The Maricopa Experience

Schedule Student Conferences with TimeDriver

2009-11-23T20:45:00.002-07:00

Every semester I schedule conferences with all my students to talk about their final papers before they start to finalize the paper. It was always a pain trying to schedule these 60+ conferences with students until I found TimeDriver. Watch how I use TimeDrive to schedule student conference fast and easily.

How to Collaborate Using GDocs (Students)

2009-11-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

We recently started our group project module in ENG101, so I introduced students to a few tools to help them be able to collaborate with each other during this process. One tool in particular is Google Docs. This video was created for students to show them how to collaborate using Google Docs to complete their projects.

Creating Macros in Word 2007 for a Grading Toolbar

2009-11-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

One of my most popular posts on this blog was a post on how to create a grading toolbar in Word. Well, it has since become outdated after Office 2007 was introduced a few years ago. I'm finally getting around to creating a new version, so here it is.

Teaching with Email in the Online Classroom

2009-08-24T17:02:00.011-07:00

Over the years education has continually changed, or evolved into something that is considerably different from what education was when I was in school. One major difference is the inclusion of online and hybrid courses into the course offerings. This is still evolving on most campuses, so it's understandable that many people in charge of educational institutions aren't always clear about how faculty use certain technologies in their classrooms. So I'm going to try to clarify some things.

First, we've used email for many years in our district, and all employees are given an email address to use to communicate official district business amongst ourselves. This system works well, as it's easy to find an email address in the district and send a fellow employee a message. We can even create distribution lists to send to certain groups of people. It works so well, that we used to get tons of emails on a daily basis from just about anyone who had a cause, a need, a show, or any important information they felt everyone in the district needed to know. Mercifully someone recognized the overload we all experienced, and we adapted to a "only specially designated people on each campus can send ALL district emails. Thank God or whoever made that decision. It was nice to see that we could recognize a problem and find a solution.

But as I mention, delivery methods of teaching have changed too, and faculty are now using email in lots of different ways. Before I started teaching online classes, I never gave my students my email address. I couldn't imagine how I would handle all that email, and there wasn't really a need. If they had a question, they could just ask me in class. When I first started teaching online, I recognized the need for students to be able to contact me and quickly created an email account just for that purpose. Since then how I use email in my online and hybrid courses has evolved along with the courses themselves. I don't use email as just a way for students to ask questions. It is so much more than that.

Email can be a drafting space, prewriting activity, organizational tool, assignment dropbox, conferencing space, peer review tool, and so much more. It is so essential to teaching online that it always surprises me that as an educational institution, we have never sought a more robust email tool for faculty to work with. It has always been up to us to figure out how best to make it work. It wasn't until webmail evolved that some of us began to dream big with email and start to use it in more ways than the obvious. Now it's hard to imagine teaching without it.

Here's a brief example of how I use email in the first week of school. I begin by sending all my students an email introducing myself and giving them a list of things I'd like for them to do before the first week of the semester ends. This list includes filling out a form and providing me with a convenient email address for them. If it's convenient, they'll use it and hopefully read my correspondence to them. I use the collected information to set up folders, filters and auto-responders in my email client. To get students familiar with using email in my classes and to help me set up the filters, I have students send me an email after they have completed the first assignment. That email is received, filed, and an auto-responder to that particular email is sent out. It all works quite smoothly. I get what I need and students get instant feedback.

I also keep track of student activity on the course network via email. When students fill out the form, register for the network, and participate in the first discussion, I get an email notification for each. This allows me to quickly approve their registration and then welcome them to the network right away. Students feel a part of a community and feel as if there is someone present to interact with in the online environment. In the first week, many students are nervous about the online class and have questions. During this week, I try to answer questions as soon as possible. For instance, the bookstore had a mix-up with the books for my class. After reading the syllabus, students discovered that the book listed in the bookstore was different than what was listed on my syllabus. Many emailed me to asked about this. One student had even emailed from his phone while he was still in the bookstore and got a response right away. He was able to purchase the correct book right then.

I don't profess to respond that quickly all semester long, but to me it equates to all that extra time all faculty spend during the first week giving directions, advice, answering questions and just plain being "present" on campus for students. Students have responded well to this interaction in my classes. Just today a student responded to me with,

"Wow, I am seriously impressed by the quick response. I will have to remember this when I do 'Rate my professor'."

Once the first week is in the books, I continually use email as a teaching tool in my online courses. Students in the ENG102 course send me research prospectuses and we have email conferences about their research progress. Students collaborate on writing projects in Google Docs and use email to invite me to see their work and to receive updates on revisions made. And I use my email contacts groups feature to take role and keep track of attendance in my hybrid and face to face classes. These are just a few of the ways that email has evolved for me.

When I'm teaching, I don't have time to deal with emails about:
Biology instructors needed, weekly air quality, and employment opportunities. I'll handle that later when I get back to my work "office." I have email for teaching, and I have email for work. My work email stays at work, and my teaching email goes with me to my many teaching environments and teaching moments. I control when, where and how I want to deal with it. I love that freedom, and I love that it allows for me to serve my students. I couldn't do this if I had to deal with all my email in one standard, made for business, work email account. That just doesn't work for me.

Update your Calendar & ToDo Lists via Twitter

2009-07-05T19:26:00.007-07:00

My first post about Twitter, Little Known Facts about Twitter in the Classroom, talked about some easy uses for Twitter in the classroom. I said, Twitter is connected to everything. I can update my Google calendar and ToDo tasks via Twitter, and I can set it up so Twitter will broadcast my blog posts from my blog to Twitter with a link sending people back to my blog to read the post. Think announcements for students with that one. It's also connected with a very nice polling site, Poll Everywhere, that lets your respondents vote in your polls via Twitter. Twitter makes their API available so any company can develop tools that will work through Twitter.

