Why All Professors Should Blog

David Albrecht, associate professor of Accounting and Management Information Systems, presented last week on "Why All Professors Should Blog." He provided examples and led discussion about: 

1. Why you should blog, 
   
2. What you should blog about, and 
   
3. How to get started. 
   

A blog post he wrote a few months ago nicely summarizes his main arguments. 

Now it's your turn... if you have a blog and are a BGSU faculty member, leave your URL and name in the comments below. If you are thinking about a blog, what are you waiting for? As David mentioned, blogging "is like adding Miracle Grow to your research"! 

 

Choosing Technological Tools

With all the encouragement to integrate active learning techniques into your teaching, it's easy to get confused about what to use when. Specifically, deciding which technological tools to use can seem overwhelming. Three of the most common tools instructors use in their classes are blogs, wikis, and dicussion boards. To guide you in the process of choosing which tool to use, we have collected information and dveloped a chart.

It is important that you consider the answer to some important questions as you make your choice:

• What is the purpose of using the tools?


• What features are most important for you?


• What level of privacy do you need?

The answers to these questions and others can be found by looking at the chart. Make sure to use the left-most colomn labeled "Topic" to guide your selection.

You can download the document here.

And don't forget that you can always schedule a consultation at the Center for help on how to use your tool in class by calling the Center at 372-6898 or emailing the Center at ctl@bgsu.edu.

Disruptive Technologies or New Pedagogical Possibilities

This presentation, “Disruptive Technologies or New Pedagogical Possibilities” by Grainne Conole was delivered at the Eduserv Foundation Symposium 2008, in London, England. In this video, Conole discusses how Web 2.0 has changing our learning and teaching paradigms. She discusses how we need to develop new models to understand the relationship between pedagogy and technology.

In order to understand the pedagogical implications of Web 2.0 tools, she explores three case studies: Learning Design, Openlearn and SocialLearn.



To read a related article by Grainne Conole please click here.

After watching this video, do you think we must develop new pedagogies that involve Web 2.0 tools?

Learning Community Updates - SoTL, Publication, & Library eTools

The Center for Teaching and Learning is sponsoring 13 learning communities (LC) for the 2008-09 academic year. Below are brief updates from four of them, regarding their accomplishments and future plans.


Scholarship of Teaching and Learning LC (Facilitated by Jackie Cuneen and Mark Earley)
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning LC read and discussed anthropologist Rebakah Nathan’s book My Freshman Year, an insider’s observation of modern college students focusing on the current state of academics and campus culture.
In addition, we examined other materials such as a 60 Minutes feature entitled Here Come The Millennials, and interacted with invited guest Professor Michael Coomes from the Department of Higher Education and Student Affairs, an expert on the Millennial student and co-author of Serving the Millennial Generation. SoTL LC member Colleen Boff collected information from the group and created a LibGuide (see http://libguides.bgsu.edu/millennials) containing a comprehensive listing of scholarly sources about working with and teaching Millennials. The LibGuide features a menu of “Classroom Activities,” and LC members will add activities to the menu throughout Spring Semester 2009. The SoTL LC will demonstrate the LibGuide at the CTL’s Teaching and Learning Fair on February 6, 2009 (watch CTL's website for more information on this event).

Publication LC (Facilitated by Allie Terry)
The Publication LC has met 4 times to discuss 6 Learning Community members' research thus far and has already built a "culture of accountability" for the publication process within the group. Each session, at least one LC member pre-circulates a publication in progress for critique and discussion by the group. During our meeting, we dissect the text, move it forward in terms of readers' comments, conceptual frameworks, and issues of style.

The culture of mutual trust and respect in the group provides an ideal environment of "safe critique," one in which the shared goal is to publish the research in the best form possible. Thus, the author understands that the critique is not aimed at intellectual failure, but rather at intellectual achievement in the eventual publication of the research. Our LC's current works-in-progress include: 21 articles, 7 book chapters, at least 4 book manuscripts, 2 grant proposals, and 16 conference papers. (Note: this LC has 10 members this year.)

Library e-Tools LC (Facilitated by Colleen Boff and Linda Rich)
The Library e-Tools LC has been having fun digging into EBSCOhost, a common search interface to dozens of library research databases covering a variety of topics and disciplines. Here’s what we are in the process of exploring:

• Basic and advanced searching
• Customization of the search screen
• Saving searches and organizing research into folders
• Sharing research folders with other users (e.g. students, colleagues, etc.)
• Setting up automatic searches via email alerts/RSS feeds
• Setting up table of contents alerts for favorite journals
• Using EBSCOhosts’ Page Composer to easily build web pages

As we explore these different Web 2.0 enhancements, we discuss ways to use these value-added features with students in our teaching and for our own research and work with colleagues.

Pedagogy and Scholarship in Second Life Learning Community (facilitated by Anthony Fontana and Bonnie Mitchell) has been investigating various approaches to integrating SL into the BGSU learning environment and the issues involved. Members continually share their experiences, concerns, opinions, expertise and interests during group discussions and interactive dialog. The community consists of members from a variety of disciplines including Art, Interpersonal Communication, Intervention Services, the Writing Center, Computer Science, Psychology and Pop Culture.

The facilitators have shared the knowledge that they obtained while attending the Second Life Educators Community Conference in Florida and the Internet Research Conference in Denmark. As a group, the Pedagogy and Scholarship in Second Life Learning Community discussed issues related to research ethics and procedures, relevant and popular research topics in SL, and developments in virtual world technologies. Other meetings have focused primarily on teaching using Second Life and teaching experiences on the virtual campus.


For more information about these and other learning communities, visit the CTL's LC page or contact us at ctl@bgsu.edu or 372-6898.

P2P University

There is a small handful of education professionals who are joining a movement towards creating an online university. The fact that there will be an online university should not serve as too much of a surprise though, because of how common we hear about attaining a college degree online or because online courses are almost as common. However, this online university is quite different.

As Jeffrey Young reports on The Chronicle of Education website, the P2P University (peer-to-peer) will involve instructors from around the world volunteering and helping pay the Web-hosting fees to publish the ‘university’s’ courses. P2P University is seeking to help students take part in “learning from one another through online social tools.” Among other reasons explaining why this school is being founded is because P2P University wants to fill in what they see as gaps in traditional university online classes.

The idea of a peer-to-peer online school is not an entirely new concept, and it has been attempted before. Most tries have been met with failure, but P2P says that it has plans that say should ensure its survival. One of the strategies to attract students is by having internationally renowned instructors, who are retired or working in fields outside of Academia.

There has been no mention of actual official credit for students ‘attending’ P2P and details are still being worked out to establish the school. Please read Young’s article and see what you think about this idea of peer-to-peer higher education.

No More Blue Books?

It was less than a decade ago that students had to actually get in line at the registrars office at a prescribed time and date in order to add or drop a course. It was even less than a decade ago that note-taking usually meant writing by hand in a notebook. Today, as evident here at BGSU, students can enroll for classes completely online and/or type (even digitally record) their notes on their laptop.

The rapid shifts in technology have now reached the point where we could likely see Blue Books become obsolete. Some universities are purchasing certain software programs that students can install onto their laptops which allows writing exams to be typed in class. The programs essentially allow students to open the word processing programs on their laptops, while locking down all other programs. The programs can also do a number of other options, which add to the program's attractiveness.

Securexam is one of the forerunners in this shift in higher education. Please read an article on Insidehighered.com to learn more about the possible obsolescence of the Blue Book tradition at universities.

ODCE Conference: BGSU Faculty/Staff Presentations

The following BGSU community members presented last week at the 2008 Ohio Digital Commons for Education Conference (ODCE), which is sponsored by the Ohio Learning Network (OLN), Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), and OhioLINK.

