3 Steps to an Infographic

Over the past few months several people have expressed an interest in learning more about how to create infographics. We’ve broken it down into a three step process that consists of:

  1. Collecting your data
  2. Working with the data
  3. Creating & sharing the infographic

We hope the video below will offer a brief snapshot of some tools and tricks to help you get started, but please feel free to contact me (hstafford@middlebury.edu) if you’d like to learn more! We are also considering offering a workshop over j-term, so let us know if this would be of interest to you as well.

Hint: Excel pivot tables are a great way to manipulate data quickly. They are not covered in this video, but you can get more info via an entire Lynda course devoted to the topic here. (Sign in with your Middlebury credentials to access.)

[middmedia cd6868ebca83648aedf8ca834ba11026 hstafford infographics.mp4 width:600 height:400]

 

 

Multimedia Stories

Several classes at Middlebury create multimedia stories as a part of their curriculum. Want to see what students create? Check out the work of the students in Peter Lourie’s 2014 Adventure Writing J-term class here. Watch the video below to learn more about how the digital media tutors and curricular technology staff can assist with these types of projects.

[middmedia cd6868ebca83648aedf8ca834ba11026 hstafford Digital%20Storytelling.2.mp4 width:400 height:300]

 

 

Flip Tips

Peggy Bacon in mid-air backflip, Bondi Beach, Sydney, 6/2/1937 / by Ted Hood Format: Film photonegative (copied from original nitrate photonegative) From State Library of New South Wales via The Commons on Flickr

Flipping the classroom is getting a lot of attention lately. If you’re anything like me, learning about concepts is interesting but actually figuring out how to implement a new technique is what really draws my interest. I’m banking on the fact that I’m not alone on this so let’s dig in.

Robert Talbert is a mathematician and educator who writes for Casting Out Nines in the Chronicle. Over the last few months he has been writing a series of posts about a calculus class that he flipped for the Fall 2013 semester. In his article “Getting Off On The Right Foot in an Inverted Calculus Class” he offers instructions for how to integrate the out-of-class component with class time. These tips pair pedagogy with action to help practioners figure out how to activate prior knowledge, employ formative assessment techniques and integrate time management methods into their usage of the flipped classroom. (Robert expands on the necessity of certain student skills here. It’s an eye opening read.)

I want to flip! Who can help me?

We’d love to talk to you about your goals and ideas! Contact Heather (hstafford@middlebury.edu) or Joe (jantonio@middlebury.edu) so we can get started! There are also several faculty on campus who are already actively working on this in their classrooms. If you are a faculty member who is working on the flip and interested in developing a community of practice with others who want to do the same, please let us know!

 

Annotating Texts to Deepen Meaning

CV Starr Professor of Russian & East European Studies Tom Beyer is no stranger to utilizing technology in the classroom. During the summer of 2013 Tom approached the digital media tutor program to see if we could assist with transitioning content from an existing Wetpaint site to another platform.

See the video below to learn more about the project and process involved.

[middmedia cd6868ebca83648aedf8ca834ba11026 hstafford Inferno.mp4 width:600 height:400]

Wikipedia for Chemistry – Jeff Byers

What: Authoring and editing Wikipedia entries as an assignment in a senior elective course

Who: Jeff Byers, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Class: CHEM0442, Advanced Organic Chemistry.  This is a special topics course taken mostly by seniors, with some juniors, most of whom are chemistry or biochemistry majors.

Number of students: 9

Reason for using the technology: Most Senior Elective courses in the sciences culminate with some sort of final paper or project.  This project typically involves each student writing a detailed review paper on an interesting and advanced topic of their choice.  This is a worthwhile exercise, as each student learns an astonishing amount of detail on one specific topic.  These papers do not, in any way, reflect the important collaborative nature of science.  Jeff also believes that a senior elective course should also generate content of use to the entire chemistry community, unlike research papers which, after grading, rarely surface again. Continue reading “Wikipedia for Chemistry – Jeff Byers”