Frustrated while using a new tool like Second Life? Join us as we take a humorous look, seeing how others have survived their first days with dignity and good humor intact! Share your insights while having fun. Everyone is welcome!

Web 2.0 is taking a 100 year-old organization to the next level. Learn how we are using innovative technology to connect more than 35,000 members worldwide. Traditional methods used to share ideas and connect with one another were too costly and time consuming. Now members have the ability to collaborate and share information in real time, using tools such as instant messaging, discussion forums, and blogs.

The QM process will be reviewed including the 8-standard QM rubric used to provide the faculty member feedback on course design. Dr. Patti, associate professor at California University of Pennsylvania, had six of her online courses in Educational Leadership reviewed and approved for QM recognition. Both Dr. Kallis, Professor at California University of PA, and Dr. Patti have been trained as peer reviewers in the QM process.

Two groups of freshman students learning English as a foreign language participated in the study. Before instruction, pretest results showed no significant differences between both groups in their English proficiency level. Then both groups received the same traditional in-class instruction that depended on the textbook only.

Online teaching raises a different perspective on communication and the positive aspects of emotional labor. It defies any concept of being impersonal and “distant” from the student. Online teaching is a “ministry,” if the faculty understand the emotions, the pathos, and the anxieties, both personal and professional, of his or her students.

According to Warner (1996), “for nearly one hundred years Hawaiian has been a severely repressed minority language in its homeland” (p. 1). With less than 1,000 native speakers left, it was up to the Hawaiian community to perpetuate the language. The Hawaiian Language Immersion Program (HLIP) was established in 1987 by a grassroots effort of parents and Hawaiian Language advocates. Students in grades K-12 are taught the Hawaii Content & Performance Standards through the medium of the Hawaiian Language

This article traces the main five phases needed in order to integrate a social network successfully in an online graduate classroom: familiarization, utilization, integration, reorientation, and evolution. Social networks support students to be involved with an online classroom’s activities that enhance the sense of community and help them to have better achievements because of the regular interaction.

Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) has been in the education industry for more than 18 years. It is well known for quality course delivery. However, IIT has only been using face to face course delivery. This paper discusses the change management procedures that have taken place in the institute to deliver courses innovatively with the use of e-learning.

The overall focus of this paper is an examination of the concept of community and how it can facilitate a community of practice through the use of a computer mediated discussion tool called a listserv. This paper will discuss communities of practice that develop within a working or social environment and more specifically how listserv technology can facilitate the exchange of knowledge within a community.

Health care will continue to experience significant growth because of an aging population and longer life expectancies; therefore, demand for doctors and health care workers will equally increase to keep up with current population growth rates. Educators need to teach the next generation of doctors and health care workers, effective web-based communication practices for the sharing of ideas and knowledge in order to meet the challenges by such growth.

The concept of wellness must be acknowledged, developed and infused in all areas of an online community in order to provide students, faculty, and staff with information and suggestions for maintaining healthy, well balanced lives, thus encouraging better student and faculty participation and retention.

iTunes U is an easily accessible and widely available tool for broadcasting video and audio to targeted audiences. This presentation will demonstrate the use of iTunes U as a powerful platform for sharing student work in the form of video presentations and critical commentary.

This presentation reviews the many stress factors that both faculty and students face while working in the online environment: stressful conditions including caring for family or friends who are stricken with Alzheimer’s Disease, autism and/or other physically and mentally challenging handicaps.

Virtual worlds can enable graduate students to move beyond traditional face-to-face learning activities to more immersive virtual learning environments. Applications based on an interactive technology offer the potential for students to substantively increase their knowledge, participate in immediate problem solving applications, and interact in a learning environment that involves peer review as well as synchronous instructor feedback.

This presentation highlights the work of two universities’ work with Second Life: The M3 Project at the University of Southampton in the UK focused on international students coming to the UK to study; The Chinese Tea House project at the University of Melboune focused on students who would be going to study in China.

Ready to teach with Second Life, but not sure how to begin? Using it already, but need to migrate your course content for virtual world delivery? Come prepared to have fun as we explore how to design learning activities for use in Second Life. Tips on how to streamline your virtual world classes and help your students learn how to use Second Life are featured in this session.

Topics for this session cover: the inclusion of Web 2.0 features for learner access in various countries; the purchase of options related to course fees and the purchasing of texts, and, the challenge of how to navigate the use of such services within challenging geo-political boundaries.

Among the Web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, social networks, etc.) wikis are apparently suitable for collaborative writing tasks to construct knowledge with others and increase students’ writing motivation and proficiency in EFL settings. The features of wikis allow users to post contents, edit pages, discuss contents, and view the history of the revised activities on wiki pages.

