I'm going in mind circles again. It's one of those chicken and egg situations. Do I support people - faculty, staff and students - in the use of a course/learning management system? Or do I support people who are teaching and learning using a course management system? One is focused on the tool. The other, focused on the the process and activity. Why is this important?
It's important because the emphasis changes and our response to users changes depending on where our focus is.
What do you think?
Are you faculty or staff?
Are you at a small school or a Big University and does that change things?
Are you k-12 or higher education.
Let's talk.
Monday, April 1, 2013
I am exploring a MOOC today in E-learning and Digital Cultures by Jeremy Knox, Sian Bayne, Hamish Macleod, Jen Ross, Christine Sinclair
Why would I be interested in MOOCs you ask? Well because they threaten/inform the current model of education – especially higher education. I like to know what’s on the horizon even if it’s only a sun rise and not the light of day.
My current position, where I support faculty in the use of Blackboard Learn, allows me to work with faculty in course development as well as software support. That’s the part I like best. However, I couldn't do course development in isolation well in my opinion. This is because needing help with the application is what will drive faculty to consult us. It is the hook that lets us catch their attention in hope of working closely with them to develop high quality courses.
What constitutes a high quality online or blended course is the question of the day. I'm serving as a course reviewer of exemplary course submissions for Blackboard. Yesterday I sat through the the training video. As a consequence of that video, I've been thinking about what makes a great course. The rubric they developed is great. Interpretation, not so easy!
I'm watching the Google+ Lecture. This MOOC has 40,000 students! There is a team of five lecturers and one doctoral student from Univ. of Edinburgh who are developing and teaching this course. They are using a variety of digital tools including Hangout currently in use. There are twitter feeds for discussion/comments. There are blogs and discussions forums. Interactivity is woven nicely into the course. However as an instructor, this seems to be almost impossible to keep up with - how they are doing it is an interesting question!
I found this nice list of resources on their site at: E-learning and Digital Cultures It's part of the final project in the course. One nice thing about exploring the online resources compiled by others is that you find things you've never seen. I have used many of these but not all.
- Voicethread: http://voicethread.com
- Storify: http://storify.com/
- Xtranormal: http://www.xtranormal.com/
- Pixton: http://pixton.com/uk/
- Issuu: http://issuu.com/
- Storybird: http://storybird.com/
- Weebly: http://www.weebly.com/
- Animoto: http://animoto.com/
- Prezi: http://prezi.com
- Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com
- TedEd: http://ed.ted.com
- Google Sites: https://sites.google.com
New version of BbL and Rubrics
I've been spending my non-phone time learning the lasted implemented release of Blackboard Learn Release 9.1.9. It's not much different except that we have access to a nicer look and more functionality.
Some of the new functions include
I'm working on an online workshop on Rubrics for the summer institute as part of the assessment activities - at least I hope it will be included.
The videos I'm going to include are
Another thing I've been doing is assisting with Faculty First Grants. I'm leading one project with the college of nursing. It's an interdisciplinary project that is truly exciting to be part of. I'm also assisting with a couple of others on the technical side. This is so much fun! I've probably mentioned this 10 times to everyone I meet.
Over all things are going great both at work and home. We love living in Maryville. We took a nice long walk along the hike and bike on Sunday and saw bits of spring popping out everywhere.
Some of the new functions include
- Rubric enhancement now includes ability to use percentages
- Improved browser support
- Ability to manage multiple sections into one course
- Ability to view student activity reports
- Automatic re-grading when making changes to assessments
- Course themes based on teaching styles
- Partner textbook integration
- Ability to paste directly from Word documents maintaining markup
- Internships.com student portal
- Calendar tool
I'm working on an online workshop on Rubrics for the summer institute as part of the assessment activities - at least I hope it will be included.
