ProfHacker “delivers tips, tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology in higher education.” Recent posts focus on topics such as not making assumptions about students’ technical skills, simple ways to enhance in-class group work, and handling Twitter spam. ProfHacker’s editors Jason B. Jones (associate professor of English at Central Connecticut State University) and George H. Williams (assistant professor of English at the University of South Carolina Upstate) are joined by a cadre of faculty and student authors from a variety of institutions to provide 2 or 3 useful posts a day.

Our colleagues in the Office of Information Technology, OIT, are working hard to improve their capture service (DukeCapture, aka Lectopia) and they would appreciate your feedback in the surveys linked below. Surveys are open until Friday November 13, 2009.

Instructor Survey

This survey is designed for use by Duke faculty, instructors and others with direct classroom instruction responsibilities. It is intended to elicit information about how instructors want to use capture (recording) in the classroom setting.

Staff Survey

This survey is intended to elicit general information about the specific features and requirements Duke technical staff would like to see be included in the centrally supported capture service moving forward. Lectopia site administrators and IT/classroom support staff who are currently supporting the use of DukeCapture (or a similar capture tool) in their local settings are most likely to have in interest in the questions this survey asks, although anyone is welcome to participate.

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Librarians hold the keys to a wealth of resources and techniques that can help faculty with teaching and research, and they’re sharing their knowledge in several workshops in a series titled “Beyond the Stacks.” Faculty are invited to learn more about Refworks (8/26) and Endnote (9/2), data and GIS resources at the Library (9/3), finding images and securing copyright (9/10) and making use of digitized and physical primary sources (9/14). All sessions are held in Bostock Library 023, and registration is requested.

Guest post by Emily Daly, Instruction and Outreach Librarian

If you use Blackboard at Duke, you may have noticed an addition to your course site’s menu this past spring. The new Library Guides button automatically directs you and your students to a page of research tips and resources developed, in many cases, by a librarian who specializes in a subject area related to your course.

See a general research guide or a page that doesn’t accurately reflect the goals of your course? Feel free to contact your subject specialist, who will replace the Library Guides link with a more appropriate page or work with you to design a guide specific to your objectives and assignments like the one below, which was created for a Writing 20 course:

Librarians are also available to lead course-specific instruction sessions for your students as they begin research papers or projects – again, contact your subject specialist for more information and to schedule a session in Perkins/Bostock, Lilly or even your classroom.

Still have questions about this CIT/Libraries collaboration? Feel free to email Emily Daly, or check out Blackboard support for more info.

Blackboard was upgraded over the summer; the new version of Blackboard is similar to the previous version. Those who use the gradebook (renamed the Grade Center) and the Discussion Board will notice the biggest changes.

This upgrade is to ensure that Blackboard, Inc. will continue to provide support for our system.

There are many ways to get help.

• Blackboard help pages now include short video tutorials.
• Call the help desk 919-684-2200.
• Contact CIT to arrange for training for a group of instructors.
• Contact CIT to request a personal office visit.
• Read more about the changes to the Grade Center, emailing announcements, and what students think of the new version.
• Attend a workshop (schedule coming soon). Check our calendar for details.

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)

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.

Guest post by Danette Pachtner, Lilly Library, Duke University

Easily and legally share documentary videos in Blackboard. Duke University Libraries has acquired over 80 video titles from Films Media Group that include permissions to stream clips or entire documentaries in Blackboard at Duke. The Films on Demand collection offers a great opportunity to provide easily accessible video content to students for course reserves and to create custom playlists for a broad range of classes and topics.

Duke’s streaming video database can be accessed on the library homepage from the Search Resources/Databases tab (see image).

You can browse titles or search across all titles by keyword. Once you have found a relevant video, copy the URL from the video page and add it to your Blackboard course as an external link.

If you have suggestions for titles to add to Duke’s Films on Demand database, contact Danette Pachtner, Librarian for Film, Video, and Digital Media.

Looking for that perfect image for your class, but away from your computer? Now, search over 32,000 images from the Duke University Libraries’ digital collections on your iPhone, through DukeMobile, Duke’s integrated iPhone Application.

iPhone and iPod Touch users can browse and search twenty collections that range from advertisements and documentary photography to sheet music. You can save and download images to an album, and access all descriptive information.

Making digital image collections viewable on mobile devices is part of the library’s ongoing efforts to make its resources available whenever and wherever researchers need them.

DukeMobile, introduced in March 2009, currently serves about 50,000 users, providing mobile access to the campus directory, sports scores, interactive maps, event listings, the course catalog, and Duke videos on YouTube.

We recently made some substantial changes and updates to our website. The biggest change is the addition of a new section called “Resources.” Within the section, you’ll find three subsections:

• Getting Started: These are resources that anyone thinking about starting an instructional technology project can readily use. We’ve included pages for faculty new to Duke, pages for help planning projects, and a “Web 2.0 Toolkit” that describes uses of several new web-based tools for teaching and learning.
• Teaching & Learning: This section covers the ‘nuts and bolts’ of teaching and learning with technology, including recommendations and guides for managing assignments, large classes and students groups.
• Assessment: Guides and information to help you assess your students, teaching and projects.

We’d love to get feedback on these changes, and hope you find them useful.