1. Engaging students…
increasing interactivity
Faculty Sharing Session
November 3, 2010

3. Syllabus
Course Materials
Add additional document pages
Password protected pages or files
Post audio recordings
Web links
Assignment DropBox
Calendar
Gradebook
Sign up Sheets
Forums
Live Discussions
E-mail
Track participant use
Wikis
Change navigation (names or order)
Embed video (from YouTube or Vimeo)
In Westlaw TWEN, which options do you use?
No Student Interaction

4. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
I don't use TWEN
Syllabus
Course Materials
Add additional document pages
Password protected pages or files
Post Audio Recordings
Web links
Assignment DropBox
Calendar
Gradebook
Sign up Sheets
Forums
Live Discussions
E-mail
Track participant use
Wikis
Change navigation (names or order)
Embed video (from YouTube or Vimeo)
Which options in TWEN would you like to learn more about?

5.  Forums
◦ Robert Heverly (Torts)
◦ Donna Young (Gender & Work)
 Customized Polling
◦ Lenese Herbert (Criminal Procedure)
◦ James Gathii (International Organizations)
 Wikis
◦ Patty Salkin (Government Ethics)
◦ Pam Armstrong (Labor Law)

6.  Uses:
◦ Discussions outside of class
◦ Post questions for the professor to cover in class
◦ Group collaboration (each forum can have a pw)
 Advantages
◦ Keeps an archive
◦ All in one place
◦ No emails to keep track of
◦ Can share content, share links
◦ Can edit your own content (correct, delete, add to)
◦ E-mail (if desired) of postings
Tree View

7. 1. Click Forums in the left navigation area to display the Forums
page.
2. Click the Create Forum button at the top of the page. The
Create a new forum page is displayed.
3. Type the name of the new forum in the Forum Name text box.
4. Select the Allow Anonymous Postings check box to allow
students to post messages without their names and e-mail
addresses.
5. Select the Allow students to post main topics check box to
allow students to post main topic messages.
6. Select the Allow students to post replies check box to allow
students to respond to main topic discussions.
7. If you want, you can make your forums secure by using a
password. You need to distribute this password to the
students you want to access the forum. Select the Password-
protect the forum check box and type a password in the
Password text box.
8. Click Submit.

8. TWEN
•Use instead of e-mail
•Encourage students to post toTWEN
•In class, encourage students to respond to
TWEN posts
•Can cut course content by assigning reading
& posting questions on it in TWEN
•Use for exam review
•Posting exam cover sheet
•GET THEM THINKING
• &ARTICULATE IN WRITING

9. TWEN •Use in small seminar course where issues can
relater to personal experiences
•Replace the use of blogging software
•Each student is assigned a week where they
introduce the discussion (on Monday)
•Students can attach docs & urls in their posts
•Runs itself – prof reads the posts but does not
respond
•Posts counts toward participation grade
•Must give clear guidelines & guidance

10.  Ask a question & get answers before class
 Anonymously get input
 Graphically get data
 Archive data
 Engage students

11. Example from International Organizations

12.  No preparation
 Instant answers
 Give graphical data
 Engages students
 Students must have laptop in class & be logged into
TWEN (& so does the professor)
 Does not save data

13. TWEN
•Use to get student feedback such as on
day/time of makeup classes
•Students are millennials – use
TECHNOLOGY ALL THE TIME
•Their priority is themselves and time
•The poll is available 24 x 7
•They don’t need a laptop in class
•You don’t waste class time
•Reveal the results in class (show graph)
•Students like being INVOLVED
•Add a “fun” answer option

14. TWEN •Use in a large class (91 students)
•Ask a question to be answered
outside of class
•In order to answer, students must
DOTHE READING
•Reveal the results
•Use in class discussion

15.  a website that allows multiple users to create,
modify and organize web page content in a
collaborative manner.
 an editable webpage. They are used in situations
where a group of people need to create, edit and
review each others documents.
 a website that allows visitors, often after
registering, to gain access, to edit – add
to/remove or change – the content. Wikipedia is
an example. It can also be used as a form of
internal communication between teams in an
organization.
 Hawaiian word for “fast”

16. Wikipedia – the most popular Wiki

17. Example of a wiki from Albany Law’s Government Ethics Online

18. Example of a wiki from Albany Law’s Labor Law class

19.  Instant collaboration without emailing
documents, keeping the group in sync.
 Accessible from anywhere with a web
connection
 As an archive, because every page revision is
kept.
 To track student participation
 It’s exciting, immediate, and empowering--
everyone has a say.

