Wimba Classroom connecting Calvin College to FL, NM and CA
Monday, April 11, 2011
People all across campus continue to find new and unique ways to use Wimba Classroom in their teaching and learning. Wimba Classroom is a set of web-based collaboration tools used for:
- video conferencing
- audio-conferencing
- application sharing
- sharing an interactive whiteboard
- chatting
Calvin’s education department is using Wimba Classroom to record, critique, and remotely support student teachers in southern California and New Mexico, as well as in a variety of locations in the Grand Rapids area.
Philosophy Professor Steve Wykstra and Nellie Kooistra, Department Assistant for the Nagel Institute, recently used Wimba Classroom to record 9-hours worth of lectures given in Florida. They exported the recordings (using MP4-based files) onto DVDs to give to their 20+ attendees from all across the United States.
If you have found an interesting way to use Wimba Classroom, share it with us in the comments area!
To learn more about Wimba Classroom, visit the links below. (To login, click on the Participant Login button if prompted to do so and/or enter your first name and press Enter)
Wimba Teach information & tutorials
Wimba Design information & tutorials
Posted in: Best Practices: Faculty Highlights
Don’t have class time to teach students a new technology?
Monday, December 07, 2009
Would you like your students to learn a new technology in your spring course(s), but don’t want to take class time to teach it? Maybe Atomic Learning (AL) can help you out!
Atomic Learning is an online technology training library that provides thousands of short, video tutorials on more than one-hundred of the most commonly used software applications. You can even link to these tutorials right from within your KnightVision course(s).
To see a list of the tutorials, log into KnightVision > click on the T&L tab > click on the Access Atomic Learning icon. The Atomic Learning home page will open. Click the down arrow to the right of the Applications dialogue box and scroll through the list to view the available titles.
If you have any questions about Atomic Learning or would like to integrate AL resources into your KnightVision course(s), please contact Krista Spahr (x6-6855).
Additional information about Atomic Learning
Posted in: Best Practices: Technology Tips
Six-hundred ninety-five
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
As of Wednesday, September 30, six-hundred and ninety-five clickers have been registered in KnightVision for Fall semester. They are being used by fourteen instructors in seventeen courses.
Biology professor, David Koetje, who has been using the clickers in his Biology 141 classes for the last four years, has shared with us a couple of thoughts. “Clickers have greatly facilitated collaborative learning in Biology 141. Through the reporting features of the clicker software, student teams are able to compare answers to questions on formative quizzes, turning their attention to the rationale of different responses instead of simply obsessing about ‘right answers.’ Improvements in individual preparedness, critical thinking, and classroom engagement are three noteworthy benefits of our use of clicker technology.”
What does this mean? There is a powerful assessment tool being used on campus just waiting for you to tap into its potential. Just ask your students how many of them already have their own clicker in which they’ve enrolled in other course(s). In many cases, you might be surprised by the response.
How do the clickers work?
- Students purchase a clicker at the Campus Store for around $23.00. (Calvin College will subsidize the cost of enrolling the clicker, which will remain active for the duration of their time here at Calvin.)
- Instructors register their course(s) in KnightVision.
- Students register/enroll their clicker in your course(s) in KnightVision. (Students may register their clickers in multiple courses per semester.)
- You can use your clickers anytime in a variety of ways with results available right at your fingertips! Grades and data gathered from any class session can then be uploaded into your KnightVision grade center.
Tired of bubble sheets? Clickers can be used similarly to “bubble sheets” for assessment. As students take a test that has been individually distributed to them (on paper), the students submit their answers digitally using their clickers rather than filling in the bubbles. No more trips to CIT to have your tests graded and there is no waiting. Plus, if you make your grades available to your students through your KnightVision grade center, students will be able to see their scores as soon as you upload them. Now, how’s that for timely assessment and feedback?
Did any of your textbooks come with an ExamView CD? If yes, banks of clicker questions have already been created by your publisher and are available on CDs.
Do you think you might be interested? Please feel free to contact Krista Spahr to discuss ways you might integrate this technology into your course(s). We can even start thinking ahead to Spring and Fall 2010 too.
Posted in: Academic Software: Best Practices
Doug Blomberg: On curriculum and technology
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
In his book, Wisdom and Curriculum: Christian Schooling After Postmodernity, Doug Blomberg talks about the integral role of “play” during the formation of knowledge and wisdom. He uses the World Wide Web as a metaphor for learning, stating that learning, like the internet, offers “connections [that] are not prescribed, there is no one sequence set..it puts control into the hands of learners themselves, to determine their own running—currere (learning process).”(p. 190)
He goes on to describe how “play” is important when learning new software.
“Similarly, the best way to learn to use new software is to play around, to experiment with it in a disciplined context. Complete a few of the tutorial sessions, certainly, and then get on with the work one would normally be doing—a meaningful task, not a rote activity—and refer to the online help facility or the manual when problems arise. Learning as play is situated and shared with the tools one is using; understanding is in the hands as well as in the head…Even as I write, the words speak back to me and ask me questions, and the words I ponder pull me in different directions—which one will I follow?” (p. 190)
So when it comes to learning and/or implementing new software or technology, take Blomberg’s advice. Don’t wait until you have mastered it before you use it…Mastery comes with play!
Five strategies for learning new technology
(adapted from Doug Blomberg’s Wisdom and Curriculum, 2008)
- Play around with it.
- Experiment with it in a disciplined context rather than doing a rote activity.
- Complete a few tutorial sessions.
- Use the technology to complete a meaningful task.
- Use the online help or other available help resources when problems arise.
Posted in: Best Practices: Faculty Highlights
