eLearning eVolution » Tips n tricks

Using Elluminate in the Classroom: Tips and Tricks

elluminate — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:55:50 +0000

Came across a great blog entry from Anne Mirstchin who teaches IT to students in grades 3-12 in Australia. She’s used Elluminate Live! for the past year for staff meetings, conferences, and professional development as well as with her students. I’m with Anne when she says that Elluminate is the way to go for 21st century education.

Along with sharing a cool project that involves connecting members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with several remote rural schools to teach about their instruments, Anne also provides a number of tips that have increased the successful use of Elluminate with her students, like having a code of conduct for chat and having a timeout room (breakout room) for offenders. Check it out and prepare to be inspired!

Keep on Elluminating!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Rural Students Learn French Online

elluminate — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:49:18 +0000

Teri and Aaron attend Tricentia Academy, a small school in rural Newfoundland. Because they are the only two students in their class taking French, their only option was to take an online class through the Center for Distance Learning & Innovation, an Elluminate customer. The students’ experiences were chronicled in a video by Elizabeth Murphy of Memorial University. Get the whole story and hear what Teri and Aaron have to say. Enjoy!

PS. Click here to view other videos by Elizabeth Murphy about learner-centered e-teaching.

Keep on Elluminating!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

The Value of the Back Channel

elluminate — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:11:41 +0000

A few days ago, I conducted a interview with the Northwest Kansas Regional Prevention Center for an Elluminate success story. We were joined by New Media & Prevention Specialist LaDonna Coy, who is also what I would call a back channel specialist. During our interview, LaDonna recapped what we were saying in the Elluminate Live! public chat window. This ongoing dialogue helps her retain session content, re-enforces key points for other participants, and will certainly help me when I use the recording to write the case study. Great idea!

Looks like George Siemens agrees in today’s posting, “Educational Uses of Back Channels.” He says that the back channels during live online events may be even more valuable than the actual presentation.

Here’s some more food for thought in this blog entry from last May, “Understanding the Back Channel.”

What do you think? Any innovative use of back channels during an Elluminate session you’d like to share?

Keep on Elluminating!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

How would I use Elluminate? Let me count the ways.

elluminate — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:09:30 +0000

New Career and Technical Education Teachers’ Blog is a blog space for teachers enrolled in the New Teachers Institute at Georgia State University, an Elluminate customer.

Here’s a recent question posed by Dr. Burns: If you were designing a course that was going to be delivered via Elluminate Live! (a) what types of things would you need to consider and (b) what types of activities would you use and why? Well, multiple student posts ensued. You’ll find all of them on the blog.

One of my favorites was the student who thought Elluminate was boring and would try to think of ways to infuse it with life and excitement. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of any ways to do that! LOL, because he went on to say he’d have a scavenger hunt game for students to search for images or links on the Internet that conveyed a certain feeling, for example, and then post them on the whiteboard for discussion. What a great idea!

Other suggested interactive activities included group breakout sessions and presentations, video clips, case analysis, quick quizzes, safety videos, group assessments, using a webcam to demonstrate proffiency, game simulations, foreign language instruction, demonstrating CAD software, and even translating morse code. Lots of good stuff here. Enjoy!

And keep on Elluminating!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Differentiated Instruction = Student-centered Learning

elluminate — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:38:36 +0000

This eSchool News article, “Teclnology Empowers Differentiated Instruction,” caught my eye today. Turns out “differentiated instruction” is what we at Elluminate call personalized, individualized, or student-centered learning. The idea is the same: tailor instruction to individual abilities, needs, interests, and learning style. The part I like is the promotion of 21st-century skills and the reiteration that technology has the power to facilitate DI or whatever you call it.

The article provides a good summary of and lists some practical tools from a recent ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) webinar. So check it out and get some ideas, like having students create something called a webbe.

Here also are a couple of Elluminate stories about K12 teachers who are using technology to provide student-centered instruction. Teacher Raven Sundahl at EBUS Academy developed Wacky Wednesdays as a way to include modalities for all types of learners. Social studies literacy coach Cara Coffina of NYC District 75 developed an online debate program to meet the needs of special needs kids.

Do you have any examples you’d like to share about using technology for DI?

Keep on Elluminating!

Beth – Elluminate Goddess of Communication

What Traits Make an Online Teacher Successful?

elluminate — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:26:25 +0000

According to Bill Phillips of the University of Central Florida, it’s the three Cs: clarity, creativity, and compassion. Not surprisingly, Phillips says that successful online instructors have many of the same characteristics of their counterparts in the traditional classroom. Read the entire article in eSchool News.

Online learning is all about the experience, and the instructor, or moderator, plays a key role in ensuring all participants have a great experience, one that encourages students to engage, discuss, interact, and collaborate. And isn’t that what makes any teacher successful?

Here are Elluminate’s “Top Ten Habits of Highly Effective Moderators.” We hope they help you to be more clear, creative, and compassionate in your online classroon.

Here’s something else that may interest you. Want to know more about how digital games and simulations can make you a better instructor? Check out this upcoming Elluminate webinar on 12/11 at 1PM ET, “Teaching with Online Games,” with Dr. David Gibson. Seats are going fast, so register now.

Keep on Elluminating!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

What Makes a Successful Moderator?

elluminate — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:26:02 +0000

I’m sure this is a questions those of us in the eLearning world often ask ourselves. Well, according to Sting’s Teachning Tips blog (no, not that Sting), there are a number of basic characteristics a successful online facilitator should have:

- Life experience
- Openness, concern, flexibililty, and sincerity
- Comfort with written communication
- Accepts value of online learning
- Ability to introduce critical thinking into the learning process
- Appropriate credentials to teach subject matter
- Trained in online learning experience

Interesting. Learn more here.

At Elluminate, we’ve got some ideas as well. Here’s our “Top Ten Habits of Highly Effective Moderators.” My favorite is: smile and your participants will smile with you. Enjoy!

And keep on Elluminating!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communcation

Six Steps to a Successful Synchronous Session and More …

elluminate — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:10:36 +0000

As a writer, I love alliteration, so I was attracted to the title above for its own sake as well as for the topic. The title comes from Niall Sclater of The Open University, an Elluminate customer in the UK. Read his entire posting. Plus, you can read how The Open University is deploying synchronous collaboration enterprise wide here.

The tips he passes on deal with planning, creating, practicing, delivering, recording, and getting feedback. Here are a couple of additional resources I’d like to add for getting the most out of your synchronous session.

- Elluminate Plan! enables you to create session content and script activities before the live session. Then during the session, you simply execute the plan to automate routine tasks. This enables you to concentrate on the interaction, which is the point of most live sessions. You can get a free 30-day trial of Plan! here.

- Elluminate Publish! enables you to create podcasts or standalone recordings of any Elluminate Live! session. So this gives you more ways to engage participants even after the fact. You can get a free 30-day trial here.

So the idea is to engage, empower, enlighten, and Elluminate. Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Online Learning Spaces Contribute to Student Achievement

elluminate — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:52:36 +0000

To continue on from my previous post about celebrating enabling learning technology, it’s important to remember that the technology should be transparent, allowing users to focus on communicating, collaborating, educating, and more. It’s a means to an end, not an end in itself.

That said, I’d like to introduce you to Alison Hancox, an award-winning distance education teacher at the Argyll Centre in Canada. She recently presented at one of our webinars, showing us how she and her students create learning spaces and e-portfolios using Elluminate Live!

I was blown away by how Alison’s students embraced the technology to build social presence, collaborate virtually, and build visual literacy skills. Check out the interactive session recording. I think you’ll be impressed and inspired!

Keep on Elluminating!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

5 Tips for Getting Started in the Virtual Classroom

elluminate — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:02:55 +0000

What do you need to know to get started in the virtual classroom? Here are five tips from Bronwyn Beach of GippsTAFE (Technical and Further Education) institute in Australia, where she teaches competencies for those working in drug and alcohol counseling. She began introducing online sessions with the help of her mentor, Vanessa Marsh.

1. Have a co-facilitator.
2. Keep it simple and don’t use too many functions at once.
3. Use pre-session activities to help students prepare for each session.
4. Control hands up; pause for questions at set times in the presentation.
5. Treat it like a normal lesson.

Read the entire blog entry about Bronwyn and Vanessa’s collaboration here.

Elluminate also offers a wide variety of training for moderators and participants. So if you’re just getting started or want to know more about individual Elluminate Live! tools, check it out.

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication