Hello,

If you are interested in the upcoming COLTT Conference, please see the message below.  The message also contains info on how to register for the conference, as will as how to request a conference scholarship.

Best,
Terry

SUBJECT: Dr. Kirsten Sanford Named as the 2012 COLTT Conference Keynote Presenter; Register or Request a Scholarship Now!

The 15th Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference (COLTT) is

proud to welcome renowned science journalist Dr. Kirsten Sanford of the "Dr. Kiki's Science Hour" podcast as the conference's 2012 keynote speaker. Dr. Sanford recently participated in the Conference on World Affairs as a panelist

for a variety of topics, including the session "Technology: Hurting or Helping." Her work helps us understand how our brains are constantly developing and adapting to the technology that we create. To learn more about Dr. Sanford, please visit her website at http://www.kirstensanford.com/.

COLTT 2012 is shaping up to be another great opportunity for faculty and graduate students to network and to gain access to new ideas and technologies that can be incorporated into classroom and online teaching. Attendees will find sessions on gamifying the classroom, info graphics, flipped classrooms,

learning analytics, and Google apps, among other topics. The conference will be held in the Wolf Law Building on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, Wednesday, August 1st,

and Thursday, August 2nd, 2012.

To register and pay directly for COLTT use the registration page:

https://www.cusys.edu/coltt/2012/registration.html. 

To Request a Scholarship please follow these directions:

There are a few remaining scholarship slots for Colorado Community College System faculty, instructors, and staff. Please directly email jill.lester@colorado.edu to get approval to register your request online, or to be placed on the waitlist. COLTT has asked that you please use this process rather than requesting online at this time. Thank you.

COLTT is sponsored by the Colorado Community College System through CCCOnline, along with a number of other institutional and exhibitor sponsors. Questions about COLTT 2012 may

be directed to Jill Lester, Conference Coordinator, coltt@cu.edu. We look forward to seeing

you in August!

Jill C. Lester

COLTT Conference Coordinator

303-492-8426

jill.lester@colorado.edu

www.cusys.edu/coltt

COLTT Conference Scholarships

Hello everyone,

CCCOnline will be able to scholarship some CCCS staff and faculty for COLTT this year; please see the announcement below.  I hope some of you can attend.

Thanks!

Terry

_________________________________________________

CCCS

Subject: Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference (COLTT):

Call for Proposals, Registration, and Scholarships

The 15th Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference (COLTT) needs your expertise and enthusiasm for this year’s conference, to be held on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, Wednesday, August 1^st and Thursday, August 2^nd, 2012. We are looking for dynamic sessions that explore innovative and effective uses of technologies in teaching and learning settings. We encourage you to explore the full Call for Proposals at: http://coltt2012.pbworks.com/.The submission deadline is April 28^th.

Registration is now open. To register or request a scholarship please review our COLTT 2012 website and links at: https://www.cusys.edu/coltt/2012/registration.html .

CCCOnline has received funding to once again offer scholarship funds to qualified applicants for COLTT registrations. The funds are limited, and will be allocated on a first-come first-serve basis, with a waitlist as necessary.

This 15^th COLTT conference will be an amazing opportunity to network with faculty and gain access to new ideas and technologies to incorporate into your classroom. We hope you’ll join us for what will surely be a vibrant and inspiring event!

Questions about COLTT 2012 can be directed to Deborah Keyek-Franssen, Conference Director, deblkf@colorado.edu or Jill Lester, Conference Coordinator, coltt@cu.edu .

Terry Reeves

Dean of Academic Instruction, CCCOnline

9026 E. Severn Place; Denver, CO 80230

P 720-858-2215; F 303-365-8822; E terry.reeves@cccs.edu

VWBPE Conference

Hello everyone,

I wanted to bring your attention to the Virtual World Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) Conference.  It is a free conference running from March 15-17, 2012.  Chris Luchs, Associate Dean of CTE at CCCOnline, is one of the conference organizers.  Below is a information regarding the conference from Chris.  I hope some of you are able to take advantage of this conference -- it sounds like it will be full of great information!

Terry 

Info from Chris:

On March 1st, CCCS released the Request for Proposals (RFP) for $10,000 to $100,000 grant applications for game based and immersive learning projects. This is part of President McCallin's proposed $3 million grant program for incorporating games based learning into our classroom and online instruction that she announced at the 2011 2:2 conference.

For instructors not familiar with virtual worlds, games, simulations, and alternative reality, there is a free online conference running from March 15 - 17, 2012. This conference is the Virtual World Best Practices in Education (http://www.vwbpe.org) and last year almost 2,500 educators logged in from around the world to attend this conference. VWBPE takes place in a virtual world called Second Life (http://secondlife.com/). However, you do not have to explore this event unprepared. 

