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Showing posts from September, 2013

Rich text grader feedback in CourseSites

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Rich text comments are possible in CourseSites, although only in the sixth week of using CourseSites did I realize this capability existed. I had previously discovered that the students could not access the comments I was making in the Crocodoc document interface . I also discovered that my students did not realize they could open the rubric. I have stopped putting feedback comments in the rubric because these are in what amounts to too obscure a location for my students. I know put all comments in the grader feedback field, this the students can find a little more easily, although some students still have difficulties navigating to their submitted papers. The Grader Feedback field is simply a text field, but the field does have HTML format capabilities as can be seen in the above screenshot. Accessing this capability is not entirely obvious. There small capital A at the lower left side accesses this capability in CourseSites. Note that the button next to the small capital A permi

Heat conduction as a linear regression exercise

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The pre-assessment at term start suggested that the class was particularly weak with respect to mathematical graphing skills. As a result I have sought to move more linear regressions and plotting exercises into the course. I decided to revamp laboratory six and shift from the previous structure of having groups share data and invent charts to depict the shared data. I brought along timers and had the students record the time versus the rise in temperature. I knew that the data would rise at a declining rate to a fixed maximum value and then undergo cooling curve decay back to room temperature. To try to eke out a somewhat linear relationship, I had the students only plot the initial rise in temperature over the first six to nine minutes. This still had a logistic look to it for some students. Allston and Berry Lucas and Dwayne Brinando and Megan I noted on the board the behavior that I expected to see. The red box indicates the domain and range in which I expected so

Profile picture uptake in CourseSites, Edmodo, Engrade

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At the end of the term I plan to run student reaction surveys for Engrade, Edmodo, and CourseSites. That said, I know my reaction to the three packages, my likes and dislikes. I cannot help but wonder how the students feel about the packages. There is little to go on, but one facet has caught me eye. All three permit students to have a profile picture, but the rate of profile picture adoption varies between the packages. I have the highest rate of profile pictures in Edmodo, followed by Engrade, and then CourseSites. Edmodo, like FaceBook, features a prominent profile picture with every interaction, every post, and in the grade book. Engrade only displays a small profile picture in discussions and messages. The profile picture does not appear in the grade book in Engrade. CourseSites, at least the manner in which I am using CourseSites, does not often display the profile picture. Just to find whether my students had uploaded pictures took me some stumbling around a section of Cour

Pulleys

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Berry and Delinda Erselynn, Plomina Marcyliza

Healing plants presentations

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Vanessa Ewarmai covered the use of Morinda citrifolia (nen) on Satawal in the treatment of coughing. Marino, from Woleai, brought in Psidium guajava (kuwafa) and the use of the young leaves for diarhea. Lucas Hellan covered the use of the fruit of Premna serratifolia (topwuk) in the treatment of chickenpox. Jesse covered the use of the above ground roots of Cocos nucifera (koalohn ni) to stop bleeding. Jennifer Kennedy covered the use of Davallia solida (ulungen kieil) rhizome to staunch bleeding of a cut. Tilson Kephas spoke of the use of a Clerodendrum inerme (kwacwack) steambath (srawuck) during pregnancy. Clinton covered the use of young Syzygium (Javanese water apple) (harfod) in a shower to cleanse women post-delivery of a baby. Parkey Mwarike described the use of unopened Hibiscus rosa-sinensis buds to bring a skin boil to a head. Chelsea Nena spoke bout the use of Annona muricata (soursop) leaves as a tea. Randy Sue also spoke about the

Traditional Plants of Pohnpei field trip

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Parkey, Jeffrey, Charlotte Charlotte, Ursula, Leonard Parkey Mwariki Asian coriander Huperzia phlegmaria - too much sun

Haruki clean-up

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Chelsea Battling reh padil Leonard Jennifer Kennedy Selaginella Chelsea Nena Vanessa Marker stone Coffee Ginger plant

Lycophyte and Monilophyte presentations

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Photo essay on presentations.    Lucas Tracy Jesse Newman Chelsea Nena, Jeffrey Peniknos Ursula, Leonard Jamie, Jennifer Kennedy Parkey speaking, Marino, Clint, and Vanessa Outer island words