This post follows up that and talks about the calendar and ToDo updates via Twitter. If you're busy, like most people are, you might find that your calendar and a ToDo list are very helpful in keeping you going. I rely heavily on both in my everyday life. Usually when I'm out and about, and I need to either add an event or meeting to my calendar, I find it a hassle to pull up my calendar program and add it. Same thing with my ToDo lists. But I've found that sending a text message directly to Twitter can do that for me. All I have to do is text a direct message to my Google Calendar or Remember the Milk ToDo service and it automatically posts to my calendar or list. Click the links for more information about each.

I use this when I schedule conferences with students. I grab my phone and send a text message to 40404 with "d gcal Meeting with 'Student' Tuesday at 11am." The d is for direct message, which is private on Twitter, and gcal is the Google Calendar Twitter name. The rest is the event I want added to the calendar. When I get to a computer, all the appointments are there in my calendar. And since I sync my Google calendar with my Blackberry, they show up on my phone calendar too within minutes. The screencast below shows you how this all works.

Part II of III tips for using Twitter in the classroom. Part I covers using Twitter via text messaging on your cell phone, Part II update calendar/ToDo list via Twitter. The last tip will show you how to use Twitter with a polling service PollEverywhere.

Teaching Kids Technology

2009-07-02T11:42:00.002-07:00

I had and opportunity to teach a bunch of Upward Bound students how to use various technologies over a 6 week period this summer. We learned to create photo essays using Animoto, and plain Word documents using Creative Commons images. We used Picnik to remix photos. We also learned to create videos using Flip cameras and Windows Movie Maker. And our last project was creating podcasts using Audacity. Below are a few of the podcasts they created. I was really proud of their work.

What's on Your iPod Touch? Mobile Apps for Learning

2009-05-28T11:20:00.008-07:00

We've been having a little exchange on our list about mobile gadgets and apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch, so I decided to blog about what I have on my iPod Touch. Not so surprisingly, I have very little music. I have an iPod Video and Nano for that. The Touch is for mobile learning. I'm trying to see how this gadget can be used in education. The obvious is podcasts, both audio and video. It's easy to find good podcasts to share and recommend with students, as well as create your own. So I have over 3 GB of video on my Touch, mostly video podcasts. One of my favorite apps on the Touch is iTalk. I can hook up an external microphone and record lectures right on the Touch. Then I can sync and have the podcast uploaded to where ever in a matter of minutes. Sound quality is really good.

Most of my apps are free, unless indicated by (paid). Here is a list of my first page of apps on my Touch.

Google
YouTube
Remember the Milk (RTM)
Twitterific & TwitterFon
iTalk
Facebook
Bb Learn

These are all obvious choices. We haven't had a chance to try out the Bb Learn app yet. District says we will be able to do so after the upgrade, which just happened, so I'll check into that next week.

My second page of apps is a mixed bag. I have a few ereaders I'm trying out and some blogging tools.

Kindle & eReader & GReader (Readers)
Google Voice & GV Mobile (Paid)
Google Talk & Skype (chat)
Gyminee
Wordpress
Animoto
WootWatch
Tumblr
Where
Brightkite
TripIt
Nike +iPod

These are some of the more important mobile tools for blogging, reading documents, books and RSS feeds, and communicating via chat, voicemail and text messaging.

As I move through my app pages, the apps get less and less relevant to mobile learning. So far we've seen lots of social networking apps and reading and writing apps. That trend continues, but I start to add more home automation and fun stuff. I mean, you never know when you will need to Tivo a show for class, right.

myhomework (Keep track of classes and homework)
Evernote (This could be a big elearning app)
Shakespeare (Complete works on my iPod)
Yelp
Yahoo!
LinkedIn
i.TV & DirecTV & PhoneFlix (Schedule DVRs & Netflix)
fring (IM & Skype in one/VOIP)
Assistant (PageOnce - Acct Management)
WSJ (Wall Street Journal)
Flickr
Ustream (watching only)

I found lots of apps that have created collections of works like the Shakespeare one. This would make teaching a lit class easy in terms of access to free books. Evernote has the biggest potential for impact in the mobile learning space. I will be exploring this a bit more this summer.

My last two pages are just a bunch of games and sports apps like for the Master's and the NBA playoffs. Also MLB (At Bat) lets you listen to live game audio for $10 for the whole season. I also have the Stanza ebook reader, a dictionary, notes, and a calculator. That's it. And like I mentioned earlier, I only paid for 3 apps. As I explore and try new ones, I'll probably purchase more if they are worth it. We'll see.

So what's on your iPod Touch or iPhone? Leave a comment and let me know so I can add to my collection.

Little Known Facts about Twitter in the Classroom

2009-05-22T12:00:00.008-07:00

The whole world is talking about Twitter, so this post is probably nothing new to some. Most people get that you can post a short message about what you are doing, and anyone who follows you on Twitter will be able to see the message. I follow you, I see your messages. You follow me, you see mine. But many people still don't understand how it works beyond that. For instance, many aren't aware that you can have selective tweeters' tweets delivered directly to your cell phone via text message. And you can reply back to Twitter via text message. Once you and your students are signed up and properly set up, the whole process can be conducted via cell phone text messaging, making the whole process mobile and not tied to a web page on a computer.

Another little known secret to novice Twitter users is that Twitter is connected to everything. I can update my Google calendar and ToDo tasks via Twitter, and I can set it up so Twitter will broadcast my blog posts from my blog to Twitter with a link sending people back to my blog to read the post. Think announcements for students with that one. It's also connected with a very nice polling site, Poll Everywhere, that lets your respondents vote in your polls via Twitter. Twitter makes their API available so any company can develop tools that will work through Twitter. There are so many more, but in the following movie I focus on the first tool mentioned above. In subsequent posts I'll show you the other tips. Have a look.

Using Text Messaging with Twitter from soul4real on Vimeo.

Part I of III tips for using Twitter in the classroom. Part I covers using Twitter via text messaging on your cell phone.

