In August 2008 after eight years of intensive use of AIM, she wrote the following:

The 21st Century Pedagogy Alternatives and Tricks/Tools of the Trade
For the condensed summary page go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateel.htm 

Bob Jensen at Trinity University

How can you best publish books, including multimedia and user interactive books, on the Web?
Note that interactive books may have quizzes and examinations where answers are sent back for grading.

A Special Tribute to My Open Sharing Friend Will Yancey ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Yancey.htm

History and Future of Course Authoring and Distribution Technologies
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

(This includes modules on Blackboard, Moodle, and various competitors)

Interactive Homework and Other Student-Friendly Features of Google Apps

Collaboration

Organizing your papers and citations from the Web
Sharing and remotely accessing your bookmarks

Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and YouTube as Knowledge Bases  ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm#KnowledgeBases

Ideas for Teaching Online --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Ideas

Bob Jensen's threads on Online Education Effectiveness and Testing ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#OnlineOffCampus

Social Networking for Education:  The Beautiful and the Ugly
(including Google's Wave and Orcut for Social Networking and some education uses of Twitter)
Updates will be at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm

New and Old Tools

My Cool Camcorder Sunglasses

Video Capture, Editing, Compression, Playback
(With Links to UserView for Viewing and Capturing Remotely Located Computer Screens and Audio)

Hollywood Movies and Other Videos Featuring Accountants

Tardy Students 

Manage All Your Media in Windows 7 From online streaming to all-new library controls, here's how to get more out of Windows 7's new multimedia features (This tutorial includes how to edit video in Windows 7)

Virtual World Research

Open Sharing and Adaptive Hypermedia

Using MindMaps To Teach, Learn, & Much More (video), Simoleon Sense, March 27, 2009 --- http://www.simoleonsense.com/

History of Spreadsheets in Education

Bye Bye Blackboard

Variable Speed Video and the BYU Noteworthy Success

The Future of Textbooks  

Devices and Systems for Mobile Learning

Distance Education Magazines and Journals  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm#Resources 

Resources for Faculty --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm 

The Latest Experiments in Student Recruitment by Colleges

PowerPoint and Other Teaching Helpers (Socratic Dialogue Gives Way to PowerPoint)

How to Add Audio to PowerPoint Presentations

Finding, Capturing, Storing and Sending Open Courseware
(Including MIT's search engine for searching for topics within a video lecture and alternatives for making and capturing streaming media)

Future Lab (in the U.K.):
Developing innovative learning resources and practices that support new approaches to education for the 21st century.

Just-In-Time Teaching

Instant Messaging

College Credit Over the Phone

Classroom, Building, and Campus Design (including LCD versus DLP) 

In a Nutshell:  Authoring Design and Software for the Web --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetoolsa.htm 

Innovative Cell Phone Technology

Response Pads and Clickers 

Tablet Computing 

Creating Educational Cartoons  

Myths About Education Technologies

Ideas for Modifying Traditional Classroom Materials Into Online Learning Materials
(Including Updates on MIT's Open Knowledge Initiative called OKI)

Edutainment and Learning Games (including Dominos and Jeopardy and Monopoly)

xTREME Accounting Games from PwC

Using the Monopoly Board Game for Education Edutainment

Second Life and Other Virtual Worlds

Test Drive Running a University

Virtual Reality 

Humor in Online Teaching

Example From a Texas A&M Professor Providing Distance Education in Mexico

Ideas for Teaching Online (including Distance Education via Centra Symposium and Webex)

Tools for Learning in the Boondocks

Technology Aids for the Handicapped, Disabled, and Learning Challenged

How To and How Not To Deliver Distance Education 
War stories from teachers in the first accredited online MBA program.

Cognitive Processes and Artificial Intelligence

Real Aud Audit Simulation

Interactive Network Simulation Learning Example

Advantages and Disadvantages of Education Technologies

Chris Dede's Vignettes

An Example of a Low Budget and Very Remarkable Online Course

Knowledge Portals and Vortals
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/portals.htm 

Web Page Design:  Ah, What Rotten Webs We Weave 

Resources --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm#Resources 

Classroom Use of Laptops and iPods 

Wikis Made Simple -- Very Simple

The Magic of DVR Recording 

RU THR? OMW ---The University of Florida Experiment With Text Messaging

Statistical Survey Sampling and Analysis

Critical Thinking:  Why Its So Hard to Teach

Case Research and Writing 

Rick Lillie's education, learning, and technology blog is at http://iaed.wordpress.com/

A Course in Game Theory ---
http://www.simoleonsense.com/a-course-in-game-theory-martin-j-osborne/

Business Technology from Business Week Magazine --- http://bx.businessweek.com/business-technology/

The Journal of Accountancy has a great monthly technology section (with particular focus on things you never, ever thought you could do with MS Office, particularly Excel) --- http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/
The Q&A modules are particularly informative and should be centralized in one place in addition to monthly editions.

Bob Jensen's threads on accounting software --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#AccountingSoftware

Bob Jensen's threads on education technology --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

Education Tutorials

Free Images from the U.S. Government --- http://rastervector.com/resources/free/free.html

Free Federal Resources in Various Disciplines --- http://www.free.ed.gov/

Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch

The Master List of Free Online College Courses --- http://universitiesandcolleges.org/

Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
Edutainment and Learning Games --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Open Sharing Courses --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
The Master List of Free Online College Courses ---
http://universitiesandcolleges.org/

Bob Jensen's threads for online worldwide education and training alternatives ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm

"U. of Manitoba Researchers Publish Open-Source Handbook on Educational Technology," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 19, 2009 ---
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3671&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Bob Jensen's threads for online worldwide education and training alternatives ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm


"U. of Manitoba Researchers Publish Open-Source Handbook on Educational Technology," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 19, 2009 ---
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3671&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Technology is changing the way students learn. Is it changing the way colleges teach?

Not enough, says George Siemens, associate director of research and development at the University of Manitoba’s Learning Technologies Centre.

While colleges and universities have been “fairly aggressive” in adapting their curricula to the changing world, Mr. Siemens told The Chronicle, “What we haven’t done very well in the last few decades is altering our pedagogy.”

To help get colleges thinking about how they might adapt their teaching styles to the new ways students absorb and process information, Mr. Siemens and Peter Tittenberger, director of the center, have created a Web-based guide, called the Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning.

Taking their own advice, they have outfitted the handbook with a wiki function that will allow readers to contribute their own additions.

In the its introduction, the handbook declares the old pedagogical model—where the students draw their information primarily from textbooks, newspapers, and their professors—dead. “Our learning and information acquisition is a mash-up,” the authors write. “We take pieces, add pieces, dialogue, reframe, rethink, connect, and ultimately, we end up with some type of pattern that symbolizes what’s happening ‘out there’ and what it means to us.” Students are forced to develop new ways of making sense of this flood of information fragments.

But Mr. Siemens said that colleges had been slow to appreciate this fact. “I don’t see a lot of research coming out on what universities might look like in the future,” he said. “If how we interact with information and with each other fundamentally changes, it would suggest that the institution also needs to change.”

Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning ---
http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/wikis/etl/index.php/Handbook_of_Emerging_Technologies_for_Learning

Preface

This Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning (HETL) has been designed as a resource for educators planning to incorporate technologies in their teaching and learning activities.

Introduction

How is education to fulfill its societal role of clarifying confusion when tools of control over information creation and dissemination rest in the hands of learners[3], contributing to the growing complexity and confusion of information abundance?

Change Pressures and Trends

Global, political, social, technological, and educational change pressures are disrupting the traditional role (and possibly design) of universities. Higher education faces a "re-balancing" in response to growing points of tension along the following fault lines...

What we know about learning

Over the last century, educator’s understanding of the process and act of learning has advanced considerably.

Technology, Teaching, and Learning

Technology is concerned with "designing aids and tools to perfect the mind". As a means of extending the sometimes limited reach of humanity, technology has been prominent in communication and learning. Technology has also played a role in classrooms through the use of movies, recorded video lectures, and overhead projectors. Emerging technology use is growing in communication and in creating, sharing, and interacting around content.

Media and technology

A transition from epistemology (knowledge) to ontology (being) suggests media and technology need to be employed to serve in the development of learners capable of participating in complex environments.

Change cycles and future patterns

It is not uncommon for theorists and thinkers to declare some variation of the theme "change is the only constant". Surprisingly, in an era where change is prominent, change itself has not been developed as a field of study. Why do systems change? Why do entire societies move from one governing philosophy to another? How does change occur within universities?

New Learners? New Educators? New Skills?

New literacies (based on abundance of information and the significant changes brought about technology) are needed. Rather than conceiving literacy as a singular concept, a multi-literacy view is warranted.

Tools

Each tool possesses multiple affordances. Blogs, for example, can be used for personal reflection and interaction. Wikis are well suited for collaborative work and brainstorming. Social networks tools are effective for the formation of learning and social networks. Matching affordances of a particular tool with learning activities is an important design and teaching activity

Research

Evaluating the effectiveness of technology use in teaching and learning brings to mind Albert Einstein’s statement: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted". When we begin to consider the impact and effectiveness of technology in the teaching and learning process, obvious questions arise: "How do we measure effectiveness? Is it time spent in a classroom? Is it a function of test scores? Is it about learning? Or understanding?"

Conclusion

Through a process of active experimentation, the academy’s role in society will emerge as a prominent sensemaking and knowledge expansion institution, reflecting of the needs of learners and society while maintaining its role as a transformative agent in pursuit of humanity’s highest ideals.

 

Bob Jensen's threads on education technology --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

 

Ideas for Teaching Online --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Ideas
Also see the helpers for teaching in general at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

Finance Test Questions --- http://financetestquestions.wikispaces.com/

In a previous edition of Tidbits, I provided a summary of resources for learning how and being inspired to teach online --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Ideas 

I forgot to (and have since added) helpers for assessment (e.g. testing) online --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#OnlineOffCampus
Also see the helpers for assessment in general at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm

Also I forgot to add some special considerations for detection and prevention of online cheating ---
Also see helpers for detection and prevention of cheating in general at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/plagiarism.htm

The Bea Sanders/AICPA Innovation in Teaching Award  --- Click Here  http://ceae.aicpa.org/Resources/Scholarships+and+Awards/The+Bea+Sanders+AICPA+Innovation+in+Teaching+Award.htm

Computer Grading of Essay Questions --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#Essays

Remote (online) Testing of Students --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#OnlineOffCampus

Accounting Education Software --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#software

Software for administering online examinations and quizzes ---

Onsite Versus Online Education (including controls for online examinations and assignments) ---  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#OnsiteVersusOnline

Some universities, especially those with distance education programs, have online examination software. This varies greatly in cost and quality. You can read more about such software at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#Examinations

How students can find internships
Helpers for managing student interns
Intern Toolkit --- http://www.interntoolkit.com/

Drama Simulations --- http://www.cob.tamucc.edu/ATABestPrac2K/drama-simulations.htm
(Including the use of Lego constructions in cost accounting classes.)

Bob Jensen's threads on classrooms and electronic classrooms are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Classrooms 

Bob Jensen's Education Technology Threads are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm 

A tools PowerPoint file is included at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/EdTech/PowerPoint/


 

The American Accounting Association has a page on tools and cases --- http://aaahq.org/facdev/teaching/teaching_tools.htm

Also see the AAA’s wider set of helpers on teaching at http://aaahq.org/facdev/teach.cfm

 

Introductory Quotation

The movie Dead Poets Society showed examples of why students recalled so much of their learning. There were changes in location, circumstances, use of emotions, movement, and novel classroom positions. We know that learners remember much more when the learning is connected to a field trip, music, a disaster, a guest speaker, or a novel learning location. Follow up with a discussion, journal writing, a project, or peer teaching.

E. Jensen (1998, p. 110)
Teaching with the brain in mind

From U.K.'s Institute for Learning and Research Technology at the University of Bristol
Social Science Information Gateway
http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk/

Browse by Subject Map of the SOSIG sections
 
Anthropology

Business and Management

Economics

Education

Environmental Science

European Studies

Geography

Government Policy
 
Law

Philosophy

Politics

Psychology

Research Tools and Methods

Social Welfare

Sociology

Statistics

Women's Studies
 

Question
How can you best publish books, including multimedia and user interactive books, on the Web?
Note that interactive books may have quizzes and examinations where answers are sent back for grading.

Answer
There is no optimal software for all authors, because different alternatives have different features that will appeal to authors in varying degrees. Below are a few of the leading alternatives.

You can read more about the terminology and history of both course authoring software and course (learning) management software at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

How Web Pages Work --- http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-page.htm

"U. of Manitoba Researchers Publish Open-Source Handbook on Educational Technology," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 19, 2009 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3671&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

 


 

Author it in MS Word and save as an HTML file

Advantages

Disadvantages

Author it in MS Word and save as a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file

Advantages

You can see how this format is used in the many free electronic textbooks now available in most academic disciplines --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

Disadvantages

 

Author it directly into HTML files using such authoring software as FrontPage or Dreamweaver

Advantages

Disadvantages

Author it in Toolbook that automatically saves files in HTML/DHTML files

Advantages

Disadvantages

A cheap alternative for penetrating a firewall is to attach an answer file to an email message that penetrates campus firewalls. This can even be done via instant messaging with live graders responding to each answer in real time. But there are huge security risks to opening email attachments. Students can innocently or knowingly attach bad things to attached messages that will destroy your computer. Graders can reduce the risk by telling students that they will only open attached TXT files such as those generated in Wordpad.

Another alternative is to run your own server that will allow student returned answer files to penetrate the firewall (firewalls can be adjusted for degrees of security). If done right this is enormously expensive. First you must hire technicians to maintain the system. Second you much install back up systems such as RAID.

Another alternative is to hire a commercial online testing service our course management service, including Blackboard, that allows student returned answer files to penetrate its firewalls. Such services off campus, including Blackboard, will even serve up your entire book, although it is possible to have them only serve up the examinations and receive returned student answer files. Some testing services have course management systems and will serve up and manage entire courses and tutorials.
Examples such as eCollege are reviewed at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 

Other examples of testing services are provided at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardized_test

At this point you may want to read about SCORM standards --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCORM

March 23, 2008 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@rio.edu]

Bob:
In respect to sending exam scores and exam answers as email attachments - it really isn't effective in just about any content authoring tool that offers it - Camtasia, Toolbook or Captivate because of security issues. Before the email goes out it goes to the email client and the student can edit the exam score if they wished. Because of security issues the "owner" of the system should be the only one to control outgoing messages.
 

Author it as an interactive video (probably a flash video) file.

Advantages

Disadvantages

How Web Pages Work --- http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-page.htm

May 1, 2008 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU]

This is a demo on how to use Respondus to create interactive exams using Excel. This movie was created with Jing – a FREE utility of Techsmitth.

http://www.screencast.com/t/ijBIqVtjSl4 

Richard J. Campbell
School of Business
218 N. College Ave.
University of Rio Grande
Rio Grande, OH 45674
Voice:740-245-7288

http://faculty.rio.edu/campbell

 

 

Author it in simulation/game authoring software, including Second Choice virtual learning

Advantages

Disadvantages

Author it in some of the other surviving course (learning) management software described at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

Advantages

Disadvantages

You can read more about the terminology and history of both course authoring software and course (learning) management software at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

How Web Pages Work --- http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-page.htm

"U. of Manitoba Researchers Publish Open-Source Handbook on Educational Technology," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 19, 2009 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3671&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

 

Toolbook, unlike Authorware, Still Lives
ToolBook --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ToolBook

September 25, 2009 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the update. At one time ToolBook was my main man, but those days are long gone. ToolBook has morphed through many changes in ownership and codes, but it does somehow manage a Darwinian evolution. It evolved from early versions that required authors to be techies in coding in OpenScript to later versions that feature over a dozen templates for relatively simple course authoring --- almost plug and play.

It seems to have caught on with training programs in some deep pockets corporations, including Big Four accounting firms. Some of the sample courses look great --- http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/resources/toolbook/learn_showcase.html?src=tbhome
However, there are no samples from universities as far as I can tell.
Is there a reason?

I do not see signs that the latest ToolBook upgrades have cracked into the academic market.

Are there any universities that have ToolBooks to demo?

Are there any college online education or training programs built on ToolBook?

Is there special academic pricing for Version 10?
Apparently not. The single-user price is $2,800 although pricing is complicated for company licenses.

ToolBook's Homepage --- http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/products/content-creation/tb_index.html

ToolBook 10:
Revolutionize the way you create e-Learning content ToolBook empowers subject matter experts and learning professionals to rapidly create interactive learning content, quizzes, assessments, and software simulations. With the convenience of on-demand and mobile access, your employees will learn more, faster—and deliver better business results.

Learning content that you create in ToolBook is distributed as HTML and delivered through almost any Learning Management System (LMS) available, including the SumTotal LMS, other SCORM/AICC-compliant LMS, or standalone systems.

Thousands of corporations use ToolBook today to deliver high-value learning. ToolBook users span multiple industries—including healthcare, manufacturing, finance, retail, government, education and more—and easily deploy across major operating systems, Web browsers, and mobile devices.

September 25, 2009 reply from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU]

Bob:
I'll be developing in Toolbook, and will share some of my output, but I am very busy until the end of the year at least.

They have become more aggressive in pricing - A single license is now in the $2,800 range, and I am not aware of any academic pricing. I usually shy away from academic licenses, since I sell my output in the commercial market, and most academic licenses prohibit that. Most content authoring tools like Toolbook do not have royalty sharing arrangements. You are paying big bucks for the product, why pay more?

Jeff Rhodes at www.plattecanyon.com  is the smartest, most productive multimedia programmer in the world (IMHO) created a very profitable private corporation around Toolbook and multimedia development.

Richard


Interactive (online or offline) Homework and Other Student-Friendly Features of Google Apps

Google Docs has added an equation editor so students can actually complete math problems within a document, allowing students to not only write papers that include numbers and equations but also take notes from quantitative classes using Google Docs. Google has also added the ability to insert superscripts and subscripts, which can be useful for writing out chemical compounds or algebraic expressions.
"Google Docs Become More Student-Friendly," by Lena Rao, TechCrunch.com via The Washington Post, September 28, 2009 --- Click Here
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092802665.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Google has been aggressively marketing Google Apps to schools, recently launching a centralized site designed to recruit universities and colleges. Now, Google is tweaking Google Docs, which is a part of Google Apps' productivity suite, by adding a few student-friendly features.

Google Docs has added an equation editor so students can actually complete math problems within a document, allowing students to not only write papers that include numbers and equations but also take notes from quantitative classes using Google Docs. Google has also added the ability to insert superscripts and subscripts, which can be useful for writing out chemical compounds or algebraic expressions.

Google is also trying to make Docs appealing to those humanities majors out there by letting users to select from various bulleting styles for creating outlines and giving students ability to print footnotes as endnotes for term papers. And a few weeks ago, Google launched a translation feature in Google Docs.

As we've written in the past, Google is wise to recruit educational institutions because that's where many people get trained, start relying on, and form brand allegiances to productivity apps. Drawing from Apple's strategy, Google knows that brand loyalty is definitely forged at these schools and is steadily developing its products to become more appealing to students. Rival Microsoft is also launching web-based versions of its Office products aimed at the student audience. And startup Zoho offers a free web-based productivity suite.

How to author books and other materials for online delivery
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
 

How Web Pages Work ---
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-page.htm

"U. of Manitoba Researchers Publish Open-Source Handbook on Educational Technology," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 19, 2009 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3671&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

 


Collaboration

Collaboration Software --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration_software

From Rick Lillie's on Thinking Outside the Box Blog on March 7, 2010 ---
http://iaed.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/collanos-workplace-free-collaboration-workspace/

Collanos Workplace: Free Collaboration Workspace

In an earlier post, I wrote about the latest book by Curtis J. Bonk, The World Is Open:  How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education.  Bonk’s book is an excellent read.  I highly recommend it to educators at all levels.

While I am familiar with most of what Bonk writes about, just about every chapter introduces me to something new.  For example, Chapter 8, “Collaborate or Die!” introduced me to Collanos Workspace, a free collaboration workspace software tool developed by Collanos Software, AG (Zurich, Switzerland).  Collanos Workspace is a workspace tool similar in design to Groove workspace, originally developed by Ray OzzieGroove is now integrated into Microsoft Office .  Ray Ozzie is the guiding light for Microsoft’s move toward cloud computing.

 

Bob Jensen's threads on Tools and Tricks of the Trade are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

 


Organizing your papers and citations from the Web
Sharing and remotely accessing your bookmarks

February 16, 2006 message from Vidya Ananthanarayanan to the faculty at Trinity University

Dear Faculty,

Ever wished your bookmarks in Internet Explorer or other browsers were accessible anytime anyplace? Ever wanted to share your Internet resources with your class, research colleagues, or peers? How would you like to know what information sources other people in your field are using? Perhaps, you simply want to organize all your bookmarks in a manner that is more meaningful and personal to you? How often have you been frustrated by an outdated or broken URL and wished you could have saved the article or paper itself?

Want to find out more about how you can do any or all of the above? Then mark your calendars for the Social Bookmarking: Tag & Share! TEACHnology Seminar in Library Room 103 from 10:00 - 11:15 am tomorrow. We will explore online services like del.icio.us and CiteULike, and discuss ways to leverage them in the classroom and in your research. Refreshments will be served.

Vidya Ananthanarayanan
Instructional Support Manager
Center for Learning and Technology
210.999.7346
vidya@trinity.edu 
http://www.trinity.edu/ims

Jensen Comment
The CiteULike cite is at
http://www.citeulike.org/

CiteULike is a free service to help academics to share, store, and organise the academic papers they are reading. When you see a paper on the web that interests you, you can click one button and have it added to your personal library. CiteULike automatically extracts the citation details, so there's no need to type them in yourself. It all works from within your web browser. There's no need to install any special software.

Because your library is stored on the server, you can access it from any computer. You can share your library with others, and find out who is reading the same papers as you. In turn, this can help you discover literature which is relevant to your field but you may not have known about.

You're currently looking at a list of the last few papers submitted by all the CiteULike users. Why not register for a free account today and start organising your collection and see just the articles you're interested in? All we need is your email address, a username, and a password. It should take less than fifteen seconds.

The del.icio.us cite is at http://del.icio.us/

» keep your favorite websites, music, books, and more in a place where you can always find them.

» shareyour favorites with family, friends, and colleagues.

» discover new and interesting things by browsing popular & related items.


Free Public Affairs Case Teaching Materials and Sometimes Entire Course Materials from the University of Washington
The Electronic Hallway --- https://hallway.org/

The Electronic Hallway is pleased to announce a unique and progressive new product— Integrated Management: A Complete Core Curriculum — a previously untested venture in presenting an entire course package using online technology. This package represents a 30 week integrated core management curriculum.

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education and training alternatives are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on free online textbooks and learning materials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

"U. of Manitoba Researchers Publish Open-Source Handbook on Educational Technology," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 19, 2009 ---
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3671&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

 


From the University of Virginia
Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
--- http://www.iath.virginia.edu/

IATH is a research unit of the University of Virginia. Our goal is to explore and develop information technology as a tool for scholarly humanities research. To that end, we provide our Fellows with consulting, technical support, applications development, and networked publishing facilities. We also cultivate partnerships and participate in humanities computing initiatives with libraries, publishers, information technology companies, scholarly organizations, and other groups residing at the intersection of computers and cultural heritage.

The research projects, essays, and documentation presented here are the products of a unique collaboration between humanities and computer science research faculty, computer professionals, student assistants and project managers, and library faculty and staff. In many cases, this work is supported by private or federal funding agencies. In all cases, it is supported by the Fellows’ home departments; the College or School to which those departments belong; the University of Virginia Library; the Vice President for Research and Public Service; the Vice President and Chief Information Officer; the Provost; and the President of the University of Virginia.


News Update from Campus Technology on January 11, 2005

Creating the Classroom of Tomorrow

What does it take to successfully integrate all systems across a campus? Planning, communication, flexibility, and more. In a new micro site sponsored by HP, you'll read how several campuses approached their IIS projects and what made them successful. Join a peer forum to discuss implementation and budget issues; read white papers, case studies and articles on the challenges of integration.

http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=11787 


December 12, 2006 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU]

Perhaps the most significant new "feature" in the new release is the hook that Adobe is providing to other revenue-enhancing products like Acrobat Connect, which provides web-conferencing capabilities within Reader for a competitive price to www.gotomeeting.com (which I use). Incidentally, I personally believe that such a web conferencing product is an indispensable feature of any Internet-delivered accounting course.

One intriguing new development in the new Acrobat PROFESSIONAL version ( the pdf creation tool), is the ability to create forms that can be filled out and saved by users who have the free Reader. This is a departure from prior practice for Adobe, because they were trying to sell more expensive server software to facilitate that task.

Richard

 


Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and YouTube as Knowledge Bases

This section was moved to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm#KnowledgeBases


New and Old Tools

See Edutainment --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment

See the online tutorial links at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm

Educause Live --- http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?SECTION_ID=34&bhcp=1

From PBS:  Touch Table Computing Video --- http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/video/231-touchtable.html

Social Networking for Education:  The Beautiful and the Ugly
(including Google's Wave and Orcut for Social Networking and some education uses of Twitter)
Updates will be at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm


Google Voice (via telephone) --- http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

Video Summary of Google Voice --- http://www.youtube.com/googlevoice

"Google Voice Helps Students Learn Spanish," by Tanya Roscorla, Converge Magazine, March 1, 2010 ---
http://www.convergemag.com/edtech/Google-Voice-Helps-Students-Learn-Spanish.html

At Holmdel High School in New Jersey, students speak Spanish in front of their class, but they also practice their language skills on the phone.

This year, Spanish 2 teacher Katy Taylor wanted to find a different way to assess their progress in addition to listening to oral presentations in class. So, she asked them to call her Google Voice number and leave a message.

On their own time, the students read something in Spanish or create a dialogue, which could take up to 1 1/2 minute. Google Voice captures the audio and sends her an e-mail with the recording attached. Then she listens to their recordings and e-mails them feedback — and it's all free.

Google Voice, a telecommunications service by Google launched in March 2009, provides a U.S. phone number, chosen by the user from available numbers in selected area codes, free of charge to each user account.

“It was kind of just fun to experiment and see how it works in the classroom," Taylor said, "and the kids respond really well to it.”

Instead of taking up clas time, they dial in to her phone number, and then she can go online that evening to hear what they've done.

Many students are afraid to make mistakes in front of their peers, so when they do receive a recording assignment, they're more apt to take risks because they have some privacy.

“I’m hoping that the end result will be that students are speaking more and getting feedback," Taylor said. "Every time I think it gets a little better.”


March 11, 2010 message from XXXXX

Bob,

I am wondering if you know of any websites where I can gain access to watch camtasia-style (or narrated powerpoints) videos/lectures of upper level accounting instruction?

My Dean asked me to look into creating an asynchronous, distance/hybrid accounting program. I want to get an idea of what is out there. I think the classes I need are:

AIS Cost Intermediate 1 and 2 Tax Auditing Advanced GNP or NFP Any other advanced accounting, like advanced cost.

Thank you,

XXXXX

March 11, 2010 reply from Bob Jensen

Firstly, I would begin with the asynchronous way basic accounting is taught at BYU almost entirely with variable-speed videos even to resident students living on campus ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#BYUvideo
BYU sells these video CDs to the public at a reasonable price.


