From
1-way to 2-way:
Promoting student engagement
through asynchronous collaboration
Eric
M. Larson, COTF 2006
Who is this guy?
• Eric M. Larson, University of St. Thomas
– Instructional Process Analyst
• Host of The Ericast since March 2005
• Presentation at:
Overview – What’s the Story?
• For years, faculty have recorded things for students
to review
• Sometimes, student interaction is part of that
recording
• But once the recording is made, the interaction stops
– or, at least, becomes extremely difficult
• Now, we can move the interaction into the
recording itself!
The
Old Way: 1-way examples
From
ultra-traditional to fairly modern…
Remember Tape Recorders?
Ever use WebEx?
Ever download a Podcast?
But then what?
Introducing
the concept of “asynchronous collaboration”
Or,
“Let’s add the responses into the original content!”
What’s
“asynchronous collaboration”?
• Classroom discussion is a form of synchronous
collaboration
• LMSes or other online forums provide a type of
asynchronous discussion, but true collaboration (interrelating ideas) is
difficult
• Moving the discussion right into the media
presentation creates asynchronous collaboration, where exposure to the
idea and the responses occurs simultaneously.
Possible Solution:
• Combining streaming video with a live wiki that
advances at key points in a timeline
• (Microsoft Producer + MediaWiki Wiki)
Possible Solution:
• Combining streaming video with a live blog that
advances at key points in a timeline
• (Microsoft Producer + Blogger.com Blog)
•
The actual blog sits at:
• Click.TV has created a Flash-based model and will
release an ad-supported service in June
Can we
do this for audio, too?
Turning
podcasts and “coursecasts” interactive.
What is “podcasting”?
• “Podcasting” is the act of producing a podcast
– Listening to a podcast isn’t “podcasting”
• Remember,
listening to a radio or television broadcast isn’t “broadcasting”
• “Podcasters” are those who make podcasts, not
those who listen to podcasts
What is “a podcast”?
• “A podcast is a web feed of audio or video files
placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to.”
• “The subscription feed of automatically delivered new
content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time
streaming.”
• “Internet talk-radio”
• Regularly
created
– Daily, Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly
• MP3 + RSS 2.0 feed with enclosure tag
– A link to an MP3 audio file that’s sitting on a web
site is not a podcast
– A RealPlayer audio file is not a podcast
• What’s an RSS feed?
– RSS is an HTML-like format, for computers
What is “coursecasting”?
• “Putting audio of a lecture online”
• Might be done as a podcast, or maybe not.
• So, many professed “podcast” desires might be
fulfilled with a simple audio file uploaded to a web server
– Students could manually download and save MP3s onto a
portable MP3 player
How to get started ‘Casting
Publishing
• OurMedia + Blogger + FeedBurner
– OurMedia: Host the Creative Commons MP3
– Blogger: Provide the (Atom) feed
– FeedBurner: Clean up the RSS feed
• …and faculty or students or staff might be doing this
already!
From one-way to two-way
• So far, we’ve been talking about faculty publishing
their materials out to students
• Is there more?
YES!
Audio Collaboration!
• Phone in to podcasts?
– Like “community voicemail” but more convenient
– An advantage to students who don’t want to raise their
hands in class, but don’t feel confident expressing themselves in writing (e.g.
in a discussion board)
• (AudioBlogger + Blogger + E-Mail)
Audio Collaboration!
• MIT has announced “RadioActive”:
•
“The RadioActive project defines a
large-scale asynchronous audio messaging system, or mobile audio forum. In this
system, voice messages are exchanged between groups of users via mobile
devices, like cell phones or PDAs, as a method of ‘discussion-on-demand.’ The
messages are then collected in threads similar to how a common Internet
discussion forum… and can range the spectrum from quick blurbs to full-length
podcasts.”