The Open Textbook Initiative at North Shore Community College

How We Got to Open Educational Resources (OER)

In fall 2013, a discussion about OER started during a meeting of the Educational Technology Innovation Group, a collection of faculty, staff and administration that meets once or twice a semester to discuss, support, problem-solve, and share some of the great things that our faculty are doing here at NSCC. From this initial discussion, Christine Goodchild (Coordinator of Public Services, NSCC Library), Andrea Milligan (Director of Instructional Technology and Design), Larry Davis (Department of History), and I began brainstorming what could be done to support the OER movement here at NSCC. After all, we were blown away by the staggering numbers we had seen surrounding the cost of textbooks for community college students ($120 per course on average; amounting to about $2,500 at the end of two years).

With the support of Karen Pangallo (Director, NSCC Library) and Michael Badolato (Dean, Academic and Faculty Support), our team explored how we could help faculty navigate OER content. Soon, Torrey Dukes (Reference Librarian, Lynn) and Dava Davanis (Coordinator Public Services, Lynn Library) joined us and we developed a LibGuide to OER. This resource continues to grow and morph, providing some great repositories of content that faculty can use for their courses in lieu of textbooks, assignments, video content, and other learning objects. 

While finishing up the first phase of the LibGuide, we heard about the Vision Project Innovation Grant call for proposals. We decided that, while the LibGuide is essential for helping faculty find OER materials, we needed to do something more palpable to help support faculty as they moved into incorporating OER. We submitted a proposal and eventually received a grant to help fund a Faculty Technology Summer Institute on OER. The Institute was a great success with some forty faculty and staff attending the Keynote Address by Nicole Allen from the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC). 

Thirty two faculty attended the rest of the Summer Institute and nine faculty applied for a mini-grant from our Innovation Grant to replace a textbook with open and affordable content for their courses.  This fall, we had an additional five faculty apply for Technology Across the Curriculum Grants to also adopt, adapt, or build content for their courses and save students significant costs.  One faculty member has already launched a course with OER materials, while many of our faculty are preparing to launch their first course this fall.

Collaborating with OER

In looking at the OER movement, we realized the best strategy to pursue would be an affordability strategy. This means that when we work with faculty, we do not solely focus on OER repositories to find content, but we also rely upon the great material from the various library subscriptions. We also consider if it is possible for the student purchase to be significantly reduced somehow by mixing OER content, library resources, and a significantly cheaper book purchase than previously considered (e.g. going from $150 to $15).  
 

 

The collaborative process has been rewarding for faculty and staff.  Each faculty member has been paired with an instructional designer and a librarian. The three meet regularly to find, develop and implement content for the course in a variety of ways. Some faculty have been using the substantial resources provided by the library such as their article databases, Films-On-Demand, or their great collection of digital books in ebrary. Other faculty are delving head first into completely OER content and finding free textbooks or other instructional content that they can plug into their courses for each relevant topic covered in the course. And some faculty are creating open content and contributing to the further availability of open educational resources. 

Faculty are quite energized about using OER in their courses. They are finding that using OER can change how they approach their content and students’ learning.  Several have offered the following thoughts about their experience:

Irene Fernandez

“I’m excited that I can contribute to making knowledge accessible to students. They benefit from my OER project every semester.” 

Nathan Chio

“I'm very excited about implementing OER into my African American History course. With the wealth of historical documents pertaining to African American history freely available online and in the public domain, I believe that I'll not only be able to save my students a significant amount of money but also will actually be able to offer them a better, more intellectually enriching history course.”

Anne Sears

“Working with the OTI (Open Textbook Initiative) team this year helped me think through the issues, understand fair use rules and locate rich teaching materials. I’ve put together a set of foundation readings and videos and will be able to expand case study readings and videos each semester. My students will appreciate current examples connected to specific lesson plans available in Blackboard.”

Recent Developments

These are some other developments with the OER movement at NSCC in the last few months. 

In fall 2014, Michael Badolato and Karen Pangallo launched the OER Working Group as a means of sustaining the Open Educational Resources movement at North Shore Community College.  While the Open Textbook Initiative focuses on helping faculty locate, assess, and implement OER into their courses, the OER Working Group will work on larger institutional issues regarding OER such as working with the bookstore to find printing solutions and offering tablets or with the Registrar to get special designations for OER courses. 

