Last Week's Share was FANTASTIC!

If you did not have a chance to attend and participate in our Share Your Stuff session last week, you can access the recording here.

Share Your Stuff!

Share Your Stuff- rescheduled for 12/11

The Share Session that was to happen 12/4 was rescheduled for 12/11. Please, join us! (See blog post below for details... and now you've got time... if you want to contribute, just email Jenna .) And either way, plan to join us and talk about great things happening in online classes this semester!

Share your stuff! Session 12/4 We want YOU to be part of it

Got something to share? We would LOVE to have your work a part of this session! How, you wonder? Where will you find the time to get this together? Think about what you have done this semester... Have you tried something new? What is working really well for you? For students? Coming up with what you will choose to share... That is the hard part... The rest- we are making it easy...

We will be using a 1-2-3 structure to share: you need ONE image, you have TWO minutes to speak to your work, ending with a comment or question to generate THREE minutes of discussion in the group. (now you know us… this will not be quite PechaKucha style- we won’t cut you off or the discussion for that matter- but our goal is to generate 10-15 ideas about great things to do in online classes- with only an hour to do it… so the goal times will help us get there)

Intrigued? Inspired? Well, we need YOU!

To play- Email Jenna an image- this can be a screenshot or a compilation of screenshots, but it doesn’t have to be. Your goal is to tell the story of what you do and generate conversation around the key idea. Feel free to be creative! Then, plan your two minutes… we will compile a slideshow of all the images and when yours comes up it is your turn to speak… and yes- we mean speak using your camera/microphone… don’t have a microphone set up yet? Use this as an excuse to figure that out- Jenna, Brian and Joni are happy to help. Or… if figuring that out is just not going to happen for you between now and the 4th, send a script to Jenna and she will be happy to read your blurb aloud for the group to respond to you in the chat.

Ideas? Questions? Just want to talk through which thing you will choose? Chat with us! We want as many voices and as many examples of online teaching in action as possible… and we are here to help you to participate, so please, let us know what you need.

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

~Jenna, Brian and Joni

Using Powerpoint in Online Courses

Recording of FLC 11/20
https://connect.cuonline.edu/p37798335/

Copy of PPT
http://www.slideshare.net/plowenthal/using-powerpoint-differently-when-teaching-online

PowerPoint Resources Patrick has bookmarked:
http://delicious.com/prlowenthal/powerpoint

PowerPoint Tools Document (help us keep creating/editing this)
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhmhc6fg_3998r3strcn <http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhmhc6fg_3998r3strcn>

Links shared in the Chat Pod
Patrick Lowenthal: (11:10) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ5dbUCu2Ug
Joni Dunlap: (11:17) http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/10/the_lessig_meth.html
Joni Dunlap: (11:18) http://www.lessig.org/content/av/
Patrick Lowenthal: (11:29) http://tinyurl.com/FLCpowerpoint
Patrick Lowenthal: (11:49) http://screencast.com/t/NmVhYmE0
Joni Dunlap: (11:56) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF37M1md7uA
Patrick Lowenthal: (11:57) http://delicious.com/prlowenthal/powerpoint
Joni Dunlap: (11:57) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jg9YTfr9lg
Joni Dunlap: (11:57) http://voicethread.com/#q.b739766.i3913861
Joni Dunlap: (11:57) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fokmbnWmp50
Patrick Lowenthal: (11:58) http://learn.westwood.edu/bluebook2/
Joni Dunlap: (11:58) http://gregorylea.evitae.org/project-gallery/presprowess
Joni Dunlap: (11:58) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj28ASmoJNg
Joni Dunlap: (11:58) http://www.screencast.com/users/pro2will/folders/Default/media/8ddf43e7-e6fe-463b-8bd8-583057dca3f4
Patrick Lowenthal: (11:59) http://learn.westwood.edu/gamestimeline/
Patrick Lowenthal: (12:00) http://learn.westwood.edu/art100week6

Using Ning with students and colleagues -- a FLC session with Laura Summers

During our Friday, November 13th, FLC session, Professor Laura Summers will share how she has used Ning, a social/professional networking tool similar to Facebook, to extend the professional community’s abilities to share need-to-know information seamlessly, foster collaborative discussions, offer advice and guidelines, increase networking among like-minded colleagues, and provide a knowledge bank of materials & technology-integrated artifacts among members for increased communication and professional development. Laura will describe how she has been using Ning successfully in three different professional learning groups for the past two years. Please join us for an informative session that is sure to get you excited about using a tool like Ning to support your work with colleagues and students.

