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OLG Meeting Notes Dec 5, 2003 ...

Ocotillo Online Learning Group
Meeting Dec 5, 2003

Scottsdale Community College
1:30 - 3:30 PM in the Business Building (BU 141)
See campus map

CD for Online Learners and Digital Storytelling Try hands-on a new CD-ROM desgined to orient both students and faculty to Scottsdale's online courses and learn more about the use of digital video as a tool for storytelling.

Welcome and Introductions

Pat Serrano and Sidne Tate (Scottsdale)

What's New in Online Learning at Our Campus

all participants
A round up of who's doing what (briefly!) per site represented.

• Mesa - currently using both WebCT and Blackboard and are rolling out their Student Technology Association (STA) program. They are also trying hard to address web accessibility issues.
• GateWay - A Smartboard was set up in the CTL to show faculty how it could be used in the classroom and then the information could be uploaded to an online file.
• District - Trials with the new SIS and Midas are underway. MCLI is sponsoring a Learning Object Dialogue Day January 30, 2004 at Paradise Valley on the Pachyderm Project. Peter Samis from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will be the guest speaker.
• Chandler-Gilbert - Blackboard Enterprise will be piloted in spring semester 2004. David Weaver has been having students submit items through an e-portfolio with good success.
• Paradise Valley - Blackboard Enterprise will be rolled out in Fall 2004. Sam Fraulino is currently working on Flash development that can be imported into Blackboard.
• Estrella Mountain - Blackboard is sponsoring a ÒSouthwest Blackboard DayÓ January 30, 2004 at Estrella Mountain. It is for all southwest schools, not only Maricopa. Estrella has piloted Smarthinking tutoring services for 600 students this semester.

MLX Highlights

Alan Levine (mcli)
The Third Great MLX Package Race is underway! As a new OLG feature we will highlight Maricopa Learning eXchange items from the host college.

The Science of Survival: Temperature and Biological Adaptation (2001-2002 SyRIS Module)
Patricia Ashby (Scottsdale Community College)
In this module, students begin to understand the factors that allow organisms to thrive in various climates by addressing such topics as cooling rate versus surface area, water management by plants and insects, and metabolism rates.

PESTS: Psychologists Educating Students to Think Skeptically
Jeff Ricker (Scottsdale Community College)
The PESTS web site is designed to be a resource for those with an interest in teaching about a skeptical approach to testing knowledge claims. The site contains a list of readings, teaching activities, and links to articles, essays, etc., for use in courses that teach about topics of interest to skeptics.

See all of the MLX packages associated with Scottsdale Community College.

CDs for CIS Online Faculty and Online Students

Nicki Maines, Kim Milton, and Pat Serrano (Scottsdale)
CIS Faculty from Scottsdale Nicki Maines, Kim Milton, and Pat Serrano demonstrated the new tools that have been rolled out to faculty and students at Scottsdale. Due to a decline in open entry enrollment, SCC converted 34 classes to online courses.

The group met informally and had discussions on what needed to be done and how it could be completed. The CDs were funded by two Scottsdale EDP grants. They developed a CD for students and one for faculty, both those teaching and those interested in teaching an online course.

Everyone at this meeting received a copy of the CDs. Currently they are only used by the CIS Department but they have plans to roll out campus-wide. They have applied for a Learning Grant for the funding to make that happen.

Online Learning: What Students Should Know
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/slip.php?item=1120

Online Learning: An Instructors Guide
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/slip.php?item=1121

Break!

all
Enjoy some snacks while networking.

Digital Storytelling

Linda Hicks and Rachel Woodburn (Scottsdale)
Linda Hicks and Rachel Woodburn, Scottsdale faulty members who teach a digital storytelling class, described and demonstrated how they have used the creative and dynamic technique of digital storytelling. They both attended the Center for Digital Storytelling (developed at UC Berkley) workshops presented here where they discovered the power of digital storytelling.

The first eight weeks of the course are spent in the classroom-discovering student ÒstoriesÓ and helping each student find their own voice. The last eight weeks are spent working with computers to digitally tell the stories. Linda and Rachel shared two examples of student work. They stressed that the computers come in later only as a tool, they are never the focus.

Linda and Rachel have presented digitial storytelling workshops in both Australia and New Zealand, and are working on the first student trip to New Zealand to participate in workshops there.

They both are grateful that their college has supported this class being taught by two faculty members, and state that this approach has been instrumental to making the course as succesful as it has been.

Problem-Solving Corner

all
Bring your questions! This is your opportunity to ask your colleagues about online tools or methods, or to ask for help from the participants in dealing with any issue of using online learning technologies. We encourage your participation - your colleagues may have many wonderful solutions for one of your problems!

A faculty member reported problems with the sound quality in his uploaded PowerPoint presentations when accessed by students with dial-up modems. No solutions were offered at the meeting. If anyone has ideas, please let us know.

Door Prizes

all
Stick around to see if you win one of the prizes (you must register on the sign in sheet and be present to win).

The prizes for this meeting include:

• Trisha Brazda won "Web Teaching Guide" - A practical guide to creating course web sites" by Sarah Horton of Dartmouth College
• Roman Reyes won "Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom- the Realities of Online Teaching" by Rena Paloff and Keith Pratt (speakers for the October 23 and 24, 2003 Dialogue Day on "Teaching Hybrid Courses"
• Shaunna Jagneaux won "The Virtual Student" by Rena Paloff and Keith Pratt (speakers for the October 23 and 24, 2003 Dialogue Day on "Teaching Hybrid Courses"
• David Weaver won "Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace" by Rena Paloff and Keith Pratt (speakers for the October 23 and 24, 2003 Dialogue Day on "Teaching Hybrid Courses"
• Bill Bercu won "Learning On the Net" by William A. Draves
• John Gibson won Flash MX for Mac OSX.

We will again make use of the prize patrol tool!

OLG Prize Patrol
by Alan Levine
Get the .swf file to use for yourself or the original Flash MX file to see how it is done.

Next Meeting...

February 6, 2003 at Phoenix College.