Examples and Ideas

The Examples and Ideas page contains examples of how people here at MIIS are already using Elluminate as well as offering suggestions for additional ways to make the most out of using Elluminate in your classroom.

- UNDER CONSTRUCTION MARCH 2009

Collaborative Story-Telling

Using Application Sharing, the Chat Window and the Whiteboard students and teachers can jointly create a story based on picture prompts.

• Application Sharing enables both the student and the teacher to see the same pictures to talk about in real time. The pictures could be shared as a powerpoint slideshow or a photo movie or a variety of other methods from one computer to another.
• The Chat window provides a way to record the elements of the story as they are created and then later save them into a text document that preserves them outside of Elluminate.
• The Whiteboard can then be used to upload the text document as a way to display the story so the teacher and student can review what they've created and edit it as they go.

All three elements work together quite nicely for creating a story over a distance and then preserving it for future use.
Other ideas for using these three aspects of Elluminate could be:
- Professionals or students from different locations collaborating for a conference or group presentation or writing a joint paper.
- Using these three tools to "dry run" a presentation or a lecture. 
Can you think of other ways that this same idea could be applied?

Integrated Skills Lessons

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Using File Transfer, Application Sharing, the Whiteboard and the speaking function a variety of integrated skills lessons can be accomplished.

• File transfer enables teachers to share audio clips with their students. Once opened on the student's computer, they can replay the clip as often as necessary to gain understanding.
• Application sharing enables the teacher to share documents for the student to type into or simply read, whether these are fill in the blanks, cloze questions or multiple choice, whatever is the teacher's chosen means of requesting information.
• Using the Whiteboard teachers can have pictures of vocabulary or terminology uploaded for the student to build upon, do matching activities with by using the drawing tools, text-box tools or other functions from the whiteboard toolbar.
• Utilizing the speaking function enables further discussion of the topic at hand as well as enhances understanding between the teacher and student as they can ask for immediate clarification if necessary.

Many of these elements can be combined and re-combined in different ways to facilitate the type of lesson desired. For example application sharing could be used to send a webpage or a movie, while file transfer can send the documents to be completed instead.

Other ideas for using these aspects of Elluminate could be:
- Using file transfer in a peer editing situation to review articles or short papers and receive immediate feedback.

- Using either application sharing or file transfer to share a movie, speech or other previously recorded presentation for students to discuss or review.

Pull in outside resources

Using Web Tour, the Whiteboard, the Chat Window and the speaking function teachers can introduce students to current events and other authentic materials that are located outside of the classroom and may lead them to sites they will find useful at a later period.

• Web tour allows teachers to guide students to a variety of websites. Whether you want them to watch a video online, read and respond to a blog post, investigate an online article or view an example of a company website take them there using the Web Tour button and then students have the option of clicking on their own from there.
• Using the whiteboard teachers can have questions from the reading typed in and can ask students to respond to them using the whiteboard tools.
• The Chat window can be used to ask for clarification or continue discussions. Students could also copy and paste the URLs for new sites into the chat window and then the moderator can start new web tours using those.
• Finally, the speaking function can be used in many ways, either for an interactive discussion, for clarification or for the teacher to lecture or guide students to pertinent materials.

As with most elements in Elluminate, all of the tools can be combined in different ways and be adapted to fit almost any situtation.

Other ideas for using these aspects of Elluminate could be:
- Using web tour in a group research project to share sites you found most useful with other group members.
- In a class discussion if a student knows of a resource they've come across at another time, use the chat window to suggest the link to the moderator or to others to either bookmark for later or go to at an appropriate time in the discussion.
- Use the web tour function to link to on-line learning sites such as Quizlet or other interactive web resources.
- Bring the outside world in to whatever context you are working in.

Replicate "real-world" interactions

Using Application Sharing, the Whiteboard and the speaking function with a recording edited with Audacity, teachers can simulate a variety of "real-world" situations that students might encounter. In one example the teacher had a student listen to a phone message recording similar to one that might be left for an employee from their employer containing instructions to be completed.

• Application sharing enables the teacher to share the Audacity recording or any other type of multimedia with the student for the student to listen to and replay as often as needed on their own computer.
• Using the whiteboard the student could take notes which the instructor can observe and correct using the whiteboard tools throughout the process.
• Finally, having the speaking function available throughout the entire process enables any questions to be resolved without interfering with any of the note-taking or other tools.

Other ideas for using these aspects to simulate real world situations could include:

- Sharing a video or skype recording of a business teleconference using application sharing may be a good way to demonstrate what may be expected of business students.

- A short speech or passsage could be played and shared using application sharing in an interpretation context and teachers could give immediate verbal feedback even without being in the same location as the students.

- Virtual debates could be held with the main debators in different locations and the teacher working as the moderator. Other students could utilize the whiteboard or chat window while listening live using the multiple speakers function, or through previously recorded videos to mark down questions or suggest items for follow up.