Use of Doceri Software for iPad in Online Delivery of Chemistry

Aug 18, 2014 - Using the Doceri wireless connection between the iPad and a personal computer that is running Adobe Connect, online synchronous instruc...
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Technology Report pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc

Use of Doceri Software for iPad in Online Delivery of Chemistry Content Lee J. Silverberg,*,† John Tierney,‡ and Matthew J. Bodek‡ †

Pennsylvania State University, Schuylkill Campus, Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania 17972, United States Pennsylvania State University, Brandywine Campus, 25 Yearsley Mill Road, Media, Pennsylvania 19063, United States

‡

ABSTRACT: Doceri software for iPad is useful for both synchronous online and asynchronous online delivery of chemistry course content. Using the Doceri wireless connection between the iPad and a personal computer that is running Adobe Connect, online synchronous instruction can be accomplished in which drawings can be completed by hand on the iPad. For asynchronous delivery, lectures can be easily recorded by Doceri on the iPad. As with synchronous lectures, the content on display can be easily annotated over, making it easy for the instructor to highlight materials while talking.

KEYWORDS: First-Year Undergraduate/General, Second-Year Undergraduate, Upper-Division Undergraduate, Continuing Education, Computer-Based Learning, Distance Learning/Self Instruction, Internet/Web-Based Learning

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INTRODUCTION

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SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE INSTRUCTION

In an earlier report, the use of Doceri software1,2 and an iPad3 in distance learning or resident instruction classrooms was discussed.4 The features of Doceri that were discussed were the drawing capabilities and the mobility afforded by the wireless connection to a classroom desktop P.C.4 Features more applicable to an online, hybrid, or “flipped” course5−10 were not covered. In this report, the use of Doceri in synchronous and asynchronous online delivery is discussed.

As discussed previously,4 Doceri connects the iPad wirelessly to a desktop computer, which can be controlled from the iPad. Whatever is on the desktop can be annotated by drawing on the iPad. For synchronous online instruction,11−14 a popular software is Adobe Connect.5,15,16 Connect allows the instructor to communicate to students by audio, and the students to respond by instant message, while also sharing a PowerPoint document or a whiteboard. Using Connect alone, however, the instructor must use the mouse to make drawings. It is not fast or easy to make good drawings this way. Combining Doceri with Connect allows for drawings to be made by hand (Figure 1). The use of Connect allows students to interact with the instructor, and using Doceri with Connect provides the instructor the ability to hand draw structures and solve problems. Some other tablets, such as Wacom17 or Interwrite,18 enable this as well, but we believe that the additional flexibility and features offered by Doceri, outside of the Connect software, make it a more robust © 2014 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

Figure 1. Screen capture of an Adobe Connect session being drawn on using Doceri. The “chalkboard” is the Doceri Project. Outside of that are parts of Adobe Connect.

tool. The online instruction session, including drawings, text messages, and audio, can be recorded within Connect. In resident instruction General Chemistry courses, we have held Connect sessions in the evening to make for up classes lost due to weather. In surveys given afterward, 93% of respondents liked the online lectures the “same” as being in class, 7% found them to be “worse,” and none thought they were “better.” The sessions were also recorded using Adobe Connect and posted online for students who were unable to attend live. Sixty-four Published: August 18, 2014 1999

