Author Archive

ISTE 2016 tech tools

15 Tech Tool Favorites From ISTE 2016

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/07/05/15-tech-tool-favorites-from-iste-2016/

Google Expeditions

Flippity

Google Science Journal

Google Cast

Google Art Project

World Wonders Project

Constitute

YouTube – database of YouTube Channels by subject to help educators with discoverability

SafeShare.tv

YouTube Time Machine

Zygote Body

Pixlr

Build With Chrome

Google CS First

Androidify

posters about Google Apps For Education

 

mine social media

How to Successfully Mine Your Social Media Data

by Alex York on June 22, 2016

http://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-data/

social media has a strong return on investment (ROI) – how to

Social media data is the collected information from social networks that show how users share, view or engage with your content or profiles. These numbers, percentages and statistics provide better insights into your social media strategy.

social media analytics to make sense of the raw information.
media data as the ingredients to your meal and the analysis as your recipe. Without the recipe, you wouldn’t know what to make or how to cook it.

Some of the raw social media data can include:

  • Shares
  • Likes
  • Mentions
  • Impressions
  • Hashtag usage
  • URL clicks
  • Keyword analysis
  • New followers
  • Comments

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the various business metrics used to measure and analyze certain aspects of your business. Social media KPIs are the metrics that likely factor into your social media ROI.

Facebook business page, you can analyze some KPIs within the social network. The most essential Facebook metrics include (see entire article).

Twitter Analytics

  • Engagement Rate: Total link clicks, Retweets, favorites and replies on your Tweet divided by total impressions.
  • Followers: Total number of Twitter followers.
  • Link Clicks: Total number of URL and hashtag links clicked.
  • Mentions: How many times your @username was mentioned by others.
  • Profile Visits: Total Twitter profile visits.
  • Replies: How many times people replied to your Tweets.
  • Retweets: Total Retweets received by others.
  • Tweet Impressions: Total of times your Tweet has been viewed whether it was clicked or not.
  • Tweets: How many Tweets you’ve posted.

LinkedIn Analytics

Here are the top LinkedIn metrics:

  • Clicks: Total clicks on a post, company name or logo.
  • Engagement: Total interactions divided by number of impressions.
  • Followers: Total number of new followers through a sponsored update.
  • Impressions: Total times your update was visible to other users.
  • Interactions: Total number of comments, likes, comments and shares.

Google Analytics

  • Average Session Duration: Average session times users spend on your site.
  • Bounce Rate: Percentage of users leaving your site after one page view.
  • New Users: Total number of new users coming to your site for the first time.
  • Pages / Session: Average number of pages a user views each session.
  • Pageviews: Number of pages loaded or reloaded in a browser.
  • Sessions: Total times when users are active on your site.

need to decipher what’s most important.

If you wanted to track audience growth on Facebook, consider engagement rates, new followers, Post reach and organic Likes.

For example, if you launched a social media campaign, track data that highlights your ROI. According to Mashable, your ROI cycle for a social media campaign should be set up in three stages:

  1. Launch
  2. Management
  3. Optimization

41% of companies and agencies no clue about their social media financial impact. It’s nearly impossible to figure out data overnight. Instead, it takes months of tracking to ensure your future business decisions are valuable.

Sprout’s suite of social media analytics tools give you presentation-ready reports on major social networks.

++++++++++++++

more on social media analytics:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=social+media+analytics

more on social media stats in this IMS blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=social+media+statistics

 

Library Technoculture

Cultivating a Library Technoculture: We are Tech Workers!

Your registration for this webinar has been confirmed. All of the information you need to join the webinar is below. Click the “Join Meeting” button to be connected to the webinar.

You will be able to hear the audio for this event through your computer’s speakers. If you prefer to call in, the phone number is listed below.

Conference ID: 27993347

This webinar will be recorded and archived on the TechSoup for Libraries website. Please register for this webinar to receive an email notification when the archive is available.

Please contact webinars@techsoupglobal.org with accessibility requests for live captioning at least 72 hours prior to the event.

 

gamification position

Tenure Track Position in Gamification Tampere University of Technology

http://www.computeroxy.com/announcement,a2945.html

Tampere University of Technology (TUT) is an active scientific community of 2,000 employees and more than 10,000 students. The University operates in the form of a foundation and has a long-standing tradition of collaboration with other research institutions and business life. Many of the fields of research and study represented at the University play a key role in addressing global challenges. Internationality is an inherent part of all the University’s activities. Welcome to join us at TUT!

The University of Turku is a world-class multidisciplinary research university which offers interesting challenges and a unique vantage point to national and international research and education.

Tenure track (Gamification)

The tenure track position is shared between Tampere University of Technology and the University of Turku. It supports the co-operation in teaching and research in the area of gamification between the two universities.

