Truman Tech Breaks
Your Learning Technologies Team shares quick-to-view videos that briefly introduce or explain a wide variety of instructional technologies. Check out our current topics here!
- Changing Name/Adding Pronouns in Zoom
- Updating and Installing with Ivanti
- Interactive presentations
- Touchscreen Monitors
- Live Automatic Captioning in Zoom
- Downloading and Sharing Zoom Files
- Downloading and Updating with Ivanti
- Joining Multiple Zoom Meetings at Once
- Editing Video with Shotcut
- Editing Video with Adobe Spark
- Editing Video with Screencastify
- Multiple Cameras in Zoom
- Slideshows as a Virtual Background
- Classroom Videoconferencing Hardware
- Visual Storytelling and Image Production with Canva
- Using Google Slides for Presentations
- What is the One Button Studio (OBS)?
- How to download your Panopto videos to your local computer
- How to Upload files to Google Drive
- Using BrightLink Interactive Whiteboards
- Using eBeam Interactive Whiteboards
- Using SMARTBoard Interactive Whiteboards
- Using SMART Interactive Podium/Monitors
- Polling and just-in-time teaching using Socrative
- Intro to the eLearning content development tool – Captivate
- Using Zoom as a Lecture Capture or eLearning content development tool
- How do I make my Brightspace course available to students?
- Creating Assignments in Brightspace (providing a “dropbox”)
- How do I add Teaching Assistants, Course Builders, and Co-Instructors to my class in Brightspace?
- How do I request a Brightspace Non-Banner Course Shell?
- Emailing Students from Brightspace
- Using Truman’s new Lightboard Studio
- Using Plickrs for Polling
- Scroll down for many more topics!
Changing Name/Adding Pronouns in Zoom
Adding your pronouns to your Zoom profile can be a great way to make your class more accommodating for your students. Watch this video to see how easy it is to make this change.
Updating and Installing with Ivanti
By utilizing Ivanti Portal Manager, Truman State faculty and staff can install or update a growing list of software. View the description of the video on YouTube to see a full list of software available as of 9/17/2021.
Interactive presentations
Touchscreen monitors
Live Automatic Captioning in Zoom
Live captioning can be an easy and effective way to drastically improve the accessibility of your remote synchronous lectures and meetings. Check out this video documentation to see how to add this tool to your Zoom arsenal!
This video also briefly delves into accessing the time-annotated transcription .vtt file available after a meeting is finished.
Downloading and Sharing Zoom Files
Before you can edit, share, or upload your Zoom videos to another source, you’ll need to download or share them from the Zoom website.
Please watch the brief documentation above to see how to access these files.
Updating or Downloading Software with Ivanti
If your primary Truman machine is running Windows 10, it’s likely that you have a piece of software called Ivanti on it. Ivanti is a useful tool for helping you download software without needing administrative credentials. Check out this Tech Break to see how!
Join Multiple Zoom Meetings Simultaneously
It is possible to join multiple Zoom meetings at once. However, you can only host one meeting at a time.
To join multiple meetings, go to zoom.us/join and enter the ID of the meeting that you wish to join. Repeat this process as necessary.
Editing Video with Shotcut
Shotcut boasts full-featured, timeline-style, video editing with support for special effects – including green screen, filters, multiple audio tracks, and more. It’s a powerful tool, but still (fairly) easy to use if your needs are simple. The great thing is, as your skill and demand for features increases as you do projects, Shotcut’s feature set is sufficiently deep to meet the demands of most film makers. With Shotcut – you will need to have already recorded your video using another device or software.
For personal machines, you can go to the Shotcut website and download for the type of computer you have. For University-managed machines, a Windows install package is available in the *Ivanti Portal Manager – available in your Windows Start menu. From there, you can install Shotcut without needing ITS tech support. For all other platforms, or if you would like assistance, contact the IT Service Center to submit a service request ticket.
Editing Video with Adobe Spark
Adobe Spark is a powerful tool to build panel or page-based videos, as opposed to screencasts (like Screencastify), lecture capture (like Zoom), or timeline-based video (like iMovie). Spark is a digital storytelling tool. You can add text, video clips, photos, images, and per-panel voice overs. Best of all, Spark is FREE to Truman users and we can provide licenses to all faculty, staff, and students upon request to the Learning Technologies Team. So in addition to using this yourself – it can also be used by students to produce digital assignments.
