Elluminate Training January 5, 2008
Posted by Steve in Technotrivia.Tags: elluminate, videoconferencing
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I did attend some live online training with Elluminate during January that required me to be up at 3am! Some interesting points on Moderating were:
Part One:
- the moderator assigns tools like rights and permissions
- one should use the audio wizard first and at least once daily to make sure one’s system is functioning properly.
- avoid audio echo. Almost an etiquette
- it can be difficult to be a moderator and keep up with all the dynamic changing symbols
- if someone lags behind (out of syncronisation), accelerated playback kicks in & the person sounds like Alvin from the Chipmunks fame.
- when people are out of sync, it is just best to pause the use of the microphone for a few seconds.
- the whiteboard area is used exclusively to do a show & tell. Good for instructional type presentations.
- the whiteboard impacts everyone and participants can make changes
- powerpoint has to be converted first, loses all transitions and nifty effects.
- up to 6 talkers can talk at once, probably not practical, but two will suffice.
- application sharing is terrific but not available in Lite
- polling has impact upon the pacing, instructor can make sure participants understand, encourages interactivity and helps keep thing focused. Moderator can lock answers, hide answers, publish answers and some other options.
- video: seems to be used in a limited fashion due to the shyness of everyone. A still image is usually displayed as well.
- use of video is limited only by one’s imagination
- one video at a time is used - fine colour or medium colour can be used. If recording a long session like 3 hours, use medium colour to save storage space.
- a new moderator should practice with 2 computers side by side and / or with 2 people.
- vRoom can be used. A free version with 3 participants is available.
Part Two consisted of:
- whiteboard tools were explored
- objects can be locked on the whiteboard
- puzzles have to have individual pieces uploaded, possible games for chess
- one can create their own clip art
- explore screens, save sessions, moderators can cut, copy, paste
- screens can be copied out of breakout rooms
- screen explorer is very powerful
- one can save a screen, eg polling
- whiteboard can be protected, exported as pdf or png
- wbp (whiteboard protected cannot be saved NOR printed)
- screen group eg. 39 slides, current screen, selected screens
Sharing tools:
- one opens applications
- don’t minimise the application window
- windows are automatically resized
- start, stop, snap shot
- cntrl + spacebar == regain control
- select name, right click, give control, request control on top of window
- preview: bring up thumbnail, don’t put anything on top of application
- can take a snap shot of image
- copying and pasting from one computer to another will NOT work
Web Tour:
- shares a web browser
- opens a browser instance
- interacts individually, 12 participants can go 12 different ways
- Moderator can syncronise and re-syncronise when moderator clicks (tour guide)
- Moderator over rides and multiple students share the same web browser
- publish URL and the URL goes into the chat area (called pushing out).
Part Three consisted of:
- presentation mode can be used (one huge screen)
- presentation mode can be used with whiteboard or application sharing
- one can get back into default view by using the proper icon
- the yellow around the whiteboard indicates full presentation is being used
- application button can be difficult to see
- would use this when a specific focus is required
Breakout rooms
- one on one or do small group work
- one can create rooms manually or automatically.
- one can preload content onto the breakout room screens
- screen explorer allows one to move participants
- each breakout room seems to have one whiteboard
- students can’t move from room to room whereas moderators can
- announcements will be received in all breakout rooms
- a timer can be set
- can copy and paste each breakout room to the main room
- tools -> whiteboard -> explore screen -> expand tabs -> highlight participants -> copy
Notes:
- notes can be written and saved as text or eln (elluminate note).
- one can share notes or combine notes
- notes automatically saved.
File transfer:
- icon: folder with the green arrow
- when uploading a dynamic graphic appears, wait until 100% is indicated
- 10 mb upload limit
- green disk means saved, yellow in progress
- if file upload is not to be made public, untick the proper box (pre-loading)
- multi media content is downloaded to individual computers. Must have proper plugins
Record session:
- can be automatic or manual, can pause
- automatic save is probable
- the only human error that can take place is turning Record on
- erase is allowed
- indicator changes when recording
- when recording is finished, a link is emailed to participants?
- recordings can be converted (for a fee) for portability
- quick reference for each task is available
Year 9 Information and Software Technology Test Generator January 1, 2008
Posted by Steve in Elearning, Information, Web2.0.Tags: Elearning, onlinelearning, testgen, testgenerator
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I will be teaching the Year 9 Information & Software Technology course for the first time in 2008 and I am looking forward to it. I hope to use some strategies that have been written in Web2.0 discussions. The first topic that I will do will be Digital Media but the focus will be on printed media. We will leave multi-media for a later time.
During my initial preparation and research, I discovered my textbook by David Grover was included in Course Compass and that an online presence is a definite possibility. Unfortunately, students need access codes to gain access to the course which will cost $7.60 each. I can afford that to come out of my budget.
Among several facilities, is an application entitled “TestGen” for test generator and the version is 7.4.1. The idea is to create a test on your computer and upload it to the IST course in Course Compass. I did some initial experimentation starting off with 5 multiple choice questions and uploaded them to the site. It worked quite well. I came unstuck trying to create True / False questions. I have not been able to indicate which alternative is the correct response. After several hours of trying different things and combinations, I gave up and sent a question to the Support Team. I did have to wait longer than 24 hours for a reply since it was the weekend. A correct solution was offered but it was NOT straight forward NOR were there a special set of instructions for the True / False type. It was not intuitive.
Technical glitches such as this hurts the online, elearning concept. It has to work if teachers are going to take it up across the curriculum. Course Compass is based on Blackboard but I did not find this out immediately. I assumed a commercial product should be operational and intuitive. Perhaps I will be proven incorrect and should have gone the Moodle route for a learning management system?
Conceptually, I am excited by the possibilities and can see some innovative experimentation happening. Technical glitches, please stay away! Sigh.
Postscript:
- I finally located a PDF file on TestGen where it indeed explained how to indicate which True or False option was correct. It still is not intuitive.
- I spent a long time experimenting with the Matching type question but I could not get it to operate on a web page. It did seem to work when printed out as a page, however.
- Upon checking the Users Manual (PDF file), I found a little phrase that indicates the Matching type question CANNOT be carried out currently on a web page. Now that was a waste of time.
- I think I am safe if I just stick to multiple choice questions and True / False questions for use in a web page such as Course Compass.
- Creating a large bank of questions, that can be dragged and dropped onto a new test is worthwhile pursuing, however, I won’t see the benefits until I teach this unit twice.
