We are the Program for Online Teaching, a group of volunteer faculty helping other faculty teach better online.

Our focus is on pedagogy as the guiding force for using technologies for teaching.

Many of us are from MiraCosta College in Oceanside, California. MiraCostans may access the Teaching/Technology Innovations Center for technical help, resources, news and more.

COOL TOOLS LIST

The POT Network

  • POT Diigo group
    (see tutorial on how to save bookmarks)
  • POT Facebook group
  • POT Vimeo Channel (workshops)
  • POT YouTube Channel
  • Twittter (please use hashtag #potcomm)

Archived sessions 2008-10

Recent recordings are posted on the Get Flex Credit page!

These are archives from before 2009:

These sessions were synchronous workshops in Elluminate: (2009-10)

Third Thursdays: sessions on various topics

  • 21 May 2009: This month we’ll feature samples of giving discussion feedback to students (Laura Paciorek and Lisa M. Lane), uploading/annotating/posting your YouTube video (Donna Marques), and using Ning for classes (Jim Sullivan).
  • 16 April 2009: Come join us for Robert Kelley showing how to use Jing to easily integrate video into online instruction, and an introduction by Lisa to the new webapp BubblePLY
  • 19 March 2009: Join us  for Shirley Olsen demonstrating oral-based assessment with video, and update on the POT site, and more.
  • 19 February 2009: Come join us for a video to encourage departmental participation, an intro to CamStudio (a free substitution for Camtasia), and other web news.
  • 15 January 2009: Join us for open discussion and new tools Google talkback badge, Seesmic, Stinto and more.
  • 18 December 2008: Join us for a discussion including Blackboard surveys, Creative Commons, and getting the grading done.
  • 20 November 2008: Topics this month are student signups and groups in Blackboard (Pilar), wikis (Donna), and annotated images in Flickr (Lisa).
  • 16 October 2008: This meeting had Jill Malone with quick ways to make audio notes for students using Audacity (example loaded into Blackboard), pdfs for multimedia with Robert Kelley, and Lisa about Twitter for professional development.
  • 18 September 2008: We met from 8:30-9:30 pm, but the recording was only turned on at the half-way point. 🙁 This was Jim Sullivan about blogs, and Lisa on Del.icio.us.
  • 21 August 2008: Topics: Online Teaching Certificate, MOOC Connectivism Class, Elluminate for class or office hours.

Podcasts: audio from sessions:

Audio from Jill Malone’s August 2008 workshop, “Creating and Using Digital Images for the Web“.

Audio from David Megill, Jeff Uhlik and Lisa M Lane’s August 2008 workshop, “Pedagogy and Current Technologies Brainstorm“.

Lisa M Lane 9th April 2011

POT Newsletter #31 (March 2011)

POT Newsletter #22
March 2011
http://www.miracosta.edu/onlineteaching

 

This Friday, April 1: First Friday and f2f workshops

1:30-2:20 Workshop: Google Forms (with Barbara McPherson)
Oceanside 4607 or Online: Elluminate link
A hands-on workshop discussing and integrating Google.forms into your Blackboard course or as a standalone tool designed to capture student responses. Google.forms can be used as a simple survey or as an instrument designed to capture your students’ online class activities and homework assignments.  When using Google.forms all student responses are captured within one convenient spreadsheet. (OT200 Design Elements)

2:45-3:35: f2f Face-To-Face Get-Together about Online Teaching: Experiences with Tools (with Laura Paciorek)
This workshop is immediately after the first Friday workshop about Google Forms.  The face-to-face setting may provide an opportunity to continue the discussion about Google Forms and other online tools or go into different interests that are brought up by the instructors in attendance.  Instructors who are new to online teaching can have a forum to ask questions or share thoughts. Instructors with more experience may have an opportunity to mentor faculty who are new to online teaching. Please bring a snack, questions, and ideas. Faculty will benefit from this workshop by learning tips to improve instruction. Students will potentially benefit as participants may be able to create new learning experiences for them based upon what is discussed in the workshop.

Be sure to register at MCC’s flex website!

Working with groups? check out these resources

The recording of Claudia Faulk’s February session “Strategies for Groups” is now available here and at the POT site. The workshop has created interest in documents that can be used to work with groups. See also:

Claudia’s group chart
Lyle Blackmon’s Charter for groups
Laura Paciorek’s group charter

Flex credit for watching recorded POT workshops

Did you know that you can earn flex credit for watching POT workshops and blogging an entry at the Pedagogy First! blog? See the POT Recordings page for more info.

Help POT by recording a tour of your class

Several instructors have recorded Jing tours of their class to share with other faculty. You can see them on the front page of the POT site. Doing a tour is a great way to show students through your class. Please consider creating a Jing (Jing is a free program) and sending the URL to Lisa for posting.​

Captioning for free!

