All posts by Melissa Koenig

The Year in FITS

By Melissa KoenigDecember 21, 2010

At the close of the year, we often take time to reflect upon the best and worst of the year that has just passed. This has got me thinking about how far our department—Faculty Instructional Technology Services (FITS)—has come in a mere eight months. In fact, FITS didn’t even officially exist until July 1.

Looking back, I can hardly believe that most of the staff responsible for doing all the training for the Blackboard to D2L transition hadn’t even started nine months ago. Until the third week in May, none of the individuals who would eventually provide all the training had themselves been trained. In seven short months, the FITS Central Support group has done an amazing job writing documentation and developing online tutorials.

This group is also responsible for developing, revising, and delivering the D2L training sessions. Heroically they have, to date, trained more than 650 faculty and 80 support staff. This transition could not have been as smooth without this dedicated team of individuals who sometimes found themselves training with an unstable system or for less than enthusiastic audiences. Throughout it all, they have kept their humor and their desire to help. I am also heartened to see the faculty we have trained embrace the new technology. We know that change is often hard, and we appreciate the effort that so many of our faculty have made to be open minded and willing to make a change.

As I look forward to the new year (and a full implementation), I am thankful for my colleagues and their willingness to always go the extra mile—so a public thanks to Eric, Alex, Lori, Sarah, Kayte, Liz, Elizabeth, Megan, Josh, and Emily. Happy New Year!

The Virtue of Consistency

By Melissa KoenigJune 1, 2010

A friend of mine from high school recently posted a study of his 2.5-year-old using the iPad and then wrote a blog entry about it called “What My 2.5-Year-Old’s First Encounter with an iPad Can Teach the Tech Industry.” One of the points he makes is that consistency matters. He makes the point that simple things like uniform standards for buttons and sliders are very important. This is something that has broad applications in everything from street signs to Web navigation to course-design elements. While many will argue that standardizing these things eliminates creativity, one can argue, successfully I believe, that consistency in the design means better usability.

When designing courses, should we really be concerned with creativity in button colors or navigation bars? Isn’t it better to spend our energy making sure that the content is interesting, the interactions are engaging, and the assessments are relevant? Think about what would happen if you were in an unfamiliar city, and the city planners allowed every neighborhood to design its own stop sign. Now, instead of the familiar octagon-shaped, red sign, every corner had a different type of sign. What if it wasn’t just the stop signs but all the signs that appear at intersections that were nonstandard? Would you be able to experience the city, or would you be more focused on making sure you always stopped when you needed to? While this may be an extreme example, we can produce the same effect in course design if navigation and course elements are not standard within the course, and in some cases even between courses in the same program. Sure, it may mean that the course looks more “cookie cutter,” as some would argue, but think about the physical classrooms themselves—aren’t they all the same or at least pretty similar? Isn’t it better for students to spend their cognitive energies not deciphering the course but instead interacting and engaging with the content?

Does this mean that every course needs to be the same? I would argue not at all, but it is likely that classes in the same program have similar needs, from both the student and faculty perspective. Standardizing courses in online programs can have additional benefits beyond simple usability. First, support is easier, as standard navigation and language makes it easier for help-desk staff to easily help a user resolve issues. Second, documentation can be standardized and created once for the entire program, allowing staff time to be spent on other training and support endeavors.

As we think about design in online classes, let’s look at ways we can simplify and standardize navigation and directions. Creativity should be revealed in the content and not whether you can make tiger-striped buttons.

