Our colleague David Wicks from Seattle Pacific University, is a leader in helping develop, dream, and implement relevant teaching and learning using Online tools.  He recently made an incredible screencast of the Blackboard Grade Center and I asked if we could share it.  A gracious collaborator, he accepted.  I think this is one of many amazing resources from SPU and Professor Wicks.

• Full Post:  http://dwicksspu.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/blackboard-9-grade-center-workshop/
• Follow David on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/dwicksspu

Effort is a Good Start

Blackboard is trying.  Let’s start with that.  They are making an effort to stay up with the times.  We’ll review the new Blackboard 9 next month.  Great effort.  And because they are basically buying up their competition, they can afford to sit on their laurels.  But we know from Microsoft what happens when the big dog doesn’t innovate.  People get restless.  And look elsewhere.  Blackboard has made a great effort to become more relevant by creating two synapses to some of the most relevant Web 2.0 tools:  Facebook and the iPhone.  Official Wiki for Bb Sync & Bb Learn

Blackboard Learn

I had been waiting for this app ever since I had heard rumblings it was being developed.  Once it was released, I immediately downloaded it and began pleading with our network admin to make the magic happen to enable the service.  Once enabled, I was elated to try it out.

The first sync went through flawlessly.  I connected to Bb on my Mac, punched in the code to authorize the app, and watched it sync pretty quickly.  Upon logging in, I discovered that the app does connect me to my courses, but not really.  I can see announcements posted, which is very convenient.  I can look to see if any forums (DB) posts have been made in my courses.  But that and a few other “Feeds” are all this app can do.  I can read that there are new posts.  But I can’t read the posts.  I can see that grades were posted.  But I can’t actually see the grades.  I can read there were updates to the course.  But I can’t see them.  All of these require me to login to Blackboard and authenticate.  Which I don’t ncessisarily want to do.  Once more, I don’t know if I should.  More on that later.  On the iPhone 3G, the app has crashed a few times for me and sometimes is sluggish in the sync.  Eventually, it does get there.

Blackboard Sync

Blackboard Sync for Facebook is another great attempt at connecting students where they are most comfortable and familiar.  Facebook.  It’s a good app.  Again, once things were configured on the server side, the connection to Bb Sync was fairly easy.  The GUI is straight-forward.  It mirrors Bb Learn for the iPhone.  You get the same tabs to access and feed information and links to the actual authenticated Bb content.  The same princples hold true for Bb Sync as for Bb Learn.  Same tools and accessibility.

Conclusion

These tools are a good start.  A few of us have been having conversations lately surrounding mobile learning and what it looks like.  Sure, we could create an iPhone app that would allow us to post on the DB, but should we?  Yes, we could create a mobile version of Bb that would allow us to write on the blog or wiki, but should we?  These apps are a good first blush into connecting our learning to popular devices.  They don’t really do much other than serve as a glorifed RSS feed.  But the bigger and better question is, should they?  Should we really be learning on an iPhone?  Blackberry?  Facebook?  And do we/can we/should we be feeding content to Facebook.  Even if we could feed everything Bb offers to FB and still keep the content authenticated and secure, should we?

Because of what I do, I’m always on the front end of evaluating new things.  I’m a classic early adopter.  I love gadgets.  But as I am growing and learning with these technologies, I’m also learning to ask better questions.  One of the best questions I believe we should ask as educational technologists is not “Can we?”, but “Should we?”  My stance today is we shouln’t really be learning on mobile devices.  Learning in this post today defined as engaging Blackboard on mobile devices like discussion boards, blogs, wikis, etc.  I’m seeing mobile devices really prompting us or keeping us connected to the learning, but not necessarily becoming the primary tool we use to engage.  The same for Web 2.0 tools like FB or any Web 2.0 mash up service that can feed all of our “stuff” into one place.  Yes, we could have our learning mashed into our Google reader, Friend Feed, or whatever tool we choose.  But is that an appropriate place for our learning?

We use iTunes U to deliver rich media content to students, but we know the majority of them do not listen or watch the content on their mobile devices.  They consume the content on their desktop/laptop.  It’s nice to have.  It’s a good “can”.  But not necessarily a “should”.  This principle is definitely something we need to look at as many of us are gatekeepers for these tools.

So, Bb Learn.  Bb Sync.  Good?  Yes.  Great?  TBD.  Keep in mind this is a review with Blackboard 7.3.230.0.  We are currently testing Bb 9.  When we put 9 into production, I’ll revisit the review and post an update then.  Irregarless of the tool, what about the principle?  Where do you side?  Any reserach to back it up?  Would love to hear comments on either your evaluation of these tools and/or your views on how mobile devices and Web 2.0 services should be used in teaching and learning.

