Creating Online Tutorials at Your Libraries: Software Choices and Practical Implications

The use of online tutorials for information literacy instruction is on the rise. Active library-related discussion lists such as ILI-L, the Association of College and Research Libraries’ discussion on information literacy and instruction, and LIBREF-L typically feature several questions and surveys related to online tutorials every week. Discussion groups and forums at library conferences consistently offer discussions, programs, and resources about creating online tutorials, and share examples. What is causing the surge of interest in online tutorials? Reasons vary: staff shortages, a desire to provide more point-of-need assistance, and increased distance learning and a growing awareness—particularly in public and academic libraries—of the learning styles of the so-called Millennial Learner, who is said to prefer interactive, technology-based learning experiences. However, one of the main reasons for the trend is that the screen capture software available for tutorial construction has also grown increasingly capable and user-friendly. In this article we will review the software programs that are available, discuss the time and resources needed, and use a set of tutorials developed at Purdue for biology students as an example throughout

Experiencing Live Composite Video Lectures: Comparisons with Traditional Lectures and Common Video Lecture Methods

Video compositing can be used to combine images of the instructor and content, which the instructor can monitor in real time. We evaluated the student experience of this “live composite” format in two carefully designed experiments. Results showed the perceived quality of and student preference for live composite lectures is not different from that of traditional lectures. Results also showed the live composite format is superior to voiceover and picture-in-picture formats in terms of attention, positive emotion, experiential attitude, preference, perceived quality, and instructor social presence. The two experiments had similar patterns of results, suggesting the observed effects are robust. Although we found no differences in short-term learning among lecture formats, the live composite method resulted in a better subjective experience for students. Instructors who use online recordings should consider adopting this approach

Understanding Cognition Across Modalities for the Assessment of Digital Resources

Drawing from the theories of the cognitive process, this paper explores the transmission, retention and transformation of information across oral, written, and digital modes of communication and how these concepts can be used to examine the assessment of digital resource tools. The exploration of interactions across modes of communication is used to gain an understanding of the interaction between the student, digital resource and teacher. Cognitive theory is considered as a basis for the assessment of digital resource tools. Lastly, principles for the assessment of digital resource tools are presented along with how assessment can be incorporated in the educational practice to enhance learning in higher education

Pandora: Purge of Pride an Interactive Narrative

Pandora: Purge of Pride was created as a WPI MQP for the Interactive Media & Game Development (IMGD) and Computer Science (CS) majors. Players in Pandora play as Pandora, a Victorian woman who unknowingly unleashes the Seven Deadly Sins from the “Pandora’s Box” of myth. Players must complete puzzles in Pandora’s mansion to recapture the Sins. As each Sin is recaptured, Pandora gains a new power with which she can manipulate the environment and solve further puzzles. This report documents the initial design of Pandora, the objectives in creating Pandora, the development process, and the project team’s retrospective thoughts on the development process

iResilience of science pre-service teachers through digital storytelling

© 2015. We live in a multimodal world where communication enabled by digital media supports the expression of ideas, opinions, instructions and experiences in a variety of formats that empower the individual to convey thoughts and emotions persuasively. In education, digital storytelling as a pedagogical strategy can be embedded in student-generated videos of narratives of personal learning experiences or in teacher-constructed stories that inform or instruct. The aim of this qualitative research was to investigate how a group of science pre-service teachers created digital stories to elicit resiliency (risk and protective factors) during their teaching practicum and how their peers responded to the digital stories, uploaded and shared on VoiceThread. The results showed that the digital stories were able to convey thinking and emotions successfully at a deeper level. A range of issues (risk factors) and strategies (protective factors) to overcome them could be identified in the digital stories. As reducing the risk of attrition in teachers' early professional careers is important for maintaining teacher numbers and quality in teaching, this research is significant in understanding how pre-service teachers view resiliency in their education. Digital stories are able to provide teacher educators and researchers with richer data for this purpose. Australasian Journal of Educational Technolog

Identity in Flux: Cinematic Destabilization in Narrative and Form

This thesis explores the current transitional moment in culture as cinema, identity, and a mediated society interact in a state of flux. My film project, Photostoria, was produced to addresses issues of memory, history, and identity in a digital, socially networked age, through the relationships of the characters/actors and through cinema\u27s unique aesthetic language. The film uses a convergence and remediation of media to reflect the confusion and destabilization of identity formation in cultural terms. Specifically, time travel narratives create a metaphor for the experience of displacement in a hypermediated society. Photostoria is analyzed by way of narrative theory, new media studies, genre theory, and cultural studies in order to expose the affect in on and offline identity as consumer and producer fade into one another. The transmedia and collaborative element of the project presented through the connected website and kickstarter campaign demonstrate the way that the narrative fluctuates between virtual and non-virtual worlds