One of the things I forgot to mention is once you get your cell phone set up to receive text messages from Twitter, you can post a tweet by sending it to 40404 from your phone. Next up, update your Google calender and ToDo tasks via Twitter.

Twitter Killed My Blog - Almost

2009-05-22T10:56:00.003-07:00

Wow! I hardly posted at all this semester. Two times. That's it. I'm going to blame Twitter on that. Who has time to blog when we're tweeting all day. :) Well, I was inspired to come back to traditional blogging after the MaricopaTech conference earlier this week. So here I am. I'm breathing a little life into "The Maricopa Experience" because it is quite an experience working in one of the largest community college systems in the country. Not only that, but times are tough, and as the district cuts more and more of our resources, like faculty professional growth, this blog may become a valuable tool. It can be used either for whining and complaining about the cuts or building resources for others who are stuck in the same situation. I'm leaning more towards the latter.

I anticipate next semester I'll have more to blog about since I'm transferring from my current campus to a much larger one, GCC. That should be enough fodder alone, but I have some ideas to share until I get to that point. My plan for this summer is a series on mobile learning. I will be reading up mLearning and playing with lots of mobile devices and programs designed for these devices. I'll also be looking a ways to enhance online courses using mobile gadgets. Can't wait to blog about all that. In addition, I plan a series of posts on how I'm using some of the newer Web 2.0 tools in my classes or how I plan to.

So the blog is not abandoned; just consider it having been on vacation. Now if you'll be patient, I'll be back with a post about "something" in a few. If you want, you can follow me on Twitter. I'm soul4real.

Wordles are Really Cool

2009-04-22T21:01:00.003-07:00

I've been seeing Wordles around all over the place lately, and I've been wanting to create one but didn't really have a need. I still don't, but I thought it might be fun to see what my Delicious bookmarks look like in a Wordle. If you're wondering the same thing, wonder no more. Here it is:

Moving on Up to the West Side

2009-04-15T13:17:00.001-07:00

I'm in a funk at the moment, and just can't get motivated to do all the things I really need to do. So I'm blogging. I think the reality of my decision to leave my current job has something to do with my funk. I decided some time ago to leave South Mountain CC and transfer over to Glendale CC. It's the same job, just a new location in the district. I spent a semester over there 3 years ago and enjoyed it, but I just couldn't pull the trigger on a transfer until now. So why am I leaving? Many have asked, and this is my response. It varies depending on what day it is.

I guess I'm leaving because I'm ready for a change. 11 years in one job is a long time to me. It's the same old thing over and over again each semester. And I realized that it's really up to me to make things fun, to make things happen. So for the last few years I've been social networking with other techie geeks in the district, some from my college, but most from other colleges in the district. I realized that Maricopa is a wonderful place to work because of the many resources we have available to us and the awesome people that work in the district. But Maricopa isn't always fair in their distribution of resources to the various colleges. South being the smallest gets left in the dust in many areas. As a result, technology isn't a big focus for most of the faculty on the SMCC campus. There's nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that I live for technology and with all the research I've done in the last 8 years, I realize our future in education relies on that technology.

So I guess what I'm saying is I love the people at SMCC, but SMCC isn't helping much for my portfolio in terms of being innovative and using technology in my teaching. I'm very limited in what I can do with the limited resources and expertise on campus, and I spend way too much of my money on resources and too much time on other campuses in the district learning new things. What I've learned is I can still be friends and socialize with the friends I've made at South, the best part of South, but work elsewhere where I'll have the resources available and the money needed for more. Those resources include a faculty that is experimenting with new technologies and teaching in creative ways I have yet to experience.

I will always love South and the people I've worked with for the last 11 years. It is truly a special place and has grown tremendously since I first arrived on campus in 1998. They even have wireless on campus now (except for in my building). South Mountain CC will continue to be a great college whether I'm there or not, but will I still be the teacher I want to be if I stick around. Who knows, but I'm not sticking around to find out. I am the master of my own destiny, and the master says I need to go give GCC a try.

New FAQ Avatar for my Online Students

2009-01-20T21:59:00.007-07:00

I've been playing around with SitePal for a year and a half now. I love the idea of having an avatar for students to interact with, but it has proven to be a bit time consuming and expensive. My initial investment was a cool $99 to get five avatars and scenes with 1 minute of audio each (Bronze). One minute is not a lot of time and during the first year I had a hard time keeping to the limit, so I ended up neglecting my avatar, dubbed Associate Professor Sam.

But instead of giving up completely on the idea, I decided to invest a bit more money into it and see if I could make it work. Initially the lowest SitePal plan costs $99 but didn't include Text to Speech (TTS). That is how I make Sam talk to my students. Without the more expensive plan, I had to create my own TTS, which I did with a separate program called TextAloud. The program works great and I use it for other non-avatar announcements from Assoc. Prof. Sam that are usually much longer than 1 minute. But if I was going to really utilize the avatar, I needed to eliminate a few steps. So I upgraded to the Silver package for this semester only (3 months). The additional costs ($100) is a bit much for me to have to pay out of pocket, but for 3 months it wasn't so bad ($24), especially since SitePal was offering a discount.

So I created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) box for Sam and posted a few questions for students on the Ning Social Network. It was really easy to type out the answers to the questions and have SitePal convert to speech. They even had my same voice for Sam. I posted the widget below so you could give ole Sam a try.

Reflecting on an Almost Done Semester

2008-12-14T20:12:00.004-07:00

Finals start tomorrow, and I've spent most of the last week grading and tying up loose ends in my hybrid and online courses. I finally feel as if I have my hybrid and online ENG102 course right where I want it to be in terms of design. It only took 7 years. I started designing the course in 2001 when I started grad school. Back then it was just a face to face course with lots of different technologies added in here and there. It grew to a hybrid that I studied and wrote my dissertation on. Now it's a fully online Quality Matters certified course, one of the first QM certified courses in the district.

