Important tips for putting VR experiences into your teaching

by | Sep 5, 2019 | Active Learning, gamification, Learn, Student Engagement

The Hunter Library VR room serves as a place for you and your students to explore virtual reality.
Before making an assignment, lab exercise, or project that requires students to use the library’s VR room, it will be helpful to know the following:

1) Contact the VR coordinator (Jill Ellern) for a tour and training.

Arrange for an appointment of at least 1-hour for your own VR experience in this space.  This session will include how to use the system and what VR options are available for your students. You might need several sessions to completely explore and understand some of the more complex software titles.

Contact VR coordinator (Jill Ellern)

2) There is a limited number of systems in the library.

There are 2 Oculus Rift stations and 2 HTC Vive stations. There is also a PlayStation VR system. There are also two Oculus Rift headsets, 2 Ricoh Theta 360 cameras and a GoPro available for 7-day checkout.

Points to keep in mind about this limitation:

  • Not all software runs on both systems. This can further limit the number of stations available for an activity.
  • Only one student can wear the system at a time. Large screen monitors allow others in the room to see what the headset wearer “sees,” but it is not the same experience as having the headset on.
  • Anyone can book time in the VR room. Class assignments do have priority over other activities in scheduling, but your students will compete for time with other VR room scheduling requests. The room is available to reserve anytime the library is open.
  • Consider using Google Cardboard as an option. While not as robust an option for a VR experience, it is a viable option for getting a 3D view. The equipment affordable for every student (under $20) and most students have a smartphone that is used to run the system.  360 videos and still images are openly available on the web or you can create these yourself using the library’s cameras, or your/your students’ smartphones. We currently have 7 available for checkout at the Circulation Desk.

Other ideas that might help with this limitation:

  • Reserve Time: It is possible to reserve time at particular stations for a class and then “sublet” these times to a specific class roster. Talk to your library liaison or the VR coordinator (Jill Ellern) about how this works and about setting up this option for your class lab.
  • Limitations: There are limitations to the amount of people that can be in the VR room at any one time. Consider creating small groups as viewing teams for VR assignments.
  • Max Number: It is recommended that no more than 2-5 per station and no more than 15 students total in the VR room at one time.
  • Groups: Students can then help each other with this technology as a group activity.
  • Departmental Lab Assistant: A student assistant from your department can be useful for a large enrollment course with a VR assignment.
Contact VR coordinator (Jill Ellern)

3) A small percentage of the population will have issues viewing/using this technology.

Some people will get dizzy, nauseated, or claustrophobic using this equipment.  Consider having an alternative assignment for these students.

 

4) There is a learning curve for VR equipment.

While the library can provide some one-on-one or class training sessions, the room itself is not staffed. Most students will need help the first time they use the equipment.  You will need to plan an introductory session or consider working with your department to provide a lab assistant to help.

 

5) The library is piloting a purchasing process for VR software.  

Currently, the only titles available in the room are those free items that came with the technology.  We are working on the process of faculty requests for specific VR titles. If you are interested in exploring additional software that will support your teaching and learning, Jill Ellern, VR Coordinator or your library liaison.

If you would like to learn more about the VR Room at Hunter Library, contact Jill Ellern, VR Coordinator. Students, faculty, and staff may reserve a VR station online.

Click to schedule time on a VR system

Panopto 7 Release Notes

by | Jun 17, 2019 | Blog, Panopto

  • New mobile and embedded video player — A rich video consumption experience on mobile devices and embedded videos, enabling users to access the table of contents, search within videos as well as rate them on their mobile devices and embedded videos in a webpage. They can also take notes and post discussions from within the embed player on the web and mobile. The new experience is available to everyone by default.
  • Improved session chooser and playlist creation workflows — Users will be able to search in the embedded video/playlist chooser when embedding videos in external systems, building featured videos for the homepage, or building playlists as well as adding playlists to departmental homepages. In the embedding workflow, users will be able to search for videos that they have creator access to and public videos.
  • Analytics improvements — The improved visualizations introduced in Panopto 6 are now also available to creators. This means content creators can see analytics for all of their videos across the site or for a particular folder (incl. sub-folders) or video. Additionally, there are a couple of new data insights available:

    • Completion percentage: Creators can see the completion percentage for each user who has viewed their video. Admins can see this for all users and videos.

