This blog focuses on my scholarship in my five research projects: learning assistance and equity programs, student peer study group programs, learning technologies, Universal Design for Learning, and history simulations. And occasional observations about life.
Using Social Media in My Introductory Global History Course
With class size increasing in an introductory global history course, more academic support was needed to support students achieving high grades and engagement. Universal Learning Design (ULD) provided the guiding educational theory for using this pedagogical approach to make course content accessible through alternative formats and for all students in a class.
Objectives for students enrolled in course included increasing engagement with the learning process through direct involvement with producing and sharing new information related to the course; stimulating learning through use of emerging technology-based learning venues; building a sense of community by involving students in teaching one another; empowering students to become co-producers of the learning process and the outcomes; and increasing measurable student outcomes, such as lower rates of course withdrawal and higher final course grades.
Interactive Social Media Channels Used by Instructors and Students
iPad. Students use iPads to complete readings (paper textbook eliminated), audio and video files, and create a group visual history project through an ePub for their iPad.
Podcasting. http://iTunes.com For the past five years, podcasts, audio or video recordings delivered automatically to a subscriber through their computer, iPod, or smartphone. Students co-create weekly enhanced audio podcasts to review course material, interview history informants, and create international-themed music programs. The history course podcast is called Then and Now, http://thenandnow.org Weekly podcast episodes provide a review of class topics, exam preparation, interviews with people with life experiences related to class history events, and music reflective of cultures studied during the course. A key for the podcast was that it was co-produced by the course instructor and the students. Individual episodes can be downloaded or free subscription through iTunes. Nearly 200 episodes have been produced during the past five years.
Animoto. http://animoto.com/education Instructor uses online music video software to create reviews of critical slides from the PP presentations for exam review. Students create history music videos of topics of high interest to themselves. Users have the ability to upload digital photos, use the Animoto free music library, add text and title slides, and the online service does the mixing of the videos. Highly professional videos with sophisticated transitions created. Up to 50 free unlimited accounts are available for students in a class each semester. Anyone can obtain a free license to create limited, 30-second music videos. Contact the company to make a request at the web address identified above.
Xtranormal. http://www.xtranormal.com/ Instructor uses the online animation software to create short dialogues among historical characters to illustrate major concepts reviews in the course. Educators can obtain an unlimited license for creating the animated videos. Others can make short ones for free and pay a fee for longer ones. An example was created by the course instructor of a fictional dialogue between Adam Smith, an early proponent of capitalism and Karl Marx, co founder of socialism. The short animated video is available through YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnRNXVLu3ek
Twitter. Instructor alerts students to relevant news stories related to class topics. The history course Twitter feed is http://twitter.com/pstl1251
iPad TV apps. Free apps permit watching during class TV news stories produced in France (France24), Middle East and England with bureaus worldwide (Al Jazeera, BBC).
Wiki Web Page. Students create an exam review web site before major exams. UMN Google Sites is used to host the web site, http://myworldhistory.org
UMConnect. http://www.oit.umn.edu/umconnect/ Use for online interactive study review sessions before major exams. A previous recorded session is available at https://netfiles.umn.edu/users/arend011/PsTL%201251/Exam%20Two%20Review.mov
For more information contact David Arendale, Associate Professor, Co-Director Jandris Center for Innovative Higher Education; University of MN, College of Education & Human Development, Postsecondary Teaching & Learning Department, Burton Hall 225, 178 Pillsbury Drive, SE, Mpls, MN 55455; 612-625-2928; arendale@umn.edu http://arendale.org; http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidarendale
40 iPad Apps for Younger Children
In the past I have shared a directory of my favorite (300) iPad apps I find useful personally and as a college educator. <Click to download the free directory.> Recently I received a message from someone that has focused on younger children. I found it quite good and recommend you check it out. <Click to open the document web site.>
From the author's web site: Jill Rooney, Ph.D. is an Education Writer for OnlineColleges.net. After earning an undergraduate degree in Secondary Education and a Ph.D. in History, Dr. Rooney taught History, Political Science, and General Education college courses at state universities, small private colleges, community colleges, and for-profit colleges. An experienced educator with expertise in American politics, Dr. Rooney has also published articles in publications by the Smithsonian Institution, Oxford University Press, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Her teaching experience has taught her that all students really just want one thing: To learn. And that isn't always easy, so she's here to help! We're also on Facebook: join us for more conversation on college life, study tips, career advice, and more!
2012 David's Guide to iPad Apps
With the holiday season upon us, a frequent gift may be an iPad for Christmas. Christmas Day and the day after are the busiest days of the year for downloading apps for the new device. With more than half a million now available, how to select from them? Maybe I can help in the process a little bit.
Click on the this link to download my personal guide to iPad Apps. It ranges from personal to those I use with my position as a professor at a University. The guide alerts the reader to about 300 of my favorites. Just to be clear, I receive no compensation for any endorsements or promotions of individual apps. Just consider it as one person's opinion about some favorite apps. I remember some members of the popular media gave a hard time to Steve Jobs when during the first press conference for the iPad he called it a "magical device." Well, like so many other things, he was right! God bless Steve Jobs and the 15,000 members of the Apple family of designers and the rest. A special happy holidays to them. :-)
Why only the "outstanding" college students receive slate mobile computers?
