By Sally Hritz

A “mashup” of Google Maps and YouTube video used as instructional technology garnered the most votes at TELR's third annual "Five Minutes of Fame" held in late April. Runners-up included a project aimed at managing group media resources and another that presents veterinary medicine techniques through computer modeling.

The Five Minutes of Fame featured 10 campus innovators who presented their instructional technology projects in a fast-paced, show-and-tell format. All of the finalists were given literally five minutes to explain and demo their creations or be gonged off the podium. Though the event was presented in a light-hearted way, it showcased meaningful, practical enterprise.

Joanne Dehoney, interim executive director of TELR and director of eLearning says, “We had the richest and most diverse pool yet to select from, that has resulted in 10 fascinating instructional technology projects.”

The winning project is the brainchild of Chris Hill, an academic program specialist in the American Language Program of the College of Education and Human Ecology. The mashup merges videos taken by students of the English as a Second Language program with Google Map closeups. He devised the “mapped video" as a way for ESL students to describe actual locales in central Ohio as a virtual tour for new or prospective students. But it has other applications; for instance, students can talk about their hometown or places they would like to travel and link their presentations to a location on the map. “I've found that this is a great way for students to share their work with friends and family,” Hill says, “and a great way to promote the American Language Program to students around the world.”

The approximately 100 attendees agreed, using classroom “clickers” to give his idea the top award among the entries. Hill has assembled the pieces on a web page and provided directions so that “You can do it too!”.

Other top vote-getters:

Media Manager for Groups. This new resource for groups is an outgrowth of the original Media Manager, which serves individual accounts. Allen Coleman, digital media library developer for the College of Arts and Sciences technology services office, presented Media Manager for Groups, which gives colleges, departments, and other campus entities a large amount of storage space for sharing and maintaining images, documents, and other resource files. Using the Media Manager engine, they can customize the interface, database structure, account management, and web site to suit their own needs. To get more information about starting a group account, go to the MMG web site.

Integration of Simulation Technologies in Veterinary Medicine. Don Stredney, director of the Interface Lab at the Ohio Supercomputer Center, presented a project on computer modeling that teaches regional anatomy and the basic procedures of veterinary surgery. The simulations help students gain proficiency through self-paced, on-demand review and examination.

The remaining seven projects involved image and text manipulation, wikis, interactive periodicals, assessment tools, video streaming, cyberzine publishing, and theorem proving software. Get more information on the Five Minutes presentations web page, where videos of the presentations will be added soon.

The Technology Enhanced Learning and Research Coordinating Committee sponsored the showcase, which was staged as part of the Faculty and TA Development’s Academy of Teaching mini conference.