Field Trip to a (purchased) Paper Mill

This Chronicle article hits a sore spot and provides an interesting expose:

Journey to the Center of a Paper Mill

The Chronicle and Good Old SQ4R

One of today's Chronicle of Higher Ed articles says recent research shows the students do well to read, then practice recall of what they just read as a retention strategy, yet the word wasn't getting out to students in classes about doing so. The point made was that the "recall" step was not communicated. And re-reading is not recall.

Chronicle Article

This strategy is the old SQ4R study method--"Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Write, Review."

And it spite of what the article concludes, many institutions had materials for this method on the web:

SQ4R Materials

(I stopped counting at 30 institutions though there were many more.) In addition to the research discussion, the article is calling for promotion of effective study skills in courses.

Your thoughts?

My trip to SCG in Chicago

Only with the generous support of CMC’s Professional Development Funds would this trip have been possible.

The Southern Graphics Council hosts an annual Printmaking Conference in a different venue every spring. This year, from March 25-29, Colombia College in Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago put on the conference, partially at the school and partially at the Hilton Hotel. These conferences consist of 4 days packed full of panel discussions on contemporary issues in the print community, demonstrations on traditional and emerging techniques, and printmaking exhibitions throughout the city. Also, there is a product/vendor fair where one can obtain samples of new ground-breaking products and purchase printmaking supplies at special conference discounts.  Additionally, there is an exchange portfolio where participants produce an edition of 12 prints, based on a theme, and receive a portfolio of 10 prints back from other participants, 1 print goes to the host school’s collection, and 1 print goes into the SGC archives. It is an interesting and invaluable learning experience to see the range of concept and skill levels, as professionals and students alike submit their work.

Printmaking conferences cultivate an encouraging and supportive community amongst artists, professionals, educators and students in the printmaking media. The relationships that begin at these conferences resonate well beyond the conference, as printmakers and educators learn from and respond to each other through dialogue about techniques, content and ideas, learning and growing together. The bond created between printmakers is unmatched by any other single event, students relate with peers and professors, find graduate school programs, many printmakers are invited to participate in exhibitions, artists respond to other people’s work, find inspiration, etc.

During the Open Portfolio session on Saturday, I displayed my work on a table in a conference room full of hundreds of tables and other printmakers displaying their creative work. It was quite a stimulating environment, as I answered questions from peers about my techniques, the content of my work, and where I work and teach. I met many professionals and students from other school across the country. At the top of the hour, session 1 packed up their work and session 2 participants laid out their work for inquiry and observation. After 4 sessions of this I think everyone was over stimulated and exhausted, for it was quite an intense, concentrated experience of dialogue and inquiry about printmaking.

I was extremely fortunate to receive funding from Colorado Mountain College’s Professional Development Funds. Without this help, I would not have had the opportunity to attend this year’s conference and travel to Chicago. The resources and knowledge gained will be invaluable to my own artistic pursuits, as well as my teaching efforts and endeavors, as I am still decompressing and evaluating everything I was exposed to through this conference.  I was able to maintain and even begin new professional relationships with peers and educators alike. Topics of discussions ranged from emerging digital technologies and the effect on traditional printmaking processes, to the state of the economy and its impact on the global art scene in general. It was a stimulating and exciting 4 days. Upon my return, I gave a presentation to my CMC printmaking classes, a Powerpoint of images from the conference and the city of Chicago, as well as a hands-on review of the portfolio exchange I participated in. We discussed the prints in terms of process, technique, execution of skill, and use of formal elements.

Jennifer Ghormley

Adjunct Art Professor, Aspen Campus 

Mobile Learning and Mobile Devices for Healthcare

Today I attended (e-tended?) an Elluminate sponsored presentation about mobile devices and healthcare--very informative. My reason for doing so was learn more about how such practices inform how these practices realted to nursing and first-responder education. The presenters provided examples of devices that relate to patient care, billing, and continuing ed for healthcare professionals. Key issues? Privacy, standardization of health care records and systems.

But I will stop for a minute--one example the military is using is an ICEphone--I carry it on me, it provides critical health info if something happens to me. It also contains medical contacts and is a means of communciation for a health-care professional at treating me at the scene.

Here's a recording to the session and future opportunities on various topics: https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/event/description?instance_id=15560

The session lasted about an hour--at lunch at my desk while I joined many others in this opportunity.

Colorado E-Portfolios for Your Students?

The State of Colorado offers all citizens an e-Portfolio. If you want to learn how they are accessed and used, there are three, 4-day online workshops being offered.

The first deadline for registration is April 12 at noon (yikes), but there are ones in July and October also. The registration deadlines are usually at noon, a week before the start date.

There is no cost for the workshop.

Visit and info and register at this site:
http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=EPortfolio_Training

Dates: April 20 - 24
July 13 - 17
October 19 - 23

Best, Alice

Adjunct Faculty News

To follow is the third edition of Adjunct Faculty News. Thanks to all who contributed! The next issue is slated for July 2009.

/AdjFacNews3%21.pdf

Early Alert Feature in Blackboard and Other Time Savers

In a nutshell any instructor who has a Blackboard shell can send early alerts to student's CMC email accounts and copy to counselors, etc. These alerts can be sent out at any time (first week of class, mid semester and so on). I currently use the early alert system in all of my face to face classes as blackboard is a major component of the course. I include alerts for missing assignments, attendance rules etc. What is really wonderful about the system is that a log is available for each student indicating what alerts they have received and the date sent. So instead of copying each email I send a student I can just go to the log in blackboard for updated information. Yesterday in my Public Speaking class a student indicated that they were not aware that they had an outstanding assignment, by checking this student's log I was able show them that they had received an alert and the dates sent. If you would like to learn how to set up the early alert system please feel free to contact me at Sherman@coloradomtn.edu or 970 819-6102.

Another time saver on blackboard is that students can take the idea survey on line eliminating the need to use valuable class time to complete the survey in class. If you are interested in using the blackboard IDEA feature contact Daryl Yarrow and he can set it up, post an announcement on Blackboard and send each student an email notice. As this is the first semester I have tried this with a face to face class I will be interested in seeing how many complete it and will update everyone once I receive that information.

Susan Herman, M.Ed
English/Communications
Alpine Campus