Taking to ‘the cloud’ in education

There has been a lot of talk about using “the cloud” for storing and sharing data. In our previous blog post, we already reviewed cloud storage providers such as Slashtmp.iu.edu, SkyDrive, Dropbox, and Box.com. Recently, Indiana University and Box.com came to an agreement to provide cloud-based storage to its faculty staff, and students at IU. In this blog post, we focus on how the use of cloud-based storage  could be used in education.

What is cloud-based storage?

When we trying to understand ‘the cloud’, think about how many people use the bank system today. While one’s money is still located in a centralized place (e.g., in the bank’s vault), it is accessible at many different locations (e.g., ATMs). As one interacts with an ATM, one can see the current amount and money can be added to/withdrawn from the account. Immediately, the amount on one’s account is updated to reflect the changes. Similarly, you can access your files from any device with an internet connection, much as you can access your money from an ATM, a website, or a physical bank. It is common to use online banking instead of offline banking. One does not have to go to the bank in person but one can  deposit, transfer, and even make payments all online. Like banking, cloud-based storage provides an account to upload, download, and share data with multiple of devices. Additionally, it offers to opportunity to do all these things through a website similar to online banking. Many individuals and organizations are now using cloud storage for diverse reasons, for example, data storage, data sharing, and collaboration.

Use of cloud-based storage in education

Educational institutions are taking advantage of the cloud as more and more schools are teaching courses that involve using digital media, such as pictures or videos. Cloud-based storage can help students and teachers easily access and share data anywhere and anytime.

Important features for education

Most cloud-based storage providers have common features like data backup, accessibility, and security features. The following aspects of the cloud are especially relevant for education.

1. Synchronization in real-time

One of useful features of cloud storage is remote backup. Cloud backup works similar way to traditional backup except the fact data are being moved to a server through the Internet rather than carrying it onto physical hard drive, e.g.,  USB drive. In school, any file one saves to cloud-based storages is automatically synchronized to all enabled devices such as a desktop, laptop, tablet , as well as the  webpage of the cloud-based storages (e.g. Dropbox.com, box.com). To automatically sync all of files to one’s devices, all one need to do is to download and install a program from the storage provider.

For example, if I add audio files to a cloud-based storage from my desktop, it is possible to play the file without having to download it, on my iPad, iPhone, and home laptop as it is already saved on my account in cloud-based storage.

2. Collaboration

Imagine you are collaborating on a project with a number of people in different places, and the project involves a set of Word documents. You might want to have a common place to store those files. With cloud-based storage’s synchronization function, your collaborators can independently open the documents, work on them, and save them to the one centralized place. With many different sub-applications available, much cloud-based storage focuses on collaboration function. For example, Agilewords makes it easy to collect group feedback, make online edits, track changes, and get quick reviewers’ approval. Other collaboration applications that are designed for specific fields are AutoCAD WS, for opening CAD files, AppFusions’ Box in Atlassian JIRA, DICOM Viewer for medical images, and eSurvey Mobile Forms for mobile survey.

3. Editing

Some cloud storage providers such as Google Drive and CloudOn provide users with an editing feature for documents. Google Drive, for example, enables users to create, share, and edit files and collaborate with others. However, they do not have offline support to create, share, and edit.

Some things to consider:

Before jumping on the ‘cloud’ bandwagon, there are several things to consider.

Pros	Cons
Low cost is used for operation compared to electronic data storage devices. It has automatic backup and recovery systems so no one worries about data loss. Data server is safely secured by the provider.	Service costs may by rising as the amount of data increases. High internet speed is required to make connections and backup a large scale file. If the provider server is hacked, security for data in cloud storage is not guaranteed.

Additional resources: Cloud storage comparison chart

•  Adrian Covert: Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox and More Compared: What’s the Best Cloud Option?
• Marti Trewe: Google Drive cloud storage comparison chart, full guide
• Ellis Hamburger: Google Drive vs. Dropbox, SkyDrive, SugarSync, and others: a cloud sync storage face-off
• Vince: Cloud storage comparison: Google Drive vs. Dropbox vs. SugarSync vs. SkyDrive vs. Box.net

Images from:

• http://www.twitchtime.in/2011/08/use-25-gb-cloud-storage-in-your.html
• http://www.ciskopicks.com/2011/07/dropbox/

Key strategies on how to engage students in online discussion

It is often said that students who actively participate in the learning process tend to learn more than those who do not. This principle of involvement is applied both inside and outside the classroom, as well as in an online environment. In addition, active participation might enable critical thinking that possibly leads to higher achievement.