Next I would enter a number of search terms into YouTube --- http://www.youtube.com/
Examples include:
Accounting Information Systems
Accounting Ethics
Intermediate accounting
Advanced accounting
Governmental accounting
Hedge accounting
Cost Accounting
Managerial Accounting
Fair Value Accounting
Auditing
SAP or ERP
XBRL

 

I have a few accounting theory Camtasia videos at
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5341/
Links to my other online materials (including PowerPoint presentations) are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud001.htm

 

My PowerPoint presentations and Excel workbooks are linked at
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/Calgary/CD/

I suggest you contact my good friend Amy Dunbar about how she uses Camtasia videos in her online tax courses ---
Amy.Dunbar@business.uconn.edu

In the future U.S. accounting programs will be building in more and more IFRS. Here there’s a heck of a lot of free educational material available ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#IFRSlearning
There are some good cases available, especially from the Big Four.

There is also a lot of free XBRL material, including some good videos --- http://www.xbrl.org/Home/
Click on “Education and Training”

The AICPA has a library of both fee and free videos --- http://www.aicpa.org/
Enter the search term “video”

Other organizations have some deals on videos for courses, including the IIA, Certified Fraud Examiners, etc.

There’s a ton of free material on ethics and fraud.

Pete Wilson provides some great videos on how to make accounting judgments ---
http://www.navigatingaccounting.com/

The OKI --- http://www.okiproject.org/view/html/site/oki
MIT’s Open Courseware Links --- http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
Click on the Sloan School for accounting, finance, and other business open courseware materials
 

MIT’s Video Lecture Browser (better for the sciences than business) --- http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/


"MIT's Management School Shares Teaching Materials (Cases) Online," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 27, 2009 ---
Click Here

Though some business schools charge for the “case studies” they develop as teaching aids, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced today that it is making a set of teaching materials available free online.

MIT’s Sloan School of Management has unveiled a set of case studies, videos, interactive teaching tools, and teacher’s notes on a new Web site called MIT Sloan Teaching Innovation Resources --- https://mitsloan.mit.edu/MSTIR/IndustryEvolution/Pages/default.aspx

The announcement comes eight years after MIT created its OpenCourseWare project, which makes instructional materials for courses available online for free.

Other open sharing materials provided by prestigious universities can be found at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Oh my Gosh!

I forgot to mention the AAA Commons where there’s now a great deal of available, including syllabi, tutorials, course materials, videos, and textbook recommendations --- http://commons.aaahq.org/pages/home

Soon many of the AAA Commons pages will be available to the world in general and not just AAA members. Among other things this makes the resources available to all of your students

Bob Jensen

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education and training alternatives are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm

Tools and Tricks of the Trade ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

 


February 23, 2010 message from Ramsey, Donald [dramsey@UDC.EDU]

JAXWORKS.COM FREE EXCEL TEMPLATES

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACCESSING AND RUNNING

This may vary a bit depending on what version of Excel you have.

You will need to enable macros in your Excel software.

1.  Click on the Office button

2.  Click on Excel Options at the bottom of the screen

3.  Click on Add-ins

4.  Manage:  Excel Add-ins (should be in view);   GO

5.  Check Analysis Tool Pak; Check Analysis Tool Pak VBA

6.  You might want to also check Solver in case you need it some day

7.  Click OK

====================================

8.  Go to www.Jaxworks.com

9.  On the menu, pick DOWNLOADS.

10.  Scroll down to NeoCalc™ Comprehensive Break-Even Analysis

11.  Click on Download

12.  Choose Save if you wish.

13.  You might also want to try their Dynamic Charting download (just above the Neo-Calc).

Best,
Don


Socratic Method According to Hoyle (proudly one of our best and open sharing accounting teachers)

"An Epiphany," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Financial Accounting Blog, February 10, 2010 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2010/02/epiphany.html

By now, everyone who reads this blog probably understands that I teach by means of the Socratic Method. I give a list of 3-8 questions one day which serve as “conversation starters” for the next class. In addition, our brand new Financial Accounting textbook (published by FlatWorldKnowledge) is written entirely in a Socratic Method fashion. A question is posed followed by an answer followed by the next logical question and so on.

When this process works perfectly, it is because of the questions. You must ask the proper question in order to create an environment for discovery. How do you develop those questions? Don’t the questions have to be something more than “when did Columbus discover America?” or “who won the Civil War?”

I had never thought much about the creation of questions until a few years ago. Then, I had an epiphany. I was reading the wonderful book “What the Best College Teachers Do” by Dr. Ken Bain. Dr. Bain and his team selected a group of outstanding college teachers from around the country and shadowed them for a period of time to discover their secrets. I was reading along and came to page 40 where I found this marvelous passage: “One professor explained it this way: ‘It’s sort of Socratic . . . You begin with a puzzle—you get somebody puzzled, and tied in knots, and mixed up.’ Those puzzles and knots generate questions for students, he went on to say, and then you begin to help them untie the knots.”

You get somebody puzzled, and tied in knots, and those puzzles and knots generate questions for students and then you begin to help them untie the knots.

I cannot think of a better description of what I think a teacher should strive to do. Puzzle students, tie their thinking into knots, and then help them untie the knots.

College teachers often view themselves as conveyors of knowledge/information. If that is the case, then a pure lecture works fine. You convey knowledge; students try to catch it as it flies by. However, if you want understanding, curiosity, interest, and enthusiasm, you have to go beyond that. And, I think the “secret” to working on a higher level is in the idea of puzzling the students, tying their thinking into knots, and then helping them to solve those puzzles.

Let me give you an example. Next week, in my Financial Accounting class, I will start talking about accounts receivable. As far as I can tell, most accounting teachers tell their students to read the chapter and assign one or more problems to work. The students then search (often desperately) through the chapter for a reasonable facsimile and try to duplicate that process to solve the homework assignment. In class, the problem is worked and the students make corrections. How do you rate the learning that occurs? Is it much different than learning to change the oil in your car? Ask yourself: does that process generate understanding, curiosity, interest, and enthusiasm?

Here’s how I might go about starting a discussion about reporting accounts receivable. (My quick answers are included in parenthesis. I obviously don’t give the answers to the students.)

1 – Your company sells 1,000 toasters near the end of December 2009, for $60 each. All $60,000 of these sales are made on account and collection will be in three or four months. A balance sheet is produced on December 31, 2009. What do outside decision makes really want to know about those accounts receivable? (The amount of cash the company will collect.) 2 – What is the problem with what the decision makers want to know in the above question? (Uncertainty—the accountant can only guess at the amount of cash that will be collected.) 3 – Accountants are known for being obsessively accurate. Will the reported number be accurate? (It is only an estimate; no one expects an estimate to be accurate. Things like exactness fly out the window when you start making guesses.) 4 – If the number is not accurate, what is it? (A fair representation according to US GAAP. In other words, the reporting follows the rules.) 5 – If there are $60,000 in accounts receivable, how can you report any other number on the balance sheet? Doesn’t it have to be $60,000? (The company sets up an allowance account to reduce the asset by the amount that is anticipated as being uncollectible.) 6 – Assume you know that $2,000 of the $60,000 will prove to be uncollectible in 2010. Two customers will die, leave town, go bankrupt, or the like. That is an expense for the company. Should the $2,000 expense be recognized in 2009 or 2010? (In 2009. Expenses are recognized according to the matching principle. Revenues from the sale of toasters are recognized in 2009 so any related expenses [such as the bad debts] must also be recognized in 2009.

Okay, I could go on and on but you probably get the idea. Here is my challenge to you on a very cold and snowy Wednesday: are you puzzling your students enough and tying their thinking into knots? Are you helping them solve those puzzles and untie those knots? If not, you might want to consider that strategy as a way to increase their understanding, curiosity, interest, and enthusiasm.

Students warn not to take Joe Hoyle's accounting classes "for fun"
RateMyProfessor --- http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=380444

Student 1
I am confident that taking this class is the most valuable academic experience I will ever have. By far the best professor at Richmond. Go see him after class, become his friend. Try not to get frustrated, you may study 15 hours for a test and get a C. Attendance policy: If you don't go, you're screwed.
 
Student 2
As everyone has said, Great Professor and forces you to learn the material. I worked by far the hardest for this guy but also learned the most. He loves to send out emails about life lessons but some are interesting. Be ready for LOTS of work but lots of learning too.
 
Student 3
Professor Hoyle is indeed the best professor in the business school. His tests are challenging but very fair. If you have any interest in accounting or business in general, then you must take this class. The curve is extremely helpful so making an A is reasonable while getting below a C is almost impossible.
 
Student 4
Attendance is not mandatory, but this class is one that will kill you if you don't come to it. It is an extremely difficult course, but interesting and worth the time. Hoyle is one of those profs you either love or hate, and is also one of those profs that you will remember your entire life.

Joe's free basic accounting textbook (updated)
 

  • Free accounting textbook from a generous accounting professor ---
    http://www.ibtimes.com/prnews/20081218/ny-flat-world-knowldg.htm
    Also see http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/Joe-Hoyle-Podcast 

    --Each chapter opens with a video to explain the importance of the material and get the student interested in reading the chapter before they even start.

    --The material (all 17 chapters) is written in a question and answer (Socratic) format to engage and guide the students through each area.   The subjects are broken down into a manageable and logical size.  Faculty often complain that students do not read the textbooks.  I think this format can change that trend.

    --Embedded multiple-choice questions are included on virtually every page to provide immediate feedback for the students.  CJ and I wrote the multiple choice questions ourselves as we wrote the manuscript to ensure that they would tie together logically.

    --Each chapter ends with a review video where we challenge the students to pick the five most important areas from the chapter.  I firmly believe that students need to learn to evaluate what they are reading.  We then provide our own “Top Five” list so that they can see where we agree and where we disagree.

    Yes, professors do get hard copy versions.

    Joe is also behind the free CPA Review course that was once commercial but then became a freebie to the world.
    Free CPA Review Course
    --- http://cpareviewforfree.com/  


  • Gadgets For People Who Roam the Hard Copy Stacks Rather Than Google

    These gadgets might also be useful for detail tests on audits

    "Pint-Size Peripherals Scan or Print at a Price," by Katherine Boehret, The Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2010 ---
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704820904575055321581158304.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_RIGHTTopCarousel

    It's often said that less is more. If only this were true for computer devices like printers and scanners, which take up a lot of desktop real estate. The reality is that small, stylish, portable versions of these gadgets are often pricey and not as functional.

    This week, I reviewed two products that unfortunately live up to that reality: a portable printer and mini scanner that put a premium on good looks at $300 each. I've been using Fujitsu's newest $295 mini scanner, the ScanSnap S1300 (fujitsu.com), and PlanOn System Solutions Inc.'s tiny $300 PrintStik PS905ME (http://3.ly/6QVS). There are several good printers, scanners or all-in-ones that cost significantly less or offer more functionality than these devices.

    But boy, do these gadgets look good. The Fujitsu ScanSnap collapses down to a small, rectangular box with mirrored buttons. The PlanOn PrintStik resembles a box of aluminum foil in the kitchen drawer—except more compact.

    Both devices are small and lightweight enough to fit in a bag or briefcase, if necessary. Either one of these could be ported around without a problem: The PrintStik weighs 1.5 pounds and the ScanSnap weighs twice as much at 3.08 pounds. Both fit well in a tiny work space or on the desktops of people like me, who don't print or scan much and don't want a device taking up a lot of space.

    As is usually the case with smaller devices that lack display screens and extra buttons, one hopes they come with straightforward software or simply plug in and play. The Fujitsu ScanSnap meets that requirement with software that installs on Macs or PCs and can be used without reading complicated instructions.

    The PlanOn PrintStik uses thermal printing to produce images and characters on scrolls of paper. The PlanOn PrintStik worked adequately as a basic black-and-white printer for Windows PCs (it isn't Mac compatible), but fell short as a wireless printer for smart phones. The PrintStik is meant to receive and print documents sent to it via Bluetooth from BlackBerrys, but I found the BlackBerry program to be clumsy and in the end, it didn't even work despite at least two dozen attempts. PlanOn's tech support said they thought my PrintStik's Bluetooth could be faulty, but couldn't send me a new device in time for this column.

    These two devices offer some interesting design elements. The PlanOn PrintStik PS905ME uses thermal printing—an old technology that has been around for decades—rather than ink cartridges, to produce images and characters by applying heat at tiny points.

    The PrintStik's thermal printing only works with special scrolls of thin, slippery paper. It comes in packs of six rolls for $23; one roll is about 23 feet long and prints roughly 30 sheets of letter-size paper. You can opt to print only as much as a document requires to save paper. But a long document prints out in one continuous scroll rather than separate pages.

    The PrintStik has a rechargeable battery that lasts long enough to print about 30 pages; a wall charger is also included. It can churn out up to three pages per minute. I can imagine tossing this printer into my suitcase for business trips; it would also come in handy for printing boarding passes for use at the airport, among other things.

    Documents that are supposed to be printable from the BlackBerry with a remote-printing app include Web pages, attachments including PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, JPEGs, and PowerPoint presentations. PlanOn representatives say an app will be available for Apple's iPhone and Google's Android phones in about four or five months; they also are working on an iPad application. Though the PrintStik's remote-printing app for the BlackBerry is currently free, the company intends to begin charging $30 annually for its remote-printing service this summer.

    Fujitsu's ScanSnap S1300 can suck in 10 pages at once, and has two cameras that can scan the front and back of printouts. This process can scan as many as eight dual-sided pages a minute. Item sizes range from 2x2-inch cards to legal documents.

    The ScanSnap comes with a wall charger but also runs without being plugged into the wall: It uses a USB cord for charging from a PC in addition to the USB cord that transfers data between the scanner and computer.

    Seconds after I scanned documents into the ScanSnap, colorful icons appeared on my computer screen. Choosing one of these icons let me send the documents to one of the following: email, Word, a printer, Excel, iPhoto or Cardiris—a program that exports contact information from scanned business cards into Address Book or Entourage; CardMinder on Windows exports contact information to Outlook and other programs.

    If you want to scan old or precious documents, you may not like using the ScanSnap's sucking method for scanning, in case a page gets stuck or damaged. For sensitive objects or page scanning, the best bet is to use a flatbed scanner or all-in-one (that prints, scans, and faxes) with a lift-up lid that scans items on a flat surface.

    Though the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 and PlanOn PrintStik PS905ME aren't the least expensive or the most functional devices of their kind, they're easy to move around and take up minimal amounts of space. For some people, that may be well worth the higher cost.

    —Edited by Walter S. Mossberg.

     

    Question
    What hand-held device can photograph close up and read aloud from books, price labels, receipts, and newspapers?

    Hint:
    This device has far more uses beyond being a helper for sight impaired people.
    For one thing, auditors might make use of this when detail testing.

    Intel Reader --- http://www.intel.com/healthcare/reader/index.htm

    The Intel Reader, powered by an Atom processor, is a handheld device with a five-­megapixel camera that can read aloud any printed text it is pointed at, including product labels, receipts, and pages from books and newspapers. Previously, visually impaired or dyslexic people required a desktop scanner connected to a computer to convert print into speech.
    "Scan and Listen," MIT's Technology Review, December 17, 2009 ---
    http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/24198/?a=f

    Bob Jensen's threads on gadgets are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob4.htm#Technology

    Education Technology Award Winners

    "Teaching Toolbox: 57 Ways to Upgrade Education," by Tanya Roscorla, Converge Magazine, January 4, 2010 ---
    http://www.convergemag.com/edtech/The-2009-Edublog-Awards.html?elq=4768d02be55741bb9e3e0bc860e41996

    This year, spruce up your teaching toolbox with some of the top education blogs, tweets, wikis and more, as voted on by educators in the Edublog Awards.

    On these sites, you'll be able to connect with other educators, see what's going on in classrooms around the world and find out what technology tools you can use in your classroom.

     

    Best individual blog

    1. Winner: Free Technology for Teachers
      Google certified teacher Richard Byrne reviews free technology resources and shows educators how they can integrate those resources into their teaching. He also won the best resource sharing blog award.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch
      Technology administrator Kathy Schrock covers ed tech tools, techniques and tricks of the trade.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: Larry Ferlazzo's Websites Of The Day For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
      Larry Ferlazzo teaches English Language Learners and native English speakers in Sacramento, Calif.. He provides links to sites that help educators teach English to non-native speakers. He also won best resource sharing blog award.

     

    Best individual tweeter

    1. Winner: web20classroom
      From Winston-Salem, N.C., technology educator Steven W. Anderson interacts with other educators by sharing links to online resources and participating in conversations about real issues in education.
       
    2. First Runner Up: russeltarr
      Russel Tarr teaches history in Toulouse, France.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: courosa
      Alec Couros teaches educational technology and media in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

     

    Best group blog

    1. Winner: MacMillian Dictionary Blog
      As the English language constantly changes, five authors take the pulse of the living language and share how it is used around the world.
       
    2. First Runner Up: I.N.K.: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids
      Authors and illustrators give readers a behind-the-scenes look at how they research, write and integrate art into their books. 
       
    3. Second Runner Up: SCC English
      The English Department of St. Columba's College in Whitechurch, Dublin 16, Ireland posts news, poems, drama, essays, podcasts, book recommendations and more. 

     

    Best new blog

    1. Winner: Kirsten Winkler
      Kirsten Winkler started blogging about online education in January and takes readers on a quest to find better education.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Look At My Happy Rainbow
      A male kindergarten teacher shares stories from his classroom in Maine. As for the blog title, one of his students shouted, "Look at my happy rainbow!" one day after he drew a rainbow with four or five crayons in one hand.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: Teach Paperless
      Shelly Blake-Plock shows educators how to teach with interactive technology and provide real-world learning opportunities for their students.

     

    Best class blog

    1. Winner: Billings Middle School Tech Class Blog
      From Seattle, Technology Integration Coordinator Jac de Haan shines a spotlight on students' adventures with digital tools and discussions about the social, political, environmental and moral impacts of technology.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Mrs. Yollis' Classroom Blog
      Third graders from Linda Yollis' class learn and share what they're learning on their blog.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: English With Rosa
      Rosa Fernández Sánchez helps her students from Coruña, Galicia, Spain, practice English.

     

    Best student blog

    1. Winner: Civil War Sallie
      A Boyd's Bear named Sallie Ann travels to classrooms, museums and battlefields to learn about the United States Civil War, and then shares what she learns on her blog. The person who created Sallie Ann is a student from St. Patrick School in Carlisle, Pa.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Universo
      Eighteen-year-old Néstor Aluna Maceda Pacheco writes about botany from Rio Blanco, Veracruz, México.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: Moo
      A college student majoring in photography shares photos and commentary. She also happens to be the daughter of The Scholastic Scribe, which earned first runner up in the best teacher blog category.

     

    Best resource sharing blog

    1. Winner: Free Technology for Teachers
      Voted the best resource sharing blog for the second straight year. Google certified teacher Richard Byrne reviews free technology resources and shows educators how they can integrate those resources into their teaching. He also won the best individual blog award.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day
      Larry Ferlazzo teaches English Language Learners and native English speakers in Sacramento, Calif.. He provides links to sites that help educators teach English to non-native speakers.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day
      Social learning consultant Jane Hart features an ed tech tool each day.

     

    Most influential blog post

    1. Winner: "Heads in the Cloud" from Anseo.net
      This post shows how one school uses cloud computing through Google Apps as a communication tool for the staff and board of management.
       
    2. Joint First Runners Up:
      "This, This, That" from Dear Kaia and Skyelar
      Three-year-old Kaia explored the desert near her home in Qatar, took photos of what she saw and created a photo essay that she posted on her blog. She wrote the post with her dad, teacher Jabiz Raisdana, who then sent it out to his Twitter network. 

      The link made its way into the Twitter stream of technology teacher William Chamberlain, who asked the eighth grade students in his class to comment on the blog post.

      The story doesn't end there. The eigth-graders had some questions about Kaia and her dad's life in Doha, Qatar, so Raisdana skyped into their class. The students also created video comments that they sent to Kaia (read the complete story on Raisdana's blog).

      On top of that, professor John Strange from the University of South Alabama saw the post and passed it on to the students in his educational media class. They commented on Kaia's photo essay as well and wrote more than 50 blog posts in response to the photo essay (read this part of the story in Raisdana's words).


      "Tech addiction 'harms learning' ... really??? $24.99 and I am no wiser" from Wishful Thinking in Medical Education
      After seeing tweets about a BBC News Education story in her Twitter stream, general practitioner and clinical lecturer Ann Marie Cunningham checked out the research that prompted the above headline.

      She had to pay to find out what was in the report "Techno Addicts: Young Person Addiction to Technology, and what she found was 'poor research.' She gives her analysis in this blog post.
       

    Jensen Comment
    My threads on educator use of Twitter are at  
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm

    Most influential tweet / series of tweets / tweet-based discussion

    1. Winner: #edchat
       Through Twitter, educators discuss real education issues on Tuesdays at noon EST and 7 p.m. EST using the hashtag "edchat."
       
    2. First Runner Up: Blogworthy Tweets
      English teacher Claudia Ceraso from Buenos Aires, Argentina, publishes some of her tweets on the blog ELT notes.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: #teachertuesday
      Every Tuesday on Twitter, educators and others recommend teachers to follow through the hashtag #teachertuesday.

     

    Best teacher blog

    1. Winner: Two Writing Teachers
      Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz share their tools, ideas and experiences with educators who teach kids how to write.
       
    2. First Runner Up: The Scholastic Scribe
      A high school journalism teacher writes about life inside and outside of her District of Columbia classroom. She is the mother of the college student behind Moo, who earned first runner up in the best student blog category.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: Cool Cat Teacher
      Vicki A. Davis from Camilla, Georgia, shares her experiences with technology as well as how students are collaborating globally through activities including the Flat Classroom Project

     

    Best librarian / library blog

    1. Winner: Never Ending Search
      Joyce Valenza writes about technology, research, search engines and more from Springfield Township High School in Oreland, Pa. Check out the school's cool virtual library.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Bright Ideas
      The School Library Association of Victoria run this blog, where school library staff can share how they use the latest research tools in their libraries.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: Library Media Tech Musings
      Gwyneth A. Jones passes on education links and resources, among other things, with a sprinkle of snark, as she puts it.

     

    Best educational tech support blog

    1. Winner: iLearn Technology
      Technology teacher Kelly Tenkely wants to help teachers "fall in love with technology the way that their students have," and she does that by giving them ideas for how to integrate new technology into their classrooms.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Langwitches
      This blog follows Silvia Tolisano as she discovers the magic of learning on her journey as a technology integration facilitator.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: Life Feast
      Ana Maria Menezes shares what she's learning about using Internet tools to enhance her classes and change up the daily routine for her EFL students in Brazil.

     

    Best elearning / corporate education blog

    1. Winner: MPB Reflections — 21st Century Teaching and Learning
      From Teaching Without Walls, co-owner and educational consultant Michelle Pacansky-Brock posts her thoughts about changes in higher education, with an emphasis on online learning.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Angela Maiers
      After a 20-year career in education, Angela Maiers became an independent consultant who focuses on literacy education, and through her blog, she encourages teachers to be great learners.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: e-learning, conocimiento en red y web colectiva
      This blog covers e-learning, network knowledge and the collective Web.

     

    Best educational use of audio

    1. Winner: Xyleme Voices Podcasts
      A podcast library on the evolution of training, featuring interviews with top industry analysts, consultants and practitioners in the field of learning.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Musical Blogies
      Ignacio Valdés posts audio and video of his students, who play music from a secondary education institution in the Spanish principality of Asturia.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: My Audio School
      Children can download more than 150 classic books and listen to more than 200 radio and television broadcasts on My Audio School. While this Web site was originally designed to help dyslexic students, it can be used for any students.

     

    Best educational use of video / visual

    1. Winner: Bitácora de Aníbal de la Torre
      Aníbal de la Torre compiles short educational videos on his blog from Palma del Rio, Cordoba, Spain.
       
    2. First Runner Up: The Longfellow Ten
      Middle school students create and share stop-motion films that depict academic terms and concepts. They're definitely not boring.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: Inanimate Alice
      Through text, sound, images and games, writer Kate Pullinger and digital artist Chris Joseph tell the story of a girl named Alice and her imaginary digital friend, Brad. Pullinger teaches creative writing and new media for De Montfort University in Leicester, United Kingdom.

     

    Best educational wiki

    1. Winner: Greetings From The World
      Teachers and students tell others about their countries by sharing glogs on this wiki.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Soar 2 New Heights
      A fourth-grade class shares books and themes that they enjoy.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: HUMS3001: Censorship and Responsibility
      From the University of South Wales, the students in Ben Miller's class on censorship and responsibility work together to build the pages in this wikispace.

     

    Best educational use of a social networking service

    1. Winner: English Companion Ning
      English teachers help each other on this network, which high school English teacher and author Jim Burke created.
       
    2. First Runner Up: EFL Classroom 2.0
      This Ning provides a space for English language teachers and students to ask questions, share answers and find resources to help them learn. 
       
    3. Second Runner Up: RSC Access and Inclusion Ning
      The Regional Support Centre for North and East Scotland allows educators to discuss, share and join with other colleagues as they work with learners who need additional support in higher education.

    Jensen Comment
    My threads on educator social networking are at 
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm

    Best educational use of a virtual world

    1. Winner: Virtual Graduation at the University of Edinburgh
      While some education students graduated at McEwan Hall in November, other students graduated online in Second Life. Those students completed their Master of Science in E-learning, which is a distance learning program.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Virtual Round Table Conference
      This Ning is dedicated to a virtual conference on language learning with technology that LANCELOT School coordinated.
       
    3. Joint Second Runners Up:
      ISTE's Second Life Island
      Second Life Education New Zealand

    Jensen Comment
    My threads on Second Looks and virtual learning are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#SecondLife

    Lifetime achievement

    1. Winner: Karl Fisch
      Karl Fisch has been teaching for 21 years and is currently director of technology at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo. He was previously a middle and high school math teacher.
       
    2. First Runner Up: Will Richardson
      Will Richardson is the "learner in chief" at Connective Learning and author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.
       
    3. Second Runner Up: Larry Ferlazzo
      Larry Ferlazzo teaches English Language Learners and native English speakers in Sacramento, Calif. On his blog, he provides links to sites that help educators teach English to non-native speakers.

     

    For more ways to learn online, check out these resources:

    Bob Jensen's threads on educator blogs, social networks, and tweets are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm

    Bob Jensen's threads on education technology are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm


    "Thinking About Teaching," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Financial Accounting Blog, February 28, 2010 ---
    http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2010/02/thinking-about-teaching.html

    You may have seen the video below (it is four minutes long). It had a lot of impact on me when I was creating our new Financial Accounting textbook. The video was apparently created by the students you see and really made me think about the state of education today. As far as I am concerned, education is expensive and, too often, both boring and inefficient. I wanted to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. As a result, I helped design and create this new type of Financial Accounting textbook.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
    **

    As I have mentioned previously, a few years ago I wrote a free on-line teaching tips book (https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~jhoyle/). I was lucky, a few people read it and told other people and then I got a very nice review in the Chronicle of Higher Education. As a result, I started getting emails from around the world about teaching. That was wonderful.