The professorship is especially associated with the TUT Game Lab (Pori Department, TUT) and the Digital Culture research group of the Cultural Production and Landscape Studies degree programme (School of History, Culture and Arts Studies, UTU). These research groups currently have five on-going research projects related to games and playing.

The TUT Game Lab brings together learning scientists, developers and humanists to conduct research and develop new ways of utilizing games in learning. The aim is to develop and study high-impact digital games that address real world challenges.

The main research objectives of TUT Game Lab are:
– Developing scientifically justified games to demonstrate and conduct research
– Studying the impact of educational games
– Exploring ways to combine learning and assessment in games
– Studying and modelling the playing experience

The Digital Culture research group (UTU) has three research focuses:
– cultural appropriation of technologies
– social media
– game cultures.

The Digital Culture research group specializes in the study of the cultural history of digital games and the uses of digital game histories in contemporary culture (so-called “history culture”). Furthermore, the research group has participated in various digital game exhibition projects as well as practical game design and gamification projects combining digital and non-digital elements. Digital Culture is a part of the Cultural Production and Landscape Studies degree programme which also incorporates two other major subjects: Cultural Heritage Studies and Landscape Studies.

Job description:

We invite applications for one (1) tenure track position in the area of Gamification.

The area of gamification covers:
– research of games and gamification
– games and playing as a cultural phenomenon
– game mechanisms, edugames and pervasive playing
– utilization of games in business, e.g. in new products and services

The emphasis of the position can be tailored according to the specific expertise of the candidate. Suitable educational and research backgrounds for the position include e.g. media studies, cultural studies, information technology and business and management.

The successful candidate is expected to:
– pursue and supervise scientific research in the field
– lead, conduct and develop education in the field
– participate in the activities of the national and international scientific communities
– acquire external funding
– interact with society
– commit to the strategies of TUT and UTU.

The successful candidate will participate in teaching both in the master’s degree programme in Management and Information Technology (TUT) as well as the subject of Digital Culture (UTU) by integrating the gamification theme into the existing course selection, in particular. Supervising theses and conducting doctoral seminars are also essential areas of responsibility.

The position will be filled at the level of Associate Professor.

The successful candidate will be employed by TUT. For more information on TUT’s tenure track career system, please refer to tut.fi/openpositions – Tenure track.

Requirements:

All candidates considered for a tenure track position are expected to:
– hold an applicable doctoral degree
– demonstrate a record of achievement in research that meets high international standards in the field of gamification
– demonstrate the capacity for independent scholarly activity
– possess the teaching skills required for the successful performance of their duties and
– have the ability to co-operate in a multidisciplinary university environment and with industry.

We appreciate experience and a track record in acquiring research funding, along with collaboration and leadership positions in research networks and industry.

For more information on the criteria for each level of TUT’s tenure track, please refer to tut.fi/openpositions – Tenure track.

We offer:

Both TUT and UTU have ambitious and challenging goals in effective, high-quality research, education and social influence. We offer an active research community with a good team spirit, intense cooperation with industry and business, public organizations and students, and opportunities for growth and advancement in academia. Our international cooperation is active and recognized, both in research and education.

We offer the successful candidate an opportunity to contribute to the creation of a new research area that combines gamification with areas such as cultural studies, information technology and business.

TUT offers a wide range of staff benefits, such as occupational health care. Since 2014, TUT has held the European Commission HR Excellence in Research recognition.

For more information, please visit tut.fi/en – About TUT – Careers at TUT
(http://www.tut.fi/en/about-tut/careers-at-tut/index.htm)
(http://www.tut.fi/en/about-tut/quality-assurance/hr-excellence-in-research)

Salary:

The salary will be based on both the job demands and the employee’s personal performance in accordance with the Finnish University Salary System (YPJ).

The advertised position is typically placed on the job demand level 7 (Associate Professor). In addition, the employees receive performance-based salary and they are covered by TUT’s bonus system.

Trial period:

The appointment is subject to the satisfactory completion of a trial period of four months.

Other:

The position will be filled for a fixed-term period of four years. The appointment is expected to begin on 1 December 2016 or as mutually agreed.

The duties are mainly located on the Pori campus in close co-operation with the main campuses in Tampere and Turku.

For the candidates with the most potential for the position, the selection process will involve an external assessment, individual interviews, aptitude assessments and a trial lecture.

For more information, please contact:

Director of University Consortium of Pori, Professor Jari Multisilta, e-mail: jari.multisilta@tut.fi, tel. +358 40 826 2910. Best availability for enquiries: 7 July–15 July and 1 August- 10 August.

