Last week I led a hands-on workshop for the Faculty Summer Institute at the University of Illinois on how to create a presentation in Prezi. If you have never heard of Prezi, think of it as an alternative to PowerPoint that is not only free, but offers a lot of viewing and display options that PowerPoint doesn’t.
One comment, now that I have worked with Prezi’s embed feature: the publicly viewable step-by-step version of the presentation (what you see here) doesn’t allow for zooming in on certain text in the same way as in the live presentation mode. When I was presenting from my online account I could zoom in on smaller text that wasn’t already included in the “path” (the order in which information is shown in the slides”). That meant I could include the photo credits in a tiny font under the photos and zoom in on them when necessary. In the embedded version, you can see these citations very briefly in passing from one slide to another, but you can’t select that text like it’s possible to do in the presentation mode.
While this would be a disadvantage to Prezi, the application has been evolving in the past year since it was first released. There are still a few bugs. However, it’s come a long way since I last worked with it in December 2009. There are enough clever features to it that I am optimistic that it will continue to get better and better in the next year.
CC-licensed photo, IMG_2883 by Richard Mansfield via Flickr
Each month, I post a list of @wisepedagogy Twitter posts from the previous month. If you missed them the first time, you can find them here.
Unfortunately, this will be the last archive for @wisepedagogy. We have reached the end of our grant funding for this project, and most WISE Pedagogy initiatives are being discontinued after April 30. Anyone who wishes to read more tweets for eLearning and online pedagogy can follow my personal feed, @amckinn.
The following video by Kevin Roberts offers inspiration for making online education engaging: if students can get information online, what can instructors do to teach beyond the limits of imparting information?
The focus is on active assignments, asking students to discuss ideas and use cloud-based networks (like Prezi) to analyze the information they are learning. As far as inspiring presentations for educators go, this one stretches on longer than most at almost ten minutes. However, the content is worth the watch if you have time.
On a related note, the video serves as a good example of how to present information and ideas in Prezi. Even without the addition of image files or embedded videos, the presentation moves from point to point in a way that holds readers’ attention with pure text. For anyone who is learning how to adapt presentations to Prezi, the style of delivery in this video may be reason enough to watch it.
Since the iPad was released to the general public, there have been a lot of reports and articles about its relative advantages and disadvantages. The following is my addition to this dialog: in terms of educational technology, how much can we estimate its future worth as a learning tool?
How the iPad compares in size to an iPhone and a laptop. CC-licensed photo, 10-iPadUnboxing-7951, by Kadath via Flickr.
Much of educational technology focuses on making use of the technologies students are already using. At least, that seems to be the main theory behind mobile learning pedagogy…as well as several online networks. Isn’t that why instructors started setting up Facebook and Second Life accounts in the first place — to go where the students were? If that were true, it should only follow that educators should be prepared to embrace iPads as much as their students.
So: to what extent can we expect students to embrace iPads? Let’s consider its practical value for general use as an e-reader or online browsing machine. Sure, it’s shiny and new, but will it be more practical than a smartphone or netbook?
The photo above shows how much larger the iPad is than the iPhone. It’s not going to be as portable as an iPhone, and without a protective sleeve it’s going to be more easily damaged (and have fewer applications) than a laptop. Factor in the limited capabilities for this early model, and it might have enough drawbacks to make it less useful to students than either a smartphone or a larger laptop or netbook. This also ignores the price consideration — if students already have a laptop and a smartphone (or an iPod touch, for that matter), a budget-conscious student must wonder what he/she could accomplish with an iPad that couldn’t already be done with one or the other gadgets, and if that would be enough to justify buying another device.
There are other drawbacks that could be listed here: the iPad’s inability to read e-books in .pdf files, its awkward size/weight for holding it like a book for extended reading, even the way a fingerprint-smudged iPad loses its “shiny and new” luster as soon as it’s out of the box.
However, Apple’s marketing campaign has done a fantastic job of hyping the new gadget in glitzy ads and media exposure. Surely, if Apple could change the world with iPods and iPhones, the iPad couldn’t fall much farther from the tree, could it?
CC-licensed photo, Apple iPad faux pas, by Swamibu via Flickr
While it may have some practical drawbacks for students, the iPad may be a useful device for people who are less tech-savvy, have needs that are more recreational than learning-centered, and want something like a smartphone but with a larger screen. (I might still suggest a netbook instead — at least, for my older family members who want something lightweight they can carry to the library and check their email for free. For people in this category, a netbook is still more affordable and might be easier to type with. If your less tech-savvy relatives want to look more cutting-edge while they do this, by all means recommend them to the iPad.)
