Presentation 1: Inspiring Faculty (+ Students) with Tales of Immersive Tech (Practitioner Presentation #106)
Authors: Nicholas Smerker
Immersive technologies – 360º video, virtual and augmented realities – are being discussed in many corners of higher education. For an instructor who is familiar with the terms, at least in passing, learning more about why they and their students should care can be challenging, at best. In order to create a font of inspiration, the IMEX Lab team within Teaching and Learning with Technology at Penn State devised its Get Inspired web resource. Building on a similar repository for making technology stories at the sister Maker Commons website, the IMEX Lab Get Inspired landing page invites faculty to discover real world examples of how cutting edge XR tools are being used every day. In addition to very approachable video content and a short summary calling out why our team chose the story, there are also instructional designer-developed Assignment Ideas that allow for quick deployment of exercises related to – though not always relying upon – the technologies highlighted in a given Get Inspired story.
Presentation 2: Lessons Learned from Over A Decade of Designing and Teaching Immersive VR in Higher Education Online Courses (Practitioner Presentation #101)
Authors: Eileen Oconnor
This presentation overviews the design and instruction in immersive virtual reality environments created by the author beginning with Second Life and progressing to open source venues. It will highlight the diversity of VR environment developed, the challenges that were overcome, and the accomplishment of students who created their own VR environments for K12, college and corporate settings. The instruction and design materials created to enable this 100% online master’s program accomplishment will be shared; an institute launched in 2018 for emerging technology study will be noted.
Presentation 3: Virtual Reality Student Teaching Experience: A Live, Remote Option for Learning Teaching Skills During Campus Closure and Social Distancing (Practitioner Presentation #110)
Summary: During the Coronavirus pandemic, Ithaca College teacher education majors needed a classroom of students in order to practice teaching and receive feedback, but the campus was closed, and gatherings forbidden. Students were unable to participate in live practice teaching required for their program. We developed a virtual reality pilot project to allow students to experiment in two third-party social VR programs, AltSpaceVR and Rumii. Social VR platforms allow a live, embodied experience that mimics in-person events to give students a more realistic, robust and synchronous teaching practice opportunity. We documented the process and lessons learned to inform, develop and scale next generation efforts.
Sunday, June 21 • 8:00am – 9:00am Escape the (Class)room games in OpenSim or Second Life FULLhttps://ilrn2020.sched.com/event/ceKP/escape-the-classroom-games-in-opensim-or-second-lifePre-registration for this tour is required as places are limited. Joining instructions will be emailed to registrants ahead of the scheduled tour time.The Guided Virtual Adventure tour will take you to EduNation in Second Life to experience an Escape room game. For one hour, a group of participants engage in voice communication and try to solve puzzles, riddles or conundrums and follow clues to eventually escape the space. These scenarios are designed for problem solving and negotiating language and are ideal for language education. They are fun and exciting and the clock ticking adds to game play.Tour guide(s)/leader(s): Philp Heike, let’s talk online sprl, Belgium
Presentation 1: Evaluating the impact of multimodal Collaborative Virtual Environments on user’s spatial knowledge and experience of gamified educational tasks (Full Paper #91)
Authors: Ioannis Doumanis and Daphne Economou
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Several research projects in spatial cognition have suggested Virtual Environments (VEs) as an effective way of facilitating mental map development of a physical space. In the study reported in this paper, we evaluated the effectiveness of multimodal real-time interaction in distilling understanding of the VE after completing gamified educational tasks. We also measure the impact of these design elements on the user’s experience of educational tasks. The VE used reassembles an art gallery and it was built using REVERIE (Real and Virtual Engagement In Realistic Immersive Environment) a framework designed to enable multimodal communication on the Web. We compared the impact of REVERIE VG with an educational platform called Edu-Simulation for the same gamified educational tasks. We found that the multimodal VE had no impact on the ability of students to retain a mental model of the virtual space. However, we also found that students thought that it was easier to build a mental map of the virtual space in REVERIE VG. This means that using a multimodal CVE in a gamified educational experience does not benefit spatial performance, but also it does not cause distraction. The paper ends with future work and conclusions and suggestions for improving mental map construction and user experience in multimodal CVEs.
Presentation 2: A case study on student’s perception of the virtual game supported collaborative learning (Full Paper #42)
Authors: Xiuli Huang, Juhou He and Hongyan Wang
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The English education course in China aims to help students establish the English skills to enhance their international competitiveness. However, in traditional English classes, students often lack the linguistic environment to apply the English skills they learned in their textbook. Virtual reality (VR) technology can set up an immersive English language environment and then promote the learners to use English by presenting different collaborative communication tasks. In this paper, spherical video-based virtual reality technology was applied to build a linguistic environment and a collaborative learning strategy was adopted to promote their communication. Additionally, a mixed-methods research approach was used to analyze students’ achievement between a traditional classroom and a virtual reality supported collaborative classroom and their perception towards the two approaches. The experimental results revealed that the virtual reality supported collaborative classroom was able to enhance the students’ achievement. Moreover, by analyzing the interview, students’ attitudes towards the virtual reality supported collaborative class were reported and the use of language learning strategies in virtual reality supported collaborative class was represented. These findings could be valuable references for those who intend to create opportunities for students to collaborate and communicate in the target language in their classroom and then improve their language skills
Presentation 1: Reducing Cognitive Load through the Worked Example Effect within a Serious Game Environment (Full Paper #19)
Authors: Bernadette Spieler, Naomi Pfaff and Wolfgang Slany
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Novices often struggle to represent problems mentally; the unfamiliar process can exhaust their cognitive resources, creating frustration that deters them from learning. By improving novices’ mental representation of problems, worked examples improve both problem-solving skills and transfer performance. Programming requires both skills. In programming, it is not sufficient to simply understand how Stackoverflow examples work; programmers have to be able to adapt the principles and apply them to their own programs. This paper shows evidence in support of the theory that worked examples are the most efficient mode of instruction for novices. In the present study, 42 students were asked to solve the tutorial The Magic Word, a game especially for girls created with the Catrobat programming environment. While the experimental group was presented with a series of worked examples of code, the control groups were instructed through theoretical text examples. The final task was a transfer question. While the average score was not significantly better in the worked example condition, the fact that participants in this experimental group finished significantly faster than the control group suggests that their overall performance was better than that of their counterparts.
Presentation 2: A literature review of e-government services with gamification elements (Full Paper #56)
Authors: Ruth S. Contreras-Espinosa and Alejandro Blanco-M
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Nowadays several democracies are facing the growing problem of a breach in communication between its citizens and their political representatives, resulting in low citizen’s engagement in the participation of political decision making and on public consultations. Therefore, it is fundamental to generate a constructive relationship between both public administration and the citizens by solving its needs. This document contains a useful literature review of the gamification topic and e-government services. The documents contain a background of those concepts and conduct a selection and analysis of the different applications found. A set of three lines of research gaps are found with a potential impact on future studies.
Presentation 1: Connecting User Experience to Learning in an Evaluation of an Immersive, Interactive, Multimodal Augmented Reality Virtual Diorama in a Natural History Museum & the Importance of Story (Full Paper #51)
Authors: Maria Harrington
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Reported are the findings of user experience and learning outcomes from a July 2019 study of an immersive, interactive, multimodal augmented reality (AR) application, used in the context of a museum. The AR Perpetual Garden App is unique in creating an immersive multisensory experience of data. It allowed scientifically naïve visitors to walk into a virtual diorama constructed as a data visualization of a springtime woodland understory, and interact with multimodal information directly through their senses. The user interface comprised of two different AR data visualization scenarios reinforced with data based ambient bioacoustics, an audio story of the curator’s narrative, and interactive access to plant facts. While actual learning and dwell times were the same between the AR app and the control condition, the AR experience received higher ratings on perceived learning. The AR interface design features of “Story” and “Plant Info” showed significant correlations with actual learning outcomes, while “Ease of Use” and “3D Plants” showed significant correlations with perceived learning. As such, designers and developers of AR apps can generalize these findings to inform future designs.
