Screen Recording

The article, “7 Things You Should Know About Screencasting,” makes a very good observation:

“Screencasts capture the feeling of personal connection that podcasts provide, with the added benefit of video to see what is being discussed.”

That “feeling of personal connection” may be the reason why these videos are easy to understand. This can also be the point that we can use to engage our students more: it's the instructor's voice, her computer, and her own words. I believe that this can help adult students be less afraid of new software, for instance.

I have used screen recording for a few semesters now. It is very helpful when students need to learn how to use software or an online service, like a wiki for example.

 

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I have used screen recording for a few semesters now. It is very helpful when students need to learn how to use software or an online service, like a wiki for example.  Here is a link to four of the videos.

The first software I used was Camtasia. It is very good, but also very expensive. Then, I used Apple's QuickTime, and lately Jing. Apple's software is free with the purchase of Snow Leopard®. The problem is that the resulting files are very large. And, for some reason, I need to run them first on QuickTime and save them again in order to upload them to Vimeo.com. Jing is different. The free version is good enough to upload videos and just send/post the links.

In my opinion, this is one of the best software inventions. But even with this great tool, some students still need help. The reason? They say that they cannot open two windows at the same time, or that it's difficult to follow the video and use the video at the same time. However, the adult students in my classes have told me that they like this type of video. The advantage, they say, is that they can see these videos as many times as they want to.

Wikis - part II

I have used wikis for a few years now.  I think that they have a few advantages for me:

1. I don't have to carry papers -- I live in Williamsburg, so this is a big help.
2. I don't need to carry and possibly lose a memory flash drive.
3. I can correct papers on Word or other word processor and the wiki keeps most of the colors, fonts, etc. used on Word.
4. Students don't lose their papers, dogs don't eat homework, even if the sick grandma or dead grandpa lives in other state, students can still post something. They cannot say that they cannot afford a flash drive, because they can post anything on the wiki.
5. Students are able to add PowerPoint®, Word®, and several other files without having to change anything.
6. I write once and just link it to a different wiki/class.
7. I can post the notes I type during class, or other general notes, and students can print them or just copy them.  They may also add extra notes.

Everything I mentioned above can be done with Blackboard.  However, I can correct homework without having to pull any documents from "My Content System" or the Drop Box or File Exchange.  For some reason, I have never been able to use the last two without any problems.


But the great advantage is that after the students graduate, they still have access to their work.  Usually, Blackboard closes the student's account three months or so after graduation.


I have used wikis for the following activities:

1. Portfolios
2. Group or partner compositions
3. Class compositions (during the summer I have smaller classes and the whole class can write a composition)
4. Student presentations (they don't forget them at home!)
5. Compositions
6. Audio and video introductions - students introduce themselves with video or audio
7. Class notes
8. I post videos how-to videos

I like wikis, because they are simple, easy, and fast.

Wikis - part I

From the historical perspective, Brian Lamb's article (2004), “The Way It Was Meant To Be” or

“TheWayItWasMeantToBe,” 

 provides a few points that perhaps a current article cannot. For example, it informs of how people he know use wikis—first hand information, or at least it sounds like it; hee explains what wikis are in a way that anybody will understand; and he gathered so many, diverse quotes that he can get a very broad number of readers to keep reading and looking for the next citation. The illustration is also compelling; it looks like it was influenced by Bosch's  or Varo's  style.

There are two points from Lamb's article that I would like to talk about; one, Berners-Lee, and second, using multiple and diverse quotations.

One

Every time I read Berners-Lee's or Ted Nelson's opinion of the current state of the Internet, they are disappointed or mad, or they just say that the Internet is not what they wanted it to be. Ok. That's fine. Gutenberg, Edison, Ford or any other inventor would not be that happy with what their inventions are doing today. Hey, not even Jesus would be happy with so many of today's Christians. However, both Berners-Lee and Nelson have a better opinion of wikis than they have of plain linked web pages. The French government bought the rights to the invention of photography, so that humanity would enjoy taking photos without having to pay royalties. Ted Nelson's designs and dreams on “Dream Machines” became the bible of software designers, who by the way don't pay any royalties to him. Berners-Lee has practically given us HTTP, HTML, URL, and web coding, which makes the Internet look easier and more interesting. He only gets to be part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), be famous, etc., but I don't think he gets any royalties.

