Todd Stabley,   OIT Academic Services

With over 60 classrooms hard-wired for capture on campus, and with multiple streaming, download, and podcasting options available through DukeStream, there are many choices available for instructors and presenters at Duke who wish to capture their classes and events and make them available for later viewing. In this session we will outline a number of these options, focusing on what purposes they serve and why you might want to select one over the other. Additionally, we will look at key enhancements on the horizon for these services as well as related ad-hoc options such as Duke on YouTube that are emerging as technology evolves.

The Spanish language program at the elementary and intermediate levels follows a task based approach to teaching (TBLT) and learning a second language.  One of the fundamentals for an effective second language acquisition class based on the TBLT approach is collaborative work and interaction of students. Peer work and group work is not only required, but is the basis for the onset of the acquisition process. However, neither students nor new instructors are completely sure of how to face the many challenges of group work.
The use of flip cameras in graduate student teacher training is meta-methodological in that it helps us reflect on our understanding of group work and its implications within the TBLT approach. Graduate students were recorded with the flip camera while doing group work for the methods class. Then, we used these recording to discuss the implementation of group work successfully to accomplish the task assigned to each group. Upon this reflection, graduate student instructors adjusted their expectations and understanding of collaborative work and group interaction. Ultimately, graduate student instructors associate second language acquisition principles with the approach used in the Spanish program.

Ask CIT and library staff any question, or ask for demonstrations.  We are waiting to talk to you!  Possible topics include the Blackboard upgrade, copyright, Library Guides, library instruction for students, making grading easier, redesigning your course, getting started with blogs and using Blackboard effectively.

Many of our learners hold in their hands extraordinarily powerful learning platforms. Although initially conceived as entertainment and communication devices, hand-held digital technology provides learners with mobile, real-time access to a world of information. How can such devices be configured to provide a rich learning environment with both durable and digital resources in hand? How can educators maximize the impact of hand-held technology to facilitate discovery? Can these goals be accomplished without undermining important pedagogical values, such as autonomy, responsibility and community? What is the significance of mobile learning? This session will focus on the experience of one faculty’s efforts to keep pace with the dynamic learning strategies that characterize our educational environment. Participants will discuss these and other important questions that surround the use of hand-held technology as vehicles for mobile learning. Disclaimer: the speaker will showcase Sylvius MR Atlas of the Human Brain (Modality, Inc.), which is an “app” for Apple’s iPhone and iPod-touch devices co-authored by the speaker (visit iTune’s App Store and search “Sylvius”). A brief tour of Sylvius MR will provide the means for raising questions and engaging in discussion aimed at understanding how hand-held platforms for mobile learning are revolutionizing the digital learning environment.

Despite innovations in remote sensing technology, on-site geological field work remains essential to mineral and petroleum exploration. Hence, relevant introductions to the earth sciences should allow students to learn and apply basic field skills and mapping technology. Unfortunately, large lecture-style introductory courses do not lend themselves easily to individual-based field work. In addition, many earth science programs have access to only limited local outcrop exposures, often of rocks with little structural complexity. The exercise presented here was designed as an assignment for students in EOS 11: Dynamic Earth (>120 students). It was facilitated in groups of ten students at a time over the course of a week. Wooden data stations (~60) and rock samples stand in for exposures (”virtual outcrops”). Students used hand-held GPS units to map the station’s distributions across the Duke campus and their spatial orientation relative to one another. Each data station provides information on the rock type and orientation (strike and dip) of the local “virtual” strata. Using this information, students constructed a geological map and cross-section through the Duke campus. The exercise not only teaches applied mapping, GPS, and data collection skills, but also requires students to critically evaluate inference making, scientific uncertainty, and hypothesis testing.

John Biewen,  Documentary Studies

I’ll describe and demonstrate how we use iTunes U as a mechanism for students to have their documentary work heard by an audience beyond the class and the campus.

What makes some blogs successful and others not? Class blogging is a cool idea but often does not work. Students view it as a chore and students stop blogging when there is no response and the blog is not seen as relevant. On the other hand, there are successful and enjoyable class blogs. Jennifer will share her student perspective and talk about factors that keep students engaged, so that faculty can successfully use blogs in the classroom.

___________________
PDF of presentation

The teaching and learning of organology, or material musicology (the study of the physical artifacts of music-making, in particular musical instruments), lends itself to the use of video technology. This semester students taking Music 150S, the introductory course to Western musical instruments, used video technology in interactive assignments about musical instruments. Students have created individual and group video projects to explore and share with their classmates aspects of instrument technology, history, and performance. This presentation is a discussion of the pros and cons of using video technology in the classroom, with particular attention to the software and hardware used, problems encountered, and the overall outstanding results (with examples) produced by the students.

In a multi-section fourth-semester language course thematically centered around film, students produced both short and long creative videos in order to build language skills and enhance understanding of writing, cinematography and important French film-makers. During the first half of the semester, students worked individually to create one-minute videos that integrated with their written work and invited reflection on films and techniques studied, while challenging language skills in a creative way. They interacted with each other’s work via wikis and VoiceThread. Then, over a period of three weeks during the second half of the semester, students collaborated in groups to write, produce, and act in a longer scene that engaged creatively with the films and texts studied during the course.