December 5, 2007
I've moved...
...and I've resumed blogging on another site, as a result of my change of institution. Explorations in the Ed Tech World isn't dentistry focussed, but will cover technologies relevant to teaching and learning in higher ed. Happy to see you there.
September 8, 2006
Tools for Teaching
As an instructor, I like the idea of having a digital space to share files with students, provide resources to supplement face to face teaching, and to give the opportunity for some kind of extended dialogue. But I like to be able to create and add to the digital space quickly, with a minimum of effort. I also like the space to be able to navigate, and provide little effort and time on the part of the student to access and retrieve.
Of course, WebCT or another CMS can allow all this, but requires a certain amount of planning and coordination with others to enable it. For distance courses, this is well worth the effort, in my opinion. But as a "just in time" teaching tool as a supplement to face to face, I'm increasingly attracted to other options such as weblogs, or some of the Web 2.0 "glue' tools.
My favorite example of how a blog was used to supplement face to face teaching is Mario's
I also like the idea of using SuprGlu or something like Protopage to pull together various Web 2.0 tools into one space that could serve as the central depot for a course site. I quickly hacked together a test page (doesn't like Safari, but likes Firefox http://www.protopage.com/dentistrytest" ) that uses the sticky notes for static text content or information, feeds for resources or podcasts, uploaded a diagram, and the webpage widget to display the class weblog, a Writeboard and a relevant Flickr set. As the owner, I can make these pages public, but only I can edit them, which is fine for this purpose. The only disadvantage that I can see with this tool is that there doesn't seem to be a way of subscribing to it, and no ability to upload files (other than images). I imagine that as a semester went on and the page got a bit busier a structure would have to evolve to keep it from becoming totally chaotic, but putting it together and making changes as you go along is totally painless, which is a big plus in my mind.
August 29, 2006
Delving into podcasting
I've been exploring podcasting a bit this past little while, and have noticed a few new resources that popped up since I looked last year. Some of these are specific to Dentistry, which was a nice surprise.
For starters, it's somewhat old news already, but the University of Michigan Faculty of Dentistry reported a student intiative with podcasting dentistry lectures, and have since entered into a partnership with Apple to use itunes to manage the podcasts. The news release provides a bit of info but the Educause Quarterly article provides a lot of useful detail about the pilot projects associated with the implementation at the Faculty level.
Old news again (March 2005) but I recently came across a white paper published by the University of Missouri on podcasting and vodcasting. It is a refreshingly easy to read and helpful document that pointed me to a number of useful resources. It was also reassuring to read in their conclusion that they don't consider podcasting and vodcasting to be a fad.
In terms of pedagogical applications, I found myself totally intrigued by Jean-Claude Bradley's approach to teaching with his blog and podcasts, as well as his transformed use of class time into workshops. I found the podcast of the joint presentation he gave really informative.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of choice of Dentistry related podcasts at the moment, but here's one that I came across. Dental Blogs has a category that harvests their podcasts and there seems to be some interesting stuff there. podcast.net has a tag for the dental category and there are a couple of things there.
June 5, 2006
PBL tutor training
I'm impressed with the problem based learning approach that is being used here in the Faculty of Dentistry, and feel privileged to be working Leandra Best, who works closely with faculty, tutors, and students in implementing this approach. One of the projects we are currently working on is moving some pieces of PBL tutor training online, and doing so in a way that will be engaging and inspiring for prospective tutors.
Of course, we've done the obligatory google searching to see what other institutions might be doing online, but we haven't really turned up anything. So, this post is an appeal for input--if your institution is doing some part of PBL training online, we'd appreciate it if you could please make use of the comment box and send us a link or tell us a bit about it.
Discussing Online Discussions
It seems that despite almost 10 years of research and practice with educators using online discussion in their classes, there is still lots to talk about regarding issues and challenges of this type of interaction.
Recently at OLT we brought together some instructors from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems who are using online discussion in their courses. Here is an audio file of the discussion if you want to listen in.
We found a few potentially interesting resources to share on the subject and put them into a wiki.
Feel free to share your own ideas, suggestions and strategies for engaging students and facilitating effective discussions online.
New workshop wikis
The nice thing about participating in workshops is that it forces you to update your resources and general knowledge about what is out there. Jan, kele, and I prepared a 2 hour version of our original 6 hour workshop on Digital Tools for Feedback and Assessment at the ETUG gathering last week, and in the process did some well-needed updating to the wikis that link the resources we talk about in the presentation. We moved them off the old careo server, so all the URLs have changed, and we added a few extra pages as well.
Unlike the workshop we do for the UBC audience, this one pushed us to locate tools that were available to everybody, and not just the UBC community. Most of the tools we talked facilitate peer feedback and group work, but some participants were looking for tools that provide computer generated feedback. Therefore I've included 2 new wiki pages for Concept Tutor and Quiz Image, two of my favorites from the Engage group at the University of Wisconsin.
The starting page is this one: Digital Tools
Voice tools
Track Changes
Concept Tutor
Quiz Image
As always, this was a great opportunity to learn from the participants and hopefully we'll see some of their contributions to the wiki at some point, since it would be nice to know a bit more about how others are dabbling with tools and feedback in their own institutions.
February 16, 2006
Digital Tools for Feedback and Assessment
We had great participation at our workshop on Digital Tools for Feedback and Assessment--one of the things I love about giving workshops to the larger UBC community is that it gives me an opportunity to hear about other types of courses and other things going on outside of the courses I work with, which are largely in the Faculty of Dentistry.
In talking about the challenges of assessment, it was also interesting for me to hear just how much this juggling of instructor time/effort and providing good feedback and fair assessment is a challenge. This has certainly been my own experience this year while teaching 3 online courses, but I generally find assessment to be challenging, period.
