Riley+Holzberlein


 * Riley’s notes from the 3rd Annual Emerging Technologies for Online Learning Symposium**
 * July 20 – 23, 2010 San Jose, California**

Overview: During this 4-day symposium, I attended 10 Concurrent Sessions in addition to the Pre-Conference Workshops and the Closing Session. The following are the highlights of these events culled from my notes:

__**Pre-Conference Event: July 20th**__ 1:30 “Never say Never: Saying ‘Yes’ to Mobil Devices in the Classroom” • This session focused on seeing mobile devices not as distractions, but as tools to increase student engagement. One of the main themes of this session was to explore ways to exploit students’ interest in using mobile phones and table computers to enhance learning by offering them access to web-based information in real time. For example, in an ESL classroom, smart phones with web access could be used to help students get immediate access to word definitions and pronunciations. The presenters focused on the independent learning this more and more commonly available technology can afford.

__**Day 1: July 21th**__ 9:00 a.m. **“Online Literature Circles: Engaging Students in Reading, Writing and Learning”** • In this session, grade 6 - 12 teacher used Web 2.0 tools to help her students study literature and connect with other students both within the school and with other students in distant classrooms. The presenter’s experiences indicated that her students became more passionate about reading and analyzing various literary works and were able to share insights with other students via the web who were very different in location and cultural background (i.e. rural/urban students). She formed online reading circles of 4 to 10 students each and asked them to post their thoughts once a week for 4 weeks on each of the novels they read. Then, the teacher, classmates, and distant connected classes were allowed to respond to each other’s thoughts/ideas. She found this created a competitive environment that encouraged students to view a literary work through various lenses. Also, students were able to write an online journal and complete collaborative projects that would otherwise be impossible. The presenter also offered ideas about guidelines for respectful online dialogue and ways to weave writing skills—like correctly using paragraphs and quotations. She encouraged students to comment on each other’s work and pointed out examples of exemplary posts so that students could edit/revise/repost. Personally, I found many of her techniques might be used help my ESL students connect the skills they are learning in my class to their application in other course by connecting them to the larger college community. Website: http://www.online.bclearner.ca

10:30 **“Faculty Motivation and Technology Integration: How to Bring 100% of Non-Techie Faculty on Board”** • In this presentation, Dan Lim, VP of Tech and Distance Learning at Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences, shared his successes and challenges in converting all faculty members into savvy technology users. First, he acknowledged that his college is quite small and this fact allowed him to provide his faculty and students with technology resources that would be impossible for a larger institution to duplicate, for example all faculty members were supplied with their own computers and all students were REQUIRED to have their own laptops. Nevertheless, he had many good ideas to share that would be applicable to NOVA generally and to me as ESL Assistant Dean in particular. He used the catch-phrase “Nurture and Nudge” to describe his approach to faculty acceptance of technology. He made sure all technology applications and requirements were “education-driven” and NOT “technology-driven.” Meaning, he didn’t ask faculty to use technology because it was available, but because it helped provide good learning opportunities for the students. He advocated a bottom-up approach instead of a top-down mandate. He saw his administrative responsibility was one of providing support and infrastructure which inspired faculty interest. Emphasis was given to gentle technology leadership and the use of non-techie” language to garner acceptance. He encouraged a focus on student and teacher needs and learning problems and not the technology itself, and this approach created trust in the faculty members. In short, he believed that Non-Techie Faculty (NTF) could be brought on-board by creating a supportive and unintimidating culture, a teaching/learning focus, showing not telling, inundating faculty with training opportunities, support and respect. Finally, he advocated a “drop everything” support for faculty emergencies to help teachers build confidence in the classrooms. His own work took 3-5 years to complete, but the outcome was 100% buy-in from the faculty at his institution, which was very satisfying.

11:30 **“MERLOT 101: Everything You Need to Know to Hit the Ground Running with MERLOT”** • In this session presented by Barbara Sperling, Manager, Technical Development CSU, I was introduced to MERLOT (Multimedia Education Resources for Learning and Online Teaching) and JOLT (Journal of Online Learning). This session explained how MERLOT is organized and its features and services were established. I learned how to become a MERLOT member and how to search its resources and become a contributor. This session, in conjunction with the opportunity to have lunch with the MERLOT organizers, was one of the highlights of the symposium for me.

1:40 **“Successful Mentoring and Supervision of Distant Adjunct Faculty”** • This session provide a rubric for assessing the performance of distant adjunct faculty running online courses, via the anacronym UPLOAD (Understanding, Practice, Language, Opportunities, Assessment, and (going the) Distance. An interesting session, but with limited applicability for NOVA

2:40 **“The Future of Video and Education”** • This was a vendor-sponsored session for Kaltura’s open source video platform. Essentially, it is a managed and secure YouTube-type video platform that integrates into LMS.

__**Day 2: July 22th**__ 10:30 **“Second Language Learners New Literacy Learning in the Beyond-Game Culture”** • This session demonstrated the ways in which online gaming can help second language learners develop language skills in a gaming environment. The presenter used real examples on dialogue showing how MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming), like” Civilization,” can ask for and receive help through game-based discussions. The presenter emphasized that student often prefer out-of-class learning, or “incidental learning.”

11:30 **“How to Integrate Facebook into the Classroom”** • This session explored ways to motivate students by using Facebook (fb) to extend classroom learning. The presenter emphasized how fb’s popularity helps make learning in this environment fun, and its utility since student typically already know how to use it. Also, fb make communication of informal assignment quick and easy.

1:40 **“Threaded Discussions: An Objective Scoring Process”** • This session offered a rubric for evaluating online threaded discussions. The presenter offered methods of setting up discussion groups, beginning with a whole-class discussion and then suggested forming carefully selected smaller groups comprised of different personality types. Her rubric was as follows: Opinion –only posts = 1 point, Opinion w/ reference to class material = 2 points, Opinion w/ reference including quote and page number = 3 points, and Opinion w/ outside reference and MLA citation = 4 points. Ths goal is for each student to amass 10 points for each weekly discussion. Each discussion group also had a “student facilitator” who received extra points for fulfilling this duty by following the “Online Facilitation Tips” at http://www.fullcirc.com/resources/facilitation-resources/

3:40 **“Digital Cheating: Do we Even Know What We’re Up Against?”** • This session began with an overview of new resources available for cheaters using online services, like for profit paper mills and anonymous Internet chat relays. By acknowledging there are very few ways for us to combat these sources, the presenter advocated the following ideas: create unique assignments that focus on class-specific material, add an “Honesty Clause” to your syllabi, and incorporate the human aspect into your assignments (such as presentations and in-class writing assignments).

__**Day 3: July 23th**__ 8:15 **“How do Faculty and Others Use MERLOT?”** • In this session, a variety of presenters, including our team leader, Laura Franklin, demonstrated how to create and use a “Personal Collection” on MERLOT. Some of the materials used were the Language Exchange Using Skype, Math Cut-the Knot, and Outbreak at Water’s Edge. Each of the presenters showed us how MERLOT can organize resources for easy use in the classroom.

10:15 **“Comparing Student Acceptance of LMS Tools, Web Conferencing, and Virtual Environments”** • The presenter, Jeremy Kemp, a co-chair of the symposium, shared his experiences in using Second Life. He found that the virtual environment of Second Life offered a more personal feel to online learning, and when students help create the Second Life environment, it changed according to the students involved in interesting ways. He showed some examples and an overview of the types of teaching/learning that Second Life offered which is available at http://tinyurl.com/slissl he noted that while the rewards can be great, it also takes a large amount of time for students to join and participate, so the return on investment must be clear. As a final note, he mentioned that the Second Life environment was especially useful in language learning, which ws of great interest to me as an ESL teacher.

__**Closing Plenary**__ 11:30 **“Emerging Technologies for What? Designing Programs for Revolutionary Learning”** by Lisa Dawley, Chair, Department of Educational Learning, Boise State University • This plenary speaker emphasized that successful institutions “Pull.” Meaning, they make students want to learn rather than forcing them to learn (or “Push”). She commented that as online learning grows in K-12, it would translate into growth of distance learning in higher education. She cited the U.S. Department of Education study that showed online students learn better than face-to-face, because learners spend more time studying, they have control over the media, blogs and discussions prompt reflection, and learners are influenced by their social networks. Furthermore, she advocated that research, policy, and practice should be joined to create more effective learning environments online. Her final prediction was that, within 3 years, mobile divices will be the main interface for accessing the Internet; thus we need to begin preparing for this cultural shift now!

__**Final Note:**__ • On a personal level, I would like to thank my NOVA and “Achieving the Dream” cohorts, Don Goral, Elizabeth Olibah, Cheri Spiegel, and //**especially**//, our organizer and leader, Laura Franklin, for making this a productive and memorable learning experience. I hope our contributions to NOVA as a result of this trip will inspire more such opportunities for other faculty members in the future. I know my personal growth as a result has been exceptional, and I will continue to share and benefit from the knowledge this experience has provided for me. I would like to end my remarks with two quotations I copied from the courtyard of the San Jose Fairmont Hotel which was dedicated to Ernesto Galarza. They are as follows: “//**Education can be thought of as progress of the individual powered by his own experience, observation, feeling, thought, curiosity, and biological endowment, rather than be the power of adults over him. This is motivation in the genuine sense: the forward movement of personality towards enlarging cycles of experience anchored in a sense of worth and success in the past**//.” And. . . “//**Values that weave the campus and the city into one unbroken mesh of involvement abolish the distinction, which I think is a false one, between life and preparation for life**//.”