UMUC

Center for Teaching and Learning

Online Faculty Innovators: Andy Cavanaugh

Interactive Presentations for EDCP 103

photo of Andy Cavanaugh.

"I have always wanted to make the online class more dynamic and to make it more like a face-to-face class in its ability to explain concepts, put resources into students' hands, and help students experience the personal approach that is available in the face-to-face classroom."

— Andy Cavanaugh
Andy Cavanaugh, the Assistant Academic Director of Communication Studies, was a 1998-2000 Fellow in the Web Initiative in Teaching program (a USM distance education initiative) at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he helped develop a series of online courses in American culture, writing, and cross-cultural communication. He has been teaching EDCP 103 for UMUC since fall 2002. The object created here will be used in the first online version of the course, scheduled for fall 2005.


What do you feel is the educational significance of using a tool such as Impatica? audio | transcript
What is the technological advantage of using Impatica? audio | transcript
What features of the program did you find desirable or useful? audio | transcript
Is the audio component easy to implement? audio | transcript
What kind of feedback have you received thus far? audio | transcript

Object Snapshot

Click on the thumbnail below to view the object. 

Note: You will need to turn on your speakers.

 snapshot of EDCP 103 presentation.

Background

EDCP 103 Elements of Composition and Style is an undergraduate enrichment course for students who have been away from school for some time or who need to improve their academic skills prior to taking ENGL 101, a general education requirement. EDCP 103 reviews basic writing skills and develops students' use of complex sentences (see the catalog course description for more details). The main challenge Mr. Cavanaugh faced was how to maintain face-to-face classroom presentation dynamics in the online environment.

Nature of the Project/Intended Outcome

For his face-to-face EDCP 103 classes, Andy had created a number of useful PowerPoint presentations on various grammatical topics and writing strategies. Because these classes were live, he would speak to the students while showing the PowerPoint files to demonstrate certain concepts. Charged with the task of developing EDCP 103 as an online course, Andy sought a way to:

  • Provide access to existing presentations.
  • Be able to "speak" to students at a distance.
  • Provide a personal, active learning experience for students.
  • Keep files at a reasonable size.

Programs/Applications Used

Development Time

Andy came to the table with expertise both in creating PowerPoint presentations and in recording and adding audio narration to those presentations. All told, he estimates that he initially spent 10-15 hours learning PowerPoint, developing PowerPoint and audio narration files, downloading Impatica, "impaticizing" the presentation, securing a Polaris account, and learning how to upload the Impatica files with an FTP program. His time spent developing additional impaticized presentations was considerably shorter.

Support and Assistance

Andy initially contacted Dr. Theo Stone, director of the Media Lab, for assistance in using Camtasia, a software program that records computer screen activity and narration. After listening to Andy's needs, however, Theo suggested using Impatica for PowerPoint. He provided Andy with instructions for downloading the software and pointed him to existing web resources on how to use it.

Lessons Learned

  • Don't assume that you have all the answers regarding technology and media. Consulting with a media professional before you begin your project may open your eyes to possibilities you didn't know existed—and they may be better choices pedagogically.

  • Audio is not difficult to incorporate into an online format, but you need to understand the differences between .wav and .mp3 audio formats. This technology helped me
    overcome the problem with the fact that PowerPoint only uses .wav formats.

  • Voice recording might take a few tries. Don't be surprise if you have to record your first lecture four or five times because of issues like microphone level and lack of familiarity with the technology. Be patient.

  • Understand that certain features of your work may need to be edited. Overall, you have to understand that you are doing "drafts" of your lecture, and you may redo parts of it as you discover things that can be tweaked.

  • When recording a narration that goes along with an animated slide, wait a few seconds before you start recording, and then advance to the next slide. This will keep the sound from being cut off.

  • Don't forget to check for typographical errors on the slides.

  • Be sure to incorporate playback controls into your presentation so that students can pause it if they wish. Playback controls let students go back and forth between a presentation and their own work, or even skip to certain parts of the presentation.