Instructional Technology

Create your own Moodle course!

2008-08-28T17:44:17Z

Voyager has a new form that will allow you to create your own Moodle course, on demand! Class Share folders and iTunes U courses can also be requested through the form. The new feature is integrated into Voyager's "Classes Taught & Scheduled" page. Additional details are outlined here:

http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/it/tech-tools.shtml

NITLE Events for Fall 2008

2008-07-18T21:15:20Z

The registration deadline for NITLE's fall 2008 major conference and events is Friday, August 15, 2008. Faculty interested in attending one of these events should request a travel grant from Dave Burrows. Contact David Berk for more information. Creativity across the Curriculum: The Role of Technology.
Program Dates: October 3 - 5, 2008.
Willamette University. 7 program units.
http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/2729 Shibboleth and Federated Identity Management.
Program Dates: October 6 - 8, 2008.
Lafayette College. 7 program units.
http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/2696 Kuali Financial System User Community Meeting.
Program Dates: October 9 - 10, 2008.
Minneapolis, MN. 5 program units.
http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/2697 Expeditions in Scientific Visualization: Adventures across the Curriculum.
Program Dates: October 10 - 12, 2008.
Bard College. 7 program units.
http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/2726 Real-Time Collaboration on the Liberal Arts Campus.
Program Dates: October 19 - 21, 2008.
Rhodes College. 7 program units.
http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/2731 Service Learning and Social Justice Programs: The Role of Technology.
Program Dates: October 24 - 26, 2008.
Swarthmore College. 7 program units.
http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/2730 Changes in Provisioning and Supporting Enterprise Technology Tools: a conference for CIOs, IT Directors, and Library Directors.
Program Date: October 28, 2008.
Rollins College. 2 program units.
http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/3079 Internationalizing the Curriculum: the Role of Technology.
Program Date: November 7 - 9, 2008.
Whittier College. 7 program units.
http://www.nitle.org/index.php/nitle/content/view/full/2732

Moodle Users Present Best Practices

2008-04-30T22:14:24Z

NEW MOODLE Activities will be showcased during the Reading Period. A general review of the application's core features will also be presented. Join a group of Moodle Users investigating new and effective ways of employing the LMS software. Two highlighted features will be the: 1. FEEDBACK activity - A NEW anonymous survey tool that can used to conveniently collect student input. Judith Humphries, visiting Assistant Professor of Biology, will be previewing a recent example of the new FEEDBACK activity. 2. GRADEBOOK function - MOODLE can be of great value organizing and calculating grades AND automatically allowing students up-to-date feedback. Adam Clausen, visiting Assistant Professor in Physics, will be sharing his experience using the Gradebook function during the 2008 winter term. Thursday, May 8, 10:00 AM, Main Hall, 108 If you are interested in attending this Moodle workshop, please contact Arno Damerow (damerowa@lawrence.edu). The computer lab will be remain open following the discussion for personal Moodle course development.

"Smart Classroom" projects for 2008-09

2008-02-18T18:24:59Z

The results of the Technology Advisory Committee January classroom survey are in. TAC asked the faculty to help prioritize a short list of five classrooms to be considered for video projection equipment this summer. 47 faculty members responded to the survey. A response of "very important" for a classroom received a weight of 5, and a response of "not important" received a weight of 1. A significant portion of respondents answered "don't know" which, of course, do not figure into the final results. The results of the survey are:

Room	Score
Main Hall 012	90
Harper Hall	88
Main Hall 008	88
Buchanan Kiewit seminar room	74
Briggs 423	53

ITS has been encouraged to put together an estimate for the top 3 classrooms on the list. If the budget works out as expected, the top 3 rooms on the list will be scheduled to be upgraded this summer.

If you have any questions or comments, please let David Berk know.

Conservatory classroom enhancements - part 2

2007-12-12T21:34:58Z

Music Drama 146, 254, 259, Shattuck 04 and 156 all have the new document camera switching functions reported on Nov. 26, 2007. Click here to read the earlier post containing the details.

Conservatory classroom enhancements

2007-11-26T16:46:07Z

This past summer, five of the Conservatory classrooms were outfitted with new wall-mounted button panels to operate the installed audio and video equipment. This made the equipment easier to use, but we lost some ability to independently switch audio and video sources. This was most problematic when using the document camera since instructors were unable to play an audio CD while displaying the document camera's video.

This problem has been solved in Shattuck 04 and Music Drama 254! The remaining rooms (Music Drama 146 & 259, and Shattuck 156) will receive the same functionality over winter break. Dec. 12, 2007 update -- all five rooms now have these features!

You will now find a column of buttons on the panels (see image below) that allow "smart" audio and video switching. The following document camera configurations are now possible:

video from document camera / audio from attached cable (for laptops or iPods)
video from document camera / audio from desktop computer
video from document camera / audio from audio CD player
video from document camera / audio from cassette player

As always, if you have questions or problems when using classroom equipment, give the Helpdesk a call at 6570, or in the event of an emergency (during class), call the Classroom Hotline at 7020.

MyElectionDecision

2007-10-26T21:17:34Z

MyElectionDecision.org continues to draw a lot of interest from around the country. I encourage everyone to take it for a spin and let us know what you think by sending an email to feedback@myelectiondecision.org.

The project was created within Moodle with additional (and amazing!) PHP code contributed by Greg Blike, a computer science student at Lawrence. Greg built the entire module that displays the survey results indicating which candidate you most agree with (which is by far the coolest part of the site!).

The next phase of the project will give registered users a chance to engage in small group discussion with other MyElectionDecision users. Stay tuned for more details.

Classroom Technology Training Sessions

2007-09-18T16:40:34Z

Next Monday and Tuesday, ITS and Media Services staff will offer four group training sessions on operating classroom audio/video projection technology. If you are teaching in a classroom that is new to you this fall, we highly encourage you to attend one or more of these sessions!