In questions concerning the recruitment process, please contact HR Specialist
Eveliina Nurmi, e-mail. eveliina.nurmi@tut.fi, tel. +358 50 3015253. Best availability for enquiries: 15 June – 8 July and 8 August-10 August.

How to apply:

Applications must be submitted through TUT’s online employment system. The closing date for applications is 10 August 2016 (10:00 pm UTC). All applications and supporting documents must be submitted in English.

The applications must include the following documents prepared according to TUT’s instructions:
1. Curriculum Vitae (.doc or .pdf)
2. Research plan
3. List of publications
4. Teaching portfolio
5. References

Additional information on TUT’s tenure track system and attachments to applications.

Teacher Leadership in Schools

7 Qualities That Promote Teacher Leadership in Schools

https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/03/16/7-qualities-that-promote-teacher-leadership-in-schools/

three shifts in policy and leadership culture may help move these efforts forward:

  1. New types of assessment are gaining ground. Several states are piloting performance-based assessments to replace standardized testing.
  2. Exemplars in the business community are now promoting flat organizational structures, where employees work in smaller teams and have more voice and power over how they work.
  3. Teachers are more networked than ever before, providing a unique opportunity to share and spread good teaching practice.

crucial decisions about curriculum, leadership roles and discipline.

While the hybrid roles that teachers play at teacher-powered schoolsmay seem like a lot of work, they give teachers the power to decide what programs, textbooks, software, etc., should or should not be used in order to make space for the community’s vision. And when teachers decide together on the vision and strategy to reach all students, they are often more invested and excited by the change they are creating from within.

7conditions

Some of the best available examples of how to improve teacher quality and promote teacher leadership lie in models offered by other high-performing places, like Finland and Singapore.

Seven qualities must be in place.

  1. A vision and strategy for teacher leadership, “with stated goals and clear images of tasks to be done, must be in place.”  Teachers must feel part of creating this vision in order to buy in.
  2. A supportive administration. “Principals must be willing to share power with teachers and must have the skills to cultivate them as leaders,” most educational leadership programs focus on supervising teachers, not supporting them as leaders.
  3. There need to be appropriate human and fiscal resources.
  4. Work structures that enable authentic collaboration are crucial. While more resources help on this point, there are creative ways to stretch limited dollars.
  5. Supportive social norms and working relationships are key to teacher leadership. “All too often, policymakers develop incentives to motivate teachers and administrators,” . “Instead, policies and programs should be in place to value teachers spreading their expertise to one another, allowing teaching to be exercised as a team sport.”
  6. Organizational politics must allow for blurred lines between roles. Teachers can only take on leadership roles at the expense of principals and district-level administrators. This also requires teacher unions to act more as “professional guilds” and for districts to follow the example of some for-profit businesses that are flattening bureaucracies.
  7. The school and system must be oriented toward risk-taking and inquiry. Just as students need hands-on applied learning rooted in inquiry, so, too, do teachers need powerful driving questions to push their work forward. “School systems must be able to interrogatethemselves about the extent to which they create opportunities for teachers to learn and lead in ways that spread teaching expertise and improve student outcomes.”

 

virtual reality games and learning

Research Suggests Students Learn More When Collaborating in Virtual Reality Games

By Michael Hart

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/06/22/research-suggests-students-learn-more-when-working-together-in-virtual-reality-games.aspx

In the research project led by Ph.D. candidate Gabriel Culbertson, 48 students were recruited to play two versions of the game. In one group, students were connected via a chat interface with another player who could, if they wanted, offer advice on how to play. The second group played a version of the game in which they were definitely required to collaborate on quests.

The research group found the students in the second so-called “high-interdependence” group spent more time communicating and, as a consequence, learned more words.

The research then expanded to a larger group of 186 Reddit users who were learning Japanese. After reviewing gameplay logs, interviews and Reddit posts, they found that those who spent the most time engaged in the game learned more new words and phrases.

The Cornell research team presented its research results at the Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Human-Computer Interaction in May in San Jose, CA.

+++++++++

more on games in this IMS blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=games

more on virtual reality in this blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=virtual+reality

google cast

Google Cast for Education Allows Students, Teachers to Share the Projector

By David Nagel

https://thejournal.com/articles/2016/06/27/google-cast-for-education-allows-students-teachers-to-share-the-projector.aspx

Cast for Education is an app that works on Chrome OS, macOS and Windows. The app is launching in a public beta today and is available as a free download. The difference between Cast and other screen sharing solutions is network-independence.

Google today also launched the full version of its educational virtual reality tool Google Expeditions, along with a new Quiz feature for Google Apps for Education.

