The Online Instructor

Bain's View of Teaching

2012-01-27T13:57:00.000-06:00

As we come up for a breath of fresh air after a frenzy of start-of-the-semester events, we can now concentrate on the main task at hand: Teaching!

There are several different ways of thinking about teaching. One approach looks almost entirely at the actions and behaviors of the instructor. In this approach, instruction is viewed as something that is provided to students. This approach is often characterized in ways that assume that learning cannot take place unless some type of teaching has happened.

In a study conducted by Bain (2004), he suggested highly effective instructors in higher education “thought of teaching as anything they might do to help and encourage students to learn” (p. 49). Bain points out that these instructors paid attention to creating an environment for learning. They also found teaching to be “an important and serious intellectual (or artistic) act” (p. 49).

Bain considered four questions in characterizing this view of teaching. From these questions, we can see a complex and rich approach to considering teaching.

What should my students be able to do intellectually, physically or emotionally as a result of their learning?
How can I best help and encourage them to develop those abilities and the habits of the heart and mind to use them.
How can my students and I best understand the nature, quality, and progress of their learning?
How can I evaluate my efforts to foster that learning? (p. 49)

Great questions to consider as we continue in the sememster! Define, in your own terms, what students should know or be able to do as a result of your teaching. Define your actions to help students achieve those goals. Think carefully about what feedback students need to understand how they are progressing. Consider how you will know if your efforts are successful.

References:

Bain, K, (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Why Course Announcements are Important

2012-01-17T13:09:00.000-06:00

Announcements can be used in a variety of ways to push important information to students in a single course. Announcements are one way for you to communicate to everyone in the course. In online and hybrid courses, announcements are the equivalent of standing at the podium and giving general information to the class.

Announcements are an important communication tool because they allow you to “write once so many can read.” This allows you to provide general information from a single location with the assurance that all students are receiving the information.

Tips

Use Announcements primarily for time-sensitive information (emergencies) and to talk to the entire class (general information).
Develop a routine to post general information Announcements.
Query your class about options such as pushing Announcement via email. This is a good feature for certain students and an annoyance for others.
Learn how to “pin” an Announcement to the top of the Announcements page to control the order in which Announcements appear to students.
Don’t use Announcements as your only communication tool in a course.

Announcements, along with email and/or discussion board responses, will support the importance of interaction in online learning and teaching.

TWU Online Instructor's Tip of the Week

2012-01-11T16:43:00.000-06:00

Can you believe the semester begins in less than a week? Not only are faculty/instructors arriving back from winter break, but many are making last minute adjustments to their online course shells. Here is a quote to remember while you prepare for the upcoming semester.

“Studies show that a person who is interrupted takes 50 percent longer to accomplish a task. Not only that, he or she makes up to 50 percent more errors” (87).

Remember to manage your time wisely and stay focus on the outcome.

References:
Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.

TWU's Distance Education Resource Spotlight: TWU ID

2012-01-03T10:08:00.000-06:00

TWU ID is an online teaching and learning resource written and edited by the instructional design team and housed on PBWorks wiki workspace. TWU ID is not intended to be an exhaustive resource or a replacement for help pages written or distributed by ITS, ISS, Help Desk, etc. The instructional design team maintains this resource to provide faculty and students access to resources designed and developed from a pedagogical rather than a technical perspective.

The Online Course Evaluation

2011-12-13T09:36:00.000-06:00

The fall semester is coming to a close, which means students will be completing their end-of-the-semester course evaluations. Traditional course evaluations serve to inform instructors after teaching and learning activities are completed. The best instructors can do with such data is to make adjustments for upcoming courses. This process does little to inform instruction as it is happening.

Mechanisms to allow instructors to make adjustments to instruction in a timely manner are one way to gather feedback to improve teaching effectiveness and to ensure that students are being served in the course. However, next semester, you may want to consider accessing this feedback early in the course which allows instructors to make adjustments to benefit current students while they are in the course.

If instructors consider this type of assessment strategy, some authors suggest teaching three to four weeks will provide the students with a good representation of the teaching, the assessment, and the expectations. This typically results in more substantive comments.

Procedures

Remind students that this is only to improve teaching and make adjustments to improve learning.
Express the need for candid and constructive comments.
Encourage students to write comments.
Let students know you will discuss the main points of the feedback with the class.
Organize responses into categories such as strengths, weaknesses, plans for modification, etc.
Create an action plan to address the most critical items.
Discussing the feedback with the class is an important way to establish trust and credibility.
Thank students for responding.
Limit the discussion to 3-4 main points that you can control.

Being Present: Communicating and Connecting with Your Students Online

2011-12-06T12:59:00.000-06:00

Guest Blogger: Heidi Ashbaugh, MA, MLS, LMT, Online Program Director, Department of Health Studies, Texas Woman's University

We can all probably remember those days in grade school, junior high, and high school when the teacher took roll. She would call out our name and we would answer “Here!”, and then slouch back down in our seat and start daydreaming, confident that we had fulfilled our task of being counted present in the classroom. Well, now many of us are the teachers and if we are teaching in the online classroom we don’t even have the benefit of showing our student’s a body in a seat to try to convince them that we are “present”! So, how do we communicate our presence in the online classroom?

Studies show that one of the main needs expressed by online students is instructor responsiveness and presence in the classroom, and that effective instructor presence can positively affect student satisfaction, engagement, and retention in online classes (please see the literature review by Credence Baker referenced below for more information). Students want us to respond to them and talk to them, and it’s even more important that we find ways to do so since they don’t have our physical presence to look to. However, it can seem daunting when trying to determine what being present “looks” like in the online environment.

An excellent book on this subject is Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching: How to “Be There” for Distance Learners by Rosemary M. Lehman and Simone C.O. Conceição (http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Sense-Presence-Online-Teaching/dp/0470564903/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322672440&sr=1-1-fkmr0). I like this book because it breaks down different times of the course in which instructors can be present - the beginning, during the course, and end – and then provides ideas of activities and interactions that can be used. Here are just a few examples from their book that can be put into place quickly in any course, and which require minimal technological effort.

Before the course instructors can create a welcome letter that lets students know more about the course and the person who will be teaching. In addition, a scavenger hunt is also a great way to break the ice in the course and help students become accustomed to the online course environment. I have used this technique with great success in my courses and have found that it helps students investigate the more important aspects of the policies and procedures of the course, which gets everyone off to a good start. Another excellent beginning of the course activity is introductions. These can be formal, but there are ways to make this a fun, ice breaking activity, as well. I have heard examples of instructors who had their pets “introduce” them to the class. Or, if you want something a little less wild, you can always just have students answer an interesting question. I have had them provide me with the usual information (name, major, hobbies, etc.) and then had them provide an answer to “Why did the chicken cross the road?” I was amazed at how creative some of the responses were, and it added a nice element of fun to start off the class.

Once the class is in session, there are several tools that you can utilize to help keep students aware of your presence in the course. Announcements are easy ways interject your voice throughout the semester. Some announcements can be created at the beginning of the course and then set to deploy throughout the course at specified times. For example, I like to post announcements for students at the beginning of a module reminding them of the important due dates. I also include a word of encouragement. This is something that can easily be constructed ahead of time. Also, you can add announcements that come up around midterm and close to finals that help encourage students. If you then sprinkle in a few announcements throughout the rest o the semester addressing projects or assignments that were especially well done by the class overall, or providing important information to help clarify ideas and/or keep students on track, you will have a pretty good amount of communication going on using this tool. Feedback on assignments is another area that can be addressed during the class, and students respond well to the simple act of being addressed by name in your response to them. This let’s them know that you distinguish them as an individual, which is important in any classroom environment.

Once the course is over, I like to create a final announcement for my students that wraps the class up, but also lets them know that I appreciate their hard work over the semester. I also offer them a chance to provide me with feedback regarding their experience in the course, which is usually different than the evaluation that the university uses. I want to allow them the opportunity to have a voice, which is another way of acknowledging them as individuals with different needs, likes, and dislikes.

These are just a few of the ideas out there for creating instructor presence in the online class. And, while they may appear simplistic – no fancy tools here! – using this type of multiple approaches at the appropriate times during the course, and on a consistent basis, can provide a good sense of presence and help you connect with your students in the online world.

Additional Resources:

“The Impact of Instructor Immediacy and Presence for Online Student Affective Learning, Cognition, and Motivation” by Credence Baker - http://www.thejeo.com/Archives/Volume7Number1/BakerPaper.pdf

“Instructor Presence – The Key to Success” – University of West Florida Academic Technology Center - http://uwf.edu/atc/Guide/Teaching/InstructorPresence/index.cfm

“Eight Ways to Increase Social Presence in Your Online Classes” by Hong Wang - http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/eight-ways-to-increase-social-presence-in-your-online-classes/

“Increasing Instructor Presence in an Online Course” by Jeff Borden - http://www.ecollege.com/Newsletter/EducatorsVoice/EducatorsVoice-Vol10Iss4.learn

Community of Inquiry - http://communitiesofinquiry.com/welcome

Online Tutoring

2011-11-28T09:18:00.000-06:00

Two online tutoring services are available to both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in distance education programs at Texas Woman's University (TWU).

The Online Writing Lab (OWL), which is sponsored by TWU's Department of English, Speech, and Foreign Language, and,
SmartThinking, a service purchased by the Office of Distance Education.

It is good to know that online students can improve their writing skills with these services. Don't forget to encourage students to use one of them before submitting their writing essays or projects.

Teaching with TurnItIn

2011-11-14T09:54:00.000-06:00

Guest Blogger: Jessica Gullion, PhD, Assistant Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Texas Woman's University

Most Friday mornings you can find me over at Jupiter House grading memos. My memo assignment has become notorious among my graduate students. They are required to synthesize their weekly readings into a one-page synopsis to be used in class to guide discussion. While many of my undergrads would be thrilled to only write one page, the graduate students have to cover a significant amount of material in that space, and they often struggle with brevity.

One particular morning I sat sipping my chai, a pile of papers on the table in front of me. I picked up one of the memos and started to read. The first paragraph was fantastic. Well written, concise. I knew this would be an easy memo to grade.

The second paragraph was also well written. And it sounded awfully familiar. I recognized each of the sentences. Because I had written them. The entire paragraph was copied verbatim from a paper I’d published a couple of years ago. At the end of the paragraph, I saw my last name in a citation, but there were no quote marks anywhere in the paragraph.

Nor in the paper at all. The third paragraph read the same way. Not ripped off from my work, but from one of the assigned readings. The student included a citation at the end of this paragraph as well, but no notation that the paragraph in full was a direct quote.

The next week, I called the student into my office.

“We have to talk about plagiarism,” I said.

The student looked confused and didn’t say anything.

“When grading your paper, I discovered that you copied entire paragraphs from articles you were assigned to read. You also copied a paragraph from one of my articles.”

The student smiled. “Yeah, I thought it was cool that I found your article.”

Now I was confused. “But you plagiarized it.”

“No I didn’t! I cited everything!” Tears welled in the student’s eyes.

And then we had a lesson on plagiarism.

TWU has policies on how to handle academic dishonesty. I could have given the student a zero on the assignment. I could have reported the student to Student Life. The trouble is, I do not believe this student meant to do anything wrong. In fact, this student thought I would be flattered by the use of my own work.

After that incident, I started using a program through Blackboard called Turnitin to check papers for plagiarism. I’m not on a witch hunt. I use it to help students understand what constitutes plagiarism.

Turnitin generates an Originality Report that both the student and faculty member can view. This report identifies any string of words known by the system to be nonoriginal work. Algorithms are built into the system to account for very short strings and to discount words in quotations. Student work is compared both to internet sites and to work previously submitted to the system. As more instructors use the system, more papers are added to its reference bank. The Originality Report highlights nonoriginal strings and includes a link to the original source. It also generates a percentage of the paper that is not original. I have seen this percentage range from zero to ninety percent (ok, 90% student got an F).

Due to the ease of information collection over the internet, students can cut and paste work together from all sorts of sources. Some cheat knowingly; but some cheat and don’t realize what they are doing is wrong. For them, Turnitin is a good teaching tool.

Turnitin is not foolproof. But it can be used to help students – particularly those who have grown up in a data-rich environment – to understand intellectual property and the proper use of citations and sources.

QM Implementation Plan for Online Programs

2011-11-01T06:25:00.000-06:00

As we come to the end of this month-long series, Allison Peterson, Instructional Designer III, closes with a discussion on TWU's Quality Matters Implementation Plan.

Programs which have made a commitment to implement the Quality Matters Rubric across the online/hybrid curriculum over an extended period of time, are eligible to apply for Quality Matters Recognition of an implementation plan.

In order to qualify, the program must submit for approval by the Quality Matters Academic Advisory Council, a multi-year written plan for QM implementation. There is no cost to the subscriber for submitting a plan. The plan:

Should be a reflection of the specific goals and objectives of the program.
Must be approved by a senior academic officer of the institution: Dean, Provost or President.
Should include formal QM course reviews.
May include informal reviews, faculty self-assessments, faculty development workshops, other QM training, and other components that are unique to the program.
Must establish benchmarks over a three-year period
Must include the specific language the program will use to publicize Quality Matters Recognition.
Requires a brief written report to the QMAAC each year.

The new program-level designation will include permission to display an approved QM seal and an accompanying statement on Internet and print materials.

2011-2013 Quality Matter's Rubric Update

2011-10-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

In this month-long blogger series, Allison Peterson, Instructional Designer III, continues to cover TWU's Quality Matters program process.

Last week I introduced Quality Matters (QM) to those who may not have heard about it, or have heard, but did not really know what it is. This week, I want to reach out to those of you who are already QM savvy. In August of this year, QM released the 2011-2013 Edition of their Higher Education Rubric. While the general standards remain largely unchanged, the importance of some of the specific standards has changed along with some of the wording, language and annotations. Some of the most significant changes include moving from 17 to 21 essential 3 point standards, having 41 specific standard totally 95 points and needing a minimum of 81 points to meet expectations.

The best way to learn about the changes to the rubric is to sign up for a free Rubric Update session offered by QM. The online workshop is completely self-paced and asynchronous. QM advises that completing the workshop will take about 1 hour. If you are a QM Peer Reviewer, you are required to complete the update by December 31, in order to remain eligible to act as a Peer Reviewer. To register for the update, go to MyQM http://www.qmprogram.org/myQM/ and login. If you have participated in TWU’s Applying the QM Rubric Workshop, were part of the initial QM Pilot Project, or have had a course officially reviewed, you will have a MyQM account. Your username will be your TWU email address, you@twu.edu, your password is assigned by QM. If you do not know or remember your MyQM password, use the Find MyQM Password link on the left-hand side of the login page.

Happy Updating!

Quality Matters at TWU

2011-10-10T12:32:00.000-05:00

Guest Blogger: Allison Peterson, MLS, Instructional Designer III - Denton Campus

So, you might be saying to yourself, “of course quality matters at TWU!” Texas Woman’s University has a long history of providing a quality education for its students. It is because of this tradition that the Office of Distance Education sought out a nationally recognized program to showcase and improve the quality of online and blended course design. At its heart, Quality Matters (QM), is a faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of these courses.

QM began life as a FIPSE grant. You may read more about its origins at the QM website; http://www.qmprogram.org/ . Today, QM is a self-supporting organization, run on a subscriptions and fee-for-service model. TWU has been a subscribing member since March 2007. Through our subscription, we get access to QM materials and discounts on QM trainings and course reviews. To date, we have had 12 courses nationally recognized for meeting expectations of the QM rubric and process. You may find a list of these courses both on the QM website and our own TWU QM webpage; http://www.twu.edu/de/quality-matters.

Quality Matters is a voluntary program at TWU. All of the Distance Education Instructional Design team has been trained in the use of the QM rubric and regularly uses it as a basis for conversations on good online/blended course design. We like QM because it is centered on course design, not delivery. It is all about making your course easier for students to navigate and succeed in the tasks you set for them.

The first step to learning more about Quality Matters at TWU, is participating in the Applying the QM Rubric (APP) workshop. The APP is a two-week workshop, currently offered asynchronously online. It introduces participants to the Quality Matters program, process and rubric. Watch your email for registration information about upcoming workshops!

Announcing Texas Blackboard Users Group 2011 Conference!

2011-09-28T09:29:00.000-05:00

Registration is still open at www.t-bug.org

Using Early Warning System to Reduce Attrition in Online Learners

2011-09-13T12:10:00.000-05:00

One of the most important tools faculty can use to reduce attrition rate in non-traditional students enrolled in online courses is Blackboard's integrated tool - Early Warning System. When set up properly, this tool alerts the instructor to students who are at-risk of failing their online course.

Here is how it works. The instructor sets the criteria and can communicate the particular warning to the student(s). In addition, the instructor has control over the message each time a warning is created, and also has the choice to use the default message or to modify it to more accurately communicate the seriousness of the situation. By keeping track of online students' at-risk academic behavior, faculty can plan successful interventions that will scale down attrition rates and improve retention.

It is still early in the semester and you have time to explore the use of this tool further. If you are interested, go to http://twuid.pbworks.com/w/page/22561339/Early%20Warning%20System%20Bb9 for a handy help sheet on setting up an Early Warning System in your course or you may contact the Instructional Design Specialist that is assigned to your College, School or Department for additional assistance.

Also, feel free to leave comments of your success of challenges in using this tool. We would love to hear and learn from you!

Five Communication Tips Using Blackboard's Announcement Page

2011-09-07T15:26:00.000-05:00

Announcements can be used in a variety of ways to push important information to students in a single course and is one way for you to communicate to everyone in the course. In online and blended courses, they are the equivalent of standing at the podium and giving general information to the class.

The Online Instructor Tips for Using Announcements in Online/Blended Courses:

1. Use Announcements primarily for time-sensitive information (emergencies) and to talk to the entire class (general information).

2. Develop a routine to post general information Announcements.

3. Query your class about options such as pushing Announcement via email. This is a good feature for certain students and an annoyance for others.

4. Learn how to “pin” an Announcement to the top of the Announcements page to control the order in which Announcements appear to students.

5. Don’t use Announcements as your only communication tool in a course.

We are constantly trying to think of new, innovative ways to communicate to online students, and would love to hear your comments, ideas, and what you are doing in your course. Please add your comments below and thank you for reading.

Student Health Services Open House

2011-09-07T12:37:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, September 14, 2011
11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Student Health Services (Located next to the DPS in Hubbard Hall)

Tour Student Health Services and learn about their services

Receive Door Prizes

Munch on Healthy Snacks

Contact Student Health Services at 940.898.3826 for more information.