In many online courses, discussion forums are often used as one of the major means to support student learning. Online discussion differs from traditional classroom discussion in some ways. First of all, online discussion ensures that everyone has the opportunity to contribute by requiring every student to post their thoughts and comments on certain topic(s). Secondly, online asynchronous discussion also allows more time to give and internalize feedback with a greater depth of reflection. These benefits are emphasized in this following list of key strategies and tips that will encourage active student involvement.

1. Set clear guidelines: To successfully encourage students to reach an acceptable quality and quantity of participation, instructors should provide clear guidelines in detail. By having clear guidelines, students will be more aware of  expectations about when to post and  how much they should support their opinions with reference to readings, research, or other course materials. An additional benefit of having students follow clear expectations is that it can help students focus on specific goals and often produce more organized and high quality outputs. Posting the guidelines in the course syllabus or as an attachment to the opening message of the first online discussion would be one way to utilize this strategy.
2. Student-led discussion: While the presence of instructor is important to keep the discussion on track, one can foster autonomous student-led discussion by assigning student roles or focusing on topics relevant to their lives. For example, the instructor could introduce debatable topics intentionally and assign some students the role of devil’s advocate, hence encouraging critical thinking by examining opposing viewpoints through asking and answering questions. This also offers the opportunity for students to practice online netiquette by respecting each other’s opinions. Furthermore, students could be assigned the role of moderator thus allows meaningful and balanced peer participation. By doing so, students could develop facilitation, summarizing, and critical thinking skills.
3. Ask thought-provoking open-ended questions: Students tend to contribute more when they find the dialogue thoughtful and meaningful. With a variety of perspectives, students are more intrigued and interested in expanding their ideas. Students want to go somewhere based on the discussion and do not like to re-word what others already said. A common way to encourage participation is to have course material being applied to one’s own situation. Instructors should be clear about the rule that simply agreeing and disagreeing are insufficient without explaining a rationale.
4. Make discussion an important part of your class: Students often overlook the importance of online discussion. To better encourage student participation, include a rationale in the syllabus why discussion is important and, therefore, is worth so many points. Also, if instructors incorporate ideas and knowledge generated in discussion on exams, it reinforces the importance of student contribution and requires active participation to internalize the content. Offering an opportunity for students to synthesize, integrate, and apply what has been discussed is another option to make discussion a central ingredient of the course.
5. Form Small Groups or Teams: Learning groups have been shown to be effective in online discussion by encouraging student participation and critical engagement. To effectively form a small group, one suggestion is to ask students to write down the names of three or four students with whom they would most like to collaborate based on students’ preference, interests, or past experiences. Similar to the face-to-face setting, group learning provides the learner with peer-review and a responsibility to the group to keep up with discussion. Small groups allow having a more focused discussion that is especially helpful for large classes. Please read “Collaborative Learning: Group Work and Study Teams” from Barbara Davis at University of California at Berkeley for more information.
6. Create a supportive and caring environment: A supportive environment is another important feature of online discussion. Typed messages can be often misinterpreted and, one is less likely to participate when feeling uncomfortable. As we have seen, students like to feel safe in class discussion and this is perhaps one of the most challenging missions within online environment. Since students report they need honest, open, and respectful environment, it is important for the instructor to set this atmosphere from the beginning. To foster a supportive environment, instructors could launch the class with an individual introduction posting so that students better get to know each other. Providing a set of guidelines, such as family/friends background, personal experiences, or sharing a photograph could potentially draw something in common. Last but not least, encouraging your students to use a general open student forum to post and ask help from each other via student-to-student interaction tools such as discussions or chatting is also useful.

Utilizing online discussion is now very common, even in onsite courses as a supplementary tool. Fortunately, effective strategies for managing online teaching and learning are being designed and tested continuously by those in the field. For additional resources on designing and managing effective discussion forums, please see below. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at ic@indiana.edu

Additional resources

•  J.V. Boettcher, Ph.D. :“Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online Quick Guide for New Online faculty”
• Rebecca Owens: Eight Tips for Facilitating Effective Online Discussion Forums

Images from:

• http://www.ttacnews.vcu.edu/2009/09/student-led-conferences-help-students-become-more-self-determined.html
• http://www.innovationtools.com/Articles/EnterpriseDetails.asp?a=420
• http://www.stayawake.tv/ViewBlog/Focus-groups-A–reminder-that-your-social-circle-is-very-very-small-23
• http://www.cispetro.com/index-3.html

Concurrent Hybrid Courses: Teaching face-to-face and remote students simultaneously

In distance education, hybrid or blended courses are those in which some sessions are held face-to-face and some others are held online.  “Concurrent hybrid courses”, on the other hand, are those in which a class is taught in real time having both face-to-face and remote students concurrently.