The morning was largely a guided conversation on some of the thinking behind assessment practices as they relate to course objectives. Jan provided some great handouts that guided participants through creating an evaluation plan for their course, which lead to some interesting revelations on the part of some of the participants about their own courses.
We had several break-out sessions in the afternoon --Brad gave a demo on concept mapping and using Track changes, Jan got a few people going on creating assessment rubrics, Jeff and Brian got participants excited about wikis and Writely, Kele shared her expertise on e-portfolios and ELGG. I attempted a demo on voice tools, with a few (predicatable) technical blunders on the way. But the day was fun, and the feedback has been both positive and constructive.
There are 2 wiki pages that have been set up a reference to the day--it's not terribly informative, but it gives an idea as to what was covered, with some links to the tools.
Digital Tools
Voice Tools
February 7, 2006
Elearning Institute
The Elearning Institute registration is now open and there is a great list of topics for this year's session, which is taking place the week of February 13 to February 17. This is a great opportunity to get some hands on experience with some teaching and learning technology tools, or to at least learn a little more about them with other members of the UBC community.
You'll notice that one of the proposed Lunch and Learn topics--Digital Tools for Feedback and Assessment--has evolved into a full day workshop. We've structured this as an informative dialogue session in the morning, with a hands on workshop session in the afternoon, where you have a chance to learn about some of these tools from some of the 'experts'. I'm thrilled that some members from the Faculty have registered for this session, and even more thrilled that we're almost fully booked!
January 18, 2006
Lunch and Learn #2 Social bookmarking
Last Tuesday we had an interesting and useful presentation by Brian Lamb from OLT sharing his expertise on social bookmarking. To summarize a few of his points of how social bookmarking is of importance to academics:
*social bookmarking provides users with a more reasonable way of managing their resources and favourites or bookmarks, through the use of tags (or keywords) and RSS feeds
*through the use of tags, it is easier for users to find other users with the same interests and focus.
*RSS feeds are basically a way of subscribing to multiple resources such as websites, academic journals, and weblogs, and then having them fed into one location, so that you don't have to waste time remembering to visit and browse your favourite sites
-RSS feeds are useful in a course website, where you can have recent journal articles and academic papers fed into the course, without you having to update it yourself.
Although it's simple to get started, it can be difficult to wrap your head around the new information. I suggest you start with Citeulike which is a social bookmarking tool that targets specifically the academic community. I've created a few screencasts to get you started--they are relatively small Quicktime movies, but to play them you will need to have a Quicktime plugin installed, which you can get from here. Note the the download for windows link at the bottom of the page.
*Citeulike Navigation is a quick intro to Citeulike and the main entry page
*Citeulike Watchlist gives you a quick overview of the RSS feature of this tool and how it works with ejournals
*Citeulike library explains how you would build and share your library of resources
There are other features that will appear in future screencasts, but this is all I had time for right now. Please note that they are a bit rough--I haven't done any editing, and they are totally unscripted, and you might even find my voice a bit annoying (I do!).
If the lunch and learn peaked your interest, I'm hoping that these screencasts will get you going. If it's still too daunting, feel free to contact me and we can go through it one on one.
November 14, 2005
Future Lunch and Learn Topics
We want to give everybody an opportunity to let us know what you would like to see for future Lunch and Learn topics. We have listed a few possible topics below--let us know (either by phone, email, or using the comment box) whether these topics interest you, or to suggest other topics.
Using digital tools for assessment and feedback
Grading and providing feedback is an important part of teaching, but can be time consuming and challenging. In this Lunch and Learn we will showcase a few UBC supported or freely available digital tools that can help make the assessment process easier and quicker for the instructors. These include: WebCT quiz/exam tools, assessment rubrics, Wimba voice tools, and e-portfolios.
Enhancing interaction and communication in your courses
Instructors are continually faced with trying to cover a considerable amount of topics in a short semester, while balancing this with providing students with opportunities for student-instructor and student-student interaction. This Lunch and Learn will showcase some electronic communication tools that can be used to enhance or facilitate classroom interaction. We will provide examples of how discussion forums, voice forums, weblog spaces, and chat tools are be used within the Faculty and in other UBC courses, with some discussion as to their pedagogical value.
Enhancing course content with multimedia
The arrival of digital multimedia to education has been both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it allows students to experience a different presentation of content that could not be conveyed as easily in a more traditional format. However, it has also resulted in the emergence of expensive reproductions that do little to enhance teaching or learning.
This Lunch and Learn will focus on showcasing simple and inexpensive multimedia tools that can achieve a high impact if used appropriately. We will introduce tools such as Flikr and podcasting, which are both easily accessible to both Faculty and students.
Social bookmarking tools for Faculty and students
As academic research publishing increasingly moves to digital formats, managing numerous downloaded articles, bookmarks/favorites, and citations can be challenging. This Lunch and Learn will introduce Faculty to web-based bookmarking tools such as Cite-U-Like, Delicious, and Furl, demonstrating how these tools can help you organize, find, manage, and pull academic research into a virtual space that can be accessed from everywhere, while also allow you to view what other people with similar interests are bookmarking.
*This Lunch and Learn will likely involve an expert from the UBC Office of Learning Technologies
Use the comment box after this post to let Jessica or myself know if there are any other topics that you would like to see in a Lunch and Learn, or if you would like to be involved in the planning of future Lunch and Learns. You can also contact Jessica for more information on hosting your own Lunch & Learn or to provide other topics of interest at 604.822.6746 or jmueller@interchange.ubc.ca.