CIT Blog » Teaching Ideas

Take out those cell phones in class

Andrea Novicki — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:52:45 +0000

Most students have cell phones, and more than half of all US undergraduates own an internet-capable handheld device and more plan to purchase one in the next 12 months (ECAR Research Study 2009). Why not use them?

How? Here are three ideas:

Cell phones and internet-capable phones can be used as polling devices, like clickers, to engage students during class. Poll Everywhere will supply an easy to use interface for small classes for free, or large classes for a fee.

Students could access information during class, to contribute to discussions or to inform critical thinking. How? Students could query Google or Google Scholar, access the library or librarian, use news sources, or specific applications for your topic.

Leverage student interest in texting to learn about their thinking during class, by setting up a backchannel, like Hotseat at Purdue University. A teaching assistant or other instructor can monitor the backchannel, and alert you to questions, problems, and student interest at appropriate points in the class.

Come to a discussion of using mobile devices for education, both in and out of class, on the second Tuesday of each month.

Sharing references with your students

Andrea Novicki — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:35:11 +0000

Kathy Franz (Duke Chemistry) expects her students to gather resources from the chemistry literature, and share them in her course. She has tried some social bookmarking tools, but some have difficulty finding bibliographic data from her chemistry journals. She is now trying Zotero. Zotero is an extension on Firefox that helps you collect, manage and cite your research sources from your web browser. The latest version allows you to sync and back up Zotero libraries, and create public or private groups to share references.

Jonathan Mattingly (Duke Math) enthusiastically uses Zotero to collect bibliographic data, and format citations for his publications. He uses the group feature to share papers with his students, and to add to their reading lists as he finds references. He’s also experimenting with sharing a Zotero library with the Math department, to benefit students.

Features:

Participants in a group can get an RSS feed to be notified when new documents are added to the library.
For PDFs already stored on your computer, Zotero searches the internet for trusted bibliographic information, so you do not have type or copy-paste bibliographic information.
Zotero learns how to resolve URLs to restricted sources.
Zotero can output references in many different styles.
Zotero can save searches across your saved references, so a saved search becomes like a continuously updating folder.
Zotero is open-source, so it is continuously improving and anyone can add new features.

Want more?

Watch the video to see how Zotero works, then download and try it.
See some of Dr. Mattingly’s papers listed on Zotero to see the data Zotero saves for each source.
Read more about it on the library hacks blog, and our blog (Zotero is a reason to use Firefox)

For keeping track of citations and managing your references, there are other options

CiteULike is also popular among researchers for managing and discovering scholarly references, and can provide sharing either publically or with devined groups. Unlike Zotero, CiteULike will work with any browser.

If you already have a computer full of PDFs, you might want to try Mendeley, It is both academic desktop software for managing & sharing research papers, and a website where you can back up and manage your research papers online, discover research trends, and connect to other researchers. Library Hacks explains the difference between Mendeley and Zotero.

Connotea is another online reference management system for researchers, put out by the Nature publishing group.

Duke has licensed EndNote and RefWorks, two commercial bilbliographic tools. Compare them with Zotero.

Because each tool handles references differently, evaluate them for your specific needs. Try each of them as you search for scholarly references in your field, to see how they handle your journals articles, and meet your needs for sharing.

Duke faculty use Flip cameras for teaching

Andrea Novicki — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:22:35 +0000

Duke faculty Jennifer Ahern-Dodson (Writing) and Kevin Caves (Biomedical Engineering) are featured in the article How Tiny Camcorders are Changing Education published in eLearn Magazine.

Ahern-Dodson and Caves participated in CIT’s Instructional Technology Faculty Fellows program, to share ideas about teaching with video with other faculty. In the article, they describe how they used Flip cameras from the Duke Digital Initiative for student projects in their courses.

Explore cell phones in teaching

Andrea Novicki — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:52:37 +0000

Meet with other Duke faculty and talk about ideas for using cell phones (or any small, mobile devices) in teaching, both in and outside the classroom.

At a previous meeting, participants discussed using these devices in class to engage students and foster interaction. Owen Astrachan demonstrated how he used Poll Everywhere with his class of 344 students. Poll Everywhere allows students to use their own devices as personal response systems, to give answers electronically in class.

Other participants discussed using applications that provide information relevant to the course, like Epocrates for accessing drug information, Labs 360 as a medical laboratory guide, or other applications for medical students. Other examples might be using the mobile version of the Wall Street Journal in a business class, flash cards for organic chemistry reactions, or spreadsheet applications for laboratories.

We discussed how instructors could incorporate the social networking and connectedness of applications like Smule’s Ocarina to engage students, and how Twitter could be used to build a community of students in an educational program.

Join us:

Register for our next discussion at 10 am on October 13.
E-mail Andrea Novicki to suggest topics.

Talking about Tweeting – DDI Twitter Lunch

Lenore Ramm — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:46:12 +0000

Earlier in September, several of us met as part of the monthly DDI Twitter program brown bag lunch discussion series. One of the overall goals of the program is to encourage a few faculty members to actively use Twitter in their courses, but another goal is to have meaningful discussions among interested faculty on academic uses of Twitter.

