Let's chat - September 16 on Twitter

Join us on Twitter for a conversation about digital literacy in adult education in the UO Conference’s first Twitter chat.

If you've never participated in a Twitter chat before, that’s OK - we've never hosted one before, so we will all be learning together! All you need is a Twitter account (it’s free) and internet access during the scheduled time.

A Twitter chat is an online conversation using Tweets on a specific subject. Anyone on Twitter can join in; so it is a great opportunity to network and meet others in the field who are interested in the same topic. It is structured as a set of questions that you reply to or comment on; the questions are posted as the chat happens by the chat moderators (more on them below). You need to know our hashtag - #uochat. Search that hashtag to find the chat. And make sure to add that hashtag to all of your tweets so others can follow and respond to your thoughts.

The first chat you join can be a little overwhelming if there are a lot of participants. Don’t worry about reading every Tweet. Choose some that are the most interesting to you and connect with those people or delve into more depth on a certain area of the topic. The chat moderators are also there to guide the conversation and help everyone participate. This first chat will be moderated by me (@deannajager) and Penny (@TheNerdyPenny). If you have any questions feel free to talk to us in advance or reach out to us on Twitter during the chat. This chat is part of the bigger community of practice we are cultivating through the UO Conference (@uoconference); we look forward to learning with you.

Twitter Chat

Topic: Digital Literacy
Date: Tuesday September 16
Time: 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Hashtag: #uochat




Other hashtags that may be of interest:

#digilit
#edtech
#edchat
#STEM
#adulted
#elearning
#uoconference

Online Diploma Exams

I recently attended a workshop at the Calgary Regional Consortium on Quest A+ diploma exam administration. The session was delivered by two Alberta Education associates, the primary presenter being Jeremy Wiebe Manager, Online Assessment. The presentation was very well done, and the participants had a chance to work with Quest A+ in both facilitator and student roles.

Before we got hands-on experience with Quest A+, Jeremy and his co-presenter Dan, gave some background information on the program, its province-wide implementation, and the changes to Provincial Achievement Tests (now called Student Learning Assessments—SLA). Provincial assessments (diplomas and SLAs) will be increasingly offered in an online environment, and in April 2015, all diploma exams will be offered to students only in digital format (except for those with special accommodations). Some changes have already been made in regards to the online process.

·         Alberta Education is supplying digital format diplomas for teacher perusal.

·         digital format SLAs will be written in September 2014

·         Quest A+ is already being used in many areas for Part A diplomas

·         Math/Science field tests are now exclusively digital

Many Part A (written response) exams are already online. Alberta Ed sees three main benefits to this: Data Security, Ease of Administration, and In-Exam Security. 

Data Security:
Student responses are uploaded every 2 minutes, or every 100 characters as well as every time a student clicks save. If there is an interruption to the internet, student responses are still backed up locally, so no data is lost. These responses are then uploaded automatically so the student can continue writing the exam without interruption (and the student will not be notified that anything was amiss). If there is a hardware issue, the student can switch machines and the most that would be lost is 99 characters. 

Easier Administration: 
The program keeps track of the elapsed time on an individual student basis and will automatically shut off as soon as time runs out. An extra time accommodation, and any other accommodation, can be enabled prior to the exam by the facilitator on an individual student basis. If there is an interruption to the exam (such as a fire alarm), the facilitator can click "pause all" and all exams will be paused. The facilitator can also pause an individual exam if the situation calls for it.

In-Exam Security 
In order to use Quest A+ in an exam situation, Locked Browser must be enabled. Once Locked Browser for Quest A+ is enabled, it automatically shuts down any running programs, and closes all other web browsers, tabs, and windows. Students are not able to insert a CD or USB while the locked browser is activated, and Quest A+ exams will not run without the locked browser. The software also disables functions such as screen sharing and disallows access to all other files and software on the computer. Students can bring their own devices to write the exam as the security features are built into the Locked Browser software, not on individual machines. The exams can be written using Google Chromebooks (CBE has purchased these for student use), desktops, and laptops. To date, there is no mobile device capability. 

