General Instructional Technology – Page 2 – Teaching and Learning with Technology at Reed

Laser Cutting a Chinese Print Block (part one)

For this project, the goal was to make a print from a Chinese wood block. The block depicts paper money that, after made into a paper print, is then burned up as an offering to ancestors during the annual Qingming Festival.

We didn’t want to use the original block itself for making prints for fear of causing damage to the original artwork, so we hoped to make a reproduction of the artwork. This was a great time to use the physics building’s laser printer, which could burn artwork into a linoleum block. From that, we’d create a replica of the printing block, then make new prints.

Mapping Unimproved Roads

Cyclocross is a one of those weird sports I’d never heard of until I moved to Portland. Essentially cyclocross is a form of bike racing that entails riding on pavement, trails and grass while occasionally dismounting to carrying your bike over obstacles. Surprisingly cyclocross complements another Portland oddity, the huge number of unimproved roadways in the city. These unpaved roads are great for cyclocross training!

Text analysis using Voyant Tools

Voyant Tools is one of my favorite text analysis tools because it is fast and easy to use, even for people who have no background in text analysis. Although Voyant offers a lot of options—which can be overwhelming—the interface presents basic results that any user can easily customize. The results of Voyant’s analysis can be downloaded as visualizations or in tab-separated or JSON data formats, and Voyant also generates embed codes for its tools (which I’m using for this blog post), as well as citations for specific analyses. This post will cover basic Voyant functions, including inputting texts for analysis, working with and understanding basic Voyant tools, and downloading data. Continue reading “Text analysis using Voyant Tools”

Social annotation with Annotation Studio

Annotation Studio is an open-source browser-based annotation platform that allows members of groups or classes to take notes on a shared document. You might think of it as similar to the comment feature in Google Docs, without the ability to edit the text itself. Social annotation allows students to interact with a text and each other asynchronously. Faculty in literature classes might use Annotation Studio to highlight specific areas of a text and and ask questions on them before class or to ask students to select sections of a text they want to discuss in class and compose leading questions. In foreign language classrooms, students might comment on grammar or vocabulary they found difficult and ask for help from classmates, or an instructor could use Annotation Studio to provide glosses of difficult vocabulary or cultural context for a text.

Translating research from question to query

Earlier this term, I heard from students in Noelwah Netusil’s natural resources economics class. They were hoping I could help them identify how many homes are within the Johnson Creek floodplain.

This is certainly a spatial problem, so using some spatial system — in this case, a GIS* — is a good first step. Another important challenge as researcher is to translate your question into something your analytical tool can understand. Continue reading “Translating research from question to query”

Tool Talk: Creating transparency in images with Preview

Preview, macOS’s built-in image and PDF viewer, has quietly added many useful features over the years. Earlier this year, we blogged about Preview’s PDF annotation tools.

Preview’s Instant Alpha tool allows you to quickly make parts of an image transparent. You could also do this with other more robust (and expensive) software, but having this capability included in a built-in piece of software on the Mac is very useful. One potential use is removing the background from images in order to insert them in documents or posters. Another potential use would be for artwork or photos you want to manipulate digitally. Continue reading “Tool Talk: Creating transparency in images with Preview”

New Language Lab website

The Language Lab at Reed has a new website! You can access it at www.reed.edu/language_resources/.

The main page includes links to the drop-in tutoring schedule for foreign languages and a list of media available at the IMC by language.

Use the menu on the left to find resources for modern languages offered at Reed. A menu for each language provides options for categories of resources, such as typing help and online dictionaries.

New developments in mobile audio recording at Reed

Welcome to the Fall 2016 semester!

New mobile recording equipment is available to check out for academic or personal recording at the Performing Arts Resource Center (PARC). Possible uses include field recording for classes, analog and/or midi recording of your own music, sampling, editing music, mixing, and mastering. We have enough microphones to record anything from one instrument to an entire band. Documentation is included with all of the equipment. You can also talk to me in the PARC or write me at joejaniga@reed.edu with any questions.

The list after the jump is ordered from entry-level to advanced; your needs will determine the best option for you. Continue reading “New developments in mobile audio recording at Reed”

Screen recording/Screencasting Tips

Screenflow is great app for screen recording/screencasting, but this grab bag of tips can be applied to any screen recording scenario (there’s loads of free screencast software on the web as well). Quicktime can also do screen recording.

Reflections on Digital Scholarship Week at Reed

The last week of March was Digital Scholarship Week at Reed. Instructional Technology Services and Library staff, with generous support from the Center for Teaching and Learning, organized the week-long series of events to showcase digital methodologies in research and teaching at Reed. Students and faculty from a variety of disciplines were among the presenters. I enjoyed the way that talking about digital scholarship brought scholars from different disciplines together in one conversation.

As someone with a background in the humanities, one of the questions that interests me is how scholars of the humanities use digital methods, so I was very glad that Dr. Miriam Posner (’01) returned to Reed as part of Digital Scholarship Week. Dr. Posner is a faculty member and coordinator of the Digital Humanities program at UCLA. She holds a Ph.D. from Yale in Film Studies and American Studies. Dr. Posner presented a workshop on visualizing data in the humanities and a lecture on her work on the visual culture of lobotomy in the United States. Continue reading “Reflections on Digital Scholarship Week at Reed”