Collaborative Learning: Resources for International Studies

Ilaria Vanni School of International Studies

withAntonella BiscaroSchool of International StudiesDeborah NixonIML

Vice Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Grants 2014

Table of Contents

Executive summary 1

Introduction 2

The Collaborative Classroom: Tidebreak 4

Other Platforms for Collaborative Learning 9

OERs 12

Case Study: Food Geographies 24

References 25

Appendix: Reading Guides 26

Appendix: Tidebreak Guides 31

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYSome of the most important skills sought by graduate students’ employers include teamwork, communication skills, critical reasoning, and analytical/problem solving skills. These skills are reflected in FASS Graduate Attributes: Professional Readiness, Effective Communication, Critical and Creative Inquiry. Focusing on teamwork, this project generated resources to develop and scaffold collaborative skills designed to facilitate teamwork in the first year core subject Foundations in International Studies. It did so through a Vice Chancellor Teaching and Learning Grant 2014, designed to explore and evaluate the possibilities afforded by UTS new learning pods in conjunction with the use of the social and collaborative Tidebreak ClassSpot software. Because Tidebreak appeared to be an unstable platform, in the course of the project we developed flexible collaborative learning resources that can be used with or without Tidebrak. These resources are adaptable and may be useful for all the face to face subjects in International and Global Studies.

This report explains what was achieved in the project. It is divided in an introduction and 3 sections covering collaborative spaces and Tidebreak; Collaborative social media, and Open Education Resources (OERs). Each section is introduced and explained, and for each section we provide practical examples of learning activities.

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INTRODUCTION'Learning is most effective when it is active, experiential, situated, problem-based and provides immediate feedback' (Connolly, Boyle, MacArthur, Hainey & Boyle, 2012: 661 in Webb, 2014)

According to the Australian Association of Graduate Employers Survey Report 2014 the second key skill required by graduate employers is teamwork (the first one is cultural fit) (AAGE 2014: 65). We maintain that 'teamwork' is not a skill in itself, but a practice that includes different skill sets. These are highlighted in recent literature on digital media and work (Dew 2007; Gee 2003, 2004; Hagel, Seely Brown and Davison 2010; Ito 2008; Jenkins 2006; Thomas and Seely Brown 2011) that confirm that the markers of a successful work practice include: collaboration; openness and flexibility; the ability to scope out and learn from people in similar but not quite the same fields; cross-pollination; cooperation; learning on the job; skilling up. Similarly, while not directly connected to earlier work, this project drew also on the findings outlined in the ARC Project on digital media and community building 'Information and Cultural Exchange: a study of best practices in community building, participation and cultural citizenship through creative practices' and on the findings of past Vice Chancellor Learning and Teaching Grants (Second Italy: Teaching Site Specific Cultural Studies, 2008 and Second Life International and No Place Like Home-Point, 2009) that explored the use of virtual worlds in the teaching of International Studies. Specifically this project drew on the understanding of the impact of digital technologies and literacies on the way learning occurs.

The Collaborative Learning project (the project from now on) addressed these findings by using UTS collaborative learning spaces as a collaborative mixed-reality environment made of the physical pod spaces plus the possibilities afforded by the use of collaborative software and social media in the classroom. The software tested in this project is Tidebreak ClassSpot. A guide to the software is attached in the appendix. Anecdotal student feedback and past studies suggest that group work is often misunderstood and resented (IML 2002, pp-7-8, 10) and indicate the need to design collaborative activities that are connected with working realities (‘client-based’, IML, p.12) and are broken up in diverse tasks to favour cooperation.

In order to run effective groups we tried to put together people with different skills and cognitive styles (though this was difficult since students had the same skill sets). We ran a Myers Briggs Personality Type test (of which there are many free versions online, see http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html_) associated with Harry Potter characters so that students could relate to it (http://dailyinfographic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/harry-potter-myerbriggs-chart.jpg). We then created groups with as many diverse cognitive styles and skills as possible.

We ran four seminars, a three hours block flipped lecture (including a video recording), and one staff seminars during which we tested ClassSpot, online platforms such as Google Docs, Pinterest, Instagram, and some OERs, as well as using non digital collaborative strategies.

Tidebreak ClassSpot is described as a versatile software that enables students and teachers to easily share, create, review and curate web content and links. ClassSpot was used as the main tool in the classroom. The approach is based on the development of the key collaborative and participatory digital literacy skills identified by Jenkins (2006): Play (the ability to experiment with one’s environment as a form of problem solving); Distribute cognition (the ability to interact with tools that expand our mental capacity); Collective intelligence (the

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ability to pool knowledge towards a common goal); Transmedia navigation (the ability to deal with the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities); Negotiation (the ability to travel across different communities and respecting multiple perspectives).

Based on the points mentioned above, this project recognised that ‘collaboration’ is a continuum, and it happens at every step, from researching content, to discussing, to curating information to create a sharable knowledge base, to peer-editing and beta-reading. Some collaborative activities we identified include:

Researching (using different tools and across different types of media) and bringing relevant information to the discussion of a case study by sharing a document in each collaborative pod and negotiating meaning; editing the information in a singular document and contributing to the collective intelligence in the general class discussion by sending it to the central class screen. Peer-editing, beta-reading information. Pooling information resources by using social media and web content aggregators and curating platforms and sharing them with the class. Pooling, sharing and reviewing research findings in online repositories. Adding multimodal content using Creative Common repositories. Creating collaborative moodboards with Pinterest and sharing them with the Class for peer-review. Peer editing Instagram visual stories.

This project produced a comprehensive guide on the use of diverse technologies (digital and not digital) to facilitate collaborative learning:

Non digital materials produced by Deborah Nixon, IML, such as preliminary reading guides, close critical reading guides, textual analysis guides, visual analysis guides that incorporate collaborative activities. Reviews of platforms and collaborative learning activities available online that can be accessed and integrated using Tidebreak ClassSpot. A (collaborative) Pinterest board on collaborative learning resources http://www.pinterest.com/ilariacaterina/learning-and-teaching-collaboration/ A review of Open Education Resources, specifically relevant to International Studies, including examples of collaborative activities of how the material can be integrated in the subject Foundation in International Studies. These include: Merlot (merlot.org), Mitopencourseware (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm), EDSITEment (http://edsitement.neh.gov), Humbox (http://humbox.ac.uk/), Jorum Open (http://www.jorum.ac.uk/). Detailed examples of activities that can be used in class. A flipped lecture on food geographies for the UTS subject Contemporary Italy, revised for Foundation in International Studies, including a video produced by FASS Media Lab. As a spin off of this project Deborah Nixon, IML, and FASS Media Lab produced a video on reading literacy.

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THE COLLABORATIVE CLASSROOM: TIDEBREAKUTS collaborative classrooms were designed following developments and research on learning spaces which have been successfully implemented in various universities around the globe. These new classrooms aim to enhance students learning experience through changes in the physical layout of the classroom and the adoption of collaborative software, such as Tidebreak Classpsot.

In order to plan and prepare for our seminars, we had four, two-hour sessions using Tidebreak and conducted some preliminary research using videos and other materials available through the UTS Learning 2014 website. In the section below is a review of some of the resources we found most useful for this project and examples of the activities tested.

The SpaceThe main features of a UTS collaborative classrooms include: rounded tables - called pods - placed around the room; a shared desktop computer for each pod; a shared large screen in each pod; a teacher podium positioned in the middle of the class; a projector and screen on the background. To interact with the different technologies found in the classroom, students are required to bring their own device (BYOD), which can be a smart phone, tablet or lap top computer.

Preparing for the seminars and using UTS collaborative classrooms, we viewed a number of videos from American and Canadian Universities (these can be viewed following this link: www.pinterest.com/Learning2014/tl-cases/).

Below we review a series of four short videos realised by Quebec based McGill University Teaching and Learning Services (2010). This series offers a comprehensive overview, as it illustrates the impact of Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) on teaching and learning experiences (highlights collected in only one video are available at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFIDad64j8M ).

1) Active Learning Classroom: learning through inquiry and collaboration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjo7zOuySr8 Carolyn Samuel, lecturer in Academic Writing and some of her students talk about their experience teaching and learning in an ALC. Among the benefits they identify: the round tables enabling easier collaboration between students during group work; the central position of the teacher podium improving engagement between teacher and students; the shared desk computer for each table encouraging students to negotiate who is going to use the keyboard; internet access for checking data in real time; ability to connect to classroom main screen to show results (this is one of the most appreciated features of collaborative software such as Tidebreak).

2) Active Learning Classrooms: Sharing responsibility for learning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilYEk-j-jp0 Tina Piper, from McGill University Faculty of Law, and her students discuss what worked in the ALC. The classroom layout and size enabled better understanding of material and helped cementing knowledge by: providing a low risk setting for class debate and discussion; giving the teacher the ability to better follow students sitting with small groups and seeing how they connect class material with previous knowledge and experiences.

