Hi Al,
Thanks for getting this discussion going! At the start of the COVID shut down, I decided to go with what I knew I could manage and more important, what the students could manage and keep up with. In F2F class, I used the doc cam to write on skeleton notes and solved problems on the board, so I stuck with the doc cam in the shut down and switch to my webcam for demos. The students were pretty overwhelmed initially with all the different platforms and gizmos everyone was using so the simplicity helped. For this Fall I plan to use:
- doc cam for class notes because it lets me work at the pace of students, write neatly, and easily switch between text/plots/notes/webcam/etc without losing myself or students
- record class on Zoom and post the video on our LMS (Canvas). Surprisingly, many students said they went back and watched sections of videos again after class to help clarify material they didn't understand.
- Camtasia to make videos of pre-labs. Camtasia is so easy to use that I even figured it out! I'll offer a tutorial to anyone who needs one. 3 mins will get you off and running! The software cost $169 for 2 downloads
https://www.techsmith.com/store/camtasia/education.- Run labs run with some synchronous video components and some pre-recorded sections
- Short videos of 1 or 2 additional example problems that I don't get to in class.
- Finally, our IT person has set up the computers in our labs to be used remotely. Students can log into campus computers during the labs to use any specialized software. It gives everyone equal access as some students may have older computers or don't have the student version of software.
Good luck to everyone! We've got this!!
Camilla
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Camilla Saviz Ph.D., P.E., ENV SP, F.ASCE
Professor
Stockton CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-05-2020 09:24 PM
From: Allen Estes
Subject: Appropriate use of technology
Hi everyone,
For me, the most frightening and important aspect of teaching virtually is the total reliance on technology. In the face-to-face (F2F) classroom, my technology usually consists of five colors of chalk and sufficient board space. The result is that I can focus exclusively on structured organization, clear communication, engagement with students, enthusiasm, being a subject matter expert, compelling presentation and establishing interpersonal rapport.
In the virtual world, the instructor is a prisoner of technology and cannot even say hello without relying on internet, computers on both ends, working software, and auxiliary equipment. There are so many options available and each one requires an upfront commitment of learning and sometimes a purchase. I suspect what happens with most of us is that we choose a technology, learn it, and stick with it, even when it may not be the appropriate tool for the job.
The most common available options to us are Zoom (a great piece of software that allows you to communicate with a large group of people, control the means of asking and answering questions, take polls, share music through your computer, establish breakout rooms, annotate a shared screen, and record any portion of the class…..once you learn all those features….and yet, there is still a lot that can go wrong) plus some combination of:
- Document cameras that plug into the USB port on your computer and allow you to write on a piece of paper as you guide the students through an engineering problem step-by-step. You can show figures or charts from the textbook and interact with the students. Zoom makes it easy to go back and forth between the document camera and the built-in camera on the computer. It is the equivalent of the old vu-graph machine or the document cameras many have already used in the F2F classroom so the upfront learning is greatly reduced.
- PowerPoint presentations shown through a shared screen on Zoom. Many instructors rely heavily on PowerPoint in F2F instruction and those same presentations can be used in virtual instruction without making any changes….very handy, if someone asks you to switch to total virtual instruction with less than a week's notice…..purely hypothetical, would never really happen. For those teaching asynchronously, PowerPoint allows you to turn your presentation into a video that can easily be edited slide-by-slide. Many of us learned this doing video presentations for ASEE papers at this year's conference.
- Tablet computers which have gained popularity in the F2F classrooms due to their portability, the capability of being projected on a screen and the ability to write on them using a stylus. It can be effective to produce a set of notes using software such as OneNote or some other digital notetaking application where the instructor can include figures and make annotations. Both require some upfront learning, but for faculty already using these tools, they can be used very effectively in the virtual environment.
- Making videos which are effective for asynchronous teaching, running experimental labs or for physical demonstrations in the classroom. Even in the synchronous environment, incorporating these videos can save time, add variety to a class, and ensure that a particular experiment or demonstration works as intended. Such items often complex, have many working parts, and are difficult to execute live. Of course, the instructor now has to master a video editing software such as Camtasia or Screencast-o-matic…..and making good videos takes a lot of time.
- Course management systems that offer features such as taking quizzes, discussion boards, turning in assignments and providing course documents. Most universities adopt a system such as Blackboard or Canvas and faculty members have to learn at least some of the features for F2F classes.
With this as context, I am hoping that this post opens a discussion on which technologies have worked most effectively for you in given situations. What are the pitfalls and how can a given technology be learned with the least amount of effort. If you learned a lesson the hard way, how can you make it easier for someone else? Similarly, if you are struggling with a particular technology, perhaps someone else can point you in the right direction.
Thank you all for participating in these initiaI ECx sessions and I look forward to learning from your shared advice.
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Allen Estes P.E., F.ASCE
Professor
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo CA
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