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.

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Deb Reisinger 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, Reisinger taught two sections of a French course called Cultural and Literary Perspectives in the Link (one section in Classroom 3, and the other in Seminar room 1). The following lists Reisinger’s core goals of the course(s):

• Improved writing skills through collaborative learning/peer editing (in particular, the development of critical thinking skills in relation to cultural analysis)
• Improved reading comprehension skills in order to move through program and read independently at higher levels
• Nuanced understanding of cultural differences (notable in group exchanges and class discussions, assessed via oral presentations and written papers)
• More precise oral production of language, both in accuracy and in analysis

Uses of technology and flexible learning spaces

• Students created wikis to house assignments over the course of the semester. The flexible learning spaces allowed students to work collaboratively on editing these assignments during class breakout sessions.
• The classroom space, combined with on-site technology check-out and support, allowed students to receive training in their classroom, rather than in a language lab. Using technology became more fluid and integrated into course pedagogy.
• Student presentations were enhanced by easier student access to technology (video, on-site computer), which is often stalled by technological difficulties.
• Reisinger used the learning spaces to show video and project images in addition to writing on the whiteboards. Students were able to use projectors to display follow-up to group work from multiple laptops.
  
• Multiple whiteboards made classroom learning more student-centered. Groups were better able to better demonstrate their analysis by mapping out and displaying their work on the whiteboards.

Students working in groups

“As a warm-up, we began class by identifying projected images on one of the room’s white boards (paintings, literary titles, photos).  Students then broke into small groups to generate lists of well-known French  intellectuals on the board; follow up discussion included the collective creation of a definition of an intellectual,. We then returned to our seminar table (shaped like a pentagon today, which they seemed to like) and we related how their definition matched that put forth by the author of the article they had prepared, called “The Death of French Culture.” Students then worked in pairs to briefly summarize the article’s arguments, accessing the article on their laptops. In a follow-up discussion, a student secretary listed pair findings on the board, and we closed with a whole group debate about on the article’s conclusions. It was more or less a typical day, but shows how the classroom facilitates this type of classroom dynamic: it’s easy to get students writing as groups on multiple boards, to move from groups to seminar-type and back again, and to blend technology into traditional forms of classroom discussions.”

Using the Blackboard wiki

Reisinger discovered that a large benefit of teaching in the Link came from the flexibility offered by the ability to bring technology in and out of the classroom as needs be.

“This was something we used to have to go to the language lab for, but this time around, Erin rolled in a laptop cart and we were able to work right in our classroom space. The wireless was a bit slow, but I really enjoyed not having to displace the class to do this training. For me, it makes technology a part of the class and not something extra we have to go somewhere to do.”

The following video features Reisinger briefly explaining her use of wikis in her courses:

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:

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Alison Hill 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, Hill taught the Biology of Aging course (a non-majors biology course) in Link Classroom 5. The following lists Hill’s core goals of her course:

• Students will apply scientific knowledge and methods to evaluating scientific claims presented in the mass media.
• Students will be able to distinguish between correlations and causality as this relates to claims about health and aging.
• Students will understand general concepts in genetics, genomics, molecular and cellular biology by applying these concepts to the biology of aging.
• Students will come to recognize how biology directly intersects many of the important social, ethical and policy issues they will be confronted with in their lives.
• Students will articulate their perspectives on biology and society by public speaking and writing.

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Scott Huettel (Psychology and Neuroscience) and David Smith (graduate student in Psychology and Neuroscience) 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, Huettel taught the course “Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging” in Link Classroom 4. Upon completion of the course, students would be able to:

• Understand the basic principles of functional magnetic resonance imaging, an important technique in cognitive neuroscience for understanding how different aspects of cognition are instantiated in the brain.
• Gain the ability to critically evaluate fMRI research design and analysis methods, both in the primary literature and in self-generated projects
• Develop skills with fMRI analysis during in-class laboratory exercises.
• Develop practical experience with the completion of an fMRI experiment through the student project, which involves designing and running an fMRI study

Uses of technology and flexible learning spaces

• Used the flexibility of the classroom space to allow the integration of both lecture and laboratory aspects of the course
• Encouraged active group discussions throughout all components of the course
• Facilitated small-group interaction while planning their projects
• Took full advantage of the new technology for teaching complex new fMRI concepts and visualizing multidimensional data

To meet the goals of the course, students used wireless laptops provided via the Link’s laptop cart to access MATLAB and many specialized fMRI software applications. In the following video, Huettel describes the use of the Link’s laptops in his course:

Link tip: Huettel wanted to be able to quickly annotate projections of fMRI data. In his classroom (Link Classroom 4), the projector screen drops down in front of the whiteboard. By raising the projection screen and projecting directly onto the whiteboard, Huettel could ‘draw’ directly onto the projected image as part of his lecture.

