The Future of Learning

Here's an interesting little video about the future of learning. Embedded within it is the role of electronic approaches and their rapid evolution as critical tools for learning effectively .

Speed up your feedback

One of the great things about using online tools in your web-enhanced, hybrid, or online course is that you can provide much more individual and group feedback to students.

Frequent feedback helps students correct misconceptions, learn new skills, get coaching on critical thinking, and become more connected to you, the course, and the subject.  Such feedback speeds up learning, allowing more progress in the time frame of a typical course than would otherwise be possible.  It is customized to some degree and thus more effective than not providing frequent feedback.

However, one of the worst things about giving individual and group feedback frequently is that it takes time.  And, as we know, time is something we are finding less and less of these days in the academy.  Increased expectations in record keeping and reporting, a rapidly expanding knowledge base in our disciplines to keep up with, and more time mentoring and managing the growing adjunct faculty pool, all make it harder to devote more time to interacting with students.

How can we improve the balance so that frequent, constructive feedback to students can grow rather than diminish?

One method that I've found to give me more time to give more helpful online feedback to my students is by using speech recognition software.

In the olden days, I tried this and the results were hilarious but ineffective.  Everything I said came out in a knee-slapping stream of nonsense.  In fact, I often laughed out loud, which produced even more "speech recognized" narrative.  So I gave up on it.

But the technology as progressed rapidly.  Now it is very accurate and efficient. With just a little practice— And training of the software — you can speak your feedback into any program quickly and easily.

There is satisfactory speech-recognition software built into many operating systems or other software without any extra expense. However, I have found that using a dedicated speech-recognition program provides improved accuracy and a whole toolbox of nifty features that make the whole experience more flexible, enjoyable, and fast.

I use speech recognition software when I am answering my daily emails. I find that I can get through my emails from students much more quickly using the speech-recognition approach. Not only that, I find that my answers to students are longer and more detailed — and thus hopefully more helpful to them.

I use speech recognition software when I am grading online assignments. When giving feedback on a project, for example, I can very quickly include a number of detailed comments. When keyboarding manually, the number and length of my comments is greatly reduced by both fatigue and the limits of time available.

I find that students really appreciate both the personal attention that such comments represent and the specific help and advice contained within these comments. They feel like they are making rapid progress… because they are.

Many colleges now provide individual installations of speech recognition software such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking . This is the software that I use and find it to work very well for me.

I know that it is always daunting to face learning how to use a new technology, but this one is amazingly easy. And even if you have to pay for it yourself, it's not very expensive. And you will find it to be worth every penny — and then some.

What we can learn from online education

I recently watched a talk on online learning by Daphne Koller of Stanford University  on TED: Ideas worth spreading.  Her brief presentation outlines the revolution in online learning being pioneered at Stanford and other institutions.

I love this statement by Koller:

"We should spend less time at universities filling our students' minds with content by lecturing at them, and more time igniting their creativity … by actually talking with them."

A few major points made in her presentation:

1. Online methods of course delivery are cost effective in delivering high quality educational experiences to millions around the world that otherwise would not have access to such education.

2. Online methods of education, when used appropriately, can be a lot more effective than the traditional lecture methods.

3. Online learning can teach more people more effectively with far fewer faculty and lower infrastructure costs.

4. We can use what we learn from online education to improve how we teach and how we learn by using a data-driven approach.

But she says all this in a more interesting and arresting way than I can, so take a few minutes to watch her video below.

When you've finished watching it, you may asking yourself this question (as I did):

Why do so many colleges and college faculty hesitate to experiment with and exploit this electronic revolution in education?

Want to learn more? 

• Using video to reinvent education
• Teaching as Testing
• Practice. Practice. Practice.
• Practicing . . . some more

Handling bullets safely

Recently, I was involved in reviewing a large of number of PowerPoint presentations created by professors (and a few professors in training) and found that there were a few folks struggling with some basics in using bullet points effectively.

For example, some professors don't even use bullet points to present a series of concepts.  Instead, they use either a paragraph or an unformatted list of sentences.  A list of key terms or phrases formatted as bullet points works much better in sketching out ideas for listeners as you talk about them.  But if you're not experienced with PowerPoint, or similar tools, then you may not realize that.

A few who were using bulleted lists were not effectively using indented levels to graphically organize concepts in a way that helps students see how it all hangs together.  Again, experience and training can help professors apply these principles that make their presentations much more effective.

To help out, I've created this 25 minute video show both basics on how to make bullet points and a few tricks on making bullet points more effective.  The second half of the video shows a bad example of a slide and then walks you through several tricks to fix it up into a much more effective slide.




This next video shows you how to animate bullet points so that they appear one at a time.  If have several different points on one slide, it is sometimes more effective to reveal them only as you get to them in your talk. If they all come up at the beginning, your students are reading ahead and not staying focused on your point.



Related blog post:  
Are your students dodging bullets?

Scantron inventor dies

The Scantron grading machine, a type of optical mark recognition (OMR) system used for grading tests and quizzes, has been used by countless professors over the years to make grading more efficient.  Especially in large classes or in courses with many assessments.

I'd like to take a moment to salute the Scantron's inventor, Michael Sokolski, who passed away recently.

Although there are still a few righteous professors out there who never learned how to create an effective test using Scantron scoring--and thus loudly declare such tests to be worthless--most 21st-century professors know how valuable a tool the Scantron is to have in one's toolbox. 

Here is an interesting article about Sokolski's contribution . . . and the whole topic of this type of testing.   If you want to know "why a No. 2 pencil?"  or "can my pencil-sharpening technique affect my grade?"  then you HAVE to read this!

