April 15, 12:15 - 1:45 pm, Livak Room, Davis Center

The tragic events at Virginia Tech, and more recently at Northern Illinois, have had a profound impact on the way colleges and universities are viewing and responding to campus health and safety issues.

This panel presentation, including student, staff and faculty representatives from departments including Police Services, the Center for Health and Wellbeing, the office of the Dean of Students and the General Counsel’s office, will examine the ways in which the University of Vermont is responding to these issues here on our campus, and will also consider broader national trends and challenges. The presentation will provide an opportunity to reflect upon the changing roles and responsibilities of faculty and staff, best practices around campus health and safety issues, legal and privacy concerns, and evolving standards and practice around managing high risk campus behavior.

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The Office of Multicultural Affairs is sponsoring this symposium on March 28th and 29th for UVM faculty. This event will address "the challenges that emerge when gender, race and sexuality intersect and shape how students learn and how we teach."

To learn more and register, contact Janet.S.Green@uvm.edu or call 802-656-0856.
Download the program here [PDF].

Posted by inés at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The University of Vermont is now a member of Educause's Learning Initiative (ElI).

ELI explores the interaction among learners, learning principles and practices, and learning technologies. Membership benefits include reduced rates on ELI events and access to all resources on their web site, including archived web seminars and podcasts.

There are three upcoming events that may interest you:
January 14: Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0 (online event)
January 28 - 30: ELI 2008 Annual Meeting - Connecting and Reflecting: Preparing Learners for Life 2.0 (San Antonio, TX)
March 18 - 19: Real World and Technology-Rich: Learning by Doing, Learning in Context (Raleigh, NC)

To access ELI resources and register for events, you will need to set up a member profile that connects you as an UVM affiliate. Go to the the Educause home page and follow the directions in the "Manage your personal profile" (under the "What would you like to do?" section).

We hope that you will explore the resources on the ELI site. If you find these resources valuable and/or are interested in attending an event, please let us know.

Posted by wendy at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

UVM is participating in Focus the Nation, a national educational initiative of faculty, staff, students and community members at over a thousand colleges, universities, and high schools in the United States. The goal is to collaboratively engage in a nationwide, interdisciplinary discussion about "Global Warming Solutions for America."


UVM Focus the Nation events will take place Sunday, January 27 - Friday, February 1, 2008. Events will include faculty lead Teach-Ins, workshops, round table discussions, and visually engaging "Image Events" such as carbon calculators and art installations. UVM students are taking the lead on organizing these events - no small task! If you would like to develop a workshop or teach-in please email Samir.Doshi@uvm.edu or Valerie.Esposito@uvm.edu.


For a schedule of events (continually updated), please visit UVM Focus the Nation.

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The Faculty Fellows for Service-Learning Program recruits faculty members from across UVM to participate in a seminar each Spring on how to build service-learning pedagogy into courses. Faculty members must apply and be accepted into the Program, are given a small professional development fund ($750), and are expected to inject service-learning into at least one of their courses after finishing the program. Faculty participants cite the opportunity to interact with colleagues with similar interests as a highlight of this program.

For more information, and an application form, visit:
http://www.uvm.edu/partnerships/?Page=ffsl2.html
Application Deadline: November 9, 2007
Seminar Dates: January 8-10, 2008

Posted by inés at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 2nd, 2007

Here is a collection of resources both used in today's class as well as additional resources

Flickr: Search on "Vermont" under creative commons license
Flickr search results

In addition to the resources we have discussed today in our audio editing workshop, I have created this post with links to resources that we have collected that have helped us in the past with audio editing and podcasting. This is a mixture of articles, how to's and ways to use podcasts in education. We hope you find these links useful.

Cheers,
Will

strong>Podcasting Resources:

Articles:
Podcasts: Improving Quality and Accessibility, from the Journal

Legal Guide:
Podcasting Legal Guide by Creative Commons

Faculty Examples:

Charlie Rathbone's Wiki Space
Paul Martin's Podcast for YOU!