    • Creators can see per-user stats, answering “which of my videos has this user watched?”.

Behavior changes and new features

Settings updates

The following settings have changed in this release:

  • Embedded Viewer in Android and iOS mobile applications: Both the Android and iOS app will use the embedded viewer for playback, by default.

  • Make Groups Private By Default: Added a new site setting which controls the ability for authenticated users to find and use ‘User Groups’. By default, user groups are visible to authenticated users and it can be changed in the User Group settings modal.

User experience

  • Fill in the Blanks — Added a new question type in quizzes, allowing users to add fill in the blanks or short answer questions.

  • Download notes — Users can download their notes or notes from any public channel for a particular video.

  • Download discussion transcript — Admins and video creators will be able to download a transcript of the discussion. Moderators will have access to live stats via a link from the viewer.

  • The login user experience has been updated to match the visual elements of the rest of the Panopto web experience.

  • The “All Folders” view has been retired.

  • Added a “Publish” button in the video list. This option shows up for any videos that are currently unavailable, and clicking the button makes the video available in the folder immediately to users who already have permissions to the video.

Editor

  • “In the editor, there is a terminology change, where “Apply” replaces the verb “Publish”. This is meant to reduce user confusion as “publish” gave the impression that the visibility or permissions on the video might change.

    • “Apply” makes it clear that the users are applying their edits and changes to the video.

  • Improved content creation workflows — In the editor, the cut and pointer tool has been merged, giving users a simpler experience where they can precisely apply and test cuts to videos or streams.

Analytics

  • Added a per-user summary for quiz results for videos with multiple quizzes.

  • Added ability to cancel creation of pending usage reports. The report can be canceled from the Reports UI under System menu.

Search

  • Smart search will be expanded to additional languages: Swedish, Danish, Hungarian, Norwegian.

Recorders

  • Panopto for Mac — Users will be able to capture computer audio on a Mac as part of their recording (beta).

Bug fixes and minor changes

Embed Viewer

  • Fixed an issue where a video didn’t play correctly when embedded in Moodle.

  • Fixed an issue where the video started in an incorrect position in the embedded player.

Interactive Viewer

  • Fixed an issue where clicking on player controls incorrectly exits full-screen mode.

Core Services

  • Enhanced the performance of the Everything page in the Web UI.

Captioning

  • Fixed an issue where transcription requests to 3Play timed out in rare occasions.

  • Updated the name of transcription providers appearing in Panopto UI for more clarification. None of service condition have changed.

  • Added a warning message if caption data is uploaded to a video session where primary video stream does not exist.

  • Fixed an issue where error state of transcription request did not disappear even when the retry succeeded and transcription data became available.

Analytics

  • Made performance improvements to analytics dashboards.

  • Made performance improvements to UsageReporting APIs.

Remote Recorders

  • Updated alert in Panopto for Mac to correctly display in cases where reconnecting a monitor during a PowerPoint presentation capture lead to silent recording failure interruption.

  • Fixed an issue that recording may not start when a certain camera is used as the secondary video.

  • Fixed an issue where Panopto for Mac cannot handle the upload correctly if the length of session name exceeds 255 characters.