The videos I'm going to include are
Another thing I've been doing is assisting with Faculty First Grants. I'm leading one project with the college of nursing. It's an interdisciplinary project that is truly exciting to be part of. I'm also assisting with a couple of others on the technical side. This is so much fun! I've probably mentioned this 10 times to everyone I meet.
Over all things are going great both at work and home. We love living in Maryville. We took a nice long walk along the hike and bike on Sunday and saw bits of spring popping out everywhere.
Monday Musings in Tecwrk Land
After I check the queue for the BbL course delivery team when I arrive at 7:30, the next thing I do is scan through my list feeds to see if anything interesting came in I can share with faculty and staff. I'm a reader. I read everything. If I can't find it, the chances are it is SO technical I don't know correct search terms or it simply isn't to be found. So I update my brain daily
Do you know how many words have ain in them? crain, drain, lain, tain, fain, rain- many aren't real words but my crazy misfiring brain came up with ALL of them before it sent the correct signals to my fingers for brain.
Onward to today's gem! I love images in teaching and learning. I'm very visual, probably because it's harder for my brain to misfire on an image than on text! LOL So today when the Chronicle feed's ProfHacker had an article on instructional use of video I was in heaven. It is well written, simple to understand and has direct application to the classroom! I can see video journals in the online EdPsyc class I'm working on! This is should be someone you follow!
After a long weekend spent in a camping cabin in Asheville visiting friends and Jubilee! I am ready and raring to go! I'm excited about the courses I'm supporting in development. I am very proud of Dr. Sherry Bain for her reworking of her course from face to face to totally online. She is working so hard and learning a lot - as are Donna and I as we assist her. This is one of two Faculty First grant recipients I'm working with. This is awesome - my favorite thing to do - work one to one with faculty to develop and support online learning.
This week we will be launching our newest version of Blackboard Learn. It will exist along side of our current version as we test the locally hosted site. This of course, is subject to change. Being the lowest of low in course delivery team - I may be wrong. I am a lot as I get up to speed with the differences between a HUGE University and small college world, K-12 and University as well as 5 years away from course management - which can be the same as a century in the pre-digital world. This is only the second time I've worked with a team where I wasn't the boss. I have never worked in one as large as UTK has. I was very lucky to land here. Good folks, very nice faculty and a chance to continue to learn in my life's work. What more could I ask for? On yeah, a brain that doesn't misfire when it types would be nice! Happy Monday!
Do you know how many words have ain in them? crain, drain, lain, tain, fain, rain- many aren't real words but my crazy misfiring brain came up with ALL of them before it sent the correct signals to my fingers for brain.
Onward to today's gem! I love images in teaching and learning. I'm very visual, probably because it's harder for my brain to misfire on an image than on text! LOL So today when the Chronicle feed's ProfHacker had an article on instructional use of video I was in heaven. It is well written, simple to understand and has direct application to the classroom! I can see video journals in the online EdPsyc class I'm working on! This is should be someone you follow!
After a long weekend spent in a camping cabin in Asheville visiting friends and Jubilee! I am ready and raring to go! I'm excited about the courses I'm supporting in development. I am very proud of Dr. Sherry Bain for her reworking of her course from face to face to totally online. She is working so hard and learning a lot - as are Donna and I as we assist her. This is one of two Faculty First grant recipients I'm working with. This is awesome - my favorite thing to do - work one to one with faculty to develop and support online learning.
This week we will be launching our newest version of Blackboard Learn. It will exist along side of our current version as we test the locally hosted site. This of course, is subject to change. Being the lowest of low in course delivery team - I may be wrong. I am a lot as I get up to speed with the differences between a HUGE University and small college world, K-12 and University as well as 5 years away from course management - which can be the same as a century in the pre-digital world. This is only the second time I've worked with a team where I wasn't the boss. I have never worked in one as large as UTK has. I was very lucky to land here. Good folks, very nice faculty and a chance to continue to learn in my life's work. What more could I ask for? On yeah, a brain that doesn't misfire when it types would be nice! Happy Monday!
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