Academic Tech Tips

Piazza is a Sakai tool that can be used as an alternative to the Sakai Forums tool to easily manage Q&A with your students. Designed to simulate a live discussion, Piazza allows students to post and respond to one another’s questions and allows instructors to answer questions, endorse student answers, and edit any content.

Piazza is set up in the style of Wikipedia, making it easy to find content and contribute to a discussion in a meaningful way without having to scroll through long forum threads and hunt for a high-quality answer. Also like Wikipedia, responses to questions in Piazza are community-edited by instructors and students, leading to high-quality answers and a collaborative, community-building experience.

Piazza encourages all your students to engage in the discussion – even the shy ones. By providing your students with the option of anonymity, even the shyest students in your class can ask and answer questions. They can even be encouraged by your endorsement to speak up in person.

If you’re interested in using Piazza in your class or want to learn more, read through ITRS’s Piazza documentation, check out a sample class here (login with Loyola credentials), or stop by ITRS’s Drop-In hours.

Panopto, Loyola’s lecture capture software, has some exciting new features. Panopto now allows users to easily upload slides to an existing session, change the thumbnail image for a session, access speech-to-text captions, and add quizzes to a session. For instructions on updating slides or thumbnail images, please click here.

Automatic captions are now available to creators of a session. As the creator of a session you will be able to import and edit captions generated from Panopto, as well as release these captions to viewers. For instructions on importing automatic captions, please click here. If you do not see the option to “Import automatic captions”, please contact itrs@luc.edu and request for your session to be re-processed.

Users now have the ability to add quizzes to Panopto sessions. This includes sessions they recorded in Panopto and sessions they uploaded to Panopto. Quiz questions can be multiple choice, multiple select, or true/false. Viewers must be logged in to take a quiz in a Panopto session. Once a viewer completes the quiz, creators will have access to the quiz results for that session. For more information on Panopto quizzes, please click here.

On May 12^th, Loyola’s learning management system will be upgrading to Sakai 11. Per this upgrade, you will discover a few changes within Sakai. Some of these changes include:

• A new Gradebook tool
• Anonymous forum discussions
• More customization options for lessons
• A new Hot Spot question type within exams

We will be introducing the new Gradebook tool this Summer. During the Summer semester, you will still have access to both the current Gradebook (Gradebook Classic) and the new Gradebook. We encourage everyone to begin familiarizing themselves with the new Gradebook tool, since we will be removing Gradebook Classic from Sakai by the Fall semester. When using the new Gradebook this Summer, keep in mind that any changes you make to one of the Gradebook tools will reflect automatically in the other Gradebook tool, so you won’t need to make any changes twice.

You can begin working with our Sakai 11 development site to explore some of these changes on your own at https://lucdev.longsight.com/. Please note that this is an early development site and should only be used for testing purposes. Any courses you are building should be created in our current instance of Sakai 10. When Loyola makes the switch to Sakai 11 in May, your courses and course materials will transfer over accordingly.

If you would like to learn more about the Sakai 11 changes, please register for one of our training sessions or come to one of our Open Forum Discussions held on Fridays. If you are unable to make it to either one, feel free to contact us at ITRS@luc.edu so that we may schedule another time to introduce you to these new features in Sakai 11.

For more information please visit http://luc.edu/itrs/sakai/sakai11upgrade/.

Panopto is Loyola University Chicago’s lecture capture software. Panopto allows users to create sessions using a combination of audio, video, slides, and screen capture. As of August 1^st, all Loyola faculty, staff, and students now have access to a “My Folder” in Panopto. This will allow users to create, edit, share, and store sessions within Panopto. Additionally, users can use Panopto as a repository for pre-existing audio and video files they have created.

Users still have the capability of adding Panopto to a Sakai course or project site, as well as the ability to access Panopto through a Sakai site. To login to Panopto outside of Sakai, please click here. Instructional Technology & Research Support (ITRS) offers more information, step-by-step instructions, tutorial videos, and training sessions. You can visit our website here.

For further questions regarding Panopto at Loyola University Chicago, please contact the ITRS by emailing itrs@luc.edu.

iTunes U is a section within the iTunes Music Store that allows users to upload educational audio and video files for others to download on their computers and mobile devices. This gives faculty the opportunity to create an asynchronous course for their students, allowing them to view the courses in their own time. You would be able to post any of your own videos or audio clips that you want to make publicly viewable to your students.

If you are interested developing an iTunes U course, please contact Corey James at cjames7@luc.edu.

