Our first priority for the Segue from Segue project is to make sure there are technology solutions available to meet the needs of as many faculty, students and staff as possible. \u00a0 Where possible, we would also like to be able to support innovative uses of technology, particularly those innovations that may eventually be useful to the broader community.<\/p>\n
Based on our analysis of current technology usage and focus group findings, here is a list of functional requirements that would support some of the innovations of current faculty, staff and students.<\/p>\n
Our surveys indicated a moderate interest in this sort of technology, primarily amongst Language and Humanities divisions. \u00a0A number of Language School programs of study have been giving students audio recording assignments. \u00a0These types of assignments are done using audio editing tools such as Audacity and require students to upload audio files to course site. \u00a0Being able to record audio directly on the course site would greatly simplify the fulfillment of these assignments.<\/p>\n
Some Language Schools have expressed interest in being able to do online oral proficiency exams. \u00a0This usage would require web-based audio recording tools that can be integrated with online assignment platforms.<\/p>\n
Tools for web-based audio recording currently on the market usually can also do video recording. \u00a0While there have not been requests for web-based video recording to date, this may be useful in the future.<\/p>\n
There are also tools available for capturing audio and\/or video and uploading these to a distribution platform such as iTunes U. \u00a0Such a set of tools would simplify lecture podcasts, something that some of our faculty have been doing.<\/p>\n
A number of faculty offer courses that teach students how to design sites using Adobe Dreamweaver. \u00a0These faculty have avoided using content management systems such as WordPress, Segue or MediaWiki because these platforms offer limited design options. \u00a0Some of our content management systems could be made more open to allow students to experiment with custom cascading style sheets (CSS). \u00a0In addition, some of our platforms could include themes with more advanced design options to help to fulfill this need.<\/p>\n
A number of faculty offer courses that teach students how to create web sites or web applications. \u00a0For these courses it would be useful to have web servers that allow students to safely experiment with server side scripting and database servers that students can create databases and develop web applications.<\/p>\n
Only a small fraction of faculty, students and staff currently create or edit video for curricular use, but this will likely increase in the future. \u00a0For now, better documentation of how to create and edit video in general would be sufficient<\/p>\n
One type of video that is particularly useful are “screencasts.” \u00a0Screencasts can be used for technology documentation and dissemination. \u00a0Having widely available tools to capture computer screens movements and documentation of workflow and best practices would help promote this kind of technology usage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our first priority for the Segue from Segue project is to make sure there are technology solutions available to meet the needs of as many faculty, students and staff as possible. \u00a0 Where possible, we would also like to be … Continue reading