Annotate Directly in SpeedGrader!

Since Canvas debuted at Bay Path last year, many of our faculty have made mention of the fact that it would be great if they could annotate student submissions from directly within Speedgrader.  Up until now, this hasn’t been an option.  Beginning on September 29^th, we can!

Canvas now integrates with a took known as “Crocodoc” that can be used to preview and annotate homework submissions in the Speedgrader application.  Instructors can now annotate using a variety of tools directly on assignments to provide specific feedback for their students.  

Annotating student submission in Speedgrader with Crocodoc

Keep in mind that Crocodoc will only be used for supported file types: .doc/.docx, .pdf, .ppt/.pptx and .xls/.xlsx.  When another file type is submitted for a homework assignment Canvas will fall back to the previous previewing tool, which won’t have the annotation feature.  Also, Crocodoc will not be available in the iOS app at this time.  

For more information on these changes, please visit Canvas' Release Notes page.  If you are a Bay Path faculty member and need assistance with using Canvas in your classroom, please contact the Center for Online Learning and Instructional Technology via our Technology Support Center at 413.565.1487 or its@baypath.edu.

Managing Your Social Media Presence

The world of social media is changing rapidly.  Many of us have played around with tools like Twitter and Facebook, usually for personal uses, but these tools can be very useful as professional resources, as well.  They can be used in the classroom for educational purposes and also for marketing programs or communicating and networking with others in your field. 

One common issue that comes up in discussions about managing social media networks is that it can become overwhelming to keep up a profile with so many different sites.  How does one manage so many online identities?  A tool that I’ve found that works well is HootSuite.  HootSuite is a dashboard that allows you to manage multiple social network accounts from one place.  You can even schedule tweets/status updates and submit the same text to post in multiple accounts at one time.  The free version lets you connect up to 5 different accounts from sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. 

               

I’ve found this very useful in managing my own social media presence.  While I have a personal Facebook profile, I also manage a Facebook page for a community service organization to which I belong, and I also manage their Twitter account.  I use HootSuite to schedule updates of upcoming events to both Facebook and Twitter for their accounts simultaneously.  I can go through the organization’s event calendar and schedule repeated reminders for events to be posted as they get closer without having to do it the minute I want the message posted.  It’s very convenient!  I also use Twitter myself personally to follow ed tech topics.  I find the interface on HootSuite is easier and I use this site whenever I use Twitter.

If you’re using social media and want to find out about how wide your circle of influence is, you should check out Klout.  Klout is a site that creates a score for you based on your interactions within social media.  Anyone who has a Twitter or Facebook account can sign in; then you connect your various social media accounts to Klout and it calculates a score based on who has “liked” or “retweeted” your comments. What these scores actually mean has yet to be seen, but it is interesting that people (and employers) are looking at this.  Wired magazine recently featured an article on Klout.

If you’re curious about exploring these tools, or learning to use HootSuite, feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to show you what I’m doing and what your options are.

New Semester, Refreshed Features in Canvas

Those of you who have been teaching in Canvas for a while know that Canvas is continually trying to improve the learning management system to make it more user friendly for both students and faculty.  Canvas is modifying a few of our favorite features to make them even easier to use!

For a complete rundown of the upcoming release, visit Canvas' Release Notes page. For a brief synopsis of a couple of the most relevant changes, keep reading below.

The "Quizzes" Tool

The Quiz Results feature has a new look.  To create more consistency between the quiz taking and quiz result experience for the students the Quiz Results page has been altered to look more like the Taking a Quiz page. For instance, the radio buttons that are on the Quiz page now show up on the Quiz Result page too. This will help the students clearly see what answers they picked.

"Discussions"

Discussions are getting a bit of a update as well!  There is a new filtering option which allows users to type in a phrase to filter by discussion title, body, or the author. There are also options to filter by unread discussions and/or assignment discussions, which are graded discussion threads. You can also multi-select discussions to mass lock or delete them. The locking feature prevents the students from continuing to make comments on the discussion thread.

The student view is very similar. The only difference is that a student can’t re-order discussion topics, lock, or delete discussions.

For more information on these changes, which should debut on 9/1/12, please visit Canvas' Release Notes page.  If you are a Bay Path faculty member and need any help using Canvas in your classroom, please contact the Center for Online Learning and Instructional Technology via our Technology Support Center at 413.565.1487 or its@baypath.edu.

