Free Images and Online Presentation Ideas... in Education Today

Some interesting blog posts I discovered recently about free images and creative online presentation ideas...

Female User Icon / http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/10678 / CC0 1.0

Free People Icons for E-Learning
http://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/free-people-icons-e-learning/
July 7, 2015
Tom Kuhlmann
http://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/about-tom/

Tom Kuhlmann shares how to access free people icons from a variety of sources. But he does more... he also shares examples of how he has used such icons in his work... and he provides instructions about how to properly attribute the icons. Nicely done!

American Flag / Sharon & Nikki McCutcheon / CC BY 2.0

Over 60 Free Stock Images
http://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/60-free-stock-images/
July 14, 2015
Tom Kuhlmann
http://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/about-tom/

Tom Kuhlmann (again) shares how to access free images for use in our work. This time he also tells how to edit these images.

Presentations / Peter Morville / CC BY 2.0

10 Creative Online Presentation Ideas for eLearning Professionals
http://elearningindustry.com/10-creative-online-presentation-ideas-elearning-professionals
June 18, 2015
Christopher Pappas
http://elearningindustry.com/elearning-authors/christopher-pappas

Pappas share presentation ideas that will engage your audience. He does not simply list tools for creating presentations, but rather he gives advice about how best to engage your learners with those presentations. His blog post is a hub from which you can access many good ideas. This article is a must read for anyone who wants to improve his/her online presentation skills.

Passwords, Online Sources, Mathematics, and Art... in Education Today

Catching up on some of my favorite blogs. Again. Some posts caught my interest... and may catch yours, too.

Locked Out / Brett Jordan / CC BY 2.0

Vicki Davis
Cool Cat Teacher
10 Things Everyone Should Know about Passwords
http://www.coolcatteacher.com/10-things-everyone-know-passwords/
As always, Vicki provides a practical approach to and good suggestions for her topic--this time--passwords.

Citation Needed / Future Atlas / CC BY 2.0

Mia MacMeekin
An Ethical Island
How Do You Choose Good Online Sources?
https://anethicalisland.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/how-do-you-choose-good-online-sources/
Mia uses an infographic to illustrate her response to students who ask how to choose good sources to cite.

Math / Dylan Ng / CC BY 2.0

Helge Scherlund
Helge Scherlund's Elearning News
New Math Needed to Explore New Networks
http://scherlund.blogspot.com/2015/03/new-math-needed-to-explore-new-networks.html
Helge shares ideas about the mathematics that helps us find answers about large networks or databases.

Statisticians Listen and Give a Voice to Data
http://scherlund.blogspot.com/2015/03/statisticians-listen-and-give-voice-to.html
Helge introduces us to a statistician and his approach to helping students learn to use statistics.

My Cats painted by Dvorit Ben Shaul / Ze'ev Barkan / CC BY 2.0

Robin Pogrebin
The New York Times
Not Digital Art, but Art Learned Digitally
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/education/not-digital-art-but-art-learned-digitally.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0
Robin writes about an art teacher who offers drawing and painting classes online.

Preparing to Teach an Online Course? Check Off Your Tasks!

This week (February 2, 2014) I am sharing several useful ideas and resources that I discovered through my PLN. The topics are:

• free photos you can use
• using color appropriately on a website
• facilitating online courses and
• an introductory video for mobile learning.

Each of the four topics is in an individual post.

• 
  

During the First Week of Class:

• Pedagogical – Create an ice breaker activity related to a key course objective or concept.
• Managerial – Contact missing students to encourage their participation.
• Technical – Assist students with login/access difficulties.
• Social – Provide a personal and welcoming introduction to develop a personal presence.

- See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/#sthash.i4XrNeHn.dpuf

• 
  

During the First Week of Class:

• Pedagogical – Create an ice breaker activity related to a key course objective or concept.
• Managerial – Contact missing students to encourage their participation.
• Technical – Assist students with login/access difficulties.
• Social – Provide a personal and welcoming introduction to develop a personal presence.

- See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/#sthash.i4XrNeHn.dpuf

• 
  

During the First Week of Class:

• Pedagogical – Create an ice breaker activity related to a key course objective or concept.
• Managerial – Contact missing students to encourage their participation.
• Technical – Assist students with login/access difficulties.
• Social – Provide a personal and welcoming introduction to develop a personal presence.

