Designing a Course Worth Learning 3: Course Video Make

Thinking and talking about the course has turned into action. Yes, UNIV 291 has begun. I did not create a navigation or orientation video because I had provided a lot of instructions on the website. The students didn't seem to be lost. They knew where to start. I had a Get Started button, to be sure.

Most of their questions centered around Learning Activity terms we use in Connected Learning. Were they doing things "right" and questions about social media. Why aren't my tweets showing up? There was anxiety and excitement at blasting off, but I wanted them to feel they belonged to a community right away. So I launched the site, let them navigate the course site a bit and then posted a video to let them know I'm present and available; always listening and responding. I also wanted to emphasize the affordances of the open web, knowing most of them were new to Twitter and were not familiar with Connected Learning.

The video took me considerable time to produce. The following are the tools I used and the production process:

1. PRE-PROD: I thought of what I wanted to say and wrote it out using MS Word. It would come in handy for close-captioning in YouTube later. 
2. I didn't read off the script. It was a guide so that I wouldn't have too many "Ums and Ahs." 
3. PROD: I created the raw videos in Quicktime Player on my iMac. There is an option for Movie recording. I saved both as MOV files. I had gone much longer than I intended to be - about 7 minutes. I split the first file and created another ending movie.  
4. I imported them into WeVideo for editing. [Note: I tried using iMovie but it didn't have the editing timeline I prefer to use but this option is available in WeVideo.] I have a paid account that allows me to have more storage space and editing features in WeVideo. The app didn't work too well with my older Windows machine. It worked better (without crashing) on my newer XP touchscreen laptop. (Just something to note.) In WeVideo, I clipped the videos and merged them with transitions, title and ending slides, audio and annotations.
5. I then published the final movie in WeVideo and YouTube (so that I could close caption it). 
6. POST-PROD: Close captioning was completed rather efficiently with a script in YouTube. 

I was reasonably pleased with the final outcome and what I could do in WeVideo. The whole video took longer than I intended to spend time on because I had not estimated how long my initial script would take. Mostly, it's also in the little details -- what font to use, what music, what transitions, etc. Let me know if you have any questions about creating your own course videos. It's highly doable these days with the available web technologies.

With more time, I would have captured the process with a software, but I'm short of time at the moment. Something to revisit later.
    

Hypothes.is for Shared Annotation

A week ago, Laura (my colleague) tweet-alerted me to someone who had annotated my extended comment to her Twitter Journal Club blogpost.

@yinbk @SuzanKoseoglu @merryspaniel @JeffreyKeefer - @jgmac1106 added an annotation page to his website http://t.co/BzTIojdw3n #cool #tjc15
— Laura Gogia (@GoogleGuacamole) March 13, 2015

It was Greg McVerry, a supergeek. (He knows all these cool tools I've been playing with.) He had responded to my blogpost by annotating and replying to the ideas. Impressive!

@yinbk @GoogleGuacamole @SuzanKoseoglu @merryspaniel @JeffreyKeefer A #tjc15 annotation: http://t.co/RP1kx66oYy
— Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) March 13, 2015

Intrigued, I had to check out Hypothes.is before the second Twitter Journal Club happening. I fiddled with it and used it to annotate #tjc15's second journal article. 

For inquiring minds, Hypothes.is is a Google Chrome extension. You can collaboratively tag, annotate, and comment on other users' public notes and annotations. 

Hypothes.is features

This is something Diigo already allows me to do, but Hypothes.is allows me to show a stream of annotations based on a tag. One thing that I found annoying though, was that I had to keep changing the setting from private/only me to public for every annotation. Is it me, who hasn't found the key to unlock this default private setting? 

Check out the tag stream of #tjc15

The affordances of this Google Chrome extension are pretty slick. I can think of how it might be used in my teaching. Thanks very much, Greg McVerry!

And by the way, what a name!!!

Truthseeking: Onward to the Next #TJC15 event

To Laura, and all potential truth seekers, 

Some preliminary thoughts.

Having read how your experiment first started (the background, your own journal reading club experiences), I understand better why you made the choices you did.