Focus

We can go into details in a future post about what tools we have decided to use for which application in the distribution of screencasts.  For now, we’re going to show you what we do and how we do it.  Then demonstrate an example.

Screencast Tutorial in Vimeo

Screencasts:  A Best Practice from Academic Technology on Vimeo.

Tools in Use

• Any Mac running Leopard
• Screenflow (v. 1.1.3)  |  http://www.flip4mac.com/screenflow.htm
• MobilePre M-Audio USB Preamp  |  http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB.html
• M-Audio Nova Class A FET Mic  |  http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Nova.html

Step by Step Process

1. Resize our screen resolution to 1024×768
2. Upload the 760×420 desktop background with cross-hairs  Download Bkgd
   
3. Bring browser into the screen and center it on the desktop over the cross-hairs
4. Record screencast and end [Apple Shift 2]
5. In Screenflow, click the “crop” icon in the lower-left corner of the canvas
6. Enter 760 in the width and 420 in the height parameters.  Move the box on top of the desired recording
7. Click “Apply”
8. File -> Export -> Customize
9. In Video Settings:  Select “Framerate” drop-down and select 15 fps (frames per second)
10. Keyframes:  Automatic
11. Data Rate:  Automatic
12. Faster Encode, (single-pass)
13. Click “OK”
14. Click “Sound” and “Settings”
15. In “Channels” pulldown, change from stereo to mono
16. Target bitrate needs to be 64 kbps
17. Click “OK”
18. In “Dimensions”, make sure it is selected to “100%”
19. Click “Export”

At this point, the video will export to whatever folder you desire.  Your video should average around 1.3-1.5 mb/min, depending on what kind of screencast you are making.  Below, click on the image to see one of these screencasts in context, made exactly the way we have outlined.  It’s about three minutes long and around 3+mb.  |  Play Movie

Watch an Example

Like what you see?  Give us some feedback.  Have other ideas of systems and workflows that you have used and want to share them?  Contact us, post comments, and let us know.  We see this site as a way to collaborate and share to help take teaching and learning to the next level.

There arose a challenge with faculty to be able to share with students more fluid content in their teaching through an online delivery mechanism. Through Blackboard, students collaborate in the discussion boards, faculty teach, but delivering an interactive rich media experience still has a large learning curve.

A few months ago, we had a faculty come in that is teaching a education course. He had a system set up on the face to face side, lectures whiteboard material, and powerpoint presentations to demonstrate to the students. To bring this into an online context, we first listened to what the course is about, learning outcomes, as well as his teaching style. We then experimented and came up with a system to record both the video of the instructor as well as provide them a tool they could draw/write/demonstrate which could be recorded as well. After succeeding in proof of concept, we put it into action.

The Set Up

Set up is pretty simple. We have a standard 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with 1 GB RAM and 350 GB HD. For this application we use seven items:

1. Quicktime Pro for the Mac.
2. Snapz Pro
3. M-Audio Microphone connected via USB (the built-in mic will work adequately)
4. Elluminate Live
5. Final Cut (Pro or Express)
6. Adobe Photoshop (CS3 or Express)
7. iTunes

The Process

Set Up Quicktime for Video

We set up the M-Audio mic to connect to Quicktime Pro with the following preferences:

We then test the audio levels to make sure we have appropriate sound.
Choose “File -> New Movie Recording”, and create a sample test movie. Troubleshoot until you have good audio and video. You will also want to make sure you have good lighting on the subject. We have some lights in the studio we use, but augment it with a simple Ikea lamp.

Set Up Elluminate Live

Through Blackboard, we create an Elluminate Live session, add 1 hour on to the beginning and ending of the session for bleed over, and start the Elluminate session. Faculty can then load in pre-made slides or prepare slides from within the application.

Set Up Snapz Pro

Snaps can be configured to record any part or all of your desktop. We tested this extensively, and found that we could give Snapz a specific area on the desktop where we would put the Elluminate application. Knowing we would be importing into Final Cut Pro (FCP) and editing for Web, we used 800×600 for file size.

Record Session

Once both Quicktime and Snapz have tested and are working, simply bring the faculty into the chair, line them up, give them some brief instructions on the tools (they probably should have prior), and let them teach. The goal is to take the technology out of the way and allow them to sit, talk, draw, browse, click “next slide”, and communicate the learning objectives for the session. Once the session is over, stop the Quicktime recording. It should automatically appear on your desktop as “Movie.mov”. Then stop the Snapz capture. When before it processes, it asks for some preferences. Make sure you have audio checked. If you are using the standard built-in Mac mic, make sure the “Include Audio Track” is checked. If you used an external device, make sure “Include Microphone Track” is selected. This makes sure you have two copies of the audio in case one fails or the quality level is off. It also helps in post production lining up the timelines. Snapz will create a file on the desktop with a default name of “FirefoxScreenSnapz001.mov” or “SafariScreenSnapz001.mov”. If it is “InternetExplorerScreenSnapz001.mov”, we would like you to stop reading this blog and head to Microsoft’s Vista Site for “inspiration”.

