Category: Methods

3 Steps to an Infographic

Heather Stafford / / Analysis, Create & Edit, Evaluation, Projects, Share, Visualization

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

Heather Stafford / / Application, Create & Edit, Digital Storytelling, Projects, Share, Synthesis

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

Heather Stafford / / Application, Connect & Participate, Create & Edit, Flipping, How To, Resources, Synthesis, Uncategorized
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!

 

Using Videos to Explain Problem Examples

Heather Stafford / / Application, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Connect & Participate, Environmental Studies, Frameworks, Geography, Geology, Mathematics, Podcasting, Resources, Synthesis

This article may be helpful to faculty members in the areas of mathematics and science who are considering utilizing video podcasts as support materials to help students work through problem sets for their class. Please note that although the journal article mentioned below is free to access, you will need to establish a username and password on the journal site to do so.

In the article “Developing a Framework for Creating Effective Instructional Video Podcasts” R. H. Kay studied the development and use of videos to share “worked examples” online with students. Worked examples are “instructional devices that provide an expert’s problem solution for a learner to study” (Atkinson, Derry, Renkl, & Wortham, 2014, p. 181).  Kay then used these findings to develop a framework organized into four main categories:

  • Establishing Context
  • Creating Effective Explanations
  • Minimizing Cognitive Load
  • Engaging Students

as well as 16 subcategories which can be viewed via the article link above. Please see page 24.

I want to do this! Who can help?

Contact Heather (hstafford@middlebury.edu) or Joe (jantonio@middlebury.edu) to get started!

Sources:

Atkinson, R. K., Derry, S. J., Renkl, A., & Wortham, D. (2000). Learning from Examples: Instructional Principles from the Worked Examples Research. Review of Educational Research, 70(2), 181–214. doi:10.3102/00346543070002181

Kay, R. H. (2014). Developing a Framework for Creating Effective Instructional Video Podcasts. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 9(1), pp. 22–30.

 

Annotating Texts to Deepen Meaning

Heather Stafford / / Collaboration, Collect & Capture, Comprehension, Connect & Participate, Create & Edit, Curriculum Placement, Discussion, Feedback, Interactive, Knowledge, Share, Synthesis, Uncategorized, Web Presence

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]

Converting a Web Site Into WordPress

Heather Stafford / / Collaboration, Collect & Capture, Knowledge, Share, Supplementary Material, Uncategorized, Web Presence

In the summer of 2013 Professor of History Jim Ralph approached the digital media tutor program to ask if we could assist with the updating of a Drupal site created about the Chicago Freedom Movement. Professor Ralph shared the history of this site and how it came to be.

[middmedia cd6868ebca83648aedf8ca834ba11026 hstafford CFM%20video.mp4 width:600 height:400]

Integrating Blogging

Heather Stafford / / Assess & Respond, Blogging, Connect & Participate, Film & Media Culture

This is the second screencast published on this site that is based on an interview Alex Chapin did with Prof. Louisa Stein from the Film and Media Culture department.  In this screencast Prof. Stein discusses her course on Millennial Media.  In this course, students were required to create their own blogs and to post to Twitter.

[middmedia E966CA341E9D26A5EA67ECDE36E4C402 achapin teachwithtech-stein-fmmc0254-04.mp4 width:400 height:254]

To encourage students to read each other’s work, Prof. Stein created “blog collectives” and required students to comment on the blogs of students in their collective.  An additional site was set up for the course that aggregated posts from all student blogs using the FeedWordPress plugin.

Course Hub Review

Heather Stafford / / Biology, Course Management, Curriculum Placement, Film & Media Culture, Knowledge, Literary Studies, Political Science, Share

The Course Hub is a meta-platform for aggregating resources for a given course across a variety of platforms including WordPress and Moodle.  Below is a screencast showing how the Course Hub has been used in courses this fall.

[middmedia E966CA341E9D26A5EA67ECDE36E4C402 achapin course-hub-case-studies01.mp4 width:400 height:254]

Integrating Moodle and WordPress

Heather Stafford / / Collaboration, Course Management, Curriculum Placement, Discussion, Feedback, Film & Media Culture, Formative Assessment, Knowledge, Share, Summative Assessment

Louisa Stein is an assistant professor of Film and Media Culture who used both Moodle and WordPress in the spring of 2011 for a course on the “Aesthetics of the Moving Image.”  Prof. Stein used WordPress for the public face of this course and Moodle for the weekly outline of readings, online discussion and assignment submissions.  Watch the screencast below for more details. Continue reading “Integrating Moodle and WordPress”