Extended Learning & Outreach

Three great lecture recording options for remote education rookies

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 17:26:28 +0000

Three great lecture recording options for remote education rookies Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/19/2022 - 13:26

This article was originally published on July 27, 2020.

As ��-Dearborn prepares for a fall semester that’s heavy on remote learning, many faculty will soon be recording lectures for their first fully online courses. If you find yourself in this boat, don’t panic. Even with tight timelines imposed by the pandemic, ��-Dearborn’s digital learning experts say the challenge is totally manageable if you don’t try to do too much, too fast. Here are three straightforward approaches they say will deliver solid results, even if you’re a rookie.

Option A: Simple at-home recording

Tech you’ll need: Can be as simple as a laptop or phone; add an external camera and mic for better quality. Annotation devices can give your students a whiteboard-style experience.

For many faculty, recording a lecture at home will be the most straightforward choice and Instructional Designer Alfonso Sintjago says producing high-quality videos at home is totally doable. The built-in camera and mic on your smartphone or laptop can be adequate, but if you want to go the extra mile, the university is supplying faculty with external cameras and mics that will deliver better video and audio. Once on camera, experiment with the lighting. Sintjago says first make sure you have enough of it; if your image looks grainy, you probably need more light. Your light source should also be in front or slightly to one side of your face, rather than behind you. Using natural light from a window is great if you can record during the day. You’ll also want to make sure the camera position is at eye level or a little above, because shooting from below is typically unflattering. For faculty who write on the board a lot during their lectures, Sintjago says consider adding an annotation device, which is basically a tablet that you can write on with a stylus. Whatever you’re scribbling down can either be displayed as its own screen, or superimposed overtop an existing screen, like a PowerPoint slide.

For software, Sintjago says both Kaltura Capture, which is integrated right into Canvas, or PowerPoint 365 work great for beginners. PowerPoint has an added advantage of recording a single video file for each slide, which makes it easier to correct something if you discover a mistake or decide to do a small retake. Importantly, both platforms automatically generate on-screen captions for accessibility. They’re typically 80 percent accurate, and correcting transcription mistakes is as easy as editing a text file.

One last tip: The casual, personal vibe of an at-home lecture can totally be an asset. “I saw a great example from someone in Minnesota where you could see her dog and fireplace in the background. The whole scene was very cozy and you felt invited into her home,” Sintjago says. Another way to make the whole experience more personal for students: Record casual, short beginning- or end-of-week videos where you go over important reminders or respond to interesting discussion points from students.

Option B: At-home recording with style points

Tech you’ll need: Laptop, external camera, wireless lavalier mic and green screen.

If you’re aiming for something with a little more polish, adopting Mercedes Miranda as your online learning guru can dramatically shorten the learning curve. The Business Economics and Finance lecturer has been teaching online since 2009, and her colleagues rave about her video lectures. Miranda says she does everything at home, and her setup is pretty simple: An external camera, wireless lavalier mic, and the Kaltura Capture software that’s integrated into Canvas. But she does have one secret ingredient: a $20 green screen she got at Walmart. This allows her to lecture onscreen with a slide in the background, kind of like a TV meteorologist showing off a weather map. She says studies have revealed that showing your face makes a lecture appear more personal to students, though too much of you can be distracting. She finds being onscreen to introduce the topic and then letting the PowerPoint slides and voiceover carry the load to be the right balance.

More than technology, Miranda’s secret to successful lectures lies in how she organizes them. “If you simply try to reproduce your classroom lecture on screen, you’ll end up with a one- or two-hour monologue, and that’s not very engaging,” Miranda says. Instead, she says dissect your lecture and break it down into no more than five main points. Then record a no longer than 10-minute lecture on each point. She even further segments those individual mini lectures with short quizzes, which appear periodically during the video. That helps add some interactivity and also checks for comprehension. The Video Quiz function is integrated right into Kaltura Capture and you can insert quizzes easily at any point after you record your lecture.

Two of Miranda’s next-level tips: First, have your mini lectures focus on core concepts, but avoid referring to specific examples, pages of a particular textbook, or things that could get out of date quickly. If you end up teaching online for multiple semesters, you can reuse your core concept videos and simply update your examples as needed. Second, leave yourself enough time to produce your lectures. Miranda says it typically takes her two eight-hour days to finish one. And you never want to start a course with fewer than two weeks worth of lectures in the bank.

