Ms Professor B

Have you heard about Digress.it? It used to be Comment Press, but changed its name in April 2009. It's been sitting in my Bookmarks for about that long, and today, I took some time to play with it. My first attempt at incorporating this in my online Literature course begins today. It's a little late...but I tend not to be an early adopter (for example, I am not in line to buy the ipad; I'll wait for a 3G network in my area). However, I'm finally giving digress.it a test run, and I think I'll kick myself for not trying it sooner...it could have saved some past frustration.



The Assignment

I assigned "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway. If you know anything about Hemingway, you know that his stories are rather cryptic and not necessarily ideal for a first-year literature course. However, I taught the story in the past in a traditional classroom and thought I'd give it a try online. I am a glutton for punishment and tend to avoid the easy route when at all possible. Of course, I have several articles and notes about the story and I could have produced a presentation; however, with every attempt, I kept wishing for a document camera where I could point to the line or paragraph I was discussing. Having 1 document camera on campus, it makes it difficult to use. Dusting off my old bookmarks, I turned to digress.it.

The Logistics

Students first read the short story from their textbook or online (see the above link for the complete story). I copied the story to my digress.it account and then posted some comments and questions for some of the key paragraphs.

In Blackboard, I asked students a question that links to the discussion on digress.it and then encouraged them to comment. (This is the exact journal assignment: "Within the blog link on Hemingway's story, post a follow-up comment or question and then thoroughly answer one of the questions posed. Provide at least 100 words.") The students' answers are submitted in the journal component of Blackboard, so they will not be live unless they have questions or responses about the text.


This just came live today, so my students have yet to comment; however, feel free to take a look and let me know what you think.

Although not new, Digress.it has some promise. I'm just not sure how it fits in with current copyright laws. Certainly, we can't post every text here. However, with the new ipad and other book readers, certainly technology like this will become common place. What do you think? Do you use digress.it?

I have been teaching online for a number of years now and have toyed with video grading in the past. I hadn't adopted it because it took so much time. I would read the essay or outline, type up comments, and then record the video. Inevitably, I made some mistakes, so I would end up spending time editing in Camtasia. After a few videos, I gave up and would only record comments for those essays that needed serious help. Now, however, I video grade nearly exclusively. The following are the reasons why:

1. Students love it. I get so many comments from students explaining how they loved the video. They understand my comments and it helps them see what's wrong with the essay and not just read my comments. They are also more likely to view the comments if their in video feedback, and now they're emailing me back to say thank you. I used to never get comments from students after grading (except to complain if they got a low grade); it was shocking when I received my first "thank you for the video" comment. It's positive reinforcement!


2. Jing makes it faster. Jing, free video capture from Techsmith, makes it faster and easier to record and share video. Jing records up to 5 minutes. This forces me to limit my comments to the most important. I open the document through GradeMark® (iParadigm), read through the essay, post a few comments, and then start the video. If there are major problems with the formatting, I'll download the document and as part of the video, I'll demonstrate how to fix the formatting. I could also make a separate recording if I need to, but I try to stick to the 5-minute mark. The recording bar in Jing turns red when there's one minute left, so it's easy to tell if I need to wrap it up.


3. Perfection is overrated. I still make some mistakes when recording, but I decided that it was okay to make some mistakes...as long as they're not too bad. If they're bad, then I'll simply start over. Otherwise, I don't stress over it. One student commented that he liked some of the "ums" and pauses in my videos. "It shows you get frustrated with technology, too, and that makes me feel better," he said. It's okay to let our students see our human side.


4. Videos create community. Online students often comment that they feel distant from their online instructors. This is understandable when they don't see each other face to face; however, creating an online community is important for student success and retention. Video helps create a connection between the student and instructor by providing a sense of personality through the voice. Video can also demonstrate how you grade, so students understand the process more clearly.


5. It's effective. The old adage of fiction, "Show, don't tell," applies in teaching, too. Students learn better if they are shown how to correct something rather than being told to correct it. If I can demonstrate via video how to correct sentence fragments, citations, or simple document formatting, they are more likely to adopt those corrections in their next essay. Now, I don't have any research evidence on this yet, but I will be conducting an informal study this semester and I will post the results here. However, anecdotally, I am convinced their essays have improved.

Now that you're convinced how video grading helps, I suspect you're asking how to do it. First of all, you need the following:

• Grading tool. I use GradeMark®; however, you can also use the "track changes" method in Word or other word processing programs.


• Microphone. You'll need to hook up a microphone on your computer. I like to use headphones as well because it helps filter out background noise.


• Video screencapture. Jing is one of the best tools out there for educators. It's cheap (free for basic service), easy to use, and fast. Of course, if you have Camtasia or Captivate, then these will work, too. One reason I prefer Jing is because the recording time is limited to 5 minutes. I tend to ramble, so Jing forces me to be brief and focus on the main points.