I'm proud of this course, but as I wrap up this semester and reflect on what I think went well and what I think didn't, I can't help but feel a bit down about the student retention rates in my courses. I've come to the conclusion that no matter how much time and effort you put into a course to make it the best it can be, sometimes your students just aren't ready for it. In the case with our students at South Mountain Community College, they're not ready in more than one way. Many are not prepared for a rigorous college load and still others are not ready for online and hybrid courses, yet they end up in my courses.

I teach the only hybrid and online English courses on campus, two hybrid and one online. There are plenty of other sections that are face to face available all through out the day and week, but my classes fill up. When asked, most students signed up for the class because the time fit well with their schedule and not because they particularly wanted a hybrid class. And I don't even want to start to talk about why students sign up for my online class. That's just down right scary. Anyway, student don't realize until it's too late that maybe hybrid or online is not the best course format for them. Not only do they struggle with using the technology, but some struggle with the demands of a writing class. It's almost as if they didn't expect that they would have work to do.

My students are having trouble completing just one assignment a week. The assignment is designed to take 2-3 hours to complete. When I designed the assignments, I followed an honors students around the library while he completed the assignments. I timed him and took notes about questions he had about the directions. Most assignments he completed in under an hour. I took that research and adjusted the assignments accordingly. The assignments are designed to guide a student through the research process culminating in an extended documented argumentative research paper. Each step is crucial to completion of the final product, and each assignment builds off the previous one. Students who are prepared do really well. I get a good number of A's, but I get even more drops and F's.

The students who fail or just give up and drop don't do the work. They turn in incomplete assignments. They don't do rewrites or come for additional help. It's like they don't even try. They complain that the assignments are too hard and take too long to complete. Even if an assignment took 5 hours to complete, a whole week is plenty of time to complete it. I'm at a lost as to what to do about all this. I think the only solution is to force students to a study session or tutoring. I'm not sure how I could do that, but that's where I am now with this. I'm struggling with the whole idea that I teach college, but I really can't treat all of them like college students, expecting that they will take the initiative to get help if they need it. It's frustrating indeed.

Educause 2008 was Depressing

2008-10-31T08:34:00.009-07:00

No, don't get me wrong. Educause is a great conference and definitely worth while to fly across the country to sit in on some amazing conference sessions. But when I start thinking about going back to my campus and never having the possibility to experience any of the great tech tools I learned about, I get depressed. We don't even have any IT leaders from our campus that even come to Educause, so I ended up hanging out with all the other IT, VP's, faculty and instructional designers from our sister colleges. What a treat that was as well. I get so jazzed hearing about all the cool things they are doing on their campuses.

I saw an amazing presentation this morning from some guys at Drexel University talking about a lecture capture solution they implemented on their campus:

Increasingly, colleges and universities are adopting lecture capture solutions to increase student satisfaction and learning. Join Drexel University's innovative team and other universities for an in-depth panel discussion focusing on how these institutions have implemented TechSmith's Camtasia Relay to integrate lecture capture into their existing infrastructures simply, quickly, and affordably.

It was amazing to see what they were able to do with Camtasia Relay in such a short period of time and even before the product was released out of beta. It was that easy. What was most amazing to me is that it was the IT guys and the instructional designer who came up with this solution and made it happen for the college. Sigh. Why can't we do things like that?

Our IT department and instructional designer are all caught up in doing other stuff to be able to come up with technology solutions for teaching & learning issues on our campus. I've been there 10 years and I don't think I've ever been asked what I need to help me teach my students better. Why is that? Is it not important because too few of our faculty will utilize it? or is it because only a small number of students will be impacted by the technology initially? Who knows, but it doesn't sound much like forward thinking to me.

Another session I sat in on this morning was Thinking Outside the Virtual Classroom presented by Shannon Ritter, Social Networks Adviser, Penn State World Campus, The Pennsylvania State University.

Educating our students is certainly our priority, but how can we connect learners to each other in a way that provides more opportunities for personal growth, networking, and connections? By taking advantage of virtual spaces like Facebook, Twitter, and Second Life, we give our students space to learn outside the classroom.

This was a great presentation. Ritter talked about how students in online distance programs are missing out on the college experience and have no real connection to the college because those students don't get the same interactions with their peers like the on campus students do. Many aren't learning together, and they don't have a sense of belonging. So the Penn State World Campus created orientation videos to help give students a sense of belonging. They also use Second Life, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter to help building a sense of community.

This is the same idea behind my decision to use a social network to teach my freshman composition courses in. The network has some of the same features Ritter talks about embedded in the site, like videos, photos, walls, and updates. And the whole idea is to help students feel more connected to their peers, the instructor and the class.

Those were just two of the many ideas I experienced this week at Educause. Surprisingly some of the most valuable information was obtained just from hanging out with peers from the Maricopa district and my Twitter friends from across the country. That community we build is very valuable for sharing experiences and expertise in a wide variety of areas, and their willingness to help each other is refreshing. It would be really nice to have that kind of community on my own campus, a group of like minded faculty who like to come together and share ideas about education and technology. Some day, right?

Check out the live simulcasts from the conference:

Live Simulcasts

Those unable to attend the EDUCAUSE 2008 Annual Conference are invited to watch General, Featured, and Point/Counterpoint Sessions virtually in live simulcasts sponsored by Sonic Foundry, an EDUCAUSE Silver Partner. Watch and ask questions at the Featured and Point/Counterpoint sessions.

Get ready to watch the videos by reading the Mediasite System Requirements and Mediasite Player Tutorial.

Multimedia Infused Freshman Comp

2008-10-10T01:05:00.001-07:00

Multimedia Infused Freshman Comp

From: soul4real, 1 hour ago

Multimedia Infused Freshman Comp

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: multimedia tyca-west)

Presentation for the TYCA-West conference in Clarkdale, AZ. Using pod/vodcasting in freshman composition courses.