Option C: On-campus lecture capture

Tech you’ll need: None, but you can bring your own devices.

If your home situation makes recording challenging, or you just find using all this technology a little daunting, recording on-campus might be a better bet. The Professional Education Center (PEC) recently opened up its lecture capture classrooms to all faculty, and they’re equipped with high-quality cameras, microphones, document readers, annotation tools, the Canvas-integrated Mediasite Desktop Recorder software (which you can also use at home, by the way), and staff to guide you through the recording session. To make things even easier, much of the process is automated. Video Production Coordinator Joe Goraj told us the recording automatically begins at the start of your booked time and your videos get uploaded immediately after you finish. If you need some light editing at the beginning or end of a session, they can help with that too. Typically, the finished videos will be ready for your students the following day. In addition, they have portable equipment to shoot short supplemental videos if faculty want to do some show-and-tell from their labs. Check out this clip to see an example of what your finished video lecture will look like.

Two tips for beginners if you go this route: As much as possible, try to look directly into the camera. It may feel awkward at first, but from the student’s perspective, that amounts to looking them in the eye. In addition, if you’re used to pointing a lot during a lecture, say, at a whiteboard or projection screen, be aware that may not be in view of the camera. As an alternative, you can annotate your screen with a digital stylus or use your mouse pointer.

Bonus tip: Make a plan before you record and get help if you need it.

Whichever route faculty end up choosing for lecture recording, Sintjago says don’t get too hung up on the technology. What makes a lecture video “good” isn’t so much its production values but what you’re doing with your time on screen and how it fits into the rest of your course. If you need help figuring out an approach that works for you, Sintjago says to reach out to the instructional designers at The Hub. They can help you talk through what you want to do in the course and figure out what tools and techniques will get you there. The Hub is also hosting weekly course design tutorials in August to help faculty get ready for fall.

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Need help getting started? Reach out to The Hub. Or if you want to learn more about CECS’s on-campus lecture capture, send an email to ��D-CECSOnline@umich.edu. Ready to record? Complete this form to schedule a recording appointment on campus in the PEC.

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Recording lectures can be a daunting challenge for faculty who are new to online learning. Here are three solid approaches, vetted by our ��-Dearborn experts.

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This summer youth golf program is targeting a kink in the STEM education pipeline

lblouin — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 14:23:20 +0000

This summer youth golf program is targeting a kink in the STEM education pipeline lblouin Thu, 07/18/2019 - 10:23

There’s plenty to like about what the City of Westland and the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) have been doing in the ever-evolving space of youth STEM education. The two partners already have an innovative mentoring program at the Jefferson Barns Learning Lab, which hopes to spark kids’ college and career dreams by pairing ��-Dearborn students with youth in the city’s economically challenged Norwayne neighborhood. Now this summer, that same core idea is getting a sporty twist with a two-week day camp targeting STEM’s gender gap.

Women continue to be underrepresented in many STEM careers, and research has identified a curious kink in the educational pipeline as a likely factor. “Studies have shown that the middle to high school transition is when some young women start shifting away from things like engineering and computer science,” says Jeanne Girard, director of Extended Learning and Outreach at ��-Dearborn.

Given this challenge, Girard and her team of collaborators set out to design a program that could help sustain young women’s interest in STEM subjects through this critical time. One color-outside-the-lines idea that stuck : A two-week day camp that combines building mobile apps with playing golf.

Professional golfer and former ��-Dearborn golf coach Kelly Kuhlman, who’s helping with the golf instruction, says golf and app development aren’t as strange a match as they may appear. She says technology and analytics are playing a bigger role in the sport all the time. And with constant mental analysis of distances, trajectories and angles of approach, there’s a ton of computational problem solving that’s baked into the game.

Computer science professor Brahim Medjahed says pairing sports with app development makes a lot of sense from his perspective too. “I like to think that computational thinking is fun in its own right,” he says, smiling. “But it’s summer. Kids want to be outside. And they love their phones. So why not teach them about coding, but in a way that seems fun to them?”

That’s why the summer camp will include a half day of golf instruction with Kuhlman and ��-Dearborn’s student-athletes; and another half where Medjahed, two of his standout female computer science students, and Jefferson Barns Learning Lab Director Josh Rychlicki will teach participants how to build apps for their phones. One cool thing: The apps will be designed to help students with an aspect of their golf game (for example, recommending an appropriate club based on the distance to the hole.) What exactly the apps do, though, is totally up to the kids.

