Friday, October 14, 2016

Another New Thing I'd Like to Try

I'd like to try revising/improving my work based on feedback from the instructor of this course. Unfortunately, he has chosen to give absolutely zero feedback on any assignments or within any discussion forums throughout the entire eight weeks (to be fair, there was a presence in the introductions forum the very first week, but that's not feedback). Maybe this very last week he will leave some sort of comment on something. Maybe then I could give this a try! However, looking at the other scrapbook submissions I assume I'll get the same three sentence response as everyone else:

  1. Good/nice/excellent scrapbook
  2. I hope you'll continue to use it/add items/make it a resource
  3. Thank you and good luck/best wishes in your online teaching
Template feedback is all fine and good if it isn't so obvious to the students that you're just writing the same comments on everyone's assignments, especially when the timestamps reveal the feedback was posted on several submissions within the same eight minute window. Why do that publicly anyway, particularly after being completely absent in the forums since the beginning of the course? Also, it would take maybe an extra ten seconds per student to add one sentence that mentions something specific from the students' work so they know the instructor had taken more than a cursory glance at it just to be able to fill out that slot in the gradebook.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Something New - LucidChart, a Mind-Mapping Tool

One way I try to get a mental handle on a large amount of information is by drawing it out. For fun, I decided to give Lucidchart a try, a tech tool which allows you to create digital mind maps. Here's an example of a chart I drafted using this free online tool:
Hint: use the zoom tools for a closer look, or the box icon to display in full screen mode.




Lucidcharts can be shared in many ways: you can share a link, embed the chart (like above) using the embed code option, or even post to Facebook. Instructors could use it to create infographics, graphic organizers, or other such content for their courses.

Even better than that, you can invite others to collaborate, making it a great tool for groups. Students could use it for brainstorming, organizing information, or assembling group projects. The maps auto-save in the cloud, making it much harder for students to "lose." Also, all group members will always be working with the most current version when collaborating.

There is also a comment/chat tool, which could be used in a variety of ways. Students can share their work with instructors, who can then provide feedback within the project. Students could then respond or ask clarifying questions, and the instructor and student could have a running conversation on the project either asynchronously or in real time. In the same way group members could also have either a synchronous or synchronous chat about their project throughout its duration.

If you're looking for a mind-mapping tool, give this one a shot - you won't be disappointed!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Canvas Conferences - A Synchronous Opportunity

There are many tools that will allow you to communicate synchronously with your online, blended, or even face-to-face courses. If you are a Canvas LMS user, one such integrated tool is the Conferences feature utilizing Big Blue Button. This tool allows entire classes to virtually meet and communicate utilizing text/audio/video chat (whole group, small group, or private), document sharing and annotation, desktop sharing, audience interaction, and even multiple presenters. Conferences can be recorded and saved in the course shell for up to 14 days - perfect for students who are not able to attend the synchronous session or those who need to return to it to review specific sections. View a quick overview below (hint: click the box icon next to the YouTube logo in the lower corner to display the video in full screen mode - or click the YouTube link itself to view in full screen via their site if your browser has disabled full screen viewing - so that it's easier to see everything!).


There are several ways you could use this type of synchronous session to support your instruction. First, this would be a terrific way to offer a review or study session, reinforcing previous knowledge. You could "meet" with groups to discuss project proposals, conduct a spot-check and provide feedback, or have them present. You could even do the same with individuals - a virtual one-on-one conference. If you play around with it, I'm sure you'll come up with many more uses!

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

A Little More Asynchronousity - Submission Comments

A great tool for asynchronous communication within the Canvas LMS is the submission comment area. Instructors and students can have a running conversation regarding a specific assignment right alongside that assignment. Both can even record or upload audio as well as video comments.

As we know, frequent, personalized feedback from the instructor that advances learning is a critical component of online courses.


Here's a screenshot of the sidebar of the Speedgrader screen for an assignment that was resubmitted multiple times. With each submission the student and I were able to communicate back and forth about the assignment. Student information has of course been blurred to protect privacy.



