Obama's Speech: "So let us reach for the world that ought to be"

Here is the text of President Obama's Nobel Acceptance Speech:

Obama's Nobel Acceptance Speech

Crossing the Miles on a Snowy Work Day

Yes, it snowed today. And the roads were slick. And I worked all day today from home due to the technology that brought me here in the belief that this college had invested in ways to connect CMC across the miles:

So I met with colleagues form across the state in Second Life, and we talked about how Intercambio has a place in Second Life and how we could share that with Intercambio classes at CMC and another Colorado CC.

I met with teammate Yuliya who is one hundred or so miles away. We discussed upcoming workshops and what we’ve learned since Webadvisor can now be used to register for professional development workshops.

I discussed Web2.0 class activity options for an online course with Nicole also one hundred miles away.

And created two Blackboard working spaces for training and the Common Reader 10 Committee.

And I took a shoveling break (Picture, Round 1).

With the arrival of the true winter snow, I am once again reminded of Robert Frost’s, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” I love his work because he is known to have captured American speech rhythms with unrhymed, iambic pentameter.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20519

And I can also appreciate the parody of the greats. Garrison Keillor informed us of the songs we can sing this poem to. I personally like singing it to Hernando’s Hideaway. (It reminds me of a Christmas party at a former college…)

This post documents Keillor’s options for singing Frost’s Poem:

http://doghouseriley.blogspot.com/2005/04/poetry-month.html

That said, safe travels, good skiing, and, “Be well, do good work,” as my fellow Minnesotan says. Last, thank you for all you are doing for CMC learning.

Adjunct Faculty News!

Attached please find the most recent edition of the Adjunct Faculty News. This will be included in print form in the upcoming December 15 paychecks.

If you would like to submit a contribution to future editions, they are most welcome, please contact
Jan Dean at jdean@coloradomtn.edu

Thank you and Happy Holidays!
/AdjFacNews6%21.pdf

HUM 123: Live Music Critique in Second Life

Prof. Kathy Kiser-Millers' HUM 123 class held some sessions in the virtual world Second Life. Whether in real life or a virtual world, this class can involve the critiques of different art forms. Students in this course were to critique a live music performance in Second Life this term (no DJ's allowed). Note their snappy concert attire (avatars/characters). The text for the assignment appears below.

Second Life Live Music Critique

Choose one live performance that you attended in SL and critique.

1. Describe the location and type of music performed. Please use details as to the event, venue and attendance by other avatars.

2. Describe the avatar- musician. Comment on appearance. What type of music was played? Did you view their profile? Did they interact with the audience? Do they play in real life and if so where?


3. Critique the reaction to the music by other avatars. Were there dance animations? Did you interact with others? If so, how did you communicate? Local chat, IM?

4. Rate the musician- avatar on their ability to perform in SL. The quality of the music, interaction with the audience, interpretation of music.

5. Overall, rate the experience

Last term, students in a theater course chose to enact their performance in Second Life. The rubric there was identical to all categories of live performance but for one category (avatar movement). The real-life category might have been "stage movement."

If this has piqued your interest, join Suzanne Thompson for Second Life basics.
CMC is a member of Colorado EduIsland in Second Life. This is a collaborative of community colleges in Colorado who are exploring instructional opportunities.

Dec. 3rd Online ED Tech Conference and 8 - 4 MDT

Hi All,

This is a late-breaking item, but if you would like to attend virtually, sign up today!

Campus Technology

Teaching and Learning with Web2.0: What's on Your Plate?

These slides were presented as a live lab session today at the Glenwood Center. Have questions or want a session at your campus? Let me know :). Best, Alice

Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0: What's on Your Plate?

View more presentations from Coloradomtn.

Next Applications for Faculty Professional Development Funds are Due Jan. 15th

Hi All,

Are you thinking about attending conferences or workshops scheduled for March, April, May, or June of 2010? You may qualify to apply for the Faculty Professional Development Fund. Proposals are due Jan. 15th. 

Information and application materials are available at this link (It's also in our links list at the right side of this blog:
http://faculty.coloradomtn.edu/blog/2009/01/cmc-faculty-professional-development.html

Here are a few conference offerings during that period:
http://delicious.com/coloradomtn/conference2010

Upcoming workshops for CMC faculty and staff

Hello CMC instructors and staff—

Join us for the following training sessions today, tomorrow, and next week at the Rifle campus and at Glenwood Springs locations:

-------------------------------------

Wed. Nov. 18
3-3:30 pm
Rifle Computer Lab #120

Virtual Library: Introduction and Overview

In this session :
--Using interlibrary loan and accessing library catalogs
--Databases available (multidisciplinary and subject-oriented)
--Library resources available for instructors
--Help with using the virtual library for specific objectives

Everett Gardner
mailto:Gardneregardner@coloradomtn.edu

-------------------------------------

Wed. Nov. 18
4-6 pm
Rifle Computer Lab #120

Blackboard: Quizzes/Tests

Not using quizzes or tests in Blackboard yet?
Come see how much control you have over how and when a quiz or test is released, how you can randomize questions, and various security settings you can apply.And see how much time you will save.Your multiple choice quizzes will grade themselves, and Blackboard will automatically enter and display test grades and calculate course averages in the Blackboard gradebook for you and your students.You can spend less time on grading and more time on teaching, and your students will appreciate the convenience of being able to access the quiz grades and feedback online.
In this session we will:
· Create a short quiz
· Discuss the settings and feedback options for each question
· Place the quiz in a course content area
· Make the quiz available and modify the test options for the quiz
· Take a look at the gradebook to see students’ scores, add comments, clear an attempt, override a calculated grade
· Take a look at a student’s view of the gradebook
· Briefly discuss advanced quiz and test creation options like importing publisher test banks, creating test pools and using a test creation software by Respondus to import your test questions from MS Word format

Prerequisite: “Blackboard Basics” or experience using Blackboard.

Suzanne Thompson
mailto:Thompsonswthompson@coloradomtn.edu

-------------------------------------

Thurs. Nov. 19
10-11:30 am
Central Services
Training lab downstairs (Downtown in Glenwood Springs, 831 Grand Ave.)

Create your own Podcasts / MP3 audio files (with Audacity)

Looking for a way to engage your students online and enhance their learning?
Podcasts are a great way to integrate audio into your course.
In this session, we'll learn how to use the free software program Audacity to easily create mp3 podcasts that can be posted in Blackboard. Your students can listen online or they can import them into an iPod or mp3 player for easy listening anywhere. You can also ask students to create and post their own podcasts as assignments for the course.
In this session we'll cover--installing the software--recording--editing--adding additional sound tracks--exporting as an .mp3--posting the file in Blackboard--other publishing options, tips and ideas for using podcasts
Audacity is a free software program: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Suzanne Thompson
mailto:Thompsonswthompson@coloradomtn.edu

-------------------------------------

Tues. Nov. 24
1:30-3:30
Glenwood Center Computer lab

Web 2.0 Buffet

What is Web 2.0? It is the many tools that changed how we use the internet--they are what allow us to create, collaborate, and communicate in ways we were not able to do with the earlier internet.Come view the possibilities for teaching and learning, and try out one or two which interest you.
In the first hour of this session we will have an overview of various tools, such as
--Twitter, Twitpic, SL Tweets--Blip.fm--Flickr--Slideshare--Voicethread--Serious Games--Glogster
In the second hour of this session, participants may stay and try out various Web 2.0 tools and the presenter will be there to assist as needed.

Alice Bedard-Voorhees
avoorhees@coloradomtn.edu

-------------------------------------

To register, please RSVP to the instructor of the session.

You can check our upcoming schedule and session descriptions at any time here:
http://www.coloradomtn.edu/faculty_staff/innovations_in_teaching_learning/training/

We look forward to seeing you!

Ever Wonder What There is To Do In Second Life?

SECOND LIFE EVENTS (Thank you Rhonda Dove, SL ColoradoEduIsland Colleague)

The following is a list of events and activities that occur in Second Life, and can be found on the Events tab of the SL search feature. Most of these events are scheduled weekly or are ontgoing events.

Heart Attack And Stroke Quiz Game!
German Learning (For Free)

NCI Class: Building Basics
El Intercambio

NCI Class: Avatar Makeover
Kamingesprache

Introduction to the U.S. Colorline
Poetry at the Wildrose Club

NCI Class: Boomer Hours
Museum @ Second Norway

The ODR after the Civil War
The Grand Gallery

Road to Rognarak – Kinship
The Grand Planetarium

Star Trek Science
Japanese Dance Performance: Oiran and a Fairy Tale

Thom Dowd and his Recorder Series
Kabuki: The Two Lions, A Japanese Play



Heart Attack And Stroke Quiz Game!

In celebration of International Information Literacy/Health Literacy Week Nov 9-15 we have created interactive quiz Games on HealthInfo Island!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/58/95/22

German Learning (For Free)

Visit our free German course (Level A2) on the Goethe-Institut-island. Learn German with innovative methods in a small group in our virtual classroom (please note: you should have a minimal knowledge of German). Tuesdays from 7.00 to 8.00 AM SLT.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Goethe%20Institut/74/147/25

NCI Class: Building Basics

NCI Class: Building - BASICS
When: Tuesday, 7pm to 8:30pm , 1.5 hours
Instructor: Kerhop Seattle
Location: NCI Beach, Island Classroom

Terrific Art History or Humanities Resource

Looking for a site for images, conversations, and video for an art history or humanities course? Take a look at this terrific site:

smarthistory.org

Important Topic and Presentation: Assessment at CMC

Kathy Kiser-Miller provided this presentation as part of the assessment panel at the October Faculty Day. Thank you to all who are leading this activity. Assessment is critical 1) to understanding how and what students are learning 2) to improving instructional practice.

Assessment Presentation for Faculty Panel at CMC

View more presentations from Coloradomtn.

Professor Aliya at Columbia University Thanks to Professional Development Funding

The theater is the only art form that concerns itself predominately with social issues. Can we get along? Can we get along in this room? Can we get along as a society? How might we get along better? –Anne Bogart

As the recipient of the Colorado Mountain College Professional Development Grant, I participated in a two-week Advanced Theatre training residency at Columbia University in New York City. Led by the world renowned theatre director Anne Bogart and the actors of the international theatre group SITI Company, I had the incredible fortune to collaborate with the most cutting edge theatre creators of our time.
Based on my experience and learning’s at Columbia University, I conducted an acting workshop on Viewpoints and Composition for Gary Ketzenberger’s Acting I class at CMC Spring Valley Campus.
The Viewpoints allows a group of actors to function together spontaneously and intuitively and to generate bold, theatrical work quickly. It develops flexibility, articulation, and strength in movement and makes ensemble playing possible. Composition work is an alternative to the writer sitting alone at the computer by his/herself making stuff up. Composition are assignments for small groups, who are given a list of ingredients, an overall intention or structure and a short period of time and are challenged to create a new piece a theatre.
The two essential components to Viewpoints and Composition work are a group consensus of working with an open heart and the notion of YES/AND, meaning ALL ideas thrown into the pot are valid, important and worthwhile.
The first half of the workshop was dedicated to Viewpoints. It was remarkable to witness the actor’s spontaneity and joy in their artistic exploration.
Next I divided the actors into small groups of three. Each group was given a common household object along with the following instructions: Create a 3 minute commercial selling the object. The only catch is the object can not be what the object is. For example, a wooden spoon can’t be a wooden spoon, but it can be transformed into a magic wand. They were also given the following ingredients that their compositions must include.
· YES/AND
· Use of all the Viewpoints
· A surprise entrance
· The use of light and dark
· Ten seconds of continuous unison action
· Revelation of space
· A song
You have ten minutes to create your piece. Go.

Their second assignment was to pick any fairytale of their choice, which was to be used as a spring board to create their second Composition: A Modern Day Fairytale. The actors were to include all the ingredients from the list above as well as
· Music from an unexpected source
· A verbal dual
· Narrative story telling
You have ten minutes to create your piece. Go.

