Get Interactive: Practical Teaching with Technology

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Video editors - I use and produce a lot of videos and I've tried many tools (some have disappeared) and turned to the basics «Windows Movie Maker», which unfortunatelly ceased to be updated by Microsoft.

WMM is a desktop software with basic features but enough for my needs and had no logos. It was totally free of costs and is/was quite robust.

I'll keep using it as long as it won't bring compatibility problems with updates of operating systems. But, eventually, I'll have to look for alternatives in the near future and there are some namely in this list -https://www.lifewire.com/alternatives-to-windows-movie-maker-4129529

 

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Podcasts - I 'm not a podcaster but I use sound editors like Audacity, whenever I have narrations and background music to add to videos. I have no professional microphones, just a desktop micro and as long as the accoustics of a room are OK it works fine for teaching/learning purposes.

One gets disoriented with so many tools available for sound recording and hosting - https://youtu.be/SXDOd6e-bik and the selection depends a lot on a person's needs.

Long podcasts (30 min or more) on a regular basis will probably require paid plans to host them. But if one just makes a few short podcasts, free plans will probably fit the usage.

I've just watched a tutorial describing how to install a plugin of Blubrry (Blueberry) in Wordpress which can be a good solution for those more dedicated to podcasting.

From my humble experience I have used Soundcloud, which hosts and allows to record directly.

I have also edited narration and music in Audacity and then uploaded the file in Soundcloud, like in the case of this sound story on Freedom compiling songs, anthems and speeches of revolutionary icons - https://soundcloud.com/ida-brand-o/sound-story-freedom2-2 .

I haven't used Soundcloud lately, but I have my Soundcloud space. I have participated in a MOOC on Sound and Accoustic and most of the exercises were on soundscapes, capture of surrounding environment sounds and it was my latest use. The MOOC had another sound hosting platform where I uploaded most of the sounds - https://freesound.org/people/idabrandao/sounds/384990/

 

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I almost forget a very nice tool I have used a long time ago - Voicethread - which I've re-visited and has a new interface, keeping a variety of features which remain very appealing for academic use.

I've just watched a tutorial how to add Voicethread to Moodle - https://youtu.be/XRUj0KE5I2w

The tool has its own tutorials - https://voicethread.com/myvoice/browse/threadbox/117

and one can browse for voicethreads that are public, like this example - https://voicethread.com/myvoice/thread/4307045/21980156/564255

 

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I've created a page in Twitter a few years ago, but I don't tweet regularly. My tweets are mostly related to MOOCs that may have Twitter hashtags or indirect disseminations from other websites.

 

I've never created an hashtag for the purpose of topic discussion. Honestly I prefer to use the «forum» tool in Moodle. Moodle embeds many tools that I don't use much.

Let's review which tools from Moodle «Resources» I have used so far:

Book - I've used it to build a guideline of the course (objectives, participants, methodology, resourses/bibl, calendar of activities, assessment/certification)

File - linking to word documents or ppt

Label - to highlight something within the topic, but don't use much

Page - I've created pages before but I don't use it much

URL - most currently used

 

and from the Moodle Activities:

Assignment - I only use it in a community discipline to submit activity reports, but not as assignments for marks. The online courses follow a formative approach, usually based on the production of artifacts. The latest courses on DIY assistive and sensory products. I always suggest the creation of Teams' ePortfolios to show the work and share through forum.

Forum - I use a lot forum for discussion and sharing activities and resources

Glossary - I had an experience as a user, contributing for a glossary, but as there are so many glossaries, it's simpler to make a link for an existent one.

Lesson - I've only tried the tool but don't use it

Quiz - I've tried this tool before, but quizzes irritate me, it's a guessing game I don't value

Survey - I only use it as course evaluation questionnaires

Wiki - I've tried before the tool and is useful for group work but my online courses are based on teamwork showing results in ePortfolios, so it would be redundant to use wiki

Regarding the tools I have not mentioned, I have never tried them.

 

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As the tutors in this course I also use Screencast-O-Matic, it's a free and user-friendly tool.

Some years ago, I started by using JING which had a nice feature of capturing the speaker in a whole screen alternating with the computer screen. The paid version of Jing ( which was quite affordable at the time) also made it simple to upload directly to Youtube. However, the company decided to remove these features from Jing and invested in paid alternatives of Camtasia and Snagit.

The design of JING tool has always fascinated me (dates back to 2006), smart and simple - https://youtu.be/RTkx6jO8xL8

As I've mentioned in a previous post I still use Jing on a regular basis to capture still image, but I turned to Screencast-o-Matic for moving screen.