After introductions, I provided a list of potential uses of Twitter in a course (below). We discussed everyone’s ideas for using Twitter, which ranged from trying out Twitter in a language class to tweeting as an entire discipline to develop its community. Attendees were concerned about privacy, as far as FERPA and HIPAA, and representing the university as an institution. Attendees expressed a need for Duke to have an explcit social media policy, without stifling its use. Despite perceived complications, there was a lot of excitement about potential for spontaneous student participation, particularly from those who are more introverted. I also demonstrated two Twitter clients for following a large volume of tweets, Tweetdeck for the desktop and the web-based Tweetgrid. Two additional discussions sessions have already been scheduled for this fall, so you can register now.

Use cases for which all students would need a mobile device, laptop or be in a lab during class:

Polling each student within class
Participating in a class “back channel,” which would consist of lecture summaries, commentary and questions

Use cases for which a portion, but not all, of students would have access to a mobile device or other computer during class:

Tweeting in groups of 3 to 5 students where the tweets reflect the group consensus following a discussion

Use cases for which students would have access to a mobile device, laptop or desktop machine outside of class:

Students could receive information tweeted by the instructor and/or teaching stafff on course administrative issues and reminders.
Students could receive tweets from the instructor and/or the teaching staff on course related topics.
Students may tweet containing links to course related research.
Students may tweet reflections on course materials and course related topics.
Students may search for tweets using course related keywords or follow relevant #hashtags (e.g. #iranelection)
Students may follow experts in the course discipline or pertinent public figures.
Students may use Twitter to conduct interviews with one or more followers.
Students may tweet notes from course readings.
Students may tweet field observations or lab results.
Students participating in service learning could communicate from a remote location and record observations or reflections.
Both students participating in remote service learning or study abroad could use Twitter to maintain a connection with their classmates or advisers on campus.
Foreign language students may tweet in the course language and follow Tweeters from their respective countries.
Students may tweet to request help from classmates, the instructor or teaching staff.
Students may tweet creatively, taking advantage of the 140 character limit in order to condense a large idea into a brief statement (e.g. literary works, world religions described in a single tweet)
Students may do research using tweets as data.

Drop in to a web conference on student collaboration

Andrea Novicki — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:46:05 +0000

Join us in Bostock Library on September 23–24 for “Flattening the Classroom: Building Collaborative Learning Environments,” the 2009 Educause Learning Initiative (ELI) Online Fall Focus Session.

The sessions will explore how to increase student learning by collaboration, an approach to learning that engages students in the active construction of collective knowledge, empowering them to build meaning together, and challenging them to examine issues from multiple perspectives. The various sessions will:

discuss what it means to effectively collaborate in the classroom,
describe a framework for the design of meaningful and purposeful activities in the classroom,
reflect on the potential for social learning to promote critical thinking and spark student discussion,
explore emerging practices for designing collaborative environments in physical spaces and virtual environments, and
consider assessment strategies for collaborative activities.

Register to join us for any of these sessions. We’ll broadcast the web conference in Bostock Library room 039; we’ll listen to the online sessions and then follow up most sessions with discussion among local attendees.

Register	Wed 09/23/09	12:00 PM – 1:00 PM	What is collaboration?
Register	Wed 09/23/09	1:15 PM – 1:45 PM	Virtual knowledge networks
Register	Wed 09/23/09	2:00 PM – 3:00 PM	Innovative projects in online collaboration
Register	Wed 09/23/09	3:15 PM – 3:45 PM	Technologies that enhance collaborative, interdisciplinary learning
Register	Wed 09/23/09	4:00 PM – 5:00 PM	Innovative projects in interdisciplinary collaboration
Register	Thu 09/24/09	12:00 PM – 1:00 PM	How did WE work? Assessing collaborative assignments
Register	Thu 09/24/09	1:00 PM – 1:40 PM	Making space for collaboration
Register	Thu 09/24/09	1:45 PM – 2:30 PM	Innovative projects in collaborative spaces
Register	Thu 09/24/09	2:30 PM – 4:00 PM	Discussion session: Collaboration and interdisciplinarity
Register	Thu 09/24/09	4:00 PM – 5:00 PM	Building campus-wide collaborative relationships to support innovation and maximize achievement

Using video to comment on student writing

Andrea Novicki — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:44:01 +0000

Julie Reynolds, in Duke’s Biology Department, was recently showcased on the Techsmith’s education blog for her innovative use of Jing, a program that captures images and video of your computer screen.

Dr. Reynolds uses Jing to comment on her students’ writing, and to have students comment on each others’ writing projects. Dr. Reynolds pointed out that when it’s impossible to schedule face-to-face conferences, she can talk about students’ writing rather than simply to write comments in the margins. Jing allows her to record highlighted passages for students to see while she talks about them. Her students also use Jing to comment on each others papers.