I have had pretty positive experiences of journal article reading with my peers in grad school. In a few classes and during dissertation writing sessions, there were some fine  debates with "a disputatious community of truth seekers" (Donald Campbell cited in Shadish, Cook & Leviton 1991 -- THE Evaluation book every evaluation student must read?). In real life, I've been blessed with some wonderful in-person mentoring experiences through grad school. Leaving those times behind, I often look to replicate these moments -- online and off. Alas, those were different times and a different dissertation topic from yours.

Coming in with those positive experiences, I'm thus of the opinion that reading in advance helped me to learn and participate better (call it learning preference, whatever). I got out of your earlier posts that you are looking for a fresher approach -- the unstructured, unconference, unjournal, un-[insert new approach here] -- which doesn't suggest that older practices may not be good -- which you didn't claim they weren't, at all. I understand now that you are just trying out a new combination of learning conditions to see how learning might work better but differently.  Learning science theories -- I think -- show that designing lessons where the student can be positioned to make as many connections as possible to a new idea helps extend learning. Twitter probably facilitates this, if one can juggle the multiple threads to the same topic. Twitter forgets though that cognitive overload is a challenge for some people. And so, guided instruction may work better for some than minimal guidance.

In the last event, although the frustration of not knowing the content ahead of time and being befuddled -- in my case -- motivated me to go read the interesting article, I wonder how long this ambiguity might sustain interest once the novelty of live-skimming-tweeting wears off or the article is comparably "less" interesting. ;-)) (An assumption probably, since all articles might have to be carefully weighed against some criteria your group has). This is related to Angela Duckworth's research on grit. Do I have the characteristics of grit to overcome the negotiation of ambiguities? Courage, deep commitment, follow-through... to engender intellectual and emotional engagement? So here, the PROCESS of this live-skimming-tweeting experience has an impact on my further engagement. It is also possibly linked to my motivation for participation. For me, it's a fun novel engagement, I've no checkboxes to mark off, no agenda for participating. So, a highly curious question I have for myself: How long would my intrinsic motivation sustain me if the process of constantly negotiating in the zone of change/discomfort/liminality wears me out? My thinking dispositions have held me through many ZPDs, so let's see how this unfolds. :-)

As in every event of complexity, there are no easy answers, what works for one person, may not work for another. I won't have any prepared agenda but I feel my expectation for the next event is somewhat "defiled" with  knowing much more about the origin of this event than I knew about the last event. (LOL)

Like Campbell, I just want to go into new territories and frontiers to interact with new + old people and engage with a "a disputatious community of truth seekers" (Donald Campbell cited in Shadish, Cook & Leviton, 1991). Simple. 

Thinking about Student Blogs and Community Building

Explaining hyperlinked blog concept to client using graphic depiction

"So you mean we are sharing cyberspace?" 

Seven words that offered a glimpse into our client's thinking. I will refer to her as Ms. Z. [Stan and I met with her.]

Some background information before I continue. She had come to ALT Lab, bogged down by barriers to blogpost-editing and seeking some assistance on how to integrate Timeline into a blogpost.

From her instructor's [Dr. Halo, pseudonym] course site [BEY 500, fake course name], Ms. Z was able to "jump to" and "see" her own blog site. Happily, she has also been blogging on her own in Rampages.us. Yet, how was she not able to edit her own blogposts when she clicked on her instructor's course site and landed on her own blog site? These bits of information gave me clues to her understanding about the concept of mother blog (and student blog) and how things work in an open connected course.

There were some details I clarified with her by drawing out the different entities on the whiteboard:

1. Her blog site and Dr. Halo's course site are two separate entities despite the fact that her blogsite is hyperlinked to Dr. Halo's site. She can access Dr. Halo's course site -- which is also on rampages.us -- via the front door/public view, but she cannot enter from the back end/dashboard view, just as she does for her own blog site. Ms. Z has no control over her instructor's site, she is a student user, not a site administrator. As administrator of her own blog site, Ms. Z can edit her site and create new pages and posts.

Dr. Halo had linked to Ms. Z's blog site (and other students' blogs) using URL links, and not pulling in student content via RSS feed syndication (which Stan and I initially thought was the root of all the confusion). Pulling in students' blogs via RSS feeds would have created the mother blog functionality that I mentioned earlier.

