Teaching with Technology

Fostering Student Creativity with Green Screen Videos

Educators have come to realize that videos are highly effective and engaging ways to create online course content. One of the most engaging forms uses a green-screen backdrop to project images or videos behind or next to the speaker. Barbara Oakley used this technique in

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Microsoft OneNote and Teams: Alternatives to the LMS

Since the closure of schools and universities this spring, Microsoft has been producing a wealth of remote learning resources in support of its educational tools, most notably Microsoft OneNote Class Notebook and Teams. OneNote Class Notebook, launched in 2014 and built on Microsoft’s note-taking tool,

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Microlearning with Articulate Storyline and Rise

Microlearning is gaining popularity in education as an alternative to the traditional 45–75-minute lecture because it better matches the neurology of learning. When we encounter new information, it starts in our working memory, which is the memory we use for immediate tasks—a bit like computer

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Mixed-Reality Virtual Simulation: Where Should You Start?

Recently, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and Mursion, a well-known commercial vendor for virtual reality training, forged a new partnership in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (AACTE, 2020). The pandemic has driven this kind of mixed-reality virtual simulation into the

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Google Hangouts, Meet, and Duo as Alternatives to Zoom

Zoom has become ubiquitous during the COVID-19 crisis to the point of even becoming the butt of a Saturday Night Live skit (NBC, April 11, 2020). But while it replaced the equally ubiquitous GoToMeeting seemingly overnight as the go-to app for hosting meetings, it is

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Online Tools for Durable Learning

In our previous article, we explored retrieval practice, spaced practice, and metacognition as strategies that provide more durable learning experiences for students. In our work as learning designers in the Colleges of Earth and Mineral Sciences and Business at Penn State University, we incorporate all

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Alternate Reality Teaching

Nearly everyone has heard of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and while these terms tend to be used in different ways, all involve creating a digital world. In VR, the user enters a wholly digital world, as in Second Life or World of

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Simulations in Online Courses: Integrating Synchronous Experiential Learning Opportunities for Students in the Virtual Classroom

Educators have long praised the value of simulations and role-playing exercises and the impact of those experiential activities on student learning. As Bjorn Billhardt (2005) explains, “Simulations offer huge advantages over lectures, handbooks, or on-site trainers. They engage students while helping them retain and apply

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What Can YouTube Teach You about Creating Videos for Students?

A national survey found that Generation Z students (defined as those born between 1995 and 2012) ranked YouTube as their favorite learning tool (Overland, 2018). Yet many instructors think to themselves, “There is no way I could create videos like the professionals.” The good news

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