COMM

Communication Professor Matt Koschmann Nominated for ASSETT Outstanding Teaching with Technology Award

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 06:00:00 +0000

Communication Professor Matt Koschmann Nominated for ASSETT Outstanding Teaching with Technology Award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 07/23/2014 - 00:00

A white background with black bullet points or musical transitions between colorful slides? �� Boulder Department of Communication Professor Matt Koschmann achieves a delicate balance between both styles of PowerPoint presentations. Students nominated Koschmann for the Fall 2013 ASSETT Outstanding Teaching with Technology Award for his teaching of Communication 4600 Organizational Communication. In particular, they acclaimed the seamlessness of his PowerPoint presentations. One student wrote: "[The] best integration of slides in class I’ve ever [seen] ... [Koschmann] ... Uses PowerPoint slides better than any teacher, really strikes the perfect balance between how much information he puts on the slides and how much information he puts into the lecture."

Koschmann spoke about his process of creating PowerPoint presentations for classes. Koschmann explained that he makes every decision about his PowerPoints with intention to effectively complement his lectures. Koschmann carefully plans the progression of text and associated animations to highlight concepts explained through lecture. Koschmann says that animations in a presentation should be, "... Attractive - not distracting. The animation should help the progression of ideas. It's more dynamic than staring at a list on the screen. A visual representation ..." He also posts his slides to D2L before class.

The Outstanding Teaching with Technology Award nomination is not Koschmann's first recognition from ASSETT. In 2010, he received an ASSETT Development Award that he used to create educational animation videos through CommProf Productions. Koschmann continues to create animations for his teaching through Videoscribe software.

Finally, Koschmann says:

I enjoy the classroom environment ... Where you can talk through ideas and ask questions. I'm always looking for things that solve a problem ... [and] ... Ways to enhance the learning environment ... Students have a higher standard and expectation now.

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Vanessa Schatz's Writing Class is "Bigger Than the Classroom"

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 06:00:00 +0000

Vanessa Schatz's Writing Class is "Bigger Than the Classroom" Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/13/2014 - 00:00

Vanessa Schatz strongly believes that college coursework should directly prepare students for the work place. Schatz, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Communication at �� Boulder, recognizes how important it is for students to build transferable skills in college so that they will become competitive job applicants after graduation. Last year, Schatz's students nominated her for an ASSETT Outstanding Teaching with Technology Award for her teaching of WRTG 3020, an upper division writing seminar with the theme of travel writing. Students wrote in their nominations of Schatz about how she encouraged them to try new technologies in their final presentations of their writing portfolios: "As a final assignment, we were instructed to give a presentation of all the pieces we had written throughout the semester. [Schatz] encouraged us to create a slideshow, video, or prezi presentation to show the rest of the class," one student wrote. Schatz says she encourages her students to be creative in this endeavor, even uploading videos to Vimeo or YouTube. Schatz points out, "It's good to be able to hyperlink," to video presentations created in college when applying for jobs. She says that building connections between the classroom and the real world is most rewarding for her:

It's something I genuinely enjoy ... most about teaching. You can inspire students. It's important to remind them how these materials relate to life outside of the classroom and how it can help them professionally. It makes my experience as a teacher more interesting, too. It's reciprocal in nature. It shows if you enjoy what you're doing.

Schatz is serious about students succeeding in their professional lives, and keeps in touch with former students:

A lot of [my former students] have pursued creative careers ... [and] professional careers as writers. Some [of them] have jobs in journalism. I think that's exactly what I was trying to do in the classroom--what can you do with your skills ... and your passions?

In students' nomination of Schatz's teaching for the ASSETT Outstanding Teaching with Technology Award, they also wrote that she would often begin class with projecting an image onto the board as a source of inspiration about a writing topic. Schatz explains that she believes in offering students, "Different sources of stimulation to increase students' awareness about what we're doing in class." Recently, Schatz has also collaborated with course director Jamie Skerski to teach a public speaking course that involves students creating 60 second public service announcements that would benefit area nonprofits and small businesses. "... Technology is becoming a powerful vessel, a powerful tool in capturing the human experience," Schatz says. "That is something I am passionate about ... That's why I think technology is useful--because it can facilitate our differences and commonalities. Learning about people's lives and their stories can be inspiring."

When asked about students' attitudes about learning to use new technologies for class, Schatz said, "I found that most students were at least curious." Her students were able to access professional video editing software at ATLAS and consult OIT staff for help for their final projects. Schatz thoroughly understands the importance of explaining to students:

By exposing students to use or explore technologies, the biggest success you can have ... [is realizing that] this is something that's bigger than the classroom. If you can create stimulating emotional multimedia video or presentation with visuals and storytelling, ... it can be used in your professional life. [It's important to explain to students] why ... you [are proposing] these technologies and how ... they positively impact their learning styles.

Students' nomination of Schatz for the ASSETT Teaching with Technology Award has made her experience at �� come full circle in a way. Schatz's 2008 master's research under the direction of Michele Jackson in the �� Department of Communication found opportunities for technology to improve teaching at ��. That year, Jackson founded ASSETT, a new part of the College of Arts and Science to improve the use of technology in teaching. Schatz went on to complete her masters, and she continues to teach at ��. When she is not teaching, Schatz consults with Rosetta Stone in marketing their English Language business software.

