Tag Archives: tech snacks

Speed Up Your Grading

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3 Tips For Making the Blackboard Grade Book Easier to Use

In this Tech Snack on October 18, 2014 we demonstrated several easy steps that can help save you time and frustration while grading.

1. See All Your Students with “Edit Rows Displayed”

Blackboard defaults to showing you the first 10 students in your roster. If you want to see your entire roster of students, click on Edit Rows Displayed and select the number of students you have. This makes it much easier to see all of your students at the same time.

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2. Minimize Scrolling through Assignments with “Column Organization”

Blackboard also defaults to displaying the most recent grade book entry to the right of the existing entries. The column organization feature allows you to reorder your grade book display as you see fit. For example, you might want to display the most recent entry first. Managing your columns is a great way to minimize the need for scrolling.

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3. Use Excel to Manage Grades via “Download Roster “

Blackboard allows Instructors to download a current version of their course grade book as an Excel file. Instructors can use this feature to manually enter grades into a spreadsheet and upload it to Blackboard again. Downloading the grade book is also a great way to create attendance charts and sign-in sheets quickly.

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There are also a variety of video tutorials available on the Instructional Technology website.  Here’s a link to our BlackBoard Grade Book overview.

You Too Can Youtube!

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Want a great way to reach your students in and out of the classroom? Create your own video content. Creating your own video content can help stimulate interest in subject material and reinforce what is being taught in the classroom. Instructors are able to share videos with future classes, reuse captured video material with other video projects, and make content available so students can have access to videos even after they have completed the course.

Creating video content has never been easier. With smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices readily available that have the ability to record HD quality videos, you can quickly create and share video content directly to the web. Youtube offers a free browser-based video editor that allows users to edit video clips with several options that are commonly found in video editing software. The Youtube editor has plenty of features that allow users to create videos and has been updated to allow more precise editing. Some of the key features are:

  • splitting/trimming video clips
  • editing audio
  • adding an audio track
  • adding titles with backgrounds
  • adding annotations

Below is an overview of some of the major features available in the Youtube Editor:

Upload

Once you log in to your Youtube account, click on the “upload” button located next to the search bar. The “upload” page will appear giving you several options to create videos. You can select video files located on your computer, record a video using your webcam, create a photo slideshow, broadcast a Google+ Hangout session or use the video editor. We will be focusing on the video editor features for this article.

Video Editor Interface

The video editor allows users to view the video clips that they have uploaded to Youtube (up to 55 clips) and edit them individually or together on a timeline. The main interface allows users to insert titles, edit clips together, add transitions and an audio track. Users will also be able to publish their edited video from this interface.

Quick Fix

When a video clip is selected, users have the option to apply quick fixes to their video. Users can apply an auto-fix that automatically adjusts color, brightness and contrast. Users can also manually adjust brightness and contrast as well. Another great feature is the ability to stabilize the video clip. This helps remove the “shaky camera” effect when users are recording video without a tripod.

Filters

Users can apply several different filter effects on their video clips to alter the look of their video. These filters adjust color saturation and can give your video a new style or look.

 

Text

Text can be added over video clips or as title bumpers before a video clip. Users can adjust fonts, position, size, style, color and alignment.

Titles

Titles can be applied before clips and transitions. Users can create titles by simply dragging a title style from the title tool directly to the timeline.

 

Transitions

Users can also apply transitions between clips, images or titles. These effects will help transition between titles and clips.

Audio Track

Another great new feature is the audio track tool. YouTube now offers a free audio library that has a collection of music tracks that users can download and feature as background music in their videos.

 

Here is a sample video that was created with an iPad and edited using the Youtube video editor.

Demo: SEU Campus Tour

 

Here are some other helpful resources on ways to use videos in education. Feel free to contact us here at the Faculty Resource Center if you have any questions regarding video production for your classroom. Good luck.

20 Ways to Use Video in the Classroom
http://www.mediacastblog.com/20-ways-use-video-classroom/

6 Simple Ways To Use Video In Education
http://www.edudemic.com/6-simple-ways-to-use-video-in-education/

Different Types of Videos Used for Education
http://56wrtg1150.wikidot.com/youtube-vodcasts-and-skype

Youtube Video Editor Support
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/183851?hl=en-GB

Free music for your videos in Audio Library

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3376882?hl=en-GB&ref_topic=3014750

Build your Classroom Technology Toolbox

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On September 24, Instructional Technology held a tech snack focused on free tools for classroom use.

What types of technology do you use in your classroom?

Do you need your students to complete their assignments with certain types of software? You can create your own technology toolbox  from cloud-based tools that are free to use and can benefit students both during the course and after. If you need training for yourself or your students on any of the software that is listed, please contact training@stedwards.edu with your request.

Classroom Management, Collaboration, and Productivity:

Social Bookmarking and Personal Research:

Web Based Presentation Tools

Free E-Books and Other Open Educational Resources

Website Development

Faculty Mobile Device Mixer

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On September 20th Instructional Technology welcomed thirteen faculty, Center for Teaching Excellence staff and Library staff to our first Tech Snack for fall — “Mobile Device Mixer”.  We started off by using a mobile app Poll Everywhere to ask faculty to name their favorite app.  Poll Everywhere allows you to conduct a quick poll using any mobile device, including laptops.

Wordle with most popular app displaying as Evernote

Note Taking

No surprise that Evernote tops the list!  Evernote is a great productivity tool.  You can sync notes across multiple devices (Windows, Android, iOS).  You can sort notes into notebooks and tag them for easy searching.  Ann David shared an educational use for Evernote.  She uses Evernote for  Learning Logs for her Educational Technology class. Students make Evernote notebooks and share so she can see live what students are writing.  She can’t edit or make notes on their notebooks but she can give immediate feedback.  Students can include audio, images, and videos to record their experience.

File Management and Sharing

Ryan Hoover discussed the ease of using Google Drive across devices to share documents with students.  DropBox also has an app that lets you access files across devices.

Annotation and Reading

We had a lively discussion on tools to annotate PDFs or ebooks via mobile devices.  Annotation of PDFs and ebooks is still challenging for some students.  Julie Sievers shared her favorite, iAnnotate, which is available for iPads and Android devices.

Other apps we discussed:

  • Quip –  a shared word processor so everyone is editing the same document.  You can add photos to create a collective photo album.
  • TalkBoard – a shared whiteboard, great for creative projects
  • SimpleNote – a note application available on iOS and Androids
  • vBookZ PDF Reader — Reads PDFs to you — great for commuting in Austin!

 

Tech Snacks: iPad Apps and Productivity

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Have you ever wondered how the iPad can be used for education and productivity? On Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 11:00 AM in Premont 110 (Faculty Resource Center) come learn about iPad apps that increase productivity, create to-do lists, calendars, and help you organize class or assignment schedules.

Tech Snacks, sponsored by Instructional Technology, is an ongoing series of short presentations and demos for faculty. Each session will emphasize the pedagogical use of a specific technology or software. Bring your curiosity, questions and an appetite for some snack foods!

Join us on Tuesday, February 26th at 11am in the Faculty Resource Center (FRC) for some snacks and learn more about iPads and productivity apps.