2. Ms. Z wanted to be able to use Timeline and incorporate it in her blog site. Stan explained and demonstrated how Ms. Z could do that, with me chipping in at parts. Ms. Z reviewed the finished product and preferred a more text-based product. Stan suggested using Google Doc instead. After embedding it into her blog site, it still didn't achieve the look Ms. Z wanted. Stan ended up just adding the link to her blogpost.

Ms. Z jotted down notes of our explanations. But one thing that she kept repeating was, "So I go to rampages.us, then under My Sites, look for my blog site, and ..."

I noticed a few striking details:

• Being able to log in and "do something" on her own site seemed to occupy her mind  considerably. She needed really clear, step-by-step instructions on how to get to her site. 
• Despite being aware of her classmates' blog sites (they were all hyperlinked to Dr. Halo's course site), she was not aware of what they were writing about or doing until we clicked on one of the blogs and showed her what her classmate was doing. 
• Depicting the different software applications as separate entities helped her to understand how she would work -- that is, where were the gateways and the sandbox. Not understanding how to gain access stopped her from frolicking in the playground.
• Ms. Z wanted the demo examples to be left published on her blog although they didn't contain real data. She wanted examples of how things were actually done so she could easily follow the steps when doing things on her own. 

In closing, this consultation raised a few questions:

• Does aggregating content in a course site create community? The technical structure facilitates community building. But how does community really come about? What makes participants in the community want to check out each other's content and actually connect? 
• How can we better help students to navigate the sites -- mother blog and student blogs -- so that they can understand the relevance and purpose of these structures and want to engage further? 

Poetry Practice Pieces 2.25.15

Five Not-So-Easy Pieces

My head hurt in my effort to complete these assignments. Ils contestaient missions! And so, I'm still working on the Dickinson one. Enjoy!

1.Five Liner

Stiff knotty hands misshapen by age
Sculpts earthy tators with black steel blade
Practicing the presence of God, he says
Can I tempt you to rest your gnarled aching grip
His neck stretches, recoils, bent on his sacred toil


2.  Sound and Sense (A la Peyton Manning -"Nationwide is on Your Side")

I picked this line from one of Barry Manilow's popular hit, I Write the Song:

I write the songs that make the whole world sing..

I uploaded to SoundCloud the recording of me humming to the tune to get the rhythm in my head and heart. Tried Vocaroo and it didn't work so well for this purpose.

Based on that tune, I ad libbed these words -- depicting sensory images -- to fit the rhythm, or as Randy calls it, "the sonic footprint." Seriously, Peyton Manning makes it look too easy! I'm learning that poetry writing is a discipline that trains the mind to become more precise and concise. One must be willing to put up with the frustration of not finding the right word at the time one needs it.

Down coats in winter feel so snug and warm

Space heaters roar and drown Queen's melodies

Hot soups banish bone-chilling bitter cold

Fresh made popcorn smells tart and heavenly

A Saab zips by and wrecks her pristine Dior  



3. Dickinson Inspiration (c. 1862)

The clouds blocked out the sun --
They did not think I cared --
The smiling sun displeased the clouds
And five sullen days was had

And then, the snow came down
The waters in the sky --
Frozen into ice, pelted earth a foot high
Lunar New Year hit town with no glad cry

The plans to huddle, cook and eat
Were threatened and subdued
No firecrackers, steamboat feasts or greets
I wrote my friends, celebrate we ought


[Sorry, Randy, unfinished, still under construction]

I'll go and try redrafting the older pieces now.

March 2, 2015 Update:

This is an original old draft where we were instructed to translate an idea into an image, which I didn't do so well at. It was too abstract and Randy wanted more specific details.

February 18, 2015

What is Self
A lonely, single figure
Huddled up on an island
With no complications
Free of interwoven dependencies
No part in a tapestry of complexity
And conspiracy
Self is at liberty to worship
Kneel, express,
Move in thankfulness
For gratitude

My First Storify Experiment on Understanding #fedwikihappening

Online Icebreaker: Songs My Mother Taught Me

[Note: This post began as a draft in June 2014 after I heard this tune on a plane. Video description: Antonin Dvorak's musical composition, Songs My Mother Taught Me, performed by Itzhak Perlman]

Different metaphors have been used to describe the learning process; learning is like a game, a conversation, combustion system, an ecosystem ... What if learning is like music-making or an inspiration of song? This idea came about when I heard Joshua Bell and Yo-Yo Ma play Dvorak's "Songs My Mother Taught Me." How about using this as an online icebreaker (warm-up activity)?

