Session #25: eTextbooks

Lynne Niclair from Pearson will be demonstrating how to use eTextbooks in online courses.  Lynne will be on campus for a book fair from 10:30-2:00.  (I think she's providing lunch that day too.)

At this LTTO session we will also be discussing Chapters 6 & 7 in the iBrain book after Lynne's brief presentation. 

Please join us in TC 217 on April 15th at 10:00.

Session #24: Summary

Linda Putman began the session with an overview of Jing as a screen capture and screencasting tool.  Next, she demonstrated how it works and gave guidelines for producing a Jing video.  Linda ended her presentation by sharing ideas for using Jing in Teaching.

The group then discussed Chapters 3, 4, & 5 in the iBrain book.

For the April session, Pearson will be doing a presentation on how to best use eTextbooks in online courses.  The session will be on April 15th.  Look for details regarding the time and place.  We will also be discussing Chapters 6 & 7 in the iBrain book.

Session #24: Screencasting with Jing

The March LTTO session will be on screeencasting with Jing.  Yasemin will be presenting ways that Jing can be used in online courses. 

We will also be discussing chapters 4, 5, and 6 in the iBrain book. 

Please join us on March 18th from 11:30-12:30 in TC 217.

Session #23 Summary

For the February LTTO session we took a field trip to the Hoosier Academy in Muncie.  Kathy Brown, Marketing and Enrollment Director; Lynn Black, Head of Schools; and Melissa DeWitt, Academic Director gave us an overview of how the three campuses function.  There are two campuses that offer a hybrid structure.  These schools include two days of face-to-face instruction and three days of work at home, some of which is online instruction.  The third campus is a virtual school with no face-to-face component. Following the presentation, we visited several classrooms and observed the teachers and students.
We will pursue opportunities for our BSU students to learn more about how the Hoosier Academy works.  Here are some Fast Facts about the Hoosier Academies and Demographic Information about the Virtual School.


The next LTTO session will be on March 18th from 11:30-12:30 in TC 217.  Yasemin will be presenting educational uses of Jing for screencasting.

Session #22: Summary

We began the January session by watching a short introduction to voicethread.  Next, we tinkered with some of the management features a bit and discovered that although voicethread is very easy to use, there are some things to learn about how to manage your account, set up groups, and moderate comments.  Our voicethread discussion wrapped up with us talking about various ways to use the tool to foster learning and community in online courses.  Many of us are using voicethread in our courses this semester.  Please add a comment to this blog entry and tell us about your voicethread successes (or cautions).


The group had a very lively discussion about The Brain Gap, the topic of Chapter 2 in the iBrain book.  We shared many anecdotes about ourselves, our children, and our students that demonstrated how the brain gap is evidenced in our lives.  We speculated on what society will value in the future in terms of the ways people interact and communicate.


P.S. There are some great tutorials on Lynda.com.  Unfortunately, you must be on campus to access them. 

Session #22: iBrain Book Discussion

For the first session of the semester we will have a discussion of Chapter #2 from the iBrain book.  It's only 23 pages with lots of graphics.  Come on, you can do it!   You can read Chapter #2 even if you have not already read Chapter #1.  There will also be an introduction to voicethread at this session.  There is lots to talk about, so please plan to attend.  If you cannot be there in person, you are welcome to post a comment on the voicethread I set up for the book.

The session will be on Thursday, January 20th from 10:00-11:00 in the second floor conference room.

Session #21: Blackboard Bells & Whistles

Our guest at the next LTTO session will be Yasemin Tunc, Director of Learning Technologies Consulting, Unified Technology Support.  Yasemin is going to highlight the various advanced, little-known features of Blackboard for us.  She is also going to give a preview of the new version of Blackboard.  The university will be moving to version 9.1 over the winter break.  Yasemin says it has even more bells and whistles!

Join us in TC 405 at 1:00 on October 19th for this informative session.  Please note the change of location.