Virtual Revolution: 3D Explorer URL

Virtual Revolution: 3D Explorer URL

Just in case you have problems finding it here is a direct link to the 3D Explorer multimedia.

You can effectively watch full episodes or jump between Chapter points and resources.

We do not have the class time to watch all four hours of the series in class but a DVD is available from library or you can watch it on-line as a good quality video stream. Over the course of the module I will highlight some key sections that I think you really should watch; but I have to say the whole thing is really very good.

VR: The Great Levelling Blog

Here is a link to the official blog post for the first episode of The Virtual Revolution: The Great Levelling.

The Virtual Revolution: The Great Levelling

The Virtual Revolution 3D Explorer Guide

Levelling The Land is Episode 1 of The Virtual Revolution.

The Virtual Revolution is a recent production form the BBC and Open University.

The four (one hour episodes) are available on DVD from the university library.

Still alive...

I haven't updated this blog for some time as I tend to concentrate on the blog for my third year module; The Internet, Computers & Society. Furthermore I'm currently firing off the odd work related posting on Twitter is even quicker and easier than logging into here, especially from my phone.

And of course everything tech or work related took second place to my parents in 2009...

Blogger, NOW and YouTube

I've been off work lately because my mother recently passed away so I'm very grateful for a combination of Blogger, NOW (Nottingham Online Workspace) and YouTube. More to the point my third year Economics students are/will be for as I play catch up with my planned revision materials/sessions for their impending exam.

A mix of text, images, audio and video can be fairly quickly generated (I hope/plan) to give them a full range of revision materials that should suit any number of learning styles.

Video Feedback er Video...

Short rough and ready screen capture that does the job of telling colleagues how I recently tried using video to give students faster and more effective feedback when used in conjunction with traditional feedback for some third year coursework. All rather low tech but seems to have been effective - formal feedback in due course. I trialled this on my third year Economics module, The Internet, Computers & Society (ITEC30011).

Please note the first video that I play hasn't been picked up by the screen capture software but the audio has - and the subsequent video clips are okay - both video and audio.

August 2009 Addendum: I've since had the formal feedback from this module and it has been very positive. Over 90% of the students on the module viewed the videos and 100% of those who viewed their personal feedback videos found them useful. Over 90% of students also viewed the generic feedback video and 90% of those reported finding it useful. Something else that emerged (via both formal and informal feedback) was that having a video seemed to encourage students to read through the written feedback on their actual physical submission (since they told me so). Furthermore every assignment was collected by students, whereas many assignments (with their feedback) are often left uncollected.

I've since been asked to talk to the NOW VLE team (NOW being the Virtual Learning Environment used by Nottingham Trent University) about my use of the VLE for hosting the videos so expect some further outputs in due course. It is certainly my intention to repeat this next year and to expand its use where practical. It does involve some more work on my part but seems to offer big benefits to the students. So I'm thinking about the best ways to incorporate the use of video feedback, so as to keep it manageable, and thus encourage colleagues to consider its use. I'll be posting some video "How To's" and tips in the near future.

Breaking the duck

About one hour of hour left to go.

Finally breaking the duck on this blog. Even been off my third year module blog for a month. That's it really. Tomorrow is September and the rush towards the new academic year is beginning...

Phil

Another Long Break!

Okay it's been another long break since I last posted to this blog.

I tend to concentrate my efforts on my third year module blog for Economists.

ITEC30011 The Internet, Computers & Society module.

You can see it on Blogger at www.phil-wane-ics.blogspot.com

But I've not forgotten this blog... in fact there are so many things that I have wanted to comment on over the last few months that I hardly know where to begin.

Blogger/YouTube Worksheet

Following my success in the Economics Network Annual Learning and Teaching Awards 2007 I will be publishing a guide to just how I embedded the videos into my blog account.

Whilst the more technically inclined amongst you may be thinking it is easy I bear in mind that not everyone is technically minded. It is also important to think about the WHAT and WHY and not just the HOW.

NTU-Tube Anyone?

Just booked my placed at the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference.

NTU ALT-C

Looks like a couple of good sessions though I've missed out on some of the more popular ones. I had thought about doing a presentation this year but at the time the notification came around I was just so busy that I didn't want to commit myself to yet another thing. As it happens I would have been able to put some together.

What? Well I would have done a short presentation on using services like YouTube to communicate with students whether they're attending NTU full-time, out on placement or full distance learners. Here's an example of the sort of thing I've been doing with one of my modules. I use a blog and embed video clips hosted by YouTube into it.

The Internet, Computers & Society

Some clips are ones I've found elsewhere and linked to (so no copyright worries - don't even mention proscribing deep linking to me!) and others are ones I've created. Some of the current ones are short clips produced in a range of styles. I then demonstrated these to the students and used SurveyMonkey to collect feedback on their preferences. All part of my normal reflective practitioner good practice and in this particular instance it will make a contribution to my PGCHE course.

Trial Module Blog

I've just set up a blog for my third year module, which is called "The Internet, Computers & Society". I'm trying this out as an addition to materials on the VLP and I've given all the module students (about 40 this year - not bad for an optional module) the requisite permissions to post things on the blog. I've just set up a couple of exercises via email and given them a chance to register with Blogger (completely free) if they haven't already done so since they need to register to post contributions to the blog.

I suspect a bit like Gilly Salmon and her e-moderating exercises I'll have to do a few things to get them going. Anyway you can see the module blog here

http://phil-wane-ics.blogspot.com/index.html

Part of my rationale for trying this out is that I think this is a much more user friendly interface than the current VLP, the students can post comments, add images and embed video clips (something they cannot easily do on the VLP) and it should encourage those who haven't considered blogs to check them out.

I'll post updates in due course reflecting upon the success or otherwise of this move. On a related note (since I've had no feedback on this yet) I thought that an easy (convenient/efficient) way for me to contribute to the material that needs to go into my Personal Development Portfolio was to set up this blog. It’s a quick and easy way to keep short notes or observations (all dated by the blog system) and I can then add additional materials later. But it at least gives me a skeleton outline of just one part of my portfolio… What do fellow PGHE students think? Would it help you? Do you want me to show you how to set up a blog like this? It really is easy!