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the use of Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) theory when studying information literacy in nursing. Understanding information literacy through a DoI theoretical lens helps bridge the gap between research and practice in a high-tech industry that is becoming increasingly reliant on credible Internet resources for dissemination of research and information.

The presenters will briefly review the literature in Web 2.0 use in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). A growing body of research by English as a Second and Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teachers and teacher educators demonstrates that rich cross-cultural, computer-mediated learning environments employing Web 2.0 tools are transforming language learning and professional development practices around the US and the world.

The addition of new interactive tools such as live classroom and audio discussions through the online delivery platforms allows participants to interact verbally and visually. This session will discuss the use of the live classroom and audio discussions technologies from a student perspective. Students’ feedback from three online sections in regards to their experience of using those technologies will be discussed.

This review explores: a) what knowledge is and where authority rests, b) the relationship of reacculturative conversation facilitated by knowledge communities, c) the role of transition communities, and d) the critical criteria of “language.” The focus here, therefore, is theory over practice because Bruffee (1999) makes repeatedly clear a non-foundational understanding of knowledge building leads to distributed authority which is imperative to implementing sophisticated levels of collaborative engagement.

The Punahou Summer Technology Lab School is an ongoing program with the goal of providing opportunities for all teachers to explore the use of technology in the classroom and expand one’s understanding of frameworks in instructional technology. In the summer of 2008, the Lab School embarked on a change to its traditional classroom-only format by creating a learning community using the popular social networking tool, Ning.

This session will share ideas of how to create a culture of learning in an online class at the university level so that it will impact the vision and use of technology at the K-12 level. Regardless of age, individuals learn differently. Creating an online learning environment that utilizes differentiated strategies to meet the needs of a diverse student population will be addressed.

A facilitated roundtable discussion of the continued expanded usage of text messaging. Today’s students represent a mobile society with a vast network of friends and services online. While students may access an LMS platform for course materials, a growing number are requesting usage of text messaging for submitting questions, discussions, and even papers.

This paper deals with a new paradigm of learning which takes account of reticular relationships among people and considers knowledge as a fluid running through ties within a global network. In particular it seeks to evidence the relationship between informal learning dynamics, which can be observed in virtual contexts, and Web social software that people use everyday.

This paper provides practical guidance for linking tests to learning objectives and associated rubrics. These methods were developed in the context of developing course level assessments and associated training for an online university

This session will demonstrate the use and abuse of using video and audio in online environments. It will address the pedagogy and strategies for implementing various video elements. Portions of this program will use full-screen live streaming video.

Increasingly, faculty are taking the initiative in evaluating, choosing, and even supporting software for online teaching and learning. Due to the availablity of 30-day free trials (Dreamweaver, Camtasia, etc.) and the emergence of an almost unlimited supply of free or very low-cost web-based applications (YouTube, Wordpress, PB Wiki, etc.) for enhancing the standard features of course management systems, the online classroom is evolving rapidly with minimal cost to institutions.

The changes in technology over the past years have resulted in more tools available. The more complex the software, systems, and the upgrades, the more I look for creative projects to assign. I aim to guide graduate students into experiences that will enhance their learning and will suggest ideas for how they can use similar projects in their own teaching

This ongoing, small-scale, mixed methodology study seeks to examine the Online Faculty Learning Community (OFLC) model of professional development and how effectively it works in a fully online environment with mainly adjunct instructors (approximately 97%).

This forum will demonstrate the use of a Google docs spreadsheet to incorporate all the data collected by my 100-level introductory biology students. I use this format to involve students in the data entry, data presentation, and validity checking process of science. Participants in this forum will be encouraged to share their ideas on how they currently are or might incorporate Google docs into their teaching repertoires.

Second Life has been a popular topic in TCC in the past few years. Virtual reality is something more and more students are making an active part of their lives. To fully reach our students and tap into the technological skills they have developed through their previous technological experiences, educators need to seek ways they can use the virtual world to make our students’ learning experiences ones they can use to their fullest potential.

Anonymity provides a sense of safety and cover for both the online student and the instructor. It also generates a feeling of belonging that comes from being evaluated solely on the basis of one’s work since cultural beliefs, sex, race, religion, sexual preference, economic class, age, and physical ability are not easily “read” and responded/reacted to.

Blended learning is increasing in popularity in institutions around the world, but what about the workplace learning sector? This workshop will detail a blended learning program that has been running in some New Zealand workplaces for five years, discuss the intersections between workplace and blended learning theories, and provide ample opportunities for participants to discuss their own experiences and formulate new ideas.

