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Online Research
CTEL is located on the second level of the Joel and Linda Abromson Community Education Center, 88 Bedford Street, Portland campus
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Online Tools CTEL staff are available to help you learn to use any of the following applications, and to explore other possible tools for developing your online course. You can contact Scott Kimball or Sue Goodrich for help.
Blackboard: This is the course delivery tool chosen and supported by the University of Maine System for online education. It can be used for online courses or to supplement and document face to face classes. CTEL staff can help you make the most of your use of Blackboard. Camtasia: This screen-capture software allows you to record your own voice narrating your PowerPoint, giving a tour of a web resource or demonstrating the use of a new software package. This is available for your use in a quiet space at the Abromson Center, in the Faculty Development office in 521 Glickman, and in 2 Bailey Hall (ITMS). Elluminate: CTEL has entered into a license agreement with Elluminate, Inc. to utilize the Elluminate Live! software to conduct online classes, meetings and seminars. While it is designed primarily for synchronous on-line teaching, you can reserve a seat through the Help Desk (helpdesk@usm.maine.edu) and record a live session at your own computer, which can be linked to your course in Blackboard. Do you have a guest speaker for your class? A synchronous online class in Elluminate can allow your students to interact with him or her. Podcasting: Here is an excellent resource for Podcasting: Poducate Me Tool Factory is a similar product for producing audio podcasts. Virtual Office Hours: You can use Elluminate for virtual office hours using a whiteboard chat and voice. These sessions must be pre-scheduled through the helpdesk (780-4029). If your office hours are likely to involve only 1 or 2 students at a time, get your own free V-room to which you can invite 2 other people without the need to pre-schedule. Blackboard also has collaboration tools for virtual office hours without voice capability. The University system also makes Telephone Bridge "virtual office hours" available. Encourage your students to interact with one another by assigning participation in the discussion boards. Video Production: On the Portland and Gorham campuses there are facilities where you can record a video introduction, or brief insert, that you can make available as part of your online course. This would be viewed as a Quicktime video or podcast. Specific Podcasting software is available in the Abromson office, in Payson Smith and in the Glickman library. Add audio comments to students' papers withAcrobat Professional (available through the Logic Shop, $40 departmental pricing). The sound and intonations of your voice will add to your presence in their learning. You can also use Acrobat Professional to add narration to a PowerPoint presentation which can then be posted to the web or in Blackboard. Get Fast! Mid-course evaluations/feedback from students - to learn what is or is not working for them. Student evaluations are anonymous and go only to you, and student access to each evaluation is password restricted so that each student can fill out only once. Visit the site to read the FAQs and take a tour. You could have your evaluation online tonight! Speechi Lite This free program converts your PowerPoint files to Flash. There is no audio capability in the free version and the upgrade to that capability is much more expensive than Camtasia, but it does reduce file size (to 1/3 the size in my test) if you want to offer your powerpoints for viewing on the web. The downside is that they are no longer printable, but if you want to protect your slides, that could be an upside. Copyright Questions? Check this link to learn about the TEACH Act and look at the Checklist. http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/dist_learning.htm FACILITIES: New Studios We have created a Podcast Studio, complete with camera, backdrop, lighting and the necessary software to record and encode a podcast. Shh-Room This is our "quiet room" where faculty can record without distractions from the outside world (no phone, no window). This room has a new iMac with Parallels to run PC programs, SnapzPro X2 with Movie Capture, Acrobat Pro, ProfCast, and Camtasia. Faculty Station A new iMac (with Parallels to run PC programs) in the CTEL office is available with all these applications as well as an Adobe Creative Suite of applications, Acrobat Pro. ITMS Faculty/Staff Development Facilities now include Camtasia on PC's in 521 Glickman (Portland) and 2 Bailey (Gorham). Both of these rooms are available to any faculty who wish to use them. They are equipped with microphone headsets and cameras. Resources on this site: Blog feeds on online teaching practices. Strategies for enhancing online discussions. Ideas we get from faculty: The Community of Practice is a collaborative effort among the practitioners of Online Learning. Sometimes valuable advice might come from students as well. If you are using a software (especially freeware) program as a tool for your online teaching that you would like to recommend, we would like to hear about it.
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