Screencasting with Doceri

Following on from my previous post on Screenr this post will deal with screencasting using Doceri, an iPad application that allows you to create screencasts of handwritten notes.  I like the freedom of doing a voiceover as I work through a problem by hand.  Downloading the desktop version of Doceri allows you to use your iPad as an interactive whiteboard but I haven’t investigated this functionality.

Once you’ve downloaded Doceri it’s easy to get started. You can choose a background from plain through various graph options, maps (mainly the continents with country borders shown) and many coloured and textured choices.  As with many of these editors there are choices of pen style, pen width etc.  Once you have made your choices you simply press record and away you go.  I have to say I liked Doceri but I did find that I needed to use a stylus as my writing was almost illegible without it (a bit of practice is needed even with the stylus – as with many of these tools it takes a bit of getting used to).  It’s worth noting that there is a Doceri stylus available which may help with precision but I haven’t used it.

To create a screencast you add new using the + button in the bottom left hand corner, choose you resolution and you’re ready to go.   As mentioned above you can change the background, pen etc. When you’re ready to start the recording simply press the red record button and start writing and talking.   It’s worth planning out what you want to cover to aid clarity.   As I’m new to screencasting, I’m still concious of what I’m saying, and do stumble a bit over what I want to say, but I’ll get there

One of the features of Doceri that I really like is the ability to pause the recording and come back to it.   You can add new slides, images,  at the click of a button.  It took me a while to find out how to get the recordings off the iPad – easiest way is to go into ‘My Recordings’ by clicking the red button which brings up all your recordings – from here you can publish to facebook or YouTube or email the video.  Selecting the recording also gives you the option to open it in Dropbox, Evernote, USB Disk or Knowtes (I’m not sure if these optios came up because I have these applications installed or if they are standard options).  For me the ability to open the screencasts in Dropbox makes it so accessible and easy to use.

Screencasting with Screenr

Mark Glynn suggested that I have a look at some screencasting applications as I wanted to do a voiceover for a Prezi about my use of Twitter.   He suggested I use Screenr or Jing.   I had a look at both but chose Screenr for its ease of use – there’s no software to download so you can use it as long as you have internet access and Java.  From my quick look at Jing it looks like you can do more with it but Screenr was perfect for what I needed.

You can create Screenr screencasts without an account but I chose to sign in with my twitter account so that I could save my screencasts.  There’s a quick tutorial to show you how it works and this is really all you need.  It is a very easy tool to use.  The three steps to creating a screencast are

Resizing the frame allows you to include only that part of the screen that you want seen.  As I wanted to do a voiceover of a Prezi I opened the presentation and sized the frame to fit.  Next comes the actual recording.  This bit I personally had a little more trouble with but practice will make perfect  The technology is simple but deciding what to say isn’t!  The other thing to remember is that, with the free version you only have 5 minutes to record.  When I started out I thought I wouldn’t have enough to talk about for 5 minutes but it turns out I had the opposite problem – too much to say and not enough time to say it in! Who knew   Condensing my thoughts on Twitter was difficult but very worthwhile as it made me focus on what I really wanted to get across.  The other problem I had was that I kept fluffing my lines (aka stuttering and stumbling over what I wanted to say) but as I said above I’m hoping practice will make perfect.  Lots of my early attempts ended up on the cutting room floor and the final version isn’t perfect but then neither am I   Once you get to this stage it’s simply a matter of pressing done.   You can then share the link to the screencast or you can choose to publish to Youtube.  All in all a very easy process.

My plan for the coming year is to use screencasting to do voiceovers for some of my notes to help my students.  This was one of my resolutions last year when I set up this blog.  Unfortunately I didn’t achieve it during the year but I have high hopes for this year.

New Year’s resolutions revisited

2011 was a year where I have really begun to integrate technology into how I do what I do. As someone with a background in technology I didn’t, and don’t, have a fear of technology but I don’t think I really ever used it as I should. Like all of my colleagues in LIT Tipperary I’ve used Moodle etc. over a number of years and as a Maths lecturer I’ve always been aware of the potential for using technology in my class, but I’m not sure that I’ve leveraged the potential of technology as much as I could, or should have. Due to a number of seemingly insignificant changes during 2011, I really feel like I’m now beginning to exploit the real potential of technology.

