Blackboard Collaborate Distinguished Lecture Series

Blackboard Collaborate is the name of the new online classroom system to be based on Elluminate and its former competition, Wimba, which were both bought by Blackboard earlier this year.

"Formed by the union of industry leaders Wimba and Elluminate, Blackboard Collaborate delivers open, education-focused collaboration solutions that enhance learning, reduce costs, and improve outcomes by enabling anywhere, anytime, instruction, meetings, and help."

Here are links to archives of excellent presentations that are of interest to faculty who would like to learn more about teaching online.

The 10 Biggest Myths About Synchronous Online Teaching 
by Ted Bongiovanni and Roseanna DeMaria
New York University, School of Continuing and Professional Studies

Building Campus Community and Conducting Staff Training Instantly with Pronto 
by Eric Kunnen of Grand Rapids Community College and
Jenny Jones of Holmes Community College

Increasing Enrollment Using Wimba Classroom
by Rick Bebout, West Virginia University

Blackboard Collaborate is scheduled to debut this summer. Though the above webinars were recorded with Wimba Classroom, the new Blackboard product will be based on the Elluminate infrastructure. Sign up for a trial of Elluminate Live.

National Distance Learning Week

Free Webinars: November 8-12, 2010

The purpose of National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) is to generate greater awareness and appreciation for distance learning, including K-12, Higher Education, Corporate and Military, while recognizing leaders and best practices in the field.

Register for these free webinars

MONDAY

Event: Integration of Virtual Education
Date: November 8, 2010
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
This webinar will explore how the use of related information, communication, and educational technologies are being used to support and improve Pre K-12 / home school based learning and student achievement.

Event: Higher Education
Date: November 8, 2010
Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
This webinar will explore a broad range of issues related to the institution's/unit's practices and procedures as new global campuses become the norm and the traditional education landscape transforms.

TUESDAY

Event: Blending Learning
Date: November 9, 2010
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
This webinar will explore the economy of scale and power of blended learning which is derived from its "elasticity:" the ability to integrate a variety of synchronous and asynchronous media allowing the instructional designer to attain the most appropriate blended learning solution. Download your FREE copy of the USDLA Instructional Media Selection Guide for Distance Learning authored by Dr. Jolly Holden and Dr. Philip Westfall.

Event: Measuring Effectiveness
Date: November 9, 2010
Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
This webinar will educate organizations on how to measure effectiveness and report. This will include discussions on showing the real value for your talent programs. Explain how your hard work benefits your company, in real dollars. Benchmark your company's programs against those in your industry, or in all industries. Improve your bottom line by understanding and using the talent in your organization, and streamlining your processes.

WEDNESDAY
Event: Virtual Worlds
Date: November 10, 2010
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
This webinar will provide an overview of virtual worlds while examining popular virtual world applications.  This session will also help you to frame an understanding of virtual worlds and their appropriate application.

Event: Professional Online Educator - Faculty Preparation for Excellence in Online Teaching
Date: November 10, 2010
Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The role of the educator has undergone a paradigm shift in order to keep pace with mainstream acceptance of online teaching at primary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions of learning. Educators, administrators, and education organizations and institutions recognize the need to verify that pre-service teachers, traditional classroom teachers, and novice online teachers can affect a meaningful transfer of knowledge in myriad online learning environments. In this session, learn how online teaching skills will address a growing market need and the desire of educators, administrators, and education organizations to ensure quality online instruction. 

THURSDAY

Event: About USDLA Membership and How You Can Get Involved!
Date: November 11, 2010
Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
This webinar will explore the United States Distance Learning Association, which is a non-profit organization formed in 1987 and is located in Boston, Massachusetts. USDLA promotes the development and application of distance learning for education and training and serves the needs of the distance learning community by providing advocacy, information, networking and opportunity. Distance education and training constituencies served include pre-k-12 education, higher and continuing education, home schooling, as well as business, corporate, military, government, and telehealth markets.

FRIDAY
Event: Brain-based Learning
Date: November 12, 2010
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
The brain is comprised of billions of neurons (brain cells) connected with trillions of "synaptic" connections between the neurons. Recent research indicates that learning happens in a human brain when a group of neurons are able to form a network passing information between them in the form of electro-chemical signals. Brain-based learning has the potential to enable curriculum content to be adapted to individualized learning pathways ensuring an increase in learning effectiveness and efficiency as well as improvement in student engagement and evaluation measurements.

Event: Mobile Learning
Date: November 12, 2010
Time: 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
With the number of mobile phones approaching 5 billion subscribers globally, mobile learning has the potential to deliver effective education and training to these busy workers.  This webinar will provide some examples and insight into this globally expanding market.

New features in Google Apps

News update from the Google Apps for Education Team:

With the school year in full swing, we have several new product features to help you stay ahead of the game. We’ve specifically focused on responding to feedback with our new Unthreaded Conversation view in Gmail, and collaboration with our new revision history interface in Docs. We also have milestones to celebrate: our four-year anniversary and having 10 MILLION students, faculty, and staff using Google Apps for Education! To stay on top of announcements, you can get new feature notifications by email or subscribe to the RSS feed.

New features in Google Apps

Unthreaded Conversation View
Gmail now offers users the ability to switch between conversation view and the traditional message-based unthreaded view. When a user switches to unthreaded view in 'Settings', messages are no longer grouped together into a conversation, and each message is shown as a separate entry in the inbox.

Read more about unthreaded conversation view in this blog post.

Priority Inbox
Priority Inbox is a new, alternative view of your Gmail inbox that helps solve the problem of email overload. With Priority Inbox, Gmail automatically identifies your important email and separates it out from everything else, so you can focus on what really matters. Priority Inbox is still in beta and is not the default view for Gmail users.

Read more about priority inbox in the Help Center.
 
Revision History in Docs
We updated the revision history interface to make it easier for collaborators to manage document revisions. Click on 'File > See revision history' to see the new interface. Users can click on an arrow to see the timestamp or use the arrow keys to navigate the changes. Changes to text are now also color-coded based on each collaborator, making it easy to tell what has been added or deleted.

Read more about the new revision history interface in the Help Center.

New version of Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook®
We released a new version of this tool which now supports Microsoft Outlook® 2010 in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions. In addition, this version also includes improvements to rich contact data from the global address list, as well as enhanced support for 'custom from' addresses. 

Updated Gmail app for Android devices
We recently released a new version of the Gmail app in Android, so Gmail updates aren’t tied to Android version releases anymore. Now you can get new Gmail stuff faster without having to wait for system updates. In this new version, we improved message replies, access to quoted text, and more. More information on this release here.


Get started with USciences Google Apps Domain
Logon with your USciences username and password at start.online.usp.edu.

Undergraduate Students and Information Technology

In the recently released report from the Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR), they found that students owned the following devices:

• 83.8% have laptops
• 62.7% have hand-held devices with Internet access
• 45.9% have desktop computers
• 13% have netbook computers
• 3.1% have e-readers

About 42% are considered "power users". Here is the breakdown of Internet-Capable Handheld Device Use among students (click to enlarge):

About 25% of students said they use e-textbooks in their courses, but it appears they use their computers or hand-held devices to access the e-texts, not dedicated e-readers. When asked what Web-based technologies students use in their courses, they said:

• Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, etc: 36.2% — for collaborative use: 53%
• Wikis (Web pages that can be created and/or edited by a group of people): 33.1% — for collaborative use: 30.7%
• Social networking sites: 29.4% — for collaborative use: 49.4%
• College opinion sites (RateMyProfessors, etc.): 27.1%
• Textbook publishers’ resource sites: 26.1% — for collaborative use: 23.2%
• Video-sharing (YouTube, etc.): 24.3% — for collaborative use: 33.4%
• Blogs: 11.6% — for collaborative use: 37.6%
• College study support (Cramster, Turnitin, etc.): 10.9%

ECAR states the the most important take-away message from their survey is that there is "no stereotypical student when it comes to technology."

Is the iPad a Game Changer for E-Textbooks?

Have you dreamed of an an e-book reader that can handle textbooks and reduce the back-breaking load of dead-tree books that our students and children carry? The Kindle and various incarnations of the Sony E-Reader are fine for novels, but how can you have a textbook without color?

The Apple iPad has arrived with great fanfare. Is it the e-Textbook game changer? Universities are now making headlines by providing iPads for their students. Will faculty find that their favorite textbooks are available on this dream machine? Here, I've gathered links to recent articles and podcasts that cover the iPad as e-textbook platform. Do you think the iPad is the e-textbook game changer (add your comments below)?

