I wasn't around when Penn State adopted ANGEL. It was many years ago. I imagine it being an exciting time. I also imagine that there were concerns about scale, if things would work, etc. At this point, the LMS has become an entity, a utility, something that just is... I've worked in enough of these systems to know that none of them is a far leap from the other. I thought that until my recent trip to CanvasCon.

This system is different. I don't normally get excited about technology. I see any of the technologies we as tools, as parts of a bigger scheme. They're all utilities to me. But this is different.

It's both far more and far less than a system, it can bring about a shift in how we as faculty, instructional designers, and students, interact, and learn from each other.

Below, are the notes I took at the conference:

(Note: these are my impressions, including some incomplete thoughts, as CanvasCon was happening)

User experience, student and instructor, is unmatched.  

Easy click and add - media, speech to text with Chrome

Front page contains all. User is notified of all activities in all classes in one space.

Audio and video discussions

Assignments can be submitted as a URL. Write assignment - can grade in LMS. This solves many of our grading issues. Can change with times. New tools develop, don't need to integrate in LMS. Can use new tools to create, submit by URL. So awesome.

Peer review, rubrics. Very intuitive and easy to use for faculty.  

Student notifications can be ported to Facebook, text, email, etc. Users can choose what tools to use for course interaction. Instructor foes not need to friend on FB. All happens through Canvas. Such a phenomenal idea.

With rubrics. Can grade while watching student uploaded content.

Speed grader allows you to not download the assignments - you can view the assignments, grade, add comments, etc, all on one screen.

Peer review can automatically assign students to projects

Student groups. Can create groups within courses - what about outside? Can students create groups?

Learning outcomes. Can map learning outcomes to assignments, content?

Calendar is a useful tool. All assignments for all courses can be added on one calendar.

Conversations replaced private messaging in Canvas. Can be between student and instructor - instructor and class, etc. Conversations get sent out through notifications. I can reply back via text, Facebook, etc.

Best practice- quick messages, not ongoing conversation


Different than discussions. Discussions handle longer conversations much better.

Students who enable goolge accounts can link assignments right into Canvas. This looks so good. How to share? Doc is a snapshot of what is submitted. Student cannot continue to edit at any point.

File uploads allow for google docs to be submitted as static. URL submission allows for editing after the fact.

Keyboard shortcuts in canvas.

Analytics. Visual interpretation of data - dashboard. Students can access. See how they are doing, where they should be.

Using predictive models. Student and class views for instructors. So well though out.

Beta testing 1st qtr 2012

Mobile experience leverages best parts of device. Not just trying to replicate desktop experience.

IOS homescreen is activity. To do list also available. Access to all courses.  Conversations. Support for comments in iOS.

Grades also available in iOS.

iPad version
Different from iPhone. Optimized to take advantage of screen size. Not just scaled to fit.

Doing video from phone will be huge. Fully integrated.

What I see as the biggest benefit of canvas is that it is a new system. All other systems have been built and constructed before the Web 2.0 era, and any attempt to integrate these technologies has amounted to adding them to the existing framework. This creates a disjointed, clunky experience for users. And when things are clunky, no body uses them. Like I said, this is different... Way different.

I'm excited.   

 

I enjoy the conversations Jeff and I have. On our way back from the CIC Tech Conference, we spent some time discussing our impressions of the conference in the lobby of the airport. Turns out, Campaign, IL. TSA folks take a pretty long lunch, and since there are only one or two flights out, that's just fine...

http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/learningdesign/node/966

This was the first time I've attended a Blackboard event. I've used Blackboard for years. Actually, I've had the opportunity a lot of Learning Management Systems in my career, and by far, Blackboard is the most developed.  I was excited at the opportunity to see what was happening in the world of Blackboard, and how these changes may impact Penn State.

 

Exciting Developments

 

The last major release of Blackboard that I used heavily was version 8. I was able to see the changes planned for version 9, but didn't have the opportunity to explore their use. I was able to test out version 9.1 at the conference, and I was surprised how much more refined the user inputs, and general user interface have become.

 

Blackboard Mobile is truly awesome. The It works well on all major mobile devices (ipad, ipod, iphone, blackberry, Android, and android tablets) If mobile is a direction we are heading, we need to seriously consider Blackboard. It is the most developed mobile interface I have seen in the LMS market.

 

The new service pack release of Bb9.1 will allow for an even more seamless user experience. The user front page contains not only a list of enrolled courses, but also lists student assignments by course on one page, a global calendar that ties all classes together, and a social area, where students enrolled in the same class, or in difference classes, inside the university can connect. It looks a lot like the Student Fellow project I'm working on with Davis, Jeff, Robin and Audrey. I'm really interested to see this in action. To be fair, this was a demo during the State of Bb Keynote, so I'm not sure if this will exist as is.