Pencils Down: Scantron Inventor Michael Sokolski Has Died
by Chris Higgins
Mental Floss (online blog) - June 29, 2012 - 1:26 PM
[Entertaining blog post about the Scantron and its inventor]
my-ap.us/Q07iBw

Photo by Josh Davis under CC license

Boosting retention in online courses

Retention is an issue in online courses.  Sometimes, it's a huge problem.  Why is that and how can we fix it?

Yikes, that's too big a question for me . . . and even if I could answer it, it'd take more than a blog post to do it!

But you know me! As a former lion tamer, there isn't much I'm not willing to tackle, eh?

I think that dropping out of online courses is due mostly to three factors:

1. Students, even the young tech-savvy ones, are just not prepared for the very different learning environment of an online course.  They find it difficult to manage their time properly and they find it hard to navigate their online courses.  Sometimes, they need more computer skills.
2. Sometimes online courses are not designed well and that frustrates (or bores) students . . . so they leave the course before it's over.
3. Often, students just forget. Then they're too far behind to catch up . . . and they have no choice but to drop the course.

I'll leave the preparation of students and good course design issues to another time . . . or, more likely, a series of later blog posts.  For now, I'll focus on the easiest problem to fix.  And it may be the solution that has the biggest impact on retention in your online course!

It's number 3 in my list: tackling the issue of students forgetting about their online course. 

I see this all the time in my online courses.  I even see it happening in the online part of my web-enhanced courses.  This makes sense, right?  If you have to be in a face-to-face class at a particular time in a particular place, we've all learned coping strategies that get us there.  But in an online course, you don't usually have a particular time or place to access your course . . . and therefore it can easily slip through the cracks of the self-management style we've developed over a lifetime.

The thing is, this is easy to fix.  All I have to do is make sure I watch for non-participation near the beginning of the course, then follow up with the laggers.

"Oh, I forgot about that online class!

"

I know, I know.  We've all got that little voice inside us saying . . . I'm not teaching 2nd-graders, these are adults . . . I shouldn't have to go find them and tell them it's time for school.

Yeah, I know . . . and I agree.  However, I also want to improve retention in my online classes.  So if I can set aside the part of me that hates having to be a truant officer for folks old enough to be responsible on their own, I can greatly improve the success rate in my courses.

I've tried this and it works.  And it's not as hard as that little voice tells me it's gong to be.  Here's how I do it:

1. I watch the online activity in my course closely, especially during the first week or so. 
2. As soon as I see any lagging, I jump on it immediately. Lagging is failure to login, failure to get started on activities, or skipping activities.
3. I use multiple media to contact them immediately.  I've been known to use these methods (or a combination of them):
1. Email them.  From within the LMS system and using their "regular" email(s) of record.
2. Text them.  Students sometimes have their mobile phones listed in the school system.
3. Phone them. 
4. Write a short note and mail it.
4. When I contact them, I start with empathy. I let them know that it's perfectly understandable that they are having a hard time making it a practice to engage the online course. I tell them that this is common. Then I let them know that this must change if they expect to succeed in my course.  Then I finish by emphasizing that I'm contacting them because I care about their success.  I make sure they know that if they get confused, it's okay to ask for my help.  

Besides getting lagging students to get with the program and reduce the likelihood of dropping the course, this method improves overall student success by making positive and supportive contact with individual students. 

Despite that little voice in my head warning me otherwise, I've found that this method takes very little time or effort.  And I've found that it has had a dramatic effect on my retention rate.

Try it and let me know how it works for you!

iSpring for PowerPoint

I've recently been using iSpring Presenter plugin for PowerPoint to produce online versions of my lectures.  Alane, our campus instructional design guru, recommended that I try their free trial version . . . so I did.  And I like it!

You may have seen my online presentation Online Lectures using Hughes Presenter (aka Helius Presenter, PointeCast Presenter) in which I explained how I use such online lectures in my human anatomy & physiology course. I still like Hughes Presenter, but it has lagged behind the evolution of PowerPoint.  For example, Hughes Presenter is not supported for use with PowerPoint 2010 and they don't seem interested in keeping pace with the real world.  So I'm looking for alternatives.  And iSpring is powerful contender.

In my A&P course, I use online lecture presentations to cover some basic introductory material before each major topic.  By having students participate in an online introductory lecture before coming to class, I can spend time on the tougher, advanced aspects of each topic in class rather than spending a lot of time on the straightforward introductory material that really doesn't require any tricky explanations or Q-and-A interaction with students.

I also sometimes use online presentations instead of having a substitute professor cover my class when I cannot be there for class.  That not only frees up department resources, my students also appreciate the continuity of having the same professor all the way through.

I also sometimes use an online lecture to repeat what I've covered in class so that students can go back and repeat a particularly tough topic on their own.  This allows them to really "get it" by experiencing my explanations again (and again, if they need to).

And online lecture presentations allow me record professional development presentations that I give, so that folks who can't make it to my workshops can still have access to what I have to share.

In an online course I teach, I use brief online presentations to introduce each week's discussion topic and weekly activities. 

My colleague Mary Ann,  who is delivering an online Human Biology course, uses  iSpring Presenter to provide complete online lectures on each topic of her course.

iSpring  is more than just a narrated PowerPoint producer.  It also has these interesting and useful features:

• You can use your webcam to record your image as you deliver your presentation.  This can increase your viewer's engagement with you and your presentation.
  
