People ask my why I attend so many professional conferences.  I’ve been blessed the past 4 years with a Federal Title III grant that funds my various distance learning training initiatives here at Carteret Community College.  The grant also has line items for my travel and travel funds of our distance learning faculty.  As long as there are viable professional development activities at these various educator conferences we can use the funds to attend them.

As my previous post mentions I just returned from the Society for Photographic Education Conference in Philadelphia.  What a great city!  I must say the Philadelphia Museum of Art is absolutely excellent and would give the MET a run for its money as far as the quality of its collection and great exhibits it puts on. 

I was lucky enough to catch the Picasso show during a break from attending my Photo Educator conference workshops.

One of the main things I enjoy about attending distance learning and photography conferences is the inspiration (and current information) I get from being around my colleagues in the field. 

Technology is changing so incredibly fast and getting to hear speakers talk about the latest  innovations in teaching and photographic practices enables me to bring this information back and share it with my students and faculty where I work. I also enjoy sharing what we are doing here at Carteret Community College with my professional peers. Its a two way street as far as exchanging information in order to make us all better at what we do in our respective fields.

This years conference had a great print sharing where my students could see what the work other students and teachers from around the country are making in addition to having the opportunity to build relationships with educators and professionals in my field.

I must admit I was excited about having my daughter Andei who happens to be a budding photographer with me this year. She got the opportunity to share some of the work she is doing with other students and some teachers from colleges around the country.

Its very easy to get caught up in our little routines and worlds with all the demands we have on us as educators – getting away for a few days to attend a professional conference is rejuvenating, inspirational and very beneficial because I always bring back something that I have learned and share the new knowledge with my students and fellow distance learning teachers.

A good example of this would be all the great information I got about digital workflow at last year’s conference. I came back and did more research on this important photographic practice and then incorporated it into all my photography classes.

That is why I make the extra effort to attend good conferences that relate to what I am doing professionally. I attend not only to get information but to share what I have learned with my professional colleagues. Title III has enabled me and many of the staff and faculty of Carteret Community College to expand our knowledge by supplying the funds to travel to these excellent workshops and conferences.

It was also rewarding for me to see one of my photo graduates (Rochelle photo left) moving forward with her photography education and working towards a 4 year degree.  Here she is at the print sharing showing off some of her beautiful black and white landscapes.

I love seeing young enthusiastic photography students getting “out there” and showing their work…..photography is not a job – its a passion!

Final Note….I found an awesome cigar bar near the hotel and must admit I enjoyed a really tasty cigar and terrific beer after all the speakers, workshops and imagemakers were over. Life is good! cheers! K

Here are new videoconferences from New Links to New Learning favorite content providers LEARNnco in Ohio and the Lee Richardson Zoo in Kansas. All are by request only.

From LEARNnco:
Earthquakes and Volcanoes – by LEARNnco
Earthquakes and Volcanoes have been “shaking and baking” the Earth since the beginning of the planet. Your classroom will learn more about two of Nature’s most powerful forces through LEARNnco’s Earthquakes & Volcanoes.
Audience: Education: Grade(s): 3-10

Space Science – by LEARNnco
Movies and television often depict Space as an easy place to visit. Engaging students in hands on activities, Space Science will give them an understanding of the difficulties, dangers, and expense of Space and Space survival.
Audience: Education: Kindergarten, Grade(s): 1-12

From Lee Richardson Zoo:
Ready…Set…Recycle! – by Lee Richardson Zoo
Where does our trash go when we throw it away? Animals are helping us out behind-the-scenes. Join us as we discover what happens to trash once it leaves our hands and what we can do to help make our environment a healthier place for everyone to live!
Audience: Education: Grade(s): 2-8

The Animals of “The Mitten” by Jan Brett – by Lee Richardson Zoo
Based off the Ukrainian folk tale adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett, this program will look at some of the animals that find shelter and warmth in the lost mitten of young Nicki. Students will learn why the animals wanted in the mitten, and how animals…
Audience: Education: Pre-K Students- 1st grade

Patricia McKissack’s Creative Writing Workshop – this year focusing on Science Fiction – starts April 15! To participate in this great videoconference series, you must register with Cooperating School Districts by April 1. For details on this videoconference series, scroll down! We hope to see you there.

