Treks Transform

Thank you all!

2011-08-24T14:46:45Z

This program was outstanding! A good summary was provided by my wife, when I brought home and showed her my Transform group picture. She said: "Looks like you were surrounded by very nice people and had a lot of fun!" I would add: "and learned a lot as well". I wanted to share one other thing: at the Madison conference I met some of my former students, who now are leaders in the learning technology field at the U of Illinois. They told me that they are looking up to the U of MN as a model of how faculty's learning technology-related efforts should be supported. I was surprised to hear this, because my recollection of the UIUC was that they always were on the cutting edge in computer science and learning technology. But now I agree: UIUC or other universities, known to me, don't have anything as good as TREKS. I hope the college will continue to support this excellent program in the future.

The end...until next time

2011-08-23T18:46:27Z

I'm glad for the opportunity to have participated in this workshop. I has provided the impetus and ideas for me to implement an idea that's been rattling around in my head for a while, but which I haven't been able to think of a good way to do.

I'm also happy to have met colleagues who are as interested as I am (or even more interested) in student learning and good online teaching. The ideas they've generated have been very helpful to me and I've already been thinking about how those might be applicable to my courses and teaching.

Thanks for Everything

2011-08-23T18:38:30Z

Wow, I was very impressed by what my colleagues have planned for the upcoming year. This was an incredibly eye-opening experience; my head is certainly spinning. It was nice to have to come up with a plan to make me think of how these newly learned technologies can be used in my already established practice. The feedback from my peers and the IT staff was very helpful. It's helpful to know the things that I can implement easily and quickly and those things that need a second thought. I have a feeling my wish list may pared down a bit. It's also comforting to leave this week with a feeling of support. Thanks for everything.

Almost done!

2011-08-22T20:06:39Z

Several things have changed since a few weeks ago when we had our first introductory session. It doesn't look like I'll be teaching any online or hybrid courses soon, but I have learned about several tools that I think I can use to enhance the blended courses that I teach now. The project that I intend to work on, creating an assignment in which students will create a "digital argument" is something that I've been mulling for some time. This workshop was probably the kick in the pants I needed to actually create it.

The End is Just the Beginning

2011-08-22T20:03:28Z

Eight days of work has brought me to the beginning. I am finalizing the plan for the course and will incorporate several new tools on Moodle as well as begin to use a blog in the class. The more time intensive components will be to create several short word and image videos to introduce concepts in the course by next Spring. Looking forward to hearing about what others are planning for the next year.

Such a luxury!

2011-08-22T20:03:12Z

I feel like the time we have set aside for this has been tremendously valuable. I have done so many things that I feel will really enhance the experience for my students. My classes went fine with the hybrid method this past summer and I could easily create the Health portion of my curriculum in a hybrid format and the classes would run, but with time spent during the TREKS program and the collaborations and conversations with the others have really created a much better curriculum...and it has created excitement for me which hopefully will transfer to my students.

I hope Jerry gets his dishwasher in before the wedding!!!!

Moving Forward

2011-08-19T20:00:27Z

I seem to be mostly troubleshooting so far..which is actually exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to play and learn (and fail) with technologies. I feel as if I am closer to creating a few great things!!!!

Forums, Blogs, and Wiki's

2011-08-19T20:00:01Z

Today the focus shifted a bit for me. Rather than focus on imagining a complete new hybrid course, I am looking at additional tools I can include in my course next semester that support moving towards a partial hybrid course in the Spring and a more robust hybrid course in a year from now.

In the courses I teach, an overall goal is to have students become partners in the educational enterprise through sharing their personal knowledge and beginning to help to analyze and synthesize data that we collect in the class.

Today, I have thought through how I can use both forum discussions and blogs to support this goal. I am now working on how to create good forum discussions questions that can elicit rich stories from students about particular everyday lived experiences. The students would post these stories to a small group forum discussion. They would also read and comment on two or three other stories in their group and well as analyze all the stories posted from their group and write up a synthesis of where the stories converge and diverge that they would bring to class. In different small groups they would share what they learned about the stories from their group and listen to others talk about what they learned. As a group in class, they will be asked to write a final paragraph to post on the blog that provides some insight into the weeks focus. By posting a paragraph to a blog, I can use the blog as additional data for future semesters.