    One day I received an email from a professor in London who said something like: “you don’t know me but I have read your teaching tips book and have a quote that I think you are going to love.” And, he was absolutely correct—this is one of my two or three favorite quotes about teaching. Whenever I give a teaching presentation, I always use this quote to explain what I believe is the true secret for becoming a better teacher. It is the best piece of advice that I can give any teacher who wants to improve.

    "Teaching does not come from years of doing it. It actually comes from thinking about it."

    I get pretty decent teaching evaluations from my students and I have won a few awards. Whenever anyone asks me how I managed to do that, I always say: “I think about this stuff a lot. Whether it is 6:00 a.m. when I wake up or 10:30 p.m. when I go to bed, teaching and my students and how to help them learn is always floating around in my head.”

    So, today, I decided to tell you about what has been floating around in my head recently.

    It seems to me that college education in my lifetime has focused on the conveyance of information. One content expert (the teacher) conveys information to a group of individuals who want (or are required) to gain a bit of that expertise. Despite what we might say, that process has not changed too radically in the last four decades since I was a college student.

    However, with the Internet, Google, Bing and the like, information is readily available to most individuals at any time. It is hard to find a factual question that you cannot answer in less than one minute using a search engine. What then is the future purpose of a college education (other than the acquisition of a very expensive diploma)? If there is no longer a huge need for the conveyance of information from one generation to the next because it is so readily available, what are we doing? Don’t we need to know that before we even start the first class?

    Do we who teach in college think about that question enough or just try to ignore it as best we can?

    When I give teaching presentations, we work on developing “fly-on-the-wall” philosophies. What the heck is that? I ask the members of the audience to picture the course that is their favorite to teach. Then think of the final day of the semester when the students file out of the room for the last time. I ask each of the teachers to pretend they are a fly on the wall right above the door. If you were that fly on the wall, what would you want to hear from your students as they exited for the final time?

    --The teacher sure conveyed a lot of information??
    --I certainly took some great notes this semester??
    --I memorized a lot of material so I could pass a test??

    From my experience, a lot of teachers teach as if that is their goal. But, surely that cannot be the reason we became teachers. In 2010, doesn’t it have to be something more than that? And, if the answer is Yes, then what is the purpose of a college course?

    I can tell you my own personal fly-on-the-wall philosophy but I am not sure that I am not ready for some change in it. So, if you have suggestions, let me know.

    Here is my mine. On the last day of class, I would love to hear by students say:

    “I never thought I could work so hard. I never thought I could learn so much. I never thought I could think so deeply. And, it was actually fun.”

    What is yours?


    Continued in article


    "How to Teach with Tech Tools," by Tanya Roscoria, Converge Magazine, February 9, 2010 ---
    http://www.convergemag.com/edtech/82633067.html

    In Western Civilization class at The John Carroll School, freshmen grab plastic chairs from a stack against the wall, gather around the room in different areas and jump online with their tablet PCs.

    Using a class hashtag, they respond to questions that teacher Shelly Blake-Plock posts on Twitter. He projects their discussions on the classroom wall so that everyone can easily track what's going on.

    Then, instead of pulling out textbooks to study ancient Rome, the students check out primary sources online such as BBC's interactive history section or the Metropolitan Museum of Art timelines that integrate text and artwork. As jazz music plays in the background, they pull up a document and use Diigo to annotate the text as well as share annotations.

    They'll keep scouring the web for sites on ancient Rome and share the links they find on Twitter, then pick the best ones to post on their class wiki. Afterward, students look for correlations between the history they're studying and current events that media sources post on Twitter.

    At the end of the 45-minute class, Blake-Plock throws out another question on Twitter that the students use as a guide to write a post on their personal blogs that night. The next day, they read and comment on their classmates' blogs and start the process all over again.

    These students are learning through technology and directing their own learning in the process. Here's how educators around the country are empowering their students to do the same.

    Focus on education At Charlotte Country Day School in North Carolina, Technology Integration Specialist Tim Moxley works with teachers to incorporate smartboards, document cameras and netbook computers into their lessons. To successfully blend tech tools into their instruction, teachers need to have a combination of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK), which is a model that Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler of Michigan State University researched.

    Educators took on the job of providing a quality education, and a piece of that quality education is teaching kids how to use and become comfortable with tech tools.

    "When you work in education, the end goal is what’s best for the student," Moxley said. "If using a piece of technology is gonna improve the student outcome in some way, then it’s worth it.”

    Students are turned on 24 hours a day, whether they're surfing the web, watching TV or playing the Nintendo Wii, said Technology Integration Specialist Susan Jenkins, and they need to be engaged in order to learn. Engaging students often means using technology to teach, if it can help meet a learning goal.

    “We don’t want to put it out there just because it’s a cool thing to have," said Jenkins, who works in Bullitt County Public Schools in Shepherdsville, Ky. " We want a purpose for it.”

    Learn about the tools Jenkins helps teachers find that purpose by providing in-service training once a month as well as meeting with them on an appointment basis. While she does show them how new tools work, she also gives them ideas about how they can use them to help students learn.

    “As we’re training them to use the tool, we try to train them with the integration side mixed in," Jenkins said.

    In addition to learning from other people in their school district, teachers can learn from people they're connected to on Twitter, said Kyle Pace, an instructional/consumer technology specialist with Lee's Summit School District in Missouri. He finds plenty of resources from educators, particularly those who use the hashtag edchat, and shares them with co-workers and teachers in his area.

    “If you start to think, ‘Well, I’ve seen all there is to see with this kind of tool,’ something new comes out or the next day you learn about something new,” Pace said. “We’re fortunate in our district that instructional technology is a huge focus, and I think it just has to remain a huge professional development focus at the district and at the building level.”

    Back in North Carolina, some teachers tell Moxley that they are computer-illiterate and are horrible with technology. He reminds them that they wouldn't accept that response from a child who tells them he isn't good at math, so he won't accept that as a response for them. When he puts it in those terms, they are more receptive to learning about new tools.

    He sits in on grade-level planning meetings, and based on what he hears, he looks for resources that might work with the lessons that teachers have coming up.

    “I try to deemphasize the technology itself and just try to get them to see it as a tool that hopefully will enhance the lesson in some way,” Moxley said.

    Mix tech into lessons When language arts teacher Heather Mason plans a lesson, she starts by figuring out what she wants her students to learn in her class at Jefferson Middle School in Merritt Island, Fla. Then she thinks about what tools could help accomplish her goal.

    And as she wrote on her blog, the technology doesn't have to be new to work. She uses tools such as Post-it notes, highlighters and personal whiteboards to engage her students.

    Pencils are also effective tools, and they're the focus of John Spencer's blog Adventures in Pencil Integration. Set in 1897, the blog posts tell the story of a fictional character named Tom Johnson, whose small school district starts paper and pencil integration initiatives to prepare students for the 20th century.

    Through satire, he paints a picture of the hype and the paranoia that comes with new technology. Back in his classroom at Raúl Castro Middle School in Phoenix, he teaches his students to identify with both extremes.

    “I want them to be both absolute critics of technology and also people who absolutely embrace it," Spencer said. "And I know that’s a really idealistic kind of view to have, but I want them to be both.”

    He helps them become both by starting conversations in his multimedia authoring/publishing class that force students to think critically about what they're doing and why they're doing it.

    Continued in article


    Datawatch's Monarch data mining software --- http://www.datawatch.com/_products/monarch_pro.php
    "Kean and Emory Introduce Students to Data Mining," by Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology, April 6, 2009 ---
    http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/04/06/kean-and-emory-introduce-students-to-data-mining.aspx
    Link forwarded by Ed Scribner

    Two universities--Kean University in Union, NJ and Emory University in Atlanta, GA--have gone public with their use of Datawatch's Monarch data mining software to teach students how to perform business intelligence work.

    Kean professor Beth Brilliant introduced Monarch to graduate students of her accounting information systems (AIS) and auditing information system classes.

    "I have been using Monarch for years as a [certified public accountant] and swear by it," said Brilliant. "For example, I use Monarch to quickly find any bank discrepancies. As I work for a law firm with client trust accounts, this is extremely important, as all accounts must balance to the penny. I am able to reconcile all the accounts in minutes thanks to Monarch, picking up differences in checks from pennies to hundreds of thousands of dollars."

    Brilliant added, "My department has also become more efficient with the use of Monarch, saving hours by importing data into the accounting system electronically vs. manually. Reports that I receive from vendors are saved as PDF files, which are mined using Monarch. The data is then extracted and imported into our accounting system. This not only saves time but it removes the risk of manual data input errors."

    "I rely on Monarch to ensure data quality and to ensure I know exactly where company data is coming from, with no need to rely on the company's accounting and IT departments," she explained. "Monarch is an excellent resource for auditors and accountants, and well worth including Monarch within my AIS coursework."

    Robert Gross teaches a graduate course on managing healthcare databases at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory. The course is part of the curriculum for the university's master of public health degree.

    "Most of my students are physicians and other working healthcare providers, middle managers and public health agency leaders," said Gross. "The students are non-technical, yet must understand how to independently gather, sift, sort, and work effectively with public and private healthcare information sources. We address issues including effective data access strategies, how to ensure data quality, comply fully with HIPAA, and actively work with healthcare data using Excel, Access, and several statistical analysis products."

    Continued in article

     


    Bentley College Students Will Make Microloans to Small Businesses
    P
    erhaps this is also an opportunity for accounting students to advise loan recipients on accounting, software, and taxes. There is precedent here for students in colleges that used to administer Small Business Administration grants. Years ago at the University of Maine I supervised some students who in turn were assisting grant recipients with accounting. In one humorous instance, the students could not find the recipients. The SBA had given a grant to a startup company to make patio furniture in much the same manner as birch-bark canoes are made using ash wood and birch bark. Once the recipients got the money for their chain saws and trucks, they were nowhere to be found. Turns out all they wanted the money for was to help them steal wood to sell to the paper companies. Such will also be the risk of microlending by college students.

    "Bentley University Class Creates Local Microfinance Fund," Market Watch, October 28, 2008 --- Click Here

    New Student-Run Initiative Brings Microlending to the Greater Boston Area An honors finance class at Bentley University has paved the way for an innovative financing initiative: a domestic microcredit organization that will fuel economic and community development by providing loans of $1,500 to $6,000 to local entrepreneurs at or below the poverty level.

    The Bentley Microcredit Initiative (BMI) is the result of a course, Seminar in Micro Lending, which debuted in spring 2008. The mission of the BMI is to integrate microfinance into the Bentley community and to promote community development through education and innovation in microlending activities. The class and the BMI are the brainchild of Finance Professor and BMI Director Roy Wiggins. "The fund is something I really thought could be viable here at Bentley," says Wiggins. "Since it's student-run, it will provide hands-on banking experience while also furthering the Bentley mission to send future business leaders into the world who are socially responsible."

    Microcredit or microlending refers to modest-sized loans for poverty-level recipients who may not qualify for funds at traditional financial institutions. The practice gained public attention in 2006, when Grameen Bank and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, received the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in microfinance.

    Students enrolled in Seminar in Micro Lending developed a working model for the BMI after researching microfinance successes and failures both abroad and domestically to create a framework that could operate in Greater Boston. The fund is being financed by donations from alumni and parents and has an initial equity line of $100,000 on its way to a total loan portfolio of $300,000. The Bentley Microcredit Initiative will identify potential loan applicants by tapping into existing Bentley relationships with community organizations. "One of the attractive things about this venture is that it will be utilizing Bentley's academic resources," says Bentley President Gloria Larson. "We are essentially marrying Bentley's foundation in service and business to help address a societal issue. We hope the Microcredit Initiative will become a part of Bentley's legacy." BENTLEY UNIVERSITY is a leader in business education. Centered on teaching and research in business and related professions, Bentley blends the breadth and technological strength of a university with the core values and student focus of a close-knit campus.

    SOURCE Bentley University

     


    Epsilen Environment from Purdue University appears to have brought together the latest technology in a course authoring, course management, and e-learning package  --- http://www.epsilen.com/Epsilen/Public/Home.aspx

    The Epsilen Environment is the result of six years of research and development within the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI. Epsilen Products and Services are commercially available through BehNeem LLC, the holding company created in Indiana to commercialize, market and further develop the Epsilen Environment. The New York Times is an equity and strategic partner in the company.

    I maintain a site on the history of course authoring and course management technology at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

    A 2008 addition to the above history site came to my attention in a loose-card advertisement for Epsilen Enviroment that came in the November 3, 2008 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

    Free ePortfolios 
     
    Basic ePortfolio accounts are free for all registered students and faculty of U.S. colleges and universities.  An Epsilen ePortfolio can be created in minutes and be used throughout one’s academic career, during professional life, and even into retirement.  The free Epsilen ePortfolio account offers tools and resources enabling members to:

    If your campus is, or becomes, a licensed Epsilen institution (see below), your free ePortfolio will integrate dynamically with more sophisticated tools and services listed below that accompany the paid license. Visit www.epsilen.com to create your personal ePortfolio and begin exploring the Environment. 

      
    Exploratory Institutional Memberships
     
    The Exploratory Membership is an easy and cost-effective option for colleges and universities, schools, districts and state systems to explore and experience the features of Epsilen, the next generation of learning and networking software.  Upon payment of an annual membership fee, the following features are available to Exploratory Members: 

    Annual Exploratory Memberships begin at $5,000 for campuses with up to 2,000 students.  Click here for more pricing information and order application. 
     
     

    New York Times Knowledge Network

    New York Times Knowledge (NYTKnowledge Network) offers New York Times content to complement faculty-designed courses served dynamically in customizable templates through Epsilen’s Global Learning System.  New York Times content is aggregated by subject and easily selected and incorporated into lessons by faculty and the interactive learning environment. NYTKnowledge Network provides access to a repository of Times archives back to 1851 Times articles, special issues sections, multimedia features, and synchronous and asynchronous contact with correspondents, resulting in an extraordinary integrated learning environment that supports hybrid or online offerings.
     

    The New York Times Knowledge Network also offers the opportunity to participate in Webcasts with the Times correspondents and other subject matter experts. These can be included in traditional courses, or offered by your institution as stand-alone life-long learning experiences with comprehensive continuing education programs designed by the New York Times. 


    NYT Knowledge Network Provides:

    • A rich repository of archived content back to 1851
    • Access to other major content providers
    • Multimedia news content
    • Interactive maps and graphs
    • Webcasts, chats with correspondents
    • A comprehensive range of content aggregated by subject and easily integrated to support your teaching objectives.
    • NYTimes Knowledge Network marketing of your continuing education courses.  

    Visit http://www.nytimes.com/knowledge for further information and pricing (will be released in mid August 2007).
     

    Student Learning Matrix 
     
    Programs, departments, and schools within a campus may create unlimited student learning matrices to be used by students through an automated learning outcome assessment tool for both summative and formative learning assessment.  Features include:

    • Creation of unlimited student learning matrices for program- or campus-level learning outcome assessment (Each axis includes attributes defined by the program/campus.)
    • Ability for students to upload their learning outcomes according to predefined rubrics
    • Access by faculty and academic advisors to each student learning matrix for assessment, advisement, and certification
    • Program- and campus-level assessment reports for internal and external accreditation reviews
    • A hosted Web-based solution that requires no institutional IT support

    The annual Student Learning Matrix membership fee is based on the number of students in the program or institution.  Click here for more information and online membership application.
     
     

    Global Learning System (GLS)
     
     

    Epsilen offers the Global Learning System (GLS), a new Web-based learning framework developed as the next generation of eLearning and networking. In contrast to current legacy learning management systems, the GLS offers true global learning collaboration by connecting students and instructors on campuses in the U.S. and around the world in an interactive and intuitive Web 2.0 learning environment.  The GLS complements existing licensed or open source CMS products.  The GLS features include:

    • Global learning management system that enables students and instructors to easily register or be invited to courses and learning collaboration
    • Cross listing of class rosters of two or more courses within various campuses, or across institutions
    • Innovative tools using professional and social networking to enhance learning, encourage collaboration, and utilize peer review technology
    • The ability to easily archive courses and working groups for continued engagement
    • A hosted Web-based solution that requires little, or no institutional IT support

    The annual GLS membership fee is based on the number of students and courses within the institution. Click here for more information and online membership application.
     
     

    Charter Membership
     

    Experience the full suite of the Epsilen “Environment” and resources with unparalleled access to NYTKnowledge Network content. Charter members receive special pricing for unlimited use of ePortfolios, the Student Learning Matrix, courses through the Global Learning System, and interactive Webcasts with correspondents.  With charter membership, two university administrators will be invited to participate in the Epsilen - New York Times charter council, with meetings and events scheduled at The New York Times.  Benefits include:

    • Single sign-on environment featuring a toolbox of services for ePortfolio, social networking, Learning Matrix, GLS, object repository, and NYTKnowledge Network
    • Totally hosted turnkey solution with no need for local servers or local technical staff
    • Cost effectiveness for both small and large campuses
    • Collaboration on designing the next generation of eLearning through networking with other members of the Epsilen - New York Times charter council

    The Epsilen Charter membership fee is based on the total number of students within the institution.  Click here for more information and online membership application. 
     
     

    Technical Support and System Integration
     

    Epsilen offers consulting and technical support through both internal and third-party sources for the integration of Epsilen with local campus databases and existing licensed technology.  This provides a seamless, single sign-on, portal approach to all resources and services supporting the learning and teaching initiatives of a campus.  Click Here for more information and online membership application.

    I maintain a site on the history of course authoring and course management technology at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm


    Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence: Tools for Teaching and Learning --- http://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/Tools/

    Bob Jensen's threads on education technology --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm


    Search Engine, ChunkIt, Marketed to College Students


    Questions
    How can you turn your email messages into free video messages?
    How can you video conference calls?

    For those of you in the American Accounting Association, I call your attention to a new Teaching Resource called TokBox submitted to the Commons by accounting professor Rick Little. You do not need to go to the Commons for some of Rick’s links passed on below. I thank Rick for sharing this teaching resource.

     AAA Members

    Please go to the AAA Commons at least once each day --- http://commons.aaahq.org
    For Teaching and Research Resources, Click on the menu bar item called “Roles”
    Rick’s posting is called “Thinking Outside the Box”
    You might want to clidk on Rick’s picture to see his interesting profile (e.g., with Grant Thornton and as a local CPA before getting his PhD in accounting)

     

    Links for Non-Members

    Rick’s TokBox Blog is at http://iaed.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/using-tokbox-to-communicate-with-your-students/

     

    Rick’s introductory video is at http://www.tokbox.com/vm/b056ued8rnau#vmail=b056ued8rnau

    The TokBox homepage is at http://www.tokbox.com/#

    Tokbox is a free service that lets you talk with your friends over live video. Here's how it works: you sign up and we give you a link. When you want to talk with anyone, just give them the link - they click and you chat.

     This is an innovative idea for conferencing, letting your parents see their grandchildren, and motivating students. From a societal standpoint it may be a waste of bandwidth for sending videos of talking heads across the Internet.


    Accounting Quiz Archives

    August 21, 2008 message from Rob Nance [rnance@accountingweb.com]

    Submitting 10-question accounting quizzes is great exposure for your accounting program. Check out the archives:

    http://www.accountingweb.com/quiz/ 

    If you would like to submit a quiz, reply to this message and I will send you the Excel template.

    *****

    Coming later this year: information on a scholarship program for your accounting students. AccountingWEB will be bestowing a load of money on three U.S. accounting students.

    Rob

    The AccountingWeb student zone (including humor) is at http://www.accountingweb.com/news/student_zone.html


    "15 Tools to Make Your PC a Multimedia Powerhouse:  Enjoy your video and audio collections to the fullest with the help of these free and low-cost downloads," by Preston Gralla, PC World via The Washington Post, October 30, 2008 --- Click Here

    Your PC has become the greatest entertainment device ever created, but you wouldn't know that judging by the software that ships with the machine. Bundled media players, and related software for playing and managing audio and video, tend to be underwhelming at best.

    We've assembled 15 of our favorite video and audio applications, all of which can handle just about any job you can throw at them. The vast majority of these downloads are completely free, and the others offer no-cost trials.

    They'll help you download YouTube videos to your PC, or convert videos to formats that you can view on handheld devices. They'll play any audio and video formats you can find. They'll make you into a DJ and allow you to create your own customized mixes, too. So if you want to get the most out of the entertainment device on your desk, read on--and start downloading. (And if you want to access all of these tools in one convenient place, hop to our audio and video downloads collection.)

    Video

    Want to download YouTube videos to your computer, convert video files to formats that you can view on portable players, find the best videos online, or watch TV from around the world? We have software that does all that, and a lot more.

    TubeMe

    How many times have you watched a YouTube video and wished that you could save it to your hard drive for future viewing? With this free software, you can save YouTube videos as .flv files; afterward, you can watch the videos in any multimedia software that supports the .flv format (such as FLV Player or VLC Media Player, both discussed below). Before downloading the videos, you get a full description of them, as well.

    Be aware that using this program can be a bit confusing. Make sure to click the Download path button, at the bottom of the screen, to tell the program where to download your videos. And to download the video, you'll have to copy and paste the YouTube URL into the program. After that, click the icon with a small plus sign; it looks grayed-out, as if it were nonfunctional, but it does work. Once you've added the link, you can download the video. You can also put multiple videos in a list, and download them all at once.

    Download TubeMe| Price: Free

    FLV Player
    If you've downloaded YouTube videos using TubeMe or another downloader, or if you've collected other files in the .flv format, you may run into a problem: Many media players, including Windows Media Player, can't handle them. FLV Player is a straightforward media player designed to play .flv files exclusively. To access a video, press , browse to the file, and open it, or else double-click the .flv file from inside Windows Explorer. You can also drag and drop files into the player. The software even handles multiple .flv files: Simply drag several files to the program, and the app plays each video in its own window.

    You can control video playback through the usual controls, or with a variety of keyboard shortcuts. You can also toggle between full-screen mode and normal mode. Note that you may run into problems installing the software on Windows Vista. If that happens to you, right-click the installation file and choose Run as Administrator. That should solve the problem.

    Download FLV Player| Price: Free

    Any Video Converter Free Version

    Playing video these days is no longer confined to your PC--countless other devices can play video as well, including handheld devices and music players, mobile phones, and the PlayStation Portable (PSP). The problem, though, is that if you've downloaded videos to your PC, they might not be in the formats your devices require.

    Continued in article

     


    Do It Yourself Interactive Whiteboard (about $60 instead of over $1,000)

    October 27, 2008 message from Scott Bonacker [lister@BONACKERS.COM]

    Mr. Lee encourages innovators to ask themselves, "Would providing 80 percent of the capability at 1 percent of the cost be valuable to someone?" If the answer is yes, he says, pay attention. Trading relatively little performance for substantial cost savings can generate what Mr. Lee calls "surprising and often powerful results both scientifically and socially."

    As evidence, he might point to a do-it-yourself interactive whiteboard, another of his Wiimote innovations. Interactive whiteboards, which in commercial form generally sell for more than $1,000, make it possible to control a computer by tapping, writing or drawing on an image of the desktop that has been projected onto a screen. Mr. Lee's version can be built with roughly $60 in parts and free open-source software downloadable from his Web site.

    Some 700,000 people, many of them teachers, have downloaded the software, Mr. Lee says. Much more expensive whiteboards may offer more features and better image resolution, but Mr. Lee's version is adequate for most classroom applications.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/business/26proto.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin 

    This seemed like it might be of interest, if not useful

    Scott Bonacker CPA
    Springfield, MO


    Maple's Document Management System

    October 30, 2008 message from Scott Bonacker [lister@BONACKERS.COM]

    This came as part of a subscription to a technology newsletter, I haven't tried this product myself.  Scott Bonacker CPA, Springfield, MO]

    As an IT professional, chances are good that you have lots of detailed information that you have to keep track of in order to do your job effectively and efficiently. You probably have a multitude of documents stored in a multitude of folders on your hard disk. Using a series of documents and folders to store all your information is a pretty logical way of doing things, especially when used in combination with Vista’s Search tool and Saved searches feature, keeping track of all that information is pretty easy. However, it could be better — especially if all that information could be made available in one place.

    Well, I recently discovered a very nice document manager called Maple from Crystal Office Systems that runs perfectly on Windows Vista and produces what is essentially a document database. In this edition of the Windows Vista Report, I’ll introduce you to Maple and show you how to use it manage your document collection.

    This blog post is also available in the PDF format in a TechRepublic Download.

    Getting Maple

    You can download Maple from the Crystal Office Systems Web site. Once you download it, installation is a snap and you’ll be ready begin creating you custom document database in no time. You can download and try Maple for 30 days at no cost. A single-user license is $21.95.

    When you access the Crystal Office Systems Web site, you’ll also notice that there is another version of this document manager called Maple Professional, which provides a set of advanced features. You’ll also find free reader called Maple Reader that will allow other users to view any document database created with either Maple or Maple Professional.

     

    Read the rest at http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=802&tag=rbxccnbt

    Bob Jensen's threads on accounting software are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#AccountingSoftware

    Bob Jensen's threads on tools and tricks of the trade are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

     


    August 19, 2008 message from MERLOT Webmaster [barb@merlot.org]

  • Dear Learning Material Author,

     We are sending you this email because you are an author of material in the MERLOT collection (www.merlot.org).  As you know, MERLOT is an international consortium of higher education institutions, professional societies, digital libraries, and corporations who support educational improvement through technology.  Last year, MERLOT had more than 1,000,000 visits from people searching for reusable learning materials to incorporate into their teaching and learning.  As MERLOT continues to grow (over 20,000 materials accessed by more than 62,000 members, growing at 1200+ new members monthly), participants are increasingly concerned about legal issues related to the reuse of online materials. 

     We recognize the efforts of people like you who have created learning materials and have agreed to share your work through MERLOT.  To protect and guide members of the MERLOT community, we have adopted the intellectual property policies of the increasingly popular consortium, Creative Commons (www.creativecommons.org).  We are doing this to:

    ·         Encourage creators of online materials to share their work with others who might wish to reuse the materials.

    ·         Ensure that contributions of online materials by MERLOT members are protected from misuse and abuse.

    We would like to encourage you, as a developer of online materials, to declare Creative Commons licenses for all your material so that others don’t use your work in ways counter to your intentions. Creative Commons provides an easy process for defining licenses; it also provides HTML code you can copy directly to your website to let others know what license applies to your work. To easily select the license of your choice, go to www.creativecommons.org/license.

    If you wish to have a Creative Commons license displayed with your MERLOT digital content and you are the original contributor of your material to the MERLOT collection, you may add the Creative Commons information yourself.  You may also send an email to the MERLOT Webmaster (webmaster@merlot.org), indicating the title of your material in MERLOT and the Creative Commons license you would like to display with the description of your material. If you aren’t sure which license to use, we suggest the Creative Commons license that allows others to reuse and alter your work, but only if they provide attribution to you as the author and only if they reuse it for non commercial purposes (Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license)

    For more information about Creative Commons, please visit www.creativecommon.org or view their video at http://youtube.com/watch?v=2BESbnMJg9M.  You can also review MERLOT’s policies regarding Creative Commons licenses at: http://taste.merlot.org/acceptableuserpolicy.html

    - MERLOT Webmaster --- webmaster@merlot.org

  •  


    Question
    What does a student's blinkless stare signify?

    a. Daydreaming
    b. Confusion
    c. Anger
    d. Stoned

    "Facial-Recognition Software Could Give Valuable Feedback to Online Professors." Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 27, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3126&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

    Many professors who teach online complain that they have no way of seeing whether their far-away students are following the lectures — or whether the students have fallen asleep at their desks. But researchers at the University of California at San Diego say they have a solution. They recently tested a system that can detect facial expressions of online students and determine when they find the material difficult, so that cues could be sent to the professors telling them to slow down.

