I’d like to bring your attention to a relatively new, online, language activity tool called the Syntax Untangler. The Syntax Untangler was developed by Alan Ng, Continuing Studies, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The purpose of the tool is to help language learners improve their small-scale reading skills. Any language can be used with the Syntax Untangler. Additionally, it’s an open source tool, meaning anyone with programming know-how can participate in the design and building of the tool’s next versions.
More information, including examples of current features, online training, login information, Frequently Asked Questions and Known Issues information, and a slideshow presentation, can be found at: http://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/untangler/
References
Ng, A. (2011, November 3). Syntax untangler. Retrieved from
http://courses.dcs.wisc.edu/untangler/
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
A Suggestion for PowerPoints with Audio
It is not uncommon for a new, distance education (DE) instructor to want to add audio to their PowerPoint slides to enhance their presentation. However, even though adding audio to a presentation is considered to be a “best practice” in DE, and, knowing it does, in fact, enhance the slides themselves, and makes them more accessible as well, the combine—presentation and added audio—creates one large file that can affect the performance of the learning management system (LMS), especially if an instructor uploads many “enhanced” presentations in preparation for a 16-week course.
PowerPoint & Audio: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/add-and-play-sounds-in-a-presentation-HA001230305.aspx?CTT=3
A good solution to this problem is to use a screen capturing tool to record, and chunk, the presentation for the intended audience. A URL is provided to the instructor once the presentation is captured, where the presentation is now hosted by an external server instead of being hosted by the server that carries the load of the LMS – less stress equals better LMS performance!
A couple of free, capturing options include, but are not limited to: Screenr and Jing.
Screenr: http://www.screenr.com/
Jing: http://www.techsmith.com/jing/
Other paid options include, but are not limited to: Camtasia and Tegrity.
Camtasia: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/
Tegrity: http://www.tegrity.com/
Both Screenr and Jing have limited capturing times—approximately five minutes—whereas one can make longer captures with Camtasia and Tegrity, if desired. The instructor should keep in mind that Screenr and Jing should be selected if one is new to capturing (for ease of use) and/or if the capture they make will only be used for a short period of time – in other words, the process is quicker with Screenr/Jing and not as permanent.
On the other hand, the instructor should use Camtasia or Tegrity if the capture is intended to be more permanent, meaning the captured presentation will be reused several times over in upcoming semesters. Last, the learning curve for Camtasia and Tegrity is much steeper than with Screenr and Jing, so choose your capturing tool wisely!
PowerPoint & Audio: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/add-and-play-sounds-in-a-presentation-HA001230305.aspx?CTT=3
A good solution to this problem is to use a screen capturing tool to record, and chunk, the presentation for the intended audience. A URL is provided to the instructor once the presentation is captured, where the presentation is now hosted by an external server instead of being hosted by the server that carries the load of the LMS – less stress equals better LMS performance!
A couple of free, capturing options include, but are not limited to: Screenr and Jing.
Screenr: http://www.screenr.com/
Jing: http://www.techsmith.com/jing/
Other paid options include, but are not limited to: Camtasia and Tegrity.
Camtasia: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/
Tegrity: http://www.tegrity.com/
Both Screenr and Jing have limited capturing times—approximately five minutes—whereas one can make longer captures with Camtasia and Tegrity, if desired. The instructor should keep in mind that Screenr and Jing should be selected if one is new to capturing (for ease of use) and/or if the capture they make will only be used for a short period of time – in other words, the process is quicker with Screenr/Jing and not as permanent.
On the other hand, the instructor should use Camtasia or Tegrity if the capture is intended to be more permanent, meaning the captured presentation will be reused several times over in upcoming semesters. Last, the learning curve for Camtasia and Tegrity is much steeper than with Screenr and Jing, so choose your capturing tool wisely!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The Guardian Eyewitness App
Lately, I have been looking at iPad apps for the purposes of teaching and learning in a distance education (DE) course. The last app I explored is the Guardian Eyewitness App, which is labeled as a Curricula Support app by iTunes. The app is a collection of single photographs from the Guardian’s past 100 days – one photo for each of the 100 days. Every day a new photograph is added to the collection as the new photograph replaces the photo from the 100th day.
I feel this app benefits both the instructor and the students in a DE course. It benefits the instructor in that the app allows for the sharing of a current event photograph via email, Twitter, or Facebook. One could share the photo—in addition to a text write up—with their students as an introduction to an upcoming module/unit/activity or as a reflection to a module/unit/activity. The only shortfall to the photo sharing is that the photo can only be shared outside of a learning management system (LMS)—Moodle, Desire2Learn, Blackboard—as copying it from email, Twitter, or Facebook, and uploading it to an LMS may be a copyright violation – one would have to double-check with their campus copyright officer, first, before doing so.
Students—especially those with a visual learning style—benefit from the app as they receive an image along with the instructor’s introductory/reflection notes in regards to a particular module/unit/activity. Receiving shared images, even though it is outside the LMS, can be a powerful learning experience as the images available through the app are truly global/diverse in nature.