Professor Larry Davis was granted a sabbatical so that he could focus on working on several OER projects (mentioned elsewhere in this publication). 

Irene Fernandez and I are working on her OER textbook that she made for her sabbatical project to turn it into a physical book that can be sold in the bookstore as an alternative for students who want a physical text. 

In the spring, our team served on a panel with UMASS Amherst and the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium at UMASS Boston’s OpenEd Forum, an all-day forum dedicated to exploring and supporting OER movements in New England. We had an opportunity to discuss some of the great OER projects and our excitement about implementing OER at North Shore Community College.

If you are interested in learning more about or pursuing OER materials for your courses, please do not hesitate to contact us at itd@northshore.edu or library@northshore.edu. 

This article was originally published in The EdTech Edge, the newsletter of the Technology Across the Curriculum Committee.  The full issue can be found here.

Let’s Be Open: Answering the Big 5 Questions About Open Content for Your Classroom

The average community college student spends over $1200 annually on classroom textbooks. That means that students who complete their learning in two years will have spent close to a single-semester’s worth of their money on textbooks.  Nearly two-thirds of students at some point have not bought a textbook because of the cost (and that too has taken a toll on most of their performances within those courses). Though many of us are not aware of the specific numbers, we implicitly know and witness the result of expensive textbooks in our classes. 

For many instructors, textbooks (and their often steep prices) are a necessary evil.  Some will find ways of lessening the burden put on students by having copies available in the library for in-library use or allowing students to purchase earlier (and therefore, cheaper) editions.  But in a given course section, we’re still likely generating hundreds if not thousands of dollars profit for publishers at our students’ expense. 

But does it have to be this way?  What if the course resources and materials can be made entirely free or significantly cheap enough so that no student is making a choice between books and life expenses?  This possibility is not the future.  It is now and it’s time we take advantage of it. 

Image of OER logo
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OER_Logo.svg

What are Open Educational Resources?

Open Education Resources (OER) are media-rich online repositories with content that faculty can use for free for their courses.  This includes but is not limited to:  textbooks, short-reads, videos, sound recordings, assignment guidelines, course notes, and even entire course packages.  The purpose of these repositories is to make materials available for all students and faculty on all subjects so that we spend less time on “reinventing the wheel” of course content and more time on engaging with our students around the course content.  Many of them are in the public domain or have what is called a Creative Commons license. Here are few examples.

• Open Education Resources Commons
• Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources
• Archive.org - Open Educational Resources

 

What about access?

An immediate question of access arises with OER as they are internet based, and not all students have access to a computer (though in a 2012 NSCC technology study did show that 86% of students have laptops--to say nothing of any other devices). But let’s look at the logistics of this concern.

If a student does not have the $120 for the textbook, there is a good chance that he/she gets zero access.  In that scenario, if the argument is that one can put the book on reserve at the library for the student to use--the same argument holds true for access for OER.  Since our libraries have public-use computers, OER in this comparison is more accessible, because the student can access the online material from both campus libraries or any library that allows computer access (which is many, if not all, on the North Shore).

But if it is important to have the physical copy, many places offering free textbooks online, such as OpenStax, provide the student an opportunity to purchase a cheap print-copy of the book for $30.  For many textbooks in the math and sciences that can mean over $100 savings.

Finally, there is no delay in access with OER.  Students can access all of the content as soon as the course starts.  Instructors no longer need worry about issues of financial aid delays, late shipping by the publishers, or other issues that regularly interfere with the course lift-off. 

What about stability?

The belief that the internet is more unstable than the textbook industry might need some reconsidering.  Firstly, it should be acknowledged that textbook publishing has its own instabilities including the ability to cease publishing the book being used or to publish newer editions that may be inferior, pricier, or change things up enough to have to revise the course layout.

Secondly, even if the textbook arrives in the bookstore, many students may still have to leap through hoops to get their financial aid to cover the books (or even not have enough to cover it).  The instability of those first few weeks leaves many faculty skipping or delaying the use of course content.

Thirdly, OER content is often capable of being downloaded, edited, and inserted directly into a course shell.  This means that their stability is much more assured than the textbook.  If this is a significant concern, then one should make sure to make flexibility to download a criteria for selecting OER materials.  Though in truth, this isn’t really much of a concern any more since content available in one OER repository is often duplicated into another--that is, there are back-ups of back-ups across the Internet.

Finally, again, the content is present and ready to go from the start of the semester.  Many of us have been caught in the situation where we don’t find out until too late that the textbook we want wasn’t ordered or not enough were ordered and are left scrambling to cobble together the rest of the semester.  OER materials are available at the start and throughout the semester.

Image CC:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/6554315179/

What about quality?

Some perceive OER as lower quality because they are free.  Of course, psychological studies have shown that price influences perception.  That $200 biology textbook must be awesome whereas that free biology textbook must be a poor comparison.  Saying that there are a lot of poor selections in the OER somehow implies that this isn’t the case with textbooks, but of course, we know that’s not true.  We can look to James Loewen’s famous book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong and other similar research as a reminder of that.

Will there be poor OER material out there?  Absolutely.  However, there will also be really great content.  By using and promoting OER material, instructors will play an important role in helping colleagues sift out the good from the bad--just like they do already with textbooks.

However, OER also has the potential to deliver better content in three capacities.

• Updating content:  Updating content in OER materials is much easier than in a textbook and the beauty is that updated content will not require another new (and costly) edition.
• Customizing content:  Add, edit, or delete the OER resource so that it fits exactly how you want to use the material.
• Shifting content:  Why stick with just one OER object?  Instructors can weave together the perfect course materials from numerous sources, rather than a one-size fits all source.

 

What about time?

Converting to using OER materials will take time.  There’s no question about it.  But it is time well spent, not only for your students, but for the college and academia in general.  Also, it doesn’t mean, however, that one must reinvent all of one’s courses in a single semester, but develop a strategy for how to do so in the long run.  Start with replacing one item in one course and slowly grow from there.  Faculty can also work with Instructional Technology and Design as well as the library who support such projects and will be releasing a LibGuide shortly on OER for faculty.  It will take time, but so do these things:

Finding new texts for a course (because the book went out of print).

• Dealing with new editions of the same textbook you’re using and updating course references to the textbook.
• Delays in teaching and learning because students don’t have access to the textbook.  
• Answering questions about whether different versions of the textbook are acceptable.

Moreover, these things happen time and again, year after year.

Making students pay for any content beyond the course itself is the college’s means of externalizing costs at the expense of our students, and we do so for the profit of book publishers.   The final analysis is that using open educational resources not only empowers you as the instructor, it provides better access and fewer challenges to our students.  OER also fulfills the community college’s vision for civic responsibility by using, sharing, and even developing open educational resources for the public’s benefit.

This article was originally published in The EdTech Edge.  Please check it out to see other great articles about instructional technology at North Shore Community College.

Instructional Technology: The Green Solution

An often unrealized potential of instructional technology is the ways it can benefit the environment and reduce waste.  Here are some of my favorite ways to reduce waste through technology.

Online Readings

By providing readings online and allowing students to bring digital devices to class to use when we are working on the class readings, means that students are less likely to print it out.  However, even if they do, I provide them with instructions on how to get the most out of printing by using double-sided and depending on their viewing preferences, possibly 2 pages per side of paper (therefore a 60-page document is reduced to 15 pieces of paper).  Particularly in courses that have massive (and often, overpriced) texts that have lots inside that may never be read, I like that I can provide just the necessities. And with a growing assortment of Open Textbooks that are online for free, it makes it even easier!

Online Assignments

I stopped taking paper assignments several years ago and it has been a great experience.  Not only do I save paper but I am more organized, save time, and provide much more potent feedback to students.  Most word processor programs have a "comment" feature now so that you can provide comments around a paper rather than writing directly on it.  Between the comment feature, the highlight feature, and a file with canned comments (e.g. "Avoid using 2nd person pronouns in formal essays.  Remember that if your argument relies upon directly addressing the reader, then it might not be as strong as it can be").  I can download the papers, grade them, and send them all back.  Students get their grades sooner and have all of their grades in ANGEL or in their email.   

Virtual Tours and Field-Trips

Organizing a class field-trip has a variety of challenges.  Besides cost, determining times, getting everyone together, etc, there's also the challenge of whether there is a local place to visit that merits uprooting everyone's schedule.  However, many places such as museums and galleries are offering virtual tours for participants.  A good example of this is the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History where you can tour the facilities.  Besides the cost, the environmental impact of visiting a museum that might be thousands of miles away is all but eliminated.   

Virtual Reality/Simulations/Games

In addition to virtual tours, you might also consider finding virtual reality environments (Second Life), simulations (such as ECG Simulator) or even video games (check out Serious Games for more information on these) as great learning experiences while also reducing the amount of waste, risks, and costs.  Additionally, with many of these types of environments you can either capture the experience or have each student have personalized experiences enhancing the learning for all involved. 

What are some of the ways you are leveraging technology to reduce you and your students environmental impact? 

20 Minute Mentor - Online Faculty Professional Development

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment and Academic Technology have partnered up again to bring faculty a professional development series from Magna Publications, called the 20 Minute Mentor. The goal of the  20 Minute Mentor series is to offer faculty practical professional development opportunities in twenty minute snippets that can be accessed from anywhere and at any time during the given week. Session topics cover the areas of student engagement, teaching and learning, teaching online, assessment and learning goals, and classroom management.

Information on how to access the  20 Minute Mentor sessions is available each week in the Bulletin.

New video presentations go live at 10:00am each Monday morning and are only accessible through Sunday. Presentation handouts and supplementary materials are always available.
The following sessions are on the schedule for spring 2014.  For session descriptions, objectives, and mentor bios, click on the titles below.

• January 27th - How Can I Create Meaningful Assignments for My Students?
• February 3rd - How Can Backward Design Make My Courses More Accessible?
• February 10th - How Can I Effectively Teach Unprepared Students?
• February 17th - How Should I Manage Conflict Within My Department?
• February 24th - How Can I Set Time Management Priorities in Online Teaching?
• March 3rd - How Can I Use Discussion to Facilitate Learning?
• March 10th - What Are the Three Worst Mistakes to Make in the Classroom?
• March 17th - How Can I Be an Effective Mentor?
• March 24th - How Can I Make the Activities in My Course More Inclusive?
• March 31st - How Do I Set Students Up for Success in Online Courses?
• April 7th - How Can I Make My Multiple Choice Tests More Effective?
• April 14th - How Can I Get Students to Take Responsibility for Their Own Learning?
• April 21st - How Can I Connect Students' Interests to Course Content?
• April 28th - How Do I Prepare a SoTL Article for Publication?
• May 5th - How Can I Use Technology to Create Custom Automated Feedback?
• May 12th - How Can Rubrics Make Grading Easier and Faster?

We would love to hear your feedback on the usefulness of these sessions. Please send your input to itd@northshore.edu.

The Gold Standard Implementation of Peer Instruction Using Clickers

Recently, I watched a webinar from Turning Technologies that addressed a standard of implementation for using clickers for peer instruction.  Julie Schell, the Director of OnRamps and Strategic Initiatives, was the presenter.  In her presentation, "Using Clickers with Peer Instruction," she offered the 7 basic steps of this standard:

1.  Provide a mini lecture
2.  The instructor asks a question to the class
3.  The students are given time to think about the question
4.  The students vote for the first time
(The answer is not shown if there is a right answer; the answer may be shown if there is not a correct answer)
5.  Students discuss their response to the question with a neighbor or in groups
6.  A second vote is taking in class
(The answer  is shown)
7.  There is an explanation of why the answer is correct.

Peer instruction and class interaction often fall apart when one or more of these steps are left out of the process. Check out the entire webinar here. 

If you'd like more information about survey and polling solutions to help enable peer instruction and student discussion in your classroom, please contact me, Dave Houle, at dhoule@northshore.edu.

More ANGEL Tips

The semester is well under way and I thought I would present some tips on using ANGEL.

TIP  #1:    Personalizing Announcements

When students log into their ANGEL course, it is always nice for  you to have a message welcoming them, directing them or updating them on the course.   You can personalizing your announcement and thus make the student feel as though you are addressing him/her individually. You can include the student's first name in the message.

You can use a simple script to add a student's first name to any announcement.  To do so, just add the following: $First_Name$ into the announcement text box (such as "Greetings $First_Name$).  Be sure to add it exactly as it is shown (or copy and past it).  This will enter the student’s first name on the announcement page.  It will also work in course mail.

TIP  #2:    Printing the ANGEL Gradebook

An ANGEL tip for those of you who are using the ANGEL Gradebook. It is always a good idea to "save" a copy of your Gradebook a few times throughout the semester.  It is very easy to do. 