Colleen Boff & Gwen Evans (University Libraries)
Hi Tech, High Touch, Low Cost: Library Instructional Tools Across a First Year Experience Program

Terry L. Herman, Melanie Alt, Daniel Lemmerbrock, Christopher Pappas, Todd Pavlack, Christopher Pittman and Mark Stevens (College of Technology)
Virtual Learning Environments: A Look into the Future

Michael Kudela (IDEAL) & Garrick L Ducat (Mercy College of NW Ohio)
Creative Commons: Share Your Work, Keep Your Rights and Learn from Others

Connie Molnar & Carolyn Matzinger (IDEAL)
The Metamorphosis of Biology 101: Face-to-face to Online Course Delivery

Carrie Rathsack (CTLT)
Today's Digital Tools for Enhancing Future Learning

For more information about ODCE or the conference events and resources, including the keynote address by Chancellor, Eric Fingerhut:

• Website - http://www.oln.org/conferences/ODCE2008/
• Wiki - http://wiki.conference.oln.org/
• Blog - http://blog.conference.oln.org/

Podcasting with Gcast and iTunes U

We have had many posts about podcasting in the past, however, today we want to introduce you to a couple things you might not have heard of.


Gcast
Have you ever wanted to add an episode to your podcast when you were out and about and not at home with your audio recording equipment? Have you wanted to interview people on the spot and create a audio files on the go? Well, now you can!

Gcast allows you to do mobile podcasting without having to have a laptop and recording equipment. You can do it all with just a phone!

BGSU iTunes U
The University has partnered with Apple to implement a BGSU iTunes U page. Before starting ,ensure that you have iTunes intalled; if not you can download it at http://www.apple.com/itunes/. Simply go to http://www.bgsu.edu/itunes/ or click this link and you will asked to load the BGSU iTunes U page in iTunes. As a faculty member you can post your podcasts here and make your information available for free. Contact The Center at ctlt@bgsu.edu for more information.

Podcating Workshops
New to podcasting? Not sure what it is? Just need some guidance on how to effectively use it and create audio files? Find out how podcasting can be utilized in your course to facilitate or enhance student learning. Basic topics such as what is podcasting, how to subscribe, classroom uses to achieve learning outcomes, and an overview of what is needed to create your own podcast will be discussed. Common uses for podcasts include updating students on current events, providing information to students between classes, and recording lectures or review sessions so students can use them to study.

• Wednesday, March 12, 1:00pm–2:00pm
• Monday, March 31, 11:00am–12:00pm
• Wednesday, April 16, 2:00pm–3:00pm

Visit our workshop page or click here to register...

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Have you used Gcast or iTunes U? If so, how? Have you ever attended one of our podcasting workshops? How have you used podcasting in the classroom?
Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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Academia 2.0: Blog Comments vs. Peer Review

From The Chronicle of Higher Education - Feb. 1, 2008 (Link to article for BGSU community):
Blog Comments vs. Peer Review: Which Way Makes a Book Better? (by Jefferey R. Young)

"What if scholarly books were peer reviewed by anonymous blog comments rather than by traditional, selected peer reviewers?"

Noah Wardrip-Fruin from the University of California at San Diego is asking this very question for a book he is finishing, Expressive Processing: Digital Fictions, Computer Games, and Software Studies.

"The idea was to tap the wisdom of his crowd. Visitors to the blog might not read the whole manuscript, as traditional reviewers do, but they might weigh on a section in which they have some expertise...

"Ben Vershbow, editorial director at the Institute for the Future of the Book, concedes that comments on blogs are unlikely to fully replace peer review. But he says academic blogging can play a role in the publishing process."

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What are your thoughts on this type of peer review? What are the pros/cons/limitations/consequences?

...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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Tools for Learning In Plain English...Wikis, RSS and Social Bookmarking

Ever wish you could watch a video that would easily explain these new technology concepts?

