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History: FDI Home :Spring Tracks 2007: Track D: New Strategies and Tools for Teaching with Technology
   
  Track D: New Strategies and Tools for Teaching with Technology
   
  Spring Track General Requirements
This year, FDI is again offering alternative tracks that will meet during the spring semester. By attending the sessions that comprise a spring track, faculty can opt out of participating during the summer months and still meet the participation requirements to receive a computer.
Track Requirements
(click on title to jump to a description and time listing)
Total of Seven 2-hour Spring Short Courses

Required Session #1 -

Required Session #2 –
choose one (or more) of the following two panel sessions

Required Sessions #3-7 –
choose FIVE (or more) of the following twenty-seven short courses:

 

Track E Description
This spring track is intended for the faculty member who is already using various technologies in her/his courses and would like to explore additional tools, strategies, and methodologies that will enhance and extend his/her current practice. Each participant will be able to self-select the short courses that provide the greatest interest from a wide range of topics. In this way, this track may be quite different from participant to participant. Topics will range from the theoretical (motivating your students, student culture and technology, evaluating instruction, and more) to the practical (Scholar, ePortfolio, concept mapping software, student response systems ("clickers"), Dreamweaver, podcasting, streaming media, and more). Hands-on experiences with emerging technologies as well as opportunities for discussing the functionality and pedagogical applicability of these tools will be hallmarks of this track. This spring iteration of Track D will also afford participants the opportunity to hear from their colleagues and students regarding best practices of teaching with technology.
 
Spring Track D Requirements
 The Spring Track D will require participants to attend seven selected spring short courses to receive a computer. The table to the right summarizes these requirements. The table below lists the required short courses with descriptions and dates offered. If you plan to attend a spring alternative track, you must be able to attend required sessions from those listed below. As always, it is possible to sign up for more than the required minimum courses.
 
Spring Track Course Listing

Required Session #1 -Campus Instructional Resources / Computer Security
(Select one Short Course from the following list)
1
  1. Monday, January 29 -
    10:00 am - 12:00 pm

  2. Wednesday, January 31 -
    3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

  3. Tuesday, February 6 -
    10:00 am - 12:00 pm

  4. Thursday, February 15 -
    10:00 am - 12:00 pm

  5. Tuesday, March 27 -
    10:00 am - 12:00 pm
All sessions meet in 1100 Torgersen Hall (Torgersen Hall Lobby). All sessions are both suitable for both Windows and Mac platforms.		 This short course will provide participants with a complete overview of the services and agencies that are in place at Virginia Tech to support instructional and (in many cases) research activities. New initiatives will be highlighed and the library will demonstrate their new services. Virginia Tech's security group will also present and provide strategies, suggestions, and access to software that will assist participants as they take steps to ensure the safety of the information on their computers.
Required Session #2 - Panel Sessions
(Select one (or more) Short Course(s) from the following list of two workshops)
 
2

Teaching Using Technology: Faculty Panel Discussion

  1. Wednesday, March 21
    3pm-5pm
    1100 Torgersen Hall
    Windows / Macintosh
This short course provides an opportunity for faculty at Virginia Tech to see how their colleagues have utilized technology to solve pedagogical problems. Our Faculty Panel will include colleagues from a diversity of disciplines who will explain and provide examples of their approaches to using technology in their courses. Their frank discussion concerning the process of developing class activities for face-to-face as well as blended and online class environments will include the following: problems encountered, time investment, pedagogical concerns, copyright issues, changes to the student-professor relationship, and support avenues available on our campus. Uses of technology in and outside of class (with both large and small enrollments) will be highlighted throughout. This panel will provide invaluable, real-life insight from those who have had success applying technology in their courses.

