Curtin Teaching and Learning

Infographics

Diana Taylor — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 06:36:14 +0000

Check out this Space Race resource and think about your engagement with it. Did you feel the urge to want to interact with it? Did you learn anything about the subject mater?

Interactive infographic – How big is space?

View website

Why do they work? Lets see why through an infographic itself

13 reasons why your brain craves infographics

View website

“…even a static infographic can feel immersive and interactive because of the way it offers multiple paths for discovering stories.” (Source)

You too can incorporate infographics as learning aids or better yet as learning activities for your students to engage in. This type of activity engages students to analyse and critically evaluate the content, identifying key concepts and how they relate. The best infographics tell a story, therefore it stimulates the creation of new knowledge in a concise and meaningful way.

We have taken to developing infographics as a way of disseminating strategic project outcomes. Here is an examples developed by FLET SciEng.

View Infographic

Though the above example was custom made, you don’t have to a graphic designer to make your own.

MAKE YOUR OWN

Our FLET Learning Media Developer has scanned the market and selected a collection of infographic creation tools you might like to explore.

http://piktochart.com/

Probably the best all rounder. Quite a lot of great stuff in the free version. The option for Infographics, Reports, Banners & Presentations. You can import spreadsheets to create charts.

http://venngage.com/

A close 2nd to Piktochart. Can create Tutorials, Reports, Posters, Charts. You can import spreadsheets to create detailed charts.

http://www.visme.co/

A very nice image based option with the added bonus of being able to animate. Closer to pptx than probably the others. Accesses Flickr for images. Can create Presentations, Infographics & Banner ads.

http://www.canva.com/

My favourite as a designer. Definitely design focused, as there aren’t any options for charts & stats etc. More of a marketing/design tool. Can create Events, Blogging & e-Books, Marketing Materials, Social Media & Email headers, Social Media Posts, Documents & Ads.

Some you can print from but if you can, most tend to be maximum A4 size unless you upgrade. All of these particular ones need an account set up (all free) and have a payment option to upgrade (other than Canva which only has the free option).

Tablet PCs in academic practice

Diana Taylor — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 04:47:57 +0000

ACTIVITY– What are the ways that pen and tablet PC technologies can be used in academic practice

The GroupMap was introduced as a tool to enable the collective brainstorming of approaches that pen and tablet PC technologies can enable. All participants accessed the tool via their tablet PC’s demonstrating a BYOD classroom. The group collectively generated 71 ideas.

The map is still open for you to participate!

To access the map

login using your Curtin staff credentials – you must be logged in first.
find the map by using the password blue toad or following this link https://app.groupmap.com/maps/4594/#group-map.

DISCUSSION POINT – Annotation
Ian Howard elaborate on a PnTT enabled approach he uses

Objective: Reviewing journal articles

Tools: Pen input and PDF annotator – this tool is very expensive. There are alternate options could include Drawboard PDF or Note Anytime Lite

Benefit: Ian prefers hand writing comments directly on the PDF rather than typing

This opened up discussion into the challenges and approaches of eMarking, in terms of tools, university policy and process. Perhaps someone would like to explore the possibilities in more detail on behalf of the community?

Case study of interest: Using Acrobat Custom stamps for standardised responses

DISCUSSION POINT – Echo 360 PCap & cameras
Martin Hill shared the types of things he was looking into with Echo 360 PCap. discussed the opportunities dual camera offer in student clinical environments. The new version of Echo 360 PCap 5.4 works on Win 8.1 (note this will be rolled out to the university in 2015).

Martin points out that the niche is to use dual cameras, with potential applications including:

recording student clinical environments
providing close zoom and entire room shots
the ability to record dual streams side by side to represent interview scenarios

Tony shared a strategy used in Finland where both front and rear views were recorded and then projected to create immersive environments. With the increase perception enhancing the student learning experience.

DISCUSSION POINT – Development of rich media resources
Jonathan has recorded worked through examples and is happy to share an example

Objective: pre-record worked through examples as revision items and flipped classroom resources

Tools: Camtasia – Curtin has some licences but it would be interested to see what Win8 apps are available such as iExplain

Benefit: Rich media add variety and perspectives that aids students learning experience, save F2F time for problem solving activities.