On March 8, 2012, we will be holding two informational sessions to provide an overview and an orientation for those interested in attending the conference. The two sessions are:

Conference Overview on Elluminate  March 8th from 1 – 2 pm MST and 

Orientation to Second Life March 8th from 2 – 3:30 pm MST.

The Conference Overview session will go over where the conference will be held. We will also identify the games and virtual worlds presentations for attendees. This will give you an inside track to efficiently and effectively utilize your time while at the conference.  This session will be delivered via Blackboard Collaborate at https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008363&password=M.6DF43B6EDFA48BA68570CC4BF2C858

You can also attend this at Westminster Campus of Front Range Community College in room C1158 just next to Faculty Resources.

This Orientation to Second Life (March 8th from 2 – 3:30 pm MST) session will take place in the Second Life virtual environment. During this session, we will assist attendees in navigating the virtual environment and mastering skills such as moving, sitting, virtual conference etiquette, and other essential skills necessary for those new to virtual worlds.  For this session, attendees will need to go to http://secondlife.com/ and create an avatar. You will also need to download the Second Life software onto your computer. Please go to http://secondlife.com/support/system-requirements/ to see if your computer meets the minimum requirements.  

You can also attend this at Westminster Campus of Front Range Community College in room C1158 just next to Faculty Resources.

For this session, please RSVP to Christopher.luchs@cccs.edu and include your avatar name if you already have one :D

Chris Luchs

Associate Dean, Career & Technical Education

CCCOnline

Professional Development Opportunity

This event is sponsored by the eLearning Consortium of Colorado, eLCC. CCCOnline is a member of eLCC, so all of you are welcome to attend this conference if you are interested. This event would fulfill your annual professional development requirement if you need that for this year still and on top of that you get a free lunch!

------------------------------------------------

Mark your calendar for an exciting FREE professional development event
sponsored by the e-Learning Consortium of Colorado (eLCC).

What: "Web 2.0 Buffet – FREE tools to enhance teaching and learning"
When: Friday, October 30, 2009 - 9:30-3:00
Where: University of Denver

More details and registration information coming soon!!!

http://elcc.pbworks.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Best,

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Last Day at Sloan-C Conference

Hey Everyone-

I am still looking for the Holy Grail of Educational Gaming, so as a part of that I started the day with a presentation by Harvard Business Publishing on simulations. The presenter had some very good lessons learned -- 1) syllabus space is tight, so develop very small topical sims rather than try to replace the entire class; 2) the administrative hurdle of managing sims is huge (that is both faculty administration and the business side; 3) students expect an engaging interface; 4) beware of the "complexity = reality" trap; your sim must stay "teachable and usable". Harvard Publishing primarily develops sims that can be completed in under 2 hours -- that includes prep, play, and de-brief. They have to support case-based teaching.

Harvard is developing in conjunction with a company called Forio (http://forio.com/simulations.htm) because that was the best way they found to solve delivery and payment issues. It sounded like they charge students for the sims via credit card. We would probably have to expand our digital content fee instead, but it is doable now.

The Universal Rental car pricing is a single player sim, the Everest climb is multi-player. They are both interesting. Forio also has free sim development software that probably sucks you into buying the full version. :^)

(As a side note the night before I had dinner with the folks from Lab-Paq, who are thinking of developing a forensics course based on CSI. There is a ot of interest in games!)

I put on my student services hat next and went to a session on developing student community and support via social networking tools such as Twitter, Second Life, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. I am planning a survey in the not too distance future to find out which web2.0 technologies both you and our students use. We do need to expand and organize our community space, decide which parts belong behind the firewall and which belong outside, decide which tools to use for which purposes.

My last presentation was on designing a First Year Seminar experience for online, adult learners. There is a large body of research showing that traditional first year students benefit significantly from success seminars. While there is not much research on online, adult learners our orientation has ben very popular with students. We also have two program chairs who have been puching for the development of some sort of success seminar for studens for quite some time. Goals of such a seminar would include

• Examine reasons for attending college,
• learn strategies for becoming a successful adult learner,
• build a support system,
• learn how to manage work, family, school,
• learn study skills,
• learn about college support services,
• and many more.

If any of you have experience with success seminars I'd love to know who you are.

Finally, the closing speaker was Liz Burge (http://www.unbf.ca/education/faculty/burge.html), professor of adult education at the University of New Brunswick. Three general principles from her presentation:

1. Technology application is a defining, but not a single, attribute of distance education.
2. Technology should transparently mediate interactions.
3. Never feel compelled to adopt the new because it is new; that is not the point.