  
  
• The iSpring plugin allows you to easily create and embed quizzes in your presentation.  This can further improve retention of material by making sure the viewer understands the content.  It can also be used to get viewers to begin applying what they have learned.  The quiz feature is SCORM compliant, so results can be linked your LMS.
  
  
• Because the iSpring program converts your PowerPoint to a Flash presentation that runs its own onscreen player, viewers don't have to download huge PowerPoint files before they can start viewing your presentation.  The first slide begins playing while the later slides are downloading in the background.
  
  
• The iSpring player allows you to show a customizable outline alongside the slides, allowing viewers to skip ahead or back to review particular slides.
  
  
• The iSpring player also allows you to show your notes, which could be transcripts for each slide narration . . . a really nice accessibility feature.

There are a lot more features to iSpring, but this gives you the general idea.  To get an even better idea of how iSpring works, check out this brief video.

Are Your Students Dodging Bullets?

In a discussion forum for anatomy and physiology teachers, I'm participating in a thread concerning whether using PowerPoint presentations are really all that effective in lecturing.

How many times have we heard from students they they just can't take another barrage of "bullets" in class . . . PowerPoint bullets, that is.  They're used to professors showing slide after slide of nothing but bulleted notes.  Often simply reading off the slides and nothing more.

Ouch!  Talk about bullet wounds.  I'd be gun shy after an hour of that, too!

So no wonder the PowerPoint approach is often condemned.

But really, is this fair?  Just because there are a lot of folks out there using PowerPoints ineffectively, does that mean the whole approach sucks?  I don't think so.

To me, this is a matter of using the right tool for the right job, and using that tool properly. You wouldn't use a hammer to drive a screw, right?  Well, I guess you could . . . but it would not be a job well done. I think that's what you're doing when your slides simply present your notes. If you want your students to have an outline, then print them out an outline!

Use PowerPoint slides for what PowerPoints do best.  That's images and multimedia.  OK, the occasional short list of brief bulleted items to serve as a visual organizer of your presentation is fine, too.

For example, here's a slide that visually presents a topic in a way that a bulleted outline simply cannot.  Keep in mind that this slide does not include my explanation of it, which is critical.  But isn't that what we want a slide to do?  That is, don't we want the slide to support our story, not replace it?

To drive a screw, you need a screwdriver . . . and you need to move it clockwise to drive the screw, with enough pressure to keep the driver engage with the head of the screw.  If not used properly, a screwdriver can make a mess of your building project.  If you use images (an appropriate use of PowerPoint) but make them too small to be seen, then you're using the proper tool but using that tool improperly.

So if you use PowerPoint slides to teach, you need to learn to use them for their proper purpose and use them in the proper manner.

If you're in my generation, not having grown up with PowerPoints, you may not have seen enough good examples to be comfortable with this tool.  So what to do to get comfortable, eh? My suggestions include:

1. Many colleges offer courses in the use of PowerPoint.  Take a course!  Or talk to the instructor about sitting in on all or part of the course.  If not your college, maybe another local college or high school.
   
   
2. Show up for faculty development.  At my college, our business and computer professors often offer in-service workshops that distill the main elements of effective PowerPoint design.  If that doesn't happen at your school, then make it happen! Invite these experts to share their wisdom at the next faculty development event.
   
   
3. Sit at the feet of masters (and mistresses).  Find out who in your school is really great at using PowerPoint to teach effectively.  Just ask your students . . . they know.  Then ask that person to let you sit in one or two of their classes.  Take them out for lunch afterwards and pick their brains about what has worked well for them  . . . and what hasn't.
   
   
4. Find online videos, books, and other resources for ideas.  PowerPoint is ubiquitous in education and business and there are a lot of folks out there eager to share what they've learned.
   
   
5. Practice. Practice. Practice. Experiment with different approaches and designs.  Ask for honest feedback.  The only way to get good at something is to keep at it!

The one thing you do not want to do is just plug away at what you know isn't working.  If can't use PowerPoint effectively . . . and aren't willing to get good at it . . . then do not use it!

In upcoming blogs, I'll share some specific methods for avoiding bullet wounds while using your PowerPoints by making full use of the program's visualization features.

Using video to reinvent education

When I saw this video from TED, I was intrigued:



In fact, I use some of what Khan is advocating in my human anatomy & physiology course.  I use a modification of Just in Time Teaching (JiTT) by having students watch slide presentations that I narrate before class.  This allows me time for discussion (using clickers) when I see them in class.  The clicker questions allow us to solve problems together so students can learn how its done and get some practice doing it.

I see Khan's proposals as similar in nature to the JiTT approach.

And I"m all for it.  What I've used in my courses works much better than I'd hoped it would.

But the down side is this, as I see it:

Some colleagues of mine recently attended a conference in which they heard that college presidents were getting behind this approach.  Which sound great, right?  But get this.  They envision the ideal situation as one in which students watch videos, work on computer quizzes, and visit the learning center for tutoring as needed.  Period.  In other words, this allows colleges to get by with few or any professors teaching students.


I'm all about reinventing paradigms when the old ones aren't working as well as we like . . . but YIKES!


I'm hoping that this nefarious plan was misinterpreted or otherwise mistaken by my friends . . . or that I mistook what my friends were trying to tell me. After all, this is not what Khan is advocating . . . at all.

What I'd like to see is college presidents, and everyone else, getting behind the idea that we can use educational technology creatively to enhance the process of teaching.  And in that regard, Khan certainly is on to something here.

What do YOU think?

Quizlet

Understanding almost any subject or discipline begins with building a foundation of basic terminology.  You can't think in new ways without new language.  Yikes, that means memorization.  

