Technology & Instruction for UNEX

Never. Peter Norvig's Powerpoint version of the Gettysburg Address One of the most common mistakes I see in online courses that have been converted from face-to-face is the use of Powerpoint files as replacements for what was an in-class presentation complete with live audio and a real person talking. Sure, it's tempting to think that all you need to do is upload the Powerpoint file to your online course and you are done. Your students will login, go through the trouble of downloading your file and opening it in Powerpoint or some other application. They may marvel at your choice of template as long as they haven't seen it before, but they will find one important thing missing with the presentation – You. Without your voice, the Powerpoint file is at best just an outline or rough sketch of your presentation and may lead to more confusion than learning. Most of the solitary Powerpoint files I see were not inspired by the kinds of design examples you'll find on Pr...

It looks like we will be able to upgrade from Moodle 1.9 to 2.4 starting with the fall quarter, assuming everything goes well during the summer when we need to get our course and student information into the new version of Moodle. Along with the many changes and new features we will have available in Moodle 2.4, this update will also involve moving the hosting of Moodle from our internal server to a server hosted by Remote-Learner . As a result of these changes, our summer courses for instructors will use Moodle 2.4. I will be putting together a self-paced course introducing some of the new features available in Moodle 2.4 for those online instructors who are already familiar with Moodle 1.9.  _______________________________________________________________ We have four free classes for instructors which are now available for registration for the Summer quarter. All classes will be using Moodle 2.4 to prepare instructors for the Fall quarter or later when we expect to have al...

One of the easiest ways to add instructor-produced multimedia to an online class is to create a narrated presentation. Adding narration in Powerpoint is relatively easy (though not necessarily easy to do well). The tricky part is creating output that will playback online and does not require the student to download the entire file and open it in Powerpoint. I have a license for the Mac version of Adobe Captivate 5 and used that for a couple of years to convert Powerpoint presentations with audio narration into videos. That version only produced Flash video, but it is easy enough to convert that to another format for students who are not using Flash (primarily iOS users). The problem with Adobe Captivate is that it never did a very good job converting the Powerpoint files and it is one of the least Mac-like applications I've used. I never enjoyed using it and until I did a search a few weeks ago, I didn't realize that it was supposed to be able to automatically convert a PP...

It's tough to compete with free -- that's one of the points of " UC online courses fail to lure outsiders, " by Nanette Asimov in the January 8th San Francisco Chronicle. The appeal of UC credits is apparently not enough to overcome the relatively high prices of $1400 to $2400 per course, particularly when compared with free MOOCs which don't offer credit. After a year, only one student from outside the UC system has enrolled in any of the UC Online course offerings, although 4 more have recently registered. The one class from UC Online highlighted in the article is from UC Riverside: In a demonstration of UC Online, Williams powered up Professor Jacqueline Shey-Murphy's online course "Dance Cultures and Context," which attracted more than 120 students last quarter at UC Riverside. Shey-Murphy introduced the class on video, with the syllabus and calendar at left. Students joined in "synchronous discussions" - a chat room - each Friday...

123MSCC30 Teaching Online with Moodle: online, 4 weeks, starts January 8, 2013 – this class covers the basics of teaching online and using Moodle. Participants learn about the online environment as they participate in the class and complete assignments. Development of a detailed course syllabus is the final project. Emphasis is on the unique features of online teaching and learning, and the transition from face-to-face to online. Open to anyone who might be interested in teaching online, not just UCR Extension instructors; no previous experience required. Optional project is to produce a proposal for an online course at UCR Extension. 123MSCC31 Teaching Online with Moodle: hybrid, 2 face-to-face meetings on January 9, 2013 and January 23, 2013 , 6-8 PM, Wednesdays at UCR Extension – covers same topics as online version listed above. 123MSCC32 Producing Media for Your Online Course: online, 3 weeks, starts February 6th. Instructors learn to produce multimedia for their onl...

Mark Zuckerberg says that betting on HTML 5 as part of Facebook's mobile strategy was a "big mistake. " The promise of HTML 5 seems to be the same story that was supposed to happen with Java -- develop once and you end up with a near-native experience on multiple platforms. Except it didn't seem to work that way with Java and apparently has not worked with HTML 5. I'm not much of a Facebook user, so if the HTML 5 Facebook app for each mobile phone platform is a little bit slower than a native application, it doesn't matter to me. However, I use Moodle every day and since Moodle's mobile strategy is also based on HTML 5, I wonder if that is going to produce a good enough experience for mobile users. It seems to be easier for developers, but given the change of direction by Facebook, maybe Moodle's mobile strategy isn't looking so good right now.

This presentation by Joe Smith on how to use a paper towel is very simple, but effective and powerful. Good principles to remember when you are trying to teach something - make it memorable, get the audience involved, repeat your message, and emphasize the benefits.