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3) Active Learning Classrooms: Learning through experience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cJXJYXWwa0 Nigel Roulet from McGill University Faculty of Science talks about how interactive technologies assist students to learn in his Modelling Environmental Systems course. As students work on a real-life case, they can ask for clarifications to those next to them, and they can also address issues as a small group rather than individually.

4) Active Learning Classrooms: Everyone is engaged https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7xidmVt0uE Lynda Fraser and her students from McGill University Centre for Continuing Education discuss their piloted ALC. One of the main points stressed again is how placing the teacher podium in the middle of the class provides students better access to the teacher and viceversa. There is not front of back for the teacher who - to avoid giving his/her back to a table for the whole class - has instead to move around. This means that nobody can hide.

The technologyThe major change to promote collaborative learning practices in the study environment today revolves around technological innovation. Many of the videos discussed above mention the shared screen tool, which is one of the features allowed by collaborative software. Typically, a collaborative classroom would have one of two main screens for the teacher, and a shared group screen for each of the students’ pods.

Each participant can connect to the ClassSpot in a classroom, either individually with his/her device, or with the computer attached to the pod.

After connecting to ClassSpot, a participant can show and share their work with the rest of the class or another specific pod, by sending a document (or a link) to screens in other pods, or to the class archive (which is shared).

These features have great potentialities in a learning environment. For instance they allow students to have direct input in tutorial content. Students for instance can directly share on the lecturer’s screen relevant information, such as a useful website, or a special program needed to perform a task, or can directly contribute to a brainstorming activity by sending their own ideas to the shared screen.

Tidebreak ClassSpot, in brief, can enhance group work experience and class particiaption by:

Providing a shared and fluid work-surface: a host computer to which anyone in the team can wirelessly connect with their own device and on which everybody can manipulate content. Students, for instance, can co-write or co-edit a document, research information, and add multimedia content.

Enabling any group, or individual student to share selected results to the front screen, as well as allowing parallel, private work (not everything you do on your device needs to be shared but you can share what’s relevant).

Connecting each team’s shared screen to the teaching wall/screen.

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‘Opening’ the teacher screen, this means allowing students - who have connected with their personal devices through the network - to directly intervene and contribute to whatever is going on on the teacher’s screen.

Enabling students from other teams to make changes.

See also: Engaging students with ClassSpot by TideBreak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=absuDGALXT4

Sample Activity 1: Conceptual MapWe used brainstorming as a way to test and practice Tidebreak with both our students and at the staff’s seminar. The version below is the one we used with academic staff. Given our audience, we chose the preparation of a good group activity as the focus of the exercise, but the template is flexible and can be adapted to almost anything. The main objective was to brainstorm to build a conceptual map that could be used in the second phase of the activity for an exercise of collaborative writing. In doing so, we incorporated many Tidebreak ClassSpot functions (a basic Tidebrak ClassSpot guide is annexed at the end of the report).

1. Share with your group examples of successful and also no so successful collaborative learning activities you have run in your classes

2. What are the key elements of a good activity? And what elements should be avoided? Brainstorm and come up with a list as comprehensive as possible

3. Go back to the lists and divide attributes in most important (put them at the top) and less important (at the bottom of the list).

4. Using the conceptual map as a guide, co-write a piece on collaborative learning. Choosing one of the activities discussed in the first part of the exercise, explain and reflect on the key ingredients for a successful group activity.

Tutor’s Notes Teacher send exercise template (using the Crosswarp function or by sending to the archive if using Tidebreak).

1. In small groups – 3 to 6 - participants discuss their experiences orally.

2. Participants/students collaboratively work in their pod. Connecting their devices to the shared computer, they brainstorm writing a list of elements to include and elements to avoid in planning group work activities. Each participant should be able to add to a shared document using the template. The teacher can send the template to everybody. Once the various groups complete their lists, one group is asked to share their list with the whole class. Other groups can make comments and add other elements they might have identified.

3. Once a new extended documented is completed the whole class can collaboratively start to decide in relevance order of the various elements focusing on the positive ones. Depending on time available this can be skipped or limited to the first few. Opening the shared screen to the whole class can get confusing. Once the final document is approved this can be sent to the archive.

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4. Participants/students work again in small groups. Once they finish writing a different group is invited to share their work on the main screen.

Sample Activity 2: Enquiry Based Learning Project on FoodOne of the most promoted potentialities of Tidebreak is to enable collaborative and enquiry based learning. As a group, students not only discuss ideas together but are also able to research them in real time and write collaboratively allocating different tasks to different students.

In a traditional tutorial, students are often asked to jointly discuss key questions linked to readings and lectures. With sufficient time allocation questions can be turned into mini projects where students engage with lecture content, materials they have read in their own time, and new resources, such images they find online. As a form of enquiry based learning, this type of activity supports an open ended and hands on engagement with learning materials. Students not only need to show they know their materials but also what they can do with it.

See also: Tidebreak's ClassSpot Project Based Learning in Action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrR2RriEx0

1. Identify and map a particular eating trend in Sydney (or any other city you are familiar with). Eg: Ethnic restaurants (e.g. Italian, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Thai); e.g. sustainable food consumption, food and media. 2. For the purpose of this activity, the group will focus on brainstorming and searching materials needed for this type of research, e.g. visual/photographic; theoretical, statistics, anecdotal. 3. Once you identified the possible types of information needed, will conduct and share a bibliographic research. (Who is looking where and for what? Google, Google scholar, Academia.edu, UTS Library, others). 4. Together create a curated document to bookmark potentially interesting information providing a short description on their potential usefulness (to do so you can use a presentation software, a Word document, a Pinterest board or other platforms as they become available)

Tutor’s Notes As for the previous activity the aim is to get students to collaboratively write the document on the shared pod screen, copying and pasting materials across computers.

ConstraintsTidebreak ClassSpot is not immediate; it requires staff and students commitment to learn how to navigate its features. If you are planning to implement it in your course be prepared to allocate some training time in the first tutorials. Yet you don’t have to know every feature if you main aim to use the shared screen.

At times the system freezes or it is slow and presents compatibility issues with Apple products. It is better suited for PC laptops; functionality is limited with tablets and smart phones.

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Activities can also be planned according to incremental technical difficulties as the students acquire familiarity with the software.

Students can only use the software in a purposefully planned classroom or space; they cannot for instance use it for group work at home. If the rounded shaped desks promote collaboration, the lack of revolving chairs makes it difficult for those with their backs to the teacher to properly follow the class, particularly when not needing to watch material on a screen.

In some of the pods we used the mouse and keyboard cords were very short. This makes using the keyboard uncomfortable and it is not ergonomic.

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OTHER PLATFORMS FOR COLLABORATIVE LEARNINGWhile Tidebreak ClassSpot offers an integrated system for technology enhanced collaborative learning activities, other readily accessible platforms offer some of its features, with the added advantage of being available outside a collaborative classroom.

Google DocsGoogle Docs is a free web-based word processor offered by Google. Provided students are able to bring to class their own tablets or laptops and have access to UTS wifi, they can use Google Docs to collaboratively author a document simultaneously working in small groups and then share it with the class. Participants do not need to have a Google account as long as they have access to the shared link.

Professor Simon Buckingham Shum from UTS Connected Intelligence Centre and Professor Ruth Deakin Crick from the University of Bristol offered a successful example of Google Docs co-authoring during their key note presentation Learning.Analytics for learning.futures? at the UTS Teaching and Learning Forum in November 2014. Looking at the intersection between knowledge (open ended versus prescribed) and agency (teacher versus student directed), Buckingham Shum and Deakin Crick asked participating academic staff to think about the different activities they run in class and place them in the appropriate cell of the document table.

See also: bit.ly/utsltf2014 for this UTS L&T Forum session documents.

A further interesting deployment of Google Docs is also illustrated in the following video Ashley Aitken, from the School of Information Systems of the Curtin University in a contest of collaborative blended learning.

Ashley Aitken explains how setting up a series of tasks using Google Docs facilitated students’ cooperation, collaboration and engagement. The first task involved collaborative lecture slides annotations. With access to an on-line copy of lecture slides, students were asked to make notes for everybody to share and contribute to. The second task involved summarising learning units. Students reported that developing shared lecture summaries was a useful revision activity.

Aitken’s ideas could, for instance, be extended to the tutorial time, where teacher and students could collaboratively make notes of useful links, resources, ideas and questions discussed during the tutorial.

See also: Ashley Aitken on collaborative learning: https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=YlvljieYdBI

PinterestPinterest is a web and mobile application that allows users to collect, share, and store images – known as pins – and other media content (videos, webpages). Users’ collections of pins can be grouped together to form a board, and several users can be invited to add materials to the board. Boards can be public or by invitation only. A Pinterest plug-in can be installed on any browser, and clicked to save an image to a board ('to pin to a board'). Conversely, by clicking on an image in a board it is possible to access its original website.