5th Annual OES was a Success!

2011-08-29T10:48:00.000-05:00

Guest Blogger: Cynthia Johnson, MS, BS, CHES, Instructional Designer III - Dallas Campus

Now that TWU's Distance Education's 5th Annual Online Educator Symposium is over, I can honestly say I am rejuvenated and have found a "second wind" to tackle Fall 2011 semester! So, you ask, what made this one so special? Being on the Denton campus with one of the most diverse groups of online professionals - ranging from graduate teaching assistants, staff members, adjunct instructors, professors, higher education administrators, including Provost, Dr. Robert Neely and Vice-Provost of the Graduate School, Dr. Jennifer Martin - created synergy that promoted discussion and learning opportunities for the experienced and inexperienced online educator! The engaging workshops and poster presentations offered on course design, instructional technology, and teaching and learning provided strategies and techniques empowered both new and tenured faculty.

But the most rewarding aspect for me was conversing with workshop presenters and the audiences on their views on online learning. Participants became transparent about their personal successes and failures of teaching online and left the sessions with learned lessons and solutions. It was an honor to be in the midst of like-minded distance education professionals who teach and prepare TWU's "Next-Generation"online college students for the real world. I look forward to next year's symposium!

Why In The World Should You Use Campus Pack?

2011-08-22T10:47:00.001-05:00

This past summer semester, TWU upgraded Learning Objects’ Campus Pack in Blackboard 9.1. According to Campus Pack, several improvements have been made, such as:

· Mobile accessibility

· Social networking for everyone

o Connecting/ Friending

o Internal messaging

· Template enhancements

o Ability to create personal templates

o Easier to create and share templates

o Maintain templates within the Personal Learning Space

o Ability to develop hard coded templates

o Using the Learning Objects Community, upload and access templates from other institutions, and others!

So you ask “Why in the world do I need to use Campus Pack in my online course”? Well, their social media tools, including wikis, blogs, journals, blogs and podcasts, empower online instructors to build and implement assignments and activities that encourage collaborative work. But what I like most is students are able to develop collaboration and peer evaluation abilities to prepare them for the workplace. For additional instructions on Campus Pack tools and general Blackboard documentation, click on the following link: Blackboard 9.1 Documentation.

2011-08-15T09:01:00.000-05:00

5th Annual Online Educator Symposium

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Program Now Available!

Join us at Denton Campus

Presentation Tracks

Research in Online Education - Planned or ongoing research on topics related to online education
Teaching and Learning - Successful online teaching techniques and/or activities
Creative Uses of Technology - Successful uses of technology tools
Student Success - Ideas related to services or projects that lead to increased success for students
Faculty Showcase - TWU Faculty Award for Distinction in Teaching, TWU Faculty Award for Distinction in Distance Education, and Non-TWU recognition related to Teaching and Online Course Design

Register Today! – Registration Deadline: Tuesday, August 23; 5 p.m.

Pencil and Paper Prototyping: Time To Lay Out Your Course

2011-08-08T13:58:00.000-05:00

Just when you are beginning to wrap up the summer semester, you realize that there is less than a month left to design your online course for the upcoming semester. Online student enrollment is growing, but you quietly cringe at the thought of all the time it is going to take you to have the course(s) ready by the first day of class!

One of the things you might find useful as you think about designing a course is to put it to paper. By that, sketch out major sections of the course to give yourself a sense of how the course will look to students. You already know the menu will be on the left side of the screen. Sketch out a rectangle and write in your menu items. Take another sheet of paper and plan out your module structure. Since most modules are a series of folders and items, sketch in small rectangles and label accordingly.

It is much easier to make revisions on your paper than within the Course Management System. Don’t worry about your artistic ability at all. This is just a quick planning guide that will help you visualize the flow of the menu and the modules.

Texas Blackboard Users Group (T-BUG) 2011 Conference

2011-08-01T09:52:00.001-05:00

I am thrilled to announce the upcoming T-BUG 2011 Conference, hosted by University of Texas at Dallas to be held November 10-11, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency North Dallas in Dallas, Texas. Although this year's conference theme "Transforming Education with Blackboard: From Caterpillars to Butterflies" will focus on the use of emerging technologies, several members of our instructional design specialist team will present on creative instructional design techniques and innovative experiential learning projects.

However, this conference is not just for distance education staff. We would love to see other TWU faculty members submit proposals and/or attend the conference this year, as well. It is not too late! Registration is still open! For additional information, visit their website at http://www.t-bug.org/.

Two Views of Teaching

2011-02-07T15:47:00.002-06:00

by Keith Restine

There are two very different ways to prepare for teaching. One approach looks almost entirely at the actions and behaviors of the instructors. This approach, often referred to as the "transmission model," views instruction as something that is provided to students. Many authors characterize this view of teaching as an attempt to cover as much content as possible; a generalized view of this would be reviewing material at a breakneck speed, interspersed with examinations to determine how well students can retain and restate content.

However, another approach suggested by Ken Bain is that highly effective teachers "thought of teaching as anything they might do to help and encourage students to learn ... by engineering an environment in which they learn." Highly effective teachers also found teaching to be "an important and serious intellectual (or artistic) act" contextualized by "what they want students to do intellectually rather than about what they should learn."

Bain considers four questions in characterizing this rich and complex approach to students:

What should my students be able to do intellectually, physically, and emotionally as a result of their learning?
How can I best help and encourage them to develop those abilities and the habits of the heart and mind to use them?
How can my students and I best understand the nature, quality, and progress of their learning?
How can I evaluate my efforts to foster that learning?

It is also important to reflect on your efforts to impact student learning. How will you know if you are hitting the mark? How will you determine your grade as the instructor? Dee Fink discusses what students will remember about your course one or two years later, and Bain also lists four important considerations when reviewing your teaching:

Is the material worth learning?
Are my students learning what the course is supposedly teaching?
Am I helping and encouraging my students to learn?
Have I harmed my students?

These are important questions to consider as you begin working on a new or existing course. Define, in your own terms, not just what you want students to know, but what students should be able to do and think about at the end of your course. Course objectives and goals copied from a textbook or a publisher's companion website do little to change student learning. These goals and objectives are well-stated and well-intentioned efforts to help, but they lack your insight, experience, and passion about your discipline. Write your own goals and objectives in straightforward language that tells your students what you hold important. Clearly describe what success and learning will look like, both for the final products and for the process.

Use these goals to inform your development of activities and assessments. Consider how the products you want students to develop will help them learn the skills and knowledge you want them to possess at the end of your course. Think carefully about the types and the frequency of feedback you will provide to students to help them understand how they are progressing, and what important, specific skills they still need to master in individual activities.

After you have purposefully designed your personalized course goals and objectives on paper, you will then be ready to consider how you will manage tools in Blackboard or other technologies, as well as additional resources on campus, to reach those goals and objectives.

References

Bain, K. (2004). What the Best College Teachers Do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Fink, D. (2003). Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Intengrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

2011 TxDLA Call for Proposals

2010-10-18T14:45:00.005-05:00

Call For Proposals Now Open for the Texas Distance Learning Association's 14th Annual Conference!!

Do you have awesome ideas and best practices in distance learning that you would like to share with others? Submit a proposal by November 30, 2010, and you could be a presenter at the 14th Annual Texas Distance Learning Association Conference in San Antonio, Texas!

The call for proposals is now open for TxDLA's Annual Conference. This year's conference is scheduled for April 20-23, 2011 and will include half and full day pre-conference sessions along with world class speakers and general sessions designed to instruct and motivate. The conference theme for 2011 is "A Confluence of Cultures, A Distance Learning Fiesta."Anyone involved in the field of distance education, including administrators, business/industry professionals, corporate trainers, faculty, government agency employees, graduate students, healthcare professionals, higher education employees, K-12 educators, military employees, support staff, vocational/technical educators, and other interested parties are strongly encouraged to submit proposals for presentation. Organized, well-delivered presentations covering topics of practical value to attendees' day-to-day work are desired. Reviewers look for clear descriptions, and considerable weight is given to proposals that specify session learning objectives and describe how content will be valuable to attendees.

Proposals may be submitted for presentation in a 50-minute breakout session, an 80-minute hands-on session, an educator showcase, or a vendor showcase format. Proposals must include all of the following sections found in the online form. Proposals that do not include all sections will not be considered.

Contact Information
Co-presenter Information
Preferred Session Title
Presenter Abstract
Presentation Proposal (Summary & Expected Outcomes)
A/V Requests
Preferred Audience

For more information on submission guidelines, presentation formats, and conference tracks, please visit the TxDLA 2011 Conference website at http://txdla.net/2011/. Proposals should be submitted using the online proposal application located under the Presenters link on the conference website. If you have any questions regarding the CFP, please contact the conference program chair, Oscar Hernández, at pres-elect@txdla.org.

SUBMIT A PROPOSAL TODAY!

Texas Blackboard Users Group

2010-10-05T11:47:00.003-05:00

Pre-conferenece (Hardin-Simmons Campus)
Conference Opening at Vendor Reception (MCM Elegante Suites)

For more information and to register, please go to www.t-bug.org.

Democracy Shout-Out

2010-09-13T10:51:00.006-05:00

Democracy Shout Out is part of the Constitution Day events for 2010 at Texas Woman's University. Organized by the Department of History and Government, Democracy Shout Out is a chance to give students and other members of the community a safe forum to voice their views and opinions on a variety of issues that relate to the campus, the community and the country. Encourage your students to participate online or on-campus by responding to issues that matter to them. These forums will be available Monday, September 13 through Wednesday, September 15.

Participate Online
Students can go to http://democracyshoutout.wordpress.com/ to see the complete list of topics and to post their thoughts on any of those topics. The results of the feedback forums will be discussed on Thursday, September 16 from Noon - 1 p.m. at an on-campus event that will be broadcast online. The link to the webcast will be available on the website listed above. The results will be listed there as well.

Participate On-Campus
Students that are going to be on campus will find free-speech boards at the following locations and times:

Student Union: M - W, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
MCL Foyer: M - W, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Library: M-W, 12 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Students who can come to campus are also invited to an event on Thursday to hear the results of their responses. The results will be shared from Noon - 1 p.m. in the Student Union, room 207. The first 75 people get a free lunch.

This event is co-sponsored by the TWU Civic Agency Initiative, the College of Arts and Sciences, and Commuter Services.

Live to the Desktop Series

2010-08-30T10:52:00.002-05:00

Surviving the Stampede: Managing Large DE Sections
Date: Friday, September 10
Time: 10 am
Location: Live to the Desktop
Register Now!
As section sizes increase, planning alternative management strategies will save you time and energy. This session will focus on techniques, including communication, feedback, and Blackboard tools that can streamline the management of large groups of students.

Three or More is Company: Creating and Managing Learning Communities with Group Work
Date: Thursday, October 21
Time: 11 am
Location: Live to the Desktop
Register Now!
This session will present a number of approaches for designing and developing effective group project ideas in DE courses. The session will cover use of the Groups area in Blackboard and provide a number of handouts that can be used with groups. Group work is also one way to manage workload in a DE course. It helps reduce the number of submitted assignments while requiring students to take greater responsibility for social learning.

Posting War: Building and Managing Meaningful Online Discussion Boards
Date: Wednesday, November 10
Time: 1 pm
Location: Live to the Desktop
Register Now!
The asynchronous Discussion Board drives interaction in many DE courses. It is an important tool but it can overwhelm you and students very quickly. This session will feature several planned strategies to develop meaningful Discussion Board activities and manage the Discussion Board area while maintaining acceptable levels of instructor presence.

Online Student Orientation

2010-08-30T10:47:00.003-05:00

The link to the New Online Student Orientation has changed. Please send your new distance learners to the Getting Started Guide, available at http://www.twu.edu/de/getting-started-guide.asp. The New Online Student Orientation no longer exists, and the link to it is apparently still floating around. So, if you linked to this old resource in your online courses, please change the link to the Getting Started Guide.

Thank you, and please contact the Office of Lifelong Learning at 940.898.3409 if you have any questions.

2010 Online Educator Symposium

2010-08-10T09:06:00.001-05:00

A Showcase of Excellence, Innovation & Success!

Thursday, August 26, 2010
TWU Denton Campus
8:30 a.m. – Noon
Cost: FREE!
Register Now!

This year's OES will start with a presentation about the Hybrid Course Program. That will be followed by a poster presentation session showcasing new and innovative teaching techniques and student services that are currently offered to our distance learners.

Value to You

Learn more about teaching online & distance education initiatives at TWU
Network and reconnect with colleagues
Engage in professional development

Register Today! The registration deadline is Monday, August 23. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Lynda Murphy at lmurphy@twu.edu or 940.898.3405.

Texas Blackboard Users Group - Call for Proposals

2010-08-02T15:57:00.003-05:00

The T-BUG Conference Committee welcomes your proposals for the
2010 Annual Conference in Abilene.

The annual T-BUG conference is a great opportunity for Blackboard users to discover, discuss, learn, and share best practices in using the Blackboard, CE and Vista, and Angel learning management systems.

This year’s conference will be held October 21-23, 2010 in Abilene at Hardin-Simmons University. In Abilene,the frontier spirit is alive and well and just like this frontier town, our conference theme - "Blazin' New Trails on the Blackboard Frontier” - encourages attendees to explore and push the frontier of online learning and its technologies.

October 21 - Pre-Conference Workshops and Vendor Reception
October 22-23 - Conference

We encourage you to “blaze some trails” of your own by participating in the conference as a pre-conference or break-out session presenter! We are especially happy to invite Angel users to participate.

Pre-conference sessions will be 3 hours long - either in the morning or the afternoon. We encourage hands-on sessions.
Break-out sessions will be 50 minutes long, which includes time for questions and answers. Presentations should be designed to encourage audience interaction. Breakout sessions are organized along these tracks:

Teaching and Learning
Support & Program Administration
Professional Development
System Administration
Pre K-12

Please submit proposals here. The deadline for proposal submission is August 15, 2010.

The program committee will review proposals and notify you of your proposal’s status by August 30, 2010. Please note that all presenters must register for the conference. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide discounts - hey, our $250 registration is one of the best deals around!

If you have questions, please contact Christine Salmon, Program Committee Chair at
christine.salmon@utdallas.edu. We look forward to hearing from you!

Christine Salmon,
T-BUG Program Committee Chair
We’re on FaceBook! Search for T-BUG Texas Blackboard Users Group

Teaching and Learning with Blackboard 9, Houston

2010-07-28T13:32:00.004-05:00

For Houston Faculty, Adjuncts, GAs and TAs working with Distance Education Courses

Once again, Distance Education is offering workshops to assist Houston faculty, adjuncts, GAs and TAs teaching or working with DE courses. These workshops will cover the new features of Blackboard 9 and how you can apply them to your online courses. If you are a department chair or supervise a graduate assistant that works with DE Courses, please pass this opportunity along to your adjuncts, GAs and TAs.

Fall 2010 Teaching and Learning with Blackboard 9 Workshops, Houston

Thursday, August 12
9 a.m. – Noon
Room: 4310
Click here to register
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, August 10, 5 p.m.

Monday, August 16
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Room: 4115
Click here to register
Registration Deadline: Friday, August 13, 5 p.m.

Tuesday, September 7
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Room: 4310
Click here to register
Registration Deadline: Friday, September 3, 5 p.m.

If you have any questions about these workshops, please contact Valerie Shapko, Instructional Designer III at vshapko@twu.edu or 713-794-2042.

Teaching and Learning with Blackboard 9 for Denton GAs and TAs

2010-07-28T13:09:00.004-05:00

Once again, Distance Education is offering workshops to assist GAs and TAs teaching or working with DE courses. These workshop will cover the new features of Blackboard 9 and how they can be applied to online courses. Have your graduate and teaching assistants register today!

Fall 2010 Teaching and Learning with Blackboard 9 Workshops for GAs and TAs

September 15
1 - 4 p.m.
Stod 307
Register
Registration Deadline: September 13

September 16
9 a.m. - Noon
Stod 307
Register
Registration Deadline: September 14

If you or your GAs and TAs have any questions about these workshops, please contact Leslie Lindsey, Instructional Designer II, at LLindsey@twu.edu or 940.898.2263.

Using Wimba in your TWU Online Course

2010-07-28T12:59:00.004-05:00

The Office of Lifelong Learning has purchased Wimba Classroom for use in Distance Education courses. Wimba is a synchronous tool that allows for live/real time course interactions. This tool is currently integrated into Blackboard, allowing students and faculty to communicate and collaborate through a single interface.

If you have interest in using Wimba for your DE courses this fall, there are two requirements. First, you should speak to an instructional designer to discuss your needs and ideas for using this tool. Second, you must attend a workshop on Wimba to learn about the tool and suggested instructional uses. Once you have discussed possible uses and attended one workshop, the tool will be enabled in your DE course.

Denton Wimba Workshops for Fall
08/20/2010
9 a.m. – 12 p.m. OR 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
STOD 308

To register for one of these workshops, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JNFWZGM.

The registration deadline is Wednesday, August 18 at 5 p.m. Additional workshops will be offered in January in preparation for the spring semester.

Houston Wimba Workshops for Fall
Friday, August 13
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Room: 3121
Click here to register
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, August 11, 5 p.m.

Tuesday, August 17
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Room: 3121
Click here to register
Registration Deadline: Friday, August 13, 5 p.m.

Friday, August 20
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Room: 3111
Click here to register
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, August 18, 5 p.m.

Monday, September 13
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Room: 3121
Click here to register
Registration Deadline: Friday, September 10, 5 p.m.

