Vinnie, Jeff and I recently attended the eLCC conference. Here is a summary of the event and the sessions I attended.
Open Content for Professional Development
Colorado Community Colleges Online
Lisa Marie Johnson and Karen Kaemmerling outlined how they deliver and structure faculty development courses and workshops. They are very willing to share anything that they have developed and in addition if anyone wants to actually take some of the courses they offer that is ok too! They frequently have attendees that come from outside of the CCCO. If you don’t already know, CCCO uses D2L for their course management system. They offer development resources on teaching strategies and using D2L. If you go to this link http://ccconline.org/Faculty/ then choose any of the categories on the right you can explore some of the resources, videos and handouts that are available. Several of the resources are brief (under 2 minute) videos.
If you wish to register for the 2 week, self paced, D2L courses they offer, contact training@ccconline.org for specific instructions.
For you instructional designers out there, check out the model and processes that CCCO use for course development. http://tinyurl.com/5tepqhu
The whole faculty “wiki” that they have developed is worth exploring and has several gems that can be utilized. I certainly appreciated the willingness that CCCO has to share content and materials.
Keynote: Ellen Wagner “Data changes everything”
"Ellen Wagner is Partner and Senior Analyst with Sage Road Solutions, LLC, a premiere business and management services company. We work with organizations interested in accelerating the adoption of learning technology innovations. Ellen is responsible for industry intelligence, learning markets development and enablement solutions. In this capacity she also serves as the Executive Director of the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technology (http://wcet.wiche.edu)" (bio from her business website)
Ellen’s keynote basically talked about how data is having such a huge impact on education. Not just the data itself but how it is mined, collected and utilized. She mentioned an article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed that describes “The Netflix effect: When Software Suggests Students Courses” http://chronicle.com/article/The-Netflix-Effect-When/127059/
She mentions “pattern-based strategies” (Gartner) and how we can track trends and use them with predictive analytics. These types of strategies are typically used in marketing but can be utilized in education. The Gartner 2010 Hype Cycle is intriguing too as it attempts to determine if an emerging technology is going to have impact, stick around and change the game, or is it hype. More specifically there are those “sleepers” that maybe didn’t get a lot of hype but have huge potential. If you have a moment go to this link http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1447613 and read the explanation of this but also check out figure 1. It is a snapshot of 2010 and various stages of where a several technologies are at in the timeline: technology trigger; peak of inflated expectations, trough of disillusionment; slope of enlightenment and then the plateau of productivity. Quite intriguing...
Spice up your presentations with Pecha Kucha
Patricia Rand: from AIMS
Pecha Kucha originated in Tokyo and means “chit-chat” in Japanese. Basically it is a presentation that is comprised of only 20 images for 20 seconds each. I have to admit this is the first time I’ve ever heard of this in particular. I have heard of the one minute lecture and that is great for a quick, concise concept explanation that potentially can be memorable.
Patricia recommended a great book by Dr. John Medina, “Brain Rules.” http://www.brainrules.net/about-brain-rules
Are we not always striving to create content for our students that not only is engaging but memorable? I think we already know what doesn’t work. (aka: how quickly can we put our students to sleep?) But keep in mind this is just human nature and certainly not always easy to create a presentation or lecture that will have your students sitting on the edges of their seats with bright eyes.
There is a sea of research about memory and retention. Pecha Kucha focuses in on the fact that images assist in memory triggers and cognition, so instead of a text heavy slide with bullet points galore, use an image and a narrated story with context instead. In addition, keep your total presentation under 10 minutes. The research has found that generally people will begin to tune out at the 10 minute mark, especially in an era of multi-tasking and digital distractions (such as social networking, cell phones, facebook, etc)! Check this out by Dr. John Medina http://www.brainrules.net/attention/?scene=1
Dr. Medina suggests “you must do something emotionally relevant at each 10 minute mark to regain attention.” Keep that in mind when designing presentations.
Overall, the Pecha Kucha strategies are:
1) avoid text (and absolutely no bullet points)
2) include images and (narrate) with stories. Stories are memorable
3) use emotionally rousing content
4) make comparisons where ever possible
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Keynote: Barry Dahl
Excellence in e-Education, LLC http://xlents.com/
I have heard Barry Dahl speak a number of times and I also follow his blog. I do enjoy his perspective and the thoughts he shares with us. He recently launched a new business “Excellence in e-Education.” He has developed an idea which to be quite honest, I can’t believe no one else has thought of this yet, to bring a conference to your campus, rather than going to a conference. It is called “conference comes to you,” and I think it is brilliant. The next one is on the topic of “digital storytelling.”
Barry’s keynote brought up a variety of points to ponder regarding education and choice. He referred to the book “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely (which I am grabbing from the library today). Human nature always intrigues me and sets me into deep thought, so when Barry sent out the thought of “the power of free” and why do we (U.S.) make people pay for education? The funny thing is I have thought about this before. It certainly makes me angry that if I wanted to get a Ph.D I’d have to basically win the lottery or live in a cardboard box and eat pb&j for a long time. I digress; let’s get back on track with the keynote. The next idea to scratch our heads about is: “Why do we ask students to buy books (content)?” Why is it not already included inside the ‘course?’ Good question.
Barry’s keynote brought up a variety of points to ponder regarding education and choice. He referred to the book “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely (which I am grabbing from the library today). Human nature always intrigues me and sets me into deep thought, so when Barry sent out the thought of “the power of free” and why do we (U.S.) make people pay for education? The funny thing is I have thought about this before. It certainly makes me angry that if I wanted to get a Ph.D I’d have to basically win the lottery or live in a cardboard box and eat pb&j for a long time. I digress; let’s get back on track with the keynote. The next idea to scratch our heads about is: “Why do we ask students to buy books (content)?” Why is it not already included inside the ‘course?’ Good question.
Although Neil Postman’s book, “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” is focused on the transition of technology in the age of television and movies and how it affected our culture, it sort of parallels the digital age that we are currently experiencing. What is really thought provoking are the comparisons between Orwell (1984) vs. Huxley (Brave New World). Another book by Marshall McLuhan, “The Medium is the Message” was bought up. This book outlines how the vehicle of delivering the message may influence how the message is perceived. My interpretation of this concept with regards to higher education is that we always need to keep our educational goals and objectives in the forefront and not be clouded or even enchanted by the methods in which we deliver the content. As an instructional designer, we always say, don’t let the technology drive the content, the content should drive the technology!
Lastly, Nicholas Carr and his book “What is the Internet doing to our Brains” and the 2008 article “Is Google making us Stupid” was mentioned to us. The author of these publications observes what the digital age is doing to our cognitive processes, ie. multitasking, critical thinking, and attention span. Nicole
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