TalkTech 2013: A Collaboration Project between “Politehnica” University of Timisoara and Bentley University
With your international partners, you will use web-based collaboration tools to meet both synchronously (in real time using voice, video, and chat) and asynchronously (via e-mail, or bulletin boards) to research popular web or mobile apps. You will create a multimedia artifact using ThingLink, an image annotation tool, to present collectively what your group has learned. Think of this as an interactive infographic.
For this project you will use the VICADIS online tool at http://www.vicadis.net/campus/course/view.php?id=116 All the information, your messages, etc will be stored here. To access this account please contact your tutor.
ThingLink
ThingLink helps you create interactive images by annotating them with photos and images, video, text, music, and audio. See examples of ThingLInks that others have created here: http://www.thinglink.com/learn
Bentley students have created these ThingLinks to introduce themselves to students at UTP:
- https://www.thinglink.com/scene/431819755356160002
- https://www.thinglink.com/scene/431819482403438594
After selecting a topic, your group will create the image to annotate using ThingLink.
Create your ThingLink.
After you upload your background image, set sharing settings – who can edit, and image visibility (public or unlisted). Check Allow Anyone To Edit so others can edit your image!
Post the link to your image to VICADIS so that everyone in your group can access it.
Background Image
Create a background image, screen shot, photograph, or collage that describes your topic. Your background image should contain several areas that you can annotate with text, voice, and video using ThingLink.
Annotations
Image and Text Annotation (One per person, in two languages!)
Each person in your group should create a text annotation that includes research you have done about this aspect of the product. This should be between 100 and 150 words. Include an image to accompany your annotation. Create the image yourself, or find it online. Enter the web address for the image in the “link” field on Thing Link.
Create two versions of your annotation: one in English, and one in Romanian. (Use Google Translate if you need help!) Post your annotation twice, once in each language. Use a BLUE CIRCLE as the icon to identify English annotations and a GREEN CIRCLE as the icon to identify Romanian annotations.
Audio Annotation (One per Team)
Create a recording containing voices from at least one Bentley student and at least one UT student in which you have a short conversation about an aspect of the topic. The length should be approximately 30 seconds times the number of people participating in the audio recording. Post the audio recording on SoundCloud or another hosting site online. Write a brief description, and include the link to your audio annotation on ThingLink. It’s ok for everyone to speak in English!
Video Annotation (One per Team)
Create a video featuring at least one Bentley student and at least one UT student in which you have a short conversation about an aspect of the topic. The length should be approximately 30 seconds times the number of people participating in the audio recording. Post the video on YouTube, Vimeo, or another video hosting site online. Write a brief description, and include the link to your audio annotation on ThingLink. It’s ok for everyone to speak in English!
Hints:
You might try using Google Hangouts, and recording it directly to YouTube, or look for a free video call recorder for Skype. You might use join.me’s meeting recording feature, or a screen recording service such as screencast-o-matic.com or screenr.com to create a short demo of your app or web site.
Social Media:
Each person in your group should share the ThinkgLink when it is completed, on one of your own social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GooglePlus, etc., or post it to your own personal website or blog. Please use the identification of #talktech2013 . Include an appropriate screenshot on Vicadis as evidence.
Topics
- Most Popular Android Apps
- Most Popular iPhone Apps
- Most Popular Cloud Storage Providers
- Most Popular Social Media or Technology Blogs / Podcasts
- Most Popular Travel Web Sites
- Most Popular Google Products (Search, Docs, Gmail, Alerts, Earth, Maps, etc.)
- Most Popular Web Advertising Services
- Most Popular Photo Sharing Sites
- Most Popular Social Networking Sites
- Most Popular Social Bookmarking Sites
- Most Popular Health and Fitness Apps
- Most Popular Mapping Sites and Apps
- Most Popular Video Conferencing / VOIP Services
- Most Popular Online or Mobile Payment Services or Apps
- Most Popular Videostreaming sites and Apps
Timeline
Week of:
Tasks
October 7 – 10
Sign up for a group and a topic, and exchange contact information with group members. Try to identify a time when you can meet regularly with your international partners.
October 14 – 20
Make first contact to arrange a real-time chat, and discuss project division of responsibilities
Oct 21-27
One person creates Thing Link Account. Group brainstorms content of background image and decides how it will be created.
Oct 28- Nov 3
Post background image on ThingLink, post link to background image on group’s Vicadis site, and discuss which aspects of the background image will be annotated and how, and by whom
Nov 4-10
Work on individual text annotations, and post them to ThingLink
Nov 11-17
Work on video and audio annotations with partners and post to audio and video hosting sites, then to ThingLink
Nov 18-26
Post final annotations online, post final thing link to Vicadis and on social media sites
Grading
Do all of your work on Vicadis http://www.vicadis.net/campus/course/view.php?id=116 . Share transcripts of IM chats, email messages, or other communication as evidence of your collaborative efforts.
Grading Criteria:
GROUP SCORES:
5 Background ThingLink image posted to Vicadis by Nov 3
15 Quality of Content of Group Video or Audio
- Is the information correct and relevant?
- Do you share anything insightful?
- How is the quality of the audio or video? Is it audible? Is the video fuzzy?
- Is there evidence of collaboration in this multimedia: (For example, in the video or audio recording, do you interact with or speak after your international partner?)
10 Group Process
- Did your group document process, how you would work together, and post evidence or snippets of your work together (chat logs, call recordings) of this throughout the project to the VICADIS Blog?
INDIVIDUAL SCORES:
10 Quality of Content Individual Text / Image post
- Is the information correct and relevant?
- Do you share anything insightful?
- Does the image illustrate or enhance the text?
- (and is it in two languages?)
5 Evidence of Collaboration and Participation in the Project
- Did you post milestones on the VICADIS blog along the way?
5 Social Media Sharing
- Did you share your completed thinglink on social media and post evidence to Vicadis?