More EdTech links

Attached are some resources that I think might be useful to the
group's work. Several links connect to recorded presentations of class
sessions and other presentation materials produced in Digital Media
Service's NewMedia Classroom. Together they give an overview of the
NMC's educational support capabilities and a chance to see how others
on campus are making use of these capabilities. I've also listed
several papers that provide useful context and consideration
frameworks.

Wayne

Wayne Waller
Director of Digital Media Services, IMSS
California Institute of Technology <Caltech>

________________________________________________________________

1. The future of higher education: How technology will shape learning
<an Economist Intelligence Unit white paper, sponsored by the New
Media Consortium • October 2008>
http://viewswire.eiu.com/report_dl.asp?mode=fi&fi=53934390.PDF

2. 2008 Horizon Report
<produced as a collaboration between the NMC and the EDUCAUSE Learning
Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE program>
http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ELI/2008HorizonReport/45926
http://www.educause.edu/eli/16086?time=1227624976

3. Information Technology: Its Impact on Undergraduate Education in
Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology <Report on an
NSF-hosted workshop seeking to define unique perspectives, concerns,
and desirable benefits of educational technology, April 1998>
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1998/nsf9882/nsf9882.txt

4. 4 examples of classroom & non-classroom presentation recordings
produced with DMS's Mediasite capture & publishing system. Feel free
to jump about and explore the presentations by sliding the playhead
located beneath the video image.
http://win-dms-ms1.caltech.edu/ms01/catalog/

A) An overview of the NewMedia Classroom and its educational support
capabilities, including class capture & publishing technology <begins
~25 min into the talk>
To view, select PUBLIC from the menu in upper right area of screen;
then click on DEMO OF CALTECH'S MEDIASITE SYSTEM. Presenter: Leslie
Maxfield.

B) An example of presenting and capturing class content that is
highly spontaneous, non-linear, and interactive in nature <eg,
beginning ~56 min>
To view, select CALTECH LIBRARY SERVICES from the menu in upper
right area of screen; then click on THE POWER OF THE SCIENTIFIC
eTHESIS. Peter Murray-Rust, University of Cambridge.

C) Example of a class session making extensive use of interactive
screen technology to present and capture handwritten content.
To view, select MS 115a; then click on 11/05/08 Lecture. Sossina Haile.

D) Example of a project-based class with heavy emphasis on student
workgroups and team presentations. The class also involved real-time
video collaborations with students in Guatamala.
To view, select E/ME 105 from the menu in upper right area of
screen; then click on E 102: 2008 Final Presentations. Peter
Murray-Rust, University of Cambridge.

Comments for 11-25-2008 meeting

I think that trying to gather information from the whole Caltech community by asking the Vice Provost to send an e-mail to everyone is appropriate.  However, do faculty read their Directory e-mails?  Is there a better way to encourage faculty response?  For graduate students, I can send a reminder about the e-mail sent by the Vice Provost via our weekly graduate student announcements.  Also, my understanding is that Melany Hunt is significantly revising the TQFRs.  Perhaps we could ask that a specific question be added regarding how technology was helpful in the class and how it could have been used more effectively.

 

Moodle is a constantly evolving program that has an ever-growing functionality.  Is it feasible to have IMSS identify the top ~10 functionalities that Caltech faculty would like to see, then make/design solutions before a campus wide launch?  Can IMSS commit to supporting (within reason) new functionalities as faculty begin to use Moodle and test its limits?

We should certainly make use of the work that other schools/groups have done in setting up Moodle, such as at UCLA's Office of Instructional Development (http://www.oid.ucla.edu/units/tec/tectutorials/tecmoodle).  Specifically, I can help with contacts at UCLA and perhaps arrange for some grad students working on Moodle at UCLA to give tutorials to our IMSS staff, if that would be useful. 

