Interactive Assignments and Activities for Undergraduate Classrooms (Post 2/5) - "A System for Developing an Online Class that Works for Me"

Readers,

This week is dedicated to interactive assignments and activities for undergraduate classrooms! :) I am highlighting some activities from our university's 8th Annual Excellence in Teaching Conference.

Here is our second highlighted activity! - "A System for Developing an Online Class that Works for Me" by Frank Ewell

A Small Description of the Activity:

In the process of constructing online classes over the years, I have developed a procedure that works for me. I believe that this system could work for other faculty in similar disciplines or at least help them plan and construct their online class. This is not a fixed system and I expect it to evolve as new technology becomes available.

Activity Handouts:

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Frank%20Ewell%20CITDEconfer.pptx

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Frank%20Ewell%20CITDEconfer.pdf

Supplemental Material:

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Ewell_12%20Steps.pdf

What do you think about this activity?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Interactive Assignments and Activities for Undergraduate Classrooms (Post 1/5) - "Ticket in the Door"

Readers,

I love searching for new activities to integrate in my undergraduate classrooms (either face-to-face and hybrid classroom environments). Every year, our university hosts an Excellence in Teaching Conference that highlights innovative activities that Tarleton professors are integrating in their classrooms.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to attend this annual conference because it always occurs on the same week as the Southern States Communication Association conference. However, under the direction of Dr. Credence Baker and Mr. Doug Hanna, this conference has blossomed and has become one of the primer events on our campus.

This week is dedicated to interactive assignments and activities for undergraduate classrooms! :)

Here is our first highlighted activity! - "Ticket in the Door"

A Small Description of the Activity:

To ensure that students are prepared for class, a Ticket in the Door is required.  The Ticket may be a highlighted reading assignment, questions for group discussion, information from websites that collaborate or dispute information from text, etc.

Activity Handouts:

http://online.tarleton.edu/fdi/EIT_SC/Calahan_Tickets.pdf

Supplemental Material:

http://teachers.tulpehocken.org/bdavis/Shared%20Documents/Learning%20Focused%20Resources/Ticket%20Out%20the%20Door%20Ideas.pdf

What do you think about this activity?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 5/5) - Walking Around Conference Exposition Halls!

Readers,

I always enjoy strolling around the exposition hall and interacting with the book publishers. This year was special for TWO reasons: I discovered the workbook that I edited over the summertime and my friend Lora and I met with an editor about a book proposal.

Here's a copy of the workbook. We use the workbook in our Fundamentals of Speech, Public Speaking, and Business and Professional Speaking courses.

The exposition hall is always full of freebies and conversation! During my first NCA conference in San Diego, I accepted the preview books with gratitude (and regret when I boarded the plane and had to pay for luggage that was over the weight limit). Now, I scan the book ISBN or cover with my RedLaser app OR I take a picture of the literature with my iPad to avoid walking and flying with more paper that I actually need.

Quick Question - How do you navigate conference exposition halls?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 5/5) - Making Your Conference Round Table Presentation Attractive!!!

Readers,

Today, I had TWO conference round table presentations! Both of the presentations were focused on technology (specifically Google Docs).

Presentation 1 - Utilizing an Interactive Activity to Enable Stakeholders to Discover Innovative Ways to Re-frame their Negative Perceptions about Stakeholders

Presentation 2 - Utilizing Google Documents to Write a Training and Development Guide for Local Non-Profit Organizations and Small Businesses (Service Learning)

Usually, when I visit round table sessions, the presenter's display is very dull. This year, I decided to integrate the following elements on my table:

1 - Business Cards

2 - A Note Card with a QR code and link to the activity on Google Docs.

3 - Copies of the Actual Activity

4 - My iPad for additional explanations.

5 - Candy! I knew that my students could spare a few pieces! :)

I've discovered that people like to LEAVE your table with SOMETHING in their hand to remind them about your presentation! :)

How do you make your presentations more appealing?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 3/5) - Traveling to Academic Conferences with Posters...