A lot of folks dread memorization tasks because they simply don't know how to do it in a quick, pain-free manner. Once students know the tricks of memorization, it's not that bad. The essential trick is to practice, practice, practice. That means every day, several times a day, if possible.However, this will only work if we can get our students to spend just a few minutes at a time practicing.

One of the easiest ways we can help students memorize terminology or other basic facts painlessly is to make and use flashcards. 

My friend Monica Hall-Woods (another "electronic professor") reminded me recently of a website called Quizlet.com where students and professors can easily make a set of flashcards online (for FREE) and use it to quickly learn the basic terms or other facts needed in a course.  In fact, Quizlet.com gives users several alternative methods for students to quiz themselves, including some fun, game-like activities.

The more practice sessions theyt do on Quizlet.com, the more your students will almost effortlessly pick up the basic facts they need to learn before they can move on to higher-order thinking.  Quizlet.com helps them keep track of what they've studied and how they are doing.

They (or you) can also upload photos from Flikr.com . . . which means that you can take photos of your models, specimens, maps, locations, etc., with your smartphone, then upload the images into a set of flashcards!

Another great feature of Quizlet.com is that your students can form study groups.  This allows one or more users to post and share sets of flashcards related to a particular topic. Or you can use it to share flashcards you've prepared with the students in your courses.

Quizlet.com also lets students use flashcard stacks that others have created.  (Warning: they need to be careful those they adopt are accurate before using them to study.)  Here's a stack of cards that I created simply by cutting and pasting a list I already had into the Quizlet.com editor:

Bone Marking Types

Try it!  Use different options for quizzing yourself and playing games. I think you'll have fun with it. Which is the point . . . the less pain, the more gain.  At least in this case.

A simpler variation of this service, but with less features, is Word Stash. With this service, professors can set up a "class" if they register a free "teacher account" then you can load in word lists for your students to practice.  You can either copy in the terms and definitions or you can create them in the system, opting to borrow existing definitions from their database for any or all of the terms.

I created a class called, you guessed it, The A&P Student . . . and loaded in a word list to show you how it works. Join this "class" to see how Word Stash works:

http://wordstash.com/academic_classes/190

Password: theapstudent

studyPerfect

Here are some other sites you may want to check out to help your students learn the language of your course quickly:

Kevin's New Terms study tip

Anki Learning System

Study Stack

studyPerfect

Kevin's Flash Card video

 Have any more like this?  Share them with us by commenting!

[Some of this material was also used in my blog The A&P Student]

The clicker commandment I always violate

I generally agree with the Clicker Commandments, those hard-and-fast rules for success when using clickers (student response systems).  But sometimes, the temptation to break this one is irresistible:

Thou shalt not use more than a few clicker questions per class session.

Like any good commandment, this one often must be followed if we are to stay on the path of righteousness.  But, like any good commandment, there are in fact times when it's best to break the rules.


A good example of my straying from this clicker commandment was previously discussed in the article  Practicing . . . some more in my blog Lion Tamers Guide to Teaching.  The point of that article was the need to practice basic facts frequently in order to become deeply familiar with them.  And I used the example of how I use clickers to provide rapid reviews of basic human anatomy structures in my Anatomy & Physiology course.

I set these up like a game show.  Without the fabulous prizes. Each item has a timer animation and the buzzer sounds after 10 seconds, and reveals the correct identification.  So polling is open for only ten seconds and students who have studied their anatomy are forced to recall it quickly . . . or get "buzzed."  Hmm, maybe a GONG would be more appropriate, eh?  Nah . . . do any of my students have a clue as to what the Gong Show was?!

This works great for facts that need to be memorized . . . if you have the time in class to practice with your students.  The class I use this in is my A&P Supplement course, which is specifically for reviewing and advising.  It's not the "main content" course, but an optional supplement students can take to get extra help in what is a rigorous, fact-filled course.

In my regular courses, I do stick with the notion that a few clicker questions scattered here and there is the best approach.  But for those "quick review" sessions, nothing beats the occasional rule-breaking, fast-paced "practice round" of important facts.

Do you Prezi?

One of the many alternatives to the ubiquitous PowerPoint presentation is Prezi.

Prezi is a presentation platform that organizes a presentation a more nonlinear way than PowerPoint . . . a feature that can be useful when using a presentation in more informal discussion format, rather than a traditional lecture format.  That's because Prezi gives you more options for unplanned movement back and forth in your projected material.

One of the coolest features it's unique ability to zoom in and out on different parts of your material.  This gives Prezi a unique visual quality not found in other presenters.

Prezi presentations can be easily narrated and can be embedded in a webpage, email, or blog . . . or in your learning management system.

The best way to introduce yourself to Prezi is to try it out.  Oh, did I mention that it's FREE?  Just go to the Prezi website and get a free account and start playing around!

And be sure to hit the Explore tab, to see all the crazy kinds of Prezi presentations that can be created.

In the mean time, you may want to watch this video to get a feel for the whole Prezi concept.



In a nutshell, here's how Prezi works.

Drop.io dropped dead!

I've gushed about the Drop.io service for a while to my colleagues and in another blog.  I was actually getting ready to gush about it here, now that I've had some time to use it and be more specific about ways to use it for teaching and learning.

It was a great service for educators, allowing us to post large media files (podcasts, slide presentations, images, videos) in password protected "drops."  But as of mid-December 2010, drop.io is dead!

As I've lamented before, the downside of using third-party (meaning not you) software and websites to build resources for teaching and learning is that sometimes they change drastically or disappear completely with no warning.  Leaving one up the proverbial creek.