Presentation 2: The Naturalist’s Workshop: Virtual Reality Interaction with a Natural Science Educational Collection (Short Paper #11)
Authors: Colin Patrick Keenan, Cynthia Lincoln, Adam Rogers, Victoria Gerson, Jack Wingo, Mikhael Vasquez-Kool and Richard L. Blanton
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For experiential educators who utilize or maintain physical collections, The Naturalist’s Workshop is an exemplar virtual reality platform to interact with digitized collections in an intuitive and playful way. The Naturalist’s Workshop is a purpose-developed application for the Oculus Quest standalone virtual reality headset for use by museum visitors on the floor of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences under the supervision of a volunteer attendant. Within the application, museum visitors are seated at a virtual desk. Using their hand controllers and head-mounted display, they explore drawers containing botanical specimens and tools-of-the-trade of a naturalist. While exploring, the participant can receive new information about any specimen by dropping it into a virtual examination tray. 360-degree photography and three-dimensionally scanned specimens are used to allow user-motivated, immersive experience of botanical meta-data such as specimen collection coordinates.
Presentation 3: 360˚ Videos: Entry level Immersive Media for Libraries and Education (Practitioner Presentation #132)
Authors: Diane Michaud
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Within the continuum of XR Technologies, 360˚ videos are relatively easy to produce and need only an inexpensive mobile VR viewer to provide a sense of immersion. 360˚ videos present an opportunity to reveal “behind the scenes” spaces that are normally inaccessible to users of academic libraries. This can promote engagement with unique special collections and specific library services. In December 2019, with little previous experience, I led the production of a short 360˚video tour, a walk-through of our institution’s archives. This was a first attempt; there are plans to transform it into a more interactive, user-driven exploration. The beta version successfully generated interest, but the enhanced version will also help prepare uninitiated users for the process of examining unique archival documents and artefacts. This presentation will cover the lessons learned, and what we would do differently for our next immersive video production. Additionally, I will propose that the medium of 360˚ video is ideal for many institutions’ current or recent predicament with campuses shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Online or immersive 360˚ video can be used for virtual tours of libraries and/or other campus spaces. Virtual tours would retain their value beyond current campus shutdowns as there will always be prospective students and families who cannot easily make a trip to campus. These virtual tours would provide a welcome alternative as they eliminate the financial burden of travel and can be taken at any time.
digital humanities is born f the encounter between traditional humanities and computational methods.
p. 5. From Humanism to Humanities
While the foundations of of humanistic inquiry and the liberal arts can be traced back in the west to the medieval trivium and quadrivium, the modern and human sciences are rooted in the Renaissance shift from a medieval, church dominated, theocratic world view to be human centered one period the gradual transformation of early humanism into the disciplines that make up the humanities today Was profoundly shaped by the editorial practices involved in the recovery of the corpus of works from classical antiquity
P. 6. The shift from humanism to the institution only sanctioned disciplinary practices and protocols that we associate with the humanities today is best described as a gradual process of subdivision and specialization.
P. 7. Text-based disciplines in studies (classics, literature, philosophy, the history of ideas) make up, from the very start, the core of both the humanities and the great books curricular instituted in the 1920s and 1930s.
P. 10. Transmedia modes of argumentation
In the 21st-century, we communicate in media significantly more varied, extensible, and multiplicative then linear text. From scalable databases to information visualizations, from video lectures to multi-user virtual platforms serious content and rigorous argumentation take shape across multiple platforms in media. The best digital humanities pedagogy and research projects train students both in “reading “and “writing “this emergent rhetoric and in understanding how the reshape and three model humanistic knowledge. This means developing critically informed literacy expensive enough to include graphic design visual narrative time based media, and the development of interfaces (Rather then the rote acceptance of them as off-the-shelf products).
P. 11. The visual becomes ever more fundamental to the digital humanities, in ways that compliment, enhance, and sometimes are in pension with the textual.
There is no either/or, no simple interchangeability between language and the visual, no strict sub ordination of the one to the other. Words are themselves visual but other kinds of visual constructs do different things. The question is how to use each to its best effect into device meaningful interpret wing links, to use Theodor Nelson’s ludic neologism.
P. 11. The suite of expressive forms now encompasses the use of sound, motion graphics, animation, screen capture, video, audio, and the appropriation and into remix sink of code it underlines game engines. This expanded range of communicative tools requires those who are engaged in digital humanities world to familiarize themselves with issues, discussions, and debates in design fields, especially communication and interaction design. Like their print predecessors, form at the convention center screen environments can become naturalized all too quickly, with the results that the thinking that informed they were designed goes unperceived.
p. 13.
For digital humanists, design is a creative practice harnessing cultural, social, economic, and technological constraints in order to bring systems and objects into the world. Design in dialogue with research is simply a picnic, but when used to pose in frame questions about knowledge, design becomes an intellectual method. Digital humanities is a production based in Denver in which theoretical issues get tested in the design of implementations and implementations or loci after your radical reflection and elaboration.
Did you thaw humanists have much to learn from communication and media design about how to juxtapose and integrate words and images create hire he is of reading, Forge pathways of understanding, deployed grades in templates to best effect, and develop navigational schemata that guide in produce meaningful interactions.
P. 15. The field of digital digital humanities me see the emergence of polymaths who can “ do it all” : Who can research, write, shoot, edit, code, model, design, network, and dialogue with users. But there is also ample room for specialization and, particularly, for collaboration.
P. 16. Computational activities in digital humanities.
The foundational layer, computation, relies on principles that are, on the surface, at odds with humanistic methods.
P. 17. The second level involves processing in a way that conform to computational capacities, and this were explored in the first generation of digital scholarship and stylometrics, concordance development, and indexing.
P. 17.
Duration, analysis, editing, modeling.
Duration, analysis, editing, and modeling comprise fundamental activities at the core of digital humanities. Involving archives, collections, repositories, and other aggregations of materials, duration is the selection and organization of materials in an interpretive framework, argument, or exhibit.
P. 18. Analysis refers to the processing of text or data: statistical and quantitative methods of analysis have brought close readings of texts (stylometrics and genre analysis, correlation, comparisons of versions for alter attribution or usage patterns ) into dialogue with distant reading (The crunching cuff large quantities of information across the corpus of textual data or its metadata).
Edit think has been revived with the advent of digital media and the web and to continue to be an integral activity in textual as well as time based formats.
P. 18. Model link highlights the notion of content models- shapes of argument expressed in information structures in their design he digital project is always an expression of assumptions about knowledge: usually domain specific knowledge given an explicit form by the model in which it is designed.
P. 19. Each of these areas of activity- cure ration, analysis, editing, and modeling is supported by the basic building blocks of digital activity. But they also depend upon networks and infrastructure that are cultural and institutional as well as technical. Servers, software, and systems administration are key elements of any project design.
P. 30. Digital media are not more “evolved” have them print media nor are books obsolete; but the multiplicity of media in the very processes of mediation entry mediation in the formation of cultural knowledge and humanistic inquiry required close attention. Tug link between distant and clothes, macro and micro, and surface in depth becomes the norm. Here, we focus on the importance of visualization to the digital humanities before moving on to other, though often related, genre and methods such as Locative investigation, thick mapping, animated archives, database documentaries, platform studies, and emerging practices like cultural analytics, data mining and humanities gaming.
P. 35. Fluid texture out what he refers to the mutability of texts in the variants and versions Whether these are produced through Authorial changes, anything, transcription, translation, or print production
Cultural Analytics, aggregation, and data mining.
The field of cultural Analytics has emerged over the past few years, utilizing tools of high-end computational analysis and data visualization today sect large-scale coach data sets. Cultural Analytic does Not analyze cultural artifacts, but operates on the level of digital models of this materials in aggregate. Again, the point is not to pit “close” hermeneutic reading against “distant” data mapping, but rather to appreciate the synergistic possibilities and tensions that exist between a hyper localized, deep analysis and a microcosmic view
p. 42.