    Jacob Whitehill, a doctoral student at the university working on the research, presented results from the experiment this week at the Intelligent Tutoring Systems 2008 conference in Montreal.

    In the experiment, eight subjects were shown short video clips of lectures while a Web cam tracked their facial expressions — looking for smiles, blinks, raised eyebrows, and the like. The subjects were then asked to report how difficult they found each section, and to take a quiz on the material. Mr. Whitehill says that the system correctly detected when students were having trouble (the most reliable indicator: students blinked less when they were struggling to understand).

    The system could be used to give valuable feedback to professors teaching online, says Mr. Whitehill. “It’s not going to be perfect by any means,” he says, but it’s better than no student feedback at all. “Professors say that they can’t see the students. This could do it for them automatically.”

    Visualization of Multivariate Data (including faces) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm

    Video:  Augmented 3-D Sketching --- http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/24253/?nlid=2446&a=f
    Bob Jensen's threads on data visualization --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm


    May 4, 2008 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU]

    I have placed a (Camtasia) video online on omnisio.com, which allows comments to be placed OVER the video.

    http://www.omnisio.com/v/49zPDUbdjhG/the-basic-accounting-equation 

    This is a video that I have on youtube and just linked it to Omnisio.

    Jensen Comment
    There are some other cool things to do with video at http://www.omnisio.com/


    "Microsoft Ramps Up Its Free College E-Mail Program," by Josh Fischman, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 27, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3032&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

    Microsoft has decided to enlarge a service of keen interest to colleges, even as the company last week dumped another offering used by higher education, its Live Search Books program. Now Live@edu, the free Web-based e-mail and online collaboration program for students and alumni, is getting much larger inboxes, the ability to handle bigger attached files, true shared calendars, and the chance for colleges to block student e-mail containing words they deem offensive, the company announced today.

    Tired of the 5 gigabyte inbox? Live@edu now offers accounts with 10 gigabytes, and the capacity to handle attachments up to 20 megabytes in size, says Bruce Gabrielle, senior product manager for the service. The boost is because the company has decided that, in addition to handing campuses Microsoft Hotmail accounts (with university-based e-mail addresses), it will offer accounts on the more powerful Microsoft Exchange Web access system. That gives users access to Windows programs like Outlook, with e-mail, full calendars, and a contact list.

    It’s a solution used by many businesses, and Microsoft has been quietly offering it, in a form called Exchange Labs, to a few educational institutions since last fall. Drexel University, Hinds Community College, and the Colorado Community College system are some that have tried it.

    With Exchange Labs, users at the same university can see one another’s calendars to set up meetings. E-mail tracking is enabled, so students can see whether a term paper was delivered to a professor’s inbox. They can also push e-mail to cell phones. (And they can use Exchange to wipe data from those phones if they happen to lose them.) Exchange Labs also gives university officials the ability to set up filters, like spam filters, for offensive terms in e-mail, though Mr. Gabrielle says he wasn’t sure what words, if any, that universities have tried placing on a “do not type” list.

    At this point the service is not being offered to faculty members or administrators. “I think it’s a business model decision,” Mr. Gabrielle said, noting that the company may need to figure out whether it wants to allow ads on Web pages seen by those users; the student and alumni service is ad-free.


    "SketchCast: a New Blogging and Teaching Tool," Chronicle of Higher Education, May 14, 2008 --- Click Here

    Want to preserve that lesson you did at the blackboard today in class and share it with students online? Try SketchCast, a free blogging tool that allows users to record a digital drawing (and contemporaneous audio), and then embed the animated video onto a Web site. It’s essentially an easy form of animation.

    Watch the video demo --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2998&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

    Comment from Charles

    What a nice tool to capture and share ideas informally! I have been trying to capture tools and concepts for opening up collaborative learning on my blog www.collaborativenetworkedlearning.blogspot.com 

    — Charles May 14, 08:50 PM #


    David Pogue is one of my technology heroes --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pogue
    Vidya Ananthanarayanan called my attention to his recent keynote speech at the
    Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference
    "Five ways to improve technology in education," by Todd Ritter, DownloadSquad, February 12, 2008 --- Click Here

    Stay informed
    Use Really Simple Syndication (RSS) to keep up with technology news and events. To use RSS you'll need an RSS reader like
    Google Reader, NetNewsWire (Mac), or FeedDemon (Windows) to read RSS feeds. An RSS feed is basically a dynamic link that updates your RSS reader when new content is posted to a website (click the "RSS Feeds" button under our search bar to see examples).

    You can also subscribe to technology newsletters, and talk to students about websites and web services they use on their own. A majority of teachers do not know what
    Stickam or Meebo are, yet these sites are used daily by many of their students.

    Focus on the learning process, not the end product
    When little Susie uses iMovie to create a video of her class field trip to Cape Canaveral, she should be evaluated on what she's learned through the creative process, not how many wipes and sound effects she used in her final movie file. The quality and relativity of the still pictures she took by learning how to use a digital camera, or video footage from a well-designed storyboard are better barometers of a successful project.

    Work with IT professionals who understand education
    I work on the IT side of education daily, and I know it's important to unfetter technology at a school to stimulate the learning process. IT staff must be willing to bend on certain security measures and trust students with equipment so that they can be creative and not boxed in. We let students take laptops home to work on approved projects, which ultimately motivates their peers to do the same. We also have a dedicated instructional adviser who helps teachers integrate technology into their lesson plans. This often helps ease the teachers' modification of antiquated lessons.

    Become a user
    Make a
    Facebook account so you can understand the allure of social-networking sites. Add some information about yourself. Locate former school pals. Join some groups. This will let you see sites like Faceook from a student's perspective.

    To collaborate and share course materials, you can create a
    Moodle site for your class, or start a class blog. Students benefit more from teachers who collaborate and less from teachers who force-feed lectures. Also, it's much easier to teach about something that you've actually used in depth. It's time to break the stigma of "those that can, do; those that can't, teach."

    Don't be afraid of change
    Some teachers think that upgrading from Office 2003 to 2007 is using the latest technology. However, a Word document is still words and formatting meant for someone to read. Instead of being satisfied with word processing in a new version of software, why not let students create a school "newspaper" on something like
    Joomla. The news could be updated in seconds, it could be interactive (comments, updates, etc.), and it could be include user-submitted media. Google Earth could be used to give an elementary student global perspective by flying in from a world view down to the roof of his home.
     

    Jensen Comment
    There are other things that I would recommend. I think joining listserv of other educators is important, especially educators in your discipline --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm

    It is exceedingly important to know what knowledge is being freely shared by professors and universities --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
    I hope that you will one day share your own knowledge with us.

    I think becoming a user of important technologies is important, especially video recording using Camtasia --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm
    Also see the 50Camtasia.ppt file at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/EdTech/PowerPoint/

    Following the tools of technology in education in general is important --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

    Bob Jensen's threads on education technology are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

     


    "TextMeTV Is Either Future of Television or Beginning of Its End," by Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 13, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3240&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en 

    Late at night on a television station in Lansing, Michigan, a new kind of program tries to make the audience the main attraction. It's called TextMeTV, and it goes like this: One or two young hosts, some of them college students, sit on a couch and read text messages being sent in live from viewers, and those messages are also posted on a box in the corner of the screen. Sometimes the hosts encourage those texters to debate topics of the day, other times they offer free iPods or other prizes to viewers who can answer trivia questions. The show looks more like a YouTube page than a television show. Though moderators do edit the text messages that come in before they post them to the screen, the show is live with no tape delay, says Helena Kirby, a producer for the show and one of its 7 rotating hosts. "There's no swearing and no sexual talk -- we keep it pretty clean," she adds. Viewers pay a small fee per text message to participate. Ms. Kirby says the show's best moments have been when viewers sparred about race issues or politics. "People get fired up," she says. But this January the show -- which has been on since last year -- began focusing more on games and contests, like trivia challenges, than on debates. One entertainment blogger recently called the show "the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard," noting that the show seems empty of substance. But Ms. Kirby argues that it represents a revolutionary new format. "I think some people are just afraid of it -- that this new concept is going to do something big, and they don't want it to," she says. "I say, Out with the old, in the with the new." Amariee Woods, another host of the show who is a senior at Michigan State University, says that younger audiences want to participate, not just passively consume media. "People want to put their comments on everything, and the faster they can do that, the better." A similar show in Texas called Subtext, which features students from the University of Texas at Austin, uses a similar format but focuses on dating. The shows are essentially trying to turn television into something more like the Internet. In fact, the shows would probably work better as interactive Web pages where people could put aside their cell phones and interact with their computer keyboards. But then the show's producers would not be able to make a cut of the text-messaging fees, as they do now. Do younger viewers now see one-way broadcast television as dull? Or are these interactive shows a sign that media companies are trying to mix many kinds of media formats? Use your computer keyboard to let us know what you think.

     

    TextMeTV (watch the video) --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3240&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en


    "Making a Big Point (in class) With Your PC," by Josh Fischman, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 23, 2008 ---
    http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2932&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

    Pen Kenrick J. Mock says he loves recording lectures for his classes using his tablet PC. And the associate professor of computer science at the University of Alaska at Anchorage also loves projecting computational problems using PowerPoint or the writing program OneNote.

    What Mr. Mock does not love is the inability to point to a specific part of the problem for his class. “It’s always bothered me that the pen cursor is a tiny little dot,” he writes in his blog on technology and teaching. “The problem is that I like to use the pen to “point” at things as I give the lecture, but it doesn’t help if the class can’t see it.”

    He looked, in vain, for a program that would enlarge the cursor. And finally he gave in, remembered he was a computer scientist, and wrote a program himself.

    The result is PenAttention, and it turns that minuscule dot into a minuscule dot with a big colored spotlight around it. It’s a little more distracting to write with this kind of cursor, but his class can finally see what he is doing.

    The program is free, works on tablet PCs running XP and Vista, and can be downloaded from a link in Mr. Mock’s blog post describing it.

    See http://www.math.uaa.alaska.edu/~afkjm/techteach/?q=node/52


    "Microsoft Opens Free Online Workspace for Student Collaborations," by Josh Fischman, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 5, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2795&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

    Microsoft wants to help students get their lives together (their learning lives, at least), and Tuesday it rolled out a product to help. As part of Live@edu, the company’s free Web-based email and calendar suite, Microsoft unveiled Office Live Workspace, which lets students access their work online and share it with others. Live@edu is in use at more than 600 colleges.

    “The most visible new feature is the activity panel,” said Guy Gilbert, a Microsoft group product manager, in an interview with The Chronicle Monday. “Suppose you are in a work group with other students. You can look at the panel and see everything that anyone has done since you last logged on. And links in the panel take you right to that object,” whether it is a document, a spreadsheet, contact list, or database.

    Users can also set up e-mail alerts that notify them any time an item is changed.

    The service has been running in beta for several months, and of its estimated 100,000 users, 20 to 30 percent are in higher education, Mr. Gilbert says. Microsoft has worked with 13 colleges to fine-tune the service, including Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Wisconsin at Parkside.

    And if the new service doesn’t seem familiar to users of Google Docs, don’t worry. Microsoft’s arch rival also promises real-time collaboration, and the two companies seem to be running neck and neck in the education marketplace.


    AtGentive:   New software platforms that incorporate artificial intelligence and social networking into their approach toward e-learning.

    February 20, 2008 message from Glen L Gray [glen.gray@CSUN.EDU]

    Attention Please! Next-Generation E-Learning Is Here ICT Results (02/14/08)

    European researchers working for the AtGentive project have developed two new software platforms that incorporate artificial intelligence and social networking into their approach toward e-learning. AtGentive coordinator Thierry Nabeth says the first generation of e-learning platforms focused on replicating the classroom experience, but student's often had difficulty staying motivated and the learning program failed to keep their attention. To overcome this problem, one of the AtGentive platforms uses techniques similar to those found on Web sites such as Facebook that make them so popular as a means of staying in touch with others. The platforms also use artificial intelligence to keep students interested. "Artificial agents are autonomous entities that observe users' activities and assess their state of attention in order to intervene so as to make the user experience more effective," Nabeth says. "The interventions can take many forms, from providing new information to the students, guiding them in their work, or alerting them when other users connect to the platform." The artificial intelligence agents provide a smart form of proactive coaching for students by assessing, guiding, and stimulating them. The agents can alert students when others have read their articles, or when they receive feedback on their contributions to a collaborative project. The agents are also able to detect when students are not interacting with the system and try to get them to rejoin the lesson.

    Click Here to View Full Article

    http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm/section/news/tpl/article/BrowsingType/Features/ID/89524

    Glen L. Gray, PhD, CPA
    Accounting & Information Systems, COBAE
    California State University, Northridge
    Northridge, CA 91330-8372
    818.677.3948
    818.677.2461 (messages)

    http://www.csun.edu/~vcact00f


    Notes on the Smart Pen
    The smart pen that Wired Campus flagged back in May was unveiled last week at a technology conference in Palm Springs, Calif. The company behind it, LiveScribe, has been aggressively marketing the device to college students with the slogan "Never miss a word." It's basically a combination recording machine and camera. Users take notes while a minirecorder, embedded in the pen, records whatever is being said. Later, to clarify the written notes, the user can touch the pen to a specific passage and listen to a recording of the instructor speaking those words. A tiny camera links what is being written to what is being recorded. In a takeoff on television commercials for pharmaceuticals, the smart-pen advertisement below features a student who suffers from "restless mind syndrome." The pen is offered as a panacea. Livescribe has set up a Facebook page to push the pen, and offers to pay college students to promote the device on their campuses. It's also advertised on the Web site ThePalestra, where Andy Van Schaack, a senior lecturer at Vanderbilt University, who is an adviser to LiveScribe, is seen praising the pen. Will the pen, which sells for about $200, take off with college students? Will it be used as a crutch for students who are too tired or distracted to listen to their professors?
    Andrea L. Foster, "Notes on the Smart Pen," Chronicle of Higher Education, February 5, 2008 ---
    http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2719&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

    Bob Jensen's threads on gadgets are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm#Technology


    Questions
    Will we soon be able to lecture without opening our mouths?
    Can you send a "relational" database file to a friend by simply shaking hands?
    Is this the beginning of a whole new definition of human "relationships?"
    Can the message of a hug be digital and unambiguous?
    New magic in a kiss or two?
    Does your database have halitosis or dirty fingernails or a flu virus?
    I'd better stop asking questions about this before I get in trouble!
     

    Japanese firm harnesses the power of human touch
    They say you can tell a lot from a handshake. But while it's usually guesswork, the power of human touch will soon be used in Japan to transmit data. Telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) is planning a commercial launch of a system to enter rooms that frees users from the trouble of rummaging in their pockets or handbags for ID cards or keys. It uses technology to turn the surface of the human body itself into a means of data transmission. As data travels through the user's clothing, handbag or shoes, anyone carrying a special card can unlock the door simply by touching the knob or standing on a particular spot without taking the card out. "In everyday life, you're always touching things. Even if you are standing, you are stepping on something," research engineer Mitsuru Shinagawa told AFP. "These simple touches can result in communication," said Shinagawa, senior research engineer at the company's NTT Microsystem Integration Laboratories. He said future applications could include a walk-through ticket gate, a cabinet that opens only to authorised people and a television control that automatically chooses favourite programmes.
    PhysOrg, February 21, 2008 --- http://physorg.com/news122793751.html

    Bob Jensen's threads on ubiquitous computing are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ubiquit.htm

    The Five Senses of the Future:  Threads on the Networking of the Five Senses (Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, and Taste) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/senses.htm  

    Barbra Streisand - He Touched Me (1967) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO-wPOgVtqg

     


    Question
    What are real time virtual office hours?

    Hint:
    They operate a bit like a course chat room with some added features like microphones, and an instructor or teaching fellow is in the room at all times.

    As reported in The Harvard Crimson on Monday, teaching fellows (Harvard parlance for TAs) for the course this semester will begin holding real-time, online help sessions for students this week. Using free, Java-based software, students can log on, chat with each other (via text or microphone) and even “raise their hands” with the click of a button, which adds them to a queue on the teaching fellow’s computer.
    Andy Guess, "Office Hours: Coming to a Computer Near You," Inside Higher Ed, September 18, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/18/officehours

    A tools PowerPoint file is included at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/EdTech/PowerPoint/

     

    Question
    What are the supposed Top 10 and the Top 100 e-Learning tools, at least in England?


    Answer
    Top 100 --- http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html
    Various experts list their Top 10 --- http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html

    Jensen Comment
    I totally disagree with the rankings of the Top 100 and the Top 10.

    Where is Blackboard and WebCT? --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard

    Where are the many important tools for handicapped learners? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Handicapped

    Where is Camtasia? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm

    Where are the edutainment and learning game alternatives? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment

    Where is Matlab (used in virtually every U.S. university) --- --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MATLAB

    Like it or not, Wikipedia is one of the most sought out sights in the world by e-Learners --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
    There are risks, but the odds are high that users will get helpful learning information and links.

    Where are HTML and related XML/RTF and XBRL markups?  --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm  

    Where are the many huge and free online libraries? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

    Where are the important blogs and listservs? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm

    I could go on and on here!

    Bob Jensen

    August 3, 2007 reply from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU]

    Bob:
    I agree with you that the list is flawed - Toolbook should be #1

    Richard J. Campbell

    mailto:campbell@rio.edu

    Bob Jensen's threads on the history of course authoring, management, and presentation technologies are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

     

    August 3, 2007 reply from Bob Jensen

    Hi Richard

    ToolBook should’ve been number 1 but it fumbled the ball. What proportion of e-Learners are now learning, today, from ToolBooks? My guess is that much less than one percent. A negligible proportion of instructors are developing learning materials using ToolBook dhtml files relative to FrontPage and Dreamweaver htm files.

    The biggest innovation for e-Learners and authors was Adobe Acrobat’s tremendous development of online pdf files that could be read and electronically searched for free but not be tampered with by readers. Now major commercial publishing houses are putting new books on line as pdf files.

    One of the biggest innovations I forgot to mention was the unknown (at least to me) date in which MS Office files (particularly ppt, doc, and xls files) could be downloaded and read from Web servers that at one time only could handle htm markups. In terms of e-learning htm, pdf, doc, xls, and ppt files are overwhelmingly the main files for e-Learning, although they are now joined by such files as xml files.

    Another huge e-Learning innovation that I forgot to mention is the unknown (at least to me) date in which the above learning and research files could be attached to email messages. This made it easier to have private distributions (say to students in a class) without having to put files on Web, Blackboard, or WebCT servers. Anybody with email can not send files back and forth.

    There is still a great risk of macro viruses when downloading MS Office files from the Web or email messages. However, most e-Learners are doing so from trusted Web sites and/or email senders such as files from their course instructors.

    ToolBook could fade away and the world would hardly know about it or miss it.

    Bob Jensen

     


    Zotero software for  storing, retrieving, organizing, and annotating digital documents --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zotero

    Zotero is a free, open source extension for the Firefox browser, that enables users to collect, manage, and cite research from all types of sources from the browser. It is partly a piece of reference management software, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays and articles. On many major research websites such as digital libraries, Google Scholar, or even Amazon.com, Zotero detects when a book, article, or other resource is being viewed and with a mouse click finds and saves the full reference information to a local file. If the source is an online article or web page, Zotero can optionally store a local copy of the source. Users can then add notes, tags, and their own metadata through the in-browser interface. Selections of the local reference library data can later be exported as formatted bibliographies.

    The program is produced by the Center for History and New Media of George Mason University and is currently available in public beta. It is open and extensible, allowing other users to contribute citation styles and site translators, and more generally for others who are building digital tools for researchers to expand the platform. The name is from Albanian language "to master".

    It is aimed at replacing the more cumbersome traditional reference management software, originally designed to meet the demands of offline research

    "Mark of Zotero,"  by Scott McLemee, Inside Higher Ed, September 26, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/09/26/mclemee 

    Zotero is a tool for storing, retrieving, organizing, and annotating digital documents. It has been available for not quite a year. I started using it about six weeks ago, and am still learning some of the fine points, but feel sufficient enthusiasm about Zotero to recommend it to anyone doing research online. If very much of your work involves material from JSTOR, for example – or if you find it necessary to collect bibliographical references, or to locate Web-based publications that you expect to cite in your own work — then Zotero is worth knowing how to use. (You can install it on your computer for free; more on that in due course.)

    Now, my highest qualification for testing a digital tool is, perhaps, that I have no qualifications for testing a digital tool. That is not as paradoxical as it sounds. The limits of my technological competence are very quickly reached. My command of the laptop computer consists primarily of the ability to (1) turn it on and (2) type stuff. This condition entails certain disadvantages (the mockery of nieces and nephews, for example) but it makes for a pretty good guinea pig.

    And in that respect, I can report that the folks at George Mason University’s Center for History and New Media have done an exemplary job in designing Zotero. A relatively clueless person can learn to use it without exhaustive effort.

    Still, it seems as if institutions that do not currently do so might want to offer tutorials on Zotero for faculty and students who may lack whatever gene makes for an intuitive grasp of software. Academic librarians are probably the best people to offer instruction. Aside from being digitally savvy, they may be the people at a university in the best position to appreciate the range of uses to which Zotero can be put.

    For the absolute newbie, however, let me explain what Zotero is — or rather, what it allows you to do. I’ll also mention a couple of problems or limitations. Zotero is still under development and will doubtless become more powerful (that is, more useful) in later releases. But the version now available has numerous valuable features that far outweigh any glitches.

    Suppose you go online to gather material on some aspect of a book you are writing. In the course of a few hours, you might find several promising titles in the library catalog, a few more with Amazon, a dozen useful papers via JSTOR, and three blog entries by scholars who are thinking aloud about some matter tangential to your project.

    Continued in article

    Bob Jensen's threads on how scholars search are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm#Scholars


    How to Avoid Expensive Adobe Software for Converting MS Office Documents to PDF Files

    "Creating Documents for All to Read Inexpensive Ways To Convert a Variety Of Content to PDFs," by Katherine Boehret, The Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2007; Page D9 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118652753636390978.html

    For years, people have accessed a variety of digital content in one of the most universally accepted formats: Adobe's Portable Document Format, better known as the PDF. A PDF holds images and text without altering a document's original fonts and layout. It can be searched, protected with a password, disabled from printing and enriched with bookmarks and hyperlinks that make it more navigable.

    But while Adobe provides a free reader for viewing PDFs, creating PDFs yourself can be costly and confusing, even though the format is great for saving and sharing documents of almost any kind including images, Web pages, Word documents and emails. For users who want higher-end PDF creation and collaboration software, Adobe Systems Inc. offers its $450 Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional software program. But that's pricey for most casual users. So this week I tested some inexpensive or free methods for making PDFs.

    There are plenty of Windows programs available for download online that will help you create basic PDFs. On Windows computers, I tried three programs, starting with the $20 standard version of deskPDF from Plano, Texas-based Docudesk Corp. (www.Docudesk.com). I tested a stripped-down and less-expensive version of Adobe's program called Create Adobe PDF Online, which works by uploading your document at www.CreatePDF.com and costs $10 monthly or $100 annually. And I also used a free program called CutePDF from Acro Software Inc. (www.CutePDF.com).

    If you own a Mac, things are even simpler. Macs come out of the box with the ability to turn documents into PDFs, and I tested that function as well.

    DeskPDF and CutePDF worked roughly the same way, though deskPDF costs $20 and CutePDF is free. Adobe's less-expensive program offered a few more features than deskPDF and CutePDF, such as the ability to add password encryption to a document or to make it unprintable by others. Making PDFs on the Mac was a cinch, including options to compress or encrypt a PDF. None of these methods allowed me to add extra features to PDFs like bookmarks and hyperlinks; for that, you'll need a more serious program.

    When Microsoft's Office 2007 program shipped early this year, many people expected that it would have the built-in ability to save documents in PDF format; it didn't. Users can find a patch that fixes this on Microsoft's Web site.

    Apple's operating system has long been known for the ease with which it can create PDFs using built-in tools. Put simply, any document that can be printed from a Mac can also be turned into a PDF. Users follow the normal steps necessary to print a document or Web site (usually File, Print), but can choose a button on the Print screen labeled "PDF" that converts the document.

    In seconds, I turned all types of documents on my iMac into PDFs, including images in JPEG and TIF formats, emails, Word documents and Web sites. This last conversion was helpful for saving not just a view of the current screen, but the entire site from the top of the page to the bottom.

    Options labeled "Compress PDF" and "Encrypt PDF" can be chosen in this Print screen. I chose Encrypt PDF and protected a PDF using a password in one quick step. The option to compress a PDF will decrease the size of an image in a document, but won't decrease the size of a text-only document.

    Two of the three Windows programs use a method similar to Apple's, letting me send documents or Web sites into print mode and converting them into PDFs. Downloading and installing deskPDF or CutePDF adds a virtual printer driver to the computer. Rather than choosing a separate button labeled "PDF," the conversion program is selected from a list of printers, and hitting the Print button saves the document as a PDF file. The first time I did this, I thought my document was printed rather than saved because a printer icon appeared in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, as if the document was printing. But a screen appeared asking where I wanted to save the new PDF, and I specified a location.

    Docudesk offers free 24-hour technical support with all of its deskPDF programs, even trial versions. The company also touts its $40 deskUNPDF program, which restores PDFs to Word documents for editing purposes, one of the features also found in Adobe's $450 product.

    CutePDF writer and deskPDF must be used with separately installed converter programs, but these are small and free, and their installation is prompted after each of the core programs is downloaded. Both programs are also offered in upgraded versions that cost $50 for CutePDF Pro and $30 for deskPDF Pro, enabling advanced features like hyperlinks, encryption, password protection and printing restrictions.

    Adobe's Create Adobe PDF Online program offers a few more features than the others, but feels a bit disconnected because it uploads documents to the Web for PDF conversion rather than converting documents in an installed program.

    An option called Create Adobe PDF Online Printer installs a printer driver on your PC, like deskPDF and CutePDF. But this saves your PDF online forcing you to retrieve it via Adobe's Web site, an emailed link or an emailed attachment.

    After registering to use Adobe's online conversion product, users must select the file or Web page intended for PDF conversion. Security features are optional with each document, such as requiring a password to view it or not allowing others to print it. I tried both successfully. Once converted, a document can be delivered to you via email in a link or attachment. It can also be retrieved from a Conversion History section on the site or converted directly on the site.

    Most of these conversion programs are available in some free capacity. DeskPDF can be used five times free of charge in the standard and professional versions before it starts adding a watermark to each PDF, which is intrusive. Adobe's program can be used five times for each email that you register before you must subscribe to its conversion service.

    If you need to save a document in a format that has the greatest likelihood of being viewable by all of your recipients, PDFs are the way to go, and they aren't difficult to make.