Finishing Up

Upon saving and organizing both video files, you will now be ready for post-production. The beauty is that the faculty only had to show up to your studio, sit down, and teach. The rest is up to you. I will document the post-production process next week as well as show you a finished product. Feel free to post comments or contact me if you have questions. We’re feeling like we have a great workflow to accommodate these requests. But more importantly, we’re getting feedback from students that this type of teaching is enhancing their learning.

We’re pleased to welcome Allan Carrington as a guest contributor to our community. Allan is a learning designer from the University of Adelaide in Australia. He is one of the foremost authorities on the integration of technology in teaching. Please welcome Allan Carrington.

Introduction

I have two masters degrees, one in interactive multimedia and the other in education, majoring in online delivery. This has involved many, many hours of study, yet to this day, until I stumbled onto the Just in Time Teaching (JiTT) methodology, I never really had an apologetic for using educational technology to empower both the teacher and the learner as well as improve learning outcomes face-to-face. The potential of JiTT was personally liberating, as I work in a research-intensive university, which delivers primarily face-to-face. I finally felt there was a better way and with the emergence of powerful collaborative tools commonly called Web 2.0, I believe JiTT has exciting possibilities.

Play Podcast

[display_podcast]

A New Movement

Today’s educational technologies allow an educator to more readily develop quality digital teaching and learning materials. By also integrating regular formative e-assessment into these learning objects, using a new generation of assessment technologies, lecturers can obtain a better understanding of the needs and knowledge students bring to the classroom, and can ‘just in time’ adjust their lecture plans accordingly.As a result of this methodology:

1. Academic staff will be able to:
   • maximise the effectiveness of classroom sessions by targeting specific student needs
   • organise student learning outside the classroom by providing specific feedback and asynchronous learning activities in response to students’ answers to the diagnostic assessments
   • improve student retention and progression through more effective engagement with the course concepts and content
2. Students will be able to:
   • start thinking about the content before class begins and be able to interact effectively in class
   • develop and practice their skills and learning through regular interaction with diagnostic tests
   • have some control over their learning and feel a sense of ownership since academics will respond to common problems that affect their learning

Technological Issues & Developments

There are two crucial technological issues for the facilitator adopting what I’ve called a JiTT 2.0 approach: a capacity to readily and flexibly generate teaching and learning material, and an ability to conduct reliable and readily interpretable online assessments. We discuss both these issues in this podcast episode and offer some suggested software programs and ideas for implementation.

Conclusion

I believe the Just in Time Teaching framework appears to have transformative potential in respect of face-to-face delivery in higher education, providing for a more effective use of the web for distribution of broadcast content, and a more collaborative and interactive approach to face-to-face activity, better informed by an understanding of students’ readiness to tackle the topic under discussion. Technological advances make implementation of JiTT more viable than when the approach was first developed almost a decade ago, and should provide a clearer platform for the much needed scholarly evaluation of the effectiveness of the framework in respect of improving learning outcomes.

References

Carrington, A. & Green, I. (2007). Just in time teaching revisited: Using e-assessment and rapid e-learning to empower face to face teaching. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ascilite Singapore 2007. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/carrington-poster.pdf A full colour PDF of the ASCILITE 2007 conference poster can be found at http://ajax.acue.adelaide.edu.au/~allan/posterJiTT_ascilite07.pdf

Carrington A., Faculty of Law Professional Development Seminar on JiTT http://ajax.acue.adelaide.edu.au/~allan/lawjitt/

Carrington A. Using JiTT Powered by Articulate to enable Targeted Interactive Lecturing. A learning module with no sound used for face-to-face presentations http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/online/learningmodules/jitt/player.html

Novak, G. M., Patterson, E. T., Gavrin, A. & Enger, R. C. (1998). Just-in-Time Teaching: Active Learner Pedagogy with WWW. In J. Gil-Mendieta & M. H. Hanza (Eds), Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Computers and Advanced Technology in Education (CATE ‘98). Cancun, Mexico. IASTED/ACTA Press: Anaheim, Calgary, Zurich.

Novak, Gregor M., Patterson, Evelyn T, Gavrin, Andrew D. & Christian, Wolfgang (1999). Just-In-Time Teaching: Blending Active Learning with Web Technology. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.Waye V., Introduction to Australian Law. An interactive learning module created using Articulate software and showcasing the JiTT methodology http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/online/learningmodules/lawilm/player.html

Tunes or No Tunes?