��-Dearborn education professor Mesut Duran will also be lending his expertise with a post-project evaluation. In particular, he’s interested to see if combining sports with STEM activities can do what the team hopes it can do — namely, strengthen students’ interest in STEM subjects during their identity-shaping teenage years.

Westland mayor William Wild says partnerships with ��-Dearborn faculty, staff and students is crucial to pulling off innovative projects like Girls, Golf and Gadgets. “Part of that is about a pooling of resources,” Wild says. “But it’s also about leveraging everyone’s creativity and unique expertise to come up with ideas that really reach kids and provide a meaningful opportunity that they wouldn’t have otherwise.”

CECS Associate Dean and Professor Ghassan Kridli also sees big potential in the project’s creative approach. “The program offers a way to kindle curiosity among the participants in STEM education by helping them develop their own connections of the applications of STEM in everyday life,” he says. “The success of the program is a win for all.”

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The Girls, Golf and Gadgets program is made possible with support from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Legacy Funds at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. The camp runs August 12 through August 22, and participants can register through July 26 at umdearborn.edu/G3-program. There is no cost for the program. The Jefferson Barns Learning Lab is supported with funding from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, which is awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, and is administered by the Michigan State Police.

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The City of Westland and ��-Dearborn are banking on a pairing of sports and technology to keep young women dreaming big about STEM.

Credit: Mimi Cummins via Flickr/Creative Commons

CECS student Shawn El-Souri helps struggling students succeed

admin — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 16:08:12 +0000

CECS student Shawn El-Souri helps struggling students succeed admin Mon, 01/15/2018 - 11:08

As a high school student, Shawn El-Souri took exams that would decide his future. He remembers the pressure he felt; knowing the scores would dictate his career path and educational opportunities.

Today, El-Souri—who was born in Dearborn, but grew up in Lebanon—uses his knowledge and experience to help GED students and underprivileged youth better navigate their own experiences.

“The psychological and social pressure was so intense,” said El-Souri, a computer engineering junior. “I have a supportive family, studied daily for hours and did well. But not everyone can get through testing pressure and pass—especially without help. I wanted to help.”

When El-Souri returned to the United States for college, he learned of opportunities to help struggling students succeed. He started in ��-Dearborn’s Math Learning Center and then branched out beyond the university community.

Along with a full course load of software and programming classes, El-Souri now mentors and tutors nearly every day of the week.

El-Souri works with the Office of Metropolitan Impact three days a week to help 16- to 22-year-old youth earn their GEDs. He’s also a mentor and tutor with the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s Extended Learning and Outreach, where he works with middle and high school students four times a week. Both positions are funded through the Justice Assistance Grant Program, which is a federal initiative to help get educational and crime-fighting resources to communities in need.

“These are very intelligent kids, but sometimes the pressure is too much,” said El-Souri, who is fluent in English and Arabic, but is learning Spanish to better help youth he meets. “These students have so much on their minds. I want to support them and let them know they can succeed even with the pressure, even when things are difficult. I’m not an education major, but I know the power of having a positive person in your life who believes in you.”

Walking from table to table at Covenant House Homeless Shelter in Detroit last semester, El-Souri coached GED students on math-section problems. Noticing a young man watching YouTube and drawing during the study session, El-Souri sat down next to him. The student said, “I hate math. I like art.”

El-Souri took a thoughtful pause, and then found a photo of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa online. He explained how math—with ratios and proportions—is an important part of art.

Weeks later, El-Souri said the student shows more interest in the lessons and now takes notes. He also said three GED students recently passed the exam.

“It feels so good to know they succeeded in something that I know wasn’t easy for them," he said. "When they reach their goals, I feel like I’m reaching mine too.”

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El-Souri helps young adults earn their GEDs and tutors middle and high school students.

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Engineered for success: High school students gain practical experience in bioengineering fields

admin — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 14:23:32 +0000

Engineered for success: High school students gain practical experience in bioengineering fields admin Mon, 11/10/2014 - 09:23

Another works on a collagen detection probe for the skin.

And a third is focused on culturing mesenchymal stem cells, working to optimize the protocol to preserve the cells for future use.

Think of it as the ultimate career test-driving experience. Students enrolled in Plymouth-Canton Community Schools’ STEM Academy are getting an in-depth look at life as an engineer thanks to the district’s partnership with University of Michigan-Dearborn’s College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS).