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Boards can be used as a collaborative bookmarking tool to develop projects, group information, or save images and data together. The comment function under each image can be used to write notes, so that a board can function like an annotated visual bibliography. With its user friendly interface, Pinterest is a great bookmarking resource for group work or for project based activities, and to curate topic-specific materials. Students can be asked to create and comment on sets of visual material on specific themes.

Pinterest can also be used as a mood board curating relevant visual or textual materials to convey the ‘feel’ of the project (Figure 1).

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FIGURE 1PINTEREST, EXAMPLE OF MOOD BOARD FOR A PHOTOGRAPHIC PROJECT ON PATTERNS.

Finally Pinterest has a search function, through which one can easily access what others have bookmarked on their boards. Pinterest also has pop up windows 'you may also like' That suggests to the user other pins in boards with similar content. This makes image research serendipitous and extremely fast. It is possible to follow a user or a board, and remain up to date on what is added to it. The opening screen of Pinterest is the home screen, and it is where one sees the updates to boards that have been followed. Each board can be accessed by a simple click, and each pin can be re-pinned and bookmarked to one own’s board. Pinterest has also a predictive function and based on your pins and interest will show images 'picked for you'.

Sample Activity 1: a Learning and Teaching Collaboration BoardWe used Pinterest to research and bookmark resources for this project: http://www.pinterest.com/ilariacaterina/learning-and-teaching-collaboration/ . Contact ilaria.vanni@uts.edu.au if you would like to join the board (Figure 2).

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FIGURE 2PINTEREST, LEARNING AND TEACHING - COLLABORATION BOARD

OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES (OERs)OERs are free and openly licensed education materials ranging from texts, videos, courses to infrastructure used to deliver educational content. They can be used to promote participatory, blended and flipped approaches to teaching and learning. More importantly, they provide a platform for teachers and educators to share knowledge and ideas to collaboratively build class materials and activities.

The universe of OERs has grown exponentially over the past decade. The active involvement of tertiary education institutions, foundations and educational think thanks promoted both the production of and the categorisation of OERs through the launch of OERs online search engines and repositories.

We reviewed 13 OERs platforms with two main aims in mind. First, we looked for quality content which could be used for collaborative learning activities in the classroom. In order to do so we focused on a core subject of the International Studies Degree: Foundations in Internationals Studies. The variety of topics covered meant a good level of flexibility in sourcing materials. Second we looked for websites and blogs which could enrich our understanding of how technology is shaping the future of education and better inform our approach to collaborative learning. Overall we found that (USA) K12 OERs repositories dominate the scene.

We grouped OERs content in three different subsections: 1- most useful OERs repositories in terms of quality content, 2- other OERs worth exploring, and 3- OERs/blogs offering interesting reflections on digital education.

High Quality OERs with Relevance to International Studies

Merlot (merlot.org) (Figure 3)

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Merlot is a US based repository of open online teaching and learning materials for higher education with a strong emphasis in promoting faculty development services. Initiated in 1997 under the thrust of the California State University, Merlot currently operates as an informal consortium involving four different universities (The University of Georgia System, Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, University of North Carolina System, and the California State University System).  

As a platform, it presents one of the most user friendly interfaces for searching OERs content. Materials can be browsed by: category, subject, key word and material type (this option is offered by very few search engines). Registered users can review materials and build their own collection.

A dedicated Faculty Development Portal features information on: teaching and technology, teaching strategies, links to external resources and a showcase of best practices. Materials are both contributed and used by an international education community. However, at the time of writing, many links appear out of date.

Merlot is one of the few OERs repositories for higher education providing an entire section dedicated to learning exercises. These consist of the description of activities and extra material such as videos, website or images linked externally.

Sample Activity 1: Learning exercise, the Human Development Index (HDI)

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FIGURE 4

This learning exercise on the Human Development Index is an entry level activity suitable for FIS introductory lesson on Development (Figure 4)

The original exercise devised by educational consultant Cathy Swift (2011) has the objective of showing that quality of life (well-being) is more than a country's financial wealth.

Students work with the UN index on Human Development comparing data and answering questions on a series of different parameters (life expectancy, adult literacy, HDI value and GDP) for countries with divergent rankings in HDI. The HDI and its significance as a multidimensional attempt to measure development is extensively discussed in one of FIS required reading (Schafer, Haslam, Beaudet 2009, pp. 3-27) .

Following the content building grid provided by Merlot, the activity was re-designed for FIS.

Title HDI: a multidimensional approach to measure of a country’s development

Description Students access the United Nations' Human Development Index and compare the quality of life of selected countries.

Time Required.30 minutes + 10 for class discussion

Keywords Development, underdevelopment, post development, modernization theory, multidimensional aspects of development.

Learning Objectives.To underline the composite nature of a country’s overall quality of life and the impact of inequality in income distribution.

Text The UN's Human Development Index addresses not just the financial wealth of a country, but the human aspects of economic development, such as health care, education, and a decent standard of living.

Exercise

1. Go to the Human Development Index by countries (http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries). The interactive map shows countries grouped according to four different ranking highlighted in different colours: dark blue for very high HDI, light blue for high HDI, dark green for medium HDI and light green for low development.

2. Select two countries from the High HDI list and record the name of the country and: • HDI ranking

• Life expectancy at birth

• Adult literacy

• GDO per capita

• Human Development index value

• Inequality value

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3. Answer the following questions:

• Is there a link between income and life expectancy? • What differences do you see between developing countries and industrialized

countries? Explain the meaning of the last column • Explain the significance of the Human Development Index in terms of

multidimensional approach to measuring development. Tutorial worksheet

HDI: a multidimensional approach to measure of a country’s development

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Classification (very high, high, medium, low)

Country Ranking Life expectancy Adult Literacy GDP per capita

HDI value Inequality value

HDI – Inequality

Sample Activity 2: Why Poverty?http://www.whypoverty.net (Figure 5)

Why poverty? Is a multimedia project consisting of eight one our long documentaries by established filmmakers and thirty fours short from emerging talents. Movies can be viewed on Why Poverty? Website or through Youtube and are accompanied by an educators’ guide.

Behind this project is South Africa based not for profit multi-media organisation Steps International. Its aim is ‘to give a voice to marginalised and disadvantaged communities though communication projects’ (http://www.steps.co.za/ accessed 28/11/2014).

Documentaries and shorts have the merit of depicting poverty(ies) from a broad perspective, showing highly different situations, locations and people and how poverty impacts on them. The variety of subjects is useful in highlighting the concept of relative poverty, and development as ‘Freedom’ (Sen in Schafer, Haslam, Beaudet 2009, pag: 15, 16).

Class activity: divide students in groups and assign a short film to each group. Ask each group to discuss the film they have watched, followed by a comparison of findings as general class discussion.

Below is an example of the information/activities accompanying each short/movie (http://www.whypoverty.net/video/sea-gypsies/)

Sea Gypsies: Struggling to survive with increasing fishing restrictions on an idyllic coral island of Eastern Malaysia, Indanina and her family are forced to give up their sea gypsy way of life and move to the city to survive.

We see their lives change as they move from their island to live under a motorway bridge where they have to beg and rely on handouts. Indanina’s life has had to change because the beautiful islands she called home are being turned into a diving resort.

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FIGURE 5

Discussion

Why did Indanina’s family have to leave the island?

How does the restriction of fishing rights affect their lives?

What does their future hold?

Who owns natural resources?

How does the island’s development affect the rights of the local community?

How can local communities benefit from tourism?

Key Issues

Natural resources Children’s rights Governance Recommended Viewing

Whose Land? The Barrel Love and Rubbish Wilbur Goes Poor 1 Stealing Africa: chapter

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MITOPENCOURSEWARE (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm)

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of the world leading universities with the most extensive collection of course material freely accessible on-line. It includes over 21,000 courses uploaded from 2002 to date.

Sample Activity 1: Asia in the Modern World, images and representations and the MIT Visualizing Cultures website One of FIS topics is ‘The Idea of Asia’, delivered by Professor Carolyn Cartier. The idea of Asia lectures questions understandings of Asia as a homogenous artefact and the various labels that have been applied to it (such as the East – and its subparts: South East, Middle East etc.. the Orient). It also introduces students to concepts such as Orientalism, Europe-centrism and invented traditions.

A similar and complementary lecture is also offered by Professor John Dower as part of his 2009 course on ‘Asia in the modern World, images and representations’. This could be assigned as an essential or extra material for the FIS lecture.