Transforming Teaching with Tablet PCs

Diana Taylor — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 03:46:44 +0000

In August 2014, the Pen and Tablet PC Community of Practice got together for a workshop entitled Transforming Teaching with Tablet PCs.

The workshop kicked off with a play around on the presenter Wacom tablet. Room 300.217 is a unique venue that is equipped with very large interactive tablet that enables you to augment annotations over anything presented on the screen.

This tablet was used as the main presentation medium alternating with wireless presenting from a Surface Pro 2 via AirMedia (wireless presentation technology).

AirMedia is installed in many new collaborative learning spaces enabling wireless presentation from any device including student owned devices.

One downfall however with presenting wirelessly through AirMedia was that it did not render on the projection screens very well. The text was a little unclear (not sharp) and table lines were broken. Further investigation looking into screen resolution options may remedy this.

The SAMR model was presented to ignite some thought around how pen and tablet technology (PnTT) can enable activities and tasks that were not previously possible. View a collection of web resources regarding transforming teaching witch technology. Academics were then given an opportunity to reflect on their own teaching and document one aspect of their teaching that has been, or that they wish to enhance through, the capability of PnTT. The aim of this exercise was to set goals and document what members of the CoP are currently doing and intend to do in the future; with the plan to inform other academics wishing to conduct a similar transformation. Some of the approaches include:

Wireless presentation in tutorials to enable the lecturer to be mobile amongst students groups
Live annotations during lecture that are recorded in iLectures
Students use of specific apps on field trips to support learning activities
The development of short online videos on particular topics e.g. worked examples
The use of OneNote for collaborative student work
Word/PDF annotations for the lecture notes, tutorials and proof reading of research papers (in place of “Track Changes” in Word)
The use of freeform notes for diagrammatic representation of the structure and processes
Marking and providing electronic feedback to students on weekly tutorial questions
The use of a tablet PC for all-round productivity and work in place of a desktop

Towards the end of the session, several Microsoft gift cards were handed out to support the exploration of apps. We still have some on offer for anyone else interested. All we ask is a short review of the app you explored to help grow our knowledge base.

If you are interested in embarking on a new Tablet PC enabled learning and teaching strategy, you are welcome to get in touch with FLET SciEng or send through a completed copy the attached pro forma to help guide you on your transformation journey.

[Back row: Ahmed Abu-siada, Tony Rickard, Roger Dong, Jimmy Tran, Jacqui Kelly, Judy Schrape.] [Front row: Diana Taylor, Leeane Miller, Jonathan Paxman]

Blackboard Collaborate on Tablet PC’s

Diana Taylor — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 06:17:33 +0000

This is a CurtinShared resource.

Date: June 2014

Attendees: Jonathon Paxman, Ian Howard, Chris Rawson, Diana Taylor, Jacqui Kelly, Judy Schrape, Leanne Miller, David Spann (BB Collaborate Manager)

We covered a lot of ground in this workshop, including a spot of FUN!

Workshop resources

Download PowerPoint slides

Collaborate Session recording

Who had used Blackboard Collaborate?

To give some background:

3 of 8 attendees had never used Blackboard Collaborate (BB Collab) before
1 of 8 had used BB Collab on a Tablet PC
2 of 8 where not on tablets (one on PC desktop and one on Mac)
2 where workshop facilitators

Getting connected to BB Collaborate

Participants had varying experiences connecting to the BB Collab session, with the main issue being the installation of Java. To run BB Collaborate you need to have the most recent Java plugin installed for connectivity.

Download Java https://www.java.com/en/download/

The Java installation issue really extends more broadly across the university as other staff members have recently reported problems connecting via their desktop computers. So the issue is not restricted to connections via a tablet PC. David is now proactively negotiating with CITS to ensure the university’s Managed Operating Environment (MOE) is configured to meet system and user needs. BB Collab has also released a beta BB Collab Launcher that will do away with Java, with the objective to provide a more reliable virtual classroom experience. It is important to note that besides some minor initial connectivity delays the rest of the session ran without a hiccup.

Audio In and Out

We discovered that the Surface Pro 2 does not have a 3.5 audio IN port for external microphones. You will either need to use the built-in mic, a USB headset or a docking station that has the 3.5 mic port to use BB Collab effectively. All audio was loud and clear with only one case of lag that made Jacqui sound like a chipmunk.

