December 2008 Archives

Have you read the TLT Center's ePirate Newsletter? The newsletter is dedicated to highlighting the events, projects, and workshops at the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center. The ePirate is published three times a year at the end of each semester: Fall, Spring and Summer. If you have feedback or suggestions for future stories that you would like to see covered in the ePirate, please contact Melissa McDowell, Senior Instructional Designer at mcdoweme@shu.edu

Read the current issue of the ePirate: TLTC Newsletter Winter 2008 (PDF).pdf

Enjoy!

The Teaching, Learning and Technology Center is once again holding its Winter Workshops in January 2009. This year we will be offering Web 2.0 Tools, Digital Storytelling, and Blackboard. Follow the links below to register for a workshop:

Web 2.0 Tools for 21st Century Teaching & Learning
Tuesday, January 6th 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: CTC (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop

Digital Storytelling
Wednesday, January 7th 9:00 am - 3:30 pm
Location: ITV Room (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop

Preparing your Blackboard Course for the Spring Semester
Thursday, January 8th 9:00 am - 10:30 am
Location: CTC (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop

Blackboard Grade Center
Thursday, January 8th 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Location: CTC (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop

Blackboard Open Lab
Thursday, January 8th 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Location: ITV Room (Ground floor of Walsh)
Click HERE to register for this workshop
**Please bring your laptop to this session**

Quest Atlantis, developed at Indiana University's Center for Research on Learning and Technology, is a 3D multi-user educational environment that explores the use of narrative to support deep learning of science content. Funded by the Macarthur and the National Science Foundation, one common environment and background story is used for a set of learning activities (quests) that focus on the fostering of social commitment through science. Extensive lesson plans and student resources have been developed to enhance and support the experience.

The TLT Center and several faculty members presented at two annual conferences during the month of November, 2008. The first conference, NEConnect, was held at the Montclair State University Conference Center.

Seton Hall conducted four sessions at the NEConnect conference. Click on the titles to see the presentations:

• A New Tool for the Shed: Google SketchUp, presented by Matt Hale and Heidi Trotta


• Imagine the Possibilities: Online Tech Tools for 21st Century Teaching and Learning, presented by Mary Zedeck


• The ePirate: Using Web 2.0 Tools to Capture Faculty Interest, presented by Melissa McDowell and Danielle Mirliss


• Learning in a Virtual Environment: Managing Emergency Preparedness and Health Security Using Second Life as a Teaching Tool, presented by Anne Hewitt, Susan Spencer and Riad Twal

• ePirate: Using Web2.0 Tools to Capture Faculty Interest, presented by Melissa McDowell and Danielle Mirliss


• The Implementation of New Technology to Complement the Paperless Delivery of the MBA course Corporate Social Responsibility, presented by Jack Shannon, Sue O'Sullivan and Riad Twal


• Assessment: How Surveys and ePortfolios Make a Difference in University Settings, presented by Martin Sandler, Mary Zedeck and Paul Fisher


• Template Creation Forging Learning Management System (Bb), PPT, Quality Matters Rubric, and Discussion on its Successes and Challenges, presented by Renee Cicchino


• Second Life - Seton Hall University's Initiative to Implement the Online Virtual Environment, presented by Mary Balkun and Mary Zedeck


• Implementing Multimedia Resources: The Creation of Digital Stories in the Anthropology/Sociology Department at Seton Hall, presented by Shayle Abelkop and Mary Zedeck

Rock the Academy: Radical Teaching, Unbounded Learning, held November 4 - 6, was the twelfth in a series of Virtual Symposiums sponsored by the New Media Consortium. This conference, delivered via the virtual world of Second Life, examined unconventional, yet highly effective methods of teaching and learning either in the form of new tools, open educational systems, activist learning, or next killer applications.

As the end of 2008 approaches and you start thinking of your 2009 New Year's resolutions, I suggest you take care of a few technology issues BEFORE the Christmas break. Getting these few things done by the end of this semester will help relieve you of some stress and make your holidays a lot more enjoyable.

For faculty, after the final student grades have been calculated, download the Grade Center from all your Blackboard courses to your computer. The Excel file that gets created can then be easily accessed by you if any questions arise at a future date. Also, if you are teaching the same course next semester, you can copy all or part of this semester's course into next semester's course shell very easily. You can then make any necessary changes to next semester's course and you are all set to go long before students arrive back on campus.

These next two tips are for everyone. First, take some time and go through the files on your computer. Get rid of the ones you don't need, organize the ones you want to hold onto placing them into folders and make certain that you back up the files you cannot afford to lose! Make use of an external hard drive, the Blackboard Content System, CD's, etc. to back those files up.

Second, administrators and faculty will be moving to a new e-mail system during the Spring 2009 semester, so doing a little preparation now will help make the transition nice and smooth. Again, take the time to go through your Lotus Notes e-mails and, one, delete any documents you don't need or, two, archive old documents that you wish to retain. I'm sure we all have tons of old e-mails that could either be deleted or archived so this is a good thing to accomplish now.

I hope these suggestions give you some "year-end" incentive and if you need help with any of these procedures, please contact me at otskeybi@shu.edu or at x2161. Have a great holiday break!