I know spring break is on the mind, but don’t forget to sign up for these great videoconference offerings (for K-12 students & staff) from Cooperating School Districts’ New Links to New Learning:

• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis presents The Great Depression on April 6- register by March 26.
• Media Literacy VC for K-12 Staff: News Violence & the Effects on Young People on April 14 – register by April 1.
• Spring Videoconferences with Author Patricia McKissack starting April 15 – register by April 1.

To register for any of these distance learning programs, contact Megan Moncure by its registration date. All videoconferences will be bridged by MOREnet. To learn more about each New Links videoconference, click on on the appropriate link above. To see all New Links to New Learning spring videoconferences, click on the globe logo.

Introduction

An online course can be defined as a specific mode of electronic learning activities involving a program of study where the students rarely or never meet face-to-face. Online course also use internet-based tools such as Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) or Learning Management Systems (LMSes), discussion boards or chat rooms.

Online make use of synchronous and asynchronous medium in reaching the student. Most technologies use in an online course falls under these categories.

Synchronous technologies

• Web-based VoIP
• Telephone
• Videoconferencing
• Web conferencing
• Direct-broadcast satellite
• Internet radio
• Live streaming

Asynchronous technologies

• Audiocassette
• E-mail
• Message board forums
• Print materials
• Voice Mail/fax
• Videocassette/DVD

An online course deployment is Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based Learning platform. It employs computer and internet tools for contents access with delivery and may be designed as a “blended” approach, with content available electronically and remotely.

Access and electronic formats of online courses

The learner in an online program access the course materials over the Web at any time of day or night. Lecturing and teaching online requires similar skills and techniques teachers and lecturers use in traditional classes.

In the traditional classroom environment, learning activities revolve round:

1. Textbooks

2. Research Papers

3. Journals

4. Print and Electronic Materials in physical formats such CD-ROMs, etc

5. Other readings, along with what they get from library research, Internet resources, and other resources that will be physically access in the classroom

On the other hand, learners and students in an Online course environment rely on

1. Email

2. Conferencing software

3. Chat

4. Social Network Media

5. Other Asynchronous modes of communication for the interaction

Most of this Asynchronous media is fast becoming popular with the easy adaption to mobile devices with user friendly interfaces that makes discussions and fruitful interaction increasingly educational and entertaining.

Therefore In an online course, students cannot simply raise their hand to ask a question as they would in a classroom. Email and conferencing software becomes a very best substitution with a convincing positive learning and teaching result. flexible

In addition, thanks to the flexibility of the Web, students participation more in online class discussions than the face-to-face environment. Freedom of speech and expression is more secured within the scope set by policy guiding the online program. There is also the flexibility and access to contents delivery. Here, they can log on and access class materials and discussions at virtually any time of day.

Finally, the potential for collaborative work and small-group discussions among students who may never meet face-to-face is what makes Web-based courses so exciting and so powerful an educational format.

Image by Flickr user Patricia Drury

Here’s a chance to sit in the lecture hall with the faculty of the Harvard Business School- log on to the Business Source Complete database, and type in the search term:

Harvard FSS.

Scroll down through the titles of 55 lectures presented in the Harvard Business School Faculty Seminar Series. Click on the video icon to watch the lecture online, or click on the pdf. link to read the transcript.

Included are such current topics as:

Billions of Entrepreneurs: the Yin and Yang of China and India

Jumpstarting Entrepreneurial Innovation

The Life Science Revolution: Changing the Language of Business

Note: Video links available through database search detailed above.

Economics professor Don Boudreaux published a reply to an op-ed article in the NYT that lead to an interesting discussion in the comments — some of the contributions are mine. Go have a look.

I found the following both depressing, and promising:

When wearing my Wimba hat, I often remind my audience that it’s only been about a decade since the modern format of online courses was put into place. The current configuration of combining course management systems, web conferencing, instant messaging, message boards, etc. to teach a class to students in a classroom and/or their pajamas barely existed in the 20th century, so when one stops to consider the idea that collegiate courses had been taught (more or less) in the exact same manner since ancient Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia, it’s quite startling to see how quickly this transformation has transpired.

Obviously this format of modern courses is still being tweaked, but it certainly appears that much of the technological and pedagogical foundation is firmly in place. As of today, the dawn of the ‘10s, tens of thousands of postsecondary faculty, either because of or in spite of their ability and/or willingness, have already taken the plunge and incorporated technologies into their courses – often with a great deal of success.

via Views: Switching Sides – Inside Higher Ed.

