8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Pre-Symposium Workshops :
- Workshop One: Lights, Camera, Action! Simple Steps to Improve Your Video
Jeremy Fulbright, Brian Yuhnke, CU Online
You've thought about enhancing your course with video for a few semesters now. You've attended workshops and read articles on streaming media technology. All that's left is to clear time in your busy schedule and do it. This 60 min workshop will help you take the next step. We'll focus on the small, but important details to consider when shooting your video such as lighting, camera presence, what to wear, background elements, and equipment that'll make your low-budget video look like a summer Blockbuster!
- Workshop Two: Portals and e-Portfolios Tour
David Thomas, College of Arts and Media
Blogs, portals and ePortfolios. What's the difference? What do these have to do with education? In a world where famous artists, scientists and scholars routinely post to online journals the Web's latest "fad" offers unique opportunities for teachers and researchers. Come see examples of blogs and online portfolios and learn how you can easily set up and make use of the technology.
9:00 a.m. Register & Refreshments
9:10 a.m. Welcome & Announcements
Mark Heckler, Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs
9:15 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. CU Online Introduction Video
9:30 - 10:00 Keynote:
Teaching in your PJs: It's a Hard Job but Someone Has to Do It
Welcome to your first online course. After struggling with the application, wondering what happened to the files you uploaded, embarrassing yourself by spelling your name wrong, and answering loads of student questions you swear are clearly answered in the materials, you ask yourself the age old question "whadamy'doing?" But somehow it grows on you. You're an online instructor. And you want to be a good one.
Patti Shank, Ph.D., internationally known instructional technology consultant, author of Making Sense of Online Learning, award winning contributing editor for Online Learning Magazine, and faculty member in CU Denver's School of Education, will begin the day with a heartwarming look at what it takes to teach online and why it's worth doing well.
10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. Concurrent Sessions:
Session One: Reducing Workload: Strategies for Managing your Online Course
Joni Dunlap, & David Young, School of Education, Diana Wheat, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Tim McMahon, CU Online
Moderator: Ellen Stevens, School of Education
Isn’t there any way that technology can help me manage the sometimes overwhelming administrative, communication and assessment tasks in my online teaching? Learn different methods and strategies of maximizing your quality of online teaching while minimizing your time. In this session, the panel will provide efficiency tips and techniques in course development and maintenance, as well as ways to productively manage online course tools such as e-mails, grades and threaded discussions.
Session Two: Exciting PowerPoint Presentations
Janine Sytsma, College of Arts and Media
Are you considering incorporating PowerPoint presentations into your online class, but unsure how to do it? This presentation will discuss different possibilities for presenting material using PowerPoint. Janine Sytsma will take you on a tour of the presentations she has developed, demonstrate how to create them, and introduce other possible options, such as incorporating video and sound clips. Through this experience, you'll learn how PowerPoint presentations can be used to increase interactivity in your class, as well as maintain flow between your lectures, articles, textbook, and discussions .
Session Three: Maintaining the Human Touch in Online Learning
Katica Jacob & Trinity Ryan, Center for Innovations in Teaching and Technology
Online courses are rapidly growing in popularity, and provide a means for educational institutions to offer more flexibility to their students. However, in the rush to move online, many traditional courses have simply been “dumped” onto the web, a strategy which has led to frustration for learners as they encounter screens full of text with little or no interaction with the material, their instructors, or their peers. Instructors of online courses need to recognize that these social problems are the leading cause of learner isolation and thus rising attrition rates. This presentation identifies and demonstrates the use of proven strategies for social engagement of online learners – strategies which are similar to everyday classroom techniques, but which have been specially adapted for the unique challenges of the online environment.
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Course Makeover
“eCollege instructional designers out to make over the world, one course at a time.”
Jeff Borden, eCollege & Doug Krause, College of Arts & Media
Is your online course in need of a makeover? Many courses are; that’s not to say your whole course needs a makeover, but almost every course has a least one area where it could use a little boost. For most instructors, the hardest part is finding out what needs to be changed and how to tackle it. eCollege instructional designers are here to help solve that problem!
Some of the areas the experts will address include course objectives, technical content, and performance measurement.
Join us in watching an online course be transformed and learn how you can do this too!
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Lunch and Round Table Discussions
Table One: Blackboard Discussion
Tim McMahon & Mike Edlin, CU Online
At this Lunch and Chat table discussion we will cover what you can now do in Blackboard, that you could not do before. We would like to discuss how Blackboard will evolve and the plans on the iterative upgrading with new features, instead of major version releases. We will answer questions and offer suggestions on how to organize and present instruction using the Blackboard Learning Management System. All of your requests and suggestions about features or capabilities that you would like to be able to use in your teaching, are welcome.
Table Two: eCollege Discussion
Sarah Bradford & Jeff Borden, eCollege
Come visit with two people from ECollege about the enhancements that have been added to the eCollege system over the past year. We will talk about the features that you will see in eCollege in the coming year, and seek suggestions for further improvements. The discussion will also cover some of the benefits of using a learning management system in your teaching. Please come and chat with us about your experiences with using any web-based instructional tools.
Table Three: Multimedia Tools Discussion
Brian Yuhnke, CU Online, Travis Chillemi, CITT
Pop Quiz
Which of the following is true?
a.) I’m using Multimedia in my course but I know it could be better.
b.) I’ve always wanted to use multimedia in my course but, I’m just not sure where to start.
c.) I’m using multimedia fairly successfully but, there are a few things just don’t make sense.
d.) I’ve seen it in use, but how would it apply to my course?
e.) “Multimedia” is a 100% foreign word to me.
If you answered yes to any of these Grab your lunch and sit with us in a round table discussion about multimedia in your courses.
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Concurrent Sessions
Session One: Discouraging Dishonesty Panel Presentation
Lorraine Evans & Gayle Bradbeer, Auraria Library, John Lanning, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Sarah Bradford, eCollege, Chris Trivedi, online student
Moderator: Marty Tessmer, CITT
Teaching online seems like an invitation for students to cheat. And while new opportunities for cheating exist online, new tools and techniques for detecting and discouraging dishonesty are available online. Hear from your peers techniques for uncovering and preventing dishonesty in your courses, both online and in the classroom. A student will join the panel to offer an insight on how and when students cheat!
Session Two: Multimedia Tool Demos
Tegrity Streaming Cart
Roxanne Byrne, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Demonstration of the many uses of streaming video using Tegrity. Examples include mini-lectures for the use in many classrooms, introductions to projects, welcome statement, and instructional videos for applications.
Visual Communicator Pro
Brian Yuhnke, CU Online
It is now possible to create course lectures, presentations, introductions and other various videos easily from your home pc. The easy-to-use Visual Communicator allows you to do these things in no time using any digital video camera or webcam. It even comes with a green screen which allows you to expand your horizons even further. There are a lot of things you can do with this piece of software. So, join me as I demonstrate some of these and answer any of your questions.
Illustrating course concepts with computer animation
Brad Stith, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
With examples that can be utilized outside of the classroom by students working with the web, I will compare the use of static illustrations (e.g., overheads) versus the use of video microscopy and FLASH computer animation in teaching. I will review data on the value of animation for teaching concepts that involve movement, multiple steps, or changes in location.
2:40 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Faculty Demonstrations
Best Practices / Strategies for Online Teaching
Moderator: David Thomas
Every course has room for improvement. Then again, most courses do something right. This session will focus on quick demonstrations of things that worked well presented by fellow instructors from their online courses.
3:30 p.m. Wrap-up & Evaluation