SlideShare Link

Multimedia Infused Freshman Comp Live Presentation

2008-10-09T11:47:00.008-07:00

2008 TYCA- West Annual Conference
Reaching Across Communities: Service in and out of the Classroom
Friday, October 10 & Saturday, October 11
Valley Verde Campus of Yavapai College
Clarkdale, Arizona

My presentation, Multimedia Infused Freshman Comp (M-203), begins at 4:30pm on Friday, October 10th. Join me live right here or visit my Presentation Wiki: https://drcoop.pbwiki.com/TYCAWest08

Synopsis: Come see how the new generation of freshman composition courses use podcasting, video, still images and interactivity to engage students in the writing process. Using various Web 2.0 tools, see how podcasting can be used not only as a mode of delivering content, but also as a mode of interaction between faculty and students. Video is used not just as a prewriting activity, but also as a mode of expression and argument. These and many others can be accomplished with little training and inexpensive tools that many students already own.

Come Experience PodCampAZ Nov. 1st & 2nd

2008-09-23T08:23:00.004-07:00

I can still remember last year when I first heard about PodCampAZ. I was so excited only to discover that I had missed it. I was so bummed. But I'm not going to miss it this year, and I'm not going to let you miss it either. So mark your calendars for November 1st and 2nd at UAT in Tempe. VIEW MAP

This year is sure to be another successful podcamp. People still talk about it being one of, if not, the best one. So what is it anyway? Well, it's not all about podcasting, as the web concedes, but if that is your interest, you're sure to find plenty of podcasters abound.

PodCamp is a FREE BarCamp-style community UnConference for podcasters and listeners, bloggers and readers, and anyone interested in New Media. It was held for the first time from September 8-10 in Boston, Massachusetts and is now spreading across the world. (PodCampAZ.com)

Yes, it says free, and it is unlike any conference you may have attended before. That's why you just have to come out and experience it.

Shelley Rodrigo and I, along with ASU professor, Time Barrow, will be presenting on the use of Web 2.0 tools in education. There are many exciting presenters, so you're sure to find something of interest to you. Take a look at the line up: Look Who Is Speaking At PodCamp AZ and I'll see you on November 1st and/or 2nd at PodCampAZ.

Justifying My Teaching Methods

2008-08-27T13:22:00.003-07:00

I had an administrator object to my taking a regular class and turning it into a more dynamic hybrid course out of necessity, so I was forced to respond with this message:

(My Division Chair) searched high and low (that's the story she gave me) for an adjunct to teach the night class, and I'm all she could fine. I haven't taught a traditional class in 7 years. I'm not even sure how anyone can teach an ENG102 class without any technology. It's research. You need a library and you need the internet. How do you teach students to do research sitting in a room with nothing in it but a Smartboard hooked up to nothing. That's a nice smartboard, by the way. Anyhoo, I'm not complaining. I'm just saying. There are 10 students enrolled. 6 of the 10 were actively participating in online activities 2-3 days before the first class meeting tonight. The other 4 were excited about the opportunity after I explained the course to them.

Hybrid just means there's online content and responsibilities involved. I teach all my classes the same way even if they're not "labeled" hybrid, as this one is not. In order to be able to spend one on one time with students, you have to give them activities in class to free up in class time where the instructor is not the focus of the class. Online activities free up in class time so that students get more individual attention. But if the classroom environment doesn't support the activities, you move them outside the classroom.

Let me explain how it works, and I'm sure you'll see there is some benefit in offering a class this way. In this class there are 10 research assignments that require students to use the internet and/or the library (an uncensored internet and a college/public library). Research is independent in that each student has their own topic. Tuesday's class students meet in the classroom where they receive general instruction on the week's research assignment. Hopefully we'll at least have an internet connection and I can hook my own laptop up to that shiny new overhead projector hanging from the ceiling. On Thursday students will work online or at their local library (with several class library visits planned-not sure where yet). When working independently students can ask questions via IM, email or phone to me about their individual project (anytime, not just Thursday night). They can also schedule appointments during this time.

There are also online materials available for students 24/7. For every assignment there are written instructions, a student example and a screencast online demonstrating how to do the assignment. Reinforcement for what I teach on Tuesday. We also have weekly podcasts to reinforce material covered in class and live office hours via Ustream.tv (woot!). In addition, here's the best part. With students working independently on Thursdays, it frees up time to work one on one with students who need individual attention. I can schedule conferences with students during a time that is convenient for us both because it's already scheduled class time (Thursday). Good luck getting night students to come to a conference outside of classtime. It really works well.

That was my email response to why I turned a perfectly "good" course into a much better one. I haven't heard back from the administrator.

Freshmancomp Ning Site as LMS Replacement

2008-08-21T23:03:00.001-07:00

Playing with Online Video Editing Sites - Video Series (Part 5)

2008-07-18T13:44:00.006-07:00

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the best way to have any fun with video online is for it to be as simple as possible and to not have high expectations for quality. One thing you have to know about working with video online, the end result will be Flash Video (.flv) files. It has become the default video format on the web and most online video sites use FLV to stream videos online. What I've discovered in the process is it's probably best to just leave your fancy expensive camcorder at home and grab something inexpensive and simple to use if you're planning on posting your video on the web. By simple I mean, no file conversion and no tapes. What you want is a camera that saves video files to either a hard drive or media card in a format that is highly compatible. Make sure the camera saves files in one of these video formats: wmv, avi, asf, mov, qt, mpg, mp4, vob, rm or dv. Most online editing sites will even take your cell phone video: 3gp, 3g2 and even Flash (flv) files.

Here's a short video I shot using both the Flip Mino and my digital camera, a Canon PowerShot SD10. I wanted to compare the quality and to give you an idea of what kinds of cameras are available for you to use.
Exploring Video Cameras from Coop on Vimeo.

