EOSET 2005 Program
Registration and Refreshments
Refreshments compliments of WebCT.
Introduction and Welcome
David Poole, Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning, Trent University
Más arriba: An Introductory Spanish Experience
Gary Aitken, Modern Languages & Literatures, Trent University
The objective of this technology showcase is to introduce participants to the exercise material of Más arriba, an electronic workbook for beginning Spanish students, in order to demonstrate its application as a learning tool for second-language acquisition and reinforcement.
The exercise material of Más arriba has been developed as a pictorial contextualization of basic vocabulary and language points. The site contains instant feedback and vocabulary help. Extensive sound files will be introduced shortly. The visual exercises of Más arriba are designed to accompany the new Canadian edition of ¡Arriba! Comunicación y cultura (Pearson Education Canada, 2005) and to complement the textual exercises of the ¡Arriba! Companion website. However, the material of Más arriba can be adapted quite easily to other textbooks and approaches.
Participants in this session will have an opportunity to see how the exercise material provides an intensive review, reinforcement and extension of language points already presented and practiced within the classroom activities, the workbook exercises and the lab program.
Pushing the Right Buttons in the Large Class Format
Daniel D. Lefebvre, Biology, Queen's University
How to keep a class of hundreds of first year students engaged and enthusiastic about your lecture material may be the greatest challenge you will ever encounter in academia. To do this, you may attempt conventional techniques that work with the majority of students. However, capturing and holding the attention of the troublesome few before they affect other students is not an easy task in this day of video clips that encourage an eight second attention span. Technological advances similar to those that enable the production of hyper-speed music videos can be implemented to great effect in the more sedate lecture environment. The first year general biology course at Queen's University is composed of 1,000 students taught in two groups of 425 and one group of 150 students. Although lectures took place throughout the day from 8:30 to 5:30, it was clear that, at all times, all course sections appreciated the multimedia approach. Interjecting Power Point based lectures periodically with short videos, voice-over presentations, animation and theme music was very successful in capturing and maintaining students' interest in the subject matter at hand. These media connected biology to relevant current issues (news clips, expert opinions), put discovery into historical context (photographs, music), and presented complex processes clearly (animations). Developments in computer speed and lecture software allows media transitions to be performed such that the appropriate flow of information can be provided directly from a single computer, however this lecture style may not be for the faint of heart.
Library Skills Program: Integrating Basic Research Instruction into Any Course Using WebCT
Jean Luyben, Bata Library, Trent University
Most University students don't know how to use library resources effectively. They also don't know that they don't know, or that they can learn. The Internet makes it easier to find less-scholarly material, leading to the belief that anyone can find anything online and with ease. University instructors know that skills are required for effective research, but find it difficult to ensure that students have them.
The Library Skills Program is an online program that is easily incorporated into a course curriculum. The program is run entirely by the library. Course instructors participate by making it a requirement of the course, setting a start and end date, directing all questions back to the library, and doing something meaningful with the grades sent to them.
Because the program uses WebCT, students have the flexibility to work on it at their own time and speed.
This session will outline the structure of the course and provide a live demonstration of the program. Student and Faculty response to the program will also be presented.
Download Library Skills Program: Integrating Basic Research Instruction into Any Course Using WebCT
B.1: Enlivening Environmental Studies Using Web-Based Resources
Patricia Ballamingie, Geography & Environmental Studies, Carleton U.
Environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) are increasingly making strategic use of the Internet to disseminate environmental messages through audio and visual media. These often provocative (and always visually engaging) web-based resources provide excellent springboards from which to launch a more substantive, academic discussion. They can be used selectively to enliven the classroom (particularly in first- and second-year classes).
During my 20-minute presentation, I will showcase two websites, and two short, animated digital video clips, to give the audience a sense of the breadth of resources available. First, I will highlight The Body Burden Profile - a study conducted by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in collaboration with the Environmental Working Group. This site graphically illustrates the chemical contamination of nine individuals. It also offers a user interface through which students can assess their own exposure. Second, I will explore a series of PollutionWatch maps that elucidate releases and transfers of carcinogenic pollutants based on 2001 information from the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI). This site also allows students to input their home postal code in order to investigate local releases into air and water. Next, I will look at the types of discussion that can be spurred by two short, digital video clips: HummerDinger - a parody by animator Mark Fiore (in conjunction with the Sierra Club); and The Meatrix - from Free Range Graphics and the Global Resource Action Centre for the Environment (GRACE). I will conclude with a brief synopsis of student feedback and personal reflections on such educational technologies.