    Is Facebook the New MySpace?
    MySpace has an impressive lead today, but things can change quickly in the fluid world of mass-market social networking sites. Just ask Friendster. First Friendster was everybody's favorite social networking site. Then Friendster fell out of vogue--precipitously--and people stopped going there. In its place, MySpace became the darling of the Web. MySpace provided not only a free place to host your own online identity, but a full set of tools for meeting and interacting with others. Now everybody is talking about Facebook, which fits the same description, but in a very different way. Will Facebook become the next MySpace? I think so, and here's why.
    Mark Sullivan, PC World via The Washington Post, July 20, 2007 --- Click Here

    From the University of Chicago
    BiblioVault: An Alternative for Long-term Storage of Digital Book Files

    BiblioVault helps scholarly publishers preserve and extend the value of their books. We provide long-term storage of digital book files for our member presses, as well as a wide range of scanning, printing, transfer, and conversion services. Launched in late 2001 by the University of Chicago Press, BiblioVault operates under the umbrella of Chicago Distribution Services, which also oversees a digital printing center, the Chicago Digital Distribution Center (CDDC). The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported the development of BiblioVault and the CDDC with three grants totaling $3.2 million.
    http://www.bibliovault.org/BV.index.epl

    Digital Production Strategies for Scholarly Publishers, by Denise Nitterhouse, BiblioVault from the University of Chicago, 2005 --- http://www.bibliovault.org/docs/digital_prod_strategies.pdf

    SCHOLARLY BOOK PUBLISHING

    Production

    Offset versus Digital Printing

    Specifications, Processes, and Quality

    Cost and Quantity Trade-offs

    Schedule

    Additional Considerations

    Production Decisions

    Scholarly Book Sales Patterns

    Scholarly Press Overprinting and Storage Costs

    Production Decision Making and

    Management Processes

    DIGITAL PRODUCTION STRATEGY EXAMPLES

    Paperback Reprints

    Hardcover Digital Reprints

    Hardcover Digital Frontlist Printing

    CHANGING PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION MODELS

    Integrating and Automating Production and Fulfillment

    Short-Run Digital Printing (SRDP)

    An Oldie but Goodie

    An Oversize Classic

    Saved by SRDP

    Impact of CDDC SRDP

    Harvard University Press: Ultra-Short Inventory-Replenishment Program (USIRP)

    MIT Press Classics Series: Bringing Books Back into Print

    Print-on-Demand (POD)

    Electronic Distribution (E-books)

    CHOOSING PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION ALTERNATIVES

    Effects of Digital printing

    Outstanding Issues


    From Carnegie-Mellon University: How to Turn Your Photographs into 3-D Photographs

    "A New Dimension for Your Photos Web service Fotowoosh wants to be the Flickr of 3-D," by Wade Roush, MIT's Technology Review, April 27, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18596/ 

    Looking at the photo prints from your Washington, D.C., vacation can prompt memories of being at real, three-dimensional places like the Lincoln Memorial. But what if you could actually walk into your photograph and stand at Lincoln's feet all over again--or at least zoom inside a 3-D version of your image on a computer screen? A new Web service called Fotowoosh promises to deliver such an experience, courtesy of computer-vision researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh.

    Derek Hoiem, a doctoral candidate at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, has spent the past year and a half figuring out how to get software to convert flat images into 3-D virtual-reality models that can be manipulated on-screen. Working with faculty members Alexei Efros and Martial Hebert, Hoiem came up with a machine-learning system that identifies various surfaces and their orientations based on what it has learned from examining previous photos. In essence, Fotowoosh frees the person viewing a photograph from the photographer's point of view so that he or she can explore perspectives other than the one the camera actually captured.

    Continued in article

     

    Bob Jensen's threads on tricks and tools of education technology are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

     


    Camtasia 4.0 is Great --- http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/whatsnew.asp


    Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office

    From the University of Illinois Issues in Scholarly Communication Blog on December 13, 2006 --- http://www.library.uiuc.edu/blog/scholcomm/

    Microsoft has created a free add-in that enables you to embed a Creative Commons copyright license into a document that you create using the Microsoft application Word, PowerPoint, or Excel. With a Creative Commons license, authors can express their intentions regarding how their works may be used by others.

    To learn more about Creative Commons, please visit its web site, www.creativecommons.org. To learn more about the choices among the Creative Commons licenses, see http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licenses.

    Download the Creative Commons Microsoft Office add-in from the Microsoft website. For a short URL to this resource, use this tinyURL:
    http://tinyurl.com/y9y634

    Installation of the Creative Commons Microsoft Office add-in will add an option to your File menu whereby you can easily add the CC logo and usage statement to your document.


    Video Capturing, Editing, Compression, and Playback
    (With Links to UserView for Viewing and Capturing Remotely Located Computer Screens and Audio)

    Question
    What other ways can I use my new sunglasses with a built-in Camcorder?

    Here are a few starting thoughts:

    Unfortunately and truthfully, my wife's favorite cable TV channel is QVC ---
    http://www.qvc.com/
    QVC generally has high quality merchandise. Erika mostly buys clothes, gifts, and gadgets for me that I can never find on those rare occasions where a gadget might be useful.

    Her latest purchase is four pairs of sunglasses with a built-in camcorder --- Click Here
    She intends to give them away as gifts this holiday season.
    Here is a site with a picture and the following description ---
    http://nugossips.com/eagle-i-built-in-videoaudio-recording-camera-sunglass

    Eagle-I Built-in Video/Audio Recording Camera
    Sunglass is designed with polarized lenses that provide UV protection. The Eagle-I Camera Sunglass comes with built-in video camera to record video and audio content for up to three hours on the internal memory. The camera is positioned over the bridge of the nose for minimal visibility, while still providing a wide recording range. It is very easy to use, just push a button to start recording. A slot on the arm of the glasses allows you to input your own MicroSD memory card for more recording time up to eight hours with a 2GB MicroSD card, not included. QVC offers Eagle-I Built-in Video/Audio Recording Camera Sunglass for $79.20

    Interestingly, the price above is stated as $79 whereas the QVC site has them with a crossed out $96 price that makes you think you're getting a special deal for $87. Erika falls for that every time. What's worse is that the QVC site also claims the "retail value" is $192. That's stimated the same way banks are now estimating the value of poisoned loan portfolios.

    My cool sunglasses plug into a USB port for battery recharging and video downloading. Video playback works on either Quicktime software or my favorite free video software called VLC Media Player --- http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
    My favorite would be Camtasia Producer if this software was not so limited with respect to what codecs it will play.

    Here is my first and only video capture, to date, with my cool sunglasses ---
    http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/VideoCoolSunglasses/Vid0000.3gp

    To be honest I would probably use my cool sunglasses more if they only captured still photos since it's a bit more convenient for me to put still photos on the Web, and readers of things like Tidbits probably prefer viewing pictures rather than having to download my home videos.

    But now I'm watching each and every day for Lon to drive across my lawn and crash into a tree. Actually its more likely to be a partying golfer in a golf cart on Lon's golf course behind my back lawn. The Sunset Hill House golf course is owned and operated by Lon and Nancy Henderson. Fortunately, the golf course was placed into a New Hampshire Conservatancy so that it can never be developed into anything other than a golf course. The golfers are really friendly folks.

    We have a son Mike in Yuba City, California who owns a pro shop. He sent me a sign that reads as follows:

    "When I die bury my balls beside my old bag."  
    (His mother doesn't care for that sign.)

    I nailed the sign to the side of my barn so that golfers can read it while moving toward the third tee.
    Erika has not yet discovered that I tacked it on the barn.

    December 3,  2009 reply from Dennis Beresford [dberesfo@TERRY.UGA.EDU]

  • Bob,

    This cool new product reminds me of a GAAP issue of many years ago. I was in the national office of E&Y and we were discussing the amortization of film costs for one of the major movie studios. Those costs are amortized based on total expected revenue per film. At that time, domestic revenues were still the major part of a film's total expected gross, but foreign revenues were also quite large and sales to both broadcast and cable television were becoming larger. More importantly, video rentals were becoming a much larger source of revenue and the client in question was predicting that this would increase substantially in estimating future revenue. Our practice office auditors were naturally skeptical and asked for advice from "national." As we discussed this issue, I observed that if we had had the same conversation several years earlier we wouldn't have even thought of sales to broadcast television, much less video rentals, so perhaps it was reasonable to assume expanding sources of revenues. Then I went on to speculate that sometime in the future there could even be a product where individuals could watch movies on the backs of their glasses while commuting on trains into New York City, for example! It turns out that my prediction came true!

    Denny Beresford


    Pete Wilson provides some great videos on how to make accounting judgments ---
    http://www.navigatingaccounting.com/


    The “Professional Judgment” Problem: Do the ends justify the means?

    "The “Professional Judgment” Problem," by David Albrecht, The Summa, February 11, 2010 ---
    http://profalbrecht.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/the-professional-judgment-problem/

    There’s quite a discussion going on over at AECM now, centered around whether or not corporate disclosures via XBRL tagged data will be audited, and therefore receive some sort of assurance blessing.

    One professor whom I respect a great deal is arguing that it is in the best interest of companies to make the best and most honest disclosures as they seek to raise capital, and it is in the best interest of auditors to associate themselves with only those companies that make the best and most honest disclosures via XBRL (and presumably via financial statements, also).

    To which I say: hogwash!

    I’ve seen enough corporate reporting shenanigans, and auditor “nod-and-wink” assurance, that I have concluded that there are indeed sufficient incentives in place for corporate agents to try to game the system by mis-reporting financial results. I don’t see why, if there is substantial non-compliance with GAAP, that XBRL tagging would be a refuge of purity. Moreover, there are incentives in place for auditors to fail to object to minor transgressions. Some of the times, the incentives are sufficiently large so that auditors fail to object to major transgressions. I guess I don’t see why assurance on XBRL reporting will be any different.

    I certainly don’t trust corporate executives or auditors, as classes, to properly exercise “professional” judgment. Oh, proper judgment may be exercised more than half the time of the time, but given the risk averse nature of many investors, it is enough for a few bad apples to give the rest a bad name. It is the many examples of bad reporting and bad auditing (while admittedly in the minority) that are enough to destroy trust.

    A spouse only need go wayward one time in order to destroy any trust the other felt. From that point on, the wayward spouse may be preceived to be untrustworthy even though a majority of days end without an unsanctioned hookup.

    I believe it is not always in a company’s best interest to make an honest disclosure, and it is not always in an auditor’s interest to demand proper accounting. That is because many costs to misbehaving are long-term, but the rewards for transgressing are short term in nature. When making certain decisions, sometimes the focus of either corporate executive or auditor can shift to the short-term on a moment’s notice.

    Continued in article

    Jensen Comment
    David has entered into the very controversial "little white lie" rationalization of deception. The truth should stand on its own in financial reporting, because once we start rationalizing little white lies we never no when to stop. Pretty soon a thousand dollar white lies here and a hundred dollar white lies there begin to accumulate until we have over a billion dollar accumulation of lies --- which is exactly what happened in Worldcom.

    If you really want to take up the debate of whether the ends justify the means, then have your students first watch the video of how Worldcom's Controller, David Meyers, at the time of the infractions justified his illegal actions on the premise that the ends justified the means --- because investors and employees in Worldcom would be better off by deceptive rather than honest accounting in the "short term."

    June 15, 2009 message from Dennis Beresford [dberesfo@TERRY.UGA.EDU]

    I apologize if this is something that has already been mentioned but I just became aware of a very interesting video of former WorldCom Controller David Meyers at Baylor University last March - http://www.baylortv.com/streaming/001496/300kbps_str.asx 

    The first 20 minutes is his presentation, which is pretty good - but the last 45 minutes or so of Q&A is the best part. It is something that would be very worthwhile to show to almost any auditing or similar class as a warning to those about to enter the accounting profession.

    Denny Beresford

    Jensen Comment on Some Things You Can Learn from the Video
    David Meyers became a convicted felon largely because he did not say no when his supervisor (Scott Sullivan, CFO)  asked him to commit illegal and fraudulent accounting entries that he, Meyers, knew were wrong. Interestingly, Andersen actually lost the audit midstream to KPMG, but KPMG hired the same same audit team that had been working on the audit while employed by Andersen. David Myers still feels great guilt over how much he hurt investors. The implication is that these auditors were careless in a very sloppy audit but were duped by Worldcom executives rather than be an actual part of the fraud. In my opinion, however, that the carelessness was beyond the pale --- this was really, really, really bad auditing and accounting.

    At the time he did wrong, he rationalized that he was doing good by shielding Worldcom from bankruptcy and protecting employees, shareholders, and creditors. However, what he and other criminals at Worldcom did was eventually make matters worse. He did not anticipate this, however, when he was covering up the accounting fraud. He could've spent 65 years in prison, but eventually only served ten months in prison because he cooperated in convicting his bosses. In fact, all he did after the fact is tell the truth to prosecutors. His CEO, Bernard Ebbers, got 25 years and is still in prison.

    The audit team while with Andersen and KPMG relied too much on analytical review and too little on substantive testing and did not detect basic accounting errors from Auditing 101 (largely regarding capitalization of over $1 billion expenses that under any reasonable test should have been expensed).

    Meyers feels that if Sarbanes-Oxley had been in place it may have deterred the fraud. It also would've greatly increased the audit revenues so that Andersen/KPMG could've done a better job.

    To Meyers' credit, he did not exercise his $17 million in stock options because he felt that he should not personally benefit from the fraud that he was a part of while it was taking place. However, he did participate in the fraud to keep his job (and salary). He also felt compelled to follow orders the CFO that he knew was wrong.

    The hero is detecting the fraud was Worldcom's internal auditor Cynthia Cooper who subsequently wrote the book:
    Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-470-12429) http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0470124296/ref=sib_dp_pt#

    Meyers does note that the whistleblower, Cooper, is now a hero to the world, but when she blew the whistle she was despised by virtually everybody at Worldcom. This is a price often paid by whistleblowers --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#WhistleBlowing

    Bob Jensen's threads on the Worldcom fraud are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm#WorldcomFraud

    Pete Wilson provides some great videos on how to make accounting judgments ---
    http://www.navigatingaccounting.com/

    Other possible source material for ethics, independence, and professionalism courses is available at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud001.htm#Professionalism


    Bob Jensen's video helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm
    This includes software for capturing still screens of streaming video and capturing of streaming video as video.

    Internet users can view video either as video file downloads (that may or may not be stored on a hard drive) or as streaming video (that does not entail downloading a media file but can be captured with streaming media software).

    Update from the AAA Accounting Commons --- http://commons.aaahq.org/pages/home
    I thank Rick for sharing his expertise in the new VoiceThread multimedia education and communication technology.
    Accounting Professor Rick Lillie Uses VoiceThread to Create Streaming Video --- http://iaed.wordpress.com/
     

    If you have not yet discovered VoiceThread, I strongly recommend that you click on the link below and explore the VoiceThread website. You are in for a real technology treat!

    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VOICETHREAD WEBSITE

    I use VoiceThread to create streaming video lectures, to create tutorials explaining how to solve problems, to explain answers to quiz and examination questions, and more. VoiceThread is easy to use, is similar to PowerPoint (but much more robust), and is web-hosted which makes it easy for you to share VoiceThread presentations with your students and colleagues.

    During a presentation that I gave at the recent 2008 American Accounting Association (AAA) Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, I talked about VoiceThread. To help participants to see how easy it is to create and share dynamic presentations with VoiceThread, I put together a short presentation that explains how to use VoiceThread. Click on the link below to view the short tutorial program.

     

    I encourage you to sign up for a free account.  Learn to use VoiceThread.  If you like what you create, then you can upgrade to the “Pro” version, which is very inexpensive. To get the full benefit of using VoiceThread, you need a headset/microphone and webcam.  To begin, use the tools included in VoiceThread. If you have questions about VoiceThread, use the “Contact Me” option on the right side of the screen.  Send me a message.  Include your email and/or telephone number.  I will be happy to work with you.

    Enjoy!
    Rick Lillie


    Jensen Comment
    VoiceThread has an advantage in allowing a community of users to comment (in multimedia) comments on an instructional video.
    It's drawback is that it uses a lot of storage and bandwidth for talking heads.

    Some VoiceThread pricing information is given at http://voicethread.com/pricing/pro/
    It is possible to get small amounts of video file storage free, but it can get really expensive when the community goes on and on with long commentaries.
    In the pro version, file sizes are limited to 100 Mb. This is about one tenth the size of a 10 minute YouTube video. YouTube generally limits file sizes to 1 Gb or 10 minutes of compressed video such as mpg compression --- http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hlrm=en&answer=57924
    Colleges can stream much larger videos on YouTube such as the courses that UC Berkeley makes available on YouTube with over one hour of video for each lecture in a course.

    VoiceThread makes it possible to have somewhat longer videos in a 100 Mb file by using small video screens. Note how Rick does this at http://voicethread.com/#q.b173180.i923368

    YouTube also allows any users to comment in text format such that commentaries can accompany videos on YouTube. The huge advantage of YouTube is that videos can be uploaded, viewed, and even downloaded for free. VoiceThread, for an annual fee, has more features.

    Although I've not tried VoiceThread, it would seem that cost and file size limits make this less attractive than YouTube.

    Other video streaming alternatives are summarized at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#StreamingMedia

    Camtasia users should note that TechSmith will serve up streaming videos in a utility called ScreenCast --- http://www.techsmith.com/screencast.asp

    You can read the following at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#StreamingMedia

    However, in most instances open sharing videos are streaming (using the term loosely here) videos for which there is no file to download. In that case the video must be captured in total or in part by software designed for such purposes. The software I like for video capturing is called Camtasia Recorder --- http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/record.asp
    Also see http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/education.asp
    This is cheaper alternative than many more specialized products for streaming video capture. You can download my PowerPoint file about Camtasia at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/EdTech/PowerPoint/
    Links to examples are given in this slide show.

     

    Other streaming media alternatives are summarized at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#StreamingMedia

    August 31, 2008 reply from Rick Lillie at the AAA Accounting Commons --- http://commons.aaahq.org/pages/home

    Hi Bob,

    Thank you for your comments about VoiceThread.  I would like to expand on several points that you raised.

    Regarding the way VoiceThread works

    VoiceThread is a hosted service that can be used in a variety of ways.  For example, VoiceThread may be used to create

    Currently, VoiceThread is offered in both free and low-fee options.  The pricing screen needs a little more explanation.

    Pros vs Cons of VoiceThread

    IN CLOSING

    There are lots of ways to create rich-media instructional materials.  I use them extensively in my accounting courses.

    Personally, I do not like Camtasia, Adobe Presenter, Camtasia Recorder and similar software programs.  For me, these programs are too complex to use.  I like processes to be as simple as possible.  This is why I prefer VoiceThread.

    VoiceThread allows me to focus on creating the slides, pictures (jpeg files), Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files, etc., that I want to include in a streaming presentation.  VoiceThread makes it easy to go from slides to streaming video with embedded commentary.  VoiceThread saves the file and gives me a URL to the program or the html code for embedding a player into course materials.

    The overall process is simple and easy to use.

    Many accounting faculty that I have talked with seem hesitant to include technology in their courses and to use technology tools when creating course materials.  When I find something that will make life easier, I share the information.

    Thank you for your comments.  I enjoy this type of discussion.

    Best wishes,

    Rick Lillie

    August 31,  2008 reply from Bob Jensen at the AAA Accounting Commons --- http://commons.aaahq.org/pages/home

    Hi Rick,

    I  really appreciate your detailed elaboration on video creation alternatives. Thank you so much! Please keep them coming at the AAA Commons. You obviously have unique technology skills.

    The one area where I disagree with you is on Camtasia. I personally learned how to use Camtasia in less than an hour and then recorded many technical videos for my students to use outside the classroom. It cut down on the traffic through my office door by about 95% from students who just did follow the technical details in class. More importantly these videos (especially the ones about MS Access technicalities) helped me explain things that I forgot how to do over time. Examples of my Camtasia videos can be found at the following links:

    ACCT 5342 (AIS videos) --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5342/

    ACCT 5341 (Accounting Theory videos) at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5341/ 

    I even prepared a tutorial on how to record (capture) computer image videos and produce (compress) them into smaller files for storage and delivery --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/Tutorials/
    (I suggest clicking on the CamtasiaTutorial.wmv file)

    I hope accounting professors and students will not be scared away from Camtasia before even trying it out. A limited and free version may be attempted first. It is called Jing --- http://www.jingproject.com/ 

    But an even better suggestion is to download Camtasia Studio itself on a free trial basis --- http://www.jingproject.com/ 

    Another interesting product from TechSmith is called UserView. Suppose a student is located somewhere else in the world. UserView allows a professor to both see and record what is happening on a student's computer screen such that the professor can analyze the moves and suggest to the student how to do something better. Similarly, the student can see what is happening on a professor's computer while he/she narrates.  Good stuff --- http://www.techsmith.com/uservue.asp 

    But for me, the best thing since grapefruit is Camtasia Studio for producing videos for my own servers, YouTube, and possibly even VoiceThread. For YouTube I suggest choosing mpg compressions after recording a wmv video.

    Bob Jensen's video helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm

    Thanks Rick,

    Bob Jensen


    March 11, 2010 message from XXXXX

    Bob,

    I am wondering if you know of any websites where I can gain access to watch camtasia-style (or narrated powerpoints) videos/lectures of upper level accounting instruction?

    My Dean asked me to look into creating an asynchronous, distance/hybrid accounting program. I want to get an idea of what is out there. I think the classes I need are:

    AIS Cost Intermediate 1 and 2 Tax Auditing Advanced GNP or NFP Any other advanced accounting, like advanced cost.

    Thank you,

    XXXXX

    March 11, 2010 reply from Bob Jensen

    Firstly, I would begin with the asynchronous way basic accounting is taught at BYU almost entirely with variable-speed videos even to resident students living on campus ---
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#BYUvideo
    BYU sells these video CDs to the public at a reasonable price.


    Next I would enter a number of search terms into YouTube --- http://www.youtube.com/
    Examples include:
    Accounting Information Systems
    Accounting Ethics
    Intermediate accounting
    Advanced accounting
    Governmental accounting
    Hedge accounting
    Cost Accounting
    Managerial Accounting
    Fair Value Accounting
    Auditing
    SAP or ERP
    XBRL

     

    I have a few accounting theory Camtasia videos at
    http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5341/
    Links to my other online materials (including PowerPoint presentations) are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud001.htm

     

    My PowerPoint presentations and Excel workbooks are linked at
    http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/Calgary/CD/

    I suggest you contact my good friend Amy Dunbar about how she uses Camtasia videos in her online tax courses ---
    Amy.Dunbar@business.uconn.edu

    In the future U.S. accounting programs will be building in more and more IFRS. Here there’s a heck of a lot of free educational material available ---
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#IFRSlearning
    There are some good cases available, especially from the Big Four.

    There is also a lot of free XBRL material, including some good videos --- http://www.xbrl.org/Home/
    Click on “Education and Training”

    The AICPA has a library of both fee and free videos --- http://www.aicpa.org/
    Enter the search term “video”

    Other organizations have some deals on videos for courses, including the IIA, Certified Fraud Examiners, etc.

    There’s a ton of free material on ethics and fraud.

    The OKI --- http://www.okiproject.org/view/html/site/oki
    MIT’s Open Courseware Links --- http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
    Click on the Sloan School for accounting, finance, and other business open courseware materials
     

    MIT’s Video Lecture Browser (better for the sciences than business) --- http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/


    "MIT's Management School Shares Teaching Materials (Cases) Online," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 27, 2009 ---
    Click Here

    Though some business schools charge for the “case studies” they develop as teaching aids, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced today that it is making a set of teaching materials available free online.

    MIT’s Sloan School of Management has unveiled a set of case studies, videos, interactive teaching tools, and teacher’s notes on a new Web site called MIT Sloan Teaching Innovation Resources --- https://mitsloan.mit.edu/MSTIR/IndustryEvolution/Pages/default.aspx

    The announcement comes eight years after MIT created its OpenCourseWare project, which makes instructional materials for courses available online for free.

    Other open sharing materials provided by prestigious universities can be found at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

    Oh my Gosh!

    I forgot to mention the AAA Commons where there’s now a great deal of available, including syllabi, tutorials, course materials, videos, and textbook recommendations --- http://commons.aaahq.org/pages/home

    Soon many of the AAA Commons pages will be available to the world in general and not just AAA members. Among other things this makes the resources available to all of your students

    Bob Jensen

    Bob Jensen's threads on distance education and training alternatives are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm

     


    Hollywood Movies Featuring Accountants

    From Jim Mahar's Blog on November 20, 2009 --- http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/

    YouTube - Other People's Money speech by Danny DeVito:
    "Other People's Money speech by Danny DeVito"

    If you want to feel old, mention this movie in class, virtually no one has heard of it. Fortunately some of it is still online. Here is Jorgy's speech, and here is Danny Devito's ---
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfL7STmWZ1c

    "Is It Possible To Invent An Investment Product (purely fake satire) Too Stupid To Find Buyers?" by Jim Carney, Business Insider, November 19, 2009 --- Click Here
    Jensen Comment
    And as academics we question how Wall Street could get away with gimmicks all these years.

    "There's a sucker born every minute second ."

    Makes you sort of wonder if auditors with their SOX on are just wasting time and money.

    November 21, 2009 reply from David Albrecht [albrecht@PROFALBRECHT.COM]

    Other People's Money is my favorite business movie. I've viewed it a dozen times or more. I think it is the best movie for showing students what is involved with a proxy fight.

    The Deal, starring Christian Slater, is my recommendation for a movie focused on due diligence investigations.

    The Devil Wears Prada is my recommendation for a movie dealing with an ethical dilemma. Although The Contender (Joan Allen), Dave, Working Girl (Melanie Griffith) aren't bad.

    Only Devil will be familiar to today's students. Doesn't mean they can't learn from an old movie.

    Stranger Than Fiction might be the best movie about an accountant. The Harold Crick character evolves through three of the stereotypes discussed in Dimnik and Feldon.

    Dave Albrecht

     

    November 21, 2009 reply from Bob Jensen

    Of course let's not forget Hollywood's Enron fraud documentary Enron:  The Smartest Guys in the Room.
    And there's the best Enron movie in a sense that it's a home movie featuring the real Enron bad guys ---
    http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/windowsmedia/enron3.wmv
    Jeff Skilling plays himself when introducing HFA --- Hypothetical Future Accounting

    In Carnal Knowledge Jack Nicholson plays a deeply dysfunctional CPA in this racy and depressing movie having zero accounting or business education but some education about Ann Margaret's body.

    And there's Suze Orman's video The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life (also a 2003 book)

     

    Click on the category "Movies and TV" at Amazon.com and feed in the search word "accounting."
    It was at the above site that I stumbled on many non-Hollywood movies, including

    ?         Accountant with Jeff Gardner
     

    ?         Enhanced April with Josie Lawrence, Miranda Richardson, Alfred Molina, and Neville Phillips
     

    ?         The Incredible Mr. Limpet with Don Knotts, Carole Cook, Jack Weston, and Andrew Duggan
     

    ?         The Producers with Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Christopher Hewett, and William Hickey
     

    ?         Midnight Run with Charles Grodin, Robert De Niro, Danielle DuClos, and Dennis Farina
     

    ?         Secretaries with Kelly Brown; Dale Rutter; Alana Evans
     

    ?         Frontline:  The Madoff Affair
     

    ?         1945 Financial Accounting & Bookkeeping Vocational Film DVD: Accountant Career History
     

    ?         Lean Accounting ($255 to buy so it's better to rent)
     

    ?         Fair Value Accounting: A Critical New Skill for All CPAs ($379.95)
     

    ?         Standard Deviants (multiple volume accounting education modules)
     

    ?         CBS News (multiple volumes somehow linked to accounting)
     

    ?         Many others at Amazon under "accounting" Movies and DVDs

     

    And of course there are Bob Jensen's exciting free accounting tutorials on Excel, MS Access, Swap Valuations, XBRL. Camtasia, etc. --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/

     

    Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
    Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
    Edutainment and Learning Games --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
    Open Sharing Courses --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


    Tardy Students

    "Professor's Epic Email Response To a Tardy And Entitled Student," by the Unknown Professor, Financial Rounds Blog (which is mostly inactive this semester), February 14, 2010 ---
    http://financialrounds.blogspot.com/search/label/A Day In The Life

    Like most faculty, students coming late to class bothers me - it disrupts the class, interrupts my train of thought, and in general causes a negative externality. In previous years, the problem seems to have gotten worse - in some classes, 15% would wander in after class has started. So this semester, I borrowed a page from a colleague's book. He teaches law for our B-School, and is a former partner for a major Wall Street Law firm. He's very formal in class, is known throughout the school as a fantastic professor, and a bit of a hardass (formal, but a hardass).

