Elearning classes sometimes require students to watch a prohibitive amount of web video in terms of bandwidth availability, yet it’s no secret that access to inexpensive broadband internet access is almost unheard of here in Alaska. The reality is that the majority of us pay high fees for very limited bandwidth. With these constraints in mind, there are a few strategies you may be able to employ to watch web video economically.
You instruct your students using various resources: textbooks, lectures, outside speaker videos, etc. You’ve switched texts and realized you need that item to round out a module or replace an outdated product. Searching the web may not meet your needs. This tip discusses resources available via the deep web.
Here’s a common scenario: You will be teaching a course online that you normally teach face-to-face. Since you’ve taught the course before, you have lecture notes and ideas for what you want to cover each week. What are the options and best practices for delivering your lecture in an asynchronous online format?
Google Applications for Education are constantly changing. New features and functionality are added and updated on a regular basis, there is no need to wait for a version update or service patch, it just happens. One new feature that has recently been added to this suite of tools is a just-in-time training option for learning that is located right inside the application itself.
When streaming video was a new technology the capabilities to control volume, speed and resolution were novel. Could you imagine not being able to rewind and replay a video today now that these sorts of interactive features are standard? Video interactivity has come a long way since the early days.
Like many of you, I still use a mix of analog and digital tools in my teaching practice. I use an old fashioned notebook and pen to keep up with ideas and to-do’s. Things like note taking, providing feedback on papers, and screencasting have all been awkward for me until now. The iPad Pro is broadening my options for practices that involve handwriting or drawing.
One of the great things about Google Apps for Education is that you never have to install an update — they update automatically. But this can be frustrating. Just when you thought you were familiar with the interface, Google changes it. A lot of such changes have happened over the past year.
If you are teaching online or if you would like to flip some of your classes, consider creating a series of brief eBook-style lectures using Google Slides. Benefits to using this approach include the ability to include video screencasts, animation, and images easily in a beautifully presentable format.
There are many reasons to connect with students via an online meeting space. For example, CTL-supported instructors may want to have students check in individually throughout the semester and face-to-face instructors may want to hold group activities outside the physical classroom with real-time interaction. Connecting synchronously with students can happen easily via Google Hangouts, available through the UA Google Apps for Education suite.
If you use a Community@UAF WordPress site for student contribution in the form of posts, your students can edit the date and time of submission, which may be a concern if you strictly enforce due dates. If you would like to know the exact date and time a student creates a post, there are at least four ways to find out.
Free Online Tools: Digital files come into our lives from many directions: colleagues, students, friends, etc. Everyone has their preferred method of file creation, and the end product may not be a file type we want or are able to read or use. And while some files are pretty easy to convert on our own (.doc to .pdf, for example), there are other types of files for which it’s easier to use an online conversion tool.
Got a minute? That’s how long it takes to set up Screencastify if the Chrome web browser is installed on your computer. As an instructor, you are the content expert. Sometimes it is hard to explain a concept. If you could just show your students what you mean it would be so easy! Using Screencastify is one more way you can do that.