"From the Other Side of the Podium": Student Panel Discussion

  1. Thursday, March 22
    3pm-5pm
    1100 Torgersen Hall
    Windows / Macintosh
How do our students learn best? When are they the most motivated and engaged? How might we present our content to enhance student learning? This panel, comprised of both graduate and undergraduate students from a variety of disciplines, serves as an opportunity for faculty members to interact with VT students to discover details about their generational culture, their epistemological perspectives, and their educational values. The panel participants will provide anecdotal evidence regarding what educational methodologies have most (and least!) inspired, motivated, and engaged them to perform, interact, and learn.
Required Sessions #3-7 - Other Short Courses
(Select five (or more) Short Courses from the following list of twenty-seven workshops)
3 - 7

Acrobat 8: Enhancing PDF Files with Advanced Features

  1. Monday, February 5
    10am-12pm
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    Windows

  2. Tuesday, February 27
    10am-12pm
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    Macintosh

  3. Thursday, March 29
    10am-12pm
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    Windows

  4. Online Course through Element K

Are you a user of the PDF file format and would like to know how to extend the capabilities of these files? In this short course, advanced features of Adobe Acrobat will be explored. Topics to be covered include how to add comments (note tool, text editing tool, stamp tool, highlighting tool), and how to use advanced security features (restrict printing, prevent changes to a document, digital IDs, etc.). In addition, creating forms in pdf with Adobe Acrobat Professional (version 7) will be covered as well. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session.

NOTE: Element K online tutorials may be substituted for instructor led sessions. You can take these tutorials at any time (starting now). It is not necessary for you to complete all of the modules of the tutorials, but it is expected that you will spend at least two hours in the tutorial. It is also requested that you complete the tutorial by Friday, April 13. The Acrobat 8 tutorials are not available yet, but completing two hours in the Acrobat 7 tutorials will be acceptable to meet our requirements."

Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0: Scanning and Adjusting Images for the Web

  1. Wednesday, January 31
    10am-12pm
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    Macintosh

  2. Tuesday, February 6
    3pm-5pm
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    Windows

  3. Monday, February 26
    3pm-5pm
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    Windows

  4. Thursday, March 15
    3pm-5pm
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    Windows

  5. Online Course through Element K

Are you looking for an image editor that produces high-quality results like Adobe Photoshop CS2 but lacks the complexity of that tool? This short course will provide participants with the skills that are needed to prepare images for the web using Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0. Participants in this session will learn how to make image adjustments (color, luminosity, contrast, etc.), create basic layers, apply filters, and adjust image resolution for optimal quality on the web. A full exploration of Elements' tool bar will also be provided during this session. No prior experience with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements is required. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session. Please note that Elements 3.0 is the latest version on the Macintosh.

NOTE: Element K online tutorials may be substituted for instructor led sessions. You can take these tutorials at any time (starting now). It is not necessary for you to complete all of the modules of the tutorials, but it is expected that you will spend at least two hours in the tutorial. It is also requested that you complete the tutorial by Friday, April 13.

Blogs and Wikis in Higher Education
  1. Thursday, 02/08/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Monday, 02/26/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

Have you explored blogs and wikis and wonder if these technologies could hold value for you in the courses you teach? Might a wiki be useful way to collaborate with colleagues and students on research projects? A blog (short for weblog) is a web-based journal that is typically updated frequently and open for anyone to read. A wiki is similar to a blog; however, ownership of the wiki is distributed to numerous individuals who collectively add and edit web-accessible content. In addition to defining key concepts and related terminology, this short course will provide an overview of the ways in which blogs and wikis are being used in higher education and beyond, and examples, both at Virginia Tech and on the web, will be provided. An exploration of the technologies used to create blogs and wikis will be a key component of this session, and participants will leave the short course with knowledge of the resources on campus that support blog and wiki development. This short course will provide participants with everything they need to know to start their own blog or wiki.
Blackboard for New Users: An Introduction to Creating Web-based Courses
  1. Monday, January 29 -
    3pm-5pm -
    3060 Torgersen Hall - Windows/Macintosh

