Tag Archive for pencasts

New Opportunities for Growth

December 9, 2010 AMATYC, Bio, Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mobi, Pulse smartpen, Teaching, Teaching Online, Technology, Training 3 comments

I have not blogged much about my own teaching with technology in the past couple months.  Instead, I have tried to write about others who I admire and what they are doing to help move mathematics education into the 21st century……This is because I have been on medical leave for a broken foot.  I was successful for a short while teaching with the Mobi from a stationary spot in each classroom, but I was still having to walk to three different buildings and my foot was not healing.   My doctor advised me to go on medical leave and let it heal.   I have missed my students terribly, and am disappointed not to be able to try the new online projects I had planned for the semester.  It was hard not being able to do any training this past semester as well.    I have been given a doctor’s release to go back to teaching again in the spring, and I am excited to dig my heels back into teaching and learning with technology!

I do have other exciting news to share as well (besides getting to start teaching again in the spring):  AMATYC Project ACCCESS invited me to serve as a Consulting Colleague (mentor) for the 2011-12 Project ACCCESS Fellows!   They even sent me the contact information for the Fellow I will be directly advising on her project so I can get started today!  It will be amazing to be in a cohort of established teachers who will be mentoring, along with Fellows who are new teachers wanting to learn more about the scholarship of teaching at a 2 year college.   The Fellow I am mentoring is working on a project to include technology, like the Livescribe smartpen, into her Hybrid college courses to help her students.   I feel so honored to be chosen to assist in guiding her progress, and help her to evaluate her project.

To learn more about the AMATYC ACCCESS program, go to the link: AMATYC  Project ACCCESS .
to learn more about the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges, go to:  AMATYC

I can’t wait to get started and to share the experiences I have  in working as a Consulting Colleague in this amazing program!

 

My Customer-Story Video for Livescribe

November 17, 2010 Bio, Helping students, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mathcast, published articles, Teaching Online, Technology 2 comments

I was asked by Livescribe if I would give my testimonial as a college instructor using the Livescribe pen for my math classes.   I had so much fun making the video with the team!

Amazing how they can shrink 2 hours of  “discussion” (with many retakes I might add!) into a minute and a half of produced video!

They interviewed 7 people in different professions to show how each of us enhances our work with the help of our Livescribe smartpen.

To see all 7 videos, go to the Livescribe Home Page and click on my photo on the bottom of the page.  (OK, I share the photo with three other people, but I made the home page!)

I still own my original 1 GB Pulse and now the new Echo smartpen, and I am so thankful for having such great technology to teach with!  I am also finding great ways to use my smarpens in  everyday life, too!

Here is my Livescribe Story posted on YouTube:


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Getting Published!

November 4, 2010 Bio, CPS Clickers, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mobi, published articles, Pulse smartpen, Teaching Online, Technology Comments Off on Getting Published!

I wrote an article for Community College Week magazine about how I use technology to enhance teaching and learning both inside and outside of my classes.   I was excited to find out last week that they accepted my article and it was published recently!

To find the article online, you need to click on the Community College Week website, and then click on the green “Technology Update” image to download the PDF.   The article I wrote starts on page 13.

Community College Week’s website


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Livescribe pencasts on my iPad!

September 23, 2010 iPad, Livescribe, Livescribe, Mathcast, Pulse smartpen, Technology 2 comments

Livescribe recently announced a fantastic new player for their pencasts!   Since none of the Apple portable devices are allowed to run Flash, we haven’t been able to use our iPads, iPods and iPhones to view any of the Livescribe pencasts.    Well, that is not the case any longer!

Here is a link to Livescribe’s article announcing their player and how to get the free player on iTunes.

I downloaded it on my iPad to try it out.  It has a great interface and allows you to download any of the Livescribe pencasts you have made with a Pulse or Echo smartpen, and you can also download any other Livescribe pencasts that are contained on their community site.    Here is a screenshot of the opening menu on my iPad:

Once a pencast is downloaded to your iPad, iPod or iPhone, then you can view it as an animated movie with sound.  This is a screenshot of one of my pencasts that I downloaded, and then played on my iPad.

* I just created a resource page where I will be starting to place my .pencast files if you want to download them and try them on YOUR iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone

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My Latest Article for Livescribe: From Traditional to Innovative

September 9, 2010 CPS Clickers, Flash, Flash, Livescribe, Livescribe, Lumens DC265 Ladibug document camera, Math Projects, Mathcast, Mobi One comment

I was asked recently to write an article for Livescribe about the Math Foundations workshops  that were created by the team I was a part of this summer at Mesa Community College.    To read about the transformation of Mesa Community College’s Arithmetic course, the article I wrote is posted on the Livescribe Education Blog

The article contains a link to the new Math Foundations website that houses links to all the Livescribe pencasts, Flash animations and workshop handouts created by the team this past summer.   Check it out and let me know what you think!