Apparently, the founder of Drop.io got a better offer from Facebook, which also bought the rights to the Drop.io technology.  Pulling the rug out from under the rest of us.  They couldn't have known the drop-dead date is two days before the end of my semester. But it is . . . and so what do I do now?

Unlike many other services, who recommend clients to another service, Drop.io declined to do that.  Perhaps they were obligated by contract (is Facebook planning to unveil their own version of Drop.io?).  They even disabled the comment feature on their blog, so stranded users cannot share with each other possible solutions. I cannot wait for the next incarnation, if that's what's planned, because my students need access to files now.

The solution I found, at least for now his Mediafire. This is a similar "drop" site.I've just started using it and because it is organized in a different way than I am used to, it is taking some time to become familiar with all of the possibilities. But I wanted to post this option now so that others who are stranded can find a place to land quickly.

Mediafire is a free service that allows you to upload files, even very large files, into folders that can be private or that can be shared publicly. The public folders may contain files that are password-protected. This is very useful to me because I have files that include images and other materials that I have permission to use in my course but do not have permission to distribute publicly. The password protection allows me to post the files for my students in a way that prevents others from accessing them.

I found that the uploading process in Mediafire is much simpler than it was in Drop.io. Organizing my files into groups is also easier. Because I have a very large collection of files to post, I've opted for the "pro" upgrade. There is a small charge for this upgrade. But it also comes with some very handy features, such as the ability to create a custom URL for each folder. Thus, I can use one URL for one course and a different URL for another course. That prevents students from getting mixed up and using the wrong files.

On the other hand, there were some nifty features in Drop.io that I have not yet been able to find in Mediafire.

So I'm really glad to have another place to drop files for my students. If you are looking for a Drop.io alternative, you may want to check out Mediafire.

If any of you have some experience using Mediafire, I'd love to hear from you. or if you have some other drop sites that you have been using an education, let us know about those.

If you want to see how it works, go to http://www.mediafire.com/TheElectronicProf and see what I've posted for you there.  To download a file, you must use the password JohnDewey  (FYI, passwords are attached to files--not folders--so you can have some files that are password-protected and some files that are not).

Want to take a quick tour of Mediafire? Try this video.

More on my WebCT to Moodle conversion

In my last post, I outlined an easy way to convert online tests and quizzes formatted for WebCT into files formatted for Moodle.

Well, it's a few weeks later and our crew has a done a great job of helping me convert my files using the method described.

However, there are few items they found during the conversion process that I thought I'd pass along . . . in case any of you find yourselves in the same situation.

When converting from WebCT to Moodle be aware of these translation issues:

• In some of my randomized Question Sets (called Random Blocks in Moodle), I used fractional points for scoring.  That is, for "review items" from previous tests I typically give .5 points per correct response (rather than 1.0 points).  However, one cannot do this in Moodle.  All items must be scored in whole points. 
  
• To solve this issue, Dave (our Moodle Master) suggests changing all point values to whole numbers.  For example, my .5-pt items all become 1.0-pt items.  Then, all the items that were previously 1.0 point each should be converted to 2 points . . . to keep the ratio of scores the same as the original test.  Then, you can either likewise adjust your course's total points to account for this shift or you can count the test for half of the number of points scored.
  
• I have some items that are in the "Matching item" format that have only two possible matches.  For example, I have a list of six functions and ask students to select either "steroid hormone" or "nonsteroid hormone" for each of the six items.  However, in Moodle one must have a minimum of THREE matching items. 
  

• So Dave's suggestion is to simply add "Ignore this selection" as the third choice for such items. 
  
• I think for some of them, I'll modify that a bit so that it's a more viable distractor based on the content. 
  
• And when I get some extra time, I may change the items in question so that there really are three possible answers.
  
• In WebCT, some "Multiple Response" items graded as partial credit for selecting each correct item sometimes assigned 33.3% to each of three correct answers.  That meant that WebCT really only have .99 points for a 1-point item.  But WebCT then rounded up so that it really didn't make much difference in the long run.  However, when converting to Moodle, each 33.3% designation became 33.333... instead.  So it's actually more precise that WebCT.  FYI.
  
• Short answer items (such as "fill in the blank") were not always case sensitive in WebCT (unless you specified that in the scoring).  In Moodle, such items are always scored with case sensitivity. 
  
• So if you want to accept either Eustachian tube or eustachian tube, you have to program in both answers as possible correct responses.

Do you have other WebCT to Moodle conversion advice to share?  If so, please comment!

Rebuilding online tests in a new platform

In my last post, I whined about having to migrate my online tests from our colleges old LMS system (Blackboard CE / WebCT 4) to our new platform (Moodle).  Using both Moodle's migration tools and those of our vendor (Moodle Rooms), I found that my online tests "broke" when migrated to the new system.

As I've mentioned here before, I provide huge randomized test banks in my courses to produce an almost endless variety of different versions of my online tests. So when my test files broke, it was a big problem. Tens of thousands of items might have to be re-entered.  Hundreds of image files would have to be reuploaded into some of those test items.

Luckily, I found that I had the solution already in hand!  Thanks to the advice of faculty in my department many years ago, I had always constructed my online tests in Respondus before uploading them to Blackboard CE / WebCT 4.

Respondus is a third-party software program that allows you to quickly upload text files of tests or quickly create new test files.  Because Respondus is easier to use than WebCT's native test editor, all my test files already existed in my archive as Respondus files. 