In fact when I prepare tutorials or course videos I usually have a ppt in 16:9 format to organize my key ideas alternating with web scrolling, and a script for my narration, which I use as a transcript of the video or as subtitles after uploading in Youtube, for accessibility reasons. Most of my screencasts are in portuguese but I have a few in english, namely related to a course we've developed in the scope of a european project . https://youtu.be/flZR_-LuD84

Whenever one records sound one has to pay attention to acoustic conditions or surrounding noise, avoiding eco of empty or big rooms and noise coming from outside.

There are lots of other screencast tools and there's a Google extension - LOOM, which seems very easy, as explained in this tutorial - https://youtu.be/OvRVJ46ffoQ.

I think I'll give a try and see pros and cons comparing to Screencast-o-Matic.

 

Reply to a peer

Thanks for your feedback. I have produced lots of these collages as key ideas for poetry analysis. The MOOC on Contemporary & Modern North American Poetry, organized by Penn Univ is a great course I recommend to those who love poetry. It covered a lot of poets and modern literary movements and was quite enriching from my viewpoint - https://idabrandaomooc.wordpress.com/modern-poetry/

I wish I could find a similar MOOC for european poets, including the fabulous portuguese poets.

 

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Here is my feedback to my first trials with LOOM, which is quite easy and suited for brief clarifications and a more personal way of communicating with students.

I made this 2 min screencast related to my previous post on visuals for poetry analysis - https://www.useloom.com/share/de7be23e6fca4cba8618da89ef50a7b9

It allows to share in Twitter, Facebook and email. It provides code to embed in webpages, but has no button to upload directly to Youtube. However it allows to download an MP4 file which one can upload in Youtube or Vimeo.

Tutorial - https://youtu.be/M3nyNCVMkRA

It's a great tool for quick and short screencasts.

Probably for more extensive screencasts I still prefer Screencast-o-Matic.

 

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I don't use much social media, except for MOOCs. My Facebook page is not updated directly, except for replicas of tweets. I've used Google Plus but not lately.

I have webpages, such as my MOOC Space, where I gather my eportfolios - https://idabrandaomooc.wordpress.com/ . As by now I'm participating in my 47th MOOC, it's getting overburden and since last year I've been creating individual ePortfolios. This is my Get Interactive ePortfolio - https://idambrandao.wixsite.com/get-interactive

 

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Concerning image & drawing tools I'm familiar with some of them. The latest tool I've explored was GIMP, a free option to Photoshop. I was surprised with the amount of features of this tool, which I've used in a MOOC on Motion Design: Animated GIFs and many examples are included in my ePortfolio of this MOOC - https://idambrandao.wixsite.com/anim-gif

I use frequently Canva, which offers many formats and templates - and Pixlr Express, namely for collage purposes.

Piktochart is one of the tools suggested for Infographics, but Canva also has Infographic templates, a recent example I made on SEN Statistics

 

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Regarding screen capture I've been using for several years JING, related to Snagit (same developers). I've just tried Awesome Screenshot for the first time ( the extension of Google Chrome) and it's great.

JING also allows annotation,

 

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As a user I'm familiar with several platforms, namely those that deliver MOOCs. My first MOOC in 2012 was delivered through Blackboard. As administrator I've been using Moodle, professionally. For this MOOC I've created a course on MoodleCloud, so I'll try to embed resources and activities using the different tools suggested. 

 

Reply to a peer

I think Padlet and other mural tools are good collaborative tools and a way to gather works from students, for instance. I usually use Pinterest to gather in one board the artifacts made by participants in a course, it's a visual way to open links for works created by a group. Comparing what others have accomplished is a good way to improve our own work.

As for Scoop.it I think it works better for sharing recent news and articles for thematic purposes. I had two Scoop.it on Special Needs and another one on ICT for Education, which I've stopped updating.

 

Late Post

A late reply but finally I made a mindmap in Bubbl.us) after Prof. Laurillard podcast and correspondence between learning styles and digital tools. Bubbl.us has a limitation of 3 mindmaps for free, but there are many other mindmapping tools - https://alternativeto.net/software/mindmaps/

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POSTS - WEEK 2

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Reply to a peer

I've used Prezi a lot and though it works online it allows to download file and it also provides code to embed in websites

example

When it was launched some years ago it was quite a creative tool compared to the traditional and linear Powerpoint, it had more similarities to mindmapping global approach with that zooming feature.

Somehow, most people persist to use powerpoint.