Data mining is a term that covers a host of picnics for analyzing digital material by “parameterizing” some feature of information and extract in it. This means that any element of a file or collection of files that can be given explicit specifications, or parameters, can be extracted from those files for analysis.
Understanding the rehtoric of graphics is another essential skill, therefore, in working at a skill where individual objects are lost in the mass of processed information and data. To date, much humanities data mining has merely involved counting. Much more sophisticated statistical methods and use of probability will be needed for humanists to absorb the lessons of the social sciences into their methods
P. 42. Visualization and data design
Currently, visualization in the humanities uses techniques drawn largely from the social sciences, Business applications, and the natural sciences, all of which require self-conscious criticality in their adoption. Such visual displays including graphs and charts, may present themselves is subjective or even unmediated views of reality, rather then is rhetorical constructs.
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Warwick, C., Terras, M., & Nyhan, J. (2012). Digital humanities in practice . London: Facet Publishing in association with UCL Centre for Digital Humanities.
Accessing Higher Ground – Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference
Virtual Agenda November 14-16, 2018
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Not So Fast: Implementing Accessibility Reviews in a University’s IT Software Review Process
Crystal Tenan, IT Accessibility Coordinator, NC State University
Bill Coker, Software Licensing Manager, NC State University
Summary
In this presentation, we will provide an overview of NC State’s IT Purchase Compliance process and focus on the accessibility review process. We will discuss the process of implementation, important considerations for working with the campus community and vendors, and the impact of the IT Purchase Compliance process on campus.
Abstract
Before a university purchases software, it should review the software to ensure it complies with university standards and follows Federal and State guidelines for security and accessibility. Without review, there is a higher risk that purchases put sensitive university data at risk, do not meet the needs of the campus population with disabilities, or require integration with enterprise level applications.
In a joint effort between the Office of Information Technology, the Office of General Counsel and the Purchasing Department, NC State University implemented a process to review purchases of software prior to issuing a purchase requisition.
In this presentation, we will provide an overview of NC State’s IT Purchase Compliance process and focus on the accessibility review process. We will discuss the process of implementation, important considerations for working with the campus community and vendors, and the impact of the IT Purchase Compliance process on campus.
Keypoints
Participants will learn the importance of software reviews prior to purchasing.
Participants will be exposed to an example format of how to structure a software review process.
Participants will learn techniques for collaborating with various campus departments for software reviews.
(handouts available: ask me)
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Math Accessibility in Word, Canvas, Conversion and More!
Paul Brown, Vice President, Texthelp
Rachel Kruzel, Assistive Technology & Accommodations Specialist, Augsburg University
This session will overview Texthelp’s exciting math accessibility program, EquatIO. Learn how students and professors easily insert math into Word, Canvas, and more as well as make STEM textbook conversion a much easier process. Augsburg’s Rachel Kruzel will provide an inside look into how EquatIO is making math accessible across her campus.
Abstract
EquatIO is Texthelp’s game-changing math software program that gives students and professors multiple means of producing, engaging with, and expressing math with ease. This session will overview how to easily insert math into Microsoft Word, Canvas, and other programs as well as how it can save valuable time and resources in STEM textbook conversion. The program’s core features including math-to-speech, speech-to-math, math prediction, math OCR capabilities and many other tools will be demonstrated, helping empower students in this traditionally challenging area. Attendees will not only learn the program, but also how they can gain free access to its premium features as well as assist their students in utilizing the freemium and premium tools.
Keypoints
Math accessibility is here!
EquatIO is a digital math solution for all students and staff.
Save time and resources in STEM textbook conversion.
Disability Areas
All Areas, Cognitive/Learning, Vision
Topic Areas
Alternate Format, Assistive Technology, eBooks, Faculty Instruction/Accessible Course Design, Including Accessibility in Curriculum, Information Technology, Uncategorized, Web/Media Access
Speaker Bio(s)
Paul Brown
Paul Brown has been in education for 20 years as a teacher, technology coach, manager, and currently is a Vice President at Texthelp. Paul’s team oversees the successful implementation of the Read&Write and EquatIO product lines. Paul is a Cleveland Browns fan for life and asks for your pity ahead of time. He and his family live in Edina, MN.
Rachel Kruzel
Rachel Kruzel, ATP, is the Assistive Technology & Accommodations Specialist at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is a RESNA Certified Assistive Technology Practitioner (ATP). She has over 8 years of experience working in in the CLASS Office (Disability Resources) focusing on assistive technology, educational technology, transitioning from K-12 to higher education, academic accommodations implementation, and digital, electronic, and web accessibility. Rachel has presented both regionally and nationally on a variety of topics about assistive technology, as well as accessibility, transition, assistive technology tools such as the QIAT-PS and specific software program demonstrations and trainings, as well as general consultation with students, parents, schools, and organizations. She also provides consulting and direct consumer support through assistive technology consultation and the implementation process.
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“We don’t have enough staff assigned to making IT accessible!”
Summary
How often do we hear people say this or feel this way ourselves? In this session the speaker will engage with attendees on promising practices for making the most of limited resources toward a more accessible IT environment on campus.
Abstract
How often do we hear people say this or feel this way ourselves? In this session the speaker will engage with attendees on promising practices for making the most of limited resources toward a more accessible IT environment on campus. Topics will included but not be limited to convening a high level task force of key stakeholders on campus, developing policies and guidelines, offering training on accessibility within other training opportunities, presenting at regularly occurring meetings and special interest groups, developing partnerships, supporting a group of IT accessibility liaisons to extend the reach of central services, securing funds to proactively caption videos and remediate inaccessible documents (particularly those that are high impact/use), providing online resources for specific target groups, and purchasing accessibility tools for campus-wide use. The speaker will provide examples and the audience will contribute their own ideas, experiences, and lessons learned.
Keypoints
Organizations promoting accessible IT on campuses are often under staffed.
Promising practices have been developed at some schools for maximizing the impact of available resources.
Promising practices have been developed at some schools for maximizing the impact of available resources.
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Administrative/Campus Policy, Information Technology, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Sheryl Burgstahler
Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler founded and directs the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) Center and the ATC (Access Technology Center) as part of her role as Director of Accessible Technology Services at the University of Washington (UW). These centers promote (1) the support the success of students with disabilities in postsecondary education and careers and (2) the development of facilities, IT, services, and learning activities that are welcoming and accessible to individuals with disabilities. The ATC focuses efforts at the UW; the DO-IT Center reaches national and international audiences with the support of federal, state, corporate, foundation, and private funds. Dr. Burgstahler is an affiliate professor in the UW College of Education. She developed and taught the Accessibility and Compliance in Online Education online course offered by Rutgers University and currently teaches graduate courses in applications of universal design in higher education at City University of New York and Saint Louis University.
(handouts available: ask me)
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Evaluating and Repairing Word and PowerPoint Files
Summary
In this hands-on workshop, learn to evaluate and repair common accessibility issues in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.
Abstract
Both Word and PowerPoint contain a very useful accessibility checker that can identify many potential accessibility issues within a document. However, like any automated checker, there are also many issues that it cannot detect–accessibility evaluation is always a combination of evaluation tools and manual checks.
During this workshop, participants will practice evaluating and repairing many common accessibility issues of Word and PowerPoint files. We will use practice files and a printable evaluation checklist to evaluate Word docs and Power Point slides.
Keypoints
Learn to use the built-in Microsoft Office Accessibility Checker
Identify accessibility issues that must be analyzed manually
Practice evaluating and repairing the accessibility of Word and PowerPoint files
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Uncategorized, Web/Media Access
Speaker Bio(s)
Jonathan Whiting
o: Jonathan Whiting is the Director of Training at WebAIM, based at Utah State University. His main passion is helping others learn to make the web more accessible to people with disabilities. Jonathan is also currently involved in the GOALS Project, a program to assist institutions of Higher Education in improving their accessibility system-wide. With a Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology and over fifteen years of experience in the field of web accessibility, Jonathan has published dozens of articles, tutorials, and other instructional resources. He has traveled extensively to train thousands of web developers and other professionals who develop or maintain web content.
