Monday, March 31, 2014

Videos for Online Teaching

This term I have begun adding videos to my course on evidence-based chiropractic practice. I know this is not a radical idea, and the videos I am using come from youtube, where there are a plethora of useful clips available. But today, as our students evolve and as technology develops, online content is becoming more and more important. Blending in-class work with online content, the blended classroom model, is becoming more important. And now it is easier than ever to create your own videos, so they can be precisely made for your course. You need not simply select youtube clips.

First, we need- and I as guilty of this as anyone- to move away from PowerPoint slides using bullet points. I know that I can read faster than you can talk, so I have already read the slide before you are done discussing it. Instead, think of people whose presentations resonate with you. Often, they do not use word slides, but graphic slides. Think TED talks, for example.
If you do intend to use videos, they must serve the educational purpose of the class. They require some consideration to make them work effectively at transmitting their ideas, points and concepts. A vide clip needs to have a purpose and it has to be a purpose a student understands.  An article by John Orlando in the new issue of Online Cl@ssroom (1) suggests that you limit videos to no more than 5-10 minutes, since any longer will have your students losing interest.  In this case, we could create a video that has a voiceover talking over a set of images. This might allow students to take the main points of your classroom lecture home to replay as needed. Orlando suggests you create the audio first, either scripted or not, and for which you should speak in an animated but normal voice. He suggests the use of Audacity as a free, open-source program for recording audio (http://audacity.source-forge.net.download/). You can save the voice file as an mp3 or wav file.

Now you can move to a video editor to make the actual clip. There are several you might consider using. One is youtube’s own editor (www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3ypVoN4NVM&feature=youtu.be), another is WeVideo (www.wevideo.com/) and the last is Camtasia, which we have access to here on campus. These programs will allow you to add graphic images to play under your recorded audio. The images you select should be ones that resonate with the watcher, and there are many free sites where you can obtain such images.
Clearly, there is more here than meets the eye. A fine book that I think provides a good overview of creating resonant slides is by Reynolds, “Presentation Zen.” (2)

References
1.       Orlando J. Using videos for online teaching. Online Cl@ssroom 2014;14:4-5

2.       Reynolds G. Presentation Zen. Berkeley, CA; New Riders, 2008

Monday, March 24, 2014

ACC-RAC 2014

Below is a sumamry of Palmer College personnel involvment in ACC-RAC. Once again, we did a superb job of representing our college.

Plenary

Dennis Marchiori. Opening and welcome

 Platform

Prize Paper: William Reed, Randall Sozio, Joel Pickar, Cynthia Long. Spinal manipulation can increase trunk mechanical thresholds of lateral thalamic neurons

Prize Paper: Rodger Tepe, Chabha Tepe. Development of psychometric evaluation of an information literacy self-efficacy survey and an information literacy knowledge test.

Heather Bowyer, Melissa Ferranti, Michelle Gingras, Philip Afghani. Student understanding and attitudes toward proper documentation, billing practices, and medico-legal concepts in chiropractic clinical education

Anna Walden, Stacie Salsbury, William Reed, Dana Lawrence. Self-reported bladder and bowel symptoms among adults attending an academic chiropractic clinic: a 1-month point-prevalence study

Prize Paper: Niu Zhang, Charles Henderson. Can formative quizzes improve summative exam performance?

John Stites, Greg Snow, Healther Bowyer, Robert Rowell, Tammi Clark, Barbara Mansholt, Kimberly Keene. Development of an introductory program for field practitioners on evidence-based clinical practice

Makani Lew. Time to numbness in response to five different cyrotherapy applications
Makani Lew. Comparison of subjective and objective pain sensitivity in a healthy population

John Stites, Greg Snow, Heather Bowyer, Robert Rowell, Tammi Clark, Barbara Mansholt, Kimberly Keene. Development of an introductory program for field practitioners on evidence-based clinical practice

Robert Cooperstein, Morgan Young. The location of the upright inferior angle of the scapula in relation to the spine: a systematic review of the literature
Robert Cooperstein, Anthony Lisi, Andrew Burd. Manual therapy approaches to over-active bladder: a narrative literature review