I didn’t sign up for Twitter in 2011 but really started using it in anger in 2011. Now that I’ve connected with so many people on Twitter, and am learning so much in the process, I’m really looking forward to where 2012 takes us all Through my interactions with educators on Twitter, I’ve become involved in initiatives like #edchatie, #coderdojo and #ccGlobal. These initiatives have pushed me out of my own comfort zone but have enriched my interactions with students in many ways. I’ve also used Twitter to source presenters for the ICT in Education conference,  http://www.lit.ie/Tipperary/Schools/default.aspx, which I believe has really strengthened the breadth of sharing that happens in Thurles in May every year.

2011 was also the year where Google+ came on stream. I couldn’t wait to sign up during the summer, frantically trying to get an invitation and waiting for the window of opportunity to use the invitation. I must admit however that I haven’t been bowled over by G+. I find I’m overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information that is to be found there. I think this is partly my own fault, because I haven’t really organised my connections into coherent circles, but for me twitter reigns supreme. I know that there is a huge volume of information etc. also to be found on Twitter, but I seem to have found a way of working with Twitter that works well for me. I suppose the beauty of Twitter for me is that, the brevity of the message focusses my own and other peoples thoughts. What I do love G+ for are the hangouts, which allow you to connect via webcam with others on G+. I have used hangouts to connect with others to discuss various #ccGlobal projects and to connect my daughters class with Michael Thornton’s (@mthornton78) class in Virginia USA.

2011 was also the year when I started this blog – I was shocked to be both nominated and shortlisted for the Edublog Awards in the best new blog category. What has really surprised me though is how much I enjoy writing the blog posts. I suppose what finally persuaded me to start the blog in 2011 is the fact that I’m hoping to start a PhD in 2012. The write up holds a particular terror for me, not to mention the rest!, so I decided to start blogging to get me into the writing habit. Hopefully I’ll be writing about the start of my PhD journey during 2012 .

My first blog post was my academic New Year resolutions http://pamobriensblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/new-years-resolutions/. The resolution I made, was to do what I do differently, and, as a way of focussing my mind I made a list of three ways I was going to do this – start the blog, use a wiki with my class and create podcasts to supplement my notes for my students. Unfortunately I’ve really only stuck to one of these, this blog which I’ve kept reasonably well updated. The other two haven’t worked out as I’d hoped thy would. To be honest, I think it’s more a discussion forum than a wiki that I wanted to use with my students. The aim of the discussion forum, is to encourage a greater understanding of the importance of Maths concepts in various areas of Computer Science, so this is where I’m going to focus my attention as I start a new academic term. Regarding the podcasts, it didn’t really happen for various reasons last term, but I will right that wrong in the forthcoming term. The equipment I was using, a Logitech webcam, really wasn’t fit for purpose so I acquired a Livescribe pen during last term. Once I complete the end of term corrections during the coming week, I will focus my attention on producing pen casts which will include audio with my notes. I hope these will be of benefit for my students. While I didn’t produce my own podcasts during the last term, I did source podcasts on YouTube for various topics, which seemed to benefit the students. The other use of technology I used in class, which worked very well last term, was Java programming. The feedback from the students was very positive, so I will continue to reinforce the very strong connections between Maths and programming by including more programming in my tutorials.

My final resolution is to submit a proposal to present at the CESI conference (http://www.cesi.ie/conference-2012) which is to be held in Portlaoise on the 24th and 25th February. As an organiser of the ICT in Education conference I’m quick to ask others to present but have always shied away from presenting myself. 2012 is the year where I push myself out of my comfort zone and share what I find useful from a technology perspective. I’m very aware that a lot of teachers can find technology very intimidating simply because of the sheer volume of tools and different technologies out there. I’m thinking of proposing a workshop on Twitter and Google+ hangouts, not as an expert but as an ordinary user of these technologies. As always, any thoughts etc. gratefully accepted.

Why I decided to try Podcasting?