Web cam integration for video conferencing

We got to see everyone’s smiling faces with 6 simultaneous videos streaming in. Despite being connected to the wireless network, the streaming of audiovisual media ran smoothly. We had a bit of a laugh at the strange perspectives of some web cam setups that accentuated participants’ forehead or nostrils. Leeane had the best setup with a web cam mounted at assistance on top of her large Mac monitor. The live video added a welcoming, personalised feeling to session.

Whiteboard and stylus interaction – The amazing MAZE RACE A fun activity was designed to test the stylus interaction on the Whiteboard. It was a race to see which participants could successfully get through a maze using their stylus.

The activity generated some laughter but overall we were left a little bit disappointed with how smooth the digital ink rendered i.e. the smoothness of a line. As you can see for yourself the result is jagged and jerky. The BB Collab pen feature is fine for basic annotation but for legibility the text tool provides a better result.

eScholar Video Case Study Participants watched an eScholar case study by Roger Dong. Roger offered live review sessions for students via BB Collab using a graphics tablet. Worked through examples were conducted in Word via application sharing. This approach was trialled in our next activity.

Application sharing – Annotating in Word 2013 We also looked at the application sharing feature in BB Collaborate where Jacqui shared her tablet screen and opened up Word to demonstrate the inking options available. However, the transmission of the shared application proved to be slightly problematic. Annotation in Word is very nice however there is about a 5 second lag in displaying the digital ink. Writing slower on the tablet could be one solution but doesn’t feel natural. In order to see the back channel chat in BB Collab, Jacqui overlaid the BB Collab floating chat panel over Word (while being shared). It was observed that layering another program window over the top of the application being shared does not correctly render that part of the screen (as shown in the screen grab below). At this point in time we don’t know why this occurs and whether this problem extends to other platforms and computers.

Graphing calculator This was a tool that we stumbled upon that graphs equations entered. A reference guide was distributed via the file sharing function. Lack of experience in the discipline made it difficult to brainstorm applications however academics in the field thought the tool was quite nice. Download – Graphing calculator reference guide [pdf]

Final impressions and potential applications of using BB Collaborate via a Tablet

The small resolution of the tablets makes it tricky to interact with some elements of the BB Collab user interface, particularly those features that require precise stylus/mouse interaction with smaller icons (ie raising a hand or selecting a polling option)
It’s best to have the tablet laying flat on a surface rather than upright (or in a dock) to ensure correct physical posture while using the tablet. Many staff found they were hunching over the low screen trying to achieve precise interaction and pulling the tablets closer because of the small screen resolution.
However, this may consequently result in unflattering angles of staff members using the web camera.
Academics see the potential for classes of 20-30 students. With a focus on using it for the presentation, chat and polling tools.
For some users, mouse interaction is preferred.
BB Collab has the potential to facilitate student presentations.

Curtin Shared – Internal Resource Sharing

Diana Taylor — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 06:15:54 +0000

License definition

Under the Copyright Act 1968 and Curtin’s own ‘Intellectual Property: Ownership and Commercialisation Policy and Procedures’, Curtin owns the copyright of teaching resources developed by staff in the normal course of their employment. Therefore Curtin Shared is proposed as a pseudo license. Registering artifacts under Curtin Shared permits other Curtin University staff members to remix, tweak, and build upon the work for educational purposes within the University, as long as they credit the author and license new creations under the identical terms.

Benefits

Curtin Shared has the potential to:

Provide recognition for work exemplars
Encourage a culture of sharing between staff
Be a platform to gain inspiration and learn from others
Be a great starting point for new teaching staff
Reduce duplication of work
Reduce preparation time
Support the dissemination of artifacts as a result of teaching and learning seed grants and projects (e.g. TEDF grants, eScholar program)
Support the Curtin Academy and Peer-Review of teaching

Shared Artifacts

Staff would be invited to share a variety of teaching and learning resources that may include (and is not limited to):

Assessment rubrics
Photos (not of students)
How to guides
Activity designs
Videos
Diagrams
Templates
Slides
Guest lectures
Student conduct and expectation statements
Processes and workflows

It would be encouraged that process, method and workflow be included complementary to the resource to underpin the ‘where’ and ‘how’ of the shared artifact.