OIT’s Learn IT @ Lunch series offers Duke faculty, students and staff an opportunity to get some information on new technologies in a relaxed setting. Two upcoming session might be of particular interest to Duke faculty:

• Wiki Tricks: DukeWiki Advanced Formatting – highly recommended for those interested in using Duke’s Wiki tool to better manage research groups, projects and documentation.
• VoiceThread – this session will be led by the developers of the VoiceThread tool: Monte Evans & Andrew Synowiez

In 2009-10, Duke’s elearning Roadmap Committee is actively gathering input from Duke instructors and students about tools they use for teaching and learning. The Committee will assess the needs of the campus community to identify tools, support and infrastructure that should be centrally provided. Whether you use blogs or wikis, Blackboard or VoiceThread, Micrograde or Maple TA, Second Life or Flickr, the Committee needs your insight and ideas about what’s most important for the Duke community. What works well for the kind of courses you teach? What could be improved?  What’s missing? Learn about the Committee’s process, findings and ways to get involved and share your ideas at a new web site, http://elearning.duke.edu. At this site, you can…

• learn more about events we’re sponsoring and ways you can participate in the conversation (Get Involved), including an event for faculty coming up soon on Thursday, November 12 (register)
• stay in touch with (and comment on!) what we’re hearing from members of the campus community (Your Feedback)
• monitor our activities for the 2009-2010 academic year (Our Goal and Our Timeline)

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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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.

Want to learn more about Photoshop, Excel, Duke’s wiki or how to use your Flip videocamera?  Duke’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) is ready for you.  See their full list of workshops.   Workshops are open to staff, students and faculty, register to save a space for yourself.

If you’d rather learn at lunch time, attend a presentation in the LearnIT@Lunch Seminar Series.  Everyone is welcome,  and you don’t have to register.

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.

Since its inception in 2004, the Duke Digital Initiative (DDI) has explored the application of a range of new and emerging technologies, including iPods and tablet PCs, in teaching and learning. Funded by the Provost’s Office, the program provides training and support to help faculty and students use the tools effectively.

This year’s DDI programs explore new ways to connect and collaborate using digital media, mobile devices and social networking tools.  Programs for 2009-10 are described on the DDI website and include:

• exploring web-based virtual collaboration such as online office hours, virtual guest speakers, web conferencing and more
• providing flexible web publishing for courses using WordPress MU
• investigating how Twitter could be used to support teaching and other academic work
• several options for learning about and using mobile devices students already have, in and outside the classroom
• creating new and flexible teaching spaces with micro-projectors so small they can fit in your pocket
• continuing to use the VoiceThread online media annotation tool to provide easy ways for students to share and comment on media from their instructors and classmates.

Undergraduate faculty interested in learning more or joining one of these explorations should visit the DDI website to apply, or contact cit@duke.edu.

Faculty and students interested in digital video can still check out a variety of equipment – including high-definition Flip video cameras, video camera kits and web cameras – available for loan at the Link in Perkins Library. No application process is necessary, but see the DDI website for specifics of availability.

To learn more, visit the DDI site: http://dukedigitalinitiative.duke.edu/

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)