Tutorials: Using Eyejot and Eyejot This!

Hi!  So, are you enticed about the video e-mail possibilities for Eyejot to enhance your teaching and professional communications?  Click here for a brief tutorial. If you haven't yet checked out my initial demonstration of Eyejot, see my blog post on Friday, July 23, 2010.

Once you've used Eyejot to send video e-mails, you might decide to use the Eyejot This! plug-in for web browsers, which will enable you to send students, colleagues and friends links to any webpage along with a video commentary provided by you -- pretty neat if you want to contextualize and/or direct viewer attention to particular website features.  Click here for a brief tutorial.

So, why use these? Because e-mail is an efficient and accessible form of communication, but it's also one that can be easy to ignore, especially for students.  If one of the things you want to accomplish as a teacher is a social presence and rapport with students, providing a video can provide what may be the best approximation of face-to-face interaction (short of synchronous video messaging like Skype) in an online environment. If another thing you want to do is to increase the likelihood that students will engage in course work and resources outside of class, using tactics like reminders and brief explanations might provide some extra incentive... and, potentially, using video might improve the effectiveness of such messages by making them more personalized, engaging, and novel (i.e., more fun, and with your own personal presence).

Welcome to Eyejot!

I discovered Eyejot after reading an article in this morning's online Chronicle about the recent Sloan-C conference on technology and teaching.  There's other good stuff in the article, FYI, about using social networking (especially Facebook) as a teaching tool.

But one conference contributor suggested the use of video updates for students, as a means to potentially increase the level of student engagement with things like assignment reminders and course updates. Since a key concern in my project is the potential impacts of blended learning technologies and strategies on perceptions of teacher immediacy and social presence, this option sounded really attractive -- instead of reading verbal text that's easy to ignore and delete, students can see my face and hear my voice as I provide a brief message of explanation and reminder.  As well, as you can see, you can get embed code for the video file so you can put in in, say, a Moodle course page.

Later on, I'll post a brief tutorial video on how this works.  Like any good online tool, the basic version is free!  Check it out.

How can mobile SMS communication support and enhance a first year undergraduate learning environment?

Jones, Gerladine, Garbriele Edwards, and Alan Reed. “How Can Mobile SMS Communication Support and Enhance a First Year Undergraduate Learning Environment?” ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology 17.3 (2009): 201-218.

Jones, G., Edwards, G., & Reid, A. (2009). How can mobile SMS communication support and enhance a first year undergraduate learning environment? ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology, 17(3), 201-218.

Abstract
In this paper we discuss a case study investing how the academic and personal development of first year students on an undergraduate sports education degree can be supported and enhanced with mobile SMS (Short Message Service) communication. SMS-based technologies were introduced in response to students’ particular needs (in transition to Higher Education) and characteristics (adept mobile communicators). Despite being unaccustomed to using their mobile phones for academic study, students willingly accepted SMS communication with their tutor via a texting management service. This communication was used in concert and integrated with a more traditional learning and reaching context (lectures and a virtual learning environment). Drawing on evidence from two student surveys, focus groups and a tutor’s journal, we illustrate how mobile SMS view of the learning environment we use Laurillard’s (2002) conversational framework (Laurillard, D. 2002 Rethinking university teaching: a framework for the effective use of learning technologies. 2nd edition. London: Routledge.) to analyze and discuss the role of texting in supporting student transition to higher education.

Summary

Instruments to explore blending learning: Modifying a method to analyze online communication for the analysis of face-to-face communication

De Leng, Bas A., et al. “Instruments to Explore Blended Learning: Modifying a Method to Analyse Online Communicaiton for the Analysis of Face-to-Face Communication.” Computers & Education 55.2 (2010): 644-51.

De Leng, B. A., Dolmans, D. H.J.M., Muijtjens, A. M.M., & van der Vleuten, C. P.M. (2010). Instruments to explore blended learning: Modifying a method to analyze online communication for the analysis of face-to-face communication. Computers & Education, 55(2), 644-51.

Abstract

In the complex practice of today’s blended learning, educators need to be able to evaluate both online and face-to-face communication in order to get the full picture of what is going on in blended learning scenarios. The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and feasibility of a practical instrument for analyzing face-to-face communication that is in alignment with tools for analyzing online communication. We examined whether an existing coding scheme for online communication could be modified to evaluate face-to-face communication. We investigated the reliability, validity and usability of a modified version of the Transcript Analysis Tool (TAT) in analyzing communication among students during small-group sessions comprising presentations by students and discussion. The modified TAT proved to be effective in obtaining a detailed description of students’ participation in the communication and of the focus of the communication. Evaluation was more efficient when direct video analysis was used than when a transcript of the same video was analyzed. Direct analysis took about 2 h for 20 min of video recordings and had an inter-rater reliability of k = 0.56. The modified TAT appears to be an effective and efficient instrument to face-to-face communication in small group sessions. Its combined use with an evaluation instrument for online learning may create a powerful evaluation instrument for blended learning. Further studies are needed to establish the value of such an instrument.

