Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Violetta's Reflections on the 2017 eLCC Conference

Submitted by Violetta Miles, ID&T Instructional Technologist

Do You Have a Textbook In You?
After years of teaching, most of us probably have a textbook in us. Learn how to assemble, create and distribute your first book. Thomas Harrop, MGD Lead, Red Rocks Community College

In this session Thomas went step by step on how to publish your own book (textbook), what important things to remember, and what to keep in mind. And then he went over these three websites that will publish your book:

           
It was interesting to me because I do wish to publish a book one day. I thought of it when I was teaching Communications at ITT-Tech. I wished I could make it easier for students and have a more useful information in the textbook instead of very complex and full of terminology that students will never remember and use. I will learn more about this process and be able to provide some information to our faculty, if some will express an interest.

CU Online Creation Station- Videos with the Touch of a Button!
In the spring of 2017, CU Online adapted the Penn State One Button Studio™ model and designed a ˜Creation Station™ for faculty. CU Online not only adapted this idea, but also created additional media solutions specifically designed for faculty. The Creation Station allows faculty to create high quality audio and video with the push of a button! Amy Arnold, Academic Services Senior Professional, University of Colorado Denver.

Great session and a great service, but I am not sure if Regis has the budget and resources for that.

Be the ONE in the DRIVEr’s Seat! Using OneDrive for Course Design Collaboration and More
Explore Microsoft OneDrive, with a special focus on using the tool for course development project management. All attendees will have the opportunity to observe use of the tool and learn more about online collaboration best practices. Grace Whiteaker, Instructional Designer, CCCOnline

OneDrive allows you to sync (including SharePoint online team sites), share, and collaborate on all files anywhere and anytime across PC and Mac in Office 365. 


I have Office 365 and OneDrive on my devices, but I didn’t have a chance to use OneDrive yet. So, this session was very informative on how this team is using it, and made me go and read more about OneDrive.



Best Video Recording Practices for Flipping Your Classroom
Get guidance and practice on best video recording techniques when considering the “Flipped Classroom” method for students. Anne Banister, Videographer, Red Rocks Community College

Anne is a great asset for RRCC. In her presentation she talked about why flipping your classroom is a great idea, what to consider, technical aspects, and more.



Designing Explorations
Leverage technology and instructional design to create meaningful and effective opportunities for students to engage with content. See some examples from CCCOnline, and be inspired to create your own! Jessica Gagnon, eLearning Technologist, CCCOnline

In this session they talked about enhancing courses with Spry (Accordion), Tabs, Knowledge checks, and Articulate Storyline. We are already using most of them in our courses, but it was good to see how other colleges use them and what they are focusing on.

CU Denver’s Canvas Migration
Come hear from CU Denver about their migration to Canvas. Christian Bell, Regional Director, Canvas, Dave Thomas, Director of Academic Technology, CU Denver

In this session, Dave Thomas stated that Canvas is “the best documented LMS out there.” He shared that the moving transition from Blackboard to Canvas was fairly easy. However, the transition would have been even better if they have done these things in the first place:
  • Use Canvas help desk
  • Batch interface is good enough (takes 4 years to lean bugs out)
  • Build better comm pathways
  • Get students involved
Dave was very enthusiastic and happy with the things they are able to do in Canvas, the things they are currently working on, and the things they wish to improve.
It was an excellent presentation and great insights, but we are not changing our LMS anytime soon. So, I guess it was good to learn why some colleges prefer Canvas over others.

Transform your Online Discussions by Creating Presence Creatively
Increase student interaction, see and hear your students’ emotions and allow your students to connect in a more human way through creative online software. Create a topic for your students, learn how students participate through text, voice, video or cellphone and load it into your LMS. Joan Anderssen, Faculty/Economics and Finance, Arapahoe Community College, Denise Lefort, Faculty/Business, Arapahoe Community College

Removing Roadblocks to Student Success: Simplifying Access to Digital Content
“Things are continuing to come together”, says Amy Sorensen, ProfHelp at Colorado Community Colleges Online. Join us to learn how CCCOnline & Labyrinth Learning partnered to simplify access to etexts and digital content without the need for license keys or access codes. Amy Sorensen, ProfHelp, CCCOnline; Kristin Rivedal, Learning Management Systems Administrator,
CCCOnline; Jodi Noll, Business Development, Labyrinth Learning

Hybridize the Learning Experience
Discover some guidelines and considerations for developing a hybrid or blended course and how to replace the F2F classroom meetings that will be missing. Make F2F meetings more precious and re-design certain parts of your course content so it can be delivered and learned in an online environment. Design your course so that it has 3 tracks of learning: F2F class meetings, regular assignments, and online/independent study learning opportunities. Another major challenge is to make these learning tracks interweave with one another so that they are connected to common course objectives. Tim Kochery, Senior Instructional Designer, Laramie County Community College

Show Me the Makerspace: The How and Why of Makerspaces in Higher Ed
Explore the foundations of maker education such as definitions, pedagogy behind maker education, best practices for beginning your makerspace, and resources that include Higher Ed makerspaces locally and across the country. The bottom line? Makerspaces are about the construction of knowledge by learners, not the technology you adopt. Brandon Poulliot, Technical Support Specialist, Laramie County Community College; Dr. Rebecca M. Reese, Laramie County Community College,
Senior Instructional Designer.

Monday, June 5, 2017

2017 International Conference and Expo (ICE) - Association for Talent Development (ATD formerly ASTD) -

I attended the ATD ICE conference (http://www.atdconference.org/About/Reasons-to-Attend) in Atlanta last month as a volunteer which means the conference fees were waived. For each day I volunteered I received a complimentary day. I volunteered two days and received two days free! What a win-win. One day I served as the volunteer day manager which turned out to be a 12 hour day. My second volunteer day wasn't as taxing. I served as a room monitor which means I was able to select the room I wanted to work in for the day to help the speaker, count the number of attendees, and make sure the room was tidy along with materials and water. I wanted to hear. Again, this was a win-win for me.

This international conference includes 10 content tracks of Science of Learning, Instructional Design, Learning Technologies, Learning Measurement & Analytics, among many others. This is a fabulous conference for those in Higher Education. In fact, one of the four Industry Tracks includes Higher Education. There were special events and receptions for those in Higher Education to meet and network on a global scale. In addition, Thomas Gilhooley, of Regis University's Higher Learning Partners was interviewed as part of the conference video summary. Thomas is interviewed beginning at 2:30 minutes into this video, see http://www.atdconference.org/About/Video. Further, there are many session tracks such as Healthcare, Education, Global Voices, Innogizer, Leaders of the Profession, Panels, Senior Leaders, Learning Transfer (applicable for back on the job), and Voices of Innovation.

One "Science of Learning" track speaker was Britt Andreatta of 7th Mind, Inc. She spoke about the power of teams. Her neuroscience research discusses how to build more effective teams. To do this, we must understand how the brain works and the human biology that works toward building collaboration, trust, productivity, and engagement. She discussed the metrics of inclusion and psychological safety affect team engagement. Britt cited that over 86 percent of employees and leaders lack the skills to create an effective team which leads to workplace failures. This information is astonishing. If you would like more information on Britt's research, her latest book is titled, "Wired to Resist." She can be contacted at http://www.brittandreatta.com/.

The keynote speakers (http://www.atdconference.org/Speakers/Keynote) included Captains Mark and Scott Kelly who spoke on their experiences that shaped their views on teamwork and collaboration, overcoming adversities and dealing with tragedies. Dr. Kelly McGonigal, Health Psychologist and Lecturer at Stanford University spoke about the upside of stress. Her book by the same title, "The UPside of Stress: Why stress is good for you, and how to get good at it. Here's a link to her TED Talk, https://www.ted.com/speakers/kelly_mcgonigal. The final keynote speaker was inspiring, Dr. Ronan Tynan is a medical doctor, paralympic champion and lovely Irish tenor. He spoke on hitting the high notes by living life to the fullest.

I highly recommend this conference for those interested in hearing from experts in our field of learning and education. There we also many, many exhibitor sessions, author chats and meet and greets. The exposition included over 400 vendors. What fun that was!!!

On a final note, being Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) I attended the annual ATD Awards ceremony and reception, sponsored by Harvard University, in which corporations and individuals were recognized for their efforts . Dr. Maureen Orey, CPLP, of Brandman University was recognized for her dissertation titled, "Is it Worth It? The Career Benefits and Return on Investment of Volunteer Leadership as Perceived by Chapters Leaders in a Professional Talent Development Association." As part of her research findings, the study participants reported volunteer leadership led to transformational change as a leader within their current workplace environments. For many study participants who were business owners and consultants, they reported a 424 percent return on investment.

As the 2017 Chapter President of ATD Rocky Mountain Chapter (www.atdrmc.org), these research findings resonate with me. Along with serving as a coach for the Regis Leadership Institute and a mentor in the upcoming academic year, I find that all of these experiences are tools to help me develop my leadership skills. So if you are looking for opportunities to develop your leadership skills, volunteer leadership is an investment in yourself which has a large return on investment.