VoiceThread to Develop Community Online

I was recently digging around some of my delicious bookmarks and came across a few resources on a popular educational tool called VoiceThread. If you find the discussion tool in eClass limiting, you might want to explore VoiceThread as an alternative.

According to the VoiceThread website:

A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.

Michelle Pacansky-Brock recently presented at the 2009 International Sloan-C Symposium for Emerging Technologies on her use of VoiceThread in an online Art History class. In her presentation, VoiceThread: Building Collaborative, Community Orientated Learning Environments, she provides a very solid explanation of why and how she used it. She also shared this VoiceThread with feedback from her students




Michelle also has a number of excellent resources on her blog including this post which includes a video tutorial on how to use VoiceThreads.

To see examples of how VoiceThread is being used in education, visit the digital library of successful Voicethreads.

Myth of the Net Gen?

Last week I attended the Canadian E-Learning Conference in Vancouver which has gotten me to reconsider the way I think about the relationship between technology, learning preferences, and generational differences. The argument that millennial students, digital natives, or the Net Generation learn differently and therefore have different needs and expectations in relation to technology integration into teaching has become accepted in many circles. In fact it has even come up a number of times in the Tech PD blog. (See Learn About the Millennial Student, Technology and Generation Differences, What do Youth Say?)

However, after attending Wendy Burton's session entitled, Net-Gen? Not So Much: Investigating Claims of the “New” Learner I am beginning to question whether the idea of the Net Generation is a myth, and I not alone. Many who teach online in adult and higher education are beginning to question the research that “tells us” who and how these young learners learn. Wendy Burton's paper for example provided a review the literature, offered a critical perspective, and presented conclusions based on analysis of learner response to learning situations supported by educational technologies over the past five years.

I found it very interesting that according to Burton's research she found no correlation between age and the characteristics of the Net Generation. In her presentation she showed us profile after profile of people who were not born before 1982, who exhibited characteristics of the Net Generation. This corresponds with my own experience working with faculty at the University of Alberta, many of whom were born MUCH later than 1982 and exhibit many characteristics of the so called Net Generation.

But even if it is a myth that the net generation is defined exclusively by age, this does not mean that technology has not had a profound impact on youth. I think Stephen Downes had it right when, in his Net Gen Myth Blog he said, "I would be more interested in seeing whether access to technology increases or decreases the differences between children of the privileged and children of the poor." Like Downes, I think it is worthwhile to consider whether children located in diverse regions of the world are less dissimilar similar today, and whether this dissimilarity could be traced to the permeation of 'net gen culture' into their two lives respectively.

Hardisty School welcomes Faculty of Education

A few years ago, the staff at Hardisty Junior High School began a process that has led to an increase in technology in the school and of technology integration into the teaching and learning processes. They recently invited the Faculty of Education to tour their facilities and to talk to teachers and students about the integration of technology into their classes. Eight members of the faculty spent the morning as guests at the school.

Wireless access is available to all students and staff in the school. Students are free to use their own personal devices including a laptop, iPhone or iTouch. School owned computers are available in multiple labs and on a mobile lab equipped with 30 laptops. There is also one grade 7 class that is participating in a one-to-one laptop program funded by a grant from Alberta Education’s Emerge program. At the beginning of the year, these students were issued a laptop computer which is theirs to use both at school and at home for the entire year. The school also has Smart technologies such as Smart Boards, Smart Response (clickers) and Smart document cameras integrated throughout the subject areas, grades and programs.

We visited the grade 7s in the one-to-one program in their Social Studies class where we observed them working on a cross curricular culminating project to build a website on a technology of their choice. I spoke to one student who had chosen the camera as her technology. I was impressed by her ability to talk knowledgeably about the search strategies and website evaluations she had done as part of her research. Later, we visited the same group in their Math class, where they were working with the Smart Board and Smart Response to practice expressing probability in ratios, fractions and percentages.

We visited the Special Education teacher in the Community Living Skills classroom. Some of her students were in a lab working on a digital story project but most were outside cheering on the participants in a triathlon that was happening that day. The teacher showed us how she uses the Smart board to involve students in the daily routines of the class and demonstrated a number of activities and websites that she uses in her class.

We also had the opportunity to talk to some of the teachers and the principal about their experiences. I was struck by the emphasis they all put on the collaborative nature of the process. The first year the staff worked together to hammer out the Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) and only then began looking at where and how technology might help them to accomplish those outcomes. The more tech savvy teachers became the leaders and the support-providers for the less technical teachers. The integration of technology was not required but, because of the collaborative culture, more teachers became interested. PD for the teachers was ‘job embedded’ that is, they were and continue to be given time to participate in the collaborations and training/support. Because it is such a collaborative effort, they find there is an “internal accountability” as teachers do not want to let their peers down.

I was also interested to hear teachers talk about seeing a shift in their teaching. To me it seemed not so much a result of the technology, but of the process they underwent and the fact that the technology allows them to teach differently. Because they have a deeper understanding of the ELOs, they said they are more confident in the curriculum. This frees them from being limited by a package of content that they reuse every year and allows them to be more responsive to students’ needs and interests. They are using more and more varied resources and they notice more buy-in from students because they can clearly explain why they are doing what they are doing. They can also give students the freedom to select the methods they want to use to demonstrate their knowledge.

When working with the one-to-one laptop group, one teacher explained that at the beginning of the year, they were about a month behind other classes because she had to spend time teaching computers. Students’ computer skills are spotty and they generally lack the ability to use the tools for learning purposes. Despite this initial delay, they soon caught up and in fact passed the other classes in the curriculum. This allowed for review and enrichment activities.

