Center for Technology Enhanced Learning

Have you ever posted to a Blackboard discussion board and noticed that the screen “jumps” after submission?  Well, this is not an error with the system.  This “jump” occurs when the page Javascript reloads.  A reload of the Javascript is necessary to ensure that the page functions work properly.  After the reload, the page code returns you to where you were previously located in the discussion board.

A few reports have been made about this pesky “feature” (sadly, it is considered a feature), but this is typical behavior for many sites that utilize Javascript.  CTEL recommends that users patiently wait a few seconds after posting to a discussion board and allow for the reload to occur.  This will prevent any unwanted page clicks and most importantly reduce the risk of deleting comments.

Mentioned at the Eye on Technology Showcase:

USM Online will cover registrations fees (valued at $400-$500 each) for USM faculty (full time, part time, or adjunct) and staff in the Sloan-C Online Workshops. Each workshop is developed by practitioners for practitioners, enabling thousands of colleagues worldwide to collaborate with peers and experts, via real-time and asynchronous meetings. These fully online workshops (with optional synchronous Collaborate sessions) are 10-15 days long (about equivalent to one full day face to face seminar), and have been widely acclaimed among professional development organizations in online education.

You can browse the schedule of these workshops on their 2012 web-site.

Among the topics coming up this month:

• 4/18-4/27  PowerPointless: Building Effective, Interactive, Presentations that don’t end in .ppt
• 4/18-27  Like This, Tweet That: Engaging Students Through Social Media
• 4/18-4/27 Be More Accommodating: How Students with Disabilities Can Thrive in Online Learning
• 4/18-4/27  Using, Reusing, and Sharing Educational Resources
• 4/18-4/27  Web 2.0 Tools You Can Use to Improve Learning.

And in early May:

• 5/2-5/11 Avoiding Burnout: A Plan for Online Faculty
• Pass the MERLOT: Encouraging Faculty to Enhance Their Classes with MERLOT
  (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching)
• 5/2-5/18 Dial ‘M’ for Mobile: Using Mobile to Teach and Learn
• 5/2-5/18 Basics of Asynchroous/Synchrounous Blended Learning
• 5/9-5/25 Getting Started: The First Step Towards Online Teaching

CTEL has purchased a 30-screen registration for Virtual attendance at this conference, April 23 and 24. This allows you to watch and to participate in the National onsite event in Milwaukee, by asking questions and participating in discussions. You will also have access to all the recorded sessions for one year following the event. For a schedule of streamed sessions, please see their site. Our 30 screen access means you can log in from your office or home. Please contact Robin Russell for access details.

If you have wondered whether texting could improve your communications with your students, you may be interested in this Sloan Workshop. April 4-13.  A workshop intro is posted on YouTube. Although the class has already begun, you can probably start this weekend.

Magna Commons is a library of hundreds of recorded online webinars with topics relevant to both faculty and staff in higher education. USM has a campus wide license that allows anyone from USM to access professional development 24/7. To access the commons for the first time, you will need to set up an account. After that, you can just go to the site to view a webinar.

We hope you will take advantage of these free professional development opportunities. For more information see our website. To get USM’s access code (we’re not allowed to post it online), see the Online Faculty email, or contact Sue Goodrich or Robin Russell.

USM’s Center for Technology Enhanced Learning (CTEL) helps shape the future of e-learning at the University of Southern Maine by advancing the innovative use of new technologies.  To further this, CTEL announces the 2012-2013 Emerging Technology Grants (ETGs).  ETGs will support projects focusing on innovative instructional uses of new and emerging technologies in any type of class (face to face, blended, or online).

For FY13, 1-3 awards of up to $10,000 each are available to groups of 3-5 faculty in one department or across disciplines.  The money may be used for faculty additional compensation, the purchase of hardware and/or software, student support, and other relevant activities.

Proposals MUST be submitted by April 15.  Funding decisions will be announced by May 1.

For complete information, please see the Emerging Technology Grants (ETG) website.

Recently, I had a call from an instructor seeking out ways to annotate and record audio on his iPad.  He wanted to be able to share this work as video playback to his students.  During my research for best methods, I came across a very good wiki with a number of apps.

http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/Screen+Recording+Apps

I would say these apps are the best out there and ones that you could explore.  The best tip is to read each description and match your needs to the features of the app.  This is when you’ll find the one that works for your needs.  Happy hunting!!

On a regular basis, EDUCAUSE publishes podcasts covering a wide range of topics.  Today I would like to point out three relevant higher education topics.

Sharing and Protecting Ideas in the 21st Century
Transforming Higher Education with Emerging Technologies
The 2012 Horizon Report – if you would like to read the full report, you can find it here.

Enjoy!

Did you know CTEL maintains a Blackboard Faculty Support page?

This resource has a vast array of faculty related Blackboard topics, most of which are commonly sought during support calls.  Making a course available, enrolling or un-enrolling users, journals, wikis, blogs, linking course sections, SafeAssign, using the USM Media Server…you name it, it’s there!  Add in video tutorials and manuals, and you have one great resource!

http://usm.maine.edu/ctel/blackboard-faculty-support

Have you been exploring Google Docs? Here are some tips that might make using Google Docs a more pleasing experience for you, courtesy MacWorld.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1165792/ten_google_docs_annoyances_and_how_to_fix_them.html#lsrc.rss_main