The following article is a guest post from Erin Lovell Ebanks. Erin is a communication instructor in Florida. She is the author of "Happy Professor" and writes about her positive teaching experiences at happyprofessor.com. 
 
Making my lecture videos available on YouTube was a big decision.

I had always understood what an effective tool this free technology could be for college instructors (if used correctly), but it’s hard to record yourself discussing ten or so different topics. It’s not necessarily that the task at hand is hard to accomplish, it’s that ‘putting yourself out there’ can be surprisingly scary, and it leaves you vulnerable to criticism.
 
I have some good news, though. After I made this seemingly big step, I realized there are a number of reasons why we might all have reservations about going down this road that aren’t really justified.
 
Here’s some advice I wish others had given me:

• Just do it.
  Your entire life doesn’t change just because you put a public video on YouTube. There might be some anxiety leading up to that moment, but each time you post a new video, it becomes easier and easier. You’ll start to wonder why you ever thought it was a big deal in the first place. I don’t mean to copy Nike or Shia LeBeouf when I say this, but honestly, just do it and don’t think too much about it. Just like ripping off a bandage.

• Even though you created these videos, it doesn’t mean you have to watch them.
  When I edit my YouTube lectures these days, I keep them on mute and avoid watching them too intently. Like many other people, watching and hearing yourself on video might feel strange, regardless of how skilled you might feel as a speaker. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share your knowledge and material publicly.

• Random people most likely will not watch your video.
  Unless you’ve directed someone to your videos with specific directions or the actual link, people probably won’t stumble upon them (which might be good or bad news, depending on what you’re looking to gain from this). All those fears people have of ‘putting themselves out there,’ only to be rejected, are unrealistic on a platform like YouTube. Most of my videos have been up for over a year now, and I’m pretty sure it’s just my students watching. I haven’t had any negative feedback (knock on wood). You can even block comments if you want to play it safe.

 
Once you’ve made the decision to record and load your lectures on YouTube, do it in the way that suits you best.
 
I used a free trial of Camtasia to develop a number of videos, but I found that I was putting too much preparation time into filming those (and I promise, they really don’t need to be perfect). I ended up finishing most of my recordings during summer classes, when students were calm, and I had extra time to consider how and when I might record myself (and do retakes if need be).
 
There always tends to be a few willing students who will do a great job of using a smartphone or tablet to capture the material covered in class. Once you have your videos recorded, it’s just a matter of being sure you have a professional YouTube channel and “Student" playlist you can direct your students to.
 
Now that you’ve overcome your own fears, and found the best ways to do the recording and uploading, let’s discuss the most important part: why this is beneficial for you and your students.
 
First of all, having my lecture videos available on YouTube has helped my students and me in more ways than I could have imagined. Here are just a few ways:
 
Benefits for the instructor

• If a student missed class, I don’t have to repeat myself.
• I can use these same videos for my online classes.
• Online schools, and even traditional universities, are impressed with instructors who maintain a professional online presence and go the extra mile to have lectures online (which can lead to more job opportunities).
• If I have to cancel class unexpectedly, or we simply run out of time, having students watch the lecture at home allows us to stay on schedule.
• Some colleges are flexible about allowing the occasional class period to be a ‘distance learning day,’ so my lesson plans for that day are already taken care of without additional work on my end.
• In helping to train new instructors, pointing them in the direction of my online videos makes my job easier.

 
Benefits for the students

• If a student misses class, they don’t fall behind.
• If portions of the in-class lecture were confusing to my students, especially my international students, they can watch them again online.
• Some students learn better at home on their own time, so by making my videos available, I can cater to different learning styles.
• Students can adjust the speed of the lecture, to slow it down or speed it up as needed.
• If students want an easier way to review notes before a quiz or exam, or an aid when studying their notes and textbook, re-watching lecture videos seems to agree with the millennial students.
• Students love the idea of watching YouTube videos, so if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

​I hope this piece has shed some light on the myriad ways that posting lectures on YouTube can be easy to mentally and physically overcome, and can also benefit you and your students. So now it’s time to take action. Be ahead of the curve, and speak to your young students in a way that suits their learning style. You’ll be doing everyone a favor, and your career will thank you!

Of all of the 21st century skills being actively promoted these days, perhaps none are both as important and difficult to develop as collaboration. It’s hard to imagine any career or scholarly study that doesn’t require, or at least, benefit from collaboration. Even a career like teaching, which is often viewed as a rather solitary endeavor, increasingly requires team-based planning, assessment, and coordination. Fortunately, considerable scholarship on teaching and learning explores strategies to encourage collaboration in our courses.
 
