Teaching tool - Turn It In (comments)

2013 has seen a dramatic increase in the use of Turn It In (available through subscription at www.turnitin.com) in my faculty. We have discovered it has much more potential than simply a plagiarism checker. The most significant change we have made is in a couple of our senior subjects where drafting, final submission and marking has been completely managed within Turn It In. No hard copies produced.

To enable this process in Health Education, I have developed a "Quickmark Set" of comments built on the syllabus dimensions. This enables the health teachers to annotate students drafts and responses with specific terminology from the syllabus.

If you are interested, those quickmarks are here - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4091190/Health_Ed.qms. Once you log into Turn It In, click on the Libraries Tab, choose Quickmarks manager. On the pop up window there is a square and arrow icon in the top right corner. Click that and select import.

Creating a toolkit for teaching, learning and management.

I've spent a lot of time researching and testing a range of software and web technologies in an effort to develop a functional suite of tools for my varied work life. I recently purchased an Asus EeePC (7") as my portable computing device. I already utilise my Nokia 6210 also, so connection between the Nokia and the Asus will be implemented.

However, the Asus is not my main work computer and not my preference for working when at home. Therefore consistency across devices is important, as is synchronisation of data. The lack of onboard storage on the Asus predetermines the need for removable memory. So ultimately what I have done is develop a set of offline tools and a set of online tools. What they are and the purpose they serve are outlined below.

Offline:

I have two (2) usb flash drives that I have set up with all the software I require. One is a 1GB drive set for media consumption and creation. The other is a 4GB drive with all other software needed and all my working data. Having experienced flash drive destruction previously, I have two (2) backups for each stick. Both drives have the Portable Apps auto-menu and a range of portable applications on board.

The Media Stick - applications include Audacity - for recording podcasts and other voice material, GIMP - for image manipulation, and VLC player - for playing video and audio files. The only problem I've had is that VLC player can't play movies built in Windows MovieMaker. However all windows computers have Windows Media Player installed that can handle this.

The Work Stick - applications are many, so I will provide info in a list to enable greater understanding of why I have chosen them.

Mozilla Thunderbird - email client. This allows me to email on any computer with a live internet connection whilst providing ability to work within emails when offline.

Lightning extension (for Mozilla Thunderbird) - calendar.

Mozilla Firefox - web browser. I've used this for a while so am more comfortable in this program than Internet Explorer.

Add-ons for Mozilla Firefox - Evernote web clipper, Fireshot, Shareaholic

7zip - compression and archiving of files.

Foxit Reader - PDF reader (smaller alternative to adobe reader)

KeePass - password management program

SyncToy - synchronisation software

Evernote - information management software. Allows you to store anything, I use it to keep notes on active projects and teaching ideas.

OpenOffice - a free alternative to Microsoft Office.

Online:

I am a heavy user of del.icio.us for storage of bookmarks. My collection is here. I direct my students to use my existing web research to assist theirs.

In combination, these tools are all I require on a regular basis. There are a range of other programs I use less regularly that I choose not to occupy space on these two important drives.

If you want to know anything further about the technologies mentioned, click on the links or email me here.