20. 1. Click Wiki on the left side of the course home
page. The Wiki page is displayed.
2. Click Add New Page at the top of the page.
3. Enter the title of the wiki page in the Page Name
text box.
4. You can edit the options for a page. You can
choose who can edit the page. You can choose
when to make the page available.
5. Enter content in the text box.
6. Choose whether or not to automatically mark
citations in the page to link with Westlaw.
7. Add tags to your page by typing words in the
Add Tag text box. (optional)
8. Click Save to save your new wiki page.

21.  It’s technology…always save a copy of what
you post.
 Works best with small groups.
 Be careful when copying and pasting.
 Keep formatting simple.

22. TWEN •Use in distance learning where no face-to-
face classes are scheduled
•Students use sign-up sheets to pick a topic or
group
•Can include Westlaw citations & links in the
posts
•Use to enable collaboration on a group project
•Create content where NOTEXT exists
•Link to discussion forum
•Give clear directions & expectations

23. TWEN
TWEN
PPT
•Use the syllabus off of which students built the
outline (post to wiki)
•As a teacher, learn how students tend to work
and then make suggestions.
•The best way to have students work was to
have them create their own pages and upload
rather than type.
•Ability for others to comment
• Prof used colors and let students do the same
• Also use the wiki for other discussions,

24. 09 – SECOND ITERATION RATIONALE
 Returned to statute/regulation focused text
 Was thinking about enhancing the collaborative
practice component & examining relationship
between “outlining style” & exam success (&
exam style – issue spotting question, analysis
question, policy question
 Wound up needing a method of assuring
coverage

25. 09 – SECOND ITERATION EXECUTION
 Wiki
 Outline derived from syllabus
 Components of outline suggested
 Started out with volunteers at end of each segment,
then wound up finished at the end of the semester
 Each student contributed 2 or 3 segments
 Segments remained segmented
 Each student commented
 Open book exam, class outline

26. 09 – SECOND ITERATION ASSESSMENT
 Wiki worked as concept
 Choice between adding to existing wiki &
uploading – upload
 Outlining at the end – little opportunity to
comment or collaborate, and ensure lasting
learning rather than creation for exam
 Correlation between outline style & exam
results remained – but

27. 10 – THIRD TIME
 Goals
 Enhance collaborative experience
 Enhance experience with 3 “parties”
 Assess student understanding & coverage
 Look again at relationship between outlining style &
exam results

28. 10 - METHOD
 Wiki
 Outline established at outset through syllabus,
topics, minimal requirements, and links
 Smaller segments assigned so each person
was responsible for more segments
 Required in-class comment for content & style
 Where outlines were deficient, students
commented, I commented

29. 10-ASSESSMENT
 Wiki pre-set with links works
 Continuous feedback helps students, takes
work, but one segment at a time is easier
 Students encouraged to change outline from
case briefs to more traditional format
performed differently in class after their
segment was posted
 Exam results still showed differences – not
done yet

30. Please e-mail dcard@albanylaw.edu with any
questions and answers will be posted 

31.  Must be flash video (such as in Vimeo or YouTube)
 PPT must be uploaded to your (free) slideshare.net
account
 Paste Embed code into HTML box
 Saves time for students
 Saves space on TWEN
 Everything organized in
ONE place

32. TWEN
YouTube
likes
Watch here:
•Instructions on Embedding Flash Video (flash movie)

33. •Faculty Quick Reference Guide (.pdf)
•Flash Overview of TWEN
•2009 Faculty Guide (.pdf)
•Fall 2010 Enhancements (the new gradebook) (.pdf)
•Spring 2010 Enhancments (flash video)
•Summer 2009 Enhancements (.pdf)
•May 2009 TWEN Updates (Flash movie)
•Instructions on Uploading Audio (.pdf)
•Instructions on Uploading Audio (flash movie)
•Instructions on Embedding Flash Video (.pdf)
•Instructions on Embedding Flash Video (flash movie)
•Instructions on Embedding PDFS/PPTS (flash movie)
•Instructions on Anonymous Grading (flash movie)
•Instructions on Student Noftications (.pdf)