Readers,

My first presentation for the National Communication Association Conference was a competitive poster presentation on Google Documents! I was super excited about this presentation, because Web 2.0 technologies are my passion!

Here is the only negative aspect of a poster presentation... YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL WITH THE POSTER! Unfortunately, it seems that most airlines require passengers count the poster tube as one of two pieces of their carry-on luggage. Since today's airline passengers usually carry all of their luggage on the aircraft, this additional piece of carry-on luggage might place a wrinkle in someone's luggage plans (no pun intended).

So, a few years ago while attending and presenting a poster the annual meeting for the Council on Undergraduate Research in Odgen, UT, I decided to adopt a new approach... I decided to use pieces of paper to create my poster presentation!

This approach enabled me to adapt my poster to the space provided and to add neat details at the bottom of the poster to appeal to my potential walk-though audience members. I always place a business card holder and poster note card at the bottom of each of my poster presentations.

Here's a question for you! - How do you make your poster presentations unique?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 2/5) - Pre-Conference Prep!

Readers,

This has been an amazing week so far! Before attending a conference, I have to prepare my students for my temporary disappearance from campus. To help them through this "transition", I still keep my virtual office hours during each and every conference.

Do you keep in contact with students when traveling to conferences?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Submit an Idea for the "Great Ideas for Teaching with Adobe Products" Mini-Contest!

Readers,


Today is the FIRST day of the "Great Ideas for Teaching with Adobe Products" Mini-Contest! 

Participants:

Faculty, Staff, and Students are encouraged to submit an idea! We encourage ideas focused on (but not limited to) the following:

- Classroom Ideas (Face-to-Face or Hybrid)

- Student Activities/Student Affairs

- Student Organizations

- Admissions and Recruitment

- Campus-Wide Events

- Supplemental Instruction

- Learning Communities

- Online Instruction/E-Training

Voting Period

The readers will vote on the best entries from Monday, December 5th to Friday, December 9th. The WINNER of the contest will receive a copy of the CS5.5 Master Collection!

Submit Your Idea Here:

***This contest is a collaborative effort between the Millennial Professor blog and the Communication in Higher Education blog.***

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

National Communication Association #NCA2011 (Post 1/5) - Pre-Conference Prep!

Readers,


I am looking forward to attending the National Communication Association's Annual Conference this week! I plan to tweet during the sessions, so please remember to add me on Twitter @COMMTechProf


Also, this conference is always special, because I always catch up with my undergraduate professors and I network/plan with one of my favorite peers in the communication profession, Dr. Lora Helvie-Mason. Follow her on Twitter - @lhelviemason


Also, my students are following me on Twitter via my university account for their extra credit assignment - @drjtedwardsTSU


I will post updates from the conference very soon! :)


Sincerely,


J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Texas Blackboard Users Conference (5/5) - Dr. Rena Palloff and Dr. Keith Pratt's Presentation

Hi everyone!

The last day of the conference, we had the pleasure of listening to authors, Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt! Here are three of their books:

The Future of Online Education...

- Bandwidth has increased, storage has increased, access has increased, technology is more reliable, and internet access is ubiquitous.

- Collaboration and social networking are becoming the norm.

Barriers to Online Education...

-A percentage of students still dial up.

- Some students cannot afford computers at home.

- As technology becomes more complex, additional training is needed.

- People resist the use of technology that is not simple or that affords clear benefit to them.

- Social networking is blurring boundaries.

The Introduction of New Hardware is Driving Online Learning

- iPads and other Personal Access Devices

- Cell Phones - Smart Phones

- Presentation Technology

Games and Virtual Words

- We are likely to see increased development and use of applications like Second Life in education.

- The ability to use simulation for application activities is likely to increase as a result and move us further away from tests and quizzes to measure competence.

Personalized Learning

- Self-paced, modular, and based on individual studnet needs.

- Networks and conversations rather than content.

