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by Bart Everson

Balance

As you may have noted, CAT+FD's got a new expanded mission that says we'll support faculty work/life balance.

Thus it was with great interest that I attended a panel discussion on just this topic at "Meaningful Living and Learning in a Digital World." I listened attentively as panelists critiqued the current academic culture, which has become a culture of looking busy-busy-busy, of appearing to be more harried than one really is. Often faculty really are busy, it was pointed out, but even during the rare moment of leisure, it is of crucial importance to continue to look and act busy — lest anyone think we aren't pulling our weight.

The deleterious effects of this culture were detailed at some length. It creates an atmosphere of constant stress, distrust, and fear. It is not conducive to thinking deeply, teaching, or transformational learning.

"It's the single most crucial issue facing the academy," one panelist said.

A culture shift is needed, the panelists agreed, and I found myself nodding along with them. But what came next was a shocker.

The culture shift may need to start with staff, including administrators, who have less flexibility than faculty.

Woah! That got my attention. Even though I work closely with faculty from every discipline, even though I identify with faculty on many levels, I'm on staff. What can I do, despite my limited flexibility, to facilitate this needed culture shift?

As it turns out, actually, I am well-positioned to make at least a few modest efforts. After all, I actually work in a unit that includes work/life balance in its mission. For some while now, I've been working to help develop and cultivate personal practices that aim to foster a more contemplative mode of living. See, for example, our Contemplation & Conversation series.

I've got something else up my sleeve as well. I've noted that faculty frequently express a desire for more guidance with time management. Frankly, we could all use some tips and techniques for making the most of our time. So, over the course of this semester, I've been implementing various time management practices in my own life, as a form of experiential research for a workshop on this topic. We plan to offer a workshop on my findings next semester. Stay tuned for details.

So that's what I have in mind. What about you?

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by Janice Florent

Computers can read text on a screen but images, graphs, and charts are meaningless to visually impaired users. Alternative text (alt text) is an alternate method for supplying information about images, graphs, and charts to users who are visually impaired.

Adding alt text to images, graphs, and charts is an important part of making them accessible. Most images, graphs, and charts can be made accessible using alt text descriptions. However, complex images, graphs, and charts require more detailed description than the limited one or two brief sentences that are used in the alt text.

complex scientific images

Examples of complex scientific images

What should you do when you have a complex image, graph, or chart whose meaning cannot be conveyed with alt text alone? There are several ways to handle complex images where a short description is not possible. The best solution is to include a thorough description of the complex image in the content of the page, immediately before or after the image. If you don’t want to add more content to your page, another preferred alternative is to create another web page with the thorough description of the complex image and link to it near the image.

You may be wondering what exactly should you include in the thorough description. The Diagram Center (Digital Image And Graphic Resources for Accessible Materials) is an excellent resource that provides comprehensive guidelines to make it easier for you to make complex images accessible to all learners.

Here are a few additional resources to help you with describing complex images:

It is extremely important for students with disabilities to have access to accessible course content. Describing complex images utilizing these tips is good course design. Even though you may not have a student with a disability currently enrolled in your course, you will find students without disabilities will take advantage of accessible content as well.

Download Conversation #36

Debra Lohe

A conversation with Dr. Debra Lohe of Saint Louis University on teaching, learning, and coaching circles.

If it feels like jumping through hoops, it won't be as rich an experience as it really could be.

Links for this episode:

Debra Rudder Lohe is director of the Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at Saint Louis University. In this role, Debie sets vision and direction for the Center, oversees the creation of new programs and collaborations across the University, and manages the daily operations of the Center and its staff. Ultimately, she sees her role as helping educators move from intuition to intention in their teaching, advancing evidence-based teaching methods and interactive learning spaces, and promoting a culture of critical reflection in the university.

This summer I discovered an invaluable resource I never realized we had here at Xavier (I am embarrassed to say after 12 years here) and that is our research librarians.  I was writing a pedagogical paper which used very different search engines and resources than my normal scholarly publications in chemistry.  Quite frankly, I was at a loss as to where to start searching for background materials related to my paper.

