The Open Learning Initiative Webinar
August 11, 2011
Join your colleagues, the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, and Next Generation Learning Challenges for the next webcast dedicated to the transformative role that technology can play in fostering student success.
Please note we will meet in Tylor Haynes Commons Conference Room 310 for this webinar.
The next event (on August 16, 2011 at 1 pm) will feature Candace Thille, Director of the Open Learning Initiative. The subject of her presentation will be, “The Open Learning Initiative.”
The Open Learning Initiative uses knowledge from learning science and the affordances of the web to transform instruction, significantly improving learning outcomes and achieves significant increases in productivity in post secondary education. OLI aims to produce exemplars of scientifically based online courses and course materials that enact instruction and support instructors while providing open access to these courses and materials. Ultimately, OLI hopes to develop a community of use, research and development that contributes to the evaluation, continuous improvement, and ongoing growth of their courses and materials.
For more information please visit: http://learning.richmond.edu/atc/
Powerpoint 2007 with Multimedia
July 14, 2010
Here are the links provided in the “PowerPoint 2007 with Multimedia” workshop:
My PowerPoint Handout can be downloaded for future reference.
Download this sample PowerPoint File: PowerPoint2007
Download this file for sample graphs: Excel 2007.xlsx
Safari Books can be consulted for more information – Access via library Research Databases
Presentation Zen is an excellent reference, check it out here!
Ribbon Customizer is an interesting tool to check out if you don’t like the Office Ribbon.
Do you have the Compatibility Pack installed on your non-Office 2007 Computers?
Voicethread make Powerpoints more powerful!
September 11, 2009
Actually, YOU have to make your PowerPoints more powerful - technology can’t necessarily do that. Take a look at Presentation Zen for great tips, tricks and advice. However! if you’re an avid PowerPoint presenter that email’s .PPT files to students and colleagues, and you’ve never used VoiceThread, prepare for a delightful paradigm shift! VoiceThread.com is a free (and quite useful) web application that will allow you to stream your PowerPoint slides online AND integrate an interactive discussion around your presentation content. One key benefit that faculty will love is the ability to add an audio narration to each slide. This narrative could include more information such as a story, additional context, or relevant examples, etc. There’s even a ‘doodle’ tool that will allow you draw on the slide as you’re emphasizing your points!
Once these initial elements have been mastered, you’ll notice that VoiceThread also opens up a plurality of opportunities for interactive discourse and community participation from students (or the Internet at large!).
Take a look at the following VoiceThread concerning the issue of “Saving Darfur”. You’ll notice how a multi-modal conversations (or threaded voices) have taken place around these political illustrations. Commenters can posit their feedback via text and audio and video recordings. I personally prefer video comments, but you have to have a web-cam on your computer to do this. If you dont have a web-cam or microphone, you can also call a phone number to leave feedback on a VoiceThread. It will record your audio over the phone, and append it to the presentation over the web! Amazing!
For more great information about Using Voicethread for interactive discourse and dialogue, feel free to take a look at Bill Ferriter wiki on what VoiceThread is and how you can use it in your courses.
Enjoy!
–SAMPLE VOICETHREAD FOR WORKSHOP–
Shortcuts
June 11, 2009
We all look for shortcuts. When taking a long trip, we see where we can cut out a few miles. When cooking we look for ways to cut down the prep time or cook time. Students are forever looking for ways to short cut the learning experience. Well, recently I worked with a faculty member preparing a conference presentation and demonstrated some keyboard shortcuts to use during the presentation to help with navigation.
GIS class creates campus map for students with disabilities
January 23, 2009
In fall 2008, geography professor Kimberley Klinker decided to try a new approach with her Introduction to GIS class. Instead of the traditional lecture-and-lab format, she designed her class as a five-week “bootcamp,” where students learned critical concepts of geographic information systems and the ArcGis software, and used the rest of the semester for field- and project-work. The result? A success. The students developed a map for students with disabilites to use to navigate their ways around the UR campus. Kim’s students presented their research and final project to the campus community on December 5, 2008.
Klinker’s class studied other schools’ maps, such as Bucknell and UVA-Wise, but thinks UR is one of the schools with the biggest campuses to attempt such a project.
What’s in store for the spring semester? Klinker’s Advanced Spatial Analysis class will be taking the map to the next level, adding additional functionality, and publishing the map online. These maps, eventually, would allow a disabled student to input his or her location and destination, and give the student the shortest and quickest possible routes this student could take that don’t have, say, the interference of curbs and stairs.
If they can help Al Gore win an Oscar . . .
June 24, 2008
. . . then they really know their stuff. The team behind Durante Design helped Al Gore design the “An Inconvenient Truth” presentation. Currently, Nancy Durante has a free online video available called “Creating Powerful Presentations.“
It’s a little long, but has the advantage of being broken into chapters so you can easily jump around or come back to sections easily.
If you have any interest in picking up some great tips be sure to check this out.
This information was found via the Presentation Zen blog which I enthusiastically encourage you to check out.