Recently, I read an article on Faculty Focus by Brigitte Vittrup on how to improve group work. In the article, she argues that typically college students resist group work primarily because of uneven contributions by group members (or, “social loafing”). Despite this resistance, research suggests a number of benefits for this kind of work. She concludes by encouraging faculty to explain the benefits for students to buy in to the process. While certainly important, I would add that there are certain elements we can consider in our planning that can maximize the benefits and help to minimize some legitimate student concerns.
 
How can we gauge and increase the level of collaboration in our courses?
As I’ve written previously, the 21st Century Learning Design framework from ITL Research offers great insight into effectively integrating 21st century skills in the classroom. The 21CLD framework not only offers six skills to consider (including collaboration), they also offer insight into different levels of their integration into learning activity design in the form of rubrics. When we look at the four levels of collaboration in the 21CLD rubric, we can gain some insight into how to increase the quality of collaboration in our courses.
 
Shared responsibility
To make sure that each member contributes to the group effort, faculty can ensure that group members have shared responsibility in their work together. This can often take the form of clearly defined roles in the group. These individual roles distribute the tasks and provide each member with a unique contribution with the larger group effort. For example, one student might have the task of summarizing multiple data sources, while another’s job might be to identify themes across sources. The group can then only be successful when each member contributes. These individual roles also enable the instructor to assess the work collectively and individually.
 
Make substantive decisions together
If we were to stop at ensuring that students have shared responsibility, we may have achieved cooperative learning. In this model students essentially divide the workload. To me at least, this is different than students working closely together in a collaborative way. To move to a more collaborative experience, we can amplify the group dynamic when we require group members to make substantive decisions together. Rather than providing all the parameters of a task or project for the students, we can leave some choices up to the group. These decisions can take the form of deciding on their own process, developing a group contract, or determining how they might present their work. Not only does this increase personalization and student engagement, it also requires the group to come together to create and execute a shared vision of the work. 
 
Student work is interdependent
Even with encouraging individual responsibility and making substantive decisions together, some students may still be less engaged than their peers. To minimize this “social loafing,” faculty can make sure that group members’ contributions are interdependent. This can be accomplished by ensuring that member roles each contribute a unique perspective or point of view on the project. For example, if a portion of the project would encourage them to explore multiple perspectives on an issue or to consider multiple possible solutions to a problem, the instructor could build in an experience where students review and comment on each other’s work to create a group consensus. Drawing on a design thinking experience I recently wrote about, group members could engage in a process of ranking and developing themes in their work. When students must thoughtfully bring their own ideas to the table and simultaneously draw on the work of their peers, their contributions become interdependent.
 
Parting thoughts
Not every group project or task would need to include all of these elements. Particularly with a short-term experience, it may not be practical to do so. What we can say, though, is that the more of these elements are present, the greater the level of collaboration is involved. If substantive collaboration is one of our key learning goals for an experience, it can be helpful to consider these different elements in the design.
 
In assessing collaborative work, I think it’s important to include some mix of group and individual metrics. I think it is important to have some portion of the grade be based on each individual’s contribution to the group. This increases personal responsibility and accountability that may also promote group cohesion. A wiki is a great tool for the instructor to track individual contributions to a group document (I describe this here). This can also be augmented by a brief questionnaire in which each group member anonymously rates the contributions of each member.
 
I’m also a believer, however, in assigning a portion of the grade to the cumulative efforts of the group. After all, the end product should provide at least some measure of how well the group worked together.  This provides a reward structure for those groups that make the effort and put the time in to generate work that is greater than the sum of its parts.
 
Collaborative work in the classroom is not easy. However, when we mindfully design the experience to require students to share responsibility, make substantive decisions together, and work interdependently, we can take comfort in the fact that we are engaging them in the kinds of work that allow them to contribute to their careers, community and world beyond the classroom.

How do you encourage and structure collaboration in your courses?
Please post your comments below.   

Recently, there has been a great deal of discussion about re-imagining the American high school. There is widespread agreement that the current model for secondary education does not serve students well in terms of engagement, authenticity, and preparation for college or careers. This growing focus was most recently in the spotlight with the White House Summit on Next Generation High Schools. It is quite a challenge, however, to navigate the myriad contextual, policy and political challenges in significantly shifting the focus of a century-old institution like high school. The documentary Most Likely to Succeed provides one vision for how we might reconceptualize schools to provide greater personalization of learning, problem- and project-based learning opportunities, and models for creative and innovative thinking. 

For several months, a group of us has engaged in this “grand challenge” with a local high school. Faculty members from William & Mary and administrators, faculty and staff from the local school and division have been working together to form a clear vision and pathway to making this shift. We had a number of productive meetings to discuss the issues, but we realized that we needed a process to help move from conversation to action. With this in mind, we recently took part in a design thinking boot camp under the leadership of William & Mary Mason School of Business professor Graham Henshaw in the Jim and Bobbie Ukrop Innovation and Design Studio. In the past, I interviewed Michael Luchs from the business school on design thinking. I thought that describing the boot camp process might provide an interesting view of this process in action as a strategy to help a diverse group solve a complex and ill-defined problem. 
 
The process described below uses Luch’s model of design thinking. There are many other approaches as well. The d.school at Stanford, IDEO and the Nueva School all offer models that share some steps but approach the process differently. I’d encourage you to compare and contrast the different models.
 
The Boot camp
Design thinking is a process that can be used in a variety of ways, from short-duration problem solving sessions to long-term, multi-phase projects. The example I describe here was a “boot camp” or intensive approach designed to both build familiarity with design thinking and to begin the process for developing a vision for a new kind of high school. The boot camp included approximately 30 participants (high school and college faculty, administrators, counselors, and a school board member) and lasted about five hours. We began with a fun challenge designed to illustrate all the steps of the design thinking process and also served to help the participants get to know each other and get the creative juices flowing. Then, we shifted to the primary focus of developing a vision for high school.
 
Discover
One of the key tenets of design thinking is to develop empathy for the stakeholders of the challenge, problem or opportunity you hope to address. We began this process of discovery by conducting focus group interviews with our primary stakeholders - current high school students. We conducted these interviews and summarized the themes as a way to understand the perspective of high school students. This was just the beginning of this phase, however, as we will systematically widen the circle of stakeholders in search of feedback and ideas as the process unfolds.
 
Define
Informed with the students’ perspectives, we next shifted to defining the problem. We wanted to frame the problem around the needs of our stakeholders and also to identify why the problem was important. The key at this step is to be as specific and concrete as possible. Through an iterative process of working individually, then in small groups, we honed in on a problem statement that would frame our work for the remainder of the boot camp. In this case, we identified the problem in this way: "How might we create opportunities for students to solve real problems, engage with knowledge that matters in the world, and learn from each other and people in their community?"
 
Create
In the Create phase, our goal was to generate as many possible solutions to the problem as possible. The goal was for volume rather than focusing on the most practical or realistic approaches. In our small groups, we each announced ideas one at a time and posted them on a large group white board with sticky notes. In some cases the ideas were framed as single words, phrases, or even pictures/diagrams. After a period of time, we looked for themes, patterns and connections among the ideas, rearranging the sticky notes as needed. We jotted notes on the white board to make the connections or relationships between ideas clear. At the end of this process, each group voted on the most promising potential solution. The groups then shared these ideas and began to discuss common themes among the approaches.
 
At this point, we concluded the boot camp, but the design thinking work will continue. We are currently involved in the development of one or more prototype designs grounded in the solutions we identified in the boot camp. These are not meant to be fully fleshed-out concepts, but rather just enough of a vision to elicit feedback from the stakeholders. We will then circle back to the Discover phase with different stakeholders to get feedback on these prototypes. This may cause us to revisit and revise the problem statement as we better understand the challenge. We will engage in multiple rounds of this process until we have a well-developed prototype. At that point, we will shift to the final phase.

Evaluate
In this phase, we will develop a more formal, multi-faceted vision and plan for redesigning the high school experience. Again, we will elicit feedback from a range of stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, community members, etc.). We will identify strengths of the approach, possible challenges, questions and suggestions. Drawing on the iterative process of design thinking, we will then go back through the stages as necessary to fully develop our vision and plan. We anticipate this process taking several months. While time consuming, we’re confident that this approach is critical for devising a robust solution to a wicked problem.
 
Parting Thoughts
We left the design thinking boot camp very different than we began. We came together as diverse individuals with different concerns, ideas, and constraints. We left energized, excited, and more cohesive as a group. While engaging in the design thinking process takes time and can feel a bit like “two steps forward, one step back,” I would argue that this kind of problem-solving experience is productive and encourages innovative approaches. Now, I just need to figure out how to embed this kind of experience in the courses I teach.
 
