Panopto has released a new feature that is now available to ACC users: “Save As.” This option allows users to edit a video in the Panopto editor (trimming a video, for example) and then save the changes as a brand new video file. Users also have the ability to discard the trimmed content when saving the copy, keeping a full version of the original video intact.
More information, including step-by-step instructions on using the “Save as” feature, can be found in this article on the TLED Faculty Knowledge Base.
I have a lot of reading materials and student submissions I want to use for a literature review assignment but I’m struggling to organize everything and make it manageable. Any ideas on how to streamline this process?
-Overwhelmed Organizer
Dear Overwhelmed Organizer,
A tool you might find incredibly helpful is NotebookLM. It’s a research and organization tool that lets you upload your own materials, then uses AI to help you synthesize information, create outlines, and prepare resources. The beauty of NotebookLM is that it only pulls from your uploaded documents and footnotes exactly where it got the information so you stay in control of your sources.
For your literature review assignment, you could upload your readings and student submissions, then use NotebookLM to highlight key ideas, draft outlines, or even generate summaries that save you time without losing accuracy.
You can access NotebookLM here. To help you get started, I encourage you to check out this tutorial created by Dr. David McMurrey who teaches Business, Government & Technical Communications at ACC: Getting Started with NotebookLM.
I hope you find this tool helpful in taming large sets of materials while keeping the process transparent and manageable.
Explore Arun John’s proposal to integrate immersive virtual reality (VR) into humanities courses, examining themes such as disability and displacement. This white paper showcases how VR fosters student engagement, interdisciplinary collaboration, and deepens empathy to enrich learning in the digital age.
Explore how ACC’s Health Sciences Division is preparing students and faculty for an AI-driven future. In this white paper, Estrella Berrera outlines how this symposium united experts, educators, and students to examine AI trends, ethics, and hands-on applications in healthcare and education.
My students are working on Economic Research Projects. When they use the free Chat GPT, it is not enough, so they sometimes get kicked out before accomplishing their task. I want to avoid equity issues for the student who doesn’t own a subscription to OpenAI. So am looking for a free alternative to put all students on equal footing. Do ACC students have free access to Perplexity or another AI that is suitable for economic research?
-AI Instructor
Dear AI Instructor,
I got your request and I have some answers for you but the bigger answer is there is an GAI Strategic Planning Committee that is working on guidelines and investigating potential tools for ACC. As it is right now, ACC does not offer students any specific AI tools. However, there are quite a few free models that we have access to and combining them can get you pretty far.
First, you mentioned Perplexity and I have the free version of this tool. I use it extensively to find research materials and I haven’t hit the paywall yet. I would recommend to your students to use the Spaces feature to collect their research. Depending on what you are researching, users can also change the focus of the research to rely on academic sources, or social media sources, or the internet at large. These different focus areas change the results dramatically and can be very interesting.
Another tool that I recommend is Consensus which is an AI tool designed to search only academic papers. Like Perplexity, it footnotes every source it mentions with a link to the actual paper and it also creates academic citations.
Scispace has unlimited usage at the Basic level but it doesn’t do as thorough a job as the paid account. It’s similar to Consensus and only uses academic papers. The cool thing about this tool from a teaching POV is that it asks some clarifying questions to make sure it understands exactly what the user is looking for. It will then do a search and order its finding by relevance. Each paper will have an “Insights” column automatically added so I can see if the paper is applicable. I can make columns to quickly compare conclusions or methods of different papers to find exactly what I’m interested in.
You are definitely not alone in your concerns about student equity. I think these tools will all come at a price in the future and it could cause lots of harm to our students at that point. But right now, since all the tools are competing with each other and experimental, the free versions are really helpful and always provide more information than I can handle!
I hope this information addresses your question. If you need any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
I enjoy using Adobe tools in my classes but some of my students need more support with the software than I am able to provide. I know there are resources on the Adobe site but is there anything else available to students, like live training or one-on-one support, that I could offer to them? I really want my students to feel comfortable and confident in their learning and having a better grasp of the tools we are using would really help!
-Adobe Educator
Dear Adobe Educator,
I love that you are invested in your students’ success and making sure they have the technical knowledge they need! I reached out to Adobe on your behalf to determine what additional support might be available and here is what they shared:
Thank you for your message and for bringing awareness around these faculty inquiries. We recommend asking faculty or students to leverage the “Discover” section available in All Apps Pro, or checking out what’s available online, where they can search “How-to” videos, or find videos on the latest AI functionality for specific Adobe Apps.
We also offer Adobe Education Institute in-a-box among other great training resources and videos within our Creative Campus Marketing Portal’s “Training” tab (Login: Adobe / Password: Creativecampus).
Additionally, they’re always welcome to have an Admin Console Administrator for Austin CC log into the console to request an Expert Session covering a specific product and area of interest:
Request an Expert Session
To request an Expert Session, do the following:
In the Admin Console, navigate to Support > Support Summary.
Click Request Expert Session. The Request Expert Session window opens.
Alternatively, you can navigate to Support > Expert Sessions and click Request Expert Session.
Select a topic you would like to discuss.
Provide more details about your issue in the window that appears.
Details to be filled
Description
Specify a product
Specify the product that you would you like to learn more about. This option is not available if you’ve requested an Expert Session for administrators.
Session topic
Choose a session topic from the drop-down list.
Describe the nature of your request
Describe the issue in some detail, including the workflow that caused the issue.
Propose session times
Enter three preferred time slots when you’re available for a call. Session times must follow the criteria here to be able to submit the request.