    So now, whenever a student walks into class late, I merely stop talking in mid sentence. I then quietlty wait until the student is seated. At this point, they're usually embarrassed. I continue waiting they have their book AND pencil out. Of course, the spotlight on them makes them extremely uncomfortable. I don't ream them, don't make any faces, comments, or do anything else - merely ask "Are you ready now?" Then I take up right where I left off. It's kind of fun, and I don't have to come off like my usual sarcastic self. It seems to work pretty well - late arrivals have really dropped off this semester.

    But
    this guy (Scott Galloway at NYU) just throws them out if they come in late. A student got the treatment recently and sent him a (to my ears) somewhat entitled email. Galloway give him an epic reaming.

    Read the responses - they're classic (particularly the David Mamet references). If you have any favorite techniques for dealing with late students, feel free to share.

    Of course, as they say in the ads, "your mileage may vary".


    HT: Craig Newmark (who gets it)

    Jensen Comment
    I heard about an instructor who stretched construction zone tape across both doorways to the classroom before closing the doors. The tape was not to be crossed for any reason. Some instructors lock the doors, but this is acceptable only when the doors can be opened from the inside in case of fire.

    But a professor needs a Plan B for the occasional student that is late for reasons beyond that student's control. Perhaps the student really was mugged or had an epileptic seizure on the way to class. Then there are the unacceptable excuses such as the student that was held up by traffic congestion or a traffic cop. I always considered those to be excuses and not valid reasons since students could've allowed more time for such contingencies.

    Plan B might be instigated outside of class rather than by allowing class to be disrupted for any valid reason for lateness. But Plan B should be stated clearly in the syllabus.

    Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm


    This tutorial includes how to edit video in Windows 7
    "Manage All Your Media in Windows 7 From online streaming to all-new library controls, here's how to get more out of Windows 7's new multimedia features," by Zack Stem, PC World via The Washington Post, October 22, 2009 --- Click Here
    http://snipurl.com/windows7multimedia    [www_washingtonpost_com] 

     Whether you're leaping directly from Windows XP to Windows 7 or you stopped in Vista territory along the way, you'll find that the latest version of Microsoft's operating system handles media files in several new ways. The methods for photo and video importing, editing, and exporting have been all updated. You have new options for sharing and streaming files between computers. And media libraries become more-versatile vessels for finding and managing media files. I'll explain how to get started with these and other entertainment features of Windows 7

    Check Out the Libraries

    Windows 7 manages media files differently than previous Windows OSs did. It retains the familiar Pictures, Videos, Music, and Documents folders, but you can assign additional library locations in order to collect your media files more dynamically.

    The libraries in Windows 7 organize file types to help applications find media more easily. By default, programs look to the Pictures, Videos, Music, and Documents folders instead of having to scrutinize your whole disk. Windows XP and Vista tied media libraries to those specific folder locations. For example, Windows Media Player watched vigilantly over C:\Users\[username]\Music. Then, anytime you added new audio files to that folder, Media Player showed them in your music library. If you wanted Media Player to look for media in other areas--say, in the iTunes music folder or in another user's music library--you had to add the new locations manually within the program.

    In Windows 7, the Pictures, Videos, Music, and Documents folders are not the only doors into those libraries; you can add any other disk location you like, and library-savvy applications will automatically pool media wherever it's stored.

    Add Libraries

    Instead of manually curating media in the traditional user folders, you can turn any folder into a library. Applications will know where to find media, and you can keep your computer organized in whatever way you want.

    For example, you can turn a networked folder into an auxiliary library, or even pool music files from a different user on the same PC. Or transform your Downloads folder into a library, instantly putting MP3 and video downloads into media applications. Here's how (the process is the same for any of these situations).

    Open the Start Menu, and click your username. Open the Downloads folder, and pick Include in library, Music. Then select Include in library, Movies. Henceforth, without your having to open them immediately after downloading them, your PC will automatically slurp music and movie files into Windows Media Player.

    To remove the library status of a folder, open a window in the desktop and then navigate to that library folder in the left pane. In our case, the menu path is Libraries, Music, Downloads. Right-click the library-enabled folder--Downloads--and choose Remove location from library.

    Get Windows Live Essentials

    Windows 7's standard installation omits some previously bundled Windows software, including Photo Gallery and Movie Maker, but you can still download these apps at the Windows Live Essentials download page. Click Download on the right side, and save and run the file.

    In the installer, mark the checkbox for each piece of software you want to add. If you're on the prowl for useful multimedia options, check Photo Gallery, Movie Maker Beta, and Silverlight. (You're likely to encounter Silverlight video-streaming sites such as Netflix, so you might as well add it to Windows 7 now.) Click Install, and after several minutes, okay the final prompts to exit the installation. (I skipped changing my default home page and other needy-relationship-style requests.)

    You can sign up

    Use these groupings to your advantage. Click Next and then click Add tags next to any of the groups. Enter a few keywords from that particular photo session, separating them with semicolons. Click Import.

    If you shot RAW files, the program may prompt you to download and install an additional codec. I had to go through that process to accommodate photos from my digital SLR camera; but once you've installed the extra piece of software, Windows 7 can display the higher-end RAW files in the same manner as it does JPEGs.

    Publish a Photo Gallery Online

    Your friends and family can view your photos through the Windows Live site. After importing and arranging an album, you can upload the images within Windows Live Photo Gallery.

    Within that application, right-click My Pictures, and pick Create new folder. Name the new folder. Drag in pictures that you want to publish online. Click the name of the folder within the main window near the top to select all of the pictures. Choose Publish, Online album. Sign into your Windows Live account if needed.

    Give the album a title and in the pop-up menu choose who can view the pictures. Change the value for 'Upload size' in the pop-up menu if you wish; Medium gives enough detail for Web viewing; Large and Original allow ample size for displaying on a big TV, printing, and otherwise downloading. Then click Publish.

    After the photos have finished uploading, the program will prompt you with the option to view them. Click View Album to open the page in your Web browser. If you miss that option, click your account name in the upper right corner of Windows Live Photo Gallery, and select View your photos. Copy the link from the Web page, and share it with your friends.

    If you decide to limit who can see one of your albums, visit that album's Web page, and click Shared with: Everyone (public) at the bottom of the page. Click Edit Permissions on the following page, and uncheck the Everyone (public) box. If you've made friends through the Network area of Windows Live, pick the My network box instead. Otherwise, you can add individual e-mail contacts at the bottom. (Press the spacebar to speed up entry of the next address.)

    Back in Photo Gallery, you can add more photos to a published group by selecting the new pictures and choosing Publish, [gallery name]. Hold Shift and click the first and last images to select pictures in sequence, or hold down Ctrl and click pictures to group them in any order you like.

    Import Photos and Videos Into Windows Live Movie Maker

    Windows Live Movie Maker eschews video capture tools in favor of relying on the rest of Windows 7. If you connect a DV camcorder to a Win 7 PC, the capture process should automatically launch outside Movie Maker.

    Click the Import the entire video radio button, enter a name, and click Next. Click the Import videos as multiple files checkbox, and the tool will splice the tape into your individual shots. Approve the next windows to import the tape; the importing process will take exactly as much time as your footage does to play.

    Once your PC has captured your media, you have some options for adding clips to a video in Windows Live Movie Maker. From the desktop, drag your photos and videos into the right pane in that program. If that area is blocked, drag the files over the Movie Maker icon in the Taskbar, continue to hold the mouse down, and then drop them into the right pane. Alternatively, select Add above Videos and photos in the software, select the media, and click Open.

    You'll want to rearrange and trim various clips during the editing process, but at this point all of them are part of your movie. If you added too many clips or images, delete them from the storyboard by clicking the files and then clicking Remove.

    Edit Your Movie

    Windows Live Movie Maker cuts the timeline view, focusing instead on arranging clips in a storyboard. Just drag and drop each clip and each image to place them in the desired order within the right pane. Since some video clips run too long, you'll need to trim them into shape.

    Click a video clip to select it; then click the Edit tab at the top of the window, and click Trim. At this point, you can adjust the in- and out-point sliders (which govern the length of the clip, by trimming from one or both extremities) at the beginning and end of the timeline. Press the spacebar or click the Play icon to view a sample from the full clip, playing only between the edited points.

    If you're satisfied, click Save and close to finish. You'll make the edit here, but the original video file will stay the same, in case you want to reimport it later.

    Continued in this long article

     


    The Financial Accounting Standards Board recently approached Bloomfield about studying how to create financial accounting standards that will assist investors as much as possible, he quickly turned to the virtual world for answers.

    "Theory Meets Practice Online: Researchers and academics are looking to online worlds such as Second Life to shed new light on old economic questions," by Francesca Di Meglio, Business Week, July 24, 2007 --- Click Here 

    In fact, many economics researchers, including Bloomfield, professor of accounting at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, are using the virtual environment to test ideas involving staples of economics such as game theory, the effects of regulation, and issues involving money. Since 1989, Bloomfield has been running experiments in the lab in which he creates small game economies to study narrow issues. But when the Financial Accounting Standards Board recently approached Bloomfield about studying how to create financial accounting standards that will assist investors as much as possible, he quickly turned to the virtual world for answers.

    "It would be very difficult to look at the complex issues that FASB is trying to address with eight people in a laboratory playing a very simple economic game," he says. "I started looking for how I could create a more realistic economy with more players dealing with a high degree of complexity. It didn't take me long to realize that people in virtual worlds are already doing just that."

    . . .

    At Indiana University, researcher Edward Castronova has posed the idea of creating multiple virtual economies to study the effects of different regulatory policies. At Indiana, Castronova is director of the Synthethic Worlds Initiative, a research center to study virtual worlds. "The opportunity is to conduct controlled research experiments at the level of all society, something social scientists have never been able to do before," the center's Web site notes (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/1/06, "Virtual World, Virtual Economies").

    A virtual stock market is certainly not the only online entity that opens itself up to research. Marketers are already using the virtual world to test campaigns, packaging, and consumer satisfaction. Pepsi (PEP) famously tracks use of its products in There.com. Architects seek reaction to design. Starwood Hotels (HOT) test-marketed its new loft designs in Second Life (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/23/06, "Starwood Hotels Explore Second Life First").

    Continued in article

    Bob Jensen's threads on tools and tricks of the trade are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

    Bob Jensen's threads on Accounting Research versus the Accounting Profession are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm#AcademicsVersusProfession


    November 30, 2007 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

    RECOMMENDED READING

    "Recommended Reading" lists items that have been recommended to me or that Infobits readers have found particularly interesting and/or useful, including books, articles, and websites published by Infobits subscribers. Send your recommendations to carolyn_kotlas@unc.edu for possible inclusion in this column.

    Infobits subscriber Karen Ellis, founder of the Educational CyberPlayGround (http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/), recommends the

    following:

    STUDIO THINKING: THE REAL BENEFITS OF VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION By Lois Hetland, Ellen Winner, Shirley Veneema, and Kimberly M. Sheridan New York: Teachers College Press, 2007

    $24.95

    ISBN 978-0-8077-4818-3

    "The authors set out to tell us why arts education is important and to give art teachers a research based language they can use to describe what they teach, and what is learned. They reached their conclusions after studying a number of well-taught studio classes in two schools.

    Over the course of a year, they observed what they call a 'hidden curriculum' that defines what art education is and what it does. Studio Thinking presents their findings in a cohesive model along with lesson examples and commentary. The authors say they want to 'change the conversation about the arts in this country' and that could happen if they can resurrect, or reinvigorate, some of their earlier work. Studio Thinking presents what the authors say is the right 'reason' for arts education as opposed to some other rationales, which they say, are just plain wrong."

    -- Review by John Broomall, Executive director of the Pennsylvania

    Alliance for Arts Education

    http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Arts/StudioThinkingArtsAdvocacy.html

     


    Summarizing Academic Accounting Research for Practitioners

    April 14, 2007 message from Ron Huefner [rhuefner@acsu.buffalo.edu]

    The Journal of Accountancy (AICPA) has begun a new series of articles to review accounting research papers and explain them to practitioners. The April issue has an article on "Mining Auditing Research."

    It summarizes about a dozen research articles, mostly from The Accounting Review, but also including articles from JAR, CAR, AOS, and the European Accounting Review.

    The link for this article is: <http://aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/apr2007/boltlee.htm

    This may be useful in bringing research findings into classes

    Ron


    Question
    When should professors add practitioners to their courses?

    "Mixing Theory and Practice on Defense Policy," by Andy Guess, Inside Higher Ed, August 8, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/08/defense

    In a class about United Nations regulations on the laws of war, the discussion turned inevitably to Star Trek.

    When the U.N. authorizes sanctions against a particular nation, said Ilan Berman, the professor, the institution acts much like the Borg — in the show’s universe, a mechanized force of cyborg mercenaries bent on assimilating all of mankind. The analogy was lost on most of the class, but Berman drove the point home for those who didn’t regularly tune in to syndicated science fiction programs in the early 1990s: Each member nation must act as part of the collective.

    The lecture, peppered as it was with the occasional pop culture reference, covered a lot of ground, from the U.S. national security strategy to the justifications for nations’ use of force. The students in the class — five were present on a Monday night in July for the elective — come from a range of backgrounds, several of them working full-time, but all in the program with an eye toward defense policy, whether in the government, consulting or think tanks.

    In Washington, those are hardly unorthodox goals. Programs in defense or security studies churn out students every year in the nation’s capital, from well-known and respected institutions such as Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and also outside the Beltway at places like Harvard (Kennedy) and Princeton (Wilson). The students in Berman’s class, tucked in a conference room on the seventh floor of a corporate office building in Fairfax, Va., are part of a relatively new experiment: What if a state school in Springfield, Mo., operated a satellite campus alongside the established players in defense studies?

    So far, enrollments have been growing each year since the unit opened shop in 2005 within commuting distance from the city, sandwiched between a rapidly developing apartment complex and an office park. The Department of Defense and Strategic Studies, a part of Missouri State University, caters to students who want to break into Beltway defense circles with a public university price tag and the advantages of a more practical approach. In doing so, it offers a two-year M.S. degree that requires both coursework and internships.

    Having access to actual practitioners in the classroom means, in this case, connections to defense and foreign policy officials in the government. As with others like it, the program has had a long revolving-doors tradition, starting from its original incarnation in the early 1970s at the University of Southern California, where it was founded by a former defense official who served on the SALT I delegation, William R. Van Cleave, and partially funded by the free-market Earhart Foundation. But unlike at similar departments elsewhere, Missouri State’s full-time faculty of three and its nine affiliated lecturers tend to come mainly from positions in Republican administrations and conservative-leaning institutions.

    Continued in article

    Jensen Comment
    Some years back Professor Sharon Lightner (UC at San Diego) put together a really interesting online course for students, practitioners, and accounting standard setters in six different countries where the classes met synchronously.
    "An Innovative Online International Accounting Course on Six Campuses Around the World" --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255light.htm

     


     

    Open Sharing and Adaptive Hypermedia

     


    There are now nearly 7,000 accounting education videos on YouTube, most of which are in very basic accounting.
    But there are nearly 150 videos in advanced accounting.
    Sometimes the videos are advertisements such as an advertisement for downloading
    INTERMEDIATE ACCOUNTING 12th ED Solutions Manual by KIESO, WEYGANT, WARFIELD
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca08uh1cq1Y

    There are nearly 70 videos on XBRL.

    More than 100 colleges have set up channels on YouTube --- http://www.youtube.com/edu
    Many universities offer over 100 videos, whereas Stanford offers a whopping 583

    "YouTube Creates New Section to Highlight College Content," by Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 27, 2009 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3684&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

    More than 100 colleges have set up channels on YouTube, and this week the popular video service unveiled a new section that brings together all of that campus content in one area.

    It had been difficult to find college lectures on YouTube, since they are generally far less popular than the site’s humorous and outrageous clips, and so they do not show up in lists of the most viewed videos on the site. Although YouTube has long had an education category, it relies on users who post videos to decide whether to categorize their videos as educational, and as a result the definition of education is very broad. The new YouTube EDU page includes only material submitted by colleges and universities.

    Spencer Crooks, a spokesman for YouTube, said in a statement that the site now features complete lectures for some 200 full college courses. “Subjects range from computer science to literature, biology to philosophy, history, political science, psychology, law, and much more,” he said. “You can search within YouTube EDU to find videos on topics of interest.”

    The new section makes it possible to find out which college-produced video is most popular. The winner so far is an interview with a University of Minnesota professor discussing the science behind the new movie Watchmen. That video has been viewed about 1.5 million times. The most popular lecture video on YouTube is from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, on the subject of “Advanced Finite Elements Analysis” (which has been viewed about 19,000 times).

    Bob Jensen's threads on open sharing are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

    Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch


    MIT's Video Lecture Search Engine: Watch the video at --- http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/
    Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search tool that solves one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to break up a lengthy academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of keywords, and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT
    Lecture Browser website gives the general public detailed access to more than 200 lectures publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare initiative. The search engine leverages decades' worth of speech-recognition research at MIT and other institutions to
    convert audio
    into text and make it searchable.
    Kate Greene, MIT's Technology Review, November 26, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/?nlid=686&a=f
    Once again, the Lecture Browser link (with video) is at http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/
    Bob Jensen's search helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm

    Find free video lectures from free universities at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

    "UC Berkeley university puts course videos (but not for credit) on YouTube," PhysOrg, October 3, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news110638174.html

    University offerings at the dedicated YouTube channel include peace and conflict studies, bioengineering courses, and a science class titled "Physics for Future Presidents."

    "UC Berkeley on YouTube will provide a public window into university life: academics, events and athletics," said vice provost for undergraduate education Christina Maslach.

    The University plans to continually add videos to the channel, which officially launched Wednesday with about nine full courses consisting of approximately 40 lectures each.

    Berkeley lays claim to being the first university to offer full courses on popular video-sharing website YouTube, which is based in Northern California.

    The university began online broadcasts, called "webcasts," of its own in 2001 and last year began making audio "podcasts" available for download at Apple's iTunes online store.

    "We are excited to make UC Berkeley videos available to the world on YouTube," said Ben Hubbard, who co-manages the university's webcast program.

    "I think the whole open content movement is in keeping with what we are as a public institution, we really believe at our core that making this available to the public is truly important."
     

    UC Berkeley is the first university to make videos of full courses available through YouTube. Visitors to the site at youtube.com/ucberkeley can view more than 300 hours of videotaped courses and events. Topics range from bioengineering, to peace and conflict studies, to "Physics for Future Presidents," the title of a popular campus course. Building on its initial offerings, UC Berkeley will continue to expand the catalog of videos available on YouTube.
    View the Playlist Here --- http://www.youtube.com/ucberkeley 
    There is a link to the most viewed videos (with star ratings) at the above page.

    Examples include Integrative Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, etc.
    Links to 201 videos --- http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ucberkeley&p=r
    You can search by topic in the search box at the above page.

    On October 4, 2007 I could not find any accounting, finance, or economics videos at the UC Berkeley site. There were six courses that popped up for "Business."

    Here's a student, who created a RealPlayer playlist, explaining how to these videos --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUfKoXtwEu0

    Also see Webcast.Berkeley [iTunes, Real Player] http://webcast.berkeley.edu/ 

    UC Berkeley also has XLab --- http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/07/13_xlab.shtml

    Nearly all prestigious universities now offer some form of open sharing of course materials, the most noteworthy of which is MIT. Yale, however, has some of the finest lectures on video --- http://www.yale.edu/opa/download/VLP_QuestionsAnswers.pdf

    From Princeton
    University Channel (video and audio) ---  http://uc.princeton.edu/main/

    From the University of Texas
    Take Five from the University of Texas http://www.utexas.edu/inside_ut/take5/

    From Harvard
    Introduction --- http://athome.harvard.edu/about/about.htm
    Program List --- http://athome.harvard.edu/archive/archive.asp

    Teaching Materials (especially video) from PBS

    Teacher Source:  Arts and Literature --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/arts_lit.htm

    Teacher Source:  Health & Fitness --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/health.htm

    Teacher Source: Math --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/math.htm

    Teacher Source:  Science --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/sci_tech.htm

    Teacher Source:  PreK2 --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/prek2.htm

    Teacher Source:  Library Media ---  http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/library.htm

    Video Lecture Search
    Type in "Video Lectures" with quotation marks at http://megite.com/discover.php?q=learning
    Example:  David Deutsch Quantum Computation Lectures --- http://www.quiprocone.org/quipmain.htm  

    You can read about these and other examples of open sharing at major universities at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


    Winners of KPMG's Integrity/Ethics Videos Contest --- http://www.kpmgcampus.com/whoweare/ethics.shtml


    Copyright Restrictions on Open Sharing/Source Learning Materials

    These are only my opinions, and they should not be taken as legal advice.
    Just because something can be accessed online does not mean it is an open sharing item. Generally online items are like library books that can be accessed by the public but have copyright restrictions copying and uses other than personal reading. If online learning materials are billed as "open sharing," or "open source" (as in the case of OCW materials at MIT) chances are that they can be used in total or in part for educational purposes in other open sharing materials if proper credits are given. In commercial materials such as books and course videos, there is vulnerability for lawsuit by the copyright owners. In my personal opinion, I think a lot depends upon how central the copyrighted material is to the purchased material. If use is incidental and credits are fully proper, then the risks of lawsuit are less than when the copyrighted material becomes more featured in the material. In any case, it is good advice to seek permission from copyright owners if the use is for some for-profit purpose. This probably includes online or onsite courses for which fees are charged to take the course. The dreaded DMCA is somewhat vague on open sharing materials, but open sharing does not mean that copyright owners have abandoned all rights. You can read more about the dreaded DMCA at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm

    This is Very Important --- http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/help/faq3/index.htm
    MIT is the most open sharing major university in terms of course materials --- http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
    It's statement on intellectual property sets, in my opinion, precedent for most other open sharing colleges --- http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/help/faq3/index.htm

    YouTube has a statement about use of YouTube videos at http://www.youtube.com/t/howto_copyright
    Also see http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/topic.py?topic=10550&hl=en_US

    Since the term "open source" is rooted in computer software, the term is a bit cloudy when it comes to text and multimedia learning materials. You can read more about open sharing and copyrights at the following sites:


    How to Excerpt Open Courseware Video, Compress It, and Serve it Up to Students

    Suppose that a very long video lecture is available as open courseware for proper use in other learning materials. An instructor may only want to use parts of this lecture in another course or supplemental tutorials for a course. Searching a long video is tedious and time consuming. A better approach is to make audio or video excerpts of portions of the long lecture.

    Homemade video tutorial (very basic) on how to record streaming audio on your PC --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPHSDOyj5f8
    Note the passing reference to a free sound recorder called Audacity --- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
    Note that if you are watching a lecture video that's pretty much a talking head, it saves a lot, I mean a LOT, of file space to only capture the audio.
    This might, for example, work very well when capturing parts of  the many UC Berkeley, YouTube, Yale, or Harvard video lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
    Just in case source streams disappear from the Internet, I suggest capturing what's important to you and saving to external media such as a CD or DVD disk.
    Capturing also allows you to only capture what is relevant to you or your students without having to spend a lot of time waiting for the good parts.

    If the video open sharing video is a file, you might be able to download the video file and then edit the file using something like the Producer Module in Camtasia Studio --- http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/enhance.asp

    However, in most instances open sharing videos are streaming (using the term loosely here) videos for which there is no file to download. In that case the video must be captured in total or in part by software designed for such purposes. The software I like for video capturing is called Camtasia Recorder --- http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/record.asp
    Also see http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/education.asp
    This is cheaper alternative than many more specialized products for streaming video capture. You can download my PowerPoint file about Camtasia at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/EdTech/PowerPoint/
    Links to examples are given in this slide show.

    You can read about other alternatives for streaming video capture at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#StreamingMedia

    When you capture streaming media as an avi file it has the advantage in that you can edit the movie and delete parts you do not want using software like Camtasia Producer  --- http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/enhance.asp
    You can also add interaction "skip to" buttons, quiz questions/answers, survey questions, etc.

    But captured avi files are generally enormous and cannot be stored efficiently anywhere. After you've excerpted and edited the captured video as an avi file it is almost always necessary to compress it into a wmv, mov, rm, scf, flv, or some related option such as the compression options available in Camtasia Producer. There is not generally a noticeable quality degradation in the compressed versions. However, it is not possible, at least in Camtasia, to alter the compressed version without recapturing it as an avi file.

    After you have your compressed file such as a wmv you will need to get it to your students. Chances are that your Blackboard, WebCT, or Web server does not give you enough capacity to serve up a lot of video, including space-saving compressed video. The next best thing is to either distribute your video to students on CD or DVD disks or to send it to them over the Internet.

    It is not generally possible to attach large video files to email messages. However there are very good free alternatives for sending files to students over the Internet --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm#SendingLargeFiles

    Bob Jensen's threads on free online textbooks and other electronic literature --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm


    Camtasia Studio + iPods = Videos to Go --- http://visuallounge.techsmith.com/2006/02/camtasia_studio__ipod__videos_to_go.html


    Twiki wiki Tutorial by Michael Lougee at the University of Minnesota ---  https://wiki.umn.edu/view/Main/MichaelLougee

     


    May 3, 2006 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

    RESOURCES FOR RESHAPING SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION

    ". . . the crisis in the scholarly communication system not only threatens the well being of libraries, but also it threatens our academic faculty's ability to do world-class research. With current technologies, we now have, for the first time in history, the tools necessary to effect change ourselves. We must do everything in our power to change the current scholarly communication system and promote open access to scholarly articles."

    Paul G. Haschak's webliography provides resources to help effect this change. "Reshaping the World of Scholarly Communication -- Open Access and the Free Online Scholarship Movement: Open Access Statements, Proposals, Declarations, Principles, Strategies, Organizations, Projects, Campaigns, Initiatives, and Related Items -- A Webliography" (E-JASL, vol. 7, no. 1, spring 2006) is available online at http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v07n01/haschak_p01.htm

    E-JASL: The Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship [ISSN 1704-8532] is an independent, professional, refereed electronic journal dedicated to advancing knowledge and research in the areas of academic and special librarianship. E-JASL is published by the Consortium for the Advancement of Academic Publication (ICAAP), Athabasca, Canada. For more information, contact: Paul Haschak, Executive Editor, Board President, and Founder, Linus A. Sims Memorial Library, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA USA;
    email: phaschak@selu.edu 
    Web:
    http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/

    November 2, 2006 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

    OPEN SOURCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

    The October/November 2006 issue (vol. 3, issue 1) of INNOVATE is devoted to open source and the "potential of open source software and related trends to transform educational practice." Papers include:

    "Getting Open Source Software into Schools: Strategies and Challenges" by Gary Hepburn and Jan Buley

    "Looking Toward the Future: A Case Study of Open Source Software in the Humanities" by Harvey Quamen

    "Harnessing Open Technologies to Promote Open Educational Knowledge Sharing" by Toru Iiyoshi, Cheryl Richardson, and Owen McGrath

    The complete issue is available at http://www.innovateonline.info/ .