(handouts available: ask me)
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Powerful Presentation Skills for the Accessibility Professional
Christa Miller, Director of Inclusive Media Design, Virginia Tech
Summary
As subject matter experts in disabilities and accessibility, we are often called upon to provide training and professional development to others. However, it is uncommon for us to receive formal training in this area ourselves. Through discussion and small group activities, participants will explore and practice techniques for giving presentations
Abstract
As accessibility and disability professionals we are well equipped with the content knowledge needed to provide motivation, or justification on the what, why and how of accessibility. Unfortunately, we are often called upon to provide this to experts in a wide range of unrelated fields who do not intrinsically know what it means “to be accessible”. Not only is the audience challenging to reach, but the content challenges the audience on multiple levels. That being said, by using best practices for training adult learners, accessibility training can become a pleasure.
This session aims to provide techniques and practice on critical presentation skills for accessibility professionals including but not limited to: increasing audience engagement, developing powerful slides and visuals, checking your work for accessibility, and practicing before presenting.
Keypoints
Presentations by accessibility professionals should exemplify best practice for accessibility
Successful presentations are part performance and part technical know-how
Accessibility presentations should contain more application and practice than background information
Christa Miller is a proud Virginia Tech Hokie and is currently the Director of Inclusive Media Design. She first became interested in assistive technologies (AT) while earning her BS in Electrical Engineering. Her passion for accessible technology and universal design then led her to pursue her MS in Industrial Systems Engineering, concentrating in Human Factors Engineering.
Between 2006 and 2018, Christa has worked in many roles for Assistive Technologies, part of Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS). Notable among these was as the lead Braille Transcriber for Braille Services, an initiative to provide in-house production of Braille materials for the University for which she received the Excellence in Access and Inclusion Award in 2012. Her unique knowledge of the tools and technologies needed to produce Braille for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses has led her to consult with disability service providers from many other post-secondary institutions and share that knowledge at national conferences.
In her current role, Christa has enjoyed co-leading a several professional development programs aimed at providing Teaching Faculty, Instructors and Graduate Teaching Assistants with the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary to create inclusive learning environments.
(handouts available: ask me)
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IT Colleagues: from Accessibility Newbies into Accessibility Auditors
Kristen Dabney, Assistive Technology Instruction Specialist, Tufts University
Summary
Tufts Student Accessibility Services office created accessibility testing guidelines designed to help IT professionals complete basic accessibility audits for digital products before they are purchased.
Abstract
As Tufts implemented its accessible procurement protocol, the need for a streamlined accessibility audit process became crucial. For a university to be proactive and evaluate product accessibility before purchase, a comprehensive auditing system must be in place. These audits (completed by our SAS-trained IT team) provide a more in-depth view than that described by a vendor’s VPAT. This simple to use guide enhanced campus-wide buy-in while also making forward progress on procurement audits. Attendees will learn the process used to initiate and develop these guidelines, the arguments successfully used to get the procurement process firmly in the IT office, the training process for IT auditors and best practices for sustainability beyond the initial training workshop. This session will conclude with a walk though of an example application using the guidelines developed by Tufts Student Accessibility Services office.
Keypoints
Training guide for IT professionals new to testing accessibility
Administrative/Campus Policy, Assistive Technology, Information Technology, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Kristen Dabney
Kristen Dabney graduated from Grinnell College with a degree in Physics, and later from University of Connecticut with a Postsecondary Disability Services Certification since the Physics degree wasn’t saying “I’m interested in accessibility” loud enough. She currently works as an Assistive Technology Instruction Specialist at Tufts University.
(handouts available: ask me)
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Social media and accessibility
Gian Wild, Ms, AccessibilityOz
Summary
Gian Wild goes through the accessibility issues of each of the four main social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn) and discusses ways that you can make sure your social media content is accessible.
Abstract
Social media accessibility is an incredibly important tool in modern society. It is not just the young who access social media, with close to 30% of people over the age of 65 interacting on social networking sites, and 50% of people aged 50 – 64. As the percentage of recruiters who use LinkedIn is now 95%, social media is becoming an essential part of negotiating the current working environment. The main reason why social media is not accessible is that social networking sites and apps are almost continually refreshed. Facebook sometimes changes twice a day. This, coupled with a lack of a formal testing process, means that what may be accessible today may be literally gone tomorrow.
Keypoints
Social media networks cannot be relied upon to be accessible
A number of easy things you can do to make your social media more accessible
The most improved and the most accessible social media networks of 2018
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Uncategorized, Web/Media Access
Speaker Bio(s)
Gian Wild
Gian works in the area of web accessibility: making sure web sites and mobile apps can be used by people with disabilities. She spent six years contributing to the international set of web accessibility guidelines used around the world and is also the CEO and Founder of AccessibilityOz. With offices in Australia and the United States, AccessibilityOz has been operating for five years. Its clients include the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Optus, Seek and Foxtel. A 2017 Australian of the Year award nominee, Gian splits her time between Australia the US. A regular speaker at conferences around the world, in 2015 she presented to the United Nations on the importance of web accessibility at the Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
(handouts available: ask me)
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I Was Wrong! Build Your Successful Accessibility Program by Learning from My Mistakes
Angela Hooker, Microsoft
Summary
Whether or not you’re new to the field, when you manage an accessibility program, you can fall into common traps–but there’s no need to! Learn from my observations and old mistakes! Get tips for running a successful program and avoiding poor management choices, poor policy, poor planning, and more that can hinder your program.
Abstract
So, you’re leading an accessibility program…how’s that working out?
If you’re a new accessibility program manager or a seasoned pro, you can still make rookie mistakes. I sure have, and that’s after over 16 years of running accessibility and user experience programs!
Has your laid back nature defeated your process-driven “evil twin”? Does your site’s written content defeat the accessibility features that your other team members created? Are you unsure why your developers still “don’t get it”? Do your leaders avoid you and conversations about accessibility, except to say that “It’s great!”? Or perhaps your web management direction–when it comes to overall content, design, and development choices–doesn’t quite support the needs of your audience, and you’re not sure where things are going wrong.
My experience from the corporate and government sectors will help you plan your program, whether it’s for a higher education, corporate, or government environment. Get on track with process, program management, setting proper expectations, and more to help you drive great user experiences and real accessibility across your organization.
Keypoints
Learn the common mistakes in creating and sustaining an accessibility program and how to avoid them.
Understand the importance of setting boundaries for accepting and establishing program responsibilities.
Get tips to manage the overall content, design, development, and testing–which drive your program’s success.
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Uncategorized, Web/Media Access
Speaker Bio(s)
Angela Hooker
Angela Hooker is a Senior Accessibility Product Manager at Microsoft, where she’s built a center of expertise for accessibility, user experience, and universal design. She’s brought her web management, development, design, accessibility, and editorial and content management expertise to the government and private sector for over 20 years. Angela also advocates for role-based accessibility and believes that teaching people how to incorporate principles of accessibility in their everyday work creates a sustainable program and produces the most accessible user experiences. In addition to accessibility and universal design, she supports plain language and web standards. Angela speaks on and writes about accessibility, user experience, and plain language.
(handouts available: ask me)
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Trending Tech Tools: What’s New, What’s Improved & What’s on the Horizon for Assistive Technology & Accessibility Tools
Rachel Kruzel, Assistive Technology & Accommodations Specialist, Augsburg University
Summary
The field of Assistive Technology and Accessibility is constantly changing. Tech giants are making more frequent updates to their products. As a result, knowing the latest updates is essential. Assistive Technology and Accessibility software updates from major tech companies such as Texthelp, Sonocent, and Microsoft, as well as free and low cost tools to support students on campus will be featured and shown.
Abstract
Both the Assistive Technology and Accessibility fields are constantly changing. Software companies are soliciting user feedback continuously and deciding which suggestions are the most important to develop and update. These updates and developments are released every six to twelve weeks. Much of this AT is central for students to access courses and curriculum in an accessible way. This presentation will focus on the most recent updates from the major assistive technology companies who are making waves in the tech field. The latest releases from companies like Texthelp, Sonocent, Microsoft, as well as other tech giants will be shown. Free and low cost assistive technology tools that are on the cutting edge or are strong supports for students will be featured in this session as well. Participants will leave with updates to tools they are using to support students on their campuses and ideas on how to use these tools on campus to implement both Assistive Technology and Accessibility.
Keypoints
Assistive technology companies are releasing product updates every six to twelve weeks on average.
Latest updates and features to commonly used Assistive Technology tools in higher education will be shown.
Both for-purchase and free/low cost assistive technology tools can be easily implemented to support students.
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Assistive Technology, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Rachel Kruzel
Rachel Kruzel, ATP, is the Assistive Technology & Accommodations Specialist at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is a RESNA Certified Assistive Technology Practitioner (ATP). She has over 8 years of experience working in in the CLASS Office (Disability Resources) focusing on assistive technology, educational technology, transitioning from K-12 to higher education, academic accommodations implementation, and digital, electronic, and web accessibility. Rachel has presented both regionally and nationally on a variety of topics about assistive technology, as well as accessibility, transition, assistive technology tools such as the QIAT-PS and specific software program demonstrations and trainings, as well as general consultation with students, parents, schools, and organizations. She also provides consulting and direct consumer support through assistive technology consultation and the implementation process.
(handouts available: ask me)
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The Big Ten Academic Alliance’s Shared Approach to Procurement and Vendor Relations
Bill Welsh, Rutgers University
Charlie Collick, Director of IT Accessibility, Rutgers University
Nate Evans, Manager, Digital Content & Accessibility, Michigan State University
Summary
Learn how the Big Ten Academic Alliance is working together to develop policies, processes and procedures for procurement of accessible IT as well as assisting each other with managing vendor relationships that can foster better product accessibility within the Big 10. Also, each presenter will share their own institutions practices in this area.
Abstract
The Big Ten Academic Alliance are working together through a CIO sponsored group called the Information Technology Accessibility Group to leverage their coalition in regards to the accessibility of IT products purchased. The presenters will provide insight into their current collaborative efforts and share the four goals that the ITAG/Procurement Working Group is developing to improve best practices and shared basic standards for accessibility in IT procurement processes. This partnership has identified the following four goals to address IT accessibility: 1.Education & Marketing 2. Shared Solicitation Requirements for IT purchases 3. Standardize Evaluation 4. Leverage the BTAA purchasing power to work with vendors to improve accessibility and develop shared repository of IT accessibility evaluations. Participants will discover methods of alignment, and see how shared approaches to vendor relationship management can leverage economy of scale and foster vendor commitment.
Keypoints
Product accessibility best practices
Establishing product accessibility repositories
There are resources available in this arena for others to utilize and assist in developing
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Administrative/Campus Policy, Information Resources, Information Technology, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Bill Welsh
Bill is the Associate VP of Rutgers Access and Disability Resources. He has worked at Rutgers since 2013. Previously, he worked at Penn State University (1999-2013) and Drexel University (1994-1999) as Director of Disability Services
Charlie Collick
Charlie is the Director of IT Accessibility at Rutgers University. He is responsible for the accessibility of all enterprise academic and administrative technology and digital content. He also serves as Director of Software Site Licensing where he is responsible for vetting all central funded technology purchases for the University and the distribution of the licenses to staff, faculty, and students. Charlie has been an employee of Rutgers OIT since 2008. Before serving in his current role, Charlie was the Acting Director of Teaching and Learning with Technology where he lead a team of instructional designers, education technologists, and LMS support staff. His professional experience includes accessibility, instructional design, instructional technology, functional management, organizational development, strategic planning, and technology procurement. His broad technical background spans general IT, applications and systems support, web design and development, and the delivery of related services.
Nate Evans
Nate works with students, faculty, staff, and administrators across the institution to help create more inclusive environments, and shape better digital experiences. He leads Michigan State University’s digital accessibility program, and the Digital Content & Accessibility team to provide central support and resources, and to measure digital accessibility improvement.
(handouts available: ask me)
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Not Another Lecture-Style Presentation
Brad Held, Accessible Technology Coordinator, University of Central Fl
Summary
Disability Professionals struggle to garner interest for their presentations or workshops. Just getting faculty or staff to register for their training doesn’t guarantee that the topics will be practiced. In this presentation, the presenter will share tips for designing a memorable educational experience that doesn’t involve a projector/clicker.
Abstract
As accessible technology experts, we often find it difficult to fill the seats at our presentations. This might be because of the topics we discussed are overwhelmingly complicated to understand, or because attendees do not believe enough students are affected by our subject matter. Regardless of the reason, the attendee doesn’t always leave with a lasting memory of how they can create access to their environment. What if we could take some of the visual elements of our technology and incorporate it with inclusive principles, then design an experience that is FUN? Based on the popular escape room game concept, you can challenge teams to be locked in a room full of barriers. Have them escape by identifying and removing the barriers within the room with more accessible approaches within the time allotted. UCF will share their design secrets for creating an escape room activity that will have your entire institution buzzing. The presentation will end with an interactive demonstration.
Keypoints
How to create a different activity other than a lecture style presentation
Designing a memorable experience involving accessibility.
Incorporating accessible technology and inclusive principle.
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Other, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Brad Held
Brad Held has been the Assistant Director – Accessible Technology for the Student Accessibility Services office at University of Central Florida (UCF) for the past four years. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Applied Biotechnology at the University of Georgia in 2006. Prior to arriving at UCF, Brad worked in Assistive Technology for almost ten years: four years in a public school K-12 setting with Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia and five years in higher-education at The University of Georgia and The University of South Carolina. He is certified in Assistive Technology Applications. Aside from helping UCF students received academic supports, Brad also has a learning disability. Brad uses his personal experience to aid students in being active participants in the accommodation process.
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Interactive 3d printed tactile campus maps
Holly Lawson, Assistant Professor, Portland State University
Shiri Azenkot, Assistant Professor, Cornell Tech
Lei Shi, PhD Student, Cornell Tech
Michael Cantino, Research Assistant, Portland State University
Summary
This presentation introduces the Markit and Talkit iOS software, which enables an individual to add text or audio annotations to a 3d printed model. Presenters share the use of this toolkit with 3d printed tactile maps.
Abstract
Recent advances in 3d printing technology have made tactile models more available to individuals who are visually impaired. With grant funding from the National Science Foundation, we have developed and field-tested iOS technology that empowers individuals to modify models by adding audio or text annotations. Using this technology, a modified model can provide voice output or display a description of a model component when it is touched by a user. In this session, we will introduce the 3d printing technology and its application with 3d printed tactile maps for use with individuals with visual impairments at Portland State University and Portland Community College.
Keypoints
interactive 3d printed models can provide greater access to campus environments than traditional tactile maps
interactive 3d printed maps can be customized to include wayfinding information most pertinent to the user
the use of interactive 3d printed models is a cost effective solution for institutes of higher education
Disability Areas
Mobility, Vision
Topic Areas
Assistive Technology, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Holly Lawson
Dr. Holly Lawson is an Assistant Professor at Portland State University and
the coordinator of the Visually Impaired Learner program. Since 1994, she has worked in the VIL field, beginning as a residential instructor for the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and then the Peace Corps in Morocco. Her master’s and PhD are from the University of Arizona where she held several positions in teaching and research. She came to PSU in 2014, having previously worked as an assistant professor and the coordinator for the Virginia Consortium of Teacher Preparation in Vision Impairment at George Mason University.
