Today’s TwTT was presented by Ken Panko, Manager, Yale ITG, with Zeke Miller, an undergraduate and Instructional Innovation Intern.
The topic for discussion was QR codes (short for quick response) and RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags.

QR codes, intended for use with cell phone cameras, are big in Japan where current cell phone models are a bit ahead of the curve. They are essentially 2D barcodes and as such can contain information in both the horizontal and vertical axes, which allows for storing larger amounts of information in both numeric and letter form. See the official website by the creator: http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/aboutqr-e.html.

All you need to decode the code is a cell phone camera and an app that can read it. For the iPhone, the QR app (found here: http://www.appstorehq.com/qrapp-iphone-57719/app) does a nice job of utilizing the iPhone’s camera. In one pass over the code, the app locks in on it and redirects you to a website.  I found a decent QR reader for my blackberry Curve called NeoReader (found here: http://www.neoreader.com/pc.html). It too utilized my phone’s camera directly from the app, although it wanted me to decrease my image size to the smallest possible size.

In today’s TwTT we deviated from the formal lecture format and went into the action. Ken created QR codes online, there are several QR code creation sites available. He used http://qrcode.kaywa.com/. He then placed the codes on the office doors. I’d tell you where they redirected me but you could try them yourselves….

Some possible educational uses include: equipment manuals for accessing information about cameras etc. when you need it; information about architectural details on buildings or botanical details in a nature area; maps for locations in a library or information about hours and contact information; educational resources associated with a person, place or thing.

One person raised the question about possible redirection to malicious apps. QR code creation sites, such as the one Ken used, allow creators to create three types of output in a code: a url, a phone number, sms message or text (in the case of kaywa.com you have 250 characters of text, though there is a max. of 4,296 characters). I’m not sure that answers the malware issue. Here’s a link that talks about the security of QR codes versus Data Matrix codes. QR codes can be hacked (http://www.gomonews.com/armageddon-qr-codes-and-datamatrix-codes-made-simple/). So, I’m not sure what all this is saying, I did pause yesterday when I was downloading, installing and using the NeoReader, particularly when it wanted me to reset my phone (yes, I did hold my breath for a few seconds) or again when it sent me to a site to download wallpaper for the phone…I declined. But in the case of educational use, we are relying on trusted sources such as faculty or librarians for the websites accessed.

QR code links:
http://qrapp.com/
http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutQRCod/163728
http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/qrcode/category/ideas_factory/
http://opus.bath.ac.uk/12782/

RF ID (radio-frequency identification) tags and readers were also shown. RFID has been around for awhile now, we’ve experienced it in the EZ pass automatic tolls and card readers on doors. It has been used in inventory tracking and package management. I  found a blog about RFID (imagine a blog about a tiny technology!) at http://www.rfid-weblog.com/.
Ken utilized the NabazTag rabbit (ah, ain’t it cute?), from Violet. When set upon it’s reader it can trigger a laptop to open webpages, video files, word files, audio files…oh, just files files files associated with the topic. In the case of the cute rabbit, Ken set the stage for a special collections object which would have a tag associated with it. The “audience” is guided through background materials, faculty commentary on the object or just about any material associated with the tag.  The tags (the rabbits are just tags with rabbit-shaped plastic around them) and the reader (mir:ror) are both “dumb” devices. The info (such as what should happen when the reader reads a particular tag) is stored in the software running on the computer which works in conjunction with Violet’s (http://www.violet.net/) servers. To associate actions with a tag, Ken used Violet’s mirware software. Mirware has a bunch of pre-made applications, i.e. open a URL, with an admin interface that lets you specify the URL. When you get the tag close to the reader it transmits its serial number to the reader which passes it along to the software. The software then executes the applications associated with that serial number/tag. Via a network connection, the mirware software syncs with the Violet servers so that a tag will execute the same applications no matter what computer or mir:ror reads it. You can also add and remove apps by logging into Violet’s website through a browser.

Zeke Miller showed us another system called TouchTag (http://www.touchatag.com/). This system has downloadable software and small tag stickers that can be stuck on objects. These objects can be associated just like the the rabbit with any number and kinds of files. Zeke’s “real world” educational example was a self-guided lab, where students can find out information about equipment, the lab problem, the resources for solving the problem, etc. He even connected the tags with a small survey on Google, which could provide data to the instructor about student progress. Timers can be associated with the tags to see how long a student is taking to solve a problem. This self-guided lab means that students can work at their own pace.

