CIT 2007 - WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2007

New Tools for Teaching: Free, Fast, and Immediate

Instructor: Russell Kahn
Associate Professor
SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome

Time: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location: Myers Fine Arts 228
Rating: Introductory
Platform: MAC
Cost: $40

Description:

In Information Anxiety 2, Richard Saul Wurman explores the problems we face with a surfeit of data we have neither the time nor the resources to make use of. He notes, 'Accessibility is the breeze through the window of interest'(p. 20). In this workshop I will provide faculty, staff, and administrators ways to use technology in new ways to bring information to students, hopefully giving them a fresh perspective on the discipline, their environment and their lives.

The workshop takes standard software and uses it in new ways to improve faculty teaching and to enhance student understanding. It describes how to set up Wikis, which are websites that can be created collaboratively and without using html or web design software. It shows how to create a portable Firefox that you can carry on a Flash drive. The workshop will explain how to create a scrapbook for Firefox with captured websites that won't disappear or change when you need to use them in the classroom.

The presenter describes how to add narrations to PowerPoint slides, how to run PowerPoint so the slides appear on the overhead while your notes appear on your monitor, and how to convert PowerPoint slides to Flash format.

Finally, he explains how to use Adobe Flash 8 to create presentations and to compose short interactive review quizzes complete with feedback, hints, and multiple testing styles.

All of these tools come standard with the current versions of PowerPoint, Flash, and Firefox, and Wikis can be created free of charge at a number of public websites. Moreover, the discussion will focus on how to use these tools in the classroom to move information from data to information and how to best present it to aid in understanding. Furthermore, these tools should help faculty move traditional classroom teaching to an effective online learning format complete with sound, images, and a variety of multimedia tools.