Trying Periscope for Video Discussion

Periscope There are many ways to quickly and easily share video today from mobile devices, with video becoming increasingly popular in web-based learning environments. While I try to model best practices of online course design and delivery in the courses I teach, I’m also curious to try new approaches and technologies to see their potential within online learning. One such intriguing technology that I’m curious to try is live mobile streaming video. To do so in our course, I’m going to use the free Periscope app for broadcasting and recording video announcements throughout my spring 2016 course, ETT 570: IT Leadership. If you’d like to try Periscope with me, simply download and install the free Periscope app onto your phone and then follow me within the Periscope app, username @jasonrhode. After doing so, when I post a start a live video broadcast on my phone, you’ll receive a push notification and can watch live and post questions/comments via text chat in real time while watching the video.

Exploring innovative avenues for enhancing online learning experiences, I’ve recently delved into the realm of live video streaming. As technology continues to advance, the landscape of education evolves, and incorporating live mobile streaming video presents an exciting prospect for engaging students in real-time interactions. Much like the spontaneity of a live video broadcast, webcam chats have become an integral part of virtual communication, fostering dynamic exchanges among participants. Considering the growing significance of video in web-based learning environments, it’s intriguing to delve into live video chat statistics to understand the impact and potential benefits of this interactive medium within educational contexts. By incorporating such insights into course design and delivery, educators can further enrich the online learning experience, creating dynamic and participatory virtual spaces for students to connect and collaborate.

After each live video broadcast, I plan to upload the video to our course YouTube playlist and post in Blackboard to the appropriate online discussion forum or as a new announcement, so even students who don’t try Periscope can still watch the recorded videos from me. Here’s an example of the recorded video from my most recent live video broadcast on Periscope.

I’ll be interested to hear feedback on my use of Periscope in the course and I think this could have MANY different educational applications. More to come!

Twitter Resource Sharing Instructions – Spring 2016

Twitter Resource Sharing

For students of my spring 2016 course, ETT 570: IT Leadership, I’m sharing the following instructions regarding our Twitter Resource Sharing activities.

In addition to engaging in discussion with classmates via the discussion board in Blackboard, you will share resources and engage with the broader educational community regarding current trends and instructional technology leadership on Twitter. In doing so, you will continue to expand your perspective beyond the “walls of our course” on the issues we’ll be exploring together, while continuing to build your personal learning network. If you haven’t already setup a free Twitter account in a previous class, please do so and be prepared to “tweet” using it throughout the course. For more information on getting started with Twitter, see https://sites.google.com/site/twitterinedu

Each week, you are expected to post a minimum of 5 tweets per week using both hashtags #ett570 and #itleadership (only tweets that include both hashtags will be considered as intended for this class resource sharing activity via Twitter). Your tweets in your Twitter account need to be public in order to receive credit for participating in this weekly activity.

  • At least one tweet must have a link to an online resource regarding current module topic related to IT leadership that hasn’t already been shared by your instructor or classmates thus far in the course
  • At least one tweet must have a link to an online resource related to the topic(s) from the required reading(s) for the module that hasn’t already been shared by your instructor or classmates thus far in the course.
  • At least one tweet must be a public reply to a fellow classmate (beginning your tweet @username of the Twitter user you are responding to).
  • At least one tweet must be a public reply or mention to someone else not a member of the class (including somewhere in your tweet @username of the Twitter user you are responding to or mentioning).
  • One tweet may be a retweet (RT) of someone else

Using your preferred Twitter client, save searches of hashtags #ett570 and #itleadership and follow the streams for each hashtag throughout the course.

Also, make an effort to follow at least one new educator and/or IT leader on Twitter each week.

There will be a discussion forum in Blackboard where you can post your Twitter username to share with your classmates and begin following your instructor and fellow classmates on Twitter as you like.

DUE: end of each Module (1-12) at 11:59 pm

#ETT511 Greetings from Dr. J at #BbWorld14

For the next 4 days, I’ll be attending the BbWorld 2014 conference in Las Vegas. I’ll be frequently posting to social media using hashtag #BbWorld14 as well as blogging from the conference, prefixing all my BbWorld blog posts using hashtag #BbWorld14

I’m continuing to work on grading Unit 5 activities and will send a quick text message once Unit 5 scores and feedback are available for you in Blackboard. Enjoy your week…I’ll see you online!

~ Dr. J

Recommended Resources for Getting Started Designing Online Courses

Start Here

Photo courtesy Todd Dailey

With the interest expressed among my students in my summer course, ETT 511: Instructional Media and Technology, to learn more about designing “good” online courses as well as the frequent requests I receive from faculty on suggested resources for those getting started online teaching, I thought I’d share here a few of my favorite resources for those interested in learning more about the basics of designing and teaching online courses. While there are MANY different models to online course development, from individual “do it yourself” approaches where instructor designs and builds the course to more systematized and standardized production models where instructor works alongside instructional designers and other media development specialists, the following resources should be helpful to anyone interested in learning more about the mechanics of designing and teaching courses online.

Quality Standards

A good place to begin exploring online course quality is to look at some of the available quality standards that have been developed and adopted by institutions. While there are widely-accepted competencies for instructional designers as well as competencies for online instructors, a number of different online quality standards are available, a few of which include:

Books

Here are a few of my favorite books for beginners desiring “nuts and bolts” assistance getting started designing and teaching online:

Vai, M. & Sosulski, K. (2011). Essentials of online course design: A standards-based guide. New York: Routledge. ISBN: 0415873002

Smith, R. M. (2008). Conquering the content: A step-by-step guide to online course design. San Franciso: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 0787994421

Thormann, J. & Zimmerman, I. K. (2012). The complete step-by-step guide to designing and teaching online courses. New York: Teacher’s College Press. ISBN: 0807753092

Elbaum, B., McIntyre, C., & Smith, A. (2002). Essential elements: Prepare, design, and teach your online course. Madison, WI: Atwood. ISBN: 1891859404

Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 978078798825-8

Jossey-Bass has a fantastic book series, “Guides to Online Teaching and Learning” with titles on specific aspects of online teaching, listed at http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-814784.html

Tanya Joosten has compiled a resource list of additional books on online teaching here.

Online Courses

For those serious about embarking in the journey of online teaching, I highly recommend taking an online course where you can not only be exposed to online teaching technology but also pedagogical approaches that work well in the online learning environment. Here are a few of the available online courses and you might consider enrolling in:

Workshops

My colleagues and I with the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at Northern Illinois University offer a number of workshops for NIU faculty related to online teaching. These online workshops are archived and shared on YouTube here. A few notable workshop archives related to online teaching that you may find of interest include:

Other professional organizations devoted to quality online teaching, such as Illinois Online Network and Sloan Consortium, also offer workshops and short online courses worth checking out.

Miscellaneous

Here are a few additional resources that I highly recommend checking-out and bookmarking:

I highly recommend following the University of Central Florida Center for Distributed Learning for fantastic tips and resources, such as their faculty seminars in online teaching, teaching online community, and teaching online pedagogical repository (TOPR).

There you have it…a few of my favorite resources for online teaching. What resources do you recommend? Leave a comment with your suggestions!

Kids react to old computers

Do kids today know how to work a late 70s/early 80s home computer?  Watch this video titled “Kids React to Old Computers,” to see a group of young children who are shown an old Apple II computer one at a time. Then, they react.

What was the earliest computer that you used? How would your childhood have been different if the technology available today would have been available back then? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts!