For years I have been talking about doing some deep analytics on RRC’s usage of its LMS. This information is valuable to the College and the Teaching Learning Technology Centre in many ways:

• It helps us identify and learn from excellent usage of technology
• It helps us identify and learn from poor use of technology
• It gives us focus and targets for training – where are we in the use of certain tools?
• It informs us on the depth of our students’ experience with educational technology at RRC
• It can give us incredible insights into the nature of courses through analyzing gradebooks and assessments
• On an active basis it can allow us to identify students who may be at risk of attrition and direct them towards remedial resources

Fundamentally it allows us to learn from our successes and failures and use that information to embark on new paths. Read More →

Microvideo is a model of media creation for blended and online courses that gives the power to the subject matter expert or instructor. You don’t need a big studio or expensive cameras – all you need is a webcam and a topic.

Examples of Microvideos include:

• using a document camera to capture solving a math problem on paper
• using a webcam to record a welcome message for a unit of content
• using a document camera to show the manipulation of small objects like thermostats, tools, etc.
• capturing your computer screen with a program like Camtasia to show how to interact with software
• building engaging interactions with off the shelf software
• and many many more!

Read More →

The TLTC frequently assesses new software. We post parts of our internal reviews on our blog, but we do not necessarily endorse the technologies presented here. Please use this post for information only.

Quickly create Flash-based presentations and e-learning courses from PowerPoint.

Articulate Presenter makes it easy for anyone to add interactivity and narration to PowerPoint slides. Just click a button to turn your presentation into a compelling Flash course.

Read More →

The TLTC frequently assesses new software. We post parts of our internal reviews on our blog, but we do not necessarily endorse the technologies presented here. Please use this post for information only. The TLTC only supports technologies listed in our technology toolbox.

There are different softwares that help to organize and present educational materials in interesting and challenging way to students. In this Post we will preset to your attention different tools that can create your course lessons with engaging interactive content. Read More →

The TLTC frequently assesses new software. We post parts of our internal reviews on our blog, but we do not necessarily endorse the technologies presented here. Please use this post for information only. The TLTC only supports technologies listed in our technology toolbox.

The TLTC has been looking and testing softwares that are friendly to use and produce good quality products.  Some instructors are going to create their first videos by themselves and we want to make it easier for them, so they will be able to concentrate on their content and not fighting with the production hardware or software.

This post will introduce you to softwares that we checked and recommend to use when you need to create your Microvideos. We found friendly to use and effective Web camera recorders and screen capture softwares that will work for your needs and assist you to get good quality videos.

Debut Video Capture

Use this software when you need to record Talking Head Microvideo or to capture computer’s screen. For Talking Head Microvideo, download Debut, add a web camera to your computer and record.

Debut records good quality image and can produce different export formats – we recommend saving your files as MP4 because this format works with LEARN website best.

You can download Debut here: http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/

Camtasia Studio

This software has the same options as Debut Video Capture and more. You can record yourself talking or capture your desktop and edit. Camtasia Studio has large video editing options that allow editing your videos and adding titles.

You can download Camtasia Studio here: http://www.techsmith.com/download/camtasia/default.asp

Jing Screenshots Capture

This one is perfect for screen captures. Jing gives you option to choose the exact place on your desktop, mark it and capture what you need.

You can download Jing Screenshots Capture here: www.techsmith.com/jing

Note: most software has 30-day free trial versions.

Hardware

Web Camera, stand, Document Camera such as Elmo or Ladybug all this equipment you can get by contacting Library’s Media Services Department:

Phone: 632-2231

Email: Media@RRC.CA

Website: http://library.rrc.ca/Contact-Us/default.aspx

The TLTC frequently assesses new software. We post parts of our internal reviews on our blog, but we do not necessarily endorse the technologies presented here. Please use this post for information only. The TLTC only supports technologies listed in our technology toolbox.

Aviary Tools is a bunch of online creative applications for artists of all genres from image editing and logos creator to audio editing and music maker. I found this suite full of friendly and easy to use tools that can be used right in your web browser.

Here are three applications that I find as very helpful:

Quick Markup (Falcon)

Some of you may find this tool very useful! If you are not looking for Image editing software because you need only to make small marks such as add text and markup the images to highlight the important parts Quick markup will make your editing easier.