Huettel’s teaching in the Link was also featured in a Duke News story in early Fall 2008.

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Susan Wynn 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, Wynn co-taught EDU 214 (”Society, Schools and Technology”) with Hugh Crumley in Link Classroom 3. The course was designed for undergraduate students enrolled in the Secondary Teacher Preparation Program and for graduate students enrolled in the Masters of Arts in Teaching. Wynn and Crumley created course goals based on the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. Students need to demonstrate proficiency in these standards as a requirement when earning their North Carolina teaching license.

The core goals of the course were to prepare students to:

• be able to design lesson plans that demonstrate “best practices” in teaching
• use technology to support student learning
• explore technology applications typically not utilized in a high school classroom setting

Uses of technology and flexible learning spaces

Wynn’s and Crumley’s plans for using the Link’s technology and spaces included:

• using classroom technologies to teach basic HTML skills
• enabling students to create presentation files
• demonstrating uses of interactive technologies to support instruction in each student’s discipline (including Web2.0 resources)
• developing and refining an electronic portfolio (eportfolio) centered on a ‘teaching with technology’ statement
• script, storyboard, film and edit a digital story
• explore other teaching tools, such as wikis, blogs, digital images, etc

Creating digital stories

In the following video, Susan Wynn talks about class activities.

Learning about Flip cameras and YouTube

In this video, Hugh Crumley shows students how to use Flip cameras, then sends them out into the Link’s open spaces to film introductions.

Dr. Nightingale participated in a year-long faculty fellowship organized by Dr. Lisa Huettel to experiment with using tablet PCs in teaching.   In the spring of 2007, she taught Biomedical Device Design (BME 8 ) and used tablet PCs with the students.  The students worked in groups using the tablet PCs to perform literature searches and run design simulations using MATLAB.  The interactive nature of the group work on the tablets generated enthusiasm and interest greatly exceeding that typically experienced in a more didactic lecture setting. In a survey administered after the class, students appreciated using the simulation tools while the instructors were there to help them.

Photo shows Dr. Nightingale describing her teaching at the 2007 Center for Instructional Technology Showcase.

Dr. Nadeau participated in a year-long faculty fellowship organized by Dr. Lisa Huettel to experiment with using tablet PCs in teaching. He taught CE133L, Concrete and Composite Structures using a tablet PC.  To prepare, he converted his handwritten materials provided to his class to PowerPoint. These materials are annotated with a tablet PC in class as he lectured. Recreating his materials for the students afforded him the opportunity to rethink the organization of these materials resulting in more efficient, effective presentations. After the course, the majority of students preferred lectures when he used the tablet PC rather than the chalkboard. Dr. Nadeau believes this is due to the use of color, a larger image for increased visibility, and better contrast between his writing and the background.  Although he misses the feeling of writing with chalk, there were too many benefits in using a Tablet PC to not make the switch in all his courses.

He says:

Using the Tablet PC in place of an overhead projector and blackboard permitted me to:

• get ride of awkward transitions between overhead projector and the blackboard (primarily raising and lowering the screen—but, perhaps, this was also a welcome distraction/break for the class)
• always face the class (previously, I had used the blackboard when I wanted to slow down the delivery of concepts but at this crucial time I frequently had my back to the class and thus I was not able to judge whether or not students were understanding)
• use color on the “blackboard.” The more difficult concepts required that I use the blackboard so that I could slow down the presentation, but with the use of a Tablet PC I could use of color, which was particularly beneficial, and I could still use a blank background as a “blackboard.”

Several semesters following his fellowship, Dr. Nadeau noted that having PowerPoint slides for his class materials has made it significantly easier to modify materials for subsequent offerings of his courses and he now has electronic backups for his course materials, which he had not had previously.

The photo is of Dr. Nadeau discussing his experience at the 2007 Center for Instructional Technology showcase.