Well, aside from the Quality Streets…
The computers were logged in to a variety of different software, we had ‘how to’ leaflets available for Wimba Classroom and Wimba Pronto, and Keith Mildenhall, Nicole McNab, Fiona Handley and I were available to demonstrate various bits of software and kit (including an iPad, the Clickers, and an audio note-taking pen).. note that we have differing levels of knowledge about different things, as we’re keen to see an environment at the University where people are unafraid to experiment with new technology, and share their expertise with others.
We are keen to host such an event in the future, so do let us know what you think of the idea, what software you may be able to share/would like to see investigated, and when/where would be most helpful:
Wimba Classroom
What is it? Offers a virtual classroom environment, including audio, video, application sharing, content display and archiving facilities.
What are its particular uses? Allows distance students (planned, or restricted by illness/weather, etc.) to participate. Archived sessions are particularly helpful for dyslexic/international students.
Wimba Pronto
What is it? An instant messaging system, similar to Skype, aimed at educational institutions.
What are its particular uses? Its use is encouraged for quick responses/to reduce the email load. The ‘office hours’ and ‘helpdesk’ functions are particularly useful for increased speed & efficiency. The more who are using it, the more effective it is.
Wimba Voice
What is it? A web-based voice option that allows vocal instruciton, collaboration, coaching and audio assessment (feedback).
What are its particular uses? The friendly sound, and tones, of the voice in messages. Feedback via emails. Voice boards (e.g. language instruction). The creation of podcasts.
SkillsNet
SkillsNet offers online resources, tips and information to boost student academic performance. It’s an interactive site providing easily accessible, relevant online resources to help students excel in their academic work. Staff are encouraged to refer students to the material, and to contribute further mateiral, ensuring that students have a ‘one stop shop’ for Study Skills.
PebblePad
What is it? A online e-portfolio which is has a user group of over 500,000 across 100 HEI’s in Britain. PebblePad is external which makes the e-portfolio the users individual and private space.
What are its particular uses? There are multiple functions including CV building application, reflection on tasks/assignments, Webfolio, blogs, forward planning facilities and a central information bank. With theusers permission, assets created on PebblePad can be shared with Staff and peers.
Turnitin
What is it? An online plagiairsm detection software funded and endorsed by JISC, which checks the orginality of a piece of work submitted for an assignment.
What are its particular uses? The software scans websites, publications and work submitted to Turnitin for orginality, highlighing sections which appear similar to others work. Turnitin also provides online marking/grading and the ability to peer review.
Jing
What is it? A screen-casting system which allows you to capture anything you see on your computer screen, as an image or (max 5 minute) video, then lets you share it, e.g. via YouTube. This software is for use on home computers, there’s a free version. A full licence is about $15pa.
What are its particular uses? See what is going on on screen without having to ‘explain’ via multiple screenshots. Comment on a piece of work with audio. Collaborate.
Similar Software: Screenr, Camtasia
Audioboo
What is it? A web and mobile based audio option that allows quick and simple (maximum 5 minute) recordings whilst on the move, whilst adding useful data such as photos, tags and location.
What are its particular uses? In a world of written words and video, audio often gets left behind. It offers the opportunity to grab online responses quickly, and share immediately online. Some, who are not comfortable on camera, are on audio.
Podcast
What is it? A podcast is a digital audio or video file that is: episodic, downloadable, programme-drivern, mainly with a host and/or theme, and convenient, usually via an automated feed with computer software. [University of Austin, Texas]
What are its particular uses? Regular audio files prepared for distribution over the semester.
Software required? Programmes such as Wimba Voice (non-editable), or Audacity (editable).
Survey Monkey
What is it? A ‘freemium’ (i.e. the free version alows 10 questions of 100 users) online questionnaire software. LTDU has a Pro licence, please talk to Bex if you’re interested in knowing more.
What are its particular uses? End of module questionnaires, surveys, project/research work. A good return rate has been received through distributing the URL on the portal, emails, and/or through social networking (and the students like it).
Similar Software: Bristol Online Surveys
WordPress
What is it? The most popular open-source ‘CMS’ at present: for blogging/websites. Either a simple online version, or a more complex downloadable version.
What are its particular uses? Reputation building for academics. Encourage students to blog (reflection, participation) to gain public feedback on their work, and build their onlin confidence. Has an extra benefit of providing ‘link-juice’ to the University of Winchester.
Similar software: Blogger, Tumblr, Posterous
Prezi
What is it? A flash-based presentation tool, hosted online, allowing multiple authors to contribute (no need to be emailing files to each other).