  2. Tuesday, February 13 -
    3pm-5pm -
    3080 Torgersen Hall - Windows/Macintosh

  3. Wednesday, February 21 -
    10am-12pm -
    1120 Torgersen Hall - Windows/Macintosh
Are you considering the use of Blackboard in your courses but are unsure of where or how to begin? This workshop is intended as a prelude to the skill-building short courses, as it addresses the planning and instructional concerns that are worthy of consideration when conceiving of the use of Blackboard. Included among these concerns are individual pedagogical reflection; student perceptions, skills, and expectations; potential changes to the professor/student relationship; including Blackboard on your syllabus; avoiding pitfalls and creating fail-safes; planning ahead for course organization and growth; logistical concerns of online discussions and assessments; time investment; support options; and general "Classroom Management." This discussion-based, hands-on workshop, led by faculty and OCS staff, will enable participants to walk through a sample Blackboard course as a student while considering the various features of Blackboard from an instructional viewpoint.
Blackboard 6 (Part One): Creating Web-based Courses
  1. Monday, February 5 -
    3pm-5pm -
    3060 Torgersen Hall -
    Windows / Macintosh

  2. Tuesday, February 20 -
    3pm-5pm -
    3080 Torgersen Hall -
    Windows / Macintosh

  3. Wednesday, February 28 -
    10am-12pm -
    1120 Torgersen Hall -
    Windows / Macintosh

 Are you somewhat new to web-based instruction and would like to learn more about Blackboard 6, Virginia Tech's on-line course management system? This short course will present participants with an overview of Blackboard's capabilities while providing essential information that will allow anyone teaching at Virginia Tech to have a web presence for his/her course. This session will consist of a hands-on demonstration of an exemplary Blackboard course, and participants will be allowed to explore this course as if a student. Blackboard's key features will be highlighted. Participants will also be given a hands-on tour of the essential course designer tools that are a part of Blackboard and will learn how to upload documents into the system. An overview of Virginia Tech's support options for Blackboard will also be presented. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session.
Blackboard 6 (Part Two): Question Pools and the Gradebook
  1. Wednesday, February 21 -
    3pm - 5pm -
    3060 Torgersen Hall -
    Windows / Macintosh

  2. Tuesday, February 27 -
    3pm - 5pm -
    3080 Torgersen Hall -
    Windows / Macintosh

  3. Wednesday, March 14 -
    10am - 12pm -
    1120 Torgersen Hall -
    Windows / Macintosh
 Are you familiar with Blackboard 6's basic functionality but would like to learn how to do more with assessment and interaction? This short course builds upon the knowledge established in "Blackboard 6 (Part One): Creating Web-based Courses." Great emphasis will be placed on creating and managing assessments and using Blackboard's Gradebook to retrieve grades and survey results. The Assessment pool manager will also be included as will the Discussion Board tool. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session.
Concept Maps: Using Concept Mapping Software to Teach Complex Concepts
  1. Thursday, 02/15/07
    1:00 - 3:00 PM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Tuesday, 03/27/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

Have you found that your students sometimes have trouble making the conceptual connections between instructional units within your course? Does your content area require that students have a thorough understanding of smaller, complex concepts in able to grasp or apply larger theories or models? If so, you may find that utilizing concepts maps as part of your instruction will aid with both of these problems and more. Concept mapping is a strategy that provides a visual representation of connections and elements within complex concepts. By reviewing or creating concepts maps of their own, students often come to a better understanding of the concept and the dependencies and relationships therein. This short course will provide an overview of the educational theory that supports the use of concept mapping for a number of instructional applications. Following this foundation, participants will learn to use freely available software to create concept maps and mind maps (a.k.a. idea maps). CmapTools, created by the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, is a concept mapping tool that makes it easy to construct and share concept maps via the internet. Freemind is software that enables the construction of maps that are more dependent upon hierarchies. Via hands-on activities, both of these tools and the types of assistance they provide will be explored.
Did it Help? Evaluating the Use of Technology in Your Courses
  1. Monday, 03/12/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Thursday, 03/22/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall (Windows/Macintosh)

One of the greatest challenges for those using technology in higher education is determining if its application in a course has truly had a positive result. For those that are looking to evaluate their use of technology in a class, it is important to note that underlying all instructional uses of technology is an instructional strategy. This short course will provide methodologies for determining if innovative instructional strategies have had an improvement on student learning, and much of the focus of this short course will be upon evaluating instructional strategies that utilize technology. Those who are motivated by continuous instructional improvement will find this short course to be of great interest. Participants will be provided with practical approaches to evaluating instruction, enabling them to ask and answer the right questions to assess the gaps in results and the consequences. While all materials presented in this short course will be grounded in instructional evaluation theory, participants will find the strategies provided to be exceptionally practical and accessible.
Dreamweaver 8 (Part One): Web Page Creation Made Easy
  1. Tuesday, 01/30/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  2. Thursday, 02/08/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Macintosh)