- Learning Management Systems (LMS) may go away in favor of a collection of tools or applications to support individualized learning.

Thank you Wiley Publishing for the FREE book! I hope to post a review soon!

Processing Question (from the presentation) - How will you prepare for the future? How can we prepare our students for their future?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

@drjtedwards

Texas Blackboard Users Conference (4/5) - New Developments on Blackboard

Readers,

Today is the first official day of the T-BUG conference! The opening session (breakfast) was amazing! Plus, they gave away an iPad during the breakfast session! :)

Blackboard Idea Exchange

Also, today I discovered that Blackboard has the Blackboard Idea Exchange (BIE). I hope to join the group soon.

BbWorld

This conference is coming up in July in New Orleans! I hope to submit a session proposal soon!

Also, here are some Blackboard Updates:

1- My Blackboard (an online social learning space similar to Facebook for students)

2 - Google Docs Integration

3 - Learning Project Repository (This is a great for academic departments who need to have embedded question for assessment purposes.)

4 - ePortfolio Updates

5 - Native Editor (You can download and upload documents without having to save separate copies on your system. I am not sure how this works, but we shall see!)

6 - Outcomes System (A tool to evaluate surveys and to post survey content.)

7 - The Blackboard Learn App (Our institution does not have access to this app yet.)

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Texas Blackboard Users Conference (3/5) - Conference Schedule & Our Session (Establishing Collaboration Opportunities in Your Online Class)

Readers,

Today, I have to examine the T-BUG schedule to figure out which sessions I plan to attend.

Here's the schedule: http://www.t-bug.org/2011TBUGprogram_dallas.pdf

I downloaded this PDF schedule to my iPad library for easy access (even without internet or 3G access - which can be VERY spotty in hotels).

Here are the session tracks:

UPGRADE:

Of interest to anyone who is going through an upgrade, about to go through an upgrade, or thinking 

about doing an upgrade.

SUPPORT:

Held Desk, Technology Teams, Student Support Staff,

Faculty Support Staff, Instructional Designers. Of i

nterest to anyone who supports Blackboard users.

TEACHING AND LEARNING:

Instructors, Adjuncts, Teaching Assistants, Course

Designers, Instructional Designers.  Of interest to

anyone who delivers or designs instructional contents.

VENDOR SHOWCASES:

Come see what the vendors are doing and how they 

collaborate with Blackboard to enhance your current

system

Here's our session:

Room: Longhorn IV

Establishing Collaboration Opportunities in Your Online 

Class 

Credence Baker, Tarleton State University
Jennifer T. Edwards, Tarleton State University

In this session, you’ll be introduced to several different free       

web-based tools that can be used to foster collaboration among 

students in your online class. Incorporating collaboration           

opportunities gives students a chance to sharpen their virtual-team 

skills, and allows you to provide students with real-time scaffolding 

and feedback, monitor progress, and keep track of who has      

contributed to a project

Processing Question: Every session seems very interesting! Which sessions should I attend?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Texas Blackboard Users Conference (2/5) - While I am Away from Campus...

Readers,

As I prepare to attend the T-BUG Conference, I have to prepare my face-to-face and online courses for my temporary transition from campus.

Here is my conference to do list for this week:

1 - Remember to bring my iPad and laptop (plus snacks).

2 - Remind students about the "Virtual Assignments" for this week in the daily class agenda that I post on the board before each class begins (while I take attendance).

3 - Post my weekly announcements/checklist for the online students.

4 - Remind students that they might experience a two-hour delay in my e-mail replies,  but I remind them about my Google Voice account.

5 - Create 50 Google Documents for the students to post their undergraduate research reflections.

**I never post a "out of office" message on my e-mail, nor on my voice mail, because usually I am able to respond to messages in a timely manner.**

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Texas Blackboard Users Conference (1/5) - Anticipation and Apprehension

Readers,

This week, I am excited about attending the "Texas Blackboard Users Group" Conference in Richardson, TX. However, I am slightly apprehensive about integrating Blackboard 9 in my online and hybrid courses, because our university is still in the pilot phase of the LMS integration period.

