Teaching and technology are almost inseparable these days. The following is a list of tools that may be of interest to many teachers.
Microsoft Office Suite
Blackboard
Respondus
Remark
Blogs & Journals in Bb
Wikis
Photo Editing
Audio MP3
Online Videos
Georgian’s official suite of computer-based office tools is Microsoft Office. Composed of MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Access, Publisher, Viso and Live Meeting, the suite meets almost all your needs. College computers have the Office suite loaded. Copies of the Office suite may be purchased by employees at a good discount from Georgian’s Bits & Bytes Store. Microsoft provides help and tutorials for these tools online. Follow these links for help and tutorials: MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Access, Publisher, Viso , Live Meeting.
Since it was introduced at Georgian, Blackboard usage has grown at a fast pace. Blackboard is a learning management system (LMS). Teachers use it to support their classes and students use it to gain access to course materials, course activities and grades. Blackboard is integrated with the Banner system so that when teachers are assigned to courses, Blackboard automatically creates an empty course “shell” and adds all registered students to it. By default, Blackboard course shells are “unavailable”. This means students can log into Blackboard and see their courses, but cannot open the link into them until the teacher makes the course “available”. (Easily done)
This partial list shows some of the uses for Blackboard in a typical course:
- Posting announcements
- Providing information about the instructor
- Providing a course syllabus
- Distributing course materials (documents, PDF files, photos, PowerPoint slides, notes, etc.)
- Providing an alterantive learning environment online (discussion forum, blogs, journals)
- Creation and distribution of tests and surveys
- Submission of assignments for grading
- Recording grades with individual comments for student access
- Managing student groups
- Providing links to web sites that support course work
The Centre for Teaching and Learning supports teachers who want to use Blackboard in their courses through workshops and one-on-one consultations. These consultations can focus on the mechanics of using Bb or on how to integrate the tools into specific teaching strategies that help learners meet course objectives.
Just in time help can be accessed from the Blackboard login page.
Respondus: Respondus software helps teachers to design and create tests. The tests can be printed or automatically uploaded into Blackboard. Georgian teachers can download and install Respondus to their computers at this link: RESPONDUS or from H:\Respondus. Once the software is installed will need to register and activate it by using the Georgian College access code available by contacting Alissa Bigelow.
Remark: The Remark system facilitates grading of tests. Answer forms are available online at http://staff.georgianc.on.ca/ Students use these forms to select answers from multiple choice tests. The completed test answer forms are fed into Xerox Workcenter photocopiers and scanned. Software grades the answer forms and emails the results to the instructor.
You can read/save-a-copy of the detailed Remark instructions: Remark Tipsheet Package
The value of writing and reflection as a process in learning is well understood by teachers. Blackboard has two built-in tools that allows instructors to make assignments that require these activities. Writing periodically during a semester helps students to integrate a topic or information. Whether the writing is based on research, exploration or response to teaching prompts, blogs and journals offer teachers new tools. Blogging is a public activity. Students who write in a blog should expect that their peers (in their class) can and may read their posts, as well as leave comments. Journals are similar, except that only the teacher can read journal entries and leave comments. The CTL offers workshops on Blogging anf Journals, or you may request one-on-one sessions with CTL staff.
Wikis:
Group work supports collaborative learning. Group work can make use of wikis as an environment for online development of team projects. Each group member logs in to a wiki and participates in the creation of pages, text, pictures, video-clips, widgets, etc. The final wiki website can present the team’s efforts to everyone. Wikis keep track of every member’s input; using the history feature an instructor can view a detailed list of every team member’s actions in the wiki. This information assists the marking process.
A popular free wikis is WikiSpaces.com. Teachers should know that while these tools are free, the sites make money by presenting ads in the wiki borders. The ads are context sensitive, taking their cues from text in the wiki. The potential exists for some offensive ads to be displayed.
Jing is free software that allows you to capture whatever is on your computer screen and share it with students online. Jing captures still images or can be used to act like a video camera and capture up to 5 mins of screen action. You can even add your voice if you have a mic. Learn more and get the software here: http://www.jingproject.com/
Picassa is free software from Google that lets you organize, edit and share your digital photos. The latest version is easy to use but provides a host of useful functions that help you to use photos as part of your teaching practice. Learn more and download the software here: http://picasa.google.com/
MP3 Audio Files:
Teachers can borrow small hand-held audio recorders from Georgian’s Media Services department. These devices make recording your voice (lectures) or other audio easy. They are fitted with a built-in USB connector and automatically save your voice files in MP3 format. Transferring your files to your computer is a snap. The MP3 files can be uploaded to Blackboard for student play-back.
Online Video:
The use of shared online video may become the major source of your course content by the middle the next decade. The key question that comes up is how to use it effectively. Listed below are 10 ideas from Curtis Bonk (U Indiana).
- Online Video Anchoring: Use online videos to anchor your instruction and make it come to life.
- Online Video Ender: Employ online videos to wrap up a class, activity, lecture, or other course event.
- On Demand Key Concept Reflections: Play a shared online video when appropriate to illustrate points, concepts, principles, or theories from the current unit, chapter, or lecture.
- Pause and Reflect: In a live class, you can play a portion of a video in YouTube or some other source and reflect on the content and then play another section and so on; continuous video, chat, and reflection.
- Online Class Previews and Discussion: Post useful online videos to the course management system for students to watch prior to or after class.
- Cool Resource Provider Handouts: Ask students to sign up to be the person who finds and presents relevant online videos (i.e., the “cool resource provider”) after which the class can discuss or debate them.
- Anchor Creators: Require students to create their own YouTube videos to illustrate course concepts or ideas.
- Video Anchor Competitions: Assign students to find relevant videos for the week and send the list to the instructor(s) for viewing and selecting (with class recognition or bonus points if used).
- Video Anchor Debates: Create a task where students are required to find YouTube or other online video content representing the pros and cons of a key class issue or topic which they discuss or debate.
- Anchor Creator Interviews: Require that students find YouTube videos relevant to course concepts and then interview the video creator or invite that person in for a class chat.
Sources for video content: BBC News: Video and Audio, CNN Video, MIT World, SciVee, Yahoo! Video, Google Video, MSNBC Video, Current TV, NASA TV, Discovery Channel Videos, National Geographic Video, Hulu, TeacherTube, Link TV, NomadsLand, YouTube Edu and hundreds of colleges and universities with their own channels on YouTube.
Waivers and Sources! Remember, if you record students ask them to sign a waiver allowing you to show the video to others. If you link to online video, credit the source even if it seems obvious (who made the video, who is hosting and supplying the file).
Curtis J. Bonk is professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University. He has a popular blog called TravelinEdMan and is the author of The World Is Open: How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Educationas well as Empowering Online Learning: 100+ Ideas, for Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing