usability

From DSC:
After reading the following item from Jeremy Caplan’s most recent e-newsletter entitled, “Tiny Stuff I Love“…

Alfred = Saves me time on copying and pasting
If you copy and paste stuff frequently, get a clipboard manager. I use Alfred throughout every workday. It keeps the last 100+ things I’ve copied in a neat list so I can paste anything I’ve used recently into a browser, document, or wherever else.

This is super-handy when I’m copying and pasting things repeatedly from one place to another. Sometimes I’m moving a bunch of stuff from a document into an email. Or putting several links or notes into a Zoom chat window.

Lots of tools do something similar. I also like the Copied App, $8 on the Mac App store. It has a companion iPhone app.

…I instantly thought of how useful this type of tool would be for teachers, professors, and perhaps trainers as well — especially when grading!

From this page (emphasis DSC):

What Does a Clipboard Manager Do?
The default clipboard in Windows works well, but it’s quite basic. The biggest limitation is that it can only hold one item at a time. If you copy a piece of text, forget to use it, then copy an image later, the text will be gone. Another hassle is that you can’t view what you’ve copied without pasting it.

For anyone who copies and pastes all the time, these are big problems. Thankfully, this is where clipboard managers come in. They greatly expand the functionality of your clipboard by remembering dozens of entries, allowing you to pin frequently used snippets for easy access, and much more.

Readers of this blog might also be interested in some of the other tools that Jeremy mentions, including:

Toby = Save and share my browser tabs

From DSC:
If you are teaching from home and you have two displays (which is highly recommended)…

The link to the PDF file (below) presents a printable graphic that relays a great way to organize your applications as well as the panels within Cisco Webex. The printable graphic also relays two quick, easy, and effective methods of switching between applications.

Setting up your apps with two displays (printable graphic in this PDF file).

Accessibility-related features from Apple

On 04/26/2020, in A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, adult learning, Apple, assistive technologies, colleges, community colleges, digital audio, education, education technology, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interactivity, interface design, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, multimedia, neurodivergent/special needs, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, psychology, remote teaching and learning, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technology (general), tools, United States, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, youth, by Daniel Christian

Accessibility-related features from Apple

10 ways COVID-19 could change office design — from weforum.org by Harry Kretchmer

“Think road markings, but for offices. From squash-court-style lines in lobbies to standing spots in lifts, and from circles around desks to lanes in corridors, the floors and walls of our offices are likely to be covered in visual instructions.”

From DSC:
After reading the above article and quote, I wondered..rather than marking up the floors and walls of spaces, perhaps Augmented Reality (AR) will provide such visual instructions for navigating office spaces in the future. Then I wondered about other such spaces as:

Learning spaces
Gyms
Retail outlets
Grocery stores
Restaurants
Small businesses
Other common/public spaces

Virtual classroom engagement tactics for COVID-19 pandemic — from learningsolutionsmag.com by Bill Brandon

Excerpts:

In the two previous articles in this series (see “ICYMI” at the end of this article), I listed 10 resources for virtual classroom design and delivery, published in the past in Learning Solutions. In this article, I wrap up the series with an additional five that are more tactical in nature.
…
Tips for great delivery in the virtual classroom
Five Essential Skills for Virtual Classroom Facilitators: Cindy Huggett discusses “five key competencies” for virtual classroom delivery that she has identified in her research and through experience. Mastering these skills is essential to facilitating live virtual classroom sessions that are engaging, polished, and professional. Karen Hyder gives tips for “owning your message” through practice and preparation that will ensure authentic delivery.

Great example of the use of teams at Virginia Tech!

On 04/17/2020, in art, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, content development, aggregation, repositories, creativity, data related items, design, graphics, higher education, innovation, library / librarians, teaching & learning, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), using teams, by Daniel Christian

Making complex data approachable through art and information design — from vtnews.vt.edu

Excerpt:

Michael Stamper, University Libraries at Virginia Tech’s data visualization designer, plays a unique role in the research process by transforming faculty and student clients’ complex research data into vibrant, interactive, and dynamic visualizations to better communicate their findings to a broad audience.