+++++++++++++++++

more on screen-sharing opportunities in education:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=doceri

Softchalk for MnSCU

training session 10:30AM July 7

firefox is preferable to chrome and IE

in chrome, audio plays automatically. if students are using Chromes, need to have the audio file on the top, so students can stop it. NAPI is not supported by Google. So Softchalk must start local launch.

this is SO complex and SO many side steps that it will be a miracle to get the middle 50-60% of faculty into buying the SoftChalk idea.

local launch is client based and allows creating content without Internet connection

edit in Create Online allows creation on mobile devices such as tablet

have to have rights on the computer to install the local launch. Ha…

I am behind David, since my java is not up to date. i have to update now that. I wonder how many faculty will endure the initial process

Microsoft Edge is different the IE, but will act the same

SoftChalk is the same elitist ideas as LMS. It will require an extensive training of faculty, which they have no time and energy to invest in. The idea of Learning Objects will require years of compiling materials, sufficiently enough to be recycled by other faculty. In most disciplines, these learning objects will age by the time they reach the critical mass.

————-

training session 1PM July 6, 2016

David Evans  from SoftChalk is doing the training session.

If we want to share with students, do they have to have a user account in softchalk?
Аnswer: No. The instructor can share the content by embedding the URL to the Softchalk content, but not allow students to participate in the creation
the answer defies the constructivist principles of learning

MnSCU site Educational Innovations -> MnSCU SoftChalk Pilot
http://www.asa.mnscu.edu/educationalinnovations/projects/SoftChalk_Cloud/educational-innovations-page.html

  1. Part 1: Trainer David Evans – SoftChalk’s cloud management (creating lessons, folders, sharing, uploading files and more) – 1 hour 5 min

https://mnscu.webex.com/mnscu/ldr.php?RCID=b15902c4eb57cfcbfc6559b4f2e4bcf7

  1. Part 2: – 21 min https://mnscu.webex.com/mnscu/ldr.php?RCID=2e0612ead1c04836ab614ebafe4607ed
    1. Lesley Blicker – MnSCU’s pilot project and web resources (7 min)
    2. Jon Werth – integrating SoftChalk with the D2L Brightspace gradebook, plus browsers to use or avoid

——————————–

MnSCU pilot. How to do the LT integration for the gradebook, including browsers constrains.

++++++++++++++++++++++

SoftChalk Session for CSAs and CTs

Java applet is essential, until HMTL5 is functional. IT and the System Office have things locked down and not much can be done. Java Application cannot be blocked.

http://asa.mnscu.edu/educationalinnovations/projects/SoftChalk_Cloud/educational-innovations-page.html

Integrating Softchalk Cloud w D2L. SCORM – don’t use it. Tool Provider.

SoftChalk (SC) can be used as an external link within D2L, internal integration only when used with the gradebook. The LTI link is ONLY needed if the instructor plans to use the gradebook. Otherwise, it’s a simple embed in content.

if recently installed Java 8.91, will not install the jar file and one have to go and manually delete it.

Browsers.

Firefox and IE will allow to launch the Java applet. Chrome and Safari will block it. it will require a local launch. The install will create an icon in the lower right corner.

I cannot believe such structure, in the times of drag and drop. Whoever came up w it, is DEFINITELY not a faculty and does not care about faculty time and effort.

the process is lengthy and cumbersome, not to mentioned repetitive. If this work is shifted toward faculty, i seriously doubt that the adoption rate will be in the double digits.

verdict: much ado about nothing: the work that faculty have to put toward such content versus the return on the Bloom’s taxonomy scale is so low that in my opinion is just squandering of efforts. If there is a LOR, where faculty can draw preset clusters of similar activities, I would be more willing to accept.

a license for SoftChalk Cloud is needed. Who is in charge of this? John and TLTR? Tom as faculty president?

++++++++++++++++++++++

more on Softchalk in this IMS blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=softchalk

Game-Based Learning GBL

GAME-BASED LEARNING AND GAME CONSTRUCTION AS AN E-LEARNING STRATEGY INPROGRAMMING EDUCATION

Marie Olsson and Peter Mozeliu
authors have been subject matter experts and content developers as well as teachers and facilitators.

A clear trend at universities in the 21st century has been the transformation of traditional face-to-face rostrum teaching to blended learning or pure distance education in virtual learning environments (Graham, 2006; Lim & Morris, 2009; Park & Choi, 2009).

GAME-BASED LEARNING AND GAME CONSTRUCTION AS AN E- LEARNING STRATEGY IN PROGRAMMING EDUCATION. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304490353_GAME-BASED_LEARNING_AND_GAME_CONSTRUCTION_AS_AN_E-_LEARNING_STRATEGY_IN_PROGRAMMING_EDUCATION [accessed Jun 28, 2016].

more on GBL in this blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=game-based+learning

1 344 345 346 347 348 491