Friday, September 07, 2007

DoIT's September Events

Event 1: Bits&Bytes – Tour of Second Life (sponsored by DoIT)

  • Date: September 10, 2007
  • Time: 3:00 – 3:20PM
  • Location: F 124
  • Cost: Free
  • Registration: none required

Join Dr. Kevin Crow from Harper College’s Department of Instructional Technology (DoIT) as he leads you on a 20-minute tour of Second Life! What is Second Life? Second Life is a 3-dimensianal Web-based virtual world that has over 9-million residents. Second Life permits individuals from around the world to meet, communicate, and collaborate in real time. Best of all it’s free! In these sessions, participants will have the opportunity to tour the Second Life grid and to discuss the possible uses of Second Life as a means of facilitating education.

Event 2: Web 2.0 Whirlwind – Free and Easy Applications (sponsored by the Instructional Technology Council)

  • Date: September 11, 2007
  • Time: 1:00-2:00PM
  • Location: Your computer and telephone
  • Cost: $25.00
  • Registration: contact Sarah Stark, DoIT, at 847.925.6805 before the event for registration and support for event cost)

Web 2.0 consists of hundreds of free Web applications, many which are useful in higher education. Many of these tools allow student to work collaboratively while at a distance, and provide free alternatives to costly programs that are often required to complete the online coursework. Barry Dahl will demonstrate applications related to digital photos and video, digital music tools, one-to-one and one-to-many communications, mapping, social bookmarking, Web office tools, and even old-fashioned tools like blogs and wikis. He will share a presentation Wiki containing all resources for use after the conference.

Event 3: Getting Started – Online Course Development Basics (sponsored by SLOAN-C)

  • Date: September 12 – October 5, 2007
  • Time: Virtual
  • Location: Your computer
  • Cost: $145.00 (contact Sarah Stark, DoIT , at 847.925.6805 before the event for a membership registration code to get this price)
  • Note: Full time faculty: Consider applying for a Technology Grant to pay for the registration cost
  • Registration: https://secured.sloanconsortium.org/gettingstarted-sept2007/registration.cfm

This workshop provides the foundation for designing and delivering online courses. Faculty gain enhanced pedagogical knowledge and learn effective strategies for creative, online classroom facilitation. During the three-week workshop, facilitators will review the benefits and challenges of online curriculum development and teaching and address the qualities of effective online education. The workshop is designed as an 'active' learning experience, enabling faculty to explore actual online courses in several disciplines and institutions, as well as build a syllabus leading to the major outcome of the workshop: building a complete online course module relevant to their own educational interests.

Event 4: Bits&Bytes – Tour of Second Life (sponsored by DoIT)

  • Date: September 18, 2007
  • Time: 1:30 – 1:50PM
  • Location: F 124
  • Cost: Free
  • Registration: none required

Join Dr. Kevin Crow from Harper College’s Department of Instructional Technology (DoIT) as he leads you on a 20-minute tour of Second Life! What is Second Life? Second Life is a 3-dimensianal Web-based virtual world that has over 9-million residents. Second Life permits individuals from around the world to meet, communicate, and collaborate in real time. Best of all it’s free! In these sessions, participants will have the opportunity to tour the Second Life grid and to discuss the possible uses of Second Life as a means of facilitating education.

Event 5: Introduction to Second Life for Educators (sponsored by SLOAN-C

  • Date: September 19 – September 28, 2007
  • Time: Virtual
  • Location: Your computer
  • Cost: $145.00 (contact Sarah Stark, DoIT , at 847.925.6805 before the event for a membership registration code to get this price)
  • Note: Full time faculty: Consider applying for a Technology Grant to pay for the registration cost
  • Registration: https://secured.sloanconsortium.org/secondlife-sept2007/registration.cfm

Throughout this workshop participants will learn the basics of Second Life, and integrate learning theories in the use of virtual worlds. Participants will be encouraged to create activities that are student-centered and maximize the real potential of virtual worlds. A primary goal of the workshop is to get educators thinking about their classes and how the tools used in Second Life can be personalized for the learning environments that they create. The workshop will explore examples of good teaching in Second Life and move beyond PowerPoint, lecture, and passive learning. Participants will make use of asynchronous discussions, multimedia materials, reading assignments and live, interactive class sessions to collaborate, learn, and expand the range of instructional possibilities that are available to students.

Event 6: TUG – Mozilla Firefox Browser Plug-Ins (sponsored by DoIT)

  • Date: September 20, 2007
  • Time: 1:30 – 2:15PM
  • Location: F124
  • Cost: Free
  • Registration: none required

Mozilla Firefox is a free Internet browsing program that can be downloaded and installed onto your computer. Firefox has become very popular among computer users because it offers security and features that are not currently available on Internet Explorer. One of the most popular features of Firefox is its plug-in capability.

Plug-ins are small ancillary programs that ‘plug into” application programs in order to accomplish specific tasks. There are a variety of plug-ins available for Firefox ranging from ones that locate and download podcasts to ones that make Web-information more accessible to individuals who have disabilities. In this 45-minute session DoIT’s Chris Dobson will introduce participants to many of Firefox’s plug-in capabilities.

Event 7: Course Improvement Series Part 5 – Web Design (sponsored by the llinois Online Network)

Part 5 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 Web design. 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 that focuses on how Web design can enhance online student retention and success. Much of the discussion will be driven by the needs of the participants and examples will be given.

Event 8: Podcasting in Higher Education – Current Trends and Applications (sponsored by SLOAN-C)

  • Date: September 26 – October 5, 2007
  • Time: Virtual
  • Location: Your computer
  • Cost: $145.00 (contact Sarah Stark, DoIT , at 847.925.6805 before the event for a membership registration code to get this price)
  • Note: Full time faculty: Consider applying for a Technology Grant to pay for the registration cost
  • Registration: https://secured.sloanconsortium.org/podcasting-sept2007/registration.cfm

Podcasting has had a revolutionary impact on formal and informal teaching and learning. Rising out of the advent of the Apple iPod, podcasts have grown into the mainstream of online media since their inception in early 2004. The power of the individual to use podcasts to communicate globally has important implications for educators. Higher education professionals must learn how to harness the power of podcasting to reach an increasingly more tech savvy population of students and colleagues. Learn all about podcasts and podcasting in this online workshop.

posted by Sarah Stark @ 11:56 AM