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(2) Penn State Teaching and Learning With Technology. http:// sites.psu.edu/doceri/ (accessed April 2014). (3) Apple − iPad. http://www.apple.com/ipad/ (accessed April 2014). (4) Silverberg, L. J. Use of Doceri Software for iPad in Polycom and Resident Instruction Chemistry Classes. J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 1087−1089. (5) Ealy, J. B. Development and Implementation of a First-Semester Hybrid Organic Chemistry Course: Yielding Advantages for Educators and Students. J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 303−307. (6) Pienta, N. J. Online Courses in Chemistry: Salvation or Downfall? J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 271−272. (7) Smith, J. D. Student Attitudes toward Flipping the General Chemistry Classroom. Chem. Educ. Res. Pract. 2013, 14, 607−614. (8) Weaver, G. C.; Sturtevant, H. Description of a “flipped” general chemistry course: Design, implementation, and assessment. Abstracts of Papers, 246th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8−12, 2013, CHED-403. (9) Priest, O. P.; Learning to teach to the YouTube generation: Technology in the classroom. Abstracts of Papers, 246th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, Indianapolis, IN, United States, September 8−12, 2013, CHED-382. (10) Fautch, J. M.; Flipped organic chemistry classroom at a small comprehensive college: Organic chemistry upside down. Abstracts of Papers, 245th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, New Orleans, LA, United States, April 7−11, 2013, CHED-201. (11) Mann, M. K. Holding online office hours for on-ground courses: A comparison of web resources to keep students in touch and on track. Abstracts of Papers, 245th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition, New Orleans, LA, United States, April 7−11, 2013, CHED-1641. (12) Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. http://www. educatorstechnology.com/2012/11/7-awesome-collaborativewhiteboard.html (accessed April 2014). (13) Hart, Jane. Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies. Six Collaborative Whiteboards. http://c4lpt.co.uk/directory-oflearning-performance-tools/collaborative-whiteboards/ (accessed April 2014). (14) Walsh, Kelly. EmergingEdTech. 6 Free Online Collaborative Interactive White Boards − 2012 Update. http://www. emergingedtech.com/2012/11/6-free-online-collaborative-interactivewhite-boards-2012-update/ (accessed April 2014). (15) Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Connect. http://www. adobe.com/products/adobeconnect.html (accessed April 2014). (16) Penn State IT Knowledge Base. Meeting@PennState. http://kb. its.psu.edu/meeting (accessed April 2014). (17) Wacom. http://www.wacom.com/en/us/ (accessed April 2014). (18) Turning Technology, LLC. Interwrite Board. http://www. einstruction.com/support/downloads/interwrite-board-gettingstarted-guide-contains-various-languages (accessed April 2014). (19) Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Captivate 7. http://www. adobe.com/products/captivate.html (accessed April 2014). (20) Larson, K. G.; Long, G. R.; Briggs, M. W. Periodic Properties and Inquiry: Student Mental Models Observed during a Periodic Table Puzzle Activity. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 1491−1498. (21) Tofan, D. C. Improving Chemistry Education by Offering Salient Technology Training to Preservice Teachers. A Graduate-Level Course on Using Software to Teach Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86, 1060−1062. (22) TechSmith Corporation. Camtasia Studio. http://www. techsmith.com/camtasia.html (accessed April 2014). (23) He, Y.; Swenson, S.; Lents, N. Online Video Tutorials Increase Learning of Difficult Concepts in an Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Course. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 1128−1132. (24) Phipps, L. R. Creating and Teaching a Web-Based, UniversityLevel Introductory Chemistry Course That Incorporates Laboratory

percent of the survey respondents thought the recordings were the “same” as being in class, 29% found them to be “better,” and 7% thought them “worse.” While this was not a rigorous study of online vs resident instruction, it does give direct comparison with students who have experienced the classes both ways, and the surveys suggest that the two modes of delivery were similarly effective.

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ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE INSTRUCTION Doceri also has the ability to create recordings for asynchronous delivery. There are other programs available for recording lectures, such as Adobe Captivate,19−21 Camtasia,7,22−24 ScreenFlow,8,25 Articulate Storyline,26 Educreations,27 and Explain Everything,28 but they are not as easy to operate as Doceri. There is virtually no learning curve for this product. To make a recording, one simply presses the “REC” button and then “Start Recording.” As with classroom instruction,4 an instructor can annotate over what is showing on the iPad or P.C., such as PowerPoint slides. Video or animation can be run on the P.C. and will be captured as part of the new recording. This is a feature that allows the instructor to present, for example, 3D models in motion while explaining what is happening to the viewer, all presented within the context of a larger lecture. To transfer the recordings from the iPad to a place where they can be viewed by students, the files can be uploaded to Dropbox,29 an Internet file storage site. When this is done, the recordings become .mov files viewable from a P.C. Recordings are best kept under 10 min so the file does not become too large. A weakness of Doceri is that finished recordings cannot be edited on the iPad. However, once uploaded, recordings can be edited using desktop-based video editing software. We have created a pool of recorded short lectures on topics in second-year organic chemistry. These recordings can be used as the lectures in an online or “flipped” course, but we have found they are also useful to students in resident instruction courses as supplemental material to enhance learning.23

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CONCLUSION Doceri is a unique software that we have found very useful in delivery of chemistry courses by resident instruction,4 distance learning to multiple campuses,4 synchronous online instruction, and asynchronous online instruction. While there are other programs that enable one or more of the pedagogical techniques we have discussed, to our knowledge no other can do all of these things.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

*E-mail: [email protected]. Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Brian Young (Penn State University Park), Julie Meyer (Penn State Schuylkill), Joshua Leitgeb (Penn State Schuylkill), and Paul Brown (SP Controls, Inc.).

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REFERENCES

(1) SP Controls, Inc. Doceri. http://doceri.com/ (accessed April 2014). 2000

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Exercises and Active Learning Pedagogies. J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 568−573. (25) Telestream, Inc. ScreenFlow. http://www.telestream.net/ screenflow/ (accessed April 2014). (26) Articulate Global, Inc. Articulate Storyline. http://www. articulate.com/products/storyline-overview.php (accessed April 2014). (27) educreations, inc. educreations. http://www.educreations.com/ (accessed April 2014). (28) MorrisCooke Interactive. Explain Everything. http://www. morriscooke.com/?p=134 (accessed April 2014). (29) Dropbox. Dropbox. https://www.dropbox.com/ (accessed April 2014).

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dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed4009057 | J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91, 1999−2001