Offered as complementary material to Dower’s course are a series of tutorial activities based on original historical visual and written documents. These are collected together in the linked MIT Visualizing Cultures website (Figure 6).

http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/home/index.html

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FIGURE 6

Organised as multi-tutorial activities around eight main themes, Visualizing Cultures activities cover topics such the representations of: the first Opium War (1839-42), the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), the American and Japanese Encounter etc.).

The activity chosen for the 'Ideas of Asia' is lesson two from the ‘Asia Rising and Yellow Promise/Yellow Peril curriculum’. Developed by Kathy Krauth, the activity is centred around the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 and visual images concerning the event sourced from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection of Japanese Postcards at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. While the FIS lecture does not touch upon this historical episode, it does make references to orientalising representations of Japan during the World War II. Reflecting on an earlier event can support a discussion on how certain representations have become embedded in our visual mapping of different cultures and how they continue to inform opinions and ideas about different peoples.

‘Asia Rising and Yellow Promise/Yellow Peril’ (Figure 7). Doing the historian work: students receive two sets of pictures of the Russo-Japanese war, one of Japan produced images and one of images produced by foreign powers. In each set, students have to look for patterns in content and establish categories by content. Students are then asked to analyse their findings and reflect on the difference in representation.

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FIGURE 7

EDSITEment (http://edsitement.neh.gov) EDSITEMENT is an OERs search engine focusing on the humanities. Created by the US independent federal agency National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) it caters for K-12 curricula, offering sample activities, lesson sharing and studying resources.

While having a K-12 US curriculum focus, the EDSITEMENT offers interesting ideas that can be adapted for students in higher education in a different geographical context. Materials are carefully curated and lessons thoroughly planned. The websites is easy to navigate, with materials divided by subjects.

Sample Activity 1: Mexican Culture and History through Its National Holidays (Figure 8) (http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/mexican-culture-and-history-through-its-national-holidays)

This activity was developed for grade 6 to 8 students on Mexican Culture and History seen through national holidays. It introduces students to Mexican culture presenting information on ethnic diversity, social struggle, pre-colonial religion and Catholicism. It also highlights the role of National holidays as a way to understand what kind of values are upheld, what stories are celebrated (and conversely which ones are not) to determine what kind of narrative is being told about that country.

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FIGURE 8

A similar activity can be used for FIS students. Grouped by country of major students can explore the country’s national holidays calendar as a way to explore the country’s values and narrative of national identity (or to question it).

Tutorial worksheet

1) Before looking at the calendar, in your target country are there any public holidays you are aware of? Which ones? What do they celebrate?

2) After having studied the calendar, what did you find out? Were you surprised? What do those holidays tell you about the values and the country image?

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HumBox (http://humbox.ac.uk/) The HumBox website is part of the HumBox project, an Open Educational Resources initiative to showcase UK Higher Education excellence in teaching and learning resources and promote knowledge sharing. It provides a community repository of teaching resources including handouts, exercises, online seminars, podcast, and videos. By registering, one can save searches, receive alerts and deposit items.

With Merlot, HumBox is one of the few OERs repositories catering to higher education; it does so from a European rather than American perspective, focusing on the humanities. Most materials are still in the format of seminars, Powerpoint presentations, lectures, and notes, rather than activities or class exercises.

The search function does not differentiate among different types of resources. It is only possible to search by author, year, tag, languages, groups and uploading user. Finding something useful is a matter of trial and error.

Sample Activity 1: Language and Gender Identity as a performance (http://humbox.ac.uk/904/)

The tag search criteria is the most useful. A search on broad key terms such as migration, citizenship, race, and gender, resulted in materials that were too narrow and contextual. The Powerpoint presentation on 'Language and Gender Identity as a performance' (19/10/2009) by Marc Philpott, University of Sheffield was one of the most useful findings.

The presentation introduces some key points of Judy Butler’s work (particularly Gender Trouble, 1990) and John Austin’s theory of performative language and speech acts. It also offers plenty of examples and a list of ways in which gender is performed every day, which could be a starting point for some group brainstorming on gender in the intersection with race and cultural difference.

Jorum Open (http://www.jorum.ac.uk/) Jorum - which is a word of Biblical origin and means a collecting (or drinking) bowl – is a UK Service for Further and Higher Education with the purpose of collecting and sharing OERs. It was funded by the Digital Resources Division of the NGO Joint Information Systems Committee. Jorum claims to be UK largest OERs repository, with all resources created under a Creative Commons licence.

The platform has a simple interface and is easy to navigate. Resources can be searched using keyword, authors, publisher, and title. Contributing institutions include established universities and open colleges and users are encouraged to contribute.

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OTHER OER PLATFORMS

OERU (Open Education Resource University) http://oeru.org Coordinated by the New Zealand based OER foundation, OERu offers on-line micro courses (2 – 3 weeks long) through a system of partner universities. These can be used to gain a formal academic accreditation paying a fee. Course offers are limited: at the time of writing they cover subjects such as ‘Developing a business plan’, ‘Understanding Culture in Asia and the Pacific’, and ‘Tourism in Asia and the Pacific’. A strong emphasis is on e-learning and the changing face of education in the digital era. Six new courses are planned for 2015. If timing is right, students can be encouraged to gain more in depth knowledge on a topic by joining an OERu course without having to complete ant formal assessment.

Academic Earth (http://academicearth.org/) Academic Earth is a curated lists of on-line free courses and materials, covering a broad range of disciplines. Some areas are poorly covered (the language section for instance only offers a few video lessons for Arabic) and some links are out of date. It is useful to find lectures and videos that might be incorporated in a teaching program but it best to access materials directly from some of their most cited sites such as MIT open courseware, Harvard and Stanford Universities. Academic Earth provides links to academic journals and trade magazines on specific disciplines.

OPENSTAX(http://cnx.org/) Funded by Rice University OpenStax (formerly known as Connexions) is a non-profit digital platform delivering free educational content. Pages/Learning objects are organised into textbook-style books in a variety of disciplines. Materials can be searched by subject and by using filters.

MyOER (myOER.org ) US based OERs search engine of K-12 educational resources. It covers subjects ranging from science to history. Materials are sourced from a pool of reputable organisations such as the Khan Foundation, Thinkfinity and EDSITEment.

Open Ed http://www.opened.io US based world largest on-line catalogue of OERs, aimed at K-12 students and divided in subject clusters: mathematics, language and arts, social studies, science, technology, elective subjects.

OER Commonshttps://www.oercommons.org OER Commons is a US based network for teaching and learning based around the use and re-use of Open Education Resources. It covers several disciplinary areas including Education, Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and a variety of materials, including Social and Emotional Learning, Primary Sources, Flexible Learning, Game-based Learning.

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Case Study: Food GeographiesOne of the most promising aspects of Tidebreak is to enable collaborative and enquiry based class activities. As a group, students not only discuss ideas together but are also able to research them in real time and write collaboratively allocating different tasks to different members of the group, based on interests and skills. For instance some students preference are for visual materials, others are very skilled in finding academic resources, some prefer to write, others again have very good presentation skills, and so on.

1- Students were given a ‘How To Watch a Video Guide’ and were shown a short film we had produced with Dr Angela Giovanangeli, Coordinator of the France Major in the School ofInternational Studies, on one of her research projects about the social life of the merguez sausage in Marseille. In the video Dr. Giovanangeli deconstructs her research, explaining how she developed the concept, her theory, her methodology, her argument and her findings.

2- Students were asked to make notes on all these aspects in their How To Guide, and then to discuss in their group.

3- A similar exercise was conducted on selected readings.

4- Students were then asked to use the ideas and methodologies they had just discussed to identify and map a particular eating trend in Sydney. E.g: Ethnic restaurants (Italian, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Thai etc..); sustainable food consumption, food and media; foodbloggers food; a food precinct etc.

5- After choosing their specific topic, students brainstormed the methodology they would use and the kind of material they needed to research, including visual/photographic; historical, theoretical, statistics, anecdotal, media content and so on.

6- The next step was to start the research (keeping in mind questions such as: who is looking where and for what? Google, Google scholar, Academia.edu, UTS Library, others) using their own devices and posting the results to the shared screen in the pod. Students were encouraged to use Pinterest and create a shared board bookmarking the relevant links.

7- The last step was to produce a short essay plan including the main ideas in the debate around the topic; the specific focus of the essay; its proposed methodology; its medium; its argument.

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ReferencesAAGE 2014. The AAGE Employer Survey 2014. London: High Fliers Research Ltd Dew, Nicholas. 2009. 'Serendipity in Entrepreneurship.' Organization Studies 30 (7):

735–753. Gee, James Paul. 2003. What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and

Literacy,. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Gee, James Paul. 2004. Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional

Schooling,. New York: Routledge. Hagel III, John, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison. 2010. The Power of Pull: How

Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion. New York: Basic Books. Institute for Interactive Media and Learning UTS (2002), Enhancing Experiences of

Group Work. A Resource Kit for Managing and Motivating Student Groups, http://www.iml.uts.edu.au/learn-teach/groupwork/groupwork.pdf

Ito et al. (2008) Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. Chicago: The John D and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Jenkins, H., Clinton K., Purushtma R., Robinson A.J. and Weigel M. (2006) Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Chicago: The John D and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Thomas, Douglas, and John Seely Brown. 2011. A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant. Lexington, Ky.: CreateSpace.

Webb E. (2014), Learning (Together) with Games – Civilization and Empire, in Academic Commons accessed on November 14, 2014.

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Appendix 1 Reading Guides

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Pre reading activity : summarising a chapter1. Read the assigned chapter and make notes on the table below before the

tutorial. 2. With other members of your group, compare your information. Discuss ,

amend or add to your answers

Where is the thesis statement in the first paragraph?

What is the major claim/hypothesis proposed in the chapter?

Highlight and explain three concepts in this chapter

•

•

•

What examples are employed to illustrate the author’s argument?

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What theorists are referenced in this chapter? How do they support the argument?

Use a sentence to summarise what the chapter is about.

In the tutorial session compare your answers, fill in any sections you weren’t able to answer and discuss the questions below.

What concepts did you find particularly difficult to follow? Discuss with your group and try to clarify

What interested and challenged you in this chapter?

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Summarising a journal article: activity 1 Adapted from Dr Claire Aitchison UWS.

1. Read the article 2. Fill in the following information. You may not find all the information in this

reading but may find them from other readings of yours. Bring to class for group discussion.

Article title/topic

Use a sentence to summarise what the research is about.

What is the major claim/hypothesis proposed in the research?

What theoretical framework or principles are used in the research?

What contributions/gaps does the research aim to make or fill?

What methodology is used in the research?

What tools or models are used for the research (interview, document analysis)?

How are data analysed?

Do you have any comments on the research?

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Summarising a video: activity 11. Watch this video 2. Fill in the following information and bring it to class to discuss in your group

Video title/topic

Use a sentence to summarise what the research is about.

What are the three main ideas presented in this video? 1

2

3

What theoretical framework or principles are used in the video?

What is the style of the video? eg. documentary, storytelling, talk, narrative, experimental.

What methodology is used in the research?

What tools or models are used for the research in the video (interview, document analysis)?

Has this video generated new ideas for you? If so which? If not ,why do you think it hasn’t? How would you go about making a video on the same topic?

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Appendix 2 Tidebreak Guides

� 31

Collaborative Learning Practices

Tidebreak ClassSpot

Source: tidebreak.com

A collaborative software tool to promote and enhance class participation and group work. How is this achieved? Providing a shared and (hopefully) fluid work-surface: a host computer to which anyone in the team can connect their own device manipulating content. Enabling any group, or individual student to share results to the front screen; parallel work not everything you do on your device needs to be shared but you can share what’s relevant. Connecting each team’s shared big screen to the teaching wall/screen. Enabling students from other teams to correct errors or make other changes directly — from their own seats.

Connecting your device

1. Determine the URL of the ClassSpot (the series of numbers appearing on your Host Computer ClassSpot control panel)

2. Go to the ClassSpot’s webpage 3. Download the Tidebreak

Software and install it. 4. Personalise your settings (with a

nickname) and click “new location” to join the ClassSpot.

5. Enter the ClassSpot’s URL again 6. Enter the authorization code

(check the authorisation code popping up on ClassSpot host computer)

7. In the future, just click join

The ClassSpot Control Centre

By clicking on the arrow on the left hand side of the title you get a menu with general options/functions (CrossWarp PointRight, Show Received, Clear Received, Import to Archive)

Controls for the session archive and annotation features.

Drag and drop files and folders here to share them with all other participants or copy

them to the session archive

To move content across computers drop a file, folder or URL from a browser’s address bar to a recipient’s name onto the participants’ list in the control panel.

Or to ‘All participants’ if you want the document to be shared by all computers simultaneously.

Common documents type will open automatically and are saved to the ‘Received’ folder on the target computer.

An alternative way to distribute documents or folders to people in the group is to copy the items to the session archive.

Moving information within the group (CrossWarp)

Working on the public screen (lectern or pod) together

The PointRight function enables you to move the mouse from your device to the pod screen and class screen. It starts automatically when you join a TeamSpot.

Move your cursor to the top edge of your screen and keep going beyond it. While on the public screen the cursor will be still linked to your mouse.

When you type on your keyboard the typing appears on the public screen. Several people can be active at the same time, but only one person can be controlling the cursor and keyboard. Other cursors remain dormant on the screen.

 

Screen sharing: forward and share your desktop with othersThere are two ways to share your screen.

The “Show to” function: your computer desktop is shown to another screen but other participants cannot intervene on it.

The “Share to” function: your computer desktop is shown on other screens and other participants can interact on it. Your desktop becomes temporary a shared work-surface.

You can access both functions on the control panel by right clicking on the computer name where you wish to show/share your desktop. A pop-up menu will appear, choose which function you want to enable.

A window will open on the receiving computer (sending computer control panel will turn white to be visually distinguished from the receiving computer panel).

To stop sharing right click recipient’s name and choose “Stop Sharing”. Recipients can also close viewing window.

Source: guidingtech.com

To move content across computers drop a file, folder or URL from browser’s address bar to a recipient’s name onto the participants list in the control panel.

Or to ‘All participants’ if you want the document to be shared by all computers simultaneously.

Common documents type will open automatically and are saved to the ‘Received’ folder on the target computer.

An alternative way to distribute documents or folders to people in the group is to copy the items to the session archive.

Moving information within the group (CrossWarp)

Copying and pasting across computers

Open an application, select some text or an image and copy it to the clipboard the way you normally do.

Use the PointRight function to move to the public screen and paste into the group’s document.

Or vice versa you can copy from the public document to your own screen using the PointRight function.

Archive a record of your ClassSpot Session

The Archive provides a record of all information transferred by users in a ClassSpot session.

Drag and drop objects onto ‘Send to Archive” in the control panel.

To view archive content, click the ‘Archive’ button on the control panel. Content list will open in your web browser.

Users can also add comments to the Archive by clicking the ‘Add Comment’ button.

Click the ‘Save’ button to save a copy onto your hard disk.

Save

Add comment

View archive

Revision 29 July 2013

Introducing ClassSpot™

Introducing ClassSpot 2 of 15

Table of Contents

AN INTRODUCTION TO CLASSSPOT ............................................................................ 3  GETTING STARTED ....................................................................................................... 4  GETTING STARTED (MANUALLY) ................................................................................. 5  THE MINI-PANEL: YOUR CONTROL CENTER ................................................................ 6  POINTRIGHT: WORKING ON THE PUBLIC SCREEN ...................................................... 7  CROSSWARP: MOVING INFORMATION WITHIN THE GROUP ...................................... 8  THE ARCHIVE: A RECORD OF YOUR SESSION ............................................................. 9  ANNOTATE: TEMPORARILY DRAWING ON THE SCREEN ........................................... 10  SCREEN SHARING: SHARE YOUR DESKTOP WITH OTHERS ..................................... 11  USING WHITEBOARDS WITH LUIDIA’S EBEAM® ....................................................... 12  TROUBLESHOOTING ................................................................................................... 13  

Trademark Information

Tidebreak, the Tidebreak logo, TeamSpot, ClassSpot, Overface, PointRight, CrossWarp, and CrossPaste are trademarks of Tidebreak, Inc., in the United States and various other countries. Luidia and eBeam are trademarks or registered trademarks of Luidia, Inc. Microsoft, Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Apple, Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.

Patent Information

The accompanying product is protected by U.S. patents nos. 7,430,721, 7,814,433, 7,861,171 and 7,702,729 held by Tidebreak, Inc.

© 2006-2013 Tidebreak, Inc. All rights reserved.

Tidebreak, Inc. P.O. Box 855 Palo Alto, CA 94302 USA

Tidebreak customers are given permission to reproduce or transmit this document in conjunction with their TeamSpot support activities.

As between the parties, Tidebreak, Inc. retains title to, and ownership of, all proprietary rights with respect to its software contained within its products. Title to, ownership of, and proprietary rights with respect to components within Tidebreak’s software which are under license are retained by the licensing corporations or entities. The software is protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provision.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this manual is accurate. Tidebreak, Inc. is not responsible for printing or clerical errors. Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Introducing ClassSpot 3 of 15

An Introduction to ClassSpot

CLASSSPOT ENABLES INTERACTIVE LEARNING by encouraging students to participate more fully with faculty and each other in the classroom. With ClassSpot, students can become more actively engaged in the exchange of ideas because they have greater ability to contribute, control, and modify digital content presented in class.