Surely, this can’t be it — it can’t be that Sakai + Twitter + a blog or Wiki is what all future studies will call the “traditional” form of online courses?  What about amazingly and powerful collaborative spaces like Kansas, and provably better ways of teaching with technology like cognitive tutors?  Surely we can do better than what’s being used today?

It’s that second step that’s more promising.  We can do much better than that.  It’s not even very hard.  Have you seen the great new tools that CMU has made available for building your own cognitive tutors?  I’ve learned that there is a term for those trying to change education through radical on-line approaches: “edupunks.”

“The edupunks are on the march. From VC-funded startups to the ivied walls of Harvard, new experiments and business models are springing up from entrepreneurs, professors, and students alike. Want a class that’s structured like a role-playing game? An accredited bachelor’s degree for a few thousand dollars? A free, peer-to-peer Wiki university? These all exist today, the overture to a complete educational remix.” (From How Web-Savvy Edupunks are Transforming American Higher Education)

While I’m not convinced that a tool like the MIT Open Courseware initiative is as impactful as the edupunks say it is, I realize that I share their vision.  Distance education could be an important way of making higher education available for many people who do not have access to it today.  And what we have today in the way of distance education is demonstrably bad.

I’m an academic who works in education research.  For people like me, an easily-beat standard is a hand-written invitation to do better with inventions, studies, results, and papers.  I once heard John Anderson respond to the question, “Can you explain your enormous success with cognitive tutors?  Why are you able to do so much better than traditional approaches?”  His answer: “It’s easy.  Just find something taught really, really badly today. That’s not hard to find!”  (Do note that the topics that Anderson “found” first for his cognitive tutors were Geometry and programming in Lisp and Pascal.)  Maybe Anderson was the first “edupunk”?

Education

TEACHING AND LEARNING CONFERENCE 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS

International Conference *Teaching and Learning 2010*
Advances in Teaching and Learning Research: http://www.iask-web.org

29 November – 01 December, 2010 | Seville – Spain

——————————————————————–

DEADLINES

May 30th, 2010. Papers submission

——————————————————————–

CONFERENCE GOALS

The scope of the TL2010 conference is wide and covers all areas around Education from teaching to learning perspectives.

Papers, up a maximum of 7000 words, are invited on any of the topics below or related fields and should be submitted, via e-mail, to tl2010-submission@iask-web.org. Final camera-ready papers must conform to the author guidelines and must not exceed ten pages in length.

——————————————————————–

PUBLICATIONS OF PAPERS

All submissions, except invited talks, are subject to a blind refereeing process. Selection will be done according to the score order obtained in the evaluation process.

All accepted papers will be published in the TL2010 Proceedings (book and CD) with ISBN.

Authors of the best papers will be invited to publish extended versions of their work in the following journal:
-   International Journal of Innovation and Learning (ISSN 1471-8197)

——————————————————————–

ORGANIZATION

IASK – International Association for Scientific Knowledge
www.iask-web.org

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TOPICS

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

-   Active Learning
-   Adult Education
-   Asynchronous Learning
-   Blended Instruction
-   Classroom Assessment
-   Content Development
-   Content Management Systems
-   Digital Libraries
-   Distance Learning
-   E-Instruction
-   E-Learning in Face-to-Face Environment
-   E-Learning Strategies
-   Innovative Teaching Strategies
-   Instructional Design
-   Knowledge Management
-   Learning Disabilities
-   Learning Management Systems
-   Learning Objects
-   Online Assessment
-   Online Collaboration in Forum
-   Online Forum Discussion
-   Performance Assessment
-   Quality Assurance
-   Smart-Board Teaching
-   Staff Training
-   Student Diversity
-   Student Motivation
-   Table of Specifications
-   Teaching Technologies
-   Virtual Universities and Classroom

——————————————————————–

IMPORTANT DATES

May 30th – Submission deadline
Until July 31st – Notification to authors
Until September 30th – Final camera-ready submission and early registration
After September 30th – Late registration (without paper publication)
November 29th to December 1st – Conference

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CONTACTS

For further inquiries please contact: tl2010-secretariat@iask-web.org

Conference Website: http://www.iask-web.org

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk