Workshops and Resources
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Our winter workshops brochure and schedule is now available in pdf form, or visit the LTC web site for more information and to access the registration form.
Blog, wikis, and podcasts are just some examples of the new technologies that have emerged over the past few years. Do these technologies have a role in teaching and learning in higher education? If they do, what are their characteristics? How can they be used effectively and strategically?
As Mark Nichol has written, "we must recognise that education is a ‘wicked problem’, and because of this no particular educational system (even a purely informal one) should be seen as inevitable or even exemplary."
These one hour hands on workshops look at a number of these new technologies and explore their use in education. The notes for these workshops are available as pages in this wiki at:
Contents |
Iclickers
Personal response systems (Iclickers) are now available in selected classrooms on campus. Who’s using them and how are they being used? In what ways can they create more engaging classes? What are effective teaching and learning strategies for incorporating these devices into a course?
Online Discussions
The availability of online discussion tools have led many faculty to actively use online discussion groups in their courses. Online discussions are effective tools to engage students in the learning process. Students can improve their critical thinking skills through online discussions of ill-structured questions, hone their debates skills, seek advice from an expert in the field, share ideas and generate their own knowledge through learning groups, and develop article/book reviews for peer review.
Blogs
A blog is a website where postings are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Blogs provide an easy way for individuals to write comments about a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news. Some blogs function more as personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. (retrieved via wikipedia, July 30, 2007)
Wikis
A wiki is basically a simple web page (like this one) that anyone can edit. At least that's the standard description ... or what wikis were when first started. The openness of wikis has encountered the reality of human behaviour (or more precisely - spam). Wikis are chaotic, informal knowledge spaces. Wikis enable individuals to create a collective resource. Where Blogs enable individual voices, wikis, on the other hand, over-write individuality.
Image sharing with Flickr
If you are involved in a discipline or course where graphics, images or photographs are important resources image sharing on the web may be for you! Concentrating on the popular web based image sharing site flickr, this page describies how you can find, upload and discuss images, tag them with keywords, organize them into sets, create theme or subject based collections of images and allow public or private group access.
Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarks are a way to store and organize web bookmarks (favorites) on the web. Having your bookmarks on the web means they are accessible from any computer with an internet connection and a browser.
You can add notes to your bookmarks which can provide a summary or synopsis of the site, or why you found the site interesting or important.
You can share your bookmarks publicly, so your friends, coworkers, and other people can view them for reference, amusement, collaboration, or anything else.
Audio on the web
Audio can add a rich addition to online or blended courses. From simple course additions such as audio for collaboration, to more involved institution-wide podcast initiatives, audio opens the classroom to learners in exciting ways.
Podcasting has experienced significant growth over the last few years. Technology has developed to the point where an educator can begin recording and distributing resources with only a computer, a microphone, and internet access.
Video on the web
The last decade has seen the web transition from a text-based medium to a multi-media platform with audio, video, and greater interactivity. For educators, this presents a great opportunity to add to diversity and variety to courses.
While video-taped lectures have been common on university campuses for decades, the increased bandwidth available to most computer users has opened the door for a new approach to extend lectures - enabling learners to view missed (or not fully understood) lectures at their convenience.
The ability to create and share video resources has entered mainstream society - a computer, video camera, and internet connection are essentially all that's needed to get started. Online video editing, hosting, and sharing tools are available without cost (or, in some cases, a small fee).
Desktop WebConferencing
Webconferencing is used to facilitate group meetings or live presentations over the Internet.
In it's simplest form its text messaging, at its most complex, it's videoconferencing combined with application or desktop sharing. What is common to all forms of webconferencing is that they are synchronous communication (real time) tools using computers and the internet. Most webconferencing programs now have recording capability which allows you to save your conference for later playback.
The advantage of webconferencing to videoconferencing is that you can webconference from anyplace that has a computer with the appropriate software and an internet connection. Unlike traditional videoconferencing you don't need to go to a special room with videoconferencing (expensive) equipment and the technical overhead to 'operate' a webconference is much lower. The disadvantage to webconferencing is that the quality of video in videoconferencing systems is usually superior.
TyingItAllTogether
Blogs, news, social bookmarks, academic journals, flickr images, YouTube videos . . . a sea of information that threatens to inundate us to the point of paralysis. How can we manage these disparate sources of information in meaningful ways? With more technology of course! This page will explore web based aggregators that allow you to build a customized information environment - filtering the signal from the noise.
Pachyderm - Multimedia Authoring
Interested in creating multimedia learning resources but don’t want to learn Flash? Pachyderm is an easy-to-use multimedia authoring tool. Designed for people who have little or no multimedia authoring experience, Pachyderm is accessed through a web browser and is as easy to use as filling out a web form. Authors upload their own media (images, audio clips, and short video segments) and place them into pre-designed templates, which include built-in functionality for playing video and audio, linking to other templates, and other features. Descriptive text can be copied and pasted in, or authored directly in Pachyderm. Once screens have been completed and linked together, the presentation is published and can then be downloaded and placed on the author's website, on a CD, or elsewhere. The result is an attractive, interactive Flash-based multimedia presentation.
Other Resources
The Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies has compiled a list of the top 100 technology tools for learning.
Features_of_educational_social_software_(ESS)_applications
The 'infamous' The Machine is Us/ing Us YouTube video about Web 2.0.