Before this post delves too deeply into snark, however, it’s still worth investigating possible uses for iPads as learning technology. The following video by The Masie Center gives Eliot Masie’s iPad First Look for Learning:
Also, a Blackboard app for the iPad:
Advice for the time being: Unless you are a devoted Apple fan who would use a new Apple device anyway, or you teach at a school that is giving each student his or her own iPad, you might want to wait a few months before you buy one solely for pedagogical purposes. Time may tell whether this new device will have enough advantages to surpass the others that are already available.
Even if you and some of your students already do have iPads, it may be a while before we can expect to design lesson plans that incorporate them into course activities.
Finally, for a pun on blended learning, the following video demonstrates what happens when an iPad is put in a blender.
cc-licensed photo, Chicks, by nickgraywfu via Flickr
Each month, I post a list of @wisepedagogy Twitter posts from the previous month. If you missed them the first time, you can find them here.
Not included in this list are posts related to the Spring 2010 ELI Focus Session on Mobile Learning. You can find those in this post: Mobile Learning: Educause ELI Focus Session Recap
Just archived my tweets from October-January onto my blog. http://www.wisepedagogy.com/blog/ Hoping to archive earlier tweets when I’m less cross-eyed…
cc-licensed photo, "Google G1 next to iPod Touch" via Flickr by James F Clay.
Last week I attended the Spring 2010 ELI Focus Session on Mobile Learning. Not only did the session presentations offer valuable insight into mLearning needs and pedagogy, but the session’s Twitter feed proved to be just as valuable. Participants shared their own comments and insights into the presentations play-by-play and it became a useful place to post one’s own notes. In many cases, other people’s comments were re-tweeted because they typed what I was thinking before I could finish my own tweet. I’m sharing my own Twitter posts from this session below for my notes on the session, links to external resources, and in case you want to follow any of the other participants whose insights I retweeted.
First, a few comments about the session and the subject of mobile learning in general:
Mobile-assisted learning is the future of technology-assisted learning. Today’s undergraduate students are sometimes called the “Net Generation” because they grew up with the internet in mainstream homes. Today’s children are growing up with mobile devices. If the advent of the internet has affected the way we teach our students now, we can similarly expect mobile technology to become a more and more pervasive element in future pedagogy. In other words, the more we see students using the technology, the more likely and necessary it will be to design course activities and communication methods that incorporate mobile devices.
Text will often get a faster response from students than email: One of the participants in our session room at the University of Illinois mentioned the case of a student who was sent an email notification that she had won a prize from the school. After a week she still had not returned the message. Then she was sent a text message to her phone. She texted back within seconds. She had seen the email, but for whatever reason, texting was the more convenient, easier, or available way for her to communicate back. While this example may not be indicative of the way all students communicate, in general texting is becoming the faster, reliable, and more commonplace way to reach students. As another person in our attendance group put it, “If you want to reach a teenager, send a text.”
More universities are already using texts for emergency alerts. Some instructors are using them to send immediate announcements to students. A few schools are starting to use texts to send short teaching points about historical notes and holidays in other countries, moving past the concept of texting for necessary communication and on to texting for cultural enrichment.
Mobile Learning is not just about smartphones. The ELI session seemed to be predominantly focused on the use of iPhones, as some schools are giving the devices to their students so that they can all incorporate them into their learning. However, as many session participants pointed out, the broader spectrum of mobile learning includes not just iPhones/iPod Touches, but other smartphones like the Blackberry and Andriod, as well as SMS (text)-enabled cell phones and netbooks.
The ability to access the internet is a useful tool in a mobile device, but any phone that can send a text can post or receive messages on Facebook, Twitter, or other websites that allow SMS. If the device has a camera, the student can take a photo anywhere and send it to the instructor’s email address or post it to Flickr. This opens a door to several possible mobile-assisted course activities. Students can take pictures of specific leaves on a hiking trail for a biology class or snap photos of library shelves in a library science course. Students can text their thesis statement for an essay to their instructor. If the instructor can think of a course activity that can be accomplished with texting, the students can likely pull it off. Also, as participant bking23commented, instructors can sometimes get students to help create activities that use mobile devices, as they are already using them and know what they can do. However –
Sometimes less is more, if it means it gets more use by more people. Even though many students are using smartphones, iPods, and the like, many of them only know how to use a few basic functions with them. And, as many of us are working on an uneven playing field where not all students have the same device, it’s likely to be easier to get students to use a basic mobile function like texting or sending a photo than to use some of the more advanced features of a specific device.