Meet at the designated spot at a time listed below and your "guide" will take you to different classrooms in that building. If you teach in a building not listed below or you are unable to attend these sessions, please contact the Helpdesk at 6570 to make an appointment for an individual orientation session.

	Briggs	Music-Drama / Shattuck	Main Hall	Youngchild and Science
Mon, Sept. 24 at 1:30pm	meet on 4th floor by elevator	meet in Music-Drama 146	meet on 1st floor by elevator	meet in the atrium
Mon, Sept. 24 at 2:15pm	meet on 4th floor by elevator	meet in Music-Drama 146	meet on 1st floor by elevator	meet in the atrium
Tue, Sept. 25 at 1:30pm	meet on 4th floor by elevator	meet in Music-Drama 146	meet on 1st floor by elevator	meet in the atrium
Tue, Sept. 25 at 2:15pm	meet on 4th floor by elevator	meet in Music-Drama 146	meet on 1st floor by elevator	meet in the atrium

Also, don't forget that ITS has a new classroom emergency hotline that you should call if you have problems using technology during a class. The extension is 7020 or (920) 832-7020 from a cell phone (this information is posted in each technology-equipped classroom). Classroom emergencies are treated with the highest priority and ITS will do its best to have someone standing next to you addressing the issue ASAP!

NITLE Workshops

2007-09-05T22:39:40Z

Bryan Alexander, Director of Research at NITLE, offered two outstanding workshops for faculty, librarians, and IT staff at Lawrence. Materials from the workshop are available online at:

Moodle and Clickers workshops

2007-08-29T23:44:43Z

Please see the announcements below regarding "Moodle" and "Clickers" workshops scheduled over the next couple of weeks.

MOODLE is a learning management system that makes it very easy for courses to have a presence on the web. If you are interested in getting started with Moodle or want to learn more about its interactive features, consider attending one of these workshops. The introductory workshops will focus on fundamentals and will work towards building a dynamic syllabus in Moodle. The advanced workshop will focus on ways to engage your students in collaborative work in Moodle.

If you are interested in attending a Moodle workshop, please contact Arno Damerow (damerowa@lawrence.edu).

Introduction to Moodle (workshops held in Main Hall 108)

Thursday, September 6, 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Friday, September 7, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thursday, September 13, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Tuesday, September 18, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

Advanced Moodle (workshop held in Main Hall 108)

Thursday, September 20, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

CLICKERS are a new classroom technology that the Committee on Academic Technology evaluated last academic year. Clickers are small keypad devices that allow a student to answer a multiple choice question and have their response sent to a receiver attached to a computer. The computer automatically tallies the responses and displays a summary graph for both instructor and students to see. On Wednesday, September 19, a representative from the Turning Point software company will be on campus demonstrating how a simple Powerpoint presentation can be used to collect and display live classroom surveys.

If you are interested in attending a Clicker workshop, please contact David Berk (berkd@lawrence.edu).

Introduction to Clickers (workshops held in Library 214)

Wednesday, September 19, 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Wednesday, September 19, 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM

If you have any questions about these or other instructional technologies on the Lawrence campus, don't hesitate to contact David Berk (x6756) for more information.

NITLE Workshops at Lawrence

2007-04-25T21:28:00Z

Sept. 4-5, 2007, NITLE staff will be on the Lawrence University campus to offer workshops to faculty, librarians, and instructional technologists on topics such as blogs, wikis, and wireless & mobile technologies. Details are available on the NITLE web site:

If you are interested in attending either of these workshop, please let David Berk know as soon as possible.

Teaching and Learning Web Technologies

2007-04-20T20:22:39Z

We have some exciting new web tools available for faculty to use in support of teaching and learning. In addition to Moodle, we also have blogs, wikis, discussion forums, digital image collections, and a podcasting service. Take a quick look at this PDF for an overview and let David Berk know if you have any questions or ideas.

New Web Tools presentation

2007-04-02T21:01:55Z

On Wednesday, April 4 at 12:30pm in Science 102, Library and ITS staff will present on the following new web tools that have recently become available at Lawrence:

Podcasting (iTunes U)
Blogs
Wikis
Digital image collections

We will provide a quick overview of each tool and show examples of how you might wish to use it. I highly encourage everyone to attend this event! Please RSVP to Cassie Cob (x7029 or cassie.cobb@lawrence.edu) if you plan to attend. Hope to see you there. Additional information: Podcasting: http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7003 Blogs: http://educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7006 Wikis: http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7004 Digital images: http://www.lawrence.edu/library/images/index.shtml

Copyright issues related to podcasting

2007-04-02T20:57:25Z

The library has created a very helpful guide to understanding copyright issues related to podcasting: http://www.lawrence.edu/library/copyright/podcast.shtml If you have questions related to digital copyright, ask a librarian for assistance!

Podcasting with iTunes U

2007-03-23T17:26:56Z

Lawrence University faculty have been testing a new podcasting service called iTunes U since fall of 2006. Starting this spring term, we are extending the trial to include additional faculty. Watch a brief video explaining how to access iTunes U. The video also includes interviews with three Lawrence faculty that have been using iTunes U to podcast course materials. iTunes U makes it easy to distribute these types of materials to your students:

Audio recordings of lectures
Narrated PowerPoint presentations
Videos of computer screen activity (useful for teaching students how to use a software application)

The Office of Instructional Technology has new hardware and software available to help produce these types of audio and video files. If you're interested in learning more about producing media suitable for podcasting with iTunes U, contact david.berk@lawrence.edu. Presentations about iTunes U will be scheduled throughout spring term, so stay tuned for additional announcements. Material uploaded to iTunes U must comply with digital copyright guidelines.