UNFED notes 27.10.10

John Paul Posada from Engineering showed some of the things they’ve been doing with iPod touch in classrooms:

Live polling using Polleverywhere – this app runs from the web, so no software needs to be installed. It is free to use for small classes, and costs $700/year for large classes. Responders can use any internet or SMS enabled device. By asking users to input an identifier (eg student id) the responses can be tracked, and a widget is available for feeding the data to Powerpoint so poll results can be included in class presentations.

Issues of equity re use of mobile devices came up – Engineering has purchased 100 iPods, but have sometimes asked students to use their own devices. The cost of these is coming down, and there is very wide student ownership.

An alternative to Polleverywhere is Polldaddy – unfortunately this app does not yet allow input from multiple concurrent devices.

Engineering is also developing an iPod Touch Marking app (iUNSW Rubric?). This has been used to replace paper-based review processes in competitive marking scenarios in Mech Eng for Thesis Presenters, and for HDR Poster presentations faculty wide. The results feed directly to a server and can be extracted as a text file. In future it is hoped that results could be published from the server to the internet. Contact John Paul if you’d like more information.

The news on the upcoming Blackboard upgrade was mixed – the upgrade will be happening, probably the week beginning November 15, depending on results from user-testing that has identified some server configuration issues. The upgrade has some welcome improvement in functionality – including a more useful Learning module format, and much better Content collection integration, however some issues that have been identified by UNSW users as problematic have not yet been addressed – eg timed quiz and group management issues. Niki will be informing users via Faculty contacts of any final decision on the timing of the upgrade.

Time for only a brief chat about current reading. Belinda recommended The Art of Changing the Brain by James Zull, who uses ideas from Biochemistry and Neuroscience to explain why experiential learning is intrinsic to how our brain functions, and how learning happens neurologically. Related readings mentioned are Nicholas Carr (The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains), Norman Doidge (The Brain that Changes Itself) and Janet Zadina, who speaks on Brain Research and Instruction and has published a workbook called “Six Weeks to a Brain-Compatible Classroom”.

Last meeting for 2010 will be Wednesday November 24. Don’t forget to add your ideas to the UNFED wiki, and please let your interested colleagues know about UNFED – contact Belinda for information.