Online Teaching Conference

Catching the Wave of Online Student Success

Conference Highlights

Pre-Conference

• Wednesday, June 19, 2013• Long Beach City College• Pre-registration required– Workshops run concurrently– ½ Day or Full Day workshops– All workshops include lunch

Powerful Presentations with Prezi

• With Blaine Morrow• 9 AM - Noon• Bring Your Own Laptop• $100

Getting Started with iPads in Education

• With Sam Gliksman• 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM• $500 (includes 16 GB WiFi iPad Mini, Black)

Digging Deeper: iPads in Education

• With Sam Gliksman• 1:30 – 4:30 PM• Bring Your Own iPad• $125• All registrants receive a copy of – iPads in Education for Dummies

Creating Quick and Easy Instructor Websites with Google Sites

• With Anna Stirling• 1:00 – 4:00 PM• Bring Your Own Laptop• $100

Creating Video for Your Course with YouTube and Screencast-o-Matic

• With Donna Eyestone• 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM• $200• All participants receive 1080p HD Webcam

Flipping Your Classroom with CCC Confer

• With Micah Orloff• 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM• $100• Participants receive Webcam and Headset

Introduction to Teaching & Learning with VoiceThread

• With Rica Young• 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM• $150

Stephen Downes: “What Constitutes Student Success?”

• Thursday Keynote• 9:30 – 10:30 AM

Stephen Downes works for the National Research Council of Canada where he has served as a Senior Researcher, based in Moncton, New Brunswick, since 2001. Affiliated with the Learning and Collaborative Technologies Group, Institute for Information Technology, Downes specializes in the fields of online learning, new media, pedagogy and philosophy. In 2008, Downes and George Siemens designed and taught an online, open course reported to be the first ever MOOC.

Tracey Wilen-Daugenti“Society 3.0: Technology Transformations in Society,

Work, and Higher Education”

• Friday Keynote• 9:30 – 10:30 AM

A leading authority on the convergence of education, technology, and work, Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti is Vice President and Managing Director of Apollo Research Institute, where she guides the Institute’s study of career and workforce issues critically important to employers, educators, and policymakers. The author of 10 books, Dr. Wilen-Daugenti is also a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, The Examiner, and other national and international media outlets.

SB 1052 & 1053, OER, DL, MOOCs… huh?

With Barbara IllowskyOpen Educational Resources (OER) is a catch-all phrase that includes some e-textbooks, some MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and some online learning. But some e- textbooks, some MOOCs and some online learning are not OER. Senate bills 1052 and 1053 require an intersegmental council of 9 UC, CSU and CCC faculty (3 each system) to oversee development of a digital library of OER for the top 50-enrolled lower division courses CA college students take. How do the legislation, OER, and MOOCs affect distance learning? Come learn how they tie … and how they don’t.

They Want Me to Do WHAT –What Online Faculty Should Know About Changing Regulations

With James Glapa-Grossklag, Patricia James, Andrea Henne, and Cherry Li-Bugg

As online teaching and learning become more mainstream, federal regulators and regional accreditors are applying evermore scrutiny to this delivery format. Current hot-button issues include student authentication, regular and effective contact, and accessibility. Hear from a panel of experienced DE managers about what faculty need to know about these and other evolving regulations.

Supporting Student Collaboration in the Classroom

Kara Kuvakis

Looking for ways to encourage collaboration in your online classes? Developing a blended class that needs a collaborative component? From wikis to blogs, discussion boards to Google Docs, this session will offer quick and easy tools you can use to help your students work together. Learn how these free resources can be incorporated into peer reviews, lab activities, data collection and evaluation, and more!

Tutoring for All:A Consortial Model for Online Tutoring

Jim JuliusIn 2012, MiraCosta College joined the Western eTutoring Consortium. This enabled MiraCosta to provide cost-effective online tutoring for all students. In this session, you will hear about the details of participation in the consortium, and have an opportunity to discuss how this approach to providing online tutoring compares to others. You will hear from various MiraCosta faculty, staff, tutors, and students about their perceptions of the eTutoring service. Finally, you will hear about a concise and practical set of next steps if you are interested in further exploring the Western eTutoring Consortium.