The RF tag readers cost around $50 and the tags themselves can be around $1 per tag. Imagine a classroom where each student has his/her own tag, as they walk into the classroom attendance is taken, homework uploaded and assignments automatically downloaded. I’m not sure if that is exciting or creepy. One intriguing use is sending a tag on a postcard, the tag is associated with an image gallery online. It’s easy to populate the content, right the now the tag reader is the prohibitive part. Where does one place the external reader? How many readers are needed? That problem may be answered if you read the rumor sites, there are patents pending for RF reader technology in mobile phones.

RF ID links
http://www.violet.net/
http://www.touchatag.com/
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1082021&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=63306667&CFTOKEN=24648306&ret=1#Fulltext

For those of you who are sick of gadgets, you can learn how to read a barcode with your eyes…http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Read_a_Barcode

Presenters:

Yianni Yessios, Manager, Web Technologies, ITG and Katie Bauer, Usability and Assessment Librarian, Library

Katie was the first to present and she shared some information about smartphones, which she noted are now sometimes called App Phones thanks to NY Times tech writer, David Pogue.  Smartphones have email and internet capability in addition to their normal phone service. As an example, Katie showed the audience her Android.  In a Ball State University survey, it was found that  27% of undergraduates own a smartphone and that number is destined to increase. At Yale, Katie said, the iPhone is by far the most popular, followed by Blackberries, and Androids have a small percentage of the market.

Katie scrolled through some of the 12,000 apps (some free and some for purchase like the ones for the iPhone) for the Android.  One of her most favorite apps is the Barcode Reader app. This app uses her phone camera to scan a book’s barcode.  Most books published from the 1990s onward have a barcode available.  The app will find the bibliographic information for the book.  Then, the user has the option to read reviews, search for pricing and availability, and it can also search the local library’s catalog to see if the book is checked in and available .  Additionally, the app allows a user to search for keywords in the book using Google Books.  Katie mentioned the popularity of QR codes in Asia and how they integrate with smartphones which have apps that can read the QR code and then direct the user to the website or, in the case she showed, a catalog record for a book.

After her demo of Android, Katie mentioned that more and more websites have a “mobile-friendly” sister site including the popular bibliographic manager and citation tool offered through the library, RefWorks.  Most sites configured for mobile devices present a pared down portal to their content, stripping out most images and presenting the most basic textual information.  For example, the Yale Medical Library has a mobile website configured for smartphone use.  it offers the user information about the library’s hours as well as links to clinical resources for mobiles. Katie points out the the future of website depends on its ability to display correctly on cell phones and commends Yale’s Medical Library for its mobile website, which is very important for its user base (doctors and nurses on-the-go).

Yianni presented an overview of apps for the iPhone starting with the most banal, but quickly asserted that there are apps that can be used in the educational context noting the 100 Best Apps for Serious Self-Learners. Additionally, institutions and those that provide technology services are beginning to create apps for students.  BlackBoard, the course management system used at some institutions, is creating apps for its customers to purchase for their institutions.  Purdue University has created an app called HotSeat that is “a social networking-powered mobile Web application, creates a collaborative classroom, allowing students to provide near real-time feedback during class and enabling professors to adjust the course content and improve the learning experience.  Students can post messages to Hotseat using their Facebook or Twitter accounts, sending text messages, or logging in to the Hotseat Web site.”  Another popular app is one that replaces the need for clickers in the classroom as it turns the student’s phone into the clicker as in the case with an app developed at Abilene Christian University.  Museums are also pushing out apps for smartphones, like the Louvre and the Van Gogh Museum.  In addition to app creation, Yianni mentioned institutions are starting to create mobile web portals for the whole school and noted the mobile portal for MIT, which includes information like the campus map, shuttle schedule, people directory, and events calendar.

After his overview, Yianni said that he sees opportunities at Yale for making apps to use in the classroom and invited the audience to brainstorm some ideas.  He stated that using mobile technology can help to take learning out the the classroom and create an active learning  experience for the students.  For example, using the camera , GPS, and web capabilities in a student’s smartphone can be a huge aid in field work, whether it be an urban studies, science  or architecture course.  ITG invites any faculty interested in integrating mobile technology into their classroom to contact them for a consultation.

Scott Matheson, Web Manager at the Yale University Library, began the session by describing how the Yale Library has implemented Microsoft Sharepoint to make documents more easily available for collaboration in its internal environment.  He explained that the library has a “vanilla”, 2007 SharePoint install on its intranet that has been in place for about a year.  Throughout his presentation Scott demonstrated some of the key features the browser-based software has to offer including (but not limited to) the spreadsheet tool, the wiki, the blog and notification tools.

