Student engagement is critical for retention and success, especially in distance learning settings, where students have little or no face-to-face contact with their classmates and instructors. In this presentation, we will explore student retention theory and how it can inform distance learning practices to promote student engagement and success. Participants will share favorite tools for promoting engagement with one another as part of the session. Read the rest of this entry »

Course materials can be very hard to maintain in a dynamic field such as computer science where technologies make major changes in time periods as small as a few months. This session teaches attendees how they can employ Wiki technology and engage students to not only keep documents up to date but to also adapt them to learning styles and changing demographics. Read the rest of this entry »

Online homework systems are becoming more advanced and available to the mathematics educators. These systems offer many potential advantages to instructors. I recently conducted an experimental study which compared the effectiveness of using online homework versus textbook homework in a traditional face-to-face college algebra class. The results of this study and other like it will be reported in an effort to help others determine if incorporating an online homework system would be beneficial. Read the rest of this entry »

This is an introduction to the book “Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.” Within the framework of research-based instructional strategies, seven wide-ranging categories of educational technology are applied:
• Word Processing Applications
• Spreadsheet Software
• Organizing and Brainstorming Software
• Multimedia
• Data Collection Tools
• Web Resources
• Communication Software (Web 2.0)
After a brief overview, participants will try out some of the latest applications beyond those found in the book. Read the rest of this entry »

PowerPoint for The Cheatability Factor

Nobody wants students cheating in their online class. Could you be making it easy for students to cheat? What is your Cheatability factor? Presenters will discuss their rubric for cheatability in an online course. We will look at the main influences on cheating and show you how to determine cheatability in your own course. Participants will weigh in on the relative value of “direct assault” vs. “hearts and minds” pedagogical approaches to prevent cheating.

Objectives

• Identify the cheatability factor and it influences
• Determine the cheatability of an online course
• Understand what changes can reduce cheatability in an online course

Biography
As fine a instructional cowboy as ever roped an online course or saddled a pedagogy.

Title: Empowering Language Students to Share the Arts Through Technology

Purpose: This presentation will describe how technology-medium art projects helped ESL students in an intensive English language program to practice their listening and speaking skills. The use of simple, but exciting, technology-based art projects motivated students to collaborate and apply advanced content and language.

The use of technology in this course was designed to accomplish the language and content objectives of a Humanities English for Academic Purposes course. Language goals were accomplished through group collaboration in which students were required to plan, apply, and critique art and artistic ideas. Students were assigned to work in small, mixed language-background teams that required them to problem solve and defend their opinions in English.

Students also applied content objectives as they interacted with authentic content (through the campus art museum) and current technologies (including podcasting and digital film making). As a result, in addition to practicing their language skills, they also engaged with artistic content and materials and they learned how to use relevant communications software including Apple Garageband and iMovie. Projects for this course included audio tours of campus art exhibits and short films for a campus film festival.

Objectives: This presentation will give an overview of the course objectives, how the technology projects related to course objectives, and how students reacted to the projects.

Applications: Suggestions are offered for educators, of both content and language courses, who wish to integrate similar technology projects into their classrooms.

Thematic Relation: This presentation demonstrates not only how teachers can integrate technology into theirt classroom, but also how they can show their students how to use multimedia technology to communicate their appreciation of the Arts.

Information: This presentation will make use of student made projects (with appropriate approval) to support the ideas being shared.

2nd-Day Hands On: Empowering Students to Share the Arts Through Audio Podcast Tours
This workshop will encourage attendees to create their own audio podcast tour right on the Utah Valley campus. Attendees will go through the same process that classroom students do: plan the tour, take photos, write the script, record the audio, edit the tour, and then publish the podcast.

Biography
Robb is a language educator and teacher trainer with the English Language Center at Brigham Young University. He is also pursuing a PhD in instructional psychology and technology with an emphasis in language assessment.