SYLLABI RESOURCES

Here are some links for creating effective Syllabi:

http://www.mdfaconline.org/modules/module_a10/module_a10.html
Topic A10: Creating An Effective Online Syllabus (Maryland Faculty Online)

http://www.niu.edu/facdev/resources/idea/syllabus/index.htm
Creating and Effective Syllabus (Northern Illinois University)

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learnshops/teachlearn/index.html
From Syllabus to Assessment (Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction)

http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/tutorials/syllabus/index.html
Syllabus Tutorial (University of Minnesota)

http://www.englishraven.com/ttools_syllabus.html
Syllabus Design / Templates (Englishraven.com)

Technology Tuesdays

One of the things I will be doing for my job is coordinating a series of seminars called "Technology Tuesdays." These will be hour long sessions held each week for seven weeks to introduce faculty and staff to a wide array of tools and toys for enhancing teaching and learning. Some of the meetings will be designed to give participants specific information or skills in using things we currently have on campus. Other sessions will be intended to merely open discussion about technology application, exploring the opportunities and barriers.

Some of the topics I'm exploring for possible scheduling include:

Software to detect and deter plagiarism
Moodle Course Management
Use of Camtasia for Video Editing
Adaptive technology for students with disabilities

Those are just a start. I've sent out some e-mail enquiries to see what faculty and staff may be interested in. I may set up some vendor demonstrations. There are a lot of details yet to be sorted out. But it should be interesting to do and hopefully I'll learn some new stuff along the way.

Return

Here we are already into March of 2007, so I figured it was high time for me to return to this much neglected little blog and do a bit more exploring of resources for teaching and learning.

I've had my hands full learning all I can about a variety of things such as
Learning Communities
Service Learning
Models for First Year Experience Programs
and Student Orientations.

I've learned a thing or two about course success rates and continue to explore ways to strengthen programs.

So now it is time to return to this venue to catalog some of these finds so I can find my way through the forest of all the good stuff out there.

Clickers In The Classroom

One of the Pilot Programs we will be initiating at BMCC is the use of Clickers in our classrooms. Classroom Response Systems are one of the latest tools instructors are using to assess whether or not students are grasping key concepts. Use of clickers allows instructors to appeal to multiple learning styles as well as generate enthusiasm for the topics discussed through immediate feedback loops. Most who use them say their students' level of engagement goes way up as they become more active participants.

There are many brands of clickers available. For our first pilot project we went with GTCO CalComp. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Blogging in Academia

I just got back from the Pacific Northwest Great Teachers Seminar held at the beautiful Menucha Retreat & Conference Center in Corbett, OR. It was an amazing five days that I will carry with me for years to come.

All too often people participate in conferences, workshops or other learning opportunities only to forget most of what they learned once caught up in the fray of re-entry in day-to-day work load. In order to prevent that from happening, the participants from our conference will be staying in touch via a blog where we can share ideas and resources, as well as just keeping up with one another's triumphs and trials.

This peaked my interest in various ways that blogs can be used in an educational setting.

In addition to my day job at Blue Mountain Community College working with the Title III grant, I also teach online sociology courses on an adjunct basis for Wenatchee Valley College. Over there the College President has a running blog for communicating with faculty, staff, students and the general community. More and more instructors are incorporating blogs into their courses, such as this one by an Assistant English instructor at University of Missouri.

I decided to start this blog to provide a central place to store links about educational resources that could be easily shared with others.

I'm sure it will evolve over time...but for now, this will do.