Maruti Ram Gudavalli, Robert Vining, Stacie Salsbury, Christine Goertz. Training doctors of chiropractic in delivering manual cervical traction forces

Barbara Mansholt, Robert Vining. Survey of clinical decision-making rationale for chiropractic analysis procedures among doctors of chiropractic and students

Dan Weinert, Dustin Derby, Kevin Paustian. Impact of unionization on faculty resistance to change, justice, trust, conflict and climate for innovation

Elissa Twist, Dana Lawrence, Stacie Salsbury, Cheryl Haw. Do informed consent documents for chiropractic clinical research studies meet readability level recommendations and contain required elements: a descriptive study

Christopher Roecker, Cynthia Long, Robert Vining, Dana Lawrence. Attitudes and use of evidence-based clinical practice within chiropractic: a survey of doctors of chiropractic with diplomate training on orthopedics

Roger Hynes, Alana Callender, Rachelle Hynes, Don Gran. Preceptor doctors’ assessment of the clinical skills of Palmer College externs

Marsha Hardacre. Student confidence level of preparedness and alumni performance level of preparedness for business success

Dustin Derby, Amy Everetts, Julie Schard, Charles Davis. Transformations abroad: transformative learning captured within a chiropractic humanitarian program

Barbara Mansholt, Robert Vining. Factors affecting treatment decisions during the first phase of clinical education

 Shawn He. The comparison of the validity and reliability between digital radiographic imaging systems and manual method in measuring the Cobb angle

Christopher Roecker. Diagnosis and management of myofascial pain: a narrative review of the literature

Liang Zhang. Physiological TNF may mediate spinal manipulation therapy: a literature re-examination

Poster

Robert Cooperstein, Anthony Lisi Lis, Andrew Burd. Overactive bladder in association with symphysis pubis subluxation: a novel mechanical approach

Dustin Derby. How do you assess cocurriculars? An assessment framework part and parcel for institutional effectiveness.

James DeVocht. Extracting information from visually identified points on excel plots

 Stephen Grand, Kenice Grand, Rod Floyd, Shane Carter. Chiropractic intern attitudes, beliefs, and intentions with regard to health promotion, wellness, and preventive services

Kenice Grand, Stephen Grand. Can vegans have healthy bones?

Todd Hubbard, Kali Gillen. Correlation between the fossa temperature difference and the Blair upper cervical atlas misalignment

Katie Malley, Matthew Richardson, Marie Williams, Leila McKenzie. Calcinosis cutis in the foot of a 26 year old retired female competitive ice skater: a case report

Henry Mueller, Laurie Mueller. Integrating functional medicine methodologies in the chiropractic clinical setting to improve outcomes for a patient with diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, chronic sinusitis, and adult onset asthma: a case study

Dewan Raja, Bahar Sultana. Frozen shoulder, its pathogenesis, natural course, and treatment modalities

Robert M. Rowell, Kathy Murphy, Linda Carlson, Jody Bell. Does video use by students in an X-ray positioning class improve performance? A pilot study and survey of student attitudes

Michael Tunning, Michael VanNatta, Robert Rowell, Thomas Brozovich. A survey of student perceptions following 2 different formats for neuromusculoskeletal skills assessment

Michael VanNatta, Thomas Brozovich, Michael Tunning. Enhancing learning for students with the addition of podcasts

Morgan Young, Jessie Young. Conservative care for pediatric acquired torticollis: two cases of muscular origin

Workshop

John Stites, Ron LeFebvre, Bill Watson. The Art of Facilitation: Making Teams Effective

Alberto L. Rivera-Rentas, Mitch Hass, Cynthia Long Research-Training and Career Development Opportunities for Individuals and Institutions in the Chiropractic Profession

Judy Bhatti, Michael Van Natta, Mary Frost, Paul Wanless, Tom Brozovich, Michael Tunning. Leadership in the classroom: reaching students through web-based technology