One of the most basic features of SharePoint is the document library.  Similar to a file share, users are able to access documents in the document library, however, SharePoint allows users to read, edit, add track changes or comments, and save the documents back to the SharePoint server.  The shared document library works on a check out/check in system whereby a user can secure a document for editing by “locking” it so only one user can make modifications at a time.

SharePoint keeps track of the documents’ modified dates, authors and status (e.g., draft or complete). One clever feature that Scott prefers over a standard file share is the ability to track the version history of a document.  The version history allows a user to view any modifications that have been applied to a document at any time over the life of that document.  Within the version history view, a chronological list displays each modification point made to that particular document.  The user can then look at the revision history and retroactively view any document’s revisions.

Another advantage of SharePoint is setting individual permissions on shared documents via the active directory integration.  Thus, granting document access and permissions to selected users or groups is as easy as typing in a user’s name, Yale Net ID or email address.  Scott admitted that one disadvantage to this system is allowing access to non-Yale users.  Since SharePoint is so closely tied to the Yale active directory, essentially only Yale users can be granted access.  Scott suggested other alternatives for outside collaboration including Classes v2 and referenced the ITS Collaboration Tools web page for additional information.

Other notable drawbacks to SharePoint mentioned by Scott included browser incompatibility (Internet Explorer reigns supreme), native Macintosh incompatibility (although Microsoft offers the Microsoft Document Connection utility as a means for Mac users to connect), the inability to handle Microsoft Access files, the inability to import third-party wiki formats (e.g., MediaWiki and Saki wiki), and the lack of support for Linux, Firefox, and Zotero to name a few.  Scott did add, however, that SharePoint has a good html, WYSIWYG editor and a slide sharing library which serves as a PowerPoint slide repository for users to create custom slide shows.

The second half of the session was an expeditious, walloping wave of synergistic, technology w00t lead by Italian professor, Michael Farina, who discussed alternative collaboration software accompanied by a 72 slide PowerPoint presentation.  Michael stressed the distinction between collaborative work spaces and collaborative editing tools by defining work spaces as driven by social business software, project management software, or groupware with a “steep learning curve.”  Conversely, editing tools are task driven, intuitive and easy to use.  Michael also drew on the fact that many of the editing tools can be very useful in academia and have a social networking aspect to them that can be incorporated into some of the more popular social networks, including FaceBook, MySpace and Google.

Michael listed off a plethora of collaboration software (mostly freeware) which he divided into two categories and labeled the categories in honor of election day: Democratic and Benevolent Tyrant.  According to Michael, “democratic” collaborative editing tools should show who is contributing what at any given time, in real-time.  Some examples include Tokbox, DoingText, Dimdim and Creatly.  ”Benevolent tyrant” tools, on the other hand, typify a more controlling quality in which an instructor acts as the editor and has the final say.  Flowchart is one such editorial instance.

Three of Michael’s favorite collaboration tools for courses are Writeboard, Textflow and Etherpad.  Michael continued that he likes the flexibility of the tools for use after office hours and uses each application for different purposes depending upon the students’ needs.  Writeboard works well for keeping track of version history at different times at different places, while Textflow gives more control to the instructor over multiple text versions when consolidating.

After his presentation, Michael took questions from the audience including what his opinion was on Google Docs.  He replied that he likes tools that do not require a user to be tied the same system of suite applications and do not require an email account.  As an alternative, Michael recommended either Etherpad or DocVerse.  Another audience member asked what the advantage is of the other mentioned editing tools over DocVerse.  Michael answered that a disadvantage of DocVerse is that it only works with Microsoft products and not everyone uses Microsoft Office.  He encouraged a solution that allows for multiple ways to collaborate.

Here is Michael Farina’s Slideshare of his Keynote Presentation:

Staff from the Center for Media and Instructional Innovation (CMI2), David Hirsch and Gabe Rossi, and Lecturer in Comparative Literature, George Syrimis presented a new digital environment born of a partnership between the CMI2, the MacMillan Center, and the Hellenic Studies Program. The CMI2 project page refers to the New Digital Environment as “a multimedia gateway into modern Greek literature and culture.” CMI2 describes the environment’s back-story as follows: “Yale’s MacMillan Center partnered with the CMI2 to create a web-based resource about modern Greek literature and culture for use in its Hellenic Studies Program. This online resource offers Yale students and academics the opportunity to contextualize selected readings with multimedia content collected for and connected to the primary texts. The multimedia study environment not only offers distinct units of study corresponding to course curricula, but also enables thematic and self-guided exploration. The process of gathering and organizing content for the project is facilitated by browser-based technology developed at the CMI2 for empowering faculty to collect and tag digital objects easily. Content encompassed in the collections include: images of art, culturally relevant music files, maps, historical entries, and biographical information on key personalities.”

