The Evidence on Online Education
June 29, 2009
WASHINGTON — Online learning has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning, according to a new meta-analysis released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education. Read this article from Inside Higher Ed, http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/29/online
Month: June 2009
MERLOT Conference 2009 – San Jose
If you need a break from your first life, consider Second Life!
an excerpt of a blog post by Cris Guenter, CSU Chico faculty and MERLOT member
Second Life (SL), a 3D virtual world that is created by its millions of residents from around the world, is providing ever-engaging opportunities and situations for educators and their students. There will be two 3-hour preconference hands-on sessions at MIC ‘09 (Thursday, August 13) to provide attendees with skill development and educational use in SL. Ann Steckel and I, representing California State University, Chico, will conduct these sessions inworld as our avatars, Olivia Hotshot and Friday Karu respectively, and as our face-to-face, good-natured selves in real life.
To Read More of Cris Guenter’s blog post …
http://merlotconf.wordpress.com/
Faculty Invited to Participate in Grad Student Research Survey
Tim Rogers is one of the talented and dedicated student staff who assists our faculty in the Technology and Learning Program lab. He’d appreciate the participation of faculty from any higher ed institution who would like to participate in a brief research survey.
To: Faculty at Higher Educational Institutions
From: Tim Rogers, CSU, Chico graduate student, Department of Education
Re: Requesting your participation in a survey on Analyzing Communication Patterns Between A Faculty Member And Instructional Designer
For my graduate thesis, I am conducting a survey regarding communication patterns between a faculty member and instructional designer when designing online courses through the Blackboard/WebCT Learning Management System. This research, conducted at CSU, Chico, seeks to better understand potential differences in technical and pedagogical communications that may cause barriers during the consultation process between both professionals.
The survey is available online. This survey takes only about five to ten minutes to complete. This research project has been cleared by the Human Subjects in Research Committee. You may access the survey on the Web site.
Thank you for your assistance. Please contact Tim Rogers at 530.592.8199 or by email with questions.
Training Tomorrow’s eTeachers
Designing Significant eLearning and Blended Learning Experiences
This presentation will discuss a case study of the integration of Wimba into an online collaborative e-learning experience with an on-site institute at the University of Utah.
Date: July 22
Time: 2:00 pm EDT
Place: Online – Sign-up Here
If you can’t make the time, sign-up to get an email with a link to the recording.
Presenters: Rebekah Grow & Linda Ralston, University of Utah
The institute incorporated a series of elearning sessions conducted via Wimba and Blackboard Vista designed to prepare participants for an on-campus conference featuring hands-on training with camera and audio enhanced Wimba and PowerPoint technology. The conference was followed by several on-line learning and discussion sessions enhanced by Wimba technology.
The teaching institute’s purpose was to illustrate the need to examine how e-learning, service-learning, and traditional classroom techniques might be blended to create a positive elearning environment enhanced by Wimba technology. The workshop was designed to challenge participants as students, educators and scholars while examining the changing paradigm shifts from instruction to learning and from traditional to innovative elearning.
Online Discussion Etiquette
Educause08: Social Media and Education
Watch this slide show to see the relationship between higher ed and new forms of social media.
Google Docs – Some Facts & A Great Resource
- 10 people can edit a Presentation at the same time.
- 50 people can edit a Spreadsheet simultaneously.
- 10 people can edit a Document at the same time.
- There is a limit of 200 combined viewers/ collaborators for all of the different Doc types.
Google has created templates for students and teachers.
- Teachers can direct students to use a certain template or they can browse the different categories.
- Teachers can also create their own templates and share them with their students.
- Make sure students save the template as a copy.
For more great ideas about using Google Docs, why not check out the resource Twenty Interesting Ways to use Google Docs, by Tom Barrett.
Sixteen Interesting Ways* to use Voicethread in the Classroom
View the Presentation
Go straight to the Voice Thread site
About Voice Thread:
What is a Voice Thread? A Voice Thread is a new technology that allows you to upload PowerPoint files, picture files, movie files and more to the Voice Thread program. Once files are uploaded, users can record commentary by either plain audio or webcam. You can also type in text and use the doodle tool. Students are also allowed to interact with the presentation in the same way as the teacher. Great for collaboration! Best of all, a Voice Thread subscription is free.
Go to the Voice Thread in Higher Ed Site
Technology & Learning Program - Chico State 