Experiments in Teaching –Save the Date!

save the date

Please mark your calendars for:

Friday, October 24, 3-5 pm
North Reading Room (Library 137), Munday Library

Co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, Instructional Technology, and the Munday Library

We invite all teaching faculty (full-time, adjuncts, and staff who teach), staff, and administrators to join us for talks and a reception celebrating pedagogical experiments on campus. Featuring a wide variety of St. Edward’s faculty members making brief presentations about their innovative teaching projects, “Experiments in Teaching” will explore the range of teaching initiatives at St. Edward’s University and the models they afford our teaching community. We aim to create a venue for colleagues to share the challenges and successes of teaching innovation. The event will be an open reception with food, drink, and “lightning” talks, followed by informal conversation among all participants. Presenters will use the brief lightning talk format to share a “teaser” for their project then be available for more conversation. Lightning talks will begin at 3:30 pm.

Pre-register for the event: http://ow.ly/BN5hy

We hope to see you there!

Themes, Events, and Initiatives in Instructional Technology, 2014-2015

Now that the semester is underway, let me take this opportunity to highlight some of the programming threads you will see in events and other initiatives from Instructional Technology this year. These include Tech Snacks, the #100percentdigital Faculty-Staff Learning Community, workshops, and a new event in October called “Experiments in Teaching”.

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Teaching Symposium 2014: A Conference on College Teaching

Word cloud with largest text: classroom, global, digital, teachingInterested in how technology is being used in classes at St. Edward’s?  The Teaching Symposium will host a number of sessions that illustrate innovative uses of technology by faculty. This peer-reviewed teaching and learning conference organized by the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Teaching Symposium Planning Committee will be held in on Thursday, August 21, from 8:30 – 4:00 pm in John Brooks William South.  This year’s conference features a variety of formats for learning and interacting, including an opening plenary session, short and long presentations and interactive sessions, roundtable discussions, a poster session, and a resource fair.

 

Highlighted Sessions Featuring Innovative Uses of Technology

  • Designing Course-Based, Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Projects Using Digital Tools – Rebecca Frost Davis, Instructional Technology and Pongracz Sennyey, Munday Library
  • Teaching in the Global Digital Classrooms: Lessons Learned and Tips for Success – Michael Weston, Instructional Technology, David Altounian, Digital Media Management, Rebecca Frost Davis, Instructional Technology, Kendall Kelly, English, Writing, and Rhetoric, Kay Firth-Butterfield, Criminal Justice
  • Innovative Teaching with Technology: Utilizing Social Media and E-Communication in the Classroom — Monique Mercado, Psychology
  • The iPad-Equipped Classroom: Results from Two TLTR-funded Pilots – Billy Earnest, Communication, Judy Leavell, Education, David Hollier, Education
  • Three Ways You Can Elevate and Energize In-Class Discussions with Clickers – Michael Weston, Instructional Technology
  • The Syria Simulation and Global Learning Assessment—Chistopher Micklethwait, Literature, Writing, and Rhetoric, Mity Myhr, History, Jason Rosenblum, Digital Media Management, Christie Sample Wilson, History, Selin Guner, Global Studies, David Blair, Institutional Assessment
  • Using Rap Genius: How to Make Annotating Sources Engaging, Effective and Even Fun! – Amy Nathan Wright, University Studies

The complete conference program is available on the Teaching Symposium site.

Please visit Instructional Technology at the Resource Fair  during the Symposium.  We’ll answer questions, talk about opportunities such as the Innovation Fellowship, and discuss your instructional technology needs.

Going 100% Digital with the iPad

Coffee & iPadMary Boyd, Vice President of Academic Affairs at St. Edward’s University has made the commitment to go digital. As she explains on her new blog, #100percentdigital:

I’ve committed to moving to a 100% digital workflow and practice.  That decision required a lot of persuasion by colleagues, who convinced me that I could do everything I do now, but better, in a completely digital process.

To encourage Mary’s commitment and get the community involved in helping her go digital, I’m offering a little incentive. I’ll buy coffee (or an equivalent beverage) for anyone who catches Mary using paper instead of her iPad. There are a few conditions:

  • It has to be paper she provides. It doesn’t count if you bring her paper in a meeting.
  • You have to tweet your picture to the hashtag #100percentdigital and to me @frostdavis
  • I reserve the right to stop this incentive program if Mary is using too much paper (and I’m buying too much coffee)!

2014 Innovation Institute

cropped-header-1k2beicThe 2014 Innovation Institute kicked off on Monday, May 19 in the global digital classroom in the Munday Library.  Sixteen faculty were named as Innovation Fellows or Global Innovation Fellows for the 2014-2015 academic year.  During the Innovation Institute fellows are learning about a variety of pedagogical approaches, learning how to integrate technology to support those pedagogical approaches, and developing their fellowship projects, which consist of course designs or redesigns to integrate innovative pedagogical approaches.  The institute will wrap up on May 30 with final presentations by the fellows on progress on their projects so far.  Follow along with what the fellows are learning during the Institute via the Innovation Fellowship blog.

16 Faculty Named Innovation Fellows and Global Innovation Fellows, 2014-2015

We congratulate the 9 faculty named as Innovation Fellows and the 7 faculty named as Global Innovation Fellows for the 2014-2015 academic year.  Each fellow will develop, redesign, or modify a course or major course component for the 2014-2015 academic year that does one or more of the following: leverages existing and emerging technologies, includes interdisciplinary approaches, or includes significant pedagogical experimentation.  These courses will serve as models for pedagogical experimentation at St. Edward’s University.  Beginning Monday, May 19, the fellows will participate in a two week Innovation Institute to begin planning their courses.  See the call for proposals for more details and start thinking of your innovation project for the next round of fellowships.  Your innovation fellows are: Continue reading

Event Cancelled: Disruptive Innovation via Open Education Resources

CANCELLED: Baraniuk talk and events
We regret to announce that the Wednesday, March 26 talk by Richard Baraniuk, “Disruptive Innovation via Open Education Resources,” and all related events are cancelled.  The speaker, Richard Baraniuk, has fallen ill and is unable to travel to Austin tomorrow.
Please feel free to query the Center for Teaching Excellence if you have any questions.

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Visit the Innovation Creation Lounge (LIBR 248)

Do your students need help using Photoshop, InDesign, HTML or Excel to complete course projects?  Students can get help at the Innovation Creation Lounge with these applications and many more. A dedicated trainer will be available to answer questions and offer assistance in Library room 248 on Mondays from 10am-Noon and Fridays from 1pm-3pm.

Please let your students know about this opportunity to receive help outside of class. Students can bring their own device (BYOD) or use the dedicated iMac available with all the Adobe and Microsoft software installed. Students don’t need an appointment and can just drop by any time during those hours for help. For questions about the Innovation Creation Lounge or any training support questions, please emailtraining@stedwards.edu.

Interactive Video with Avatars

What is an Avatar and a Voki?

An avatar is a figure or character that you can create and customize for online use. Vokis are speaking avatars that could be used for online interaction.

  • Users can create an account with different services such as Voki.
    • Voki can be used to create speaking avatars and use them as an effective learning tool.

Ideas for Uses of Avatars in the Classroom:

  • Connecting via online learning: Faculty who teach online and blended courses could enhance their personal presence in the class through the use of avatars. Avatars could be used for virtual lectures in place of text course materials.
  • Solving problems and gaining real-world experience through case studies: Faculty could use avatars to demonstrate case studies. Students will benefit from practice in applying the material to real-life situations.
  • Historical Reenactments and Teaching Moments Students can reenact historical events in order to gain new perspectives beyond the mere facts. Avatars can be used to teach various theories which may be hard to understand from an external point of view.

Resources

  1. 8 Great Avatar Creation Tools for Teachers
  2. Creating Avatars
  3. 10 Ways to Use Avatars in Education