E-portfolios in Online Courses: Assessment, Reflection, & Data Aggregation

Facilitator: Michael Lindeman

Description: ePortfolios are gaining recognition as a valuable tool for learners, instructors, and institutions. This Learning Team will explore various types and uses of ePortfolios and discuss potential costs, obstacles, and challenges. In teams, we will create recommendations for implementing ePortfolios and each participant will begin to create their own ePortfolio.

Competencies for Online Educators

Facilitator: Virgil Varvel

Description: What exactly should an online educator know? This Learning Team will explore the issues of competencies including when and where should (not) they be used, what they should (not) include and why, and how they may (not) be implemented.

Global Learning and International Education

Facilitator: Iris Stovall

Description: Will your online course be offered to students enrolling from outside the United States? How do students from Asian, Middle Eastern and other cultures impact styles of teaching and ways of learning online? We will examine ways to engage and involve multiple cultures in your online courses, discuss issues to consider when enrolling international students, and discuss ways to gain teaching experience abroad.

Designing and Developing eLearning Materials: When and Where Should Teachers Invest in Design

Facilitator: Jason Rhode

Description: Instructors have an ever-increasing number of options when considering the design and development of educational materials to enhance the online learning experience of students. Join us to explore the design, development, and deployment of eLearning course materials and to examine strategies for deciding when and where to develop new materials.

New Possibilities and Proven Practices: Teaching with Blogs, Wikis, and Discussion Boards

Facilitator: Robert Baird

Description: A long time writing instructor recently celebrated his transition to a wiki-centric writing environment, even as he continued using discussion boards for some activities. By discussing current best practices and building and testing examples ourselves, our team will explore how blogs and wikis might enrich teaching, research, publishing, and collaboration.

Teaching with Podcasts

Facilitator: Douglas Mills

Description: This learning team will explore the pedagogical potential of podcasting, discuss lessons learned in other FSI venues as related to podcasting, and share tips and tricks for podcasting success. Participants will work in teams to produce podcasts highlighting or demonstrating ideas and techniques for effective pedagogical use of podcasts.

Explaining with Graphics

Facilitator: Jim Witte

Description: Students learn better when the right kinds of graphics are added to text. This learning team will focus on the technical and instructional design issues involved in representing course content in a visual way.

Faculty and TA Development: The Need for Opportunity and How To Do It

Facilitator: Leslie Hammersmith

Description: This learning team will focus on the need for organized Faculty and TA development opportunities in the use of educational technologies. The Team will create recommendations for building successful technology development programs that can be taken back to the participants' institutions for further exploration and action.

Multimedia: Value, Depth and Access to other Learning Styles

Facilitator: Rick Langlois

Description: The ability to enhance learning with a rich multimedia experience has been used to attract educators to use microcomputers for well over a decade. As anyone who has produced multimedia material knows to do it well takes a great deal of time, effort and sometimes money. How can educators produce material?

Critical Approaches to Teaching with Technology

Facilitator: Alan Bilansky

Description: The list of possible technologies to use in teaching is daunting: email, Web pages you create, Web pages the students create, newsgroups, blogging assignments, sharing electronic drafts, animations, full-blown course management systems, and so on. This learning team will focus on the broader pedagogical and social issues involved in the choice to incorporate a specific technology into teaching.

Active Learning in Large Classes

Facilitator: Al Weiss

Description: Can there really be active learning in a class of over 100 students? Absolutely. Instructors across the country are developing teaching strategies for active learning curricula in large lecture classes. We will look at how technology is enabling these methods, share our own ideas, and create new lessons using technology.

Supporting Teaching and Learning with Mobile Technologies

Facilitator: Gail Taylor

Description: Mobile learning is an emerging trend in educational and workplace settings. This team will explore some of the many ways mobile technologies -- gaming consoles, MP3 players, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and tablet computers -- can be utilized to support teaching and learning among students of all ages.

Hybrid Blended Learning

Facilitator: Patrice Hess & Janice Kinsinger

Description: The Hybrid Blended Learning Team will discuss designing and delivering “hybrid” or “blended” classes. Hybrid/blended refers to classes conducted partially face to face/partially online or any combination of traditional/non-traditional, alternative or distance delivery. Discussion will include familiarizing learners with hybrid learning, designing materials and maximizing use of “class time”.

Building and Sustaining Learning Communities

Facilitator: Carol Scheidenhelm

Description: Whether online or in the traditional classroom, the establishment of a learning community enhances the students' learning experience and provides an enriched forum for critical thinking. Join us for an exploration of strategies and activities for building and sustaining course communities.

The Art of Supporting Educational Technology: Opportunities & Challenges for Staff

Facilitator: Konstantinos Yfantis

Description: The ever-changing world of online education constantly generates new challenges for instructional technology staff. The struggle to find time to evaluate new products and adapt to new versions and getting faculty to use training and consulting services are just a few issues that IT units must confront. This team will explore creative ways in which IT support staff can meet these challenges.