 

ANGEL users will be supported, and can move to Bb when they are ready to do so (as long as they are ready by 2014!). The mood of the ANGEL sessions were optimistic from the Blackboard folks, with a dash of skepticism from ANGEL users. I tried to talk with as many ANGEL users as I could, and the vast majority (all but 1) will be switching to Blackboard. The mood ranged from those not really happy with the move (but felt it was the most logical decision for their campus), to those who were genuinely excited to use the extra functionality the Blackboard offers. It was clear from the sessions that many of the features unique to ANGEL will be rolled into future releases of Blackboard in one form or another.  One example of this is Rubrics, which will be available in the latest service pack release of Blackboard 9.1. 

 

Other Stuff

 

It is Blackboard after all... Historically, their reputation has been, well, not so great. Support has been terrible. This is a known issue, and it looks like they are making progress. In speaking with current Blackboard users, they are overall more pleased with Blackboard support, and Ray Henderson made note of their progress with turnaround during his keynote.

 

During the ANGEL sessions, the Bb folks in the room made it a point to say that ANGEL folks are having a big impact in how Blackboard, as a company is being run. This may be nothing more than political theatre, but it was so prevalent, that I thought I should mention it...

 

Blackboard has partnered with 5 major publishing firms, and will be able to seamlessly integrate e-books into the Blackboard platform... They made this announcement during the State of Blackboard Keynote, and didn't elaborate much.      

 

The ANGEL to Blackboard migration tool is being tested by some folks moving from ANGEL to Bb (one of the SUNY schools is involved).  The idea is to send a few folks through with Bb support being really involved, so the documentation and user experience can be tweaked before the larger ANGEL population uses the migration tools. The consensus is that it works better than your typical migration tool, but is being improved so that the migration process is as seamless as possible. This is in development now, and will be something to keep an eye on in the coming months.  

 

The acquisition of Blackboard was talked about for about 10 seconds. The line used was that Bb will become a stronger company through this acquisition...  Only time will tell.

Hot Teams are our chance to explore new and exciting technologies, and their possible use in higher education. But, lately, the Hot Teams have been less and less exciting,  and more drawn out. Instead of working collaboratively, we are divvying up sections and doing all we can to get our two pages written so that can reviewed and tweaked for months before being published. The end result is a paper that is disjointed, and may or may not be very useful for faculty at Penn State. My first Hot Team on Student Response Systems was exciting, and fun. We talked, discussed possible solutions and came up with a paper in a month. Over the past months, I've found this experience to be the exception, not the rule.

Here are the major issues we have identified with the process thus far.   

• Team work should be collaborative, but has been cooperative.
• Team creativity and cohesion would benefit from more dynamic and fluid working structure, but the existing team structure has been hierarchical, lock step, and bureaucratic.
• Too many cooks in the kitchen - nobody is on the same page, except for the fact that we all want the paper done.

Our Solution

Let's change the way we think about Hot Teams. Instead of investigating new technologies and their possible application at Penn State, let's work to solve the issues faculty and staff are having with teaching and learning, and use these technologies to do that; show examples of technologies being used to solve these issues. We need to stop focusing on the tools, but rather the solutions to problems we can create by using these tools. Also, I think it's time we stop copying the Educause model. I always feel like we are constrained by questions that don't apply to our situation. Instead, explain the problem, and the solutions we have come up with, that's it.
 

• Everyone on a team should be on the same page at the same time as equal contributors-- Every member of a team should be present from start to finish.

• This would be a great activation of staff sabbatical.

• Participation in a team should be voluntary and solicited from the bottom-up (e.g. Team organizer will send out an announcement about team formation around said topic, the 2 day time period for team meeting will be set in advance, and those who want to volunteer to participate will contact the team organizer to join the team).

• If we want to incorporate faculty members, let's move away from profiling faculty members who already use said technologies (because they haven't really been active participants in the group processes thus far). Instead, let's invite faculty members (either one per team or a small group per team) -- who are interested in using these technologies, but haven't already implemented them -- to sit down with the team at a point in the process (probably toward end), so that the team can teach the faculty member(s) the basics of using the tool with the faculty member having reviewed the video we've created and brought to the meeting any technical questions, as well as materials for one lecture that we will guide them in creating during the meeting.
  

Proposed Team Schedule

• Identify a problem - choose/volunteer to research - 1 week

• Day 1  (Whole day)- meet talk, produce 2 solutions (videos) - send to faculty member, Draft of Blog Post

• Day 2 (Whole Day)- meet again, with faculty this time, talk, create 3rd video, faculty created, showing how solution is used by them  - Revise, and publish Blog Post.

The first attempt at this process takes a look at Khan Academy. We attempt to recreate the video lectures using mostly Penn State supported Tools. Check it out here at The Wrath of Khan.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

What is the Khan Academy?

