Presentations Enjoyed and Lessons Learned at CFTTC

CFTTC is Creating Futures Through Technology Conference 2008, February 7-8, Biloxi, MS.

CFTTC Homepage: http://sbcjcweb.sbcjc.cc.ms.us/conf/presenter/presview.asp
Presentation abstracts: http://sbcjcweb.sbcjc.cc.ms.us/conf/presenter/presview.asp

Teaching and Learning with the Digital Natives, by Steve Yuen, USM and 10 literacy-based strategies to blend technology into core courses, by Stacy Reeves, Pokey Stanford, William Carey University. [abstract link above]

Steve is a Professor of Instructional Technology at USM who is leading faculty to learn more about meeting the challenge of teaching digital native students by modeling all the behaviors that will help us better communicate with our students. He has a blog, a home page, a podcasting center and put all three of his CFTT presentations on the web at SlideShare.com [content links below]. In his video podcast he described the digital natives and updated us on what they like and how our content can become part of their world. Stacy and Pokey said that “… it is clear that there is a strong disengagement between the instructors who are teaching in traditional styles and the college students who are tech-savvy.” Watch Steve’s slides, its like being there!

What’s new in Blackboard by Delena Hukle, Sara Johnston, ICC and FAB 5 Features of Blackboard by Tish Stewart, Jenny Jones, HCC

The Mississippi Junior Colleges in the Mississippi Virtual Community College recently upgraded their Bb installations to include the full array of Bb services and software. Their faculty have experience using the new features that will soon be available at UMC when our Black Board Upgrade is installed this spring [more on that next month]. One new Bb feature is “Assignment Manager.” This allows the instructor to require a student to study resources in sequence and complete them before taking the quiz. Then , if the quiz is passed, the student will be allowed to access additional educational material. Another feature is the “Early Warning System” that allows the instructor to easily follow the progress of all students and respond to those who need help or recognition. A 24/7/365 technical support system is now available from Bb.

Digital Toolbox for Trainers, by Craig Jackson, MSU, Open Source in Higher Education by Steve Yuen, USM and Are You Serious Its FREE! by Ray Holder, MUW

Craig, a E-Learning Specialist in the Workforce Education Section of the Research and Curriculum Unit, at Mississippi State University believes that our state we really needs “GREAT return on investment,” that means FREE! These three presentations are all about free software that does the same jobs as the >$600 program your budget won’t let you buy. Ray is a member of a “Technology Teaching Circle that meets regularly to discuss new ideas in emerging technology” at USM. The video podcast of Steve Yuen’s presentation is on the web [see web version] and the software he advocated often overlaps with that recommended by the other speakers. I scanned in Craig’s handout and its there too. This is something we need to try here, Camtasia costs >$350 each.

The USM Podcasting Pilot Project by Sharon Rouse, Steve Yuen and Sheri Rawls.

This video podcast is also on the web (see below) as Steve and other professors in the Department of Technology Education were involved in this initiative to improve student learning opportunities through use of innovative technologies. Podcasting delivered alternative course content, offered a richer learning environment and increased student podcast use on campus. Participating faculty were awarded ipods to use in the pilot project.

Wish you could have been there with me but I hope this gave you a taste of the CFTTC 2008 at the BV Casino in Biloxi! The seafood was great and my afternoon in Ocean Springs was FAB!

Links and References Cited:

Dr. Steve Yuen’s Home Page: http://dragon.ep.usm.edu/~yuen/
Dr. Steve Yuen’s Podcast Central: http://dragon.ep.usm.edu/~yuen/podcast/podcastcentral.htm
Dr. Steve Yuen’s blog Tech Learning - The Use Of Emerging Technologies In Teaching And Learning: http://scyuen.wordpress.com/
Dr. Steve Yuen’s conference presentations from his blog: http://scyuen.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/creating-futures-through-technology-conference-presentations/
OR search slideshare.net for Yuen: lang=en&submit=post&q=yuen&commit=search
Open Source in Higher Education: open-source-in-higher-education
The University of Southern Mississippi Podcasting Pilot Project the-university-of-southern-mississippis-podcasting-pilot-project
Teaching and Learning with the Digital Natives http://www.slideshare.net/scyuen/teaching-and-learning-with-the-digital-natives
A Vision of Students Today: http://youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

Digital Toolbox for Trainers, Presented by Craig Jackson, E-Learning Specialist, Workforce Education Section, Research and Curriculum Unit, Mississippi State University. mailto:Craig.Jackson@rcu.msstate.edu
http://www.mississippiworkforceuniversity.com/

Craig's slide presentation: http://www.mississippiworkforceuniversity.com/resources/presentations/DT4T/aP%20Lite%20Flash/index.html