KFLC 2006

FLASH to the Rescue

Automating Student WebCT Orientations with a Video Tutorial

KFLC 2006

Elementary Spanish

• 40 sections per semester, 900 students

• Graduate Teaching Assistants

• Part Time Instructors

• College of Liberal Arts core course

KFLC 2006

WebCT Usage

• 1 hour “lab” credit

• WebCT site – Course Documents– Resources– Electronic Workbook– Videos and Video Quizzes

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Previous WebCT Site

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Course Documents

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Course Calendar

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Study Guides

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Lab Materials

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Lab Materials

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Electronic Workbook

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Our Students

• From College of Liberal Arts

• Incoming Freshmen• First course with

WebCT• Complex site

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Previous Solutions

• Multimedia Cart or TEC classroom

• Introductory PowerPoint presentation

• Lab Orientations

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What happens when you try to bring 900 Spanish students to the Foreign Language Multimedia Center during the first week of classes?

a. Schedule conflicts with other languages

b. Confusion as students add courses

c. Coordinator loses her voice

d. General chaos

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e. All of the above!!!!

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Ideal Solution

– Automated presentation

– Available for all Elementary Spanish students

– Internet based

– Content specific

– Unlimited usage for reference

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Ideal Solution

– Individual pacing

– Easy to use

– Visual and aural

– Cross platform

– Limited software, plug-in or hardware requirements

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Team Members

• Coordinator, Elementary Spanish Program• Assistant to Spanish Coordinator• Producer/Director, Media Production Group• Graphic Designer, Media Production Group• Director, Foreign Language Multimedia Center• IT Coordinator, College of Liberal Arts• Graduate Student Technology Assistant

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Development Process

• Demonstrate and discuss site• Brainstorm• Determine important elements• Redesign WebCT site• Develop script• Design Video Tutorial• Implement Tutorial• Assess Results

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Discuss Site

• Opportunity to evaluate current site

• “Fresh” eyes

• Reflect on language used in orientations

• Determine assumptions about our students and how they use the site

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Brainstorm

• Flexibility

• Ability to pause

• Talking head or not

• Screen shots versus video

• To stream or not to stream

• Small chunks

• Length

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Important Elements

What elements are crucial to student success in course?– Finding Syllabus– Navigating site– Locating online assignments– Registering Electronic Workbook– Taking Video Quizzes

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Site Redesign

• Reorganize

• Adjust terms

• Simplify

• New visual look and feel

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Develop Script

• Record an orientation session• Transcribe script• Review transcription• Back to the drawing board/re-write script• Judicious editing by group• Record script and listen• More editing• Even more editing

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Why FLASH?

• Cross platform

• No specific media player required

• No slow download or stream

• Flexibility of presentation

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Build Flash Tutorial

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Finished Product

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Challenges

• Placement in WebCT

• Window resizing and pop-up windows

• Java script solutions

• Tracking mechanism

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Challenges

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Challenges

• Create a “command / response” situation like a traditional classroom

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Challenges

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Challenges

• Screen shots and an animated mouse arrow timed with the narration

• Simple click sound effect makes enormous difference in focus

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Implementation

• Added to newly re-designed WebCT sites in Spring 2006

• Tutorial was pointed out in class

• No classes brought for orientations

• Two “Help Sessions” scheduled in Multimedia Center

• Students with questions were directed to the tutorial

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Results

• Much less chaos in lab

• No lost class time

• Very few students with WebCT questions

• Low student attendance at “Help Sessions”

• Tracking indicates video accessed 200 times during first two days of class

• Accessed 1128 times by mid term

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Access

Tutorial Uses by Week

0100200300400500600700800

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Week

Us

es

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ResultsFLSP Students

90

21

70

57

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Watched Tutorial Did Not Watch Tutorial

1010

1020

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Student Reaction

• Responses to online survey– 238 responses– Some unreliable data

“After I watched it once I really felt like I was on the right track. There is a lot to do in this class and this help me feel like I ready for all the work.”

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“It was wonderful! I would hate going to the WebCT site if the tutorial had not helped me figure out what I needed and how to get to it.”

“Didn’t know about it”

“Tutorials are for suckers”

“not at all. it wasn't necessary.”

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Timeline

• Initial project approximately 6 months– Planning and scripting (4 months)– Development (2 months)

• Subsequent projects 3-4 months

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Future Plans

• Other Elementary and Intermediate Language sequences

• Core courses in Liberal Arts with common WebCT sites

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Success Strategies

• Choose your team wisely

• Take advantage of resources on your campus

• Be flexible and open-minded

• Revise, revise, revise

KFLC 2006

Stacey L. PowellDirector, Foreign Language Multimedia Center

Auburn Universitypowelst@auburn.edu

Jason AdamsGraphic Designer, Media Production Group

Auburn Universityadamsjs@auburn.edu

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Brian M. ColeAssistant Coordinator, Elementary Spanish

ProgramAuburn University

colebrm@auburn.edu