Panopto Upgrade 3.22.14

All Panopto hosted servers were upgraded to their newest release on Saturday, March 22.

One of the changes implemented in this upgrade impacts the way we share our panopto videos.  When you go to share your video, under Share with More People, you have to click Anyone on the Internet,  instead of clicking the Public button.

When you click Anyone on the Internet, you can put in an email address, or leave it blank.  Then click on “Share”.  When you do this, the url will appear, which you can copy and share with your students.

More complete instructions for sharing your videos can be found here –  Advanced-Guide-to-Sharing-Panopto-Recordings.pdf.

Adobe Connect Upgrade 3.9.14

Adobe Connect will be upgrading the software that runs our meeting site on Sunday March 9-10. During the upgrade, you will not be able to host any adobe sessions. The upgrade will begin Sunday March 9 at 11pm, and will not be complete until Monday March 10 at 5am.

For any sessions AFTER the upgrade is complete, we recommend that you log into your Adobe room prior to the start to make sure that everything is updated and working properly on your computer.  There will be an upgrade to flash and a new add-in will need to be downloaded,

You will need Adobe Flash Player 12.  You can download that here, but for campus office computers, you will need ITS to assist you.

When you launch or join a meeting after the upgrade, a new version of the Add-In will need to be installed as well.  The new Add-in is version 11.9.959.0 and can be obtained here. This install requires that you have administrative rights on your computer, so you may need to involve ITS for any campus installation.

After the upgrade, Internet Explorer 7 and Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) will no longer be supported.

Faculty Workshop Day 3.19.14

Faculty Workshop Day will be Wednesday, March 19, 2014.  Please join us in Vale Courtroom beginning at 9am for a series of presentations utilizing technology in the classroom.

We will be rolling out our new Educational Technology Resource Center website which consolidates information and instructions on how to use all of the technologies we have available to the law school.  We have pulled together resources for assessment, collaboration, communication, presentation, and recording and have articles and instructions for flipping, chunking, online quizzes, lecture capture, creating videos for use in the classroom, as well as articles on new trends and ideas for how you can best utilize technology to accomplish your pedagogical goals.

We will also have a number of breakout sessions focusing on either advanced uses of TWEN, or using Panopto to create flipped components in your course.

Please join us for refreshments and conversation while we show you what is available and how to get the most our of the resources we have available.

Campus Cruiser Face Lift May 10

In May, Widener will be rolling out a new look and feel to Widener’s Campus Course Management System, Campus Cruiser.

This is a much needed change and besides giving it a fresh new look, everything is reorganized in order to make it easier to find information and to eliminate the need to scroll up and down constantly.

All the data is still where it belongs, it is just in a different location.

Important changes:

The log in screen is at the top right.  You will log out here as well.

All the menus all have dropdown submenus, which appear when you mouse over them, which aids navigation.

The link to the new interface is https://prod.campuscruiser.com/widenertest

Two different logins have been created for evaluation of the separate modules.  The password for each login is widener1.

For Employees the login is:   employee

For Faculty the login is:   faculty

For comments or questions about this change, please contact

Joanne Caione-Keating
Widener University / ITS
Instructional Technologist
jcaione@widener.edu
(610)499-1345

Getting Help

For assistance learning about or using technology, please contact the Educational Technology Specialist, Barbara Mindell at blmindell@widener.edu.

For installation of software on your computer, or assistance with a computer problem in your office, please contact the ITS office: Phone: 302-477-2221, Email: dehelpdesk@widener.edu;

For assistance with Library instruction contact your library liaison.

To reserve clickers or request Instructional Media Services assistance fill out this form.
To report problems with classroom equipment, or get immediate help, contact Instructional Media Services, (302) 477-2104.

 

PowerPoint Dos and Don’ts

Create a great PowerPoint presentation by following these simple guidelines. PowerPoint can be a powerful presentation and organizational tool for the presenter and the audience.  But overuse has created a fear of ‘Death by PowerPoint’.  Here are some quick best practice tips to keep in mind to get the most out of PowerPoint. (More information can be found above under Instructional Tools/Presentations Tools)

  • Keep the lights on.  If you dim lights so the audience can read what you wrote, it will trigger a sleep response.
  • Put very few bullet points on a slide. Many excellent presenters advocate only using one idea per slide, which is no bullet point at all. Slides are best when limited to a single image, chart, graph, or catchy phrase.
  • Keep the focus on you as presenter.  If the audience can read your presentation on the slide, the focus has shifted.  Minimize or eliminate transitions and animations.

Alternatives to PowerPoint:

Prezi – presentations with zoom.  Interesting program, but it can easily overwhelm your audience. The basic program is free.

Keynote – Apple’s answer to PowerPoint.  Keynote is limited to apple devices but is similar to PowerPoint.  It has different themes and ways of putting the presentation together, but it follows a familiar format. Keynote is available from Apple as a download (@$20).

Haiku Deck – Haiku Deck is designed for the tablet and its focus is on graphics.  One incredible image to illustrate your slide’s point. HD is also available as a web based tool downloaded to PowerPoint so it can be used even without a tablet.  One great feature is it has a storehouse of superb free images to help illustrate your points.  It also has numerous examples to help provide you with ideas.

Tech Tip Weekly: On The Road

Always test out your presentation in a classroom type setting before you go to a new location to give a talk or lecture. Give yourself at least 10 minutes to make sure your computer or presentation is working.  When you are off campus, have a backup plan in case the technology completely fails, or the location you go to does not have the setup you expect.  Take a copy of your presentation on a CD and take handouts or overhead slides in case you have to give your talk without your computer or power.  It might seem like a lot of extra work, but you look very savvy when the power goes out and you don’t skip a beat in your presentation.

ETC Resource Site Launched

Widener Law School has recently launched its Educational Technology Resource site.  Barbara Mindell, Janet Lindenmuth, Maggie Stewart and Stephanie Engerer were instrumental in pulling together the necessary resources and creating this repository.  Click on the links throughout this site to see what we have provided and keep in touch so we can help you use technology effectively.

All instructional guides on the site are in PDF format.  When you click on the guide, you can download it to your computer or read it on the screen.  If you are not given a prompt for what to do, you can change this in the options of your browser.

In Firefox, this is found by going to the Tools menu and clicking on Options.  In the pop up window, click on the Applications tab and scroll down to Portable Document Format (PDF). To the right of this entry, it asks you what to do when you click on a pdf. I set it to “Use Adobe Acrobat”.  When you do this, the document will appear in your Firefox window.  If you then want to save it, you can go to the File menu and Save Page As…

For help with other browsers, please contact the Educational Technology Specialist.