Respondus has a nice feature that allows you to select which platform you want to use for your test . . . WebCT, Blackboard, Angel . . . and Moodle.  So what many of our folks (mainly our hardworking LMS support team) are doing now is opening my WebCT tests in Respondus, toggling the platform to "Moodle" and letting Respondus convert my tests files. 

Because Moodle handles test items and settings a bit differently than WebCT, we still have to check everything after the conversion and make a few adjustments. But this is a heck of a lot better than completely rebuilding my test bank!

In my case, I build my tests and quizzes in Respondus first.  Before uploading them to the LMS.  But if you've never used Respondus before, that's no problem.  The program has a feature that allows you to download your tests from any standard LMS to create a Respondus file.  Then you convert that file to a different LMS format, check it and tweak it, then upload it to your new LMS.

I'd rather be at the circus than doing this.  But it sure beats completely rebuilding everything from scratch.

Click here for a follow up to this topic.

There's a price to pay

Adopting new electronic tools and the interactive strategies for teaching and learning that they enable has a hidden price. Not just the obvious price: the time and effort it takes to learn, implement, and assess any new teaching/learning tool.  But the hidden price that you incur with an ongoing implementation of that new tool.

What is this hidden price? Well, if you spend several years building . . . and assessing . . . and tweaking . . . and upgrading . . . and expanding . . . a set of tools in a particular format, or in a particular platform, or requiring particular equipment, then you are really on a big hook when powers beyond your control pull that format, platform, or equipment out from under your feet!

This has happened to me in overlapping waves over the last couple of years.

It started with my lionden.com website . . . I'd spent a decade building a website of more than 300 web pages using Microsoft's website creator FrontPage.  Well, a couple of years ago, Microsoft decided to pull it from their lineup.  So why not just keep using it?  Because they also pulled support for FrontPage and also pulled the availability of the server-side extensions needed to run a FrontPage website.  Although each page was mostly standard html, some of it was unique to FrontPage . . . and some of it was just old and/or crappy.  But my entire navigation structure collapsed without the FrontPage server-side plug-ins.

Several well-meaning and competent webmasters advised me that converting my page for use with Dreamweaver or other popular website creator (or plain vanilla html editor) would be relatively easy.  Turns out, they were wrong.  They'd never actually done it themselves.  They had only theorized about it.  The truth is, I've had to completely rebuild everything.  Two years into it  . . . and it's still not quite done.  I have a day job, after all.

Then my college decided that they were going to completely rebuild the college website, converting from a standard in-house web setup to a hosted, proprietary CMS (content management system).  Which means that I have to convert all the faculty web pages I've built.  Turns out that the hundreds of flash files needed to play the in-service presentations on my faculty web pages can't be uploaded to the new system . . . at least not in any way available to faculty.  Thank goodness, our webmaster found someone to convert webpages for the handful of us that have a large, complex set of resources on the college website.  And I moved the most complex stuff off the college website and into one of my own websites. But still . . .

While all that is being hashed out, our college then decided to move from Blackboard CE (the old WebCT 4) to Moodle as our LMS (learning managment system).  A test with the fancy migration tools shows that my courses pretty much completely fall apart.

After a decade of building several courses with complex sets of student resources, I now face converting them all quickly to a system that is very unlike the system they were originally built for.  I'm looking forward to having the help of our wonderful support team . . . but it's going to require a LOT of hours to get everything converted and running smoothly.  And there's that day job I still have.

Now don't get me wrong . . . clearly, I'm a big proponent of experimenting with new tools in education.  But as you build or collect such resources, keep in mind that some day you may have rebuild everything.  Either that, or give up that teaching/learning strategy that you have come to rely on to help you and your students achieve your goals.

In other words, when you implement a new strategy, I think it pays to think about . . . and plan for . . . the likelihood that you may have to rebuild sometime in the future.  A price to pay . . . maybe . . . someday.  So building in transportable modules where possible, keeping raw files of documents and images tucked away in your archives, and recording sources of your borrowed resources seems like a good strategy to reduce the time and effort that may be needed should the rug be pulled out from under you. And where possible, you may want to create and maintain your own website and other resources rather than relying on your college or university system.

Coming soon . . . a nice shortcut that I found to quickly rebuild online tests, quizzes, and exams, in a new platform.
.
.

Free webinar for teachers

I just learned about a FREE webinar for teachers that highlights some nice tools that you may not be aware of yet. It's called Free Tips, Tricks, and Technology Tools for Teachers and is hosted by Innovative Educators.  

I'm not sure how long this webinar will be FREE . . . usually Innovative Educators charge a substantial fee for their products.  So I'd take advantage of this quickly.  And it does give you an idea of whether the usual fee charged by this company is a good investment for you (or your school).


It's an "on demand" product, which means that you can access it when you want to . . . there's no specific date or time.

Some of the resources featured in the webinar include:

Open Office
Google Docs
Google Apps
Google forms
Flickr
Wikipedia

Wikimedia
skype
GIMP
Audacity
 Windows Movie Maker
My DropBox
Prezi
CoMapping
wordle
jing    
irfanview

Here's the URL to gain access to the webinar http://my-ap.us/a2BedP
.
,

Share your world

One of the increasingly popular ways to share your PowerPoint slides and handouts with your students and colleagues is the web service SlideShare.

You can use SlideShare to upload your slides and share them publicly or privately.  Private sharing, where you give you students a secret URL, may be useful when using copyright images that you shouldn't be broadcasting widely or when sharing presentations that you don't necessarily want the whole world viewing.  Such private sharing is not a particularly strong wall against misuse of your material . . . but is pretty effective most of the time.