 

Sharing a folder or video in Panopto

by | Apr 11, 2019 | Panopto

Find the folder you would like to share and hover over it, then click the option that says Share.
Now you will see the share dialogue. If this is a sub-folder, you will see “Inherit permissions from parent folder: Parent Folder Name”. If this is a top level folder, you will see “Specific people”.
If you click the drop-down below “Who has access” you will see a variety of options to choose from. Click the one that corresponds to who you’d like to share with:
  • Inherit permissions from parent folder: Parent Folder Name. This will inherit whatever permissions are set on the parent folder.
  • Specific people: This option allows you to share the folder with specific people as publishers, creators, or viewers.
  • Anyone at your organization with the link: Choosing this option will enable viewing access for anyone who can log into your Panopto site. This will unlist the session from all other videos on your site. Unlisted means that the session won’t be discovered by anyone browsing the site. It can only be accessed by having the direct link.
  • Anyone at your organization: This option will enable viewing access for anyone who can log into your Panopto site.
  • Anyone with the link: Choosing this option will enable viewing access for anyone on the Internet, no sign-in is required. This will unlist the session from all other videos on your site. Unlisted means that the session won’t be discovered by anyone browsing the site. It can only be accessed by having the direct link.
  • Public on the web: This option will allow anyone on the Internet to find and access. No sign-in required.

Watch

Enjoy the video for more info about settings

Semester Exam Strategies to Promote Academic Integrity

by | Mar 22, 2019 | Blog, Educational Development

Western Carolina University strives to achieve the highest standards of scholarship and integrity and endeavors continuously to improve the quality of its students’ education. Academic integrity is the moral code of academia that requires a commitment to and demonstration of honest behavior. Violations of academic integrity undermine the value of one’s education, interfere with the basic mission of education, and tarnish the reputation of the individual and the institution.

SOME SEMESTER EXAM STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

BEFORE EXAM/PREPARE

  • Add short answer/essay questions, which require instructor grading.
  • Administer different tests on the same content.
  • Administer tests in residential sections face-to-face, not through the LMS.
  • Be aware of and monitor “study sites” for your materials, exams, and assignments, and issue a takedown notice if /when you find these things online. Such sites include but are not limited to: CourseHero, Quizlet, Studylib, and StudySoup. Contact the Coulter Faculty Commons for a template of a takedown notice if you would like one.
  • Break exam into two parts – Part A:; Part B: with
    Part A: Multiple choice/Matching questions – Limit the time per question.
    Part B: Short answer/Essay questions –Allow more time, for reflection and composition.
  • Ensure that different versions of an exam do not use the same grading scheme. For example, if Form A’s key is A-B-B-A-C-D, Form B’s key should be different.
  • Focus exam questions on the application and analysis of information. Write exam questions that require students to connect facts and concepts, where answers cannot be found in the book, online, or from another student.
  • If a multiple-choice or short answer quiz is to be used, show only one question at a time.
  • Limit the time during which a student can complete an online assessment to something that is reasonable, yet prevents their looking up answers.
  • Make each question one that requires the understanding/application of an essential course concept. For example:

Requires no Understanding/Application

Requires Understanding/Application
Freud’s description of self includes which of the following:
A. Inner self, outer self, secret self
B. Id, ego, superego
C. Ego, alternate ego, secret ego		 If Johnny takes all the toys and refuses to share even one with Bobby, which of Freud’s descriptions of self is illustrated in Johnny at that moment ?
A. Ego    B. Id    C. Superego    D. Secret ego
  • Mandate a signed acknowledgement that students understand academic integrity and have not committed any infractions.
  • Modify test bank questions even slightly to lessen the ease of searching for the questions.
  • Present questions and multiple choice answers randomly.
  • Provide detailed instructions so that students understand expectations.
  • Scramble questions and vary exams between semesters and sections.
  • Treat every online or take-home exam as if it were an open-book test (because it really is).
  • Use the same format on the larger tests as on the smaller quizzes. Students who become familiar with one format are less likely to cheat.
  • Utilize test blueprinting (question sets) to produce fair exam question pools that test the same idea. These are mini-pools of questions within an assessment.
    • This reduces the likelihood that two students will get the same 50 questions.
    • The more questions per set, or the more question sets your create, the more one-of-a-kind each Coulter Faculty Commons 2018-2019 student’s assessment will be.
    • Randomize as much as possible to give each student a unique assessment.
    • Randomize the order of the possible responses for each question.
    • Randomize the order of the questions shown on the entire assessment.
    • Method I:
      • Take a look at the objectives you want to measure.
      • Put those objectives in a grid format as rows.
      • Add topics or subjects to the rows as needed.
      • List the levels of Bloom’s taxonomy in the grid as columns.
      • Disperse the number of questions for each objective at each level of thetaxonomy.
      • You are now ready to write the questions for each topic at each level ofknowledge.
    • Method II:
      In an assessment in which you want the students to answer 50 questions:

