TerenceOnline is an eLearning Resource Center and blog to help you stay informed with what’s going on in web 2.0, technology, education, and eLearning pedagogy.
Terence Armentano is an Instructional Designer and Multimedia Specialist for IDEAL (Interactive Distance Education for All Learners) at Bowling Green State University. His blog entails his weekly elearning spotlights as well as feeds from many of his favorite resources. These resources could be integrated into online or face-to-face courses — or anywhere in between.
Check out the videos, live chat and many other numerous features of the blog. Also, if you have questions about Blackboard or online pedogy techniques feel free to ask him questions…
Share your opinion and experiences by leaving a comment below:
What do you think of TerenceOnline? What information on his site did you find useful?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Blogs, Web 2.0 Tools March 13, 2007
Dr. Paul Cesarini, an assistant professor in the Visual Communication & Technology Education department here at BGSU, began a discussion that we wanted to continue here on Interact at the Center. The original article, Caught in the Network, from the Chronicle of Higher Education, began a discussion on academic freedom, IT controls and limits, and the fine balance between the two. Paul was kind enough to respond to some of the comments and questions he has received as well as reflect his experiences over the past few weeks:
I appreciate how many of you read my article, commented on it in various online venues, and linked to it so that others might read it. Please keep in mind my goal in writing this piece was not to denigrate our Information Technology Services office in any way. As I mentioned in the article, I worked there for years, and I still know and respect the folks that work there. Heck, our Director of ITS even had me over for Thanksgiving dinner a while back. Our ITS office, if I may attempt to personify it as a single entity for a moment, works tirelessly to make sure our network infrastructure remains stable, dependable, and active. Without the often thankless efforts of this office, we wouldn’t be able to send a single piece of email. We wouldn’t be able to rely on a vast, yet standard set of software tools that are officially supported on campus. We we wouldn’t even be able to get our paychecks.
My point in writing this piece was not really about Tor, either. It could have just as easily been about Bit Torrent, YouTube, or any other application or service that could potentially be problematic for our university on a variety of levels. Rather, my point in writing this had more to do with my own need to explore, discuss, and attempt to balance the often competing needs of faculty and administrative IT, within the context of this ever-increasing pace of technological change swirling around us at all times.
The incident that served as the catalyst for the article — plainclothes detectives and IT security staff visiting a faculty member, unannounced — is certainly not unique to me, nor was the request to avoid teaching specific content areas in class. What is perhaps unique about it is that is occurred within the times we are living in now: pervasive broadband times, consumer / creator times, Web 2.0 times. This tenuous balance between faculty and IT needs is only going to be amplified in the coming years, as more faculty try to explore more technologies that may or may not be officially sanctioned by their respective IT departments. This isn’t a black or white, right or wrong issue, yet it is still an issue that needs to be debated in a heathy, open manner.
That said, I would be remiss if I didn’t also point out some of the more interesting comments, questions, and in some cases misconceptions I have either personally received or read in various forums online:
- One of the first and most repeated statements I have read about me is that I’m a Computer Science professor. I’m not. I’m faculty in our Visual Communication & Technology Education department, which is not only entirely separate from our Computer Science department, it is also in a completely different college here (Technology, as opposed to Arts & Sciences) and in most universities.
- I’m not a scientist, and make no claims to be one. I am a technologist.
- I do not have tenure, and thus did not attempt to use tenure as a “free pass” to get my own way. I am, however, tenure-track.
- Neither I nor my wife typically consider me to be a “brave freedom fighter” who was “sticking it to The Man”. I’m not even sure who The Man is, really, unless it’s the Director of our ITS office I mentioned before, who had me over for dinner. He’s a real decent guy, and was a great boss while I worked there.
- I did not lose my job, at least as far as I know.
- I realize the following sentence could be read two different ways: “Someone looking up potentially sensitive information might prefer to use [Tor] — like a person who is worried about potential exposure to a sexually transmitted disease and shares a computer with roommates.” My editor and I went back and forth on this sentence for quite some time. Thank you, Slashdotters, for pointing that out.
If anyone else has some specific questions or comments about my article, I would love to hear them. ~Paul
[Post them below in the comments section and Paul will respond — Just click on COMMENTS to get started.]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Academic Freedom, Discussion-Join In March 5, 2007
All members of the BGSU Community and members of the Regional Community are invited to attend the Fair.
Dr. L. Dee Fink, author of Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses and former president of POD (Professional & Organizational Development Network in Higher Education), delivers his keynote address, “The Joy and Responsibility of Teaching Well.” (seating is limited)
Fair Presentations
BGSU faculty and graduate students are encouraged to register to present at the Fair
For information and presenter registration visit the Center, www.bgsu.edu/ctlt, and click on the Fair Icon.
Already presenting at the Fair are representatives from the following organizations:
Arts Village, BGeXperience, BG Perspective, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, Chapman Community at Kohl, COSMOS Learning Community, Firelands College, Honors Program, IDEAL, Instructional Support Caucus, Office of Academic Enhancement, Office of Service Learning, Partners in Context and Community, Student Achievement Assessment Committee, Undergraduate Student Research, University Libraries
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: On Campus Learning Events, Teaching Tips March 1, 2007
This is a new type of post here at Interact at the Center. We will provide a general topic related to teaching and learning and ask for contributions from our visitors. This is your opportunity to interact with other faculty members and graduate students.
Today’s topic is Blackboard, and for those who do not use or are unfamiliar with Blackboard, it is a teaching tool that provides an online grade book, assignments posting, calendar, discussion boards, virtual classroom, digital drop box, and much more. This discussion is focused on the following questions…
• What innovative uses of Blackboard have you implemented into your teaching?
• What is your favorite feature that you would share with a new faculty member?