David Hirsch, Associate Director of CMI2, started off the talk by underscoring the impetus for the project: to create a new environment in which one can tag and do dynamic searches in order to find meaning in the connections among various materials and sources. The goal was both to create a context, mechanism, and repository for collecting a critical mass of information for subsequent research and to encourage researchers and scholars to explore, discover, and create connections and meaning out of the materials and sources collected there.

Gabriel Rossi, an Instructional Technologist at CMI2, stated that the New Digital Environment can be used by faculty and scholars to upload a variety of materials including text, images, video, and audio files for students and researchers to search. In this particular project, the main focus has been on course texts, which have been tagged and hyperlinked with other relevant materials, be they image, audio, video, or other text files, that have been uploaded to the site. Hence, all text materials are queryable. Various tagging methodologies may be employed - thematic, chronological, by the course calendar, etc. - to maximize the hyper- and inter- textuality of resources on the site.

Gabriel used The Mermaid Madonna, the only text in English on the site, to demonstrate that one can traverse the primary texts featured in the environment traditionally - chapter by chapter, page by page, and line by line. One could also use a less traditional method of text perusal: given that every word in the text is hyperlinked, one could travel the text in a less linear, more circuitous, fashion by clicking on hyperlinks and taking a series of detours. As a user of the site, one can access materials in a variety of ways - by reading the texts and following hyperlinks, by burrowing into the cloud tag, by sequentially perusing the various file/filter types. Users may also tag any and all components loaded to this environment, thereby adding to the network of connections among materials. Above and beyond tagging, users can add their own annotations to any material found on the site. These annotations are then saved for later sessions. If users are students, they can have access to not only their own annotations, but those of the instructor, as well. This feature allows the instructor to model good research skills for the students. Each session in the environment is tracked, logged, and saved. The application chronicles the trail users have traced through the database in correct order so that they may later access their “choose your own adventure” paths through the materials and thus, track their own methods of constructing connections and meaning.

This is an experimental application, CMI2 really appreciate George’s willingness to be part of an experimental project. This will hopefully be a rich research environment. George didn’t want to craft the relevant research connections among materials on his site for people, but rather he wanted them, both students and scholars, to craft the connections themselves so that they could find meaning. This particular use scenario would allow the site to be a fertile research tool. Users of the site are permitted to draw their own connections. CMI2 is hoping to track what users are doing on the site to see how this environment is useful. Tracking use scenarios will allow them potentially to re-purpose the environment for new applications. In the future, CMI2 and George Syrimis hope to extend the environment to incorporate community contribution of content. At this point in time, George is the only one who contributes source materials to the site.

The environment uses Ajax, which allows you to tag and comment while listening to an audio or video file, meaning while the file is active. One can even embed YouTube files directly into environment and play them from within the environment.

An audience member asked how can one use languages in other alphabets in an environment like this? Would the hyperlinking capability work? George does use some titles in Greek on the site, but all tagging words are in English. As long as the term is listed both in Greek and English, you can maximize the hyperlinkability of the database’s holdings.

George Syrimis, Lecturer in the Hellenic Studies Program, then demonstrated how a lesson could be built out of the site. He selected a sketch of a seemingly Christ-like crucifixion figure, but then thwarted the viewer’s assumptions by introducing the actual cultural context of the image - the sketch actually depicts a naked Greek man dancing the Zembekiko dance. The dance is featured prominently in Zorba the Greek. George then found an audio track on the site to which the Zembekiko is danced. George essentially demonstrated through his path from the initial drawing, to the Zembekiko dance, to the song used for the dance, how you can use the research environment to culturally contextualize knowledge, enhance understanding, and learn. George really likes the ability to link to outside sources. There are so many different threads the students could follow. The difficulty has been to contain the info possible rather than to expand or find it. George suggests that you find a very specific topic around which to build a body of work. Let the students use this very specific topic to exercise their ability to build connections and locate meaning.