Research has shown that learning performance directly correlates with time spent engaged in meaningful learning activities. ClassSpot promotes performance by enabling new forms of group engagement.

ClassSpot-equipped rooms enable any student to instantly share their work or other digital content. They can send files or websites over the network to any large display system in the classroom. Any student can then easily interact with the material on the screen by simply moving their mouse on to a screen to take gain access to it.

Using ClassSpot on any public display screen in the classroom students might: • open one or more web pages to support a point they are

making, allowing others to then explore links from the page to further develop their own opinions

• take turns translating foreign language passages, even offering competing interpretations for particular sections

• manipulate a simulated financial model spreadsheet, breaking off in small teams to explore the impact of changing assumptions and then sharing their results with the rest of the class

• digitally highlight relevant features of a medical image to emphasize features relevant to a clarifying question they want to ask

To allow students and faculty to capture and re-use information developed in class, ClassSpot automatically creates a session record of the materials ) shared in class, a record that can be stored on personal laptops or in an online course repository.

This document introduces the key ClassSpot features and capabilities for users.

Introducing ClassSpot 4 of 15

Getting Started

Via the ClassSpot Website

� Get the Tidebreak software In a browser window, type the address of the ClassSpot. On the page, click “Get the Software.” When the download finishes, install it.

� Click the Join button Follow the instructions on the web page to set up the software to automatically join you in.

� Choose a nickname Your nickname identifies you within the session, so make sure it’s unique.

� Authorize your computer Soon, an authorization code will appear on the big screen. Enter it on your laptop.

Using a Smart Phone and Tablet Using your iPhone, iPad or Android device’s browser, type the IP address of the ClassSpot. This loads the mobile client application into the browser. This application offers basic functionality, such as viewing the archive, sending website links to the big screens, and adding comments to the session.

Introducing ClassSpot 5 of 15

Getting Started (Manually)

� Install the Tidebreak software In a browser window, type the address of the ClassSpot. On the page, click “Get the Software.” When the download finishes, install it.

� Choose a nickname Start the software. When the “welcome” panel appears, change the name to your nickname. (E.g. “JohnM”)

� Join the session On the Tidebreak Control Panel, click “New Location.”

� Select the Host computer Enter the ClassSpot address. Click OK. Then enter the authorization code that appears on the front screen.

� Next time, just click “Join” Next time you visit this location, select its name from the drop-down list in the Control Panel and click "Join."

Drop-down menu of previously-visited locations

Click here to join the session.

Introducing ClassSpot 6 of 15

The Mini-Panel: Your Control Center

THE MINI-PANEL PROVIDES INTERFACES for many ClassSpot features, such as CrossWarp and screen sharing, and shows you all available “target” screens (i.e. the faculty computer and any available public screens) in the session. It is designed to float above the other windows on your desktop so that it is readily available.

If the mini-panel is in your way, you can reduce it to a minimal size by double-clicking the title bar at the top of the panel.

Below the title bar are the control buttons for the session archive and the screen annotate features. These features are discussed in other sections of this document.

Click the Participants button to see a list of any faculty computers and public screens currently joined into the session..

The mini-panel allows you to share files or websites using CrossWarp. (See the section on CrossWarp later in this guide.) Simply drop the items to share on the target computer name in the Participants list. The bottom entry in the list is a shortcut for copying a file into the session archive.

A quick way to leave the session is to click the red close button on the title bar.

The menu on the title bar contains general options that you normally rarely need. Some useful options are: • CrossWarp Block/Prompt: Prevent others from sending

files to you, or prevents them from being opened automatically.

• PointRight: Configures PointRight. You should adjust your remote cursor initials and preferred color here.

• Show Received: Opens the “Received” folder where items sent via CrossWarp are stored.

• Clear Received: Clears the “Received” folder. • Import To Archive: Imports a previously saved session

archive into the current active archive.

Click to leave the session

Click to see a list of faculty computers and public screens currently joined in the session

Drag and drop files and folders here to CrossWarp them to all participants or copy them to the session archive

Controls for the session archive and annotation features

Click the title bar to minimize the control window down to a compact size. Drag it by the title bar to move it out of the way.

Click here to get a menu of general options.

Click to view help information

Introducing ClassSpot 7 of 15

PointRight: Working on the Public Screen

POINTRIGHT LETS YOU CONTROL public screens —the commonly-shared “displays” — driven by the Host computer (and Public Clients, where available) using your own computer and a mouse or trackpad. Typically, students and faculty can use a public screen to create or edit documents. With PointRight, you can move the cursor around on these screens using your mouse and enter text on them by typing on your own keyboard. In fact, PointRight allows you to work on these public screens as if they were simply an extension of your own computer (and everyone else’s).

PointRight starts automatically when you join the session. To take control of a public screen when it is in “unlocked mode” (this mode is controlled by the faculty member), simply move your cursor to the top edge of your screen, then keep going beyond the edge. Your cursor will “jump” to the bottom of the public screen, but remain linked to your mouse. Your mouse inputs and keyboard inputs have simply been redirected to the other computer; when you type on your keyboard, the typing appears on the public screen.

Several people can be active on one screen at the same time. While only one person can be controlling the mouse pointer and keyboard at a time, PointRight remembers your own mouse position even if someone else is working. In fact, whenever someone moves their cursor, all the active pointers appear as “ghostly” transparent pointers. You can see the initials of each person next to the pointer, for easy identification.

When you want to work on your own computer again, simply move the cursor to the bottom edge of the public screen, and then keep going down beyond the edge. You’ll see your own local cursor moving again, and your keyboard and mouse will once again work with your own computer.

When a classroom has more than one public screen, it is usually configured so that you move the cursor up and out the top edge of your screen to control to primary public screen. You then move the cursor off the left or right edge of the public screen to jump to the other display; if the other screen is on the right, you move off the right edge, toward the actual physical display. If the other screen is situated to the left of the primary public display, then you move off the left edge of the screen.

� Move beyond the top of your laptop screen Move your mouse until the pointer is at the very top of your screen. Then keep going, past the top of your own computer screen.

� You are now controlling the public screen Your mouse controls the pointer on the public screen. And your keyboard types into it. To return, just go down beyond the bottom.

Introducing ClassSpot 8 of 15

CrossWarp: Moving Information Within the Group

SHARING INFORMATION is critical to collaboration. CrossWarp is a simple way to move digital objects from your laptop to the faculty computer or a public computer (or between two public computers) participating in the session. (Note that with ClassSpot, students can’t send documents to each other using CrossWarp.)

Simply drag and drop a file, folder, or a URL (from your browser’s address bar) onto the Participants list in the mini-panel. (If the list is closed, drag the document over the Participants button but don’t release the mouse button. The list will open automatically and you can continue dragging to the target computer’s name.)

A copy of the file, folder or URL will be sent to the receipient’s computer and, for common document types and URL’s, opened automatically. Files and folders are saved to the “Received” folder on the target computer. (Alternately, you can set your preferences from the mini-panel menu so that files are automatically saved without immediately opening.)

If you drag and drop an item onto “All Participants” from one of the public screens, the item will be sent to all joined computers simultaneously. (This feature is not available to students.)

Another way to distribute documents or folders to the people in class is to copy the items to the session archive, incorporating them into the session’s permanent record. Once sent to the archive, anyone can from any computer access a copy of any stored file or folderdirectly by clicking on the link in the archive page.

Drag a file or folder (such as the Microsoft Word document shown here) to the desired recipient, or to “All Participants” if you want to send it to everyone. (Sending to all is only available to faculty.)

If the Participants list is closed, drag the document over the Participants button, but do not release the mouse button. This opens the list automatically. You can then continue dragging the document to the desired recipient.

Introducing ClassSpot 9 of 15

The Archive: A Record of Your Session

THE ARCHIVE IS A REAL-TIME RECORD of all the information transferred between users in a session. Every time you transfer a file, folder or URL via CrossWarp, it is noted in the archive. You can also add your own comments into the archive.

The archive is a great way to store documents, web pages, etc. that the entire class needs during the meeting or afterwards. Simply drag and drop objects onto “Send to Archive” in the mini-panel, and they will be stored into the archive.

To view the contents of the archive, click the “View Archive” button on the mini-panel to open it in your web browser. The entries are normally listed by sequence number but, you can sort the table by any column just by clicking the column’s title. The page updates automatically when new items are added.

In addition to files and URLs, the archive can also show user comments. For example, a comment could remind you to do something after the meeting. Click the “Add Comment” button on the mini-panel and type your comment in the text box.

Click the “Save” button to save a copy onto your hard disk. Clicking the “Reset” button clears the archive. Only faculty and public screens have access to the Reset button. (Each user will have the chance to save their own local copy before it is reset.)

The ClassSpot Host automatically resets the archive at the end of a class session.