Shiri Azenkot
Dr. Shiri Azenkot is an Assistant Professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech, Cornell University, and a field member in the Information Science Department. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the Computer Science Department at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. Currently, her research is funded by the NSF, AOL, Verizon, and Facebook. Before arriving at Cornell Tech, she was a PhD student in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where she was advised by Richard Ladner and Jacob Wobbrock. Shiri has received the UW graduate medal (awarded to just one PhD candidate at the university each year), a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and an AT&T Labs Graduate Fellowship.
Lei Shi
Lei Shi is a fourth-year Ph.D. student at Cornell University and an AOL fellow at Cornell Tech, where he is advised by Shiri Azenkot. His research interests lie in the fields of accessibility, human-computer interaction, and design. Specifically, he explores how to combine 3D printing technologies and innovative design to help people. Previously, Lei got his bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering from Zhejiang University, with a double degree in Industrial Design.
Michael Cantino
Michael Cantino worked in K-12 special education for 11 years before coming to Portland Community College in 2017. During that time, he specialized in supporting students with behavioral challenges, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and students with visual impairments. Michael is a Library of Congress certified braille transcriber and is skilled in the production of tactile graphics and 3D models for visually impaired learners. At PCC, Michael provides a broad range of supports for students experiencing disabilities, with a focus on assistive technology, alternative formats, and in-class supports. In addition to his work at Portland Community College, Michael is also a Research Assistant at Portland State University where he is studying the use of interactive 3D models to support visually impaired learners.
Last year, the Durham University students’ union organized a debate on whether China was a threat to the West. Tom Harwood, then president of the union, said the school’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association complained about the topic and pressed him to drop one of the speakers, Anastasia Lin, a former Miss World Canada. Lin is also a human rights activist and a practitioner of Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation group banned by the Chinese government.
In March, the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union, a giant market of more than 500 million consumers. British officials are desperate to ink new free trade deals with major economies, including China. Harwood was stunned that a Chinese diplomat would suggest that the United Kingdom might pay a financial price for something as small as a college debate.
lash-forward to 2012 when then-British Prime Minister David Cameron met with the Dalai Lama in public in London. China’s economy was now more than three times the size of the United Kingdom’s. Beijing responded by canceling meetings and freezing out British officials. In 2015, Cameron refused to meet the Dalai Lama, who told The Spectator, a conservative political magazine, “Money, money, money. That’s what this is about. Where is morality?”
The Chinese government no longer just tries to punish the West for straying from the Communist Party line. In the past year, Chinese President Xi Jinping has gone further, arguing that China’s authoritarian system can serve as a model for others, an alternative to liberal democracy.
Clumsy attempts to censor people — as in the case of the Durham University debate — have backfired, but China has had success pressuring businesses, as the apologies by Marriott and Mercedes-Benz show.
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more on China in this IMS blog https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=china
Digital storytelling uses video, audio, social media, blogging and other tools to convey ideas and information effectively. The emphasis is on empowering students to create authentic products that they can share with others beyond the classroom walls, and to allow for audience interaction and feedback.
why should we inspire students to be digital storytellers?
Requires critical thinking: Creating an interdisciplinary product from scratch requires high level thinking skills like evaluating evidence, editing and curation, and production timelines. Digital stories often use multiple skills like writing, public speaking, photography, design and collaboration in a single project which makes them ideal for practicing skills learned other units or classes.
Authentic projects have impact: Creating real-world, impactful products that students share with an audience beyond the classroom is one of the best ways to enhance motivation and increase quality.
Places focus on writing: A picture is worth a thousand words, and video is 30 photos a second. It has its own grammar and style, but concepts of content, structure, tone and audience impact are just as important in multimedia as they are for an essay. Scripts, voiceovers and interview questions emphasize traditional writing skills and are the backbone of all multimedia projects.
Develops digital citizens: What to post online, when and how are all important questions for our students to learn to answer. Require them to comment on others’ work and develop etiquette for online posts and feedback. Rather than being afraid of the internet, embrace it to teach digital citizenship.
Students can add to digital portfolios: All student work can be compiled into a digital portfolio that they can use to promote themselves for jobs/internships
How to Educate Digital Storytellers
1. Focus on content, not the tools
2. Take it to the next “SAMR level.” The SAMR model is a way to gauge how deeply and effectively you use technology (Salvador Dali)
Definition:
The HyFlex model gives students the choice to attend class in person or via synchronous remote stream and to make that choice on a daily basis. In other words, unlike online and hybrid models which typically have a fixed course structure for the entire semester, the HyFlex model does not require students to make a choice at the beginning of term and then stick with it whether their choice works for them or not; rather students are able to make different choices each day depending on what works best for them on that day (hence the format is “flexible”) (Miller and Baham, 2018, to be published in the Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Teaching Statistics).
Definition from Horizon Report, HIgher Ed edition, 2014. p. 10 integration of Online Hybrid and Collaborative Learning
Definition from U of Arizona (https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/itet/article/view/16464/16485)
Beatty (2010) defines HyFlex courses to be those that “enable a flexible participation policy for students whereby students may choose to attend face-to-face synchronous class sessions or complete course learning activities online without physically attending class”
Online courses
Definition
Goette, W. F., Delello, J. A., Schmitt, A. L., Sullivan, J. R., & Rangel, A. (2017). Comparing Delivery Approaches to Teaching Abnormal Psychology: Investigating Student Perceptions and Learning Outcomes. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 16(3), 336–352. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475725717716624
p.2.Online classes are a form of distance learning available completely over the Internet with no F2F interaction between an instructor and students (Helms, 2014).
https://www.oswego.edu/human-resources/section-6-instructional-policies-and-procedures
An online class is a class that is offered 100% through the Internet. Asynchronous courses require no time in a classroom. All assignments, exams, and communication are delivered using a learning management system (LMS). At Oswego, the campus is transitioning from ANGEL to Blackboard, which will be completed by the Fall 2015 semester. Fully online courses may also be synchronous. Synchronous online courses require student participation at a specified time using audio/visual software such as Blackboard Collaborate along with the LMS.
Web-enhanced courses
Web enhanced learning occurs in a traditional face-to-face (f2f) course when the instructor incorporates web resources into the design and delivery of the course to support student learning. The key difference between Web Enhanced Learning versus other forms of e-learning (online or hybrid courses) is that the internet is used to supplement and support the instruction occurring in the classroom rather than replace it. Web Enhanced Learning may include activities such as: accessing course materials, submitting assignments, participating in discussions, taking quizzes and exams, and/or accessing grades and feedback.”
Blended/Hybrid Learning
Definition
Goette, W. F., Delello, J. A., Schmitt, A. L., Sullivan, J. R., & Rangel, A. (2017). Comparing Delivery Approaches to Teaching Abnormal Psychology: Investigating Student Perceptions and Learning Outcomes. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 16(3), 336–352. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475725717716624
p.3.
Helms (2014) described blended education as incorporating both online and F2F character- istics into a single course. This definition captures an important confound to comparing course administration formats because otherwise traditional F2F courses may also incorp- orate aspects of online curriculum. Blended learning may thus encompass F2F classes in which any course content is available online (e.g., recorded lectures or PowerPoints) as well as more traditionally blended courses. Helms recommended the use of ‘‘blended’’ over ‘‘hybrid’’ because these courses combine different but complementary approaches rather than layer opposing methods and formats.
Blended learning can merge the relative strengths of F2F and online education within a flexible course delivery format. As such, this delivery form has a similar potential of online courses to reduce the cost of administration (Bowen et al., 2014) while addressing concerns of quality and achievement gaps that may come from online education. Advantages of blended courses include: convenience and efficiency for the student; promotion of active learning; more effective use of classroom space; and increased class time to spend on higher- level learning activities such as cooperative learning, working with case studies, and discuss- ing big picture concepts and ideas (Ahmed, 2010; Al-Qahtani & Higgins, 2013; Lewis & Harrison, 2012).
Although many definitions of hybrid and blended learning exist, there is a convergence upon three key points: (1) Web-based learning activities are introduced to complement face-to-face work; (2) “seat time” is reduced, though not eliminated altogether; (3) the Web-based and face-to-face components of the course are designed to interact pedagogically to take advantage of the best features of each.