Presentations that you've uploaded to SlideShare can later be narrated, which is a great feature.  That means that you could use SlideShare to host virtual lectures or introductory previews.  You can even embed them in your online syllabus or course management system.

Your students and colleagues can either view your presentation on the SlideShare website in a viewer (or full screen), or they can download the file and play it in PowerPoint directly.  Colleagues could perhaps edit and add to your presentation, then upload their version for sharing.

One of the best features of  SlideShare is that it's FREE!

Here's a sample of a narrated presentation from SlideShare that you might want to share with your colleagues.

The Art Of Listening

View more presentations from Phil Wylie.

Why I'm skipping the iPad

As a professor on the lookout for new tools to help me effectively teach my students, I couldn't wait to see the new iPad.

I currently use an iPhone to check for emails from my students and respond to them.  I can also check in on my course management system (CMS) but, wow, is that clunky on an iPhone.  And I can't really make changes easily, either.  And keeping my Facebook pages for my blogs for students and professors up to date from my iPhone isn't ideal either.

When I first heard about the iPad, I thought it may be the solution I need for some of these functions I need:

• An easy way to navigate through and use my CMS while away from campus (and away from hotspots), as when I'm at a conference or taking a weekend hike.
  
  
• Use full-color e-books.  I absolutely love my Kindle . . . but being an anatomy and physiology professor (and author), the monochrome Kindle just won't cut it for my discipline.
  
  
• Print the occasional document using a printer connected to my wireless network.
  
  
• Multitask among my email client, my CMS, and other programs.
  
  
• Allow me to use slide presentations, video, and other media on a large enough screen to share with students.  That includes my Flash-based lecture Previews.

But I'm realizing that the iPad won't help me much, if at all, with these needs.

Did you know that . . .

• You can't print a document from an iPad
  
• Huh?  That's a pretty basic function for a hand-held computer, I think.
  
• You can't connect to a monitor or projector
  
• So I can't show media to more than a couple of students at time during a help session away from my "smart" classroom.
  
• You can't use Flash. 
  
• WHAT?!  You read that correctly . . . iPad cannot access Flash-based websites, cannot display certain functions at other websites (the Flash-based features), cannot use the new Flash-based e-book readers . . . . the list is virtually endless.
  
• The display isn't designed for reading.
  
• Because it doesn't use e-ink (like the Kindle) or even OLED (organic light emitting diode) in the screen,  you're not going to have the same "easy on the eyes" experience of a dedicated e-book reader. I like to sometimes read for an hour more . . . but with the iPad, I think that may be difficult.
  
• There is no optical drive and no USB connectivity
  
• So if you want to watch or rip video or music media, you'll need a "real" computer.
• Want to view or edit and save the slides on your thumb drive?  Forget it.
  
• You cannot multitask.
  
• No switching between open programs like you can on a "real" computer.
  
• Oh, my.

Starting at $500, I can't see how the iPad is a solution for me . . . or for a lot of folks.

 I'd love to love an iPad.  I simply cannot.

Anybody out there have a different opinion to offer? 

{NOTE:  You may want to check out 10 Things Apple Doesn't Want You to Know About the iPad }

Ustream for professors

Have you been to Ustream yet?

It might be the biggest thing for providing videos to your students since YouTube (or the education-oriented knock-off TeacherTube)--both of which I recently told you about.

Ustream  is a website where you can use your webcam to broadcast live from your computer.  For FREE!

Because Ustream allows unlimited internet broadcasts, you can broadcast to an unlimited number of students or colleagues.  Here are just a few ideas:

• Broadcast your class to students who are ill, or are at a distant location.
• Broadcast help sessions or tutorials to students.
• Hold online orientations to your courses (especially useful for distance education courses).
• Broadcast demonstrations that would be difficult in the classroom.
• Visit remote locations to which you cannot bring the entire class (virtual field trips).
• You know that already-answered question you still keep getting? Broadcast it and forget it!
• Broadcast "preview" introductions to lectures or demos before class time, so students are better prepared.
• Host live webinars with students or colleagues . . . anywhere in the world
• On a field trip or research trip . . . or stuck in your lab?  Broadcast back to the classroom live from your location.  Bring your scholarly activity to the classroom, without having to take the whole class along.
• At a conference?  An out-of-town funeral?  Hold class anyway by broadcasting from your location back to the classroom.
• Hold a virtual meeting with colleagues on other campuses.
• Your entire class can watch live or recorded broadcasts of current events such as political debates, rocket launches, disaster sites, sporting events, wildlife activity, etc.

Because you can record your live broadcasts on Ustream , or upload previously recorded video from YouTube or your computer, viewers can access your content asynchronously.  So you have to put your head into the lion's mouth only one time for that dramatic demonstration . . . and never again after that.

If  you teach at a school where cutting-edge teaching technology is frowned upon as too risky for the network, you'll be glad to hear that neither the sender nor the receiver of a Ustream broadcast has to have any special software installed.  Well, you do need a browser . . . but all you need is a browser. OK, a webcam helps if you are the one broadcasting.

However, you can opt to download a FREE desktop application called Ustream Producer, which helps you import movies, audio, screen captures, and more, into your broadcasts more easily.  They also have iPhone and Android apps you can use to broadcast from your smartphone.

Hmmm, wouldn't that be great when you have a chance to meet a hero in your discipline, such as a famous scientist or historian, to be able to broadcast a quick chat with them and share this with your students?

You can embed live or recorded broadcasts in your webpage or a PowerPoint slide, or simply link to them.