Download Enlivening Environmental Studies Using Web-based Resources (PowerPoint, 554 KB)
Weekly Interactive Online Exercises and Quizzes in Introductory Astronomy
David Patton, Physics, Trent University
Large introductory classes present a challenge to instructors and students alike. The regular assignments and tests of a small class are often replaced by a few large multiple choice tests, making assessment manageable, but greatly reducing the quality of the overall learning experience. With this in mind, I recently introduced an online interactive learning facility called Astronomy Online (by Tim Slater) into my large Introductory Astronomy class at Trent University . Within the WebCT environment, students now complete weekly assignments, using interactive online tools such as videos, calculators, and links to external websites. Written answers are saved online by the students, and graded online by a single teaching assistant. Each assignment is followed by a multiple choice quiz, graded by WebCT. In this talk, I review the success of this approach, from both the instructor's and the students' perspective.
Guidelines for Integrating Technology into Your Course
Group presentation by the Centre for e-Learning, Teaching and Learning Support Service, University of Ottawa : Elizabeth Campbell, Anne Patry, Marc Bélanger, Daniel Dostie, Richard Pinet and André Séguin
Watch as the team from the Centre for e-Learning role plays one method they use to integrate technology when they collaborate with faculty at the University of Ottawa.
The group will demonstrate the initial consultation with the professor (Needs Analysis) followed by the "objective - teaching method - media" approach that can be very effective when integrating technology into a course. The integration of technology in this way establishes a link between formulating learning objectives and selecting teaching methods and media which maximize the learner's ability to master the desired learning outcomes and skills. This approach can result in more efficient teaching on the part of the professor and more effective learning for the student.
To help you in evaluating whether a new idea or technology is worth implementing in your own course, the second half of this session will demonstrate different types of activities and tools that the Centre has produced at low, medium and high design and technical complexity levels.
This session will use role play, case study, demonstrations and discussion so that you will be able to:
- Identify and discuss some of the stages for integrating technology into your own courses or online projects;
- Identify different types of activities and tools produced by the Centre for e-Learning that use the "objective - teaching method - media" approach;
- Discuss the kinds of online activities you can do to produce meaningful and engaging learning for your students.
Download Guidelines for Integrating Technology into Your Course (PowerPoint, 1.8 MB)
Lunch provided
What You See Is What You Capture
James Watson, Bata Library, Trent University
This technology showcase will demonstrate the use of Camtasia video screen recording software. Perhaps you have a website you want to demonstrate to students, or a computer application. Camtasia will capture all your screen actions. You can then edit and add things like callouts, text boxes, voice narration, etc. In a few steps the video can be published to the Web in Flash format, or other popular web-based formats, for delivering streaming video.
Download What You See Is What You Capture (PowerPoint, 542 KB)
The Impossible Dream? Non-Passive Learning in an Electronic History Classroom
David Dean, History, Carleton University
Patrick Lyons, Educational Development Centre, Carleton
Establishing a student-centred learning environment in the history classroom is not a particularly challenging task. History students expect that at some point they will be instructed to examine a primary source (usually distributed in class or made available through a course reader) either on their own, or in pairs or groups, and to report back to the class on their findings. However, in an electronic classroom, the more traditional instructor-centred learning environment is a given: the lecturer has control of the technology and s/he uses that technology to deliver content, albeit in an exciting and visually stimulating way, to a relatively passive student body. This presentation explores how in a second year British History survey course students were empowered to take some control of the classroom. Two strategies were adopted. First, students were instructed to arrive ready to interact with other students by drawing on sources, arguments and debates delivered through WebCT. Second, inside the classroom, groups equipped with laptops were empowered to set their own agendas in exploring on-line resources to enhance knowledge. This presentation reflects on the pitfalls and benefits of the experience, and the challenges faced by the instructor seeking to create a less passive learning environment in the electronic classroom.