The amount of in class time varies in hybrids from school to school. Some require more than 50% must be in class, others say more than 50% must be online. Others indicate that 20% – 80% must be in class (or online). There is consensus that generally the time is split 50-50, but it depends on the best pedagogy for what the instructor wants to achieve.
definition
“Backchannel” is a mode of communication created by audience members to connect with other observers both inside and outside of the presentation space, with or without the speaker’s awareness (Atkinson, 2009).
ARS (or CRS) are[audience] response systems are instructional technologies that allow instructors to rapidly collect and analyze student responses to questions posed during class” (Bruff, 2009, p. 1)
Distance learning courses are indicated in the schedule of classes on BU Brain with an Instructional Method of Online Asynchronous (OA), Online Synchronous (OS), Online Combined (OC), or Online Hybrid (OH). Online Asynchronous courses are those in which the instruction is recorded/stored and then accessed by the students at another time. Online Synchronous courses are those in which students are at locations remote from the instructor and viewing the instruction as it occurs. Online Combined courses are those in which there is a combination of asynchronous and synchronous instruction that occurs over the length of the course. Online Hybrid courses are those in which there is both in-person and online (asynchronous and/or synchronous) instruction that occurs over the length of the course.
. Link VR content to course outcomes. If you want to VR to succeed in your college classroom, you have to look at how 360-degree audio and video adds value. The forensic-science department, for example, is trying to get a close approximation of a crime scene so that students can acclimate to the job environment and take a real-world approach to investigations. Adding VR without adding value will not be effective. 2. Do a proof-of-concept app first. The history reenactment app was a great starting point, as it was a simple-to-film, single-location shoot that didn’t require much editing. You want to start simple to get an early win. They learned valuable lessons during that shoot, such as best camera placement to minimize distractions.
3. Get buy-in at the highest levels. Marketing students in the capstone project are presenting the final apps to the President, Provost, and other administration officials. Once you get buy-in at an administrative level, it’s easier to secure funding for more equipment and more promotion of your work to other departments.
this why metadata was entered in the post-processed MP4 file using the VLC player
export
H.264 . / iPAD 480p 29.9 fps
Shortcuts:
If you are using Premiere CC: 1. File/New/Sequence. 2. Ctrl M is the shortcut to export (M is for media)
Issues
the two Apple/Macs will deliver error messages with both the export to the MP4 format and for burning the CDs and DVDs.
e.g.
other issues
regular restart required for new capture
error messages e.g.
other issues:
audio. Audio synchronization during the digitization is off. Solution: possible solution is the last of this thread : https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2217377
open in in QT Pro copy an segment then past it into a new QT file and save. It then plays normally in Adobe products.
old Apple desktops. needed to be rebuild and reformatted.
Apple burner issues. issues with Premiere license (bigger organization, bigger bureaucracy – keep the licenses within the library, not with IT or the business department)
old VCRs – one of the VCRs was recording bad audio signal
old VHS tapes: the signal jump makes the digital recording stop, thus requiring a constant attendance of the digitization, instead of letting it be digitized and working on something else
the person who is uploading the digitized VHS movies can “Add Collaborator”
The collaborator can be “co-editor” and / or “co-publisher”
Thus, at the moment, Tom Hegert has been designated to a digitized VHS video as Co-:Publisher and Rhonda Huisman as “Co-Editor.”
Please DO log in into MediaSpace with your STAR ID and confirm that you can locate the video and you can, respectively edit its metadata.
If you can edit the video, this means that the proposed system will work, since the Library can follow the same pattern to “distribute” the videos to the instructors, who these videos are used by; and, respectively these instructors can further control the distribution of the videos in their classes.
issues:
sharing the videos from the generic Library account for MediaSpace to the MediaSPace account of the faculty who had requested the digitization either through sending the link to the video or publish in channel (we called our channel “digitized VHS”)
issue: ripping off content from DVD.
Faculty (mostly teaching online / hybrid courses) want to place teaching material from DVD to MediaSpace. Most DVDs are DRM protected.
Handbreak (https://handbrake.fr/) does not allow ripping DRM-ed DVDs. to bypass this Handbreak issue, we use DVD Decrypter before we run the file through Handbreak
Solutions:
From: “Lanska, Jeremiah K” <Jeremiah.Lanska@ridgewater.edu> Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at 10:03 AM
I use a software on a MAC called MacX DVD Video Converter Pro. https://www.macxdvd.com/
I convert videos to MP4 with this and it just works for just about any DVD. Then upload them to MediaSpace.
From: “Docken, Marti L” <Marti.Docken@saintpaul.edu> Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at 8:17 AM
Good morning Plamen. Here at Saint Paul College, we are asked to get permission from owner when we are looking at making any alterations to a video, tape, etc. This is true of adding closed captioning as well. The attached are forms given by Minnesota State which they may have an updated form.
Thank you and have a wonderful day.
Marti Docken Instructional Technology Specialist 651.846.1339 marti.docken@saintpaul.edu
From: Geri Wilson Sent: Friday, September 14, 2018 3:23 PM
What I do with DVDs is give a warning to the faculty that the MediaSpace link with the captions I’ve created should not be widely shared and should be treated as if it were still a DVD that can be shown in the classroom, but not posted on D2L. Because even if we use those forms, I don’t believe it gives us the right to use the video in a broader way. However, a safer approach might be to burn a new DVD with captions, so that it’s still in the same format that can’t be misused as easily.
Just my 2 cents. Geri
From: “Hunter, Gary B” <Gary.Hunter@minnstate.edu> Date: Friday, September 14, 2018 at 2:55 PM To: Plamen Miltenoff_old <pmiltenoff@stcloudstate.edu> Subject: RE: Process of ripping DVD video to mount it on MediaSpace
I’ll assume the contents of the DVDs are movies/films unless I hear otherwise from you. There’s a lot we need to consider from a copyright perspective. Let me know a day and time that we can touch base via a phone call. Next week my schedule is flexible, so let me know what day and time work for you. Until we speak, here’s some of the information related to making copies of copyrighted works for nonprofit teaching purposes.
There are two sections of the Copyright Act that authorize “copying” of copyrighted works for nonprofit educational purposes. It doesn’t matter if the copyrighted works are being copied from DVDs, CDs, flash drives, a computer’s hard drive, etc., the same sections of the Copyright Act apply.
Section 110(2), also known as the TEACH Act, allows nonprofit educational institutions to make a digital copy of a nondramatic copyrighted work and save it to a server for online and hybrid teaching. I have a TEACH Act checklist on the IP Tools & Forms webpage at http://www.minnstate.edu/system/asa/academicaffairs/policy/copyright/forms.html. The checklist identifies the few things that may not be copied under this section of the Copyright Act. If an instructor meets the various requirements on the checklist, than you can make a digital copy of the entire nondramatic copyrighted work and save it to MediaSpace. For nondramatic works, all MinnState instructors should be able to complete the TEACH Act checklist successfully, so I wouldn’t request a completed checklist from them.
Under the TEACH Act, nonprofit educational institutions are only permitted to make a digital copy of reasonable and limited portions of dramatic copyrighted works. Movies and films are usually dramatic works. Most people in higher education interpret “reasonable and limited portions” to mean something less than the whole and not the entire movie/film. There are several guidance documents on the TEACH Act on the IP Tools & Forms webpage that go into greater detail as to what is reasonable and limited portions. Unfortunately, this section only authorizes the copying of part of the movie/film and not the entire thing.