Advances of video-conferencing technology and software make it possible to have one or more students joining a live face-to-face class from different distant geographical locations. However, teaching face-to-face and remote student simultaneously offers a new set of challenges to the instructor that need to be considered in advance. For example, depending on technology capability remote students might feel isolated or might miss important visual information that might hinder their understanding of the topic.

Here are a few tips based on the experience of several instructors who have taught under this setting:

Including non-concurrent online activities. Even though students have already been engaged in real time during class, online activities have the potential to reinforce their understanding. Common online activities include brainstorming and exchanging ideas in a discussion forum or reflecting upon a topic using a blog and then commenting on each other’s’ blog entries.

Implementing an onsite-online pair buddy system. Under this approach, a student on campus is paired up with a remote student using a laptop and video-conferencing software. This way, students on campus can facilitate the interaction between remote students and the instructor by asking any questions or making any comments that remote students might have. Of course, for this approach to work properly it is critical that buddy students on campus have the technological skills and be willing to collaborate with the remote students.

Including interactive group activities in real time. By having remote students being part of groups, they tend to feel more motivated and integrated with the rest of the class instead of being mere spectators. It is helpful to implement group dynamics such as ensuring that each student (including the remote ones) have equal amount of time and opportunity to participate. However, implementing two-way verbal communication in groups of three or more students in which various groups have remote participants might bring audio issues, especially when the discussion a group is so loud that interferes or distracts other groups. This problem could be mitigated it by using the appropriate classroom size, the right videoconferencing technology per group or by having groups using just text-based communication.

Planning and testing the most appropriate technology configuration. The content to be delivered and the type of interaction needed to achieve the course learning objectives should guide the selection of the video-conferencing application as well as the location of the local video-camera(s) and microphone(s). It is really important to test all the equipment in advance with a technology consultant and also with the remote students prior each class starts to ensure that they are able to see you and hear you and vice versa. Moreover, if you are using a PowerPoint presentation, consider sharing your computer screen so your remote students can see and read the content of your presentation too. If you are planning to write something on the whiteboard, you might consider having someone zooming the camera in or using a digital overhead projector to show everything you are writing on the fly so both your face-to-face and remote students can see it.

Recording the class. Since we all know that technology can fail at any time, it is highly recommended to record the class so remote students can watch it again in case their connectivity drops for any reason.

We’d love to hear from you regarding any other issues you have come across with when teaching concurrently face-to-face and remote students in real time and the ways you have solved them!

Cloud Computing in Higher Education: Launch of IU SharePoint

IU SharePoint is a web application platform originally developed by Microsoft in 2001. During the summer of 2011, University Information Technology Services (UITS) at Indiana University integrated SharePoint into the Indiana University environment. SharePoint provides a set of key features for team collaboration and content management. IU faculty, staff and graduate students are provided with 20 GB space to store files in MySites (think about it as the current o-drive). While some features require some time to learn, many aspects that IU SharePoint offers seems to be promising. Here are the some of the main functions:

1. Collaboration and Project Management

When you are involved in a team project, you might have realized that even group e-mails are a cumbersome method of sharing information. At present, rapid advancement of information technology such as mobile devices allows for collaboration anywhere at any time. SharePoint allows users within organizations to collaborate and share work within a commonly accessed Web-site framework. Graduate student, faculty, and staff can create personal sites as private work places where a number of individuals come together to engage in a group work. Group members are not only able to share their documents and files but also have an active collaboration through group discussion forums. For example, instructors, who supervise a course with sections taught by graduate assistants, could repeatedly use the same resources stored on MySite. Therefore, archiving resources on MySite enables to save a large amount of time in communicating with graduate assistant and locating course-related files from a hard drive. In addition, built-in features such as calendar and announcement tools are also useful tools to update and remind necessary information in a timely manner. In the case of Twynham School, a comprehensive school in   England, students have developed increasing sophistication in how they interact and share information via forum collaboration. Although teachers initiate the discussions, the vast majority of discussions are taking place between students and this form of collaboration is growing through SharePoint forums. (For more information http://sharepointineducation.com/student-collaboration-in-sharepoint-forums)

2. Social Networking and Individual Space for Education

One of the biggest aspects in today’s computing environment is the influence of social networking, and its influences for educational uses. With that said, IU SharePoint is also current with the cyber social movement and networking. SharePoint MySites is quite straightforward and self-explanatory.