Adobe Captivate: An Online Text-to-Speech Presentation Solution

Steve Linthicum

With Adobe's Captivate software, you can create PowerPoint based online presentations that provide text to speech conversion of your written lecture content utilizing easy to understand and pleasant computer generated voices. Final presentations are easily modifiable by simply making changes to the text and then regenerating the audio. Video content can be produced in either Flash or HTML5 format, providing the ability for students to view the content on any device. Presentations can be designed to meet ADA requirements including closed captioning.

The What, Why, Who and How of Finding and Adopting High-Quality Open Educational

Resources

Una DalyWhether it’s called open educational resources (OER), open textbooks, or open online courses it can seem like open education is the new green. It promises to lower student costs while increasing faculty creativity but the shift from traditional textbooks and course packs takes thoughtful planning. This workshop will clarify the varying definitions and motivations for OER and give you an opportunity to search several OER repositories. In addition to reviewing criteria for selecting high quality and accessible OER, you will gain an understanding of how an open license allows faculty to freely reuse instructional materials. We’ll finish up with a discussion on getting buy-in from stakeholders and how to become an advocate for openness on your campus

Creating Accessible Online Courses

Marlene Cevtko

Are you interested in making your course(s) accessible to all students by following a few simple practices. Not only is accessibility legally mandated for public education in California, it's simply the right thing to do. It's not hard and your students will benefit. You will learn to create accessible documents and maximize accessibility within your course.

Sharing Online Student Services in New York and California

Jacky Hood and Ric GinnIn upstate New York, some colleges came together to create the STAR-NY Consortium http://www2.cortland.edu/offices/asap/star-ny/. The founding members shared a license for an online collaboration tool, designed online tutor training, created a schedule where each college staffed certain subjects/hours, and implemented shared online tutoring services. By sharing technology and academic resources, the students at these colleges are able to access more online services than would be available by their school alone. Within two semesters, the STAR-NY membership doubled. In their second year, membership continues to grow as word spreads about their success. We propose launching a similar effort in California.

Surf's Up - Where do We Go From Here? How to Develop a Good Orientation for your Online and Hybrid Courses

Tori Bovard

Effective online instruction starts with a foundation of an informative, engaging orientation. The orientation sets the stage for the course, and can have significant effects on student retention and success. This presentation will include a discussion of essential elements for an online orientation that may be used in both online and hybrid courses. A round table discussion will follow.

3 Things You Might Not Know About YouTube

Donna Eyestone

Sure, you know how to find a great YouTube video and add it to your online class, but did you know you can record and edit your own YouTube videos right through your web browser? Or that you can easily add and search captions to get to just the spot you're interested in watching in a long video? Or curate your own playlist, even adding your own intros to other people's YouTube videos? All you need is a webcam and a YouTube account -- no software, no trials, no downloads so you and your students can easily create videos.

Classroom of the Future

John Makevich

Several disruptions are converging in higher education: budgets are tighter, tuition is higher, and financial aid debt is growing fast. Massively open online courses (MOOCs) are gaining momentum and destinations such as the Khan Academy continue to amaze in their ability to reach the millions. In this session, we will challenge the assumptions about education as we know it. What factors should we consider as we plan for the future of higher education? What resources will we need? Participants will “tear the walls down” and re-envision the way students will be learning in five, ten, and 20 years.

Promoting the Value of Learning and Knowledge through your Facebook Page

Ioan Elvis Sersea

Educators can use the transformative power of social media to promote learning, academic knowledge, and collaboration among current and potential students, as well as learners from other countries, in order to become good will ambassadors of positive change and help redefine the Internet. This session will offer some useful tips for instructors to create, update, and maintain no-cost Facebook Pages to share news, research, activities, and encourage online participation and collaboration among current students as well as interested learners from across the globe.