  3. Monday, 02/19/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  4. Thursday, 03/01/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  5. Tuesday, 03/13/07
    1:00 - 3:00 PM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  6. Online Course through Element K

Are you looking for an easy to use method of creating web (HTML) pages? Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 is quite intuitive, creates standard HTML code, and offers numerous tools to create and incorporate the latest technologies (Flash, DHTML, etc.) into HTML web pages. This short course will provide participants with an overview of the process of web site creation, including server information and options on campus. Introductory topics, such as inserting and modifying text, images, tables, and hyperlinks, will be taught. More advanced topics will also be covered, including interactive images, rollover effects, and Flash text. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session. Participants are encouraged to bring a zip, floppy disk, or jumpdrive so that they can take their creations with them once this workshop is over.

NOTE: Element K online tutorials may be substituted for instructor led sessions. You can take these tutorials at any time (starting now). It is not necessary for you to complete all of the modules of the tutorials, but it is expected that you will spend at least two hours in the tutorial. It is also requested that you complete the tutorial by Friday, April 13.

Dreamweaver 8 (Part Two): Site Management and Interface Development
  1. Tuesday, 02/06/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  2. Thursday, 02/15/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Macintosh)

  3. Tuesday, 03/20/07
    1:00 - 3:00 PM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  4. Online Course through Element K

Are you already familiar with basic web page creation with Dreamweaver 8 and would like to learn how to extend the capabilities of your web site? This short course picks up where ?Dreamweaver 8 (Part One)" left off by illustrating and providing hands-on experiences with several strategies for controlling the look and feel of larger web sites. Site management capabilities will be explored along with the following topics: frames, advanced tabling, image maps, color selection, jump menus, and more. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session. Participants are encouraged to bring a zip, floppy disk, or jumpdrive so that they can take their creations with them once this workshop is over.

NOTE: Element K online tutorials may be substituted for instructor led sessions. You can take these tutorials at any time (starting now). It is not necessary for you to complete all of the modules of the tutorials, but it is expected that you will spend at least two hours in the tutorial. It is also requested that you complete the tutorial by Friday, April 13.

Dreamweaver 8 (Part Three): Cascading Style Sheets, Templates, and other Advanced Topics
  1. Tuesday, 02/13/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  2. Thursday, 02/22/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Macintosh)

  3. Tuesday, 03/27/07
    1:00 - 3:00 PM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  4. Online Course through Element K

Are you familiar with basic web page creation with Dreamweaver 8 and would like to learn how to further extend the capabilities of your web site? Topics central to Dreamweaver 8 (Part Three) are cascading style sheets (CSS) and creating and working with templates. By using CSS and templates, it becomes easy to give your web site a consistent overall design and layout. Further, these strategies make it easy for you to change repeated content across multiple web pages, even on exceptionally large web sites. The integration of multimedia elements will also be demonstrated, and hands-on activities will be an integral part throughout. Participants are encouraged to bring a zip, floppy disk, or jumpdrive so that they can take their creations with them once this workshop is over.

NOTE: Element K online tutorials may be substituted for instructor led sessions. You can take these tutorials at any time (starting now). It is not necessary for you to complete all of the modules of the tutorials, but it is expected that you will spend at least two hours in the tutorial. It is also requested that you complete the tutorial by Friday, April 13.