Trip Kirkpatrick and John Graves from the Center for Language Study described the many uses the Center makes of Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro (AACP). AACP is software which allows you to create instant, collaborative meetings with just a web browser and the Adobe Flash® Player. The software enables you to share your desktop, documents and presentations securely and communicate and collaborate instantly without any software downloads. Trip described the current set-up whereby ITS is hosting an instance of AACP for the Center for Language Study (CLS) because they found that third-party hosting results in inferior quality video and sound quality. Software functionality includes: chat (private and public), presentation set-ups for different configurations (PODS), lecture vs. collaborative modes with break-out rooms. The CLS is running a special course this semester on Spanish for Health Care professionals. They are using AACP in conjunction with the department of Public Health for virtual office hours. Another course, Introduction to Modern Nahuatl, is being taught with AACP with students from Mexico, Columbia University, and Yale University. The CLS is also using AACP for a conference on Oct 30-31 to enable a virtual presentation from speaker in the UK.

Features - Possible to do light branding (w/ Yale logo, etc.); ability to record and archive presentations. Content can be uploaded, i.e. Powerpoint presentation can be uploaded and converted to AACP file that can be used for self-paced training modules.  At one point in the session, John Graves joined via AACP from another room in the Bass Library. End-users can have some control over the session, i.e. John showed us a map to indicate his location, a video of his favorite food, and an audio clip of his favorite band. He was also able to write on a shared white board.

It is important to have things prepared even though spontaneity is a possibility. Possible to view windows with camera and voice, notes, chat, whiteboard, presentation space, etc. Like many of these programs, Elluminate, WebEx, etc. AACP enables students to raise their hands and answer questions via a poll. Although it is a full featured software, it has a very low barrier to entry. It is easy to learn to use for a basic purposes.

Questions:

Why AACP instead of Elluminate? The CLS was aware that the School of Public Health chose Elluminate. CLS staff felt that Elluminate video quality is not as good as AACP and in language classes video quality matters since students need to see how mouths articulate certain sounds. Elluminate has only one view, while AACP allows for multiple views. AACP is Flash based and therefore runs better in low-bandwidth situations such as in Mexico where Nahuatl course. Elluminate is better for presentations that have canned video.

How widely used at Yale? CLS using with interest from many others on campus. CMI2 has tried AACP and struggled with audio quality, but were using microphones on laptops and might need to use higher quality microphones. CLS looking at scaling up for other units on campus. There are several licensing models that could be explored.

For information on other institutions and programs using AACP, see below:

University of Hawaii: HAW 101 :: Elementary Hawai’i Language I
http://www.hawaii.edu/dl/courses/?action=course_info&crse_id=3341

Penn State University
http://meeting.psu.edu/
(URI is for a worldwide AACP community)

Monterey Institute of International Studies
http://www.miis.edu/academics/language/custom/distance

Montana State University: U.S. Arabic Distance Learning Network
http://www.arabicstudies.edu/
Offering Arabic to students at institutions that can’t afford to run the
program themselves

United States Marine Corps:
http://online.barrons.com/article/PR-CO-20090824-900020.html

Joe Murphy (libraryfuture on Twitter),  Science Librarian,  Coordinator  of Instruction and Technology, claimed that Twitter may well be a necessary tool for this information-connected era. He introduced Twitter as a useful teaching tool. Joe used his own Twitter account as a presentation tool during yesterday’s TwTT session: http://www.twitter.com/libraryfuture.

Joe said that Twitter has been defined by many a Tweeter variously. The SMS answer service  kgb.com @kgbkgb defined Twitter as a social networking site and micro-blogging platform. Another SMS answer service, ChaCha.com @ chacha, has added that it enables users to send and receive messages known as “tweets.”

Joe suggested some best practices for Twitter: you should use your real name for your Twitter account so you are easily searchable, and consider management processes like using your email for notification purposes, generate a screen name that is consistent across social networking and web utilities, and choose a clear picture for your icon.

It was noted that we should bear in mind, however, that Twitter limits your “Tweets” to 140 characters. The tool was originally built on the idea of and meant to emulate text messaging. The enforced brevity of a Tweet is a hallmark of its strength. The limitations engender both creativity and concision.

Though Twitter was designed to connect people via mobile devices and the web, it is useful beyond both for teaching and learning. Certain features of Twitter lend themselves well to educational environments such as the Twitter “#tag,” or hash tag, which is used to bring related twitter posts and tweets together. Hash tags are like categories or tags for  ”Tweets.” They improve topic searchability within the Twitter-sphere at large.

(The Twitter hashtag for this event is #twtt. Many of the points made below and further discussion on this topic can be found on Twitter with this hashtag.)

Joe claimed that instructors can expect students to understand the technology of Twitter, and what they need to do with it in order to engage with the educational uses of Twitter. Hence, instructors should waste no time describing Twitter or how to use it to their students, instead they should focus on the role it will play in their course.