From the site:
With a library of over 2,400 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 125 practice exercises, we're on a mission to help you learn whatever you want, whenever you want, at your own pace.

There has been much interest in how we can create the same type  of environment here at Penn State. In this installment, we will investigate three options for creating recorded video lectures using two Penn State services, and one additional, free solution.

Why Create Recorded Lectures?

• Frees up class time for discussion of material you should be covering instead of re reading the book to your students.
• Assign students the recording before class as homework. You can give a short quiz at the beginning of class (maybe using clickers). Giving a quiz to students is optional, but will reinforce the importance of viewing the materials before class...
• Preparing students beforehand for the class discussion will allow for a greater depth of conversation. Giving students more time to reflect during class and talk about course material.
  
• Students can review recorded materials whenever that want.
• Multiple opportunities for review (group review and discussion outside of class).
  
• Frees students from taking notes in class - opportunities to participate

How would this work?

Adobe Connect


Voicethread

Screen Capture Using Jing (Outside Penn State Service)

It's been about a week since I arrived in Houston to attend the Clickers 2011 Conference. Don't let the name confuse you, there was a lot more going on at this conference than just clickers. For a complete agenda of the conference, visit the i>clicker site.

This focus of the conference was more about strategies for improving teaching practice for me than anything else. While there definitively tech folks in attendance, the major drive in the conversation was about improving teaching. It was great to hear so many perspectives, especially from the folks in the sciences.

For me, the biggest lesson I learned had more to do with me than with clickers, but had everything to do with teaching. During my 45 minute presentation, I started out in the typical presentation format. I had a bunch of very important slides, with numbers, powerful statements, etc., ready to go. I stood up in front of about 20 strangers and started to spew. It was stupid. I didn't do anything wrong, and it looked like everyone was interested, but it was counter to what I knew was the kind of conversation I thought we should be having.

I went on for a few minutes, and stopped. I pulled a chair from the front row and took a seat. I simply asked what I could do to help them. It was quiet. Like really quiet...

After a few seconds, someone spoke up. That was it. I had about an hour and a half conversation with 20 of my closest friends about supporting faculty who are using technology. Most of us missed the next session altogether.

Listen to more about the conference on the EdTech Podcast. 

I stumbled on a page called internetbuttons.org I love this. Everything you need on one page. The idea is to help people who aren't tech savvy be able to easily navigate the Internet. This is a sample from the site.

Instead of trying to navigate through a maze of links, favorites, and bookmarks, you can create this page to help family members, neighbors, etc. They access the page, click the button, and arrive at the page they need. Yo can set this URL as their homepage, so it just appears. Form a usability standpoint, I think it makes so much sense.

But, why should we stop at people who aren't tech savvy? Wouldn't this be a great way to organize online content for courses? Everything you need for a given course can be found at this page. Click and go.

I've been having some conversations recently with my colleagues recently about the idea of academic rigor, and what we could do as a university to increase rigor. After reading this article, and seeing this, and experiencing it firsthand, my answer is simple. No laptops, smartphones, etc. during class. 

http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-24/news/29469460_1_mit-social-networking-laptops

This is a start. Pay attention to what is happening in class. Create a social network with your classmates, by actually talking with and listening to them. Exchange ideas, with words, don't text, tweet, update your status, buy shoes, watch videos, etc. If you feel that as a student, this is impossible, don't come to class. You will fail. It's an hour.

Give everyone in class the respect they deserve by listening to their point of view. This is college, after all.

Do you think this will have an effect on the quality of student's educational experience? 

Jeff and I were talking yesterday after our EdTech podcast. The conversation turned to multitasking, and research that doing two things at once well is not really possible, unless the modalities are different. For example, driving, which doesn't typically require much mental energy, and talking, can take place simultaneously without much of a problem (although some require much more mental effort for both of these things than others). This changes when you find yourself driving in a construction zone, in the rain. Since driving requires more concentration in this situation, it's more difficult, if not impossible to have a deep conversation.

Moving this example to the education world, I thought about Twitter. So, when I am listening to someone speak, I have a really hard time paying attention, and texting. One or the other will win out. I have a much easier time, writing while listening, though. For me, writing is automatic, but I know i still miss stuff. Is texting automatic for some? Taking the example further, can students multitask (text and listen) in a class with deep conversation happening? My thought is no. Something has to give.

I had two takeaways from the conversation.

1. If your students can text and pay attention in your class, you are probably just skimming the surface in you lectures... Spend more time on fewer topics.

2. If we are to use a tool like Twitter in class, we can't simply apply it as a "back channel" to our standard teaching practice. It' just doesn't make educational sense to me... and it's a distraction. Just like Clickers, if you use Twitter, build in time for it. Quiet, reflective time. If students aren't quiet or reflective during this time, see #1 above.