Well today your prayers have been answered! Below are three great YouTube videos that help to explain what a the concepts behind wikis, RSS feeds, and social bookmarking

Wikis


RSS


Social Bookmarking

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Did these quick videos help with your understanding of these technology concepts? Do you have any other questions regarding Wikis, RSS, or Social Bookmarking? Do you have any other great YouTube videos to share?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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How University Administrators (& Faculty) Should Approach Facebook: 10 Rules

This is a useful article on how our students are using Facebook and things that we should consider as college educators. Listed below are rules 1 and 2 in a list of 10. For more information, please click here: http://chimprawk.blogspot.com/2006/01/how-university-administrators-should.html

1. The Facebook isn't going away. While Facebook.com may not last forever, a service like the Facebook will always be present and useful on a college campus. The logic to this is quite simple: students are forced to renegotiate their social networks every semester. The Facebook supports and answers the student's information needs. Put simply, our students are curious; they want to know anything and everything about the students around them. If you had the Facebook when you were an undergrad, wouldn't you have wanted the same?

2. Almost all of your institution's undergraduates are on the Facebook. I found that 94 percent of UNC's Freshman class was on the Facebook. Techcrunch reported in November that 85% of all college students were on the Facebook, and surely that number has increased. You can't fight numbers like this. More importantly, you can't ignore them.
Both of these services can provide useful tools that can be utilized from home, office, or dorm room.

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Do you have a Facebook account? How can Facebook be used to stay in contact with our students?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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Sarah Robbins (Intellagirl) Speaks at TechTrends Series

Sarah Robbins (aka - Intellagirl), prompted the BGSU Tech Trends Series audience, "The world is changing… are you ready? Are your students ready?"

After presenting a multitude of recent statistics on the technology use habits of 18-22 year olds, Robbins explained how the numbers simply represent symptoms of a larger issue – young people want to express themselves and communicate with others, which all too often ends at the classroom door.

Her remedy for bridging this chasm is to determine what faculty need to know and be able to do in this new, changing world. She suggests that an instructor’s technological expertise should be “somewhere between (knowing) everything and nothing” – enough so faculty can help build a bridge from the place where students are interested and engaged to where they need to go, educationally.

Her overall message centered on three approaches to reach current (and especially future) students:

1. Second Life – a MUVE, or multi-user virtual environment (not an online game, since there are no game mechanics and no goals assigned; instead, each individual must figure out what to do and has free reign within certain boundaries.
2. Social Networks – (e.g., Facebook, Ning) where communities are built around common interests, including trends, culture, ideas, events, ideas, and creations.
3. Contributed/remixed content sites – (e.g., YouTube, Flickr, blogs, wikis) where students can collaborate, create, contribute, and critique – with text, audio, and/or images.

Benefits of these three approaches include:

• Collaboration
• Creativity
• Authenticity
• Community -- around the content; they try much harder – “recreate it for the web”
• Engagement – students are engaged in participatory explorations
• Social
• Local/Global – local issue becomes global and vice versa
• Immediate – instant experiences; questions researched and answered quickly
• Participatory -- not just a consumer; students become knowledge creators/synthesizers

Robbins is known to some for her often-publicized, academic exercise where students were asked to portray Kool-Aid people and mill around various Second Life spaces to experience diversity, crowd mentality, exclusion, and discrimination. She explained that because most of her Ball State University (Indiana) students never felt excluded or discriminated against, the “Kool-Aid man experience” was the best way to get them to quickly and easily understand a previously foreign concept.

So how did the students react to this new (and strangely unique) exercise? Robbins said many of them expressed they felt safe because they were in a group who were like themselves; had they been alone, “it would have been worse.” In other words, within five minutes, students learned complex, experiential concepts that were only marginally successful during a 50-minute, face-to-face class.

