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

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TeachTechReflect.mp3

Although much has been discussed and written about the educational use of blogs it remains a topic of interest. Many thoughtful educators continue to explore how writing blogs can be used to support learning, engage students with authentic audiences, and build community in the classroom. Complex pedagogical issues emerge when faculty and students invite dialogue in the blogosphere.

In this episode we explore the perspectives of VCU faculty members, Bonnie Orzolek and Liz Canfield, who have been integrating blogging into their Focused Inquiry courses for the past several years. During the conversation they discuss how blogging supports important learning outcomes in their courses, and also share key insights about how students grow as writers and thinkers in the process. We hope you'll participate in the conversation by sharing your comments.

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WritingInOpenSpaces.mp3

As students continue to use Facebook to connect and communicate in increasing numbers, it has also become common for faculty members to consider the use of this social networking site to facilitate interaction in educational contexts. One of the perennial questions that arises is whether faculty should accept Facebook "friend requests" from students.

In this episode, we are joined by VCU faculty members Mike Abelson, Melissa Johnson and Stephanie Rizzi who share their experiences with using Facebook and offer their perspectives on the pros and cons of "friending" students. In the course of the discussion they address some of the complexities of faculty members having online social identities, point out some uses that have supported some community building among their colleagues, and offer some meaningful advice to faculty who are new users or who are considering the use of Facebook.

We invite you to continue the conversation by sharing your comments.

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Facebook2Friend.mp3

In this podcast episode, Dr. Sara Wilson-McKay, Assistant Professor of Art Education at VCU, discusses the use of wikis to support teaching and learning in her courses. As the discussion unfolds, Dr. Wilson-McKay provides some wonderful insights about how wikis worked in her classroom, and how she was able to establish an inter-institutional collaboration with a colleague teaching a similar course at another University.

The conversation also addresses the ways in which notions of collaboration need to be re-examined as faculty and students work in wiki spaces on the web. While learned expectations for classroom interactions may result in some initial resistance, Dr. Wilson-McKay suggests that this gives way to more meaningful educational experiences for students as they begin to take on more responsibility for their learning and place increased value on what they are creating together.

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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.

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The participatory web has allowed groups with common interests to organize and collaborate in ways that were not possible just five years ago.

In this episode, Dr. Jonathon Becker, professor of Educational Leadership in the VCU School of Education, is joined by Jeff Nugent, Bud Deihl and Britt Watwood of the VCU Center for Teaching Excellence. Jon and Jeff share their perspectives surrounding their attendance at EduCon 2.1, a "conference" organized and run by teachers and students without a supporting national professional organization. Jon attended physically and presented, while Jeff attended from his home on a weekend via streaming video and social media. It provided a rich example of networked learning and formed the basis for subsequent discussion into the changing nature of professional development...and learning.

Show Notes
Links mentioned during the podcast:

EduCon 2.1 - Conference wiki

K12Online Conference - Conference website and links to presentations

Shirky, Clay (2008) - Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations

Malcolm Gladwell's TED Talk - What we can learn from spaghetti sauce

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As faculty continue to explore ways to take advantage of the learning opportunities afforded by the participatory web, they face new challenges about how to assess student learning in a context that values collaboration and shared knowledge building.

In this episode, Dr. Kathryn Murphy-Judy, professor of French in the VCU School of World Studies, is joined by Britt Watwood, Bud Deihl and Jeff Nugent of the VCU Center for Teaching Excellence. Together they discuss changes they have implemented in their classes using wikis, blogs and other forms of social media. While they acknowledge the learning potential of these new tools and practices, they also share their challenges in working with students in these spaces, and in assessing individual student learning in new collaborative contexts.

Show Notes
Links mentioned during the podcast:

Britt Watwood's blog - Learning in a Flat World

Tagg, J. (2007) - The Learning Paradigm College

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In this episode, Britt Watwood from the VCU Center for Teaching Excellence leads a panel discussion with Dr. Jon Becker and Dr. Terry Carter both from VCU's School of Education, about blogging as a form of scholarship. Each panelist shares their current use of blogs in education and addresses key questions about how blogging supports critically reflective practice, functions as a form of academic publishing and enables them to play a role as public intellectuals.

Show Notes
Links mentioned during the podcast:

Jon Becker's blog - Educational Insanity

Terry Carter's blog - Coming About

Britt Watwood's blog - Learning in a Flat World

Henry Jenkins - Why Academics Should Blog

Michelle Martin - Social Media Spiral

Open Notebook Science Project

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At the CTE, some of us have become enamored with the educational potential of some freely available software tools. We don't think we could live without some of them, like delicious for social bookmarking, Google Reader for aggregating RSS feeds and the blogs we read, twitter for quick communication and resource sharing.

We are constantly on the look out for technology tools that provide interesting potential for teaching and learning. There has been no shortage of these lately, but we wonder how the expected trend of "free" can be sustained. How do we encourage use of these tools among faculty members with whom we work when we remain uncertain about the long term viability and free-ness?

In this podcast episode we address issues related to the educational use of freely available software tools, and what happens when developers change course and begin to charge for something that was originally free.

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This workshop provides a summary of the theory and rationale for community-based learning pedagogy which includes: service-learning, experiential education and community projects. We explore how community service experiences can be integrated with course content, and how instructors and community partners work together to make this a mutually beneficial experience. Participants learn about the resources offered through VCU’s Division of Community Engagement.

Vanessa Diamond, MPA
Service-Learning Program Director
Division of Community Engagement

Helen Ruth Aspaas, Ph.D.
Service-Learning Faculty Scholar
Associate Professor, Wilder School

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Much of traditional undergraduate classroom instruction at the university level focuses on content coverage, with assessments linked to comprehension of the information presented. While this may be a necessary component of learning, it does not always take into consideration the knowledge learners bring to the classroom. What does assessment look like in a learning-centered classroom? What are the characteristics of learning-centered outcomes, and are they different from traditional course objectives? What instructional practices support outcomes that are learning-centered?

Listen to this podcast, recorded on 10 November 2006, as VCU Vice Provost of Instruction, Dr. Joe Marolla engages faculty and students is a discussion of these and other questions related to assessment in a learning-centered university.

You can download the file below and listen to it on your computer, or you can subscribe to the CTE's Teaching and Learning Podcast by pasting the following URL address into iTunes: http://blog.vcu.edu/cte/index.xml

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This podcast is the first episode in a series of open forums focusing on VCU's vision for becoming a learning-centered university. This recording from October 20, 2006 features Dr. Joe Marolla, Vice Provost of Instruction at VCU discussing the question "What is a learning-centered research university?"

A reading distributed to participants at the open forum, From Teaching to Learning: A New Paradigm for Undergraduate Education by Robert Barr and John Tagg, can be found here.

You can download the file below and listen to it on your computer, or you can subscribe to the CTE's Teaching and Learning Podcast by pasting the following URL address into iTunes: http://blog.vcu.edu/cte/index.xml

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