From 1-way to 2-way:Promoting student engagementthrough asynchronous collaboration

Eric M. Larson, COTF 2006

Who is this guy?

• Eric M. Larson, University of St. Thomas– Instructional Process Analyst

• Host of The Ericast since March 2005– (www.ericast.com)

• Presentation at:

www.emlarson.com/cotf

Agenda

• Overview

• The old: 1-way– WebEx, MediaSite, etc.– “traditional podcasting”

• The new: 2-way– MS Producer & Wikis/Blogs (Click.TV)– Phoned-in Podcasting groups

• Q & A / Discussion

Overview

(Or, “Your chance to slip out of the room if you hate this thesis.”)

Overview – What’s the Story?

• For years, faculty have recorded things for students to review

• Sometimes, student interaction is part of that recording

• But once the recording is made, the interaction stops – or, at least, becomes extremely difficult

• Now, we can move the interaction into the recording itself!

The Old Way: 1-way examples

From ultra-traditional to fairly modern…

Remember Tape Recorders?

Ever use WebEx?

Ever download a Podcast?

But then what?

Introducing the concept of “asynchronous collaboration”Or, “Let’s add the responses into the original content!”

What’s“asynchronous collaboration”?

• Classroom discussion is a form of synchronous collaboration

• LMSes or other online forums provide a type of asynchronous discussion, but true collaboration (interrelating ideas) is difficult

• Moving the discussion right into the media presentation creates asynchronous collaboration, where exposure to the idea and the responses occurs simultaneously.

Possible Solution:• Combining streaming video with a live wiki

that advances at key points in a timeline

• (Microsoft Producer + MediaWiki Wiki)http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/emlarson/cotf/cotf-wiki.htm

Possible Solution:• Combining streaming video with a live blog

that advances at key points in a timeline

• (Microsoft Producer + Blogger.com Blog)http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/emlarson/gusday/vidlog-gusday2006demo.htm

• The actual blog sits at:http://vidlog-gusday06.blogspot.com/

• Click.TV has created a Flash-based model and will release an ad-supported service in June

http://www.click.tv

Can we do this for audio, too?

Turning podcasts and “coursecasts” interactive.

What is “podcasting”?

• “Podcasting” is the act of producing a podcast– Listening to a podcast isn’t “podcasting”

• Remember, listening to a radio or television broadcast isn’t “broadcasting”

• “Podcasters” are those who make podcasts, not those who listen to podcasts

What is “a podcast”?

• “A podcast is a web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to.”

• “The subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming.”

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting)

What is “a podcast”?

• “Internet talk-radio”

• Regularly created– Daily, Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly

• MP3 + RSS 2.0 feed with enclosure tag– A link to an MP3 audio file that’s sitting on a

web site is not a podcast– A RealPlayer audio file is not a podcast

• What’s an RSS feed?– RSS is an HTML-like format, for computers

What is “coursecasting”?

• “Putting audio of a lecture online”

• Might be done as a podcast, or maybe not.

• So, many professed “podcast” desires might be fulfilled with a simple audio file uploaded to a web server– Students could manually download and save

MP3s onto a portable MP3 player

How to get started ‘Casting

Publishing

• OurMedia + Blogger + FeedBurner– OurMedia: Host the Creative Commons MP3– Blogger: Provide the (Atom) feed– FeedBurner: Clean up the RSS feed

• …and faculty or students or staff might be doing this already!

From one-way to two-way• So far, we’ve been talking about faculty

publishing their materials out to students

• Is there more?

YES!

Audio Collaboration!

• Phone in to podcasts?– Like “community voicemail” but more

convenient– An advantage to students who don’t want to

raise their hands in class, but don’t feel confident expressing themselves in writing (e.g. in a discussion board)

• (AudioBlogger + Blogger + E-Mail)

Audio Collaboration!

• MIT has announced “RadioActive”:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1964680,00.asp

• “The RadioActive project defines a large-scale asynchronous audio messaging system, or mobile audio forum. In this system, voice messages are exchanged between groups of users via mobile devices, like cell phones or PDAs, as a method of ‘discussion-on-demand.’ The messages are then collected in threads similar to how a common Internet discussion forum… and can range the spectrum from quick blurbs to full-length podcasts.”

Questions? Discussion?

Thank You!