    Innovate [ISSN 1552-3233] is a bimonthly, peer-reviewed online periodical published by the Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern University. The journal focuses on the creative use of information technology (IT) to enhance educational processes in academic, commercial, and government settings. Readers can comment on articles, share material with colleagues and friends, and participate in open forums. For more information, contact: James L. Morrison, Editor-in-Chief, Innovate; email: innovate@nova.edu ; Web: http://www.innovateonline.info/ .

    Bob Jensen's threads on open sourcing are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

    ......................................................................

    ADAPTIVE HYPERMEDIA

    The JOURNAL OF DIGITAL INFORMATION (JoDI) has recently published a special issue focusing on adaptive hypermedia. "Adaptive hypermedia systems are those that build a profile of the user and then deliver content that is appropriate for these needs, rather than the more traditional 'one-size-fits-all' approach of the web." These systems have the potential for tailoring online learning experiences to the individual student.

    The complete issue (vol. 7, no. 1, 2006) is available at http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/issue/view/29 .

    The Journal of Digital Information (JoDI) [ISSN: 1368-7506] is a peer-reviewed Web journal, supported by Texas A&M University Libraries. Current and past issues are available at http://journals.tdl.org/jodi .

    See also:

    "Adaptive Hypermedia: A New Paradigm for Educational Software" By H. Spallek ADVANCES IN DENTAL RESEARCH, vol. 17, December 2003, pp. 38-42 http://adr.iadrjournals.org/cgi/reprint/17/1/38  [Note: online access available via a subscription by your institution.]

    Although this paper discusses how adaptive hypermedia was used in dental education courses, it's findings can be applied to other disciplines.

    Bob Jensen's threads on asynchronous learning are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm


    History of Spreadsheets in Education

    "Spreadsheets in Education–The First 25 Years," by  John E Baker Director, Natural Maths john@naturalmaths.com.au  and Stephen J Sugden School of Information Technology, Bond University ssugden@bond.edu.au , July 24, 2003 --- http://www.sie.bond.edu.au/articles/1.1/bakersugden.pdf

    Spreadsheets made their first appearance for personal computers in 1979 in the form of VisiCalc [45], an application designed to help with accounting tasks. Since that time, the diversity of applications of the spreadsheet program is evidenced by its continual reappearance in scholarly journals. Nowhere is its application becoming more marked than in the field of education. From primary to tertiary levels, the spreadsheet is gradually increasing in its importance as a tool for teaching and learning. By way of an introduction to the new electronic journal Spreadsheets in Education, the editors have compiled this overview of the use of spreadsheets in education. The aim is to provide a comprehensive bibliography and springboard from which others may develop their own applications and reports on educational applications of spreadsheets. For despite its rising popularity, the spreadsheet has still a long way to go before becoming a universal tool for teaching and learning, and many opportunities for its application have yet to be explored. The basic paradigm of an array of rows-and-columns with automatic update and display of results has been extended with libraries of mathematical and statistical functions, versatile graphing and charting facilities, powerful add-ins such as Microsoft Excel’s Solver, attractive and highlyfunctional graphical user interfaces, and the ability to write custom code in languages such as Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications. It is difficult to believe that Bricklin, the original creator of VisiCalc could have imagined the modern form of the now ubiquitous spreadsheet program. But the basic idea of the electronic spreadsheet has stood the test of time; indeed it is nowadays an indispensable item of software, not only in business and in the home, but also in academe. This paper briefly examines the history of the spreadsheet, then goes on to give a survey of major books, papers and conference presentations over the past 25 years, all in the area of educational applications of spreadsheets.

    Bob Jensen's video tutorials on spreadsheets are at
    http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/acct5342/

    Bob Jensen's threads on the history of education technologies are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

     


    Bye Bye Blackboard

    The Blackboard:  A tribute to a long-standing but fading teaching and learning tool
    From the Museum of History and Science at Oxford University
    Bye Bye Blackboard: From Einstein and others
    --- http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/blackboard/

    Bob Jensen's threads on technology in education are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

     


    Devices and Systems for Mobile Learning

    Question
    What are real time virtual office hours?

    Hint:
    They operate a bit like a course chat room with some added features like microphones, and an instructor or teaching fellow is in the room at all times.

    As reported in The Harvard Crimson on Monday, teaching fellows (Harvard parlance for TAs) for the course this semester will begin holding real-time, online help sessions for students this week. Using free, Java-based software, students can log on, chat with each other (via text or microphone) and even “raise their hands” with the click of a button, which adds them to a queue on the teaching fellow’s computer.
    Andy Guess, "Office Hours: Coming to a Computer Near You," Inside Higher Ed, September 18, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/18/officehours

    A tools PowerPoint file is included at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/EdTech/PowerPoint/


    June 29, 2007 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

    PAPERS ON MOBILE LEARNING

    Mobile learning is the theme of the current issue of the INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF RESEARCH IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING. Papers include:

    "Mobile Distance Learning with PDAs: Development and Testing of Pedagogical and System Solutions Supporting Mobile Distance Learners" by Torstein Rekkedal and Aleksander Dye, Norwegian School of Information Technology

    "The Growth of m-Learning and the Growth of Mobile Computing: Parallel Developments" by Jason G. Caudill, Grand Canyon University

    "Mobile Learning and Student Retention" by Bharat Inder Fozdar and Lalita S. Kumar, India Gandhi National Open University

    "Instant Messaging for Creating Interactive and Collaborative m-Learning Environments" by James Kadirire, Anglia Ruskin University

    "m-Learning: Positioning Educators for a Mobile, Connected Future" by Kristine Peters, Flinders University

    The issue is available at http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/issue/view/29 . Papers are available not only in HTML and PDF formats, but you can also download and listen to them in MP3 audio versions.

    International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL) [ISSN 1492-3831] is a free, refereed ejournal published by Athabasca University - Canada's Open University. For more information, contact Paula Smith, IRRODL Managing Editor; tel: 780-675-6810; fax: 780-675-672;
    email: irrodl@athabascau.ca ;
    Web: http://www.irrodl.org/ .

    See also:

    "Are You Ready for Mobile Learning?" By Joseph Rene Corbeil and Maria Elena Valdes-Corbeil, University of Texas at Brownsville EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY, vol. 30, no. 2, 2007 http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm07/eqm0726.asp 

    "Frequent use of mobile devices does not mean that students or instructors are ready for mobile learning and teaching."

     


     

    The Future of Textbooks

    June 29, 2007 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

    ......................................................................

    PROPOSED SOLUTION TO "BROKEN" COLLEGE TEXTBOOK MARKET

    "Most debates over high textbook prices devolve into a blame game . . . Publishers go after excessive profits, bookstores stock too few used books, professors ignore prices and switch books on a whim, colleges fail to guide their faculty members, and students are not smart shoppers. Such claims are unproductive, the [Education Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance] says, though it sides more with students than with publishers." [The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 1, 2007]

    After a yearlong study, the Committee, an independent panel that advises the U.S. Congress on student aid policy, has released "Turn the Page: Making College Textbooks More Affordable," a report that addresses the problem of rising prices of college textbooks. Long-term solutions would entail an "infrastructure of technology and support services with which institutions, students, faculty, bookstores, publishers, and other content providers can interact efficiently. This infrastructure would consist of a transaction and rights clearinghouse, numerous marketplace Web applications, and hosted infrastructure resources. . . . The hosted infrastructure would ensure that all systems interface, support a registry of millions of learning items, provide marketplace services to thousands of campuses and millions of users, and process hundreds of millions of transactions for both fee-based and no-cost content."

    The report and related materials are available at
    http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsfa/edlite-txtbkstudy.html .

    ......................................................................

    PAPERS ON MOBILE LEARNING

    Mobile learning is the theme of the current issue of the INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF RESEARCH IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING. Papers include:

    "Mobile Distance Learning with PDAs: Development and Testing of Pedagogical and System Solutions Supporting Mobile Distance Learners" by Torstein Rekkedal and Aleksander Dye, Norwegian School of Information Technology

    "The Growth of m-Learning and the Growth of Mobile Computing: Parallel Developments" by Jason G. Caudill, Grand Canyon University

    "Mobile Learning and Student Retention" by Bharat Inder Fozdar and Lalita S. Kumar, India Gandhi National Open University

    "Instant Messaging for Creating Interactive and Collaborative m-Learning Environments" by James Kadirire, Anglia Ruskin University

    "m-Learning: Positioning Educators for a Mobile, Connected Future" by Kristine Peters, Flinders University

    The issue is available at http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/issue/view/29 . Papers are available not only in HTML and PDF formats, but you can also download and listen to them in MP3 audio versions.

    International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL) [ISSN 1492-3831] is a free, refereed ejournal published by Athabasca University - Canada's Open University. For more information, contact Paula Smith, IRRODL Managing Editor; tel: 780-675-6810; fax: 780-675-672;
    email: irrodl@athabascau.ca ;
    Web: http://www.irrodl.org/ .

    See also:

    "Are You Ready for Mobile Learning?" By Joseph Rene Corbeil and Maria Elena Valdes-Corbeil, University of Texas at Brownsville EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY, vol. 30, no. 2, 2007 http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm07/eqm0726.asp 

    "Frequent use of mobile devices does not mean that students or instructors are ready for mobile learning and teaching."


    Question
    What are the supposed Top 10 and the Top 100 e-Learning tools, at least in England?


    Answer
    Top 100 --- http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html
    Various experts list their Top 10 --- http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/index.html

    Jensen Comment
    I totally disagree with the rankings of the Top 100 and the Top 10.

    Where is Blackboard and WebCT? --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard

    Where are the many important tools for handicapped learners? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Handicapped

    Where is Camtasia? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm

    Where are the edutainment and learning game alternatives? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment

    Where is Matlab (used in virtually every U.S. university) --- --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MATLAB

    Like it or not, Wikipedia is one of the most sought out sights in the world by e-Learners --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
    There are risks, but the odds are high that users will get helpful learning information and links.

    Where are HTML and related XML/RTF and XBRL markups?  --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm  

    Where are the many huge and free online libraries? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

    Where are the important blogs and listservs? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm

    I could go on and on here!

    Bob Jensen

    Bob Jensen's threads on the history of course authoring, management, and presentation technologies are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

    Bob Jensen's threads on tools and tricks of the trade are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm 

    August 3, 2007 reply from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU]

    Bob:
    I agree with you that the list is flawed - Toolbook should be #1

    Richard J. Campbell

    mailto:campbell@rio.edu

    August 3, 2007 reply from Bob Jensen

    Hi Richard

    ToolBook should’ve been number 1 but it fumbled the ball. What proportion of e-Learners are now learning, today, from ToolBooks? My guess is that much less than one percent. A negligible proportion of instructors are developing learning materials using ToolBook dhtml files relative to FrontPage and Dreamweaver htm files.

    The biggest innovation for e-Learners and authors was Adobe Acrobat’s tremendous development of online pdf files that could be read and electronically searched for free but not be tampered with by readers. Now major commercial publishing houses are putting new books on line as pdf files.

    One of the biggest innovations I forgot to mention was the unknown (at least to me) date in which MS Office files (particularly ppt, doc, and xls files) could be downloaded and read from a Web servers that at one time only could handle htm markups. In terms of e-learning htm, pdf, doc, xls, and ppt files are overwhelmingly the main files for e-Learning, although they are now joined by such files as xml files.

    Another huge e-Learning innovation that I forgot to mention is the unknown (at least to me) date in which the above learning and research files could be attached to email messages. This made it easier to have private distributions (say to students in a class) without having to put files on Web, Blackboard, or WebCT servers. Anybody with email can not send files back and forth.

    There is still a great risk of macro viruses when downloading MS Office files from the Web or email messages. However, most e-Learners are doing so from trusted Web sites and/or email senders such as files from their course instructors.

    ToolBook could fade away and the world would hardly know about it or miss it.

    Bob Jensen


    The future of text books?
    From Jim Mahar's blog on June 16, 2005 --- http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/

    The future of text books?
    Megginson and Smart
    Introdcution to Corporate Finance--Companion Site

    Wow.
    I think we may have a glimpse into the future of text books with this one. It is the new Introduction to Corporate Finance by William Megginson and Scott Smart.

    From videos for most topics, to interviews, to powerpoint, to a student study guide, to excel help...just a total integration of a text and a web site! Well done!

    At St. Bonaventure we have adopted the text for the fall semester and the book actually has made me excited to be teaching an introductory course! It is that good!!

    BTW Before I get accused of selling out, let me say I get zero for this plug. I have met each author at conferences but do not really know either of them. And like any first edition book there may be some errors, but that said, this is the future of college text books!

    Check out some of the online material here. More material is available with book purchase.

    Bob Jensen's threads on education technology are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

     

     

     

    The Latest Experiments in Student Recruitment by Colleges

    Question
    Take a look at your college's current Web site.  How does it stack up against the competition?

     

    Answer
    The Latest Experiments by Colleges Recruiting New Students

    "College Recruiters Lure Students With New Online Tools," by Bob Tedeschi, The New York Times, December 30, 2004 
    http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/technology/circuits/30coll.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1104501548-NF+yTytFntuHGH4s471j9A 

    Colleges taking their battle for high school seniors to the Web and beyond.

    Frustrated by the failure of e-mail solicitations to generate much response - largely because of the colleges' own unrestrained e-mail policies - admission directors are looking for new ways to incorporate the Internet into their marketing plans. For some, that means setting up more online chats. For others, it means streaming more video from their Web sites.

    For Saint Mary's College, a Catholic college for women in Notre Dame, Ind., the answer is a high-tech version of campus view books, glossy tomes featuring ethnically diverse samplings of students wandering through verdant campuses, happy to be within sprinting distance of a Chaucer text.

    After two years of testing, this fall Saint Mary's rolled out a video magazine, or Vmag, aimed at prospective applicants. Students can download the publication from the Saint Mary's home page (www.saintmarys.edu), along with software that automatically retrieves updates. When an updated version is ready for viewing, a desktop icon prompts the user to reopen it.

    Each Vmag contains four one- to two-minute video clips featuring various aspects of campus life. While some of the clips show monologues by the college president or financial aid director, most are narrated by a pair of Saint Mary's students, who take viewers on a tour.

    "We were searching for something a little more innovative and exciting to catch the attention of prospective students, and we found it," said Mary Pat Nolan, who was until recently the Saint Mary's director of admission. "This really sets us apart."

    Ms. Nolan, who left Saint Mary's this month, said the college had tested the Vmag for two years, sending it to applicants who had been accepted by the school but had not yet decided to enroll. She said it was impossible to determine how it had affected enrollment, but added that she suspected it had helped.

    Delivering a video magazine, Ms. Nolan said, "is a way to tell students we're not living in the dark ages, and that we're technologically advanced."

    "We're not a convent school that's isolated, where you'll never see a man or have a social life," she said. "You'll have it all."

    That message resonated with Maggie Oldham, who was among the first prospective students to view the video magazine two years ago. Ms. Oldham, now a sophomore, had been accepted by four colleges; initially, Saint Mary's was at the bottom of her list.

    "When you see pictures, you think, 'That looks nice,' " Ms. Oldham said. "But with video, I could see myself in that class or at that basketball game. It was pretty persuasive, the whole interactive part of it."

    Frequent updates to the video were helpful. "Once you go to all those schools, they all kind of run together," she said. "You can go back and look at all the brochures, but this is better at reinforcing what you've seen."

    Kathleen Hessert, co-founder of NewGame Communications, a Charlotte, N.C., company that produces Vmags for schools and other organizations, said the technology is starting to attract interest from more colleges. "I think we were a little bit ahead of the market initially," Ms. Hessert said.

    Continued in article

     

    PowerPoint Helpers

    From the Scout Report on August 11, 2006

    Getting Results --- http://www.league.org/gettingresults/web/ 

    Educators have argued politely (and not so politely) about the most effective pedagogical methods for decades, and at times, they have even been able to agree on certain approaches. One recently created resource designed specifically for community college educators is the Getting Results website. Created as part of partnership between the National Science Foundation and WGBH, this self-contained professional development course is designed to "challenge previous thinking about teaching and learning and give you the basic tools for effective classroom practices." Users of this fine resource can work independently, or also elect to team up with groups of colleagues. Enhanced with online videos and worksheets, the course contains six modules, including "Moving Beyond the Classroom" and "Teaching with Technology". With an easy-to-use interface and non-intrusive graphics, this site is a most welcome addition to currently available online resources for community college educators.


    What not to do in PowerPoint (video) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORxFwBR4smE


    Students from the University of Denver created this video "parody" on technology in the classroom.
    It appears, however, to be a bit more serious critique than what I would call a humorous parody.
    http://www.youtube.com/user/DUinnovations#p/a/u/0/6svk_R_rVhA

    Bob Jensen's threads on the dark side ---
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm


    What's wrong with PowerPoint--and how to fix it," by David Coursey, Executive Editor, AnchorDesk September 10, 2003 --- http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2914637,00.html 
    (Thank you Ed Scibner for pointing to this link.)

    Are PowerPoint slides making us stupid? Are all problems really just a few bullet points away from their solutions? Or is the medium having a bad effect on the message? I'm no Marshall McLuhan or Edward Tufte (I will pause here to let you all shout, "Damn straight!"), but I do know something about business presentations and how they're put together. And I know that PowerPoint too often gets in the way of the message, replacing clear thought with unnecessary animations, serious ideas with 10-word bullet points, substance with tacky, confusing style.

    I DON'T KNOW what McLuhan would think about PowerPoint, him being dead and all. But Tufte is very much alive and, in an essay appearing in the September issue of Wired, minces no words: "PowerPoint is evil," says the Yale professor whose books have set the standard for graphic presentation in the computer age.

    Tufte says that slideware programs like PowerPoint (there aren't many others left) "may help speakers outline their talks, but convenience for speakers can be punishing to both content and audience." The standard PowerPoint deck, he says, "elevates format over content, betraying an attitude of commercialism that turns everything into a sales pitch."

    This is especially true given that many presenters--who really shouldn't be presenting in the first place--use PowerPoint as a crutch. PowerPoint becomes a tool to separate the presenter from the audience and from the message.

    But it doesn't have to be this way. It's possible to use PowerPoint as a tool (just like the projector you probably use to display your presentation), and as a real complement to what you're saying, without dumbing down your ideas. Today I'd like to offer some advice to help you do just that.

     

    • Do the presentation first, then the slides. Many people draft and write their presentation in PowerPoint itself. It's far better to prepare the presentation in Word (or whatever other tool you use to write)--including all the detail you want to present--and then transfer the highlights to PowerPoint. The one problem with using Word for this: It doesn't have a very good outlining tool.

       

    • Artwork has killed more presentations than it's saved. You're not a graphic artist, and neither am I. PowerPoint makes it too easy to add confusing graphics to presentations. Use restraint.

       

    • Animation is for cartoons. Animation tends to take over the presentation, which then becomes more about the presenter trying to make all the builds and transitions work properly than actually presenting the content.

       

    • Present more than the slide. Don't you hate it when presenters stand at the front of a room and read their slides ?  Slides are supposed to convey the major points of the presentation, reinforcing the speaker's points. Use them as prompts to talk about specific topics, as an outline, not as the substance of the presentation itself.

       

    • Use the notes pages. Many people are unaware that PowerPoint lets you attach notes to slides, which can then be printed and used to guide you or to give to the audience. Search for "notes" in the Help file to find out more about this feature.

       

    • Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. No, you don't have to stand in front of a mirror and do your entire presentation. But a sit-down with some colleagues can answer the questions, "Do these slides make sense?" and "Is this the information people care about?"--before you find out the hard way.
    My point here is that PowerPoint glitz alone does not an effective presentation make. While your decks shouldn't be boring, they aren't entertainment, either. A few staging and showbiz skills help, but most presentations are won or lost in the actual content. Your job is to control PowerPoint. If you don't, PowerPoint will control your presentation.

     


    April 4, 2008 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

    RECOMMENDED READING

    "Recommended Reading" lists items that have been recommended to me or that Infobits readers have found particularly interesting and/or useful, including books, articles, and websites published by Infobits subscribers. Send your recommendations to carolyn_kotlas@unc.edu for possible inclusion in this column.

    "Why Visual Aids Need to Be Less Visual" By Philip Yaffe UBIQUITY, vol. 9, issue 12, March 25, 2008 - March 31, 2008 http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/volume_9/v9i12_yaffe.html 

    "I was recently invited to a presentation by an accomplished speaker. Needless to say, his speech was well structured, his manner relaxed and confident, his eye contact and body language excellent, etc. He normally spoke without slides, but this time he felt they would reinforce and illuminate his message. They didn't. In fact, they were more of a hindrance than a help."

    Marketing communication consultant Jaffe provides useful advice to anyone adding visual materials to their lectures, conference presentations, and other public speaking activities.


    Onsite rounds give way to PowerPoint for medical interns
    Socratic Dialogue Gives Way to PowerPoint

    "Socratic Dialogue Gives Way to PowerPoint," by Lawrence K. Altman, MD., The New York Times, December 12, 2006 --- Click Here

    Grand rounds are not so grand anymore.

    For at least a century at many teaching and community hospitals, properly dressed doctors in ties and white coats have assembled each week, usually in an auditorium, for a master class in the art and science of medicine from the best clinicians. Before us was often a patient who sat in a chair or rested on a gurney and two doctors, one in training and the other a professor or senior doctor at the hospital. In a Socratic dialogue, they often led the audience in a step-by-step deciphering of the ailment.

    But in recent years, grand rounds have become didactic lectures focusing on technical aspects of the newest biomedical research. Patients have disappeared. If a case history is presented, it is usually as a brief synopsis and the discussant rarely makes even a passing reference to it.

    Now grand rounds are often led by visiting professors from distant hospitals and medical schools. Sometimes, manufacturers of drugs and devices pay the visitor an honorarium and expenses, a practice that has drawn criticism. And the Socratic dialogue has given way to PowerPoint. These rounds are often useful, but certainly not grand.

    Precisely when and where grand rounds began is not known. There are many types of rounds where doctors learn from patients. For example, there are the daily working rounds as doctors walk through a hospital to visit and examine patients. In teaching rounds, more senior doctors supervise the work of residents, or house officers, at a patient’s bedside or in a clinic.

    Grand rounds were showcases featuring the best clinicians, and the practice thrived in an era when doctors knew little more than what they observed at the bedside. Professors often demonstrated characteristics of physical findings like an enlarged thyroid, a belly swollen with fluid or another grotesque disfigurement that the audience could see. Those with a flair for showmanship were often the best teachers, adapting the predictable structure to their needs and talents.

    Grand rounds usually began with a younger doctor’s reciting the medical history of a patient with an unusual disease, physical finding or symptom. Sometimes the professor knew about the case, other times he did not. The professor would then ask the patient what was wrong. The more compassionate professors gave reassurance by placing their hands on the patients.

    The professor would conduct the interview much like a journalist. When did the fever begin? How high was it? Did you notice a rash? Did you have pain? Where did you feel it? What relieved it?

    Each major specialty, like internal medicine and surgery, held separate grand rounds. Pediatrics had a different style. A child unable to relate the events involved in his or her medical history often sat on a parent’s lap. The format promoted direct dialogue and emotional reaction between the pediatrician and the family in a way that would not come across if a doctor coldly presented the child’s case.

    After arriving at a diagnosis, the professor related the current state of medical knowledge to the patient’s case. The emphasis was on diagnosis, treatment and the management of a patient, not on research.

    In those earlier days, the patient stayed for part or all of the session, which usually lasted an hour. Sometimes doctors in the audience asked questions of the patient and professor. Humor trickled into some sessions. So did personal attacks among faculty members.

    As a student at the Tufts Medical School in Boston beginning in 1958, I joined the throngs of doctors on grand rounds when Dr. Louis Weinstein spoke about infectious diseases.

    Usually, the patient’s pertinent information was on a blackboard. Dr. Weinstein would study the fever chart, seeking clues in the pattern to help identify a particular infection. Then he would regale the crowd with anecdotes from his vast experience in caring for patients with typhoid fever, diphtheria, polio and many other infectious diseases.

    Before the Medicare and Medicaid plans were enacted in 1965, many patients treated in teaching hospitals received charity care. In those days, when costs were less of an obstacle, professors sometimes hospitalized patients a few extra days so they could be presented at grand rounds. In other cases, many patients returned after discharge in gratitude for their free care.

    Even the smartest experts had to be on their toes, because younger doctors often selected a case intended to tax their brains. Another intention was to have the experts explain their thinking as they matched wits against colleagues and the illness itself.

    In San Francisco in 1987, I heard a visiting expert discuss the possible reasons that a woman in her 80s, who complained of weakness and muscle spasms in her back, had a severe loss of potassium.

    After the resident gave a detailed account of her illness, the discussant, Dr. Donald W. Seldin, then the chief physician at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas, went to a blackboard to highlight the crucial elements and list possible causes.

    Continued in article

    Bob Jensen's threads education technologies are at
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm


    Epsilen Environment from Purdue University appears to have brought together the latest technology in a course authoring, course management, and e-learning package  --- http://www.epsilen.com/Epsilen/Public/Home.aspx

    The Epsilen Environment is the result of six years of research and development within the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI. Epsilen Products and Services are commercially available through BehNeem LLC, the holding company created in Indiana to commercialize, market and further develop the Epsilen Environment. The New York Times is an equity and strategic partner in the company.

    I maintain a site on the history of course authoring and course management technology at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

    A 2008 addition to the above history site came to my attention in a loose-card advertisement for Epsilen Enviroment that came in the November 3, 2008 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

    Free ePortfolios 
     
    Basic ePortfolio accounts are free for all registered students and faculty of U.S. colleges and universities.  An Epsilen ePortfolio can be created in minutes and be used throughout one’s academic career, during professional life, and even into retirement.  The free Epsilen ePortfolio account offers tools and resources enabling members to:

    • Create and maintain a professional ePortfolio
    • Engage in professional  and social networking
    • Showcase scholarly work and other documents in a wide range of formats
    • Develop and share resumes
    • Store and share files/objects
    • Use Epsilen e-mail, blog, wiki, and other communication and collaboration tools
    • Create and participate in professional collaboration groups
    • Access to online courses and trainings using the Epsilen Global Learning System (GLS) courseware.
    • Produce a personal ePortfolio Web site with profile, photos and video
    • Receive an automated weekly Epsilen status report that lets you know about those that have visited your “corner”, share similar research, teaching, internship or consulting interests.  

    If your campus is, or becomes, a licensed Epsilen institution (see below), your free ePortfolio will integrate dynamically with more sophisticated tools and services listed below that accompany the paid license. Visit www.epsilen.com to create your personal ePortfolio and begin exploring the Environment. 