So, I plan to attend this conference with an OPEN mind and hopefully I will meet some individuals who can change my mind about Blackboard 9. This shall be interesting!

Also, I would like to formally thank Dr. Credence Baker for including me in this awesome opportunity! Here is some more information about T-BUG: http://www.t-bug.org/. 

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Student Affairs and Technology Series (4/4) - The Office of Academic Advising at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

Readers,

I understand that this is a SHORT series, but I wanted to make sure that I highlighted Eric Stoller's Blog, Student Affairs and Technology (hosted by Inside Higher Ed).

Recently, he wrote a post titled, "#AcAdv: Social Media Spookiness & Strategy from UWGB". 

In his blog post, Stoller wrote, "The Office of Academic Advising at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay" has, according to Sanders, "taken to the social web in a big way since July. They've ditched safe and cautious, for risky and fun. This isn't a social web success story, it's a story on the reevaluation of current communication practices... daring to stand out, putting in the extra effort, not fearing failure."

Here's their Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/uwgbadvising

Here's their Facebook account: http://www.twitter.com/advising/

Here's one of their most recent Youtube videos:

Processing Question: Since this department is currently using Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter, how could they use Foursquare or Blogger to reach students?

Here's shoutout to Eric for having such a terrific blog! - Follow Eric Stoller on Twitter @EricStoller

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Student Affairs and Technology Series (3/4) - Journal of Technology in Student Affairs

Readers,

One of my first short articles was published in the Journal of Technology in Student Affairs (A Student Affairs E-Journal). I have always been a HUGE fan of this online publication, because it provided great (easy-to-understand) tips for student affairs professionals!

Their most recent issue was published in Summer 2011 and here are the articles:

Rethinking Facebook: A Tool to Promote Student Engagement

Technologically Capable Armed Forces: Attributes of Graduates of the National Defense University of Malaysia

The Use of an Online Social Networking to Introduce and Connect Newly Admitted International Students

Are They Listening? Social Media on Campuses of Higher Education

College Cyberbulling: The Virtual Bathroom Wall

Processing Question - Which article was your favorite?

Enjoy!

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Student Affairs and Technology Series (2/4) - Student Affairs and Youtube! (University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio)

Readers,

This is an amazing Youtube channel from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. They are VERY creative and a few of them attended my conference session at TACUSPA!

Here are two of the most recent Youtube podcast episodes:

They had a GREAT Chili Cook Off Program!

Here are the results!

Processing Question - How does your student affairs or academic department use Youtube?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

Student Affairs and Technology Series (1/4) - Social Media Technology in Student Affairs Departments in Texas (Presented at the TACUSPA Conference)

Readers,

Last month, I was fortunate to attend the Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators in Austin, TX. I learned a WEALTH of new information about student affairs and higher education. I strive to stay abreast of new developments and research in the student affairs field.

This week, I will focus on STUDENT AFFAIRS and TECHNOLOGY (one of my favorite topics). I am thankful to have been selected to present a session on student affairs and technology at the conference! A week prior to the conference, I dispersed an informal survey on Facebook to the TACUSPA membership on Facebook to gather responses focused on HOW different higher education institutions integrate technology in their courses and WHICH technologies they integrate in their departments!

Here is the presentation:

Processing Question: What was the most interesting aspect of the presentation?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

31 Spooky Ways to Integrate Adobe Software in Higher Education (Post 31/31): Series Reflection & Great Ideas for Integrating Adobe Products in Higher Education" Mini-Contest

Readers,


Unfortunately, this is the last post in the "31 Spooky Ways to Integrate Adobe Software in Higher Education" series. It has been an AMAZING series though which I reflected on my academic and student affairs experiences in higher education. I have not been able to combine both of my interests in such a way in a LONG time.


I am EXCITED about planning next semester's classes and integrating the Adobe Creative Suite in the course creation process for the Social Networking course. 


