Q: What video equipment would be reliable for the study abroad trip? Our group is going to a development country, remote areas. Students will take pictures and videos for their blogs and portfolio pieces.

A: Pack smart. Technology is offering great options our days, you don't need to carry heavy and expensive cameras to capture good quality pictures and videos. Flip camera such as Kodak Playsport is easy to use, it produces high quality image and sound, and has a pocket size. GoPro with a kit gives you a lot of flexibility. Cell phones with any Android systems or iPhones produce a very good video with sound. Use self stick  or grab and go tripod for stability, and practice before you go: try different camera angles, lighting conditions, battery life etc.

Q: My students are creating portfolios of their works. What apps could help them to stand out in a competitive world?

A: Adobe Slate would be the best choice but it is available for iPad users only. It allows to combine text and media content in a professional style and you don't need to be a designer. Check for alternative storytelling tools, name just a few: Pixotale for iPhone and iPad, Exposure for desktop, Explory,  Interlude Treehouse, Racontr, Storehouse and for Android: Comic and Meme Creator, AudioBoo, Talking Tom and Ben, WeVideo, Animoto, iStoryBooks. Every day something new pops out. Choose what works for you.

Q: I want to make my online course materials more engaging. Is it something relatively easy to use for a busy instructor?

A: Try Zaption to create a learning tour for your course. You can add existing videos from Youtube and Vimeo, trim your video to show the segments you want, add interactive elements such as quiz questions. There is a basic account for free to start.

Q: How to export audio from a narrated Power Point presentation? I want to update my slides but keep the audio.

A:  the question puzzled me for a second but I found a quick solution here. It worked for me.

If your audio is embedded in a PowerPoint file, you can extract the audio files by doing the following:

1. Save the presentation as a .pptx.
2. Navigate to the file in Windows Explorer, right click it and select rename.
3. Add “.zip” to the end of the file name so it looks like this: “filename.pptx.zip”.
4. Click enter.
5. Now, double click the file, then double click the ppt folder, then double click the media folder. You should see a list of all the media files in your PowerPoint.

Q: What 10 Edtech Tools Will Educators Use This Fall?

A: more

Q: I'd like to use technology more to enhance my teaching. Are any webinars available that cover this topic?

A: SoLS Summer Tech Webinars: Summer Webinar Series: Please join The ASU SoLS Faculty   for a series of technology webinars!   We will discuss easy ideas for incorporating videos, usin...

Q: I enjoy interacting with students in f2f classroom by using clickers for example. How can I recreate this experience online?

A: It is challenging because the most powerful component of polling practice is a real-time feedback. In online classroom the polling still could be used to elicit information from students asynchronously to capture an overall mood of your virtual classroom. Look at some  tools that are available for free: 
TodaysMeet
Padlet
Poll Everywere
Polldaddy
Check the additional resources here.

Q: How faculty integrate technology in teaching? Could you share some examples?

A: I'd like to point to my colleagues:  Sustainability and success: Teaching with technology | ASU News

Q: I’ve noticed that some people are using a service called “brainshark” for their audio slideshows. Do you have any information about it?

A: You can narrate your PowerPoint presentation easily by signing up for a free account at brainshark.com.

This service is like Adobe presenter, allowing you to add narration to your presentation and then store it in the cloud. Your presentation is always editable and you will have a link that you can put in your emails, websites and blackboard shells. A couple of caveats.... Since your narrated copy of your presentation is stored on their service, you should consider what to do should their service go away.   

Retrieved from: ASU UTO Meeting Minutes

Q: I have videos in my course for students to watch in preparation to the next class. I have to summarize the video's content in class because I am not sure that students were watching the videos. Is a "flipped classroom" approach effective?

A: A new study from the Stanford Graduate School of Education flips upside down the notion that students learn best by first independently reading texts or watching online videos before coming to class to engage in hands-on projects. Studying a particular lesson, the Stanford researchers showed that when the order was reversed, students' performances improved substantially. More

Q: I'd like to boost my course to make more relevant to technology my students use (like iPhone or iPad). What platform would be a most modern one with the less challenging learning curve?

A: I would recommend iTunes U app. It gives you access to enormous resources and makes it easy to manage. You can build your course in it in private/public format. It is not an LMS. It has been designed to enhance students/instructor interactions in the flipped classroom or online setting. More

Q: Do you know any effective student response systems for cell phones?

A: With learning/catalytics students use any modern web-enabled device they already have — laptop, smartphone, or tablet to participate in a group activity or test, allowing a teacher to diagnose difficulties when working with students individually. 

Q: Animated videos as course materials are very engaging for students. Is it any way to create them quickly?

A: There is a tool - VideoScribe. See if you like it. Start with Sparcol.com account.

Q: The best format for students outcomes in my online class would be a portfolio. What technology would you suggest?

A: Try Digication software - it opens the lines of communication by combining elements of e-Portfolios and learning networks

More

Q: Where I'll get the code to embed video in my Blackboard course?

A: Use Embedomatron - a new web app called Embedomatron. It automatically optimizes video for use in course learning management systems by:

• Resizing all videos to be 650 pixels wide
• Limiting the amount of corporate branding
• Preventing “Related Videos” from being displayed at the end of video playback
• Generating HTTPS embed code for use on the secure pages on your LMS

Embedomatron currently works with YouTube, Vimeo and ASU CLAS MediaSpace/Relay videos. More platforms will be added soon

Read more: http://teachonline.asu.edu/2013/10/improve-course-videos-embedomatron/#ixzz2s1YLo85A

Q: The LMS I am using for my online course has technical constrains. What platform would you recommend for video discussions, video presentations, group presentations, and poll questioning?

A: YouSeeU is a leading platform for education - online, blended and in-classroom. More

Q: I want to make a group activity in my online course more effective. Is it any tool available that supports peer to peer evaluation?

A: CritViz is a custom online tool for supporting real-time critique, conversation, and peer to peer evaluation of student work in large classrooms. More

CritViz software

Q: I am looking for more interactive ways of teaching a big size class. It is challenging to engage students with clickers because they are limited to multiple choice. Could you recommend more modern engaging platform to use?

A: Use Top Hat's response system to engage students via their cell phones. No Clickers Required.

Top Hat: Student Response and Engagement System

https://tophat.com/features

• Students can text their answers if they don't have smart phones.
• professor and 30 students are free.

Please read more here

Q: Do you know a technology to make a process of watching video materials for students active?

A: The researchers from Leeds University, Vania Dimitrova and Lydia Lau, designed a system I-CAW that gives you semantic linked data at the end. Meanwhile you can use this tool to have your students posting comments while watching the video on Youtube.  Students are labeling their comments with a corresponding aspect. You as a teacher design the aspects to emphasize the outcomes. This tool transforms students experience from passive to active. Read more

Q: What is a status of MOOCs?

A: Failure. What did we learn from it? I am following the results of this experiment.  See the article by Rebecca Schuman: The King of MOOCs Abdicates the Throne How long the inertia of implementing online on a big scale will go? No status report yet...