The tour started with his early study, the Real World Pacman. With a pair of glasses, real humans become Pacman picking up cookies on the real world streets. But this is just a warm-up. Buckle up, more surprises are coming!

Following the first sense, sight, one of Adrian’s students using sound transformed a regular umbrella into a katana! Different sound effects are displayed by swinging the umbrella in different ways. Certain movement combinations can trigger special sound effects, such as explosion. Added only sound, an umbrella can have much more fun!

The presentation gradually came to its upsurge when the sense of touch was brought up. With a jacket, or just a ring, you can give your loved one a remote hug. As reported by IEEE Spectrum, Adrian is making a huggable Internet! In fact, it’s not just huggable, but also kissable! Kissenger really blew away everybody’s mind last night.

The tour didn’t stop at the sense of touch. It continued blowing everyone further away by digital smell and electrical and thermal taste.

Now with these possibilities, how can we incorporate all five senses into online teaching and learning? Maybe an online “better kisser” course is a good start? The stimulated audience had very inspiring and funny chats too. This session is definitely this year’s “must attend” one! The public can access a recording of the session here: http://squirrel.adobeconnect.com/p86lgb32brf/

Marisa is on a mission. She is passionate about integrating emerging technologies in learning. At TCC 2012, she dazzled her audience with a presentation on Augmented Reality. This year she followed up with her culminating Master’s research project on enriching the mobile learning experience.

Entitled “’Talking is the new Typing’: Challenging Smartphone Users to Dictate Instead of Type in Order to Enrich the Mobile Learning Experience,” Marisa’s 20-minute presentation was a treat for the curious minds and for the eye. Her slides were beautiful, engaging, and meticulously crafted to tell her story. And Marisa’s study was full of compelling reasons for using speech-to-text technology in smartphones for learning.

Did you know that

• 94% of adults 16 and older use mobile phones.

• In 2012, 54.9% of adults reported owning a smartphone.

• Access to the Internet from a smartphone has surpassed access from laptops & PC.

• 6 million students are learning online and the number is growing.

Figure 1. A smartphone in 2013 is equivalent to all the devices you see on the left.

Marisa created a totally-mobile learning module from scratch. I’m guessing that she spent many hours designing and coding to create the iPhone learning module. Dr. Peter Leong said, “The mobile learning module is very engaging. I encourage people to check it out.” You can download Marisa’s module on your iPhone from http://tinyurl.com/s2tmodule.

After going through the module, the participants reported being motivated to use speech-to-text app in the future, feeling more confident with dictating over typing, and seeing the benefits of using speech-to-text app instead of using keypad. When others might have suggested making bigger keyboards or bigger screens on a mobile phone, Marisa “really wanted to change the participants’ attitude toward using dictation…to motivate them to feel comfortable…” I love her forward-thinking.

Presenter: Marisa Yamada

e-mail: myamada@hawaii.edu

Twitter: @marisaETEC

As for the conference session itself, some of the highlights were Wong’s use of humor throughout the session.  His use of visuals and graphics for the presentation were definitely eye catching as well.  As for the module itself, Wong broke it down into three simple sections.  The first one was “creating comfort” where employees would know how to welcome Japanese customers to the store, show gratitude towards them, and provide directions when needed. The second section was “describing merchandise” where the employees would explain the types of clothing sold at the store, as well as the sizes, colors, and beneficial features of the clothes. The third and final section was “handling numbers” where employees would know how to count numbers in Japanese, exchange money, and state the sales and store hours to the customers.

Overall, I felt that listening in on the session was definitely worthwhile.  Wong helped the audience understand and appreciate the confusion Japanese customers usually have at retail stores where the Japanese language is not regularly spoken.  He also described the need for employees at these stores to know at least some Japanese in order for them to assist Japanese-speaking customers.  I believe this module is definitely a prime example of what instructional designers should try to adhere to when creating instructional modules of their own.  More information about the module can be found at http://japaneseforcrazyshirts.weebly.com or gavonw44@gmail.com.

Terry Anderson of Athabasca University shared an interesting perspective on how to create a quality MOOC or Massive Open Online Course; it was entitled “Getting the Right Mix: Open Content, Quality Teaching and Supportive Community”. This presentation was especially enlightening to me, because I did not really know anything about MOOCs. While watching, I learned about the history of MOOCs, about research conducted on the subject, and implications for future success. One of the most interesting ideas of MOOCs is the ability to provide affordable and accessible education to people all over the world, but in order to create a quality experience for such a large array of people, the teacher must be ready to blend interaction and content. One of the neat ways Anderson’s institution, Athabasca University, seeks to incorporate interaction with education is through a social networking site created specifically for university members. The site, Athabasca Landing, allows for interaction between students and teachers both during the class time and after the class has been completed. This type of platform not only allows for students to learn from their current classmates but also from past students. The information is allowed to remain on the site for the next group to build upon. This type of connection seems to be one more improvement in the future of education that works to make online learning more personal, meaningful, and helpful.