Since August, the high school students have participated in lab activities with ��-Dearborn students. Bioengineering faculty members serve as mentors, while graduate students lead demonstrations in the lab.

“The notion that advanced research is only for the graduate students is fast changing,” said Nilay Chakraborty, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “By exposing the high school students to advanced interdisciplinary research in a meaningful way we are creating a highly focused learning environment that fosters creativity and instills an interest for higher study in young minds.”

The lessons started small enough—wear gloves, show up on time. Soon after, though, they were observing the researchers in action and pitching in when they could.

The benefits of the program are evident: Students gain hands-on experience in a specific field. And with undergraduate and graduate students in the lab, high-schoolers can begin to chart out the next steps in their educational process, said Gargi Ghosh, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

Joe Lo, for one, sees another benefit to the program—one that’s advantageous for both the university and the students involved. It’s a way to instill a love of research in students, especially if they can see results from their work down the line.

“I’m hoping they are able to get some results that help our graduate students contribute data to a problem that later on might lead to a publication,” said Lo, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “I see this as a way to motivate high school students to go into engineering and science fields in college.”

CECS’ Extended Learning and Outreach Office (ELO) ran the program as a pilot throughout the fall semester after being approached by Danielle Ramos (’01 B.A., ’04, M.A.T). The STEM Academy leader was looking for a way to provide students with a real-world experience in a field of their interest.

“Now they are able to interact with professionals, experience the workplace firsthand and formulate future goals for a career within their pathway,” Ramos said.

Next on the agenda, the college is looking into restructuring as an intensive summer program. The shift will give students extra time in the lab to see results from their work.

“We’re thrilled that this innovative partnership with Plymouth-Canton STEM Academy is having such a positive impact on the Plymouth-Canton students, said ELO Director Jeanne Girard. “Our faculty and graduate students are also benefiting from the experience. It’s inspiring for all of us to see young people so intrigued with research and bio-engineering.”

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One group of students looks through the microscope to observe cell cultures that later may be used for tissue engineering.

Go with the flow: Area high school students learn about autonomous vehicles by building traffic jam assist systems

admin — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 20:53:20 +0000

Go with the flow: Area high school students learn about autonomous vehicles by building traffic jam assist systems admin Fri, 07/18/2014 - 16:53

They aren’t old enough to get behind the wheel yet.

But that didn’t stop a group of local high school students from thinking about what’s next in driver assistance technology. The students were on campus Wednesday as part of the Michigan Introduction to Technology and Engineering (MITE) program for a hands-on workshop dedicated to autonomous vehicles.

The work makes sense for a generation of millennials who often are more interested in connecting virtually than driving to meet their friends.

“Texting and driving is one of the single largest contributors to automobile accidents for early drivers and experts know these two functions cannot safely exist while drivers are focused on controlling the vehicle,” said Mark Crawford, a research scientist at Ford and ��-Dearborn Ph.D. candidate, who led the program. “Self-driving cars may help address this problem by handling the driving and freeing drivers to engage in other activities.”

On the agenda for the afternoon? Students were tasked with building a system to assist drivers in traffic jams.

“When you’re in a traffic jam you’re thinking, ‘I’m tired. I don’t really feel like dealing with stop-and-go traffic. I’d like the vehicle to drive itself,” Crawford said. “We’re working on that at Ford with a feature called Traffic Jam Assist and we’ll do something similar today.”

They worked with robotic cars using Lego Mindstorm kits. Students built their cars, created the test environment, adjusted the software on the fly—all as part of the design process. And in the end they created their own traffic jam to test their final products.

The workshop was a condensed version of a six-week program ��-Dearborn partnered with the College for Creative Studies to run in the spring. The Automotive Design Experience for Area High School Students offered a deeper dive into automotive design with a focus on the topic “Being Mobile with Millennials.”

The idea behind both the MITE program and the CECS Experience is to expose student participants to the creative, intriguing, and enjoyable aspects of engineering and technology. We’re trying to inspire the pursuit of STEM careers by providing outreach opportunities that encourage real-world experiences in critical thinking, innovation, and leadership skills," said Jeanne Girard, director of the CECS Extended Learning and Outreach Office. "��-Dearborn understands that an educated and skilled workforce provides a solid foundation for both the business sector and the communities where we live."

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Area high school students use a course they developed to test their traffic jam assist systems. The students were on campus Wednesday as part of the Michigan Introduction to Technology and Engineering (MITE) program.