe keeping.

You can still set up web conferencing or lecture capturing sessions for your class.  Just contact OET!

Go! Fall Semester 2015!

Some reminders for start of semester 

  • Make sure your content has been rolled over to your summer classes, if not please go to this link http://www.ecu.edu/blackboard/
  • Submit your mediasite recording form or request for release of past recordings.Contact the OET for form and or additional information
  • If you are interested in using the “clickers” for your class please advise the OET what dates, times and rooms you will need the equipment.
  • Advise OET of any special software that should be loaded onto classroom computers.
  • If you have a guest speaker whose voice needs reinforcement contact the OET to reserve their voice reinforcement system.
  • For those conducting online office hours or class meetings with Saba. .
  • Make your class available in Blackboard, Customization, Properties, Set Availability.

Read more

They might not know as much as you think

Tech wise that is.  According to a recent article I read in Campus Technology “American millennials (those between the ages of 16 and 34) may be the first generation that grew up with computers and Internet access, but all that time spent glued to a small screen hasn’t translated to technology competence. While they spend an average of 35 hours every week on digital media, nearly six out of 10 millennials can’t do basic tasks such as sorting, searching for and emailing data from a spreadsheet.’ (http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/06/11/report-6-of-10-millennials-have-low-technology-skills.aspx)  Distance Ed students can find many resources here and you can also use Lynda.com to help students build skills.  Questions?  Contact OET.