Using Web 2.0 Tools to Enhance the Online Teaching and Learning Experience

Anna Stirling

There are many ways that Web 2.0 can be integrated into the classroom and daily tasks. In this workshop you will be introduced to two Web 2.0 sites: Wordle and Animoto, and see how they can be used separately or together to enhance engagement and learning. Come participate in this exciting hands-on workshop and leave with finished products! Please create a free Animoto for Educators account PRIOR to attending the workshop. Accounts can be created at: http://animoto.com/education

A Discussion about Discussions- Discussion Board Best Practices

DeAnna KirchenDiscussion Boards are often the best contact we have with our online students and that they have with each other. Please come to an open discussion that will include sharing of ideas and best practices. Topics include the pro's/con's of using groups, set up of groups, categories of forums, how much guidance to provide students, communicating expectations to students, grading discussions with or without rubrics, administration of logistics, timing and deadlines for discussions, etc. Everyone should gain new ideas and a list of best practices for using Discussion Boards.

Mobile Computing - How Is That Working For Ya?

Eric Wilson

More and more people are migrating to mobile computing in education. Come to this birds of feather to discuss and share how mobile computing may or may not be working for you. We will exchange information and secrets on using laptops, tablets and other mobile computing devices.

Online 2.0: The Future of Online Learning

Peter Campbell

What does Online 2.0 look like? How might 2.0 classes break through to students and faculty in new ways? And how can these courses be scaled to meet the growing demands of students? Get a sneak peek at Blackboard's vision of the future, including the next version of Blackboard Collaborate.

Whiteboard Screencasting Apps

Francine Vasilomanolakis and Rica Young

Learn how to record and post lectures in your site or course management system using your iPad, Android and/or Windows tablet! Get familiar with Whiteboard Screencasting Apps that are inexpensive and easy-to-use. Discover the instructional benefits of tools that allow you to create video demonstrations and illustrate more examples that your students can access and replay 24/7 .

Increase Student Success and Retention with On-demand Online Academic Support

Darrell McCarronInstitutions of higher education in the United States and around the world use on-demand online academic support services to help increase student achievement and improve student retention. Focusing on the unique needs of each student, Smarthinking services provide student-centered, active learning to students at over 1,000 institutions. Tutors and students work together on Smarthinking’s proprietary interactive whiteboard in an encouraging and collaborative learning environment. After using the services, students get higher grades, pass their classes, and continue their studies. Learn more about our data-driven model and the results of our Research Based, Research Proven approach at this session.

Opening Up Learning withthe Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources

(CCCOER)

Dr. Cynthia Alexander, Una Daly,Katie Datko, James Glapa-Grossklag

Openness is going mainstream, whether it's called open educational resources (OER), open textbooks, or massive open online courses (MOOCs). Attend this panel discussion to find out how California Community Colleges are leveraging open education to lower student costs and expand access. Topics will include adopting open textbooks, designing open online courses at community colleges, and integrating openness into professional development. You will also learn how your college can become involved in the open education movement and participate in a community of practice to share knowledge and find partners for collaboration.

Creating Facebook Groups for Teaching: Build it, They Will Come!

Deborah Lemon

Creating class community is a huge part of student -and hybrid/online course- success. But how do you get students to communicate freely in a virtual environment? Facebook is inherently communicative, and naturally inspires interaction. Come to this workshop and create your own Facebook Group. Examine the extensive features. Interact with other attendees to experience the powerful, fluid environment of social media.

Designing a Partially Online (Hybrid) Course - What Goes Where and When

Patricia James

Are you thinking that you would really like to develop a partially online course from a traditional on-ground course, but don't know where to begin? Are you an instructional designer who has to guide faculty through the process of determining what parts of their course should be online and what should be in the FTF component? If so, then this session is the place to be! You will be led through a process to develop a hybrid course and leave the session with a tool that you can use yourself or with others to design that hybrid course of your dreams! (Really? Who dreams about hybrid courses?????)