Check it out for yourself at ustream.tv

And here's an example of a live feed of a hummingbird nest.

Live Broadcasting by Ustream

Why professors should be engaged in social media

If you landed here, you probably don't need a primer on what social media is.  But you might want to learn why it's important for professors to be fully engaged in social media.

I often have my students do a preview lecture on their own before they hear what I have to say.  So let's try that now.  First, check out this slide show called What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later (pardon my French, but it IS the title of this presentation).

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

So OK, now we see that this is the way that most people are now communicating . . . yikes, even more than email! And more importantly, this is the way people are networking and forming communities.

As educators, I think we must be fully engaged if we are to be effective in facilitating teaching and learning . . . if we are to be effective agents of growth and change in our culture. And if that means being part of the "social network" of Facebook and the blogosphere, then maybe we should seriously consider that . . . lest we fall into the age-old trap for academics: shutting ourselves up in an ivory tower.

I recently had a colleague of mine tell me that she would never have a Facebook account because she was told that students would access it  . . . and that is bad.  I'm not exactly clear on why this would be bad.  I suspect the issue was that private matters (such as political or religious views. . . or that photo with a lampshade on your head that "friend" tagged you on their Facebook page) could be detrimental to the faculty-student relationship.   Or that the familiarity often bred on such sites could "cross the line" of effective faculty-student relationships.  Both of which are valid concerns.

However, although such concerns should be seriously considered and such risks managed, one can still safely and effectively use social media to further one's educational outreach and strengthen existing teaching-learning relationships.  For example:

1. Keep your personal Facebook (or Twitter, or . . . ) page private.  Set your privacy settings so that only your friends have access to your information and posts.  Then set up a separate page for your "professor persona."  My Facebook page for The Electronic Professor persona is managed through my personal Facebook account, but public access to it is complete separate from my private Facebook identity.  Likewise, The Electronic Professor Twitter identity is separate from my personal Twitter identity. 
   
   
2. Write a blog.  I'll be addressing the "how to" part of this in a later post.  But by publishing a blog, you don't have to link to any private accounts or private information.
   
   
3. Establish a wiki.  As with blogging, this is completely separate from your personal social networking identities.

So the next question is what do I do when using social networking tools? Of course, the list is endless . . . limited only by your imagination.  Or the imagination of others with brilliant ideas that you can rip off, er, borrow from.  Here are some ideas to get the juices flowing . . .

1. Create a wiki for a course you teach.  This allows your students (perhaps from different course sections) to network with each other by sharing tips, resources, class projects (term papers, essays, lab  reports, videos) and even assignments with the wiki community.  Students can then learn from each other and perhaps even offer constructive suggestions to each other to improve their work.  And possibly see that others (besides the professor) find certain elements of their work to be less than satisfactory.  By doing this on a wiki rather than within a classroom management system (CMS; such as Blackboard, Angel, etc) students from past courses can remain in the community of they choose and continue to contribute and learn. (FYI, wikis can be "private" and allow only those you permit to access them.)
   
   
2. Create a blog for a courseThe Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success
   you teach. Chris Sullivan has a great blog that he uses to keep his human anatomy & physiology students engaged in the course by updated them on current news items that relate to what they are studying. My blog The A&P Student includes study tips for a rather intense subject.  One could have a blog that simply contains course news and updates, including assignments. Because blogs are easier to navigate than your CMS, it's a good option.  Besides, your students can then easily receive updates via Facebook, Twitter, SMS messages on their phones, etc., which are not likely in your CMS.  Imagine being able to get a reminder to students an hour before a class starts!
   
   
3. Create a Facebook page for your "professor" persona.  Tell students about why you are passionate about your subject.  Why you've chosen the instructional methods you use in your courses. Keep them updated on class events and assignments.  Give them tips for succeeding in your course.  This may keep them engaged in ways you never thought possible.

These are just a few ideas that may get you thinking about expanding your educational presence out of the classroom and out of your office and into the wide world of social networking.

You may want to revisit my previous articles on social networking.

If you want to know more about the world of social networking, even if you know nothing about it now, I highly recommend The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success.  OK, I know the title is about "business" but it's a great resource for educators, too!

What social networking have YOU used in your role as a teacher?  What worked well for you?  What problems did you encounter?  (Hit the comment link to respond)

Portable applications

When you move around to different computers on your campus or the public library or while traveling, you may want to carry your software applications with you.

Privacy concerns . . . and the fact that what you need may not be installed in every computer that you use . . . makes "portable applications" very attractive.  Not only that, but with portable applications you take all your personal settings and tweaks, such as bookmarks and favorite formats,  with you as you move around.

There are two easy ways to do this. And you can mix and match these strategies to fit your needs.

Strategy One: Web Applications

Web applications are internet-based based programs that are installed on a website and not on your computer. All you need is a browser to get to them.  Many of them also store your documents in a password-protected account so that you don't even have to carry your data with you.

Probably the best known suite of  FREE web applications are Google Apps, which includes Google Docs with word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and more.  There's even Google Sites  for creating web pages. Note: Google Apps has some special programs for education.

For more FREE web applications, go to this link:

Free Web Applications

Strategy Two: Applications on your Flash Drive

A number of popular software applications are available in versions that are installed on a flash drive and can be taken wherever you want without having to install them on a computer.

For example, the popular FREE office suite Open Office also comes in a portable version: Portable Open Office.

Portable Apps maintains a great collection of this type of application.  Check out their FREE suite of portable applications that will get you started with much of what you need.

Please share with us your favorite portable apps!  What interesting educational uses have you made of them?