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Spring Track N - Faculty Inquiry Group: Learner-Centered Teaching and Technology (Seven meetings and Short courses)
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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.
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Track Requirements
(click on title to jump to a description and time listing) |
Total of Seven 2-hour Spring Short Courses
Required Short Course #1:
Required Short Courses #2 through #5:
Required Short Courses #6 and #7:
Choose two (or more) of the following courses (once the TLT Group spring schedule is published in January, you will have the opportunity to change one or both these selections):
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Spring Track N Description
This spring-only track provides a four-session forum for faculty to explore learner-centered teaching practices through readings, discussions, shared materials, and targeted technology workshops. This track is ideal for faculty who would like to become more learner-centered in their practice. The track facilitator will provide participants with a forum to discuss the ways in which learner-centered teaching differs from more traditional classroom settings. Participants will also engage with examples of activities and approaches that can effectively shift classroom focus from predominantly teacher-centered to more learner-centered. As each participant identifies the learner-centered practices that can be implemented in her/his unique classroom, that participant can target enrolling in at least two technology workshops that best support engaging in those practices.
Those who select this track will join a multidisciplinary cohort of 8 to 12 faculty. We will meet early in spring term for four consecutive weeks. Well in advance of our first meeting on January 31st, participants will receive copies of Maryellen Weimer’s Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice and Linda Nilson’s Teaching at its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors along with a reading syllabus. Finding time to read and reflect on teaching practice is integral to the success of the forum, as we will rely significantly on concepts, practices, and examples discussed in these works.
Upon completion of this track, each participant will have: 1) generated ideas and created a portfolio of activities that can shift practice toward more learner-centered teaching, and 2) had an opportunity to investigate at least two technological tools that can support this shift. Follow up activities and consultations are welcomed and can be arranged as needed.
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Spring Track N Requirements Overview
Those participating in this spring track will be asked to attend a total of seven events during the spring semester.
- Faculty participating in this track must attend one of FDI’s “Campus Resources at VT” sessions.
- The learner-centered teaching cohort will meet for four consecutive weeks on Thursday afternoons from 3:30 to 5:30 PM beginning January 31st. The location will be 370 Shanks Hall.
- Participants will also be asked to attend a minimum of two other FDI short courses, preferably at the end of February or later so that ideas generated during the learning community discussions can guide the selection of “teaching with technology” workshops.
- If you choose this track, please plan to schedule time for reading in advance of the four Thursday meetings. The two books listed above and a schedule of readings will be mailed to you significantly in advance of the first meeting on January 31st.
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Spring Track Course Listing
Required Session #1 - Campus Instructional Resources / Computer Security
(Select one Short Course from the following list) |
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- Monday, January 28 -
10am -
12pm
- Wednesday, January 30 -
3pm - 5pm
- Tuesday, February 5 -
10am - 12pm
- Thursday, February 14 -
10am - 12pm
- Wednesday, March 26 -
10am - 12pm
All sessions meet in 1100 Torgersen Hall (Torgersen Hall Lobby). All sessions are suitable for both Windows and Mac platforms. |
This short course will provide participants with an overview of the services and agencies that are in place at Virginia Tech to support the use of technology with instructional and research activities. 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 and the computer systems at Virginia Tech.
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Required Sessions #2-5 - Cohort Meetings
(Participants should be able to make it to all four listed dates and times) |
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- 1/31/08
- 2/7/08
- 2/21/08
- 2/28/08
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Thursday Afternoons
Meets from 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
All meetings will take place in 370 Shanks Hall.
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Required Sessions #6 & #7 -- Other Courses
(Select two (or more) from the following courses) |
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A Survey of Emerging Web 2.0 Technologies: Engaging Students with Technology to Build a Community of Practice
- Thursday, Feburary 14
10am - 12pm
3080 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
- Wednesday, March 26
10am - 12pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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With the emergence of dozens of compelling Web 2.0 applications in recent months, FDI has had several requests to offer a short course highlighting the most compelling of those that have clear applicability for teaching, research, and outreach. Briefly, Web 2.0 applications are distinctly different from earlier applications of the web in that they don’t simply link information together. They link people together; people who are able to share, trade, and collaborate via the internet. The survey provided by this short course will highlight tools that enable this linking of people. Participants will have time to explore and discuss each tool and will leave the session with a list of tools and resources to apply immediately and explore over time. Social networking, data aggregation, data “mashing”, blogs, wikis, RSS, and more will be discussed during this session.
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Blogs in Higher Education
- Monday, January 28
3pm - 5pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
- Thursday, February 7
3pm - 5pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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Have you explored blogs and wonder if this technology could hold value for you in the courses you teach? Might a blog be useful way to collaborate with colleagues and to help students with reflective writing on projects? A blog (short for weblog) is a web-based journal that is typically updated frequently and open for anyone to read. In addition to defining key concepts and related terminology, this short course will provide an overview of the ways in which blogs 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 will be a key component of this session, and participants will leave the short course with knowledge of the resources that support blog creation and development. This short course will provide participants with everything they need to know to decide if a blog is the right tool for their specific need.