To just reference information that was shared in a previous class (or in a TeamSpot meeting; visit www.tidebreak.com for more information on TeamSpot), you can import information from any previously saved archive into the current session archive. Simply drag the old archive ZIP file onto “Send to Archive” in the mini-panel, and the contents will be inserted into the current archive. A different text color distinguishes imported records from those added in the current meeting.

Archive function buttons

View Archive

Add Comment

Save

Reset

The Archive web page will update automatically whenever the contents of the Archive change.

Introducing ClassSpot 10 of 15

Annotate: Temporarily Drawing on the Screen

YOU CAN DRAW DIRECTLY ON THE SCREEN to illustrate a point with the Annotate feature. Annotate “freezes” the screen into a static image and provides virtual pens that you can use to “draw” on it.

Start by clicking the “Annotate” button in the mini-panel. The screen freezes. Hold down the left mouse button and trace lines by dragging your mouse around. (Annotate is also compatible with some electronic touchscreen overlays and digital pens, too.)

Change the pen color by holding down the mouse button without moving the mouse. After a short delay, a circular menu appears under the cursor. First drag the cursor out of the menu through the menu category of interest. (E.g. go through “Color” to change the pen color.) Then go around the menu to the secondary choice (e.g. blue) and move through choice back to the center. When you reach the center, the menu closes automatically and your choice is made.

The same menu you use to select pen color can also be used to clear the screen, save the annotated image to the archive, or exit the Annotate mode. Alternately, you can return to your normal screen by clicking the “Exit Annotate” button at the bottom of the screen, or save the image to the archive by clicking the “Send to Archive” button. (If the archive is unavailable, the choice becomes “Save to Local.”)

Annotate button

Click the “End Annotate” button to return to your normal screen

Mark up the image of your screen by drawing right on top of it

Press the pen or mouse button and move the cursor through the menu category, through your choice, and then back to the menu center.

Click the “Send to Archive” (or “Save to Local”) button to save the annotations

Introducing ClassSpot 11 of 15

Screen Sharing: Share Your Desktop With Others

SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO WORK on your own computer, and yet you still want to show and involve others in what you’re doing. Perhaps you need to use an application that isn’t installed on the public computer, or there are too many files to easily copy up to it. You may want to share your desktop to a to the class and invite other students to temporarily work on your desktop with you.

In these situations, you can show your own computer’s desktop to by “pushing” it to a public screen or the faculty computer. This is similar to plugging a secondary display into your computer’s video-out plug, but is simpler and easier because it is done without cables.

The simplest mode is “Show To,” where your computer’s desktop is shown on another screen, but other participants cannot interact with your desktop. A more advanced mode is “Share To.” Other participants can see your computer’s desktop and can also interact with it using their own mouse and keyboard. In this mode, your desktop temporarily becomes a shared worksurface.

To share your screen, open the Participants list in the mini-panel. Right-click on the computer name where you wish to show your desktop; this is typically one of the public screens, but could be the faculty computer instead. From the pop-up menu, choose “Share To” or “Show To,” depending on whether or not you want others to be able to interact with your computer. After the sharing session has been approved (by clicking a dialog that appears on the target computer), a window will open on the target computer showing your computer’s desktop. The mini-panel on the sending computer will turn white to visually distinguish it from the mini-panel on the target computer.

To stop sharing, you can either right-click the target computer’s name in the mini-panel again and choose “Stop Sharing” from the menu, or someone can simply close the viewing window on the target computer.

Note: When you use “Share To” to show your computer’s desktop to a public screen, PointRight will be temporarily disabled for you. This is necessary to prevent a cursor “feedback loop.” For similar reasons, you can only “show” the Host computer’s desktop when sending it to another computer.

Each name has a screen sharing popup menu. Click “Show To” to show your own computer’s screen on the selected computer, or “Share To” to share your screen interactively

One person “pushes” their computer’s screen up to the public

display, while another person operates it by interacting with the

pushed screen.

Introducing ClassSpot 12 of 15

Using Whiteboards With Luidia’s eBeam®

YOU CAN CAPTURE WHAT YOU WRITE on a physical whiteboad when your area is equipped with a Luidia eBeam® unit. Pick up one of the eBeam pens and write on the whiteboard the way you would normally. The receiver device tracks everything you do in digital form, and automatically stores a copy of the digital whiteboard record to the archive, so it can be available long after the board has been erased and you have left the session.

To use an eBeam-equipped board, locate the eBeam pens. These are normal dry-erase pens inside a special grey sleeve that enables the eBeam unit to track what you write. Write normally, but be sure to press firmly against the board. (The pen sleeve may buzz quietly to let you know that your marks are being captured digitally.)

Every few minutes, an image of the board is captured automatically . You can also manually save the board’s contents to the archive by pressing the pen in one of the two special “button” areas of the whiteboard. The “Print” button captures the board’s contents by “printing” files to the archive, while the “New Page” button saves the contents and then creates a new blank page in the digital capture record. (Previous captured pages are retained in the digital record.) You should erase the whiteboard after pressing “New Page” to reflect the blank state of the current digital “page.”

You will see two entries in the Archive for each saved page, labeled “WBD” and “PNG”. The latter is a simple graphic file showing the board’s contents and is compatible with almost all image viewers or editors. The former, the “WBD” file, is a special time-coded vector version of the digital record. Using Luidia’s Capture software application you can follow how the whiteboard content developed over time, seeing each pen stroke as it was added. This is handy if you forgot to save the board before erasing or altering your work; simply drag the time slider until you see the board as it stood prior to the modifications.

For more information on Luidia’s eBeam Capture software, including a discussion of features and instructions for setting up and calibrating an eBeam, visit www.luidia.com.

The eBeam capture unit, attached to the corner of the whiteboard.

Introducing ClassSpot 13 of 15

Troubleshooting “How do I get started with Tidebreak’s software?”

If you have never used ClassSpot with your computer before, point a web browser at the Host computer’s URL. You will see a download page that will give you access to the Client software and instructions for installing and configuring it.

“When I try to access the Host computer, I get an Apache information page, not the Host page.” For Macintosh Hosts the default web server port (port 80) is sometimes bound to other services. Try accessing the page via port 8080 instead. For example:

http://hostcomputername:8080

“When I start the Windows Client, I get a Windows Security Alert. What do I do now?” On Windows systems utilizing Windows Firewall, it is common to get Security Alerts such as these when running new software. Simply click “Unblock” to configure your system to allow the software to run; you should not see this alert again.

“When I start the Macintosh Client, it asks me to install Java. What do I do now?” Tidebreak products require Java technology, which is not installed by default on Apple’s “Lion” OS (version 10.7). If prompted to install it, click “Install”; it will automatically set it up.

“When I start the Macintosh Client, it asks me to install Rosetta. What do I do now?” Some Tidebreak products require Apple’s Rosetta technology, which is not installed by default on Apple’s “Snow Leopard” OS (version 10.6). If prompted to install it, click “Install”; it will automatically set it up.

“Can I connect to a version 4 Host if I have old Client software?” Due to changes in how version 4 Clients are configured, these Clients can only connect to version 4 Hosts. If you need to connect to an older Host, you can download and install an older Client that will allow you to connect. Older Clients can be safely used alongside version 4 Clients.

“When I try to connect to the Host, I get a message that reads: ‘Can’t find a default.tsz file at….’” Double-check that you have entered the correct IP address or URL for the Host computer. (The proper address should be posted prominently or otherwise communicated by the site administrator.) This IP address is the same one you may have used to access the Host web site and download the software initially. If the Host is a Macintosh computer, you might need to specify port 8080, as in the following example:

http://workroomb.your-url.com:8080

“When I share files using CrossWarp, where are the files kept?” The easiest way to locate the files is to click the menu in the upper left corner of the mini-panel and choose “Show Received” and double-click the “Received” folder you see. This will open the Received folder for you, so that you can work with the contents.

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“If I come back to a site that I’ve used before, can I get access to the Archive that I created in a previous session?” No, the Archive data is cleared 5 minutes after a session ends. If you want to save a copy of the Archive from your session, you can either click the “Save”� button on the mini-panel or click “Yes” when asked at the end of the session if you would like to save the archive. In both cases, a ZIP archive will be saved to your computer in the your personal folder.

For Windows 2000/XP/2003, look in the Tidebreak\Received folder within My Documents:

C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents\Tidebreak\Received\

For Windows Vista, look in the Tidebreak\Received folder within your Documents folder:

C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Tidebreak\Received\

For Macintosh, look in your user folder:

/Users/<user>/Tidebreak/Received/

“Why doesn’t the archive save a copy of all the files/folders I shared with CrossWarp?” To protect users’ privacy, the CrossWarp system only saves the names of files and folders that have been transferred, as these may contain information a participant does not want to make available to everyone in the group via the archive. If you would like to add a file or folder to the archive record, drag it to the “Send to Archive”� target in the mini-panel.