I’ve heard people talking about podcasting for the last few years, but have never seriously thought about trying it out for myself.  What made me decide to try it out now was a workshop at the CESI conference in Portlaoise last February. The workshop was by Mark Pentleton (@markpentleton) and was a practical session on podcasting and eBook production.  We used iPads (this is where my love affair with the iPad began!) and the Pages software to put text and audio together.  On the drive home, my mind buzzing with ideas from the conference, I thought that producing notes with audio for my Maths classes might help students to grasp the concepts better.  Currently I produce class notes and tutorial sheets in Microsoft Word, which I upload to the college Moodle site.  We then work through the notes and tutorial sheets in class.  When working our way through the notes, we will often go through different examples, usually made up on the fly, as I find that the students learn more when things don’t work out cleanly.

While this has worked OK for the past few years, I have been looking for other ways to teach what I teach. A problem I often encounter teaching Maths in 1st year in college is that students come in with Maths baggage.  This commonly involves either sheer terror at the thought of Maths class or complete apathy, neither of which help!  So this year I’m going to shake up what I do, in a bid to overcome these problems.

This will involve a few things, one of which is podcasting.  I think that being able to see someone go through examples and hear their explanations will help the students to get a better understanding of what they are doing and why.  During the last 8 years teaching Maths, I am often shocked that students can sketch a parabola on a given interval, without having any idea of the properties of the quadratic function or how to sketch the function if they are not given the interval (apologies to those for whom the above makes no sense, but the mathematician in me has to come out somewhere!).  So I’m hoping that my podcasts will allow me to reinforce this context for students.  They will also allow me to remind students of things that they already know!  To supplement my own podcasts I have also been sourcing video clips on YouTube, which work through some of the concepts that I will be teaching.

The other change to what I do, will involve putting the Maths that I teach into context.  I teach Maths to 1st year computing students on courses such as Games Design and Development, Smart Sustainable Technologies, Computing and IT Support.  My plan is to incorporate guest lectures into my teaching. This will allow me to bring in people working in these areas, to talk to the students about how they use Maths in what they do.  I hope to supplement these lectures with video clips and examples of applications of Maths.  Finally I will also get the students to research applications of Maths in their chosen course of study.  I intend to use a wiki to get the students to discuss these applications, which is where my final resolution comes in.

So now you know where I’m coming from, feel free to share your thoughts, ideas and resources.

New Year’s resolutions

As we start the new academic year, I have decided to make a New Year’s resolution.   So, I hear you ask, what is the resolution? (or maybe that’s just the voices in my head!)  I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions, but I thought why not resolve to do things differently this year.

For the past 10 years I have been a lecturer in Tipperary Institute, which from September 1st 2011 will cease to exist and we will become LIT Tipperary.  During my time teaching I have lectured in the areas of Computer programming and Algorithms before getting the opportunity to return to my first love – Mathematics. Over the past few years I have also been involved in organising the ICT in Education conference, an annual conference which gives educators an opportunity to come together and discuss how they integrate ICT in their classrooms.  So what does all of this have to do with doing things differently?

As one of the organisers of an event specifically aimed at helping teachers to integrate ICT into how they do what they do, you would be forgiven for thinking that I would be practicising what I am preaching.  To be fair, I do use technology but not to the extent that I should or could. Hence the resolution!

So here’s the plan : To coincide with the new academic year and the change from Tipperary Institute to LIT Tipperary I am going to change how I do what I do.  How I make these changes remains to be seen, but hopefully they will improve my teaching and help to instill the love that I have for Mathematics in my students.  So to start I have a couple of things I plan to do

1. Start a blog

Now that this post is published here it is !!  Hopefully, over the coming weeks, months and years this blog will continue to be updated.  If it doesn’t feel free to give me a poke in the comments, on twitter @pamelaaobrien or on Google+ at Pam O Brien.

2. Use a wiki with my classes

The main aim of this wiki is to get my students to start discussing the uses of Mathematics in their chosen field of study.  This will be in the areas of Computing, IT Support, Smart Sustainable Technologies and Games Design and Development.

3. Create podcasts to support my course notes

Traditionally I have used Word to produce my class notes and tutorial sheets which I then work through in class, including extra examples as I go.  This year I plan to supplement this style with podcasts to go through certain topics, so that students get the benefit of my explanations of what we are doing, and why, as they work through examples.  The ultimate plan is that I am working towards the Flipped Classroom, where students work through lectures at home and work through examples in their contact time.

So now that I have made my resolution and published it, all I have to do is keep it! I will keep you updated on progress.