Pptplex & prezi & pedagogy

Biggs' SOLO taxonomy of learning asks us to consider how students see and understand the connections that link different aspects of a subject area together. however, very few tools allow us to show these connections and the mirco and macro view of them.

Working with Martyn Stewart, I have come to realise the need for the explicit demonstration or visual connecting in this way, using maps and diagrams etc

I have played with prezi before, and introduced a few staff members to it to meet their specific needs. But there are a few problems the main one being moving from a menu based interface [microsoft] to a very different interface.

However, Neil Stanley asked me to have a look at pptplex. This is a microsoft addin to powerpoint. It has some on the capabilities of prezi but also some limitations. What's good
It is good for showing overviews of the slides to be shown. You can then use this overview to jump in and zoom in to details anywhere.
It's in powerpoint, so staff will find it easier to transferred to.

But
The layout of the 'map' is not as flexible as prezi. Basically it shows you the sequence of slides in a grid format, but from a higher level.
It's only a pilot, and may not be developed beyond powerpoint 10. Pptplex doesn't work with turningpoint 'clickers'

What to do now
I could show it to different people get a feeling of its use
I could talk to computer services All this requires time, which is in short supply. But, both could make a benefit to student learning, particularly in large lectures.

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Is an ebook reader a viable technology to support electronic marking?

If you were to image a replacement for lugging around essays and marking/annotating student scripts, would it be an ebook.
Answer is probably no, as most roads seems to point to the ipad.
However
Eye strain: this could be a reason for purchase, but why can't i find any research to back this up. Is it because research by the industry has been undertaken and proved there is little difference? This is what this old article speculates.
http://www.talkingscience.org/2009/02/let%E2%80%99s-get-bookish-about-e-reade...
A more research article points out that there is little difference between paper/lcd/eink. The question is about where you are reading eg poor light/daylight and taking breaks to rest the eyes. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/do-e-readers-cause-eye-strain/

Cost: if a faculty were to make an investment ebooks have the edge on cost, but don't have the range of an ipad to support different processes. So you end up with a cheap single use tool.
Annotation: this seems to have improved, but the process of merging annotation files and pdfs seems to have caused some issues in the past. But is it worth trying out? Can they pay apart in the range of tools on offer, or is the perfect tool not designed yet, and never will be as the market is too small?

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Focus group background theory.

This is a useful resource in outlining a psychological framework for running and analysis of focus groups. The paper is on the student perception of plagiarism. The references to procedure and data analysis are worth following up

Gullifer et al [2010] exploring university students' perceptions of plagiarism; a focus group study. SHE 35, 4, 463-481

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Using cricket clickers

The first time we tried this the laptop went into hiberation. The usb dongle then needed to be unplugged and the software restarted. I only worked this out later so the first session didn't go ahead.
The activity was done on paper with only a few students confident enough to raised their hands to admit to answering. This was also done in almost complete silence.

The next session it work, students were more talkative with peers and scarcely honest with answers. Even the most technophobic of the staff became animated about the buzz it created.

But there were issues Problems with the Dell laptop
The software is running on a dell laptop that does not allow presentation mode when connected with a projector. Therefore staff have to read from the projector screen, facing away from students.
We could try a different laptop or explore the option of running the software from usb
Stick.

Why 63 handsets were registered and only 45 could answer?
Is there a limited setting I haven't found yet, I need to test all the handsets before the next session.

about 10 of the hand sets are dead

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Let's think about MCQs & online quizzes differently - lets think more about them as a method of connection with individual students

The buzz over social media has put online MCQs in with the 'bad old days'. But let's think again. What they really are is a two way connection with every student. From one to many. We are blinded by our familiarity, that this tool can only ask knowledge based questions First let's expand the methods of this communication to include multi-answer response and short answer response. This changes the range of possible inputs from the many.

The connection that is started by one individual to many, asking or requesting a fairly specific response. When that response is made the many will receive an instant reply, which can be general or specific. This information can then be analyzed and further responses made. It can remain private or certain elements revealed.

There is also another dimension of making a series of requests with each one using the information formed by the pervious

To break this down into a series of questions we have. for what reason is the communication made?
Who writes the initial communication?
Who receives it and when?
What is the motivation or requirement to answer?
What is the immediate response for and what is contained in it?
What's done with the answers?

for what reason is the communication made?
This is the most important question. Why would an individual make this request. Lets look where this happens in life. - vote for someone something, show preference - survey opinion
- gather information about individuals, e.g. Where they were born
There are many points and contexts that this type of communication as useful. In an educational setting you could. . .
- vote for year rep
- be asked to send in a single idea for a criteria, these could be analysis and then used again to mark a sample piece of work.
- survey perceptions prior to a f2f meeting - identify common errors in previous work
- self diagnostic - survey student perception of how well they are doing
- level 3 students write what they wish they had know/done in level 1. This is then used in level 1 survey to see if they can guess what was said
- level 3 write questions in short text box. These are used with level 2 to identify common mistakes in answers, these are used to test knowledge of level 1 students
And on and on

Who writes the initial communication?

Get students to use the tool under your supervision. They devise the activity or survey/questions for their own peers or other year groups.

Who receives it and when?

is it a specific group
Is it a specific group identified by a previous set of question
What year level?
What part of the year?

What is the motivation or requirement to answer?
This is the difficult one, but besides making it have a mark weighing you could....
With hold access to certain materials until it is completed
Make it seem exclusive, if they are submiting drafts for peer evaluation, only those that submit will be allowed to join the peer process.
But by far the most effective will be they way the information is used. If they see it has real benefit to them, they will complete it, an be involved in further question activities.

This is only a starting point, the real leap in the use of this tool is to think creatively and go beyond the obvious

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find and attributing media content under creative commons licence has just got a little easier

I really like this search engine tool http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/xpert/attribution/

http://screenr.com/R3n watch this guide

it allows you to find pictures, but then gives the image the correct attribution

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Podcasting project - a feast of ideas, but with some indigestion

Middleton [2009] ran a large podcasting project 'closer!' with staff find very creative uses for podcasting. See the paper for details, but here's a taste.

clinical techniques developed by staff and students [nursing]
Peer review of student podcast of key concepts [sports science]
Interviews with students on placement [business]
Weekly podcast on common areas of weakness [computer science]
Answers to questions under the theme questions you were afraid to ask [art and design]
Podcasting assignment 'what makes a good student' [journalism]

The project sounds a great success
But...
Many staff dropped out because of time commitments
Some of t e student submissions proved tiring to listen to.

Middleton, a. (2009) beyond podcasting; creative approaches to designing educational audio, alt-j vol 17, no 2, 143-155

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