Request your free Truman Adobe Spark account.
For more information, please refer to this PDF documentation.
Editing Video with Screencastify
Screencastify is an easy-to-use tool that is installed as a browser plug-in (reviewed and approved – no admin rights required) which you can then use to “screencast” or record what is on your computer screen. You can even add in your webcam/mic so that you can voice over the recording, including your friendly face, if you wish.
- Screencastify is FREE – you can use the basic version to record sessions of 5 minutes or less
- Truman has purchased a limited number of Pro licenses – which enables recording longer videos! You can request one of these by emailing the Learning Technologies Team
- Editing your video is only possible with a Pro account (this is only one of a number of options for editing video)
Multiple Cameras in Zoom
Sometimes two is better than one! If you find yourself in a complex situation in which you must use the classroom capture camera to provide information in a Zoom session, but you also need to provide additional information or visuals – there are some viable options to accomplish this.
We’ve provided a quick-start PDF guide to reference as well.
Slideshows as a Virtual Background
There are times when you’d like to show some specific graphics or information in your background while you talk. Zoom virtual backgrounds (on computers that have the video capacity to do so) can be used to customize what people see behind you. Now – with this feature update – a whole presentation can be utilized.
(Note – you will need Zoom version 5.2x to have access to this feature. You can update your system through the Ivanti Portal Manager in your Start Menu.)
Classroom Videoconferencing Hardware
Nearly every classroom on campus has been outfitted with some form of microphone and camera for the remote learning needs that we face during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
While the hardware does vary some room to room, most will tend to work in a similar way. For the most part, we suggest only that you test audio and video, as detailed in part of the above instructional video .
Since there are a few different models, it is important that you know what hardware is available in your classroom for video and audio capture.
What is the One Button Studio (OBS)?
The One Button Studio (or OBS) is located inside The Multimedia Lab & Studios (PML203/204). It is designed for quick, professional, and perhaps most importantly, EASY video production. If you need a video for your website to explain a process, or for your Blackboard course to provide some additional explanation for a challenging topic, or you want to reference a resource for students who need to complete a video assignment – the OBS could be your solution. Read more about the OBS here. Open to faculty, staff, and students – make a reservation here to reserve time for your next project.
Downloading Panopto videos
The Learning Technologies Team (LTT) recommends that you download any Panopto videos that you want to keep for future use. These instructions detail how to download the files to your local computer. You will also want to later upload these files to your Google Drive or a YouTube channel for long term storage and easy sharing – but those are topics for other TechBreaks! (When you are ready to work on your Panopto videos, you’ll want to point your browser to http://trumanstateuniversity.hosted.panopto.com )
Uploading to Google
The Learning Technologies Team at Truman recommends that you store important files, large files, files you want to share with colleagues, files you want to be able to access from anywhere… really most of your working files on your Truman provisioned Google Drive. Because Truman has a GSuite for Education enterprise account, that means that all Truman users can log into Google with their Truman accounts and have a more robust and full-featured set of tools in the GSuite. In addition – this enterprise account provides for UNLIMITED file storage space. Because of this – it is ideal for storage of large and frequently-needed files of all file types. Watch as Susan tells how to use this great feature.
Sharing Google Drive files to Brightspace
Truman has a G Suite for Education enterprise account, that means that all Truman users can log into Google with their Truman accounts and have a more robust and full-featured set of tools in the G Suite. Part of G Suite software, Google Drive is a great place to store content you will later share via Brightspace because permissions are easy to set and there is no storage space limit. This is especially helpful for videos which are typically large, eg Zoom videos or videos made in the One Button Studio. More information to come soon.
Intro to Adobe Captivate
Lecture Capture with Zoom
Using Zoom for Web Conferencing
Google Slides
The Google Slides are a great way to ensure that your presentation materials are available and viewable wherever you are. If you can get to the Internet, then you can log into Truman’s Google Apps for Education and create, view, or share your awesome presentation. There are templates to choose from, you can upload images/backgrounds from other authoring tools, and work collaboratively with a team or all on your own. Check out our TechBreak on the Slides application above, or visit Google’s own “Getting Started with Slides“.
