Streaming Feature Films in Your Online Course with Swank Digital Campus

Have you ever wanted to use a full-length feature film as instructional material for your online course, but didn’t go for it because of copyright worries?

Well, worry no more! The USF System has a subscription to Swank Digital Campus. This is a streaming film service that integrates with Canvas and allows us to rent feature films for students to view in our online courses.

The selection is vast! From classics, to foreign films, to movies just released on DVD; you name it and they’ve probably got it!

So this means you can stream all eight Harry Potter movies for fun, right?

I do wish! But understandably, no.

Here are the criteria for use of the films:

• Priority is given to online courses
• Student enrollment should be over 50
• There is a maximum of 5 titles per course
• The film(s) must be used as instructional materials for a course activity

There is some flexibility with these guidelines, so talk with your Instructional Designer about  your specific goals.

To view a list of currently available titles, visit the USF Libraries Swank Rental Listing. If the title you are looking for is not listed in the current rentals, you can search the Swank Digital Campus Catalog to see if your desired film is available for rent.

Once the tool is integrated into the course, students will be able to visit the “Course Reserves” link on the left menu of your course throughout the semester. The films you have rented will be linked there and can be viewed upon signing in with a USF NetID and Password.

Also, all of the films through this service have Closed Captioning to improve accessibility (Karla approved!).

To learn more, or to integrate this tool into your course, contact your Instructional Designer at Online Learning and Instructional Technology Services.

 

Atomic Learning: Online Technology Tutorials for Students & Faculty

As we get further into the semester, students may find themselves in need of training on certain software programs to be able to complete major course activities and assignments such as creating presentations with Prezi or analyzing data using SPSS. When it comes to facilitating that participation and grading assignments, faculty may want a refresher on those programs or how to use certain feedback features in Canvas.

Through the USF system subscription to Atomic Learning, all members of the USF St. Petersburg community have unlimited access to online tutorials for commonly used web and software applications. These online training resources teach you “how do I do that” through a library of thousands of short, easy-to-understand tutorial movies.  Topics include Microsoft programs, Adobe programs, Apple programs, Canvas, mobile apps, and much more.

To access this resource, log into Atomic Learning using your USF NetID and password.

Once logged into the Atomic Learning site, you will be able to browse or search for specific programs.

After finding the program you wish to learn more about, click on the Series Title to view the available tutorials.

Then click on the title of the tutorial to load the video and learn more about the topic.

For more help with getting started, view this text getting started guide (PDF) or video orientation.

If you have trouble with accessing this resource, contact the USF System Help Desk at 813-974-1222 or help@usf.edu.

If you have any questions about how to best use this resource for you or integrate it within a course, contact Online Learning and Instructional Technology Services at 727-873-4409.

 

 

Using the Redirect LTI in Canvas

If you are interested in adding a link to the main course navigation menu, take a look at the below PDF visual guide, which provides step-by-step instructions for installing the Redirect LTI in Canvas.

Using the Redirect LTI in Canvas

68 Tips for eLearning Engagement and Interactivity, Free e-Book

Engagement is a critical element of learning. If we can get people to pay attention to what we’ve developed or what we’re saying and engage with us, the content, and each other, learning follows.

 

Gaining and maintaining engagement in the physical classroom seems straightforward: If learners look bored or inattentive, we adjust our style on the fly or call on people to recapture their attention. But in eLearning, especially self-paced eLearning, driving engagement requires much more planning, monitoring, and, most of all, creativity.

Looking for some quick tips for effective engagement in your online courses? Check out the eLearning Guild’s new publication “68 Tips for eLearning Engagement and Interactivity.” This e-book is available as a free download and is full of ideas and suggestions to increase meaningful learning interactions within your course.

Turning on Turnitin

Writing professors question plagiarism detection software | Inside Higher Ed.

Software to detect student plagiarism is faced with renewed criticism from the faculty members who may confront more plagiarism than do most of their colleagues – college writing professors.

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/16/writing-professors-question-plagiarism-detection-software#ixzz2Ra9d1Age
Inside Higher Ed – Ry Rivard

Texting in the Classroom

Tough Questions on Texting in the Classroom

It’s time we started exploring some of the tough questions on texting. The May issue of The Teaching Professor newsletter contains highlights from a survey of almost 300 marketing majors about their texting in class. The results confirm what I’m guessing many of us already suspect. A whopping 98% of the students reported that they had texted some time during the term in which the data was collected. They did so for an unimpressive set of reasons, the most popular being “I just wanted to communicate.” Fifty-six percent of the cohort said they were currently taking a class in which the teacher banned texting. Forty-nine percent said they texted anyway.