Time zone
The time zone is populated by default, according to your system’s information.
Email
The email to which the session updates are sent is listed on the page.
Phone number
Enter your preferred contact number, including country and area codes.
Click Submit. An Expert Session is created, and a notification displays.
When you request an Expert Session, a case ID is assigned, and you can track its progress. All responses are updated to the case and are also sent by email.
Additionally, we’re holding monthly office hours sessions that may soon include informative sessions on specific Creative Cloud applications, in addition to other key topics of interest (they could join Open Office Hours or Teaching & Learning sessions):
Join us for 30 minutes each month to meet with people in similar roles at our partner institutions. Come with your questions! The first 10-15 minutes may include a brief presentation of a relevant hot topic.
IT Admins: 1st Wednesday each month
Teaching & Learning, Faculty, Academic focus: 2nd Wednesday each month
Career Services: 3rd Wednesday each month
Open Office Hours: 4th Wednesday each month
If the rare 5th Wednesday occurs, it will also be open office hours
All sessions will be held on Wednesdays at 10am PT / 11am MT / 12pm CT / 1pm ET at the address below:
They can create their own repeating Microsoft Teams meeting using this information (or defer to the instructions provide in our October Newsletter for more options):
Faculty, please note that ACC Zoom licenses are only available for employees, and students do not have College-issued Zoom accounts. Student Technology Services has recently received an influx of support requests from students who are unable to join Zoom meetings scheduled by instructors and staff.
When creating a Zoom meeting that involves student attendance, be sure that the meeting does not require authentication. Zoom Meetings that require authentication will not be accessible to students. Additionally, if students attempt to sign into Zoom using an ACC email address, they will receive an error message.
If you have questions about scheduling Zoom meetings, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team by submitting a Ticket.
I would like to create some e-learning modules for my students. I’m interested in using any e-learning software that might be helpful.
Thanks for your guidance! E-Learning Explorer
Dear E-Learning Explorer,
I’m thrilled to help you develop e-learning modules for your class and I’ve outlined the steps you can take to get started below:
Create a Course Map This will help outline the structure and content of your modules.You can access a sample course map here to get you started.
Develop Course Objectives Use Eduaide to craft objectives for your weekly modules, ensuring they align with your instructional goals. Reviewing your textbook can provide insight into the key areas to focus on.
Explore New Tools To enhance student engagement and learning, I recommend familiarizing yourself with the following tools:
Padlet (you must follow the directions on this page to get ACC sponsored access)
VoiceThread (you can see how to set up a VoiceThread assignment here)
These steps will set a solid foundation for creating effective and engaging e-learning experiences for your students. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. I have a wealth of materials on crafting course learning objectives that I’d be happy to share.
I just learned that Flip (previously Flipgrid) is transitioning to Microsoft Teams, which we don’t use at ACC. I rely on Flip all the time for recording student role plays, which we replay immediately for the whole class, as well as assignment submissions and reflections for fieldwork. This change feels like a huge loss! What should I consider using next, especially for role plays that need quick upload turnaround?
Thanks for your help! -Video Virtuoso
Dear Video Virtuoso,
It’s wonderful to hear from you! I completely understand how frustrating it can be to lose a tool that has worked so well for your teaching style. But don’t worry—there are effective alternatives that can help maintain the interactive learning experiences you’ve built with Flip!
I recommend exploring Padlet and Panopto as replacements. Both tools are licensed through TLED, ensuring they will be available for the foreseeable future.
Padlet is a versatile platform that mirrors the user-friendly experience of Flip. Students can easily record their role plays using any video software they’re comfortable with (like their phone cameras) and upload their videos to a Padlet board where they can also comment on each other’s work to encourage discussion.
Panopto is a fantastic option if you’re looking for something a bit more robust. It allows students to record their role plays, presentations, or other video assignments on their laptops, tablets, or smartphones. The recordings can then be uploaded to a designated Panopto folder for your course, where you can review them and provide feedback, and you can easily share them with the entire class by publishing the videos in your Panopto course folder. This allows the class to watch and learn from each other’s role plays or presentations, just as you did previously with the Flip camera recordings.
I recommend exploring our Remote Recess Archive which contains video sessions that cover these tools in depth. You can also check out our live sessions, which are held via Zoom on a regular basis and cover a wide variety of topics you might find helpful. In addition, we have a Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base filled with resources on how to use these technologies effectively.
Ask an ID: Faculty Upskilling for Academic Technology
Dear Instructional Designer,
I’d like help updating my technical skills so I can more effectively deliver my course material to students. I’m currently using very old technology and lack experience with current digital tools, particularly in video editing and image creation. It feels like I’m using a rotary land-line in a Siri world.
Please help! -Tech Seeker
Dear Tech Seeker,
It’s great to hear from you! Don’t worry – you’re not alone in feeling like you’re living in a tech time warp. The good news is there are plenty of tools that can help bring you up to speed without feeling too overwhelming. I recommend starting with Adobe Creative Cloud Express. It’s a free, web-based tool and a fantastic substitute for old technology. Plus, it comes with cool AI features to create your own images from text and has simple video editing tools to get you started with video creation.
Here’s how you can dive in:
Sign up for Adobe Creative Cloud Express with your ACC credentials.
Speaking of Remote Recess, I also recommend joining our live sessions, which are held via Zoom on a regular basis and cover a wide variety of topics you might find helpful. You can check out our calendar for upcoming workshops here. In addition, we have an archive of past Remote Recess recordings to explore; I suggest checking out my session on High Impact Teaching Practices to learn more about what our department has to offer.
