Tired of death-by-powerpoint at conference after conference. I'm sure many of us are, yet I am just as guilty. Why? (1) It's easy... we can recycle previous presentations without much work. (2) The conference organizers can assure that they will support it and we don't want to take any risks of our presentation being an epic fail. (3) We are used to it... old habits die hard. I was asked to give a presentation recently about Communicating Climate Change to a college seminar class and decided that I would try something different. I had heard about Prezi for the first time almost a year ago, but never bothered investigate it. Here was my perfect opportunity! I was glad that I made the effort. The interface was straightforward and it really helped me to organize my thoughts. The end result... it was fun to create and I spent 10 minutes just explaining to the students and prof how I built the presentation. I could some neat multiple-scale presentations, perhaps similar in structure to the Powers of 10 video below. I will definitely be using Prezi for future presentations. How about you?
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This past week, I was lucky enough to attend the E-LEARN 2011 Conference at the Sheraton. It was a terrific opportunity to get a pulse on the latest and greatest in the e-learning world. One of the many highlights of the conference was Craig Kapp's keynote on Augmented Reality (AR). My brain began racing on the endless possibilities of using AR in education. One of the biggest misconceptions in Earth Science is the moon phases. Many people think Earth's shadow is what causes the different phases of the moon. By being able to manipulate markers representing the sun, earth, and moon, you can use AR to get a better understanding of the moon phases. You might be thinking... what about some real world practical applications. Have you ever wanted ship a package to a friend, but wasn't sure if you would be able to fit the contents in a flat-rate box? Instead of making the trek down the post office, you can use the USPS Virtual Simulator to find out if your contents fit. Imagine the possibilities... The Sixth Sense gives you a flavor of what the future holds with Augmented Reality. What applications of Augmented Reality can you think of in your life?
A couple of weeks ago, I posted on a Virtual Climate Conference that was held in Second Life. I know you've been all awaiting with bated breath on the results. There were 30-50 participants (mostly educators) that participated from throughout the country. The virtual conference (held entirely in Second Life) was put on by NOAA with technical support from Raytheon from Sept 26-28th (2 hours each day). The conference was intended to be an experiment to see if this format is something NOAA should look at moving forward with online conferences (vs. standard WebEX, etc). It introduced participants to the NOAA Island in Second Life, common climate misconceptions, a national view of climate education efforts, various climate related interactive visualizations, and concluded with a treasure hunt. This was my first experience attending (and presenting) at a conference in Second Life so there was a bit of time spent orienting myself to the space (learning how to move, fly, adjust camera angles) and learning how to use the various presenter tools (virtual whiteboard, web viewer). I shared the NOAA Global Science Investigator (a 3D virtual globe) and had participants stand up and move their avatar on a virtual map (see below) as I posed various climate related questions. For example, I asked them them to stand where they thought major carbon dioxide sources would be before revealing the answer. All in all, I thought it was a good experience and allowed me to think a bit outside the box (i.e. how to encourage avatars to participate by moving through space). It did require quite a bit of technical assistance and there was a significant amount of time invested in getting both the presenters and participants up to speed on learning all of the tools in Second Life. The bottom line: For a long conference (spread out over several days) that uses assets in a 3-D world, Second Life may be a good alternative (i.e. saving costs and reducing carbon footprint) to meeting in person. If the conference or meetings last a day or two, it may be best to choose a synchronous tool like Blackboard Collaborate instead given the large initial time investment in Second Life. Making a video tutorial was definitely a new experience for me. Both Jing and Screenr are pretty easy to use. They are both free, allow you to pause the recording (so that you can think of what you are going to say next) and output to a web site for viewing. Here's where the similarities stop. Screenr supplies you with embed code and resizes your file to play in the entire window. Jing does not supply embed code. Also, it appears you have resize the video in Jing (or buy Pro) in order to fit the appropriate output screen (see Jing movie below). Jing needs to be downloaded while Screenr runs in the browser. Screenr lets you download an .mp4 file and upload to Youtube for free! Screenr also gives you an area for a short description. In my humble opinion, Screenr wins! I have not spent much time in Second Life (SL), but I am attending a Virtual Workshop on Climate Change in the next couple of weeks in SL. I'll post more thoughts after workshop. See info below if you are interested. For those folks who do have experience with Second Life in an educational context: Do you find it as a useful educational tool?