- See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/#sthash.i4XrNeHn.dpuf

• 
  

During the First Week of Class:

• Pedagogical – Create an ice breaker activity related to a key course objective or concept.
• Managerial – Contact missing students to encourage their participation.
• Technical – Assist students with login/access difficulties.
• Social – Provide a personal and welcoming introduction to develop a personal presence.

- See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/#sthash.i4XrNeHn.dpuf

• 
  

During the First Week of Class:

• Pedagogical – Create an ice breaker activity related to a key course objective or concept.
• Managerial – Contact missing students to encourage their participation.
• Technical – Assist students with login/access difficulties.
• Social – Provide a personal and welcoming introduction to develop a personal presence.

- See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/#sthash.i4XrNeHn.dpuf

 

Emma Doing Homework... / Extra Ketchup / CC BY-SA 2.0

A Checklist for Facilitating Online Courses
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/

Teaching online is just like teaching face-to-face said no teacher ever. This article looks at the main roles of online teachers. These roles are listed as:

• pedagogical,
• managerial,
• social, and
• technical.

Some of the tasks for each of the roles are listed based on when they should occur throughout the course. For example, during the first week of class instructors are encouraged to:

• create ice breaker activities,
• contact missing students and encourage them to participate,
• help students having difficulty logging in, and
• provide a welcoming introduction.

The checklist in this article would be a good addition to the ideas for tweaking an online course at http://teachinginadigitalworld.blogspot.com/2014/01/tweaking-online-course.html.

• 
  

During the First Week of Class:

• Pedagogical – Create an ice breaker activity related to a key course objective or concept.
• Managerial – Contact missing students to encourage their participation.
• Technical – Assist students with login/access difficulties.
• Social – Provide a personal and welcoming introduction to develop a personal presence.

- See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/#sthash.i4XrNeHn.dpuf

During the First Week of Class:

• Pedagogical – Create an ice breaker activity related to a key course objective or concept.
• Managerial – Contact missing students to encourage their participation.
• Technical – Assist students with login/access difficulties.
• Social – Provide a personal and welcoming introduction to develop a personal presence.

- See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/#sthash.i4XrNeHn.dpuf

During the First Week of Class:

• Pedagogical – Create an ice breaker activity related to a key course objective or concept.
• Managerial – Contact missing students to encourage their participation.
• Technical – Assist students with login/access difficulties.
• Social – Provide a personal and welcoming introduction to develop a personal presence.

- See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/a-checklist-for-facilitating-online-courses/#sthash.i4XrNeHn.dpuf

Tweaking an Online Course

I’m tweaking the online course I’ll be teaching in March and April. (Courses can always be improved!) The student evaluations from the last time I taught this course will provide some suggestions. So will my own reflections about the class. But, I want to reach out a bit for ideas that neither my former students nor I may have considered. I have been curating ideas about blended and online courses at Scoop.it! (http://www.scoop.it/t/blended-learning-and-online-learning). This evening I reviewed some ideas from three of the articles that I posted at Scoop.it!

Planning Your Online Course / Giulia Forsythe / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

10 Tips for Effective eLearning (http://www.edudemic.com/elearning-tips/)
by Katie Lepi (http://www.edudemic.com/author/katie/)
at Edudemic (http://www.edudemic.com/)

1. Katie Lepi recommends that the course have a great beginning. I will review my class’s beginning. Does it hook the students? Will they be interested?
2. State the objectives. I think that should probably be more than just providing a syllabus for the students!
3. Address learning styles. I do that in my face-to-face classes. I need to remember to do it in online classes, too.
4. Be sure the students can find their way around the course. Provide good instructions for them. Of course I think my instructions are clear… but I will read them again to be sure that the students will agree.
5. Use a conversational style. That one’s easy!
6. Assessments should be relevant rather than just academic. I think they are; but, I do need to be sure I get that message across to the students.
7. Format the content so that the message is clear.
8. Approximately every third page should be interactive rather than every page. That’s interesting… and surprising.
9. The class learning process should flow as it does in a face-to-face classroom. I think it does, but I will examine the course again to check.
10. “Organize related content together on one screen, keeping the learner’s attention focused on one topic at a time.” That’s certainly logical. I will examine the course to determine if I have done that.

Lepi has certainly listed some good ideas to help the class learn well. I will examine the course with these ideas in mind this week.