I made this video in Windows Movie Maker, but I also uploaded the files to several online video editing sites:

These seem to be the top online editing sites, but there are many others. I just wanted to see how easy it would be to duplicate my editing and movie making experience with Windows Movie Maker. I want to first say that these sites do so much more than edit videos, and I'm not even going to come close to giving you a review of each. I just want to share my first impressions with each.

I tried Eyespot first. It's a pretty slick site, easy to use. I was able to easily upload my 3 short videos. To edit the video I had to go the Mixer area. That is what these sites call the editing area. In there I could trim the videos before placing them in a timeline for my movie. I could also add photos, music, transitions, effects and something called Mixables. It took me a minute or two to figure out how the trimming process worked, but it's simple enough. Put the green arrow where you want the video to start and the red where you want it to stop. Hit the Done button and it places the trimmed piece in your timeline. After adding all my trimmed pieces, I added some transitions and a song and made my movie. My Lady: Yamaha V-Star

The first thing you'll notice about my movie made in Eyespot is the ads on the bottom of the movie. Yep, Ads by Google. I do like that you can allow visitors to download your video in various formats: PC|Mac|iPod|PSP|DivX. That's sweet, but I hope the downloads don't have ads.

I tried Motionbox next, and it was just as easy to upload my files to their site. They have a different focus at Motionbox it seems. There are no ads, which is good, but it didn't seem like the typical social networking site. Trimming the clips was easy, although I was stumped at first. I had one of those Doh! moments. Anyway, from what I could see, trimming was the only thing I could do with my video - nothing else. That's it. Trim and put clips together. Okay. Next.

JumpCut is a Yahoo! site, so I was able to log in using my Yahoo! ID. I really liked JumpCut. It was super easy and I even had a little fun playing around with all the options. I could do everything I was able to do at Eyespot. It's hard to explain, but it just had a friendlier feel to the site, and I found it easier to explore the option without fear of losing my work. I also made the best movie here. Oh, and guess what - no ads.

Overall, the video quality at all three sites was equal, and I feel confidant that if I ever needed to edit video online that I would have a good place to do so. And I wouldn't hesitate to have my students use any of the sites for a class project, although my current preference would be Jumpcut. Give it a try.

Windows Movie Maker vs VideoSpin: Which is Best? (Part 4)

2008-07-16T13:13:00.013-07:00

I'm trying out several different video editing software programs for my summer project. After spending considerable time on the Mac using iMovie and Quicktime, I decided to switch over to the PC and try a couple of free programs before exploring online editing programs. For the PC there are two options: Windows Movie Maker and Pinnacle's free VideoSpin. Let's start with Windows Movie Maker (WMM).

For a free program, Windows Movie Maker is not too bad. I was able to import different types of video, with the exception of HD video files, but most people who are going to be working with HD will probably spring for a more robust video editing software package. For standard video WMM is just fine. You can read more about my first impressions with the program here: Editing Video with Windows Movie Maker - Video Series (Part 3) and the results of a movie created using Windows Movie Maker are below.

Trimming Bush from Coop on Vimeo.

Windows Movie Maker is probably the most widely used free video editor for Windows, but there is another out there that can give it a run for its money. It really just depends on what your needs are. And let's face it. If you're looking for free, you're probably not looking to be a master video editor. You just want to get your video from your camera and onto the web with a little bit of style as quickly as possible. Both WMM and VideoSpin can do that.

Both are easy to use. You just locate your video and audio files from your hard drive, arrange them on a timeline, and start clipping or rearranging. VideoSpin requires you purchase an upgrade if you want to use MPEG 2/4 codecs, and that will set you back $15, but it's probably worth it. You can add a variety of transitions, sound effects, and titles to your movie in both programs. Adding titles is one place where VideoSpin wins over WMM. It has some pretty fancy title options that I'd never seen before. I liked that. I also like that VideoSpin gives you the option to upload your finished videos directly to YouTube or Yahoo! Video. That's a time saving feature I like.

When it really comes down to it, both programs will work just fine for the average movie maker on the cheap. Just remember, you get what you pay for, and VideoSpin will give you more features for an inexpensive price when you're ready to move up in the world of video editing. VideoSpin is basically a slimmed down version of the commercial Pinnacle Studio, which normally sells for $50. Windows Movie Maker is free and when you've out grown it, you'll have to move on to something else.

For more information on my video project, visit Coop's Word Wiki, and read more articles below.

Editing Video with Windows Movie Maker - Video Series (Part 3)

2008-07-10T13:33:00.003-07:00

Up until this point I've been playing with my video on my MacBook Pro, but the majority of people out there aren't lucky enough to have a Mac. So today I'm playing around with editing some video on a HP Pavilion machine running MS Windows XP Media Center (2005). It's an inexpensive machine costing only $400 after a $50 rebate. It has an AMD Athlon 64 processor 3800+ 2.41 GHz and 960MB of RAM. So not much firepower here. :-) I have Service Pac 2 installed, so the Windows Movie Maker program is automatically installed. I tried to download the program directly from the site, but had trouble doing so. Here are the instructions from the Microsoft site:

Movie Maker 2.1 is available for download with Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). You can download SP2, Movie Maker 2.1, and all future critical updates automatically by turning on the Automatic Updates feature in Windows XP.
You can also download SP2 and Movie Maker 2.1 from Microsoft Update. If you cannot use Automatic Updates or download SP2 via Windows Update, order a CD.

I tried to see if the program could be downloaded alone without the Automatic Updates feature and was unable to. First, the site didn't like that I was using FireFox instead of IE, then I was forced to download an .exe file to validate that I indeed owned my copy of Windows XP. After that I couldn't find the program for XP, only Vista. What a hassle, but most people will already have the program installed if they run automatic updates, so it wasn't too much of a big deal. You can find information about the Windows Movie Maker program here.