“Can I save information I created using the Annotate feature?” Yes. Simply click the “Save to Archive”� button at the bottom of the screen during an Annotate session.

“What is the difference between ‘Share To’� and ‘Show To’� when screen sharing?” If you choose to “share” your screen, other people will be able to interact with it and operate your computer. When you “show” your screen, it is view only and others will not be able to operate your computer.

“Can more than one person share a screen in a session at the same time?” Tidebreak’s software supports point-to-point screen sharing. A computer that is sharing its desktop cannot at the same time be viewing someone else’s shared desktop, or vice-versa. When you attempt to do this, the first sharing session is ended automatically so that the new one can begin.

However, there is nothing to prevent separate pairs of computers from being in screen sharing session simultaneously, as long as they don’t overlap.

(Note that you will not be able to share your screen with anyone in a ClassSpot if the faculty member has not first unlocked the Host for class use.)

“Since screen sharing uses Internet protocols, can I share a screen to someone at a remote location?” The screen sharing feature is not currently intended to support sharing to remote locations, although it does nothing to actively prevent this. In some cases it may be possible to use the capability in this fashion, but this will depend on the network topology between the two sites. Specifically, at least one of the machines participating in a screen share session must have a public IP address relative to the other for screen sharing to work. (Note that Tidebreak does not officially provide support for setting up screen sharing to remote locations.)

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“When I am sharing my screen to another computer, I cannot use PointRight to move to a Public screen.” When you share your screen using the “Share To” mode, PointRight is disabled on your computer to prevent “loop” conditions. When you end your sharing session, PointRight will be re-enabled.

“I see multiple TeamSpot icons in my Macintosh system dock.” On the Macintosh, some of the TeamSpot services run as separate applications, and therefore have their own dock icons.

“Where can I get more help?” Check with your local IT support staff.

“Where can I get help with my Luidia eBeam?” Check the support section of the Luidia website:

http://www.luidia.com/support/

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A Tidebreak Case Study: San Jose State University Incubator Classroom

BRINGING STUDENTS “BACK INTO THE CONVERSATION”

The (Incubator) Classroom enables professors to experiment with flexible learning environments and technology tools selected to enhance faculty-student interaction, encourage active learning, and increase student involvement. Faculty and students can utilize a variety of technologies focused on collaboration … and transforming the learning experience.

– San Jose State University website

San Jose State University’s award-winning Incubator Classroom is a cornerstone of a 10,000 square foot Academic Success Center designed to fulfill part of the University’s “Vision 2010” initiative. Leaders at the University wanted to provide learning spaces that engaged students – many of whom spent only a few minutes on campus beyond class time – by helping them to connect with each other during class. Tidebreak’s ClassSpot is the central collaborative software infrastructure that tied together multiple technologies in the space to facilitate in-class participation; it was a critical ingredient that ensured the success of the classroom project.

ClassSpot “Scaffolds” Participation at Many Levels

ClassSpot had an immediate impact, presenting faculty and students with intuitive interfaces that they could easily master. The software made it easy to share content and collaboratively combine information as part of class sessions. As they became more familiar

San Jose State University

Students: 32,746

Faculty: 1,853

Customer since: 2007

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with ClassSpot and began to imagine more sophisticated ways of working together, faculty and students were able to tap added layers of capability to match their evolving needs. Mr. Menko Johnson, an Instructional Designer at SJSU who managed the Incubator Classroom, noted that ClassSpot’s unique design allows different levels of participation that are critical to success in an interactive classroom. “ClassSpot flexes with faculty as they try new things and add new layers to their teaching approach. At a basic level it is a tool to manage content across multiple screens, but faculty can add student participation and ultimately connect the classroom with informal learning environments. I can’t think of another program we have that moves in the same way.”

A “Swiss-Army Knife” for Multi-Screen Environments

ClassSpot quickly demonstrated its versatility as a tool for helping faculty manage content and applications across the Incubator Classroom’s three-display environment (which includes two SMARTBoard display systems). Faculty are able to interact across three independent computers driving the display screens by simply moving a cursor from side to side as if the three screens are one extra-wide desktop. This allows faculty to keep multiple applications “active” at a time and to assign each screen a distinct purpose as appropriate to class activities. Some or all of the screens can be shared with students to support interactive discussion, though the faculty member can always “lock out” the students to retain direct control of what is being shown to the class. “ClassSpot solves so many infrastructure-related problems for multi-screen environments. It’s hard to underestimate the value of that,” says Johnson.

Comparative Literature Class Hones Digital Researching Skills

Dr. Katherine Harris’s graduate-level Romantic Era Literature course uses ClassSpot as a “constant conversation” tool that allows students and faculty to bring relevant information into their discussions with a flick of a mouse. In one exercise, the class uses ClassSpot and Google Docs to bring relevant information into their discussion of literary works. Students create a document on the center screen to create a basic timeline that spans the Romantic era of literature. They then search online repositories to find historical events, artistic works, contemporary writings, and biographical information that might have influenced the author. As they find items of interest, students send the information to one of the interactive screens to the side of the center display. Once publicly available, other members of the class can review and discuss each “find” to determine whether it would be relevant to their analysis. If so, someone from the class will place a reference and/or link to the material into the timeline document.

Students use the side screens to type questions about a work as they discuss it in class, and often show their own work on the large screens for critique. Johnson notes that ClassSpot “opens up multiple communication pathways that faculty can fit to how they want students to use information. It creates greater opportunities for students to rapidly introduce digital works to support speculation, discussion, and comparison.”

“ClassSpot is the tool that grows with you. It solves multiple problems in multiple ways.”

MENKO JOHNSON INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER

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Student Teams “Socially Collaborate” to Solve Statistics Problems in Class

In an undergraduate Kinesiology course on measurement and evaluation, Dr. Bethany Shifflett begins class building students’ knowledge in a public way by presenting information on the large screens. Students are able to absorb the presented material, ask questions while gesturing to particular areas of the screen, or dynamically interact with a calculation exercise to share their approach to its solution.

Dr. Shifflett often divides the class into three separate groups and has each group work collaboratively on a separate problem. Each of the groups uses one of the three large screens as its public information space and tablet PCs as personal workspaces. This creates an environment that is much different that having everyone in the class work individually on the same problem. The “social collaboration” amongst students in each group brings the process alive and creates opportunities for the students to compare and critique each other’s work in a collaborative atmosphere.

Supporting a Diverse Collection of Courses

The Incubator Classroom is used by a wide cross-section of courses from different disciplines, all taught by faculty who are interested in enriching students’ learning experience. Some of the courses that have been taught in the room include 20th Century Poetry, Introductory Physics, Urban Planning, and Global Business Leadership. Multiple seminar courses and even an elective literary magazine course have also used the classroom.

Students have grown accustomed to using ClassSpot in their courses, and faculty have begun building their instructional approaches in ways that rely on its capabilities. Johnson notes that once they’ve tried ClassSpot, faculty don’t want to go back to old-style teaching methods. “They would be irate if they didn’t have it now, if for any reason we yanked it back.”

The Incubator Classroom’s success inspired the Martin Luther King Jr. Library – a facility SJSU manages jointly with the City of San Jose – to install ClassSpot software in one of its newly renovated classroom facilities. “This new space makes ClassSpot available for use by SJSU students and residents of the city of city of San Jose serving K-20 and the community, greatly expanding the utilization and testing of this innovative collaborative software across age groups and cultures,” says SJSU Academic Technology's Associate Vice-President, Mary Jo Gorney-Moreno. “We are looking forward to the results of this expanded utilization.”

The Value of Interaction for Engaging Students

In articulating the value that ClassSpot brings to the classroom, Johnson references a faculty concern that students will be distracted by modern technologies like laptop computers and will not fully participate in class exchanges. With ClassSpot, student energy can be harnessed and channeled more effectively; students are invited to use personal machines to contribute back to the class discourse. “Part of the value of ClassSpot is student enthusiasm and engagement,” he says. “It is a way to bring them back to the

“ClassSpot meets the faculty at their level. It is a faculty teaching and a student learning tool. Many products are not good at doing both, and this one is.”

MENKO JOHSON INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER

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conversation and bring digital information into their discussions. ClassSpot improves instruction by adding student interaction back to the classroom.”

Read more case studies at www.tidebreak.com/casestudies.

Tidebreak, Inc. 958 San Leandro Avenue, Suite 500 Mountain View, CA 94043 USA +1 650 289 9869 Voice +1 650 472 8940 FAX

Copyright © 2009 Tidebreak, Inc. Tidebreak and ClassSpot are trademarks of Tidebreak, Inc. SMARTBoard is a registered trademark of SMART Technologies, Inc. Any other trademarks are hereby acknowledged as belonging to their respective owners.