For more information please visit http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/

Panopto is a lecture capture platform used at Loyola to provide users with the ability to capture screen content, audio, and video simultaneously. Panopto can serve many purposes for instructors including allowing instructors to record their lectures in the classroom or to pre-record their lectures. Pre-recording lectures allows instructors to “flip their classroom” and use class time for discussion or activities. Additionally, pre-recorded lectures can be used for online courses. Instructors also have the ability to allow students to create recordings using Panopto. Now Panopto has upgraded to version 5.0 and is providing instructors and students with even more options.

The Panopto 5.0 recorder is now available for Windows and Mac users. Both the Windows and Mac versions of the recorder have a modernized look. The 5.0 Mac recorder has been updated to more closely resemble the look and functionality of the Windows recorder.

Along with the new look, the new recorders have new features. Users can now capture computer audio within their recordings. For example, if a user plays a video during a recorded lecture, the audio from the video will be included in the recording. Mac users running OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) and 10.11 (El Capitan) will now be able to create live webcasts. Furthermore, Panopto webcasts now have DVR functionality. Viewers can now pause, rewind, and fast-forward to the current time of a webcast. Mac users now have the ability to record up to three video feeds simultaneously. Mac users can also enjoy multi-bitrate recording and streaming for improved video playback and fail safe recording to protect against power outages and hardware failure.

For more information on Panopto and Panopto 5.0 please visit: http://luc.edu/itrs/teachingwithtechnology/panopto/.

PowToon is an easy to use resource that allows users to create animated videos and presentations. An instructor could use PowToon to enhance lectures or a student could use PowToon to create entertaining presentations. Creating a PowToon presentation allows the user to add visually appealing backgrounds and animations with audio and text that will keep viewers engaged.

There are several options in terms of creating an account with PowToon. Users even have the ability to create an account for free. On the other hand, users have the option to select a premium or educational account in order to access additional features. To try an educational account, please visit: http://www.powtoon.com/edu-home/. An educational account allows users to create a “classroom” through PowToon, add students to their class, and view student presentations. This is useful for instructors who wish to have easy access to student presentations. The PowToon blog (http://www.powtoon.com/blog/) includes several examples of PowToon presentations. For more information and resources on PowToon, please visit: http://luc.edu/itrs/teachingwithtechnology/powtoon/.

BigBlueButton is a web conferencing solution that Loyola is piloting this year. BigBlueButton allows instructors to host class sessions, meetings, or office hours online. Additionally, students are able to enter a BigBlueButton online room without their instructor. Therefore, students have the ability to utilize BigBlueButton rooms for group work at times that are convenient for them.

Within a BigBlueButton room participants and hosts are able to share web cams and microphones, as well as use a chat window for communication. Users have the option to use emojis, a raised hand icon, and an away icon to indicate their thoughts or status during a session.

The presentation window is a space for users to upload documents and presentations that can be annotated during a session. A polling feature is also located in the presentation window and gives instructors the ability to quickly assess student opinion or learning using true/false, yes/no, multiple answer choices, or custom polls.

BigBlueButton provides options for easy access to the meeting room. There is a call-in feature where users can join a meeting with audio and listen to others’ comments. Additionally, users can download the Puffin Browser (version 4.6 or later) and connect to the meeting using an iPad, iPhone, or an Android device. This allows students to access meetings in a manner that is convenient to them.

For more information on participating in the pilot or on BigBlueButton, please visit:

http://luc.edu/itrs/teachingwithtechnology/bigbluebuttonpilot/.

VoiceThread ~ Interact, Collaborate, Communicate!

Looking for a way to collaborate and communicate with your students online in a fun, engaging format? Check out VoiceThread which is fully integrated with Sakai, and now offers new features including the option for assignment linking to the Sakai Gradebook.

VoiceThread allows instructors to place collections of media including images, videos, documents, and presentations, at the center of a conversation – wherever and whenever you like! Faculty can use VoiceThread for collaboration and to lead conversations using any mix of text, microphone, webcam recordings, or audio files.

Think of it as a media-rich, interactive “discussion board” of sorts. Start with a PowerPoint slide, photograph, or even video, and record voiceover questions to get the conversation started. Have students create their own VoiceThreads to introduce themselves and share class presentations asynchronously.

For more information about VoiceThread, please visit our website at: http://luc.edu/itrs/teachingwithtechnology/voicethread/ and add the VoiceThread tool to your course site in Sakai to begin exploring.