As long as you have a
computer and a reliable internet connection, moving to online learning can be
easy and fun! First, you have to watch
your lectures and do your homework, which is the hard part. Next, you have to photograph and upload any
homework that you have written or drawn on paper, which is the fun part! Read
on to become the next Dorothea Lange or Ansel Adams of homework, with a discussion of:
Writing Easy-to-Read
Homework for Online Courses
For hand-written homework,
it’ll help your instructors a lot if they can easily read what you wrote. If they’re happy, you’re happy, because you
won’t have to copy your homework over and photograph it again, right? Here are some easy hints on how to write legible
homework:
1) Write your answers single
sided (do NOT skip this step) on paper using highly contrasting blue or black pen
or dark pencil (the trusty number 2 pencil is dark enough). Include your name
at the top of the first page and page numbers.
[This step makes
sure there is no “bleed” of ink or pressure marks from the other side of the
page, which make the page illegible to instructors who must read hundreds of pages.]
2) Set up your lights so there’s
enough light to photograph without shadows. At night, you might have to move a
couple of lamps together so there are NO SHADOWS (do NOT skip this step,
either).
[This step is
important because shadows are really distracting and make the page illegible to
instructors who must read way too many assignments.]
Photographing like a
Pro Using the Scanbot App
I just tried out the Scanbot
App, available for iPhone and Android and it rocks, mostly because of ease of
use and because you can easily make a file with multiple pages. I joined for free, but they push for monthly
fees, so make sure you sign up for free if that’s what you want.
1) Download the Scanbot App
(it’s free!) to your phone or tablet. You
can download either the Android or iPhone version. Enter your email.
2) The app asks for
permission to use your camera; give permission.
3) The camera becomes active
right away and you can select from “Single” for one-page homework or “Multi-Page”
for multi-page homework.
Suppose you have multipage
homework. Select “Multi-page” and take
photos, in order, of pages 1 and then 2 (You wrote page numbers on your
homework, didn’t you?). When finished
with all pages, you click in the lower right on the words that tell how many
pages (“2 pages,” in this example).
4) Click on “Save” in the
upper right. Check the file has all
necessary pages by swiping right. You’ve
just photographed your first assignment!
Send and Upload Homework
You can easily send your
file to your GoogleDrive, OneDrive or Dropbox (all three recommended by
Blackboard) and upload files to Blackboard from there.
1) Get to the page on
Scanbot that has a picture of your file. Click on your file. At the bottom, click on “Send to,” then ”New
Workflow,” then “Add new Cloud.”
2) Suppose you select “Google Drive” because you
have a Google Account at your college.
You will have to enter your school address and give permission for Google
to connect your accounts.
3) Next you’re going to
link your Cloud storage (aka your GoogleDrive, OneDrive or Dropbox account) to your Blackboard account and upload your homework. The instructions are different for iPhone than Android, so go here:
Or, if you don’t want Google
tracking everything you’re doing, you can email the files to yourself, download
to your computer and upload to Blackboard.
Verify Upload
You should get an email
verification that you submitted an assignment.
You should also be able to see your assignment on your assignment page
on Blackboard and be able to open your multi-page assignment!
Once in a Pink Moon
Now it’s time to relax! There
apparently was a beautiful pink moon on April 7, 2020 if you happened to see it. I photographed the moon through my neighbors’
magnolia tree the day before (see above) and I photographed the tree the day after (see below), as
well. The “pink moon” is not actually
pink but is seen in April at the time the pink blossoms of phlox bloom. Apparently, that's also when the magnolias bloom!
The moon was also considered a super moon, appearing bigger
and brighter than usual because it was at its closest to the Earth, according to CNN. Click here to learn more.
 |
| The magnolia in full bloom! |
This
blogpost was written for the benefit of the learning community at Washtenaw
Community College and beyond as part of my sabbatical activities for Winter
2020. I am solely responsible for the
content and hold the copyright for the work. Feel free to use the information
in this blog; just credit me with a link back to my blog! -Emily Thompson,
Ph.D.