The Google Art Project

Every week, without fail, I stumble across someone or something that amazes me from a technology perspective.  A few weeks back during a webinar on online curriculum development, the presenter introduced us to the Google Art Project.  If you haven’t heard of it, “…the Art Project is a collaboration between Google and 151 acclaimed art partners from across 40 countries.” Using Google’s technology and the wealth of knowledge from their museum partners, Google has created an amazing online art experience (http://www.googleartproject.com/faqs/).  With the Art Project, Google has provided the world with instant access to crisp and clear images of some of the greatest works of art from some of the most renowned museums and collections.

If you haven’t visited the Art Project yet, I strongly suggest you check it out at http://www.googleartproject.com/.  Not only does this site bring you some of the finest works in breathtaking detail, the Art Project includes an “education section” that provides tools to learn about the featured artwork.  “Patrons” of the Google Art Project are also provided with tools to discover different pieces of artwork and share some of their favorites via their preferred social networking site.  Check out how to use the site by watching the video below:



Your student’s next trip to the museum may very well be taken from the comfort of their own home!  How might you be able to use this tool in your classroom?

Today's College Students and Technology Use

College students of today are very different from those of 15 years ago.  Whether we call them Generation Y, the Millennial Generation, etc., this group of young adults has grown up surrounded by technology.  Today's college students, born in the early - mid 1990s, did not know the world before the internet.  Smartphones came on the scene in their teens. Electronic multitasking and communication are normal tasks for them.  In order to reach them in the classroom, it's important to understand what makes them "tick".  Sometimes this means stepping outside of our own comfort zone and playing with new technologies, and using technology in the classroom.

To better understand the way these students think and how they utilize technology, check out this infographic.  I love infographics - they present interesting stats in a quick and easy to read way.  When you click on the link, note that the graphic will display very small - click on it to zoom in and enlarge the image.

Students today are using etextbooks, taking notes electronically, and have access to a wealth of information through computers and mobile devices.  Take a look at this data and consider a new way you could try to reach your students next semester using technology.  Will you collaborate with your students using a Google+ Hangout?  Hold class in a Canvas chat or conference if class is canceled due to weather? Set up a Twitter backchannel and have students tweet during class?  The possibilities are endless - consider trying something new to reach your students via technology and see the impact it can have on student success and satisfaction in the classroom.

The Importance of Understanding How to Search the Web

These days nearly every student is using the internet as a resource - and why not?  There is an incredible wealth of information available online.  The challenge today is no longer how or where to find information, but it is deciphering what is accurate and what is not.  The internet has been mainstream for about 20 years and today's college students do not remember a world before the internet (scary, isn't it?), but surprisingly they are not necessarily entering college prepared with the basic skill of web searching -an essential 21st century skill.  It's important that all instructors understand the finer points of web searching so that we can help our students be more successful in their search for information online.

The basics:

When getting started with a web search, students need to understand how to pick the best search terms and how to interpret the results they find.  This is a skill that takes time to fine tune, but it's growing more and more important in today's world of information overload.  Google has a great site that, although geared toward K-12, has great tools and information about search education.

Assessing the accuracy and reliability of a resources:

There are many clues on a website that can help viewers tell if the information is likely to be accurate - things like clues in the web address (URL), the author, and the type of website the information is on (a personal blog, for example). I once read a great article written by Alan November entitled "Teaching Zach to Think".  It deals with this very topic and shows the scary side of students not knowing how to detect misinformation on the web.

It's important that we all, as educators, understand how to search the web effectively so that we can help students do the same.  The internet gives us the opportunity to find a great amount of information at our fingertips whenever and wherever we may be, but there are many potential dangers when students do not have an understanding of how to find and interpret this information accurately.

Social Media in Education - Twitter

How many of you have experimented with using Twitter?  I'll admit, I first set up a Twitter account a few years ago, played with it for a while, and lost interest.  I jumped back in about a year or so ago when I had an idea for a purposeful way to use it... I use Twitter now to follow ed tech related organizations and individuals and stay on top of the news in the field.  It's pretty great for that purpose - tweets are very short (up to 140 characters) so they're quick and easy to read, and when I see something interesting, I click the link and go to the article to read more.  I also share interesting things I read and have amassed about 80 followers to date.  I've found a use for Twitter that works for me - it helps me get news quickly and easily.

