The Teaching Professor: Practicing Learner-Centered Teaching in Large Classes

http://www.magnapubs.com/calendar/440.html?s=cj&p=email

Audio Online Seminar with Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro • Thursday, July 15, 2010 • 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM CDT • $229 - Register today and save! (Price increases to $254 after 7/8/10)


Putting more learning responsibility in the hands of students doesn’t mean they’ll take the easy way out. In fact, learner-centered teaching is catching on in higher learning–especially in large classes–and they’re proving a highly effective method of engaging students in course content. This 75-minute audio online seminar is a step-by-step guide to integrating learner-centered strategies into existing courses.


Creating a learner-centered classroom involves more than just engaging students; it is a philosophical shift in how the instructor approaches the class.

The seminar will help participants visualize every step of the process:
• Identify opportunities for learner-centered activities
• Make gradual and meaningful changes to existing courses, from content to grading
• Evaluate the challenges presented by learner-centered teaching in large classes
• Use student feedback to tailor course content and increase achievement


Participants will go through three steps:
1. Dissect real-world case studies to help form a foundation in the learner-centered paradigm.
2. Study strategies to shift the balance of power to students and enhance learning.
3. Analyze student reaction and achievement through the lens of a large introductory general education course.

About the presenter:
Dr. Hurney serves as the Executive Director at James Madison University’s Center for Faculty Innovation. She’s the driving force behind campus-wide programs to enhance scholarship, leadership, and service roles of JMU faculty. Dr. Hurney is also an associate professor of biology and in 2005 was honored as the Distinguished Teacher in General Education.


Great Value
At a time when budgets are getting tighter, Magna Online Seminars are an economical choice. Pay just one fee per site, and invite all the interested members of the team. The seminar has all the information and interactivity of a large conference at a fraction of the price.


Bring your questions to this live, interactive session!
The presenter practices what she preaches and has designed the workshop to be “participant-centered”. Dr. Carol Hurney will take questions, poll for feedback, show video clips from successful learner-centered courses, plus provide opportunities to join an ongoing dialogue.


A truly vital seminar for:
• Instructors
• Professors
• Department Heads
• Deans
• Faculty Development Staff


Featured Higher Education Presenter:
http://www.jmu.edu/biology/faculty/hurney/hurney.shtml

The Teaching Professor: Practicing Learner-Centered Teaching in Large Classes

Distance Education Report: Teach More Effectively with Customizing Learning Experiences

http://www.magnapubs.com/calendar/441.html?s=cj&p=email

Featured Higher Education Presenter: Judith Boettcher, Ph.D.
Audio Online Seminar with Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro • Wednesday, July 14, 2010 • 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM CDT • $239 Register today and save! (Price increases to $264 after 7/07/10)

Expectations are rising in higher ed. There’s a growing emphasis on outcomes and accountability, and a steady trend toward personalizing the educational experience to boost individual student achievement and competency. That prospect causes many online faculty to swallow hard. Their fear is that introducing customized, student-specific learning to online courses will add a crushing amount of work for them. And indeed, that’s a fear that could easily be realized if the process was approached incorrectly.

But there’s a way to do it right–a way that can actually reduce faculty workloads while increasing personalization of online learning. You can learn about it in Teach More Effectively with Customizing Learning Experiences, a new online seminar coming July 14. This 75-minute audio presentation will introduce you to a model for offering personalized content without creating overwhelming responsibilities for the instructor.

You’ll learn:
How to better understand the goals and mental models of individual learners.
How to integrate the concepts of social, teaching and cognitive presence into course creation.
How to “design in” choices and options for readings, assignments and projects.
Where customization makes the most sense within a course.
How to use rubrics to incorporate self- and peer-review processes.
And much more.


The program presenter is Judith Boettcher, Ph.D., an author, consultant and leading voice on educational technology and online teaching. Dr. Boettcher has more than 20 years’ experience at institutions including Penn State and the University of Florida, and is co-author of the just-published Online Teaching Survival Guide: Simple and Practical Pedagogical Tips.

Rich in content, low in price
Magna Online Seminars are known for delivering outstanding content at a reasonable cost. This one is no exception: the seminar fee is a modest $239. What’s more, it applies per site, not per person; you can invite others from your department or anywhere on campus to attend, and it won’t cost you a penny more. Simply sign on from a facility large enough to accommodate your group.


Who should attend
Distance learning deans
Distance learning directors and coordinators
Instructional design professionals
Faculty who teach online
Program leaders
Anyone interested in sound online pedagogy


It is possible to give students a rich, personalized educational experience online–without overloading the instructor. Don’t miss this eye-opening seminar!

