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Thank you to all who attended the CTL 2010 Winter Conference: Education and the New Media!
We had a stimulating event with nearly 200 DU faculty and staff members gathering to discuss issues of new media, technology, teaching and learning. It was an eye-opening day. You can find highlights, video archives, and more on our conference portfolio website. What now? You've given us many ideas for coffee breaks, online resources, and technology workshops and we'll be starting some of these efforts in the Spring. For those of you who left feeling overwhelmed, perhaps we should all take Dr. Lynn Schofield Clark's suggestion of trying out one new teaching strategy/technology/new media per quarter. The CTL is always available to assist faculty members with these explorations. Conference highlights:1. Media expert Michael Wesch, impressed the crowd with his dynamic and thought-provoking talks, ranging from an anthropological history of YouTube to the interactive virtual world simulation method used in his 200-student introductory anthropology course. Over 180 viewers from across Colorado and the U.S. as well as from Canada, Chile and Australia watched the keynotes virtually via our live stream and posted their thoughts on Twitter. The video archives are now available. 2. Concurrent sessions by DU faculty members showcased educational uses of blogs, Twitter, online tutorials and Google Wave, discussed open educational resources and free textbooks, and revealed common Blackboard pitfalls. View the video and presentation archives. 3. 20 faculty members showcased the innovative ways they are using technology and new media to enhance student learning during a digital poster session. 4. Nearly 200 attendees worked in small groups to uncover the meaning of a pre-conference technology survey and discuss next steps. Comments from the groups include:
- "Students' and instructors' responses are not that different when asked how they want to interact with each other."
- "Students have enormous complaints about current use of Blackboard and PowerPoint in the classroom."
- "Good teaching is good teaching. We need to be clear about our teaching and intended learning, and then ask how can technology facilitate the learning or outcomes."
- "It is possible to use the new technologies to teach and not just to appease students' appetites for something as entertaining as Facebook."
- "Our students already live in a cyber world and need us to help them make the transitions between that world and the classroom."
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CTL Conference Video Resources
Michael Wesch Keynote Presentations now available:
Michael Wesch's popular YouTube videos:
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Is your Blackboard Course Student-Approved?
Blackboard was the #1 technology mentioned by DU students when asked what recommendations they would give to their professors to better implement technology in their courses.Many students indicated that they really like Bb and appreciate faculty members who use it effectively and take the time to post their materials online.
One student stated, "Blackboard is truly a great tool that helps students understand as well as have access to class materials." Some students expressed frustration about disorganized Blackboard courses. For example, "Organize Blackboard better. Some teachers post way too much information and it is not organized into folders or easy to find without having to search all over the place."
The top five Blackboard recommendations:
1. Post Materials/Use more features
2. Post Grades
3. Organize/Keep up-to-date
4. Require Use
5. Utilize Communication Tools
Click here for tips on designing a student-friendly Bb course!
Attention Faculty! The CTL is recruiting faculty members within each division to work with us to develop quality Blackboard courses. Please email [email protected] if you are interested in sharing your course with your colleagues and/or participating in the "Blackboard Exemplary Course Program."
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Customizing your
The CTL recently made several updates to DU Portfolio, including a shortened name and new functionality for users.
The most significant enhancement is the ability for users to perform a number of customizations with banners, fonts, and colors. Providing a certain level of control to users while retaining consistency across all portfolios was the driving idea behind these enhancements.
Some of the changes include:
- Allow for customization with banner images, font and color
- Improved module for small photo webcam capture
- Custom community URLs
- Gradebook enhancements
- Image resizer improvements
- Ability to display Image Gallery in multiple areas
View this video to learn more about DU Portfolio customizations
Set up your personal Portfolio at: https://portfolio.du.edu
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Tech Tools used during the Conference
GoogleDocs - Documents created here can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection, and if you share a document with someone else, they can edit the document in real time. This easy tool is useful for groups collaboratively working on a document, spreadsheet or presentation.
Twitter - This "microblogging" service allows you to post short (140 characters or less) comments, and follow certain people to stay up to date with their postings. While there are instructional uses, Twitter is popular in academia as a reference tool, to find current information and resources posted by others with similar interests.
Flickr- An online space to post and share photos. You can create groups to share photos about a particular topic or event, and view photos posted by others around the world.
Have a free technology tool that you love? Email [email protected] with a short description and we'll share it in this newsletter. | |
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