Using an iPad for Biology Courses

Using an iPad for Biology Courses

Thanks, Office of Innovations, for the opportunity to try out an iPad!

It was an excellent experience for me and my students. It was extremely useful for office work as well as classroom explorations and presentations. It was also a highly useful production tool. I was able to use my iPad to make posters, to send letters, to do emails, and write documents.

One of my favorite tools was News360, an app that is free to download. With this tool I was able to share daily news breakthroughs and releases in the popular science arena, as well as get direct links to peer reviewed articles in nature conservation biology. It was easy to use and fun for the students to follow along with me and easily links to our classroom technologies. Here are a few screenshots...

Along with all this I was also able to use iPad to make PowerPoint presentations. To do this I downloaded an app called Keynote, that is part of a suite of apps including Numbers and Pages. These three apps are the equivalent of PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, and I would highly recommend purchasing and downloading these as soon as possible. They are extremely powerful. Here is an example of a poster that I made using iPad for a scientific presentation that I gave at the Denver Botanic Garden for the Society of Ethnobiology Annual Conference:

These iPads would greatly benefit every professor, and I hope we can all get them someday.

Thanks again Office of Innovations and CMC!
 
Shawn Sigstedt
Associate Professor of Biology
Alpine Campus

Nursing Program Faculty Meets the iPad

Office of Innovations graciously offered for me to explore the iPad2 to see if it is a device that would be useful to the CMC Nursing Program.  One of my co-workers had tried to incorporate the device into a hospital clinical setting, and now it was my turn to see what I could do with the device in the classroom setting.

My experience with Apple devices is minimal to none, and likewise, I have little to no experience with tablets.  It took me quite a while to get acquainted with the touch screen and the buttons.  I adapted by watching some youtube videos, which quickly oriented me.  This leads to my first two points (one good and one bad).  The iPad is sleek, beautiful, and easy to navigate.  On the other hand, because of the previous user had different log-in names and because the Innovative Teaching also had a separate log-in, I was unable to access many of the apps.

As I continued to play with the iPad2, I found that surfing the net was fun and exciting.  However, my job was not to play with the iPad, but it was to try to incorporate the device into my classroom.  Again, I googled and searched YouTube for creative ways to implement the iPad into the classroom with few helpful tips.  I also called  the textbook companies that we purchase from, and they only helped me to download the textbook onto the iPad.  I sent out emails to fellow nursing faculty across the country, and I received no helpful tips.

Eventually, I stumbled on a few useful apps for nursing.  One is called Clinical Skills ($4.99) that has short videos about different clinical skills.  This app is for the first year students, and after watching the videos, I found that I could view similar videos on YouTube for free.  Another app that I found cool is called the BP Experience ($0.99) in which the student can learn how to take a manual BP. It is very rudimentary and simple, but it would get the point across for the beginning students.  I like this app because it is hands on and interactive. Here is a snap shot of the screen:



Finally, I found a nice app for free that I enjoyed using called Educreations.  This app allows the instructor to create a presentation using pictures, writing in different colors, and audio.  I created a presentation for my students on the topic of Psychotherapeutic Drugs, only to find out when I was done that I could not export the presentation.  Suzanne had given me an adapter. so that I could plug the iPad into the SmartBoard in the classroom.  When I attempted to present my creation in class, I found out the cord did not transmit the audio portion.  I later found out that there is a separate cable for this.

In summary, I was very impressed with the iPad2 for personal use.  It is very pretty and fun to use to surf the web, check email, participate in Blackboard discussion, etc. At this time, I could not find any apps or programs that make the iPad different then using a laptop or a SmartBoard in class.  The Nursing Program advocates for students to use iPads for personal use, but our program at this time does not see any reason for using them in the classroom.

ACTFL 2011 Annual Convention and World Languages Expo

On November 18-20, 2011, I attended the ACTFL 2011 Annual Convention and World Languages Expo in Denver. This was a large and exciting event: the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Convention and World Languages Expo attracted more than 7,000 teachers, administrators, method instructors and students of foreign languages at all levels from across the world. The convention featured over 600 educational sessions on such topics areas as: Assessment, Culture, Curriculum, Literature, Methods/Techniques, Advocacy and Policy Issues, Professional Development, Research, Specific Purposes, Standards and Technology.

The Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver

 One session I particularly enjoyed was "Collaborating with Disability Services: Design Strategies for Inclusive Classrooms," presented by Wade Edwards of Longwood University, Sally Scott of University of Mary Washington, and Susan Hildebrandt of Illinois State University. This session considered how to proactively design college courses to meet the needs of diverse learners, including students with disabilities, with the goal of reducing the need for retroactive accommodations. The presenters discussed their five-year collaboration with the disability services offices on their respective campuses and the outcomes they had been able to achieve, such as more students with disabilities succeeding in certain subjects like foreign language classes that traditionally such students were waived from taking, even as the number of self-disclosing students with disabilities has grown in recent years. This presentation was gratifying outcomes-based and included hard numbers, rather than simply anecdotal evidence; it was encouraging to see that the combination of increased awareness of potential barriers and the implementation of inclusive instructional strategies really did make a difference!

I especially enjoyed the questions from the audience, which ranged from online teaching to colleges' disability policies to discipline-specific inquiries, and the opportunity to engage with folks who had "been there" from both the instructional side and the administrative side. I've reached out to Wade Edwards, Sally Scott, and Susan Hildebrandt and we are working on the possibility of designing a webinar to bring their expertise on accessibility to Colorado Mountain College. I'm very excited to have had the chance to attend the ACTFL convention and become acquainted with such interesting work, which has expanded my awareness of learning disabilities and universal design or accessibility.
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Online / Mobile Textbooks

In today's morning mail and related to the BIS334 and BUS115 online/mobile textbooks from flatworldknowledge.com...

Although this article speaks to TV, I think the notion of "comfortable consuming content without going through customary channels" and "content when I want, where I want—not when you want" has implications for textbooks and other learning resources, including our LMS decisions.

College-Age TV Watchers Have No Cords to Cut - eMarketer

DECEMBER 15, 2011

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008735

Onward...

Robert

Dancing with the Divine John Friend Kick Off Workshop

Anusara, in Sanskrit, means “flowing with Grace.” This is the name given to master teacher, John Friend’s, style of yoga. I had the great opportunity of recently studying with John at his kick off workshop in San Francisco. It was the start of his 2011 global tour called Dancing with the Divine. Several hundred people congregated at the beautiful Jewish Community Center and delved into the practice and philosophy of Anusara Yoga.

John has an amazing gift for teaching. He has a way of offering deep philosophical ideas and distinct alignment principles in a way that is accessible to a wide variety of people and is very fun, playful, and humorous.

The main theme of the conference was that the practice of yoga is one of relationship. There are various relationships explored in yoga; the relationship one has with the physical body, the relationship one has with the people around them, such as family and friends, and the relationship ultimately with Divine spirit or Nature, depending on ones belief system. These relationships are a dance, a play within life and like dancing, can be fun and full of joy.

The overriding intention of the yoga practice as John teaches it, is to flow in a positive way with Nature. We choose to act in a way in the physical yoga practice and in the practice of life, in a way that is life affirming and looks for the good in all of what life has to offer. We commit to look for the divine beauty in all things, all situations, and all people and commit to totally serve that good.

During this workshop Johns spoke extensively on letting go of past grievances, not in a way that causes you to forget, but not letting that negative energy accumulate inside your body. Ultimately, it is you that is hurt by carrying those negative tensions. He reminded us that many people live their whole lives in this debilitating state of unforgiveness which often manifests into physical illness.

The highest intention of the practice is to align with the Divine. Each pose is both an offering of that divine energy and a celebration of it. In this connection, we as individuals can more fully radiate our light and love into the world to add more beauty and goodness to it. That is the ultimate purpose of the yoga practice.