Read more at The Teaching Professional

Education Technologies

We are in the midst of one of the greatest paradigm shifts in history, a technological revolution that is changing how we learn, work and communicate. Just over 10 years ago, about 42% of United States households had Internet access; today, that number has almost doubled, making the Internet a common denominator to unite nearly all homes in the country. As educators, it would be foolish to ignore this explosion of technology, which offers any classroom the chance to become a more collaborative, engaging and effective environment for the students and their instructors.

In a recent meta-analysis study, The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement, authors analyzed more than 500 individual research articles, and noted some significant findings:

• On achievement tests, students tested at a higher percentile when using computer-based instruction, as opposed to students receiving traditional instruction in their classrooms.
• Students learned material in less time when using computer-based instruction.
• Students had an overall higher positive attitude towards learning when using computer-based instruction.
• Students in technology-rich environments had higher achievement levels, from preschool to higher education.

Education for the Future

When presented with the number of benefits to integrating technology into classrooms, the question is not whether to introduce more technology, but where to do it and how. Some of the most popular technologies used in today’s classrooms include:

• Online learning and blended classrooms – is there a YouTube video that can explain neural activity better than a drawing on the overhead?
• Game-based learning – it is hard to match the euphoria of winning at something, but why not try?
• Web-based projects – students no longer need to slave for hours in order to find scholarly articles for research papers.
• Collaborative online tools – groupwork is dynamic and engaging with video chats and collaboration documents over the Web.

Resources

Miniwatts Marketing Group. (2013). Internet World Stats. Retrieved from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats26.htm
Schacter, J. The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement. Milken Exchange on Education Technology.

Typeface

According to Wikipedia, typeface is designed as a set of characters that share common design features. Typeface is usually represented by things like style, condensations, width, slant, and ornamentation (among other things). The text on your document, presentation, or website is the crux of your item. People need to be able to read the information that you are presenting!

Much like the information she gave on color palettes, Bianca Woods at Learning Solutions 2013 gave some great information on using typeface in your documentation. Unfortunately, I did learn that despite my best efforts I will probably not be bringing back Comic Sans to the mainstream. Kidding aside, typeface is very important when publishing material online. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when choosing a typeface.

Serif vs. Sans-Serif

Both serif and sans-serif fonts have their individual uses. Serif fonts are categorized by the end-caps (actually called “Serifs”) that are placed on individual letters. Serif fonts allow some people to read material quicker as well. Examples of serif fonts include the following:

• Cambria
• Georgia
• Times New Roman

Sans-serif fonts do not have those end-caps at the end of their letters. Sans-serif fonts also tend to have less line width than serif fonts. Some examples of sans-serif fonts include:

• Arial
• Calibri
• Verdana

This image helps to delineate the two:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Which font do you use then? Typically, serif fonts are great for paper materials, while sans-serif fonts are the more popular choice for computers, tablets, and phones. Keep this in mind when choosing your fonts! I recommend that you should use one of each (serif and sans-serif) when creating your materials. Find two that complement each other and it can add a nice touch to your materials.

Emphasis

Emphasis can be hard to get across in text. If you had to guess what someone’s go-to strategy for emphasis was, what do you think it would be?

YEP. IT’S ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. SURE, I’M MAKING IT A POINT THAT YOU READ THIS, BUT DOESN’T IT FEEL LIKE I’M YELLING AT YOU? DO YOU REALLY WANT TO READ A TEXTBOOK OR POWERPOINT THAT YELLS AT YOU? WHAT?

There are plenty of ways beside all capital letters to grab someone’s attention. Here are some tips:

Emphasis Dos:

• Use bigger sizes to highlight titles and paragraphs. I’m not saying a massive size like 72pt though. Something a few points higher will do the job just fine.
• Use bold or italics (bold more specifically in my opinion). The darker and stronger the font on screen/paper, the more likely someone’s eye will move to it. The italics also add a nice touch.

Emphasis Do Not’s:

• Do not use underlining. When someone sees an underline online they automatically assume a hyperlink. Underlining will just cause confusion.
• Do not use different colors. As awesome as hot pink or neon green is, this can cause issues with readability. Also, using crazy colors will make your website/presentation inaccessible to those with vision impairments.

I hope that you have found these tips helpful. Give some new typefaces a chance! See what you like and see what you can read. A nice typeface can really spice up a presentation.

Graphics

Graphics are a big part of anyone’s course. I mean, who doesn’t love a great looking picture?

The biggest problem you should consider when choosing graphics though is basic: how does this graphic look? I know it might sound obvious, but that is a serious consideration. When choosing graphics for your document, LMS, or presentation, you should consider the validity and functionality of the graphic. You may have found a really great picture of a cat or a sunset to use in your course. Does that image really apply to your course though?