I have begun to plan using these new tools next semester. I will use these to begin to build more online sessions for the spring and then finally, a more robust hybrid course in the fall 2012.

Another fruitful day

2011-08-19T19:32:47Z

Yesterday the copyright session was very useful, but also created information overload. I expected more information on using materials, found online, etc. Today all activities were useful. Daniel and I made a good progress in discussing my project and my course development plan. Caroline's session with specific demonstrations of tools, available on Moodle, was especially important for me and helped me to identify right tools for my course.

2011-08-19T19:24:11Z

Thanks Caroline! Starting to build some great discussion groups and developing my "on-line presence". I'm tired. I need a nap.

Moving Towards a Doable Project

2011-08-18T20:32:21Z

The number of tools available to support presenting content online was incredible. It was wonderful to gain a sense of the possibilities of what can be done and begin to work towards my goal of creating a rich learning opportunity for distant students.

I am continually going back and forth between listening to the content being presented and also thinking about how and if it supports the type of learning experience I want to create online.

I am still questioning whether learning is a focus on content or if it involves more than this? Over the last two days the focus of the discussion has tended to emphasize content. In my field, it is not only about content and content mastery but also perspective shifting and opening up different ways of orienting towards the world, other people, especially young people.

I do believe that this can occur in an online environment and these concerns relate more to my longer term project of creating a fully online course rather than the hybrid course, but it still remains how to translate these into online.

My muddled mind

2011-08-18T19:59:33Z

My thoughts and plans since beginning this program have been changing and I'm not entirely sure where I'll end up. One thought I have right now is to be able to make quick screencasts that incorporate the drawing of pictures and the writing of equations. These could be used to supplement a F2F physics class by providing some quick tutorials that students who are confused about a certain point could access. They could also be used in a similar way to supplement an online class. One of the big obstacles in my mind to setting up something like this is finding a good tool with which I can draw semi-decent freehand pictures. I would be terrible with a mouse, a trackpad, or a ball, so I think some kind of pen-using-tablet input might work. I know that other people out there have done similar things, so it's just a matter of finding the right combination of hardware and software to accomplish this.

In terms of a step after that, I think it might be neat so have such an input device that could be used remotely from the computer. I could use it in lecture while walking around the room and not be confined to the space in front of the board. Sort of a remote smartboard. Naturally, everything could be captured and stored for later. Any ideas about that?

Oh, and another idea. Sound recording of lectures can be poor with a laptop's built in microphone. Are there relatively cheap remote microphones that can be connected through USB or something like that?

Fruitful Day

2011-08-18T19:58:56Z

The information was very valuable for me today. I have thought of new ways to create assignments using Camtasia...and maybe not what it was really designed for but in a way that will benefit my students (I hope!). I also appreciated the time with the fellows to ask questions..I got some troubleshooting done which will enhance the marketing of my program and also will be useful as I revise and/or create assignments.

The copyright presentation was very eye opening to me. It was nice to actually hear from an expert on this issue. It has always been an unknown to me and though I was always cognizant of copyright issues, I never really knew if what I was doing was within the copyright law. I am not sure I have more answers now, but I do feel better educated about it.

I hope to begin to revise my current hybrid program and begin to develop my new online/hybrid courses in the last three days using some of the technology from the conference and these past two days (and more as I am exposed to it).

Great day!

Presenting Content Online

2011-08-18T19:51:30Z

I feel that Camtasia and the use of Digital Stories are definitely tools I want to use. I only wish I didn't have to leave for another meeting today so I could have played around a bit. The examples of the presentation tools posted on Moodle are very helpful and will allow me to revisit the various models and come to some solid conclusions about what best fits my needs. I also believe that since I am in the first stages of redesign, I need to keep it simple ss it can be quite overwhelming. However, it's still important to think about what I want my course(s) to look like in the long term.

A response to Interactivity

2011-08-17T19:53:32Z

I think this was Ross' post. This also surprises me when I think about learning in my own field of physics. The apprenticeship model, with its reliance on learner-instructor and learner-learner interaction is such an integral part of effective physics instruction that I wonder how this theory of interaction equivalence can apply here. This was one of the sessions I had thought about going to, but I ended up going somewhere else instead.