The ability to include video is invaluable, because narrated screencasts can convey so much more information than typed text alone. But, simply having the tool to easily communicate about an assignment is in itself very helpful.

Monday, October 3, 2016

Google Forms for Online Quizzes and Surveys

It seems like Google has a solution for everything, doesn't it? Quizzes and surveys are no exception; enter Google Forms!

I have been a Google Form user for quite some time. I use them extensively for surveys, particularly for early and end of course feedback in courses. I prefer to use this over the built-in survey feature of the LMS because:

  1. It boosts student confidence in the anonymity factor when the feedback surveys don't look like LMS quizzes.
  2. It produces beautiful visuals of the aggregate and individual data.
  3. I can embed the same survey across multiple sections, which automatically aggregates the data for me (I include can provide a dropdown menu of sections as one of the questions if I need to parse out the responses).
  4. It embeds very well in our LMS.
My department also uses Google Forms to collect data in other ways. For example, it's a great way to keep track of proposals for in-service sessions or other events. We link a Google Form into the LMS for faculty to request sandbox courses, so that we get all the information we need in one shot without having to send out pesky follow-up emails - it also allows us to keep track of all of the sandboxes we have created and when.

Graded quizzes, however, is a feature that was just released this past summer, so setting up a quiz in Google Forms was a new experience. I love that you can embed YouTube videos and images into Google Forms, adding the multimedia touch. This also allows you to use a "quiz" as an instructional tool; you can include whatever content you'd like, then add comprehension check questions to make sure that students are grasping the concepts (and actually viewing your videos!).

Interested in seeing what this would look like? Take my sample Google Forms quiz - enjoy!

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Creating Content - H5P

If you ever wanted to add a little flash or dazzle to your course (while still aligning with learning objectives, of course), H5P.org is a terrific site to work with. Utilizing this site you can create an entire range of interactive activities which you can then either link to or embed within your LMS (or website, or blog - as we're about to see!).

Just a sampling of the items you can create:
  • interactive videos
  • timelines
  • flashcards
  • charts 
  • quizzes
  • memory games
  • hotspot questions
Here are a few examples I've created:

Netiquette Memory Game



Security Matching Activity




Interactive Video Tutorial

It's best to view this one full screen; click the arrows icon in the lower right hand corner.



Give it a shot and add a little pizzazz to your classes today!

Friday, September 23, 2016

Google Trends!

Google Trends is a fantastic (and fun!) resource to get real-time data on trending searches. Google has put together many interactive pages related to a specific subject that feature graphics, charts, etc informed by Google search data. It's pretty amazing! These pages provide some pretty interesting insight into how the general public researches issues as well as what they find important, might be a good resource to link to within your courses at some point. They can be linked to or embedded, making them terrific course resources, particularly when discussing current events. Below are just two examples - remember they are interactive, so be sure to hover over/press play so that you get the full effect!

1st Presidential Debate snippet (link to full page)




Emmy Award snippet (link to full page)




Thursday, September 22, 2016

Getting Asynchronous - Padlet

There are all sorts of asynchronous communication tools out there that can be effectively used in online courses, the most "famous" of which of course is the discussion forum, usually contained within the LMS. Today I'll introduce you to another: Padlet!

Think of Padlet as a way to electronically slap Post-It notes to an online wall. As an instructor you can sign up for a free account, create custom "walls," and then either share the link to the wall or embed it within your LMS. Students (who do not need an account) can then double-click on the wall, and a sticky note will appear in which they can add text, images, or even hyperlinks.

Instructors can allow notes to be posted automatically, or they can choose to require approval first (I'm sure you can guess the benefit of that).

This could be used in a variety of ways: asking questions, posting resources, brainstorming, introductions, sharing comments or feedback... so on and so forth.

Try it out! You can access the full-screen board to join in, or double-click on the embedded wall below. How about entering your name in the top line, then adding what you are currently reading in the body of the note. (Hint: you can move your sticky notes around, so if you wanted to add a comment to someone else's, you could create a sticky chain!). 