Dreamweaver 8 (Part Four): Working with the University's Website Templates
  1. Tuesday, 02/20/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  2. Thursday, 03/01/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Macintosh)

  3. Tuesday, 04/03/07
    1:00 - 3:00 PM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

Are you familiar with basic web page creation with Dreamweaver 8 and are responsible for a Virginia Tech web site? This short course focuses on how to use and customize the new web templates provided by University Relations. In addition to an overview of the purpose of the templates and a description of what is available, this short course will provide guided, hands-on opportunities for the participants to work with and customize these templates. The process of template usage includes choosing Dreamweaver or HTML, downloading and copying template files, replacing unit headers and sub-headers, and filling in placeholders and site navigation links. All of these will be taught during this session. Adding root-relative links and server-side scripting will also be discussed, time permitting. A few words about further customization of these templates will be included as well. Participants are encouraged to bring a zip, floppy disk, or jumpdrive so that they can take their creations with them once this workshop is over.
EndNote X.0: Managing your Research Citations
  1. Friday, 02/02/07
    1:00 - 3:00 PM
    3310 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Tuesday, 02/06/07
    1:00 - 3:00 PM
    3310 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  3. Tuesday, 02/20/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3310 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  4. Tuesday, 03/06/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3310 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  5. Tuesday, 03/20/07
    1:00 - 3:00 PM
    3310 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  6. Friday, 03/30/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    3310 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

Are you looking for a tool that can help you manage bibliographic information across multiple manuscripts and articles? In this short course, you will be introduced to Endnote. The focus will be on creating a database of information that can be easily utilized and cited in your research. In addition to creating a database of your references, you will learn how to connect to remote databases on the web. Through Endnote, you will be able to search these databases and import the results into your EndNote database. You will also learn how to import images, tables, graphs, etc. into your EndNote database; insert references into manuscripts; and chose the appropriate bibliographic format. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session.

Please Note: EndNote X.0 for Windows and EndNote 9.0 for Macintosh are now available free of charge to all interested VT faculty, staff, and graduate students. Please visit the Information Technology Acquisitions web site for more information.

ePortfolio: Virginia Tech's ePortfolio (VTeP) System
  1. Thursday, 02/01/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Wednesday, 02/28/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  3. Tuesday, 04/03/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

Virginia Tech's ePortfolio (VTeP) system is a web-based, interactive tool designed to help students create, organize, reflect on, and share evidence of their educational accomplishments, both in courses and extracurricular activities. ePortfolio is also seen as a tool to assist programs and departments with self-studies and accreditation. This short course will explore these and other applications of ePortfolio. The pros and cons of traditional applications of portfolios will be outlined as will a generalized model of the portfolio assessment process. The changes enabled by ePortfolio will be highlighted and ePortfolio?s evolution at Virginia Tech will be discussed. The latest version of ePortfolio is quite flexible; however, faculty wishing to use it must make a number of decisions as they design how they would like the system to work. For those interested in using the latest version, an overview of the designing process will be provided along with documentation and other resources that will aid in their thinking as they move toward using ePortfolio in their courses.

Faculty Experiences in Distance Learning: A Panel Discussion
  1. Wednesday, 02/21/07
    1:00 - 3:00 PM
    1100 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

Methods used to teach distance classes can vary greatly from course to course. In this session you will meet with faculty members who have integrated synchronous and or asynchronous online elements into their distance class. Come learn from some of Virginia Tech's eLearning instructors as they lead the discussion and suggest possible practices to maximize your efforts and minimize your headaches. These instructors have had experiences that are quite different from one another, as the content, discipline, student academic level, and experience with distance learning vary between the two of them.
iMovie: Editing Digital Video for Instruction (for Mac users)
  1. 3:00 - 5:00 PM
    Thursday, 03/29/07
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Macintosh)

Do you have video that you would like to edit and present to your students? This short course will be almost entirely hands-on and will put all participants in front of a video editor (iMovie). iMovie is the free, video editing software that comes standard on Macintosh computers. Participants will learn to use iMovie to capture, edit, and export video as well as the concepts and skills needed to successfully approach the video editing process. This session can be seen as a companion to FDI's "Video Production: Planning and Shooting Digital Video" short course.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Creating PowerPoint Presentations and Adding Multimedia Enhancements
  1. Wednesday, 02/07/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Macintosh)

  2. Monday, 02/19/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  3. Wednesday, 03/28/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

