NMC Campus Observer

Posters Galore

CDB Barkley (aka Alan Levine) : Jul 20, 2007 05:17pm

Thanks to our presenters and guests who showed up for the opening of today’s Poster on the Green event over at the Gonick Amphitheater on NMC Campus. These were versions of poster sessions initially seen at the 2007 NMC Summer Conference that we have brought into Second Life.

Today, we had a group of 20-30 show up at 1:00 PM SLT/PDT to take in the posters and talk to the presenters. The posters will remain on display through July 27- each one has a notecard abstract and are connected to web sites where relevant.

In the Gonick Amphitheater, you can watch videos from the conference, as well as listen to audio recordings from the plenary sessions and see conference photos on the right side screen. We will change them out each day next week– look later for the presentation slides and audio from Anya Ixchel and Lyr Lobo’s sessions.

We did manage to use the voice chat feature to record an interview with the presenters from University of Maryland University College- that will be in a separate story.

For reference, here are the abstracts from all the posters now on the green….

Web 2.0 Meets Classroom 1.0: Disruptive Innovation and Instructional Technology

Even at pervasively networked campuses, a significant gap exists between student use of networked resources (Facebook, World of Warcraft) and faculty use (email, database searches). This session will introduce current research on social networks and immersive virtual environments, and then consider how instructional methods can keep pace with how our students interact with information and each other.

Matthew Livesey, University of Wisconsin-Stout
Phillip Motley, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Digitizing Scholarship:
Using Digital Media to Articulate Borders of Native North American Selfhood

This presentation will analyze the use of digital media in a collaborative media project developed for an academic conference in visual culture. The project was process-driven, approaching visual culture creatively using digitized images of archival material. An evaluative look at the results reveal that using digital media enhanced our project and formed a new approach to interdisciplinary scholarship.

Jennifer Kocsmiersky, Dartmouth College

A CRASS Solution: Automating Classroom Recordings

Faculty in the Speech Communication department often make video recordings of students giving speeches for the students to self-assess. This is especially crucial of the roughly 1200 GCOM 101 students who are taking a required public speaking course every semester. Attempts to modernize this process with DVD recorders have created massive work backlogs and points of failure both in the classroom and in CIT where the media is processed for online delivery. In response to this need, JMU developed the Classroom Recording and Streaming System (CRASS) which uses a Mac mini to automate the entire process, leaving the instructor to simply hit record and create links in the learning management system once the files are ready.

Grover Saunders, James Madison University
http://streaming.jmu.edu/classroomrecording/crassinfo.html

Blueprint for an Integrated Learning and Portfolio System

This poster demonstrates a case study of the successful launch of an integrated learning and portfolio system at Otis College of Art and Design. Otis desired a self-maintained and intuitive software system that would offer its students and instructors additional modes of teaching, learning and communication, as well as publishing their work online. Otis decided to work with Digication, an entirely new concept in educational software that focuses on building an online learning community. Otis will discuss their evaluation process, as well as highlight implementation and success of Digication Campus and Spotlight.

Sue Maberry, Otis College of Art andDesign
Jeffrey Yan, Digication

The Virtual Early Flute:
New Ways to Present Early Musical Instruments Using Technology

New media technologies and web design principles can make the history of musical instruments more accessible and meaningful for scholars, musicians, students, teachers, collectors and the public. The development of the Virtual Early Flute website is a response to the limitations of existing sites for musical instrument collections. This session will demonstrate the Virtual Early Flute website, discuss future functionality and describe how museums can enhance access to musical instruments and other artifacts.

Sara Anne Hook, Indiana University School of Informatics

Designing Serious Games for Education

Serious games offer serious opportunities for learning, but only if the game is designed effectively. The structure of a well-designed, serious game mirrors good pedagogy, offering active learning through scaffolded, progressive problem solving in authentic situations. Further, games can invoke powerful emotions in players that provide incentive, motivation, and engagement. This poster outlines approaches to designing serious games for education while exploring examples developed in the new serious games masters degree at Michigan State University.

Brian Winn, Michigan State University
http://seriousgames.msu.edu/

Using VRML and Flash to Teach Three Dimensional Coordinate Space

Many engineering students must learn to visualize positions in three-dimensional space versus more common, two-dimensional coordinates. Using VRML and Flash presenters created interactive demos to help students better visualize three-dimensional space for different courses. VRML files are very lightweight and allow for precise control of positions and student control of viewpoint. VRML development software is free and can be taught to instructors familiar with HTML. Flash files (made with Swift 3D) are more universal, but controlling animation was more difficult and development software more expensive and complex.