Online Student Dropouts - Causes and Cures

Dr. Andrea Henne

One of the biggest issues facing online teaching is the fact that fully online courses usually have lower retention and success rates than on-campus courses. Is this an issue at your college? Together, we will explore and discuss course design, teaching strategies, student preparation steps, and support services that are proving effective in retaining students and achieving online learning success.

Distance Education in the CCC System 2011-12 Report

LeBaron Woodyard

This workshop is a presentation of the results of the latest Chancellor's Office bi-annual report on distance education in the CCC System. This is the ninth report since its beginning in 1997. It covers several areas derived from data from the CCC Management Information System (COMIS) and surveys of the colleges and distance education students

The Magic of Online Teaching: Implementing Technologies and Researching Results

David Kephart and Bailey SmithMost important questions focus on the how and why of technology in education. Working from a platform currently being used, this presentation explains how to integrate MOOCs, direct instruction, and mobile learning – all online. Next, we explore recent and ongoing research from California and elsewhere to see why the new techniques contribute to student success. Finally, we offer ways to link implementation and research to reinforce evidence-based school decision-making processes and demonstrate the equivalence of online and face-to-face programs. The presenter is an instructor and researcher with a decade of experience implementing and verifying the effectiveness of online learning technologies.

EduStream - Learn how to Upload, Share and Caption Your own Videos

Osman Parada and Andrew Chang

Explore San Bernardino Community College District’s digital repository EduStream and learn how online, hybrid and face -to-face courses can benefit from and be enriched by incorporating ADA (508)-compliant media-rich content. This database includes over 7500 video segments and interactive activities that can be utilized by faculty and course developers for student enrichment.

Getting To Know FACCC

Evan Hawkins

Now in its 60th year, FACCC has provided focused representation for the community college faculty to promote funding, academic freedom, and retirement benefits. With members at all 112 campuses across California, FACCC continues to strengthen the position of faculty in the State Capitol, the State Chancellor’s Office, and the State Teachers’ Retirement System. Come learn about what FACCC membership can mean for you and don't miss our special incentives for joining during the conference.

Strategies for Teaching a Successful Online Course

Manjit Kaur

Retention is one of the biggest issues faced by online courses. This presentation will discuss how conducting periodic course surveys can help understand the major issues that lead to dropouts, and how instructors can assist students successfully complete the course. Instructors and course developers need to recognize the challenges that lead to dropouts. Some of the related concerns are lack of student-to-student interaction, poor teacher-student interaction, delayed feedback, excessive use of technology, ambiguity, and rigidity. Periodic course and assignment surveys can assist with these issues. Knowing the students’ point-of-view can help create a conducive learning atmosphere for the students.

The Perfect Storm - Developmental Mass Open Online Class-Creation and Launch!

Ted Blake and Patricia James

Mt. San Jacinto College received a Gate's Grant to develop a basic skills English writing course, which launched in May of 2013. Come hear about our experience and discuss the possibilities and future development of free and open content with us! The process of applying to the Gates Foundation, development and offering our "Crafting an Effective Writer" course will be shared, along with access to our materials. Leave knowing how to use our project within your own DE and Basic Skills programs.

Designing Successful Faculty Training for Online Teaching

Rolando Regino

Recent studies have shown the continual increase in the number of online course offerings year by year within higher education, including the recent introduction of MOOCs. While technology has influenced the way in which education to adults is being delivered, how to teach within a Web-based format also requires a new paradigm shift in the pedagogy (or andragogy) of the teacher. This workshop will discuss the basic learning theories which underlie current best practices and methods of online teaching with examples, showing why and how you should use them in order to develop a successful faculty training program.

Learn and Earn

Dr. Cynthia Alexander

Learn how to integrate today’s technology into your teaching and earn college credit for possible salary advancement at the same time. The Cerritos College Educational Technology program offers numerous online college credit courses covering the integration of mobile technology, creating problem-based learning projects, creating virtual curriculum, grant writing, creating educational media, and integrating Microsoft Office products into your teaching. Additional topics such as copyright and fair use and accessibility are covered in many of the courses. Coming soon! A new course in learning analytics!