Virtual Sign-up Sheets

By Melissa KoenigFebruary 4, 2010

Back in December of 2007, Rick Salisbury (see 12 Web Tools of Christmas Post) mentioned EditGrid as one of his top tools. While EditGrid is a great tool for creating shareable spreadsheets with many advanced, Excel-like features, I have found a new use for this application in online classes—virtual sign-up sheets! More than a few times in the past few months, I have needed a tool to allow students to sign up for something—be it to lead a discussion, create a blog post, or choose a book for review. With our current learning management system (LMS), Blackboard 8.0, there is no easy way to do this, so faculty are left using some sort of e-mail/discussion work-around or simply assigning students. While these work-arounds suffice, the process has always seemed clunky and overly difficult. I recently remembered Rick’s post, and the idea of using EditGrid to create a virtual sign-up sheet was born. I am currently piloting it in my own class, and students seem to be able to sign up without difficulty, and I am able to see the results easily. A win-win in my book.

So, you may ask, how would I go about creating a sign-up sheet for my own class? First you will need an EditGrid account. Once you have an account, you can simply create a basic sign-up sheet in Excel (or any of these other supported spreadsheet programs: OpenDocument, Gnumeric, OpenOffice.org 1.0, Lotus 1-2-3, or CSV). Note that EditGrid doesn’t support the .xlcx extension, so you have to save your Excel file as an Excel 97–2003 Workbook.

EditGrid

Then, upload it to EditGrid. Because I need the students to be able to edit the sheet (by typing in their name), I set the permissions on the worksheet to allow for Public Read/Write. (You can actually set the default permissions so that whenever you upload spreadsheets, they are always Public Read/Write but not searchable, if you don’t want them to be found using the search box on the EditGrid homepage.)

Once the spreadsheet has been uploaded, select the cells you want to embed in your course Web site—I selected the two columns that had times to sign up for and cells for the students’ names. Then choose Publish Cell/Region.

Publish Cells

Once it is published, you will see a box with code to embed an EditGrid widget.

Embed Cells

Simply paste this code in your course Web site. (You typically have to change the options for the text box from TEXT to HTML. In Blackboard, click the button above the text box that looks like this: <>.) Save the item and viola! You have a virtual sign-up sheet.

Story-Telling Tools—Beyond PowerPoint

By Melissa KoenigNovember 18, 2009

More and more over the past few weeks, I’ve found that I have been recommending that faculty visit a wonderful Wiki site called CogDogRoo, which was developed by Alan Levine. I usually make this recommendation when the subject of student presentations—and how to do them effectively in an online class—comes up. While there is nothing wrong with having students create PowerPoint presentations, I find that there are often other tools available that allow for better interaction and more creative presentation or just allow students to explore a new way to present information. Most recently, I have been working with faculty from our School of Education, and there is often a mandate that their students be able to effectively integrate technology into the classroom. As a parent, I am well aware that “technology integration in the classroom” often means using PowerPoint (including all of the crazy animation—don’t even get me started there) and Google. But I am finding that the faculty I work with feel empowered knowing that there are sites like CogDogRoo out there that can help inspire not only them but also their students to think about classroom technology in new ways.

Browsing the list of over fifty tools that Levine links to is certainly one way to inspire some creative thought, but I decided to highlight a few of my favorites from the list:

Blabberize – Perhaps not the most “sophisticated” of tools, but who hasn’t wanted to create an animated talking animal! Think about using this tool for students to do their class introductions instead of the traditional discussion forum.
Toondoo – Instead of a traditional PowerPoint, why not have students try their hands at creating their own educational graphic novels? No drawing skills are required, and the results are not bad.
Glogster – Have students create poster sessions that distill the essence of their research projects and present them with Glogster. (See this example from a 6th grade class on polar bears.)

And of course if you are looking for slideshow/presentation tools, there are lots of those as well—many will allow you to simply upload existing PowerPoint/keynote presentations, allowing for better Web sharing and viewing options. Some of the best of these include:

For slide-like tools but not PowerPoint presentations per se, try one of these:

Imageloop – Upload images or PowerPoint slides, and choose from interesting templates (see this example). Presentations can be embedded on other pages or shared via a link.
PhotoPeach – Upload images and overlay them with music (library provided), add captions and effects, and share.