Funding is available this year to support the captioning of course materials posted online. Any credit course can submit materials (audio, video, multimedia) to get free transcription or captioning. Contact Robert Erichsen by April 15 to sign up and for more information — he will be submitting requests so faculty don’t have to deal with the paperwork.
​

New Bookmarks

LTAs
A Low Threshold Application (LTA) is a teaching/learning application of information technology that is reliable, accessible, easy to learn, non-intimidating and (incrementally) inexpensive. They include how-tos for creating a gradebook in Excel, making animations for classes, using Respondus with Blackboard, using Google to search within a site, getting rid of red-eye in a photo, and many more. The TLT group collects these for easy reference at http://tltgroup.wordpress.com/low-threshold-applications/.

 

Faculty Focus: Teaching Professor Blog
This is an excellent blog to follow for the latest in online teaching: http://www.facultyfocus.com/topic/articles/teaching-professor-blog/. The current author is Dr. Maryellen Weimer, professor emeritus at Penn State Berks and one of the nation’s most highly regarded authorities on effective college teaching.​

Fall planning

POT is planning a several workshops during fall flex week, on Tuesday, August 16. Featured topics will include Jing, online resources for faculty, setting up your online class, a brown bag discussion and a drop-in lab. Mark your calendar!

Happy online (and hybrid and technology-enhanced) teaching,

Lisa

Lisa M Lane 29th March 2011

POT Newsletter #30 (February 2011)

Program for Online Teaching Newsletter #30

February 2011
http://www.miracosta.edu/onlineteaching

First Friday workshop is this Friday!

Every First Friday of the month features a simulearn session in OC 4607 / Elluminate online, followed by a face-to-face meet-up, also in 4607. Register for all at the flex site after January 25. See the POT website for links to Elluminate if you’re attending online.

Friday, March 4
1:30-2:20 Workshop: Strategies for Groups (with Claudia Faulk)
Simple strategies to maximize the potential in cooperative learning exercises that range from one class “period” to multi-week group projects. Use blackboard discussion board or google docs to track student progress.
2:45-3:35 f2f Face-To-Face Get-Together about Online Teaching: Connections (with Laura Paciorek)
This workshop is immediately after the first Friday workshop about group work in online classes.  The face-to-face setting may provide an opportunity to continue the discussion about group work or go into different interests that are brought up by the instructors in attendance.  Instructors who are new to online teaching can have a forum to ask questions or share thoughts. Instructors with more experience may have an opportunity to mentor faculty who are new to online teaching. Please bring a snack, questions, and ideas. Faculty will benefit from this workshop by learning tips to improve instruction. Students will potentially benefit as participants may be able to create new learning experiences for them based upon what is discussed in the workshop.
We are very happy to have Andrea Petri showcasing his course during the first part of the face-to-face section.  He  will be showing how he has created “almost a mirror/reinforcement of the textbook” for his class in his online course site.

Next First Friday Workshops
Friday, April 1
 1:30-2:20 Workshop: Google Forms (with Barbara McPherson)
2:45-3:35 f2f Face-To-Face Get-Together about Online Teaching: Experiences with Tools (with Laura Paciorek)

Friday, May 6
 1:30-2:20 Workshop: Redesigning Your Class (with Jim Sullivan)
2:45-3:35 f2f Face-To-Face Get-Together about Online Teaching: Online Class Design (with Laura Paciorek)

Tool news: free wikis from Wikispaces

Wikispaces now has free accounts for higher education use. Wikispaces is a great way to create a class wiki that includes images and other media, and the system handles student accounts easily. For more information, see http://www.wikispaces.com/.

Moodlers: new extended time testing

Karen Korstad has created a new student role that ignores the timing setting on exams, so you can use it to offer a test without a time limit to DSPS or other students who need it. For a video tutorial on how to set up a student for extended time in Moodle, see POT’s How-To page at http://mccpot.org/wp/?page_id=21.

Microsoft software available for home use

Under the Home Use Program, employees who are users of qualifying applications at work (e.g. Office Enterprise) may acquire a licensed copy of the corresponding Home Use Program software to install and use on a home computer. You may continue using HUP software while you are under our employment and as long as the corresponding software you use at work has active Software Assurance coverage.

To access the Microsoft Home Use Program Web site:
1. Go to http://hup.microsoft.com/
2. Select the country to which you want your order to be shipped to and choose the language for viewing the order Web site.
3. Enter your corporate e-mail address and insert the following program code . 70B1422719 .
Note: This program code is assigned to our organization for our sole use in accessing this site. You may not share this number with anyone outside our organization.
4. Place your order online, and it will be shipped to the location you have chosen. Please note that a fulfillment fee will be charged to cover packaging, shipping, and handling costs.

Recommended communities

EdTechTalk is a collaborative community that creates podcasts about educational technology for all levels of educators. Check out their website at http://edtechtalk.com/.

