Little Things

[Daniel Quigley]

Feel free to post a "little thing" that you want to try next year.

Quig

[Daniel Quigley]

This article appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Ed. on line edition. It is a great example of how a "little thing" can make a big difference...the technology to do what the Engineering professor in the article is doing already lives on most computers.

'Film School: To Spice Up Course Work, Professors Make Their Own Videos
To Spice Up Course Work, Some Professors Are Making Videos

By JEFFREY R. YOUNG

Sometimes Edward J. Berger leaves class with the nagging feeling that some of his engineering students at the University of Virginia just aren't getting it. Maybe the concept he was trying to get across was too abstract. So he heads back to his office, films himself working through an actual problem, and posts the video to the course blog.

Most of the students tune in, even though watching is optional and the cinematic style is not the kind of thing that fills seats at the multiplex.

Mr. Berger, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been experimenting with several new Web technologies as part of a project called HigherEd 2.0, which is supported by a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. He uses a blog, he has tried wikis (communal programs that let students edit one another's work), and he records his lectures and offers the recordings online for review. But he says the most effective aspect of the experimental teaching project so far has been his "video solutions."

Instead of a talking head, these videos show a talking pen. In most of them, Mr. Berger writes out the answers to problems on the screen of his tablet PC, while screen-capture software records the action. As he writes, he narrates his thought process, and a microphone attached to his computer picks it up to provide the video's soundtrack.

Mr. Berger is not the only professor making movies. Faculty members at other colleges have recently begun creating homemade videos to supplement their lectures, using free or low-cost software. These are the same technologies that make it easy for students to post spoof videos on YouTube, but the scholars are putting the tools to educational use.

"We're finding that students these days are more visually inspired," says Charles M. Krousgrill, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University who is also creating video solutions as part of the HigherEd 2.0 project.

The professors say that students tune in to the short videos more often than they look at the recordings of lectures. After all, the students already sat through the lectures once (the professors hope). "It's like a professor on demand," says Mr. Krousgrill.

Stuart Ogle, a junior at Purdue who was in Mr. Krousgrill's class last term, says he has watched some of the video solutions when he did not fully understand a concept. He watched them late at night, when no teaching assistants were available.

"You can't answer every question through a video, but to have the extra resources is certainly vital to getting a good grade and understanding," he says.

Mr. Krousgrill says he can create a solution video and get it online in about an hour. But he says it will be a challenge to persuade professors who are unfamiliar with making videos to get into the act.

"We don't think it's that much more cost and time, and we think it's worth it," he says.

Indie vs. Studio Films

The early adopters of the concept are those with an interest in technology and those with a creative streak.

Laurie E. Iten, an associate professor of biology at Purdue, has created a series of animated videos for her biology laboratory class that use characters similar to those in the TV comedy South Park. She calls her characters the "lab brats."

"There's no reason why we have to teach a class that's dull," she says. "My course is harder than heck, but we have fun."

Ms. Iten now has students watch the videos instead of attending the lectures that she used to give before each lab exercise.

"They like the idea of being able to do it right before the

[Phil Hopper]

Dan,

I just sent you an e-mail with a link to a recent Times article that talks about an interesting approach to integrating the humanities and sciences in the classroom. I'm rather out of the loop with core curriculum revisions but is there discussion regarding this issue there?

Storytelling as a "biological imperative!"

Here's the direct link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/science/27angi.html?_r=1&sq=C...

Phil