Read a fuller description on Techsmith’s blog.

See examples of Dr. Reynolds’ review and student peer review.

Education calling – teaching with cell phones

Andrea Novicki — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:49:58 +0000

Now that many students carry a single device that can make phone calls, take pictures, record audio and video, store data, music, and movies, and interact with the Internet, how can we use this in teaching? This fall, meet with other faculty to discuss and test ideas and software for using cell phones or other small devices in teaching. We’ll meet once a month, for demonstrations and discussions. Come and share your ideas and learn.

On Tuesday, September 8th at 10 am, we’ll discuss topics and ideas for this semester. In addition, Owen Astrachan will talk about his plans for using Poll Everywhere, a simple polling system that uses student cell phones as “clickers” to gather student responses. We’ll try it out. Sign up to join us!

Read more from the Duke Digital Initiative.

Get more ideas and share the future of education.

Creating 3D with SketchUp and Maya

Randy Riddle — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:49:46 +0000

3D modeling software allows users to create or view 3D objects or environments. There are a wide range of uses of this software, from special effects for films to illustrating books or graphic novels. In education, the software is typically used for students to view and manipulate scientific models or environments for building and manipulating models or prototypes. By building and exploring 3D models, students can gain insight into how reconstructed historical spaces might have been used, explore how spaces have changed over time, or investigate how objects or spaces are constructed.

One of the emerging tools used at Duke for engaging students in the process of creating and exploring 3D models is Google SketchUp. Available for Windows and Mac, the software is a powerful, easy to use program that allows you to create 3D objects and environments. Items can be exported in a variety of ways and even used in other programs. Google also offers an online library, 3D Warehouse, where SketchUp users can upload and share objects created in SketchUp. SketchUp is available in a free downloadable version suitable for many classroom uses and a “pro” version that adds some enhanced features for more in-depth work.

Some faculty are also using Autodesk Maya at Duke with courses. Maya is a professional level commercial software package that has been used for computer aided design and 3D work for several years. ISIS, for example, has offered courses where students can explore representations of spaces and data using Maya and the software is used for constructing spaces for use in the Duke immersive Virtual Environment (DiVE).

Through building 3D objects, students can gain “real world” experience in a wide range of fields where 3D is used for building and prototyping. Architects and urban planners are using SketchUp and other 3d software to design buildings and structures, engineers for designing facilities and products, and historians recreate and explore spaces and structures.

If you are new to using 3D software, SketchUp is an easy way to get started. You can download the software and view some basic tutorials on Google’s website. Explore the Google 3D Warehouse to view a wide range of models and objects, developed by users of the software, that may be useful in your courses. Some that might be of interest include:

Bridges (149 models)
Museums (168 models)
Frank Lloyd Wright (39 models)
Egyptian monuments (7 models)
Places of worship (259 models)
Thessaloniki, Greece (22 models)

14 tweets that demonstrate the professional value of Twitter

Shawn Miller — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:55:47 +0000

Guest post by Julie Reynolds, Duke University

Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters, but I discovered it takes slightly more than 140 characters to convince colleagues of Twitter’s value. I’ll try to make my argument for why professionals should use Twitter, and I’ll do it in just 14 tweets. Here we go.

#1) Professional use of Twitter 1 of 3: Post URLs for blogs, articles, & events that you want to make public to a larger audience

#2) To promote publications, ex: “When Communicating with Diverse Audiences, Use Velcro to Make Science Stick http://bit.ly/4GD4fX“
#3) To publicize students’ work, ex: “#DukeEngage interns turn dung into fuel in India http://bit.ly/c3u1a”
#4) To publicize events, ex: “Citizen Science Training Opportunity July 19, 2009 http://bit.ly/16NYgc”

#5) Professional use of Twitter 2 of 3: Network w/folks who share interests or are using similar pedagogy/technology/research method

#6) Networking tip: be sure your Twitter profile has a descriptive bio so people can find you, ex: http://bit.ly/Vqepp
#7) Twitter can be like a virtual business card. Be sure your profile bio and webpage are up-to-date and informative
#8) Join a twibe to find similarly-minded people. Visit http://twibes.com/ to search and join twibes
#9) Add yourself to http://wefollow.com twitter directory so people can find you (I use #scientist #conservation #educator)
#10) I posted ex of students’ use of edu software, was contacted by software maker to ask if they could showcase my students’ work!
#11) Retweet to share info & build community, ex: “RT @saprasanna: Our DukeEngage project is on Duke News: http://tinyurl.com/nmuxkz”
#12) Search for keywords http://search.twitter.com/ (or via Tweetdeck, my fav Twitr app) & follow people who have interesting tweets

#13) Professional use of Twitter 3 of 3: Back-channel conversation at conferences for feedback on talks & updates on things you missed

#14) Ex: search for #NECC09 for examples of rich conversation and information resulting from back-channel conversations at a conference

You can follow this conversation on Twitter by searching for #TwitValue. For professional updates, follow Julie at http://twitter.com/JulieReynolds88.