COLTT

I recently attended the COLTT Conference at CU Boulder and it was a good conference. The conference featured presenters all over Colorado and from Wyoming. The sessions were interactive and hands on and was well worth it.

Alternative Reality Game as a learning Narrative

The first session I attended was scenario-based learning utilizing QR codes. We broke into groups and used our cell phones to scan the codes and we would either watch a video clip or read an article. After scanning all the codes we worked together as a group to solve the mystery. This session was very hands on and kept me engaged; it certainly has a lot of possibilities in the classroom.

Touching the Future: iPad Usage in College Curriculum

This session was very interesting to hear about iPad usage. The Community College of Aurora purchased iPads to use in film classes that they offer. Students would check out the iPad for the semester and they would use it for taking notes, receiving instructor handouts. Student feedback was that it was easier and quicker to access materials. They could understand electronic notes as opposed to hand written and students paid more attention to word quality.

A psychology course also participated in the study. To use an iPad in the classroom was not a decision for students to enroll or stay in the course; students were concerned with the instruction. They used eBooks for materials, but more than half of the students preferred print. Some of the issues faced were poor wireless in the classroom, eBooks were not available offline.

Participant-Driven Classroom Technology: Building Applications and Games

This session began by demonstrating examples he would have students develop using Flash for their programming class. The end product students would develop also helps them understand concepts and theories. Some of the games they develop are on probability and Math and programming. The rest of the session was hands on and we developed our own Flash example on probability. I am already a Flash user and this session was great. Flash is a great application tool for any area and should be integrated into course curriculum. Here is the website of the different games and applications http://amath.colorado.edu/programs/COLTT2011/

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

I enjoyed this session using photos to develop photos to make edits. One of the Adobe reps led this session. The presenter took pictures in class and showed us how to get them into Lightroom and make adjustments that can be applied to all pictures with the click of a button. Adobe Photoshop is a complex program, but Lightroom is much easier to use to make simple edits on your photos. I really enjoy photos and this was useful to learn some tips and tricks.

Create Engaging ePublications for Education Using Adobe Tools

The same adobe rep Rick Miller led this session and it was informative. In this session Rick showed us some examples of already created ePublications for web and mobile-based devices. He then showed us how this content was created in Adobe Indesign CS5.5. Dreamweaver CS5.5 was also demonstrated. This was good information as we start to move forward to deliver content to our mobile devices. HTML5 is so new and most of us don’t know where to being to create content. The Adobe suite CS5.5 presents great tools to develop content to mobile devices.