If you build it, they will come.

If you build it, they will come.  Before the red ribbon could drop to the floor, a group of students signed up to use the new green screen room to complete a class video project.

TILT (formerly Instructional Support and Development), a division of the Learning and Technology Resources (LTR) Division unveiled its new active learning space with a ribbon cutting ceremony on March 26, 2014.

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The area features a multimedia creative studio complete with green screen capabilities.  There are also three media scape stations for small group collaboration.  In addition, the new space includes a broadcast booth equipped with computers and  a microphone that can be used for lecture capturing and pod-casts.

The only equipment that was set up in the green room was a computer, a camera on a tripod and some lights.  We later discovered that they are the wrong type of lights but that didn’t stop the students from wanting to use the space, like NOW!

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After making sure the camera was settings were correct and that the external microphone was working, the students set up a table in front of the green wall and began filming.  Reminding me that they are digital natives and that they don’t need a lot of equipment to produce a 3 minute video.

We have big plans for the space.  Professional sound panels for the wall.  A teleprompter of some sort. “We could have really used one of those, “one of the students chimed in.  And finally, lights for videotaping.

As it was, the Photography department came to  the rescue and swapped out the strobe lights for professional, LAD lighting right in the middle of the production.  The students didn’t mind the interruption. They were overly excited just to have a space to create.  And that’s just why we built it.

 

 

The iTunes U App

 

iTunes U

iTunes U app

As a professor, have you ever considered sharing your lectures worldwide? Or as a student, have you ever wanted to take a class at Yale or Stanford but unfortunately, you were not accepted at these universities? There is an app that you will let you do just that. It’s called iTunes U.

What do you get from the iTunes U app:
*Access to courses from more than 1000 colleges and universities around the world, including Yale, Stanford, MIT, and Oxford.
* Access to the world’s largest digital catalog of free education content.
*You can create and distribute your own courses and distribute them on iTunes.
* Used on your iPad or iPhone
Cost: Unlike the 99 cent charge for songs on iTunes, iTunes U is free.
I’m am very excited about the iTunes U app. I have already downloaded a course from the National Theater on play writing. I can’t wait to learn from the leading playwrights who are participating in this course.

For more information, check out these websites:

https://www.apple.com/education/ipad/itunes-u/

https://diyscholar.wordpress.com/guide-to-itunesu/

 

2014 Year in Review- Tech Tools of the Year

Even though I’ve only been here at NOVA for 4th months, I have learned so  many new  tech tools and I have been to so many awesome tech events. I am glad to be working with an wonderful team of Tech Educators who are excited about what they do. We decided to take this time to reflect back on our favorite tech event, tech conference, tech tool  and app.

We have presented at many Technology events  off and on campus. It was really hard to narrow it down to only one.  But I choose the IGNITE event held on the Annandale campus in October as my top Technology event.  At the IGNITE event, presenters were only given 5 minutes to speak about a topic that they were passionate about.  I was tuned into several of the presentations because it was like watching a newscast. You got the who, what, when, and why about a subject in 5 minutes. I learned a lot in a short period of time.

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My choice for the top Technology Conference is  the VSTE conference in Virginia, Beach. I chose  VSTE because we had a large turnout for our presentation. Over 50 people came to hear us present several Educational apps and they all walked away from the workshop excited about what they have learned. Several said they plan  to go back to their schools and use the tools that they learned. Talk about feeling good about my job!  And even though it was too cold outside to  walk along the shore, I still love going to the beach any time of the year.

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My choice for the top Technology tool is iMovie.  I have been using iMovie for several years now, but last month, I used the iMovie app for the ” Cellular Phone” movie contest as part of International Education Week. I worked with 4 students who had never created  a movie and who had never used iMovie.  They were so amazed at what they could create with their cell phones and with technology. I hope they will use iMove for other class presentations.

imovie

My choice for the top app of the year goes to Tellagami.  A Tellagami is app that let’s you create animated characters and movies.  The IS&D team has used “gamies”  in how to videos and presentations.  Everybody gets excited about Tellagami because it is fun and easy to create.

tellagami

Those are my top choices for 2014.  Be sure to check back after the break for the latest  Educational Technology information. Happy holiday!