• How do students feel about using Blackboard as a learning assistance tool?
If you are interested in learning more about how to use Blackboard to facilitate teaching and learning, contact IDEAL at 2-6792 or ideal@bgsu.edu — For technical questions, visit the ITS Blackboard Help web page or contact ITS at 2-0999.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Discussion-Join In, Teaching Tips, Tech Tips February 21, 2007
The February 9th Chronicle of Higher Education featured an article authored by Dr. Paul Cesarini from BGSU’s College of Technology.
The issue centered on ITS’s concern with Paul using Tor, or The Onion Router, which masks online activity from others (including ITS). Being that it is one of ITS’s charges to be aware of activity on the university network, they obviously felt the need to look into Paul’s usage and express their concerns. Here are some snippets from the article (reprinted with permission):
“My reason for downloading and installing the Tor plug-in was actually simple: I’d read about it for some time, was planning to discuss it in two courses I teach, and figured I should have some experience using it before I described it to my students. The courses in question both deal with controlling technology, diffusing it throughout society, and freedom and censorship online.
…Their (ITS) job is to protect the network that allows me to do my job: to teach classes that are mostly or entirely online, and to conduct research. If they weren’t here as the first or even only line of defense against the unscrupulous elements of our technological society, my university would cease to function. It’s as simple as that.
…A moment later, I heard another knock on my door. One of the detectives had come back to ask if I would reconsider my position. I told him that while I would think about giving up Tor, I honestly felt that this was a clear case of academic freedom, and I could not bow to external pressure. I reminded him that Tor is a perfectly legal, open-source program that serves a wide variety of legitimate needs around the world.”
• As a faculty member, have you had to defend your academic freedom? If so, how?
• Where does one balance the institutional needs (rules) with student needs and professional ethics?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Academic Freedom, Discussion-Join In, Teaching Tips February 20, 2007
Are you familiar with the BGSU University Learning Outcomes rubrics? The six rubrics provide a guide for faculty in these areas: Inquiry, Creative Problem Solving, Decision Making, Write, Present, and Participate and Lead. According to SAAC (Student Achievement Assessment Committee):
“When distributed together with an assignment, rubrics help students to clarify the standards that will be used when their work is evaluated. If rubrics based on these prototypes become widely used, students will experience a greater consistency of expectation about faculty goals for their learning within majors and across the curriculum.”
Faculty are encouraged to adapt the rubrics as needed to suit the student outcomes.
How do you use these rubrics in your courses? What other types of rubrics do you use and for what type of learning outcome?
For more information on rubrics, explore these additional resources:
San Jose State University’s Developing and Applying Rubrics includes understanding, including, and creating rubrics. Examples of holistic and analytical rubrics are also provided.
A free, handy, online resource for creating and modifying rubrics is Rubistar.
Authentic Assessment Toolbox – Rubrics – A website by Jonathan Mueller.
Scoring Rubrics: What, When and How? – An article by Barbara M. Moskal
Schuh, John H. “Introduction to Rubrics: An Assessment Tool to Save Grading Time, Convey Effective Feedback and Promote Student Learning.” Journal of College Student Development, v. 47 issue 3, 2006, p. 352-355.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Assessment, Learning Outcomes, Rubrics, Teaching Tips February 9, 2007
If you have been reading our newsletter, you are familiar with Web 2.0 tools, which allow for applications to run within your web browser without ever having to download a program. Google has recently provided many Web 2.0 applications as well as other helpful tools. Today’s focus is on Google Docs & Spreadsheets (formerly known as Writely and iRows). They have numerous capabilities that could supplement or even replace Microsoft Word and Excel.
You can:
-Use the Online Editor to format documents, spell-check and more
-Upload Word documents, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML, or text
-Download documents to your desktop as Word, PDF and more
-View your document’s revision history and roll back to any version
Plus since its online you can:
-Invite others to share your documents via e-mail
-Edit documents online with whomever you choose
-Publish documents online to the world, or to just who you choose
-Post your documents to your blog
If you are interested in Google Docs and Spreadsheets visit
http://www.docs.google.com
Or if you want to check out any of the other Google applications skim through those available at http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/
If you have any compatibility problems with your browser we recommend using Firefox . It is compatible with all Google applications and is available free for Mac and Windows. Downloads can be found at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Share your opinion and experiences by leaving a comment below:
How could Google Docs and Spreadsheets be useful in a teaching or learning setting? Have you used either tool before? If so, for what?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Scholarly Communication, Tech Tips, Web 2.0 Tools February 8, 2007
How can I add comments to a cell in Excel?
AL’s answer for PC using Excel 2003
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=25492
AL’s answer for Mac using Excel 2004
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=25505
Share your opinion and experiences by leaving a comment below:
Why would adding comments to a cell be useful? Would this tip be useful when exchanging information in Excel spreadsheets? Have you used this feature before? If so, for what?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Ask AL, Tech Tips January 30, 2007
Have you read the 2006 National Survey of Student Engagement? Bowling Green State University is listed as one of the 557 participating four-year institutions. The report surveyed first year and senior students and found student engagement to be positively related to grades. The survey also found that students only spend around 13-14 hours a week preparing for their classes.
We’d like to hear from the BGSU community what kinds of engagement strategies are being used during classroom discussions and for class assignments. To add your ideas to the discussion, click on the “Comments” link below.
More Resources:
Developing Course Discussions through Re-Engagement Techniques
Click here for article.
Creating Authentic and Engaging Assignments in your Online Course
Click here for article.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Active Learning, Discussion-Join In, Teaching Tips January 23, 2007
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TerenceOnline is an eLearning Resource Center and blog to help you stay informed with what’s going on in web 2.0, technology, education, and eLearning pedagogy.
