From Ray Purdom, the Teaching Center Director at UNCG:

Just a reminder that our proposal submission deadline is next Monday, November 17th.

We are pleased to host the Lilly Conference on College and University Teaching at Greensboro for the 5th year. Last year, 375 individuals attended the conference representing 66 different institutions.

Lilly Conferences are retreats that combine workshops, discussion sessions, and major addresses, with opportunities for informal discussion about excellence in college and university teaching and learning. Internationally-known scholars join new and experienced faculty members, teaching assistants, and administrators from all over the world to discuss topics such as diversity in learning, incorporating technology into teaching, encouraging critical thinking, using teaching and student portfolios, implementing group learning, and evaluating teaching.

The 2009 Conference will be held February 20-22, 2009 at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro, NC. The 2009 conference theme is Millennial Learning: Teaching in the 21st Century. Additional information about the conference is available at

http://www.uncg.edu/tlc/lillyconference/

The deadline for proposal submission is November 17th, 2008 and proposals may be submitted at

https://utlc.uncg.edu/conference/lillyconference/form.jsp

As you may know, during the Fall 2007 semester, the Provost appointed a Learning Management System Evaluation Committee, comprised of faculty and staff, to examine Blackboard Vista and other learning management systems to find the one that best fits the needs of our faculty and students.

At the end of the Spring 2008 semester, the LMS Evaluation Committee recommended that a group of UNC Charlotte faculty pilot test the Moodle learning management system during the Fall 2008 semester.  To learn more about the progress of the pilot and what is planned for the expanded pilot for Spring 2009, please see the LMS Evaluation Committee website, which is regularly updated.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Sloan-C has an outstanding reputation for their work in supporting research in online learning.  They have now put out the call for their 2nd Sloan-C Symposium on Emerging Technology in Online Learning, which will be in San Francisco from June 17-19, 2009.

This Symposium will bring together people who are interested in the ways emerging technologies are transforming education by addressing challenges in learning, affordability, accessibility, and faculty and student satisfaction.

Experts, intermediate users and novices are welcome to participate in Symposium activities including both face-to-face and virtual components. Symposium tracks call for demonstrations of research and practice related to pedagogy, immersive learning, innovation, community and scale as well as hands-on use of technology.

Last year’s conference attracted over 300 participants to more than 80 presentations, as well as exhibits, pre-conference workshops, keynote and plenary addresses, and a variety of other special networking events.

PROPOSALS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY DECEMBER 8, 2008.

Program Tracks

• Pedagogy and New Learning Environments

• Inventive Uses of Media and Tools

• Immersive Learning and Virtual Environments

• The New Learning Communities

• Emerging Technologies for Administration, Infrastructure and Support Service

For complete details on online submission of proposals, visit our Website at http://www.emergingonlinelearningtechnology.org/

I've been to a couple Sloan-C events, and they are top-notch.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

We invite you to please complete a short, online survey to help us assess your teaching and learning needs. We welcome and appreciate your comments and suggestions.

To complete the survey, please click on the following link or cut and paste it into your browser window: http://www.surveyshare.com/survey/take/?sid=77579 read more »

November 3, 2008 @ 1:00 p.m. ET; runs one hour

Guest: Thomas C. Reeves
Professor of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, University of Georgia

Although authentic tasks can be incorporated more easily in web-based learning environments as course management systems have become more flexible, many higher education instructors remain uncertain about how to design engaging authentic learning environments. With advances in learning theory and technology, there is increased potential for authentic tasks to be used as the primary underlying pedagogy for supporting learning in face-to-face, blended, and totally online courses. These tasks can range from relatively simple life examples that serve as vehicles for practicing specific skills to a more radical approach of building a whole course around a compelling authentic task.

In this seminar, Thomas C. Reeves will describe the theory, research, and development underlying authentic tasks in web-based learning environments as well as practical design guidelines for implementing this innovative approach.

This free seminar is an exclusive benefit for ELI member organizations [which UNC Charlotte is]—you and any others at your institution are invited to attend. Virtual seating is limited, however, and registration is required. REGISTER NOW.

Additional Resources

• Reeves, Thomas C., Jan Herrington, and Ron Oliver. "Authentic Activities and Online Learning." Sydney: HERSDA, 2002.
• ELI Resources: Authentic Learning Series (see the ELI Resources page for the full series)
  • "Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview," May 2007
  • "Approaches That Work: How Authentic Learning is Transforming Higher Education," July 2007
• AAC&U, Fostering Integrative Learning
• Authentic Task Design website

About ELI Web Seminars

ELI Web Seminars offer a convenient way to stay in touch with the latest developments in teaching, learning, and technology in higher education. During these live, hour-long online seminars, host Julie Little and a special guest discuss and answer your questions on topics ranging from learning space design to measuring student success. The events are open to anyone from ELI member organizations. View upcoming seminar topics and access the seminar archive.

David Nagel poses the question, “Is Blended Learning Effective?” in an article about a blended learning study conducted at at the University of Missouri School of Health Professions. The upshot:

The implication, according to [program director Shawna] Strickland, is that a blended approach is at least as effective as a traditional classroom environment…Overall, the basic results say it's at least as good as a traditional classroom.. 

I guess theirs is another study that can be added to the 80 years’ worth of research in 355 studies found at: http://www.nosignificantdifference.org/

One tidbit I found interesting in the article is this particular claim from the author in the intro to the piece:

Blended learning sounds like a nice idea--mixing a traditional classroom environment with online components--but is it actually effective? It seems almost intuitively obvious that it is. And with the explosion of blended course delivery in recent years, despite the dearth of research [emphasis mine--JGP], clearly education institutions take that point for granted.

A "dearth of research" regarding blended learning?  I would say it's more like a glut.  (e.g., I'd start with Bonk & Graham.  Other sources--many others--are also easy to find...) 

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

A recent article by Ruth Reynard in Campus Technology mentioned that chat is not nearly used as much as asynchronous discussion in online courses.  A study conducted for the UNC Charlotte Learning Management System Evaulation Committee found the same thing on our campus: 50% of faculty respondents said that discussion in Blackboard was one of their most valued tools, whereas only 21% said the same about chat.

Reynard goes on to point out that chat is often used for

meeting with students to discuss their issues and problems with the course, providing quick and direct tutorial help, providing course information or announcements, or scheduling meetings or groupwork, etc. Therefore, the use of the tool to support the learning process administratively or in information sharing is accepted more widely than using the same tool for developing thinking skills and/or other academic work.

When it is used instructionally [however], the immediacy of the synchronous essence of the tool is maximized, and students are fully engaged in thinking together rather than simply chatting.

I would add that chat allows for instructors to give immediate feedback to students: whether it is corrective in nature or motivational in nature.  Also, the key word there is immediacy.  In building a class community, an important part of online learning, I think chat can go a long way in addressing the immediacy issue.  There is a live give-and-take among all participants.

For you 21%, how are you using chat?  For the other 79%, how might using chat help you in your course?

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Welcome to the Center for Teaching and Learning's new website!

When we updated our name this past spring to better represent our mission of promoting teaching and learning excellence, supporting the integration of learning technologies, and encouraging scholarly teaching, we knew we also had to change our website and its address.  We have finally completed the transition!

We hope you will find a few improvements helpful. Some of our added features:

• a Center Blog
• RSS feeds:
  • the Center Blog
  • CTL News
  • Podcasts
• the ability to post comments
• a discussion forum (topics to be added over time)
• online signups for workshops
• improved, dynamic workshop calendar

To post comments, participate in discussions, or signup for faculty/staff workshops, all you need to do is login, securely, using your usual NinerNET credentials.