The E-Textbook Experiment Turns A Page by Lynn Neary (listen to the story from NPR's "All Things Considered")

The game changer, according to Matt MacInnis, may be a little thing called the iPad. MacInnis is the founder and CEO of Inkling, a company that designs textbook software for the iPad. He says the iPad has allowed for the reinvention of the textbook.

As Textbooks Go Digital, Will Professors Build Their Own Books? By Jeffrey R. Young (read this article from The Chronicle of Higher Education)

McGraw-Hill Higher Education plans to announce its revamped custom-publishing system, called Create, with an emphasis on electronic versions of mix-and-match books. Macmillan Publishers this year announced a similar custom-textbook platform, called DynamicBooks. And upstart Flat World Knowledge touts the customization features of its textbooks, which it gives away online, charging only for printed copies and study guides.

Rod's Pulse Podcast #87: Special iPad in Education Edition (listen to this interview by Rod Murray)

Interview: Dr. Mary Ann Gawelek, Provost, Seton Hill University on "An iPad for Everyone" - Dr. Gawelek tells us about their Griffin Technology Advantage Program and how they prepared their faculty and IT infrastructure to handle iPads and MacBook Pros for all their incoming students.

Also from Rod's Pulse Podcast:

RPP #82: E-Textbooks: Are We There Yet? Interview with Scott Beadenkopf
RPP #83: E-Readers: Are We There Yet? Interview with Scott Beadenkopf (Part 2)

Campus Technology Virtual Conference - Free!

Technology Enhancing Higher Education

Mark your calendar: November 18, 2010 - 10:30am to 6:00pm ET

This is Campus Technology’s live event. Attend at no charge, and from the convenience of your computer.

• Discover how top institutions, like USC, Santa Clara and Virginia Tech, are using innovative social networking and distance learning technologies to provide enhanced teaching and learning environments on campuses around the country
• Learn from expert speakers with hands-on experience in the newest, most revolutionary ideas in education technology 
• Spend time in the real-time virtual lounge for the best peer-to-peer networking
• Explore online product and service demos from leading solution-providers presented in the virtual exhibit hall
• Take away free content downloads and presentations-to-go

Register Online:

Teaching & Learning Rhythms: Tools to Enhance Student Engagement

Mark your calendar!

Date: Thursday, October 14, 2010
Time: 1:00 PM
Place: FOW 120 (Mayes College, 4100 Woodland)

Join us for this live Magna Publications Webinar:

In Teaching & Learning Rhythms: Tools to Enhance Student Engagement, multiple teaching award winner Alex Fancy of Mount Allison University will train professors and instructors in how to capture that elusive flow when teaching seems effortless and students are excited and eagerly involved in learning.

This video online seminar will cover:

• Ways to resolve ongoing issues of “flow” in the classroom
• Finding the right balance between information and reflection, repetition and variation, and low and high energy in your classroom
• Engaging students as “co-managers” of learning
• Shaping rhythms to provide a sense of engagement
• Teaching as a dramatic performance and energy exchange
• Analyzing your course structure with attention to short and long-term rhythms
• Why rhythm and balance are essential to shaping classroom communities
• The six-act approach to teaching
• Ways to manage a disengaged student
• Working with natural ebbs and flows in the teaching dynamic
• Centering yourself in the college classroom
• Mindfulness and reflection on your teaching process

You will also receive a brief white paper outlining the theory behind this recommended approach to teaching, along with 100 questions for self-assessment of your teaching performance.

About the presenter
Alex Fancy is a long-time professor in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at Mount Allison University in Canada. He has been recognized for his award-winning teaching across campus, regionally, and nationally.

Who should attend?
This seminar is designed for faculty members and educational developers at all levels and in all types of post-secondary institutions. It is also appropriate for administrators with a special interest in encouraging teacher reflection and self-assessment.

Next Generation Learning Challenges

From Educause...

This fall, campuses will welcome the largest freshman class in the nation’s history. But the journey from freshman year to diploma is not necessarily an easy one. Many students must juggle work, family, and financial responsibilities with coursework. Others will struggle to keep pace with the rigor of college courses.

How can we leverage today’s IT tools to smooth the path toward college completion?

How can tools like open courseware, analytics, or blended learning be more successful?

Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) is a new effort to identify and scale technology-enabled approaches that dramatically improve college readiness and completion. EDUCAUSE invites you to participate in a “Back to Campus” series of webinars focusing on the underlying challenges in college readiness and completion and IT’s role as an enabler of change.

Upcoming Webinars

Topic: Deeper Learning and Engagement
Speaker: Bryan Alexander, Director of Research, National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE) 
Date: September 21, 2010
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET

Topic: The Future of Assessment and Learning 
Speaker: Valerie Shute, Associate Professor, Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University 
Date: October 1, 2010
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET

Topic: Open Educational Resources
Speaker: David Wiley, Associate Professor, Instructional Psychology and Technology, Brigham Young University
Date: October 6, 2010
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET (12:00 noon CT, 11:00 a.m. MT, 10:00 a.m. PT)

How to Join

Each webcast will be hosted inside an Adobe Connect webconferencing room at http://educause.adobeconnect.com/nglc. To join, simply enter the URL and select "Enter as a Guest," type in your name and affiliation (e.g., John Doe, University of the Sciences), and click "Enter Room."

Once inside the room, audio will be provided through your computer speakers and presentation slides will advance on your screen. You can interact with fellow attendees and presenters using the chat feature inside the room.

Each web seminar is free and open to all, but virtual seats are limited. Attendance is first come, first served. Each session will be recorded and archived for later viewing.

Technical Requirements

Whether you've participated in an NGLC online event before or you're joining for the first time, please run the Adobe Acrobat Connect Connection Test before the event. View the Adobe Connect technical requirements.

Note: If you experience difficulties during the web seminar, you can listen to the audio via a toll-free conference call line at 877-944-2300, access code 99269#.

For more information, please visit http://nextgenlearning.com/news/upcoming-events/articles/upcoming-events.

Google Apps for Education Training Center

Google has released an online learning environment dedicated for educators and students to learn how to effectively use Google Apps in an educational context.

USciences has two Google Apps domains:

1. Online.usp.edu: our own "closed" domain used for faculty, students and staff to communicate and collaborate. The USciences username and password is required to access this domain and no content is made public - ideal for student wiki assignments.
2. Sites.usciences.edu [coming soon!]: our new "open" domain used for faculty to promote their own scholarly activity to the general public. This domain is ideal for creating faculty profile pages and for displaying laboratory research. 

Enter the Google Apps for Education Training Center:

PodCamp Philly 2010 - Register Now

PodCamp Philly 2010 is a community unconference for anyone interested in podcasting, blogging, video-casting and social media - personally or professionally.  PodCamp Philly is being held October 2-3, 2010 at Temple University in Philadelphia PA.  This marks the fourth year that PodCamp Philly has been held - and we'd love you to come join us.  No matter what your interest or experience level, PodCamp Philly offers something for everyone.

You can find out more information online at PodCamp Philly and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/PodCampPhilly). Registration is through Eventbrite (http://PodCampPhilly2010.eventbrite.com).

Tracks:

Blogging : Wordsmiths rejoice! From finding the best platform to use for blogging to discovering your passion, the Blogging sessions at PodCamp Philly will help you get on track.

Business : Use podcasting and social media for business? Need to find out what all the hoopla is?  Want to find out how to earn some coin from your hobby?

Podcasting : At the heart of every great PodCamp (and we are!) are sessions on podcasting and video podcasting. Everything from free tools to finding and connecting to your audience, the Podcasting TRACK at Camp is overflowing with info!

Social Media : Twitter & Facebook & LinkedIn OH MY!  Everything from getting started to expert strategy advice is in this TRACK (Social Media Camp sponsored by Social Media Club Philadelphia & Social Media Club Princeton)

Technical : Technophiles unite!  If you need a deep-dive into some of the more technical aspects of podcasting, social media, blogging this series was designed for geeks – by geeks!

We hope to see you there!

Voices From the Front Lines of Online Learning

View this video taken at the recent 21st Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison, Wisconsin.



View the complete article and commentary by Marc Perry on The Chronicle of Higher Education,

Online Seminar: "Online Group Work: Making It Meaningful and Manageable"

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!  Please join us for this online seminar.

Date: Thursday, August 12, 2010
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 PM EDT
Place: Woodland 117

Register Now!

Collaborative assignments often elicit a negative reaction among undergraduate students. But in the eyes of potential employers and in academics, they are vitally important. With the increasing popularity of online courses, instructors need to have clear, effective methods of creating, implementing, and grading group projects. Group projects are not “one size fits all,” but applying proven techniques can make them a “win-win.”

