|
Volume V, Issue 6 April 2009 |
Quinsigamond
Community College |
|
|
Staff Development Links
Staff
Development
Staff Development
Staff
Development
Erica Merrill
Staff Development
April's Events
Instructional Technology
Workshops for Faculty:
Administrative
Professional's Day
QCC Book Club:
Reading
Roundtable:
In accordance with the college's strategic initiative to optimize the use of technology for improved and cost-effective communication, this newsletter is being distributed electronically as the best means for information-sharing with faculty and staff. |
Editor: Erica Merrill Innovations and Ethics: Reflections on the Sloan-C Online Learning Conference by Sheila Booth Assessment Technologies Institute by Linda McInerny Challenges in Obstetrics by Jean Nicholas COWC Certificate Programs for Managers & Supervisors Awards Luncheon
Innovations and Ethics: Reflections on the Sloan-C
Online Learning Conference When the plane touched down in Orlando on November 4th, I was more focused on hearing voting results than on the conference I came for. After watching media coverage of the historic election, I was ready to learn about innovations and improvements in online education. There were numerous conference sessions on new applications, some on data analysis, and some on pedagogy. I attended eight sessions, as well as the keynote and closing addresses; here I will comment on four sessions and the final speaker, Elizabeth Burge, who gave thoughtful insights from pioneers of distance education – and inspired my title! “Beyond Google and Yahoo: Web 2.0 Enhanced Search Engines That Will Forever Change the Way You Search!” was the first title to catch my attention. I was familiar with two of these services: “Grokking” is a visual search tool you can find in our library’s EBSCO database; and the WayBack Machine at Archive.com lets you find broken URLs and search for texts, audio, moving images and software. I didn’t know about a good Web Search 101 tutorial at About.com. Other tools are noted in Ray Schroeder’s presentation, Beyond Google and Yahoo. In “Tag, You’re It!”, Phylise Banner of SUNY at Albany explained a way of creating visual and social presence in an online course through “tag clouds.” We know that in face-to-face classes students may present a front so that they don’t get judged harshly. In an online class, students can use “tagging” or “user-defined metadata” to establish social presence and connectedness. The presenter also mentioned a simple version of “avatars” or second life characters users create for a similar purpose. I can see some benefit in using “tag clouds” in online courses that emphasize discussion. Sites to explore for these applications are: Doppleme.com and Wordle.net. I learned a very useful method of helping students organize online sources in “Online Scholarly Resource Sharing with Delicious.” Presenters from the University of Central Florida Libraries and Valencia Community College use this social bookmark application to increase access points for library resources. Delicious.com provides a simple registration form and the site is very easy to use. You can add database links to the software and organize links by bundling them into categories. You can bookmark both subscription and free resources, collaborate to develop resource lists, and create on-the-fly lists. This service would be useful for any course requiring research assignments. The session called “Syllabi for DL and Hybrid Courses: Contract or Moving Target?” had a philosophical focus. Presenters addressed the tension instructors face between developing a course syllabus that is static and one that is dynamic, and noted that some students may prefer adaptable syllabi while others will want “concrete, unchanging information from day one.” Points to remember from this session are that collaboration helps in creating and improving syllabi and that “social presence, teacher presence, and community” are essential in online courses with dynamic syllabi. A PowerPoint presentation supplemented each of the sessions, and I was happy to find many of these made available online for easy reference. Still, I had concerns about how to best incorporate some of the technology. The closing speaker, Elizabeth Burge, from the University of New Brunswick, provided some guidance. She used no PowerPoint since she wanted to emphasize reflection and the “technology between our ears”. She focused on ethical questions about how to “remove the distance from distance education”. Referring to Obama’s themes of community, opportunity, and responsibility, Burge warned that with any innovation we have to ask who is benefited and who may be marginalized. For example, we need to determine if an innovation in technology will limit rather than increase student access. She suggested applying “deliberative restraint” so we do not get lost in the technology before we have examined it enough; she illustrated this point with the story of a young instructional designer she worked with developing the Moodle system, which is a learning-management software like Blackboard). They ended up removing much of the clutter from the software. The result was a better tool for students. So how do we set priorities in our uses of technology for online courses? Burge’s advice is to examine the values that guide our own behavior and then look to the ethical principles of prudence, integrity, excellence, and justice – sound values for effective teaching.
Assessment Technologies Institute I recently had the opportunity to attend a conference in Reading, Pennsylvania for an introduction to Assessment Technologies Institute comprehensive learning package. ATI has been instrumental to the Nursing department with providing computerized testing and basic skill modules. The conference, held on Friday, November 7, 2008, was meant to introduce new software packages available for purchase. This conference was an eye-opening experience as to the necessity this type of independent learning and testing skills have become to the Nursing Student today. ATI provides pre- and post-testing, with rationales included to the skill performance modules that students can independently view at home or in school. The measurement allows students to review modules and re-test themselves for progression on each skill set. The window of time allotted to utilize these skill modules is 4 years. Other features were phonetic references to medical terminology, as well as definitions. We all know how difficult medical terminology is in itself, but to the ESL student, the challenge is greater. The more resources we can provide to our students, the more successful they will become with their education. ATI provides the visual modality that is so vitally important to nursing students. It is important to note, too, that this feature includes step-by-step video instruction, according to current nursing guidelines. The information is a clear, concise summary of current research and conclusions from evidence-based practice. Other new programs include case scenarios, critical thinking exercises and rationales for decision making – all so important to the student who has little or no experience with nursing fundamentals. It was interesting to hear the success stories of other institutions increasing their pass rates for the nursing licensure exams, as well as their decreasing attrition rates with the use of TEAS prior to entrance into their programs. QCC is right on target with the use of this technology and has become one of the leaders with its use. I was able to share information with colleagues about QCC success rates with PNP students, which empowered others to the use of these and future products of ATI.
Challenges
in Obstetrics On March 4, 2009, I attended a local conference called “Challenges in Obstetrics: Current Trends, Treatments, and Issues”. The speaker, Jamie Otremba, a nurse midwife from Minnesota, was excellent and really provided new – rather than same-old, same-old – information, as sometimes happens when we long-time nurse educators attend a continuing education program. She spoke of the latest research on one of the most common complications of maternity nursing – Gestational Hypertension. This was very informative and helps us to stay up with the most current information which we can share with our students. Other pertinent topics included thromboembolic disorders in pregnancy, domestic violence and other trauma in pregnant women, fetal death-causes and the nurse’s role in helping families cope. Also, the epidemic of obesity and its impact on pregnancy and the rate of cesarean birth was a topic prompting much discussion among us attendees. Lastly, we discussed current trends on elective induction of labor and elective cesareans. It was an excellent conference and, as noted, rather useful, beyond just meeting continuing education requirements.
Colleges of
Worcester Consortium The Human Resources Training Committee of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium sponsored an awards luncheon for the Tomorrow's Skills for Today's Managers, Series I & II certificate programs for managers and supervisors. The awards luncheon, held on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at the College of the Holy Cross, recognized the achievements of six QCC staff members that successfully completed the Series I or II certificate programs. The award recipients included:
Series I
Terri Rodriguez -
Associate Director of Disability Services
Jacqueline Lynch -
Staff Associate of Adult Community Learning Center
Beverly Guerin -
Director of Financial Aid
Series II
Josette Farnham -
Student Accounts Manager
Shirley
Dempsey-Anderson - Institutional Advancement Operations
Administrator
Scott Gauthier -
Assistant Director of Facilities
© Staff Development, Quinsigamond Community College 2009. |