The facilitators encouraged teachers to use Quest A+ with their students to prepare them for the impending change. Teachers can help to prepare students by using practice exams. To date, there are practice exams for all diplomas except ELA 30-1/2. Alberta Ed is working with publishers to make the readings available online. They expect they will have practice exams in the next few months.

Alberta Education has codes for instructors to use with Quest A+ to simulate an actual exam writing experience (requires student log-in and teachers can set accommodations). An unlimited number of students can use one code for practice exams, and so an entire class could write the same practice exam. Students get immediate feedback on their scores with a list of their incorrect items. Students can then go back and redo any incorrect items. I will be contacting Jeremy shortly for codes and will share them with any interested instructors. Please let me know if you would like codes for your class(es).

For more information, please see the Prezi that Jeremy and Dan provided. I’m also happy to answer any questions you may have about the session.

Maureen Stewart

Curriculum Development Exam Lead

PowerPoint and videos: why the Media Development Team chose these

The technology options that are available to create educational media are numerous and growing. One of our main goals is to help instructors increase their abilities to create relevant instructional media; so to succeed with this we need to narrow down the options. We have chosen to use PowerPoint and video, but you may be wondering why. If so, read on.

First of all we need to look at why we need media at all. Traditional learning has revolved around face-to-face classes, text-dominant class textbooks, lectures and discussions with note-taking. This is a highly oral/audio- and text-based way of learning. The visual element has been limited or neglected altogether, although research has repeatedly found that visuals aid understanding and memory - hence, learning. Our aim is to get more visuals into educational materials - both still images and moving images - and to be able to share these materials with each other, learners, and other organizations. Below are the seven conditions we considered before choosing the media that will allow us to use visuals most effectively.

This article and more information are available on the Foundational Learning Curriculum Website with the Why PowerPoint and Video? link.

Accessibility

PowerPoint has become standard in all offices and office software packages, so not only is it accessible to instructors it is also accessible to learners. LIkewise for videos; they can be uploaded to online sharing sites, such as YouTube, which makes them easy to access in the classroom, at a learner’s home, or on a mobile phone.

User friendly

Anyone who has used any MS Office product will be familiar with the layout of PowerPoint which means it will be easier for beginners to navigate than other slideshow or presentation software options. As of 2009, YouTube became the second largest search engine, meaning that there are a lot of people already accessing the videos hosted there. As such, it has attracted many instructors who create and post free educational content that learners are actively looking for. Lastly, both PPT and YouTube have simplified media options; this means that no one has to be a technology expert to use them effectively.

Stability

Some tech comes and goes. Lots of interesting and innovative stuff is out there, but it doesn’t all have staying power. We don’t want to have everyone learn new skills and produce great learning materials that are not relevant or useable in two years. Both PowerPoint and YouTube have proven staying power which means it is worth investing our time to learn how to use them.

Sharing options

Sharing is a key component of the way we develop curriculum. If you can’t share it with others who need it, how valuable is what you created? PowerPoint presentations and videos can be shared through email, posted to websites and learning management systems (such as BlackBoard or Desire to Learn), and uploaded to the internet on sites such as YouTube. YouTube is also a great way of sharing media for those who watch it on mobile devices.

Integration

Rapid development is another focus of our curriculum process. We like all of our technologies to integrate with each other so that we can save time. We start by creating a PowerPoint presentation. To create a video, we take the PowerPoint and load it into Camtasia Studio (video creation software). Camtasia Studio is fully compatible with PowerPoint,so we can use the slides “as is” and add narration, motion, and annotation. Camtasia Studio then allows us to upload our completed video directly to YouTube. And YouTube videos can be easily embedded on most any website and work well with the mybvc portal. Additionally, PowerPoint presentations can easily be saved as PDF files for viewing on mobile devices or printing off for in-class use.

Support options

When selecting software we need to consider what support will be needed to use it and what is support is readily available. In terms of training, the Foundational Learning Media Development Team can offer workshops and one-on-one help with PowerPoint, Camtasia Studio, and YouTube; as well, the Teaching and Learning Enhancement (TLE) Team in the LRS are also skilled in these software options. Additionally, if technical problems occur, the BVC IT team is already set to help with MicroSoft products, including PowerPoint, and Google has accessible support for their products, including YouTube.