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DyKnow: Utilizing Tablet PCs to Increase Student Engagement and Organization
- Monday, February 11
3pm - 5pm
3060 Torgersen Hall
Windows
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Are you searching for a tool that will help you foster greater interaction with your students and take advantage of the capabilities of tablet computing? This short course will focus on DyKnow which offers a toolset which increases interaction through collaborative note taking, student response tools, content replay, and anywhere, anytime access. Participants will learn about DyKnow through hands-on pedagogical examples. Participants will also interact as students using the DyKnow software suite. Faculty planning to use DyKnow during the spring 2008 or fall 2008 semesters are encouraged to attend; however, any faculty member wishing to see how technology can help students concentrate their note-taking on solving problems, clarifying concepts, and making connections is welcome to attend. Participants are also encouraged to bring their own tablet to use during this session. To learn more about DyKnow, please visit http://www.dyknow.com.
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Engaging Learners through Google and Yahoo! Tools
- Monday, February 18
10am - 12pm
3080 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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Google and Yahoo! now offer a variety of services through their web sites that reach far beyond the capabilities of a search engine, and many of these have clear applications for higher education. Discussion and hands-on exploration of these tools will be the hallmarks of this session. In addition to Google Scholar and Google Earth, participants will learn about Google Calendar, Google Book Search, Google Alerts, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Google Groups, Google Notebook, Yahoo! Pipes, and more. Each of the tools shown will have particular niche applications for those in higher education.
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ePortfolio: Virginia Tech's ePortfolio System within Scholar
- Wednesday, February 6
10am - 12pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
- Wednesday, February 27
10am - 12pm
3080 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
- Thursday, April 3
3pm - 5pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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Virginia Tech's ePortfolio 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, assessment, and accreditation. This short course will explore these and other applications of ePortfolio while focusing on the latest version of the software which has now been incorporated in the Scholar Learning Management System. The pros and cons of traditional applications of portfolios will be outlined as will a generalized model of the portfolio 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. An overview of this designing process will be provided along with documentation and other resources that will aid faculty as they move toward an adoption of ePortfolio. An in depth, hands-on exploration of the latest version of this software will follow the conceptual discussion. Please Note: the earlier version of Virginia Tech’s ePortfolio software, located at http://eportfolio.vt.edu, will not be taught during this session; however, comparisons to it will be made to highlight the latest version’s newest capabilities.
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"From the Other Side of the Podium": Student Panel Discussion
- Thursday, February 21
3pm - 5pm
1100 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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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.
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Podcasting: Creating Podcasts for Higher Education using Audacity
- Tuesday, March 25
3pm - 5pm
3060 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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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.
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Podcasting: Creating Podcasts for Higher Education using GarageBand (for Mac Users Only)
- Wednesday, February 13
10am - 12pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Macintosh
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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.
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Scholar for Instructors
- Tuesday, February 19
3pm - 5pm
3080 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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Are you looking for new flexible ways to manage your courses? Scholar, a new, web-based learning and collaboration system, is a newly-developed and growing collaboration and learning environment. Based on the Sakai open-source software project, Scholar 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. 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.
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Social Networking and the 21st Century Student
- Wednesday, February 6
10am - 12pm
3080 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
- Thursday, Februrary 7
3pm - 5pm
3080 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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You know who they are, walking across campus, stepping lively to the beat of their iPods; sitting beneath a tree or on a bench, fingers flying across their laptops or thumbs worrying the text pads on their cell phones; excusing themselves, red-faced, as their cell phones interrupt your class. They're wireless and connected, always engaged and entertained; they're our students, the Millennials. This workshop considers our undergraduate student culture - their attitudes toward learning, technology, social networking, and the future - and the challenges of meeting our curricular standards in light of this student culture. This discussion-rich session will enable us to share our experiences with and explore the implications of teaching the technologically savvy students of the 21st century.
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Student Response Systems ("Clickers"): Using Technology to Engage and Assess Students During Class
- Monday, February 4
10am - 12pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
- Thursday, Feburary 21
10am - 12pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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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.
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Teaching Using Technology: Faculty Panel Discussion
- Wednesday, March 19
3pm - 5pm
1100 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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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.
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Teaching with the Tablet PC: A Panel Discussion of Faculty
- Monday, March 24
3pm - 5pm
3060 Torgersen Hall
Windows
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Virginia Tech faculty may well have heard that the Department of Engineering Education has a TabletPC requirement for all of its incoming students. Some faculty, however, may be unaware that a growing number of their colleagues use the TabletPC in their classrooms even if their students don't yet own these computers. TabletPCs have enhanced (and, yes, changed) teaching, research, and service all over campus. Presenters in this session are recruited from a diverse cross-section of academic activity and they use their Tablets in a myriad of ways, but they are universally enthusiastic about this technology. While each panelist will offer a short presentation highlighting their own applications of Tablet technologies, group discussion and dialogue will be hallmarks of this session.
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Technology as Vehicle…
- Wednesday, February 13
10am - 12pm
3080 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
- Thursday, February 14
3pm - 5pm
3080 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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When faced with institutional and curricular goals, instructional priorities tend to lean closer toward content management and further away from significant epistemological concerns. This session offers an illustration of various online methodologies, which serve to facilitate content management while upholding the constructivist principles of student agency, a problematized curriculum, and cooperative problem-solving.
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Wikis in Higher Education
- Monday, February 11
3pm - 5pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
- Thursday, March 27
3pm - 5pm
1120 Torgersen Hall
Windows/Macintosh
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Have you explored 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 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 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 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 wiki creation and development. This short course will provide participants with everything they need to know to start their own wiki.
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