We have Blackboard as our LMS and needed to create a way for rich media to feed into each course while being authenticated. We looked at Quicktime Streaming Server, Flash, even an enterprise type Youtube. None had a workflow that would really accommodate something that needed to scale as big as we wanted it to. Our university had been using iTunes U since its infancy with limited success. If a faculty needed a video clip in a Blackboard course, someone from IT would have to convert it and upload it using some scripts we had augmented from friends at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. In the four years we had used iTunes U, there were about 800 podcasts created. None of which were integrated with Blackboard. We needed to bring this all together. iTunes U has been a serviceable tool, but nothing earth shattering. There are many other tools that work with Blackboard. We just needed to find the right fit.

The Rumor Mill

Apple had not provided much support for iTunes U, which was a problem for us. As the buildup for WWDC ‘07 began to grow, we were hearing reports from Apple that there were going to be some significant upgrades in iTunes U and podcasting in the form of a podcasting tool that Apple was going to release to integrate with iTunes U. They unveiled Podcast Producer in conjunction with Leopard Server. The iPhone got tons of press, but the true gem of the conference was Leopard Server. Coming back from WWDC, we knew this was going to be one of two options for podcast capture and lecture capture.

Building Blocks

We worked with some other institutions and plodded through the iTunes U discussion boards to find some building blocks for Blackboard. The Baker building block and the Vanderbuilt building block. We tried implementing the Baker block first with some issues. I contacted Cindy Franco from Vandy for help in implementing their building block. She was great to work with, responsive, and helpful. Our network admin got the help he needed and we got the building block connected to our iTunes U site successfully. With the building block working, the next step was to cast vision to faculty on what iTunes U was and how it can work. Their experience with podcasting was by using the built in Blackboard podcasting tool. This bogged down our servers with tons of large files. Especially when a course was copied.

Final Verdict

iTunes U allowed us to serve up content in the cloud in an authenticated environment, with tools students are familiar with. Has it been successful? Kind of. I’ll review iTunes U in another post. Are we glad we decided to use iTunes U? Yes. But I’m not jumping for joy yet. However, Leopard Server and Podcast Producer could put me over the edge. The jury is still out.

Listen to the latest Educational Technology Podcast which features the teaching technology called LAMS. LAMS stands for Learning Activity Management System.   Allan Carrington, Learning Designer from University of Adelaide in Australia, introduces a cutting-edge concept for taking Blackboard or online learning to the next level. The basic principle is from moving online learning from simply content to activity. Let’s lay aside content and start with activity to allow the teacher to sequence a series of activities of which one is content-driven and one is activity driven. For example, instead of starting out with content or lecture, the LAMS model would ask a question or provide a place for students to wrestle with a concept or question before the content is delivered. It is a concept that is being embraced many places and making its way to the west. To find out more, listen to the podcast with Allan Carrington and Randy Meredith, Director of Academic Technology at Spring Arbor University.

Learn more about LAMS:

• LAMS International
• LAMS Community
• LAMS Foundation
• Allan Carrington’s Web site

• Faculty to Student: A few members of the Psychology department decided that they would begin using social bookmarking. They attended a faculty workshop that helped them get a grasp on what social bookmarking is. After deciding on how to use it, they put together sites for themselves as well as the department. The value was to be able to push students to a comprehensive listing of bookmarks for all of their courses. They tagged the sites with course numbers to enable students to drill down to the links that would pertain to their particular area. This was the beginning of connecting faculty to student.
• Faculty to Faculty: This application allows faculty within the department to not only add tags to the departmental account with their names as tags, but also their own personal social bookmarking account. This allows faculty to connect with other faculty to leverage external and internal resources more efficiently. Faculty working on their terminal degrees also use this application to keep track of all of their research as well as to connect with their instructors. This proves to be an extremely valuable asset.
• Case Study: Learning Center: An academic learning center took the social bookmarking concept and applied it in the context of empowering students with resources. They set up an account, added links and tagged them for various applications in their field. They are currently in the process of getting the site in front of students and using it as an conduit to learning resources for students.

Social bookmarking has become something that really helps connect people and, for our purposes, empowers faculty, staff, and students, toward better teaching and learning. There was some great conversation that came up with what tool to use for social bookmarking. Google has just come out with one. There is a social bookmarking tool within Blackboard. However, I believe faculty are leaning more towards delicious. Having their bookmarks “outside” has advantages and disadvantages. However, we’re seeing that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.What applications of social bookmarking are you using? Feel free to post your applications of social bookmarking below. Let’s share our ideas together.