Joe stated that every entity engaging with information should use Twitter. Joe urged everyone, teachers and students, to have a Twitter account to use for teaching and learning purposes. He went so far as to say that every class should be equipped with a mechanism to engage Twitter (designated accounts or hashtags etc). He then went on to describe various class-related uses of Twitter. Instructors could use Twitter as a contact point for teachers and students. One could use it for research as well - querying the Twitter-verse for sources, references, feedback or using it as a platform for idea generation. Twitter could also be used to carry a class discussion well beyond the physical classroom. You could literally deliver an entire lecture through Twitter by using it as a presentation tool [as Joe did during his portion of the Tw/TT session]. Twitter can occupy a “back-channel” for in-class exploration of topics raised. One could also use it to post links to useful materials. Course content can be delivered through Twitter. In Joe’s experience, he has found that it is useful to really practice using Twitter on your own before deploying it as a lecture tool in your classes. Twitter also gains educational ground in that it enhances engagement with new social and media literacies that he claims are core skills for modern students.

Some Best Practices: 1) the instructor must require students to follow him or her on Twitter [bear in mind that this is no different than students having your email]. 2) Consider creating hash tags for the class and for special topic-related subject areas; this will become the mutually agreed upon lingo for course-specific exploration.

Twitter-user and Tw/TT attendee, jeiesman, commented that he saw a Twitter shortfall in that it is a “here and now” medium rather than something that lends itself well to archival storage. Tools for archiving tweets should be engaged when the long term preservation of posts is important.

Joe said that this particular limitation is also its strength, it is a real-time medium. We just need to figure out which other tools will allow us to make use of Tweets to best effect. There remains the question of how best to store archived Tweets and provide students with access to those previous Tweets.

Barbara Rockenbach then introduced Eric Gordon, Assistant Professor of Visual and Media Studies at Emerson College. Eric’s Twitter account may be found at http://www.twitter.com/ericbot.

Eric started out his talk on Attention in the Classroom by saying he doesn’t celebrate Twitter just because it’s Twitter. Eric directed our attention, rather, to the fact that we were in a classroom, and something typically happens in a classroom, but that is the question: what is it exactly that occurs in the classroom? Teaching and Learning?

Eric stated that issues of attention are a current focus in education and the media. Attention gets nothing but negative press. It certainly gets no good press. Attention is said to be in deficit, unfocused, erratic at best. So, he claimed, maybe what students’ attention needs is a new choreography for the classroom? Various social networking and other media are being used in class, we can’t deny it, so how do we channel and “regulate” their use in the classroom setting?

The traditional classroom retains this stage-like architecture. There is the typical forward facing gaze of students towards the space occupied by the professor or instructor. This space actually encourages feigned attentiveness - performative attention. Students are good at looking like they are paying attention. Even the best lecturer cannot unflaggingly hold everyone’s attention throughout a lecture. Every lecturer can, however, retain the appearance of the audience members’ total/full attention. But this appearance of attention is inadequate for real learning. Hence, we need to explore better the organic nature of in/attention and use it to our advantage.

Thus, educational content should be understood as intermittent and surrounded by a rich context of “special effects” used to choreograph attention. The classroom at best provides a context for learning. Could we bring students back in to this context by giving them some control over the way their attention is paid? This would inaugurate a new economy of attention. This new economy might just generate a “new stage.” Digital Spaces can be seen as a new stage. With Digital Spaces, students can share things like Twitter accounts during class and then can see and engage what their peers’ interests are. This may deepen their interest in the content of the class as well as in each other. It also would help to generate greater student investment in a community of co-learning.

Eric’s suggested Classroom Best Practices: Banquet-style seating; implement in-class back-channels (like Twitter) with an express purpose, but encourage other directed channels (such as web-browsing); have a separate display screen for back-channel explorations to provide learning context as well as some form of surveillance; allow classroom to be playful without becoming frivolous; no laptop in the classroom policies suppress attentional nuance; let go of need for performative attention from students.

Cultivating an awareness of the natural ebb and flow of students’ attention will allow instructors to better design excellent learning situations. Giving permission for students’ attention to “recede” into a back-channel seems to allow for more synthesizing moments in class. Introducing back-channels and giving up some level of control over student attention would herald a shift from the expectation that students be perfect repositories for passive information input to an expectation that they actively engage with class material according to a rhythm that is natural for them. Hence, the teaching and learning that take place are potentially more authentic.

