Just the other day I was talking with colleagues about the reality that teaching is performance art. You certainly have to know your “lines,” but simply knowing your lines is not enough. Good delivery is also important.
And now with lecture capture becoming more commonplace and easy to set up, it is time for me to consider doing it myself. This article from Campus Technology introduces some key ideas to contemplate: Lecture Capture: Lights! Camera! Action!
The primary benefit of lecture capture seems to me to be the idea of front-loading: have the students watch a multimedia-rich lecture that introduces ideas you want them to interact with – critical thinking, actually completing an activity – like a lab or peer review — and then during class time you have students actually DO the interaction.
I can easily doing this for:
- peer review explanation/education (teach them what they need to look for, provide examples of yourself or other students doing this)
- grammar education — take my old ppt and turn it into this format
- modeling presentations
I can build these lectures into media-rich resources that students can watch and re-watch as much as they like or need … and if they say they don’t understand the material I can ask them to re-watch the lecture, take notes, bring the notes into my office (as proof that they did indeed try to understand it) where we can go over the video lecture together. We can stop and rewind the video as much as needed and I can explicate and/or expand upon ideas as needed to help the student develop a full understanding of the material. Such an interaction still puts me in the position of informant/information provider, but it also greatly expands (and highlights) my roll as facilitator/coach, allowing me to model critical thinking and analysis with my students. Way more fun … and much more productive for the students in the long-run.
In reality, I would no really be doing lecture capture as much as lecture production and release … sounds kind of like “catch and release,” which I like …. hmmm, maybe I’ll have to call my process “Create and Release.” Ya … I like that.
I SO have to implement this.
Tagged: lecture capture June 15, 2011
A few years back I tried using Google docs for my class spreadsheet as a way to avoid having to remember which flash drive and/or desktop/laptop had the current truly up-to-date version of my spreadsheet. Back then Google spreadsheets were too iffy in terms of stability and did not have enough features to warrant moving from Excel to Google. This fall things are different.
I have been keeping my class spreadsheets on the Google cloud, and so far, so good. I have not had stability issues and have discovered many useful functions of the Google spreadsheet. My new favorite is the form.
Class Dictionary
In my last post, I talked about using moodle’s glossary function for a class dictionary. I still see merits to the moodle offering, but am now enamored with a Google spreadsheet that uses a form to collect data as my class dictionary for next semester. Here’s a preliminary run at it:
I will share the spreadsheet with students in the class so that they and I will be able to sort through it and edit as necessary. I have already set the sheet so that parts of speech are automatically color coded, so it is easy to see adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc right away, but a person can also sort the dictionary to get them all together. Likewise, I will be able to sort by student name to easily count if a student has submitted the required number of terms.
On-line Rubrics for Grading
I have even started making on-line rubrics that automatically count up points for me when grading assignments. Here’s an example from my High Advanced Reading summary review assignment.
Creating rubrics like this will be helpful as I work with my co-teacher next semester to grade writing assignments using a rubric: we will both use the rubric the same way AND have assess to the results in on-line form (which eliminates the need for me to keep my desk clean or not loose a sheet of notepaper with my grades on it).
We’ll see how this all goes! So far I have two wishes:
- I wish I could manipulate the layout of the data-receiving form more
- I wish I could create a output form (report) that presented data in a more aesthetically pleasing (and selectively revealing) fashion
Tagged: class dictionary, class roster, class spreadsheet, Google docs, Goolge documents, on-line class glossary December 14, 2010
With Mason, myself included, using Blackboard and pbworks, I have to question my thought to try out moodle for a class next semester.
The thing I like about it right away is that it was created with constructionist pedagogy in mind. The guy who created it, Martin Dougiamas, has advanced degrees in both computer science and education. I can get down with that — as a c.s. guy, I’m sure he’s probably more linear and formulaic in his thought processes than circuitous and unbounded. And while I find freedom of thought enticing, I know it is a big time-vacuum for those that know how to think and basically a waste of time for those yet unschooled in deep, scholarly (read “end product required”) thought. So, I think I’ll give it a go.
I especially appreciate the Glossary feature — could really use that for To Kill a Mockingbird vocabulary in HAR. (see this example on the Moodle demo site: http://demo.moodle.net/mod/glossary/view.php?id=82
I’ll need to check that
- students can post files to share and edit (in real-time)
- I can create folders and subfolders for student work
Now I must listen to OCS student recordings 
Tagged: moodle, on-line class glossary November 24, 2010
Okay, so I got the overdue notice from the library in my email yesterday.
The first of the three over due books has been actively “with me” since May. It’s been to Delaware, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South & North Carolina, and, of course, good old Virginee. I love this book, but obligations kept me from finishing the last chapter until this morning. I am ordering a personal copy for my myself this morning and am contemplating ordering a copy for Dr. Merten himself — maybe I’ll just send him the call number and tell him he can find it in Fenwick tomorrow 
- It’s called My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student
- written by “Rebekah Nathan” — a pen name for an anthropology professor who did a year long field study @ her own university, living in the dorms as a freshman. Fascinating read.
- Cornell UP, 2005
- ISDN-10: 0-8014-4379-0 ; ISBN-13: 978-0-8014-4397
- Call#: LB3605.N34 2005
The second book is another good read — about constructive education & language learning, with a focus on English. Chapter 3 gives a great overview of constructivism in education — I’m scanning this in for distribution to non-believers.
- Constructivist Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners
- Sharon Adelman Reyes & Trina Lynn Vallone
- Corwin Press, 2008
- ISBN 978-1-4129-3686-6 (cloth): ISBN 978-1-4129-3687-3 (pbk.)
- Call#: PE1128.A2R4725 2008
- Here’s a few good ideas/quotes:
- 3 things come together to facilitate learning: context-embedded demonstrations, appropriate linguistic support, a stress-free learning environment
- page 8, learning to tie a shoe example
- “The bilingual … does not develop two separate cultural identities; rather, the cultures represented merge into one unique identity” (page 10)
- constructivist principles validate prior knowledge as a learning tool (page 12)
And the third … never read it, but still want to – I’ll try to renew it
- Guiding Students from Cheating and Plagiarism to Honesty and Integrity: Strategies for Change
- Ann Lathrop & Kathleen Foss
- Libraries Unlimited, 2005
- ISBN 1-59158-275-X
- Call#: LB3609.L27 2005
October 8, 2010
Day 1 = October 7, 2010
Nothing special today — the usual full load of commute, class, meeting, tech support, meeting, tech support, class, commute.
October 7, 2010