 

 

 

 

 

Create Something with Code!

Just don’t consume things. Create things.”

President Obama

The buzzword this week is “Coding”. What exactly is coding? Coding is used to create apps, computer games, and websites. Does it sound too complicated? It doesn’t have to be. It actually can be a lot of fun and children as young as five can learn how to code with easy to learn coding apps and web tools.

In celebration of Computer Education Week, December 8-14, an organization called, Hour of Code, is challenging everyone to spend just one hour learning how to create something with code. This event was kicked off at the White house, where a group of middle students from Newark, NJ showed President Obama how to code.

obama coding

Ready to get started? Visit the Hour of code website to try your hand at coding. They offer a lot of free tutorials and resources to get you started.

http://hourofcode.com/us

Here are other fun web tools that you can use to create apps and games:

MITT App Inventor for Androids

http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/

Platform: Web

Cost: Free

Allows you to design and program apps for your Android devices.

*Note: You will need to download the App Inventor Companion App to run your game on.

appinventorstudent makeanapp

NOVA students participating in Take a Break. Make an App using MITT App Inventor 

Scratch

http://scratch.mit.edu

 scratch

Platform: Web

Cost: Free!

Scratch is one of the first programming languages created. Students use a visual programming language made up of bricks to design games and activities.

Tynker

tynker

http://www.tynker.com

Platform: Web

Cost: Free!

Similar to Scratch but was built to teach programming for kids. This app features lesson plans and other tools to teach your students how to code.

 

 

 

 

 

Broadcasting in Higher Ed

Recently, the team and I presented at a Technology conference at James Madison University. In between our own workshops, we had the opportunity to attend other presentations. There was one that really caught my attention. Actually, I was downright giddy with excitement when I read the description of the workshop called, The MADLab: The Media Mind Space. Turns out, the MADLab is a maker space where students and faculty can come learn how to create professional videos or other multimedia projects for class. Bingo!  That is just what we want to create here at NOVA.

In a report called, The Impact of Broadcast and Streaming Video on Education, researchers pointed out that, “learners are more motivated to interact with educational content when the content uses narrative storytelling, uses some degree of personalization, or offers some degree of control over how the content is accessed. Moreover, when students are given the opportunity to create digital material for classroom use, the feeling of empowerment, ownership, and sense of purpose is much higher. This in turns enhances the students’ motivation toward a particular subject and also contributes to the development of additional skills such as innovation, creativity, leadership, social interaction, and project management.”

I experienced this first hand here at NOVA while working with students on a recent video project. Students used their iPhone or iPad to create a PSA for class. This was the first time that they had used their smart technology to create a short video.  Each of them walked away with a sense of pride at what they accomplished.

I look forward to helping many more students unlock their creativity and sense of accomplishment with producing multimedia projects.

Stay tuned for updates on the NOVA video production studio.

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Image: MADlab at JMU

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Image:Video Production Studio in Rose Library at JMU

Reference: http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/education/ciscovideowp.pdf

 

 

 

Hello NOVA!

 

Hello NOVA!

I am so excited to be a part of the Alexandria Campus Team.  I wanted to share a little bit of my background:

I have been teaching  Technology Education and Integration for 13 years in Prince Georges County, Maryland and Washington, DC.  Prior to teaching, I  worked as an Associate Producer at CNN’s Washington Bureau, where I worked on the weekend talk shows, including “Both Sides with Jesse Jackson.” I have been able to integrate my production skills into my career as an Instructional Technologist by developing student operated television studios where  students learned how to gather news, write scripts and broadcast the morning announcements. I am a  professed “news junkie” . When I’m not  watching TV-news, I am creating beautiful cards and scrapbook layouts in my craft studio.  I look  forward to sharing my production skills with the NOVA Community.

Thank you all for the warm welcome.

newsjunkie

Patricia (not Pat) Cooper