Robbins shared several other educational uses and applications of Second Life:

• Chat text from each student can be exported, saved, analyzed
• Group IM (instant messaging) – allows a lifeline when out interviewing others in SL (like an expert or advisor in an earpiece)
• Translating metaphorical ideas
• Role Playing
• Building, testing, synthesizing theoretical models (e.g., customer traffic flow, chemical molecules)
• Recreate works from literature to build understanding (e.g., Dante’s levels of hell, science fiction/fantasy recreations or interpretations)
• Critique and parody
• Sharing and presenting works to hundreds, rather than only the instructor or single class
• Student-generated schizophrenia simulator
• Her students were treated as co-researchers

Robbins closed by emphasizing the need to find and use technologies that meet the needs and goals of the course and your comfort level – not all tools are for everyone or every purpose, just because they are popular or novel. And with that, we’ll close with a few questions about your thoughts… What do YOU think?

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How have you used Second Life or other "connecting" tools to engage students? What are your thoughts on teaching/learning in Second Life? (concerns, questions, success stories, ideas, etc.) ...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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For more information:

Intellagirl Website

Sarah Robbins' Ubernoggin Blog

Second Life

(Search for Article) Professor Avatar: In the digital universe of Second Life, classroom instruction also takes on a new personality (from The Chronicle of Higher Ed – September 21, 2007)

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Want to Take a Web 2.0 Journey?

Follow the link below for 23 Learning 2.0 Things. The site gives you tasks designed to make you more comfortable with Web 2.0 technologies. Tips and advice are provided along your journey. Learn more about blogging, RSS, photo sharing, tagging, wikis, and other online tools.

http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/

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What tasks have you tried? What ideas or tools you would add to this tutorial? What is your favorite Web 2.0 tool? ...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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A Vision of Students Today

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What is your opinion of the video? Do your students have similar concerns? How can you or the University help to change and encourage better student interaction? ...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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For another great video from this group check out The Machine is Us/ing Us a short video about the Web 2.0 revolution.

Ask-a-Librarian

Here are a couple of useful resources that we would like to share:

The Library of Congress offers an Ask-a-Librarian service, where they provide the ability to choose a research area and then ask a librarian via either online chat or email.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/

Another option is to use BGSU's own Ask-a-Librarian service, The library offers help via online chat, email, phone, and one-on-one consultations.

http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/infosrv/ref/ask.html

Both of these services can provide useful tools that can be utilized from home, office, or dorm room.

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What luck have you had with either service? Have you shared these resources with your students? Are there any other similar services that you use?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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Slideshare: The Show Must Go On! (and on, and on...)

Slideshare is a site for hosting slidecasts - a new multimedia format for viewing slideshow (i.e. PowerPoint) synchronized with a podcast. However, presentations do not need to contain audio to be viewed on Slideshare.net. It can be used for conference talks, musical slideshows, audio picture books, portfolios or whatever else you can imagine.

Slideshare can be an alternative to Blackboard, when you want your presentations to be available to a wider audience than only your current students or community members, such as conference attendees, colleagues, future/prospective students, etc.

Here are the simple steps to create your own SlideShare show:

• Upload your PowerPoint presentation file to Slideshare
  
• Go to edit slide show > Create Slidecast tab and enter your URL here
  
• Synchronize slides and audio using the synchronization tool and click publish
  
• Your Slidecast is now ready for public viewing on SlideShare or anywhere else you embed the presentation, such as in a blog, wiki, or other web page.

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How could you use Slideshare to enhance student learning? What types of "shows" would you like to share or view?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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Ask AL- Wiki Tips

Question 1
How might I use a wiki in an educational setting?

AL's answer for Mac
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=31064

AL's answer for PC
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=31064&format=1

Question 2
How can I set up a pbwiki site?

AL's answer for Mac
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=31071

AL's answer for PC
http://www.atomiclearning.com/almovie?key=31071&format=1

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Do you currently use wikis in the classroom? If so, how? Can you think of any instances where wikis could improve communication and collaboration amongst your students?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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TeachU Online Seminar Series for 2007-2008

The Ohio Learning Network (OLN) announces the 2007-2008 online webinar series. OLN’s TeachU webinars are hour-long interactive web seminars on uses of emerging technologies and pedagogies within the contexts of teaching, assessment, and student success. They’re also free! 

To register go to: http://wiki.teachuohio.org/page/Register

Additional Webinars in the 2007-2008 TeachU Series Include:

October 4th @ 2:00 pm:
The Web 2.0 Classroom: What's Available, Where to Begin, and Innovative Integrations
Presented by Garrick Ducat, Mercy College and Terence Armentano, Bowling Green State University

November 8th @ 3:00 pm:
Stretching Into the Future
Presented by Kay Strong, Bowling Green State University

January 17th @ 11:00 am:
Creating a Course and Open Source Portfolio for First Year Students
Presented by Jason Tetzloff, Owens Community College

January 24th @ 2:00 pm:
Mobile Learning
Presented by Sheri Stover, Bryan Beverly, Frank Carone, Terri Klaus and Chris Roberts, Wright State University

February 14th @ 1:00 pm:
Reverse Benefits: How Teaching Online Improves Face to Face Teaching
Presented by Paul Pennington, Dean of Distance Education and Institutional Research, Cincinnati Christian University

March 20th @ 2:00 pm:
Making CENTSS of Web-based Student Services
Presented by Melody Clark, University of Cincinnati and George Steele, The Ohio Learning Network

April 24th @ 11:00 am:
Blogs and Wikis in an Integrated Curriculum
Presented by Lisa Meloncon, University of Cincinnati

May 29th @ 11:00 am:
Creating Hybrid Courses
Presented by Antoinette Perkins, Judith Anderson, Ingrid Emch, and Sharon Barnewell, Columbus State Community College

Instructional Strategies for Blogging

An article by Ruth Reynard, Associate Professor from Trevecca Nazarene University in Tennessee, discusses the inherent, powerful learning opportunities for students when they reflect on their learning in a written fashion - in particular, through blogging. She states,

(w)hile the notion of "finding individual voice" is not new to the learning process, technology such as blogging has presented a unique opportunity for teachers and students to work intentionally at this process.

She continues, noting that

(s)tudent response statements really cover a wide variety of "types" that reflect the instructional goals of the courses. That is, when developing individual voice throughout a learning process, each stage of that process is often reflected in the students' comments. I have described each of these that I have noticed into the following categories:

• Reflective statements;
  
• Commentary statements;
  
• New idea statements; and
  
• Application statements.

In a 2005 article Blogs in Higher Ed: Personal Voice as Part of Learning, Reynard expresses the importance of blogging for learning:

(f)inding personal voice as a pedagogical method is important to establish learner identity and focus, and journaling has long been recognized as an effective way to provide space for this to occur.

Furthermore, with regard to assessing student learning,

(t)he idea that more than one person will view the work is quite powerful in promoting a sense of ownership from the student. Teachers can also benefit from "hearing" the personal voice of their students to begin to really understand the learning path of each student through a course.

For more information about the basics of blogging in education, visit this page, organized by Drs. Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson or visit The Center's Blog & Wiki Resource Page.

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What has been your experience with blogging for learning? How can blogging be used in your teaching, research/scholarship, service, and engagement? What type of blogging assignments do you create for students?

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TIME's 50 Best Websites 2007

Time Magazine lists some of the best websites of 2007. Categories include Arts & Leisure, Audio & Video, News & Info, Social Networks, and Web Services. Many of these websites include tools that could be utilized in education. Below are a handful of the top 50 that could be useful...

Expertvillage.com: Worlds Largest How-To Video Site

Odeo.com: Millions of MP3s and 1000's of audio channels—podcasts, music, and more.

Ecofoot.org: Measure your Eco-Footprint

Fafsa4caster.ed.gov: Federal Financial Aid Calculator

Pollingreport.com: An independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion.

Linkedin.com: A social network for business professionals and career-minded folks.

Wetpaint.com: With Wetpaint you can start, share, and grow a wiki with anyone about anything.

And Many More...

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What is the best website in the list? How have you used any of these sites? Which ones?...Click on the COMMENTS link below to get started!

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