In terms of achievement, they report that 'A' students haven’t been affected by the integration of technology. They are still 'A' students. But, weaker students have improved significantly. They are more likely to choose alternative project types and to be more successful with them. A resulting increase in self-confidence also has a positive effect. Overall, the school has seen improved scores on the grade 9 Provincial Achievement Tests since this project began.

The principal, staff, and students at Hardisty School were so welcoming and enthusiastic about sharing their experiences that we all agreed it was one of the most interesting and worthwhile mornings we’d had in a while. It was such a success that we are talking about organizing another tour in the fall. If you are interested in participating, let us know and we’ll be sure you get the information.

Pocket Video Cameras in the Classroom

There are a few instructors in our faculty who do video projects with their students and this usually involves using a digital camcorder. It can be a tedious process: the students must purchase a tape or disc to use with the camera, they must shoot the footage, they must plug the camera into a computer and use software to capture and convert the footage (which takes as long as the footage shot), then they can begin the process of editing their video. On top of this lengthy time frame, the video cameras are not cheap either. So it's hard to imagine many school teachers using video cameras in curricular classes.

Well there is now a new category of video camera: the pocket video camera, also called a flip camera. Flip is actually the name of the company that produced the first pocket video camera to reach commercial popularity, however there are now several competitors (such as Creative and Insignia).
What makes a pocket video camera is:

1. it's size, as the name suggests you can fit it in your pocket
2. it's simplicity, there's usually a big "record button" and a few other features, making it very easy to pick up and use
3. it's video file format, unlike more advanced or traditional video cameras it records videos in a format that is ready to be posted online or edited with software
4. it's ease of file transfer, just like a digital camera you simply plug it into a computer and drag-drop the files

Tech PD has purchased 2 Insignia pocket video cameras for instructor PD use. Any faculty instructor can book one out to experiment with or use. Tech PD is also available to consult with if you would like to look at the possibility of using pocket video cameras in your class.

Here are some links containing ideas and examples of how pocket video cameras are being used in K-12 education.

39 Interesting Ways to use your Pocket Video Camera in the Classroom

Using Flip Cameras In Your Classroom

International Gateway for Gifted Youth - U Alberta 09

The University of Alberta is hosting IGGY U Alberta 09, taking place August 9 - 22. This is a residential face-to-face program organized by the International Gateway for Gifted Youth from the University of Warwick in the UK. IGGY U Alberta 09 is being organized here on campus by the Faculty of Education. IGGY aims to enrich and extend the learning of gifted youth in an area of interest to them at approximately first year undergraduate level. It is also an excellent chance to study alongside other gifted youth and get a real taste of university life.

Students will choose one two-week long course to attend. The Faculty of Education is offering one of these course, Robotics for the Real World, instructed by Dr. Mike Carbonaro and Jeff Warner. The course will have the students building and programming Lego NXT robots, using the kits and modified learning modules from EDCT 400/500: Robotics & Learning. Additionally the students will be given real world connections to the work they are doing through tours and presentations from the faculties of Medicine, Computer Science and Engineering.

The full list of two-week long courses being offered at IGGY U Alberta 09 are as follows: (more details can be viewed HERE)

• Creative Writing and Comparative Culture
• Mathematics for the Information Age
• The Energy Challenge: Engineering a Sustainable Tomorrow
• Elements of Modern Physics
• From Bench to Bedside: Modern Medical Physiology
• Robotics for the Real World

If you have questions about IGGY U Alberta 09 or would like to inquire about volunteering, contact Susan Barker, susan.barker@ualberta.ca

Changes coming for Elluminate Live!

If you are using Elluminate Live! for teaching, research or meetings, you should be aware of some upcoming changes to the U of A Elluminate service. As of June 1, 2009:

1. Elluminate Live! will be upgraded to the latest version (9.1). This will provide us with a number of new and improved features, such as


• Up to 6 simultaneous video streams


• Text wrapping and scrolling in text boxes on whiteboard


• User Profiles


• Ability to send out invitations from within a meeting


• Live links in the text chat


• A note taking facility


2. The name of the University of Alberta's Elluminate service will change to eClassLive.


3. eClassLive will be accessed from within eClass.


• Course instructors will automatically have moderator status and be able to set up and manage meetings directly within each eClass section. No need for any special moderator accounts any longer.


• For anyone with a U of A ccid who does not have courses within eClass, eLearning will create moderator accounts and the user will be able to access eClassLive from the main page of eClass.

If you are currently using Elluminate, don't worry. The existing system will be available for another month or two, so you will not have to change mid-stream. However, if you are planning to use Elluminate during the Summer or Fall sessions, you will need to prepare to use the new upgraded system.

Tech PD will provide tutorials on how to access, set up and manage eClassLive meetings. These should be available sometime in June.

If you have any questions about these changes and how they might affect you, please contact me and I'll be happy to discuss your particular situation. (amy.meckelborg@ualberta.ca or 780-424-1240)

Taste of Technology, proposals due June 1!

The University of Alberta is hosting a new event on campus this summer! Join the University Teaching Services and the Online Program Support Group for a Taste of Technology on August 13th of 2009 from 11am – 3pm at the Telus Centre. The goal is to promote and exhibit excellence and innovation in teaching with technology at the University of Alberta. Following a keynote address, displays and multimedia presentations will be showcased where participants can learn from teachers who engage their students through technology.

Everyone is welcome! So be sure to add this event to your calendar! You can expect great food, great con-versation, and to learn about interesting ways to integrate technology into your teaching, and get a “Taste of Technology”. The deadline to submit a proposal is June 1, 2009.

Contact Tech PD if you require help developing your poster or multimedia display.

For more information about the event itself contact Natasja Saranchuck via email Natasja.saranchuck@ualberta.ca or visit http://www.uts.ualberta.ca/TasteofTechnology.html