Tech2Learn
Volume 2 Issue 1 | 03/15/2008

A newsletter with items of interest related to educational technology for Asnuntuck Community College. If you don't have time to read these right away they will be archived at http://www.acc.commnet.edu/online/faculty.htm.

Teaching Online - An article in US News and World report was the inspiration for the focus of this newsletter. Read the article and then preview some cool e-learning tools.

Article: "New Answers for E-Learning":

"With dorm bills and gasoline prices skyrocketing, it's no wonder 3.5 million students are now opting to stay home and take online college courses. Unfortunately, as many of those students have discovered, E-learning courses have disadvantages, too. Online courses often can be more boring and less educational than traditional classes. They also tend to have higher dropout rates and, on average, yield lower grades than regular students get.

Researchers say that students who stick to courses that offer several of the E-learning field's best practices can cut their chances of dropping out by as much as 50 percent. Here's their advice on what to look for in an E-learning program.....

..... More, and better, ways of delivering lectures and information. "My pet peeve is professors who just paste PowerPoint slides, a textbook assignment, and a quiz into a course shell in Blackboard" and think they've created a good online course, says Darcy Hardy, who heads the University of Texas's TeleCampus. The best online teachers provide information in many different ways. Sierra College's Pacansky-Brock, who was named 2007's best online professor by the Sloan Consortium, posts her lecture notes, provides audio podcasts, and uses VoiceThread, a new program that allows students to hear her talk and see her draw on and annotate slides of artwork, to get her lessons across."
Read the entire story here .....

The Tools: VoiceThread and SnapKast ... these are very cool!!

VoiceThread  http://voicethread.com/

"A VoiceThread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish. A VoiceThread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world."

Click the graphic below to check out the videothread "100 Ways to Use VoiceThread in Edu":

When browsing other VoiceThreads I came across this student created example that demonstrated the concept of "Order of Operations" in math. Who can't use a refresher on that? Student created tutorials!! So pedagogically rich and valuable on many levels! This was made with another coold tool called SnapKast and you're going to love that tool too!

Click the graphic below to check out "Order of Operations":

SnapKast  http://snapkast.com/

Click the graphic below to go to the SnapKast site and get a preview of what this tool can do. Works great with a whiteboard or tablet PC. I'll definitely be checking this one out!

Upcoming Training

Transitioning to Office 2007 (open to all ACC faculty and staff)

Wed. April 2 from 10-12
Fri. April 18 from 1-3
Fri. April 25 from 1-3

Transitioning to Blackboard Vista 4 (open to current users of WebCT Vista 3)

Thurs. May 1 from 1-3:30
Tues. May 13 from 1-3:30
Wed. May 14 from 9:30-12
Wed. May 14 from 1-3:30
Fri. May 16 from 9:30-12

For details and registration go to IITT Course Cart.

Upcoming Campus Events

April 3 - Day of Acknowledgement ( 9 am - 7 pm in Strom Conference Room)
April 26 - Community Action Day (contact Stacy Tweedie for RSVP and info)
April 7 - Jason Dorsey (9 am Auditorium - Motivational Speaker)
April 8 - Career Exploration Day (9 am - 5 pm Open House)
May 7 - 2nd Annual Spring Fling (Family fun and BBQ on the front lawn)
May 30 - Event in the Tent (Immediately following Commencement)

More Info:koconnell@acc.commnet.edu Director of Educational Technology