The tool has a support page in its website with videos that explains how to create and edit Prezi - https://prezi.com/support/

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Considering WIKI, I've used several wiki tools before, but perhaps the one I prefer is PBWorks - http://www.pbworks.com/

In my MoodleCloud course I've used Moodle wiki tool to invite participants to contribute to a list of free symbol software and apps for alternative and augmentative communication, commenting on its characteristics and including a resource made on the tool listed. A similar proposal to the wiki for this week in CampusPack.

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I think that teachers should promote more collaborative work in schools, organizing team work and making sure that each member of the team contributes and has the opportunity to show evidence. It's a way of learning social skills and work together, discussing viewpoints, building tolerance and sharing tasks. Unfortunately, our education systems are too concerned with rankings and competition which leads to more individual and egocentric targets for success. Who is the best teacher, who is the best student and so on...

I wish our education systems might take the trend of democratic schools where collaboration and learning according to one's capacity and needs are the main concerns. In these settings students have a voice, setting their own learning objectives and taking the responsibility to achieve them. People have different rythms of learning and there's nothing wrong with that, providing extra help, namely among peers.

There are many interventions on progressive and democratic schooling on the Internet and many reference thinkers who have reflected and practiced more radical approaches (A.S. Neill, John Dewey, Célestin Freinet, Montessori, Ferrer Guardia, Paulo Freire, Ivan Illich, and so on).

Many Conferences have been promoted about changing the traditional education systems (Ken Robinson, Sugata Mitra, etc). I've just watched this dutch professor - https://youtu.be/kKg6aCFXnak

A french channel on education and a video on alternative pedagogies- https://youtu.be/rcNCKhbBkbo

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Reply to a peer

n the TEDX talk I've mentioned before by Prof. Yves Dejaeghere «Why we should make our schools more democratic» he mentions John Dewey and his progressive and democratic ideals for education and I recall an interview to Chomsky, who joyned, as a child, John Dewey's school - https://youtu.be/uZFuOZ0yTNM.

Another personality referred was Bertrand Russell (https://youtu.be/vQSl9wpbTUg ), who was a friend of A.S. Neill and supported Summerhill School, he even tried a similar experience opening a free school. These were very free-minded and progressive people for their own time.

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Reply to a peer

Yes, the burden and responsibility on the shoulders of teachers is not fair when the structural problem remains in the organization of the education system..

In certain countries like in the USA, teachers' salaries were to be dependent on students' achievement, which is an absurd, considering the disparities of social contexts.

Underpriviledged children coming from poor income families and poor cultural environments have less opportunities of showing success.

Teachers working in these difficult contexts should be rewarded for the extra effort they put in their profession to help their students and not be punished for poor results that are not their fault.

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POSTS - WEEK 3

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As I have mentioned before I don't like Quizzes or Multiple Choice or whatever «lottery» tool for assessment or feedback. However I have tried this kind of tool such as Quiz Revolution.

I hardly remembered what I had produced and it seems I have made 3 Quizzes, one in EN and two in portuguese (about the Foundation of Portugal and another about a portuguese writer of the 16th century)

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My short Quiz on Education Books - http://www.quizrevolution.com/ch/a211799

Alternatives for Quiz tools - https://myelearningworld.com/top-10-free-online-quiz-makers-for-teachers-and-educators/#free

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Though I'm not particullarly enthusiastic about polls, I suppose that it can be a good trigger to start a discussion, as was suggested in the video of this course «Was Hamlet mad?», I believe that both «Yes» and «No» answers may bring up arguments to support each position and this way pursue a deeper analysis of the play.

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I hadn't heard of badges lately. In fact, some years ago one might expect that with the proliferation of MOOCs and informal learning badges might gain some popularity.

But MOOCs have followed another trend that of «paid certificates», which I regret. At present, in most MOOCs, if participants are interested in feedback or assessment of assignments this is a premium feature.

In one of my first MOOCs I have played a bit with the creation of badges, but I don't think people care much about badges, including myself.

I'm much more interested in keeping my course ePortfolios as a record and evidence of work done along each course.

I'm totally in favour of ePortfolios.

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Regarding plagiarism tools I suppose that in an academic context and degree awarding context they are probably very useful. In my professional context I don't need to use them, since I work with a community of teachers in a context of informal online learning.

I think that intellectual dishonestly is not acceptable, but on the other hand I find very difficult nowadays to claim for originality, since no one is a «tabula rasa» and we all learn and borrow from each other. The important issue is to give credit from whom we've borrowed and have learnt.

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I think peer-review and self-assessment should be encouraged, setting criteria and rubrics may help a constructive reflection.

However as the education system continues to be based on a hierarchy relationship, those who teach and those who learn, the culture on both sides has resisted to a more generalized practice of these forms of assessment.

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