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I Guess I Should Thank The Cat!

August 11, 2010 Bamboo Tablet and Pen, Intuos4, Mathcast, Technology 3 comments

Well, it is a good thing I love most animals! Yesterday morning when I went to check my email I noticed water all over my home office desk, where my Macbook and my Bamboo tablet were sitting. I had mistakenly left a full glass of water on my desk and the cat knocked it over during the night.

I quickly cleaned up the mess as best I could, found out the Macbook is fine (yay!!!!!), but the Bamboo tablet is still sitting in a pan of dry rice trying to revive it. I absolutely cannot live without a pen tablet, so I started researching between a few Wacom tablets (a name I already trusted with my Bamboo).

I was thinking about purchasing a larger tablet this time so I would have a bigger active area to write on.   At the same time, I was also considering going for a more sensitive tablet that would pick up angles of the pen, since I mostly use my pen for my hybrid math courses and I have issues writing naturally while trying to hold the pen vertical.

I narrowed my choices down quickly to look at the Bamboo Fun (for the larger area) against the higher end Intuos4 (small) because they both would cost the same price:

After looking at these figures and then going to the store and seeing that the footprint for the Bamboo fun was far more room that I had available on my desk, I decided to purchase the Intuos4 (small).  An added bonus I found out was that the small Intuos4 still has a larger active area than my original Bamboo tablet (about 2.5 sq inches more!).

I got my new toy (uh, I mean tool) home, and it was incredibly easy to set up. I noticed a HUGE difference immediately in pressure sensitivity and how well it picked up everything I was writing (it even made my handwriting look better than writing on pen and paper!!).   The feel of the tip against the new pad was far more realistic as well, it felt just like writing on paper – only better!    I am SO glad I decided to upgrade to the Intuos4!   What an amazing difference it made; I can’t wait to make my next mathcast with it!!

So, I guess I should thank the cat for frying my Bamboo tablet, or I would not have needed to replace it for a very long time.   It had served me well for many years, and I am sure it would have lasted many more, if the cat hadn’t gotten involved!

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All with just 1GB!

August 2, 2010 Livescribe Comments Off on All with just 1GB!

My family bought me a 1GB Livescribe Pulse smartpen a little over a year ago (soon after they came out) and I LOVE IT!  I use it almost every day, mostly to help my students by creating online examples for them to use outside of class.  I also use my Pulse to answer student questions when they email me, panic-stricken in the evening, stuck on a homework problem.  The pencasts are a great way to quickly answer their questions and email them a link, in just a matter of minutes, rather than trying to respond by typing cryptic math steps back in an email.

A few months ago I showed the Dean of Instruction my smartpen and some of the pencasts I have created, and she purchased 4 for our department to start learning to use to help even more students outside of class, as well!   Then, my college’s Vice President asked me if he should purchase one, and of course I replied “Of course!”  He then purchased one for all of the administrative secretaries and invited me to come and set up their new Livescribe Pulse smartpens on their computers and teach them how to use them.  I spent most of the time focusing on the transcription software – they couldn’t believe what a timesaver it was going to be for them now that they no longer have to type in the notes taken by the Administration, they just have to check over the transcription of the notes!

Word is spreading quickly around my department, my college and my district!   All with just a 1 GB Pulse smartpen…just think of the incredible possibilities if I get a LIvescribe Echo!!

*This blog post was written to post on twitter in hopes I can win a Livescribe Echo Smartpen!!

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Teaching Rational Inequalities with pencasts

April 14, 2010 Livescribe, Mathcast, Technology 6 comments

I am creating my online lesson for next week tonight.  Thought I would share a few of the @Livescribe pencasts I made

SolvingRationalInequalityEx2
brought to you by Livescribe

Here is a more advanced problem:

SolvingRationalInequalitiesAdvanced2
brought to you by Livescribe
The students really enjoy being able to watch and hear me work through an example
the same way I would work them in class and also to be able to pause and watch the video
as many times as they need to!
I love my Livescribe Pulse Smart Pen.  My husband and kids gave it to me
last year for Mother’s day!  Wonder what I will get this year?!  🙂
 

Intermediate Algebra online modules

March 20, 2010 Livescribe, Mathcast, Technology Comments Off on Intermediate Algebra online modules

online module

This year I have started teaching my Intermediate Algebra courses as hybrid, with 4 days face-to-face and 1 day “online”.

For the online day, I create a module for the students to view before attempting the homework and taking a quiz that day.  I try to make the online modules very similar to what I would have taught that day in class.   I have tried a variety of technologies to get my lessons across visually, with sound, and also animation.   I create my own Flash animations, use my Livescribe pen to work out problems which I record and place on the module webpage, and I use Jing to crop screen shots from the textbook or homework assignments.   In the following module I opened up with an avatar using Voki.

View my Intermediate Algebra online module

 
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