]]> http://sites.middlebury.edu/teachwithtech/2011/12/01/course-hub-case-studies/feed/ 0 http://sites.middlebury.edu/teachwithtech/2010/05/13/middlebury-trailrunner-blog-jeff-byers/ http://sites.middlebury.edu/teachwithtech/2010/05/13/middlebury-trailrunner-blog-jeff-byers/#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 15:07:54 +0000 Carrie Macfarlane http://sites.middlebury.edu/teachwithtech/?p=407 Continue reading →]]> What: Middlebury Trailrunner Blog

Who: Jeff Byers, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Technologies used: Hardware: GPS watch, digital camera.  Software:  Google Earth, WordPress, Garmin software (allows seamless connection to Google Earth). When posting an altitude profile, Jeff does a screen shot off of the Garmin software and pastes it into MS Word.  Then he uses a shareware program called “Doc to Jpeg Converter” and crops it with Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Assistance received: Not much was needed!  Jeff figured this out by himself, while watching the Red Sox on summer evenings.   He has had conversations with Joe Antonioli (Manager of Web & Interactive Digital Media Technologies), and Carrie Macfarlane (LIS liaison) about getting an analytics tool installed (technical issues are still being resolved).  The Addison Independent rebroadcasts the blog from their newspaper web site.

Reason for using the technology: Personal interest

Description: Jeff created the Middlebury Trailrunner blog as a community resource for like-minded runners.  Jeff and other runners felt there was a need for a local guide; he often found himself describing his routes to his friends.  He also thought it would be fun to create the blog–he is a self-described “map geek.”

The blog tracks Jeff’s trail-running adventures in and around Addison County.  For each run, Jeff posts a map of his route, a chart showing the altitudes he reached, photos and a written narrative.

Running is just a hobby for Jeff, but these technologies have potential curricular applications, from biology and environmental studies, to writing, to art (see for example The Big Draw of the GPS Run!).

Receiving Assignments

Both Jason and James use email as the primary means of collecting assignments from students for the following reasons:

• emails are timestamped providing a simple way to ensure deadlines are met
• email provides a single place to archive records of all papers
• email ensures a definitive version of student work

Both ask students to simply attach their assignment to an email post and send it them. To help organize emails from students, they often ask students to include something in the subject line of the email that will flag the email as one containing an assignment.  For example they might ask students to put the name of the assignment in the subject line (e.g Assignment 1) perhaps even include the course code (fmmc0243).  This allows them to use “email rules” to filter these emails into a folder for later review. Both have similar workflows for compiling assignments for grading.  Each downloads papers to a single folder on their computer, opens the documents and does a quick check for the correct title and makes sure the word count was within the assignment guidelines.    For many classes, they would then send students an email confirming they received of the paper.

Grading in Microsoft Word/OpenOffice

Jason requires his students to submit their papers in .rtf format, a rich text format that is compatible with most word processing applications.  While Jason uses OpenOffice, similar features are available in Microsoft Word.  The document is opened and “track changes” is enabled (Tools > Track Changes).  Track changes allows Jason to add changes to the student’s paper in a way that preserves the original version for the student to compare.  Jason uses the commenting feature (Insert > Comment) to add comments inline.  For frequently used comments Jason has set up AutoText (Insert > AutoText) entries.  Jason will usually add additional comments as well as the grade at the end of the document.  Then he saves the document appending to its original filename “-comments-JM” and attaches it to an email to the student.

Grading PDF documents

James prefers to do his grading in .pdf format and has published detailed Essay Submissions guidelines.  James uses Adobe Acrobat, software that is not widely available on campus, but many of his techniques can be followed using freely available PDF tools.  For PC users he recommends Foxit Reader and for Mac users Skim (Macs also come with an application called Preview that is comparable).  Like Word, these tools also have commenting features that allow you to insert inline comments.  Some of these tools also allow you to create stamps of various colors and sizes that can be used for common comments. James has compiled a number of such stamps.

Summary of Poster Session: James Morrison explained how he uses podcasts to record his lectures so that after class, students can review the lectures. “Students can double check difficult, complicated concepts; Overcome language barriers; Get Missed Material. ** Note: My podcasting had no noticeable influence on lecture attendance! **“.   Additionally, anyone from around the world can listen to his lectures. The lectures can be found on his course website: http://sites.middlebury.edu/ipespring09/

How to Podcast:

(1) Record the Audio
(2) Upload the Audio
(3) Publicize the files’ location

Advanced Podcasting:

Create Podcasts with Album Art & Meta Data
Integration with Middblogs
Distribute via iTunes Store

Technologies:

Uses » Audio » Record/edit/format audio, Share series of audio files (i.e. podcast)

Tools » Audacity, Voice Recorders, Microphones, iPods

Summary of Poster Session: Quinn Mecham and Alex Russo (a student from his course) demonstrated how they used Second Life as one of their tools to simulate how political parties and governments form.  Students had avatars (simulated characters) in Second Life that could interact with each other and campaign, form parties, propose legislation, and experience how politics play out.  A blog and wiki connected to their virtual space was also used to allow proposals to be vetted.

Actual Learning Outcomes: “Students learned the effects of different types of electoral systems on political outcomes.  They also learned how to test their own political ideology, form political parties, create political platforms, choose between competing parties, draft and vote on legislation.”

Conclusions and Reflections: “While some students were averse to using the technology, many were active participants in the simulation and enjoyed it very much.  I believe that the simulation greatly enriched students’ understanding of different types of democracy than what is found in the United States.   I am not yet convinced that second life is the best possible platform for this experiment, but it was the best platform we could find without developing our own from scratch.”

Caveats to Colleagues: “It is largely a positive experience, but requires high levels of support and faculty investment to make it work successfully.”

Technologies Used: website: www.SouthChinaSea.org, Google Earth, Google Map, Google News Search, CD
Course: PSCI 214 – International Environmental Politics
Number of Students: 45
Objectives: “To integrate research and teaching, to promote student-faculty collaboration.”

Summary of Poster Session: David Rosenberg and several of his students showed the website that is a resource for students in David’s class as well as the world.  Students helped identify content to link to and contributed content themselves, such as maps.

Anticipated learning outcomes: “Research project reports worth publishing beyond the  classroom.”
Actual learning  outcomes: “a  5-star internet resource on the South China  Sea .”
Conclusions and Reflections: “This is an on-going  process of building a network of interested students, scholars and  policy-makers.”
Will you use this technology again ?: Not  necessarily. If so, what would you do differently?:  Rss feeds and  blogs to facilitate dialog