eLcc Report 2: Augment Reality Assignments

My favorite presentation at the eLcc conference was presented by Chris Luchs and Kae Novak about using augmented reality assignments in courses and as cross curriculum assignments. Check out their Prezi Presentation http://prezi.com/zqe2luhdrfc8/augment-your-reality/ to learn more.

Scenario based learning, Authentic Assessments, and Augmented Reality Assignments in many ways are the same concept with different names. Students and instructors become players in a carefully constructed role playing “game.” A “client” contracts the students for a project. The instructor, and possibly course designer, engage the students as professionals in an appropriate field, but have some pre-made clues and guidance tools in place to provide at opportune moments to help students be most successful. Like a Murder Mystery party, the hosts (instructor) will release information as the party progresses to guide the guests to the clues and the solution. Instructors have a variety of tools to provide obvious and subtle hints to their students such as twitter, websites, and discussion.

Sound like a daunting task for an instructor to create and conduct by themselves? My suggestion is experiment with an augmented reality assignment on a small scale. For example, in collaboration with an English Instructor, history students become writers for a historical journal like the Journal of American History. The English class becomes the editors of the Journal and using the articles written by the historians selects the best for publication or provides editing comments for consideration and future approval on the rejected articles. To make the scenario most believable, students in the history class should believe they have submitted their writing to a real historical journal (in fact, they could submit directly to a journal of their choice) and the English students should believe they are truly evaluating professionally written articles for publication. You may even want to have a “visitor” to the class from the Historical Journal that explains why they are excited about the opportunity to work with the class. If not a real visitor, maybe a "letter" to the class from the Journal describing the scope of what they are trying to do by working with them.

If you are ready to create an augmented reality assignments for your students, contact your chair. The summer is a great time to plan, and I look forward to you sharing your examples in the Cultivating Excellence discussion in the CCCOnline Community.

eLcc Report I: Power Up with the Research & Writing Toolkit

During our eLcc presentation “Power Up with the Research & Writing Toolkit," we shared ideas on information literacy instruction and on how others might tackle a project similar to the RWT at their own colleges.  Thanks to our gracious attendees for the ideas!  And now, in the spirit of sharing with you all, here’s a list of items and questions that emerged:

Within the RWT or a similar resource:
-would like to see video or another learning object covering the spirit of research: the curiosity that drives the research process.

-perhaps include resources linked to specific disciplines: e.g., a special list of Research & Writing resources for Business, Science, etc.

-Students might find helpful a guide on how to gather resources; what does one need to know to start the research process?

-Students do not necessarily start off on the right track in their research; perhaps some resources could help them to get on and stay on the right track.

-Library-generated student help guides, or “LibGuides,” are helpful in that they break out library resources by academic area.  We might consult with faculty to gather a discussion-specific type of “LibGuide.”

Another open question regarding students and the research process:
-Facebook or other social media can be helpful tools to gather information for a research project; in other words, social media has potential to help students help each other.  Do we believe discussion boards within a class can serve the same function?  

Feel free to share ideas and further conversation in the Cultivating Excellence topic in the Community.

Best Session Ever?

A powerful workshop, conference, webinar, or class… 

What was your favorite of all time?

If you have experienced a session that impacted your teaching significantly, please share your story in the Cultivating Excellence topic in the Community!

Please note: since next week is the eLearning Consortium of Colorado Conference, we will not be posting the week of 4/11; however, we will share what we learned afterwards!

Humor in Class

On April Fool’s Day, we’d like to ask how you’re using humor in your classes…when and where? How is it received? Tell us your stories in the Cultivating Excellence topic in the Community.