Learning Outcomes

I am so enjoying working in academia! The environment of inquiry, learning, growth and development has always inspired me to not only think more about what I do to support the learning of others, but how I support my own learning. I love the AAMU CETL belief that "teaching is a form of learning."

In a discussion yesterday, I was asked, "What makes a teacher MOST successful?" And I have enjoyed pondering that question. I have it boiled down to two options:

1) A teacher who is able to impart all of the facts and information to all of their students and every single one of them is able to memorize, retain and reflect that information and those facts when tested. (But then again, is that skill as critical now with online repositories of facts at our fingertips 24/7?)

OR ...

2) A teacher whose students ask him or her questions that s/he cannot answer.

Which would you rather be?

YouTube for Teachers!

What do you think of YouTube for Teachers? Alabama A&M University will soon have an official presence on both YouTube and i-Tunes U. Are there other video-sharing sites we should consider?

Why IT Matters to Higher Education

A compelling set of articles! Why IT Matters to Higher Education

Tips & Tricks for the Online Classroom

These are EXCELLENT tips and tricks for teaching in an online classroom! I'm not going to give any away, just go LOOK! I hope to hear more tips and tricks from our team of e-learning course developers at our mini-conference next week!

Webdocs Multimedia Tool

I haven't used this yet, but the idea of Webdocs is very compelling! A simple way for instructors (AND students!) to compile text, video, audio into a multimedia document for the Web! This link is to the review of the online software, and from there you can link to the Web site itself. Sounds very promising!

Facebook Group for e-Bulldogs!

I have created a Facebook page for the e-learning community at Alabama A&M University! Please know that you can "LIKE" the page without having to "friend" me, although I welcome all friend requests at Facebook.com/elearnista. Since this page is public and we needn't be "friends," you won't have to sacrifice your Facebook privacy in order to follow our conversations. You will be able to read OUR page, but we will NOT be able to read your profile until and unless we become Facebook friends!

Please consider joining the conversation! We hope to add a "group" for discussions as soon as the Facebook e-Bulldogs community has grown a bit. You can also find the page by simply typing in: http://facebook.com/ebulldogs if you have trouble finding it! Please join us! And tell your friends!

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

The Office of Distance Education and e-Learning in The Centers for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Alabama A&M University is hosting a full day mini-conference entitled "An Intro to e-Learning: A Faculty Perspective" with keynote speaker Dr. David Currie. Dr. Currie is the assistant director of e-Learning and director of Digital Media Services at East Tennessee State University. A faculty member in the Department of Public Health when the Internet went public, Dr. Currie embraced the new technologies as opportunities to both expand the reach of higher education as well as enhance the pedagogical quality of curriculum design for maximum effectiveness with a wider diversity of learners. It was in his Faculty Technology Leadership course that I first learned of Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, which provides the curricular infrastructure for all online courses. He will be discussing Bloom's Digital Taxonomy and the Seven Principles of Instructional Design in more depth at the mini-conference. AAMU faculty should watch for a registration email within coming days!

The event will take place at the Drake Learning Resource Center and will run from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 30. We hope to see you there!