EdTech Demonstrations: Spring 2008

April 2008

Podcasting, Educational Blogging, Virtual Worlds and More

This semester the Educational Technology Center offered a number of short demonstrations to introduce you to new technologies and ideas you can use to enhance your teaching. Although the demos were not hands-on, we offer links to self-paced tutorials so you can try out the ideas on your own. Or you can come to the EdTech Center at your convenience for help from one of the EdTech Center’s co-op students. We will offer similar demos summer semester, so if you missed out, look for these topics again this summer and in the fall.

Have you considered using a blog or a wiki to communicate with your students? Blogs have been used in teaching for everything from content delivery and reflection to assessment. During our demonstration on educational blogs, we shared some examples of educational and creative uses of blogs, then showed you how to create a blog using a free tool such as blogger.com or the new course-level blog tool available in Blackboard.

College and high-school students regularly share audio and video via the Web. Sites like Flickr and YouTube allow users, in a few clicks, to easily post and share media files. Our demonstration, “Integrating Collaborative Media (Flickr, YouTube, and Slideshare)” showed how to get started, and offered some examples of course-based uses.

For those who wanted to explore a virtual world, but didn’t know how to get started, we offered “Explore A Virtual World – Walk Through Second Life.” This demo provided an overview of Second Life, a virtual world where participants could create a virtual self (avatar) and interact with other avatars in a world created entirely by participants. Those who saw Second Life (SL) in the first demonstration, could sign up for a free account and a second “hands-on” virtual guided tour, “Explore A Virtual World – Guided Tour of Second Life,” which they joined from their offices. To participate in a future tour, you must first create an avatar and learn the basics of getting around in Second Life. Before the scheduled tour, participants should call the EdTech Center to make an appointment (in the EdTech Center or in your office) to get help creating an avatar and navigating Second Life.

“Making Digital Stories,” covered the steps necessary to create a compelling digital story. Starting with a basic overview of script writing, the session offered examples of media capture and production on both Mac and Windows platforms and concludes with a finished digital story.

“Online Collaboration Tools” compared a number of online collaboration tools such as Google Docs and MyFiles and suggested criteria for evaluating tools to suit a variety of collaboration requirements.

If you would like to arrange demonstrations for your department or discuss the use of technology to support grant-funded projects, please call x3157 to make an appointment with an EdTech Center staff member.