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Teaching With Technology: Matt Koschmann on Animation

Anonymous — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Teaching With Technology: Matt Koschmann on Animation Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/17/2012 - 00:00

Assistant Professor Matt Koschmann in the department of Communication has recently added a new tool to his teaching repertoire: animation. On April 13^th, 2012, Koschmann presented to the Teaching with Technology participants the benefits of utilizing animation in the classroom. Before delving into his presentation, however, Koschmann highlighted a critical question related to teaching with technology: “Is this actually going to help accomplish things in the classroom?” Koschmann argued that using a technology for teaching without considering its benefits is counterproductive to the learning process.

Notably pragmatic in his approach of utilizing technology in the classroom, Koschmann began his presentation by describing animation as “… a means to an end, not an end itself.” For Koschmann, animation holds a multitude of benefits and was the answer to a standing question: how to make the screen more engaging.

What are the benefits of Animation?

Throughout his Teaching with Technology presentation, Koschmann argued that animation can be utilized efficiently to introduce courses. Koschmann explained that he will use it in his upcoming fall and spring semester courses in order to “introduce the course and get students excited about the material. The animation video covers all of the major topics of the course, so during the semester we can go back and look at different sections as a point of departure for more in-depth analysis.” In other words, course introduction animations can act as both a course synopsis and a visual syllabus.

Koschmann further explained that he sees animation as a way to push thinking to the next level by appealing to several learning styles including both audio and visual. By having the animation readily available, students can reference content for an increased understanding as well as have access to the text file of the lecture content to allow people to follow along and re-read specific sections. This will allow students to explore the content at their own pace and reiterate the key topics of the course.

Animation, however, has the potential to be utilized beyond the traditional classroom. Koschmann indicated that he had utilized animation during an online summer session in order to engage his students without “in-person context to connect with.”

Process:

With all great ideas come obstacles. Currently in production of his second commissioned animation, Koschmann stated that the biggest obstacle in regards to integrating animations into the classroom is that of production and costs. For Koschmann’s first completed animation, he commissioned local art school students by utilizing departmental funding and a grant from ASSETT. He explained that his process for both animations have included writing out the introductory lecture, recording the audio, and sending it to student animators who then produce the animation via whiteboards and later speed up the illustrative process. Koschmann further explained that this process was inspired by a series of videos produced by RSA Animate. However, Koschmann noted that this approach is not entirely reasonable for most classroom purposes. For common use, Koschmann suggested several resources for educators, including prezi.com and xtranormal.com.

While animation has yet to be fully evaluated for its effectiveness in the classroom, Koschmann expounds that the novelty of animation at least has the potential to keep students more engaged. Koschmann also plans on conducting a brief survey on D2L for students to give feedback on the effectiveness of animation.

Steph Hayden
Community Coordinator
�� '14

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Whiteboard Animation to be used in Comm Courses

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Whiteboard Animation to be used in Comm Courses Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/30/2011 - 00:00

Many professors at �� are motivated to find new and creative ways to teach. Among them is Matt Koschmann, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, who has plans to use Whiteboard Animate as a creative way to orient students to his future courses.

If you are not familiar with the Whiteboard animation, this is a technique of capturing with a camera a sequence of images, drawn onto a whiteboard. You simply take pictures of every completed drawn image and convert the pictures into a sequence. Koschmann plans to make his own animated sequence available online to his students in the form of videos. He explained that animation is a great tool for conveying a framework for thinking about an important topic for an entire semester. Professor Koschmann elaborated that this tool is a wonderful way to get students to focus on the content of a message in a very visually stimulating way. To see for yourself, watch this example of a whiteboard animation video.

The two classes in which he plans to develop whiteboard animation videos are Organizational Communication and Persuasion in Society. Since these classes required him to develop online content such as PowerPoint notes, he got motivated to explore various alternatives for delivering course content to students. During this process, he realized that whiteboard animation could be an excellent alternative for exploring and learning concepts in his course. Koschmann explained, “I think that this tool helps you facilitate learning because it hits a lot of different learning styles.” The end product is visual, audio and animated, so it provides an element of novelty. He also explained how video animation is a flexible resource for students. “This tool is codified, it’s accessible, and students don’t have to be in class to see this. It is accessible in ways that other things in class may not be.”

Although whiteboard animation is a fun and creative way to teach and learn, it is too time consuming and expensive to create for daily teaching. Professor Koschmann aims to limit the use of whiteboard animation to deliver preliminary lectures for his classes that introduce the course and overview the main topic. He recommends his students watch the videos as a supplement to the lecture and the reading materials. In other words, they are not replacements for coming to class or reading the text.

Professor Koschmann has plans to work with animators at the Rocky Mountain College of Arts and Design to develop the whiteboard animations and produce the videos. Currently he is communicating with the animator at the Rocky Mountain College of Arts and Design. Professor Koschmann recently received an ASSETT Development awards. This award will support the development of these whiteboard animation video lectures.

Written By: Manaslu Bista,��’11 ASSETT Reporter

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