Also, Laura contributed a chapter on her use of Ning to the 2009 CU Online Handbook -- check it out!

And now for something completely different

If you are a fan of Monty Python, then this is a familiar phrase, and you know that when it is uttered it means that something truly different is about to happen – so hold on!

Here we are in the midterm slump, and I’m waiting for John Cleese to pop into my online course and utter that magical phrase. And, I’m pretty sure the students feel the same way. All courses, whether online or on-campus, have ebbs and flows…points of high energy, activity, and engagement, followed by periods of apathy and an overwhelming desire to hide or at least nap. What can we do to reenergize our courses, and jolt ourselves out of the midterm slump?

This Friday, join Jenna, Brian, and Joni as we share ideas for shaking things up at midterm.

Google Docs

The emergence of Web 2.0 applications have provided faculty, staff, and students with a host of new tools and applications to use in their day-to-day job and specifically in the classroom. Google Docs is a very flexible, relatively new, Web 2.0 office suite that enables users to create documents, spread sheets, and presentations at ease and then share, collaborate, and publish these materials with a click of a button. Google Docs also comes with a form tool that enables people to create web forms. Google Forms are a fast and easy way to collect data from students (e.g., weekly anonymous course reflections on how the course is going), collect and publish resources (e.g., webliography) that can be accessible after a course is over (and students no longer have access to the LMS), as well as to collect basic (non-sensitive) research data. But perhaps most importantly, Google Docs is free. Come join us as we explore Google Docs on October 9th.

Integrating Video

Trying something new to present content online...

A while back Joni suggested that I check out Xtranormal, a free online animation tool that you can use to turn text into an animated video. Today, I tried it out by making a brief introduction to the online conversations my hybrid students will be having about Phonology and Morphology. I copied and pasted (and yes, edited a wee bit) introductory text from our chapter into this tool, then I played around with a few settings, inserted a bit of direction and within a half an hour (honest- it took less than a half an hour!) Here's what I got:

Curious? check out more examples on the xtranormal website .

Then, on Friday, let's chat LIVE about presenting content in online classes. Bring ideas you have, things you have tried and/or challenges you are facing when presenting content in an online class and let's explore ideas together.

Orientation and Getting-to-Know-You Activities

The first week of class… Whether on-campus or online, we always plan a few orientation and getting-to-know-you activities in an attempt to get our courses off on the right foot. I actually really enjoy these activities, but I always look for new ways to accomplish my objectives. One thing I’ve learned is that, especially in online courses, orientation and getting-to-know-you activities cannot – and should not – just be addressed during the first week of a class. To really support students and help build a productive learning community, these types of activities need to occur throughout the semester. Below are a few of the activities I have used in my online course so far this fall.


Orientation –
In an on-campus course, it can be deadly boring to spend the first class meeting reading through the syllabus. However, there is important information in the syllabus that we want students to know and keep track of. In online courses, it can also be boring…and, therefore, students sometimes don’t go through all of the course materials as precisely as is need to be successful in the course. So, using the quiz feature in eCollege, I created a course and syllabus scavenger hunt that students had to submit by the end of the first week. To complete the 12-question scavenger hunt, students had to read the syllabus, locate materials in the course shell, and watch the orientation videos. The results of the scavenger hunt reassured me that students were locating and tracking important course information, and alerted me to any misconceptions or confusions that individual students had about the materials. Example questions:

• In your own words, what are the learning objectives for this course? What is the reason for listing the ILT competencies with the learning objectives?
  
• Why is "creative" part of the course title?
  
• There are four projects for the course: Presentation Makeover Magic, Job Aid Makeover Spectacular, Presentation Prowess, and Design Lessons Learned. Which project are you most looking forward to working on? Why?
  
• Why are the weekly agendas for each week's learning activities hidden at the start of the semester?

Getting-to-Know-You –
I don’t think it is very realistic to get to know people – especially in an online course – with one share-your-bio activity during the first week of class. Building relationships and community requires multiple opportunities to share and connect. So, every week or two, I reengage students in getting-to-know-you activities. Here are two activities I have used at the start of my online course this semester.

Superhero powers: For this activity, students responded to the following prompt:

What are your superhero powers? What is your superhero moniker? And, how do your superhero powers help you in life?

Using VoiceThread, students share a photo and record their response (see below). Their creative responses are so fun…and the results are that we really learn about the assets that each person sees as her or his strengths. It is a very positive approach to a typical share-your-bio activity that also results in learning more about each person’s playful side and creative spirit.


A 5-minute conversation: During the first few weeks of my online course, I invited students to participate in a 5-minute phone conversation with me. I did this so that the students and I might feel more connected and less distant from each other, and so we could hear each other laugh. About half of the students have taken me up on it so far, and my plan is to keep inviting students at different points throughout the course to make sure all who do want to talk have a chance to.


What do you do to help orient students to your online course? What do you do to help students connect with each other and get to know each other?

Chronicle article: 10 High Fliers on Twitter

This article was in The Chronicle of Higher Education April 10th issue (thanks to Linda Tietjen and Gayle Bradbeer for the heads up!)  How timely considering our discussion last week and again this week on Social Media and Higher Education.

Jeremy Young writes, 

Twitter is quickly becoming a global faculty lounge.  Sure, it's easy to waste a lot of time on the Internet-based microblogging service reading mundane details about people's days.  But you can also pick up some great higher-education gossip, track down colleagues to collaborate with, or get advice on how to improve your teaching or research....

The system [Twitter] will not transmit anything longer [than 140 characters]— forcing even the most long-winded blowhards to boil each point down to its essence.  That brevity horrifies some in academe, who see Twitter as further evidence of shrinking attention spans and an erosion of critical and sustained thought.  But like it or not, hordes of professors and college administrators have signed up for the service in recent months, and some are downright addicted...

To read more you can find this article, "10 High Fliers on Twitter"
online at this address:

http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=BS8HxJvZKZFXM9bjnsrB6PvtqrTdXXFp

This article will be available to non-subscribers of The
Chronicle for up to five days after it is e-mailed.

The article is always available to Chronicle subscribers at this
address:

http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i31/31a01001.htm

Then, join us Thursday April 9th to talk about what this might mean for all of us!

Social Media In Edu

Ever wonder where social media might fit into education? Have you thought about Facebook or Twitter and considered: would I use either of these with my students? Is there a place for these applications in my own professional development? Joni, Jenna and Brian use these applications in different ways and for different reasons and will speak to what we think, what we do, and open the conversation up to what you think and what you want to know. Join us Tomorrow April 2, 2009 at 11am mountain time as discuss these ideas.

You can join the conversation tomorrow by going to http://connect.cuonline.edu/flc/ any time during the hour, and choosing "Enter as Guest". (You can also find this link in the top right corner of this page).

Please feel free to pass this on to others who you think might be interested, the conversation is open to all. And remember, if you can't make it for the whole hour, feel free to stop by for as much as you can.

Hope to see you there!

Adobe Connect 3/12/09

Eat, Play, Blog- the FLC edition

This week Joni Dunlap has agreed to take the lead and speak with us about using blogs for educational purposes.  She has been thinking, teaching and learning about all kinds of Web 2.0 tools in education, so we are excited to have her share her perspective and participate in the conversation.  As she states in her blog post on this very topic, there are many purposes and ways to use blogs in education:

• to be heard, have a voice on issues of my choosing (e.g. my thoughts on teaching), and disseminate ideas.
• To engage with the subject area as a lifelong learner.
• To connect with others who have similar interests, and build a network of colleagues and collaborators.
• To engage in Web 2.0 technologies in a relevant and meaningful way that supports my practice (in other words, my blog has become my base camp/homestead on the Web.
• To encourage students to articulate their ideas and perspectives, make their thinking visible and be brave and bold about their contributions to the greater discourse.

Join us Thursday to talk about these ideas and explore- where blogs fit in education- our own and that of our students.

FLC: Special Winter Webcamp Edition!

It’s  Winter Webcamp (online course development workshop) The weeklong session gives attendees the opportunity to  to learn new skills, explore advanced topics and techniques and get the support they need to succeed in the online classroom. The entire workshop is being webcast using the same system (Adobe Connect) we use for our Weekly Faculty Conversations. More details including a schedule can be found at: http://www.cudenver.edu/Academics/CUOnline/FacultyResources/wwc/Pages/default.aspx

Both myself and Jenna will be in attendance at Webcamp this week and we have set up the Session “10 Tech Tools to Watch” to be scheduled close to when we usually run the FLC. This session falls in line with many  of the discussions we have had in the past weeks so please join us as the conversation will prove to be a great one.

*** Please note: The url for the conversation will be slightly different. You can join the conversation by going to http://connect.cuonline.edu/wwc09/ any time during the hour, and choosing "Enter as Guest".  (You can also find this link on our blog  in the top right corner  http://theflc.blogspot.com/ ).

Please feel free to pass this email on to other faculty who you think might be interested, the conversation is open to all. And remember, if you can't make it for the whole 90 minutes, feel free to stop by for as much as you can. Hope to see you there!

The Ultimate Quick Guide to your Netbook

Since I received my beloved netbook in November, I have been struggling to find an concise collection of information and resources about optimizing the netbook experience. So over the holiday break I had some time to and decided to write my own little guide. You can read it here:

http://www.131j.com/wp/2008/12/29/everything-you-need-to-get-started-with-your-new-netbook/

Holiday Gadget Guide

With the holidays right around the corner, many of us are dreaming of techie gifts to give and get.  Looking for last minute ideas? Anna and I came up with a great Holiday Gadget Guide: Top 5 Hardware and Software must haves for Life in Online Edu 2009.  Listen to the podcast here:

http://www.techheds.com/2008/12/10/th-2008-12-08-37-holiday-gadget-guide-top-5-hardware-and-software-must-haves-for-life-in-online-edu-2009/

Then- let's chat!

Join the live virtual conversation this Thursday Dec, 18th by going to http://connect.cuonline.edu/flc/ any time during the hour, and choosing "Enter as Guest".  (You can also find this link in the top right corner of http://theflc.blogspot.com/ ).

Please feel free to pass this on to others who you think might be interested, the conversation is open to all. And remember, if you can't make it for the whole hour, feel free to stop by for as much as you can.

Hope to see you there!

Webcasting!

I heard a little rumor that there was some interest in what I (Brian) was doing last week. Apparently there was even a suggestion to make it a topic of discussion this week. So… why don’t we. Live “webcasting” is yet another application that has been gaining a ton of momentum in the last 2 years. There are many sites out there such as Justin TV and Ustream that are making webcasting quite accessible. In fact our live conversations we hold ever week are essentially webcasts. 

Join us as we talk about webcasting, what it is, how it works and what sort of implications it has in higher ed. I’ll plan to demo one of the applications as well so it should be a fun and lively conversation. I hope to see you all there. Join the conversation This Thursday 12/11/2008 from 11am MST - 12noon MST by going to http://connect.cuonline.edu/flc/ any time during the hour, and choosing "Enter as Guest".  (You can also find this link in the top right corner of http://theflc.blogspot.com/ ).

Tech tools to explore Part 2

And then if you want to try out something new-

Remember Webcamp is coming… if you have been wanting to try something out over the break is a great time… because then you can address questions at webcamp.

Thinking about podcasting? Try out www.audacity.com or maybe www.odiogo.com - it looks promising. 