Distance Education Report: Teach More Effectively with Customizing Learning Experiences

Microsoft at Work: 4 tips for safely conducting research on the Web!

http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/security/research.aspx?WT.rss_f=At%20Work%20RSS&WT.rss_a=Conduct%20research%20safely&WT.rss_ev=a

Surprisingly, basic safety is often ignored by people using the Web to research information quickly and efficiently. If you use the Internet for research of any kind, you could be exposing yourself and your company to hidden dangers such as the unauthorized transfer of confidential information. And no one wants to be the person responsible for a companywide computer network shutdown.


Whatever your reason for using the Web, there is a smart way to conduct research on it: with an alert eye and a vigilant approach. Use these four tips to help protect yourself and your company from prying eyes and malicious programs.


1. Update, update, update!
Microsoft continually provides enhancements and security updates to all its products, including Internet Explorer. No program is completely safe from harm but as threats are discovered, Microsoft makes fixes, upgrades, and service packs for its products available. To maintain the highest level of security on your computer, you or your IT department must make sure to apply all service packs. Before you venture onto the Web, make sure you are using the latest version of Internet Explorer. At the time of this writing, the latest version is Internet Explorer 8.0.7. To see what version you are using, follow these steps:


1.In Internet Explorer, on the Help menu, click About Internet Explorer. There are three items you should notice in the window that is displayed: 
Version: Internet Explorer 8.0.7 is the latest version.
Cipher Strength: This is the level of encryption that the browser can support. If you are going to be sending any confidential information over the Internet, you must make sure the cipher strength is 128-bit. If it is less than this value, it will be possible for a hacker to crack the encryption code and view confidential information.
Update Versions: Keep your version updated to ensure the balance between security and functionality is correct. Use latest version of Internet Explorer.
 2.Click OK to close the window.
If your browser needs updating, go to the Microsoft Update Web site, where you can download the latest version of Internet Explorer.


2. Get into the zone
By setting up Internet zones to meet your personal needs, your computer can help protect you as you surf the Web. A zone is a logical region or grouping of Web sites, based on where they are physically located and how well you trust the source. These default zones are available in Internet Explorer 8.0.7:
•Local Intranet — Web sites located on your local network. These sites do not have to communicate over the Internet to be accessed.
•Trusted Sites — A list of Web sites that you trust not to harm your computer, such as sites you have identified as properly encrypted.
•Restricted Sites — A list of Web sites that are known or suspected to be harmful to your computer.
•Internet — All other sites that don't fall under the other three categories.


You can indicate how Internet Explorer should behave when it accesses a Web site within each of these zones. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Security tab.

Internet zones can help protect you
.When you select a Web content zone, you can change the security levels. For all but the Internet zone, you can add specific sites to a zone based on your personal requirements. And Custom Level allows you to enable or disable a variety of options based on personal preference. For example, you may want to allow automatic logons only to Web sites that are located in your Intranet zone instead of everywhere on the Internet. The User Authentication section of the Custom Level zone allows you to set that preference. Or, you may want to ensure your Pop-up Blocker is enabled. Custom Level is where you can ensure your security settings allow your blocker to operate.


Follow the prompts in the Internet Options dialog box in the zone you want to customize by either clicking Sites or Custom Level.


3. Limit your intake of cookies
Cookies are small files stored on your computer that contain information needed on certain Web sites. A cookie can be used to store user ID, password, preferences, personalization, or other information that is helpful to enhance your experience on that site. For example, suppose you visit a Web site that allows you to select a preferred language. So you don't have to choose the language preference each time you enter the site, a text file on the site stores language preference directly on your computer as a file, or cookie.


Here's the catch: you don't know what the cookie has been programmed to collect. You don't know if the cookie is malicious or not. If it's malicious, you could quickly end up with a spiteful little program stored directly on your hard drive. A malicious cookie can collect and store almost any information that you may not want it to, such as your name, credit card information, address, or more. Cookies make it possible for unwanted information to be stored and accessed repeatedly when you visit a Web site.


By default in Internet Explorer, cookies are allowed for all zones except the Restricted Sites zone. However, if you want to limit cookies for a particular zone, here's how you do it:

1.In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Privacy tab.
2.In the Settings section, move the slider up or down to adjust the settings.

Select settings for Internet Zones
.Moving the slider up incrementally increases the Internet security on your computer, so that cookies are not accepted. Moving the slider down incrementally decreases the security, so that cookies are accepted. Check with the IT department for your organization if you are not sure which settings are appropriate to use.


3.Also in the Settings section, click Sites to explicitly set a cookie policy for individual Web sites. Here, you can specify which sites you want to allow or not allow to use cookies. Enter the desired Web site address in the Address of Web site text box. Click the Block button to block all cookies for the entered site, or the Allow button to allow all cookies for the entered site.


4.Continue entering settings for each specific Web site for which you want to set a cookie policy.