Websites:
Will Richardson's Blog, author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms
Poducate Me
Podcasting for Professors
Podcasting for Teachers
Yahoo Search Engine Podcasts Directory
Odeo.com, listen to a huge variety of podcasts for free
iTunesU
University of Vermont, iTunesU site

How to's:

Directions for making a podcast with Audicity or GarageBand by Yahoo
GarageBand tutorials, from the Apple website

Software:
GarageBand, by Apple Computer (comes pre-loaded with a Mac Computer)
Audacity, a free audio editing program
Odeo Studio, create your on free podcast with the easy Odeo Studio interface

RSS feed readers for Podcasting

Doppler, subscribe to RSS feeds for your favorite podcasts

Publish to UVM Zoo files (Web Access)

https://uvm.edu/files/

In addition, could you all please take a few moments to give us feedback by filling out our ONLINE SURVEY. Click Here to take survey THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Posted by Will Webb at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Center for Cultural Pluralism is sponsoring an even that promises to be interesting and important:

"Moving Beyond the Basics: Shifts of Consciousness and Practice for Transformative Multicultural Teaching and Learning"

(snippet of the description on the CCP website)

September 28, 2007.8:30-4:00p.m. Location TBD
To register, call 656-9511 (CCP)

For more info., visit the CCP website.

Posted by inés at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

We get the opportunity to learn iMovie this morning! Lucky people!! It is one of our favorite software packages to learn. This is a place where we are listing resources for the course for Educational Value as well as general How To's. Feel free to suggest additional resources to add to this blog posting. Have fun and learn a lot today.

Click here to complete the Video Workshop Survey.

Thanks!

http://www.uvm.edu/ctl/podcast/PMPodcast.mp4
Paul Martin's iMovie about Podcasting for YOU!

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/sciencetg/ie/
iMovie in education

http://www.apple.com/support/imoviehd/
Apple iMovie HD Resource Page

http://www.apple.com/support/imoviehd/hottips/
Hot Tips for imovie hd from i life 06

http://www.apple.com/support/imoviehd/shortcuts/
keyboard shortcuts for iMovie HD

http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/banaszewski.htm
Digital Storytelling in the classroom with imovie

http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/movie/list.html
iMovies in K-12 Education from Springfield Public Schools

http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/movie/
Example iMovies from K-12 Education

http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/
Apple Learning Interchange

http://connect.educause.edu/browse
Educause Connect

Posted by holly at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click Here to take Endnotes Workshop survey

Endnotes Web Site, this is a great starting point for all resources and support related to Endnotes.

UVM libraries Web Site about Endnote

Download the file to search UVM libraries in ENDNOTE here!

Enjoy EndNote. It is a very nice tool. (when it works correctly!!)

See us at the CTL Dr Is In if you need additional help.

Posted by holly at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In preparation for our podcasting workshop on August 7th in 113T Waterman, Will and I decided to put together a resource page for the faculty and staff attending our workshop. This is a mixture of articles, how to's and ways to use podcasts in education. We hope you find these links useful.

Cheers,
Holly and Will

Podcasting Resources:

Articles:
Podcasts: Improving Quality and Accessibility, from the Journal

Legal Guide:
Podcasting Legal Guide by Creative Commons

Faculty Examples:

Charlie Rathbone's Wiki Space
Paul Martin's Podcast for YOU!

Websites:
Will Richardson's Blog, author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms
Poducate Me
Podcasting for Professors
Podcasting for Teachers
Yahoo Search Engine Podcasts Directory
Odeo.com, listen to a huge variety of podcasts for free
iTunesU
University of Vermont, iTunesU site

How to's:

Directions for making a podcast with Audicity or GarageBand by Yahoo
GarageBand tutorials, from the Apple website

Software:
GarageBand, by Apple Computer (comes pre-loaded with a Mac Computer)
Audacity, a free audio editing program
Odeo Studio, create your on free podcast with the easy Odeo Studio interface

RSS feed readers for Podcasting

Doppler, subscribe to RSS feeds for your favorite podcasts

Publish to UVM Zoo files (Web Access)

https://uvm.edu/files/

In addition, could you all please take a few moments to give us feedback by filling out our ONLINE SURVEY. Click Here to take survey THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Posted by holly at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bloggers at work
Originally uploaded by cafeholly

Posted by holly at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wednesday, August 23rd, we held a full day workshop for the Graduate TA's in the Psych department. Katie Shepherd, (pictured at right), Lynn Bond and Michael Strauss facilitated sessions on difficult conversations, group work and group discussions, as well as writing across the curriculum. We hope to schedule a follow-up session for the Psych TAs later this semester. All our workshops are open to Teaching Assistants across the University and we welcome the opportunity to work with specific departments on their teaching strategies. Call 656-1155 to learn more, or email ctl@uvm.edu

Posted by holly at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

At high noon last Friday, we concluded the last of our Summer 2006 series of workshops. As usual, it was quite the whirlwind tour. We delivered a total of 7 separate workshops, many of which were multi-day events. This meant we had workshops every day for almost two weeks, sometimes with more than one a day, resulting in a full day of teaching and support. Overall, there were apporoximately 90 participants registered - that's an average of almost 13 people per workshop! Read on for more.

