Category Archives: Uncategorized

TouchCast – me trying to see video in a different way

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For my digital storytelling discussion post I decided to use TouchCast, an interactive video application. This application is available for desktop computers from touchcast.com and from iTunes for iPads. I built my project on my iPad. I had intended to create my TouchCast using a desktop computer, but I found the software to be somewhat buggy. It crashed a number of times and the webcam did not work properly. It does state on the website that the desktop program is in Beta testing, so perhaps they are aware of these bugs. Here is a link to my Touchcast video.

As with any video production, I knew that my script needed to be written before I could begin filming (let alone enhancing) my video. The script took some time to write as I pondered what was most relevant to the selection of TouchCast and of ed tech tools in general. A point that I made in the video, and that I’d like to reiterate here, is that while I have usually only considered a new technology’s value by assessing it’s value to learning and the appropriateness of it’s logistics, I have learned in 565A that the logistics of the learning opportunity are what can define an effective instructional application. It’s the intersection between what a technology can do, and how it does it, that determines it’s worth.

Building out the project was frustrating at times. Some elements are less that intuitive to figure out. Once I accessed the Help documentation, things progressed much more quickly. I know, I know, if all else fails, read the instruction manual.

My finished product is acceptable, but not astounding by any means. I have been able to visualize how I could use this platform in a classroom and what pieces of my production work could use improving.

Here is the script to my video:
Hi there 565A’ers! This is a TouchCast. I have wanted to create a TouchCast as a project for ages, but I hadn’t found an appropriate topic, nor the time do so. Now, I won’t suggest I have heaps of time available at the moment, but it did seem the right time to get on with it.

TouchCast is interactive video. This means that while you are watching this video, additional media can be embedded and accessible within the same screen. I can add in pictures, webpages, Twitter feeds, polls, maps, and many other video apps, “vApps”, to augment the video experience. Interestingly, since I was first exposed to the application a couple of years ago, it has released a desktop version and many significant improvements. The uses for this technology are obviously wide-reaching and extend as far a user’s creativity. From an educator’s perspective I see this is as being useful in the flipped classroom for providing a video that connects students to their teacher with several links and activities to complete from within the video. It would also be an effective way for students to share their research or learning on a topic.

Since beginning my MET journey in September 2012, I have continued to fill my technological tool case with many innovative tools. These have been in the realms of communication, collaboration, web publishing, and content curation tools, among others.

In every interaction with a new technology, I try to determine its appropriateness for use in the classroom. In this sense, new media can be evaluated using Bates’ SECTIONS model, or in relation to Anderson’s Theory of Online learning, or by visualizing a tool’s position within the SAMR model. At the most basic level, I try to consider the ‘learning’ and the ‘logistics’ that are afforded by a new device, platform, or application.

LEARNING: Can this tool be used for deep and authentic learning? If a tool can contribute to the effectiveness of a learning-, community-, knowledge-, or assessment-centred environment, then it is possible that it would be worth adopting. I try to consider how a particular technology could contribute to my established learning environment; perhaps by augmenting students’ understanding of content, by providing a way for students to share what they have learned, by facilitating interactions between students, content, the teacher and the group, or by helping me to assess a student’s level of achievement in a particular area. Additionally, as per the SAMR model, I want to ensure that the use of technology offers something more than the substitution of a digital tool for a non-digital learning interaction. Ideally, the use of technology should ensure the augmentation of a learning interaction, and preferably, the modification and redefinition of what can be accomplished in learning.

LOGISTICS: What logistics surround this tool? Certainly, a tool needs to have been created for a platform I use, or that students will be able to use. Given that I have Android, Apple, Blackberry and Windows devices, this is rarely an issue. But the technology available in my classroom is both more and less diverse and should be able to run on multiple devices at once. Also, is an app free or paid? Is there advertising in the app? Is it age-appropriate advertising? Can settings within an application or technology be managed by me, and locked down if necessary? We’ve all seen applications where the structure of the app is fantastic, but there is very little content to work with, or the inverse problem where it could be a fantastic app, but the logistics of the app make it unmanageable for continued use.