We could get a feel of students' expectations by asking them to create a playlist of:

Songs I Wish My Teacher Taught Me.

OR, get to know the students a bit better by asking them to come up with a playlist of ...

Songs My Mom / Dad / Teacher / Mentor / Community / XXX (Fill in the blank!) Taught Me.

[This activity can also be used at the end of a Unit to get a big idea of what students have learned.]

To illustrate, here's my current list of Songs My Mother Taught Me:

#1. A Hard Day's Night. (Beatles). Work hard.

#2. Change. (Carrie Underwood). You can make a difference.

#3. How You Live (Turn Up the Music). (Point of Grace). Don't spend your life looking back.

#4. Try. (Colbie Caillat). Accept yourself for who you are.


What about you? What are some songs you learned from your mom, dad, teacher, BFF, etc?

Visual Language

A couple of weeks ago, a faculty member contacted us to ask for tips to help his students' articulate their ideas in more creative ways. As I responded to the request by suggesting some resources, I realized that in an unplanned way, I've spent some time trying out software and documented my playtime in my blog. I was thus able to refer the faculty member to examples of software and activities I've tried out myself or learned from others.

Here are some older blogposts I've written about my "serious play" with software and activities. I hope they will be of some help to someone:

WeVideo
Online Icebreakers
Oblique Strategies
International Groupwork
Embedding WowSlider in Blogger
Online Art Portfolio Sites
Automatic Captioning & Automatic Timing from Google
13 posts on Second Life, Games & Simulations (dated June 2007)
5 posts on Second Life & Virtual Worlds (dated December 2007)

The rest of this blogpost will focus on two enchanting software I've been fiddling with.

Visual Poetry

I got wind of this tool through #CCourses -- it comes from an interesting resource-rich site for writers (thanks to Kevin Hodgson, @dogtrax, Language is a Virus. I played with the web tool with a stanza from Paul Muldoon's poem*:

I thought again of how art may be made, as it was by André Derain,
of nothing more than a turn
in the road where a swallow dips into the mire
or plucks a strand of bloody wool from a strand of barbed wire
in the aftermath of Chickamauga or Culloden
and builds from pain, from misery, from a deep-seated hurt,
a monument to the human heart
that shines like a golden dome among roofs rain-glazed and leaden.

Image created using Visual Poetry online software.
A stanza of Paul Muldoon's poem, Incantata, was used for this exploration.

Here's how I used this tool to indicate a bit of my emotional response to the stanza.

Muldoon's stanza is extracted from Incantata, written in memory of someone he loved. It is richly descriptive and heartbreaking to read of his recollection of their times together. When I read this poem, I think of my parents. Using the software (you enter the text into the software interface, and use the mouse to outline something; if you have a drawing tablet, that would be greatly helpful!), I drew a sketch -- with my iMac mouse -- to express my longing to see and talk to my parents again someday.

I think of this tool as something a teacher might introduce to her students if she wants them to express writing in a creative and emotionally engaging way. It might seem a tad gimmicky, but teachers can facilitate discussions around students' images. Why did they draw this picture? What were they trying to express? What do the other students see in this picture? These pictures can be embedded in websites, blogs and student portfolios.

A LOT of people are either horrified by or reject the idea of using digital tools that require them to draw, something, no matter how simple :

"I can't draw -- much less draw with a mouse!"

Stick figures are drawings too and you can be very creative with these (see Dharma Comics). On hindsight, I believe I developed a visual language to communicate my ideas over time. Be patient and kind to yourself.


ImageChef

Another fun site that provides free software to make your text interesting is ImageChef. This is the same poem by Muldoon that I've fitted into two templates (limited ready-made templates available on the site but you can create your own symbol to fit text in) -- a panda and a man's silhouette:

How is this helpful and different from Wordle or Tagxedo? ImageChef allows users to include whole paragraphs of text (that are not too long) while Wordle or Tagxedo picks out words that are used most frequently for display as word clouds.  I've used the panda and man's images because I was testing the templates but you can upload your own images/photos to outline a symbol that fits the mood of the text you want to display. A panda doesn't exactly match the sentiments of the poem, but who knows what some students may think of when given the opportunity to be creative?

Till my next experiment then!