Terry Anderson can be contacted terrya@athatbascau.ca
His blog can be seen at terrya.edublogs.org
The slides of his presentation can be viewed here: http://www.slideshare.net/terrya/tcc-keynote-hawaii-april-2013/

V-TENN: Virtual Tennis in Second Life (SL) : Frank Jumawan and Eddie Merc

What a phenomenal three days the TCC 2013 conference has been!  We had literally mind-blowing keynote and featured presentations, and educational topics with so much range and variety that there was something for everyone!

One of my interests is in virtual reality and when I attended the V-Tenn Virtual Tennis in Second Life presentation by Frank and Eddie, I was very impressed with the amount of work the two doctoral candidates put into building their virtual instructional module!

First, we all met in Blackboard Collaborate for a traditional whiteboard presentation.  Then, we were instructed to log into Second Life (which they advised us to download previous to their presentation so we could participate in this virtual field trip).  Giving us their Second Life module address (SURL) http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/UHawaii%20COE/47/50/27, there was excitement in the room as we were whisked away to their 2 story virtual building.  

The first story contained basic information about tennis – you can tell the presenters loved the subject as there were plenty of details on tennis terminology, the rivalries between top players, there were embedded Google Form surveys hanging on the walls for our avatars to interact with, and videos to watch on sleek, flat screen virtual TVs.  There were even mini tennis courts we could walk over that demonstrated the various surfaces of the courts, for instance clay and how the surface affects the ball.

After the introduction, there were two levels of learner engagement we could teleport to called a “Genius Level” and a “Gladiator Level”.  The “Genius Level” and “Gladiator Level” contained more information about the game of tennis and even provided free tennis outfits and a choice of a regular tennis racket and a Power tennis racket to equip our avatars with!  As soon as we equipped ourselves with the racket, our avatars crouched into a tennis-ready stance!  I felt like I was ready to go take on the likes of Roger Federer.  Ok, maybe not, but we all then transported to the top of the roof in which there were two large tennis courts, complete with score boards.  It really felt like our avatars were on tennis courts and it was very engaging because the courts were actually playable!

The presenters showed us a demonstration on how to play on these courts with our avatars – you have to click the scoreboard for the game to start, then position yourselves correctly on the court.  The first player serves the ball, and the other player across the net runs to it to return the ball and so forth.  It takes getting used to in order to correctly position the avatar so that the racket hits the ball, however, after a while, I got the hang of it and it was game on!

This module is great for the learner who is interested in the fundamentals of the game of tennis and virtual reality is really a perfect tool for people to quickly and visually learn about a topic while also being able to participate in it if not able to in real life.  Furthermore, this was a very engaging presentation because we, as the audience, got to get out of our “seats” in Blackboard and take a trip to another destination.  It was a nice change and a great way to stretch our “virtual legs” after back to back Blackboard presentations and I hope we can have these virtual field trips more often for future TCC conferences!  

For further information you can contact the presenters at:

Frank Jumawan fjumawan@hawaii.edu, @frankjay808

Eddie Merc emerc@hawaii.edu, @edkopletko

Dr. Veronica Diaz, Associate Director of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, gave us an impressive presentation about the usage of the MOOC. She has years of experiences and rich knowledge in open online class and design. Her speech is actively engaging, easy-followed and dynamic which made me feel the 40 minutes-presentation went by quickly. A lot of information and a speedy voice allowed me to intensively focus on the presentation at all the times.

• What makes the conference session a worthwhile experience (for those that missed the session)

From my perspective, the MOOC is an attracting topic to follow in current academic field for both ETEC and non-ETEC audiences. TCC conference provides a good platform for international scholars and educators around the world to come and share ideas without geographic limitation. Through Dr. Diaz’s presentation, we got to know about MOOC Model, we scrutinized what is achieved and what changes we need to make within our own institution, and we thought about how we can integrate MOOC Model with our daily teaching and/or educational course design so as to fit our participants’ needs with a better course design.

It was a really good chance to listen, talk and share our mutual ideas and our teaching/learning experiences, get direct answers on what we felt puzzled by, and contribute to the whole community education. Also this is an effective, efficient and engaging way to learn from others.

• What is the highlight of the session?

An informative presentation started from an eye-attracting educational delivery model. There were also considerable successful practices and examples of how the MOOC is being utilized by most of institutions. The abundant statistics in this presentation help us to understand the past, present and future of MOOCs. Lots of graphics, diagrams,  bar graphs, and less text reading were put together to make the presentation more vivid.  Polls (several short survey questions relevant to MOOC) on the right top panel during the entire presentation which made it more interactive with all the participants.

• Speaker’s contact, social media and website information

Veronica Diaz, PhD

drvdiaz@gmail.com

 http://tinyurl.com/TCC-Diaz

http://tinyurl.com/elimooc

First, Helen researched the criteria for effective e-book.

Next step, she considered device and development platform for e-authoring. She ended up choosing iBooks author since it’s free and easy to use. She then spent lots of time creating the iBook through iBooks Author.

Her iBook, “Web and HTML” is available via http://etext.weebly.com/. The iBook contains small chunks of content interspersed with interactive widgets: slideshows, YouTubes, labeled diagrams, quizzes, and a “try-it-yourself” HTML editor. The weebly site contains thorough tutorials on how to navigate through the iBook.