Google Docs
Google Drive
Google Sheets
Google Forms
Canva
Flipgrid
Using the LightBoard Studio
Pic Monkey
Pixlr
Pingo
Plickers
PollEverywhere
Slideshow Creator
Slido
Sway
WeVideo
Using SMARTBoards
Using SMART Podiums
eBeam Interactive
Featured in Past Truman Tech Breaks
Panopto: Adding Student Drop Boxes
Zotero: Libraries, Syncing, and Groups
Zotero: Collecting and Inserting Sources
Virus/Trojan/Phishing Prevention
Doodle
Prezi
Audacity
3D Printing
Setting up Your Course on Blackboard/Provisioning for Panopto
Google Forms
myHistro
eduCanon
Remind
Screencast-O-Matic
Virtual Desktop Environment
PollEverywhere
Google Docs
Using BrightLink Interactive Whiteboards
New interactive whiteboards are showing up all over campus, in Baldwin, McClain, anywhere that new wall-mount projectors are being installed! These new boards are very flexible in that they can be written on with standard dry-erase markers; OR by using the supplied stylus, they become interactive digital whiteboards! Learn how to use the BrightLink technology.
Socrative
Socrative is an instant response, or just-in-time (JIT) teaching tool. For this product an instructor needs an account (Free or Pro) and students just join his or her room – no need for them to register or have their own accounts for most uses. Check out this video from Teacher Training Videos to see how Socrative works!
Using Tools in Brightspace to Email Students
Emailing students can be done within Brightspace. By choosing certain tools you can email individual students, certain groups, or your whole course roster. More information to come soon.
Panopto: Adding Student Drop Boxes
This week on Truman Tech Breaks, we have an exciting solution for a common request on campus: how to allow students to directly add content to a lecture capture folder on Panopto!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQYNJoJywWc
Zotero: Libraries, Syncing, and Groups
Happy Purple Friday! This week’s Part 2 video on Zotero focuses on creating libraries, syncing data across multiple devices, and sharing libraries with friends and groups.
Zotero is an incredibly handy tool for research, but keep in mind that it’s always wise to double check your sources to make sure that they are accurate and adhere to the citation style that you would like to use.
To download Zotero, visit their site.
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Zotero: Collecting and Inserting Sources
Welcome back everyone! We’re starting off the semester with a two part Truman Tech Break about the reference management software Zotero. This week’s Part 1 video covers how to add and organize sources in the Zotero software, as well as how to use those sources for citations and bibliographies.
Zotero is an incredibly handy tool for research, but keep in mind that it’s always wise to double check your sources to make sure that they are accurate and adhere to the citation style that you would like to use.
To download Zotero, visit their site.
Truman Tech Break- Virus/Trojan/Phishing Awareness and Prevention
This week on Truman Tech Breaks, we talk about what viruses, Trojans, and Phishing scams are, as well as how we can avoid them.
Remember, if you have any concerns about a Truman owned machine, please do not hesitate to contact your building support person or call the ITS Service Center at x4544.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQmZ4nifcO8
Truman Tech Break- Doodle
Today our Truman Tech Break focuses on Doodle, a program that compiles data on when users would most likely be available for meetings and projects. This is a great program to use for scheduling meeting times with students, and would be a fantastic recommendation for student group projects.
Click here to begin making your scheduling polls.
Truman Tech Break- Prezi
Happy Purple Friday! This week’s Truman Tech Break features the increasingly popular cloud-based presentation tool Prezi. Prezi allows users to create attractive “big picture” presentations that demonstrate more thematic connections than slideshows such as PowerPoint are capable of. Additionally, Prezi allows users to share editable files and host their presentations remotely.
In this video, we explored one possible Prezi model, presented somewhat like a flow chart, but there are many other models that may be better tailored to your presentation (sush as a “circles within circles” model). Check out these example presentations for some inspiration!
To download Prezi, click please visit their site.
For more information, check out the Prezi Knowledge Base.
Truman Tech Break- Audacity
This week’s Truman Tech Break focuses on the audio editing software Audacity. The software is great for editing music and sound files, recording sound, and converting audio files.
To download Audacity, please visit this page and select the appropriate operating system.
The software to download LAME for MP3 conversion and creation can be found here
3D Printing at Truman State University
This week’s Truman Tech Break focuses on a new technology that you may not even be aware is available here on campus – 3D Printing!
Please visit the 3D Printer and other cool output tools at the Ophelia Parrish 1250 Output Center.