I'm now convinced that there is a useful purpose to Twitter, not just random people posting what they're doing at any given moment.  I'll be honest - there's lots of garbage out there, just like anywhere else on the internet, but you decide who you follow so you only see the tweets you want to see.  There are good things you can do with Twitter that can help your students and also help you professionally. There are many cool things you can do... you could set up a class #hashtag that students can use to ask you questions or chat with each other (a hashtag is a quick way to flag a tweet for easy searching), class discussions can be held outside of class using Twitter, and you can link Twitter to your Canvas account, too.

I could go on and list a bunch of options for using Twitter, but Edudemic created a great list of 100 uses for Twitter in the classroom that contains links to other blogs and sites with more information.  Check out their list to learn more if you're interested in this topic.  And if you're interested in learning more about ed tech, follow me on Twitter @AmberVaill. Hope to see you there!

iPads in Education

Many instructors have shown interest in learning about using iPads in the classroom.  It is true that as mobile devices continue to gain popularity, you will start to see more and more students coming to the classroom with mobile devices such as iPads and other tablets.  These tools are a great educational resource, but in order to truly take advantage of them, instructors must have a plan for how to make use of the device.  If you're looking to use the iPad in the classroom, be sure you fully understand how to use the app(s) you'll be using and that you've created an assessment or activity that will make appropriate use of the device.  Be realistic - an iPad is not a substitute for an actual computer.  They have different functions even though these functions overlap. There are some things that iPads are great for, and other things that really require a laptop.

For instructors planning to use an iPad as a personal device (as opposed to using it for class activities), there are many great tools you can take advantage of.  Instructure offers two great apps for using Canvas.  There is the Canvas app which lets you access your inbox and discussions, as well as other parts of the course, and there is also the SpeedGrader app for easy grading on the iPad.  Some of my other personal recommendations are Dropbox (for cloud-based document storage), Evernote (for cloud-based notebooks you an access from multiple devices), and Kindle (for reading Kindle books on the iPad).  Khan Academy also has an iPad app for viewing their videos.

There are many other blogs and websites that offer lists of top apps for educators.  A couple sites to check out are Apps in Education and OnlineCollege.org's article Evaluating the iPad in Higher Education. A quick Google search will turn up many more results.

Flipping the Classroom

There has been a great deal of talk recently about the concept of the 'flipped classroom'.  This idea involves providing audio or video lectures that students can view outside of the classroom and using class time to engage the students in meaningful learning activities. Why would you want to do this?  There are a few reasons… First, by allowing students to view/listen to lectures on their own time, they have the ability to process the content at their own speed.  They can pause it to look up words or concepts, for example, and they can play a part they are struggling with again to help them understand.  Just like many students are making use of Khan Academy and other instructional videos online to enhance their learning and help them with difficult concepts, they could use your lecture recordings in the same manner.

Secondly, by coming to class having already heard the lecture, the students enter the room with the basics and are ready to engage in assessments and other learning activities that you design to help them demonstrate their understanding of the content and move toward a deeper understanding.  While students are participating in activities, you will be present and available to assist them when needed.  This will help you see where the gaps are in the students’ level of understanding, which can help you assist them as well as help you make changes to the course in the future to better meet your students’ needs.

This approach is a form of hybrid or blended learning and makes use of technology tools that many students are already familiar with.  It increases student engagement and makes students responsible for their own learning.  It gives you the opportunity to use student-centered learning techniques in the classroom and offer student-led learning activities during class time.

For some of you, this new approach many seem too radical and too much of a change from what you’re used to.  It is certainly a dramatic change from traditional instructor-led, lecture-based classes.  It’s not for everyone, but if you’re interested in learning more, check out this document from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative.  There are many other great resources available online, as well.

Welcome to our Blog

The world of educational technology is changing rapidly.  If you look back a few years, and compare the field of technology then to now, it's a completely different world.  I've been using a number of tools to follow technology news and keep up with topics such as online learning and instructional tech.  I use Google Reader to follow RSS feeds from sites and I follow technology-related news on Twitter.  Even with this, it's hard to keep up.

Recently, while reading an interesting article from one source I follow, I thought about how it would be nice to share it with our faculty.  Then the idea hit me - start a blog!  Seems like common sense... The Academic Technology Team at Bay Path will be using this space to share information about instructional technology with our faculty - we hope you'll choose to follow our blog so we can keep you up to date with some of the new, interesting topics we find in our reading and research.  Don't hesitate to contact the author of any post for more information or if you have questions.  Remember - the Academic Technology Team, and our entire technology division, is here to help you.