1. Go to the Manage tab in your course.
2. Go to Gradebook.  
3. Click on the "Print Grades" in the left column.
4. On this page, select the parameters you would like to print.  You can even change the font if you would like to view it in a larger size.
5.  Click on "Generate PDF"
6.  You can either print or save the PDF file to your computer or flash drive.

If you have any ANGEL tips you would like to share, please feel free to comment!

Online and Hybrid Course Accessibility Checklist

North Shore Community College is committed to providing equal access to all educational courses for all students.  To assist faculty in developing accessible online and hybrid courses, Instructional Technology and Design has developed a checklist that outlines things to think about when designing an online or hybrid course and in developing online content.  Our checklist is based on a great resource developed by Portland Community College (thank you so much for your permission to use).

Online and Hybrid Course Accessibility Checklist

Design

• Navigation is clear and consistent.
• Contrast between text and background colors is strong.
• Flashing content is limited and only used when necessary.
• Clearly identify the destination of a link so that users know where they will be taken if they click.
• Instructions, operation, or navigation do not depend on solely visual or solely auditory information.
• The page/site is navigable with just a keyboard (no mouse or touchpad necessary).

Documents and Multimedia

• Alternative text is provided for all images and graphics.
• Text transcripts are provided for all audio.
• Captions are provided for all video.
• In documents, use text formatting styles provided.
• Tables are kept small.  Large tables are broken into multiple smaller tables.
• All external content linked to from within the course should also be accessible.

Technology

• Technology utilized within or incorporated into the course should also be accessible.

Throughout the year, we hope to publish several additional blog posts to provide tips, best practices, and resources for faculty that will help them accomplish the various items in the checklist.

What strategies do you follow to ensure that your online and hybrid courses are accessible?  What challenges do you encountering in developing online content?  Do you have any helpful resources to share?

Announcing Atomic Learning - Online Technology Training Tutorials

North Shore Community College is dedicated to ensuring that all learners have the 21st century technology skills needed for today's world.  That is why Instructional Technology and Design is pleased to announce Atomic Learning, a new online, on-demand training and professional development resource that will provide faculty, staff, and students 24/7 access to over 50,000 technology training tutorials. 

What is Atomic Learning?
Atomic Learning is an online technology and software tutorial service.  Through Atomic Learning, you can view short, easy-to-understand video tutorials to get just-in-time answers to your “how do I do that?” questions by clearly demonstrating how to accomplish specific tasks in over 200 software applications and technologies, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suites, ANGEL, Google Apps, Windows and Apple operating systems, Web 2.0 tools and iDevices.  Or you can view a series of videos to learn an entire software application.  In addition to the technology training how-to tutorials, Atomic Learning also includes workshops on a variety of technology topics, such as avoiding plagiarism, computer literacy basics, using Microsoft Word to create MLA or APA citations, being an effective online student, Web 2.0, and effective presentation design. 

These online training tutorials are:

• Available on demand 24/7 on and off campus.
• Open to all NSCC students, faculty and staff.
• Answers to many of the common "how do I do that" technology questions.
• Expansive and includes many software programs and technologies such as Microsoft Office, Adobe, Windows and Apple operating systems, Web 2.0 tools, Google Apps, and iDevices.
• Easy to access by logging in with your Pipeline username and password.
• Easy to search using keywords, specific applications, versions, and/or platforms.
• Easy to share with direct links through email or in ANGEL to support necessary software or technical skills.
• Available on an iPad.

How do I access Atomic Learning?
Atomic Learning is available on and off campus and can be accessed through NSCC's portal, Pipeline, by clicking on the My Course tab – just look for the channel called Technology Training Tutorials - Learning Made Easy. Click on the Atomic Learning web site link and enter your Pipeline username and password.  Atomic Learning can also be accessed on an iPad.  Just download the app at the App Store. You will need to use your full NSCC email address as your username.

How do I log in?
From Pipeline (My Courses - Technology Training Tutorials), just log in with your Pipeline username and password.  If you are using the Atomic Learning iPad app, you will need to use your NSCC email address as your username.

How can it be used to support teaching and learning?
Atomic Learning can be used in a variety of ways to support the teaching and learning environment.  Here are just a few ideas.