5 Best Practices in Online Learning (http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/01/10/practices-online-learning-407/?)
by Meris Stansbury (http://www.eschoolnews.com/author/mstansbury/)
at eSchool News (http://www.eschoolnews.com/)

1. Provide “immediate and specific feedback” to the students
2. Be sure there is support for struggling students
3. Instructors should be trained to teach online… and should keep learning
4. The curriculum should be engaging with content delivered in a variety of ways
5. Provide the students with training to take an online course

Stansbury is describing a district’s responsibilities here. However, as an instructor, I can include these ideas in my implementation of the course.


Make 2014 Your Year: 24 Stats & Tips to Boost Your eLearning Strategy (http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/bid/330033/Make-2014-Your-Year-24-Stats-Tips-to-Boost-Your-eLearning-Strategy)
by Karla Gutierrex (http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/?Author=Karla+Gutierrez)
at SHIFT’s eLearning Blog (http://shiftelearning.com/)

• Many factors play a role in the success of an online course

          a. the background and experiences the students bring
          b. the graphics, fonts, and words you use to create the course
          c. what the instructor expects from the students

• Tell stories that pull in the students
• Emphasize activity
• Content chunks should last about 7-10 minutes
• Focus on the students’ needs and interests, not yours
• Use relevant graphics, not filler images
• Be sure students understand that practice does makes perfect
• Use good design to help students learn, not to distract them
• Help the students understand how the course will facilitate their solving of problems
• The course should be easy for students to navigate
• Make the content something that students will want to remember

“According to Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the book Made to Stick, for content to stick, it has to make people: Pay attention (to something unexpected), understand and remember it (because it’s concrete), believe in it (because it’s a credible idea), truly care about it (or make an emotional connection with it) and be able to act on it (by telling it as a story.)”

• Make the content easy to read

          a. highlight keywords
          b. use headings
          c. write concisely
          d. use lists and bullets

• Design for usefulness, usability, and desirability
• Simplicity in design makes a course easier to navigate and faster to load
• Keep the students’ attention with humor and visual aids
• Design courses that allow the students to explore and try ideas
• Color affects our reactions and our learning… use color
• Allow the students to work through the course without your directing every step
• Write conversationally
• Use an attractive design
• Connect with the students’ emotions
• Provide small chunks of learning content rather than large containers of information
• Keep the course student-centered
• Design to motivate the students I will review my course with these ideas in mind. I already do some of these, but I’m sure that an additional look will reveal some areas that should be re-worked.

I’m going to be busy!

Creating Online Slideshows and Videos

I'm experimenting with web-based slideshows and videos. I have tried a number of applications. Some permit you to use your own photos and/or video clips... others are self-contained. Some are like cartoons. Playing with these applications has been fun rather than work, though.

I eliminated applications that provide demos which include words I would not use in front of my students. The availability of a free account was also a necessity. That doesn't mean that a whole classroom can use the application with no cost. Each application must be evaluated as to usefulness and cost for a particular teacher or classroom or school.

Many applications allow the video that you create to be shared with a link or with embedded code. I have posted some of each (links and embedded code) on this blog post as examples.

The applications I tried came from a combination of suggestions from Richard Byrne's blog (http://www.freetech4teachers.com/) and my bookmarks on Delicious.

I still like videoediting with stand-alone applications (e.g., iMovie and MovieMaker), but I think there is definitely a role that these web-based applications can play in the classroom for both the teacher and the students.

What do you think? What has been your experience?


Photo Peach - Link
http://photopeach.com/album/p0t0wg

Photo Peach - Embedded Story
Spring 2013 in Lake Township on PhotoPeach

Photo Peach - Embedded Spiral
Spring 2013 in Lake Township on PhotoPeach

Animoto - Embed Code

Make your own slide show at Animoto.

ScreenCastle - Link     (Note: You can also use Screenr (http://screenr.com) for something like this.)
http://screencastle.com/watch/4a655e86fd58d2a62c1b95c677b20775

Go!Animate - Link
http://goanimate.com/go/movie/0AgKlLFIcPmg?utm_source=emailshare&uid=


Links in this post...

• Richard Byrne's blog (http://www.freetech4teachers.com/)
• Delicious (http://delicious.com)
• iMovie (http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/)
• MovieMaker (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-live/movie-maker-get-started)
• Photo Peach (http://photopeach.com/)
• Animoto (http://animoto.com)
• ScreenCastle (http://screencastle.com/)
• Screenr (http://screenr.com)
• Go!Animate (http://goanimate.com/)