Q: What are some ways/methods that students can use to scan in – and then submit – their essays into Canvas? [Christian]

On 04/07/2020, in adjunct faculty, Adobe, Apple, assessment, Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education technology, faculty, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, instructional design, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, legal technologies, Microsoft, mobile learning, mobile technologies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, remote teaching and learning, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, tools, universities, usability, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Q: For those who prefer or need to handwrite their essays, what are some ways/methods that students can use to scan in — and then submit — their essays into Canvas?

A: Below are a few different options, potential solutions, and resources:

See The Best Mobile Scanning Apps (updated March 19, 2020).

Students can also scan in their essays via most combination printers/scanners these days. Then they can insert those scans into a Word doc and submit it.
A Google search presents many different ways to scan in items into a Word document. That Word doc can then be submitted or saved as a PDF file (and then be submitted as as PDF file).
Also see How to create a PDF of handwritten assignments — from Canvas @ Yale. Yale recommended the following apps:

Also see:

The new Office app now generally available for Android and iOS — from microsoft.com by the Microsoft 365 team
Excerpt:
Integrating our Lens technology to unlock the power of the camera with capabilities like converting images into editable Word and Excel documents, scanning PDFs, and capturing whiteboards with automatic digital enhancements to make the content easier to read.

Achieving a quick “Pair & Share” method of teaching using the Cisco Webex Meeting Center [Christian]

On 04/07/2020, in active learning, adjunct faculty, adult learning, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, colleges, communications, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education technology, engagement / engaging students, faculty, ideas, innovation, instructional design, interactivity, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, online learning, participation, pedagogy, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, social learning / networks, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, telecommunications, tools, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual K-12 schools, webinars, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
The “Pair & Share” method allows students to find a fellow student to talk about the question/topic at hand. Then, depending upon time and your learning objectives/lesson plans, some students can report back to the larger classroom about what they discussed. In the digital, synchronous realm, one can achieve this with private chat rooms — given that you’ve changed a setting to allow this to occur. Posting the pairings ahead of time should help establish a quick, smooth transition.

(The graphic below is for the Cisco Webex Meeting Center on a MacBook Pro).

The shift to remote learning: The human element — from insidehighered.com by Doug Lederman & Company

The current response is triage. We are adapting to maintain as much of the familiar learning and community engagement as we can in the short term. Yes, we should adopt the technologies and strategies that support effective online learning. To that end, we will benefit from the excellent prior work of online education researchers. Right now, we need the simplest and most effective methods for our students to achieve the resolution they desire, as we seek to sustain the community and connections we have formed in residence.

It’s one thing to do this online when you are already starting from that premise — where your community has self-selected for that environment. It’s quite another when your community hasn’t.

Kristen Eshleman

Making change in higher ed is typically a daunting prospect because of these silos, but they have been broken down now in ways that I hope will be long lasting and will lead to effective responses, programs, policies and networks in the future.

Joshua R. Eyler

It will be interesting to see if this embrace of flexibility sparks a broader shift in higher education. For too long we have mistaken rigor for academic integrity when in fact, from a definitional standpoint, rigor simply means rigidity, severity and harshness — the exact opposite of the flexibility we so need during this crisis.

Penelope Adams Moon

Why combine law with design? [Hagan]

On 04/02/2020, in Access to Justice (A2J), design, entrepreneurship, experimentation, innovation, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Law by Design — a book by Margaret Hagan

Excerpt:

Why combine law with design? Even if these two fields have traditionally not intersected, I see three main points of value in bringing them together.

Experimental Culture: To be more forward-thinking in how we as legal professionals generate solutions for problems in the legal sector;
User Centered Innovation: To put greater focus on the client and the lay person who has to use legal systems, to deliver them better services tailored their function and their experiential needs;
New Paths for Legal Work & Serving Justice: To build a new set of professional paths and opportunities for people who want to work in law — and especially those who see that traditional ways of being law students and lawyers do not enable them to make the positive changes in society that originally drove them into law.

Also see:

XRHealth launches first virtual reality telehealth clinic [Draper]

On 02/22/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, health, platforms, society, tools, United States, usability, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, wearables, web-based collaboration, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

XRHealth launches first virtual reality telehealth clinic — from wearable-technologies.com by Sam Draper

Excerpt:

XRHealth (formerly VRHealth), a leading provider of extended reality and therapeutic applications, announced the first virtual reality (VR) telehealth clinic that will provide VR therapy to patients. VR telehealth clinicians providing care are currently certified in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Washington D.C., Delaware, California, New York, and North Carolina and will be expanding their presence in additional states in the coming months. The XRHealth telehealth services are covered by Medicare and most major insurance providers.