• For more information on the Ophelia Parrish Output Center, please visit the Output Center page.
• For inspiration on your next 3D creation, pre-designed files for projects can be found here.
Truman Tech Break – Google Forms
Google has a myriad of tools to make daily tasks simpler. Google Forms is a fantastic option for collecting and organizing data. Whether you need to create a survey, an exit ticket for a course, an equipment checkout form, document when supplies need to be restocked, or any other use you can come up with, Google Forms is a quick and easy solution. It will take all of the data from the form, input it into a spreadsheet for you, and offer additional analytics. With recent updates, you can now embed videos and pictures into the forms. Google has also allowed a number of third party add-ons that expand the uses for Forms including one, Flubaroo, that will automatically grade quizzes and assignments done through Forms.
Here is a brief introduction to this tool:
Truman Tech Break – myHistro
myHistro is a web-based timeline tool. It allows for not just dates and events to be entered, but to tie each of those events to a specific location using Google maps. Beyond that, you can add photos and notes to each event to create a more immersive and detailed experience. Once created, you can create quizzes from the timeline or export it as a pdf, csv, Google Earth, or other file.
Beyond implementing as a presentation tool or assignment for a course, my Histro could be used as a journaling tool for your life history, to plan your next vacation, or document the history of your department.
Check out this video for a short introduction:
Truman Tech Break – eduCanon
When making mini-lectures, sharing interesting “found” videos with students, or when creating online training – there is always the concern that just watching a video is so passive that your target audience will not stay engaged. eduCanon is an easy-to-use cloud-based app that allows an instructor to insert reflective pauses, multiple choice questions and more, right onto a video you wish to share.
eduCanon uses videos that you have uploaded or found on YouTube. The free version has a number of different kinds of questions you can add. If you are active about posting new videos, they will add features from the paid version to your account at no cost.
Find out more about this great tool for making videos more involved by watching the following:
Truman Tech Break – Remind
Remind is a fantastic tool that allows for sending group or individual texts to an entire class, set of student workers, department, or other combination of people. Even better, it does not require ever collecting the participants phone numbers. This means that you gain all of the advantages of texting without having to cross those professional barriers of exchanging private numbers with students or others.
Remind is simple to set up. All you need to do is create a group or class and then send the invite via email to all of your participants. They can then submit their desired phone number to Remind (which remains unseen by anyone) and the process is complete. Sending a group text is as easy as typing it in to the web page and clicking send. You can also set texts to go out at specific times. Many more features are available through their mobile app.
To learn more about Remind, please watch this brief video:
Truman Tech Break –
Screencast-O-Matic
Screencast-o-Matic is a web based service that allows you to create and host screen casts online. A screen cast captures your computer desktop as a video, and allows you to capture additional audio as voice over. If you’ve ever watched a video of computer screen with someone giving directions to you at the same time, you’ve seen a screen cast. Screencast-o-Matic is a free tool that allows you to record a 15 minute screen cast, and publish it online.
Now you can share anything you see on your computer with anyone else. Seeing is believing. That is, it’s easier to deny an idea that’s abstracted, but much harder to deny concrete evidence that you can see. Sceencast-o-Matic allows you to share what you’re seeing on your computer with someone else, as well as an audio commentary at the same time. Maybe that means that you want to narrate a slide show, or a PowerPoint presentation; maybe you’d rather show some graphs and point out data consistencies (or inconsistencies). This is kind of like “show and tell,” but instead of sharing your favorite geode with just your classmates, you can now share anything you find on the internet with anyone that has an internet connection.
To learn more about how to use Screencast-O-Matic, please watch the brief tutorial below:
Truman Tech Break – Truman’s Virtual Desktop Environment
Truman State University’s virtual desktop environment is available to give you access to the same software and resources available in our public computer labs and classrooms from your personal computer system even if you live on campus or off campus.
- The virtual desktop connection will give you a full screen remote connection to the same system that is available in our labs and classrooms. It will appear to you as if you are in front of a computer lab system. You can access any of the software on the current image, access your Y: drive, etc.
- You must have a broadband connection to use the virtual desktops from off campus. It will not work over a dial-up connection.
To learn more, please watch this brief tutorial below:
Truman Tech Break – PollEverywhere Audience Response Software
To learn more about PollEverywhere, please watch the brief video below!