In Overview, a quick snapshot of one’s social contents is shown along with basic profile data, one’s picture and presence information linking back to Microsoft Lync (formerly MS Office Communicator).

• Under the Organization, a bigger organization chart is displayed with more detailed information than in the Overview. It also shows an organizational hierarchy including your peers in parallel and your superiors above you. Colleagues and tagged notes are shown in the other categories as well as a distribution lists for to which one belongs.
• Creating Blogs is also beneficial to keep others informed. SharePoint provides rich blogging functionality for both internal and external purposes. This blogging functionality provides all the features you’d expect, with blog creation and management, blog posting, support for multiple authors, and more.  Instructors could benefit from blogging activity, for example, one might create a course-specific blog and encourage students to use it for reflective journaling. By articulating students’ thoughts and opinions without strong restrictions, students could reflect on what they learned during a class activity or project which would lead to sharing ideas based on one’s own practice.
• Furthermore, SharePoint provides users traditional wikis along with wiki-specific web parts for customizing the experience. Wiki allows collaborating with a specific group of peers and, therefore, is more private than blogs.

In conclusion, SharePoint provides users with plenty of options for social networking, web-portal function as it collects information from diverse sources on a central page, and content management tool for collaboration. Even though some features might not be intuitive for those new to SharePoint, anyone who is familiar with the current services such as Oncourse (IU’s Course Management System), Facebook, or Microsoft Outlook should feel comfortable with using these tools. As we are moving towards the Cloud Computing Age, we see some great potential in SharePoint for educational use. (For more information about IU SharePoint: https://www.sharepoint.iu.edu IU authentication required)

Images are from:

• http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-20/5-ways-social-networking-has-improved-in-sharepoint-2010-007325.php
• http://sharepointlogics.com/2008/03/windows-sharepoint-services-overview.html

Skype adds multi-videoconferencing…

In its latest beta release (version 5.0.0.123), Skype adds several new features including multipoint videoconferencing to its repertoire. While audio-only conference calls with multiple parties have been a standard function for quite some time, the final video conference tool is scheduled to allow seeing and talking to up to 10 people in real time.  Considering the popularity of Skype, this new option could dramatically improve the way people communicate and collaborate, for example, in a distance education setting. Other updates addressed in this latest release include a refreshed user interface (we like it!), offline instant messaging (you’ll receive all your messages once you login), and a new area called Skype Home (to track your purchases, stay in touch with contacts, learn more about Skype features).

While these features looked impressive when we tested it, there are several things to consider before installing the new version.

1. First of all, the new beta version is only available for Windows. Anybody with a Mac or running an older version of Skype on PC will not be able participate in the multi-point video conference.
2. Also, it appears that Skype is trying to make this feature available for pay in the future since one can only sign up for a 14-day trial version that also limits calls to five people (including yourself). Well, we can’t have everything for free…
3. Another potential downside is that the popular screensharing availability does not seem to function in the conference calls as of now.
4. Finally, system requirements are understandably high (i.e. an Intel Core2duo 2 GHz CPU or equivalent, network bandwidth is 1 mbit/s).

Overall, the new Skype beta offers some nice improvements compared to previous versions in areas of design, feel, and usability. Anyone who is familiar with Skype will easily adapt. If your only reason for downloading and installing the beta is having video conference with 2-4 other Skype users, consider the limited time span (14 days trial) and high system requirements for all users’ computers. These drawbacks might limit potential implementation possibilities in your course.

For more info on video conferencing and/or Skype alternatives stop by Instructional Consulting. We can help you find what you need…

Web-based Concept Mapping Tools (part II): Google Drawing

Just a few weeks ago, we posted a blog on how to use concept maps for learning and recommended several web-based applications for use (some for free, some not!).  Well, as with many Web 2.0 technologies, new tools are developed with increasing speed and there is a new kid on the block (or should we say “blog”?).