I just read an announcement about the University of Southern Mississippi was handing out 1,000 slate computers to their "outstanding" students. [Click to read the online article.] The curious thing about the plan was to only share them with "outstanding" students defined as those from the Honors College, McNair Scholars Program, and Southern Style leadership group.
The article states "Tablets are like the Swiss Army Knife to academic excellence. By leveraging this new technology, we are committed to transforming the way students interact, engage and learn in the classrooms," said Homer Coffman, CIO at Southern Miss, in a statement released today. "The iTech department at Southern Miss is continually challenging itself to support emerging technology and find new ways to put information into the students' hands."
With such a great technology, why not the "average" students or targeting those that are facing academic challenges in a class or two? Why not for students who do not have a mobile device, perhaps due to low income? The college I work at provides an iPad for all first-year students enrolled in the College of Education and Human Development. [Click to read the press release.\ Results look promising. We are repeating the distribution this year at no cost to the students. Preliminary from the instructors in more than 30 classes report favorable positive resutls from the students and the faculty members who enhanced their classroom learning enviroinment. It was also good to know that everyone in the classroom had an effective mobile computer and bridged the "digital divide" due to income restrictions and social capital that some students have and others do not.
Congrats to the University of Southern Mississippi for their bold decision to distribute the 1,000 tablet computers. Please consider more inclusion with next year's program to those who are not quite as outstanding as others (yet). Maybe the mobile devices could help propel more students to that category. Outstanding students probably have more social capital than others. Let's see what happens when more resources are provided to those who might need the resource more.
Digital Storytelling as Powerful Pedagogy
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I find having my students create digital history stories that bring together text, images, and music is a powerful communicator and outlet for personal expression. App Tutorials - Digital Storytelling with the iPad
Recent Social Media Web Bookmarks
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Why Do You Retweet? | Social Media Today Practical reasons for retweeting other people's Twitter messages. Social media is about interaction, conversation, and synergy. When retweeting, add a short comment to add value to the retweet and establish your own expertise with the topic.(tags: Twitter social_media)
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57 Social Media Policy Examples and Resources | Social Media Today Wonderful collection of how social media is managed and used at nearly 60 organizations. Their experiences provides a roadmap of things to do and not do with a new organization strategy for use of social media. (tags: social_media social_media_policies)
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5 Lecturecasting Tools That I Can't Live Without (and Why) - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education I use ScreenFlow to record my class lectures through my laptop. It does a wonderful job of capturing the PowerPoint slides, video clips, and my voice. I use an inexpensive Radio Shack wireless microphone (about $50) and then post the Quicktime movie to the course management system. it requires student password to enter and view the video. Students report average to high satisfaction with the process. One student even commented that they liked it better than listening to me since they felt comfortable in stopping the lecture any time they want, rewinding, and watching again. Now that is what you call "remote control" over the lecture. :-) (tags: screen_capture lecture_capturing instructional_technology)
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Teaching with Omeka - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education A sophisticated online software program for creating digital projects by individuals or groups. (tags: Omeka digital_storytelling collaboration_tools)
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News: Web Re(design) - Inside Higher Ed The basic issue is making web pages friendly for the consumers and not only for the web page designers and those at the institution that give direction to the designers. Reminds me of need for focus groups of potential users to guide the web page design. (tags: web_pages web_page_design)
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Mass Video Courses May Free Up Professors for Personalized Teaching - Technology - The Chronicle of Higher Education I have often thought about separating out the sections of my class sessions that are lecture-focused and placing them online, while reserving the class time for more intense interaction among students and with me. Good ideas in this article. (tags: instructional_technology video_courses personalized_teaching)
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Ask a question on society.me A new service that can be used to establish credibility of a person with a specific content area. It is a form of social networking (a la LinkedIn) that brings together people with questions and those with answers. (tags: Society, Ask_me_anything social_media)
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Using Data to Inform College Access Programming in the 21st Century High School (Using DICAP) | data.ed.gov This is the I3 grant funded for the Council on Opportunity in Education. It focuses on use of data to improve programs and decision making leading to higher college stuccess rates. (tags: I3 COE data_driven_decision-making grants)
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University of Minnesota Mail - Announcing ChimeIn Created by Colin McFadden and team at the University of Minnestoa, Chimeln is a clicker system that uses mobile devices (smartphones, iPads) as a class response system. Check out the video tutorial (tags: Chimeln classroom_clickers student_response_system)
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Simple, Powerful Uses for Google Books - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education Great suggestions for using Google Books both for personal research as well as replacement or supplement of free books for students in classes. (tags: Google_books Google)
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Managing Twitter Favorites - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education Very practical suggestions for identifying and sharing favorite Tweets. I create a "badge" through Twitter and then embed into a web page where I display my favorited Tweets. Nice way to share with others as well as save for my future use. (tags: Twitter social_media)
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Top 10 Sites for Creating Surveys Great free sites for creating surveys. Some of the sites provide enhanced services for a monthly fee. SurveyMonkey is one of the ten. (tags: online_surveys apps)
Google for Scholars: New Web Bookmarks for 2010-07-06
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Google will automatically find web items matching key words and send to your Google reader. Great way to automate some of your research
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Google provides chance for Gmail users to experiment with new features that are under beta testing by the Google development team. Try out adding to Gmail a widget for Google calendar, quick access to Google docs, text messaging, and a chance to recall emails just sent.