___________________________________________________________________________On evenings of September 26-28, NOAA's National Ocean Service is hosting a virtual conference on climate change science and education in Second Life where participants will represent themselves as an avatar. This meeting will engage scientists and educators across the country in an interactive immersive environment. Topics will include: online visualization tools, impacts of climate change on human health, and addressing climate misconceptions in the classroom. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to break in small groups, cooperatively interact, go on a virtual tour of science places in Second Life and discuss the use of online tools and other resources, as well as consult with each other, NOAA educators and scientists on issues in communicating climate change science in formal and informal classroom environments. *There are only 50 participant spots available and registration closes COB September 15!* *Do not miss this opportunity!* *The Fine Print:*
Register at: https://docs.google.com/a/noaa.gov/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dEcwU294clJOVWFoT2lhbjVDalB2YlE6MQ&ndplr=1
There were a number of interesting points made by Dr. Mechaca's powerpoint slides on brain research and online learning that I could help me in the online products that I create.
"Temporal Contiguity: Words and pictures should be simultaneous not successive" How many times have you sat through a powerpoint presentation where a picture came up followed by successive bulleted items that flew in or appeared from seemingly random directions. You get so distracted by the text flying in that you forget to see the links between the words and pictures. Seems like such an obvious best practice, but I know I have been guilty of separating them in the past. "Modality: Animation with narration better than animation with text" Again, I have been guilty of this one. A descriptive animation showing a complicated process (i.e. how tsunamis are generated) with text below describing the process. Instead of having text, it should either be accompanied by narration or better yet, the presenter should describe the animation as it is unfolding. Conclusion: "Students are more likely to interact with their peers when using collaborative, online tools." This would seem to be extremely important in encouraging a dynamic online environment. The small group interactions that we have had during our Mon synchronous sessions have probably been the most valuable for me in being able to bounce off ideas with my peers and learn from there experiences. I teach an introductory online class, I will definitely look to employ synchronous group work in future classes because of my personal experiences. A follow-up question that came to mind that I would love folks thoughts on: Is it more effective to assign students' roles when working collaboratively or have them assign the roles themselves? R2D2 Article: Loved the conclusion where the author stated, "May the force be with all of those who attempt the R2D2 model on such research and development journeys in the coming years." I have to give the author credit for being able to put in a Star Wars reference in a journal article. In all seriousness, it is an easy acrostic to remember (read, reflect, display and do). I wonder if there are more extensive learning gains in courses that use the R2D2 method over those that do not? Quality Matters Rubric Standards: A great checklist to go through when preparing to teach an online class. As an instructor for an introductory level class, there were a number of points that I will definitely take into consideration for future classes. Many of them were assumptions that I made about the students in the class, that perhaps are good to make. Netiquette expectations and accessibility requirements were the two biggest issues that I need to address. While I have never had an auditory or visually impaired student in my class, I think it's important for the course to address the needs of these students should the need arise. Overall, great discussion in class and looking forward to any comments or feedback! Are you in a tsunami evacuation zone?
Check it out online or on your mobile phone: http://tsunami.csc.noaa.gov It's only been out for a few months and hasn't gotten much feedback... constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated! I've helped my dad set up one and read follow a few (especially my girlfriend's food blog), but this is my first official blog. I thought a bit about what I wanted to get out of this blog (besides it being a requirement for this class) and here's what I came up with.
1. A journal for my thoughts, here and now. 2. Reflections on my journey through the class. 3. An opportunity to share and exchange ideas. 4. Engage discussion on blogging best practices. 5. Get feedback on tech-related work products. |
ETEC 622 Blog
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