Pre-Conference Workshops

TITLE:
The Nearly Annual Survey: Innovative Uses of Low-Cost Technology Tools

PRESENTERS:
Mary Bold, Ph.D., CFLE bold [at] marybold [dot] com
Lillian Chenoweth, Ph.D. lillian.chenoweth [at] gmail [dot] com

DESCRIPTION:
Mary Bold and Lillian Chenoweth present their picks for the year in their Nearly Annual Survey of Innovative Uses of Low-Cost Technology Tools. As online educators and workshop presenters, they often compile lists of their favorite tools and demonstrate how to utilize the tools to enhance student learning, streamline teaching tasks, and create building blocks for continued professional development. This workshop displays and rates more than 30 free or very low-cost technology tools for online education. Ratings encompass usability and usefulness, cost of adoption (by person, not necessarily by institution), and approximate location on the “diffusion of innovation” distribution curve.

TITLE:
Hybrid Learning meets Web 2.0: (re)designing a Hybrid Course with Emerging Technologies for the Net Generation Learner

PRESENTERS:
Veronica Diaz, PhD, Instructional Technology Manager, Maricopa Community Colleges, MCLI veronica.diaz [at] domail [dot] maricopa [dot] edu
Naomi Story, PhD, Faculty, Director, Center for Teaching and Learning, Maricopa Community Colleges, Mesa Community College
Jennifer Spink Strickland, PhD, Faculty, Instructional Technology, Maricopa Community Colleges, Mesa Community College

DESCRIPTION:
The hybrid instructional learning model is quickly becoming the fastest growing segment in higher education. This seminar will provide participants with an introduction and overview of hybrid learning, guidelines and best practices for institutional implementation, and a ready-to-use faculty development hybrid learning model. The first section will include national data and trends, information about the Net Generation learner and the hybrid model, an explanation of why hybrid learning is important for all institutions, and its relevance to faculty development. The second section will focus on assessing students’ technology background locally, best practices in hybrid learning model implementation, marketing/ promoting hybrid learning, and hybrid learning quality assurance. The last segment deals with the actual hybrid learning faculty development program and will review the instructional modules of such a program. All participants will receive ready-to-use materials that can be implemented or adapted to a variety of instructional delivery models immediately.

Attendees for this workshop need to bring their own laptop.

TITLE:
The Missing Link in Science Education: Strategies, Options and Practice of Moving Laboratories Online

PRESENTERS:
Devon Cancilla, Western Washington University
Simon Albon, University of British Columbia
Erin Macri, Instrumentation Specialist, Scientific Technical Services
Jennifer Dixey, Integrated Laboratory Network
Ron Krempasky, Hands-on Labs Inc.

DESCRIPTION:
Despite the significant advances and success of online education, traditional science programs have been slow in moving course and program offerings into the online environment.  The most often cited reason for this has been the belief that it is impossible for students to be trained as scientists if they have no opportunity to gain “hands-on” laboratory experience.  However, a number of pioneering groups are challenging this belief through the successful development and implementation of online laboratories and the use of remote instrumentation.  Western’s Integrated Laboratory Network (ILN), MIT’s iLabs, Purdue’s CASPIE and Iowa State’s WebSEM, as well as a number of other groups provide clear examples of how the e-learning tools already in use by the online community can successfully be used for the delivery of online labs.   Another approach to providing an authentic laboratory experience at a distance has been through the use of laboratory kits that contain all the elements necessary to perform specific laboratory experiments and that can be shipped directly to individuals or organizations.  Companies, such as Hands-on Labs Inc. with their LabPaq kits, have shown that this approach can successfully be used to support on-line science programs across many of the traditional science disciplines.  Bringing together the use of remote instrumentation available through programs such as the ILN or iLabs with the use of laboratory kits such as LabPaqs has the potential to provide students and faculty an entirely new avenue for delivering on-line science programs.  This half day workshop will provide participants the opportunity to conduct an experiment using LabPaqs and to access remote sophisticated instrumentation that has been incorporated into the LabPaq activity. 

In addition, this “hands-on” workshop will provide participants a summary of the various strategies groups are taking to move labs online.  Ideas about creating blended/hybrid labs versus entirely online labs and/or linking with groups that provide online labs.  It will then walk the participants through the steps necessary to develop and conduct an online lab with the participants actually completing an online experiment.  Specific topics within the workshop will include:

• Networking and IT issues – Firewalls, Networking, and Security issues.
• Guest/Host Interactions - The use of ooVoo, ineen and cell phones and social networking.  Additional open source and commercial options.
• Connecting to remote instruments and cameras – UltraVNC, TeamViewer, Google Maps.  Additional open source and commercial options.
• Best Practices –Developing and deploying online labs and supporting materials.
• Development strategies for laboratory kits.
• Incorporating laboratory kits into the online curriculum.
• Laboratory logistics – Scheduling, conducting, providing support and completing online labs.

This half-day workshop is modeled after a series of  Moving the Labs Online workshops developed as part of a National Science Foundation Funded project to develop online labs.  Versions of this workshop have been presented on-line as part of the Sloan-C online workshop series.