Drop.IO: A Web Housing and Web Hosting Site

2010-04-05T12:33:00.001-05:00

There have been many times during my work days when trying to send large video files, or just sending numerous presentations to multiple participants via email has turned into an arduous scenario. Forward progress has been bogged down due to file size restrictions in my outgoing email, or multiple recipients email boxes are stuffed to the gills and full!!!!! Then hours or minutes later multiple emails with my large attachments bouncing through cyber space are back. I finally remembered an old adage from my army days “work smarter - not harder.”
I had been using a file sharing service to ferry my online homework to my graduate instructor in Nebraska for quite some time and realized this may help for my work conundrum as well. The file sharing service I use is called Drop.IO and can be found at http://drop.io/ . It is extremely easy to use and has video tutorials to get you started. After a few trials I have started using a simple naming convention to keep track of all my drops. You can create as many free drops as you want, but there are limitations to the free drops, of course. You have limited file size and length of time to have the files available on the site. So consider them temporary solutions for temporary situations.
You can upgrade to a more permanent site if you see the need for ongoing uses to your file storage. An example might be for a semester long housing of multiple video or presentation files with many students accessing the files using streaming technology. I have recommended this solution to many of my Distance Education instructors, as they can use their DE fees to pay for a Drop.IO site to house and download audio and video podcasts.
The Drop.IO sites I have used for my DE faculty, conference presentations and my own class homework have really streamlined my email and life. I would highly suggest Drop.IO or many of the other online collaboration products out there like 4shared, Mediafire or Binfire. I have not tried these sites personally, so wade in with caution and read the fine print first.
Please feel free to contact me or any of the Instructional designers:
Valerie ShapkoSenior Instructional Design Specialist, Houston Centervshapko@twu.edu713.794.2042
Tracey Mac GowanSenior Instructional Design Specialist, College of Professional Educationtmacgowan@twu.edu940.898.2773
Jake McBeeInstructional Design Specialist II, College of Arts and Sciencesjmcbee@twu.edu940.898.2784
Diann MaurerInstructional Design Specialist Idmaurer@twu.edu

Assessing and Aggregating Learning Outcomes Workshop

2010-04-05T11:32:00.000-05:00

Featuring Ms. Kaye Shelton from Dallas Baptist University

Friday, April 9, 2010
2-4 p.m.
Denton ACT 301; Parkland 229 (live); Houston 3322
Register Now! (Registration deadline, Wednesday, April 7)

This presentation will look at using embedded assessment to demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes, along with various types of engaging, online assessment activities.

Please join us!

Blackboard 9

2010-03-02T08:05:00.002-06:00

Well, I have been looking at the new Blackboard 9 interface and have to tell you that I really am excited about the new look and feel. But, I have to admit the thing I most like is the lack of the constant “OK” windows and the YES I really want to take this action confirmation screens seem to be gone. I will be able to fend off carpel tunnel syndrome awhile longer!

The change in Blackboard 9 seems abrupt at first glance with a fancy new interface, but it still functions in the same way, with many new options that will make life much easier for the instructor and student. My top pick for the best new feature or actually lack of feature is the Digital Dropbox. It is gone and may it RIP! For many this was a tried and true friend but a very cumbersome and time consuming feature that was upgraded when the Assignment feature came along.

The new feature that intrigues me so far is the “drag and drop” options right in the Menu itself. This feature helps customize your Menu Items without having to go into the Control Panel and then drill into several more layers before you have forgotten what you were doing in the first place. All the Control Panel options can be accessed via “drop down” or “slide out” menus from the actual Menu Items or the Course Management area below the Menu Items.

The Grade Center, formerly known as the Grade Book, has a slick new spreadsheet look that can be accessed and edited directly in a cell while creating a history of the changes automatically. The Grade Center can also create and print various reports. The Smart Views option allows the instructor to categorize students based on criteria; this will be a great help for the courses that have large enrollment and have groups lead by TA’s.

In the Assignment Tool, instructors can now give students multiple attempts or allow an individual student multiple attempts. Also, the instructor can give an individual student or a group an Assignment.

There are too many new features in Blackboard 9 to mention in this single blog, but please feel free to get your Instructional Designer to help you wade through any of the new tools in Blackboard 9 and how they can help improve the teaching and learning experience for you and your students.

Valerie Shapko
Senior Instructional Design Specialist
Houston Center
vshapko@twu.edu
713.794.2042

Tracey Mac Gowan
Instructional Design Specialist
College of Professional Education
tmacgowan@twu.edu
940.898.2773

Jake McBee
Instructional Design Specialist
College of Arts and Sciences
jmcbee@twu.edu
940.898.2784

Program Evaluation Workshop - New Date!

2010-02-25T15:16:00.003-06:00

Evidence Based Decision Making for Program Evaluation
Connecting the Dots from Course to Program
Rescheduled from February 12

Featuring Dr. Ron Carriveau, Assessment & Measurement Specialist for the Center for Learning Enhancement, Assessment, and Redesign at University of North Texas and Dr. Richard Plott, Senior Research Analyst for the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at UNT

Thursday, March 11
1 - 4 p.m.
Library 101, Denton
Cost: Free

Who this workshop is for: Deans, Program Chairs and Directors and anyone else who would like to learn evaluations strategies for their programs. Please feel free to forward this email.

What you will learn:

A model for evaluating your courses, departments and programs
A model for developing outcomes for continuous programmatic improvement and instructional effectiveness
A method to match course goals and programs goals
The uses and benefits of using a data management system

Value to you and your programs - improved outcomes for your courses, departments and programs

Workshop Description
In this workshop for department chairs, Drs. Ron Carriveau and Richard Plott will present an outcomes-based decision making model for addressing course, department, and program evaluation. A hierarchal model for developing outcomes will be presented, and a method for matching course goal attainment to program goals will be offered. Also covered will be an evidentiary decision making process that will include the uses and benefits of a data management system for tracking, evaluation, and addressing course, program and institutional goals. Participants will break out into groups and use forms and rubrics to develop assessment and evaluation tools for their particular departments. Participants will leave with examples, ideas and strategies for developing their individual assessment and evaluation plans.

Please contact the Office of Lifelong Learning at 940.898.3409 if you have any questions. We hope you can join us!

Cheating in Online Classes

2010-02-25T15:10:00.004-06:00

Featuring Ms. Lori McNabb from UT Telecampus

Click here to register!

Date: Friday, March 5, 2010
Time: 1-3 p.m.
Location: Live to the Desktop

This presentation will be presented via Wimba and will provide a reality check about whether online students really do cheat more (for people who have not taught online) and ideas to encourage academic integrity in online courses (for people who teach online).

Click here to take register - Registration deadline is Tuesday, March 2.

E-Learning’s not just good for the student anymore

2010-02-09T08:45:00.000-06:00

We are seeing more and more Open Education and eLearning opportunities on the Internet these days. MIT and Stanford have been pioneers in the Open Courses available to anyone who has a computer. YouTube and iTunes have also gotten involved in the educational realm with iTunesU and YouTubeEDU that warehouse video lectures for anyone who cares to sit still long enough to watch. One can stay on the couch and receive a thorough education, everything but the diploma, free for the taking.
A good way to take advantage of this plethora of educational information is to use them as a never-ending resource of guest lecturers for your students. Imagine hearing Dr. Jane Goodall, world renowned scientist speaking to your class. A quick click on a hyperlink will transport you to Harvard@home to see her and many others. Or, stop in at MIT’s open courseware site and view one of their 1,900 course offerings.
It may be hard to narrow down the amount of information that you want to include in your course. A good way to start using these resources is to plan a project or assignment based on one of the lectures or presentations you find. The students can view the video clip and then report, debate or discuss the information or point-of-view that the presenter addressed.
I have gathered a short list of possibilities that include a variety of open eLearning resources for you to start with, and if you have a favorite drop me a line, and I will add it to my list.
MIT Open Course Ware : http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
Harvard@Home: http://athome.harvard.edu/
University of California-Berkeley : http://webcast.berkeley.edu/
iTunesU : http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/?ref=http://itunes.com
YouTubeU : http://www.youtube.com/education?b=400
Nobel Lectures for 2009: http://nobelprize.org/award_ceremonies/lectures_2009.html
Online Books: Librivox’s http://librivox.org/

Symposium - New Trends in Scholarly Communication: Maximizing Author Impact

2010-02-05T11:08:00.001-06:00

Friday, February 26, 2010
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Embassy Suites Hotel in downtown Fort Worth

Are you ready to extend the reach of your research? Want hear how new digital tools allow your published work to be cited by more researchers? Want to empower yourself with knowledge on how you can retain author copyrights to your work so you can place it in multiple venues? If so, then you'll want to attend the symposium New Trends in Scholarly Communication: Maximizing Author Impact.

The symposium is sponsored by the UNT Health Science Center Library and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. It will be held at the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Fort Worth on Friday, February 26, 2010. Breakfast, lunch, and valet parking are included with registration. Faculty, staff and students are invited! To receive a half-off discount during registration, simply enter promo code: library2010.

For more information and to register, please visit http://digitalcommons.hsc.unt.edu/maximpact/.

Organizing Blended Courses for Optimal Student Engagement Webinar

2010-02-05T10:53:00.005-06:00

Featuring Dr. Ike Shibley, associate professor of chemistry at Penn State-Berks & presented by Faculty Focus

March 10, 2010
Noon - 1:30 p.m.
STOD 308

From Faculty Focus...

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!

About the Presenter

This online seminar features one of Magna’s most popular and engaging presenters, Dr. Ike Shibley, associate professor of chemistry at Penn State-Berks. An award-winning teacher with a pedagogical research focus on finding the most productive ways to enhance student learning, Dr. Shibley brings unique insight into classroom climate, student learning and motivation. He will answer your questions during the dedicated Q&A session.

This webinar, locally sponsored by TWU Distance Education, is offered at no cost to you and registration is not required. Please join us!

Evidence Based Decision Making for Program Evaluation - Connecting the Dots from Course to Program

2010-01-29T10:15:00.000-06:00

Evidence Based Decision Making for Program Evaluation - Connecting the Dots from Course to Program

Featuring Dr. Ron Carriveau, Assessment & Measurement Specialist for the Center for Learning Enhancement, Assessment, and Redesign at University of North Texas and Dr. Richard Plott, Senior Research Analyst for the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness at UNT

Friday, February 12
1 - 4 p.m.
Library 101, Denton

In this workshop for department chairs, Drs. Ron Carriveau and Richard Plott will present an outcomes-based decision making model for addressing course, department, and program evaluation. A hierarchal model for developing outcomes will be presented, and a method for matching course goal attainment to program goals will be offered. Also covered will be an evidentiary decision making process that will include the uses and benefits of a data management system for tracking, evaluation, and addressing course, program and institutional goals. Participants will break out into groups and use forms and rubrics to develop assessment and evaluation tools for their particular departments. Participants will leave with examples, ideas and strategies for developing their individual assessment and evaluation plans.

This workshop is offered at no charge, however we ask that you register soon! The registration deadline is Wednesday, February 10.

Please contact the Office of Lifelong Learning at 940.898.3409 if you have any questions. We hope you can join us!

New Year’s Resolution for Your Online Course

2010-01-04T13:05:00.001-06:00

Ok, it is really 2010; that is so weird to type or say. The spring semester is days away and you need to tweak your course. So what resolution have you made to rejuvenate your course?

The best way to put new life into your course for you and your students is to look way back into 2009 and see what the students had to say about the course. Look at the discussion board area where you asked students to post the muddiest points or general questions. If there was a theme among student questions or comments for an assignment or other areas, that maybe a good place to start. Reviewing the instructions you wrote and/or having a peer look at them for clarity or understanding can help future students. Also, if there was an assignment or assessment that was particularly difficult for the students, a closer look here could shed some light on how you could alter the instruction for the assignment or assessment to make the experience work more smoothly for the students and you.

If you have not included a Discussion Board section to cover the muddiest point or a Discussion Board area for general questions, now would be a good time to add this to your spring course. Faculty have found that by adding these questions to their Discussion Board areas, it has drastically cut back on their email from students. Many times, a posting to the Discussion Board area can answer many students’ concerns with a single entry from you. And the students in the course can help post an answer to other students’ questions as well. The students also feel more involved with their peers when faculty use these Discussion Board areas for students to use.

You may also want to consider adding group Discussion Board questions to your online course as a break from the whole class Discussion Board. This gives your students a smaller group to work with and allows the students an opportunity to get to know their peers better and have a deeper dialogue with them.

There are many ways to challenge your students with the Discussion Board and talking with your Instructional Designer is a great way to start.

Valerie Shapko
Senior Instructional Design Specialist, Houston Center
vshapko@twu.edu
713.794.2042

Heidi Ashbaugh
Senior Instructional Design Specialist, Dallas
hashbaugh@twu.edu
940.898.4000

Tracey Mac Gowan
Instructional Design Specialist, College of Professional Education
tmacgowan@twu.edu
940.898.2773

Jake McBee
Instructional Design Specialist, College of Arts and Sciences
jmcbee@twu.edu
940.898.2784

Teaching and Learning with Blackboard

2010-01-04T09:42:00.000-06:00

For GAs and TAs working with Distance Education Courses

Friday, January 15, 2010
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Location: Administration and Conference Tower (ACT), 503

Have your GAs and TAs register today!

Once again, Distance Education is offering a workshop to assist GAs and TAs working with DE courses. The workshop is Friday, January 15, 2010 in ACT 503. We will offer the basic workshop on Teaching and Learning with Blackboard.

GAs and TAs - Click here to register. The registration deadline is Wednesday, January 13.

Holiday Break Finally!

2009-12-18T09:29:00.000-06:00

Well the fall semester is inching its way to a close, finally. I know for myself I am in the mode of wrapping the semester up and looking forward to a little R&R, then a fresh start for the spring semester. But wait! An important start to the spring can be made much easier if I take a few moments and reflect on the past five months. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you take a break:

· What went well in my online course?
· What road-bumps did I hit over the past semester?
· What student comments are fresh on my mind to help me tweak my course for the spring? · Are there instructions or details I want to add to my content that will help students in the future?
· Is there a way to reorder the course materials to make navigation easier?
· Was there a thought or idea for a new collaborative project that I wanted to explore?

A few notes now will make your work much easier in the spring to give your course a simple facelift. The new additions and changes will help keep it fresh for you and the students will benefit from the efforts you have put forward.

Have a great holiday break and see you all in the spring.

Spring 2010 DE Faculty Development Series

2009-12-01T16:21:00.003-06:00

Student Success 2.0
A series on student outcomes in the online world

This spring, you will have several opportunities to hear from Distance Education experts about important topics related to online student success. Registration details will be available in the Spring. We hope you can join us!

Program Evaluation Strategies for TWU Chairs
Featuring Drs. Ron Carriveau and Richard Plott from University of North Texas*
Friday, February 12
1 – 4 p.m.
Library 101

Cheating in Online Courses
Featuring Ms. Lori McNabb from UT Telecampus*
Friday, March 5
1 – 3 p.m.
This presentation will be presented via Wimba and will provide a reality check about whether online students really do cheat more (for people who have not taught online) and ideas to encourage academic integrity in online courses (for people who teach online).

Assessing and Aggregating Learning Outcomes
Featuring Ms. Kaye Shelton from Dallas Baptist University*
Friday, April 9
2 – 4 p.m.
This presentation will give a look at using embedded assessment to demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes, along with a demonstration of how DBU does this.
Denton ACT 301; Parkland 229; Houston 3322

*Subject to change

Live, Desktop Presentation

2009-12-01T16:19:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, December 9, 1 – 2 p.m.
Register Today! The registration deadline is Monday, December 7.

Critical Thinking Activities
Presented by Heidi Ashbaugh, Sr. Instructional Design Specialist, Dallas
Critical thinking is an important skill for students to learn and can benefit them long after they leave the University. However, it can be difficult to find ways to teach this type of thinking to students. This presentation will provide ideas for teaching critical thinking within any discipline by using metacognitive “wrappers” for various assignments and activities.

To attend, you must Register. The registration deadline is Monday, December 7 at 11:45 p.m. If you register, you will be sent your log-in information prior to the event.

Digital Literacy Skills for Faculty and Students

2009-11-03T11:26:00.001-06:00

Register, mark your calendars and join us online for another Live, Desktop Presentation! It will be conducted in Wimba, an online collaboration and presentation tool.

Thursday, November 12 Noon – 1 p.m.
Digital Literacy Skills for Faculty and Students
Co-presented by Valerie Shapko, Sr. Instructional Design Specialist and Tracey Mac Gowan, Instructional Design Specialist, College of Professional Education

Being digitally literate encompasses much more than just technology. This type of literacy requires the skills to take in, crunch, seek, find and create with technology in thoughtful and discerning ways. The digital landscape is changing the way students connect socially and professionally, seek out and use content, read, explore, write and understand their world. What do these changes mean for how we teach and who we are as teachers? What benefits and challenges do instructors face as they enter the rich and often overwhelming world of digital tools, global connectivity and a planet’s worth of information just a mouse-click away? How does an instructor make informed choices for using digital tools for teaching and learning? How can instructors use technology to accomplish their course learning objectives and help students become more mindful, discerning and literate regarding the digital landscape? Join us as we explore these issues and possible solutions.

To attend, you must Register. The registration deadline is Tuesday, November 10 at 11:45 p.m. If you register, you will be sent your log-in information prior to the event.

Please visit http://www.twu.edu/de/development.asp for more details on other upcoming professional development opportunities.

15th Annual Sloan-C Conference, Andrew Keen

2009-11-02T14:10:00.000-06:00

Last week I traveled to the 15th Annual Sloan-C Conference in sunny Orlando, Florida. It was a great conference with plenty of sessions to choose from. The only drawback was that the sessions were about 35 minutes long, so the presenters were racing to get through their information with little time for any real discussion; seemed to me to be somewhat like speed-dating.
The theme for me was faculty development for the online environment. It was very interesting to put side-by-side what we here in Distance Education at Texas Woman’s University are doing compared to the other institutions. Without prejudice, I believe we are much further along in our delivery of faculty development programs and service we are able to offer our faculty.
I was most intrigued by the Thursday morning breakfast speaker Andrew Keen. Keen, a British Entrepreneur who has dabbled in and around Silicon Valley, has become a mouthpiece for the concerns of Web 2.0 and the negative effects on our culture and authority. An interesting analogy was painted of the rise of the Internet and the 1960’s rise of the Hippie culture and a mistrust of one’s government ideology. I almost felt I was in the presence of the Ralph Nader of the Internet; the scary thing is I couldn’t really argue any of his points. The broad highway of the Internet does have a ditch on most sides and we are the ones that need to monitor this landscape of all edges and no center.
If you want to know more about Andrew Keen check out his Blog and Web Site at http://andrewkeen.typepad.com/ajkeenspeaking/bio.html.

Texas Blackboard Users Group is next week!

2009-10-06T10:51:00.004-05:00

It's not too late to register! Head to Nacogdoches for the 2009 Texas Blackboard Users Group conference October 14 - 16. This year's theme is "The Best of the Old; The Best of the New."

Preconference sessions are on the 14 at Stephen F. Austin State University and are $60 each. That price includes a box lunch. These workshops have a limited registration and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

The main conference is at the Hotel Fredonia and the registration is $250. That includes:
1. Vendor reception on Wednesday evening
2. All Break-out sessions on Thursday and Friday
3. Keynote presentations
4. Breakfast on Thursday and Friday
5. Lunch on Thursday and Friday6. Party on Thursday evening

For more information on speakers, the program and to register, go to the TBUG website.

It will be a great time!

The Power of a Healthy Woman Symposium

2009-09-11T17:00:00.004-05:00

September 19, 2009 8:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Texas Woman's University MCL Building Auditorium Denton, Texas
Register Online
Information About the Symposium

Symposium Overview
The purpose of this symposium is to increase knowledge of health risks among women over the age of 18. The intent is to raise early awareness among young women for disease prevention and health promotion. The speakers will provide valuable tools, specific to women, that ease incorporating daily wellness strategies in the areas of healthy eating, stress management, and financial health.

Who Should Attend
Women over the age of 18

Registration Fee
Registration fee will be $15 per person until September 10, 2009. After this date, the registration fee will be $20. Registration deadline is September 16, 2009. On-site registration will be accepted on a space available basis only.

Contact Us
If you have questions, contact Texas Woman's University Office of Lifelong Learning at 940.898.3408 or email lifelonginfo@twu.edu

A review from the Online Educator Symposium

2009-09-08T15:59:00.002-05:00

If you couldn’t attend the Online Educator Symposium on August 27, you missed 34 presenters with some awesome information for the online learning environment. Dr. Stankey kicked it off with some animated opening remarks to inspire us, and for the next seven hours faculty, staff and students presented in workshops what has been successful for them in the online classroom to enhance the online learning experience. Our keynote speaker, Dr. Ron Carriveau from University of North Texas fed us some food for thought on assessment and measurement to use in the classroom that was effective and amazingly easy to understand.

I led a workshop on how to navigate through the murky waters of utilizing sights and sounds in the choppy sea of Blackboard. I thought I would re-cap some of the information that seemed to be important to the attendees of the presentation.

First, consider the goal of the lesson or concept that you feel would be improved upon by using a visual or audio file. Non-text items can go a long way to improve upon the text you provide, but one size does not fit all – there are many reasons a picture or diagram will have more impact than a video. Once you have decided on a delivery mode, let’s look at how to get the most bang for the buck.

Images appear larger on the monitor than in real life! Somewhat like your side-view mirror in the car, images on the computer monitor seem to supersize when we insert them into an application. Even though you can resize them with the sizing handles in many applications, this does not make the file size smaller, and we are many times placing a large file where we could easily get the same performance with a fraction of the file size. Use a simple photo editor that is already on your computer such as Paint, or you can use the tools in PowerPoint to reduce the file size and make opening the files easier and faster for your students.

Audio files are usually not a problem if they were produced on your computer to begin with or if you are linking to an external site where the files reside. Most audio files are compressed to play on the computer and use technology that does not require an extended download time. If you have a file that was not created on a computer and needs to be converted to a user-friendly format, there are many audio convertor programs available to use on the Internet, and I can help you decide on one that is right for you.

Video is where most folks get into trouble with large files and uploading and downloading issues. Or the other common issue is in not knowing how to find material to use that is acceptable and meets copyright compliance. With the ever expanding reach of the Internet, I am constantly amazed at the resources that are freely available for users to use free or link to. Sites like YouTube, TeacherTube and TeachersDomain are great sites for educational resources, free for anyone to link to for extra material. Video solutions are many but still confusing for the majority of the population. Video production from the desktop has come a long way with free applications like Jing, a tool that allows you to narrate screen captures from your desktop and post to a free account for your students.

We are always happy to help explore possible solutions to your audio/visual questions. Please email or call our office for more information.

Fall 2009 DE Faculty Development Opportunities

2009-09-02T16:08:00.002-05:00

Welcome back Distance Education Faculty! We hope you enjoyed your summer and are ready for another semester. Below is information about our development offerings for the fall. Please take a few minutes to read this information and mark your calendars to join us online for another round of Live, Desktop Presentations! These will be conducted in Wimba, an online collaboration and presentation tool. Registration information and more details about each presentation will be coming soon!

PowerPoint’s Place in the Online Course
September 18 / 10 a.m.

Testing for the Online Course
October 12 / 11 a.m.

Digital Literacy Skills for Faculty and Students
November 12 / 12 p.m.

Critical Thinking Activities
December 9 / 1 p.m.

Check out the DE Faculty Development Webpage for more information about these and other events!

Third Annual Online Educator Symposium

2009-08-03T14:02:00.001-05:00

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Denton, Dallas (Parkland) & Houston!
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Schedule of Events
Register for the Third Annual Online Educator Symposium

Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Ron Carriveau, Assessment and Measurement Specialist for the Center for Learning Enhancement, Assessment, and Redesign at UNT. His presentation will be given in Denton and videoconferenced to Dallas and Houston.

Along with Dr. Carriveau's presentation, this year’s OES is going to be a collaborative showcase of all of TWU’s extraordinary online courses and the people that make them happen!

Why should you attend? The OES is...

an excellent opportunity to learn more about teaching online.
a prime venue to learn about distance education initiatives at TWU.
a great way to network and reconnect with colleagues.
one more way to get in some professional development.

What can you do now?
Register for the Third Annual Online Educator Symposium

Third Annual Online Educator Symposium

2009-06-23T16:57:00.002-05:00

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Denton, Dallas (Parkland) & Houston

Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Ron Carriveau*, Assessment and Measurement Specialist for the Center for Learning Enhancement, Assessment, and Redesign at UNT. His presentation will be given in Denton and videoconferenced to Dallas and Houston.

We also want to invite you to submit a presentation proposal for the concurrent sessions. If your proposal is accepted, you’ll have the opportunity to present on your own campus face-to-face, to all three sites at once through videoconferencing or online using synchronous presentation technology! This year’s OES is going to be a collaborative showcase of all TWU’s extraordinary online courses and the people that make them happen! Hurry – the proposal deadline is July 1!

For more information and to submit a proposal, please visit http://www.twu.edu/de/special-events.asp

* Tentative

Call for Proposals for the 2009 TBUG Conference

2009-06-23T16:27:00.004-05:00

2009 Texas Blackboard Users Group
October 14-16, 2009 in historic Nacogdoches, TX

The annual T-BUG conference is a unique opportunity for Blackboard users to discover, discuss, learn, and share best practices in using the Blackboard learning management system. This year’s conference theme is “The Best of the Old, The Best of the New” and will encourage attendees to explore and utilize the very best of proven pedagogy and technologies and the very best of innovative pedagogy and technologies.

We encourage you to participate in the conference as a break-out session presenter! All break-out sessions will be 50 minutes long, including 15 minutes for questions and answers. Presentations should be designed to encourage audience interaction. Breakout sessions are organized along these tracks:

Teaching and Learning
Professional Development
Support
Administration

If you are interested in presenting, please visit www.t-bug.org/Proposals.html for more information and a submission form.

Mini Reading Club Invite: The Courage to Teach, by Parker J. Palmer

2009-06-09T16:31:00.004-05:00

I know that all of us are unbelievably busy! Between work and home life, there is often little time to relax and reflect. However, I believe that taking some time to rejuvenate your intellect is a beneficial task! And, one of the things that never fails to motivate me is a good book.

I'd like to invite anyone interested to read The Courage to Teach along with me. Last year, a friend loaned me a copy of Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation (also by Palmer), and I found it to be a timely and appropriate recommendation. Palmer is very good at explaining and providing examples of how to connect our internal lives with our professional lives. Through this process of connection, I think that we all become more complete and conscious individuals on a daily basis, and this can manifest itself as more self-confidence and engagement with our profession.

So, please join me over the next few weeks in examining some of the more interesting and relevant ideas that I find in this text! Comments are welcome and encouraged!

Useful Online Links to Help in Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom or Online

2009-03-20T09:12:00.000-06:00

With the ever changing Internet and the availability of information, images, audio, and video it is hard to determine sometimes what can be considered fair use for educational purposes. I have looked at several helpful sites that Stephany Compton sent me and wanted to pass them along to you.
The first website is the KOCE Classroom from PBS at http://www.koce.org/classroom/copyright.htm. A clean site that is very simple to navigate to just the right area you want to find. The KOCE site has streaming videos as well as PDF downloads of guidelines for teachers and checklists for different copyright scenarios. They also have a copyright Quiz to test your knowledge. See how well you do! http://www.koce.org/classroom/pdfs/copyrtQuiz.pdf.
The next website is from Baruch College and has a great interactive flash guide to using copyrighted media for your course: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/tutorials/copyright/.
The interactive guide will cover the use of audio, images, and video in your courses. It has complete information on how to obtain permission for copyrighted items and how to use copyrighted items in a F2F or online course. The interactive guide comes complete with a robust set of tools that include a brief copyright history, common faculty scenarios, and resources for supplemental materials, reference guides and helpful links to assist you as you learn more about copyright issues.

Houston DE Faculty - Online Pedagogical Techniques workshop

2008-12-18T14:29:00.002-06:00

Houston Faculty who are teaching online this spring...

Register today for this face-to-face workshop at the TWU Houston campus!

Online Pedagogical Techniques
Thursday, January 15
10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
IHSH 4115

Session Objectives:
1. Increase skills for utilizing Blackboard for teaching and learning
2. Increase skills for managing and moderating Discussion Boards (DBs), providing feedback, and promoting communication with students and instructor
3. Be able to manage tests, pools, and solve common problems associated with tests and assignments
4. Increase skills for basic course design, build and management
5. Promotion of good practices for communication and feedback.

Have questions? Contact Valerie Shapko.

Space is limited! Register today!

Trainings for TWU Distance Education Adjuncts and TAs

2008-12-16T16:21:00.002-06:00

TWU adjuncts and TAs who teach online,

Prepare for the spring semester with these face-to-face trainings.
The Blackboard and Blackboard Advanced trainings have two sessions to choose from. For more information, or to register, please click here.

Teaching and Learning with Blackboard
Friday, January 16, 2009
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.
ASB 211

Teaching and Learning with Blackboard Advanced
Friday, January 16, 2009
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.
ASB 105

Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0
Friday, January 16, 2009
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.
STOD 308

Teaching and Learning with Blackboard
Saturday, January 17, 2009
8:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
ASB 211

Teaching and Learning with Blackboard Advanced
Saturday, January 17, 2009
8:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
ASB 105

Space is limited! Register today!

How to stay informed of upcoming, DE Faculty events

2008-12-12T11:38:00.003-06:00

· Email from Distance Education – Don’t ignore these emails that come from Distance Education! They really do contain important announcements about upcoming workshops and development opportunities. Please make sure these emails are not going to your junk-mail/spam folder.

· DE Faculty Website - http://www.twu.edu/de/faculty.asp. Bookmark this page and check it periodically for upcoming events, new resources and professional development opportunities.

· The Online Instructor Blog - http://theonlineinstructor.blogspot.com/. This blog is designed just for DE Faculty at TWU! The posts will be not only about upcoming events but also helpful tips and tricks on how to make your online class even better than it already is! You can subscribe to it, so that anytime a new post is made, you are notified.

· TWU Calendar of Events - http://www.twu.edu/cal_default.asp. This is a University-wide resource that lists events from a variety of departments. Distance Education posts all of its workshops and events here, so be sure to check it periodically.

· Look for the Logo - All of our emails and any print pieces we send out will have our Distance Education logo:

23 Things for Learning - Post #6

2008-11-20T15:00:00.006-06:00

#12 thing Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a copyright license that allows us to choose to share intellectual property. By acknowledging the original authors, they have given permission for you to share. Watch a short video on CC here:
http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/wannaworktogether/wannaworktogether.mov
One place for good information about what's going on with the Creative Commons is Lawrence Lessig's blog. Lawrence Lessig is one of the Creative Commons developers and a Stanford University professor."

Search Creative Commons http://search.creativecommons.org/. This search will help you find photos, music, text, books, educational material, and more that is free to share or build upon utilizing Creative Commons enabled search services at Google, Yahoo!, and Flickr. Find some content that you would like to post on your blog. Create a blog post with your find. Be sure and include the correct CC Marker on the post (the same attribution that is on the original materials.)

#13 thing Take a look at an online productivity word processing tool

One major benefit to web-based applications is that they eliminate the need to worry about different software versions or file types as you email documents or move from PC to PC. Another bonus is that they easily accommodate collaboration by allowing multiple users to edit the same file (with versioning) and provide users the ability to easily save and convert documents as multiple file types (including HTML and pdf). And, you can even use many of these tools, such as Zoho Writer and Google Docs to author and publish posts to your blog.

It’s this type of integration with other Web 2.0 tools that also makes web-based apps so appealing. For this thing, you are asked to take a look at a web-based word processing tool called Zoho Writer, create a simple document and then document your discoveries in your blog. If you are up to the challenge, you might even export your document as an HTML file or publish it through Zoho to your blog. With Zoho and web-based applications, the possibilities are endless.

Create a free account for yourself in Zoho Writer
Watch a tutorial

Video found at WeShow

Explore the site and create a test document or two.
Try out Zoho Writer’s features and create a blog post about your discoveries.
If you’re up for the challenge, try using Zoho’s publish options to post to your blog.

#14 Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your favorite books.

Are you a booklover or cataloger at heart? Do you enjoy finding lost and forgotten gems on the shelf to read? Then LibraryThing may be just the tool for you. Developed for booklovers, this online tool not only allows you to easily create an online catalog of your own, it also connects you to other people who have similar libraries and reading tastes. Add a book to your catalog by just entering the title or connect with other users through your similar reading tastes. There are lots of ways to use LibraryThing. You can even view your books on a virtual shelf, add a widget to display titles that are in your catalog (see sidebar for sample), or install a LT Search box on your blog.

Students could create a LibraryThing catalog of your classroom library. This is also a great way to teach organization skills, sorting, cataloging, etc. You can have the students decide how to best organize those materials. Have your school teacher-librarian help explain why libraries catalog using the Dewey System. Create alternative systems and see how they work. This assignment can work at all grade levels; just create your lesson around the skill and ‘big idea’ level you’d like to work with. This lesson could also be used with CD titles. [In the old days, we used records for this assignment!]

Take a look around LibraryThing http://www.librarything.com/tour/ and create an account. http://www.librarything.com/
Add a least 5 books to your library.
Blog about your findings and be sure to link to your LibraryThing catalog. How popular were your books?

Managing Online Burnout: Tips #7-10

2008-11-13T22:42:00.004-06:00

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
Confucius

Below you will find some final tips for managing online burnout. Now that we are nearing the end of the semester, some of you may be already experiencing some of the symptoms I mentioned on Monday! Please feel free to add any other tips that might help faculty, staff, and administrators:

Tip #7: Take a break.
Back away from your monitor and do something that does not require use of your computer. Rest your eyes. Take a walk. File some papers. As hard as it may be, try to keep your weekends to yourself and to your family and/or friends. Otherwise, that feeling of “24/7” will begin to overwhelm you. You may also consider applying for faculty leave or taking a summer off if possible.

Tip #8: Use the resources available to help you.
More and more administrators are becoming aware of the time and effort it takes to produce a quality online course. If your plate is full, and you just never seem to find the time to concentrate on course development or skill building, talk to your Chair or Department Coordinator. He/she may be able to juggle your work load to accommodate for this request since quality course development benefits everyone involved. At the very least, work with one of our outstanding TWU instructional designers to help assist you with course development.

Tip #9: As Thoreau once wrote, “Simplify, simplify, simplify!”
Start by clarifying your job responsibilities and (if applicable) tenure requirements. Like all service-oriented professionals, we have a tendency to feel guilty about saying “no.” Because of this, we often have too much on our plate. Determining how much of those portions come from external demands and expectations and how much we put there ourselves is a critical step in reducing and eliminating burnout. In my case, I knew that I could not remain a program coordinator, teach two online classes (over 20), advise 12 doctoral and Masters students writing dissertations and theses, generate my own research and publications, run a community grant-funded program, and be a mom and a wife. My work units as junior faculty had climbed to 23! I had to pare down.

Tip #10: Don’t try to do everything at once.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by technology because it evolves at lightening speed. You may be feeling like you’re “constantly running” to stay up with the current trends. Keeping abreast of what is going on in E-learning is important, but don’t try to do more than you can handle. Often times, your students may not be ready, either. So take it one step at a time. Try incorporating a new tool once per semester (or year) and/or focus on quality of your design and instruction. Sometimes even the simplest of online courses (text-based) can be more effective than an online classroom that is “uber-tooled,” and chaotic.

To read more about conquering professional burn-out, link to some of the helpful resources below:

Understanding and Preventing Teacher Burn-out (Wood & McCarthy, 2002). http://www.ericdigests.org/2004-1/burnout.htm

Can’t Get No Satisfaction. (Senior, 2006).
http://nymag.com/news/features/24757/

Job Burn-out: Understand the symptoms and take action. (Mayoclinic.com, n.d.)
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/burnout/WL00062

More Strategies for Managing Online Burn-Out: Tips 4-6

2008-11-12T20:49:00.005-06:00

Tip #4: Collaborate!
Form a learning community with your fellow faculty and friends (even if it’s a small group), and meet at least once a month to dialog about your experiences, best practices, and E-learning literature. TWU has an Emerging Technology learning community that you may wish to join. It’s amazing what this hour can do for your spirit! Social support is essential for burn-out prevention. Working together, across disciplines, can reduce feelings of isolation and can even lead to vita-enhancing projects.

For example, two years ago, I was asked to lead a learning community focusing on E-learning. Aside from the social aspects of the activity, five of us from the group explored asynchronous audio communication, implemented it in our online classrooms, and facilitated a study which led to a recent publication in the Journal of Learning and Teaching Online at http://jolt.merlot.org/vol14no3/oomen-early_0908.htm

Increasing interaction and collaboration may sound like "more work," but it actually can help you manage and even ease the load of grading, planning, creating--and even research! As your students interact and dialog using Web 2.0 tools, you don't have to keep downloading and printing out formal assignments. You can blend the informal with the formal. As you see and hear their responses, you are better able to asses whether they are really "getting it." Collaborating with peers, across disciplines, can also stimulate creative teaching strategies, increase your social support, and even help with course development. Form a learning community with your fellow faculty and friends (even if it’s a small group), and meet at least once a month to dialogue about your experiences, best practices, and E-learning literature. It’s amazing what this hour can do for your spirit! Social support is essential for burn-out prevention. Working together, across disciplines, can reduce feelings of isolation and can even lead to vita-enhancing projects.

Tip #5: Establish boundaries but keep your social presence.
To reduce the “24/7” feeling some of us experience, inform your students of days and times that you will be available for office hours (live) either in person, online chat or by phone. Also, consider asynchronous mechanisms of communication, such as a Q&A board that you check twice a week. .

Tip #6: Include informal, non graded assignments to stimulate discussion and increase learning comprehension.
This can also reduce the amount of grading required of the instructor, but allows the students to stay connected to the content. Self quizzes, online games (speak to one of our TWU instructional designers), web tutorials (ex: breast health quiz at http://www.komen.org), online chats, wikis, online scavenger hunts, digital story telling, and blogs are just a few tools used for informal application.

Managing Online Burnout: Tips 2-3

2008-11-11T09:16:00.012-06:00

As we continue our discussion of reducing burnout and reviving your online courseroom, consider tips 2 & 3 below. Please post your own ideas and experiences as well!

Tip #2: Try using some Web 2.0 tools!
If you want to reach a variety of learning styles, Web 2.0 technology is the way to go. There are a number of free and easy tools available at your fingertips and take less than 5 minutes to learn. While TWU provides a number of these tools through Learning Objects (included in every Blackboard online course shell), there are also number of innovative tools available on the internet. Some, by category, are listed below:

*Blogging: Try Blogger.com; Wordpress.com; Vox.com, and/or Blogspot.com

*Audio/Mp3 recorders (for leaving audio messages): Find a multiple of audio recorders for your computer (free) at http://www.freedownloadcenter.com (or http://www.Audacity.com (allows you to edit your audio files)

*Vodcasts: Include digital video in your online classroom to enhance your online discussions! Search ItunesU at http://www.itunes.com, Youtube (http://www.youtube.com), or Discovery Streaming
(http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm) for videos to share with
your students

*Wikis: Try out http://www.pbwiki.com or http://www.wikispaces.com. Or, try the wiki tool that is available to TWU faculty and staff through Blackboard.

*Social Networking: Are you familiar with Myspace or Facebook? Now you can establish your own “social network” that allows students from your class as well as others to stay in touch using Web 2.0 technology. For example, I have established a social network for all 3 sections of our Community Health class for students in Health Studies. All three sections are taught by 3 different instructors, but we meet on our Community Health Ning site to share video, blogs, photos, and dialog. To explore this in more detail, visit http://www.ning.com

Document Sharing: Allows students to peer review and share documents online. Try Google docs at http://www.google.com

Phone chats or webcasting: Try http://www.freeconference.com, http://www.Skype.com, http://www.centra.com, or http://www.Elluminate.com. Want to try out a webcast with your students? Contact your college's instructional designer for more information.

Podcasts: There thousands of helpful, free audio podcasts available for students to download on disciplines ranging from Anthropology to Zoology. Visit iTunes U (http://www.itunes.com),Podcastalley (http://www.podcastalley.com),and/or Yahoo podcasts (http://podcasts.yahoo.com).

Second Life: Take your class to the "4th Dimension" of learning through virtual simulation by touring the Second Life universe at http://www.Secondlife.com (TWU hosted a portion of the Annual Student Creative Arts and Research Symposium through this medium last year). Educators around the world are finding Second Life to be a powerful teaching tool.

Tip #3: Create a more “affective,” diverse environment.
As learning theory supports, the affective domain is just as important as the cognitive or psycho-motor. What rattles the soul can often stimulate the brain! This is true for online learning as well. Add in some “affective” type questions or assignments that allow for a range of answers and perspectives. Consider adding in some opinion-related questions, discussion topics, or field activities that allow students to share their own experiences. Avoid posing discussion questions that initiate only one possible answer. The students’ responses will grow stale if you don’t incite a diverse range of discussion topics. Students will feel less inclined and less enthused about logging in over time. This also gives the student a "voice" beyond what the textbook authors or experts in the field have to say.

To inject some “affective” interaction and rev up the discussion, try posting audio messages to the class as well as to individuals. This can be done by using a simple computer headset with microphone from Best Buy, Walmart, or Target, and your computer (or phone or voice recorder). Or, try some asynchronous and synchronous forms of group audio discussion by visiting Yack Pack (http://www.yackpack.com) or Voice thread (http://www.voicethread.com).

Want more tips? Tune in tomorrow for tips 4&5!

Burn-out and Online Instruction: Ten Tips to Revive Your Online Course and Yourself

2008-11-10T10:44:00.015-06:00

By Jody Oomen-Early, Ph.D., M.S, CHES

Feeling tired, drained and unmotivated when it comes to online instruction? The malaise you are experiencing might be a symptom of something I’ve deemed, “Online Burn-out.” This burnout can happen to any of us, no matter how many (or few) online courses we’ve taught or developed. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to remedy this condition, and hence the purpose of this blog. Over the next five days, I’ll share with you my own experience with “Online Burnout” and tips for reviving your class and yourself! I hope to also generate some discussion with all of you about your own experiences and insight.

How I "hit a wall" and bounced back

I’ve been teaching since 1991, and teaching online since 2001. E-learning has always been an incredible journey and “new frontier” for me; its invigorating and evolving—which is why I love it. I’ve always felt a certain sense of excitement when discussing E-learning philosophies, pedagogy, or instructional strategies with others, and creating active, energetic online classrooms. Applying technology to health education has offered me a unique path to walk in my field. So, it was disheartening for me to “ hit a wall” this past year when it came to my online instruction.

I don’t really know how or when it started. Things just started to feel really monotonous. I was tired. I couldn’t seem to get rid of that “always on” feeling, and I wasn’t exhibiting much enthusiasm with my online students. Pretty soon, I was “going through the motions” and not feeling much “E-motion” at all. It wasn’t long before this "virus" had spread to my students. My apathy was matched by my students’ lackluster discussion posts.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and I’ve learned that if you’re not careful, your discussion board (and your teaching performance) can slip into a coma. Without the energy and active facilitation of a motivated and engaged online instructor, a virtual classroom can become nothing more than a hitching post of vague responses posted by tired students who just want to “get it done” and log in just enough to get the assignments submitted. This was the complete opposite of the wellspring of constructivist dialogue and critical think that I had always envisioned for my online students. Hence, I began to realize I was suffering from some form of professional and online burnout and needed a remedy—for both me and my students’ sake.

Burnout is not recognized in the DSM-IV, so how do you treat it?

Unlike conditions such as depression or post traumatic stress, burnout is far less discussed. Perhaps this is because in our “achievement-oriented” society, no one wants to appear that they are giving less than their all? It’s not a condition described in the DSM-IV, so how do you treat it?

My first step toward reducing my burnout was attending the Sloan-C’s International Emerging Technologies Applications for Online Learning in Carefree, AZ. It re-lit my fire for online instruction and got me integrating some free and easy Web 2.0 tools, which really energized my online classroom and improved my dialogue and interaction with my students. It also inspired some research projects currently underway.

One of the biggest complaints about E-learning from both online instructors and students is that the online experience can seem impersonal or isolating. Over the years, I have heard from many faculty and students that online learning lacks the “affective” appeal that many face to face courses provide. I know for me, this was a factor that largely contributed to the burnout I was feeling. When I became “reconnected,” it was easy to get my students—and myself—engaged.

So what can advice can I offer you? Over the next 5 days, I’ll be offer ten tips that might help you re-energize your online classes and yourself. Please feel free to post your own ideas and experiences as well!

Tip #1: Expand your horizons

Try attending a conference, webinar, or workshop relating to E-learning. Delve into an E-learning journal or newsletter that can help you strengthen your online teaching skills, help you save time or better manage your workload, and spark ideas to apply to your own online courserooms.

E-learning Conferences, Workshops, and Webinars

While time is short for all of us, a conference on E-learning or even a simple 1-hour workshop or webcast can do wonders to spark your interest and motivation for online learning. Some of the most popular E-learning conferences include:

*Educause: One of the most preeminent associations relating to higher education and technology. Find out more about their annual conference by going to: http://www.educause.edu/

*The Sloan-C Annual Conference (in the Fall) and their Emerging
Technologies International Symposium (in the Spring). Find more information at http://www.sloan-c.org/

*E-learn 2009: An international conference sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education (AACE). Learn more by visiting: http://www.aace.org/

*E-learning 2009: Sponsored by the Instructional Technology Council, this annual conference includes pre-conference workshops, keynote speakers, vendors exhibiting the latest e-learning technologies and services, and nearly 60 one-hour concurrent sessions. http://www.itcnetwork.org/

*3rd Annual Texas Educational Technology Research Symposium (in Austin in
Feb. 09): A venue for educational technology researchers and higher educational
professionals to share their expertise and research relating to E-learning. Find out
more at: http://www.tcea.org/convention/Symposium/Pages/default.aspx

*12th Annual Texas Distance Learning Association Conference (Corpus Christi, April 6th-9th): Includes pre-conference workshops, keynote speakers, vendors, and break-out sessions exhibiting the latest e-learning technologies and research for educators, administrators, and instructional designers.

Out of travel funds? Try a webinar!

*The Sloan-C, USDLA, and Magna Publications sponsor online webinars(synchronous and asynchronous) relating to E-learning and instruction. Visit http://www.magnapubs.com/, http://www.usdla.org/, or http://www.sloan-c.org/ to view a list of scheduled pod, vod, and webcasts. TWU has special rates relating to its membership with these organizations, and the Office of Lifelong Learning has offered several of these throughout the year. If you find one that interests you, email Dr. Keith Restine or Dr. Lynda Murphy to see if the presentation might be made available to TWU faculty and staff.

*TWU’s Online Teaching Symposium (TWU, Denton): The Office of Lifelong Learning and many of your fellow TWU faculty and staff facilitate this annual event (held during Faculty Development Week in the Fall) to help administrators, faculty, and staff learn more about E-learning and share best practices in the field.

Read all about it!

Keep current with the latest technologies, strategies, and
research by subscribing to one or some of the leading journals in the field or by
visiting open-source websites (such as Sloan-C) that publish on best practices.

Some popular journals relating to E-learning include:

*International Journal of E-Learning (IJEL)
*Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT)
*Online Classroom
*Innovate
*Academic Leader
*American Journal of Distance Education (AJDE)
*Journal of Technology and Teacher Education (JTATE)
*The Internet and Higher Education
*Journal of Interactive Learning Research
* Journal of Research on Technology in Education (JRTE)
*E-learning-It Blog (http://elearning-it.blogspot.com/)
*The Online Instructor (TWU’s blog)

It's easy to justify our reluctance to attend continuing education opportunities related to E-learning, especially when technology may not seem directly related to our personal research interests or primary professional responsibilities. Time, of course, is always our most limited resource. However, taking even 10 minutes to look over a monthly periodical or "tune in" for a desktop, lunchtime webinar could be just what we need to restock our energy stores and find a better way to create, manage, and faciliate our online classrooms. This is a vital step to overcoming "Online Burnout" and why I have positioned it as my first tip.

I look forward to sharing more with you throughout the week. Please feel free to post your own suggestions as well as add to my list of conferences, webinars, and E-learning literature.

Making your online class accessible

2008-10-28T07:06:00.001-06:00

After attending the Texas BlackBoard Users Group (T-Bug) conference last week, I came back with lots of new grey matter fodder. But, the one that sticks out in my mind as an action item was the break-out panel on “Suggestions for Accessibility for Visually Impaired Students”. I have always promoted accessibility for any online material throughout my training career and felt I was rather concise and thorough about my information. Well, I found out that I was close but still had a lot to learn about some of the common uses of online tools that make web pages and Course Management Systems less than user friendly. I have l listed below the notes I gleaned from the panel:

• On images and animations give a detailed “alt” text to give a meaningful description for the reader. To illustrate: think of describing the item over the telephone to a friend.
• When the item is complex use a long description “alt” text page.
• Make hyperlink text that is specific to where the link is going instead of “click here”.
• Convert all PDF files where the text is seen as an image so the screen reader can translate the information. Scan PDF’s as text and not images.
• Don’t use frames within web pages.
• When using video make sure to have a transcript available and to have a note on what kind of player will be needed to play the media source. This will help the individual to know what player is needed and how to use the player.
• Scripting languages that are not supported by readers will need an alternative site to provide the information.
• Use "strong" and "em" tags instead of Bold and Italic when creating your web pages.
• Try to use tabs to navigate your site instead of mouse clicks.
• Do not use color as the singular indicator of different types of information.
The panel also played a typical web page through a screen reader named JAWS. It was the most confusing thing I had ever heard. Imagine looking at the source code for any web page and then hearing R2D2 on speed reading aloud to you! It definitely caught my attention and made me plan a trip to my university’s disability support services office to learn more on how to help our impaired students with their online learning courses.

Resources:

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI):
http://www.w3.org/WAI/

Histosoft validation software:
http://www.hisoftware.com/access/newvindex.html

U.S. General Services Administration IT access for Persons with Disabilities
http://www.gsa.gov/cita

Markup Validation Service
http://validator.w3.org

Texas Woman’s University Disability Services Support:
http://www.twu.edu/dss/

23 Things for Learning - Post #5

2008-10-24T13:06:00.004-05:00

# 11 thing - Let's Wiki

A wiki is a webpage that multiple people can edit. An example you may have heard of is Wikipedia: information may be added by its readers in a collaborative format. Another wiki is Project Gutenberg, the collection of free book texts. Many people collaborate to bring non-copyrighted material to Project Gutenberg. Here are a few more samples:

Anatowiki http://anatowiki.wetpaint.com/?t=anon
Welker’s Wikinomics http://welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com/
Salute to Seuss http://salutetoseuss.wikispaces.com/
LearningLatinAmerica http://learninglatinamerica.wikispaces.com/
El Mundo Tarvin http://misstarvin.wetpaint.com/
Human Physiology http://physiwiki.wetpaint.com/
TWU ID http://twuid.pbwiki.com/

Wikis can be set up for personal reasons, too, including family genealogy projects, group vacation planning, and more. A wiki can support nearly any collaborative effort that requires updating a document or information.

Set up a wiki.

(Estimated time to complete: approximately 60-70 minutes)

There are several wikis you can use that are free and web-based. We’re going to use PBWiki, so go to http://pbwiki.com/.

Click on Create a Wiki (green button).

Fill out the form and click on the Create My Wiki button.
Follow instructions for checking email and confirming.
After confirming, keep your wiki “public” and then agree to the terms and follow the instructions for setup. (Scroll past the $$ wikis down to click No Thanks, just take me to my wiki).

You will go to a page that says: Welcome to PBwiki 2.0! Click on the EDIT tab.

Highlight everything in the window and delete it. Now you can start fresh.

Type in a question. It could be something like What are the barriers to student retention? or What is your favorite restaurant? or something like that. Just type a question.

Click the save button at the bottom of the entry.

To the right, click Create New Page.

Name the page My New Page, skip the choices, and then click on Create New Page.
On the new page, type your own answer to the question on your homepage, and click save.

Feel free to fiddle with the settings or create other pages. When you are done, click on the name of your wiki at the top left.
You must give someone access to your wiki to make it available for editing. If you are asked by someone else to grant access to your wiki, you’ll need the requester’s email address (the one they used to sign up for PB Wiki). You give them access in Settings, (located at far right of wiki page). Then it’s just like editing your own page.

There are some great videos on how to use pbwiki here: http://pbwiki.com/content/supportcenter

Blog it. This has been a very abbreviated introduction to wikis, but in your blog entry, be sure to share your thoughts on the process for setting up the wiki, whether or not you like it, whether or not you might find it useful. You might go back (above) and check out some of the example wikis shared. Be sure to include your wiki URL.

TBUG is on!

2008-10-16T15:37:00.003-05:00

The 2008 Texas Blackboard Users Group is about to be underway! Preconference sessions were held today at Houston Community College. The main conference officially kicks off tonight at the the vendor reception at 5:30. There will be appetizers and drawings for door prizes.

Representatives from Blackboard will give a presentation tomorrow at breakfast, then we will have a day full of sessions led by fellow Blackboard users (several of them from TWU!!!). Then, tomorrow night is the Night in the Bayou dinner party! The conference concludes on Saturday. You can check out the official schedule at http://www.t-bug.org.

If you are on your way, travel safely and get ready for a great conference!

Follow-up Materials from the Adjunct Webinars

2008-10-14T16:45:00.003-05:00

The Division of Academic Affairs offered two webinars that provided an opportunity to learn more about supporting adjuncts at TWU.

Training and Supporting Online Adjuncts: Practical Ideas
Featuring Dr. Kimberly Hardy, Dean of Instruction and Student Success for the Open Campus at Florida Community College at Jacksonville
Delivered by Magna Publications, Inc.
Thursday, September 25, 2008

Webinar Summary

Creating an online mentoring program
Helping adjuncts with development and preparation of courses
Meeting adjunct needs for technical support and assistance
Developing robust communication and information tools and forums
Creating adjunct tutorials
Building a community of learners among online adjuncts
Connecting offsite adjuncts to the campus
Establishing professional development opportunities

** If you were unable to attend the live webinar and would like to receive a copy of the handout, please contact the Office of Lifelong Learning at 8-1-3409.

Supporting Adjunct Faculty Online
Featuring Richard E. Lyons, Senior Consultant for Faculty Development Associates and Helen M. Burnstad, Director Emeritus of Staff and Organizational Development at Johnson County Community College (JCCC)Delivered by Academic Impressions
Thursday, October 2, 2008

Webinar Summary

Strategies for implementing a plan to support adjunct faculty
An appreciation of the advantages of online support for adjunct faculty
Strategies for development of online tools for supporting adjunct faculty

**Handouts from both of these webinars can be obtained by calling the Office of Lifelong Learning at 940-898-3409.

2008-10-06T21:45:00.001-05:00

I’m excited to be blogging this week on The Online Instructor. Today, I’d like to hopefully clear up some confusion regarding the designation of a degree program as distance education. I think that most faculty at TWU understand that a DE course is defined as one in which over 50% of the instruction is delivered electronically. Similarly, a DE degree program is one in which a majority of the courses are designated as distance education. However, before academic units can declare and begin to advertise all or part of their programs as DE, they must gain University—and possibly other—approvals, even if TWU already has degree authority to offer the program on campus. Please note the last part of that sentence. Just because the program is approved to be offered on campus doesn’t mean that the program can be offered electronically without approval.

This process is detailed in the TWU Policies and Procedures Manual at https://portal.twu.edu/policies/executive/distance_learning_policies_and_procedures.htm (login required). The requesting department must prepare a proposal and submit it to the Office of Lifelong Learning. This proposal will outline the need for the online program as well as describe student and faculty preparation and support services, the anticipated course rotation, and the requested budget. The proposal will be reviewed by the Office of Lifelong Learning, the Graduate Dean or the Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Studies as appropriate, a representative of the TWU Curriculum Committee, and the Distance Education Advisory Committee. Finally the proposal will be submitted to the Provost.