Have you wanted to learn how to create more effective classroom and conference presentations? This short course is intended for those who are new to PowerPoint or have only utilized its most basic features. Sound PowerPoint design principles will be provided as will strategies that decrease your time investment with the software and increase your focus on your content. Text, image, sound, and movie insertions will be demonstrated as will advanced custom animations and transitions. After the session, participants will be able to analyze good and bad PowerPoint presentations, utilize advanced PowerPoint capabilities (transition, animation, and audio/video insertions), and export PowerPoint slides to various formats (print, WORD, webpage, and PDF). Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session.
Motivating Your Students: Strategies for Design and Implementation
  1. Monday, 02/05/07
    09:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Thursday, 02/15/07
    09:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

A universal challenge of instructors in higher education is how to motivate and engage students throughout the course of a semester. Informed by motivational research, this short course will provide faculty with a number of course design considerations as well as applicable technology tools that have been found to motivate students to learn. Participants will use a model for motivation and will work individually and in groups to learn about and incorporate several tools for motivation. Among the topics to be discussed are the nine most effective instructional strategies, collaborative and active learning techniques, learning styles, current technology, and rubric development.
Narration: An Easy Way to Add Value to Powerpoint Presentations (Macromedia Breeze)
  1. 1:00 - 3:00 PM
    Wednesday, 02/07/07
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

PowerPoint is an excellent way to present information. Adding narration to your slides can help your students more fully connect to that information. In this short course, you will learn how to use Breeze, one of the newest programs from Macromedia. You will get a chance to create high quality narrated presentations and learn of several ways that your files can be prepared for online delivery.
Online Student Ratings of Instruction Tool: Formative and Summative Evaluations
  1. 3:00 - 5:00 PM
    Wednesday, 01/31/07
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. 10:00 - 12:00 AM
    Tuesday, 03/27/07
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

This short course introduces our university community to a new, Online Student Ratings of Instruction Tool that was developed at Virginia Tech in partnership with Columbia University. Participants will be provided with an overview of the status of online student ratings of instruction across higher education, including online rating systems at other institutions. An analysis of the advantages and challenges of online student ratings will be provided. Additionally, a discussion of best practices as well as question formulation suggestions for formative evaluations will be presented. Hands-on training in the use of the tool will be a key component of this short course, and participants will have the opportunity to plan and create a evaluations using the online ratings software.
Podcasting: Creating Podcasts for Higher Education using Audacity
  1. Monday, 02/05/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

  2. Tuesday, 04/03/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

Have you heard about Podcasting and wonder if it could hold value for you in the courses you teach? ?This short course will provide participants with everything they need to know to begin their own podcast. ?In addition to defining key concepts and related terminology, this short course will provide an overview of the ways in which podcasting is being used in higher education and beyond. ?In addition to this conceptual overview, much of this short course will be spent teaching participants how to record, edit, and save audio in preparation for podcasting using free software called Audacity (NOTE: Audacity is available for the Mac and Windows). Participants will also leave this session with knowledge concerning the podcasting support resources on campus. iTunes U will also be part of this short course as will other podcasting services available to faculty at Virginia Tech. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session.
Podcasting: Creating Podcasts for Higher Education using GarageBand (for Mac Users Only)
  1. Thursday, 02/22/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Macintosh)
 Have you heard about Podcasting and wonder if it could hold value for you in the courses you teach? ?This short course will provide participants with everything they need to know to begin their own podcast. ?In addition to defining key concepts and related terminology, this short course will provide an overview of the ways in which podcasting is being used in higher education and beyond. ?In addition to this conceptual overview, much of this short course will be spent teaching participants how to record, edit, and save audio in preparation for podcasting using GarageBand (NOTE: GarageBand is only available for the Macintosh). Participants will also leave this session with knowledge concerning the podcasting support resources on campus. iTunes U will also be part of this short course as will other podcasting services available to faculty at Virginia Tech. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session.
The Scholar Learning Management System: An Overview
  1. Thursday, 02/01/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Wednesday, 04/04/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

