Annotation Studio: Multimedia Annotation for Students

Annotation Studio is a web-based annotation application that integrates a powerful set of textual interpretation tools behind an interface that makes using those tools intuitive for undergraduates. Building on students’ new media literacies, this Open-source application develops traditional humanistic skills including close reading, textual analysis, persuasive writing, and critical thinking. Initial features of the Annotation Studio prototype, supported by an NEH Start-Up Grant, include aligned multi-media annotation of written texts, user-defined sharing of annotations, and grouping of annotation by self-defined tags to support interpretation and argument development. The fully developed application will support annotation of image, video and audio documents; annotation visualization; export of texts with annotations; and a media repository. We will also identify best practices among faculty using Annotation Studio in a broad range of humanities classes across the country

Recent Developments in Cultural Heritage Image Databases: Directions for User-Centered Design

published or submitted for publicatio

The impact of technology: value-added classroom practice: final report

This report extends Becta’s enquiries into the ways in which digital technologies are supporting learning. It looks in detail at the learning practices mediated by ICT in nine secondary schools in which ICT for learning is well embedded. The project proposes a broader perspective on the notion of ‘impact’ that is rather different from a number of previous studies investigating impact. Previous studies have been limited in that they have either focused on a single innovation or have reported on institutional level factors. However, in both cases this pays insufficient attention to the contexts of learning. In this project, the focus has been on the learning practices of the classroom and the contexts of ICT-supported learning. The study reports an analysis of 85 lesson logs, in which teachers recorded their use of space, digital technology and student outcomes in relation to student engagement and learning. The teachers who filled in the logs, as well as their schools’ senior managers, were interviewed as part of a ‘deep audit’ of ICT provision conducted over two days. One-hour follow-up interviews with the teachers were carried out after the teachers’ log activity. The aim of this was to obtain a broader contextualisation of their teaching

Synote: Multimedia Annotation ‘Designed for all'

This paper describes the development and evaluation of Synote, a freely available web based application that makes multimedia web resources (e.g. podcasts) easier to access, search, manage, and exploit for all learners, teachers and other users through the creation of notes, bookmarks, tags, links, images and text captions synchronized to any part of the recording. Synote uniquely enables users to easily find, or associate their notes or resources with any part of a podcast or video recording available on the web and the students surveyed would like to be able to access all their lectures through Synot

The Tablet PC: Cool Toy or Useful Tool?

The tablet PC, or convertible laptop computer, is a relatively new technology - the potential of which is still being tested in the field of education and in libraries. This presentation will provide a brief overview of available tablets, evaluate some of their current uses in libraries and education, and demonstrate how a tablet PC is currently being used during information literacy sessions at Michigan State University. Participants will discuss the tablet’s potential uses in information literacy and will walk away with ideas, information, and best practices for incorporating this new technology into library instruction

Networked interactive whiteboards : rationale, affordances and new pedagogies for regional Australian higher education

This article presents an argument for the use of networked interactive whiteboards (NIWBs) in regional Australian higher education and identifies new pedagogies for this context. Most Australian universities operate multiple campuses, and many use video conference facilities to deliver courses across these sites. For students at remote video conference sites, their classroom experience is often one of isolation and limited student to student contact. In this article, NIWBs are proposed as a tool to enhance this mode of delivery and exploratory research into the additional affordances they provide is presented. By using networking with IWBs, annotation and gesture can be shared across distances. Emerging possibilities from the integration of NIWBs with video conference, web conference and lecture capture systems are also explored. Three new pedagogies for regional Australian higher education are proposed based on these new capabilities. <br /