5.Click OK.
 If you are concerned that you may already have cookies on your computer that contain personal information, you can delete cookies and other temporary Internet files by following these steps:

1.In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
2.Make sure the General tab is selected. (This is the default.)
3.In the Temporary Internet files section, click the Delete button. You will be prompted for confirmation before continuing.
4.The Temporary Internet files that you can delete are listed and selected for deletion by default, including Cookies. Clear the check box beside any temporary Internet file types that you do not want to delete.
5.Click OK.


Delete Browsing History
.Get more information on privacy features in Internet Explorer 8.


4. Check for encryption before entering information on a site
While surfing the Internet is less dangerous than finding an abandoned bag in an airport, security should still be taken seriously. Encryption is a method that Web site owners use to help protect sensitive information, such as user names, passwords, addresses, phone numbers, and credit card numbers. If a Web site you visit does not use encryption, any sensitive information you place on it is easily accessible to hackers who want that information for unsavory purposes.


There are two ways to ensure you are viewing an encrypted site.
•Make sure you are using the latest version of Internet Explorer as outlined in Tip 1 ("Update, update, update!") above.
•Make sure that a Web site uses encryption when you are entering or viewing sensitive information. There are two ways to see whether a site uses encryption. One is a small yellow "lock" icon on the status bar of Internet Explorer. The other is in the Web address itself. If it begins with https:// (note the "s"), then the site is secure. If you ever visit a Web site without either of these encryption indicators, do not click a Submit, Save, or OK button, because sensitive information will be transmitted without being encrypted.


Author Bio: S.E. Slack
S. E. Slack specializes in simplifying complex topics so the masses can both understand and apply difficult concepts. She is a co-author of Breakthrough Windows Vista: Find Your Favorite Features and Discover the Possibilities and CNET Do-It-Yourself Digital Home Office Projects. She has written five other books.

Microsoft at Work: 4 tips for safely conducting research on the Web!

Faculty Focus: Structuring Blended Courses for Maximum Student Engagement

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/structuring-blended-courses-for-maximum-student-engagement/?c=FF&t=F100524

By Rob Kelly
Blended learning is gaining momentum in higher education…and for a very good reason. According to the U.S. Department of Education, blended learning can improve learning outcomes. To achieve better learning outcomes, however, blended courses need to be carefully structured to engage learners.
In an email interview, Dr. Ike Shibley, an associate professor of chemistry at Penn State Berks, talked about blended course design and activities.


Q: One of the findings of a recent Department of Education report is that students who took all or part of their class online performed better than those taking the same course face-to-face. What accounts for this?
Shibley: We don't know for sure why students in blended courses outperformed students in both traditional and online courses. I suspect the explanation lies with clarity and motivation: teachers who can talk to students face-to-face on a regular basis can address any confusion about the course layout or the content, plus the teacher can constantly remind students about assignments due that week. The online components are quite helpful and can help students succeed, but it seems that when you add even an hour of face-to-face time each week students will have a clearer conception of the course and will feel the pedagogical pressure to get their work done. Having that meeting time seems to me a powerful motivator.
Q: A recommended practice for online instructors is to have every aspect of the course ready to go on day one. Is this also the case for blended courses? Where can you build in flexibility?
Shibley: Anyone hoping to teach a blended course should have the course ready to go on day one. Organization is of utmost importance because students need to understand the course design so they can achieve maximal success. Flexibility is built in when students make suggestions such as due dates for online quizzes: during face-to-face time an instructor can poll students about any possible changes. Another way to be flexible is to build in that flexibility. If you have a course where an instructor can exercise discretion about what extra topics to cover, he or she can create a poll as one of the first assignments in which students choose the most interesting topics from a drop-down list. Then the syllabus can reflect those topics.
When done correctly, a blended (or hybrid) course leads to more productive in-class time and more engaged learning outside of class, ultimately improving learning outcomes. In Organizing Blended Courses for Optimal Student Engagement Dr. Shibley addresses the unique pedagogical challenges of blended learning, and shares the proven strategies and technologies he uses with his students.
Q: How do you communicate to the students what to expect? Do you recommend structuring each unit in the same way? Why or why not?
Shibley: Students quickly acclimate to any organizational structure that an instructor chooses. They have learned how to adjust. What they will not accept is changes throughout the course. Once they plan to have an online quiz every weekend the instructor cannot say, “Well, it's not done yet so you can take it on Monday or Tuesday.” Students structure their time during a semester around their course requirements, but if a teacher keeps changing times or assignments then students feel like they are shooting at a moving target and will quickly get frustrated. I am a bit compulsive, but I do believe that students benefit from having the same structure throughout a course. The instructor wants to teach content and the best way to achieve that is through a course design that is easy for students to follow. Then students are worried about learning the material instead of trying to figure out when assignments are due or what kind of assignment they have in any given week. Consistency in design will lead to improved student outcomes.

Faculty Focus: Structuring Blended Courses for Maximum Student Engagement