On the library main page, you can select services and click 'request consultation' to get to the form.  (Or click here: http://www.xula.edu/library/forms/reference_consultation_form.php)

Johanna White contacted me and we had a great chat about what I was trying to do.  She walked me through a few resources and then decided to dig around on her own.  About a week later I got a great email from her with more suggestions on which journals to search and how to access them.

If you are considering writing and publishing  a pedagogical paper (which is, in fact valued by the university and the rank and tenure committee) but the educational and social sciences are outside of your field of research, I can HIGHLY recommend working with one our our research librarians.   Once you summarize your project on the form they will decide who would be the best fit for your project.  It is as easy as that!

Now, if only someone can help me with not using the passive voice...

Cheers, Stassi

by Bart Everson

I don't think I've mentioned it previously, but there's a new book out which has a couple Xavier connections.

The book is Please Forward: How Blogging Reconnected New Orleans After Katrina from UNO Press. It collects numerous writings that were shared online in the aftermath of the flooding of New Orleans, and the devastation of the Gulf Coast, from 2005 to 2007.

One contributor is a Xavier prof, the noted theologian and biblical scholar Michael Homan.

Please Forward

The other Xavier connection? Well, that would be yours truly.

We've got a copy of the book here at CAT+FD for your perusal, so stop in and take a look.

If you're interested in using the book in your teaching, read on...

We've been contacted by a handful of teachers and professors who have added Please Forward to their course syllabi. If you, or someone you know, might be interested in using the book in the classroom, teachers and professors can request a review copy by emailing unopress [at] uno [dot] edu and putting "Please Forward for Classrooms" in the subject line.

Footnoote: This is a topic of particular interest to me; see also my series on The Role of Blogs in the Rebuilding of New Orleans

by Karen Nichols

I attended a presentation on using social media to engage underrepresented students at the most recent Online Learning Consortium in Orlando.  Several apps were discussed and Twitcam was one of them.  I decided to investigate it for myself.  If you go to the twitcam website:  http://twitcam.livestream.com/ the directions say you can begin in three easy steps.  Well, that wasn't quite my experience, but it was still pretty easy just the same.

So, from the Twitcam homepage, I was told that Flash needed to be installed.

Then I was told to set up my webcam.  Fortunately, mine is built in.

Next I have to log into Twitter.  But wait, there is no sign of Twitcam inside my Twitter.  What they should say is to "scroll down to the bottom of the Twitcam page and click on Broadcast Live.  THEN you'll be taken to Twitter where you can log in and see Twitcam.

Once there, you must "allow" Twitcam to access your webcam and microphone and then it really is easy to follow their directions.  You will be tweeting live which could be a really wonderful learning experience for various concepts you're teaching.

When finished, click on stop recording and you'll be asked if you want to archive your video.  So not only could you reach students as you streamed your video live, you can provide the link to the video for anyone who missed it or who would like to replay it later.

So here's just a quick example of a twitcam video I made.  Because this is a free service, you'll have to view all or part of an ad before the video will play.  Since you can tweet as you're videotaping, you can add the text of what you're saying to make it accessible since I don't see any way to add captions, or add something else like an assignment.  You can provide a link to the archived video or embed it.

http://twitcam.com/giovj

I'm really interested to know if you think you may like to try something like this and create a video tweet spree for your students.  If you do, please share!

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by Janice Florent

mobile phone with the caption accessibility is not only for the impaired

Although there are legal mandates requiring institutions of higher education to make educational materials accessible (e.g., the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act), accessibility is fundamentally just good design. Content that is accessible is better organized and therefore more usable by all. Accessible content renders properly on a wide variety of devices, it is easier to navigate, and it conveys information in a consistent, logical manner. Moreover, changes in how we view the content are occurring. More and more content is being displayed on mobile devices. For content to appear properly on all devices, it must be well designed.

In my recent series of accessibility tips, I identified some things you can do now to design with accessibility in mind as you are creating content and setting up your courses. Designing with accessibility in mind will save you some time in the event you do have a student with a disability. Remember accessible content is not only for the impaired.

Just in case you missed my accessibility series of blog posts, I provided links to them here:

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by Janice Florent

headphones laying on a desk

“Podcasting” is a term inspired by the Apple Computer Corporation’s iPod—a portable digital audio player that allowed users to download music from their computer directly to the device for later listening. Podcasting has changed in that it no longer just refers to audio but can also be video content which can be listened to live or downloaded for later use.

A podcast is similar to a radio show in that each show consists of a series of individual episodes you can listen to on your computer or on a digital audio player like an iPod. What distinguishes a podcast from a traditional radio show is that you can listen to a podcast whenever and wherever you want to, and you can subscribe to a podcast series so when a new episode is available, it automatically downloads to your computer.

Podcasts have changed the way people share their knowledge with others. This revolution has touched education industry and a lot of educators are using podcasting for teaching and learning.

The Office of Instructional Consulting at Indiana University Bloomington suggested some pedagogical uses of educational podcasting, benefits of podcasting, and things to consider if you are planning to use podcasting in education. That information is as follows:

Pedagogical Uses of Educational Podcasting

  • Preview/review lectures or course content
  • Language learning
  • Student-created content/projects
  • Reverse lecture
  • Screen/software demonstration
  • Situated (contextual) learning opportunities
  • Guest presentations (via podcast)
  • Supplementary course materials
  • Lecture recording
  • Mini lessons with audio and visuals

Benefits of Educational Podcasting

  • Doesn't require lots of bandwidth (as opposed to streaming media)
  • Network connection not needed in order to play (only needed to download)
  • Allows for timeshifting (both instructor and students)
  • Source for multimodal learning
  • May allow for re-use of content over time

Things to Consider in Educational Podcasting

  • Privacy and intellectual property
  • Value of human interaction and student-teacher relationship cannot be ignored
  • Potential barriers for technology challenged students
  • Potential barriers for students with different learning styles
  • Consider type of podcast in regard to purpose, audience, and file size
  • The time it takes to produce podcast

For more information about educational podcasting you can read the Ed Tech Review article “How and Why Teachers should use Podcasts.” In it, Prasanna Bharti explains how to create a podcast, suggests tools for creating podcasts, and lists some education podcasts that have experts and thought leaders sharing insights on various fields of educational technology.

Additionally, it is best practice to include transcripts and closed captions with your audio and video content. Many people believe closed captioning and transcripts only benefits students who have a hearing impairment or have a language deficit. This could not be further from the truth. Closed captioning and transcripts can also help students with cognitive disabilities, as well as learners accessing podcasts in noise sensitive environments, learners accessing the internet with low bandwidth or with a limited data plan, and basically all learners. Presenting information in multiple ways can help address the diverse needs of learners in the classroom and engage students on multiple levels.

Attend the upcoming "Creating Accessible Course Materials: Transcripts and Closed Captions" workshop to find out how to make your podcasts accessible.

Photo credit: Music Appreciation 101 by Dustin Gaffke used under CC BY 2.0 / cropped from original

by Janice Florent

Video is one of the most powerful, motivating, and visual ways to learn. Videos can be used to promote critical thinking and active learning. The use of videos in education has become a lot more mainstream due to the accessibility and ease of use of equipment and software, but also due to the growing realization of the pedagogic benefits of video content.

In a recent Technology Enhanced Learning article, Phil Vincent suggested ten ways to use video in education. Those suggestions are:

  1. Record content for an online or ‘flipped’ course
  2. Record an interview
  3. Create a video introduction to a course or topic
  4. Create a screencast demonstrating a tool, technique, process, or software
  5. Record lectures/presentations for revision
  6. Capture a recording with a green screen or PowerPoint slides
  7. Create a microlecture
  8. Record assessment guidelines for students
  9. Review/present a journal article or text book
  10. Record module evaluation feedback

In Phil’s article “10 Ways to Use Video in Your Teaching” he provides examples of each of these. If you are interested in seeing examples of any of these refer to the article.

Additionally, it is best practice to include transcripts and closed captions with your videos. Many people believe closed captioning and transcripts only benefits students who have a hearing impairment or have a language deficit. This could not be further from the truth. Closed captioning and transcripts can also help students with cognitive disabilities, as well as learners accessing videos in noise sensitive environments, learners accessing the internet with low bandwidth or with a limited data plan, and basically all learners. Presenting information in multiple ways can help address the diverse needs of learners in the classroom and engage students on multiple levels.

Attend the upcoming "Creating Accessible Course Materials: Transcripts and Closed Captions" workshop to find out how to make your videos accessible.

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by Janice Florent

The sixth tip in my series of accessibility related blog posts will focus on tables. A table is a means of arranging information into rows and columns. Tables are very useful for displaying data in an organized manner. Your course schedule and office hours are examples where formatting this information in a table could make the it more accessible.

Tables should be avoided when you want to simply format other content (i.e., just to line things up neatly.) Using tables just for layout purposes is not the best practice for accessibility and may make it nearly impossible for people who use assistive technologies to access the information. If you do choose to use a table to layout text on the page, make sure you lay it out so it will make sense when read from left to right. Text-to-speech software by default will read the information in a table left to right, cell by cell, and row by row.

Follow these tips when creating tables to make them accessible:

  • Do not use tabs or spaces to create tables. It may look like a table; however it will not be recognized as a table and can be confusing when read by assistive technologies.
  • Add Row and Column Headers to tables to distinguish the heading text from the data area of the table. Screen readers read simple tables efficiently when the column or row headers are clearly defined.
  • Repeat Row Headers if the table spans more than one page. Tables that are contained on multiple pages should have the header row repeated on each page.
  • When you use tables for the presentation of data, summarize the table to aid reader comprehension. This helps all students to know the high points of a table.
  • Break up complex tables (nested tables and merged or split cells inside of tables) into a series of simple tables. Simple tables are more usable for everyone.
  • The information in each cell should make sense if read without the column heading. For example, instead of entering 1, 2, 3, in a "Chapter" column you should enter Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, in the cells to make it clearer when read by a screen reader.

Here’s an example of two accessible tables:

example of accessible tables

This video shows how a screen reader reads information in tables. There is an example of a good and a bad table layout. The video demonstrates how reading order AND the information in the columns are important considerations when creating accessible tables.

In the bad example in the video, the use of the dash and abbreviations for the months can be confusing when read by a screen reader. The abbreviated months would have been less confusing if the year had been included. The use of 1,2,3 in the "Week" column in the bad example can be confusing as well. A better option is to use Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 in the respective column.

When applying structure to documents and web content, you should use the appropriate built-in formatting structure tools to do so. Doing so will make content accessible to everyone, including users of assistive technology.

Creating tables in MS Word:

  1. On the Insert tab choose Insert Table and select the appropriate number of rows and columns for your table.
  2. Select the header row in the table and press the right mouse button. A Table Properties window will open.
  3. Select the Row tab and check the box next to Repeat as header row at the top of each page. Press Enter key or Ok button. This header row will be repeated at top of each page.

Creating tables in PowerPoint:

  1. Use the Insert Table function in the Slide layout select the appropriate number of rows and columns for your table.

Working with tables in the Content Editor:

  1. In the Content Editor, click the insert/edit table function (example of accessible tables) and select the appropriate number of rows and columns for your table to begin adding a table in the text area.

You will remove significant barriers for users of assistive technology if you take these suggestions into consideration when creating course content. An added bonus is that if you include properly structured tables when creating your course content you will be ahead of the game in the event you do have a student who requires the use of assistive technology. Remember a properly structured table is good design and can benefit everyone.

Additional information about tables can be found at:
WebAIM: Creating Accessible Tables
Create accessible tables in MS Word 2010 (PDF) (Video [05:31])
Working with tables in the Content Editor