Here are some things to consider when you choose a graphic:

1. What is its purpose – when choosing a graphic it is important to keep your learning objectives and other materials in mind. If you are teaching a course on American History, you may not want to show a picture of something like whales unless it really applies to what you are teaching.
2. How does it look – A graphic that ‘pops’ out at you is great, but if it’s too flashy you may distract your audience. Flashy images pose too much of a problem, especially with students who may need to use a screen reader to understand your image. The images you choose should be great looking, but also clear looking.
3. Do I have permission to use this graphic – This is a big one. Permission and citation are hot button issues in academia. It is very important that you don’t steal someone else’s imagery and use it as your own without permission. If you can’t obtain permission, then there are plenty of websites you can find images to use for free (which I will talk about next!).

So where can you find graphics to use in your course? Below is a short list of places.

Google Images

Google Images is a great place to find graphics. However, keep in mind that not every image is free to use. Lucky for you there are plenty of images on it to use. If you want to search for images that are fair use, you can do so by choosing that option while searching. The image below shows you how to do so:

These are the steps to finding free to use images on Google Images.

By clicking on the gear icon you can bring up advanced search options. If you scroll to the bottom you will see the drop down menu labeled ‘usage rights.’ From there you can begin to search for images covered by fair use.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a website that allows for convenient access to search services provided by other organizations. Search results generated by CC are almost always free to use and you do not need to obtain permission to use what you find. In addition to images, CC also searches for other media like video and music.

Creative Commons allows you to search through many different websites that host media. Some examples include Google, YouTube, and Flickr. After typing into the search bar what you want to look for, simply click on the service you wish to use and CC will bring you to it with a list of media that is available. It’s a great tool because it has so many different websites centralized in one location.

Wikimedia Commons

Much like creative commons, Wikimedia allows for searching of free to use media. I have found Wikimedia to be lacking in quantity in some areas, but it more than makes up for it in quality. Many of the images I have found are of great quality and I have used plenty from this website. If you are looking for primarily educational images then I would definitely recommend Wikimedia.

Finally, in regards to images, I also recommend using a color palette generator with your image for your presentation. If you have a title image that you want to use that really speaks for the presentation, you might consider using a color palette based off that image so the rest of your presentation flows. That isn’t a necessity though. If you do decide to use one though you should go back to my posting about color palettes to help you choose a style!

Why Storytelling Works for E-Learning

Recently I had the opportunity to read an excellent article on “Why You Need To Use Storytelling For Learning” from the eLearning coach blog. I happened upon this blog shortly after rereading a web document about Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. Ideas were bouncing around in my head about the way we build online courses to achieve learning objectives and how storytelling so aptly helps us achieve those objectives.

Illustration by Milo Winter
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Bloom’s lowest order of thinking skills, remembering, the basis of any educational experience, is so much easier to do when it is tied to a story that the listener can recall. Memorizing anything feels like work. Listening to a story is just fun. Understanding the context of the story draws us into the story and helps the viewer gain awareness of gray areas in order to broaden our perception when applying the subtleties in real world application.

Sometimes I wonder at our abilities to create meaningful discussions in our online classes, but today I marveled at technologies ability to foster a learning experience in a discussion board when I viewed a discussion in a one of the classes in the Digital Journalism and Design program at USF St. Petersburg, Digital Media and Democracy. The discussion was about Fact Checking and the pressure that the news industry faces when trying to be first to get on air with a story. This particular discussion has accumulated 95 responses in a class of 21. While it isn’t the numbers that I am excited about, even though if you were to count the number of students contributing in a discussion in a face to face class I don’t think you would ever hit 95 contributions, it is the quality of the responses and the ability to ferret out fine details through the use of video citations and relevant links that excites me.

One student added to the discussion by adding a link to a portion of a video from the movie Newsroom. In the video, the newsroom was responding to the Gabby Gifford shooting and was illustrating the internal dissension as to whether or not to report her dead, when other news agencies were reporting that unverified information. We sometimes forget about the impact of videos and their ability to communicate unique and powerful stories and their nuances. Understanding the pressure the news agencies are living, is communicated through character portrayal in a realistic setting with a current and heartbreaking story about real people. Relating the instructor provided materials of this module to this link to illustrate a point, would simply not have happened in a regular face to face classroom. The student would have had to come to class ready with the reference link to have added it to the discussion before the class ever took place. In Bloom-speak, he synthesized the material applying it to his own experience, before he created his own posting.  It brought the discussion alive to me, rendering an impression that transported the discussion into my life outside the classroom, to coworkers, friends and readers of this post.

The integration of stories whether by instructor, or by learner, help engage and make meaning. The eLearning Coach does a good job at reminding us of all the components that make stories so effective. If you have a minute pull up a seat and take a look here.