Are you looking for new flexible ways to manage your courses, your committees, and your research? Scholar, a new, web-based learning and collaboration system, is making its debut at Virginia Tech during the Fall 2006 and Spring 2007 semesters. Scholar, based on the Sakai open-source software project, is born from the philosophical ideal of using a tool created by higher education for higher education. Virginia Tech's implementation of Scholar signals a commitment to innovation within our institution as a member of a larger partnership with other institutions of higher education worldwide. This short course will provide an opportunity for faculty to experience this new system from both the user and designer perspectives via a hands-on overview and demonstration. Scholar offers an array of instructional options that can assist users in time management and organization, and many will be discussed during this short course. These features include

  • the Announcement area of Scholar, where information may be posted to the site and, with the click of a button, also sent via e-mail to all site users;
  • the Assignments area, where new assignments may be created, submitted, and evaluated, complete with the option of posting an assignment notification and due dates on the Announcements page and to the site Schedule; and
  • the Discussion tool, where new categories and topics may be discussed and archived by all users.
Also, integral to this session is a practical, comparative exploration of the features within Blackboard and Scholar, highlighting among other things, the ability to simultaneously upload multiple documents.
Second Life: An Emerging Online Society with Pedagogical Promise
  1. Tuesday, 02/20/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Wednesday, 02/21/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    1120 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

"Second Life," a web-based multi-user virtual environment (MUVE), has a membership of more than 1 million members world wide. This three-year old innovation, made by Linden Lab of San Francisco, has attracted a great deal of media attention since early 2006, when details about its economy and rapidly expanding community started to emerge. A number of educators and universities have also begun to work in Second Life. Is Second Life just a game, though? Is it simply a fantasyland with slick graphics? The answer is that MUVE's like Second Life hold a great deal of potential for traditional and distance-based instruction. This session will introduce educators to Second Life and cover issues related to teaching in virtual environments.
Student Response Systems ("Clickers"): Using Technology to Engage and Assess Students During Class
  1. Monday, 02/05/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Tuesday, 02/27/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

Are you looking for ways to engage ALL of your students, even in large classes? ?Imagine if you could give a pop quiz, on the fly, to a group of 500 students and have it graded as soon as students turn in their answers. ?Student Response Systems (sometimes referred to as Classroom Performance Systems or "clickers") can do both of these things and more. ??The response system concept has been around for decades, but the technology has finally advanced to the point where any faculty member with a laptop or in-class computer can utilize this in his/her courses. ?This short course, led by faculty and FDI staff, will provide participants with an overview of the features and pedagogical applications of student response systems. ?Participants will learn how these systems promote discussion, capture students' attention, and engage every student in class, even those in the back row of large lecture halls. ?In-class quizzing and other assessment features will be shown as well. FDI has been in contact with a number of vendors, including eInstruction, iClicker, Turning Point, and interWrite, and clickers made by each of these vendors will be on-hand during this session.
Web Design: Building an Effective Web Site
  1. Thursday, 02/01/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  2. Tuesday, 02/20/07
    3:00 - 5:00 PM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

  3. Wednesday, 04/04/07
    10:00 - 12:00 AM
    3060 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows/Macintosh)

Are you looking for ways to make your web site more attractive, load more quickly, or garner more "hits"? This short course will provide a survey overview of all of the key issues that are involved with web design. Server issues, aesthetics, visual identity, site organization, navigation, frames, site testing, web accessibility, and web development for instruction are among the topics to be discussed. Numerous "real-life" examples from the web will be shown to further explicate key issues, and Macromedia Dreamweaver will be used to show how these concepts can be practically applied. Hands-on activities will be an integral part of this session.
Windows Movie Maker: Editing Digital Video for Instruction (for PC users)
  1. 3:00 - 5:00 PM
    Wednesday, 02/28/07
    3080 Torgersen Hall
    (Windows)

Do you have video that you would like to edit and present to your students? This short course is designed to provide entry-level video editing skills using Windows Movie Maker on a PC. This session will be almost entirely hands-on, and participants will learn to use Windows Movie Maker to capture, edit, and export video as well as the concepts and skills needed to successfully approach the video editing process. This session can be seen as a companion to FDI's "Video Production: Planning and Shooting Digital Video" short course. Please note: Windows Movie Maker is now a free download from Microsoft.
 
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Contact us at fdi@vt.edu

3000 Torgersen Hall Blacksburg VA 24061
A Unit of Learning Technologies

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