Web 2.0 Buffet: Presentation

While I prepared this presentation for the ELCC faculty training day in Denver last week, I am always cognizant of how we will use it at CMC. The theme was Web2.0 Buffet, in case you are wondering what the food is about.

Long story short, this is about the web tools that make it possible for users to create and interact in ways we couldn't do at an earlier time on the internet.

Web2.0 Buffet

More materials from this wonderful day can be viewed at http://elcc.pbworks.com/

Call for Proposals for the 15th Annual Learning Communities Conference

Greetings Learning Communities Courses,

For those at CMC offering a number of learning communities deliveries, the Learning Communities Conference is making a call for proposals for next year's conference in Michigan, November 4 - 6, 2010.

The due date for the call for proposals is March 26, 2010. Student participation in the sessions is also encouraged.

To locate and download the brochure for more information, go to this link:

http://www.delta.edu/learning communities

Best, Alice

Downloadable Guide to Copyright

University Readers is a copyright clearance service and course pack service.
One service to their customers is the provision of a guide to understanding the use of copyrighted materials for course purposes. It can be downloaded at this site:

Your Very Own Copyright Guidebook

Adjunct Faculty Newsletter OCTOBER 2009

/AdjFacNews5%21.doc

Fulbright to Increase Invites to Community Colleges

According to the Chronicle of Higher Ed., the Fulbright will increase invites for participation from the community colleges:

Fulbright Article

Free Lectures

PBS and NPR make openly available thousands of lectures by some of the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policy makers and community leaders. Lectures can be accessed through the site called Forum Network.

Conference on Information Technology

I will be attending the Conference on Information Technology from Oct. 10 - 14.
My hope is to concentrate on the Teaching and Learning Track sessions. I will be posting thoughts and ideas within this blog during the conference. This link to the conference might give you some ideas of topics for this year’s conference.
http://www.league.org/2/conferences/cit/2009/profile.cfm

New CMC Virtual Library Resource

CMC Virtual Library offers access to a new language learning tool, Tell Me More. Tell Me More provides lessons for Spanish, Spanish (Latin American), English, French, German, Italian, & Dutch.

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning

Here is a very good meta analysis on distance learning.
I particularly appreciated this table that has some great ideas.
http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

Free Chat on TH, Sept. 3 at 9 am on Mobile Devices in the Classroom

Hi All,

Cell phones and other devices are high on the radar screens in education. For a free chat session with panelists who are following these developments, join this session via the internet, TH, Sept. 3rd at 9 AM.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/events/chats/2009/09/03/index.html

Best, Alice

TESOL 2009 Brain-based Language Acquisition Research

Editor's Note: Thanks to Pam Hogan for posting this account to share back the opportunity funded by the CMC Faculty Professional Development Fund.

Report from Denver TESOL 2009 - Language Acquisition Research
by Pam Hogan, Associate Professor of ESL Roaring Fork

This professional development summary outlines the latest developments in Language Acquisition and how the process happens in the brain according to Neuroscientists and Researchers with implications for CMC language instruction from Denver TESOL 2009Plenary speaker, Dr. Janet Zadina’s presentation: “Language Learning and the Brain;
Creating New Pathways” on March 28, 2009.

1. Key concepts of Mechanics of Learning:

“Learning is the formation of new synapses and dendrite branching in the brain” (Zull 2002)

• Neurons hold information in the form of chemicals. Cognition takes place through neurotransmitters that communicate with other neurotransmitters. A gap where the neurotransmitters do not meet is called a synapse and “thinking” occurs through firing across the gap.

• The more groups of neurons fire together, the more potential they have to do it again. We need to “Fire it to Wire it” and thus create pathways in the brain. Practice does make perfect, and it takes approximately 5 to 20 minutes to grow new dendritic spines.

• Researcher Eric Kandel: “Cells that fire together, wire together”.

Implications for instructors are that cognitive skills are wired into our brains through meaningful practice.

2. Key concepts of The Perceptual Magnet Effect:

Dr. Zadina presented Dr. Pat Kuhl’s research on Native Language Magnet/Neural Commitment Theory (P Kuhl 2008):

“Language learning involves creating maps in the brain.”

• This mapping of Native Language sounds occurs by age 6 to 9 months through “Motherese” which uses elongated sounds with emphasis on pitch changes unique to infants’ native language. All cultures share this feature of Motherese.

• Speakers of Japanese can not distinguish “R” sound from “L” sound because they are in the same section of the Japanese language map and there is no boundary distinguishing them. The differences in those two sounds carry no meaning in the Japanese language.

• To learn a second language one must create a second map for sounds in the brain. See: http://ilabs.washington.edu/kuhl/research.html#Native

· Infants also recognize the Speech Motor link, when their audio input is affected by visual clues, the brain may hear something different (McGurk effect).

The implication for second language learning is that teachers should exaggerate sound contrasts during pronunciation practice with students (McClelland, JL 1999). This can be done by using what are called “minimal pairs”.

3. Key concepts of Brain Plasticity:

The brain contains Gray Matter and White Matter, and the White Matter enables communication. Newest research from Gage, F. and Battro:

“The brain is plastic; it can change as a result of experience.”

Bilingualism makes your brain better; it requires more cognitive load initially. Remember your students are working harder than you are. (Pettito 2003)
There has been a recent paradigm shift: old theory: second language learning was stored in a different part of the brain, now researchers have ascertained that L-2 is stored in the traditional areas of the brain for language. (including the Brocas area).

Dr. Zadina’s concluding message was: “Teachers, remember when you teach, you are changing the actual structure of your students’ brains.” jzadina@uno.edu

Online "Twitter as Assessment" Session Wed. July 1 at 11 AM

Hi All,

I just happened to see this notice from the Teach Paperless faculty blogger-- He's providing a "Twitter as Assessment Tool" online today at 11 our time. Here's the link to join.

http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2009/07/twitter-as-assessment-tool-necc-20.html

Best, Alice
Posted by Alice Bedard-Voorhees at 7:46 AM 0 comments

Web Site Story: A College Parady

Hope this musical parody brings a smile to your face about the use of Social Networking:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Getting Ready for The Translator

Greetings,

Many of us are getting ready to use The Translator and there are a plethora of tools available to us. I've been playing with a few that will hopefully add some interactivity to my lessons.

Zoho Creator offers the ability to create input forms and pull the information out in a variety of ways: spreadsheet, summary, calendar, rss feed, .pdf, and HTML. In their Free Account version, they allow you to create five (5) applications; however, within those, you can have as many forms as you like.

For this project, I've chosen to embed using the summary layout. Here, I can filter by book section or see all the comments at once. The data has been set to sort by "time added" in a descending order so that we can see the latest entries on top.
To give an idea of how this works, I've entered comments in the following sections: Introduction, Chapter 4, Chapter 7, Chapter 26, and General Comments. I've written "Nothing yet" in all other sections just to make sure I pulled data correctly.

Instructions

Add an Entry: There is a small "Add" link direclty below the word "Translator". When you click this link, a small entry form will open. Use the pull-down menu to select a section of the book about which you will write. The tag for "General Comments" is at the bottom of the menu.

View Entries: Use the Filter pull-down menu to view the comments for the section in which you are interested.

Let me know if you think these instructions require clarification.

NOTES:

• Twitter might be a good choice, but it limits the user to 140 characters and I haven't learned to set it up for filters correctly.
• In using Pageflakes to transfer widgets to this blog, I discovered Pagecasts which allow you to pull together information from given sources for your topic. Here is an example. This might allow us to pool our resources campus-wide or college-wide. Heather Sullivan, on EdTechTopia explains how to set up a class. Read her article, "Pageflakes for Education"
• One university seems to have chosen Pageflakes over Blackboard. Hmmmm. Click here to see an HTML version of their PowerPoint presentation.

Here is my attempt at a Pagecast for The Translator.

If you have time, please enter some thoughts about the book into the widgets--think of yourselves as Beta testers--and let me know what you think. Questions, comments, and critiques are always appreciated.


Aggie

Stephen Colbert Reads James Joyce on Bloom's Day

Hi All,

I couldn't pass this up--today is Bloom's Day, big observance of Joyce's Ulysses. The post contains a link to a free audio reading: Colbert Reads Ulysses

But look at all the other resources too.

Best, Alice

Summary: Student Learning Evidence Inventory

If you were at the Spring Faculty Day, you may have filled out the survey asking you about what types of assessment activities you provided in your courses.

Dean Sunny most appreciatively read and summarized the rich input. Read it here to learn what colleagues are doing as a college to surface what students are learning.

/AssessmentEvidence.pdf

Things to Look Forward to this Week

It's a optimistic Monday in the Office of Innovations: Finalists interview today for the Instructional Designer/Instructional Technology Trainer position, a Creating a Hybrid Course Workshop opens tomorrow with 15 enrolled, and Wed. brings sessions for 50 new nursing students with BBoard and Online Tools for Students.

On Thursday, CMC joins other Colorado Community Colleges in Second Life for the announcement of a shared-use island purchased by Colorado Community Colleges Online.

Woot, as they say in some circles. And stay tuned for a new assessment piece from Dean Sunny and a list of other training opportunities.

Cheers,

Alice

Multi-Level Reading, Bi-lingual Site

I spent some time this morning trying to add a text to speech feature to this site, to make it more accessible (ADA). Not fully successful, but I did come across another site that is interesting for another reason--it offers the content for three different reading levels,and in Spanish and English:

Windows to Science Site

Visualizing Data as it Relates to Location

Having just finished Peter Turchi's Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, I have been thinking of maps quite a bit today. According to author, mapping is about sense-making, and about visualization among other things. While searching out some educational use of map making, I came across this site which contains several ways to use Google mapping tools to help students visualize data as it relates to location:

Maps for Learning

A couple of interesting links are ones that represent census data with location, and another that links AP news stories to location...How might you use these with your classes?

Would You Host Office Hours on Facebook?

This item surfaced today--a famous Stanford Professor Philip Zimbardo decided to offer office hours via Facebook. Here's his opening, along with ground rules: http://www.facebook.com/stanford



To be able to ask questions, a person needs to be a fan of the Stanford Facebook Page (more controlled access than the usual Facebook account). It appears the prof then creates a video response.

You have to admit, he's pretty engaging, though taking a week to answer questions seemed like a long time.

Another choice we have at CMC is holding online office hours or appointments with Elluminate Live!, either recording a one-way talk as he is doing, or having the real, live two- or more- way conversation in the Elluminate Live! room.

An International Exchange in Second Life Complete with Roommates

Opportunities for institutions to expand or even create international learning exchanges is well illustrated by this Second Life Workshop that U Oregon is offering with one of the Chinese universities--the immersion summer camp will take place in Second Life and U OR students and Chinese university students will be roommates in the virtual dorms.

http://casls.uoregon.edu/mychinainfo.php

After the Grades: Your Own Reflections

Creative Commons Attribution: Photo by Kent Wang

Congratulations with the completion of this term. Turning in final grades is quite often accompanied by a great sense of relief and need to relax. You also have the opportunity reflect while it is still fresh with you.

So what went well, what would you change, add to, delete next term? What would you like to try? Jotting these items down and sticking them in a folder capture those thoughts for your return next term.

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

Did you miss the Elluminate Session on Assessment?

One of the nice things about Elluminate is the ability to view and listen to archived sessions. A few people have written asking for the archive of "New Designs for Assessment" from Friday, March 27th.

Here's the link to the Elluminate archive as well as just the slides:

http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=TPD_Webinar_Archive#New_Designs_for_Assessment

CMC Meets in Second Life + Virtual Conference this Weekend

CMC Avatars: Some of us did meet in SL on March 17th, and we have snapshot to prove it.

Second Life continues to develop as an instructional venue -- a discussion is in the works about a shared parcel of land in Second Life for Colorado colleges. More to come soon--I attended the first meeting just last week.

March 27 - 29th: There's a conference going on in Second Life about Best Practices in Virtual World Education: http://wiki.vwbpe.org/index.php?title=Main_Page. No travel, and it's free.

Recording for Second Life Intro

If you missed the Intro to Second Life session on Elluminate yesterday, you can still view the session as it was recorded.

To view the recording, click the link below:
Second Life as an Instructional Strategy

To logon, enter your name, skip the password. The recording was made March 10th.

Next week we will actually meet in Second Life and the New Media Consortium Oriention. You'll need a Second Life account and avatar (free).

Contact me if you are interested in joining us and I'll send the location:
avoorhees@coloradomtn.edu

CMC and CCCOnline Faculty have the opportunity to share a few workshop offerings, and the current workshop is about online discussions within our class offerings. While some participants are fully online faculty, online discussions can be used with any delivery, and the questioning and rubric sections of this workshop bring value to all discussion practices.

We have just been discussing building community and are talking about how audio and video could serve building community. So I did a little search to see if there were some examples of student introductions done in video. There were several for this particular online class. Here's one example:

Short Video Lectures

Today's Chronicle has a feature about San Juan CC's creation of video lectures running 1 - 3 minutes in length--lectures that created a very focused frame for presenting key concepts for students.

After the creation of the lecture, the students could then be directed to an active learning activity to put the concepts into practice.

Here's an example of one presented by an English Comp Faculty.



Source: http://chronicle.com/media/video/v55/i26/microlecture/

Might these also be of use in a tech supported class? I'm thinking they could be helpful in introducing concepts related to homework or discussion assignments. Your thoughts?

Shorten That Long URL w/ TinyURL

Ever have an awkwardly long URL that you want to share? Here's a script to shorten it or make it a tiny url that can be cut and pasted wherever you intend to use it.

Enter a long URL to make tiny:

Google Bus Tour--Student Gmail Video

A few weeks ago, I posted the Horizon Report which predicted that Cloud Computing was one of the two big technologies to watch--Google Apps is one of those--it means that the services stay up on the web, rather than being dependent on our single desktops or laptops.

Campus Technology ran a story yesterday about the fall Google Bus Tour to ten campuses. They wanted to see what students knew about Google Apps and how they were using them. Their findings: Two camps of students--those who were way into Google Apps and those who didn't know much about them (not surprising). They said usage increased after they showed students how they could be used rather than just talked about them (learning news?). They also learned that people may use them in ways we don't expect: '"We use that to track where the free food is on campus."' :).

CMC uses Google mail for students on campus. How do students get Gmail here? After a student registers, he or she is entered into Web-Advisor. The person can then go to http://www.coloradomnt.edu/webadvisor site and logon as a first-time user to see his or her user name.

Next, on to http://my.colorado.mtn to set up the Gmail account. To do so, the user logs on with his or her web-advisor name and the last six digits of the SS#. After logging in the student clicks onf the "Gmail" in the Student Toolbox, types the characters in the captcha prompt, accepts the terms, and clicks "Create My Account." (Thank you, Bill Sommers, for these details.)

Here are some videos of how student users explained their uses of Gmail during the Google Apps Tour. You can view additional video about student use of other apps here. Additional tools include word, presentation, and spreadsheet apps to name a few.

Second Life Language Conference in May

SLanguages 2009 Conference - 8&9 May 2009

View more presentations from slanguages. (tags: spanish ele)

This is a free conference in Second Life about using this Virtual World for language instruction. The list of last year's presenters was impressive. It is a free conference, but you have to sign up for it in Second Life, which means you have to have an avatar. CMC is offering a Second Life Elluminate session (March 10th) and an in-world workshop(March 17th). To register for either, email avoorhees@coloradmtn.edu by March 3rd and March 10th respectively.

Adjunct Faculty News!

AdjFacNews2%21.doc

Higher Ed News--Horizon Reports Top 6 Technologies

For the past seven years, Educause and the New Media Consortium have surveyed and studied technologies that could impact higher education teaching, creativity and research and predicted their adoption on a timeline from less than one year to five years.

This year's six are presented in this slide show. The full report can be accessed from the link on the title slide:

2009 Horizon Report

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: educause horizon)

CMC Professional Development Events from February - April

Greetings, All,

The Office of Innovations will offer a series of professional development events that are available from your desktop with internet, wherever you are.

To view the full schedule of events, click on the schedule image to enlarge it and read topic and registration info.


So join in! And please don't hesitate to call or email questions about these sessions to Alice Bedard-Voorhees at 970.947.8375 or avoorhees@coloradomtn.edu

CMC Faculty Professional Development Fund Update 2010

Greetings All,

Interested in conference funding as part of your professional development? If you have been a full-time faculty for one year, or an adjunct faculty for two semesters, you have the opportunity to submit a proposal for such a funding opportunity.

What is it and what's involved?

CMC College-Wide Faculty Professional Development Fund

One of the ways Colorado Mountain College supports faculty development is through a college-wide College Professional Development Fund. Full-Time Faculty and Adjunct Faculty who have taught for two semesters at CMC qualify to submit proposals. The maximum award per person per fiscal year is $1500 (July 1, 2009—June 30, 2010).

This slide show provides an overview about the fund and the opportunity it provides:
FPDCOverview0809.ppt

Application Due Dates (Due at Central Services on this date):

January 15: Events taking place in March, April, May, and June

April 15: Events taking place in July, August, September, October

September 15: Events taking place in November, December, January or February

How to Apply:
Begin by reviewing the information below and contacting your campus representative for assistance with completing the paperwork and deliver the completed, signed copy to him or her by the due date:

•Alpine – Steve DeLong
•Aspen – Lorraine Miller
•Summit – Laura Pless
•Timberline – Susanna Spaulding
•VEV – Steve Lee
•West Garfield – Kristin Georgine
•Roaring Fork – Christie Smith
•Adjunct - Susan Herman

Submission Checklist:
Submission Checklist

Application:
Current Application

Committee Members' Rubric for Application Review:
FPDCevaluation%20rubric0809.doc

Additional Questions? Contact your campus rep or Alice Bedard-Voorhees (avoorhees@coloradomtn.edu).

Participating in History 2.0

CNN streamed into Facebook as updates rolled; Twitter sent messages about which way to enter the Memorial areas, and the Presidential Inauguration Committee invited people to send photos as they observed President Obama's Inauguration.

I'm including just one link here--the inaugural address from the committee's blog:

President Obama's Inaugural Address

Just as social networking was used during the campaign to invite participation, it was used on a grand scale today to allow participation.

We’ll Meet You Online

The Virtual Library’s Ask A Librarian service now includes Instant Messaging and Skype options.
http://www.coloradomtn.edu/library/ask.shtml

Instant Messaging
IM service allows you to chat with a CMC librarian to receive an immediate response to your question.

Skype
Skype is a free Internet telephony service. It allows you to talk or chat with a librarian without leaving your computer.

Creating Expectations for the Classroom Community

As we begin another term, thoughts about classroom community are with a number of us. So how does the role of human behavior contribute to or detract from from an effective learning experience? What can we do to create the expectation for a positive learning community?

Something I've tried in the past was to write a section in the syllabus titled something like "The Community You're Entering." It remarked on some positive behaviors: respect for taking chances, respect for differing ideas, respect by way of punctuality, attention, and lack of disruption.

In doing a search on what other practioners would advise, I came across this instructor's practice which was to ask the class to list and discuss what made a good instructor, and then what made a good student--it underscores the partnership in creating that community of learners:

http://www.oncourseworkshop.com/Getting%20On%20Course015.htm

Bottom line, our roles not only include a welcome to the class and a positive wish for accomplishment, it includes shaping the environment. And creating the expectation by talking about it in a conscious way.

We'd welcome hearing about the practices you put into place and wishing you a most positive term.