Section 107 Fair Use of the Copyright Act is the second section that permits copying of copyrighted works for nonprofit educational purposes. Fair Use is used more than any other section to make copies of copyrighted works for nonprofit educational purposes. An instructor needs to complete a fair Use Checklist showing the proposed copying is authorized by fair use. An instructor who completes a Fair Use Checklist that ends up being 50/50 or more in support of fair use for their proposed copying of a copyrighted work, should be able to make the digital copy. Fair Use has some nuances in it for unique situations. Let’s set up a phone call to further discuss them. There is also a flow chart that may helpful at http://www.minnstate.edu/system/asa/academicaffairs/policy/copyright/docs/Flow%20Chart-Using%20video%20in%20Online%20-%20D2L%20Courses.pdf.
We also have to consider whether or not the movies/films were purchased with “personal use” rights or “public performance” rights. Or if an educational license or some similar type of license gives us permission to make copies or publicly perform the movie/film. More layers of the onion that need peeled back to address the copyright concerns.
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Issue: confidentiality
All digitized material is backedup on DVDs, whether faculty wants a DVD or not.
Some video content is confidential (e.g. interviews with patients) and faculty does not want any extra copies, but the DVD submitted to them. How do we archive / do we archive the content then?
Burning (Archiving)
where to store the burned DVDs? their shelf life is 12 years.
DVD’s must be labeled with soft tip perm marker, not labels. labels glue ages quickly.
all our desktops are outdated (5+ years and older). We used two Apple/Macs. OS El Captain, Version 10.11.6, 2.5 Gxz Intel Core i5. 8GB memory, 1333 MHz DDR3, Graphic Card AMD Radeon HD 6750 MD 512 MB
Question about the process of archiving the CDs and DVDs after burning. What is the best way to archive the digitized material? Store the CD and DVDs? Keep them in the “cloud?”
Question about the management of working files: 1. Premiere digitizes the original hi-quality file in .mov format and it is in GB. The export is in .mp4 format and it is in MB. Is it worth to store the GB-size .mov format and for how long, considering that the working station has a limited HDD of 200GB
we decided to export two types of files using Adobe Premiere: a) a low end .MP4 file about several hundred megabites, which respectively is uploaded in SCSU Media Space (AKA Kaltura) and b) one high-end (better quality) one the realm of several GBs, which was the archived copy
We placed a request for two 2TB HDD with the library dean and 10TB file space with the SCSU IT department. Idea being to have the files for MediaSpace readily available on the hardrives, if we have to make them available to faculty and the high-end files being stored on the SCSU file server.
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Nov. 2019: transfer of accounts. The generic SCSULibraryVideo account is discontinued because of the August 2019 transition to the minnstate.edu. Agreed to host the accumulated digitized videos under the private account of one of the team members, who will be assigning the other members and the requesting faculty as co-editors.
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2. correspondence among Greg J, Tom H and Plamen
email correspondence Greg, Tom, Plamen regarding Kaltura account:
From: Greg <gsjorgensen@stcloudstate.edu> Date: Friday, November 17, 2017 at 11:32 AM To: Plamen Miltenoff <pmiltenoff@stcloudstate.edu> Subject: RE: Question Kaltura
Plamen,
Channels are not required using this workflow. Just the collaboration change.
–g–
From: Miltenoff, Plamen Sent: Friday, November 17, 2017 11:31 AM To: Jorgensen, Greg S. <gsjorgensen@stcloudstate.edu>; Hergert, Thomas R. <trhergert@stcloudstate.edu> Subject: Question Kaltura
Greg,
About the channel:
Do I create one channel (videos)?
It seems to be a better idea to create separate channels for each of faculty, who’s videotapes are digitized.
******* any user you wish to collaborate with, will need to first sign in to mediaspace in order to provision their account.**** After they have signed in, you will be able to add them as collaborator.
Once they’ve been added, they will have access to the video in their MedisSpace account.
Like so:
From the My Media area:
Click ‘Filters’:
Then choose either media I can publish, or media I can edit:
If you want to simply change ownership to the requestor (for video available only to a single person), just choose change media owner on the collaboration tab.
The process above will allow for any number of collaborators, in a fashion similar to ‘on reserve’.
–g–
From: Miltenoff, Plamen Sent: Friday, November 17, 2017 11:19 AM To: Jorgensen, Greg S. <gsjorgensen@stcloudstate.edu>; Hergert, Thomas R. <trhergert@stcloudstate.edu> Subject: FW: Supplemental Account Request Status
Tom,
I submitted the request to Greg with the “SCSULibraryVideo” name
Greg, I submitted, Tom, Rachel W and Rhonda H (and you) as “owners.”
Pls, if possible, do not assigned to Tom ownership rights yet and add him later on.
I also received your approval, so I am starting to work on it
This message confirms your request for a new Supplemental Account with the requested username of SCSULibraryVideo. Please allow 2-3 business days for processing. You will be notified by email when your request is approved or denied. You may also check the status of your request by returning to the Supplemental Accounts Maintenance site.
Thank you for your request and please contact us with questions or concerns.
Once you’ve done that, just let me know the name of the account. (LibraryVideoDrop, SCSULibraryVideo, etc….)
I’ll then add it to the Mediaspace access list.
If there’s already an account to which you have access, we can use that, too. Remember, though, credentials will be shared at least between the two of you.
Well, that is a good question. Do we need a “STAR ID” type of account for the library?
If so, who will be the person to talk to. After Diane Schmitt, I do not know who to ask
Tom, can you ask the library dean’s office for any “generic” account?
Greg, for the time being, is it possible to have me as the “owner” of that account? Would that conflict with my current Kaltura account/content?
Can I participate for this project with my student account (as you helpled me several weeks ago restore it for D2L usage)?
Yes, except that there may be needs for multiple faculty to access the files. Think of it as analogous to DVDs on reserve or even in the general collection.
I think we’re hoping for an account from which we can share Library resources such as the digitized versions of VHS tapes that Plamen and I are creating. As I understand it, a closed channel is probably not the best answer. We need a common repository that can have open access to SCSU Kaltura users.
A single account can’t really be shared in the way you’re asking, but we can easily add a dept. supplemental account to Mediaspace. I just need the name of the account.
Depending on what you intend, maybe a closed channel? Create a closed channel and add individuals as needed?
Can you help me create a MediaSpace account for the library use.
How can it be tight up to the STAR ID login specifications?
Is it possible, let’s say Tom and I to use our STAR ID to login into such account?
Any info is welcome…
Plamen
++++++++++++
3. correspondence on the LITA listserv regarding “best practices for in house digital conversion”
From: <lita-l-request@lists.ala.org> on behalf of Sharona Ginsberg <lita-l@lists.ala.org> Reply-To: “lita-l@lists.ala.org” <lita-l@lists.ala.org> Date: Tuesday, November 21, 2017 at 10:07 AM To: “lita-l@lists.ala.org” <lita-l@lists.ala.org> Subject: Re: [lita-l] best practices for in house digital conversion
I’m at an academic rather than public library, but you can see what we offer for digital conversion here: https://www.oswego.edu/library/digital-conversion. We’ve been generally happy with our equipment, and I especially think the Elgato Video Capture device (VHS to digital) is a good tool.
– Sharona
From: <lita-l-request@lists.ala.org> on behalf of Molly Schwartz <mschwartz@metro.org> Reply-To: “lita-l@lists.ala.org” <lita-l@lists.ala.org> Date: Tuesday, November 21, 2017 at 10:03 AM To: “lita-l@lists.ala.org” <lita-l@lists.ala.org> Subject: Re: [lita-l] best practices for in house digital conversion
I would also definitely recommend DCPL’s Memory Lab and the project to build a Memory Lab Network, which is more applicable to public libraries.
best,
Molly
On Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 10:49 AM, Stewart Wilson <SWilson@onlib.org> wrote:
Hi all,
I know there is a lot of information already out here, but is anyone up for a conversation about media conversion technologies for public library patrons?
I’m interested in best practices and recommended technologies or guides that you use in your system.
Anything that converts projector slides, 35mm, VHS, photographs, cassette, etc.
We are building a new PC for this and 3D rendering, so any recommendations for things like soundcards or video capture cards are also useful.
Thanks for your help; this group is the best.
Stew Wilson
Paralibrarian for Network Administration and Technology