ActiveCampus Portal – an alternative to iTunes U

I attended a webex presentation today on Podcasting 101 with the ActiveCampus Portal.

The ActiveCampus Portal by Datatel provides a single point of access for everyone on campusTherefore, faculty, staff and students benefit from a common environment within which they can cooperate and collaborate more freely and effectively.

It integrates with Datatel’s Colleague software (which we ALREADY use on campus).  It offers one secure log in with which users can access bulletin boards (blogs or wikis) that can be embedded with podcasts (audio and/or video) and other important content.

This presentation focused on what are podcasts, why podcast and how to begin podcasting.  But the interesting part was how to share these podcasts in a secure way and in an accessible location.

Right now, our audio podcasts are available on a classcaster hosted site.  Our wikis on wikispaces.com.  Our blogs are hosted on wordpress.com.  We look to uploading video files to CALI spaces.  We’ve been accepted to iTunes U as a possibility for uploading audio and video content.  All are free hosting solutions.

Here, faculty and students log into WebAdvisor (part of Datatel’s Colleague) to access academic services such as grades and course registration. It would seem that using the ActiveCampus Portal would be the next step….

It would certainly relieve IT of the nightmarish authentication process (of eDirectory into LDAP) required by iTunes U and the installation of the iTunes software on all computers on campus.

What the Best Law Teachers Do?…Use Technology?

A message from Professor Michael Hunter Schwartz of Washburn School of Law:

Dear Colleagues,
 I am in search of the best law teachers in this country, and I could use your help. I have the extraordinary opportunity to conduct a law professor-focused, follow-up study to Ken Bain’s wonderful What the Best College Teachers Do (Harvard University Press, 2004).Thus, I am writing to solicit your nominations. In particular, I am looking for teachers who consistently produce extraordinary learning, who change their students’ lives and whose instruction stays with students long after they graduate from law school. I hope what I produce inspires you as much as Professor Bain’s work has inspired me.Over the next three years, I will be:

• soliciting nominations;
• gathering evidence of nominees’ excellence;
• paring the list of nominees to the most extraordinary law teachers;
• visiting law schools around the country, sitting in on classes, interviewing the nominees, and talking to focus groups of students and alumni;
• and then publishing what I have found in a book: What the Best Law Teachers Do (Harvard University Press, forthcoming 2011).

To nominate a candidate or learn more about this project, please go to http://washburnlaw.edu/bestlawteachers  and click on the link on the right side of the page to get to the nomination form.

 To honor those who have been nominated, I have set up a website on which I will report the name of each nominee, the nominee’s institutional affiliation, and a few comments from the nominator…

We’ll soon see “What the Best Law Teachers Do?” by whom is nominated and for what reason(s)  –for using technology?? Maybe.

 

Law Professor Teaches At Home

In a recent post on the Teknoids Listserv, a professor from the Touro Law Center shared his experience of teaching 2 of his classes from home :

“In short:  It worked. More specifically, it worked adequately, particularly given how little advance planning had gone into this impromptu experiment.  We used two pieces of software: the free audio/video chat program Skype (http://www.skype.com),and/ a free Skype add-in called YugmaSE (http://www.yugma.com/) which allowed me to share my computer screen and/or a window (in this case, a PowerPoint presentation) with the students via Skype. ”

This experiment proves how valuable technology is.  Instead of canceling class due to a family illness, this professor was able to conduct class.

There are many software solutions that could be substituted for Skype/Yugma such as Elluminate, Webex and Adobe Connect (none of which are free).

This situation could be reversed when the student is in their home (unable to come to class) and thanks to technology, be able to attend a class.

The Future of Legal Education

In the wisdom of a Chinese proverb: “Tell me, I will forget. Show me, I will remember. Involve me, I will understand.”

I have heard this quote before, but I was reminded of it, reading about Washington and Lee Law School’s new curriculum.  They are entirely re-inventing the third year to make it a year of “professional development through simulated and actual practice experiences.”

Other law schools are working on changes to their first year curriculum.  (3/21/08 Conference details)

How does technology in legal education fit into the Chinese proverb (“… Involve me, I will understand.” )?

• Students self-assess their skills (for interviewing techniques, negotatiating, trial practice, etc.)
  • MediaNotes software and CALI space will facilitate that
  • Podcasting and/or Digital webcam video will also make it easier
• Students participate in discussions and give their view on critical topics
  • Discussion forums in TWEN
  • Class blogs and/or wikis
• Students actively participate in class
  • CPS (clickers) make this possible
  • Faculty/Student web response pages are available
  • Customized polling in TWEN
  • Install poll through CALI
• Students practice difficult concepts using simulations and/or interactives
  • CALI lessons are great
  • other software similations
• Students use the technology they will use when they practice law
  • be familiar with case management software
  • be able to use PowerPoint during a trial
  • be able to display evidence using a Document Camera during a trial

Mac vs PC

In this month’s ABA Journal, two lawyers  re-visit the MAC vs PC debate. Here at the law school, we find that more 1Ls have MACs than previous years.  We do not provide technical support for  MAC users other than setting up their wireless Internet access.  We are this semester for the first time allowing students to use MACs for their final exams if they own an Intel MAC (MACbook or MACbook Pro) running Windows XP or Vista on Bootcamp.

 According to the magazine article, here are the advantages of each -

MAC:

• Easier to choose a model (there are fewer)
• New ones can run any Windows program when necessary (PC World reported that the fastest Vista notebook is a MAC)
• you do not need anti-virus, anti-spyware or security protection
• they rarely crash
• there are free seminars at stores including a free “Genius Bar”
• better tech support (repairs are made promptly with free shipping provided)
• for lawyers
  • Daylite – links various types of documents
  • LawStream Pro - office management program
  • Circus Ponies  Notebook -
  • Rocket Matter  for billing & case mangement (web-based)
  • MSOffice – word-processing
  • NeoOffice
  • Apple’s iWork
  • Apple’s iKeynote - superior to PowerPoint
  • TrialSmart – trial presentation package
  • iMovie – for video depositions

PC:

• cheaper (more brands, more competition)
• more choices
• 90% of the population use them
• more choices for software
• can buy their components anywhere
• Dual booting is time consuming 
• More people/vendors available to fix your PC
• for lawyers
  • Amicus Attorney - office management 
  • Thomson‘ Elite – time/billing
  • LexisNexis’ PCLaw- time/billing
  • MSOffice
  • WordPerfect – superior to Word
  • Sanction – best trial presentation package
  • SmartDraw – graphics/timeline software

As for me, as a teacher, I began my computer using days by owning several MACS.  When I went back to grad school for Instructional technology in 1994,  I entered the PC world and completely switched over.  I have been using PCs ever since.  Just recently, since my 6 yr old SONY laptop (which has given my problems since day one) is approaching extinction, I have considered buying a MACbook Pro or a Ferrari …LOL

MediaNotes Webcast

CALI has made Blue Mango’s MediaNotes software – (http://www.medianotes-app.com ) available to law schools. The full-featured version is free to faculty, librarians, staff, and $20 for students.  To download the software, go to: http://www.cali.org/tools/medianotes (You must use your CALI web credentials to login).

MediaNotes is a video/audio tagging application which allows you to easily analyze and annotate video/audio performances. CALI is also be providing webspace for students and faculty to share these videos.

What I learned today…

 Lawyering skills  can be compared to sports skills – if you see yourself, you can correct yourself.  MediaNotes adds reinforcement and provides feedback to would-be lawyers.

For  each event (video segment)- you have the option for text comments as well as adding tags

The best way to use it is to have the students make the first cut and do the annotations and then have the professor read the student annotations and add his/her own.

There is a tag palette where the tags are stored.  You have to create your own tags that are connected to the content of your course.  You can download the tags created by Larry Farmer  from the CALi website.

Recommended uses: interviewing skills, negotiating skills, trial practice/court skills

It works with any video file except flash – .mov and .wmv most common because students can play the video back

It also works with just audio – the file size would be much smaller – sometimes video is not necessary

The software can be downloaded by any faculty member and installed on one lab computer for FREE.  Students can download the software at a cost of $20/student.  Many law schools are absorbing the student cost.

File size – needs to be small in order to be able to upload and download (esp students with bandwidth issues)

In order to reduce file size, you reduce the quality of the video – the audio is always more important.

Ex.  25 minute mov web cam recorded file = 50 mbs

Minimum Technology requirements:

• Inexpensive webcam ($50) – they all come with recording software
• Headset (with microphone)   ($15)
• Flash drive to move from the computer hard drive  ($30)
• MediaNotes software
• Existing laptop or desktop