Here is a list of all 7 workshops in the series:

Aug. 8th - 9th: WebCT 101
Aug. 10th - 11th: WebCT 101
Aug. 14th: Managing the WebCT Gradebook
Aug. 16th: Blogging Your Course
Aug. 17th: Creating Online Quizzes and Exams
Aug. 17th: Introduction to Adobe Photoshop Elements
Aug. 18th: Introduction to EndNote

Enrollments were once again high, and the instruction was often punctuated with energetic discussion and collaboration. Attendees included a nice mix of new faces and returning members of the community who had been through our workshops before.

While all this was going on, we also brought several director candidates to campus (more updates on that to come, so don't touch that dial), and made a brief presentation to incoming faculty as part of New Faculty Orientation. Yesterday we also sponsored a Graduate TA training event aimed at giving Graduate TA's the skills they need in the lab and classroom to effectively guide students through their classes and laboratories.

Keep an eye on the events area of the CTL website for more. For your convenience, you can subscribe to the events feed, as well as the .ics file for import into your iCal calendar.

Posted by justin at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In one of the last colleague teas of the spring series, we talked podcasting. This included some production tools, ideas for teaching with the medium, concerns about how not to use this kind of technology, and of course examples.

As is often the case, we looked at some examples to get us started. Tim Fox showed us his podcast, The Supportive Classroom, and talked a bit about the process he used to produce it, including how to get it published in the iTunes Music Store. We also looked at some podcasts downloaded from the music store, such as a chinese language instruction series, and a recorded classroom lecture.

We discussed a few of the tools available for creating and recording podcasts, including:

• Odeo - easy, web based software that allows you to record and store up to an hour’s worth of audio per session.
• GarageBand - audio recording software for the mac that lets you publish directly from within the interface
• Audacity - free, cross-platform software. Not as easy to use/install as some of the others.
• iTunes U - an iTunes music store geared towards higher education organizations.

One question that came up went along the lines of “Why podcast?”. An answer seemed to be that it was an easy way to publish and distribute media - anyone with a blog can syndicate audio/video material which can be easily downlaoded onto an audience’s computers, or portable media devices.

As the conversation moved on, we looked at and discussed “videocasting”, “screencasting”, enhanced podcasts (such as narrated PowerPoints and chaptered podcasts). We talked about some of the challenges of teaching with such a tool, which led us to some more examples of how to use it in the classroom. Paul Martin, joining us via instant message (thanks Paul!) pointed us to an example of an enhanced podcast he produced. We also looked at how he used podcasts in some of his courses, including having the students record podcasts which he posts on a course blog.

All in all, it was another successful session, with some great discussion. Afterwards, Steve Birnbaum sent us this great article regarding the Berkely iTunes U library being made available to the public (thanks Steve!).

UPDATE: Malachi pointed out that Apple offers some seminars on "Podcasting on Campus". Also, Charlie and I came across a great screencast on using Garageband to create enhanced podcasts (you may have to scroll down to find it - I couldn't find a permalink to the post).

Posted by justin at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm finally, finally getting around to making this post about the recent CTL-sponsored workshop at the Fleming Museum. Well-attended and really interesting, it was led by Evelyn Hankins, Curator and Margaret Tamulonis, Manager of Collections.

The first part was a tour beginning with the current (amazing!) visiting exhibitions, Goya's Los Caprichos and The Inferno of Dante by Michael Mazur. Then we made the rounds to the permanent collection galleries. Throughout the tour, they gave background to the exhibitions or galleries, but also spoke to the purpose of the workshop: exploring the range of possibilities for teaching with/at the Museum.

After the tour, we went to the seminar room. Everyone had opportunities to ask questions and talk about their own teaching ideas. The faculty's disciplines were varied - Philosophy, Biology, Anthropology, Computer Science, Chemistry and History - so the range of ideas was interesting. Evelyn and Margaret presented scenarios, using objects pulled from storage, to explore interdisciplinary and creative angles.

While the Fleming is a small museum, its permanent collection of art and anthropological artifacts includes about 22,000 objects, now, and is incredibly varied. Because of limited display space, however, about 98% of the collection is in storage. The good news is that storage is in the upper floors of the Museum itself, so objects that aren't on display can be pulled for teaching purposes, as long as arrangements are made in advance with the Museum.

The upshot is that they're committed to to the Museum's academic mission. They encourage all faculty to bring them their questions and ideas for teaching, as well as concepts for exhibitions. (The current Michael Mazur exhibition came to be because of a faculty member's suggestion.) They're enthusiastic in supporting faculty in any way they can to utilize the Museum for teaching and learning.

For more on this topic and contact info, visit their website, http://www.flemingmuseum.org, and go to Education / UVM Academics.

Posted by inés at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last Friday's Colleague Tea brought together 7 people to discuss some of the web tools currently available at UVM that can be used in teaching. We had a nice mix of participants, with some having used one tool, others having used another.

What tools did we look at? What teaching applications were considered?

This is such a broad topic that a number of approaches are possible. We could go through a list of tools, describing each and looking for examples, or we could create a list of student activities and desired outcomes and then determine which tool would provide the best fit. After brief introductions we decided to try both approaches, but the discussion was lively enough that we ended up leaning rather more to the former than the latter.

So what tools did we consider? A glossary-in-progress will give you an idea. We spent most of the session on blogs and wikis with a bit of WebCT as well. We also considered some options for image collections and podcasting, both topics which will be explored in more depth at upcoming events. Wikis and the ability to share files brought up the topic of using Sharepoint, a content management system being used, experimentally, by a number of groups on campus. (You will need your UVMNetID/password.)

The web is becoming increasingly complex while, paradoxically, becoming easier to use. Deciding which tool works best for which task will continue to be a challenge. We'd love to build a matrix that displays some teaching and learning activities and the web tools that might best be used for them. Can you help? Send us your ideas and let us know the kinds of activities you would like to use in your classroom, or the learning outcomes you would like to see, along with your ideas for how you might approach them. Together we can consider how IT tools might be applied. Found a favorite web gadget? Let us know about that too! And, of course, come to the next Colleague Tea and snag some great cookies.

Posted by hope at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

Yesterday we held another of our Colleague Tea events, this one entitled "Blogs at UVM". It was a cozy group, with only about five or six people attending, but it was a lively and enlightening discussion. I think everyone left with some ideas about how they could use this tool in their courses. Here are a few of the resources we looked at, along with some of the places and ideas we discussed.

At the beginning, we gave out a resources sheet with the blog.uvm.edu url on it and descriptions of the tools that could be found there, such as the Get a Blog! link, the Blogroll, and the "help" blog. This handout also had URL's for the Doctor Is In program, and the CTL Events calendar. We also had a "Blogging Lingo" (pdf) handout, definitions of common terms.

We started out with introductions, and discovered almost immediately that one of our participants was already blogging! She was excited to find out that she could set up a blog at UVM, in addition to using an external service - which she is currently doing with her Women's Bioethics Blog.

In after looking at that blog, we went to the UVM Blogroll and took a look at a few blogs currently in use in the classroom. The blogs of Paul Martin's canadian literature courses were examples we looked at, as were Charlie Rathbone's education course blogs.

After that, we briefly looked at the editing and posting interface, and how easy it is to upload and post a picture. Throughout all of this, we were pausing to talk about the differences between using this tool as opposed to others such as WebCT or regular web/"zoo" space. Along the way we also discussed various details of using a blog, such as being able to save posts in unpublished "draft" form. We touched on ideas such as publishing multiple versions of syllabii, re-using a blog space, as well as ideas for handling discussion and dealing with comment spam. As we wrapped up, it seemed that a few folks might really have more need of something like WebCT, for it's structure and tools such as quizzes and threaded discussion.

Toward the end, we looked at Technorati, and Google as ways of finding blogs of specific interest.

We also talked a little about feed readers.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. And the cookies were tasty!

Posted by justin at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)