Try out using Connect/Breeze yourself- try to upload a PPT and record by yourself in a room, or make a brief welcome or 'here's what we are going to do this week' intro for one of your classes.  If you want to see an example of an Adobe Connect module check out-http://connect.ucdenver.edu/outcomes .

Check out Google documents and/or www.VoiceThread.com to explore ideas to get out of a threaded discussion rut and find new ways for students to bring together thoughts and collaborate asynchronously.

Try screencasting: www.Jing.com is a free, downloadable application that is very easy to use and a really easy way to add something different to a course.  Once you have downloaded it and turned it on you just bring up a webpage and record an explanation/walk-through or add some commentary on what you see. You can then embed this into a page in your course.

 

And, as many of us need to at this time of year, if you are ready to just hide from the world:

Just do it!  Turn off your computer, your phone, your ipod, your camera.  Read a book…  Play your stereo… Go to the movies… Ski! Climb!  Sled!  Wrestle your dog (or your children) in the snow!  Just go away!  This (and we) will all be back here when you return.  :D

Tech tools to explore Part 1

After a series of energetic and engaging conversations about different tech tools to explore when we have time over a break, we have compiled a comprehensive (if not complete) list of great resources to explore when you have some time.  So in the interest of openness…

If you want to get more organized… check these sites:

Calendars:  Google Calendar (it can sync to just about anything), and you can get it, as well as the Outlook calendar on most phones.

Scheduling- got student meetings/ conferences to organize?  Check out doodle.com it is designed for such things. 

Email- think about what you can offload-- to a Virtual Office?  Elsewhere?

And Filters! Many email programs have ways to auto file your emails so you can collect and address similar emails at once.

Google docs… where can you get away from sending versions around and share a common document.

Other organizing tools to explore Evernote and RememberTheMilk.  These are two free online tools you can use to keep track of and alert you to your to do list.

If you collect a lot of bookmarks and webpages check out social bookmarking: Delicious and Diigo host different communities and have

Zotero, Bibme, and CiteULike are also great resources well worth checking out.

Also, blogging...a blog can be a great way to organize, archive, and document your stuff.

If you want to read, take in new info, learn check out:

One thing you may want to do is figure out your way thru a blog... how is it structured? what is a blogroll? what is rss? Yes, how to subscribe and track your subscriptions? 

Tools such as http://technorati.com  and http://blogsearch.google.com/  can be useful in determining what to focus on. Pick a specific focus, something relevant to your own interests and collect some blogs.

Explore the way you might want to store them.  Google Reader and iGoogle are two different ways you can store and access rss feeds.  Check them out and see what appeals to you.  Then when you click to store an rss feed you will often open a menu of choices of possible readers/aggregators.  Explore and see what might be a good layout and easy way for you to access this information.

Edu blogs: most professional organizations and publications have blogs now; several also have twitter accounts so you can follow both macro and micro versions of their thoughts!

• AskDaveTaylor- DaveTaylor on twitter- for just about any tech/how to you can think of.
  
• Garr Reynolds- Presentation Zen. Great book.  Great blog.  Great person to follow on             Twitter
  

Nancy Duarte- Slideology. Great book.

YouTube- Just spending time browsing around, searching and viewing some videos.  Michael Wesch has some great ones, as do many others.  And the Discovery Education Network has it's own channel: http://www.youtube.com/discoveryeducation.  There are also other aggregate sites that give you access to video and images.  Great ones we have found: Teachertube.com ; flickr.com;  VoiceThread; Vimeo.com; slideshare.com; and slideboom.com.

Twitter- not sure where to get started? http://twitterpacks.pbwiki.com/Education+Pack.  This is a wiki that was created to pull together great recommendations of people to follow.  This is the education one… but there are twitterpacks for all different interests so browse around.

Listen to the TechHeds podcast: http://www.techheds.com/ and hear what Brian, Anna and Patrick are exploring and recommending in the tech world.

Check out resources for free, usable content you can embed right into your classes: http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm and www.creativecommons.org are a great place to start.