The CTE has announced a call for proposals for its iPad Pilot Project that will begin in the Fall 2012 semester. To learn more about the project please visit the following website:

http://www.vcu.edu/cte/programs/instructional_technology/I3/iPadPilot.html

The deadline for submission of proposals is 13 April 2012.

When educators can actually see the positive impact of their work on those with whom they engage, or begin to sense their down-stream influence through the actions others whom they've guided, it is time to celebrate. As I reflect on the Fall 2009 implementation of the CTE Digital Storytelling Program, I see immediate results from the 17 faculty members who participated. Through participation in this program, faculty developed the skills necessary to translate their personal stories from the familiar text format, into a multimedia digital story, and engage the audience on many levels. In addition to the production of their own stories, they started to contemplate the use of narrative and digital storytelling as powerful practice, which might be employed in their own instructional contexts. In fact, some of the participants immediately engaged their students in the process as a means to reflect on their own writing and address topics from a different perspective.

Upon completion of the first session of the Digital Storytelling Program, I sat with Dr. Terry Carter, School of Education and Jeff Nugnet, Co-Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence (who also helped develop the DST Program) to discuss our experiences in the program and how she and her students are now employing digital storytelling as a means of increased student engagement. This conversation was recorded on December 8, 2009 as a podcast titled CTE's Digital Storytelling Program.

I am pleased to announce that this year's CTE Digital Storytelling Program will begin on Friday, September 3, 2010 and run for 5 consecutive weeks. Applications are now being accepted and should be submitted no later than August 1, 2010. Participation will be limited to 8 faculty members, so please apply as soon as possible. To learn more about the program, see a list of past participants and/or get an application to participate, go to
http://www.vcu.edu/cte/programs/instructional_technology/DigitalStorytelling/

Contact: Bud Deihl
Center for Teaching Excellence
wdeihl@vcu.edu
804-828-4383

Two examples of faculty stories, which were produced during the Fall 2009 DST Program, may be seen at the links below.

A Teacher's Journey, by Terry Carter. This is a personal story of a teacher in higher education who learns from her learners.

Irregular, by Micol Hammack. This is a story about Teaching English as a Second Language in the 90's in a county jail in North Carolina.

Posted by Bud Deihl

The delivery of courses online is nearly as old as the web itself, but as with any innovation, some faculty members have been early adopters while others have watched the development with both interest and skepticism. As publishing and managing content on the web has become easier, and as the delivery of online courses has become increasingly more popular, more faculty members have begun exploring ways to offer their courses online.

There is a common perspective that moving a course online is primarily about designing and sequencing course content. While content is important, we also believe that recent changes on the web - toward a more social and interconnected space - have necessitated the rethinking of what it means to make the transition to online teaching and learning. The unprecedented access to information coupled with the ability by anyone to publish online are disrupting how one teaches and learns, raising questions in the minds of faculty as to whether their own practices should change.

The CTE has authored a white paper, Building from Content to Community: [Re]Thinking the Transition to Online Teaching and Learning, that is intended to serve as a resource for faculty who are teaching online or are considering making a transition. We hope this paper serves as the starting point for conversation, and invite you to share your ideas by leaving a comment.

The paper is linked here. White Paper Online VCU (May 2009).pdf

We look forward to continuing the conversation.

This episode of the CTE's Teaching and Learning podcast series features a conversation among VCU faculty members Jose Alcaine, Terry Carter, Jen Darragh, John Kneebone, Betsy Nance, Audrey Short and Ruth Westervelt, all of whom were participants in the 2008 Teaching and Learning with Technology Institute. During the discussion they reflect on their experiences using technology in their teaching over the past year, share their views about challenges and successes and offer insights about how their practice continues to evolve as they think about the impact of technology on learning.

The conversation will certainly be of interest to others who are thinking about the meaningful use of technology in education. The episode closes with some particularly relevant comments about why today's faculty members - now more than ever - should seek to enhance learning and engage students through the use of technology.

Show Notes
CTE Teaching and Learning with Technology Institute

You can listen to or download the episode below:

Download file

TeachTechReflect.mp3

During the course of this academic year, the members of the CTE's Using Technology to Enhance Teaching and Learning faculty learning community have been exploring the uses of social networking in a variety of educational contexts from advising, to recruitment, to course-based uses. In this podcast episode they discuss the use of Facebook in education. In the course of the discussion they examine opportunities, concerns and questions that have been part of their exploration and use of this ever popular social networking site.

This discussion begins to uncover the layered and nuanced issues related the educational use of social networking sites. Many questions remain about what might constitute appropriate and meaningful educational use of these spaces on the web. We hope this episode serves to invite you into the discussion.

As always, we are curious about your thoughts ideas and encourage you to leave comments. Hope you enjoy the show.

Show Notes
Thoughts on Facebook, by Tracy Mitrano.

You can listen to or download the episode below:

Download file

The New Media Consortium in collaboration with EDUCAUSE, recently released the 2009 Horizon Report. Now in its sixth consecutive year, the annual Horizon Report describes the continuing work of the NMC’s Horizon Project, a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have considerable impact on teaching, learning, and creative expression within higher education.

Each year, the Horizon Report describes six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on higher education within three adoption horizons over the next one to five years. You can download a copy of the 2009 report here.