Lisa Bloom, Karen Bobak, Ezra Coehn, Lisa Killinger. Leadership strategies for ethical decision making

Brian Gleberzon, Charles Blum, Christopher Roecker, Scott Cuthbert, David Sikorski. The interface between clinical practice and clinical research in chiropractic technique: bridging the gap between knowledge transfer and knowledge utilization

Teresa Brennan, James LaRose, Troy Tatum, Eva Elsangak. Engaging the learner in critical thinking: team-based learning model for use on Monday

Stu Kinsinger, Dana Lawrence. Professional ethics and academic dishonesty: approaches to disclipline

Monday, March 17, 2014

Learning Management Systems: An Update


Over the past few months, I have been engaged in leading an ad hoc committee that is examining possible learning management systems (LMS) for the entire college community, across all campuses. Our committee began its work by asking other faculty members about what kinds of things they would like to see in an LMS. From that, we began looking at many different vendors, to see if those systems had the capabilities our faculty wanted. In addition, the committee includes members of CTL and IT from all campuses, since clearly IT infrastructure is one key element of the decision process.
Based on the initial work we did, we narrowed our field down to three companies to look at in more detail. This remains in process, and could clearly change as we learn more, but if you wish to look at some information about these companies you can do so at:

Desire2Learn: www.desire2learn.com

BlackBoard: www.blackboard.com
I believe all three sites have trial sites where you can look around and get a sense of the possibilities.

This is a short post for this week, as many people will be leaving for ACC-RAC later this week. I will be one of them.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Excel Macros

A macro, in Excel, is essentially a recording of a set of commands that typically are repetitively done. Using the macro therefore enhances both sped and productivity; less time is used performing the same set of keystrokes time and time again. As an example, think about how you might be required each week to generate a specific report, one that has to be set up using the same layout and formatting each time. To generate the specific settings each time takes perhaps 2 minutes. If you use the macro, all you would need to do in the future is enter the single key command that activates the macro, and voila, it is all done for you.

It is not difficult to set up a macro. From your initial Excel screen, select the “View” tab. From that tab you then select the “Macros” dropdown menu, and when that opens up, then select “Record macros.” This will open up a screen in which you will be able to name the macro. Let us call ours “Format Macro.” In that same screen, you will be able to select a shortcut key, which is “Ctrl + (enter key name).” Now, be careful here; there are already many shortcuts built into Excel, and if you select one already in use, it will be changed to your macro, so for example, do not select “Ctrl + C,” which is already the “copy” command. There are lists of shortcuts available so that you do not select one already developed. Once you assign the key, click “Okay.” You will then denote where the macro will be stored- just for this worksheet, for the entire workbook, or for all future files. You can add a description of what the macro does here as well. Click “Okay” once again.
Now you are ready to record. Perform the required keystrokes (do not make a mistake, since that is recorded as well). When you are done, go back to View>Macros> and click the “Stop recording” command. Your macro is now ready for you to use when needed.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Welcome Back, and Woe is Us!

Welcome back! At the Davenport campus, today is an in-service day, featuring CMCC faculty member Stu Kinsinger discussing academic integrity. I am just returned from Palmer Florida Homecoming, which was a nice time away from what has become discussion topic number 1 here in davenport, the weather. So as a return to work, I thought I would offer up just a few factoids for your consideration:
This is the roughest winter on record. We have had record snow, of almost 65 inches to date. More is expected later this week.
We have recorded the coldest low temperature in our history, 23 below zero.
We have recorded the lowest high temperature in our history, 8 below zero.
We have recorded the lowest high temperature in March ever recorded, yesterday’s 8 degrees. That beats the previous record by 4 degrees.
We had the lowest low temperature in March ever recorded, last night’s 11 below zero.
We are currently averaging more than 20 degrees below our average temperatures.
We will not break 30 degrees until next week.
Now, you watch. 3 weeks from now it will be 85… one can dream! Coming home from PCCF was very hard yesterday, let me tell you! I had left my winter coat in my car, which was out in the parking lot under 6 inches of new snow…