Now showing in the Showcase is Dolen Perkins-Valdez of the Puget Sound Department of English on how she is using a video chat program called Skype in her classrooms to do live interviews with the authors of texts her students are reading and studying.
Find out how having the author and students talk directly to one another in class by using video chat over the internet is enriching the reading experience in a cost effective manner.
Our latest Showcase interview with faculty on how they use technology in teaching is here.
Each semester, Lynette Claire, Assistant Professor in the School of Business and Leadership, sponsors the Entrepreneurial Film Festival. She has her business students make short documentaries about a local business owner and share it with other students and community members at the end of the semester in Rausch Auditorium.
This is the information page for the webcam we have for checkout.
This is a model Microsoft LifeCam model VX-600. It runs only on MS Windows XP and Vista machines.
The main information site is here.
In order to use the webcam, software must be installed on the local PC first. It can be downloaded from the main site above, or for Windows XP machines directly from this link.
WARNING: This software is large and can only be downloaded from the MS site during the install. It could easily take an hour or more to do the download and install! Plan well ahead of time.
Janet, a Puget Sound alumna, teaches in the Community Music Department in The School of Music.
In our video interview, she explains how she uses video of her students uploaded to YouTube to help them learn to play the violin.
You can also use these links to alternate formats to view or download:
There are many tools for online, synchronous communication. The simplest choice would be traditional text based Chat tools. But you may want to use audio and video for a better experience - tone of voice and facial expression are very important in communicating. There are many free or inexpensive tools available to do this over the internet today.
Face to Face Video
The most common tool for this is Skype. If using Skype, I would suggest creating a second account just for this purpose, so you don’t have to give out your main Skype account to students. With a Mac of course, you can also use iChat to do this.
Your Own TV Channel
Another common tool is Ustream.tv, which is an online streaming tool with “channels” that can be subscribed to. You can create your own channel and then users can watch you live. The sessions can be automatically recorded for later use. It has text chat for viewers to interact.
One issue with Ustream.tv is that the video only goes one way, while the text chat goes both ways. I’m not so sure that would work for office hours type situations. It works well for streaming video of talks, lectures and presentations, which is its main use.
Example: We use Ustream to present the iTech Infosessions on campus on our channel UPSiTechTtraining.
Other Online Video Chat and Group Conference Tools
There are some other alternatives you might experiment with:
If you try any of these, or others, please give us some feedback on how they worked for you.
Webcam Equipment
Most of these tools use video. You will need a webcam to do this. For Macs, webcams are built in with the iSight system, though you can also buy an external one, too.
For Windows PCs, you will need to purchase a webcam. The Media check out desk has one webcam for temporary loan. You can check it out and give it a try, but it is not for long term use, but for you to find out whether one will work for you. There is software that comes with it you have to install on your PC as well.