What are its particular uses? Considered by many as the next step on from PowerPoint (but is in fact just another tool), Prezi ‘allows the speaker to encourage a dialogue, and visualise ideas as if you were drawing a mind map for your audience’.
Facebook
What is it? THE most well known social networking site, with over 500 million users. The vast majority of students, and many staff, are already on Facebook (although most view it as their ‘personal space’).
What are its particular uses? The creation of group and fan pages allows contact with students without the requirement to be ‘friends’. Also continue contact with connections made at conferences.
Twitter
What is it? The most famous form of micro-blogging. Tweets are limited to 140 characters and shared amongst followers. Few rules, but clear etiquette.
What are its particular uses? Making and maintaining contacts with others with similar interest (particularly around #hashtags), especially pre/at/post conferences (as the conversation has already started). Raising your public profile. Twitter works particularly well if the ‘Twitterer’ has access to a smartphone.
Picasa
What is it? Google’s image hosting website. Photo storage, tagging, photo-favourties, create albums which can be shared more widely online.
What are its particular uses? Access collections of images provided by other users, with the ability to use those to which permission is given (with attribution) in presentations/websites. Upload images for dissemination to a wider audience.
Flickr
What is it? An image and video hosting website, widely used by bloggers to host images that they embed in blogs and social media. Photo storage, tagging, photo-favourites, group photo pools and ratings.
What are its particular uses? Access a great pool of images, with the ability to use those tagged ‘Creative Commons’ legally (with attribution) in presentations. Upload images for dissemination to a wider audience.
YouTube
What is it? A video-sharing website on which users can upload and share videos (usually amateur videos by individuals), and create themed playlists of favourite saved videos.
What are its particular uses? With careful thought, use within lectures. View, share, embed, and comment upon. The interface continues to change, bringing with it new functionality. Playlists can be embedded on the Learning Network (removing some distractions)
Vimeo
What is it? A high-quality video-sharing site, comprised of a ‘community of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos they make’.
What are its particular uses? Videos tend to be more professional than those on YouTube, but have similar benefits: viewed, shared, and embedded . Videos can be commented upon and links made with producers.
Humbox
What is it? The HumBox project aims to publish a bank of good quality humantieis resources oinline for free download and sharing.
What are its particular uses? Creating a community of Humanities specialists who are willing to share their teaching materials and collaborate iwth others to peer review and enhance existing resources.
Slideshare
What is it? An online documnent hosting service: upload, view, be inspired, comment & share.
What are its particular values? With awareness of intellectual property issues, documents can be uploaded to share with a wider audience, encouraging contact with interest groups. Slideshares can be embedded into blogs.
Similar software: Scribd
Dropbox
What is it? A cloud-storage solution for sharing (large) files online.
What are its particular uses? Large files can be stored online (no need to drive back for that paper file you’ve forgotten)
Digg
What is it? A social news website, where users can submit links and stories and share with others. Users can vote and comment on submitted links and stories. A story that is voted up is ‘digged’, a story that is voted down is ‘buried’.
What are its particular uses? Relaunced September 2010, with a simpler interface, students can build a collection of interesting links around a topic, and comment on others links.
Delicious
What is it? A social-bookmarking site, allowing users to tag, save, manage and share webpages from a centralised page. Each ‘bookmark’ can be tagged with freely chosen index terms, and cross-referenced with other links tagged with the same term.
What are its particular uses? Classes can share, and comment, on the benefits or otherwise of links upon the web, building up a collection of useful online information relating to a topic.
Clickers/PRS
What are they? Clickers (personal response systems) are the tool commonly uses on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’
What are its particular uses? Within a classroom, they offer opportunities for in-class surveys, revision of previous topics, and for triggering discussion between students.
iPad
What is it? A table computer: a complete computer contained entirely in a flat touch screen that uses a stylus, digital pen, or fingertip as the primary input device.
What are its particular uses? Lightweight, with great battery life. With the right apps, great for: accessing the web, reading eBooks, documentation, etc. on the move. A boon for meetings.
Other software was available, including: E-Pen, The Learning Network, Microsoft Office, Google Docs
What would staff like to know?
- What issues need resolving that technology may help to solve?
- What fears/concerns do you have about technology that we need to address?
- What aspects of the student experience do you feel could be improved via online tools?
- What aspects of policy do you feel may need to change to allow technology wider use?
- What software are you interested in using?
Responses
- Central bank of podcasts
- Academia.edu
- Students seeing my Facebook account
- Improve student experience: Library on the Learning Network –> Catalogue/Book Renewals
- Concerns: Very fast pace of change –> is hard to keep up to date
- Policy: Knowing who to ask for help/advice and what are the acceptable parameters –> what is reasonable to ask for help with
What do students want?
