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Educator's Voice

Volume 6, Issue 12
December 14, 2005

Thinking Outside the Course

I have the honor of traveling around the country and presenting to instructors and developers at conferences, trainings, workshops and seminars. During my travels, I try to take notice of the elements I present that elicit the "cool!" response. You know, the things I show them that get a reaction of "Wow, that's cool!" or "I never knew you could do that!" And while I wish that were the case for everything I said (only my three-year-old niece thinks everything I say is magic), I realize that sometimes the most exciting part of teaching is seeing a simple idea from another teacher from a completely new perspective. And, as a teacher and consultant, I have the opportunity to gather ideas from all kinds of creative, "out-of-the-box"-thinking faculty and designers. I thought I might share a few of these with you today.

Let's start with external Web sites. While I know that there are hundreds of thousands (yes, there are that many!) Web sites out there dedicated to learning and education, I also know that most instructors don't have the time to wade through them all. By far, the biggest "wow" I hear is when I share a spreadsheet with over 150 references to third-party educational Web sites, most of which are free. However, since such a spreadsheet won't fit here, I will give you some examples.

Worried about your student's right to privacy, but you still want them to upload a photo of themselves in an introduction? (There is currently a court case regarding this very matter.) Take a look at the caricature zone at www.magixl.com. This site has a caricature creator that lets you render a caricature of yourself and upload it in your introductory threads. With the caricature creator, you can make yourself look any way you'd like to!

Want a free, easy-to-use image resizer that works for all image types? Paint certainly has limitations and image editors can be temperamental and expensive. Try http://bluefive.pair.com/pixresizer.htm. It will take any file type and create any file type.

Looking for a nice rubric generator to create effective grading matrices? One of the most popular on the Net is found at www.rubistar.com. They have pre-populated templates as well as tools that allow you to custom build your own. Keep in mind that with some sites, they ask for information about you. You certainly don't have to share anything uncomfortable, and you can always use a "John or Jane Doe" alias.

How about simulations? There are hundreds, if not thousands of simulations available on the Internet; you just have to search a little bit. For one of the best eye patient simulators I've ever seen, try http://cim.ucdavis.edu/EyeRelease/. For an X-ray demonstration, try http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/xray/. Take note that you (and your students) may have to download Java or Shockwave (etc.) in order to play certain files.

Do you need to create a PDF file from a Word document? There are several free converters available. You might try this one: www.pdf995.com.

Would you like to create an interactive timeline? The process will take a bit of your time, but the outcome is certainly worth it. Try this timeline creation site: http://timeline.cer.jhu.edu/about.htm. If you'd like to see a tutorial for this site created by a school, Click Here .

Do you want your students to use correct APA or MLA citations? (Or are you writing papers for your own advanced degree?) There are several citation creators available online. One of them is: http://citationmachine.net. Just fill in the appropriate data and it spits out a citation for you instantly.

In addition to specific Web sites like the ones mentioned above, there are also several repository sites. These are sites dedicated to providing free Web site resources to educators. Probably the most famous is www.merlot.org. At www.merlot.org, you can type your own subject matter area into their search field and get results for simulations, syllabi, PowerPoint shows, research and much more!

Hopefully, you can see how effective using third-party Web sites can be. Link your students to a Web-based experience, let them perform the task(s), and bring them back to a discussion in your course to go over their findings. You may also use the Web site for your own research and incorporate it into your class. There are even some wonderful tutoring sites for students. To sample these tools, go to http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/owl/index.html.

If needed, there are also some things that you can do within your course that might make it a little more robust or interactive.

Do you want to see if your students read your lectures or announcements? How about this creative gem I picked up from an instructor in Iowa. First, password-protect a quiz or exam. Then, place the password inside your lecture or announcement. If—or probably more appropriately, when—students e-mail you asking about a password, you will know who does and who does not read the material!

Ever considered using the discussion boards as a debate forum? Why not instruct your students to begin their posting with "For" or "Against" a specific topic. Let the debates begin!

How about using Case Studies for different groups in class, while still asking them to discuss a general topic together? First create your groups, then create multiple case studies, assigning each of these to one of the groups you created. Finally, in your threaded discussion, ask students to respond to a common thread from the case studies, bringing with them their experiences and information from their particular case study. (By the way, there are some really good existing case studies on the net, and they are free!)

Would you like your students to perform a learning path exercise? This is an assignment that asks them to make decisions about a topic that may be different from that of every other student. It's simple! Create it in PowerPoint and upload it into your course. PowerPoint slides can be linked to one another, you can give your students some text, then give them a number of choices. Within each choice, link to the appropriate next slide. (Think of the Choose Your Own Adventure books we read as kids.) So, if they choose answer # 1, it links to slide #4, while answer #2 links to slide #10, etc. Your links will stay live when you use the PowerPoint upload tool in the eCollege system.

For my final recommendation, I really encourage any of you who have not seen the archived eCollege newsletter articles, to go in and do so! There are some outstanding tips and tricks that might really enhance your course(s) and some are as simple as a couple of clicks of the mouse. From a virtual office to virtual illustrations, the "Educator's Voice" newsletter archives contain a wealth of great ideas!

I hope you enjoyed this little foray into creative uses of the learning platform. Maybe it sparked an idea or maybe you want to use a specific one of these. Just remember that your course does not have to be limited because of technology. Instead, it can be enhanced beyond belief! Good luck and good teaching.

—Jeff D. Borden, M.A., Education Liaison

TIP

Enhancing Course Content with Multimedia

Enhancing your online course with different forms of multimedia (audio, video and graphics) not only captures your students' attention, but also incorporates different learning style techniques into your course. Outlined below are media specs that are important to keep in mind when incorporating multimedia into your course(s):

Video Suggestion: Chunk the video into ten-minute clips. The file size should not exceed 10MB.

Audio Suggestion: Use ten-minute chunks or less. The file size should not exceed 10MB.

Graphics/Images Suggestion: Do not let file sizes exceed 20k. This size would take 3-4 seconds to load on a dialup (56 kbps). An 8-10k file would be preferable, particularly if you plan to use several graphics per page.

—Theresa Turner, Instructor Support Coordinator