The idea that has become most apparent to me from this course is the importance of looking for the intersection between the learning affordances and the logistical conventions of an application. As an educator I need to determine if the way in which an application offers an educational opportunity is in fact appropriate to the content being conveyed and the skills and attitudes I hope for my students to gain.

TouchCast can promote deep and authentic learning by providing a platform that encourages the multimodal expression of knowledge and ideas. Students can create presentations for various audiences, on various topics, while promoting the connections that they find between concepts. Touchcasts can be embedded into Google Sites, and otherwise stored on Youtube. To be fully interactive, a TouchCast should be viewed from within the app or on the website, where every user is a channel. Logistically, I’ve found the desktop version of TouchCast to be a bit buggy, but the iPad version is reliable. The app is free and considering the strengths of this platform it’s a fantastic value. One con worth mentioning might be the ramping up time required to learn the software.

Pedagogically I think that the app is effective at creating multiple representations of a concept, with entry points for diverse learners. This might be distracting to students who struggle to focus, but the video based nature of the app should help to keep a students focus.

Thanks for watching and I wish you all the best in the rest of this course and along your MET journey.

Weeks 9 & 10 (late posts)
Social media and our desire to share

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As I continue to catch up on missed discussion forum posts, I have combined the topics from Weeks 9 & 10. I am of the opinion that a discussion surrounding the use of social media in the classroom also suits a discussion of copyright and the ways in which it can influence teaching and learning. I think that an examination of the intersection between social media and copyright shows us that when people share interesting ideas and relevant resources, it asks of them to attribute, to the best degree possible, the ownership of those interesting ideas and resources. Unfortunately, social media has made it so easy to share words, pictures, and videos that the more difficult task of figuring out where those ideas came from is often ignored. This is problematic for teaching and learning. In the use of social media for learning, educators need to teach students to cite and attribute creative works appropriately, to act with proper netiquette while on social media, and to help students understand the tensions and links between privacy and openness online.

One of the biggest benefits I have experienced in my personal of use of social media, including (and limited to) Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest, is the build-up of my Personal Learning Network (PLN.) This has allowed me to connect with educators whose ideas I see as valuable and to also follow along with advances in the educational technology industry. At the least, it has been a self-curated list of interesting links, and at best it has allowed me to grow my perspective and my understanding of the use of technology in education. Students can also been given the opportunity to learn and to grow in this way. Age limitations and inappropriate web content aside (for the moment), students can be guided in the best way to adopt and develop a social media persona. The way in which students learn can be paralleled in the way that a new user adopts social media. Initially, people lurk and observe. Typically they next start to ‘re-share’ and to ‘favourite’ items of interest. This may lead to tentative dialogue with other users. Finally, students hopefully learn to create items of value that they initiate and share onto various platforms. This feels similar to an instructional strategy like “Watch me / we’ll do it together / you’ll go it alone.” It’s in the early phases of this model that educators need to teach how to accurately cite and give credit where credit is due. If nothing else, the spirit of attributing creative works properly should be ingrained in students. More appropriately, students can learn a system relevant to their understanding, to cite the work of others. Older students can explore this topic, as Kirsten mentioned in the discussion forum, by exploring the work of Lawrence Lessig, and his interpretation of Remix Culture. Being online in this way will also require significant support, scaffolding, and supervision during the gradual release of responsibility. Students in younger grades can operate as a whole using a class Twitter account, whereas older students may be asked to create ‘professional’ or school-based Twitter accounts for engaging with their peers without the noise of everyday teenage stuff.

One often discussed aspect of digital culture is a perceived openness, a willingness to share everything online. Cory Doctorow discusses in his video “Privacy and Trust in Open Education” the tensions that have existed between the fights for both privacy and the open sharing of information online. Whereas privacy and openness were once thought to be at odds with one another, we now see that they have merged and have become overlapping concerns (Doctorow, 2015). These are vast subjects to undertake, and as Doctorow points out, the issues that can be identified in our digital culture (i.e. privacy concerns, the need for freedom of information, big data, technology in education) are extremely intertwined with one another. Students need to learn that none of these subjects are black and white and the one aspect of digital culture can, and likely is at odd with another aspect of digital culture.