- What issues need resolving that technology may help to solve?
- What fears/concerns do you have about technology that we need to address?
- What aspects of the student experience do you feel could be improved via online tools?
- How can we help students gain a better understanding of the tools available?
- What software are you interested in using?
Responses
- Worried about staff seeing my Facebook account.
- More use of online hand-ins for assessments.
Here a few pointers to help you with obtaining the optimum audio for Wimba
- Ensure that your headset/audio device is plugged in before you launch Wimba.
- USB connected headsets appear to have less issues than jack-leads (£7.50 from the Media Loan Counter).
- If you have more than one USB port on the computer, and the microphone is not working, try another USB port.
- Go to Control Panel –> Sound. Check that you are connected to the ‘right’ headset, and that the volume is set high enough/not to mute (if using headphones with a slider volume, check that it’s up).
- In Pronto, if you can’t hear each other. Go to Options –> Preferences –> Calls –> Audio Settings and ensure it is set to the right headphones.
Also check out the official helppages, and if you have further tips, please add in the comments field below.
Assuming that you’ve already set up a YouTube account, I hope that you find the following video helpful in order to create a pre-determined sequence of videos which will play one after another (and can be embedded into the Learning Network, therefore removing the distractions of the rest of YouTube):
This conference focussed on the technological opportunities that Universities and Colleges might seize in a period of radical changes to the way in which higher education is funded.
See an overview of the conference, and links to some of the papers.
JISC Legal have created a video to accompany their guidelines with regards to legal issues that may arise (e.g. copyright, intellectual property, licences to use) when recording lectures.
This pilot supported the implementation of Wimba within the University of Winchester and drew on the experiences of IT implementation at Middlesex University and of change and organisational development from the Organisational Development in HE Group (specifically a member from the University of Loughborough).
The main lessons have been:
- The relevance of general change concepts to IT implementation projects.
- The similarities between the experiences in the different institutions.
- The need for a flexible structure; not everything can be solved at the outset.
- The need to share experiences, both within institutions and across institutions, so removing the ‘silo’ culture.
- The importance of a very visible top management commitment.
- The need to demonstrate clear benefits to staff if they are to be actively involved, using a mix of media and face-to-face methods.
- The need to recognise the huge pressures that staff are experiencing.
- The importance of recognising the psychological impact of past projects, and ongoing commitment to them, when implementing new initiatives.
- That the usual early adopters will be readily involved but that far more thought needs to be given to reaching the uninterested. Remember the four types of users who will respond in very different ways:
- Enthusiasts
- Pragmatists
- Traditionalists
- New Luddites
- That such initiatives call for significant changes in personal practice and – at least in the short run – for an increased workload.
- The usefulness of including the adoption of new technologies as a topic within annual reviews
- That the project framework was especially useful in highlighting the importance of change management and encouraging us to seek to apply general change concepts to IT.
- That it is essential to find benefits that make sense to the staff who are having to work in the changed environment and selling these benefits to the staff . The arguments that count are likely to relate to saving time and improving the student experience. If the initial benefits are not convincing, adapt your approach
- Recognise the workload pressures on staff and run short interventions at times that suit the staff.
- Offer ‘facilitation time’ where people can practise what they have undertaken in the training – so workshops can’t be stand alone.
- Recognise the huge variety of interests that are involved in major IT projects.
- That anyone leading or supporting a major IT change project needs to recognise that organisations are actually very fragmented and the strategies that will work with one discipline may well not work with another.
- Situations vary so much that no single approach is likely to be useful in all cases and hence one of the key skills is deciding which model is concept is appropriate when.#
The information above forms the initial stage of a document submitted to the University of Strathclyde today, in fulfillment of participation in a JISC project, considering the organisational development and people-focused needs to take into account when implementing IT projects.
Read the full E-Readers report compiled by Nicole McNab in October 2010, with reports given by each member of the LTDU team.
The free version, which we’ll be working with, allows up to 10 questions of up to 100 users, and has limitations on the analysis, but has access to simple totals.
A workshop held earlier today, giving an overview, and an opportunity to experience/discuss, the use of the free version of Survey Monkey.
Screencast for setting up Wimba Classroom (downloadable Windows Media File 13MB).
Required for Wimba Classroom: USB microphone, editing rights to a Learning Network Module, webcam if desired.
Link to the Wizard launcher: http://uowlive.wimba.com/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=wms
Screencast for Wimba Classroom functions (downloadable Windows Media File 12MB)
Screencast for further Wimba Classroom functions, including uploading a PowerPoint, using the EBoard and archiving a file (downloadable Windows Media File 9.60 MB)
(Screencasting software: Jing)