If a partial degree is being proposed, the Provost’s approval is the final step. If the proposal is to create a full bachelor’s or master’s degree program, the Provost must submit the proposal to the TWU Board of Regents for final approval. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) are then notified of their decision. DE doctoral programs, upon approval by the Regents, must actually be reviewed and approved by the THECB. Again, this process is required even if the University already has degree authority. The THECB has a nice chart on their website detailing the requirements of full programs. It can be accessed at http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1053.PDF.

If you or your unit is considering the offering of a DE program, please feel free to contact me in the Office of Lifelong Learning at 940/898-3409. I’ll be glad to go over the process and to set up a timeline for gaining the approvals. Since the Regents and the THECB only meet on certain dates during the year, it is important to start as soon as possible before the anticipated start date of the program.

Tests, Video, and Music Databases

2008-10-03T10:12:00.004-05:00

Learning Express Library - Provides aids for College Prep Tests (such as GRE), Math aids, and Grammar/Writing skills, including some e-books. Each student sets up their own account and remains in the system for a year.

"Learning Express Library is a comprehensive, interactive online learning platform of practice tests and tutorial course series designed to help students and adult learners succeed. There is immediate scoring, complete answer explanations, and an individualized analysis of results."

Consumer Health Complete - Contains video and animation, short clips, and excellent quick viewing segments that can be used supplemental to discussion/lecture. Students may also find items to add to presentations.

"It is the single most comprehensive resource for consumer-oriented health content designed to support patients' information needs and foster an overall understanding of health-related topics. CHC covers all areas of health and wellness from mainstream medicine to the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated medicine. This full-text database covers topics such as aging, cancer, diabetes, drugs & alcohol, fitness, nutrition & dietetics, children's health, men & women's health, etc."

Classical Music Library - Add music to your class or to your day by using this database.

"Classical Music Library is the world's largest multi-label database of Classical music recordings for listening and learning in libraries. The award-winning Classical Music Library's growing collection of 50,000-plus tracks for listening and searching is supplemented by extensive reference materials.

Classical Music Library includes recordings of music written from the earliest times (eg Gregorian Chant) to the present, including many contemporary composers. Repertoire ranges from vocal and choral music, to chamber, orchestral, solo instrumental, and opera."

Online and Open Access Journals

2008-10-02T10:40:00.006-05:00

Where do you find Online Journals and Open Access Journals?

The TWU Libraries Catalog is a good starting point.

From the Basic Search screen, enter the journal title and search "Journal Title Keyword" in the drop-down box. The results for online journals will state "electronic resource." When you click on the title, the Links heading will direct you to the database where the journal resides. You will also be able to see the range of dates available. TWU currently subscribes to over 34,000 electronic journals.

To search for journals by subject or keyword, enter your term in the Search for an E-journal title and change the drop-down box to "Title Begins With" or "Title Contains All Words." http://www.twu.edu/library/research.htm Your results will display the names of the journals, years covered, and the database that contains the journal.

The Directory of Open Access Journals http://www.doaj.org/ is a "service that covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals. It covers all subjects and languages. There are now 3,678 journals in the directory. Currently 1,260 journals are searchable at article level. As of today, 211,108 articles are included in the database."

BioMed Central http://www.biomedcentral.com/ is another publisher of open access journals. It currently has 193 peer-reviewed journals.

All these journals and articles may be linked directly to your course.

Please contact me for details on how to provide articles and journals to your students.
Stephany Compton
scompton@twu.edu
940-898-3797

Finding Full-Text Articles through the TWU Library Webpages

2008-09-30T10:26:00.004-05:00

Find Full Text and Available TWU Library

What does it mean when you see these two phrases in a database?

As electronic collections have grown, the challenge is to find specific items through a variety of resources. The Find Full Text and Available TWU Library links enable you to efficiently access full-text content anywhere in the Library.

TWU Libraries provide access to over 180 databases and thousands of full-text journals.

Find Full Text

When you click on this link from an article citation in a database, you will be directed to a page that restates your search criteria and provides citation information. Below the citation, you will find the links to content showing the article, journal, dates of coverage and the resource or database where the article is located.

More Full Text Options takes you to the TWU Libraries Online Catalog and...
If the full text is not available, there is a direct link to the Interlibrary Loan Request Form.

http://www.twu.edu/library/form/ILL_form.htm

Available TWU Catalog

When you click this link from an article citation in a database, you will be linked directly to the TWU Libraries Online Catalog which will display the citation(s) for the print and/or electronic versions of the journal that contains the article you are interested in.

Click on the electronic journal citation to see which databases contain online access to that journal. By clicking on one of the database options, you will be directed to a listing of the publication years for that journal that are covered by that database. Be sure to note the Year, Volume Number, and Issue Number for your article so that you can navigate through this listing.

If you need materials that are only in print, please complete the Interlibrary Loan Request Form and the article will be sent to you via e-mail.

You may also contact the Distance Education department of the Library for assistance finding and gathering full-text articles. Simply send a description of your search topic or a listing of the articles you would like to find to libde@twu.edu and our department will be happy to search for full-text articles.

Stephany Compton

Banned Books Week – September 27 – October 4, 2008

2008-09-29T11:14:00.001-05:00

Banned Books Week is observed during the last week of September each year. The American Library Association began this observance 27 years ago to celebrate our First Amendment rights including the freedom to read, the freedom to write, and intellectual freedom.

From the ALA website, Banned Book Week “celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.”

You can find many Banned Books (and many other books) online at:

TWU Library Website – TWU databases include NetLibrary and eBrary. Follow the “Find E-Books” link from the TWU Online Resources page. http://www.twu.edu/library/research/ebooks_index.htm

University of Pennsylvania Online Books Page – http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ This page contains links to 30,000 online books.

Project Gutenberg – www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page This page contains links to 25,000 online books.

Google Books Banned Books – http://books.google.com/googlebooks/banned/

You can find out more about Banned Books through the following links:

American Library Association – www.ala.org/bbboks (discusses why books are challenged/banned and lists the top banned books for each year)

The Forbidden Library – www.forbiddenlibrary.com/ (alphabetical listing of banned books and why they have been challenged/banned)

Banned Books Week – www.bannedbooksweek.org/ (lists local Banned Book events)

The Most Challenged Books of 2007 and the reasons for challenge (according to ALA):

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell (anti-ethnic, sexism, homosexuality, anti-family, unsuited to age group)

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier (sexually explicit, offensive language, violence)

Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes (sexually explicit, offensive language)

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (religious viewpoint)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (racism)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language)

TTYL by Lauren Myracle (sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (sexually explicit)

It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris (sex education, sexually explicit)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group)

Texas Blackboard Users Group is Still On!

2008-09-23T15:54:00.002-05:00

2008 Texas Blackboard Users Group (TBUG)
October 17 & 18 / Crowne Plaza Downtown, Houston
Pre-conference - October 16 / Houston Community College

TBUG is fast approaching! Make plans now to attend this valuable opportunity to learn new online teaching techniques, share what you are doing in your online courses and network! The conference will also provide plenty of opportunities for fun!

Program Preview: http://www.t-bug.org/Programs.html The keynote speaker will be Dr. Joel Theirstein from Rice University. More details about the program will be coming soon!

Conference registration: http://www.t-bug.org/Registration.html Conference Cost - $250 (Preconference workshops are an additional cost.)

Hotel Reservations and Parking: http://www.t-bug.org/Hotel.html Room rate - $85/night (A third person is an extra $10) The deadline to get the state rate at the hotel is through midnight on Monday, October 6!

Parking - $10/day for daily attendees; $12/ night for overnight guests

For more information about the conference and to register, please visit the main TBUG website at http://www.t-bug.org

23 Things for Learning 2.0 - Post #4

2008-09-18T15:51:00.017-05:00

Discovery Exercises (Things)
9. Tag a blog entry
10. Find and set up Bloglines feed reader
11. Set up a del.icio.us account

#9 (Post 4) Tag an entry in your blog (Estimated time to complete: approximately 20 minutes)

You now have a blog. If you like, you can use this blog to report your progress on your 23 Things. If you use this blog for other purposes, be sure to explain what you’re doing. Feel free to link to any part of The online Instructor (this blog) in your blog. But, first, let’s explore just a bit more so that you become more comfortable with your blog.

A tag is metadata (descriptive information) - it’s a key word that helps you index something, like a blog entry or a set of online photographs or bookmarks. You choose your own tags when it comes to your online content, so it’s helpful to think through (and sometimes go back and edit) the tags you set up in your blog or other online collection. You are setting up an indexing system. Depending upon your application, it may also link to others who have chosen the same tags.

First, let’s tag a blog entry. Go to your blog (and be sure you’re logged in to your blog host; if you have to log in, then do so and then go to your blog page to continue with Step #2.)

In Blogger, click on the word Customize (top right). (In other blog hosts, look for the tagging option on the page where you write the post or in the administrative area.)

Next, look at the tabs that appear just below your blog name (top left). Click on Posting.

You are now in the Create Posts mode. Below the Posting tab, click on Edit Posts.

Now click on the word Edit next to any post in the list.

At the bottom of the box with the blog post in it appears a blank line. The words Labels for this post appear to the left of it. Essentially, this means that what is typed here “tags” your video with a topic or label.

Type a tag in that line. Make it something that other posts will have in common with it. For example, if you chose your a post with a link to a video in it, you might tag it video. You can give it several tags if you like.
Click the Publish button.

When your view your blog now you will see the tags show up below the entry. Readers who click a tag will see a list of your blog entries that are tagged with that label; depending upon the application you are using, you may also see other people’s posts that are tagged in the same way. So it can bring to gether a community blogging about the same ideas (like, say, Learning 2.0).

If you have not yet set upyour blog, check out how in this Slidehsare "creating a free blog with blogger" from Visualthink

Creating Your Free Blog with Blogger

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: blogging blogger)

#10 (Post 4) Set up and use a Bloglines account. (Estimated time to complete: approximately 30 minutes)

Feeds allow you to subscribe to a blog, photo archive or other web-based information that provides an opportunity to track new entries via a feed reader. It’s often referred to as syndication, sometimes used interchangably with the word feed or aggregator, or to mention a specific type you may have heard, RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication). On the left side of this blog, below the blog posting archive links, you will see the word subscribe next to an orange button.

You can click on the button or the word subscribe and see the feed page, or (if set up by the blogger) a page that lets you subscribe to those feeds.

We’re going to use a simple web-based feedreader called Bloglines to subscribe to this blog.

Visit Bloglines at http://www.bloglines.com/ /.

Click on SIGN up now - It’s free! in the middle of the page.

Enter the requested information and click register. Close your browser. (Record your user name and password!)

You will get a confirmation email: click the link in the email to confirm your subscription.

Go to this webpage http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs and bookmark it so that you can find your way back later.

You will automatically be placed in a page that gives you one feed. Feeds are in the left column, at the top. Your feed will be Bloglines News. Click on the title of the feed, and the right column will now show the text in the available feed. Under Additional Features (left column), click on Easy Subscribe Bookmarklet. Choose the appropriate browser name and follow the instructions.

Now, let’s subscribe to a blog. Go back to http://theonlineinstructor.blogspot.com/ and then from your Bookmarks or Favorites, choose Sub With Bloglines. Don’t bother changing any settings on the page you go to; just click on Subscribe at the bottom. Look in your left column. You are subscribed to a new blog!

Choose at least one more blog or website with a feed to subscribe to - CNN, somebody’s Flickr account, etc. More ideas for feeds are at http://technology180.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/feed-fever/

Use this link once a day or a couple of times a week to check on updates to your favorite sites! If you like, blog about your experience on your own blog.

#11 (Post 4) Social Bookmarking

Have you made it this far? Yay!!
Social Bookmarking is a way to save and share your favorite websites in a web-based format. Why? Well, you might wish to have particular collections of bookmarks available to you when you travel (not computer-based but rather more accessible). You might want to share collections with friends or family. Or, you might use social bookmarking to share a web bibliography or set of resources with students or other instructors. Students might use social bookmarking to develop a collaborative collection to support research or project-based work. Some people or institutions develop their own “social bookmarking” tool and may use the word tag interchangeably with social bookmarking. Here are a few examples:

http://digg.com/

http://del.icio.us/

Set up a del.icio.us account.

Del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/ ) is a website that allows you to store your Internet bookmarks online. This means that you can access your bookmarks from any computer. When you book mark a webpage, you can “tag” it with keywords of your choosing which will help you organize similar pages. This is more versatile than bookmark folders since you can “tag” a website with more than one descriptor. For example, one could save a link to this blog on del.icio.us and tag it with “blog” “web 2.0” and “distance education.”
Del.icio.us is most commonly known as a “social bookmarking” site. This means you can share your bookmarks with friends if you choose (but you don’t have to!) You can also see what websites other people are bookmarking and what tags that they assign them.
Go to https://secure.del.icio.us/register/ and create a del.icio.us account.

Del.icio.us provides easy to follow, step by step instructions through this process. As part of this process, you will be offered the opportunity to install “post to del.icio.us” button on your web browser. If
you choose not to do so, that’s okay! You can always go to http://del.icio.us/post/ and enter the URLs of the websites that you’d like to post to del.icio.us.

Find five websites that interest you (they don’t have to be about Web 2.0).

Assign them tags based on whatever organizational scheme makes sense to you.

If you make a mistake or think of another tag later, don’t worry…you can always go back and edit your tags.

You can also import bookmarks from your browser.

After finishing this, look at your list of bookmarks.

Click on “saved by – other people”

Click on one of the usernames of the people that have saved your page. See if they have saved some pages that you may find interesting.

Write a quick blog post in your own blog with a link to your del.icio.us account.

Live, Desktop Presentations for Distance Educators

2008-09-15T10:08:00.003-05:00

The Office of Lifelong Learning is offering a series of live, desktop presentations on topics that relate to teaching at a distance. Information on how to access the most upcoming live presentation is available by following the links provided below.

Managing the Discussion Board for Distance Courses
Today! 11 a.m.

Setting the Stage for Discussion Boards in the Distance Course
Tuesday - October 7, 2008 at 11 a.m.

Managing Grade-Related Items for the Distance Course
Wednesday – November 12, 2008 at 2 p.m.

Management Strategies for Distance Courses: Student Communication and Assignments
Thursday - December 11, 2008 at 2 pm

If you are not able to make it to the live presentation, an archived version will be immediately available after the presentation on the DE website with each corresponding session description.

TWU Fall 2008 Online Educator Symposium Presentations now available online

2008-09-10T15:33:00.001-05:00

Presentations from the Online Educator Symposium (OES) are now available online at http://twuid.pbwiki.com/OES-2008. The OES was a half-day event on August 21 that provided information about current distance education initiatives at the University and provided participants an opportunity to hear innovative practices from current DE faculty. The Office of Lifelong Learning invites you to view the presentations on the website and please contact us if you have any questions.

Dr. Sharon Van Sell earns “Quality Matters Recognized” Course

2008-09-10T15:31:00.000-05:00

The Office of Lifelong Learning is pleased to announce that NURS 3612 Intro to Nursing Research, developed by Dr. Sharon Van Sell, has been reviewed by Quality Matters™ (QM) and passed the review, meeting the quality standards of this review process. The course has earned the “Quality Matters Recognized” distinction. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Van Sell for this outstanding achievement.

The Quality Matters™ program is a faculty-centered peer course review Quality Assurance process. Review criteria are linked to external standards; criteria and process are supported through instructional design principles; and the process is vetted by faculty experts. The goals of the program are to increase student retention, learning and satisfaction in online courses by implementing better course design. Quality Matters is sponsored by MarylandOnline and has been adopted by hundreds of higher education institutions across thirty five states and Canada.

For more information about Quality Matters, please visit www.qualitymatters.org. If you are interested in submitting an online course for review or want to apply the QM rubric to your course, you can find more information at http://www.twu.edu/de/quality-matters.asp. The application deadline is Friday, September 26.

The 23 Things for Learning 2.0: Post #3

2008-09-04T12:37:00.006-05:00

Week 3: Photos & Images

Discovery Exercises (Things)

6. Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site.

7. Have some Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups & 3rd party sites.

8. Create a blog post about anything technology related that interests you this week.

#6 (WEEK 3) Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site

Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr http://www.flickr.com/ to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full blown online community. Flickr uses "tags" or what we would call subjects or keywords to help identify and search for photos.

For this discovery exercise, you are asked to take a good look at Flickr and discover what this site has to offer. Find out how tags http://www.flickr.com/help/tags/#37 work, what groups http://www.flickr.com/help/groups are, and all the neat things
that people and other classrooms http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=classroom&m=names and courses are creating thanks to Flickr.

Discovery Exercise:
In this discovery exercise, you have two options…

a. Take a good look around Flickr and discover an interesting image that you want to blog about. Be sure to include either a link to the image or if you create a Flickr account, you can use Flickr's blogging tool http://www.flickr.com/help/blogging/ to add the image in your post.

--OR--

b. If you are up to an easy challenge ... create a Free account in Flickr and use your digital camera to capture a few pictures of something in your office. Upload these to your Flickr account and tag at least one of the images “TWU virtual office” and mark it public. Then create a post in your blog about your photo and experience. Be sure to include the image in your post. Once you have a Flickr account, upload through Flickr's blogging tool http://www.flickr.com/help/blogging/ . So go ahead, explore the site and have some Flickr photo fun and if you're interested in looking at some photo hosting sites, then check out Picasa Web Albums http://picasa.google.com/features.html from Google and another service called Smugmug http://www.smugmug.com/ .

PS: A quick word about photo posting etiquette and cybersafety - When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) get the person's permission before posting their photo in a publicly accessible place like Flickr. Never upload
pictures that weren't taken by you (unless you have the photographer's consent) and always give credit when you include photos taken by someone else in your blog.

Resources:
Flickr Learn More tour (6 steps) http://www.flickr.com/tour/

Mediamazine Flickr Tutorials http://www.indezine.com/mediamazine/2006/05/flickr-tutorials-series.html

Flickr Services (3rd party applications & mashups) http://www.flickr.com/services/ and here's another Flickr site http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ that lets you create movie posters, CD covers, magazine covers and so on.

[Note: Please remember to include WEEK# and THING# in your heading posts.]