      • Build five (5) questions sets of 20 questions each.
      • Have only 10 questions from each set randomly displayed to the student.

 

DURING EXAM/DELIVER

  • Require that students place phones face down on tops of desks so that it’s clear if a student picks uphis/her phone and looks at it during an assessment.
  • Walk around–a lot! Proximity is an easy way to discourage cheating during exams. If you have TAs,each should walk around a “zone” of the lecture hall to monitor the students in all areas of the classroom.

AFTER EXAM/TAKE STOCK

  • Check the “study sites” again for your materials, exams, and assignments, and issue a takedownnotice if find things online.
  • Check assessments for students that
    • Have the same score
    • Miss the same questions
    • Start and finish at the same time
  • If you suspect that cheating has occurred on an online exam, contact the Coulter Faculty Commons to request information. They can see all of the students’ activities in the learning management system. This information can be used to verify what may have occurred during the exam.
  • Pursue disciplinary action. Completing the paperwork for violations lets students know that they cannot violate academic integrity standards with impunity. Also, it establishes a central record, so that students are discouraged from repeating the same behavior in multiple classes during their academic career.

BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER EXAMS

  • Contact the Coulter Faculty Commons with any questions.
  • Contribute to a climate of academic integrity.

REFERENCES

The office of Academic Engagement & IT Governance
The Coulter Faculty Commons staff
https://facdev.e-education.psu.edu/teach/preventingissues
McGill, S. (2008, July). Integrating Academic Integrity Education with the Business Law Course: Why and How? [Electronicversion]. Journal of Legal Studies Education, 25(2), 241-282 . doi:10.1207?s15327019EB1103_3
The WCU Academic Integrity task force

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Virtual Reality Room In Hunter Library

by | Feb 7, 2019 | Blog

Virtual Reality (VR) Room in the Library

As part of its Scholar Studio initiative, Hunter Library’s has created and now expanded the Virtual Reality (VR) Room offerings.  Its new location, HL 184, is located beside the library electronic classroom (HL 186) and was previously the Interlibrary Loan office.

The goal of the Hunter Library’s VR Room, like that in the Scholar Studio, is to bring patron-centered makerspace technology to faculty, staff and students.  The VR Room’s mission is to raise awareness of new and emerging virtual reality technologies in education.  This service is targeted towards members of the university community, primarily faculty and students.   Reservations for each station are required at https://wcu.libcal.com/reserve/VR.  Once the confirmation email is returned acknowledging your agreement on the terms and conditions, the controllers for the station can be checked out at the Circulation Desk.

The VR Room will have 5 stations.   Come explore the equipment and experience the state of the art virtual reality technology!   The room currently has two Oculus Rift stations and one PlayStation 4 VR station.  We will be adding two HTC Vive stations in the near future.  These devices come with a large amount of free software and plans are in the works for ordering more titles.  Your input is welcome as we explore this new educational technology for WCU.

The library also has two Oculus Rift headsets available for checkout for those with their own high-end computers.   Other VR equipment available from the library includes 2 Ricoh Theda 360 cameras, a GoPro Fusion Action camera (coming soon), and several Google Cardboard headsets that are available for a weekly checkout period from the circulation desk.