Classroom Technologies

Nitin Parmar from the e-Learning team is a Steering Group member of the ESTICT Special Interest Group (SIG), which hosted at event at the University of Bath in November 2010. The full conference report from this event can be found at http://drgn.in/hWrWyP.

Instead of hosting another ESTICT event this autumn, the SIG has joined together with the 1st Turning Technologies European User Conference which is taking place in October 2011 at the University of Surrey.

Further details on the conference, and details on how to submit a proposal can be found at http://drgn.in/p5icxh.

Mark your calendars! You’re invited to be a part of Turning Technologies’ first European user conference.

This promises to be a memorable and informative event. As a conference attendee, you will have access to an abundance of knowledge and resources revolving around the use of interactive response systems and their applications in education. Share your best practices and learn how other educators use response technology. Registration and additional conference information to follow.

Save the Date

What: Turning Technologies User Conference – Co-hosted by Surrey University
When: 27 October, 2011
Where: Wates House – University of Surrey – Guildford
Cost: £50

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics; Harvard University, Author of Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual

Dr. Mazur’s Peer Instruction teaching method has a large international following, and has had a positive impact on teaching and learning across many disciplines. He is author or co-author of over 200 publications and 12 patents, and helped produce the award-winning DVD Interactive Teaching.

We are looking for individuals interested in becoming breakout session presenters. Share your best practices and insights regarding Turning Technologies’ response technology.

With the beginning of the new semester not too far away, the e-Learning team have been spending some time updating parts of the Classroom Technologies website. As such there are a few new resources and guides to point out.

The staff of the CU Science Education Initiative and the UBC Carl Wieman SEI have produced an excellent lecturer focused guide to the Effective Use of Personal Response Systems (Clickers) in Teaching.

According to their Clicker resources website, the guide “was written to help instructors use clickers in their classes in the most comfortable and pedagogically effective manner. It includes a section on frequently asked questions about the use of clickers and clicker questions and several good examples of clicker questions.”

For those colleagues wishing to installed the latest version of TurningPoint 2008 for Windows, version 4.3.2.1178, is now available from http://www.bath.ac.uk/lmf/download/46367. This new version contains some new functionality, such as the very useful collapsing toolbar (in presentation mode) as well as a range of bug fixes.

This software can either be installed by your IT Supporter on Active Directory PCs, or by you on personal laptops.  Don’t forget that Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, 2007 or 2010 must already be installed prior to installing TurningPoint 2008.

A number of TurningPoint 2008 specific documents have been added to the Resources section of this website too. In summary, the following new and updated resources are available as PDFs:

• TurningPoint 2008 User Guide [Office 2003, Office 2007/2010]
• TurningPoint 2008 Quick Start Guide
• 8 Steps for TurningPoint 2008
• New Users in TurningPoint 2008
• Additional Topics in TurningPoint 2008

A range of How To Videos are also available from the Turning Technologies website. These include screencasts giving details on how to insert slides into your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, to more advance features such as setting correct answers (and indicators), inserting countdown timers, as well as how to track participant demographics.  And don’t forget the Learning Technologies FAQ database which now hosts over 70 of our most popular Frequently Asked Questions.

Should there be anything else, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the e-Learning team on 01225 384 392 or via email at e-learning@bath.ac.uk.

One of the real pleasures of my role as a Learning Technologist at the University of Bath is that I sometimes get to go along to undergraduate lectures. Usually, I am there to support the use of the Audience Response System (ARS), though I also take it as an opportunity to observe and later reflect on others’ teaching practice.

Generally speaking, I am happy to support a lecturer’s first use of the ARS to support their teaching, though on occasion, will go along to their teaching sessions on several occasions if there is a specific issue or item that needs resolving.

In one particular case, I was invited by Hedley Bashforth, a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Social & Policy Sciences, to a SP10001 Social policy, welfare and the state lecture. The title of this weeks lecture was Social citizenship and the postwar welfare settlement and students were due to use the ARS.

Hedley has used the hardware on several occasions previously, given that a few weeks had passed since his last use (and there had been a Active Directory profile issue with the TurningPoint 2008 software), he wanted me to be around in the background, just in case I was needed.

In 2005, the British Government launched a citizenship test for foreigners who wanted to become British.The idea was that if  “you want the passport, then you’ll have to read Life in the UK, a special book, and sit a 45-minute test on society, history and culture.” (BBC News, 16 June 2005).

Following the short presentation of a video which outlined the issues that accompanied Windrush, the students were given an outline of the citizenship test, and told that they would be answering 18 sample questions using their clickers over the coming minutes. The idea was that after each question, Hedley would give some feedback, as illustrated in the photo below.

One of the key drivers for the use of the ARS was to further engage the students in their learning, and to enable them to become more actively involved in their learning.

As a formative exercise, and with the ARS being using in an anonymous form, the students could give answers in a risk free manner, knowing that their responses were not being individually logged.  It was also clear that the students enjoyed this particular exercise, with the activity creating a stimulus for discussion and debate, which Hedley facilitated.

If this is a type of exercise that you would like to repeat or adapt for your own context, and within your own learning and teaching related activities, please do get in touch either on 01225 384 392 or via email at e-learning@bath.ac.uk.

Oh – and for the record – I got three answers incorrect. Must try harder! ;-)

On Wednesday 9 February 2011, 2.00pm – 3.30pm, the e-Learning team will be hosting another TurningPoint 2008 Masterclass. For both new and experienced users of the system, the seminar will encourage colleagues to focus and reflect on their own current practice with using the Electronic Voting System (EVS), before examining case studies of use at both the University of Bath and further afield.

Later on – Paul Jenner, a TurningPoint Account Manager at Reivo Ltd. and an experienced user and trainer of TurningPoint 2008 software, will guide participants through its more advanced features. This with the aim of allowing current practitioners to get more out of existing software.

For further information, and for details on how to book a place for the seminar, please head along to: http://go.bath.ac.uk/turningpoint2008masterclass

I am pleased to inform users of TurningPoint 2008 for PC, that a new version – 4.2.4.1012 – is now available for download at http://www.bath.ac.uk/lmf/download/46367.

This new version is available on all PCs in GTA spaces. For staff using campus PCs on Active Directory, this upgrade should be rolled out by IT Supporters soon if it has not been done so already.

As well as contained a range of bug fixes, the new version integrates with TurningPoint’s new PresenterWare application.

PresenterWare offers remote control of polling functionality within TurningPoint 2008 and TurningPoint AnyWhere from iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices.

To find out more, along with details on how to get it installed on your device, head along to the TurningTechnologies website at: http://drgn.in/ham4JJ

To find out more about the ARS, including PresenterWare, please do get in touch with me either on 01225 384 392 or via email at e-learning@bath.ac.uk.

For those colleagues who use the Audience Response System (ARS), a range of How To Videos are available from the Turning Technologies website.

These include screencasts giving details on how to insert slides into your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, to more advance features such as setting correct answers (and indicators), inserting countdown timers, as well as how to track participant demographics.

Similar to the approach taken above, the Panopto Support website hosts a range of How To Videos, which includes screencasts giving an overview of what the Panopto Recorder does to giving advice on more in depth tasks such as basic editing of your recordings.

Further support resources are also available in the Resources section of this website. And don’t forget the Learning Technologies FAQ database which now hosts over 70 of our most popular Frequently Asked Questions.

Should there be anything else, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at e-learning@bath.ac.uk.

Last Wednesday, over forty colleagues from a number of different institutions across the HE and FE sectors attended  the third ESTICT (”Engaging Students Through In-Class Technologies”) event at the University of Bath.

The event was opened by Nashville-based Dr. Derek Bruff, author of Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments (Jossey-Bass, 2009), who presented a sparkling virtual keynote on the role of Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) within learning and teaching, before moving onto the role of the backchannel in the classroom.

Despite not being at the event physically, Derek’s keynote was incredibly well received with delegates engaged by the insightful and inspiration nature of the talk. The backchannel that Derek’s touched on during his talk was also utilised by those present, who interacted with both Google Moderator and the #estict Twitter tag with good effect.

Following this, four practitioner-led short presentations showcased a range of pedagogical applications of technologies, which colleagues keen to focus on enhancing the student learning experience through the use of such applications and tools.

The afternoon ESTICT Technology Fair provided delegates the opportunity to get hands-on with a variety of technologies that could be used in the classroom, such as digital pens (Livescribe and Papershow), a Sympodium tablet, visualisers, Flipcams, iPads and TurningPoint EVS, with the accompanying brochure proving to be especially useful.

A number of post-event delegate reflections have appeared on the blogs of presenters and delegates, as listed below.

• Derek Bruff, Vanderbilt University [blog post]
• Kate Reader, City University London [blog posts: part 1, part 2]
• Roger Gardner, University of Bristol [blog post]
• Zak Mensah, JISC Digital Media [blog post]
• Janice Kiugu, Roehampton University [blog post]
• Derek Morrison, Higher Education Academy [blog post]

The full range of resources from the event, including presentation recordings and slides, along with handouts and downloaded, are now available so do head along to the ESTICT @ Bath resources wiki at: http://go.bath.ac.uk/estictbath

To join the ESTICT Online Community, do head along to http://estict.ning.com.

ESTICT @ Bath was sponsored by Reivo Ltd., the exclusive distributors of TurningPoint in the UK.