Wednesday, September 21, 2016

"Authentic" Assignments

Authentic assignments are all the rage these days, and with good reason: when designed and facilitated correctly, students apply learned knowledge and develop real-world skills.

This blog is an "authentic" assignment for a class on utilizing Tech Tools in the online environment. We are to use it as a scrapbook of tools we experiment with along with our reflections on the tools themselves, the results of our experimentation, and the potential we feel they have in our own teaching. This way, we can refer back to these posts later on. And, of course, whilst in the process we learn how to blog (that's the "authentic" part!).

We were given instructions the first week to set up our blogs, and reminders each week that we should be adding to them. We have now passed the halfway point in this course, and there is a "check-in" scheduled. Since everyone has completely understood the concept of blogging from the beginning and has been regularly engaging in posting in their own blog and reviewing others, this will go off without a hitch.

Except that this is not what is happening at all. Instead, most class members have been almost completely absent from their own blogs (and almost no one is interacting with their classmates' blogs in any notable way) for four weeks. Thus, this week several people are sitting down at their computers and publishing four or five post right in a row, within the same hour or two. Which, of course, is absolutely not how blogs are used in the "real world," but most don't know that because no time was taken to explore blogs, how they are used, and what their real applications are. Additionally, even the posts themselves in most cases aren't original. Since we are required to also post our thoughts about each tech tool in multiple discussion boards each week, most members of the class are simply copying and pasting those posts into their blogs. This is without concern for their role as author, their audience, the format itself, or the topic... you know, RAFT, the very basics of any kind of writing that we've been taught since elementary school.

But, the lack of authentic writing, effort, or even legitimate use of the blogs as a medium doesn't really matter, because the "check-in" requirement very clearly states that as long as the blog exists and has some content everyone will receive full credit. So no, there will be no actual investigation into whether students are "getting it" or not, and certainly no instructive feedback given. No, that will be reserved for the very end of the course when the final grade is given, and the people who have had no idea what they were doing all along will just cross their fingers and hope it was good enough. This is contrary to everything I have been taught about feedback in online courses from the previous seven ION courses I have taken, so it's confusing. I'm not sure how this assignment will end up for the students who don't know what they're doing.

One thing I am sure of, most of the students in the class new to blogging will not learn any of the benefits of it, since the blogs have not been used authentically.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Revisiting Twitter

If you decide to use Twitter in your classes, there are a few tools that can assist you in managing your usage.

Lists


Lists are a handy way to group people and/or organizations you follow, so you can narrow down your feed to tweets from just those accounts. For example, I created a list including all of my ION classmates and instructor, so it would be easy for me to scroll through just those items periodically. The header above links to directions for setting up lists; below you can see a screenshot of my list options. I can view a feed a Tweets from just the members, view the list of members, and since I've made it public (meaning other people can subscribe, so they too can view the isolated Tweet feed) I can see who has subscribed to the list. This was my first time creating a Twitter list, and I found it to be quick, easy, and efficient - I highly recommend it if you need a little Twitter curation!


TweetDeck


TweetDeck is an external resource that allows you to monitor various types of Twitter activity.
For example, below you see four columns: 1) my general Twitter feed, 2) my ION class feed (I've blurred out my classmates' info), 3) Direct messages, and 4) a feed for #Snoopy. The header above is linked to the TweetDeck site.



HootSuite


HootSuite has features similar to TweetDeck, with the ability to manage various feeds in columns. The added bonus is that you can draft and schedule Tweets to be automatically sent out at a later date and/or time. You could use this scheduling feature to send tweets to your classes at specific times during the term. Say, for example, you require your class to open a Twitter account and learn the basics of Twitter navigation. As part of that lesson you may want to send out a few links throughout the unit - perhaps even the same exact links you've been sending out for four different sessions in a row - but are worried you may forget. You can schedule them all ahead of time, even more than one term at a time, and never have to think of it again! The header above is linked to the HootSuite site.



Hopefully at least one of these capture your interest!