I started out by importing some AVI video files from an external hard drive that I have attached to the PC. The video I was playing with last week on the Mac is stored there. Some of the files came over, but the ones I converted from the HD format didn't work. I kept getting an error message. Files from the Flip Mino worked fine, so I plugged in the Flip to see if I could capture directly from the camera. You can't actually capture live video from the Flip, so I had to import the clips from the camera into MM like I did the ones on the hard drive. When I tried to capture the video, however, my webcam came on and the program opened up a video capture wizard to walk me through the process of setting up my QuickCam with MM. MM captures the webcam video in 512kbps in WMV format at 320x240 display size and 15 frames per second. This is what was recommended if I planned to edit the files in the program.

The files I imported from the Mac via my hard drive didn't look great in MM, so I'm going to stick with files I imported directly from the Flip Mino for now. But I must say, I'm not sure what the program is doing to the files on import, but it is taking forever. I definitely need more RAM on this machine if I'm going to be editing video, so I'm going to buy some before I talking my editing in Windows Movie Maker. Instead I'll tell you a little about the features of this free program.

MM has most of the basic movie making features like transitions, special effects, titles, credits, narration and music. Your options are just limited, although Microsoft does have some "Creative Fun Packs" that you can download to add more features to MM. You can edit your video in both storyboard view and timeline view. The timeline views consist of one video with accompanying audio bar, one music/audio bar, and one titles bar.When in storyboard view, the video project appears as a film strip showing each scene in clips. Windows Movie Maker can only export video in Windows Media formats (WMV) or DV AVI. Both are fine for viewing on a PC. I do like how it has some predefined profiles and users can create custom profiles which utilize newer codecs.

So I'll give Windows Movie Maker a run through after I've install more memory in my PC, and I'll be back to share the experience with you in Part IV of this Summer Project Video Series. Visit Coop's Word Wiki for more information on my research.

Summer Project Video Experiment: HD Video on Mac (Part 2)

2008-06-28T18:29:00.016-07:00

This is Part II of the Summer Project Video Experiment: HD Video on Mac (Part 1)

I've been playing around with my HD video camcorder, a Panasonic HDC-SD5, and playing with different output settings as part of my summer project, to learn as much about video as I can in 4 weeks. Check out Coop's Word Wiki for my research.

When I left off with the last post, I showed you how I was able to convert my HD files in the AVCHD format to MOV files on my MacBookPro, which are editable on the Mac in both iMovie HD and Quicktime Pro. Then we had to decide which output format to use to share the videos. I decided that I would first try uploading our HD movies to popular video file sharing sites, keeping in mind that most video sharing sites, especially YouTube, will compress the video into the FLV flash format, and the beautiful HD movie will look less than spectacular. But before we even got to that we had to decide on which program to edit the files in. My two inexpensive options were: iMovie HD, free with every Mac, and QuickTime Pro ($30 upgrade). I mentioned that there are other options for editing video on the Mac, but they are out of my "cheap" range.

I decided to try iMovie HD first. I was able to create a spectacular movie by adding music, transitions, titles and still photos, and when it was time to export, my options were unlimited. I chose the Quicktime option Expert Settings and got all the options shown to the right. I chose to use the Divx since it has an HD setting. The output file size was only 36MB.

Editing the HD files in Quicktime was a different story. I got all the same options for output, but the bad thing is the editing features in QT are limited to cropping and piecing files together. You won't find themes, music, or even transitions in QT, but you'll be able to produce a movie a lot quicker. It might be just me but I thought the QT movie looked better than the iMovie HD one.

So let's take a look at the four video sharing sites that advertise HD uploads:

For the life of me I couldn't figure out if I was able to upload HD videos on YouTube, so I just uploaded my test files and then waited to see if they would play in HD. It didn't happen right away, but eventually an option appeared under the video: watch in high quality. I uploaded a Divx encoded HD file from Quicktime and iMovie HD to YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and ViddYou. DailyMotion says that the file will eventually be encoded in HD format, but it has yet to happen; same with Vimeo. And with ViddYou you have to upgrade to premium to be able to upload HD content. The quality on Vimeo was noticeably better, but a little jittery (based on other HD videos uploaded previously). Let's just face the reality, web video is just not great when you're relying on free video sharing sites who limit your upload file sizes.

If you'd like to see the results of my efforts, here is the list:

My favorite site was Vimeo even though it has a 500MB weekly limit, but if you encode using Divx you'll end up with small file sizes and will be able to upload lots of videos. Vimeo doesn't give you a time limit. YouTube lets you upload as many videos as you want as long as they are under 100MB and less than 10 minutes. Same goes for ViddYou and DailyMotion. ViddYou allows 5 minute videos for a max of 250MB, and DailyMotion allows 20 minutes/150MB. Vimeo and YouTube displayed the movie in their version of HD, although YouTube makes you click a link to switch to the higher quality. I thought the Vimeo video looked better. All four sites offer all the basic features of a file sharing site, so it really comes down to two things: if you want the possibility of your video going viral then YouTube is your choice, and if you want simplicity and a less cluttered site to deal with, go with Vimeo. YouTube does have one up on the others with their newly added video annotation feature. Learn more about video annotations.

Next time I'll take a look at editing standard video files on a PC using free video editing sotware.

Playing with a Flip Mino Video Recorder

2008-06-27T11:54:00.017-07:00

I got my Flip Mino from Amazon yesterday, and I couldn't wait to play with it. It's part of my summer project to learn all about video, video editing software and camcorders. I first saw the Flip at the Sloan C conference and then talked to Lisa Young at GWCC who has one. Both owners absolutely love their Flip Ultra. My first impression then was, it's cool, but it's a little big for me. Then a month later they came out with the Flip Mino, a much smaller version of the Ultra with touch controls, better resolution and a rechargeable battery. I was in for that.