• The how-to tutorials provide visual step-by-step directions on how to perform functions with a variety of software applications which can supplement and enhance the instruction of those software applications.
• The how-to tutorials can enable students to learn the necessary technology needed to be successful in their classes.
• The how-to tutorials can serve as a resource to support students in completing projects that utilize technology by providing directions and answering questions.
• The technology workshops can provide multimedia materials to aid faculty in infusing 21st century skills into the curriculum.

We are delighted to present this resource to the NSCC community and hope that you will take advantage of it with your students or for your own professional development!  If you have questions  about Atomic Learning or need assistance in using it, please contact us at itd@northshore.edu.

Have you viewed any of the tutorials or workshops in Atomic Learning?  Did you find them helpful?  How might you see these being used to support students?

The Digital Assignment: How Do You Accept Assignments?

When I look back even 5 years ago, I've seen a significant change in the ways in which faculty take assignments. I know faculty have been taking digital assignments as far back as the 1990s but it often seemed the exception whereas now it feels much more like the rule. We all remember the frantic whirlwind of getting an assignment to an instructor (often after waiting until the last minute to write it) by battling printers or lines at the printers, traffic, crowded hallways, etc just to get that paper in before the end of class, only to repeat this several times each semester.

While there are many benefits to taking online assignments (less chance of losing it, time stamps, environmentally friendly, less redundancy, etc), there are definitely some drawbacks and every person has their own method of doing it.  Below are some of the different methods of taking digital assignments that you may be using or considering using. 

EMAIL
Email is still a popular method of receiving digital assignments as it remains a standard go-to place for students and faculty alike. 
Benefits
Email is easily accessible for most people.  You don't have to dig too far down into a learning management system to find it and you can do searches to find things.  With NSCC's Gmail server, we have a large space (30 gigabytes and counting) with which to store our emails and attachments.  You will also have an exact time stamp of when the student sent it.
Drawbacks 
Organizing assignments as they come in can be challenging. Finding and sorting along with downloading each assignment can be time-consuming; especially if you intend to send them back with comments (and thus have to upload the assignments again).  Improper file formats mean more back and forth with the student.  The excuse "I sent it, you didn't get it?" can be come fairly common (whether truthful or not).
Tips

• Have students put a specific but unique word in their subject line (such as your course code) to make it easier to find and search.
• Create labels and use filters. 
• Be sure to reply to students to let them know you received their paper.  It can be a very simple response that you copy and paste into each, but it will be useful for the students to know.
• Include in your syllabus and elsewhere that this will be the method of submission for course assignments.

ANGEL DROPBOX
Every course at NSCC has an ANGEL shell and you can create dropboxes for your assignments.  Students would then log into ANGEL and go into the course shell in order to upload their assignment. 
Benefits
All of the assignments are in one place for you to see and to download in a single batch.  You can see what time students passed in their assignment and grade them all in the same place as well as use a grading rubric.  If you use ANGEL's Automate feature, you can have an email sent to students who haven't uploaded the paper by the appointed time.  Students can receive an email when their grade is posted. 
Drawbacks 
Using the dropbox still requires students to be shown what it is and how to use it within class time.  It also means setting up a dropbox for assignment to prevent confusion for students.  Also, it's best used when using the gradebook in full.  While there is batch download, you still need to upload graded papers with comments one by one.  Like email, there is still the issue of file format since students may not upload the preferred or required file format, causing delays. 
Tips

• Make sure you spend some class time (5 minutes or so) showing students how to get into ANGEL and upload their file.
• When setting up the dropbox, be sure to include instructions (including file format, due date, links to relevant resources, etc) in the message box.  
• Make use of the advance settings in the dropbox to determine when you will stop submissions, how many submissions you will take and other matters to make it more efficient for you. 
• Include in your syllabus and elsewhere that this will be the method of submission for course assignments.

