Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Technology is revolutionizing the world of education – replacing familiar classroom tools and changing the way we learn. MindShift explores the future of learning in all its dimensions – covering cultural and technology trends, groundbreaking research, education policy and more.” — from the web site http://mindshift.kqed.org/ .

View a recent post entitled “How the Internet affects plagiarism” at http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/05/how-the-internet-affects-plagiarism/ .

“A Collaborative Space for e-Resource Innovation. Thinking and doing.

“With low usage and shrinking budgets, libraries are challenged to justify resource investments now more than ever.  At the same time, information users are ill prepared to navigate the amount and quality of content on the web.  This creates a tremendous opportunity for libraries to show that they are well equipped to help users navigate information resources and for users to benefit from this guidance.

“Libraries Thriving is an online collaborative community designed to tackle this opportunity.  Librarians, teaching and learning centers, faculty and researchers are sharing ideas and working together on this site to further common goals of increasing innovative use of e-resources.” — from Libraries Thriving at http://www.librariesthriving.org/ .

The Encyclopedia of Educational Technology (EET) http://eet.sdsu.edu/eetwiki/index.php/Main_Page is a collection of short multimedia articles on a variety of topics related to the fields of instructional design and education and training. The primary audiences for the EET are students and novice to intermediate practitioners in these fields, who need a brief overview as a starting point to further research on specific topics. Authors are graduate students, professors, and others who contribute voluntarily. Articles are short and use multimedia to enrich learning rather than merely decorate the pages. — from the Main Page

Academic Search Premier Webinar

Join us on February 17 for a Webinar jointly presented by CUNE E-learning & Instructional Technology and Link Library

Space is limited.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/685439230

This webinar is geared toward CUNE faculty (graduate, undergraduate, adjunct, degree completion) and staff.  Following this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Identify an example course learning objective that could be supported by Academic Search Premier (ASP)

2. Explain to students how to access ASP

3. Explain to students four steps of searching efficiently in ASP (identify key concepts; use synonyms; create a preliminary search statement; interact with search results)

4. Provide students with help in using ASP in both face-to-face and online learning environments

Title:              Academic Search Premier Webinar

Date:               Thursday, February 17, 2011

Time:               2:15 PM – 3:00 PM CST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.  Please contact Tom Krenzke tom.krenzke@cune.edu, Phil Hendrickson philip.hendrickson@cune.edu, or Angie Wassenmiller angela.wassenmiller@cune.edu with your questions.

System Requirements:

PC-based attendees

Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees

Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Jing is hands-down one of my favorite tech tools. It is free, easy, and has an endless amount of uses. Jing allows you to quickly take a screenshot or record a screencast (a video of your computer screen). The screencast can be up to 5 minutes long and, if you have a built-in microphone or a headset, you can record narration. Once finished, you can either save to your computer or upload to Screencast.com, which will produce a link. Simply send the link to someone, and all they have to do is click it and they can view!

Let me give you a few examples of how Jing can be used. Personally, I use it to record quick and personal tutorials for instructors. So, I’ll get a question such as, “Angie, why can’t my students see their grades?” All I have to do is make a recording with Jing, and I can send this to the instructor:

http://www.screencast.com/users/CUNEtutorials/folders/Jing/media/da5b6f7c-9e91-4a36-94db-0d2404e6ccea

You could also use Jing to prepare quick tutorials for your students. Are you going to send them to the Internet to do or find something that you know will produce tons of questions? Be proactive and provide them with some guidance. This is especially helpful in online courses.

One of my research professors at UNL is using Jing to provide electronic feedback to us on our papers. To do this, he simply does a screen recording to highlight and talk about certain parts of the paper. And, before you start thinking this is an online class, it is not! Even in a face-to-face class, you usually hand back a paper with notes written here and there. Verbal feedback such as this is much more meaningful and helpful to the student, and Jing makes it quick and easy to do.

So, here are the how-to details. First, if you are using a Concordia computer, you will need to log in using your LocalAdmin username and password to download Jing. If you don’t know what that is, you will need to contact Computing Services. Second, CLICK HERE for a brief and extremely helpful tutorial that will have you creating a capture in minutes. Third, in the rare situation where you find that someone is unable to open the link you send, tell them to upgrade to the latest version of Adobe. Finally, if you have any questions about using Jing, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Whether you teach face-to-face or online, it is important to be proactive in assisting students with technical issues. At the beginning of your course or technology-based project, explain what types of technology you will be using, and what students should do if they have questions about those technologies. Very often, the instructor should be the first contact for the student. For example, if you are assigning a project that requires students to use PowerPoint, it makes sense that they should be able to come to you with questions about that assignment. This also applies to use of Blackboard. If you want students to turn in their assignments a certain way, submit a practice assignment as a demo student to make sure you understand the steps necessary to do this. That way, if a student has a question about submitting assignments via Blackboard, you will probably be able to help him/her. This greatly reduces the time it takes to assist the student, as well as their frustration level!

There are certainly times when you will need to urge students to seek further assistance with their technical issues. For example, students may need to contact:

• Me (angela.wassenmiller@cune.edu AND helpdesk-Blackboard@cune.edu), Director of Instructional Technology and E-Learning, for problems using Blackboard (e.g. I’m trying to submit an assignment and “My Computer” isn’t coming up…, I’m clicking on “SafeAssign,” but nothing is happening…, I can’t get into the chat room…”);
• Instructional Technology Center (ITC@cune.edu) for audio/visual equipment reservations and support; or
• Computing Services (helpdesk@cune.edu) for questions regarding passwords, networking, email, Banner, etc.

Note that it is best to email both me and the Blackboard helpdesk for Blackboard issues, as this will ensure the quickest response.

If you teach online, I recommend creating a discussion board dedicated to technical questions so they don’t get lost in the mix of other discussions. This way, you can notice the question right away, and either answer it or direct the student to someone who can.

Remember, students who become frustrated with technology often do so because they are unable to quickly resolve their problems. Making sure they know what technologies they will be using and who to contact should they have problems with those technologies is a great way to speed up the process!

Phil Hendrickson, Director of Library Services, informed me that Films on Demand is now even easier to use. In yesterday’s post, I noted that you would need to add a proxy to a film’s link in order to make it accessible to off campus students. However, that proxy is now automatically included in the link, so that is one less step for you to worry about! Now, you can simply copy the link and paste it into your course.

Have any of you used Films on Demand? Please share your opinions with us via the comments link above this post!