Forward Thinking

Even stable technology changes over time; it gets updates, enhancements, and new features. When selecting educational technology we need to consider which types of skills we will be able to transfer to future technologies. History has shown that when PowerPoint gets updates, the base technology skills are still relevant. The growth of the internet and of online education over the last decade has shown that the technology skills of searching and uploading digital content (such as with YouTube) are, and will continue to be, valuable. Besides technology skills, media creation requires many visual skills; the visual literacy skills used with the technology in our media projects can be applied to other mediums - photography, print, and other digital presentation formats, for example. Another big change in technology is the growth of mobile learning and the need to make educational content easily accessible on cell phones and tablets. Many software products do not display well on mobile devices which limits their future usability.

mybvc.ca Showcase

Showcase
Next Wednesday (November 28th) you will have the opportunity to learn all about the mybvc.ca portal and the Google Apps that work along with it. The showcase has been established to create awareness of the availability of the portal and the Google Apps for use by teachers and students to improve learning. The showcase will substantiate a dialogue of best practices and encourage further use and support of these applications.

Faculty and staff are invited for the morning session and are asked to register (lunch included); feel free to join us at any time - you don't need to stay for the entire morning. Students can drop by anytime in the afternoon without registering. Please let your students know about this free event!

Where to start
Interested in collaborative writing? Check out the exhibit on Google Drive. Want to know more about finding educational videos? Drop by the exhibit on YouTube. Curious about how to connect with learners outside the classroom? Chat with the experts at the Blogger and Groups exhibit. Click here to see information about all the booths and the day's schedule.

What is the mybvc.ca portal?
The portal provides information, announcements and resources to students 24 hours a day and is accessible with their official mybvc.ca email address. Google Apps, such as Gmail, Drive and Calendar, are available for free for students, with abundant file storage and easy sharing. Students can use the portal as their single sign-on to start using the apps right away, in an environment with which many are already familiar. In short, students can take full advantage of an online and mobile learning environment.

Faculty and staff can take advantage of students' connections to these tools. They can correspond with students, with Gmail and chat. They can send assignments, receive submissions, and reply with feedback, keeping track of these emails for future use as threaded conversations. Faculty can use Drive as a collaborative content management tool for course documents, such as Word, Excel and PDF files, with sharing and real-time mulit-user editing enabled. Faculty and staff can create calendars, for exams and events, to be shared with colleagues and students, made available on the web or Outlook. YouTube videos can be hosted and easily shared.  All of these tools are available free of charge as part of Google Apps for Education edition and can be managed by the college using a full suite of administration tools. Teachers can continue to work the way they currently do and do so more effectively

For more information on this event, please see the Foundational Curriculum website.

Educational PowerPoint

With low quality photos, irritating colour combinations, and text swirling and darting across the screen, it can be painful to sit through a PowerPoint presentation. But done well, PowerPoint can be a very useful educational tool.


In Academic Foundations we started the Media Development Project to help instructors learn how to use PowerPoint effectively and educationally. In terms of design, there are three main concepts that need attention.

1. Instructional Design
• Align to a specific learning outcome for a specific course
• Limit the amount of information to be covered
• Do more than present information - get learners thinking and applying skills
• Ensure the sequence of slides is logical for the topic
• Ensure all visuals are educational, not decorative

2. Visual Design
• Choose colours for contrast that is easy on the eyes
• Use a font that is easy to read
• Be generous with white space
• Be consistent in style and colour throughout the presentation
• Use high-quality, high-resolution images
• Keep images simple
• Ensure that you have the right to use the images you choose
• Use animation and images for effect, not decoration
• Minimize text

3. Presentation Design
• Have a beginning, middle, and end
• Have only one idea per slide
• Write clear and adequate notes in the Speaker Notes section
• Understand that this is not a stand-alone resource; the presenter needs to be equally prepared

There is a lot to consider for each of these three concepts. Watch this blog for more detailed posts about each one.

For an entertaining overview of everything not to do, check out this video: Life After Death by PowerPoint.