Based on the data from Helen’s project, the iBook did increase learning, motivation, and engagement with 93% of participants said “it all makes sense” or “I understood the basic concepts”. Interestingly, the interactive widgets that participants enjoyed most are the visual type: slideshows, videos, and images/screenshots. A majority (80%) also found the “try it yourself” widget to helpful or somewhat helpful. The design itself could be improved to strike a balance between content and simpler layout.

Most interesting piece of information is that more participants would consider e-textbooks and are aware of its drawbacks.

What’s on the horizon? Helen hopes to perform an action research while continuing the needs analysis, evaluation, revision.

There’s definitely been a growth in e-readers in the past year and this trend will continue to grow. Will educators be ready for the next generation of digital learners? or e-book natives?

Presenter: Helen Torigoe

e-mail: htorigoe@hawaii.edu

Twitter: @torigoeh

Website: http://etext.weebly.com/index.html

Dr. Gerstein provided the audience with resources and links and asked them to check them during the presentation. She shared her experiences and brought examples from her class. She utilized the Adobe Connect tools professionally to make the session more active. Her practice of calling the audience members by name made the audience feel the long distance short. The audience was engaged in the session’s tasks and shared their experiences, too.

The resources and the presenter’s experiences were informative, which made this session really worth attending. The session highlighted many important principles in education in general and the flipped classroom in particular. For example:

• education should be learning by doing
• lectures should support learning
• learning should authentic, engaging and relevant
• learning should tap into and engage the learner’s intellect, emotions, social connections, and  the body whenever possible
• learning should include critical and reflective thinking
• the role of the teacher is to mentor and coach not to lecture and test
• classrooms should include experiential learning activities
• the ideal goal is to hook and motivate the learners to learn more about the topics
• teachers are no longer the gatekeepers to information and expertise.
• the expert content “lecture video” is only part of the learning experience.

I think that at the end of the presentation the audience came to the conclusion that flipped classroom inverts traditional teaching methods, delivering instruction online outside of class and moving “homework” into the classroom.

For more information about the session and the presenter:

The session recording:
http://squirrel.adobeconnect.com/p7e8kt9wa94/

Twitter:
@jackiegerstein

Presenter’s Blog:
http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/

In the session, Dr. Sangrá stressed that elearning is not only about the software tools we use to teach, nor is it about whether the instruction is synchronous or asynchronous.  It is about increasing the quality of the students’ learning experience.  He also stated that elearning is not about technology, access, or delivery.  When regarding personal ecologies, every individual may develop their own strategies for professional development.  In other words, students need to be empowered to make their own decisions in the learning process.

Furthermore, Dr. Sangrá recommended that instructors design materials that provide opportunities for their students where lifelong learning can develop.  He suggested that instructors move away from the transmission of information to a more collaborative mode of learning.  And while he did acknowledge that developing life-long learning ecologies may take extra time out of their busy schedules, he insisted that instructors take the time to provide their students with the opportunities to make decisions about their own learning.

Overall, hearing Dr. Sangrá talk about shifting our focus away from the tools and modes of teaching online was a refreshing take on elearning.  It was great having him speak at our conference and to expand our knowledge of learning ecologies.  More information about Professor Sangrá can be found at his website http://edulab.uoc.edu.  He can also be contacted at asangra@uoc.edu.

I was impressed with the quality of Levine’s video during the introductory remarks. He alluded to the many hot topics in field of educational technology in the past year including badges and MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses). Levine questioned the effectiveness of MOOCs, “being one out of 160,000 students is insignificant”. Content are usually delivered through hour long lectures with weekly quizzes as assessments. The only way to connect to peers is through a discussion forum. What happened to the social aspect of learning? It’s definitely NOT part of the MOOC platform. The current model for MOOC is very much teacher-centered and requires participants to march to the same drum beat. Should we be satisfied with this model of education? NO! Levine encouraged session attendees to tweet, “I’m as MOOCED as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.”

Levine proposes another model for open online education courses where there’s no lectures, no weekly quizzes, but a lot of connectivity with peers.

DS106 is an open online course that runs for 15 weeks with 25 students enrolled at University of Mary Washington.  Students are required to create their own domain to define their own digital identity.

I was most impressed with the creativity behind the assignments for his course. Levine wants his students to bond over the pursuit of creativity. He encourages them to blog reflections on these assignments. What was their reasoning behind their product for the assignment? How did the assignment relate to their life? How did they make it?

Levine also allowed students to create their own pathway through the course via the assignment bank where students can make choices about which assignments they want to work on. Additionally, students have the option of remixing assignments via the Remix machine.

Are you intrigued yet? If so, check out the Daily Create! Each day, the site publishes a challenge varying from photography, audio, or writing. After you’ve met each day’s challenge, be sure to post it to the appropriate venue with the hashtags so that it can be re-published to the Daily Create page.

I am inspired by Levine’s presentation to foster creativity and keep us all connected in virtual space!

More information and resources on Alan Levine’s presentation is available at http://cogdog.wikispaces.com/The+ds106+Show

Alan Levine

Twitter and Facebook: cogdog

Website: http://cogdogblog.com/