Try some of these favorites or some of the others from the list, and be creative with your next “presentation” assignment.

Two Tools for Finding Old Web Pages

By Melissa KoenigSeptember 14, 2009

Ever run into a situation where materials that you used to link to in a class (or that you have bookmarked) are suddenly no longer available? Ever wonder if there was a way to archive these materials so that they could be available to you (or your class) even if the Web site disappears? While there may be no way to keep these links active forever, there are a couple of resources I use to help me find and/or maintain links to pages even after the links go away. The first is the Internet Archive.

The Internet Archive—also known as the Wayback Machine—has been around since 1996 and archives Web pages as well as other content. Their Web site states that they have more than "150 billion archived pages." To use it, simply type the URL of the page you are looking for in the Wayback Machine search box. Then simply select from the archived dates displayed to find the content you are looking for—note that sometimes you have to click on a couple of dates to find the right page. Be aware that not every page is archived and that the pages are not "live," so the links may not work if the lower level pages have not also been archived. I usually use the Wayback Machine once a quarter to access content for a faculty member who has a dead link in his or her class.

The Internet Archive is a good tool for finding pages and Web content that have already gone away, but is there a way to archive content before it disappears? Certainly people cut and paste, print, or even create PDFs of pages to save for future use, but none of these keep the interactivity of the Web page. The second tool I would recommend is a relatively new service called iCyte, which allows users to not only bookmark sites but also to save and annotate those sites.

ICyte is "a unique software product enabling users to mark, copy, save, and share any Web-based content. It has been developed specifically for online research and can be used by any person who searches the Web and needs to save (or share) their information" (http://www.icyte.com./faq.html). ICyte is a browser plug-in for either Firefox or Internet Explorer that allows you (while browsing) to save any html content (including youtube videos) to your free account. Once your pages are saved, you can annotate and tag them, group them into projects, and share them with others. The saved content is on the iCyte server (not your desktop).

So the next time you lose a link, try the Wayback Machine, and to prevent future loss, try iCyte.

Tools for Course Planning: Outcome Statements and Online Activities

By Melissa KoenigJuly 24, 2009

As an instructional designer, I find that two of the things that faculty struggle with are developing sound outcome statements and developing interesting online activities that effectively assess those outcomes. I don’t mean to imply that faculty don’t know how to do these things but instead that often, especially with objectives, they are implied instead of explicitly stated. In the face-to-face classroom environment, an instructor can easily adjust objectives and assignments based on class reaction—unfortunately much of this flexibility disappears when teaching online. Online students need to know up front what the objectives are (at both the course and week/modular level) and see a clear connection between those objectives and the assignments/assessments.

Frequently, objectives are written in such a way that the outcome is measuring capabilities only at the lowest end of Bloom’s Taxonomy, e.g. “students will understand….” Not only are these objectives at the lower end of the cognitive-domain scale, but they are often not measurable—how do we know if a student “understands”?

To help faculty develop good objectives, I often refer them to a wonderful tool called the RadioJames Objective Builder. This tool allows you to choose what you want the students to do from a drop-down menu:

ObjectivesBuilder1

Once an area is chosen, a list of verbs and sample objectives appears along with an overview of that level:

ObjectivesBuilder2

This tool makes it so much easier to write good objectives. Once you have these good objectives, the next step is to design good assignments. At the recent EdMedia Conference, there was a presentation on a new tool developed by the LAMS Foundation in Australia. Like the Objective Builder, the LAMS tool, called the LAM Activity Planner, scaffolds and guides faculty—this time in the creation of learning activities. Using a predeveloped form, faculty can choose from activities that have already been created or add their own content. Activities are varied and include things like case studies, role plays, jigsaws, and WebQuests. To view a video and request an account to explore the planner for yourself, see the information on the LAM Activity Planner Wiki page.

Tools like these make the course-planning process easier for both faculty and instructional designers.