TITLE:
Learn how to use Google Apps to Organize your Work and  Promote Collaboration while Saving Time and Money

PRESENTERS:
Susan Cline, Instructional Designer, PressPlaySolutions
Matt Albert, Educational Web Developer, PressPlaySolutions

DESCRIPTION:
Google Applications like Docs, Blogger and Sites provide educators with a quick, collaborative and cost-free way to to organize their coursework and provide meaningful interactions between students and teachers. These applications can empower educators in ways that are not always clear. From the educational standpoint we will help put these tools and their uses in perspective. In this workshop we will introduce you to the concepts of web-based applications, cloud computing, collaboration and sharing.  We will demonstrate how to use Google Documents to create, share and collaborate on web documents like spreadsheets, forms, presentations and word processing documents.  We will also demonstrate how to use Google's Blogger and Google Sites to organize an interactive course where students will be able to actively receive information, post feedback and assignments.  Workshops participants will create Google accounts, set up a professional blog, work in small teams to simultaneously edit a Google Spreadsheet and set up a Google Site.   As the official Google Apps training designer and developer we will be able to answer your specific Apps related questions and direct you to resources for you to start utilizing these tools. You will walk away from this workshop with a solid understand of the function and educational utility of Google Docs (Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, and Forms), Blogger and Sites.

TITLE:
Social Networking: Twelve Top Tools You Can Use in Class Tomorrow

PRESENTERS:
Ray Schroeder, Director of OTEL, University of Illinois at Springfield
Shari McCurdy Smith, Associate Director of OTEL, University of Illinois at Springfield
Deborah Antoine, Instructional Designer, University of Illinois at Springfield
Emily Welch Boles, Instructional Designer, University of Illinois at Springfield

DESCRIPTION:
This workshop includes all new free tools and techniques.  We will train participants so they are ready to use these tools in their classes when they walk out the door. 

The twelve tools will be finalized in April or May to allow us to include the best new social networking tools.  But, if the conference were to be held next month, we would present:

• Networking
  • Ning
  • LinkedIn
• Social Content
  • Flickr
  • Flip Video & YouTube
• Mobile
  • Twitter
  • Pingie
• Search or Research
  • Zotero
  • Spock
• Bookmarking
  • Delicious
  • Diigo
• Social Synchronous
  • Elluminate vRoom
  • oovoo

TITLE:
User Friendly Content Creation with New Technologies

PRESENTER:
Phil Ice, APUS

DESCRIPTION:
A part of creating effective online learning experiences entails continual evaluation of new technologies to determine if they will be of benefit in terms of content delivery, student satisfaction, efficiency and, most importantly, the ability to allow for collaborative construction of knowledge. However, it is often difficult for instructors, instructional designers and administrators to make informed, adoption related choices without understanding the optimal, pedagogical context for application of many cutting edge technologies. This workshop will introduce participants to three new technologies with opportunities for extensive hands-on evaluation.

TITLE:

Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing for Student Services  

PRESENTERS:
Naj Shaik, Ph.D, Research Programmer, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Karen Vignare, Director, Customer Experience, MSU Global, Michigan State University
Shannon Ritter, Social Networks Adviser, Penn State World Campus
Roxann Deborah Riskin, Technology Support Specialist, Fairfield University
Robb Mitchell, Instructional Designer, American Public University System

DESCRIPTION:
Web 2.0 offers opportunities to better serve students, but how do we choose from the myriad of options? How do we select and implement new technologies to support students? And, how can we do it in a way that reflects the mission of our organization? What are the implications of student services on student recruitment and retention? The wide variety of choices and the equally wide variety of student preferences require a broad knowledge of both student demographics and types of tools.

This workshop will include a conceptual overview of Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing in the context of student services. What is it? How does it work? And, how Web 2.0 technologies and services can be strategically applied to higher education student services? Examine the relevance of quality student services and student recruitment and retention.

The presentation will showcase case studies as best practices, ways in which the institution is successfully integrating Web 2.0 to higher education student services.  Best practices on student registration, student advising, technology help-desk, mentoring, and job-placement from the following academic institutions will be discussed. Discussion will be followed by a brief hands-on demonstration of Web 2.0 technologies used in the student services.

• University of Illinois (Job Placement Services)
• Penn State World Campus (Registration Services & Advising)
• New Mexico State University (Mentoring)
• Fairfield University (Technology Help-desk)
• American Public University System (Technology Help-Desk)

TITLE:
Teaching in Wild Wild Web: Web 2.0 Technologies and Student Centered Learning

PRESENTERS:
Rochelle Rodrigo, Mesa Community College
Alisa Cooper, South Mountain Community College

DESCRIPTION:
This three hour workshop on Web 2.0 technologies will offer information and engage participants in dialogue and hands-on activities intended to introduce and familiarize workshop participants with Blogs, Wikis, Document Sharing, RSS, and Personal Portal technologies. The goals of the event are to make participants comfortable with, and knowledgeable about, a variety of interactive Web 2.0 technologies:

• Introducing participants to the definitions and key elements of web 2.0 technologies.
• Engaging in discussion about how and why these various technologies can better facilitate teaching and learning.
• Offering the knowledge and experience of faculty who have designed, developed and incorporated different types of web 2.0 technologies into their classes, or work processes.
• Encouraging participants to critically select, review, and possibly adopt emerging technologies to incorporate into their classes, or work processes.
• Having participants set up a variety of different web 2.0 accounts and work through various activities that begin to familiarize them with the technologies.

This workshop specifically targets faculty, instructional designers, and instructional technologists relatively new to the world of web 2.0 technologies; however, as with many of these types of workshops, advanced web 2.0 users would probably learn another trick or two while also enriching the dialogue with their own experiences.

For a better learning experience, please bring your own laptops so that you might set up accounts and play with the various technologies we'll be exploring.