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The Newsletter for JCCC Online Faculty |
September 2008 |
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In This Issue ·
ANGEL Training Dates
are Here! ·
Software Spotlight: Microsoft Expressions
Web ·
Reading and Research
Resources By definition, a pilot project/study is undertaken to see if a
system works as it should. Thus, the ANGEL pilot is intended to test the
functioning of ANGEL at JCCC. To that goal, this pilot, beginning in mid Fall
2008 and concluding in Spring 2009, will
We invite all interested faculty to join the pilot by
attending an on-campus training series and fully developing an online course.
It is critical to note that only during the pilot study are faculty required
to participate in training and evaluation of the system. Upon successful
completion of the pilot study, ANGEL training for all JCCC faculty
will become available online. ·
1 October: TeacherTube:
Shooting, Capturing, Editing and Uploading Your Videos ·
29
October: Microsoft's Expression Web: Web Authoring Using the
"New" FrontPage ·
Self-Paced Online: Essential Podcasting,
SoftChalk Essentials, and Microsoft Expressions Web · Conference of
Information Technology (CIT)
Annual Conference, October 19 -22, Salt
Lake City, UT. · EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, October 26 -28, Orlando, FL.
· 14th Annual SLOAN-C International Conference on Online Learning, November 5-7, 2008. Orlando, FL. Monica E. Hogan, Ph.D. |
Would you like a tour of the
ANGEL learning management system? Come to a Poster Session to see what Julane
Crabtree, Jim McWard, and Monica Hogan have created in their ANGEL shells
(called a source course in ANGEL). Julane, Jim and Monica attended on-site
training, on-line training, and instructor-led webinars on ANGEL over the
summer. With Jonathan Bacon and Ed Lovitt, they will serve as lead instructors
for the iTeach – ANGEL face-to-face training sessions that will be
required of all faculty wishing to pilot ANGEL for Spring 2009 courses. The
six required training sessions (plus the required pre-training consultation
session with an Ed Tech Center Designer) have been developed jointly by the
ETC staff and the five lead instructors. The Poster Sessions (during the week of September 15)
are optional but will give you an overview of ANGEL and an opportunity to see
a variety of ways in which you can design and organize your course materials
using ANGEL. Mark your calendar and attend one of the Poster Sessions!
ANGEL
Training Dates are Here! First, is the Pilot
for you? ·
Do you want to fully develop an online class in ANGEL
this semester? ·
Can you attend six training sessions that require
preparation plus a Pre-Training Consultation (with your Ed Tech Center
Designer) starting the week of September 22 and ending with a Final Touches
session the week of November 3? Each 2-hour weekly session is hands-on, so
you’ll work on your course during training. You’ll also need to spend
additional time finishing your Spring 2009 course outside the training
sessions. ·
Will you share your course by giving a 5-minute
face-to-face tour during Spring in-service or by creating a 5-minute Camtasia
video tour? ·
Are you willing to be a pioneer, to test ANGEL during your
course development as well as with your “live” course in Spring 2009, and to
provide feedback to the Ed Tech Center staff on any issues that arise? If you’ve said yes to
all of the above, here are the dates for training. Each session will be
offered seven times over the course of one week, and the training
sessions for the pilot study are all scheduled between 8 AM and 5 PM. Pilot
faculty can enroll in any time slot and do not have to attend
the same time every week. After successful completion of the pre-training
consultation session and the six required training sessions for the pilot
study, participants will have access to one or more production courses (based
on what they’ve developed) on the ANGEL server for spring semester 2009. Faculty members who
successfully complete all training and present their 5 minute tour of their
course (to share ideas with your faculty colleagues during the Spring of
2009) will receive a $300 stipend.
Review
the full
schedule on the Staff Development Site. Software Spotlight:
Microsoft Expressions If you miss FrontPage, or even if you’re
still using FrontPage, try the new Microsoft Expressions Web software.
Expressions Web generates html (web) pages, using a WSIWYG user interface.
Users can develop simple web pages or author full web sites, depending upon needs. You can enroll in a
self-paced class through Staff Development. Reading and Research
Resources
Dykman,
C. A. & Davis, C. K. (2008). Online
education forum: Part two – Teaching online versus teaching conventionally. Journal
of Information Systems Education, 19(2), 157-164.
Retrieved September 8, 2008, from Research Library database. In
this second part of a three-part series, Dykman and Davis of the Management
and Marketing Department at the University of St. Thomas advocate narrow
uniformity in the organization, planning, and authoring of online courses,
concluding that uniformity can ensure quality. They extend their division
between the “course designer” and the “content specialist,” suggesting that
content and instructional design are not necessarily closely related
(p. 159). There is little space for the construction of discussions or
other assignments in response to the needs of the particular group of
enrolled students in Dykman and Davis’ vision of online education: “The first
critical step [. . .] includes detailed planning for every individual part of
a course, including developing specific objectives overall and for each
instructional unit of the course, specifying reading and other assignments in
detail, and describing specific deliverables [ . . . including] specific
focused discussion questions for each unit, all developed before the course
starts” (p. 158). Following this predetermined curriculum, then, should
result in a successful quality course which can be “simply reload[ed]” and
taught by “different instructors” (p. 158). Still, the authors write,
“Conventional teaching is a calling and a craft that one grows and develops,
and teaching online is the same. To be successful, it too must be nurtured and
developed over time by dedicated instructors” (p. 162). Holly,
C. , Legg, T. J., Mueller, D., & Adelman, D. S. (2008). Online
teaching: Challenges for a new faculty role. [Electronic version] Journal
of Professional Nursing, 24(4), 254- 258. Cheryl
Holly et al. make an argument for a constructivist approach to teaching
(nursing classes, in this case) online. While not dismissing traditional
pedagogy, they argue that “Such an approach is learner focused and provides a
viable and stimulating alternative to traditional pedagogy” (p. 254).
Turning to the online teaching and learning environment, Holly et al. explain
that “The key points of an online framework for constructivist learning, espoused
here, emphasize engaged learners making meaning from an experiential base
through active participation in dialogue with others, having the freedom to
articulate opposing and fledgling opinions as well as make mistakes, and
inventing and reinventing their work through reflection” (p. 256). These
authors are careful to note that while the facilitator’s role is to “point
out the theoretical assumptions and frameworks under discussion and to
augment the discussion with questions that pose new ways of thinking about
old experiences” they do not “advocate for course development that is free
floating but rather for courses that allow the learner the freedom necessary
to unite new knowledge and old experiences—the essence behind critical
thinking” (p. 257). Indeed, Holly et al. suggest “ a more formal teaching
method [. . . ] when necessary because it is not within a constructivist
framework to allow the student to flounder, lost in a maze of information and
conflicting opinions” (p. 257). Holly et al. conclude that a constructivist
approach to learning can generate instructional “learning methods [. . .]
that [value] the complexity of the real world” (pp. 257 – 258). |