Among other recent improvements to Google Docs, one can now create a Google Drawing (e.g., flow charts, diagrams, sketched, and other types of drawings) in the similar collaborative fashion as with other well-known Google products, such as Google Docs, Google Presentations, or Google Spreadsheets. Users familiar with Google Docs will find the interface intuitive and user-friendly. A decent selection of prefabricated shapes, such as arrows and flowchart symbols, and the ability to quickly import images from your computer or the web has anyone creating drawings in no time. In addition, MS Word-like formatting features allow for customization (e.g., colors, lines, shapes) and won’t be holding back anyone’s creativity.

While drawing, one can also chat with other editors within the same Google Drawing offering the opportunities for web-based collaboration, such as brainstorming sessions, independent of the actual physical location of each user.

Once completed, drawings can be printed, incorporated in other Google Docs (although they won’t be editable anymore), or downloaded in various popular file formats (jpg, svg, png, pdf).

Considering the proverb that “a picture paints a thousand words”, one can only imaging the thousand applications of Google Drawing in and outside the classroom.

For additional resources on Google Drawing including video tutorials, click to here. (Gmail account required!)

Web-based Concept Mapping Tools for Learning

Do you use concept maps to show relationships among different topics/sub concepts in your classes? Or do you draw diagrams to brainstorm or organize your thoughts?

Concept maps (similar to mind maps, topic maps, or semantic maps) are a popular education tool to represent relationships between different ideas by visually connecting links through arrows, lines, and labels. In addition to words and lines, maps can be color-coded and include images, photos, and hyperlinks to other websites to support messages. Common uses of concept maps are include outlining projects, communicating abstract topics, presenting ideas, brainstorming and organizing thoughts.

Although proprietary mapping software has been in existence for quite some time (e.g., Inspiration), several different websites now provide interactive tools and interfaces to create these maps online – often free of charge and with an option to collaborate with others over the web.

Here is a listing of a few tools including the features in the free versions (in no particular order):

Minddomo (http://www.mindomo.com/):

• Have up to 7 private maps / or unlimited public maps
• Share and collaborate on maps
• Import maps from Mindjet’s Mindmanager™ and Freemind
• Export map as TXT, RTF and PDF
• Print / Save maps as image PNG, JPG and GIF
• Publish maps in blogs and websites
• Free version includes advertisements

Gliffy  (http://www.gliffy.com/):

• Professional look
• Multiple applications (e.g., mind map, flowchart, etc.)
• Have up to 5 public maps
• Upload up to 2MB in images
• Share and collaborate on maps
• Export map as PDF
• Print / Save maps as images
• Access full shape library
• Publish maps to blogs and websites

Flowchart (http://flowchart.com/): still in beta testing

• Real-time multi-user online collaboration with chat.
• Works with popular browsers. On any Operating System.
• Multi page flowchart.
• Embed Flowchart in your website.
• Drawing Tools (Lines, Arrows, Bézier curves).
• Extensive Clipart object library or Upload your images.
• Record/Playback your Flowchart.

Bubbl.us (http://bubbl.us/):

• Email / Print mind map
• Save as an image
• Share and work with friends
• Embed your mind map in your blog or website

Mindmeister (http://www.mindmeister.com/):

• Have up to 3 mind maps
• Share and collaborate on maps
• Import maps from Freemind and MindManager™
• Print / Save maps as image / PDF / RTF
• Publish maps to blogs and websites

Freemind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page):

• Completely free / Open-source
• Download required
• Color-coding only (no images but icons)
• Publish maps to blogs and websites

For more mind mapping & brainstorming tools, check out Learning Tools Directory provided by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies or the Office of Instructional Consulting Delicious account.

Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom

An excellent special report on student collaboration and online learning has recently been disseminated by Faculty Focus.

“Using team assignments in an online course is an excellent way to create community and improve learning, but it’s not always easy. Student collaboration in the online classroom, like that in traditional face-to-face courses, requires careful course design, student preparation, and team management. Plus, a little extra creativity and perseverance.”

Whether you are a new or veteran online instructor, the Special Report on Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom can provide 32 pages of real-world guidance on how to implement team-based projects, troubleshoot them, and promote their success.

Some of the articles and concepts that you will find in the report include:

• Comparing Online Peer Interaction Methods
• Improving Results and Reducing Frustrations from Team Activities
• Keeping Teamwork Alive, Motivated and Enthused!
• Facilitating Student Interaction With Online Discussion Groups
• Online Process-Oriented Group Projects

Get the report on Student Collaboration in the Online Classroom.
Or
Visit the Faculty Focus website for more excellent resources on teaching and learning.