Please click for access to Eric Gordon’s Talk <http://clc.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/yale_attention.ppsx>

A few attendees actually used Twitter to blog today’s session on Twitter. Please check out the accounts listed below for the live commentary on our session about Twitter.

The YaleCLC Twitter account [thank you, Themba!]:

http://twitter.com/YaleCLC

Joe Murphy’s Twitter account:

http://twitter.com/libraryfuture

The CLC blog post on this session, replete with Eric Gordon’s Presentation, will go up tomorrow.

Stacey Maples, GIS Assistant, from the Map Library, demoed Photosynth, a web-based free service that takes unstructured collections of photographs (of a single object or place) and reconstructs a 3D image from sets of flat photographs. You can download Photosynth from Microsoft Live Labs.

Stace showed a small pocket map he rendered as a Photosynth by using a lazy susan, which he spray-painted black and marked off 20 degree marks for rotating the object at 20 degrees for each photograph. Using a Canon Powershot (available in CLC Media Checkout Service) he took over 200 images of the pocket globe.  Photosynth works by matching the texture and patterns in the photos and finds corresponding pixels to stitch the separate images together as a 3D object. An additional features is that Photosynth creates a point cloud thus enabling geocoding of an object. Stace found it is possible to hack the point cloud out of Photosynth and use it in open source software which means you can work with the object locally rather than on the Microsoft server. It is possible to share, embed, and send Photosynths via email.

Photosynth should work across all browers and is cross-platform. You need to install the SilverLight plugin. Stace discovered that it is faster to do video-synthing rather than with photographs. It is less laborious to and takes less time. You can go directly to a huge collection of photos via video. First, shoot panarama video then use VirtualDub create frame grabs frames. Stace was able to get 400 grabs from 90 seconds of video using a handheld video camera to create a photosynth of the Sterling Memorial Library. The ideal would be to use a high quality HD video camera with image stabilization.

The point cloud is what is really interesting, especially for archaeology. This technology could be helpful for field work excavations to record the site each day to record the progress daily. Helpful since it can be done with cheap equipment that can safely be brought into the field.

Sharing Photosynths is easy via web sites and email. You own your photos in Photosynth, Microsoft ends up owning your point cloud and the data on the running of the algorithms. They don’t own the photos even in the 3D context.

Alternatives to Photosynth - Bundler is the open source version of Photosynth. Does require some level of command-line based computing and open source software. Need to install some packages and other libraries on your computer to make this work.

Arc3D is another option from the Netherlands. Arc3D has a web server that provides processing of photo collections similar to Photosynth but with direct access to the 3D point cloud that serves as the superstructre for the photo environments in Photosynth. This software is meant to be used with fewer images, 50 rather than the 400 used in Photosynth.

For Stace Maples’ PowerPoint Presentation, please click  microsoft-photosynth

Presenters: Robin Ladouceur, Instructional Design Specialist, Instructional Technology Group

Pam Patterson, Sr. Instructional Technologist, Instructional Technology Group

Robin began with a personal story about Powerpoint, which detailed her frustration and fumbling with the omnipresent Microsoft product, and was one that most faculty can probably relate to.  Making a presentation with Powerpoint can be a laborious process and inserting multimedia is not very easy.  Additionally, sharing presentations require your students to have the same version of Powerpoint and if you have included video clips, it is even harder to do.  Powerpoint has its strengths as it is the industry standard and you can work offline, but the session today outlined 8 online presentation tools that could be an alternative to Powerpoint. They all have a low learning curve, allow easy integration of multimedia, and offer options to easily share your presentation.  They do require an Internet connection, although some do have offline presenter options.  See a description of the tools below as well as links to the sites so you can get started.  Contact itg@yale.edu for more information.

ARTstor OIV (Offline Image Viewer)

ARTstor is a library database that gives you access to over 1.25 digital images total and includes images from Yale’s Visual Resources Collection.  Offline Image Viewer is a software program created by ARTstor that you can download and use to create presentations from ARTstor images.  You can also add your own images.  It offers two types of ways to present, a dynamic presentation where you choose images on the fly from the group of images you downloaded or a static slideshow. There is the ability to zoom into detail both in the dynamic presentation mode or in the static slideshow mode.  Additionally, all the information about the image from ARTstor is available within the OIV environment.

Contact carolyn.caizzi@yale.edu from the Visual Resources Collection if you would like a tutorial in how to use ARTstor and/or OIV.

Flickr

An easy way to share a set of images. Upload your images and easily create a slide show.  Options include the ability to map images. You can also now add up to 90 seconds of video.

