CTEL's Blog has moved

CTEL's blog has moved. You can find us at http://blogs.usm.maine.edu/ctel/

Having students write Wikipedia articles

Fabulous example of using real world writing as a class assignment:

Have Students Build Articles
In the Spring of 2008, Professor Jon Beasley-Murray at University of British Columbia had the students in his class "Murder, Madness, and Mayhem: Latin American Literature in Translation" create articles for Wikipedia on the books that they read. He transformed his students from learners to teachers, which improves outcomes. Plus, creating public work improves motivation as well as performance.
Importantly, the students were instructed to make contact with the Wikipedia editors—called the “FA Team”—to receive feedback on their work for revisions. The instructor had effectively enlisted outside academics as reviewers for his class. Wikipedia also has a quality ranking system that assigns “Good Article” or “Featured Article” status to exceptionally good works. About 1 in 800 articles reach Good Article status, while 1 in 1,200 reach Featured Article status. The instructor guaranteed his students an “A” for Good Articles, and an A+ for Featured Articles.
The results? The students, who worked in groups of two or three, produced three Featured Articles and eight Good Articles, an exceptional result given how few articles achieve these levels. These articles receive thousands of hits per month, demonstrating to students the value of their work. Now more than 20 universities have projects in Wikipedia.

From Faculty Focus.

Course Redesign Grants

The Center for Technology Enhanced Learning supports the update and redesign of online and blended courses at the University of Southern Maine.

As part of this support, CTEL offers Course Redesign Grants (CRGs) for faculty, including adjuncts and part-timers, to significantly update and redesign existing online or blended courses. Faculty must have taught the course in this format at least three semesters over at least two years to be eligible. Redesigned courses may be taught in the same format or redesigned for the other (a blended course becoming full online or vice versa).

20 awards of $500 each are available for online or blended courses offered in Fall 10. Faculty must have a clear plan for significant redesign to improve student learning. Redesign could include content changes, assignment revision, and addition of new technologies. Priority will be given to faculty who have not received a Course Development Grant in the past.

Complete grants details are on the CTEL website.

If you have any questions, contact

Dr. AnnMarie Johnson, Director
Center for Technology-Enhanced Learning
amjohnson@usm.maine.edu
780-4540

Lenny guest blogger about Discussions at IGI Global

Communications professor Lenny Shedlesky has a guest post at the IGI Global blog, How Can We Make Our Discussions Better? which he hopes will be just the beginning of a wide ranging discussion on online discussion. If you've participated in (or haven't been able to make but wish you could have) Lenny's Russel Chair roundtables, this is an extension of those conversations. Hope you join in!

Pumping Up Your Course With Web 2.0

Here is the Elluminate recording of the latest NCLC Faculty Forum presentation, "Pumping Up Your Course With Web 2.0"

An alternate method to reach the recording is to log onto the NCLC website, and follow this path: Archives - Faculty Forums - 4/8/10 Pumping Up, etc.

Student using technology to get an internship

USM student Monique Lefebvre is seeking a summer internship with the Sierra Club, using social networking to promote the Club. The application process includes a video posted on YouTube; the more views and comments she gets,the more likely she is to get the internship. Here's more info in her own words:

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 I have recently applied for a summer long internship with a well known organization; the Sierra Club. The internship will require me to travel, all expenses paid, to Sierra Club events in order to "video-blog" about what I am participating in. In addition to being paid to travel, the winner will receive a $2,500 stipend and $2,000 worth of gear from the North Face company. Needless to say, it is a very exciting opportunity. To apply for the internship, I was required to develop a 90 second video and submit it via YouTube. My video can be found at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3_qfmYYdEo

I am reaching out to you in hopes that you will help me raise the amount of views, comments, and ratings that my video receives. The Sierra Club judges are heavily watching what videos are seeing traffic in order to determine who has social networking skills and who would be able to really develop and maintain an interesting blog about traveling with their organization. So, please watch the video, comment on it, rate it, and please, please, please pass it along to your friends and family! The more people who see it, the more likely my video is moved closer to the front when searched for in YouTube and the more likely I will be considered for a finalist position. I implore you - please help me!

 

Monique Lefebvre

Class of 2010

 

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Another reason to introduce emerging technologies in your teaching--they really can help your students get a job in the real world!

Tech Review: 3M MPro 120 Pocket Projector

Pocket projectors are an emerging technology - small, portable video projectors that fit in your pocket. They can run for up to a couple of hours on battery power for true portability.

I've only seen two of these, and only had one to truly evaluate. My impressions are that they all suffer the same weaknesses, and unfortunately, they have relatively few strengths.

- These are low resolution displays. The 3M projector tops out at 1024x768.

- You need to be able to control the lighting of the room, it has to be dark.

- The picture size is limited, with the image blurring and washing out over the size of a large desktop display

- Reading text on these is generally not a pleasing experience

Playback of video clips seems to be the area in which these devices shine, but then, it's easier and clearer to huddle around a laptop display than to project a small image in a darkened room. If, however, you have a portable video device (a video camera, an iPod, etc.) and want to display playback to a few people in a controlled environment, these could be useful products.

The 3M MPro 120 Pocket Projector projects at 12 lumens, and includes a VGA adaptor for laptops and a composite adaptor for AV sources. You will need an additional video out kit for use with an iPod or iPhone.

This is still a new class of product, and I expect to see improvements in the months to come.

The projector is priced at $350.