Change the perception and the results with Online Group Work: Making It Meaningful and Manageable. When explained, implemented, and graded effectively, online group projects can be among students’ most satisfying and valuable academic experiences. This 60-minute audio online seminar covers every element of the process.

Attendees will learn about...

• Teaching students HOW to work in asynchronous groups

• Creating assignments that meet academic needs and function within the online framework

• Changing the perception of group work by increasing student investment, and getting the virtual classroom to “buy-in”

• Streamlining structure and supervision to manageable levels

• Showing students efficiencies in group work, allowing better use of cognitive energy

A Crucial Topic

The seminar is designed for faculty, course designers, instructional technologists, online administrators, and others involved in the online course experience. Get an in-depth look at the Web 2.0 tools vital to the online group project experience. Attendees will have access to checklists, rubrics, additional readings, and guidelines for every step.

Experienced presenter

Dr. Jean Mandernach

Dr. Jean Mandernach is a true innovator in online instruction. Her research and published work focuses on enhancing student learning through new assessment techniques and teaching frameworks. She currently serves as professor of Psychology and Online Learning at Park University.

Bring questions
Have questions about online group work? Be sure to bring them to this live seminar for the opportunity to receive a response from our expert.

USciences Faculty Enrichment Workshops

Please contact Phyllis Blumberg or Rod Murray if you have any questions...

Don't forget to click 'SUBMIT' button above!

Download Full Schedule in PDF Format.

Academic Tech Webinar Series: Google Docs

	Join us for a Webinar on June 3 The University has recently rolled out Google Apps for Education. This optional resource will give all faculty, students and staff a state-of-the-art communication and collaboration platform to supplement our existing infrastructure. This webinar will concentrate on how to use Google Docs. Docs gives us the ability to share and collaboratively edit documents compatible with Word, Excel and PowerPoint from any web browser, any time and any place. All content resides in our own protected domain and requires a login and password. Educational Objectives: attendees will learn how to:     * Create and upload documents compatible with MS Office (.doc, .xls, .ppt)     * Create Forms that can be used to collect data that fill in your Google spreadsheet     * Collaboratively edit documents and drawings in real time     * Share large data files with colleagues on or off campus     * Embed documents and presentations in Angel courses and community groups Title: Academic Tech Webinar Series: Google Docs Date: Thursday, June 3, 2010 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000 Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/224849075

Google Gives Voice to Students

The Google Voice Service provides a phone number, free of charge. Inbound calls to your Google Voice number are forwarded to all your actual phones, home, work, and cell per your settings. It also has some impressive features including custom voicemail greetings, call screening, and even transcription of voicemail messages to text. Google is rolling out this service slowly across the US, so you need an invitation to get a free account. This week, however, Google decided to give these accounts to any student who requests an invitation!

In a recent Google blog post, they said Voice is great for students:

We've found that Google Voice can be useful in many different ways to many different people. But one group of people that it's especially well-suited for is students. We've heard college students in particular really appreciate getting their voicemail sent to their email, sending free text messages and reading voicemail transcriptions rather than listening to messages (especially handy while in class).

Hear more about Google Voice and other recent Google developments on my podcast at entitled "What Has Google Done? Free Google Voice for Students and more!" at www.RodsPulsePodcast.com.

Conference: The Real Students/SMEs of Online Education

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

You are cordially invited to join the Pennsylvania/Delaware/New Jersey Distance Learning Association (PADLA) for an inside look into the real lives of Online Students and Subject Matter Experts. Learn best practices and hear how they survived, thrived, and learned to collaborate in the online environment. Whether your experience ranges from a seasoned veteran to someone just beginning to explore the dynamic world of Distance/e-Learning, you will be guaranteed to learn, share, and have ample opportunities to build your professional network.

When: Tues., May 18, 2010, 8:30am to 11:45am
Where: LaSalle University, Metroplex Corp Center, 4000 Chemical Road, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
Registration Fee: Members are Free; Non-Members $25

REGISTER NOW

PRESENTATIONS

"Surviving to Thriving Online: Lessons Learned in Online Education": A Panel Discussion Moderated by Dr. Bobbe Baggio w/Panelists Margaret Uhrich, Robin Eisenburg, Tony Ellis and Mary Eklund

Recent graduates of LaSalle University’s Intructional Technology Management (ITM) Program share their perspectives as non-traditional online learners. Members of the graduating pilot group will recount their experiences, applying their lessons learned to corporate learning. Members of this initial group will discuss developing and supporting online learning skills for adult students, effective instructional techniques, and suggestions for applying these lessons in corporate settings.

"From Classroom to Chatroom: Collaborating Online with SMEs": Presented by Nathan Eckel: Performance Consultant, LaSalle Adjunct Professor, and Author.

Nathan Eckel explains how you can help Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) transition from face-to-face instruction to an online world. The Collaborating Online workshop at LaSalle uses several online strategies to help tenured faculty transition from classroom instruction to online facilitation. Eckel will also include some tips on working with both corporate and academic SMEs, and present reasons why taking a collaborative approach (as opposed to a competitive one) is so important today.

Excellence in Education Rich Media Impact Awards

The University of the Sciences is now using Mediasite to capture lectures in several venues throughout campus. See how other Universities are using Mediasite lecture capture. View these videos from finalists in the Excellence in Education category of Sonic Foundry's Rich Media Impact Awards.

• 2010 Awards:
• Massey University, New Zealand
• North Carolina State University

• 2009 Awards:
• California State University, San Marcos
• Penn State, Hershey

• 2008 Awards:
• University of Maryland Dental School
• Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands

Members of the Mediasite user community are invited to nominate organizations that achieved measurable improvements in information accessibility, cost savings, efficiency and productivity through Mediasite lecture capture. Please let us know if you'd like to be nominated for the award next year.

Going Google at USP - Preview

Join us for a Webinar on April 23

The University of the Sciences is rolling out Google Apps for Education on April 29. This optional resource will give all faculty, students and staff a state-of-the-art communication and collaboration platform to supplement our existing e-learning infrastructure. We will have the ability to share and collaboratively edit documents compatible with Word, Excel and PowerPoint. We can create unlimited Wiki websites (Sites in Google parlance) and stream videos from our own private branded YouTube-like site. All content resides in our own protected domain and will require a login and password. Content is not exposed to the public through search engines.

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/149845666

Title: Academic Tech Webinar Series: Going Google at USP Preview Date: Friday, April 23, 2010 Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT Where: Your Desktop After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Certification Course for Teaching Online

Online Courses: Step-by-Step is a new program to help faculty members teach online comfortably and confidently. Have you wanted to incorporate online teaching into your course? Are you interested in bringing your passion for teaching into the virtual world, but uncertain how to get there? Are you concerned about a long and painful learning curve? Or are you teaching online now, but the experience is less than what you expected?

You don’t need to be a technology whiz … you don’t need to be a programmer … you don’t need a sophisticated understanding of the online world. You simply need to be a committed educator interested in reaching students in this exciting new way.

Online Courses: Step-by-Step is a three-module program developed in partnership with program designer John Orlando, Instructional Resource Manager of Norwich University’s School of Graduate Studies and a ten-year veteran of online faculty training. The focus is on the three areas critical to your success in moving online:

• The pedagogy of online teaching.
• The “tools of the online trade.”
• How to get your course up and running.

You’ll complete one module per week for three weeks, developing a thorough understanding of virtually every aspect of the online teaching experience.

If you are interested in taking the course, please contact Dr. Rod Murray. Although this is not an instructor-led course, Rod will be available throughout the course to answer questions and participate in online discussions.

NOTE: Do not sign up on your own on the Magna Publications website -- the University gets a group discount.

Next Frontier: Innovation, Trends & Realities of Online and Blended Education

If you missed the Drexel E-Learning 2.0 Conference on March 25, it's not too late to learn from some of our colleagues. The highlight of the Conference was the keynote presentation by Dr. Kristen Betts. Don't miss this Mediasite recording of the Keynote:



Other presentations that I attended and would highly recommend are:

• The Many Avenues to Quality Assurance In Online Education
• Education 2.0: Leveraging Collaborative Tools for Teaching
• Connecting With Online Students Using Web-Conferencing Technologies
• Lowering the Bar: Simple Tools for Online and Blended Courses

The complete listing of the conference presentations can be found at Conference Presentations.

Drexel e-Learning 2.0 Conference

Register today for the 8th annual e-Learning 2.0 Conference! 

Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010
Time: 7:30 am – 4 pm
Location: Drexel University’s Creese Student Center.

Click on the following link to view a short, 4-minute video preview from  keynote speaker, Dr. Kristen Betts, Associate Clinical Professor of Higher Education at Drexel’s School of Education: http://rmcp.dcollege.net/playlists/18337/202408.html. 

The video presents highlights of the conference as well as an overview of the keynote address, which will discuss the idea of “Online Human Touch” and cover national data trends and new technologies in online and blended education.  To view a longer version of the video, visit the keynote speaker page on the conference website at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/news/events/eLearningConf/keynote.

To access the preliminary conference program and to register, visit the conference website at http://www.drexel.edu/irt/news/events/eLearningConf. 

The registration fee of $100 ($25 for students) includes welcome materials, access to the presentations, a continental breakfast, lunch, and chances to win fabulous door prizes including an Apple iPad!  If you have any questions, email el2n@drexel.edu.

Virtual Symposium: Education for Everyone: Expanding Access through Technology

The 2010 Virtual Symposium is co-organized by Drexel University School of Education and Wainhouse Research, and co-hosted by the World Bank Institute's Global Development Learning Network, in Beijing.

This year's theme is "Education for Everyone: Expanding Access through Technology." The event will include on-demand presentations and interactive blogs from presenters in North America, Europe and Asia, beginning on March 1st. Live presentations and panel discussions will begin on March 22.

Here is a sample listing of presentation titles in the higher education area:

• Accreditation & Assessment in Online Learning – Radical Change Breeds Global Access
• E-Portfolios as a Capstone Experience for Online Learners
• Examining Faculty Use of Social Networking in Teaching and Community Building
• Leveraging Technology for Synchronous Instruction – Using Web-based Conferencing as a Course Delivery System
• Critical Success Factors for Building Distance Education Programs
• Developing Effective Online Teaching Strategies in Leadership Courses
• Mathematics on a Digital Napkin
• Preparing Students for the Cognitive and Meta-cognitive Demands of Online Learning
• Leveling the Playing Field with ePortfolios
• The iPhone as an Academic Tool

Register Now - FREE

We hope you can view some of these on-demand recorded presentations (now) and participate in live sessions and panel discussions starting March 22.

University of the Sciences is Going Google!

The University of the Sciences will be rolling out Google Apps for Education soon. This optional resource will give all faculty, students and staff a state-of-the-art communication and collaboration platform to supplement our existing e-learning infrastructure. We will have the ability to share and collaboratively edit documents compatible with Word, Excel and PowerPoint. We can create unlimited Wiki websites (Sites in Google parlance) and stream videos from our own private branded YouTube-like site.

All content resides in our own protected domain and will require a login and password. Content is not exposed to the public through search engines.

View this 30 minute recorded webinar to get oriented to the features of this new offering:



Stay tuned for additional posts as we prepare for the official roll-out.

Organizing Blended Courses for Optimal Student Engagement

Mark you calendar! Join us and participate in this Academic Tech Webinar Series event.

Despite the growing acceptance and recognized benefits of online education, many instructors and students discover they miss the dynamics of a face-to-face class. A blended course, which combines traditional class time with online learning elements, has emerged as a powerful solution that provides the best of both worlds.

When done correctly, a blended (or hybrid) course leads to more productive in-class time and more engaged learning outside of class, ultimately improving learning outcomes. Plus, as an added bonus, blended learning provides much-needed relief for overbooked classrooms at a time when most capital improvement projects have been put on hold.

Faculty Focus invites you to join Dr. Ike Shibley of Penn State for a live video seminar guaranteed to inspire you to think more creatively about how to use blended course delivery to get students actively involved with their course material.

Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Time: 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM

Where: Griffith Hall Room 110-C

In Organizing Blended Courses for Optimal Student Engagement, Dr. Shibley will address the unique pedagogical challenges of blended learning, and the proven strategies and technologies he uses with his students.
This online seminar will cover:

• Effective blended techniques before, during and after class
• Using clickers to create a more active classroom
• Ways to reach higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy with clicker questions
• How to write quiz questions that encourage students to rehearse material
• Best methods to increase engagement through blended course design
• How blended learning makes assessment easier

There’s never been a better time for blended learning. Sign-up for this strategy-filled seminar today!

Conference: Social e-Learning @ the University of Pennsylvania

Mark your Calendar! The Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware Distance Learning Association (PADLA) invites you for a look inside the University of Pennsylvania and see how they implemented a social strategy to enhance their online learning environment. Whether your experience ranges from a seasoned veteran, to someone just beginning to explore the dynamic world of Distance/e-Learning, you will be guaranteed to learn, share, and have ample opportunities to build your professional network.

WHERE:

The University of Pennsylvania

Houston Hall 3417 Spruce St Philadelphia, PA 19104

WHEN:

Tues., March 16, 2010

8:30am to 11:45am.

REGISTRATION:

PADLA Members: Free

Non-Members:$25

Join PADLA Now Only: $100

Continental breakfast provided 

Presentations include:

Designing a New Online Learning Environment Centered on Social Interaction

In this session, presenters describe the development and implementation of the Penn LPS Commons, a custom-built online learning environment designed to center participants on the social interactions that drive learning communities. Built with Drupal and Moodle, the LPS Commons includes social networking, learning management and collaborative web 2.0 tools as well as robust permissions models which allow select elements of online learning communities to be shared with public audiences as institutional Open Educational Resources (OERs). Presenters will review use-case scenarios from their suite of online courses and current OER projects funded by the National Science Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Integrating Social Strategy into Online Course Design

In this session, presenters turn their attention to the instructional design issues related to integrating social networking tools into effective online course design. The presentation describes a non-credit course in Positive Psychology which drew a global audience of over 1000 participants from 62 countries. Designed to engage both self-access and social learners, the course centered on 36 hours of broadcast quality video and allowed participants to drive course conversations through a variety of activities using social tools (eg. blogs, discussion forums, user profiles). Presenters will share user evaluation data and open up discussion about implications for applying social networking tools in other learning contexts.

REGISTER NOW!

Lecture Capture using Mediasite

Mark you calendar! Join us and participate in this Academic Tech Webinar Series event.

Lecture capture is already an important component of classroom technology at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Lecture capture allows instructors to record what happens in their classrooms and make it available electronically through our Angel LMS. We use Mediasite in the major lecture halls to capture high quality video of the instructor and everything that is projected in class, including the instructors desktop computer screen (e.g., web sites, applications, PowerPoint slides), document camera output or hand-writing on the interactive podium display.

Lecture capture systems offer three important benefits:

• an alternative when students miss class
• an opportunity for course content review
• and content for online course development.

Educational Objectives: Learn how...

• lecture capture enhances existing instructional activities
• lecture capture improves student performance, satisfaction and retention
• faculty may alter their lecture style to improve the learning experience
• faculty or staff may edit lectures before they are released
• students view captured lectures

Date: Friday, February 12
Time: 12 Noon to 1 P.M.
Place: Your Desktop

FACULTY - PLEASE REGISTER HERE

Supplement Classroom Learning with Screen Capture Software

MARK YOUR CALENDAR! Join us to view this webinar by Dr. Dave Yearwood, who has conducted numerous workshops for college faculty at the national and international levels. Associate Professor and Chair of the Technology Department at the University of North Dakota, Dr. Yearwood’s research interests focus on ways faculty members can infuse presentations and other technologies into coursework to connect and engage students, enhance understanding, and promote dialogue leading to critical examination of course content. According to the program…

Instructional technology can–and should–be changing the way college faculty conduct classes. Today, students can access course information remotely, around the clock. Are faculty members at your institution taking full advantage of this fact? If not, it may be time for a skills upgrade. Even the most talented faculty need help to stay current with the latest advances in instructional technology. The growing availability of portable multimedia devices and the proliferation of Course Management Systems make the time right for college instructors to begin to integrate audio and video teaching and learning modules to create more engaging–and more effective–courses.

Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010
Time: 1pm to 2:30pm
Place: Rosenberger 102

USP Faculty are encouraged to Register Online

During this live, interactive seminar, participants will learn:

• How technology can free up class time for higher order learning activities
• Easy ways to become your students’ 24/7 personal tutor
• Where to access recommended technologies
• How to create supplemental and remedial course materials
• Strategies to encourage students to take a more active role in their education
• Innovative ways to increase out-of-class engagement with course material
• How to develop compelling portable media presentations for easy student access
• The benefits of providing short audio-video content for your students
• Surprising ways to include students in recorded content
• Where faculty members can obtain needed technical assistance
• And more