Slideshare

Social networking site for presentations.  Can upload an already made presentation and make it public or share it by a link to a select group of people.  Can upload Powerpoint, Keynote, PDF, Office documents.  Robin’s presentation in Slideshare.” title=”http://www.slideshare.net/yale_itg/slideshare-2083605\”>Slideshare.” target=”_blank”>www.slideshare.net/yale_itg/slideshare-2083605″>Slideshare.

ZOHO Show

Log in with a Google or Yahoo account. Can make presentation shareable and write-able (for collaborating) or share it as read-only. Can give remote presentations to others.  Can export the presentation to a variety of formats including Powerpoint.

Empressr

“Rich media presentation tool. Upload your video, images and audio to get started creating cool slideshows. If you have your own website, blog, or social networking page, you can either post a link or embed your Empressr.”  Can share your presentation.

Slide Rocket

Slideshare on steroids.  Is fee-based.  Free 30 day trial.

Can create a new presentation or import Powerpoint. Can install Desktop Presenter so you can present without an Internet connection.

Maintains a library of media assets (videos, images, etc.) that you upload so you can easily re-use the same image or video in different presentations. Transitions, animations, charts and tables are available at your fingertips. The user interface similar to iMovie. Marketplace allows you to purchase stock photography for the presentations. Here is the link to Robin’s Sliderocket presentation on the pros and cons of sliderocket.

Prezi

Free or Pro account available for a fee.

Does not use the concept of slides.  Rather, it gives you one big canvas that contains all your media and text.  The basic technique is to begin visually with an idea (the big picture) and then you can zoom into your points which are usually represented by smaller fonts. Can download and use an offline presenter (Pro).  Tips and tricks for using Prezi created with Prezi, of course: http://prezi.com/wesbmcijhqvx/view/#34

VuVox

Is geared toward digital storytelling as the presentation moves slowly from left to right.  You can add images, text, audio, and video to the timeline.  Perfect for presenting visual timelines.

Matthew Regan, Instructional Technologist with the Instructional Technology Group, opened by relaying the genesis tale for the new CLC Media Equipment Checkout Service. He alluded to a conversation he had last year with Instructional Technology Group Manager, Ken Panko, about creating an opportunity for students to have access to a variety of media equipment. ITG has partnered with the CLC, the Student Technology Collaborative, and, more recently, the Visual Resources Collection to offer a high quality array of media equipment for checkout. Matt then directed our attention to the CLC pages devoted to the Media Equipment inventory available for checkout: http://clc.yale.edu/media-equipment/ and described the various DSLR, video, and mini HD cameras in stock as well as digital voice recorders, digital ink options, and other light and sound equipment currently available for use.

Adam Bray of the Student Technology Collaborative informed the audience about the online reservation/checkout system for the CLC Media Equipment Checkout Service. Four student interns at the STC were enlisted to write the code for the online checkout system using a program called “Ruby on Rails.” Adam showed the Bass Library pages dedicated to the media checkout inventory and reservation system, which includes equipment descriptions, specifications, and recommendations for matching and pairing equipment as well as a detailed reservation calendar for selected items that indicates when the equipment is/is not available. The reservation system may be found at the following address:

http://weke.its.yale.edu/bass

Adam took us through a few reservation scenarios and demonstrated the built-in flexibility of the system. Users can even set up their reservation in the system to receive reminders about due dates.

Carolyn Caizzi, the Technology Specialist from the Visual Resources Collection at Yale, spoke of her early interest in the Media Equipment Checkout Service, since it would facilitate student created video projects. She led into her talk about video shoot best practices by posing the question - why should we as faculty and course supporters care about student video in the classroom? She showed Michael Wesch’s video about contemporary student demographics as a possible answer to why we should care about including video. (Please see presentation below.) Carolyn maintained that there is a pedagogical basis for incorporating video into the assignment structure of a course: video production is highly interactive and collaborative. It hones social skills at the same time it develops technical and content area skills. Video production assignments are project-based, active learning at its most immersive.

The CLC offers a Video Workshop, taught by Carolyn Caizzi, for faculty and graduate students that includes 3 parts: Planning/Shooting; Editing; Sharing. Please email clc@yale.edu and inquire about setting one up.

Please see Carolyn’s Presentation and handouts, included below, for more detailed information about Video Shoot Best Practices.

Presentation:

Video Shoot Best Practices

Handouts:

apple-digitalmovie-tips

treatment

storyboard

shot-list

release

Rubric:

http://soli.inav.net/~rpmic/iowa/rubrics/vidrub.htm