LTTO Session #4: Using Second Life in Education Courses

Join us for LTTO Session #4. Our Featured Faculty Member will be Laurie Mullen, who will be discussing using Second Life in education courses.

LTTO #4 will be from 12:45-1:45 in TC 217 on February 29th. We hope you can join us!

LTTO Session #3 Summary

Our featured faculty member was Melinda Schoenfeldt. Melinda began her presentation with an overview of the research regarding online collaboration, student perceptions, and techniques and strategies for creating an online community of learners. She summarized that online collaboration involves a social presence where people connect on a personal level, a cognitive presence where they connect with content and construct personal meaning, and a teaching presence where someone may structure and lead the educational process.

Next, Melinda talked about features of small-group work that foster collaboration including: communicating frequently with the members of the group, making as much interaction public as possible, creating a space for non-classroom-related interaction, understanding the limitations and strengths of the technology you are using, and asking questions often.

Finally, Melinda discussed future ideas for fostering collaboration including adding role-playing opportunities and using online games.

LTTO Session #3: Using Small Groups in Online Courses: The Importance of Community

Join us for LTTO Session #3. Our Featured Faculty Member will be Melinda Schoenfeldt, who will be discussing using small groups to create a sense of community in online courses.

LTTO #3 will be from 2:00-3:00 in TC 217 on January 25th. We hope you can join us!

LTTO Session #2 Summary

Our featured faculty member was Mike Putman. Mike began his presentation with an introductory podcast. He then reviewed video lectures including how to make them and what the research says about including them in courses. Next, he reviewed podcasts, their history, and the technology needed to produce them. He also offered guidelines for producing podcasts. Finally, Mike discussed the educational value of new technologies.

Following Mike's presentation, Susan gave a short overview of wikis and blogs and how they could be used in online courses. Please download the handout, "New Technologies Resources" in the Handouts frame for some helpful web links.

LTTO Session #2: New Technologies for Online Courses

Join us for LTTO Session #2. Our Featured Faculty Members will be Mike Putman, who will be discussing podcasts and the use of MediaSite for creating video lectures for online courses and Susan Tancock who will be discussing the use of wikis and blogs in online courses.

LTTO #2 will be from 1:00-2:00 in TC 217 on November 30th. We hope you can join us!

LTTO Session#1 Summary

Our Featured Faculty Member for LTTO Session #1 was Karen Ford. She began her discussion about discussions by relating what she learned during her sabbatical. She reported that the trends in the literature revealed variations in online program offerings, consistent focus on development of “community of learners", the idea that communication is critical in online teaching, and the identification of pockets of places producing info on online teaching, such as the Sloan Consortium.

Next Karen talked about her professional experiences with discussions in her online courses and referred to the article, I Know Them Better Than Students in my On-campus Courses”: Exploring a Personalized Approach to Online Instruction.

Karen focuses on the critical nature of communication, using “best practice” findings to drive her online courses. Using information from best practices her discussions fall into the categories of: Interactive & Dynamic, Substantive,and/or Providing Resources. She then gave examples of each category while participants joined in with questions and suggestions. It was a very interesting session that was a good mix of research, best practices, and practical information for online instructors.

Thanks for a great session, Karen!

LTTO Session #1: A Discussion About Discussions

Don't miss the first LTTO (Learning to Teach Online) session! In our first LTTO session we will explore the role of discussions in online learning. Karen Ford will be our first FFM (Featured Faculty Member). Karen has been teaching online for many years and continually revises and improves her online discussions. She recently completed a sabbatical, during which she reviewed the literature on online teaching and learning. She will share the many different ways she uses discussions in her courses, her methods of evaluating discussion participation, as well as what she learned during her sabbatical about best practices in synchronous and asynchronous discussions. You won't want to miss it! There will be some great handouts too. Join us on October 26th at 11:00 in TC 211B.