Teaching and Learning Conferences

Attending a teaching and learning conference is a great way to get excited about teaching, learn new teaching strategies, and meet others of like minds. I am fortunate to be registered for three teaching & learning conferences in the coming months: the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Annual Meeting, which I will attend online, the Virginia Tech Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy in Blacksburg, and the University System of Georgia Teaching and Learning Conference right here in Athens.

While there will be many great sessions to attend at each meeting, I most appreciate the networking opportunities at conferences. For the VT and USG meetings, that will be easy. I will be sharing meals and social activities with fellow attendees, participating in collaborative activities during sessions, and stopping for hallway conversations between events. I'll exchange business cards with new acquaintances and hugs with long-time friends.

Networking during an online meeting is a bit more challenging, and perhaps not as socially rewarding, but it is absolutely possible. Participating in online conversations during sessions, particularly via Twitter, has been an invaluable way of meeting others with similar interests and getting my name out there professionally as well. The best example of this in action was when I was invited to review chapters for a new book by a colleague who had been following me on Twitter. We had never met, but she knew my work and areas of expertise via my tweets. That was very rewarding.

Never been to a teaching and learning conference? I recommend registering for the USG meeting - it's an excellent opportunity, and only $35 for students! I hope to see you there.

Back to class

Every spring when it is time to step back into the EDHI9040 classroom, I am filled with a mix of emotions. Among others, I am excited about what I can share with my students and what they will teach me during the semester; I am nervous about class dynamics and logistics; and due to mixed reviews from former students, I am reluctant to include the blogging assignment. Usually, my excitement is sustained throughout the term, pre-class jitters subside, and my hesitation regarding blogging is replaced by confidence that it is a good assignment.

One of the goals of this course is for students to "reflect on the roles of instructional technology with respect to his or her personal teaching philosophy." While there are a number of ways to encourage this reflection, blogging makes the most sense for this course. Blogging gives everyone a personal space to think about the technologies we are studying and to share those ideas with others in the course. Blogging also gives participants an opportunity to practice an activity that might be appropriate for their own students and to understand the challenges and rewards of blogging. 

Over the next few weeks, I will provide prompts and ideas about the blogging activity. And this year, I am looking forward to it! 

Midterm

I've posted about midterm evaluations before, so I think I'll take this opportunity to link to a few resources that may be helpful as you think about whether or not to implement this strategy in your own classes.

Link to a previous post on this blog - March 2010

A post on the UGA CTL Blog - October 2010

Recent ProfHacker post on using Google Docs for evaluations (!) - February 2012

Do you ask your students for midterm feedback?

I just read a post on the ProfHacker blog about the challenges of teaching multiple sections of the same course. This is not something I've had to do in some time, but I can definitely relate to the issues raised. Dr. Hara makes a number of great suggestions for addressing things like varying class size and dynamics, but instructional technology does not seem to come up at all. I wonder what sorts of technologies might help? What do you think? Also, if you were in her shoes (maybe some of you are) and you were using a learning management system, would you combine the sections into one course space? Or would you keep them separate? What are the pros and cons of each option?

A GarGANTTuan Discovery

In a previous post, I noted how UGA was investigating learning management systems. Now that the investigation process is over, I am turning my attentions to planning and implementation of our new system, Desire2Learn. Fortunately, I have an awesome team to work with, and many of us have been through this before. That means we can improve on processes and project management, starting with communication. We plan to use Google tools, including Docs, Spreadsheets, and Blogger. We are still thinking about whether or not to use Sites as well, particularly for collaboration within the team.

We will use Docs and Spreadsheets  to outline the project plan, and Blogger to inform the UGA user community on the progress of the project. I am very excited (in a nerdy way) about a Google Gadget that I found. It's a Spreadsheets Gantt chart tool, which takes each item in our project plan and plots it on a timeline. Super cool, and pretty easy to use. Watch a future post for more info, but in the meanwhile, you can see an example.Thank you, Mr. Gantt!

Breakfast and Blogs

The first thing I do when I sit down at my desk each morning is read my e-mail with a glass of cranberry juice. If I've been to the gym (doing pretty well so far this year!), then I'll have second breakfast, too. My inbox looks pretty much the same every morning, with deal mobs and groupon offers, the latest sales from my favorite shopping outlets, and higher ed news. The former are pretty easy to work through quickly - half off on cupcakes (must have - that's why I go to the gym), LL Bean is having a sale (what else is new?), etc. I try to take a little more time with the news. I follow The Chronicle of Higher Education Academe Today and Wired Campus, Inside Higher Ed, and LinkedIn Today. I also check Facebook and Twitter. All of this can get a little overwhelming at times, and my browsing may look something like little Billy running around in a Family Circus cartoon, but this is my routine. I have just started investigating Diigo and the "read later" feature. Not sure if I'll ever get back to those items I've marked, but it's worth a shot.

Do you have a similar routine?

Shopping for Technology

I hope you don't mind, but I am re-posting this entry from 2009, the first time I taught this class. It still applies, and I still like the shopping analogy!

photo by flickr user arbyreed

I have discovered that Sunday morning is the best time to grocery shop. Saturday night revelers have just gone to sleep, many families are in church or sharing breakfast together, and those of us at the store early on a Sunday just want to get it done in peace. Knowing what to buy when I am there is not so easy. I have my habitual purchases - milk, juice, cereal, chicken, and so on - but I am often easily distracted by new products and items on the end caps. I am also a snoop, curious at what others have in their carts. I think, "if that person likes store-rolled sushi, maybe I will too." Sometimes I have a little trouble with these unusual purchases when I get home, but I have a lot of fun experimenting with them. Sometimes, they turn out to be purchases I make more often, perhaps even sharing with friends at a party or potluck.

You're wondering what all of that has to do with our class, right? There is logic to it, I promise. In this class, we are shopping for instructional technology. There are some technologies that we use habitually - listserv, eLC, maybe blogging - but others are new. They are the latest and greatest, on the end caps or in someone else's cart. We may not know exactly what to do with them, but the good news about this class is that we can throw everything in the cart and try it out together. Facebook as classwork? Sure! Twitter assignments? Why not! And when class is over, we might have some new favorites that we use every time we teach.

Looking forward to shopping with you!
>>Sherry