My aim will always be to keep anything that is mine as useful as possible to those who might be able to use it. This will consistently require checking out who can access information and how they can access the information. These are digital literacies that take time to develop and today’s teachers who use technology in their classrooms need to foster these competencies in their students.

References
Doctorow, C. (12 March 2015). A conversation about privacy and trust in open education. Retrieved from http://craphound.com/news/2015/03/12/a-conversation-about-privacy-and-trust-in-open-education/

Weeks 7 & 8 (late posts)
Learning Interactions and Assessment

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Learning interactions and assessment go hand in hand. Bates (2014) highlights how intertwined teaching and assessment have become in the digital era, noting that they have “become even more closely integrated and contiguous” (p.469) than before. Thus, it is vital to think about assessment during the planning stages, the execution, and the culmination of a course. Every learning interaction that is chosen needs to have a relevant associated assessment.

During the planning of our introductory module we established our learning goals for the course and determined accompanying success criteria. These learning objectives (goals + criteria) contribute to a learning- and knowledge-centred environment. However, we did not create our instructional activities. We decided on a list of possible activities and decided to elaborate these further in our content module. Truthfully it was, and often is, a very circular process trying to determine which activities and assessments will best fit a set of learning objectives. By committing to a series of instructional activities, we will create an assessment-centred learning environment. The types and styles of assessments (possibly video-based presentations and discussion board questions) we intend to choose will hopefully contribute to a community-centred learning environment.

Some of the tools we hope to include highlight this heightened relationship between learning interactions and assessment. Google Drive allows written assignments to be submitted electronically, but this might be after a number of conversations and interactions have taken place online to improve a piece of work. Online quizzes may be set up to check for understanding and can be designed to provide additional explanations in the event of a wrong choice. Even in the event of a correct choice, students can read a short sentence that reiterates why that choice might be the correct answer. Online video presentations will allow a student to use assessment as learning, by sharing their work with other group members and by hearing their individualized feedback. Finally, discussion board posts will also foster learning opportunities and assessment opportunities, each set in dialogue with the other.

Outside of the online environment, physical bricks and mortar schools can use sites like PearDeck, a presentation software now connected to Google. This application allows for classroom presentations that include significant opportunities for formative feedback. Other sites similar to PearDeck include Kahoot(as mentioned in the Connect forums), and Socrative. These are all programs that facilitate interaction in learning while providing formative assessment to both teachers and students.

Another aspect of a course that is difficult to describe prior to launching the course is the type and quantity of feedback a student can expect to receive. Gibbs and Simspon (2005) identify ten conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning; seven of these conditions relate to the provision, scope, and uptake of feedback. Feedback is an integral aspect of all of Anderson’s effective learning attributes. Feedback promotes every aspect of a learner-, knowledge-, assessment-, and community-centred learning environment. Wiggins (2012) notes that “whether feedback is just there to be grasped or is provided by another person, helpful feedback is goal-referenced; tangible and transparent; actionable; user-friendly (specific and personalized); timely; ongoing; and consistent” (p.13). Feedback was highly prioritized at my last school. Teachers were provided with professional development to read and discuss relevant articles on the topic of feedback and to take time to practice with one another. Of further note, we spent time learning about the Growth Mindset, work by Carol Dweck, in an attempt to provide feedback that related to the process and the mind-set of students, rather than on the finished product or on characteristics of students.

Feedback is trickier to provide online than in a face-to-face setting. Tools need to be chosen to facilitate the provision of formative feedback in a manner that can be received and acted upon. The web has a series of tools that allow instructors to mark-up student work with written commentary. Further, comments can be provided in audio, or even video, format. To ensure students are being met at their level of readiness they can be asked to complete a Google Form to indicate their prior knowledge, skills, and attitudes on a particular subject.

Although it appears to be a rash, mish-mashed list of potentially useful applications, the most important consideration is whether a particular tool is appropriate for a particular activity. Ideally, an instructors choice of learning interactions, and assessment tools, will help students to ‘uncover the curriculum’ easily and in a straight-forward manner.

References
Bates, T. (2014). Appendix 8. Assessment of Learning Teaching in a Digital age. (online book)
Gibbs, G. & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31. (PDF)
Wiggins, G. (2012). 7 keys to effective feedback. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.