Simple Ways to Reach More Students

Laura Paciorek

Considering ways to reach all students and insure their learning is an essential aspect of high-quality online teaching. This presentation will focus on low-threshold technology and is most suitable for novice online instructors who are starting to consider how to expand course content to include more visual, interactive, and auditory components for content and student assignment submissions. Specific examples from online courses and student feedback received about these different components in online courses will be provided.

Windows Speech - Learn to Dictate Your Documents

Dr. Marlene Cvetko

Did you know that your can dictate rather than type documents? Have you wanted to use speech to create a document? This workshop will introduce you to the Windows Speech recognition. You will train and create a document using the built in Windows 7 Speech recognition feature and learn tips to create documents using voice commands.

iPad? Yes iCan - Effective iPad Integration in a College Course

Mauricio Cadavid

This session will provide participants with ideas and strategies to successfully implement the iPad in their class setting as well as integrate interactive and engaging activities in their lesson. Participants will learn basic iPad navigation shortcuts, and will be presented with an array of applications that will surely enhance their instruction.

Web Enabled SLO Assessment Tool

Cristian Racataian and Mark Lehr

The proposed Web tool is meant to provide a consistent and unified reporting for SLO assessment. Closing the loop for SLO create-analyze-modify, the Web tool is ideal for gathering data supporting the analysis based on uniform reporting across multiple sections and/or terms. Both students and instructors can supply data for a more inclusive assessment. The assessment data is gathered such that it cannot be used for instructor and/or student evaluation: it measures strictly the SLO. Different levels of authentication provide for security and privacy between students, instructors, and departments. The tool is currently being evaluated at RCC.

A Hybrid Course Emphasizing Critical Thinking, Lifelong Learning, and Active Participation

Robert Kelley

Having recently attended a critical thinking conference (shout-out to http://www.criticalthinking.org/), I restructured a Psychology hybrid course (12.5% occurs online) to further emphasize critical thinking, writing, peer review, student panels, lifelong learning, group activities, resources for learning-on-the-go (i.e., along the lines of a flipped classroom) and broad student participation - with the help of online technologies (e.g., Google forms, presentations, & documents; and Crocodoc, Diigo, Moodle, etc.). Come get ideas for your web-enhanced, hybrid, and online courses - and join our workshop discussion.

Create Your Own Free Digital Textbooks for All Your Classes

Dr. Robert KnightMyMathText is a fully integrated digital textbook composed of a Learning Management System (LMS) and Collaborative Authoring Tool (CAT) which is completely compatible with Open Educational Resources (OER) available for FREE on the web. MyMathText is completely FREE to teachers and students using it. MyMathText utilizes the Socratic method of teaching by guiding the student through the course with a series of homework questions which come complete with learning aids created by the teacher for each particular question. These “real time” learning aids may be videos produced by the teacher or others, You Tube videos, and/or pages from OER textbooks and/or OER websites.

How to Use Google Documents for Student Collaboration

T. L. Brink

Having students submit their term projects on Google documents has several advantages: mentoring the write up at many stages of development, team projects involving several students, peer review and rewrites. This presentation will show how to maximize benefit and minimize instructor work. Free learning resources will be distributed.

Regular and Substantive Contact: Easy Ideas for Online Instructors

Margie White

Regular and substantive contact is one of the hot topics in distance education. Not only is it good practice, but it's required by Federal Financial Aid Regulations. Learn ways you can implement these requirements in your online classroom, and also create the most effective learning environment for your students.

Design Educational and Training Videos for Class and Online - Camtasia & YouTube

Dan DavisDo you have an area of expertise that you would like to capture as a video, for use in class or to publish to the web? Or perhaps you want to make a training video showing staff how to use new features on Blackboard, etc.? Curious how the Khan Academy makes its short films? We will show you that all of the above is much easier, and cheaper than you think. You will be walked through some introductory basics on video recording and editing with Camtasia, use of digital writing tablets, and creating your own YouTube channel to publish your videos for free (and maybe even make some money). An example of what you can create, made by the workshop instructor, will be videos from PraxisEducator.com.

Just the Basics- How Managing your Class Well is Essential Even in Cyberspace

Dr. Penny Pence Smith

Good management of all class elements is especially important in on-line learning, eliminates ambiguity for the students and allows the instructor to focus on connecting with the class members. That means, advanced course preparation, consistent and planned student engagement during assignments, weekly maintenance and correction of systems, review and monitoring of grades and submissions and follow-up for every activity or assignment.

How to Create Criterion-Referenced Tests and Instruments

Heather Rideaux-HenryAssessment is an integral part of instruction because it determines whether or not educational goals have been met. Assessment affects decisions about grades, placement, advancement, instructional needs, curriculum, and, in some cases, funding. Criterion-reference tests provide a way to assess learners on how well the knowledge gained has transferred into a real-world context. During this session, you will be introduced to common criterion-reference tests methods, instruments, their characteristics, when they should be applied, and the basic rules and principles that guide the development of each form of assessment.

Overcoming Challenges to Assessing Learning in Massive Open Online Courses

David Dutra

In light of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers moving towards accreditation, it is clear that securely assessing their students’ learning will be crucial to their success. Given the scope of MOOCs, several challenges to assessing students effectively and securely have become apparent. MOOCs offer unprecedented access to learners worldwide and are being adopted by many institutions. Educators express concern about whether such a large and dispersed student population can be effectively assessed for learning outcomes. This presentation will outline methods that have been proven in distance education and can be effectively implemented with MOOCs.

Technology in the Classroom-the New Paradigm

Robert Blanck and David E. Balch, PhD.

Students entering college have an expectation to not only increase their access to technology, leverage the World Wide Web as a means to access information and each other, to work on solving problems that “matter,” and to do so in collaborative teams. This presentation discusses the results and implications of the collected data. The respondents (students and faculty) were asked to respond to two-dimensional answers to each question; the choice to agree or disagree and at the same time to rate the level of importance of the question as high or low.

Adventures in Social Media and Language Learning

Deborah Lemon

Social Media provides a dynamic, fluid environment for group interaction. Professor Lemon demonstrates how teaching online and hybrid Spanish language courses using social media for the past three years has made the classes more interactive and spontaneously communicative, thus increasing success and retention rates. Actual classes will be examined, exploring their structure and features (including security), with examples of activities and interaction.

Does a Face Make a Difference? Comparing Synchronous Online Education with Other Instructional Methods at California Community

Colleges and the Impact on Student Retention Rates

Claudia TornsauferThe main focus of this study was to investigate whether there is a difference in mean institutional retention rates among California community college students by the following institutional characteristics: 1) instructional method (on-campus, asynchronous and synchronous online courses); 2) ethnicity; gender; and age groups. The study’s findings on student outcomes will shed light on the impact of increased online student-teacher, student-student and student-content interaction in synchronous online courses and how it compares to the interaction on on-campus and asynchronous courses.

Fun and Engaging Technologies for the Online or Hybrid Classroom

Kimberly Vincent-Layton and Margaret Arroyo

Join this session to explore some free, innovative technologies that support students’ learning. We will demonstrate how the technology is being used in a course, show how to set it up, and provide time for participants to take a test drive of the tools. For example, we will look at Piazza as a tool that moves beyond the traditional discussion forum and opens up a whole new collaborative world. Added benefit - bring your “list” of great technology tools to share with the group! Technology types include: community bulletin boards, Q&A platform, social networking, and wikis.

Mentoring/Coaching Program for Online Instructional Design and Facilitation SMEs

Dr. Carla Lane

Online faculty development has become too complicated to cover even the basics in short training courses. Traditional training courses no longer meet the needs of SMEs who must produce media rich courses that create self-directed learners in a facilitated environment. Clearly, there are too many topics from course development, instructional design, technology selection, media production, LMS posting, to facilitation. This new coaching/mentoring program was developed and successfully used for 70 courses in less than 9 months. The method surmounted the obstacles for new SMEs effectively and efficiently and will guide the audience in doing this at their institutions.

Quality Captioning…It’s Easier than You Think!

Dr. Lucinda Aborn and Cynthia Alexander

We know that the law says we must add captioning to our videos, but there are other reasons for doing so. The presenters will discuss why and how to create quality captioning. Information provided will include the foundations of good captioning and who benefits from captioning. A practice step-by-step demonstration will show just how easy it is to add captions to your videos

Recruiting, Training, Maintaining, and Retaining Online Adjunct Instructors

Dr. Henry Roehrich and Dr. Michael Eskey

The development of online adjunct instructors requires a professional adult learning approach that incorporates a facilitation training program, mentoring process and instructor informational resources. The presentation will outline and discuss how this process can be effective and tailored to the needs of institutions in higher education. This will include the required online adjunct recruiting process, required training, online resources, professional development opportunities, the formal / informal mentoring process, required and optional refresher training. Additionally, there will be a discussion of online adjunct and online student perceptions of instructional needs and requirements.

Responding to Difficult or Distressed Online Students: Mental Health Assessment and Referrals

Ken Einhaus

Online students face the full range of mental health issues all students face, yet assessing these needs and making appropriate referrals can be complicated by virtual environments. Some issues elicit concern as they impede individual academic success, while others elicit alarm as they disrupt classroom function. How can teachers respond synchronously and asynchronously? How might the mental health support needs of online students differ from those of students in traditional classrooms? As online teaching gains prominence among rural, international, disabled and other groups of students, these questions will grow in salience and interest.

Riding the Wave of a Developmental Reading Hybrid Platform

Celia Cruz-Johnson

Presentation focuses on the successful hybrid developmental reading course with basic skills students two levels below freshman composition. The hybrid course meets once a week in the class and once online and focuses on the theme “Becoming Citizens in an Interlocking World.” The exciting course content creates a synergy of ideas through which students are motivated to discuss, read, and reflect. The instructor will show how current themes and will discuss the creating of this innovative hybrid seven years ago, how it has evolved, and research data collected reflected students’ success and perceptions of the hybrid experience.

The Importance of the Application of Critical Thinking in the Online Classroom

Michael EskeyPresentation will address teaching critical thinking skills to our online students. Research indicates that academics and students have differing perceptions of what happens in university classrooms, particularly in regard to higher order thinking, in particular, critical thinking. Higher education is challenged with encouraging students to pursue higher-order thinking and often fall short according to industry standards. The current research that will be discussed is directed at responses from full-time and adjunct faculty teaching either face-to-face or online mainly in the disciplines of criminal justice and political science to assess their views and application of teaching critical skills. The findings are applicable to all disciplines and emphasize the importance of specific instructor training to apply to the classroom in this area.

The Tide -- It is A-Changing!

Jean Redfearn

How do you engage your students in the online classroom? They Twitter, they chat, they IM, and the list goes on and on for outside of the classroom. So how can we keep them focused in the classroom and, more importantly, excited to keep attending class? Tips to share and use when you return!

Using Concept Mapping to Enhance Learning in an Online Classroom

Betsy Bannier and Johnnie Bannier

In this session, connections between concept mapping exercises and student progress toward course learning objectives in online classes will be discussed. Quantitatively, we will examine correlations between final exam scores and concept mapping variables including the number of concepts identified by students, the number of connections established, and time elapsed between completing the mapping assignment and completing the final exam. Qualitatively, student feedback related to the concept mapping assignment will be discussed.

Yo Ho The Blackboard Life For Me

Eric Wilson

Do you have questions on using Blackboard tools? Do you need help with Grade Center? Come to this open lab and open discussion for fun way of learning or getting help on using Blackboard. Bring questions and ideas and let’s share.