ANGEL Southeast User Group Virtual Conference

Full Descriptions of Sessions, November 6, 2008

The following provides full descriptions of the sessions that were held on November 6, 2008. You can view Elluminate recordings of the sessions at http://southeast.angellearning.com. If you registered for the conference, use the username and password emailed to you prior to the conference. If you are a member of the Southeast region who did not register for the conference, please email AUG-Southeast@angellearning.com for access.

8:30am

• ANGEL Keynote – Christopher Clapp, President and CEO, ANGEL Learning, Inc.

9:00am

• Using RSS Feeds to Automatically Update Topics on Discussion Forums – Ellen Orr, Professor, Seminole Community College
  
  Participants will learn how to choose a category of RSS feeds from popular sites like CNN or Yahoo, generate javascript code, and embed code into an ANGEL discussion forum so current topics related to the subject will automatically be updated into discussion forum directions. This can save instructors countless hours since it alleviates the need to search for current events each term or even each week.
• Bridge the Gap: Establishing Effective Communication and Interaction to Increase Student Motivation and Success – Ashley Navarro, Professor, Seminole Community College
  
  Students often complain about the absence of communication and interaction in distance education. Far too often, students feel they are just reading the text and not actively participating in their education. This seemingly static environment may result in lack of student motivation and course withdrawal. Online course facilitators must bridge the gap between the text/content and its relevance to the real world to create an active online environment. It is critical to establish effective communication techniques and interaction activities to achieve this in a virtual classroom. This presentation includes tips and suggestions for implementing this dynamic facet to the online environment.

10:00am

• Teaching Old Dogs New (C)licks: (C)opyright Issues in Cyberspace – Bob Diotalevi, Program Coordinator, Legal Studies, Florida Gulf Coast University
  
  Copyright law is at the forefront of the cyberspace debate. The Internet was once a research project. Today it is the largest computer system in the universe. Also known as the net or cyberspace, this super highway to the stars offers a variety of useful information as one navigates down its ocean of URL's, browsers and hyperlinks. With advanced technology comes new legal issues to battle. I endeavor to explain the present laws regarding copyrights in cyberspace. I hope that such will prove to be a resource and guide to ANGEL users interested in traversing these navigable waters.
• PRAISE, QUESTION, POLISH, P.Q.P.: From Discussion to Peer Response – Dr. Sue Slick and Dr. Dayle A. Upham, Florida Gulf Coast University
  
  Many educators use the discussion folder in ANGEL to establish dialogue among participants. This session focuses on using the discussion folders as a forum for submission of works-in-progress documents for peer response. Used in the education field, it promotes opportunities for future teachers to practice responding to students' works-in-progress. Peer response used in discussion folders for on-line courses is a viable new strategy for all fields of education. This presentation will provide sample directions to students for peer responding, examples of students' works-in-progress, and responses to them.

11:00am

• ANGELicious – John Hesting, Instructor and Alan Shapiro, Instructional Technologist, St. Petersburg College
  
  Social Bookmarking is a method to store, organize, and search bookmarks of web pages on the Internet. Delicious helps specifically target what you want your students to see. Instead of going into a search engine and searching for that needle in a haystack, you can quickly narrow down items. Within the ANGEL environment, an embedded Delicious tool provides a direct link to resources that are relevant to your course. URLs are automatically updated and are clickable from the Delicious page. Students can find more bookmarked links, facilitating further reading and research relevant to their studies.
• Voki and Video (Student) Production: The Hidden Agenda – Mark Simpson, Assistant Professor and Sheila Bolduc-Simpson, Instructor, Florida Gulf Coast University
  
  This presentation will review the use of student-produced Vokis and Windows Movie Maker video clips in our online undergraduate education and professional writing courses. Vokis are used in introductory discussion forums in all courses and in discussion forums. Video clips are used in ESOL methods courses and as extra-credit assignments in other education courses. One goal is to familiarize students with these applications so that they will then use them in their own classes (as future educators and students). Online educators will want to use Vokis in their courses; online educators of future teachers will want to use student-produced video clips in their methods courses.

12:00pm

• Creating a Library Presence in ANGEL to Facilitate Discovery and Research – Chad Mairn, St. Petersburg College
  
  Since many learners are already comfortable with emerging technologies and services like Google, Wikipedia, iPods, BlackBerries, Netflix, mashups, Facebook, Twitter, et al., it simply makes sense to include similar technologies and services within one's course management system. Learners do expect these things to be an integral part of their learning experiences so they will be pleased to discover that one has spent time, in addition to creating outstanding course content, to learn firsthand what 21st century students are using and to then utilize some of these technologies and services.
• Active Learning Strategies – Dr. Jeffrey Parsons, ANGEL Administrator, Lindsey Wilson University
  
  This session will overview core concepts in active learning and demonstrate specific methods for increasing student engagement using tools provided in ANGEL. Examples will be drawn from assessments, discussion forums, drop boxes, teams, and other related tools.

1:00pm

• Using Technology to Enhance ANGEL Usability – Ellen Vines, Knowledge Manager, Automatic Data Processing
  
  This presentation will go over the different technologies that we have employed to enhance ANGEL usability for our students to accelerate learning. The technologies used include the following: 1. Embedding Talking Avatars in ANGEL that explain the lessons and activities to the student so they experience the lesson through auditory as well as visual means. 2. Using HTML enhanced templates to minimize scrolling and increase ease of use 3. Creating Multimedia content using Camtasia 4. Embedding a Visual Information Management Tool (The Brain) into our ANGEL Library to accelerate searching capabilites 5. Integrating websites into our ANGEL Groups.
• Using the Learning Object Repository (LOR) – Kristine Duncan, Learning Solutions Specialist, ANGEL Learning
  
  This presentation will provide an overview of ANGEL's Learning Object Repository (LOR). Attendees will learn how to create and import content to a LOR and how to leverage master classs templates.

2:00pm

• Integrating ANGEL LMS, e-Portfolio & Assessments – Delia Heck, Director of Assessment & Institutional Research and Dr. Christine Stinson, Chief Infomation Officer, Ferrum College
  
  This session demonstrates how Ferrum College has used ANGEL to integrate our student learning assessment processes with our learning management system. In Faculty summer workshops, participants enter student learning outcomes, map course outcomes and program and college standards to assignments entered on ANGEL, and develop rubrics for use with these assignments. ANGEL e-Portfolio is also used for assessment purposes on our campus. Artifacts are stored and presented in outcome matrices for use at the course, program and college level.
• Angel To The Rescue: A Democratic Approach To Implementation Guided By Gentle Technology Leadership – Dan Lim, Assistant VP for Educational Technology and Distance Learning, Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences
  
  After forming a group of voluntary faculty and a democratic selection process of the ANGEL Learning System in late May 2008, an expedited implementation timeline was necessary due to a worsening support culture from our current course management system vendor. The entire campus was culturally ANGELized within two months – one month of implementation and one month into the pilot. The technology cultural change was guided subtly by the gentle technology leadership in the forms of grass-root selection process, a 3-prong product research effort, regular and consistent developmental communications, an approval process through the administrative hierarchy, a comprehensive training program, perception management, and a clear focus on people rather than technology. The presenter shall present and discuss the strategies and techniques used to facilitate this gentle and firm shift to ANGEL.

3:00pm

• Using Master Courses and Learning Object Repositories to Support Faculty – Dr. Jeffrey Parsons, ANGEL Administrator, Lindsey Wilson College
  
  This presentation will outline methods for using master courses and learning object repositories together as a frame work for increasing faculty efficiency in using ANGEL. A brief overview of master courses and learning object repositories will be provided, followed by methods for integrating the two.
• Structuring a Large Online Class for Success – Dr. Whitney Bischoff and Kimber J. Palmer, Instructor of Business and Social Sciences, Texas A&M University
  
  Teaching large classes completely online is a boon to busy working people and students in rural locations. It is especially attractive to put undergraduate courses online that are taught every semester as a way to maximize the number of people that can take foundational courses. Come learn the techniques used by faculty who teach large classes that are writing intensive, rich in communication, include online presentations as well as online testing. Techniques include a "lounge" for hanging out, liberal use of the companion website and two chances to write the major papers well.

4:00pm

• Using an ANGEL Venue to Provide Curriculum Support for Faculty Teaching University Colloquium, the Signature Course in Florida Gulf Coast University's Quality Enhancement Plan – Laurie Coventry-Payne, Adjunct Professor and Dr. Annette Snapp, University Colloquium Coordinator, Florida Gulf Coast University
  
  University Colloquium is an interdisciplinary course that focuses on environmental sustainability. It is the signature course of Florida Gulf Coast University's Quality Enhancement Plan. Each semester over thirty sections are taught. Professors from each of the University's Colleges instruct the course with different professors taking on this responsibility every semester. All sections share a common syllabus with specific course outcomes and core assignments. Faculty must adhere to a core curriculum, yet are encouraged to bring their expertise and experience into the classroom. Information is shared and faculty collaboration is encouraged through the University Colloquium Curriculum Support Site on ANGEL.
• Mission Possible: The Cross-Disciplinary, Multi-Generational Online Learning Community – Jennifer Erhardt, Pensacola Junior College
  
  Pensacola Junior College's Korean War Memory Project ANGEL Community Group connected students in Communication classes as well as students from Art, Theatre, and the SGA with each others' coursework. For the benefit of any and all, the research, interview questions, transcripts, photographs, PowerPoint backgrounds, speeches, PowerPoint presentations, and podcasts were shared in the Community Group. In the summer semester, the second generation of students was able to reap the benefits of the coursework produced by the students who were enrolled in the spring. The students learned about bravery from the veterans, but they learned reciprocal altruism from each other.

5:00pm

• Blunders, Bloopers, and Barriers: On the Job with ANGEL – Pamella Seay, Professor, Florida Gulf Coast University
  
  Overcoming obstacles to peak performance is one of the challenges of a distance learning environment. Based on more than 10 years experience teaching distance courses, primarily via internet, this presentation will address the challenges and solutions to some vexing communication issues encountered with ANGEL and distance education.
• Innovation through Collaboration in Second Life – Salli DiBartolo, Brevard Community College, Nancy Edwards, Manatee Community College, and Karen Fritch, St. Petersburg College
  
  When ANGEL Learning purchased an island in Second Life, it turned to its users for help in determining how the simulation could be best used by educators. Learn how the collaboration between users and ANGEL has resulted in new opportunities for educators in Second Life, as well as some innovative ways to connect in-world activities with realworld outcomes. Participants are encouraged to share ideas for further development.