Concept3D introduces wheelchair wayfinding feature to support campus accessibility — from concept3d.echoscomm.com with thanks to Delaney Lanker for this resource
System makes wheelchair friendly campus routes easy to find and follow

Excerpt:

Concept3D, a leader in creating immersive online experiences with 3D modeling, interactive maps and virtual tour software, today announced the launch of a new wheelchair wayfinding feature that adds a new level of accessibility to the company’s interactive map and tour platform.

With the new wheelchair accessible route functionality, Concept3D clients are able to offer a separate set of wayfinding routes specifically designed to identify the most efficient and easiest routes.

Concept3D’s wayfinding system uses a weighted algorithm to determine the most efficient route between start and end points, and the new system was enhanced to factor in routing variables like stairs, curb cuts, steep inclines, and other areas that may impact accessibility.

Also see:

Wayfinding :: Wheelchair Accessible Routes — from concept3d.com

Optimal Video Length for Student Engagement — from blog.edx.org by Candace Hazlett and Philip Guo

Excerpt:

In this first post, I’ll share some preliminary results about video usage, obtained from initial analyses of a few edX math and science courses. Unsurprisingly, students engaged more with shorter videos. Traditional in-person lectures usually last an hour, but students have much shorter attention spans when watching educational videos online. The graph below shows median engagement times versus video length, aggregated over several million video watching sessions:

From DSC:
If you have access to a tool like Canvas Studio, then you can probably extend the length of your videos if you are interspersing your videos with a healthy dose of interactivity — i.e., inserting quiz questions every few minutes.

DC: Precursor to a next gen learning platform…? Another piece is falling into place.

On 01/11/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communities of practice, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, education, education reform, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learner profiles, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, marketplaces, microlearning, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, simulations, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), using teams, vendors, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, web-based collaboration, webinars, youth, by Daniel Christian

DC: Precursor to a next gen learning platform…? I think it's one of the pieces of the puzzle that's coming together.

Google just revealed that 500M people around the world are using Google Assistant.https://t.co/6uHXUUIYVb #AI #global #NLP #InstructionalDesign #learning pic.twitter.com/hSp0sa79k3

— Daniel Christian (@dchristian5) January 11, 2020

XR for Teaching and Learning [educause]

On 12/17/2019, in 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), digital audio, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, faculty, ideas, immersion, innovation, interaction design, interactivity, interface design, IT in HE, law schools, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, Mixed Reality (MR), multimedia, participation, pedagogy, platforms, play, simulations, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, tools, usability, user experience (UX), Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

XR for Teaching and Learning — from educause

Key Findings

XR technologies are being used to achieve learning goals across domains.
Effective pedagogical uses of XR technologies fall into one of three large categories: (1) Supporting skills-based and competency-based teaching and learning, such as nursing education, where students gain practice by repeating tasks. (2) Expanding the range of activities with which a learner can gain hands-on experience—for example, by enabling the user to interact with electrons and electromagnetic fields. In this way, XR enables some subjects traditionally taught as abstract knowledge, using flat media such as illustrations or videos, to be taught as skills-based. (3) Experimenting by providing new functionality and enabling new forms of interaction. For example, by using simulations of materials or tools not easily available in the physical world, learners can explore the bounds of what is possible in both their discipline and with the XR technology itself.
Integration of XR into curricula faces two major challenges: time and skills.
The adoption of XR in teaching has two major requirements: the technology must fit into instructors’ existing practices, and the cost cannot be significantly higher than that of the alternatives already in use.
The effectiveness of XR technologies for achieving learning goals is influenced by several factors: fidelity, ease of use, novelty, time-on-task, and the spirit of experimentation.

Learning Ecosystems

Virtual classroom engagement tactics for COVID-19 pandemic [Brandon]

Why combine law with design? [Hagan]

XRHealth launches first virtual reality telehealth clinic [Draper]

System makes wheelchair friendly campus routes easy to find and follow [concept3d]

XR for Teaching and Learning [educause]

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