• Video sharing method. Personally, I use Screencast. Some storage comes with Jing, but you can also purchase your own subscription. There are other video sharing websites out there, like photobucket, shutterfly, dropshots, youtube, and so on...but Screencast won't require the viewer to sign up and it creates a simple URL for viewing. Jing automatically creates a Screencast link as well, so sharing becomes a breeze. I have attempted to upload a video file, but it hasn't worked well for me and it turned into a hassle, so I recommend a video sharing site.

With these resources, you should be ready to begin video grading. Simply read through the essay once and then start the video when you're ready to comment. Once the video is complete, upload it to Screencast.com, email the student the link, and you're ready to go on to the next! It's that easy.

It might take a little bit of time at first, but with practice, you'll find that it's much faster than typing or handwriting, and you'll find your students thanking you for the feedback.

Good luck and let me know how it goes for you!

My first article went live today. Here is a piece of it. Follow the link for the entire article.

eLearning Tools for English Composition
30 New Media Tools and Web Sites for Writing Teachers
By Keri Bjorklund March 30, 2010

I have been using technology to teach since I was a graduate student in 2001. I helped pilot the first hybrid English composition course while earning my MA, and I have been hooked on technology ever since. My goal is to have every English composition course in my district using technology.

I teach hybrid, blended, and online courses, and my students range from beginning college students to non-traditional adult learners.

One of the hurdles to getting faculty and students to use technology in education is introducing them to the right tools for their needs. A number of technologies are indispensible for any online course, but some apply specifically to teaching composition. While I may not use all of these tools every semester, these are the ones I think every online English instructor should explore.

Presenting Online
In an online learning environment, it is more important than ever to provide multimedia presentations. Students cannot simply read lecture notes. It's up to the instructors to provide the necessary resources and information that support student success.

The following tools will help create engaging and interesting presentations, whether used to teach the rules of citation, grammar, or any other writing topic.

Resources listed include those for Presenting Online, Engaging Students Online, Peer Review, Providing Feedback, Online Writing Resources, and Sites for Writing Inspiration

Read the rest of the article here.

The future of technology looks bright, and things are progressing quickly, but sometimes it isn’t moving fast enough for me. A friend once commented that she couldn’t wait to have a computer chip in her brain. She explained, “Imagine downloading a new language in your brain and being fluent in a matter of minutes.” To that extent it’s a bit scary (think Terminator scary), but I understand what she means. It’s when I think of everything I want to do in relationship to everything I need to do that I wish I had more technology to help. At these moments, I need to multitask.

It was today while I had a bad headache and couldn’t focus on the computer screen that I wished the essays would grade themselves or at the very least have them read to me so I could comment on them. This worked well when my mother was here this summer. It wasn’t student papers then, but it was an article I had to read for a class I was taking. My mother and I were driving to Manville for some family research (another story told on another blog), and I was stressed about getting everything done. She read the article to me and I had her highlight some thoughts and had her write notes in the margins. We even discussed the points, which really helped with the essay I had to write eventually.

With this experience in mind, I searched my computer and discovered the speech recognition software already available in Windows Vista. I have been wishing for a program to type what I say so I can compose while I’m cooking (another favorite pass time). Of course, it's been out there for years, but I'm just now figuring out the benefits of speech recognition and multitasking! Of course, it's not perfect and it won't discuss the issues with me, but it can read it to me and make changes at my request while my hands are busy doing something else (like chopping garlic at this moment). I will also have to spend some time editing the mistakes. Is multitasking worth it? I'm not sure. I'll let you know as soon as my pie comes out of the oven. If it tastes bad, then I was too distracted talking into the computer. Multitasking is good, but sometimes it can be a disaster.

Another downfall is that this does not seem to work with GradeMark. The program is not recognized, so at this point it won't help with my grading, but if you use the Track Changes feature in Word, you're in luck (this involves using the speech recognition and the narrator).

If you have Windows Vista, you already have this program. It's under "Accessories" - "Ease of Access" and "Speech Recognition." Narrator is there, too. Mac Speech is available for the Mac. Windows 7 has speech recognition as well. A quick YouTube search reveals several videos demonstrating it. I would hope it's improved in Windows 7, but that will have to wait for me. I have other priorities at the moment (like planning a wedding).

For now, I’m playing with it and will, perhaps, find a way to write my class notes while creating my culinary masterpieces! I hope that I can also blog more often--hands free. The next step is to figure out why it doesn't work with GradeMark. If I can make it work with GradeMark, and make grading essays more fun by using technology, then I’m going to do that. Using Turnitin with GradeMark already helps, but using speech recognition takes it a step further.

If you use speech recognition in teaching or grading, let me know. By the way, the pie was delicious!