First impressions: HOT! This thing is tiny. It's smaller than my Blackberry Pearl, which I carry everywhere with me and fits nicely into my pocket. Dimensions are 3.94" x 1.97" x 0.63" and it weighs in at 3.3 oz. That's 2 oz lighter than the Ultra. All three Flip cameras shoot at 640 x 480 resolution, but the Mino has a little better compression using the Pure Digital Video Engine 2.5. It also has a omni-directional mic.

Of course the best feature on any Flip is the flip out USB "thingy". I plugged it right into my MacBookPro first, and although I didn't like how it makes the camera dangle in mid air, it didn't seem to be a problem. It created a drive icon on the desktop and when I click on it I was able to open up the Flip installer and install the software. It first prompted for a 3ivx player to install before I could load the software. Surprisingly, things were even easier on the PC. Once I plugged in the Flip there, a dialogue box opened up and asked if I wanted to "View your Flip camcorder videos using the program provided on the device." Sure!

The program was installed and I was viewing the videos I'd shot just moments before. I was also able to make some quick edits, which included chopping off the beginning or end. I'm sure I could probably crop in the middle too, although I didn't try that.

Next I wanted to see what I could do with the video. The software makes it easy to upload your videos to AOL Video, YouTube and now MySpace. If you want to upload to other services, it will compress the video for you and put it in a folder on your hard drive. I tried YouTube on for size, and as always the compression really sucks. I'm not a fan of YouTube, so I tried it on Vimeo, but I didn't let the Flip program compress it. I just uploaded the video from the Flip directly to Vimeo. Vimeo also compresses the video, but for some reason, I think it looks better than it does on YouTube. What do you think?

YouTube Video:

On Vimeo:

Yamaha V-Star Custom & Classic from Coop on Vimeo.

So far I'm pleased with my purchase, and although the price of the Flip Mino is much higher than the entry Flip's $100, I still think it was worth it. I'm sure you'll find a deal out there. I found the Flip Mino White for $20 less on Amazon ($157) just because it was white. You can also try out Creative's entry into this field for a lot less, the Creative Vado, but beware if you're using a Mac. The only knock on the Vado is it doesn't play nice with some Macs.

Summer Project Video Experiment: HD Video on Mac (Part 1)

2008-06-25T10:52:00.007-07:00

I'm working on my summer project, which basically is to learn as much about video as I can in 4 weeks. I did some research about video formats, codecs, commercial editing programs, online editing and free editing programs, video sharing sites, videocameras, and system requirements for working with video on both the Mac and PC. I compiled all the information over on my Coop's Word Wiki. Now I'm going to play with the 6 video cameras I own and talk about the process from shooting video to editing to posting the video online. I'll start with my best camera, the Panasonic HDC-SD5.

This is a full HD camcorder that shoots on SDHC cards. Those are just fancy Secure Digital cards. I have a 4GB and an 8GB card for this camera. It shoots in 1920x1080 HD in the AVCHD file format. The AVCHD file format is a nightmare right now. More on that later. But the video from this camera is beautiful on my 50" Plasma HD television. I love this camera.

So I shot some footage a few weeks ago while at Hawley Lake in the White Mountains, AZ. I'll use that footage for this experiment. I don't think I have many options for editing this footage on my PC unless I fork over the dough for one of the upgraded commercial packages I listed on my Video wiki page. Most of the trial packages don't provide support for AVCHD files. That's an upgrade, so I'll start with my MacBookPro.

The first thing I noticed is that iMovie HD doesn't support AVCHD files. How ironic is that - iMovie HD doesn't support HD? After doing a Google search I found a program, VoltaicHD, that would convert the AVCHD files to MOV files so I could then edit them in iMovie or Quicktime.They make a PC version of VoltaicHD as well and it only costs $30.

VoltaicHD lets you copy all your footage to your Mac, unplug your camera, then convert the footage while you (and your camera) go and do other things.

There's definitely some truth in that statement. It takes a long time for those files to be converted. On a 2.0 GHz MacBookPro with 2Gb of RAM, a 10 second AVCHD clip takes about 2 minutes to convert. Yes, it really takes that long. But the good thing is, you have to remove the SDHC card from the camera and use a card reader to get the files on the Mac, and you need to make sure it's a newer card reader because the old ones won't read the new SDHC cards.

One other thing to note is that the files are bigger after they are converted, so you have to be sure you have plenty of hard drive room. I only have a 80GB hard drive on my Mac, so I hook it up to an external hard drive. The converted output file will be about four times the size of the input. My first file was 11 seconds long and 17MB but the output file was 64MB.

I could use Final Cut Pro or Express to convert and edit these AVCHD files, but I'm trying to find affordable ways to make movies, and if you don't already have Final Cut, it's too expensive to go out and buy. FC Express is $200 and the Pro version is part of FC Studio which runs $1300. Ouch! Another option would be to upgrade to iLife '08 and iMovie '08 for $80, which is affordable but iMovie '08 is not worth the upgrade.

Once the files have been converted, the quality still looks pretty good. What happens is the AVCHD file is a highly compressed HD format and VoltaicHD uncompresses it into a Quicktime-friendly high definition format - HDV 1080i formatted Quicktime movie, encoded using the Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC). Now I can edit these files (MOV) in either iMovie HD or Quicktime Pro ($30). I opted for QT Pro first for ease of use. I can quickly trim off the beginning and end, edit out any pieces in the middle, and join files together into one movie. For more movie like effects like titles, transitions and a fancy theme, iMovie HD is the ticket. I created two movies on the Mac.

Deciding which output format to use can be confusing. You have to decide what you are going to be doing with the movie. If you plan to upload it to the internet, then be warned, most video sharing sites, especially YouTube, will compress your video into the FLV flash format. Your beautiful HD movie will look better than most on YouTube, but it will still look like crap. I tried out four video sharing sites that advertise HD uploads:

We'll take a look at the end result for each site and how I prepared my HD video for upload in my next post, so stay tuned. Making movies in HD takes time.