How might (or do) you use design thinking in your teaching?
Please post your comments below.   

Last week, I launched a three-week, asynchronous online module in my educational technology course for our teacher education program. In this course, I use a number of blended learning activities, and even occasional online class sessions. This module, however, was different for a couple of reasons. First, it was a three-week experience during which I would only communicate with my students through the learning management system (BlackBoard in this case). Second, it was a major course component, so there is a lot at stake.
 
The three-week module walks students through a technology integration planning process, leading to a complete draft of the major project in the class – a technology-enhanced instructional plan. We’ve had in-class experience building towards instructional planning, but this is a module that contains all the content and scaffolds that will help the students through the process. This was an alpha effort (i.e., not even a beta test) for a project that I’m working on with my colleague, Judi Harris. We’re planning a more sophisticated version to release as an open educational resource (OER) that any teacher preparation program would be free to use and customize for use in their courses. It’s been an interesting experience, to say the least.
 
Why move this content online?
We didn’t take on this project just for the sake of putting content online. I had found in teaching this class over the years that the in-class version of the project didn’t work as well as I’d like. Students moved at dramatically different paces, they didn’t have easy access to their field supervisors for formative feedback, and they didn’t have time to let their ideas percolate. In other words, it felt constrained by the face-to-face, time-bound nature of a course.
 
The online version of the course affords students to ability to work at their own pace, consult not only their field supervisor but also their other professors, students from other sections of the course, and sometimes even their former teachers as they go through the planning process. This experience is also more authentic, given that this is how most teachers plan in practice. It was for these reasons that we decided to design a fully online experience. Along the way, I’ve learned three lessons about creating a robust, rigorous online learning experience for my students.

1. Designing a self-sufficient learning experience is hard
   This may be obvious to you wise readers, but I really underestimated the time and effort it would take to create a multi-stage learning process that my students could work through without me. It surprised me how often I would clarify a question in class, provide an additional example, or adjust something for greater clarity. In a sense, my class session plans could be outlines that I fill in during the session itself. When you’re designing a self-paced asynchronous course, you have to anticipate challenges and build all the supports from the outset. Everything – examples, alternatives, help sheets, and resources all have to be baked in. I’m sure I’ve left some things out (which I’ll discover on the module evaluation form), but I certainly spent hours trying to be as prepared as I could.
2. It’s challenging to make online content interesting
   As Judi and I brainstormed and storyboarded the modules, we tried hard to mix up the content and provide as much interaction and variety as we could. Unfortunately, with our learning management system we were a little limited in what we could do. We essentially relied on a few short videos and screencast recordings of slide presentations in terms of presenting information. We built in a number of opportunities for students to analyze materials supported by graphic organizers and thinking tools that students would work with during the course. I feel fairly certain that the materials we provided are substantive, complete, and rigorous enough to help students design a good project. What I’m less sure about, though, is the degree to which students will find them interesting and appealing for different learning styles and preferences. We build the modules with UDL principles firmly in mind, but it was much more challenging than I’d bargained for. 
3. It’s lonelier teaching online
   Recently, I wrote about building connections with students in our courses. This is much more challenging in an asynchronous online environment, and I’m certain that I could have built more personality into the modules. This module spans two sections of the course, only one of which I teach. I’ve found that it’s more challenging to interact with and build any sort of rapport with the students from the other section of the course. And because I don’t feel particularly connected with these students, it’s a far lonelier process for me.

My impressions so far
The students are now a little more than halfway through the modules at this point. While I don’t know for sure, the students seem to be moving through pretty well. They seem to be “getting” the material in a more complete way than in the face-to-face version I’ve used in the past. I know for sure that the quality of the discussion in the online forums is more substantive and inclusive than what I was able to generate in class. Of course, we’ll have to see how the final projects turn out, but I think they’ll create high quality work. With that said, I’m seeing (and documenting) several lessons that I’ll discuss with Judi as we revise the content for the beta test in the spring.
 
If you’re considering taking on a similar project and are up for a challenge, I’d encourage you to take the plunge. It’s a stimulating creative challenge to design an engaging and intellectually challenging online learning experience. Select a relatively focused concept or skill that you’re very comfortable with and that won’t be too overwhelming for your students. Be sure to partner or consult with colleagues who have some experience in this kind of work. Ask a more advanced student in your program to work through a prototype of the module and provide feedback, and be sure to take notes on what you learn. As I’ve written recently, it can be really energizing to take a risk in your teaching. Creating online learning modules may be an interesting challenge for you.
 