My understanding is that one convenient feature of Moodle is that, like access.caltech, it allows for a single log-on for a wide variety of features, including all classes that a student is enrolled in.  Thus, though it may not be efficient for Moodle to be used for quick survey in a single class, if its being used (to varying extents) in most classes and students can use a single log-in, then it may be worthwhile.  Moreover, this could make it particularly useful for students to coordinate their schedule between their several classes.  In addition to helping with timelines for problem sets and exams, this could be useful from the TA/faculty point of view, since it might facilitate better coordination of assignment timelines, especially among core courses.

As a result of a recommendation by the Academic Policies Committee last year, Moodle is already being implemented to a limited extent this year.  Courses that were using it (at least in part for students to report the number of hours spent on homework) as of early this term include:

Bi/Ch 110   

Ch 021A     

Ch 001A    

Ch 112       

MA 002A      

MA 112A      

MA/CS 006A   

ME 019A      

Ph 106A     

Ph 125A      

Ph 129A      

Ph 136A      

 

 

The chair of the undergrad Academics and Research Committee (ARC) indicated that video taped lectures would be quite useful.  In fact, she prefers having an online video so can go at own pace, as well as several of the reasons listed under point 7 of the previous meetings minutes.

 

 

One of the topics addressed by The Horizon Report (Educause) that Rich Fagen posted is Collaboration Webs.  Virtual meetings and conferences are useful on the research side, and could play a limited role in classes.  Perhaps more relevant, are online documents that can be jointly edited.  Caltech is small, and so students can often meet face-to-face when working on projects.  However, timing is often an obstacle, so the online group editing features provided by google documents (http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html) may be useful for some classes, especially when preparing joint powerpoints.  This also saves us from having to e-mail large files back-and-forth.

 

 

A major concern about implementing any new educational strategy at Caltech is coordination across the entire Institute, including the Core Curriculum, TAs, and faculty.  The appointment of two Vice Provosts, including one for primarily academic/educational concerns, represents a major first step.  However, there still remains a deficiency of staff dedicated to pedagogy and educational issues, specifically.  I think that Caltech is nearly unique in this deficiency.  In addition to whatever other recommendations we eventually make, I think that we should seriously consider suggesting a 'Caltech learning center'.  Although our temporary task force is a good starting point, a learning center which constantly monitored and assessed the quality of teaching and learning in Caltech's educational program and provided assessment and recommendations for improvement, would represent a major improvement.  Such a center could also serve as a hub for future discussions of teaching technique and new faculty/TA support as well as discussions of how to continue to implement technology to enhance our educational programs.

 

Note that the concept of a 'Caltech learning center' was discussed with the WASC accreditation committee during their visit last week.  Moreover, other committees are likely to address the issue over the course of the year, and a joint resolution in support of a learning center by, at least, the Educational Technology Task Force, the Academic Policies Committee, the Graduate Study Committee, the Graduate Student Council's Academics Committee, and the undergraduate Academics and Research Committee would likely help this important concept to gain traction.

 

Sincerely,

Jai Shanata

G4, Chemistry

GSC Academics Committee, Chair

Educause survey on student use of Information Technology

Educause (the consortium of Higher Education IT professionals)
recently released a comprehensive survey regarding student use of
Information Technology.
It provides some information that might help frame our discussions.
The results are at:
http://www.educause.edu/ers0808/135156

Rich Fagen
Chief Information Officer
California Institute of Technology

Some more links relevant to EdTech

Some more links relevant to EdTech:

- Caltech IMSS did an IT survey in '07. the results are posted here:
the UGrad and Grad responses to the IT survey are located here:
http://www.imss.caltech.edu/cms.php?op=wiki&wiki_op=view&id=478
IMSS has already addressed the 3 top concerns: wireless, webmail, and
access.caltech.

- There will be a "Webinar" on
"How to integrate digital video into everyday curriculum" on November
12, 2008, 1pm PT.
More info: http://www.techlearning.com/makingmoviesinfo/

- Harvey points us to a couple more course-management systems:
Sakai: http://sakaiproject.org/portal
Sloodle: Moodle in Second Life: http://www.sloodle.org/moodle/