Camtasia Relay is now available to all lecturers for your screen recording needs. Screen recording, also known as screencasting, allows you to record your computer desktop as well as your audio narration. Anything which can be displayed on your computer screen can be recorded.
News
CIT online publications revamp
- Move to consolidate CIT's online publications, which spread over several sites
- CITations online publication incorporating CIT updates, IDEAS newsletter and an Educational Technology blog
- CIT System Updates separate so that important system messages are given prominence
CIT Audio-Visual Awareness Roadshow
CIT staff demonstrating a portable green screen solution used for backgrounds and effects.
CIT conducted an Audio-Visual Awareness Roadshow on Tuesday, 14 October 2008.
This roadshow, the first of its kind in NUS, was aimed at increasing the awareness of the use of audio-visual products and services in supporting teaching and learning.
Educators gathered at the University Hall auditorium to listen to other educators’ experience with using audio-visual technology in their lessons.
Dr Adrian Michael Lee, Department of Chemistry, and Dr Mohanan Karuvannur, Department of English Language & Literature shared how CIT produced videos for the Interactive Chemistry Laboratory Manual (ICLM) courseware and the Academic Knowledge & Inquiry eModule respectively. CIT created the videos which populate both e-Learning tools which help to disseminate important information efficiently to a large number of students.
Dr Jacqueline Chin and Mr Voo Teck Chuan, from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, discussed how CIT produced biomedical ethics videos to help medical students prepare for their objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs).
While CIT is better known for providing audio-visual production services, a little-known fact is that we also provide video production training. Mr John Ang, Department of Social Work, highlighted how CIT conducts a basic videography and editing course for his students. His students then make use of the skills to create a video as part of the course requirements for SW4202 Special Areas (Social Work and Mass Communication).
In between the talks, CIT staff and our vendors showed participants various parts of the video production process from pre to post-production.
Participants in the roadshow learnt the scope of CIT’s audio-visual services as well as what it takes to produce a full-fledged video.
Photo by Leong Mun Wai.
Blog.nus and Wiki.nus – Web 2.0 tools for you
Blogs and wikis, are major components of the read/write web. CIT has introduced Blog.nus and Wiki.nus so that the university community has specific Web 2.0 tools for academic, educational, research or administrative uses.
Blog.nus
Blog.nus is the successor of NUS Module Blogs. This new blogging system runs on the WordPress engine and is hosted by Edublogs Campus. CIT started this new service as the previous Module Blogs, while functional, did not endear itself to users. Many early adopters were put off by the non-intuitive interface and lack of customizability, among other things.
CIT hopes that the new blog platform is a step up from that. The Blog.nus user interface is clean and well laid out. There are a myriad of themes to choose from and blog sidebars are highly customizable. Besides an improvement in user interface, the blogs are no longer tied to modules, allowing for a wider range of use. Students and staff can create blogs for small groups or create blogs for a larger audience.
You can read more information about Blog.nus here. There is also a FAQ which explains more about this exciting new service. You can sign up for a blog here.
Wiki.nus
While most people have heard of Wikipedia, only a portion of those may be aware that its entries are contributed by people everywhere. This is the basic concept of a wiki – it is a website that anyone can edit. Now you can set up a user-editable website too.
Wiki.nus is the brand new wiki service for the entire NUS community. With Wiki.nus, you can set up a wiki easily. You can then:
- create a collaborative glossary or knowledgebase
- work on documents which require multiple user input
- build a website where the respective stakeholders can always input the most updated information easily
The wiki(s) you create can be set to various levels of privacy which either restrict or allow reading and writing privileges. This can be controlled on a wiki-wide basis or even to specific pages within a wiki.
Our information page on wikis points to various resources about using wikis in education. If you want to create a wiki, go to Wiki.nus and sign in with your NUSNET credentials (without the domain). Once logged in, click Create a Space, and you’ll be on your way.
For queries pertaining to Blog.nus and Wiki.nus, please contact Mr .
Global Classroom Revamp
Static rows of desks. LCDs blocking students’ faces. Presenters’ movements hampered by shadows from forward projection. This was the reality of CIT’s Global Classroom. However, all these limitations are set to change with the current refitting of the room.
The new layout will be open and reconfigurable. Furniture will be movable and collapsible to allow for a wide range of set ups. The classroom can be laid out in a traditional manner. Alternatively, it can be set up for small groups or a roundtable meeting.
With movable furniture come laptops and Tablet PCs, which will replace the static and cumbersome desktop PCs. Besides allowing for freedom of movement, these have a smaller footprint, allowing students and lecturers to see each other without obstruction.
The Global Classroom will also be equipped with wireless presentation technology, allowing the screen of any computer in the room to be projected without hassle. Students can then present directly from their respective computers.
Finally, the Global Classroom will be equipped with dual 100-inch plasma panels, negating the need for forward projectors. The lecturer or facilitator can thus move around the room – which is relatively small – without casting a shadow on the projected display. The large size of the displays also allow for great resolution and clarity.