Tools for Staying Current in your Field

By Melissa KoenigJune 1, 2009

Need an easy way to stay current in your field? Table-of-contents services are a great way to get the tables of contents of your favorite scholarly journals delivered to you via e-mail or RSS reader. A couple that you might want to explore include:

ticTOCS (Journal Table of Contents Service) – TicTOCS is a free resource that allows anyone to keep up to date with newly published scholarly material. The site is simple to use: just register for a free account where all of the tables of contents you choose will be permanently saved. Then, search for the titles of your favorite journals. You can then add them to your list and export them in a format that is easily imported into Google Reader. The site currently only has about a thousand titles, so your favorites may not be there.

Library databases (if you are not affiliated with DePaul check with your local reference librarian) – Many of the DePaul library databases allow you to create free accounts. Once you have an account, you can set up issue alerts as well as have saved searches rerun each time the database is updated. These alerts, depending on the service, can be made available via e-mail or RSS feed. Some of the better ones to try are Science Direct and Ebsco.

Publisher Web sites – Most publishers allow individuals to subscribe to tables of contents without a subscription fee. If you don’t find the journal you are looking for in one of the above, check out the publisher’s Web site to see if you can get it that way.

These are just a couple of options available to you. Ask a librarian (or if you are not affiliated with DePaul, check with your library’s reference staff) if you need help setting up an alert or finding a particular journal.

Thoughts for Teaching “Digital Natives”

By Melissa KoenigMarch 30, 2009

I recently returned from the NFAIS (National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services) Annual Conference interestingly entitled, Barbarians at the Gate? The focus of this conference was on the impact that “digital natives”—defined as those born after 1980—and emerging technologies have on the future of information services. As one might imagine, based on the conference title, there is a perception that digital natives are very different than those of us outside this generation. The word “barbarian”also implies that somehow their skills are not as refined as those of us born before 1980. But is this really the case?

Conference keynote speaker, John Palfrey, author of Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, found in his research that adoption of new technologies is more dependent on socioeconomic status than on generational affiliation. This idea was echoed by Dr. Ian Rowlands, managing director at the Center for Information Behavior and Evaluation of Research, and director of the Research Centre for Publishing, University College London. In his research, he found that in the UK those over 65 were online four hours more per week than 18-to-24-year-olds. Both of these findings refute, in part, our common perceptions of technology utilization. In the end, it seems as though search behavior and technology utilization are less of a generational issue and more of an issue of access. This raises the question that if socioeconomic status and access to technology define who uses technology, are “digital natives” really different than the rest of us?

Mimi Ito is a research scientist at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy, Annenberg Center, University of California and a visiting associate professor at Keio University. His research has found that there are some fundamental differences in what digital natives do with information (a link to her speech from the conference can be found here). In particular, the idea that digitalnatives use information and media to tell stories about who they are—essentially making and sharing media is a fundamental literacy for this generation. This is a fundamental change from previous generations and one that we should take note of. This generation can be defined (again loosely as not all digital natives have access to technology) as being part of a remix culture. To many in this generation, it is okay to take something that exists, change it slightly, and republish it. Traditional ideas of copyright are not as important to them as it may have been to previous generations.

As instructional designers, what does this profile tell us about how we should be designing classes for the newest generation of college students? I would argue that we should consider the following:

Use of media should be purposeful and provide meaning to the course—these students are not going to be impressed that instructors can embed a video lecture in their class.
Information should be provided not only in multiple technology formats (video, audio, multimedia, text) but also in various genres (narrative, fiction, nonfiction) and remixing should be encouraged.
Along with traditional research papers, course assignments should also allow for multiple means of completion including the creation of digital media like short films, animations, digital images, etc.
Students need to be educated about laws around copyright and fair use. Creative Commons licensing should be encouraged.
Collaborative spaces should be provided for those students who prefer to work in a collaborative environment while options for those students who prefer individual work are still maintained.
Inquiry and problem-based learning should be included as well as more traditional methods.