What have you learned teaching online?
Please post your comments below.  

Two times in the last week or so, I offhandedly mentioned a technology tool that I really like to use (and take for granted) that was completely new to my colleagues. We all have our own favorite tools that help us to be efficient, effective and productive, but we don’t always have the opportunity to learn from each other.
 
So, with that inspiration, I thought I’d share a few of the technology tools that I use on at least a weekly basis that really make a difference for me. I hope that one or more of these will be useful for you, too. In the comments, please share your own tools that you find especially helpful.
 
Best To Do List App
Todoist is the best task management/to do list application that I’ve ever used (and I’ve tried almost all of them). Todoist can be used through the Web browser, with Windows and Mac desktop apps or through a smartphone app for just about every mobile operating system. They have even recently introduced an Apple Watch app as well. The best thing is that all of these different apps stay in sync. All the time. This is big for me, and it’s a problem I’ve had with many of the other options available. Once you’re in the app, you can set up different projects with lists and sub-lists of different tasks. For each task, you can set starting and end dates, add tags, comments, and with the Pro version ($29/year), you can even attach files to each task. You can use Todoist completely on your own, or you can add collaborators for different projects and categories. It has all the features you want and a really clean, simple user interface.
 
Honorable mention: Wunderlist

Best Twitter Client
I’m still relatively new to using Twitter (@markhofer). I'm nowhere near a power user, but am starting to figure out that at least some features are important. You can use the Twitter website through your browser, but there are a number of dedicated apps that provide more functionality. After trying a few, I’ve found that I really enjoy Tweetdeck on the Mac. You can do all the basics in the app (reviewing your feed, searching for hashtags, replies, etc.) and a whole lot more. You can create as many columns in the app window as you want for a variety of purposes. You can create a column with a hashtag search, a list of users around a certain topic, notifications, and messages. This column-based approach makes it much easier to monitor all the activity that matters to you. It also allows you to schedule posts on a specific day and time. I’m sure there’s a lot more you can do with Tweetdeck. All I know is that it does everything I need without much fuss.
 
Favorite IOS app: Tweetbot

Favorite Note-Taking App
There are a number of really good note-taking apps available as desktop and browser-based apps. The two “big dogs” are Evernote and OneNote. I like both, and use both tools for different purposes. Both have great features that allow you to capture notes, insert images and other files, search, and tag items in a variety of ways. Both have good browser plug-ins and smartphone integration to easily save content from websites into your notebook. If I had to choose one, though, I’d choose OneNote. The primary reason is the “inking” capability I have with my Microsoft Surface Pro 3. It has a great stylus and the OneNote app allows me to take handwritten notes. Amazingly, OneNote can even search the handwritten content along with typed text. You can’t go wrong with either of these apps. Whichever you choose, be sure to also get the smartphone app so that you have all your notes with you all the time.

Favorite Cloud Storage App
I’ve used a number of different cloud storage and syncing services. I was a really early user of Dropbox several years ago. I’ve also used OneDrive (formerly known as SkyDrive) for quite a while. They each have Web and smartphone interfaces, but the best part is the ability to sync the files to your desktop computer. You can actually sync files to all the computers that you have. This is a lifesaver both in terms of backup and just having access to your stuff wherever you are. Both of these services are great, but on and off I’ve had some issues with syncing. If there is some kind of syncing error and you don’t notice the very subtle notification, you won’t realize that your files aren’t syncing. This means that you may not always have the most recent version of a file on a given computer. Enter Box. This service wasn’t even on my radar until our university began to provide free accounts. What I’ve found, though, is that the sync is rock solid. I’ve never had an issue in several months. It also has great features for sharing files and folders with collaborators.

Favorite Screencasting App
Screencasting applications allow you to record your screen, microphone and other content to create videos. These videos can be used for online and hybrid classes as well as creating content for flipped classrooms . I’ve been doing a number of these recordings lately and have really enjoyed using Screenflow for the Mac. It is intuitive, feature-packed, and really easy to edit the content you create. It has a number of export and captioning options to create accessible content for a variety of purposes. The only downside that I’m aware of is that it is Mac-only.
 
Windows option: Camtasia
 
What technology tools do you rely on?
Please post your comments below.