Wednesday, March 28, 2007

DoIT's April Events

Event 1: TUG - Creating Successful Virtual Debates in an Online Classroom (sponsored by DoIT)
  • Date: April 5, 2007
  • Time: 3:00-3:45PM
  • Location: F124
  • Cost: Free
  • Registration: none required

Come learn how Colleen Burns, Philosophy faculty, was able to successfully translate her on campus classroom debates into her online class. Determined to provide the same kinds of powerful learning experiences for her online students, Colleen created a detailed structure that resulted in her online students participating without reserve across a distance.

Event 2: Bits&Bytes - Social Bookmarking (sponsored by DoIT)

  • Date: April 10, 2007
  • Time: 1:40-2:00PM
  • Location: F 124
  • Cost: Free
  • Registration: none required

Web 2.0 tools are here! Join DoIT’s Sarah Stark to learn more about these tools in general and see for yourself how social bookmarking works.

Event 3: Bits&Bytes - Social Bookmarking (sponsored by DoIT)

  • Date: April 11, 2007
  • Time: 2:15-2:35PM
  • Location: F 124
  • Cost: Free
  • Registration: none required

Web 2.0 tools are here!Join DoIT’s Sarah Stark to learn more about these tools in general and see for yourself how social bookmarking works.

Event 4: Virtual Reality (VR) Worlds Benefits and Uses for the Higher Education Professional Online Workshop (sponsored by SLOAN-C)

  • Dates: April 11 - April 20, 2007
  • Time: Virtual
  • Location: Your computer
  • Cost: $145 (contact Sarah Stark DoIT Director, at 847.925.6805 before the event for a membership registration code to get this price)
  • Full time faculty: Consider applying for a Technology Grant to pay for the registration cost
  • Registration: http://www.sloan-c.org/workshop/vrworlds_april07.asp

Virtual Reality Worlds, such as SecondLife and ActiveWorlds, offer educators endless opportunities to explore, invent, and collaborate. Administrators and instructors in higher education must learn how to harness the power of these virtual learning environments to satisfy an increasingly more tech savvy population of students and colleagues. This interactive online seminar, focused on virtual reality (VR) worlds, explores some of the possibilities available to online students and faculty. Dr. David Cillay, of Washington State University will take you through the key issues that you and your colleagues should be aware of when incorporating VR worlds into your online courses.

Event 5: Game-Based Technologies in Higher Education (sponsored by the Instructional Technology Council

  • Date: April 17, 2007
  • Time: 1:00-2:00PM
  • Location: Your computer and telephone
  • Cost: $25.00
  • Registration: contact Sarah Stark DoIT Director, at 847.925.6805 before the event for registration and support for event cost)

Education research is telling us that computer-based games teach skills and provoke learning, and that so-called "serious games" are effective used in tandem with traditional didactic methods. Virtual environments bring the subject matter to life, connecting students with experience through which they become active in the subject matter and begin synthesizing knowledge for themselves through critical thinking. This presentation will explore how gaming technology will become key to reaching and teaching the "Net Generation" of students born since 1982, of which 89.5 percent are computer literate, 63 percent Internet users, and 14.3 percent of whom have been using the Internet since age four.

Event 6: Moving the Laboratory Online Changing the Laboratory Learning Experience Using the Online Environment Online Workshop (sponsored by SLOAN-C)

  • Dates: April 18 - April 27, 2007
  • Time: Virtual
  • Location: Your computer
  • Cost: $145 (contact Sarah Stark DoIT Director, at 847.925.6805 before the event for a membership registration code to get this price)
  • Full time faculty: Consider applying for a Technology Grant to pay for the registration cost
  • Registration: http://www.sloan-c.org/workshop/laboratory_apr07.asp

Is it possible to create authentic and engaging “hands-on” scientific learning experiences over the Internet? Can remote instrumentation combined with the tools and culture of the online environment be developed as a legitimate alternative to the current approaches used in teaching and learning laboratory-based sciences? Moving the lab online requires challenging the traditional science teaching practices, notions, and approaches used in science education today. It also involves redefining the best practices associated with these activities. As these practices develop, the online science environment will continue to provide interesting and engaging opportunities for the teaching of science. This workshop, facilitated by faculty from Western Washington University and the University of British Columbia, explores the laboratory learning experience in an online environment.

Event 7: An Example of Game-Based Technologies in Higher Education Pulse!! (sponsored by the Instructional Technology Counci

  • Date: April 24, 2007
  • Time: 1:00-2:00PM
  • Location: Your computer and telephone
  • Cost: $25.00
  • Registration: contact Sarah Stark DoIT Director, at 847.925.6805 before the event for registration and support for event cost)

Pulse!! The Virtual Clinical Learning Lab is a research project at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi designed to show whether critical thinking and practical skills in medical knowledge can be learned in three-dimensional, immersive, virtual space. The Pulse!! learning platform is more than a serious game; it is an in-depth evaluation of gaming technology as a provider of complex clinical learning for the medical and health-care professions -- and it likely will illuminate whether higher education generally can look to gaming technology as a means of engaging increasingly disengaged generations of students.

Event 8: Getting Started Online Course Development Basics Online Workshop (sponsored by SLOAN-C)

  • Dates: April 25 - May 18, 2007
  • Time: Virtual
  • Location: Your computer
  • Cost: $145 (contact Sarah Stark DoIT Director, at 847.925.6805 before the event for a membership registration code to get this price)
  • Full time faculty: Consider applying for a Technology Grant to pay for the registration cost
  • Registration: http://www.sloan-c.org/workshop/gettingstarted_apr07.asp

This workshop is for faculty: new to online education, motivated to enhance current teaching skills, challenged by the requirements of creating a functional, online classroom, or intrigued by the opportunities presented by online education and desire a guided approach as an introduction to the discipline. This workshop leverages effective practices and provides both a pedagogical, practical, and hands-on experience, enabling workshop participants to walk away with an online 'toolkit' for immediate application to their own online academic environment.The first and second weeks, faculty will explore actual online courses in several disciplines and institutions. The third and final week participants will build a syllabus leading to a complete online course module relevant to their own educational interests.

Event 9: Course Improvement Series Volume 2 Communication, Interaction and Collaboration (sponsored by the Illinois Online Network)

Part 2 of the Course Improvement series will be conducted using the new QOCI Rubric (http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/initiatives/qoci/rubric.asp) as a guide. Each month the focus will be on one of the Rubric's categories and those attending will participate in a discussion of how to improve online courses specifically to that category. This month, the focus is on communication, interaction and collaboration online.

It's recommended that you download the checklist version of the Rubric from the link above before attending the workshop. Join in an active discussion in course improvement specific to the areas of Activities and Opportunities, Organization and Management, and Group Work. Much of the discussion will be driven by the needs of the participants and examples will be given.

posted by Sarah Stark @ 2:04 PM