By Jennifer Krisch
Can podcasts, wikis and blogs serve as teaching tools?
Many faculty want to know the answer to that question. Enough, in fact, to inspire a daylong teaching and learning mini-conference this Friday on the use of new technology in the classroom.
The mini-conference, titled "Engaging Students with Learning through Technology: Strategies and Pedagogical Purposes," will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 6, in the Friends of the Library Room on the third floor of Alden Library. Co-sponsored by Faculty Commons and Lifelong and Distance Learning, the event will examine ways to utilize new technology for teaching.
Discussion and demonstrations will cover a variety of course formats, including face-to-face, blended classes and online courses. Registration is required for the workshop portion of the event and can be completed here. Demonstration stations also are planned as part of the event, and faculty and staff are welcome to drop by those without registering for the conference.
This is the first conference hosted by the Faculty Commons this year, and another is planned for spring quarter, budget permitting, said Laurie Hatch, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and professor of sociology. Topics are inspired by faculty suggestions, said Hatch, who expects a large turnout for this week's offering, she said.
"This is a very timely issue," Hatch said. "We have had several faculty request that we do a program on this topic."
The mini-conference will begin with a continental breakfast and welcome followed by a two-hour keynote workshop, a panel discussion over lunch and a series of concurrent workshops and learning technology demonstrations throughout the afternoon. The panel discussion topic is "Copyright in a Flat Web 2.0 World: Use of Content Created by Others in Online and Hybrid/Blended Courses." Workshops titles are "Ensuring Quality in Online Courses, Best Practices," "Interactive Learning Modules" and "Supporting Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment with Technology."
Keynote speaker Bill Burke, senior program manager for educational development at the University of Kentucky, will present "The Classroom is Flat: Education and Web 2.0," which looks at the pros and cons of pedagogically grounded uses for teaching through technology. Burke emphasizes how using new technology enhances creativity, communication and collaboration between faculty and students. Among those discussed will be Web conferencing, blogs, wikis and podcasts.
Hatch said many Ohio University faculty and staff members already are using technology to engage and teach students, and several will be on hand at the conference to share their experiences. Demonstration stations will be set up in the Faculty Commons from 11 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 3:45 p.m., and no registration is needed for this part of the day.
"We had learning technology demonstrations in Faculty Commons in the fall and it was very well attended," Hatch said.
Stations are planned on the following topics:
- Collaborating and journaling in Blackboard 7: Wikis and blogs
- Creating podcasts and uploading multimedia in Blackboard 7
- Developing tests/assessments in Blackboard 7: Respondus
- Transferring course content from Blackboard 6 to Blackboard 7
- Clicker technology: student/audience response system
- Plagiarism detection in Blackboard 7: Safe Assign (Other topics at this station include adding faculty to Blackboard, creating test courses in Blackboard 7 and general Blackboard 7 questions
- Helping faculty use Web 2.0 applications
- Adobe Connect
The College of Health and Human Services' Atrium Café Catering -- staffed by students enrolled in School of Human and Consumer Sciences catering courses -- will provide lunch.
Click here for a full conference agenda.
Updated 5:08 p.m. Feb. 2, 2009.