Session notes from Twitter:
Participating in the Educause focus session on mobile learning #elifocus
cc-licensed photo, "Day 30 | 01 May 2008 | Decision Time" via Flickr by Shereen M (has been away far too long. Back soon!!
Those who have participated in the WISE Introduction to Online Pedagogy On-Demand Workshop are familiar with the workshop’s discussion board in phpBB. For those who aren’t familiar, this has been our solution to the need for an open forum independent of a course management system. The on-demand workshop has been open to anyone, free of charge, without the need to wait for a time-sensitive online course with a seat limit and wait list.
The phpBB system has provided a discussion board, but it has not been without its drawbacks. People who want to join need to wait to be approved first, to keep the board free of spammers. What’s worse, phpBB does not send notifications of new members, or notices of new messages or responses — meaning that unless people remember to actively return to the site, the participation rate drops off.
How to fix this: A poll has been created for forum users to help us choose a better, more effective venue for continuing discussion of online pedagogy. Because space for explanation on the poll page is minimal, the options are listed below. If you would like to participate in this forum, please respond to the poll by March 5: http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2721699/
Which online service would you most likely use to participate in asynchronous discussion about online pedagogy?
The Commenting feature within the PBworks wiki. Users will get notices when new comments are made. Comments will be visible to anyone who views the wiki. If over 100 people want to join, the ones who have already completed the workshop can opt out. A free registration would be required for the 100 users who can join the wiki at any given time.
A Facebook Fan Page. Users can post their discussion responses in the Discussions page, and keep in touch by visiting the fan page itself. Once users comment they may receive notifications of replies to their comments, if not new discussion threads. Comments will be visible only to people who join the fan page. A free registration would be required for those who are not already on Facebook. An unlimited number of people could participate.
A private blog. This would be separate from the public WISE Pedagogy Blog; users would need to be invited to a private space in order to view discussion prompts (as blog posts) and participate in discussion (as blog comments). Users could receive notification of new messages by signing up for RSS feeds of both the blog and blog comments in addition to joining the blog as a private reader. Private membership is limited to 100 readers at a time.
An email list like Listserv or Google Groups. Messages will be viewable only to registered users, who will receive all new messages individually or in a digest. Discussion would take place as email messages or replies to existing discussion threads. An unlimited number of people could participate.
This parody of The Office tells the mock-umentary-style story of a college instructor who is attempting to teach with technology in his classroom. For any instructor or student who has been in a similar situation, this video may hit close to home.
“The class is on technology, and you’re not really using any…the board doesn’t really count,” the IT assistant patiently explains to the instructor. Consequently, he gives his students course information on floppy disks, then sits in front of the class and broadcasts a live Skype video onto the classroom projection screen (so they can either look at him face-to-face or at his Skypecast face).
The video was created by students at the University of Denver as a video essay to express some of their real-life frustrations with classroom technology. While the instructor is obviously trying, the results are ineffective. What lessons can we draw from this? Here are a few that leap to mind:
If specific technology is required, get students to use it in the classroom. In this class, students supposedly have been required to bring laptops but only half of them are using them during class while the instructor lectures. Rather than just using laptops to take notes (or spending the hour on Facebook), this instructor could have them interacting in a discussion assisted with Twitter for sharing notes and ideas, or (gasp) learning how to use specific software or programs.
Beware of outdated technology. The example of the instructor who hands students floppy disks is a bit extreme, given that contemporary computers and laptops don’t even include floppy disk drives anymore. Still, the longer we get accustomed to specific technologies, the harder it is to notice when those technologies become obsolete or replaced by something more effective. Know what your students are using, and avoid using stuff they can’t.
Keep it relevant. “If you are here, why are we Skyping?” Sure, live video lectures are a great idea…for online education. If you’re already face-to-face, there is a better use for your projection screen.
Make sure you know how to use the technology you plan to use in the classroom. Save yourself the embarrassment of failing to use the projection equipment or giving the class an assignment using software you haven’t learned how to use yet yourself, and give everything a test run. This saves class time and prepares you for any issues your students will face as they learn.
Listen to your students. The students in the video give good advice to their instructor: “Let us collaborate with our classmates.” “Better blackboard use.” “Don’t just read off your PowerPoint.” “Please respond to my emails.” “I’m so bored. Just let the students play a more active role in the class.”
The following video by YouTube user mokmcdaniel shows what an online student’s experience would look like if his instructor’s lack of instruction had occurred in a face-to-face classroom. It’s a good reminder of the level of effort that is required to make online learning effective and valuable for our students!
Online University Cracks Down On Rowdy Online Fraternity | The Onion – 
