Sunday, January 31, 2010

Vidoes and copyright

Videos and Copyright

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/01/26/copyright
The University of California at Los Angeles has stopping allowing faculty members to post copyrighted videos on their course Web sites after coming under fire from an educational media trade group.
The university had allowed professors to steam video in their password protected online courses. The educational media association, the Association for Information and Media Equipment — a group that protects the copyrights of education media companies – claims that this is a copyright violation.
The university countered that it violated no laws, citing a provision that teachers can use legally purchased videos in their classrooms. The trade group counters that a password protected online course is not a classroom.
The two parties have agreed to settle the dispute outside of litigation. Meanwhile, the professors at UCLA have been told to remove the videos from their online classes.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Social Networking in Online Classes

Social Networking Site Use in Online Classes
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol5no4/ophus_1209.pdf

Should teachers consider using publically available social networking tools in online classes? In the latest issue of JOLT (JOLT Vol. 5, No. 4, December 2009) John D. Ophus and Jason T. Abbitt from Miami University in Ohio explored this issue in the article: “ Exploring the Potential Perceptions of Social Networking Systems in University Courses.”

The authors surveyed their students about their personal use of Social Networking sites and also asked them their opinion of using such sites in online classes. While the survey results indicated students’ receptivity to the use of these sites students also expressed some concerns. They did not want their teachers to see their own personal sites. They also felt that use of these sites might be a distraction.

The article closes with an interesting quote from a student: “using Facebook for school wouldn’t help me learn more, it would probably just make me use Facebook less.”

Sunday, January 17, 2010

ADA regulations and online

Students with Disabilities
In their desire for variety teachers often include graphics, video, sound and other multimedia in their online course. While this is a good strategy if it contributes to the educational learning it can cause problems for students with disabilities. A good article that explores this issue is found in

The Journal of Educators Online, Volume 7, Number 1, January 2010 http://thejeo.com

Web Accessibility Theory and Practice: An Introduction for University Faculty David A. Bradbard, Winthrop University Cara Peters, Winthrop University

The authors discuss Web Design, Accessibility, and Web Accessibility

They note that there are four types of disabilities: visual, auditory, cognitive and motor.

Students with blindness, color blindness or low vision have problems with information on Web sites with dark backgrounds, unusual or small fonts, and unclear images.

The article has good references and tables that show the possible accommodations for the disabilities. This should be interesting reading for all online teachers.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

E-Books

E- Books
The Wired Campus blog had an interesting article about a professor who tried to test e-book readers for his class.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Professor-Faces-Obstacles-in/19415/

The first problem he ran into was that the publishing company of the text he used would not provide a digital copy. The author of the article believes that e-books will not take off until “a standard will need to emerge, so that digital formats do not feel like extra homework for professors and students.”
The comments on the article were interesting. One noted that there also needs to be a business model “that includes the ability to purchase and resell the texts..”

Sunday, January 3, 2010

New Year, New Classes


New Year, New Courses
One of my students said his motto is ABC “Always be changing” and I believe that is appropriate for online courses. As I start three new courses I see the changes I have made.

In the undergrad course I am adding video. It will not be required, and is already on the web. In fact, most of the videos have a text equivalent, which is excellent in case students have hearing problems. I also go over the statistics for each of the quizzes I give and remove or revise questions that are not appropriate.

In the graduate courses I must update all the course links. Links do “rot” and are no longer accessible. I’m trying something new this term. Instead of putting my picture I am adding a graphic. I have decided NOT to talk about my family but concentrate on my professional life. Since I am a “woman of a certain age” I do not want to be stereotyped by the students. I am interested to see if it makes a difference. I am active in all my online classes and I hope that not “seeing” me will not make a difference, or make a positive one.

It is always a challenge to start a new class and to meet new students. I look forward to it.