In this course, Dr. Reynolds also used Jing to see if it is an efficient and effective approach to communicating both faculty and peer feedback. Here’s an example of a student commenting on another student’s project:

The third part of this project used video to help students gain a better understanding of how scientists read scientific papers. Students interviewed their faculty and recorded these interviews using FlipVideo. The videos were shown in class so students could see the range of expectations that readers have when they read scientific papers.   Here’s an example:

During the 2008-2009 academic year, Brenda Neece, title, participated in the CIT’s Student Video Fellows program.  This Fellows track offered a group of faculty from a range of disciplines the opportunity to investigate how to effectively design student video assignments, assess video work in the courses, and technology and support options available at Duke for them and their students.  Neece developed two assignments for her course.

The first video assignment, a Video Musical Instrument Dictionary Definition, was designed to get students familiar with the process of making and video and to become more familiar with the history and function of particular instruments.  Students chose one instrument and produced a short video that defined the instrument, how the instrument is used in contemporary music, and how the instrument works – parts of the instrument, its range, and so on.  They turned in a written draft script before shooting the video and their grade was based on the quality of their definition.  The videos allowed the students to use multimedia to show how the instruments sounds and how it is played – key aspects in their understanding of the course materials.

Neece was pleased with the results.  The students were able to either demonstrate the instruments themselves or find someone in the local community to play the instrument and became familiar with using the technology to present stories and information.  In addition, the students had a session with a librarian and learned how to cite video and audio excerpts in the work they produced.  In the video clip below, Neece discusses the results of the assignment in depth.

The second assignment, a group activity, was creating a video tour of their ideal musical instrument museum.  In the past, this museum tour was done as a written piece with illustrations.  With this new approach, using video for the students’s work, they were able to bring in interviews, demonstrations, outside sources into a compelling piece that mirrors a “virtual” exhibit or informational video they might be called on to produce when working in a museum.  Students were given clear guidelines and steps for producing the video and how it would be assessed.  In this video, Neece discusses how the assignment was constructed and graded.

Neece plans to continue using video assignments in the course in the future.  The assignments did have some glitches – an online video editing service she planned on using was taken down during the course and, with consulting from the CIT, came up with alternative for the students to use to complete their work.  So, she plans on being better prepared with specific software for the students to use when she teaches the course again.

Neece believes that video and multimedia are important in the student experience – the technology is allowing scholars to communicate in new ways and students need to be prepared to use this way of presenting their work and lets faculty and students bring the work of experts into the classroom.

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students engaged in a unique active learning experience in Spring 2009 as they tackled Nursing 652 Transforming The Nation’s Health at the Duke School of Nursing.  Dr. Nancy M. Short regularly challenged students to push far beyond their level of comfort.  One assignment required students to prepare a script, plan interviews and settings and “shoot” a health policy advocacy video.  Students checked out Flip camcorders at the Link and participated in a custom hand-on training workshop provided by CIT. Within a three-week time window, the students used Flip camcorders to film the scenes and edited “draft videos” with the built-in FlipShare software.  After the instructor’s review and approval, eleven of the 23 videos have been launched on the DUSON YouTube Channel and can be seen under the playlist of the Influencing Health Policy.

In addition to the digital video assignment, students in N652 presented oral advocacy presentations to a panel of lobbyists and elected officials, developed a 1 page advocacy fact sheet for a policymaker, and wrote a health issue analysis paper.

Click the image below to watch all of the 11 video clips.

Additional Information

Dr. Short is an alumna of the RWJF Health Policy Fellowship and spent 2005 as a health legislative aide in the office of the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Senator Bill Frist.

Sandra Valnes Quammen has students in her French classes watch video clips relevant to the course topic and then respond orally to question prompts to improve their French speaking skills. In the past, this course assignment was accomplished primarily using Audacity for audio recording and editing, followed by upload to Blackboard. This year, Valnes Quammen used Wimba Voice Tools (online audio recording built into Blackboard) instead, which streamlined this course assignment considerably.

In language learning, opportunities to practice in the target language are of primary importance. In Angela Porcarelli’s Italian courses, Wimba Voice Tools (audio recording built into Blackboard) are used to provide extra time outside the classroom for students to practice their Italian listening and speaking skills. Wimba allows the students to easily re-record their assignments before submitting to the instructor, until the student is comfortable with their response. By practicing with Wimba throughout the semester, students were more comfortable with their end-of-semester oral presentations, and produced higher-quality final assignments.

