Name: Dr. Krista Hands

School: Oklahoma Baptist University

State: OK

Subject: Mathematics – all levels

Krista Hands is a mathematics professor at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, teaching Trigonometry, Calculus I, Calculus II and Contemporary Math, a general education course – as well training education students on how to teach math.

Her discovery of Doceri has opened up a whole new classroom strategy for her upper division and general education courses, as well as a realization that future teachers need to understand how to use the tools they will be presented with in their first classrooms.

Passing on not only the knowledge of how to use the technology, but how to use it to teach effectively is an important step toward moving education forward. Krista teaches math methods for secondary education majors as well as math content for elementary and special education majors.

“Once these students graduate, they will encounter one of two dynamics: a SMART Board environment or an iPad environment,” she says. “We need to teach them how to use both.”

1. What drove you to begin making Doceri screencasts for your students?
In her search for an iPad-based whiteboard and screen recording program, her laundry list included the ability to display notes on the iPad, write on the screen to annotate a PowerPoint, record, and post the resulting screencast online. She tried several of the basic iPad screencasting apps, and then the IT Manager at Oklahoma Baptist recommended Doceri.

“I attended a faculty workshop that showed the capability of Doceri together with the SMARTBoard to record and post class lectures to YouTube,” she says. “We had just been given iPads to help with teaching – in particular with use in our math education classes. I was looking for the capability to record my lectures and post them for students to who missed class or wanted a review. In addition, I wanted to be able to have the lectures recorded in order to assist those who would take the courses online during the summer.”

Krista now uses a SMART board and Doceri interchangeably in all her classes at OBU. Recording her lectures and making them available to her students outside of class has become a key part of Krista’s teaching strategy.

“Every other program I tried was missing something,” she explains. “One lacked the ability to import text or to import pictures. Another would not allow me to save a file that I created ahead of time – only after I finished. A third seemed like a great option until I finished with the recording and the file it created was too large to upload in a reasonable amount of time. Doceri fit the bill – it had just about everything I was looking for!”

2. Did you completely flip your classes?
“Yes,” Krista says, “I started using Doceri in all of my classes in Fall 2012. It was really difficult the first semester to stay on top of creating these lessons in 3 different classes all while teaching the classes.”

Using Doceri’s Time-line based creation platform, Krista puts her presentation together in advance from handouts for the day’s lesson. During class, students follow along and fill in the handout that Krista projects via Doceri and Apple TV. She turns on the screencast recording function within Doceri, and records both the annotations on the notes along with her voice.

Using Moodle Rooms, she makes the handouts available in advance, and posts the YouTube links for the corresponding lecture after class. The idea is to provide students with a tool for review, as well as to make the lecture accessible for those who aren’t able to attend every class – athletes, for example, make liberal use of the recorded lectures when they are traveling on behalf of the school.

The rule that she’s established with her classes, however, is that students must keep coming to class or she’ll stop posting the videos.

3. How has Doceri changed how you interact with your students?
“In part it keeps me on my toes,” she says. “ I am extra careful of the language I use (technically speaking). I tend to clarify even more than I would have before. It also keeps my tone upbeat, positive, and encouraging – kind of putting on my best teacher hat every day because there is a record of the class. Not that I would normally have done otherwise, but it is just extra incentive to stay on my toes.”

The ability to access lecture videos outside of class hasn’t been the only change in Krista’s classes. Trading the fixed whiteboard for the iPad and Doceri gives her a big advantage during class time, as she’s now able to see student’s expressions during her lectures. She’s found that this makes a key difference in her ability to pace the class and insure that student’s needs are met.

“When your back is to the class the majority of the time, you miss little cues,” she says. “Facing students directly and consistently means you can start to pick up on confused looks, pause, and address the stumbling block – or even just keep tabs on whether or not the class as a whole is following along, or not.”

Doceri was the catalyst for incorporating the iPad into Krista’s teaching, and since then, the classroom has been completely transformed.

4. What advice do you have for new Doceri teachers?
Krista’s advice is to take it slow. “Try one class at a time. Don’t try to do too much. I am surprised I didn’t burn out. It was difficult that first semester and I really struggled putting in LOTS of hours above and beyond. You will also grow as you use the product in what you want your presentation to look like and such. You will grow and change – this is good! Just allow yourself that time and enjoy it!”

To date, Krista has uploaded more than 500 screencasts to YouTube for student access, and her YouTube channel has more than 53,000 views. Her expectation is that students will view the videos primarily around exam time. She’s saved and titled the videos by section number corresponding to the textbook to make it easier for students to locate the lecture they need to review.

This example of Krista’s screencasting is for her Calculus I class.