Guardian Eyewitness App: http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/ipad/eyewitness
I feel this app benefits both the instructor and the students in a DE course. It benefits the instructor in that the app allows for the sharing of a current event photograph via email, Twitter, or Facebook. One could share the photo—in addition to a text write up—with their students as an introduction to an upcoming module/unit/activity or as a reflection to a module/unit/activity. The only shortfall to the photo sharing is that the photo can only be shared outside of a learning management system (LMS)—Moodle, Desire2Learn, Blackboard—as copying it from email, Twitter, or Facebook, and uploading it to an LMS may be a copyright violation – one would have to double-check with their campus copyright officer, first, before doing so.
Students—especially those with a visual learning style—benefit from the app as they receive an image along with the instructor’s introductory/reflection notes in regards to a particular module/unit/activity. Receiving shared images, even though it is outside the LMS, can be a powerful learning experience as the images available through the app are truly global/diverse in nature.
Guardian Eyewitness App: http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/ipad/eyewitness
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Getting Started
I plan to use this blog to organize my thoughts on the final project for this course. Since my project idea stems from the theory and practice of Distance Education (DE), it only seems reasonable that I define the term:
Distance Education. “Distance Education is ‘planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching, requiring special techniques of course design, special instructional techniques, special methods of communication by electronic and other technology, as well as special organizational and administrative arrangements’” (Moore & Kearsley, 2012, p.306).
Having worked in DE for several years, I have learned that Universal Design (UD) is important to DE for a number of reasons. Defined, UD is, according to the Center for Universal Design (2010), “the concept of designing all products and the built environment to be aesthetic and useable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life.”
However, in relationship to the theory and practice of UD, there are other concerns in need of attention that are driven by the theory and practice of Instructional Design (ID), which is my area. They are, but, I suspect, not limited to, economic, engineering, culture, gender, and environmental concerns (Center for Universal Design, 2011). Of these concerns, I am mostly interested in the matter of culture, relating to ID, UD, and DE. Nevertheless, I assume I will be looking at language in addition to culture in my pursuit to develop and complete a final project.
This week Fong Hermes gave me some names to look at that are related to my research interests. They are:
Megan Bang: http://education.washington.edu/news/fac_spotlight/megan-bang.html
Kris Gutierrez: http://www.colorado.edu/education/faculty/krisgutierrez/
Carol Lee: http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/profile/?p=72
Last, I stumbled upon a book titled Exploring Spirituality and Culture in Adult Higher Education by Elizabeth Tisdell. I plan to look at Tisdell in the coming week in addition to Bang, Gutierrez, and Lee.
Center for Universal Design. (2010). Ronald l. mace. Retrieved from http://www.ncsu.edu/project/design-projects/udi/center-for-universal-design/ron-mace/
Center for Universal Design. (2011). The principles of universal design. Retrieved from http://www.ncsu.edu/project/design-projects/udi/center-for-universal-design/the-principles-of-universal-design/
Moore, M. G., Kearsley, G. (2012). Distance education: a systems view on online learning. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Distance Education. “Distance Education is ‘planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching, requiring special techniques of course design, special instructional techniques, special methods of communication by electronic and other technology, as well as special organizational and administrative arrangements’” (Moore & Kearsley, 2012, p.306).
Having worked in DE for several years, I have learned that Universal Design (UD) is important to DE for a number of reasons. Defined, UD is, according to the Center for Universal Design (2010), “the concept of designing all products and the built environment to be aesthetic and useable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life.”
However, in relationship to the theory and practice of UD, there are other concerns in need of attention that are driven by the theory and practice of Instructional Design (ID), which is my area. They are, but, I suspect, not limited to, economic, engineering, culture, gender, and environmental concerns (Center for Universal Design, 2011). Of these concerns, I am mostly interested in the matter of culture, relating to ID, UD, and DE. Nevertheless, I assume I will be looking at language in addition to culture in my pursuit to develop and complete a final project.
This week Fong Hermes gave me some names to look at that are related to my research interests. They are:
Megan Bang: http://education.washington.edu/news/fac_spotlight/megan-bang.html
Kris Gutierrez: http://www.colorado.edu/education/faculty/krisgutierrez/
Carol Lee: http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/profile/?p=72
Last, I stumbled upon a book titled Exploring Spirituality and Culture in Adult Higher Education by Elizabeth Tisdell. I plan to look at Tisdell in the coming week in addition to Bang, Gutierrez, and Lee.
Center for Universal Design. (2010). Ronald l. mace. Retrieved from http://www.ncsu.edu/project/design-projects/udi/center-for-universal-design/ron-mace/
Center for Universal Design. (2011). The principles of universal design. Retrieved from http://www.ncsu.edu/project/design-projects/udi/center-for-universal-design/the-principles-of-universal-design/
Moore, M. G., Kearsley, G. (2012). Distance education: a systems view on online learning. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)