Other sessions at TXDLA 2009

Too many sessions scheduled at the same time required quite a bit of session-juggling. Regardless, there was some great information to be had. Tyler Junior College has put together an excellent instrument for evaluating online courses. Dubbed the "Distance Education Course Standards Course Certification Checklist", the instrument is for reviewing courses prior to being taught online. It covers a number of areas including documentation, professional development, a "Start Here" module, syllabus, and several others. Easy to understand and appears to cover all the bases. 

Also attended the hands-on workshop "DE on a Shoestring", by Dr. Brett Millan. Lots of resources in this one, with handouts for open courseware, Web 2.0 apps, and open source apps. The presenter did a great job of demonstrating how these tools could be used in a classroom situation. 

One of the most intriguing uses of YouTube was that of the interactive video. A series titled "The Murder" shows a 2 minute drama. The final scene asks the viewer to select what action the heroes should take next by clicking a link. The link takes the viewer to the results of their decision. Imaginative use of YouTube.

A session on cloud computing brought out a debate between faculty and IT on the degree that networks should be locked down. Some networks are locked so tightly that the latest cloud computing apps are unavailable. IT contends that this must be done to secure the institutional network, while faculty argue that this prevents students from learning and experiencing the latest cloud applications.  And the argument continues....

Copyright/fair use was covered by Stephany Compton and Jake McBee of Texas Womans U. Documentation is key, as faculty must verify that content used in courses has been properly requrested from the author/owner. A number of links were provided for more info. And pleasant surprise: all attendees received a flash drive with presentation preloaded! Great idea, and hopefully one that will catch on as flash drives come down in price.   

Other resources:

Google docs

Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

Glogster

Andragogy

Vlog It!

Flickr

Zoho

Big Huge Labs (Flickr add-ons)

Open Office

First day of TXDLA 2009

This is the first day of sessions at TXDLA 2009, and some great ones they were. First one attended dealt with the READI assessment tool. Lots of institutions beginning to use this to assess the readiness of students taking online courses. We've been using it since 2008 but found out about some customizing features such as creating custom text per group and displaying national averages. Need to check out the features of the latest edition.

Also attended a session on a qualitative research study dealing with faculty attitudes about teaching online. They suggested setting up peer training sessions so that faculty could assist each other with learning new technology skills. Gotta try that one. They also suggested relating the addition of technology skills with tenure portfolio. Give recognition for the amount of time required for learning new skills.

I then attended  a session on an Adobe product for easy vlogging. The presenter mentioned a Microsoft product called Windows Media Encoder which is a free screen capture utility. Never heard of this one but can't beat the price.

The last session of the day was the VCT Coordinator's Update provided by Ron Thomson. Ron always has some great things in the works and this session was no different. New apps being purchased for 2010 include CARAT, an online course review process. This is similar to Quality Matters but in an online format. Can't wait to see this in the fall when released. Also the possibility of Presidium and Turnitin, but these last two aren't guaranteed due to budget worries. VCT is also working with NETNet on a master course in Biology or A&P. This would be available to all VCT institutions and include learning objects developed using Softchalk.