EMS Symposium & Trade Show Lives up to Its Mission

Liz Owen, top row, 2nd from left, hangs out with Easterners at the EMS Symposium

EMS Director Mike Trujillo, Clinical Coordinator Ken Rogers and Paramedic Professor Liz owen attended the 16th Annual Educational Symposium and Trade Show Sept. 13-18 in Reno, Nevada. The National Association of EMS Educators (www.naemse.org) puts on the event. Their mission is to "Inspire Excellence in EMS Education and Lifelong Learning" and they did just that with this national conference.
Randy Mantooth was the keynote speaker. He portrayed Firefigher/Paramedic Johnny Gage from 1972-1979 on the popular "EMERGENCY" television series. The series helped advance the fire-based paramedic career field across the nation.
With so many sessions to choose from, it is no wonder the CMC team came back with great ideas to implement. Here are just af ew of the best practices learned at the Symposium.

Simulated Scenarios in the Lab--A How to Session with Dennis Edgerly:

• Do not give students more than 4 choices for different diagnosis.


• Use a pocket recorder for patient assessments.


• Re-run: Run call, critique call then re-run the same call. Gives students a chance to re-do. It can make them feel better and improve the grade.


• Completely write/script simulation scenarios with no wiggle room for instructor creativity.


• Do not include skill sstudents do not have.


• No "pretend" procedures or equipment.


• Make jump kit organization part of the grade.


• Add siren noises when going emergent.


• Shop moulage supplies after Halloween.

Continuing Education: The Biggest Challenge to Teaching with Twink Dalton:
"Twink Dalton's lecture was important because I realized that I've gotten too weighted down with the minutia of Paramedic. There are a lot of things that I did 20 years ago that still apply and actually help those students learn. She went back to some great teaching techniques that don't go out of fashion. It was a good class on how to make your students remember some very complicated information. I'm going to use the stories to explain Pathophysiology."--Liz Owen
Trading Post: "I think this is one of the most valuable sessions. I gathered a great deal of new material that I can put into the program. This material can be inserted into Powerpoints or uploaded as video for learning."
Made contact with Laerdal and their new rep will be coming for a visit.
Made contact with reps from publisher Jones and Bartlett and learned about the new textbook and its Learning Management System, Navigate. Thanks to this contact, Liz and Ken will be attending a webinar detailing the setup of the LMS.
Hybrid EMS Education: One Programs Journey to Success (Matthew Scott and Chris Corson from Virtua School of Paramedic Science, Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ): Colorado Mountain College's paramedic program is converting to hybrid format in January and this session underscored the importance of planning! Several other conference sessions contributed to Liz's journey to success.
Next year's event will take place Aug 6-11 in Orlando, Florida. Perhaps one or more of our faculty will give a session to benefit the many attendees hungry for new or better ideas!

-Peggy Curry, 9/30/11

NISOD's International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence

Once classes ended in May and grades were submitted, I packed my bags and headed to hot and humid Austin, Texas, for NISOD's annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence. The conference was inspiring, and I wanted to use this space to share some of the highlights from my experience.

This was the first professional conference where I attended one of the preconference seminars, and it was well worth the small fee charged for attendance. Karla A. Fisher and Meg McGranaghan of Butler Community College, C. Jason Smith of LaGuardia Community College, and Kerry Keith Mix of San Jacinto College presented on Engaging Students with Technology. It was a fabulous session. Some of the key points from that session include the following:

• Age gaps still remain for Web 2.0 technologies, and the 2009 CCSSE data tells us so; however, since data consistently reveals that a student having connections with other students helps them persist, social networking tools like Facebook can be a great way to help students build relationships with one another.
  
• The question the facilitators asked us over and over were "Does your institution effectively use technology to engage students?"
• Suggested ways instructors can employ technology in our classes include Google Groups and Blogs--using a blog as a way to link students in different classes, helping student interact with others in a tutoring capacity, peer mentoring capacity, or for online projects, online critiques, and online discussion across classes. Check out the way C. Jason Smith visually represented how he uses this in his classes in his blog post about the conference. And, while you're there, look at all that LCC's Community 2.0 has to offer. This is an excellent example of how one college took building learning communities to a whole new level.
  
• I was introduced to Pecha Kucha. When I have students complete presentations in my classes in the future, I think this would be a great way to help them structure presentations and force them to think carefully about the information they want to present. It would eliminate all that reading directly from the slides that we see so often in our classes. Not sure how to pronounce this, watch this video. Love it!

• Meg McGranaghan made an excellent Symbaloo to show various Web 2.0 tools instructors can use, and she did this by ordering the Web 2.0 tools using Bloom's Taxonomy. A super cool idea! Check it out!
• Kerry Keith Mix, of San Jacinto College, discussed his institution's work with social media, and how the college worked diligently to harness the power of social media while also framing that power so that it didn't get out of hand. They hired a full-time social media coordinator and developed guidelines for all employees to follow when employing social media. I found this incredibly relevant to our work here at CMC.

At the general conference, I left several sessions with ideas I want to incorporate into my classroom at CMC. David Katz III, Associate Professor of Political science and Coordinator of Professional Development at Mohawk Valley Community College, shared a positive message with participants in his session Emotional Intelligence, Student Efficacy, and Student Success. He talked about creating resonance with our students because a student's success at college is based on what we believe and what we expect to happen. "What we and our students focus on develops a physical connection in our brains and creates a biologically self-fulfilling prophecy," Katz said. "We have to groove the idea that they have strengths. We have to be flexible. And, we have to assess in multiple ways." Essentially, Katz reminded me that if I want students to believe they can achieve, I have to reinforce their strengths, pointing out 7 strengths for every 1 weakness because every communication creates an emotional impact. This is the kind of knowledge that will improve any relationship--not just those with students. I think Katz would be a great person to bring to CMC for an all-faculty in-service. His positive attitude and enthusiasm for student success is contagious! It's no wonder he's been such a successful college coach!

Another excellent session was presented by Gail O. Lancaster of St. Petersburg College. She spoke on strategies instructors can use to improve students' critical thinking skills, and she modeled those in her presentation. Citing the research of Spence Rogers, L.D. Fink, and Gerald Nosich, she reminded those in attendance that critical thinking isn't something you add to the curriculum; it is conveyed in HOW you teach. And, perhaps more importantly, she noted that students have to WANT to acheive intellectual traits. Then, Lancaster provided her Top Ten Strategies for engaging critical thinking:

1. Create a safe environment.
2. Get students to know each other.
3. Assign outside reading, but do not review the reading in detail in class.
   
4. Conduct 5-minute quiz at the beginning of each class.
   
5. Do not lecture more than 20% of the total class time. She recommended the "Involving Course Model": Preview and Review > Lecture (20%) > Real World (20%)--guest speaker, case study, current events > Excercise (20%)--application > Conversation (20%) > Assignments > Quiz and Evaluation
   
6. Involve all students in discussions, and when they are discussing in groups, assign individuals in the group the roles of stating (in your own words), elaborating (saying in different words), providing example (give an example within the content/life experience), and illustrating (draw an analogy, metaphor, chart, diagram, cartoon).
   
7. Ask essential questions (analytic, evaluative, questioning within disciplines, questioning for self-knowledge and self-development).
   
8. Employ Socratic Questioning (see "The Art of Socratic Questioning" by Paul and Elder)
   
9. Ask students to write the logic of an article or chapter in the text. (see "The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools" by Paul and Elder)
10. Relate the current topic or course to the whole (system, discipline). For instance, how/where does this fit in with our field of study? How does this topic relate to other topics we have studied? What information are we still missing? What information do we need next?

I also presented at the conference, in a session titled, "It's a Wiki Wiki World: Collaborating Across the Digital Divide." In my session, I focused on the conundrum many faculty face when it comes to teaching with technology: How do we use technology to enrich the learning experience when some of our students are tech savvy, and some are not? In addition, we discussed the reponsibility faculty have to learn and employ technology, and then I showed some of the ways that I have employed Web 2.0 technologies (like wikis, cell polling, screencasting, and social networking tools) in my classrooms at CMC.

To the Roaring Fork Campus Professional Development Funds Committee, I want to say a big Thank You for funding my travel to Austin for this excellent conference!