Elizabeth Pyatt, Pennsylvania State University

Seeing Sideways: The New Media Eye

Anyone these days can create an image, but it takes something more to create an “experience” for the viewer. As new media software is growing in ease and popularity a great deal of uninspired work is being created. One way to combat this “idea fatigue” is to understand the cornerstones of seeing sideways: storytelling, emotional evocation, communication, and visual acuity. Tackling mundane subjects sideways can provide just the nudge that an idea needs to flourish.

Beth Lykins, Indiana University School of Informatics

CPA Review Multimedia

The CPA Review provides the online student preparing for the CPA Exam with an intuitive user interface and a 2D animated character — complete with lip synching — who acts as the student’s instructor. The system includes a series of engaging lectures with demonstrations and animated examples, timed follow-up questions that simulate the CPA Exam questions, and feedback featuring the animated character explaining the concepts needed to answer each question with on-screen animations. Come see the CPA Review in action and gather ideas for your own multimedia interactives.
Julie Wuebker, Franklin University
Ted Coffman, Franklin University
Kevin Sturdevant, Franklin University
Tom Dewey, Franklin University

Bridging the Virtual Divide

How can digital media affect change and become a transformational experience for the user? By developing physical-digital systems that engage people’s bodies instead of just their fingers and eyes, the presenter will show a poster of digital work and other new media explorers who create interactive installations that respond to participants in physical space. By creating installations that use video tracking software that responds transparently to a user’s entire body, this work attempts to create a visceral connection between the real and the virtual.

Susan Tennant, Indiana University School of Informatics

Visualizing the Virus: HIV Medical Education in East Africa

“HIV: Introduction and Tutorial” is an interactive educational module about HIV and AIDS developed by the IUPUI Informatics Research Institute in collaboration with the Indiana University School of Medicine and Moi University, as well as the Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment of HIV (AMPATH). The module includes 3D movies, animations and graphics, which can be streamed live via the web and used to educate doctors in Kenya.

Atif Zafar, Indiana University School of Informatics
Robert Comer, Indiana University School of Informatics
Albert William, Indiana University School of Informatics
Jolene Kernick, Indiana University School of Informatics
Barb Hayes, Indiana University School of Informatics

You Don’t Know Meningitis: Injecting Interactivity Into Health Education

“Danger Stalks the Dorm” is a game designed to teach high school seniors about meningitis and motivate them to obtain an immunization against the disease. Developed by the School of Informatics in collaboration with the Marion County Health Department, the game spurs action in an age group that often denies the risk of disease. The game uses a quiz format reminiscent of “You Don’t Know Jack,” gallows humor and Edward Gorey-style graphics to challenge its audience.

Jolene Kernick, Indiana University School of Informatics

Media Literacy for Prospective Teachers

Although contemporary students use new media daily as a social given, opportunities to incorporate new media into learning environments are still ad hoc for young people in elementary and secondary education. One strategy for moving schools beyond the textbook model is to apprentice teachers in new media literacy practices in their teacher credentialing programs. This session presents lessons learned from the media literacy requirement for prospective teachers at the University of Texas at Austin.

Kathleen Tyner, University of Texas at Austin
http://www.utexas.edu/features/2006/media/index.html

Dynamic Game Audio System

Creating a usable programmer interface is a key element in a successful game audio development system. The primary goal of the dynamic audio system is to obtain the highest dynamic level, easiest audio creation and programming process, and lowest memory usage. The authors recommend a 5-tier audio programming production sequence. This approach introduces the most basic programming method at the first level and then increases in complexity through the fifth level.

Joseph Defazio, Indiana University School of Informatics
James Sumner McCarty, Indiana University School of Informatics

Can You Hear Me NOW? Pilot Study of Classroom Recording Technologies

With recent student interest in having podcasts of lectures available, the University of Pennsylvania is investigating cost-effective, scalable ways to produce classroom recordings and make them available to students over the web. Presenters tracked all costs, including capital and effort, and evaluated whether our methods were reliable and if the recordings improved student learning or satisfaction. After the first semester of implementation, several lessons were learned and we have a better perspective for moving forward with this technology.

Elizabeth Scheyder, University of Pennsylvania
John MacDermott, University of Pennsylvania
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/computing/instructional/recordings/

IDEALAND: From Innovation to Implementation

This is the heart of the process. You need to develop a Request for Proposal (RFP) mechanism that includes:

* a description of the project that includes who may be involved
* the resources you are offering for the project
* some examples of acceptable project types
* a communication mechanism for questions, etc.
* a mechanism for people to submit a proposal
* a process to evaluate proposals and accept or reject them

All proposals should inlude a clearly-defined scope of work and a development timeline.

Then you need to pick the best projects and run them. This is a fun time, but it’s also time-intensive. Make sure your staff is prepped and ready to put in some time here!

Brett Bixler, Penn State University

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