The Future of Education social network, hosted by Steve Hargadon, offers ongoing webinars in many topics of interest to educators. See http://www.futureofeducation.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network .

And, don’t forget MCC’s own online community at the POT website and the Pedagogy First! blog!

POT nominated for Excellence

POT was a nominee for MiraCosta’s Exemplary and Innovative Programs Award, and received an award of $500 to forward our professional development goals for MCC’s faculty.

Happy online, hybrid and edtech-enhanced teaching,

Lisa

Lisa M Lane 2nd February 2011

Online Blackboard Training Ready

We are pleased to announce that thanks to Karen Korstad, a full online training course in Blackboard 9 has been set up in Blackboard itself. Modules are self-guided and graded within the system. A printout can be made of scores to demonstrate satisfactory completion in a single module or in all modules within three areas: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced.

Lisa M Lane 18th January 2011

POT Newsletter #29 (January 2011)

Program for Online Teaching Newsletter #29

January 2011
http://www.miracosta.edu/onlineteaching

First Friday workshops start next week

Every First Friday of the month features a simul-learn session in OC 4607 / Elluminate online, followed by a face-to-face meet-up, also in 4607. Register for all at the flex site. See the POT website for links to Elluminate if you’re attending online.

Friday, February 4
1:30-2:20 Workshop: Blackboard Wiki vs. External Wikis (with Donna Marques)
2:45-3:35 f2f Face-To-Face Get-Together about Online Teaching: Stories and Support (with Laura Paciorek)

Friday, March 4
1:30-2:20 Workshop: Strategies for Groups (with Claudia Faulk)
2:45-3:35 f2f Face-To-Face Get-Together about Online Teaching: Connections (with Laura Paciorek)

Friday, April 1
1:30-2:20 Workshop: Google Forms (with Barbara McPherson)
2:45-3:35 f2f Face-To-Face Get-Together about Online Teaching: Experiences with Tools (with Laura Paciorek)

Friday, May 6
1:30-2:20 Workshop: Redesigning Your Class (with Jim Sullivan)
2:45-3:35 f2f Face-To-Face Get-Together about Online Teaching: Online Class Design (with Laura Paciorek)

New workshops next week: Teaching & Tools: Jing, Crocodoc, & Google Docs

Limited to five participants only, these TIC workshops will be led by Robert Kelley four times:

Workshop Description: “Come join us for an hour packed ‘hands on’ lab, where we will experience using Jing, Crocodoc, and Google Docs for online teaching.  With Jing, anything you have on your screen (e.g., class lecture, website, student work) you can record, narrate, and share with your students.  Crocodoc is excellent for peer review and instructor feedback of written work.  Google Docs enable students to collaborate on a written document or presentation.  We’ll focus on how to use these tools to improve instructor-student contact, class interaction and collaboration, instruction, and provide feedback.  Each workshop is limited to five participants and tailored to the needs/interests of the attendees.”

Wednesday (2/2) at 11am and 1pm
Thursday (2/3) at 9:30am and 11am
Register for one now at the flex site.

Updates

It is now even easier to find the resources you need at the POT website. Check out the Cool Tools page for ways to make your class activities more engaging for students.

In SURF, the word “Online” in your class listing now links to Distance Education page, where students can find information about their class. The default is just a list of your SLOs. Is that what you want, or do you have more to tell them? Change your information by going here.

Moodlers (and those using blogs, wikis, etc for your classes):
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to point your Bb9 course out to Moodle or elsewhere: http://is.gd/kuRQY

Open courses

Open online classes are becoming more popular, as faculty offer their materials and lectures for free (such as MIT, Berkeley and Harvard). Open courses are also offered by individual instructors, while others offer the materials and even participation (but no assessment or credits) to outside participants for traditional classes. This semester:

• Participate in a full course on Connectivism (CCK11) that started Jan 17 at http://cck11.mooc.ca/index.html
• Create cool multimedia for University of Mary Washington’s Digital Storytellling class (ds106), which started Jan 10 http://ds106.us/about/
• You can join Lisa’s Western Civilization history class by keeping up with readings, viewing recorded lectures, and participating in group discussion, at http://lisahistory.net/wphist104/

Beginners Workshop a big success

23 faculty, both full-time and associate, attended POT’s “Where the Hell Do I Start?” Beginners Workshop on January 20. You can see how it went by viewing our 4-minute movie at the POT website.

Join the community at the Pedagogy First! blog

This semester, participants earning a POT Online Teaching Certificate (Cohort #3) will be reading  Teaching Online: A Practical Guide (3rd edition) and a series of current articles, and blogging responses and critiques at the Pedagogy First! blog. Join us by reading along or commenting and contributing to the discussion.
The next cohort for the certificate begins next September.

Happy online (and on-site and hybrid and technology-enhanced) teaching!

Lisa

Lisa M Lane 2nd January 2011
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