Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Sloan-C Blended Learning Conference 2012 Virtual Attendee Experience

This was my first time attending a Sloan-C Conference as a virtual attendee, so I was interested in how I would be able to interact with the online interface and participate synchronously online. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to view live streamed sessions and participate seamlessly via Poll Everywhere polls from presenters as well as an in-room chat, Twitter and Facebook feeds. Overall, I enjoyed my online conference experience and appreciated the flexibility to participate right at my desktop.  I'm looking forward to my next online conference.

Session Take Aways:
  1. Blend Your Own Faculty Development Program Using Open Components from the Blended Learning Toolkit
    Speakers: Kevin Thompson & Linda Futch, Univ. of Central Florida
  2. Comparing Traditional and Blended Learning: Evidence From the ClassroomSpeakers: Geri Mason & Baine Craft, Seattle Pacific University
    • They captured both qualitative & quantitative data based upon Garrison & Vaughan's categories within their surveys.
    • Their Conclusion: Blended learning doesn't help (in regards to retention, but maybe facilitate more group cohesion), but it doesn't hurt (Univ. needs more classroom space, professor needs to take a sabbatical)
    • Confirmed that no new materials were developed for the blended course, which I personally viewed as a major item they should have addressed when transitioning to a blended environment and may have impacted their findings.
    • Noted that their course catalog didn't indicate "blended" as a designation and some students took that by surprise.
  3. K12 to Higher Education, Two Perspectives on Planning for the Digital Future
    Speakers: Kurt Kiefer, Stephen Sanders, Johannes Britz, Wisconsin Dept. of Ed & Univ. of Wisconsin
    • Planning process included focus groups and questionnaires. They mentioned investing in infrastructure and bandwidth as an important foundation.
    • Faculty development is key.
    • Digital content repository has also been a focus.
    • End goal is to save teachers time and money while providing a global education for students.
  4. Online and Blended Learning: Maximizing the Investment
    Speakers: Mary Niemiec & Laura Pederick, Univ. of Nebraska & Univ. of Wisconsin Milwaukee
    • Online programs are normally driven by a cost recovery model and income is used to fund resources (e.g. student support, instructional design, etc.)
    • Blended programs have less new $$. Therefore, there is a need to look at allocation of resources to support a blended model.
  5. Defining K-12 Blended Learning: The Roles of Leaders, Teachers, Students & Parents
    Speaker: Allison Powell, International Association of K-12 Online Learning
  6. Start Strong: Residential Support for New Students of Blended and Online Education
    Speaker: Joanne Dolan, Rasmussen College
    • Found many students apprehensive with online courses. Optional learning center/tutor program to support students with a goal of getting students off to a strong start (reduce anxiety).  
    • 30 minute session with experienced blended and online students; will start by asking students to log into their courses and assess their level and support needs.  Ensure students leave with something concrete and useful.
    • Improvements: brought advanced students (probed needs, e.g. APA formatting, reference pages) in and adapted program to focus on nursing students.  
  7. How to Successfully Evaluate Blended Learning
    Presenters: Chuk Dziuban & Patsy Moskal, University of Central Florida
  8. Designing an Inquiry-Based Approach to Blended Learning
    Presenter: Norm Vaughan, Mount Royal University, Canada



    • Dennis Littky, The 3R's of Engagement: 1) Relevance, 2) Rigour, 3) Relationships, http://bigpicture.org.
    • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Optimal Flow: the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.
    • Daniel Pink, 1) Autonomy, 2) Mastery, 3) Purpose.
    • Dimensions of engagement: social engagement, academic engagement, intellectual engagement

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