      
    Exploratory Institutional Memberships
     
    The Exploratory Membership is an easy and cost-effective option for colleges and universities, schools, districts and state systems to explore and experience the features of Epsilen, the next generation of learning and networking software.  Upon payment of an annual membership fee, the following features are available to Exploratory Members: 

    • Administrative account to brand, monitor, and maintain internal ePortfolio accounts of your students ,faculty and alumnae
    • Institutional ePortfolio site for your college or university
    • Global announcement and message broadcasting to ePortfolio accounts associated with your institution
    • Delivery of 12 online courses or training using Epsilen’s Global Learning System (GLS), with the option to incorporate New York Times content described below
    • Direct access to the Epsilen helpdesk 
    • A hosted Web-based  solution that requires no, or little, institutional IT support 
    • Ability to upgrade to other licensed services (see below) 
    • Ability to integrate Epsilen with campus SIS (see below) 
    • Ability to cross list courses across institutions, departments, and schools  

    Annual Exploratory Memberships begin at $5,000 for campuses with up to 2,000 students.  Click here for more pricing information and order application. 
     
     

    New York Times Knowledge Network

    New York Times Knowledge (NYTKnowledge Network) offers New York Times content to complement faculty-designed courses served dynamically in customizable templates through Epsilen’s Global Learning System.  New York Times content is aggregated by subject and easily selected and incorporated into lessons by faculty and the interactive learning environment. NYTKnowledge Network provides access to a repository of Times archives back to 1851 Times articles, special issues sections, multimedia features, and synchronous and asynchronous contact with correspondents, resulting in an extraordinary integrated learning environment that supports hybrid or online offerings.
     

    The New York Times Knowledge Network also offers the opportunity to participate in Webcasts with the Times correspondents and other subject matter experts. These can be included in traditional courses, or offered by your institution as stand-alone life-long learning experiences with comprehensive continuing education programs designed by the New York Times. 


    NYT Knowledge Network Provides:

    • A rich repository of archived content back to 1851
    • Access to other major content providers
    • Multimedia news content
    • Interactive maps and graphs
    • Webcasts, chats with correspondents
    • A comprehensive range of content aggregated by subject and easily integrated to support your teaching objectives.
    • NYTimes Knowledge Network marketing of your continuing education courses.  

    Visit http://www.nytimes.com/knowledge for further information and pricing (will be released in mid August 2007).
     

    Student Learning Matrix 
     
    Programs, departments, and schools within a campus may create unlimited student learning matrices to be used by students through an automated learning outcome assessment tool for both summative and formative learning assessment.  Features include:

    • Creation of unlimited student learning matrices for program- or campus-level learning outcome assessment (Each axis includes attributes defined by the program/campus.)
    • Ability for students to upload their learning outcomes according to predefined rubrics
    • Access by faculty and academic advisors to each student learning matrix for assessment, advisement, and certification
    • Program- and campus-level assessment reports for internal and external accreditation reviews
    • A hosted Web-based solution that requires no institutional IT support

    The annual Student Learning Matrix membership fee is based on the number of students in the program or institution.  Click here for more information and online membership application.
     
     

    Global Learning System (GLS)
     
     

    Epsilen offers the Global Learning System (GLS), a new Web-based learning framework developed as the next generation of eLearning and networking. In contrast to current legacy learning management systems, the GLS offers true global learning collaboration by connecting students and instructors on campuses in the U.S. and around the world in an interactive and intuitive Web 2.0 learning environment.  The GLS complements existing licensed or open source CMS products.  The GLS features include:

    • Global learning management system that enables students and instructors to easily register or be invited to courses and learning collaboration
    • Cross listing of class rosters of two or more courses within various campuses, or across institutions
    • Innovative tools using professional and social networking to enhance learning, encourage collaboration, and utilize peer review technology
    • The ability to easily archive courses and working groups for continued engagement
    • A hosted Web-based solution that requires little, or no institutional IT support

    The annual GLS membership fee is based on the number of students and courses within the institution. Click here for more information and online membership application.
     
     

    Charter Membership
     

    Experience the full suite of the Epsilen “Environment” and resources with unparalleled access to NYTKnowledge Network content. Charter members receive special pricing for unlimited use of ePortfolios, the Student Learning Matrix, courses through the Global Learning System, and interactive Webcasts with correspondents.  With charter membership, two university administrators will be invited to participate in the Epsilen - New York Times charter council, with meetings and events scheduled at The New York Times.  Benefits include:

    • Single sign-on environment featuring a toolbox of services for ePortfolio, social networking, Learning Matrix, GLS, object repository, and NYTKnowledge Network
    • Totally hosted turnkey solution with no need for local servers or local technical staff
    • Cost effectiveness for both small and large campuses
    • Collaboration on designing the next generation of eLearning through networking with other members of the Epsilen - New York Times charter council

    The Epsilen Charter membership fee is based on the total number of students within the institution.  Click here for more information and online membership application. 
     
     

    Technical Support and System Integration
     

    Epsilen offers consulting and technical support through both internal and third-party sources for the integration of Epsilen with local campus databases and existing licensed technology.  This provides a seamless, single sign-on, portal approach to all resources and services supporting the learning and teaching initiatives of a campus.  Click Here for more information and online membership application.

    I maintain a site on the history of course authoring and course management technology at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm


    Knowledge Media Laboratory --- http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/programs/index.asp?key=38
    The Carnegie Foundation

    The Knowledge Media Laboratory works to create a future in which communities of teachers, faculty, programs, and institutions collectively advance teaching and learning by exchanging their educational knowledge, experiences, ideas, and reflections by taking advantage of various technologies and resources.

    The KML is currently working with its partners, including Carnegie Foundation programs, to achieve the following goals:

    • To develop digital (or electronic) tools and resources that help to make knowledge of effective teaching practices and educational transformation efforts visible, shareable, and reusable.

    • To explore synergy among various technologies to better support the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

    • To build the capacity for faculty and teachers independently to take advantage of information and communications technologies that enable them to re-examine, rethink, and represent teaching and students learning, and to share the outcomes in an effective and efficient way.

    • To sustain communities of practice engaged in collaboratively improving teaching and student learning by building common areas to exchange knowledge and by building repositories for the representation of effective practice.

    Bob Jensen's threads on teaching resources are at  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm#Resources

     


    On the Leading Edge of Learning and Education Technology
    Sharing Professor of the Week --- Dan Madigan at Bowling Green State University --- http://fp.dl.kent.edu/learninginstitute/madigan.htm

    Dan Madigan is the Director of the Scholarship and Engagement and Professor of English at Bowling Green State University.

    Dan has a newsletter on Teaching Tips (usually with respect to technology) and other helpful teaching resources --- http://www.bgsu.edu/ctlt/page12182.html

    I discovered Dan Madigan in the February 2006 issue of Accounting Education News --- http://aaahq.org/ic/browse.htm
    In that issue of AEN, a summary of provided of his Idea Paper #43 on "New Technologies that are Shaping Education and Learning." Excerpts from that summary are provided below.

    Idea Paper #43 by Dan Madigan

    New Technologies that are Shaping Teaching and Learning

    Blogs

    You can create your own blog for free by going to http://www.blogger.com/home .  Blog technology allows blogs to be syndicated and aggregators allow users to automatically search for favorite blogs on the web and have them delivered to personal accounts ( http://www.bloglines.com/ ) [using tools like RSS feed readers-Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary].

    Wiki

    There are many places on the web that offer wiki support for free wiki including: http://pbwiki.com/ .  To find out more about wikis and how they can be used for teaching and learning go to http://www.writingwiki.org/default.aspx/WritingWiki/For%20Teachers%20New%20to%20Wikis.html .

     Learning Management Systems

    Many universities buy a proprietary LMS, but increasingly universities are building their own LMS based on open source software like Moodle ( http://www.moodle.org/ ).  Moodle's no-cost (excluding costs associated with hardware and support), flexibility to adapt to small or large institutions, departments, programs and individuals, and world-wide support are attractive features.
    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm
    (This includes modules on Blackboard, Moodle, and various competitors)
     

    Jensen Comment
    I have a somewhat dated module with some useful links about Moodle at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm
    In particular go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm#Moodle

    Presentation Software

    Although PowerPoint® may be the most common example of this program, there are many other programs including Keynote, Adobe Acrobat, and the popular and free Open Office Suite package that includes IMPRESS as its presentation program ( http://www.openoffice.org/index.html ).  Simple presentations can also be created using the Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System (S5).  This open source system ( http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/ ) requires only basic knowledge of web skills and can be learned quickly.

    Tutorials/Self-tutorials

    A basic tutorial can be created with any text editor and delivered to students through a variety of digital technologies such as email, Portable Document Files (PDF) that can preserve the format and colors of a document, web pages, and CDs.  Tutorials that appeal to visual learners can be created with scanning software or basic screen capture software found on any operating system.  Video tutorials, like those for software applications, can be created with screen capturing software that captures the movement of a mouse as it is used to open windows and select options in a program.  A microphone, used simultaneously with the screen-capturing tool to narrate the actions and video-editing software, completes the process.  More advanced tutorials include functions that, for example, mimic teacher/student interactions and exchanges, and include an assessment of those interactions.  These interactive tutorials can be created through advanced programs such as Adobe FLASH and java scripting.

    Concept Mapping Software

    Description: Concept mapping (a method of brainstorming) is a technique for visualizing the relationships between concepts and creating a visual image to represent the relationship.  Concept mapping software serves several purposes in the educational environment.  One is to capture the conceptual thinking of one or more persons in a way that is visually represented.  Another is to represent the structure of knowledge gleaned from written documents so that such knowledge can be visually represented.  In essence, a concept map is a diagram showing relationships, often between complex ideas.  With new mapping software such as the open source Cmap ( http://www.cmap.ihmc.us/download/ ), concepts are easily represented with images (bubbles or pictures) called concept nodes, and are connected with lines that show the relationship between and among the concepts.  In addition, the software allows users to attach documents, diagrams, images other concept maps, hypertextual links and even media files to the concept nodes.  Concept maps can be saved as a PDF or image file and distributed electronically in a variety of ways including the Internet and storage devices.

    Webcast

    These live sessions are highly interactive and allow users to share applications, such as whiteboards, concept maps and word documents, and to communicate live through audio and chat.  Elluminate ( http://www.elluminate.com/educator_solutions.jsp ) is one of many server-based software programs that is enjoying popularity in educational settings.  Webcasts provide educational institutions with the ability to support conferencing and to deliver training and presentations to personnel anytime and anywhere.  Recorded and archived webcasts, because they are economical to develop and store, are increasingly becoming the preferred way for universities to deliver lectures, events and presentations to faculty and students through the web, CDs, DVDs and even TV broadcasts.

    Podcasts

    Some popular free podcatcher websites are iTunes and iPodder.  The browser Firefox also has podcatching features.  Users can create their own podcast for free by going to websites such as ( http://www.twocanoes.com/vodcaster/ ).  For a nominal fee, a more powerful and cross-platform podcast creator tool can be found at ( http://www.potionfactory.com/ ).

    ePortfolios

    Although many standard software programs can be used to create basic ePortfolios, the most dynamic programs, such as Open Source Portfolio ( http://www.osportfolio.org ) are designed specifically for developing portfolios that serve a variety of reflective and representational functions within a password protected system.

    Personal Response Systems (Clickers)

    Individuals are equipped with their own remote control keypads that have letters or numbers that correspond to choices given by a presenter.  The results of the responses are captured on a computer either through infrared or radio signals and compiled in ways that show such breakdowns as class distribution and individual responses.  Typically, the results are instantly made available to the participants via some type of graphic that is displayed with a projector.  Presenters can set automatic controls within the system that limit the time a responder has to answer a question.  Each remote "clicker" has a serial number so that all users and their responses can be individually identified and recorded.

     

    Supporting Digital Technology for Teaching and Learning

    As faculty are carefully assessing their use of technology for purposes of teaching and learning, universities need to assess whether their technology support is adequate and responsive to the needs of those instructors.  During the early phases of the digital revolution on campuses, this meant building an infrastructure, providing equipment and offering basic skills-oriented workshops to faculty and students.  Over the years, however, we have learned that basic technology support has not always been enough to ensure that digital technologies are being used effectively as ways to enhance student learning.  Some universities have heeded the challenge and are creatively building upon existing programs to develop a technology of support that is responsive to the professional lives of today's faculty.  What follows are five examples that serve to represent ways that universities are developing creative solutions for supporting a learning environment that is increasingly being influenced by a digital revolution that show no signs of abating anytime soon.

    Faculty Involvement

    Faculty need to have a critical voice in university decisions about technology improvement and deployment on campus--especially when the technology relates to teaching and learning issues...Forward thinking universities find new and inclusive ways to tap into the collective voice so that student learning and new technologies can be effectively aligned.

    Blended Workshops

    Forward thinking universities go beyond skills-based technology workshops.  They have found creative ways to blend pedagogical instruction with technology instruction...Also, universities have begun to offer blended workshops that have a distinct pedagogical focus yet blend in thinking about resources, including technology resources, which can support a strong pedagogical focus...

    Threaded Workshops

    Universities are using the threaded workshop model as a framework for teaching and learning workshops that include learning about new technologies.  Each workshop in the series is "threaded" in such a way as to relate to one another and play off of one another.  Thus, a series on integrated course design might have individual workshops on different topics like assessment, learning activities, motivation, and learning outcomes that are aligned in a way that gives participants a more comprehensive view of how to build a dynamic course.  All discussions about technology in these threaded workshops are contextualized within the larger pedagogical discussion, and are focused on how the technology serves to support the pedagogy.  Because instructors attend the series over a period of several weeks, they bring back to each workshop their applied knowledge and share it with one another as real world and relevant experiences...

    Just-In-Time Resources

    Universities are increasingly realizing that busy instructors do not need to be experts in all areas of digital technology in order to use technology effectively in the classroom.  Universities support this notion by making technology learning easy, accessible, and just-in-time.  Today's digital technology allows just-in-time resources to flourish on campus.  For example, Internet available tutorials that are home grown or licensed ( http://www.atomiclearning.com ) make it easy for instructors to learn new software/hardware in bits and pieces and when needed.  Why learn everything there is to know about PowerPoint or your computer operating system when you can learn only what you need by going to a two-minute video that is available anywhere and anytime.  In addition, just-in-time resources extend the learning environments of students.  Why spend valuable class time teaching students how to use a certain technology application for a project or activity when just-in-time resources can be made available to students at their level and at a time outside of class time?

    Open Source

    Some of the more popular open source software programs include: Moodle ( http://www.moodle.org/ ) and Bazaar ( http://www.klaatu.pc.athabascau.ca/cgi-bin/b7/main.pl?rid=1 ), two LMS programs: MySQL ( http://www.dev.mysql.com/ ), a data base program, and; Open Office ( http://www.openoffice.org/index.html ), a productivity suite that supports word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications.  Many open source products can be found and downloaded at SourceForge ( http://www.sourceforge.net/ ).

    Jensen Comment
    I have a somewhat dated module with some useful links about Moodle at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm
    In particular go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm#Moodle

    Conclusions

    Universities are home to a rich diversity of student learners whose cultures have been tremendously impacted by the digital revolution of the last fifteen years.  These students grew up communicating, creating knowledge, and sharing resources through the Internet and all its applications.  As university students, they are poised to take advantage of the digital world for learning.  But are we as teachers?  We should not jump headfirst  into this potential digital cauldron without taking stock of an important detail--as with all technologies and instructional practices, we must not only understand their potential to impact deeper learning in students, we must also understand their limitations as a means to achieve a deeper learning.  It is not the lecture, cooperative learning or the problem-based method itself that enhances student learning any more than it is the Internet, podcast, or blog.  It is far more important to know how to use instructional methods and technology to support learning outcomes that are integrally linked to the student learner as a critical thinker.  Students may know how to navigate the Internet and use other forms of digital technology for purposes of their own learning, but do they know how to take full advantage of those technologies for learning at the university level?  This is where progressive universities enter the equation and lead.

    In today's educational climate of decreasing state support and public scrutiny of educational spending, universities can ill afford to squander important dollars on technology resources that have not been critically assessed in terms of supporting student learning.  But, universities cannot stop there.  Faculty and administrators must combine efforts to celebrate openly the important symbiosis between technology and learning.  Nothing less will suffice or we will suffer from our own negligence.

    The above quotes are only isolated quotes from a much longer document.

     


    Using Cmap Tools to Create Concept Diagrams for Accounting Classes

    You can read about Cmap at http://cmap.ihmc.us/conceptmap.html
    Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_maps

    The following module was posted by Rick Lillie at the AAA Commons on July 27, 2009 --- http://commons.aaahq.org/posts/6d0b8c8402
    Only American Accounting Association members can access the Commons

    • Using Cmap Tools to Create Concept Diagrams for...
      2 Views, 0 Comments
      activity type:
      Using Cmap Tools to Create Concept Diagrams for Accounting Classes
      delivery method:
      technology
      author name:
      IHMC (Institute for Human and Machine Cognition)
      topic(s):
      This teaching tip explains how to use Cmap Tools, a concept mapping software program, to create concept maps.  Concept maps provide a way to visually present complex concepts and rules.  Research suggests that NetGen students are visually oriented.  If true, concept maps should prove to be a useful way to present accounting concepts and rules to today's NetGen accounting students.

      Attached to this posting is a Cmap diagram that I created for my ACCT 574 Intermediate Accounting class.

      audience:
      undergraduate
      course type:
      Intermediate Accounting
      level:
      intermediate
      other file:

    Also see   http://www.drlillie.com/Investments.jpg


    Emerging Learning Technologies on the Ohio Learning Network --- http://www.oln.org/emerging_technologies/


    Question
    How can you add audio to PowerPoint presentations?

    March 2, 2007 message from David Fordham, James Madison University [fordhadr@JMU.EDU]

  • Deborah Johnson writes:

    "any recommendations for software that would enable me to prepare a slide show presentation with audio. Each slide would be on screen for different lengths of time depending on the narrative that accompanies it. It would have to be a DVD format compatible with computers and TV viewing. If it is also compatible with automobile CD/DVD players would be great for audio only. Deborah Johnson Miami, FL

    My response:

    I'm sure there are a lot of products out there, and everyone on the list probably has his or her favorite.

    Of course, webcasting isn't the same as TV DVD formats. Are you interested in Webcasting, or DVD playback on a TV?

    For the former, I personally like Tegrity recordings. They are easy to make, use native PowerPoint slides directly, allow live recording, and publish almost instantly. The recording can even be viewed over a dial-up line! I don't know if they have a free version or not, but the full-blown version wasn't very expensive. Others like Richard Campbell on the list probably know of a host of other products, and they will vary in terms of ease of use, and some of them may beat Tegrity and be totally free to boot.

    If you are looking for non-web, but TV DVD playback, Microsoft MovieMaker is about the easiest thing to use I can imagine. I notice that some manufacturers are now shipping their new computers with a basic copy of Microsoft MovieMaker already installed. The last five computers my wife ordered from Dell for clients came with it, even though it was not ordered nor was it even mentioned in the order specs. A friend who purchased a new computer from CompUSA also discovered MovieMaker on his list of installed programs.

    Microsoft MovieMaker is one of the lowest learning-curve products I've seen in a long, long time. The steps you follow to do what you want to do are:

    Use PowerPoint to make your text and title frames, and export the slides to JPG format.

    Record the audio narration as MPEG or WMV, using one of the audio recorders that comes with windows, or any of the sound capture programs so popular these days.

    Start movie maker, import the slides to "collections", import the audio, then drag the slides to the storyboard in the order you want them. Switch to timeline view and adjust the timing of each slide to your liking by dragging the edge of the slide along the timeline. Voila. Write your "movie" to a DVD. You can make a 30 minute movie with about 100 slides (including transitions, etc.) in well under an hour.

    The standard DVD format works in any TV DVD player, as well as on any computer that has a DVD reader. I won't work in standard CD-format players in the older cars, but you can certainly use Roxio or something to write a CD of just the MPEG audio file to the orange-book CD format.

    I'm sure others on the listserv will give their favorites too, so go with what's easiest and most cost-effective and most easily obtainable for you. Good luck...

    David Fordham
    PBGH Faculty Fellow
    James Madison University

  • March 2, 2007 reply from Richard J. Campbell [campbell@VIRTUALPUBLISHING.NET]

  • Deborah: I agree with David - you need to choose one or the other - tv or computer output. As far as computer - inexpensive route - I like Swishpix available at www.swhishzone.com  - You can see a Valentine I created in Swishpix at:

    http://www.virtualpublishing.net/annrjc/annrjc.html 

    This is a FORMER girlfriend and I used Snagit to crop the photo for re-use on eharmony.com.

    If you are looking for tv output, your best bet is to get a studio tool like Roxio creator Nero, or a program like Adobe's Encore which is more expensive.

    Richard J. Campbell
    mailto:campbell@VirtualPublishing.NET


  • Question
    How can you incorporate streaming media such as archived Webcast into a live presentation?

    Answer:

    You should try www.playstream.com  - They have very inexpensive streaming services using a variety of file types - wmv, mp3, realmedia and quicktime. After you upload your clips to your site, you will get an "easylink", and all you need to do is paste that link into your Powerpoint presentation. Playstream has been purchased by Vitalstream, but the new owner has only enhanced their services.

    Richard J. Campbell
    mailto:campbell@rio.edu


    Presentation Pop Out Tools

    September 11, message from David Beckman CPA [ddb@IOWALAW.COM]

    I am making a presentation later this month to professionals that are returning to the University for continuing education. I want to focus participant's attention on particular line items on my PowerPoint slides. I will be using an add-in for PowerPoint called PopOut Presenter that does 60-minute type call-outs or tear-outs. Experts at PowerPoint can do some of what it does within PowerPoint, but this is easy, quick and only cost $15. It is available at:

    http://www.popoutpresenter.com

    September 11, 2002 reply from Bob Jensen

    Hi David,

    Thank you for linking to a useful product that I never heard about before.

    There is a helpful PowerPoint FAQ page that discusses add-ins of various types at http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/
    It is interesting to search at the above site using the phrase "pop out"

    Bob Jensen

    Links to two Bob Jensen helpers for tools are as follows:

    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

    http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm#Resources


    Finding, Capturing, Storing and Sending Open Courseware

    The latest free versions of RealPlayer will capture streaming video without having to install capture card hardware --- Click Here
    Real Media --- http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=RealMedia

    From MIT:  New Video Lecture Search Engine --- http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/ 
    Watch the video demo at
    --- http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/

    "Searching Video Lectures A tool from MIT finds keywords so that students can efficiently review lectures," by Kate Greene, MIT's Technology Review, November 26, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/?nlid=686&a=f

    Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search tool that solves one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to break up a lengthy academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of keywords, and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT Lecture Browser website gives the general public detailed access to more than 200 lectures publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare initiative. The search engine leverages decades' worth of speech-recognition research at MIT and other institutions to convert audio into text and make it searchable.

    The Lecture Browser arrives at a time when more and more universities, including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Berkeley, are posting videos and podcasts of lectures online. While this content is useful, locating specific information within lectures can be difficult, frustrating students who are accustomed to finding what they need in less than a second with Google.

    "This is a growing issue for universities around the country as it becomes easier to record classroom lectures," says Jim Glass, research scientist at MIT. "It's a real challenge to know how to disseminate them and make it easier for students to get access to parts of the lecture they might be interested in. It's like finding a needle in a haystack."

    The fundamental elements of the Lecture Browser have been kicking around research labs at MIT and places such as BBN Technologies in Boston, Carnegie Mellon, SRI International in Palo Alto, CA, and the University of Southern California for more than 30 years. Their efforts have produced software that's finally good enough to find its way to the average person, says Premkumar Natarajan, scientist at BBN. "There's about three decades of work where many fundamental problems were addressed," he says. "The technology is mature enough now that there's a growing sense in the community that it's time [to test applications in the real world]. We've done all we can in the lab."

    A handful of companies, such as online audio and video search engines Blinkx and EveryZing (which has licensed technology from BBN) are making use of software that converts audio speech into searchable text. (See "Surfing TV on the Internet" and "More-Accurate Video Search".) But the MIT researchers faced particular challenges with academic lectures. For one, many lecturers are not native English speakers, which makes automatic transcription tricky for systems trained on American English accents. Second, the words favored in science lectures can be rather obscure. Finally, says Regina Barzilay, professor of computer Science at MIT, lectures have very little discernable structure, making them difficult to break up and organize for easy searching. "Topical transitions are very subtle," she says. "Lectures aren't organized like normal text."

    To tackle these problems, the researchers first configured the software that converts the audio to text. They trained the software to understand particular accents using accurate transcriptions of short snippets of recorded speech. To help the software identify uncommon words--anything from "drosophila" to "closed-loop integrals"--the researchers provided it with additional data, such as text from books and lecture notes, which assists the software in accurately transcribing as many as four out of five words. If the system is used with a nonnative English speaker whose accent and vocabulary it hasn't been trained to recognize, the accuracy can drop to 50 percent. (Such a low accuracy would not be useful for direct transcription but can still be useful for keyword searches.)
     

    Once again, the Lecture Browser link (with a video demo) is at http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/

    Find free video lectures from leading universities at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

    Bob Jensen's search helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm

     


    "UC Berkeley university puts course videos (but not for credit) on YouTube," PhysOrg, October 3, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news110638174.html

    University offerings at the dedicated YouTube channel include peace and conflict studies, bioengineering courses, and a science class titled "Physics for Future Presidents."

    "UC Berkeley on YouTube will provide a public window into university life: academics, events and athletics," said vice provost for undergraduate education Christina Maslach.

    The University plans to continually add videos to the channel, which officially launched Wednesday with about nine full courses consisting of approximately 40 lectures each.

    Berkeley lays claim to being the first university to offer full courses on popular video-sharing website YouTube, which is based in Northern California.

    The university began online broadcasts, called "webcasts," of its own in 2001 and last year began making audio "podcasts" available for download at Apple's iTunes online store.

    "We are excited to make UC Berkeley videos available to the world on YouTube," said Ben Hubbard, who co-manages the university's webcast program.

    "I think the whole open content movement is in keeping with what we are as a public institution, we really believe at our core that making this available to the public is truly important."
     

    UC Berkeley is the first university to make videos of full courses available through YouTube. Visitors to the site at youtube.com/ucberkeley can view more than 300 hours of videotaped courses and events. Topics range from bioengineering, to peace and conflict studies, to "Physics for Future Presidents," the title of a popular campus course. Building on its initial offerings, UC Berkeley will continue to expand the catalog of videos available on YouTube.
    View the Playlist Here --- http://www.youtube.com/ucberkeley 
    There is a link to the most viewed videos (with star ratings) at the above page.

    Examples include Integrative Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, etc.
    Links to 201 videos --- http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=ucberkeley&p=r
    You can search by topic in the search box at the above page.

    On October 4, 2007 I could not find any accounting, finance, or economics videos at the UC Berkeley site. There were six courses that popped up for "Business."

    Here's a student, who created a RealPlayer playlist, explaining how to record the audio of these videos --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUfKoXtwEu0

    Also see Webcast.Berkeley [iTunes, Real Player] http://webcast.berkeley.edu/ 

    UC Berkeley also has XLab --- http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/07/13_xlab.shtml

    Nearly all prestigious universities now offer some form of open sharing of course materials, the most noteworthy of which is MIT. Yale, however, has some of the finest lec