Summary

A blended community of inquiry approach: Linking student engagement and course redesign

Vaughan, Norman D. “A Blended Community of Inquiry Approach: Linking Student Engagement and Course Redesign.” Internet & Higher Education 13.1 (2010): 60-5.

Vauhan, N. (2010). A blended community of inquiry approach: Linking student engagement and course redesign. Internet & Higher Education, 13, 60-65.

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe an institutional initiative created to support faculty engaged in blended course redesign. This Inquiry Through Blended Learning (ITBL) program adapted Garrison, Anderson and Archer’s (2000) Community of Inquiry framework in order to provide faculty participants with a guided inquiry process for discussing and reflecting on key redesign questions, exploring blended learning from a student perspective, integrating the new experiences and ideas, and then applying this knowledge through the implementation of a course redesigned for blended learning. An overview of the ITBL program, the methods used to evaluate the redesigned courses, the findings, and conclusions are presented in this article.

Summary

Book Report Seven: Student Perceptions of Assessment Efficacy in Online Learning

 Today's summary from Blended Learning: Research Perspectives isn't necessarily groundbreaking stuff -- but it does underscore the importance of considering the developmental experience and capacities of our students as we develop blended learning activities and assessment of those activities.  That's the focus of Brown, Smith and Henderson's study:

Brown, Gary, Tamara Smith, and Tom Henderson. "Student Perceptions of Assessment Efficacy in Online and Blended Learning Classes." Blended Learning: Research Perspectives. Eds. Anthony G. Picciano and Charles D. Dziuban, eds. Needham, MA: Sloan-C, 2007. Print. 145-160

In brief, this study surveyed students of varying age levels and levels of learning experience who took online and blended courses, in order to compare their perceptions of whether the ways they were assessed (i.e., "graded") in the course was a meaningful assessment of what they actually learned. 

The authors follow the relevant literature on "social" learning in their presumption that collaborative, social learning is deeper and more meaningful to enable students to participate in academic "conversations" in a subject area, rather that just regurgitate material on a test or in a perfuctory paper. The study distinguishes between "school" activities, those involving interaction between the individual student and instructor (think multiple-choice exams and traditional term papers) and "community" activities, those involving peer interaction and assessment (think peer discussions and collaborative activities in which peers evaluate each  others' work).  Predictably, perhaps, the study confirms that younger and less experienced students prefer traditional "school" work, while older and more experienced students are mpre likely to see "community" activity assessment as more reflective of learning. 

Given the relatively homogenous student population at Augie, perhaps a predictable implication is that younger students are less ready for online collaboration in blended classes than older students. On the other hand, the authors argue that their findings aren't just reflective of developmental learning theories, but also imply that younger students are less receptive because they have been less exposed to richer learning activities beyond conventional classroom pedagogies.  They argue that if more students are exposed to collaborative "community" pedagogies sooner and more frequently, they'll be more receptive to it.  The truth of that assertion will require more research.  But it's a provocative assertion, for sure.

Less provocative research summary after the jump.

Book Report Six: "Discovering, Designing and Delivering Hybrid Courses"

There's a lot this time, friends.  In this latest installment of summaries from the research anthology Blended Learning: Research Perspectives, Kaleta, Skibba and Joosten present the results of in-depth interviews with faculty from three institutions who adopted hybrid learning courses.

Kaleta, Robert, Karen Skibba, and Tanya Joosten. "Discovering, Designing, and Delivering Hybrid Courses." Blended Learning: Research Perspectives. Eds. Anthony G. Picciano and Charles D. Dziuban, eds. Needham, MA: Sloan-C, 2007. Print. 111-143

Note:  "Hybrid" teaching and learning is the same as "blended"... just a different term scooting around in this literature.  This study does a helpful job of examining the process of adoption, development and execution, using the Diffusion of Innovation Theory as a framework for analysis and discussion. Lots of emphasis is made on core issues such as the need to consider the relationship between course goals, FtF vs. online environments and learning activities carefully, as well as the (sometimes radically) changing roles that new hybrid teachers must navigate.