I know a few developers that are somehow mad at Berners-Lee for inventing HTML, the language for the graphic, eye-appealing Internet. These developers argue that HTML has made the Internet more democratic, but it has also produced less skilled users.  In other words, they argue that with the Internet being so easy, there is more stupidity. Before, people had to learn a few tricks in order to participate in a collaborative project taken place on a series of networked computers. Now, ANYBODY, well, almost anybody, can use the Internet.

Two

The use of so many quotes indicates to me that since the topic was new, Lamb did not have that many sources to consult. Therefore he decided to pepper his article with the words of Berners-Lee, Bob Dylan, and, my personal favorite, John Cage. However, by the time I finished the article, so many quotations became similar to a dozen or more links that I'm pushed to click on. In other words, it was like John Cage piece: all I heard was the noise made by the other people (Dylan, Ibsen, etc.), and Lamb's words were like Cage's piano's keys on 4:13, silence.

I will post a second part on wikis later.

A Tweet Here and a Tweet There

I have been using Twitter regularly with my students, but there are a few problems. One, not everybody has a Twitter account; two, they use Facebook more than any other social network; and three, some students believe that adding Twitter to their social network activities is just too much.

But most of my students are between 18 and 24. From the current semester, only a few follow me. I wrote my Twitter username on the syllabus and explained that, since I live in Williamsburg and need to drive everyday, I may be need to inform them that I will be late. Or that I'm canceling the class due to traffic. However, most students act indifferent to this medium. On "If You Twitter, Will They Come?" Charles Hodges mentions that Facebook may be a better route to keep in touch with students. I agree with him, because this is the same situation I am experiencing with my students.  But I don't want to befriend my students, or at least not all of them. Hodges also mentions that Twitter users are middle-aged, or at least older than college students. This demographic fact can be an advantage for adult education. It may be that Twitter is also much easier to use than Facebook.

In "Horton Hears a Tweet," Dunlap and Lowenthal mention that,

“We wanted a tool that would enable us to establish an ongoing sense of being present at the current moment and able to receive and respond to students immediately, forming a real-time online dialogue and forum for sharing.”

I don't believe that the dialogue is in “real-time,” because not all the users are connected to Twitter in the same way. Some users access their account using a computer, and never read the Twitter timeline from a phone. It may be easier and faster to communicate via Twitter than Blackboard, but it is not a 100% real-time conversation. Now, if we ask students in a large class or a conference—who have access to a computer or a cell phone—to tweet their opinion on something, then we will have a real-time group conversation.

When students are at home and have a problem with their homework, or find resources that might be of interest to the class, they can send a message to their peers or their professor. They can use Blackboard or any other LMS, Facebook, or Twitter. Personally, I prefer Twitter, because it's easier to access Twitter than Blackboard, and because Facebook means a lot of distraction. Also, on Facebook I need to accept someone's friendship, and “unfriending” may be embarrassing, or uncomfortable to say the least. While on Twitter, the worst situation is to “block” a follower, which doesn't have as much baggage as “unfriending.”

The video presentation, "Point/Counterpoint: Disrespectful and Time Wasting"

This presentation resembles a Twitter conversation. It's possible to express a thought in 140 characters or less, but in order to say something more meaningful we have to write several tweets, and read other people's tweets in between. What I learned from here was not that much about Twitter and using it in class, but rather how to present something popular and make it interesting.

== After thought ===

I used to tweet only about school, some links on funny stuff, or just photos of something crazy I saw on the street.  But then, I realized that not too many people see the photos on third party services, like yfrog.  When I stated to tweet my photos from Flickr and with a different URL (short, mysterious URLs), people clicked on the link and saw the photos.  In general, people (the general public, not only my followers) are more likely to click on a general link two or three times more than on a photo link in yfrog or a similar service.

This information is not scientific, but I have learned it by experience:

 1. People will read any tweets and click on the link if the word "CAT" is included.

2. The title of a photo is more important than the topic and/or quality of the photo.

3. I tweet the photos from Flickr, with the "blog it" feature. By the time I finish tweeting and click back to see the photo, up to 5 people may have already seen the photo.

4. The best time to tweet a link to a photo is from 10 PM to 1 AM.

5. The worst time is between 11 AM and 2 PM.

6. People will only see one photo if the link goes to the page photo, the one with the GPS, tags, and other information. This is an example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/notascari/5068931619/

7. People will see the photo and the photostream, if the link is for a slide show.  This is the same photo in a slide show format: http://www.flickr.com/photos/notascari/5068931619/#/photos/notascari/5068931619/lightbox/