Download The Impossible Dream? Non-Passive Learning in an Electronic Classroom (Pdf, 234 KB)
Using WebCT to Support a Community of Practice
Geoff Roulet & Krista Taylor, Faculty of Education, Queen's University
Reflecting a view of "teaching as both an intellectual and practical activity" the Queen's University Bachelor of Education program has multi-week in-school practicum sessions separated by periods of on-campus course work. The expectation is that teacher candidates will bring together theory and practice as they reflect upon their daily classroom experiences. The reality often is that, while isolated from the university environment and caught up in the pressures of teaching, little deep reflection takes place. For reflection and critical examination of experience to occur, teacher candidates need to share and discuss on a daily basis their practice teaching experience. For the past few years, students in my secondary school mathematics curriculum course, through a WebCT based conference, have been provided, while away from campus, with a place for on-going sharing of teaching stories and dilemmas. In the Fall of 2004 eighty-five percent of the class took part in the discussions, posting a total of 667 messages over a 9 week period.
In an effort to increase the value of this practicum conference we have analysed the topic threads arising in the conversation, surveyed the participants concerning their impressions of the sharing experience, and conducted in-depth interviews with a sampling of the class. This session will present the results of this study and provide an opportunity to discuss ways in which an online discussion can support the building of community and the exchange of experience while students in professional programs are dispersed in practice/clinical settings.
Download Using WebCT to Support a Community of Practice (PowerPoint, 358 KB)
Queen's Integrated Learning Centre
David Lay, Integrated Learning Centre, Queen's University
In Queen's University's Integrated Learning Centre, technology is used in two ways;
- Specially equipped rooms that enable instructors to use new teaching methods.
- Collection, and presentation on the World Wide Web, of a huge quantity and variety of information about the operation of the building.
The most conspicuously different room in the Centre is the Teaching Studio, which has a monitor for each pair of students, which they watch while facing toward the centre of the oval room. The monitors are wired to the instructor's station, where computer-generated, electronic whiteboard or document camera presentations can be made. Behind the students are small laboratory setups with networked computers. This arrangement permits alternation of lecture and hands-on experience, which has been found to be a powerful reinforcing method.
The Design Studio has high-end CAD stations, and the associated prototyping centre has a Printed Circuit Board mill and a 3D printer, or Rapid Prototyping Machine. The 3D printer allows students to create objects and then see models of them in a matter of hours.
The IL Centre was built with a Live Building capacity, meaning both that building components are exposed to view, and that data is continuously collected from building systems including HVAC, utilities, the computerized lighting system, temperatures, solar array performance, etc. This huge quantity of information is being organized in Web pages that provide both graphical output for general interest and education, and the ability to request a block of data for more serious work including research.
Download Queen's Integrated Learning Centre (PowerPoint, 1.315 MB)
What I learned about integrating IT into the large-sized university classroom
Ruth Rees, Faculty of Education, Queen's University
"Critical Issues for Equity and Adapting Teaching for Exceptional Learners" is a mandatory course in Education; this means that at least 700 students, divided into sections of 40 take this course. There were several questions that directed the web-based design for the course:
- How do we ensure that teacher candidates in all sections are receiving comparable information?
- How do we ensure that the instructors have the material with sufficient lead-time and are prepared (due to constant turnover)?
- How do we ensure that teacher candidates and new teachers are being supported in the field (in their teaching placements) by this course material?
- How do we develop/organize/portray material so that it is readily revised and updated and easily expanded?
Over four years, we have developed and expanded the course website which has been developed in order to meet the above criteria. It has taken time, resources (using students on summer work experience-SWEP), and most important, an overall plan on how material should be included.
The purpose of the presentation is to walk interested colleagues through the website, to discuss how material was arranged, how links were arranged with the Education Library, and what material was put and not put onto the website. We decided, for example, to include instructor-designed materials and articles for which copyright could be obtained, all as Word, HTML, and PDF files (teachers in the public system use WordPerfect); and to include an inexpensive course reader, update annually, for material that required copyright and that was not available on the web.
Just-in-Time Teaching in 1st Year and Upper Year Physics Courses
Rachel Wortis and Alan Slavin, Physics, Trent University
The broad goal of Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) methods is to enhance students' engagement with course material to facilitate a transition from passive to active learning. We will describe the JiTT approaches we have implemented and discuss their effectiveness from a variety of perspectives including student feedback and instructor perceptions. Our presentation will address implementation both in the introductory physics course at Trent and in more advanced courses. Specifics include the frequency, timing and content of preclass quizzes-both online and in class-as well as how the feedback provided is used.