So are “digital natives” really that much different than the rest of us? I would argue that what these “natives” really want is to be able to find information quickly, easily, and freely; use what they find to create new knowledge; and easily share what they find and create with others. Does that make them different? You decide.

Twenty-First-Century Correspondence Courses?

By Melissa KoenigJanuary 7, 2009

As I was reflecting on what we as a department do and how technology fits into that equation, I realized that so much of how we think about technology has to do with how the instructor uses the technology to push/impart information to the student. While this is a valid use, I fear that what we are creating is really just a high-tech version of a correspondence course. Is there really that much difference between a lecture delivered via a video tape and one that is streamed over the Internet? Sure there is the “cool” factor—we can make the Internet version portable so the student can view it on their iPod—but are we really offering the student anything new? I would argue that these technologies should also be used by students to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts. I would further argue that when both faculty and students are using these technologies to communicate knowledge to each other, we will have created a paradigm shift in online learning.

For example, when we think about presentation tools, we often think about the instructor using them to deliver a “lecture.” Many face-to-face courses, however, have a requirement for students to present to the class. In a face-to-face class this is easily accomplished—the student stands up and presents his or her material (often using a tool like PowerPoint) and is able to receive feedback immediately. In the online class, this process can be more difficult, and many times, the obvious solution is to have a synchronous webcast session. While not a bad solution, synchronous sessions in online classes can be tricky, because it requires all students to be available on a particular date at a scheduled time—often defeating the reason that the student took the class in the first place! The easy solution is to simply have the students upload their presentation directly into the course-management system and allow for asynchronous discussion. While this works, the personal element tends to be missing.

Instead, why not have students develop their presentations in an application like SlideBoom (see Rick’s post for more information on Slideboom) or VoiceThread. Both tools allow for easy creation and sharing as well as commenting. This is an example of a VoiceThread created by my eleven-year-old for a class project on culture: http://voicethread.com/share/264578/. This is just one example of how the same technology used by faculty can easily be used by students to complete class assignments. Other examples might include students producing podcasts to fulfill a class assignment. At a conference a couple of years ago a presenter talked about a class that produced NPR-like podcasts for a final project. In producing these podcasts, the students put together mock interviews, developed commentary, and produced a high-quality final product. The feedback from the students indicated that they not only enjoyed the project (translation: they had fun) but also learned from the activity.

As I think about what we need to do to make engaging online courses a reality, I see that there are at least two major barriers that are keeping us in a more “correspondence” mode. The first of these is technological literacy. Just like regular literacy, it is important that students who are enrolling in online classes have a common base level of technological expertise. For example, can these students upload attachments? Do they understand how to zip and unzip files? While many online programs provide students technology specifications (tech specs) for their computers, few provide students with guidelines or, better yet, screenings to see that they have the minimum technical knowledge to be successful in an online class. Secondly, student and faculty support is imperative. Many faculty hesitate to have students use technology for assignments, because they are afraid of having to provide technical support. This is a very valid concern and one that needs to be addressed at the programmatic level: faculty cannot be expected to provide technology support for their students while teaching the class. I fear that until we address these issues we will remain in a 21st century correspondence course holding pattern.

Libx

By Melissa KoenigJuly 14, 2008

Libx is a Web 2.0 tool that connects you to the university library while exploring the web. Available for Firefox and Internet Explorer, this plug-in is customized especially for DePaul and pops a handy little search bar across the top of your browser window, so you can quickly and easily search the library catalog or check on whether the library has the journal you need online or in print.

Even better, when searching for titles from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or many other sites, you will see a little DePaul icon next to the book title allowing you to see if it is available in the DePaul Library.

In addition, you can highlight any word or phrase in a web page and right-click to search the library catalog for that item or drag-and-drop onto the ‘Scholar’ button in the toolbar to generate a search in Google Scholar.