#7 (WEEK 3) Flickr fun, mashups, and 3rd party sites

Like many web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged other people to build their own online applications http://www.flickr.com/services/ using images found on the site. Through the use of APIs (application programming interfaces), many people have created third party tools and mashups* that use Flickr images. Here is just a sampling of a few …

Mappr http://stamen.com/projects/mappr - takes Flickr images and allows you to paste them on a map

Flickr Color Pickr http://www.krazydad.com/colrpickr/ - lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color.

Montagr http://www.deviousgelatin.com/montager/image.php – create a photo mosaics from photos found on Flickr.

Poster Maker http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php with inspiration sayings (add in any picture and saying)

Discover more web apps http://www.flickrbits.com/#webapps , and Flickr tools http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2005/03/great-flickr-tools-collection/ .

Discovery Exercise:

Your discovery exercise for this “thing” is to: Explore some of the fun Flickr mashups and 3rd party tools that are out there. Create a blog post about one that intrigues you. You might want to check out FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php . So have some fun discovering and exploring some neat little apps. If you are up to the challenge while you’re at it, create a trading card of your own. :)

All sizes of this photo are available for download under a Creative Commons license. http://flickr.com/photos/frozen-in-time/42762345/

* Mashup Note: Wikipedia offers some great articles that explain mashups. Basically they are hybrid web applications that take features from one application (like Flickr) and mash it up with another (like a map) In this example, you get Mappr (http://mappr.com/ )

#8 (WEEK 3) Create a blog post about anything technology-related that interests you this week

Simply blog about anything technology related. Yes, it can be anything that relates to technology! You just need to share a few thoughts. For example: "I like digital cameras because it's much easier to share photos with family and friends now that I have a Flickr account. Skype lets me talk with friends through computers. Technology advancements for music and medical equipment are amazing! Video Games, iTunes, iPods, Flatscreen televisions, etc. "

The 23 Things for Learning 2.0: Post #2

2008-08-25T11:20:00.008-05:00

Blogs and Avatars
The word blog is an abbreviation of web log. It could be an online journal, a “column” (to use newspaper speak), or a series of posts tied together only by a loosely identified topic. Here’s what blogs have in common: their entries are usually listed in reverse chronological order; they can contain not only text but pictures, video, audio, and links to other websites and blogs; and they are available for syndication, meaning you can subscribe and have entries delivered to your “feed.” In the verb form, to blog, or blogging, just means contributing to a blog. If you’re interested, see Wikipedia’s more in-depth article with a definition and the history of blogging. If you prefer, here’s another source at Encyclopedia Britannica. There’s even a blog about blogging.

Here are some samples from university-related blogs:
Check out TWU Connection, the Distance Learner blog! http://twuconnection.blogspot.com/
E-Learning and Distance Education Blog http://dlviews.blogspot.com/
Create and Post to Your Own Blog

Discovery Exercises (Things)
#3. Set up your own blog
#4. Post your Blog URL here
#5. Create an Avatar

#3. Set up your own blog. You have several choices for blog hosts that offer free blog hosting. This blog is hosted on Blogger. Others include WordPress, and LiveJournal. That’s just a sampling; there are many more. Because it’s an easy blog service to work with, I’m going to give you instructions for Blogger. Those of you who are experienced bloggers may use any blog service you like.

If you already have a blog, skip to #6; if you are new to blogs and blogging, proceed to #2.
Click on this link to blogger: https://www.blogger.com/start (this will open in a new window, on top of what you’re now viewing).
If you have a Google Account, sign in with that at the top right of the page, and then click on SIGN IN; if you do not have a Google Account, use the CREATE YOUR BLOG NOW button (in the shape of an arrow).
Google will walk you through setting up your account, naming your blog, and selecting your template.
Be sure to record your blog name and password! It is recommended that you bookmark your blog.
Play around and add a test post or two.
You will create a blog post for each of the "23 Things" you try.

Please clearly label each entry in your blog in the following way: WEEK 1, Thing #1, subject. Each of your posts should provide insights into what you’ve discovered and learned. Feel free to share what worked for you … and what didn’t … what surprised you … what frustrated you … what amazed you. TIP: This is a good time to "bookmark" your blog for easy access.

#4 Post your URL for your blog (the “address,” like http://yourname.blogspot.com/) to this page using the comments button. [ http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42399 ]

#5. Create an avatar -- a representation of yourself. Go to http://avatars.yahoo.com/ , design an avatar [representing you or a younger version of yourself] with a school, library, or classroom background. (You will have to set up an account if you don't use Yahoo!) Save your avatar and export to your blog.

[HINT: Here's how to export your avatar to your blog. When you are on your Avatars.Yahoo.com page, go to "home" tab and look to the right column. One of the options is: "EXPORT: Use your avatar in web pages and blogs and more." Click there. Then, in the Center of the page, 0ne option is your avatar's HTML code. Copy the code, go to your blog (Sign in. When you first sign in, there is an option to add a post OR manage posts, settings, or layout; Go to "LAYOUT." You will see various page elements.) Paste (Control V) the HTML code in the PAGE ELEMENT marked "HTML/Java Script." Then move that PAGE ELEMENT to wherever you want your avatar to appear on your blog.] Each blog application: blogger, wordpress, edublog, typepad, and so on has a unique method of exporting avatars and other images onto your pages. Be sure to use the ‘help’ menu within your application to work your way through any problems you run into. ]

Texas Blackboard Users Group Proposals - Deadline Extended

2008-08-25T09:26:00.003-05:00

The deadline to submit proposals for the 2008 Texas Blackboard Users Group Conference (TBUG) has been extended to Sunday, August 31. You can access the proposal submission web page at http://www.t-bug.org/Proposals.html.

Please take advantage of this opportunity. Presenting is a win/win situation! It gives you the opportunity to showcase the hard work you have put forth, the valuable courses you have provided to our students, and presentations also look great in your professional portfolio! Your presentation contributions also provide excellent learning opportunities for the conference attendees.

For more information about the conference and to register, please visit the main TBUG website at http://www.t-bug.org.

Two Webinars about Supporting Adjuncts

2008-08-18T14:55:00.003-05:00

The Division of Academic Affairs is pleased to announce two webinar opportunities to learn more about supporting adjuncts at TWU.

Who should attend? Deans, chairs, program directors, faculty and staff who work with and support adjunct instructors.
Cost? These webinars are Free.
RSVPs are NOT required.
These webinars will be available on the Denton and Houston campuses.

Please join us for the following:

Training and Supporting Online Adjuncts: Practical Ideas
Featuring Dr. Kimberly Hardy, Dean of Instruction and Student Success for the Open Campus at Florida Community College at Jacksonville
Delivered by Magna Publications, Inc.

Thursday, September 25, 2008
11 a.m. – noon
Denton: STOD 308/ Houston: Room 3111

Learn More About:

Creating an online mentoring program
Helping adjuncts with development and preparation of courses
Meeting adjunct needs for technical support and assistance
Developing robust communication and information tools and forums
Creating adjunct tutorials
Building a community of learners among online adjuncts
Connecting offsite adjuncts to the campus
Establishing professional development opportunities

More Information

Supporting Adjunct Faculty Online: A Case Study
Featuring Patrick Nellis, Director of Faculty Development, Valencia Community College & Daryl Peterson, Teaching and Learning Support, Valencia Community College
Delivered by Academic Impressions

Thursday, October 2, 2008
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Denton: STOD 308/ Houston: Room 3318

Learn More About:

Strategies for implementing a plan to support adjunct faculty
An appreciation of the advantages of online support for adjunct faculty
Strategies for development of online tools for supporting adjunct faculty

More Information

The 23 Things for Learning 2.0: Post #1

2008-08-13T13:38:00.011-05:00

Hello! Welcome to a special series of blog postings for the online instructor. This series is brought to you by the Instructional Designers from Distance Education at TWU as a professional development self discovery program. It is designed for you to do on your own.

On future posts, you will encounter the tools of Web 2.0 that are bringing users in touch with the entire world through social networking, video, audio, and and more. The Instructional Design Team encourages you to take time to explore and enjoy all the tools of this new Internet and discover how they may be applied to learning.

Read on!

For this series of postings, there are 23 Things for you to complete. Each post will show you one more web tool. There are many places for you to explore, experiment with, and think about creative ways to use 2.0 tools in your courses.

Learning 2.0 is a discovery learning program created by Helene Blowers. Content and style for Learning 2.0 have been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

Format:
Each post begins with a brief explanation of a new web 2.0 topic or tool, followed by Discovery Exercises. These exercises give you the background you need to understand the tools you're learning about. After the Discovery Exercises, you'll find a Thing -- activity -- to complete. After each Thing you will write about the experience on a blog you will create. In other words, you will comment or "post" to your online log (Blog.) You will learn how to set up a blog on the 2nd post of this series. This is a tool to communicate your thoughts, new found skills, ideas, questions, and favorite websites. It's your space!

Ready?

Post 1:
#1. Please begin by reading & finding out about the 23 Things program.
#2. Discover a few pointers from lifelong learners and learn how to nurture your own learning process.

#1 (Post 1) This 23 Things for Learning 2.0 series of blog postings has been set-up to encourage all of us to experiment and learn about the new and emerging technologies that are reshaping the context of teaching, learning and information. The Instructional Design Team modified The Learning 2.0 program designed by Helene Blowers, Technology Director, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County and is loosely based upon Stephen Abram's article, 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - February 2006) and the website 43 Things http://www.43things.com/.

Frequently Asked Questions:
1. How does this work? This is a self-discovery program which encourages participants to take control of their own learning and to utilize their lifelong learning skills through exploration and play. This content is web-based and not tied to any particular computer. In fact, you may want to work at home or in your TWU office.

2. Is this program open to everyone or just some? This program is open to all who want to learn and grow. Participate individually or as a group. The benefit to participating as a part of a group is that your cheer one another along. Participants tell us this is incredibly rewarding and also a way to learn from one another. Don’t we all like positive reinforcement?

3. How long do I have to complete these activities? This is a series of 9 blog postings. The idea is that you work on a new “thing” or activity every other week. However, you may work ahead or take a week off here and there. It is up to you how fast you decide to work!

4. How do I track my progress for the 23 Things? You will be asked to make a blog of your own to track your progress. Please use your blog to write your reactions and add any ideas you may have on how to use web 2.0 tools for yourself and your courses. This is YOUR time to experiment, have fun, and learn at your own pace.

We recommend you to label your blog posts this way: Include THING # in the heading of each post. It will help you track your progress. It is also helpful when you want to refer back or add something new on a specific topic or tool.

5. Will there be any training classes offered to show participants how to do this? No, this is a self-directed learning program. We will provide helpful hints, encouraging words, and post comments from time to time. You are also encouraged to be resourceful and to find a co-worker or another staff member who can help. Be sure to share your knowledge and expertise too!

6. Why Do This? Web 2.0 is a phrase that was coined in 2004. It refers to the fact that the Internet is now an interactive medium rather than a ‘place’ to go to get information. Since it is the young who are flocking to these Web 2.0 sites, it is important that those of us who work in with learners be up-to-date with the latest trends in education and technology and learn how they can be utilized in or with our classrooms and courses.

#2 (Post 1) Lifelong Learning Habits
It makes sense that before we embark on this online learning and discovery journey that we review a few habits that can assist in creating lifelong learners. These habits, called the Seven and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, will provide you with a refresher on what it means to be a lifelong learner.
The Seven and ½ Habits tutorial is a great introduction to Helene Blowers, the person who put together the very first “23 Things.” [Please note that at the end, where she invited her staff to submit their comments and questions to the We Value Your Opinion! link, DO NOT use that link. Instead, post your comments here on this blog or on your own blog. Here are instructions on how to leave a comment on this blog: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42399]

Discovery Exercise:
1. Make sure you have headphones or speakers attached to your computer.
2. Open up the 7 & 1/2 Habits online tutorial and view the online tutorial. The tutorial was developed by the training specialists at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.
3. As you watch and listen, write down which habit among the 7 & 1/2 that is easiest for you and which is hardest. You will use your personal blog (which you will set up in the next post in this series) to post your thoughts about lifelong learning. Have fun! If you haven't jumped on board yet, it's never too late to become a lifelong learner. This is a great time to create a “learning contract” for yourself.

Next Up: Creating a blog so you can begin tracking your journey.

Adjunct and Graduate Assistant Trainings for DE Courses

2008-07-31T11:30:00.002-05:00

Topics:
· Developing good communication with your students and faculty
· Managing discussion boards
· Addressing concerns and questions of online students
· Essential Blackboard tools and why you should use them

Training Dates & Locations
The following trainings will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and lunch will be provided.

Houston Adjuncts, GAs & New Hires
August 23rd – RSVP deadline is August 11th
Location: Houston, IHSH 4310

Denton & Dallas Adjuncts, GAs & New Hires
August 23 - RSVP deadline is August 20
Location: TBD

More Information
These trainings are offered at no cost; however, we do ask that you register. Click here to go to the Online Registration Page. A day or two prior to the training, you will receive an email that will confirm your registration and give you the building and room number for your training.

Online Educator Symposium

2008-07-28T13:49:00.003-05:00

TWU Fall 2008 Online Educator Symposium
August 21, 2008 – During Faculty Development Week!
9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Register for the 2008 Online Educator Symposium

Here are some of the presentations you can look forward to:

· Welcome and General Session: Planning and Designing for Online Learning

· Breakout Sessions:

Online: The Journey from Resistance (kicking and screaming) to Surrender (experimenting, learning and liking it)
Self-Actualization and E-learning: Addressing the Perceived Needs of Faculty Who Teach Online
Technologies: Enhancing the Value Proposition in Distance Education
Using Blackboard as a Departmental Tool for Administrators and Faculty
Systems Thinking as a Model for Educating Students to Benefit from Distance Education Methodology: Are students prepared to learn on-line?
Strategies for Using Blogs and Wikis in an Online Course
Persistent Linking from Library Databases
Distance Education Fees for Administrators
Quality Matters™ at TWU

· Closing Session: TWU Focus on Plagiarism Panel

Don’t miss out! Register today!

Active Learning and Sharing of Educational Resources

2008-07-25T12:50:00.003-05:00

Recently I ran across this Native American proverb: "Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may not remember, involve me, and I'll understand." This quote is a great demonstration of how the concept of active learning has been with us for many, many years. Definitions of what active learning is are somewhat loose, but they basically involve the idea of students "doing" something that will help them to reinforce their learning. The Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology at Illinois State has a wonderful web page with ideas for incorporating active learning into your course: Active Learning While these activities are all geared for the f2f environment, I was surprised at how many of them could be easily adapted for the online environment as well.

Where I ran across the proverb was at WikiEducator: WikiEducator Main Page. I'm currently participating in a workshop about creating open educational resources. These can be learning modules, tutorials, quizzes and other learning tools, any kind of resource that can be used to promote learning. There is a wonderful quote by George Bernard Shaw on their OER page: "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." WikiEducator is working to provide educational resources to those who need them, no matter where they are or how much money they have. The goal is to make a place where knowledge is available for everyone to share and participate in together. If you are interested in seeing what they are doing, or maybe sharing some of your own resources, I encourage you to check their site out.

Ideas for Interaction

2008-06-25T12:32:00.004-05:00

The level of interactivity has a major impact on the quality of learning in distance education courses. (Muirhead, 2001). Research studies on interactivity show that students have a real need to make connections with other students and with their instructors.

There are three main types of interaction that can occur in a distance learning course.

Learner-to-Content Interaction - students examining the course content and participating in class activities.
Learner-to-Learner Interaction - can take place between two students or between several students.
Learner-to-Instructor Interaction - reinforce student understanding of course materials and provide the student with feedback.

Do you need ideas for interaction? The following resources may spark some ideas for adding interactive activities to your course.

Examples of Interaction with instructor, peers, content http://e3learning.edc.polyu.edu.hk/examples.htm

Online Teaching Activity Index
http://www.ion.illinois.edu/resources/otai/

Interactive Activities Activity Samplers http://www.towson.edu/facultyonline/ISD/interactiveactivites.asp

Collaboration and Groups
http://twuid.pbwiki.com/Collaboration+and+Groups

TWU Tips - Socratic Questioning Techniques to Prompt Interaction on the Discussion Board
http://twuid.pbwiki.com/TWU+Tips+-+Socratic+Questioning+Techniques+to+Prompt+Interaction+for+the+Discussion+Baord

Using Planned Interactions
http://twuid.pbwiki.com/Using+Planned+Interactions

Reference
Muirhead, Brent 2001: Practical Strategies for Teaching Computer-Mediated Classes, in: Educational Technology & Society 4(2) 2001.

Social Learning and Technology

2008-06-20T13:04:00.021-05:00

This week I have been reading an article by John Seely Brown from 1999 in which he discusses his idea of "learning ecologies". (Read the article here: Learning, Working & Playing in the Digital Age.) Learning ecologies are defined by him as "an open, complex, adaptive system comprising elements that are dynamic and independent" (Growing Up Digital 2002).

In reading this somwhat old paper, I have been struck by ideas he presents that relate closely to several different topics that I have been reading and researching on lately: the systemic or connective ways that education takes place, Web 3.0 and how our uses for information sharing will change in the future, the idea of a short attention span actually being connected with putting together new ideas on-the-fly rather than retaining information being input by others. Here are some quotes from the paper and how I see them as being connected to these ideas:

"Many of us tend to think that kids who are multi-processing can't be concentrating. This may not be true. Notice that the attention span of most top managers range somewhere between 30 seconds to five minutes, which seems to be about the right span for most kids that I know. And then think about the fast context switching that all of us really do but don't want to admit, because most of us seldom spend more than five minutes concentrating on any one topic, at least during the daytime. . . I believe that the real literacy of tomorrow will have more to do with being able to be your own private, personal reference librarian, one that knows how to navigate through the incredible, confusing, complex information spaces and feel comfortable and located in doing that. So navigation will be a new form of literacy if not the main form of literacy for the 21st century."

The idea of navigating through a wide range of information in a comfortable manner seems to have a lot to do with the current talk of Web 3.0 and what it will mean. Current ideas range from a semantic web (one that thinks intuitively and is able to determine the information needed by the user as well as weeding out information that does not apply) to simply a more highly personalized information experience in which the user determines not only the sources and topics, but also the technology used to access the information (not just computers anymore, but also other mobile devices, 3-D worlds, etc.). To read a fairly recent update on the idea of Web 3.0, see this article: 2008-2009 Web Trends - Web 3.0.