GOOGLE DRIVE
Faculty are increasingly using and enjoying the benefits of Google Drive with its suite of programs including a word processing program, spreadsheet program, and presentation program that students can use and save themselves money by not buying expensive programs like Microsoft Office.
Benefits
The ability to create student folders where all of a student's work can be found.  No uploading or downloading.  Easy to comment and provide feedback to the student.  Opportunity to use text-chat or the comment feature to have back and forth discussions about assignment.  The program is already tied to the students' School email so it's easy to locate.  The Google Drive app allows for students and faculty to access the content regularly without signing in and out of the school's system.  Easy citation system.  Lots of good How-To resources to direct students towards (as well as for yourself).  One singular file format.
Drawbacks
There's a big learning curve since many students haven't used it yet.  The sharing of files and folders can get confusing.  Though there are work-arounds, if the student doesn't have consistent internet access, it can be cumbersome.  Google regularly updates or changes their suite of tools which can confuse faculty and students.
Tips

• Have the students create their own Folder that they share directly with you (and then put all of their folders into your own "Class Folder."
• Make note of the "Revision" feature under the File menu.  This can provide a history of the project being made which can be useful in understanding how a student is working.
• Include in your syllabus and elsewhere that this will be the method of submission for course assignments.

eCONTENT DROPBOX
Publishers are now creating very robust learning management systems that are accompanying their books.  These eContent web-based (and sometimes software-based or app-based) programs will have a dropbox similar to the one in ANGEL but may have some extra features. 
Benefits
If you are using the other eContent, then it is one central place to house your materials.  The eContent site will often have clear instructions on how to use the dropbox.  All of the assignments in one central location.  Some of them will allow for any file format to be uploaded and for the instructor to download in a preferred format.
Drawbacks
If you're not using much else of the eContent, this becomes more cumbersome to students (especially, if they did not buy a new book).
 Students may have access problems and not be able to complete the work or just email it instead. 
Tips

• Be sure to spend some class time familarizing your students with the environment.
• Include in your syllabus and elsewhere that this will be the method of submission for course assignments.

What methods and programs do you take digital assignments in?  What obstacles do you contend with when doing so?  What solutions have you found?  What tips would you add to the ones above?

Polling in the Classroom

Of course every great instructor loves to see their students engaged in the classroom.  Students, believe it or not, love to have their voices heard too, although many may be shy about doing that.
With the influx of new technologies over the last few years, many new ways have been developed to get your student's voice heard in your class.  One kind of technology that has been used here at North Shore Community College is clicker technology, which is often times referred to as audience response, classroom response, or student response technology.

This little device, the clicker, allows the student to make their voice heard anonymously in class.  Many faculty have used polling when talking about controversial issues.  The student submits their actually feelings on an issue without class influence.  Other faculty have used clickers to get a sense of whether or not the class has understood the gist of the material just presented in class.  It's a kind of "pre-testing" or "assessment" of student knowledge.  It helps you as the instructor understand just where they are in their learning or any common misconceptions that might be happening.

Formal polling can be developed in PowerPoint.  On-the-fly polling can be conducted anywhere, anytime.  We use Turning Technologies' Turning Point software here at the College for both formal and anywhere/anytime polling.  You, as the instructor, get to tailor the polling to your classes needs.   For instructors, who for whatever reason choose not to clicker hardware in their class, web-based and phone-based solutions are also available through Poll Everywhere.  Submitting answers through a web site are often preferred over submitting answers via text as students texting may cost that student money depending on their texting plan.

For "first steps" in this process, please contact me at dhoule@northshore.edu or 978-739-5530.  Also, here is a great resource for getting started with clickers here at North Shore.  We are happy and here to help! 

General Overview of Clickers 

• 7 Things You Should Know About Clickers
  http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7002.pdf 
• Clickers in the Classroom at U Wisconsin-Madison
  http://campustechnology.com/articles/2010/01/20/clickers-in-the-classroom-at-u-wisconsin-madison.aspx 
• Clicker Resource Guide:  Instructors Guide to the Effective Use of Personal Response Systems (Clickers) in Teaching
  http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/files/Clicker_guide_CWSEI_CU-SEI.pdf 
• In Search of Answers, Teachers Turn to Clickers
  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101343866 
• More Professors Give Out Hand-Held Devices to Monitor Students and Engage Them
  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/education/16clickers.html

Assessment

• Clickers and CATs: Using Learner Response Systems for Formative Assessments in the Classroom
  http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE%2BQuarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/ClickersandCATsUsingLearnerRes/219138 

Peer Discussion/Peer Learning/Student Engagement 

• Classroom Reconsidered: Understanding and Engaging Students with Clickers
  http://www.slideshare.net/derekbruff/hpers-keynote-2010     

Have you used clickers or other similar tools in your class?  What are some of your best experiences with it?  What surprised you about the experience?