Download Just-in-Time Teaching in 1st Year and upper-year Physics Courses (PowerPoint, 207 KB)
Using WebCT to Access Internet Resources for a University Seminar and Lab Course
Fraser Bleasdale, Psychology, Trent University
The objective of this technology showcase is to demonstrate the use of WebCT to access Internet resources for two different types of university courses. In a fourth-year seminar course, WebCT was used to post URLs that students clicked to gain immediate online access to full-text copies of E-base readings assigned weekly. Students also completed WebCT quizzes based on the readings prior to each seminar and were given feedback on their performance at the time of each quiz, as well as in a WebCT grade book which maintained a record of all their quiz scores. In a second year lecture course with a lab component, students clicked on a WebCT-posted URL to link to a website operated by the University of Mississippi where students participated in a variety of real-time online experiments. Data generated in these experiments were saved on the remote site in files that were later downloaded to WebCT for student use, along with relevant assignment instructions and information. Records of each student's participation in the experiments were made available to the instructor which provided a means to monitor participation and assign grades. Subsequent student surveys in both courses suggested that WebCT-based access to Internet resources was viewed positively and enhanced students' learning experiences.
Teaching Milton in the Electronic Age: the Pros, Cons and Complications
Elizabeth Popham, English Literature, Trent University
In the "Liberated Learning Project," speech recognition technology is used "to create a learning environment where all students have equal access to information" (www.liberatedlearning.com). The simultaneous transcription of lectures is a tool which enables improved access in the classroom for students with a number of physical and perceptual difficulties. However, a text-based course-particularly one focusing on highly structured poetic texts-requires a precision impossible to duplicate in simultaneous transcription of speech. Moreover, Milton 's highly visual imagery invites analogy with Renaissance art and science. These complications have proved to be a stepping-off point to a multi-tiered pedagogical experiment.
I will discuss the pedagogical challenges presented by this particular subject matter, as well as the adaptations which have allowed me to make effective use of digital technology both in the classroom and in the construction of an electronic resource centre for students in the course.
In the first section of the presentation, I will illustrate the operation of the "Liberated Learning" technology, in conjunction with PowerPoint to enable the integration of visual images and text into the lecture format. I will then take the audience to WebCT to demonstrate how three tiers of electronic media (PowerPoint, voice transcription-and-recording technology and WebCT) are used in conjunction as components of an electronic resource site.
Note about viewing the EOSET presentation: The 'Liberated Learning' audio/transcription files run best on RealPlayer [Visit www.real.com for the free download]. Log onto the audio/transcript first. Set "View" to "On top while playing" and then move the RealPlayer window to the right side of your screen before opening the Powerpoint presentation [Teaching Milton in the Electronic Age (HTML for Internet Explorer, 3KB) ]. You should be able to view the Powerpoint slides while listening to the audio and viewing the transcription. If you experience "technical difficulties," please record the error message and let me know (epopham@trentu.ca) so that the technical experts can try to solve the problem.
Studio-Style Teaching using Computer Simulation
Brian Frank, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Queen's University
The Faculty of Applied Science at Queen's University finished construction of the Integrated Learning Centre (ILC) in September 2004. It includes a Teaching Studio, an experimental facility that provides the opportunity to integrate lecturing and application (in the form of computer simulations or laboratory experiments). This allows instructors to unify the theoretical and practical aspects of a course, and allows a "just-in-time" teaching model.
As part of a project with the Instructional Development Centre (IDC) at Queen's University, a final year elective engineering course (Microwave and RF Circuits and Systems) was transitioned from a standard lecture format to the studio format. The class was scheduled to fit into two 1.5-hour sessions per week. A typical 1.5 hour session included a short "lecture" period outlining a theoretical concept in microwave engineering followed by a flexible time period of student activity. Students, working in pairs, were given short in-class assignments which usually involved computer simulations of microwave circuits. These simulations allowed students to "see" some of the aspects of microwave circuits that are difficult to present in a traditional classroom. The computer simulations are an inexpensive alternative to studio-style instruction of microwave circuits using laboratory equipment, which would require approximately $100,000 per pair of students.
This presentation will present a review of the outcomes of studio-style teaching presented in the literature, and the advantages and challenges of this teaching style. It will also present experiences with this style of teaching, student feedback on the teaching style, and thoughts for further improvement. Outcomes of this teaching style, both qualitative and quantitative, will be discussed.
Download Studio-Style Teaching Using Computer Simulation (pdf format, 376 KB)