Today, I am switching back to the weekly series. However, starting on Tuesday, November 15th, I will start a "Great Ideas for Integrating Adobe Products in Higher Education" Mini-Contest with the "Communication in Higher Education: Life on the Tenure Track at a Teaching Institution" blog (http://www.commhighered.com/).

"Great Ideas for Teaching with Adobe Products" Mini-Contest. 

Participants:
Faculty, Staff, and Students are encouraged to submit an idea! We encourage ideas focused on (but not limited to) the following:
- Classroom Ideas (Face-to-Face or Hybrid)
- Student Activities/Student Affairs
- Student Organizations
- Admissions and Recruitment
- Campus-Wide Events
- Supplemental Instruction
- Learning Communities
- Online Instruction/E-Training


Voting Period
The readers will vote on the best entries from Monday, December 5th to Friday, December 9th. The WINNER of the contest will receive a copy of the CS5.5 Master Collection!


Sincerely,


J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

31 Spooky Ways to Integrate Adobe Software in Higher Education (Post 30/31): Adobe Apps for Grofessors-on-the-Go

Readers,

I know that this is one of my last posts in this series, but I wanted to highlight Adobe Apps. Yes, we use computers ALL OF THE TIME, but for some professors-on-the-go continual computer access is a luxury! As a result, a few of us use iPods and iPads as a supplement to our office and home computer.



Adobe Carousel - Use this app to get consistent, high-quality results on computer and the iDevice using the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom software.



Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop CS5 - Use this app to create custom colors for Photoshop.



Adobe Eazel for Photoshop CS5 - Use this app to create beautiful paintings on your iPad!



Adobe Nav for Photoshop CS5 - Use this app to navigate around your computer's CS5 software.



Adobe Photoshop Express - Use this app to QUICKLY edit and share photos from your mobile device. :) My husband uses this one! :) 


Processing Question - Are you using one of these apps? What do you think? Which one of the apps is your favorite?


Sincerely,


J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

31 Spooky Ways to Integrate Adobe Software in Higher Education (Post 29/31): Integrating Adobe Captivate in our University's Learning Management System

Readers,

After writing yesterday's post, I wanted to discover MORE about integrating Adobe Captivate in our university's Learning Management System, Blackboard.

Here's a great post from the Captivate blog titled, "Distributing Adobe Captivate Courses through LMS" - http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2011/09/distributing-adobe-captivate-courses-through-lms.html


Here's a great video from the Adobe E-Learning Youtube Channel titled, "Configure Captivate Projects for LMS":

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

31 Spooky Ways to Integrate Adobe Software in Higher Education (Post 28/31): Migrating Your Learning Materials with Adobe Captivate 5

Readers,

Next semester, I am teaching a Social Networking in our Communication Studies Department. I am one of those CRAZY people that tries to integrate education technology in every course and I plan to integrate Adobe Captivate in my course. This should be an easy embed/upload into Blackboard (at least I hope).

Here is a great Adobe Acrobat file of slides titled, "Migrating Your Learning Materials with Adobe Captivate 5".

Processing Question: Do you use Adobe Captivate? What do you think of the program? Does it work well in your online and/or hybrid classes?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards 

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41

31 Spooky Ways to Integrate Adobe Software in Higher Education (Post 27/31): Creating Virtual Tours for Your Classroom and/or Academic Building

Readers,

Here is one of my favorite entries in the 2011 Educators' Choice Awards competition, the Harold B. Lee Library Virtual Tour. This tour (and similar virtual tours) would be an incredible resource for academic and student services departments who wish to provide prospective and online students with a glimpse into their building.

Here are the subsequent videos in the tour: 

HBLL Virtual Tour - Level 1

HBLL Virtual Tour - Level 2

Processing Question - Does your department or campus have a virtual tour? How do the students react to the virtual tour?

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Become a fan of Millennial Professor on Facebook - http://goo.gl/gnN41