"Bricolage, a concept originally studied by Levi Strauss many years ago, relates to the concrete. It has to do with the ability to find something—an object, tool, piece of code, document—and to use it in a new way and in a new context."

Merriam-Webster defines "bricolage" as "construction (as of a sculpture or a structure of ideas) achieved by using whatever comes to hand". This concept is very close to what I have been doing while reading this article - finding new ideas within a text I'm reading, but combining them with other ideas that have been in my head over the course of the week. In addition, I think that bricolage relates to the short attention span we have discussed. Many times I find myself distracted during reading or listening because I have come upon a new connection to other knowledge and ideas - for me it's a kind of connecting and creating on-the-fly.

"The catch, however, is that if you are going to become a successful bricoleur of the 21st century, a bricoleur of the virtual rather than of the physical, than as you borrow things you have to be able to decide whether or not to believe or trust those things."

Here again we have the utilization of something on-the-fly, this time of information literacy techniques. However, in addition to the traditional information literacy techniques we have been discussing and teaching for a few years now, we have an additional way of judging and assessing information and tools, which is addressed in the next quote.

"But how do we make judgments? Do you do that socially in terms of recommendations of others you might trust? Do you do that cognitively based on rational argumentation? Do you do it based on the inherent warrants of the institution that might have sponsored it? What's the mixture of ways and warrants that you end up using to decide and act? . . . More generally, today's kids tend to get on the Web and link, lurk and watch how other people are doing things and then try something themselves . . . Learning becomes as much social as cognitive, as much concrete as abstract, and becomes intertwined with judgment and exploration. As such, the Web becomes not only an informational and social resource but it could also become a learning medium where understandings are socially constructed and shared."

This is a new way of assessing information and tools that has emerged within the online climate of discussion and connection. Just over the past couple years I have seen several articles addressing those students that lurk rather than participate, so we have actually seen this in action. It appears to me that this is a demonstration of the value of connectivism in today's society for aiding in judgement based upon purpose and real-life usage. However, those seeking outside input feel more free to do this on their own agenda and to make connections only with those individuals or information sources that they deem to be relevant to their search. And, then interact with these resources only to the extent that they feel they need additional input. With younger learners we often see this last aspect as a shortfall for them - they often don't know what they need to know, so they fall short of acquiring needed information. However, with older, or more experienced learners, this may not be the case.

" . . . whenever a tech rep gets stuck he calls in another tech rep and then, standing around the problematic machine, they start to weave a story, a story that starts to explain some of the particular symptoms of the machine. And then some fragment of the initial story reminds them of something else which suggests a few more measurements to make which in turn produces some more data that reminds them of another fragment of a story, and so on. Troubleshooting for these guys is really just weaving together a narrative, a narrative that eventually explains all the symptoms and test data of this machine. And when they have made sense of all the data, the narrative is finished and the machine is diagnosed."

Storytelling as a method for teaching has gained quite a bit of academic influence over the past couple years. This relation of how one group of tech service personnel solve problems shows the utilization of traditional anthropological methods in relation to technology - the same thing we've been doing for thousands of years to problem solve - but the important part is that it still involves community input. Sharing of personal experience in relation to a common problem helps to create not only solutions, but to construct additional knowledge that can then be shared and built upon again. This is classic constructivism in action.

So, what do all these ideas mean for the future of online learning? My new ideas from these readings makes me think that our future learning might well be arranged differently, more like George Siemens discusses in his Learning Development Cycle. Learning objectives will be more loosely defined in order to allow learners to work in areas of specific interest, or where their knowledge falls short of the expected outcomes. Learning assets of various design will be offered for users to pick and choose the ones that best fit their individual needs. And, sharing of ideas and knowledge will become more of a focal point of the educational experience, rather than lectures and expert knowledge input. Lastly, learning spaces will be adaptive to different user needs, whether it be simply an individual pursuit of lifelong education, or a requirement for a career choice, the same learning space will be able to accommodate users with a variety of different needs and goals. For an idea of how this kind of learning space might look, check out the upcoming Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Online Course.

Copyright and the Online Class

2008-06-13T09:40:00.023-05:00

We've been talking about copyright and the online class this week. I have always been very interested in copyright and while I worked as a librarian I ended up reading quite a bit on it. In researching for current information and articles, I came across a study done by two faculty members in teacher education who regularly teach the topic of copyright. Using a pre-course survey, these instructors found that many future educators were less than clear on the topic, which led these faculty members to reevaluate and modify their instruction. Read their article here: Repackaging for the 21st Century: Teaching Copyright and Computer Ethics in Teacher Education Courses

One of my favorite authors on the subject is Siva Vaidhyanathan. He has written two books on the topic: Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity and The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System . The first book discusses the history of copyright (which I found to be extremely interesting reading, especially regarding traditional blues and the music industry) and the second book focuses more on the Internet and things that would most likely be covered by the DMCA.

Two excellent resources I found for determining if your intentions constitute fair use are:

University of Minnesota Libraries, Copyright Information & Education - this is an in-depth site which is packed with info as well as scenarios and a tool to help you decide if what you are doing is fair use.
Dartmouth College: Web Teaching, Copyright and Web Teaching - this is a more concise tool that gives some excellent guidelines for determining fair use.

And, you can always consult your local librarian for help with copyright questions. It can be confusing at times for all of us, so don't be afraid to ask for help!

Pedagogy 2.0

2008-06-06T09:59:00.002-05:00

While most of us recognize that there are now many new Web 2.0 technologies out there that can be used in online learning, it is often difficult to decide exactly how these can be incorporated effectively and pedagogically into an academic setting. In reality, most instructors are tied to a certain level of content, learning objectives, and context that cannot simply be thrown out in favor of utilizing something more "fun" or "hip". The challenge then becomes: how can we incorporate these tools that we know could be effective in a way that supports the academic goals of instruction?

In this month's issue of Innovate: Journal of Online Education Catherine McLoughlin and Mark J.W. Lee discuss their ideas for incorporating some of these new technologies with currently accepted pedagogies of constructivism and connectivism. In their article, Future Learning Landscapes: Transforming Pedagogy through Social Software they outline ideas for a Pedagogy 2.0, which still contains the familiar areas of content, curriculum, communication, process, resources, scaffolds, and learner tasks, but allows for modification of the way that each of these is approached and delivered, offering more flexibility and opportunities for utilizing social software to enable learners to collaborate and learn from each other more effectively. Included are examples of how other universities and colleges are putting some of these ideas into practice, something that is always extremely helpful for those of us who need help getting ideas.

Save the date - Texas Blackboard Users Group Conference

2008-06-03T11:34:00.005-05:00

Texas Blackboard Users Group
"Bright Ideas for Blackboard Users"

October 17 & 18, 2008 (Pre-conference on October 16)
Crowne Plaza Downtown
Houston, TX

Now accepting presentation proposals!!!
T-Bug website - http://www.t-bug.org/

The Invisible Student

2008-05-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

The student body on the TWU campus has always been different than most universities around. We are primary female, have an older than average student and are known as a commuter school. But, ever since we have incorporated online learning through our Distance Education department we have an invisible student body. I found it very interesting when we received the statistics of just who was attending our online courses.
This spring 2008 there were 276 unique classes offered; with a total 5,486 students enrolled at TWU. Of these online students 2,791 were totally online students never spending any time on our campuses. Who are these students? Out of 746 students who responded to an Online Learners Survey here are a few statistics:
• 92.49% were female
• 89% were between 25-54
• 72% taking graduate/professional courses
• 80.91 were employed full-time
• 45.15% were married with children
• 59.51% are taking 4-9 credit hours
• 19.51% have no previous online experience

So according to the survey we have a pretty consistent consensus of the on campus students except the high rate of online students having children.
So I hope that we can give the online student the same experience the on campus student gets from our unique campus and all that it offers.

Blackboard Scavenger Hunt

2008-05-16T13:39:00.004-05:00

Make learning to use Blackboard more enjoyable by utilizing a simple Blackboard Scavenger Hunt.

Students familiarize themselves with Blackboard tools/areas, such as:

Announcements
Course Syllabus
Course Content areas
Discussion Boards
Faculty Information

Students demonstrate their mastery by completing a brief Blackboard assessment.

How to do it:

1. Place the “items” in the appropriate locations in your Blackboard course in various formats. Items can be text, images, or whatever you can come up with.

2. Create a short Blackboard quiz asking for the items they found and make it available.

3. Create a printable handout outlining the Scavenger Hunt items, hints, and a place to note answers.

4. Students will complete a short, graded, Blackboard quiz using the items they have found.

Presenting Sequential Materials In Blackboard

2008-05-05T15:24:00.004-05:00

Here are four methods for presenting linear content in Blackboard.

Multiple Individually Linked Documents
The most common model used in current Blackboard courses is to upload a series of documents one at a time into the selected course area. While this method is perhaps the most straightforward, it is also the least usable for your students because it demands a lot of navigation from content to index and back, making your material appear disconnected. On a practical level, it takes more screen real-estate, though this can be mitigated by using folders.

Multiple Linked Documents
A more compact method is to load the first document, then modify that entry and continue adding further pages to it. However, this really only helps cosmetically—making the index of a folder of documents more compact and making it clear that a series of documents are linked together—but does little to improve the student experience.

Linked Module
An underused feature of Blackboard is the ability to import an entire "module" of linked documents at one time. If you are handy with constructing web pages or other documents that have their own internal navigation, you can put the whole series into a folder, compress them into a ZIP file, and then load them in as a single Blackboard unit. Blackboard will give you the option to choose which document the students should start with. This greatly improves the student experience by making the material more cohesive. However, you will have to create some kind of navigation within your documents themselves, which can be time consuming.

Blackboard Learning Unit
Blackboard has its own facility for creating a sequential series of instruction called a Learning Unit. By creating a learning unit and then adding a series of documents, links, and files, you can create a structured curriculum path without having to create the internal navigation yourself. In this model, you can control whether the student must access the material sequentially or if they can jump around using the Contents button available in the learning unit.

Adjunct and Graduate Assistant Training for Distance Education Courses

2008-04-22T14:50:00.004-05:00

Topics
· Developing good communication with your students and faculty
· Managing discussion boards
· Addressing concerns and questions of online students
· Essential Blackboard tools and why you should use them

Training Dates & Locations
The following trainings will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and lunch will be provided.

August 16th
For Denton & Dallas Adjuncts – RSVP deadline is August 13th

August 23rd
For Houston Adjuncts, GAs & New Hires – RSVP deadline is August 11th

August 30th
For Denton & Dallas GAs – RSVP deadline is August 27th

More Information
These trainings are offered at no cost; however, we do ask that you register. Click here to go to the Online Registration Page. A day or two prior to the training, you will receive an email that will confirm your registration and give you the building and room number for your training.

Screen Shots

2008-04-16T15:01:00.009-05:00

Sometimes it is useful to take screen shots of materials, images or information to use in your online course. Here are some tips for a simple way to make screenshots.

Tip #1: Ctrl + Print Screen will take a screen shot of your entire desktop and copy it to your clipboard. From there you can paste the image into any program including Microsoft Word. Example:

Tip #2: Alt + Print Screen will take a screen shot of the current window. Example:

Tip #3: Alt + Print Screen also works with snagging just dialogue boxes! Simply click on the dialogue box you want to snag and press Alt + Print Screen. Example:

Trick #1:
You can use the Alt + Print Screen option then paste the image into Word and crop the image down even further! Example:
Trick #2:
You can bring attention to certain elements of screen shots by using Word’s shape tools. Example:

Before

After

Hot Potatoes

2008-04-11T09:41:00.003-05:00

I have been looking at learning objects that can be used for my faculty who are teaching 100% online classes. They wanted to have some self assessments to help the students review the material in a fun way that was low stress.
I also have been looking at freeware or shareware types of applications to get the faculty to try other methods of delivery outside of the PowerPoint and Blackboard environment that would be low risk for them as well. So my initial criterion was it had to be free and easy.
I did a search on Dogpile for “create quiz free” and got a bazillion hits. I did not realize all the various types of quiz makers were out there. So I had to go in and see what each quiz maker had to offer and then decided that I need to change the criteria of my search. The new criterion was that I had to be able to download the computer quiz maker application to my hard drive and be able to save files locally. The files needed to be able to insert into a Blackboard course or on a website and I had to be able to go in and edit the quizzes. Oh, and be free and easy.
With the new criteria I was able to weed out a good portion of the hits. Although I did find one websites called Proprofs.com that was noteworthy. It is an educationally driven site that you can create a quiz and post online and share the quiz with others. They have a varied collection of online quizzes that had been created and are free to use. So I bookmarked this site to pass on to faculty to use for their courses. So after much weeding I looked at Hot Potatoes.
I was able to download quickly the application and was impressed at the ease of the download and registration. I did not encounter any pop ups or advertising schemes. A simple interface with the 5 question styles display in the initial screen. All of the question types were easy to navigate and come up with a quiz in one sitting. I was able to make the following types of questions; multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill.
There are many options under the hood of this application, with the ability to customize the appearance with colors and font styles. There are shuffle options to rotate questions as they appear, timing options to set limits for each question. They also include the ability to have results emailed to a location if needed. My initial review is for self assessment so I did not test this function at depth but, will in the future.
I was impressed at the options I had to customize my quizzes with hyperlinks, images, audio and video clips within the quiz questions. Hot Potatoes also came with a tool called the Masher that compiles the various question types into a single file. This was a great feature to able to pull in the different formats into a continuous file. When I was done I was also impressed at the options I had for the output of the file. The options were: Web page (HTML), Zip, Scorm, Hardcopy and WecCT.
Because of the various universal formats for output I did not see any discernable differences in the output when I viewed the quiz in Internet Explorer or Firefox. The files are compact and loaded quickly when inserting in a Blackboard course and in viewing them as well.
Overall this is a great tool that fits all the needs for a beginning into assessment applications. The fact that is free and easy to use is deceiving because it is a very sophisticated application that rivals other applications where cost is involved. It definitely has a place in my personal toolbox.

Folksonomy?

2008-04-08T16:12:00.002-05:00

What is a folksonomy?

Thomas Vander Wal, the information architect credited with coining the term "FOLKSONOMY".
Normal ordinary humans = folks
Scientific Classification = taxonomy
In other words, a folksonomy is a user generated taxonomy used to categorize and retrieve Web pages, photographs, Web links and other web content labels called tags.

Why do I care?
Folksonomies, or tagging, can help you locate information that has been selected by other humans who share the same interest or expertise. Search engines are not human (of course!) and there fore not very intuitive.

What are some folksonomic resources? (tools for tagging)
OCW Finder http://ocwfinder.com
OpenCourseWare sites provide free and open learning materials from university courses such as syllabi, lecture notes, demonstrations, video, exam questions, and other materials. The goal of the service is to provide users an extremely easy way to find OCW materials.
Send2Wiki http://send2wiki.com
Send2wiki is a service that helps users pull content from any web page directly into a wiki. The goal of the service is to make it extremely easy to build derivative works, especially of open educational resources (OER). The Send2wiki button can be embedded in webpages by site owners, or installed as a bookmarklet by users.
Make a Path http://makeapath.com
Make a Path is a site where learners and educators can sequence web pages, creating paths through web resources for others or for themselves.
Ozmozr http://ozmozr.com
Ozmozr is a tool that includes a number of services: an identity aggregation service, a web-based RSS aggregator, a sharing tool, and a group tool. Ozmozr allows learners to locate and easily share web-resources with their friends and colleagues.
Annorate http://annorate.com
Annorate is a combination annotation and rating service. The goal of the service is to make it extremely easy to add annotations and ratings to any webpage, particularly webpages with educational content.

Now you know. Time to get folksonomic!

Time Saving Tips for Distance Educators

2008-03-20T13:54:00.011-06:00

Sometimes it is easy top get overwhelmed with the amount of work that can take place when teaching online. "Scope creep" can happen in distance education just as it can in any project. What follows here are some basic tips to keep you organized (and sane) as you return from Spring Break.

Make your course easy to navigate. .
--Label the buttons in the menu appropriately and delete ones that are not needed.
--Organize your content in folders, modules, units, or whatever you would like to call them for each lesson or each week of the class.
--Use a similar format from week to week or lesson to lesson so students will quickly learn what to expect.

To avoid specding time answering numerous e-maail, phone calls and discussion questions about course basics:
--Provide a comprehensive syllabus that fully explains how the course works.
--Develop an FAQ (frequently asked questions) document and post it in your course.

Schedule
--Spell out your schedule will be for providing feedback and responding to questions.
--Set aside a specific time each day that you will devote to the class.
--Effectively manage your e-mail to reduce the amount of time you spend sorting, searching, and responding.
--Develop a FAQ for e-mail, too. Copy and paste them into e-mail replies to students.

Discussion
--Encourage them to post their questions in the discussion boards where other students can read & answer.
--Assigning one or two students to facilitate the discussion each week.

Interesting Tips from the web

"Make use of free electronic greeting cards to help with student rapport, and let the students know you are there!" http://uhvonline.blogspot.com/2006/11/11-time-saving-tips-for-teaching.html

http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/ReducingtheOnlineInstruct/39983

"One way I learned to save time both for me and for students was by setting up a “What’s New” section at the beginning of the online course. In the past, I added content to whatever section seemed appropriate. Students either complained about not finding the new material or they simply did not respond adequately to the new assignments or lecture notes. Indicating what has been added at the beginning of the site makes it much easier for students to focus on the new material, and it also provides me with a quick reminder at the start of class about what needs to be covered in the discussion."

"14. Use reusable learning objects and free on-line resources developed by other faculty and made available for widespread use. See a list of such resources at http://www.itcnetwork.org/resources.htm#Learning%20Object%20Repositories"
http://www.ptc.edu/beck/Time_saving_tips.htm

Find more great tips at:

Planning and Organizing for Distance Education
Heidi Ashbaugh, Instructional Design Specialist, Lifelong Learning, TWU
OES07_Ashbaugh_Planning.pdf

Some materials adapted from
Time Saving Tips for Distance Learning Instructors

http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/Tips/ADLN/timesaving.html

3rd Annual eLearning Lecture - April 4th

2008-03-11T10:50:00.003-06:00

Please join the Office of Lifelong Learning for the 3rd Annual eLearning Lecture on Friday, April 4th at 10 a.m. Our lecturer will be Dr. José Bowen, Dean of the Meadows School of the Arts and Professor of Music at Southern Methodist University.

For more information and to register, please visit the eLearning Lecture website. The registration deadline is Monday, March 31 so register soon!