Besides providing insights to faculty who might potentially adopt hybrid teaching, this chapter is really useful in providing guidelines for faculty development programs that institutions need to adopt in order to motivate and prepare faculty to adopt blended/.hybrid course (re-)design.  The authors repeatedly emphasize the need for institutional support through an awareness and faculty development initiative... I guess we're starting that now?  Anyway, the guts of this program were developed by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Learning Technology Center -- you should find a link to their blended/hybrid learning resources on the bar on the right of your screen, actually.

Lots of nifty chapter summary after the break.

‘I’ve stuck to the path I’m afraid’: Exploring student non-use of blending learning By Orton-Johnson

‘I’ve stuck to the path I’m afraid’: Exploring student non-use of blending learning
Orton-Johnson, Kate. “’I’ve Stuck to the Path I’m Afraid’: Exploring Student Non-use of Blended Learning.” British Journal of Education Technology, 40.5 (2009): 837-847.

Orton-Johnson, K. (2009). ‘I’ve stuck to the path I’m afraid’: Exploring student non-use of blended learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(5), 837-847.

Abstract
This paper draws on qualitative data from a study of student use of blended learning as part of a conventionally taught undergraduate Sociology course. Findings from an early evaluation questionnaire highlighted an overwhelming pattern of non-use of the material and subsequent research with a group of 16 students evidenced limited and inconsistent engagement with the resources. In an analysis of the category ‘non-use’, the students’ rejection of the materials is seen to be closely related to a trust in traditional texts as authentic academic knowledge and an instrumental and strategic approach to study. Blended learning resources are shown to challenge existing learning patterns and practices, reconfigure existing understands and expectations of academic scholarship and reconstruct academic boundaries in new spaces.

Summary

Giving Reluctant Students a Voice By Redekopp and Bourbonniere

Giving Reluctant Students a Voice
Redekopp, Reynold and Bourbonniere, Elizabeth. “Giving Reluctant Students a Voice.” Learning & Leading with Technology 36.7 (2009): 34-35.

Redekopp, R. & Bourbonniere, E. (2009). Giving reluctant students a voice. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36.7, 34-35.

No Abstract

Summary

Hybrid Learning By I.Q.

Hybrid Learning
I.Q. Hybrid Learning. Vol. 29. Editorial Projects in Education Inc, 2010.

Abstract
The article presents a case study of a “hybrid learning” program in Wichita, Kansas that integrates traditional and online learning methods to fight a dropout problem.

Summary

Melissa joins the team!

A brief heads-up, loyal readers -- you will soon notice a new voice on this blog. Melissa Shore, a senior Communication Studies major at Augustana, is my student assistant for this summer's phase of the project. She has been tasked to read, summarize and review scholarship on blended/hybrid learning and on teacher immediacy, so that we can explore the potential impacts of introducing blended learning strategies on student perceptions of teacher immediacy in the classroom.

So, starting soon, Melissa will post brief summaries of research studies in these areas, to supplement my own posts. From time to time, I may ask her to comment on her reactions to this literature, and on the prospect of using blended learning pedagogies, from the student's perspective.

Thanks in advance for your help on the blog, Melissa!

Book Report 5: Graham and Robison, Transformative (vs. Enhanced) Blended Learning

In today's installment of summaries from Picciano and Dziuban's anthology of blended learning research, Charles Graham and Reid Robison share the results of their survey and interview research concerning the types of different approaches to blended learning being used at Brigham Young University.

Graham, Charles R., and Reid Robison. “Realizing the Transformational Potential of Blended Learning." Blended Learning: Research Perspectives. Eds. Anthony G. Picciano and Charles D. Dziuban, eds. Needham, MA: Sloan-C, 2007. Print. 83-110

The study is particularly useful for two primary emphases: its approach to understanding institutional and course-level adoption of blended learning in terms of three key variables (scope of use, purpose of use, nature of use), and its distinction between blended learning strategies intended primarily for convenient access, strategies that enhance traditional pedagogy, and strategies designed to transform pedagogy.  The researchers have an admitted bias in favor of pedagogy that moves away from a traditional "information transmission" paradigm to an active, engaged learner-centered paradigm (one involving interaction, engaged participation, frequent feedback, and connection to real world contexts).

Graham and Robison conclude that, while examples of truly transformative blended pedagogies are out there, and may evolve from less aggressive enhanced learning strategies, an initial emphasis on convenient access and greater productivity in traditional pedagogy might provide barriers to the kind of paradigm shift required for genuinely transformative uses of educational technology.

Enjoy the summary, after the jump!

Book Report 4: Allen and Seaman, Survey Data on Blended Learning Adoption in Higher Education

Yes, I've been busy today.  The latest installment from Blended Learning: Research Perspectives examines survey data from Chief Academic Officers in US higher education between 2003 and 2005, to get a sense of the adoption of blended learning courses and programs.