Quick Markup’s main features are to point on the important things and add comments:

Quick markup also will resize, rotate and crop images easily if you need and save your image on desktop.

Image Editor (Pheonix)

Looks and feels a lot like Photoshop. It has layers, masks, undo history, effects, brushes that you can customize as well as a good number of filters that make manipulating photos easy. This tool is perfect for basic and advanced image editing.

Vector Editor (Raven)

This one is for people who are looking to create things. Images produced can be used as logos or applied to t-shirts and other garments. The application allows users to work with lines, paths, curves and objects.

Other tools in this suite:

Aviary is also offering online tutorials videos and a Forums that help its users to improve their design abilities.

I recommend to explore Aviary Tools!

SlideShark is a PowerPoint viewer. This app is free to use on any iPad device. The application has the ability to be synced with their web interface for use on different devices you may own. For example if you uploaded a PowerPoint to  the web interface, the iOS app will give you the option to download it onto your device.The one drawback to this is that when you find a PowerPoint on your device, you must first upload to the site then download it from the site onto your device where you will be able to view it. The presenter portion of the app is what you would expect from a slide presenter with nothing new in terms of features.

The app is free and manages PowerPoints with ease and will backup all of your PowerPoints to the cloud. With a few concerns about the process of getting PowerPoints onto your device this app does exactly what you expect from it.

Keynnote is a iOS app created by Apple. The premise of this app is that you can create presentations on the go using your iOS device. It will cost you around $9.99 but as you will be aware; is quite worth it.

Keynote has a very simplistic design. It has two main screens, a collection list of all the presentations you made or downloaded and the presentation viewer/editor.

The editor is exactly what you would expect in a simple Microsoft Powerpoint application. Just not as heavy. What you can do with this app is actually quite amazing. For starters the presentation editor allows you to import pre-made objects, pictures and movies straight of your device and control how they transition into the slide or configure its orientation/size. The amount of effects you can use will make your slide look professional. Because of this subtle feature you’re not hindered in terms of presentation because of simplicity but can benefit from the simple interface to make quick and easy presentations.

This app also allows you to make decision based events like skipping to another slide. With this you can make interactive presentations.

After the presentation is made you have a set of options to export the presentation.

The app is $9.99 but worth every dollar if you’re the type that is on the go or needs to create presentations on the fly. I recommend this app. A more detailed review can be found here.

The TLTC frequently assesses new software. We post parts of our internal reviews on our blog, but we do not necessarily endorse the technologies presented here. Please use this post for information only. The TLTC only supports technologies listed in our technology toolbox.

eBook Creator is a iOS app with the purpose to allow the mobile users to produce eBooks on the go. This app has some features like sharing the final product to other mobile users, ability to import images from the devices photo album, background music, and more. A full list of features this app can do can be found on the bluefinger.com website. I will go over the interface and functionality of this app as well my final thought about it.

The interface for this app is simple, a book case containing your created eBook’s. Upon entering the eBook Creator’s creation menu you are given very simple and intuitive options. These options include adding titles, background images, background sounds and text. You have the choice frame options, transition styles and effects to each slide. With these features and options you can create eBooks quickly and easily.

Where this app lacks is the functionality it has. Though the interface is easy to use and to understand, the functionality is not at par for post-secondary use. Whats missing in this app is more functionality to enhance the eBook creation process. What I would of liked to see is the ability to add more text per page and more images. Currently the only image you can add is a background photo from your devices photo album. Also the workflow to create new slides is not intuitive. You will need to create pages by reverting back to the main creation page and then make sure the page was last viewed in order to add details like background images, sound and text.Once done you can send it to your friends or colleagues by tapping on the send button in the creation page.

While the app is great for younger audiences the overall experience for post-secondary use is lacking. This app costs $3.99 (March 3rd 2012) and can be found in the Apple Store.

This is a great post from eLearn Magazie about Rapid eLearning. The article defines it as “the conversion of existing learning content such as slides from an existing classroom course into a Web-deliverable format, although content can also be developed from scratch using commonly used tools such as PowerPoint or Word.”

Rapid eLearning: Building a House Without an Architect