Project Description:

Currently, archiving of dance performance for study by students is done on an ad-hoc basis with limited impact.  While video has been used to some extent, a two dimensional representation of dance has limited value when multiple performers are involved or when the views recorded do not provide essential information for students to study certain types of movement.

This project will create the initial stage of a prototype archive of basic ballet vocabulary using 3-D dance recording and archiving.  RFID tags, accelerometers, infrared emitters, and stereo video are among the technologies that will be explored for recording.  The use of virtual reality environments for archive access will be investigated, along with conversion to formal dance notation.

Tyler Walters, using advanced students in Dance at Duke, will collaborate with undergraduate students of Martin Brooke in the ECE undergraduate project class ECE 51, where the students will assemble the basic technologies for capturing and generating the dance data.  The initial prototype of the archive, first using video and later 3d representations, will be used as a teaching aid for Ballet Fundamentals, Ballet I, and Ballet II.

The Center for Instructional Technology is providing funding for the project in addition to loaning four high definition hard drive camcorders that will be used in the dance data capture process.

Project start date: 1/12/2009

Funding awarded:  $6,300

Caroline Bruzelius and faculty colleagues Mark Olson, Rachael Brady, Raquel Salvatella de Prada, and Sheila Dillon have developed a new gateway course, “Wired!”, that will integrate new technologies into the teaching of historical disciplines to prepare advanced undergraduates and graduate students to actively engage with and create new media in their scholarly work.  Students in the course will collaborate with faculty at Duke in Computer Science, Engineering and historical disciplines, as well as staff at the Nasher Museum and partners at an archaeological site in Italy to create projects that integrate scholarly research with multimedia documentation and presentation of their work.  The course will be taught for the first time in Spring 2009, with plans to make the course a regular part of the Visual Studies curriculum.

As part of the Strategic Initiative grants program, the Center for Instructional Technology is providing funding to purchase licenses for Strata Foto 3d software for use in the course.  In addition, the CIT is loaning the instructors a professional level SLR digital camera for the class.

Project start date:  1/12/2009

Funding awarded: $1,826

Richard Lucic, Associate Department Chair and Associate Professor of the Practice, Computer Science, Information Science + Information Studies (ISIS) Curriculum Director

Project Description:

ISIS students explored handheld devices for collecting data to create annotated maps. Students investigated GPS-enabled camera technologies and tracking software to determine the best tools and practices to create maps for a remote community. They created a toolkit, with a variety of devices and documentation, and an associated website, ISISmapping.  This toolkit will be used in DukeEngage project in Muhuru Bay, Kenya in the summer of 2009. 

The ultimate goal of this project is to create information-rich maps to be used in school and community center planning, fund raising, outreach, and education, in collaborate with DukeEngage, WISER, and members of the local Kenyan community.

Victoria Szabo and Sherryl Broverman will present this project at the 2009 Educause conference.

Project start date: 12/3/2008

Funding awarded: $10,040

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Liliana Paredes participated in meetings, mini-workshops, and other fellowship activities centered around the concept of ‘flexible learning‘ – specifically focused on the uses of the technology and space arrangements made possible by Duke’s new teaching and learning space, the Link.

Course overview

During Fall 2008, Paredes taught the course “Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language” in Link Seminar 2. The following lists Paredes’s core goals for her course:

• To comprehend processes of second language acquisition
• To apply language pedagogy methods in correlation to second language acquisition processes and strategies
• To develop a portfolio of teaching and testing materials
• To critique, evaluate and recommend materials to be used for language teaching/testing
• To develop a second language teaching philosophy

Uses of technology and flexible learning spaces

• Provided opportunities for students to enhance teamwork, materials production and evaluation within the classroom
• provided opportunities for students to share their developing portfolio and teaching philosophy
• Used portable digital cameras (Flip cameras) to discuss crucial topics such as oral feedback in the classroom

Enhancing group work with breakout rooms

“What I really found useful at the Link were the breakout rooms; although they don’t belong to the classroom, per se, they were available to my class. I’ve used them in almost every single class and have been able to enhance group work. The whiteboard is great as well…I like my students to be able to brainstorm and use the board for that.”

Using Flip digital video cameras to capture group work

Students and faculty working in the Link can check-out several digital technologies, including the portable ‘Flip’ digital video camera. These cameras are small and unobtrusive, as well as very simple to use (one button to record) – making them ideal for use with students that want to quickly capture their group discussions.

Paredes describes her, and her students, experiences working with Flip cameras and Link breakout spaces in the following video: