BGSU e-Learning News and Updates

BGSU on-line courses offered to high school students
Due to a grant received through the College of Education and Human Development, working in collaboration with the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Wood County ESC, IDEAL is assisting College of Arts & Science faculty members in preparing three online courses for delivery to high school students during the summer 2007 semester.  The “Post-Secondary On-Line Corridor (PSOLC) to BGSU” grant awarded through the Ohio Department of Education, will provide college credit to 90 high school students located throughout Northwest Ohio.  The courses will incorporate guidelines established by the National Education Association for online high school courses. 

Eligible high school students are in the process of being selected by school counselors to apply for the program.  In addition, Wood County ESC is coordinating the recruitment of three high school science teachers who will serve as co-instructors with BGSU faculty in the online courses.  The three courses offered are:  “Geography 125:  Weather and Climate “, “Biology 108:  Life in the Sea”, and “ENVS 101:  Introduction to Environmental Studies”.  Special thanks to BGSU faculty Art Samel, Matt Partin, and Megan Hughes for teaching these courses over the summer.

Chairs and Directors:  SAVE THE DATE!

Are you interested in developing online courses or programs in your department?   Then join your colleagues for an informative and interactive presentation by IDEAL:  “Everything you need to know about ONLINE Education at BGSU for Chairs and Directors”.

Participants will:

• Meet the IDEAL team and learn about technological and pedagogical resources provided by IDEAL for online course and program development. 
• Receive a “soup to nuts” overview about the process of online course and program development:  getting started, planning, managing resources, marketing, and assessment.
• View IDEAL’s online faculty training program.
• View a “live” BGSU online course to see firsthand how students interact, engage, participate and learn in an online environment.
• Hear about current distance education statistics and trends.
• Engage in an open discussion with IDEAL staff. 
  

Chairs and Directors can select one of the following dates and times: 

Thursday, June 28th  from 11:30 – 1:30

Tuesday, July 10, from 11:30 – 1:30 

Lunch is provided.  Seating is limited: contact Beka Patterson at 2-6792 or rpatter@bgsu.edu to register. 

IDEAL was recognized as a finalist for the Student Achievement Assessment Committee (SAAC) Awards for Promoting Student Success.
The committee reviewed 346 reports over the last four years and chose 24 finalists (posted on the SAAC web site), whose work was on display at the event. Nominations were based on specific years’ efforts. The finalists all demonstrated that they had focused on the University learning outcomes they wanted to promote, and then developed action steps to enable students to achieve those outcomes.

IDEAL to give presentation at the 2007 Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning
IDEAL Instructional Designer, Terence Armentano, will be giving a presentation on Institutional Partnering for Success in Distance Education Degree Program Development. This presentation will demonstrate how BGSU's Distance Education Office, IDEAL, and College of Business worked collaboratively to develop and implement the school's first blended (online and F2F) Master's degree program. Logistics, tasks, technologies, and challenges associated with blended program development will be addressed, including how they were able to implement a full program in under one year. For more information about the conference visit - http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/

Convergence of Learning, Libraries & Technology, 2007 Conference
IDEAL staff was in attendance at the 2007 “Convergence of Learning, Libraries & Technology” Conference hosted by the Ohio Digital Commons for Education in Columbus, Ohio on March 5-6th.   George Siemens, a leading theorist on the implications of technology and societal trends on learning and knowledge delivered a thought provoking keynote address "Connectivism:  Content, Connections, Conversation".  Multiple conference tracks included sessions on topics ranging from podcasting strategies to adaptive educational hypermedia.  View the ODCE conference blog at: http://blog.conference.oln.org/

If you are interested, feel free to listen and view George Siemen's presentation on Connectivism:
Click Here to View Presentation

Articles, Ideas, and Innovations in online teaching and learning

ideal Podcast #1 - Interview with Anthony Fontana
Interview with Anthony Fontana, about art, technology, online teaching, and the classroom of the future. Anthony Fontana is an Instructor for the School of Art. Click here to read his blog on the The Polychronic Classroom.
Click the play button to listen.

Subscribe to the IDEAL Podcast Feed (What is a Feed?)
- View our IDEAL Podcast Page
- Subcribe with Feedburner

University 2.0 - Online Courses Enhance Universities
Online information and communication is changing the way the world interacts and learns. We are part of a global human network in which we can now harness the collective intelligence of people from all walks of life to come up with solutions to problems that could have never been possible in the past. The following video clip does an excellent job demonstrating the "human network" that the world is embarking upon. (click on the video below to watch it, and then continue reading).

A few thoughts strike me after watching that clip. The world is communicating online. The world is learning online. The world is our classroom. In addition, I have come to realize that the only reason I am able to share the video with you is because someone shared it with me online. It is true that we may catch the commercial on TV once in a while, but now that it is online, it can be accessed and discussed any time, any place. It has become a shared learning object. This is powerful and kids today are growing up with this kind of access to information.

My question is what are universities across the world doing about this information revolution? (Read More)

Tips for a user-friendly course
Organizing Course Areas: Part 1 - Course Information
My last article focused on simplifying the course menu by removing unused buttons or course links. Click here to view article. Making your course more user-friendly shouldn't stop there. Once you have chosen the main buttons or course areas, it is a good idea to organize the content within those areas. Over the next few articles, I will present various ideas and examples to help you make good use of the course areas you choose. (Read More)

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
BGSU freshman, Katie Hartigan, explains how BGSU ONLINE courses help her reach her goals.
My name is Katie Hartigan and I am a freshman Psychology major at Bowling Green State University.  I will be taking fifteen credit hours of online courses this summer and I plan on doing it again next summer if all goes well. I am taking online courses to stay on pace to meet my goal of completing my psychology degree in three years.  Some people wonder why I want to finish my undergrad work in 3 years and it is because I plan on attending graduate school to obtain a Ph.D. of clinical psychology. The graduate program will take betweenfive and six years to complete and it can not be finished any earlier than five years due to the necessary research and course work. Therefore, taking online courses during the summer will help me optimize my time, finish school earlier, and enable me to begin working in the field of clinical psychology sooner.

I decided to take my summer courses online for a number of other reasons as well.  First, I am looking forward to the change of environment.  I am excited to take classes in the comfort of my own home and I am looking forward to a more flexible schedule that works into my lifestyle more naturally.  Some days I may want to get up early and begin my school work, however, other days I may need extra rest before jumping in. I feel that enabling students like me to work on school work at times of the day that are optimal for us, will enhance our motivation, creativity, and performance in the class. I also decided to take online courses to eliminate my commute to school everyday during the summer. This is both a nice financial and time saving benefit.  It will be nice to move outside the confines of a building on a beautiful summer day to a classroom that goes with me anywhere in the world. I am looking forward to being able to sit in nature with my laptop and work on the course while communicating with my classmates and instructor online.  Being able to work on school and enjoy the beautiful summer season is a great option and I'm glad BGSU makes it possible for us.