She also commented that she first used audio recordings back in the 80's. They went away for a long time as we concentrated on the visual. Now audio is being looked at seriously again -- so don't forget about older technologies when you are planning your teaching.

Then a long plane ride home where I reverted to a very old technology and knitted. :^)

Lisa

Day 2 of Sloan C

Hi Everyone-

I started the day at a session on the state of gaming in education. The presenter was Benjamin Noel who got his start in World of Warcraft, but is now moving on to education. Hi current company has two games for education available or soon to be available. The first is Burn Center. It's goal is to teach peopple how to deal with large scale disasters -- in this case 40 burn patients at once. It makes sense to do that in a game because it is a low likelihood scenario, but one that our health professionals possibly should be prepared for. There is a movie on the game available here -- http://www.360ed.com/products/. The second game is Conspiracy Code, a game aimed at teaching American History to K12. History is another obvious target for gaming as whether or not you found it interesting probably depended entirely on your teacher. We watch the History Channel obsessively, but complain equally incessantly about how it's taught in K12.

Both look like they have possibilities and I do see the positive aspects of games as a learning strategy. I think my older daugher has learned more economics and history from Civilization IV than she has in school. I am not sure we have a financial or educational model that works well with games yet though.

Next I wet to a session on search engines. That was fascinating -- one presenter (Ray Schroeder) has a blog site with links to engines at http://alternatesearch.blogspot.com
There is also a tutorial at About.Com that incudes much of the information from the presentation - http://websearch.about.com/.

They reminded me of really cool sites like Archive.org and the WayBackMachine, which are fabulous if a link you used in a course has gone missing.

Last presentation of the morning was a panel talking abouthte future. Not a lot there unfortunately, but there were brief mentions of software as service, online computing (ie Buzzword from yesterday) and cloud computing in general. There are some very important questions around data storage when you begin to seriously use the power of cloud computing. (Do you know where your gmail or delicious bookmarks are stored? How about the presentations you out up on Slide Rocket?) However, the sheer power, convenience, and ability to scale are going to outweigh many of those data considerations for many of us.

And it's only noon here...

Lisa

(And I apologize for any typos -- I am sitting by the pool to type this and can barely see the screen. :^))

Emerging Technologies Workshop at Sloan-C

Hi Everyone-

I am at the Sloan-C conference on Online Learning in Orlando this week. I am attending all sorts of fascinating presentations and workshops and I want to pass at least some of the information on to you. Today I am at a workshop on emerging technologies....

Adding Audio

Adobe Acrobat lets you embed little tiny audio files in pdf files. So you can read your student's papers and comment via audio on their work. This of course requires that you own Acrobat Pro, which he thought was around $60.

The speaker's (Phil Ice) research suggests it saves about 60% of overall grading time. He also had research suggesting learning outcomes were significantly improved. The other reason to add audio comments on student work was some research quoted that showed learning improved when two senses were involved in the learning process (audio and visual). I will try to track that down as well.

Another way to do this is to record your grading session in Elluminate (we have a license or Elluminate V-Room is the free version) or in Adobe Connect (Connect Now is the free version). This also works well, but is a little bit more challenging for students to manage. I think you could also do this in Voice Thread, but haven't tried that yet. (VoiceThread.com, also has a free version).

Collaborative Documents

Adobe's new product is Buzzword. If you have used Googledocs this is significantly snazzier. Buzzword.acrobat.com. If you want to send me your email address (to Lisa.Cheney-Steen@cccs.edu) I will add you to a document so you can see how it works with sharing turned on. (Side note -- there are two paths to collaboration -- wikis and web-based document management systems. They may be going to the same place, but are taking different routes. Wikis are very simple to use and have built in discussion tabs and version tracking. Buzzword concentrates on giving you the ability to build a document that you might print -- easy to add images for example. We have a wiki available for your use also -- students.ccconline.org or faculty.ccconline.org.)

Other Powerpoint Type Presentations

Slide Rocket is an online powerpoint presentation with a free version. You can find it at www.sliderocket.com.

Keynote - Terry Anderson of Athabasca University

Athabasca is Canada's online university. Here are the slides up on Slideshare already - http://www.slideshare.net/terrya/sloan-2008-presentation-720143.

Tonight Terry included some research on the efficacy of distance learning, synchronous versus asynchronous models, and the relative importance of different types of interaction (student/student, student/teacher, and student/content). Student/student turns out to be very important and it might be true that if you get one type right you might be able to sluff a bit on the other two.

Oh and slide 6 gives you the reason eLearnng is so popular right now. Completely wortyh the entire presentation just for that slide.

More tomorrow -- it's dinner time here.

Lisa Cheney-Steen

Blackboard Greenhouse Award Winner!!

I am extremely happy to let you all know that this year a CCCOnline course has won a Blackboard Greenhouse award!

Karen Kaemmerling's HIS 202 digital content course wowed the reviewers with both its design and use of technology to assist students in the learning process. Karen is going to the Blackboard conference this summer to present the course there, but you can see the presentation here:

http://media.ccconline.cccs.edu/ccco/HIS202/Tour/HIS202_Greenhouse_custom.htm

Mary Cash is the designer on record for this course and Aaron built the presentation with Karen. The course uses NROC and in-house content to replace the textbook. (See yesterday's webinar archive for more information on NROC). There are many great ideas embodied in this course that could be implemented in more of our courses (and many of course that already have been implemented.)

The greenhouse program is administered by scholars, reviewers are chosen from colleges around the world, and an extensive rubric is used in the review precess. Blackboard describes the program below:

The Blackboard Greenhouse Exemplary Course Project (ECP) recognizes courses that model best practices in learning, course design, interaction and collaboration, assessment and evaluation, meaningful technology use, and learner support.

It truly is an honor to have a course recognized by this program! There is more information on the Greenhouse project (it builds on the WebCT Exemplary Course award program) available here: http://communities.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_130_1

Anyone interested in submitting a course next year should read over the material and then let your program chair and designer know that you are interested.

best,
Lisa

Faculty Conference! Free Lunch!

Hi Everyone-

The Learning Technology Council is sponsoring a free one day conference on February 22nd at Pikes Peak Community College's Centennial campus (south end of Colorado Springs). We'd love to see you all there!

To register for this conference go to http://www.ppcc.edu/conference/ and click on the registration link.

The opening general session is at 9:00 am. It will include opening remarks from the system president Dr. Nancy McCallin and a presentation by Dr. Ellen Wagner, Vice-President of eLearning Solutions for Adobe. Individual conference sessions include the following:

SESSION ONE 10:45-11:30

The Three Dimensional Professional Electronic Portfolio: Development and Deployment
This presentation (lecture/presentation/discussion) will define and demonstrate the development and deployment of a three dimensional professional electronic portfolio. The presentation will focus on a template that may be modified using MS Word to fit individual work history and professional experiences.
Presenter: Frank J. Nosal, CIS Instructor, PCC
Room: Level: All


Who-o-o-o Are You? The Issue of Student Authentication in Online Learning

Do you really know who’s out there? Federal officials are concerned, and this presentation will tell us what online instructors need to know now.

Presenter: Rhonda Epper, Co-Executive Director, Learning Technology, CCCS
Room: Level: All


Online Writing Centers: Opportunities and Issues

Online writing centers have been around for awhile, but they continue to evolve and face challenges. This presentation will focus on what is happening now and what OWLs might look like in the future.

Presenter: Larry Giddings, Writing Center Director, PPCC
Room: Level: All


Getting Started with the Faculty WIKI

Participants will learn to access and navigate the Faculty Wiki and understand
features such as search, special pages, creating accounts, and using Flash media and RSS feeds. Using demonstration accounts, participants will practice accessing a User Page, creating pages, editing pages, adding content, such as text, links, images, and media.

Presenters:
Lisa Marie Johnson, Director of Training & Personal Development, CCCOnline
Kathy Miles, Special Projects Associate, CCCOnline
Jonathan Fuller, Web &Wikimaster, CCCOnline
Room: A-250 Level: Beginner


The Simulation Experience in Nursing Labs

This presentation will review the process of using human patient simulation in nursing education at a variety of levels.

Presenter: Geri Tierney, Nursing Simulation Lab Coordinator, PPCC
Room: Level: Intermediate



SESSION TWO 11:45-12:30

Teaching an Online Class in Three Hours a Week

The perception among online instructors is that teaching online classes takes significantly more time than teaching classroom courses. But, a lack of instructor presence is a common complaint of online students. We will explore the mismatch between faculty and student perceptions by investigating what “teaching” means in the online environment.

Presenter: Eric Salahub, Online Lead for Arts and Letters, FRCC
Room: Level: Intermediate


Grading Forms and Rubrics

Use Blackboard Vista Grading Forms to make your grading easier. Cut your grading time in half by setting up Grading Forms which automatically calculate grades, enter them in your grade book, and report explanation and comments to your students. A must for recurring or complex assignments.
Presenter: Mike Bleacher, Instructor, Educational Technology Training, CCA Room: Level: Intermediate

Faculty Mentoring

This presentation will examine ethical issues in mentoring new instructors and discuss the development of instructor mentoring programs. Participants will break into small groups and design a mentoring program.
Presenter: Cathy Taylor, Asst. Prof. of Management, Park University
Room: Level: Beginner

Collaboration Using Wikis in Online Courses

Participants will learn about practical and reflection applications of wikis in online courses, their role in collaborative learning experiences, and potential as resource and content specific repositories. Participants will collaborate on a small project using the Faculty Wiki to experience the processes for successfully incorporating wikis in the online classroom.
Presenters:
Cheryl Comstock, Director of Instructional Design, CCCOnline
Lisa Marie Johnson, Director, Training and Professional Development, CCCOnline
Room: A-250 Level: Intermediate

SESSION THREE 1:45-2:30

Using Webfolios in the Composition Classroom

Come learn how easy it can be to have your students publish their writing on the web. This workshop will show you how to use a webfolio instead of a final portfolio in English composition classes (or any classes using a portfolio system).
Presenter: Susan Achziger, English Faculty, CCA
Room: Level: Intermediate

Best Practices in Integrating Multimedia into the Learning Environment

This presentation explores best practices in integrating eLearning and mobile learning into traditional, hybrid, and online classes.
Presenter: James deHerrera, EDU, CIS, CSC Faculty, PPCC
Room: Level: Intermediate

A Comparison of Course Management Systems

This presentation showcases the same class materials in three different course management systems. Change is constant in online education, and this information might come in handy!
Presenters:
Lisa Cheney-Steen, Co-Executive Director, Learning Technology, CCCS
Aaron Leonard
Monica Falk
Room: Level: Beginner

Can you hear me now? Learn Why and Ways to Use Audio in Online Courses!

Experience Audacity™ and Gabcast™! Learn how these technologies are used at the Colorado Community Colleges Online for alternative delivery of course materials and to meet course outcomes related to speaking. Participants will also learn about engage in a discussion of current research concerning audio in the design of online learning.
Presenters:
Lisa Marie Johnson, Director of Training & Personal Development, CCCOnline
Karen Kaemmerling, Social Sciences Chair, CCC Online
Room: A250 Level: Beginner


SESSION FOUR 2:45-3:30

Using Elluminate in Online Foreign Language Courses

This presentation will showcase ways in which Elluminate Live! can be incorporated in Foreign Language Online courses, with ideas that can be used in other content courses.
Presenter: Jose Garcia-Paine, Foreign Languages Faculty, FRCC
Room: Level: Intermediate

Replacing Textbooks with Open Content Materials in Online History Classes

This presentation demonstrates how instructors can meet a variety of learning styles by incorporating online course materials from the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC).
Presenters:
Karen Kaemmerling, Social Sciences Chair, CCCOnline
Terri Rowenhorst, NROC Membership Director
Room: Level: Beginner

Podcasting

Learn to create educational podcasts! Anyone can create a podcast. It’s as easy as 1-2-3. We will also discuss some of the logistical and technical barriers. Most importantly, we will identify the elements of podcasting that engage our students and enhance the educational experience in online, hybrid and traditional courses.
Presenter: March Sustarsic, Foreign Languages Faculty, PPCC
Room: Level: Beginner

LTC Round Table

The transition to Blackboard Vista has been long and often difficult, and we all know that we still have issues. Come to the round table to ask questions, voice your concerns, and share your ideas about what the system’s distance learning programs should look like in the future.


See you there!

Lisa

League for Innovation Conference

Hi All-

I think I sent this out, but wanted to blog it so I can find it again.

CCD is hosting the League for Innovations conference in Denver this year. If you volunteer for 6 or more hours the League will pick up the conference fee.

If any of you wish to attend this conference as a volunteer please let me know and I will see if I can get you on the list.

The League website is http://www.league.org/index.cfm.

Lisa

Lisa Cheney-Steen
Co-Executive Director for Learning Technology
Colorado Community College System
www.CCCOnline.org

Original Message:

The League for Innovations Conference will be held in Denver at the Adams Mark Hotel in downtown Denver 3/2-3/5 2008. Community College of Denver is hosting this event. Three thousand people are expected to attend. Although the League is adept at putting on a conference of this size, we need volunteers to help at this event.

Please get the word out that volunteers are needed to help with staffing the registration booth, being guides and go-fors, assisting with answering questions, etc. Conference registration is free for people who volunteer for six hours or more. Please ask interested people to contact our volunteer coordinator, Connie Strand connie.strand@ccd.edu .

Thanks in advance for getting the word out.