Allen, I. Elaine, and Jeff Seaman. “Blending In: The Extent and Promise of Blended Education in the United States.  Blended Learning: Research Perspectives. Eds. Anthony G. Picciano and Charles D. Dziuban, eds. Needham, MA: Sloan-C, 2007. Print. 65-80

This is a tricky business, as blended courses aren't as easily recordable at the institutional level as fully online courses (because blended courses use regularly scheduled classrooms and meeting times, just like face-to-face classes, and unlike fully online classes).  This, coupled with the fact that the best of this data is coming up on 10 years old now, limits its utility.  We might surmise that blended learning penetration may have escalated in the following five years.  But perhaps not.  Hopefully Allen and Seaman are keeping this data collection going, and will give us an update soon.

Anyway, for what it's worth, comparative survey data on blended learning adoption after the jump.

"A Vision of Students Today"

Michael Wesch, a cultural anthropologist at Kansas State University, runs a "Digital Ethnography" project and produces provocative videos for YouTube to explore the interactions of media and culture.  Here's a video he did on "A Vision of Students Today" that is based on the collaborative contributions of 200 college students. 

Some of these characteristics and descriptions don't apply to Augustana very well, but many do, and the whole package is a bit jarring -- these are the kids we're trying to reach in higher education today.  Is blended learning going to be an important potential response? We'll see...

Blendblog... Christmas came early this year!

Not much to say on this one... only that it seems most cool!  Blendblog is a blog sponsored by the Blend XL project, an EU initiative. 

What is Blend-XL?  

This is a three-year EU funded project in the Minerva programme. ‘Blend’ in the title is a reference to the development of blended learning and teaching. This ‘blending’ is done on a variety of dimensions such as pedagogy, design, delivery, technology.

The Blend-XL project defines blended learning as the effective, efficient and creative combination of modified face-to-face instruction and online, networked learning supported by pedagogically sound uses of technologies, tools and media.

The project work is aimed at the improvement of the overall learning and teaching practice within specific, locally defined problem areas such as student motivation and active forms of learning.

An added element to this definition is a focus on the implications for learning and teaching in extra large student groups. 'XL' in the project name refers to this focus.

It's European, so there's that... (just kidding), and the project focuses on extra-large groups of students, which isn't our primary concern at Augustana, but there are tons of resources here... it will take a while just to browse and sift, but this is a heckuva find!

As long as I'm shilling... RealPlayer SP

So, as long as I'm shilling, and the subject occurred to me as I was writing my last post, a brief explanation of how I grab online video from YouTube and similar websites -- the free (natch!) RealPlayer SP software package.  It includes an easy-to-use player that is similar to Windows Media Player in many respects (but feels rather different than iTunes... fine for me, as I don't use iTunes) that allows you to organize your audio and video media, create and shatre playlists, sync with external devices, etc. 

But the real fun for me is in the Downloader and Converter programs.  The Downloader plug-in for Internet Explorer is fun -- as the following video (grabbed by Jing!) illustrates, it provides a pop-up box with a link that allows you to download the Flash (FLV) video file to your hard drive.  Then, after the download, you can use the Converter software to convert the FLV file to a format easier for you to use -- say, a Windows Media file, if you want to embed it in PowerPoint, or a MOV or MPEG-4 file, if you want to use it on a Mac device. You can even convert to an audio-only MP3 file (if you're only interested in the song but not the video, for instance... this has come in handy a lot for me).

Check out the coolness after the jump.

Screencast.com -- free storage, easy sharing

As promised, gang, here is an introductory video that briefly describes Screencast.com, a web-based file sharing application from TechSmith, the folks behind Camtasia and Jing.  Just like Jing, the basics of Screencast.com is totally free, and basically involves not only 2 GB of storage for images, videos and other files, but also enables you to easily share those files with whomever you want by sharing a URL weblink, and/or generating code so you can embed the content in a webpage (like a Moodle site for you course, for instance).  Just like Jing, if you want more storage space and more snazzy options you can pay for them, but I like free, especially to get started.

Click here to check out the Screencast.com introductory video.  And then check out my assessment of the video quality after the jump.

Get Jing-y With It!

Just discovered Jing!  It's a free software application connected to Screencast.com (which is also free), created by TechSmith -- the folks who do Camtasia, the software we're using for our lecture podcast construction.

Anyway, why type this? Click here for the link to the tutorial I captured (I embedded it below as an experiment, but as you can see I still have to learn how to resize it).