Online learning is growing throughout the education and work worlds. Many differences exist between online instruction and face-to-face instruction, including delivery, participation, instructional methods, assessment and communication.

Distance learning provides a unique challenge for educators within fields that require competency in the performance of specific skills, such as those required of a healthcare professional. This presentation will discuss the challenges and benefits of incorporating hands-on experiences and explore the process of establishing such a program.

While the potential for educational organizations planning for educational activities in virtual environments is being recognized, less emphasis has been placed on the potential for these environments for self-directed and/or informal learning. Work that is currently being done in the creation of an environmental and conceptual landscape for informal learning will be explored in this presentation.

Participants will explore a Second Life build aimed at helping new Second Life users learn how to communicate. The environment is modeled loosely on a Victorian pleasure garden, applying principles of environmental psychology, constructivism and transformative learning.

This presentation will be an overview of the different methods in the planning, producing, publishing and promoting of hybrid podcasts with instructions on the building of a 508 compliant podcast. This workshop will provide participants with new concepts and augment their skills to current guidelines on the accessibility of emerging technologies. Method of delivery will be a hybrid podcast via the web with interaction via discussion forum.

We have built an online dental hygiene degree completion program from the ground up in the last two years. This program is extremely interactive – it relies heavily on student-student collaboration and interaction as well as extensive involvement of one or more instructors per course.

This forum will demonstrate and discuss two examples of scenario-based learning (SBL) in an online environment.

Working with writers online promises to be egalitarian, democratic, and collaborative, but it is not necessarily so. This presentation will examine the ways that technology can potentially disempower students and how tutor training and careful writing center practice can keep technology in its place as a vehicle for meeting our pedagogical goals rather than as a determiner of practice.

Librarians have been exploring and experimenting with the use of Web 2.0 tools including social networking tools such as Facebook, blogs, wikis, and virtual worlds to reach patrons, for professional development and to network with other professionals in the field. This session will explore some of the innovative uses of social networks by librarians with special attention to librarians and professional networking on the virtual world Second Life.

Two academic measurements of program success used in university settings have been the scholarship of the faculty and the scholar of the students. Faculty scholarship is defined as published research, participation in workshops, facilitating conferences and representation in media archival (newsprint, radio or television) opportunities. Scholarship is any peer-reviewed activity or effort in which faculty participate that furthers the body of knowledge in a given industry.

Distance education provides many non-traditional students with the opportunity to pursue a college education not possible through traditional brick and mortar education. Although not meeting face-to-face, a solid developmental curriculum and academic resources help promote a stronger connection between the classroom and student community. This presentation will discuss strategies for motivating and retaining online students.

This discussion will revolve around the use of a wiki as a course management tool, GoogleDocs as a replacement for uploaded documents, and Skype as a tool for creating instructor immediacy. All are easily integrated to provide learners with an environment that readily meets their learning needs. The three tools have been used successfully by the presenter in a variety of online and blended courses.

Recent research (Johnson 2006) has shown that the kind of critical thinking used when playing video games is the same kind of thinking which college instructors seek to encourage. An effective freshman composition course could be set up using video game strategies: finding and gathering materials to build a magic object, developing techniques to avoid “bosses” and other obstacles, solving puzzles to move from level to level, etc., with the final goal of the “game” being a college-level essay.

Many schools are implementing online instructor evaluation mechanisms (peer or administrative evaluation). Depending upon the school and design of the distance education division, online instructor evaluation seems to vary between two extremes – adherence to policy or adherence to best practices. Attendees of this session will be encouraged to share their lessons learned with online instructor evaluation.

This paper presents some insight into the author’s experience in teaching and assessing students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Teaching online is more complex than many faculty think. The mentality of taking an on-campus course and simply putting the same materials online is a technique that doesn’t work.

This session addresses the benefits of online libraries through the use of an embedded librarian. The embedded librarian is a part of an online course to assist students with their library needs and to help faculty answer questions related to library services and resources.

In this session, we will share a collaborative wiki created by a self-organized, self-managed group of online graduate students. We will discuss our observations and recommendations for using wikis as a collaborative learning tool.

This session presents a three-phase model for online advisement. In an online environment, it is essential to build and sustain learning communities. Collaboration among faculty advisers, students, and mentors from the field are necessary in developing these communities. The online advisement model provides a three-phase approach to advisement.

This presentation will discuss how we train students and faculty in the use of Smarthinking online tutoring services at the Bryant & Stratton College Cleveland Downtown Campus Library. The presentation will address the problems we have encountered with students’ trying to access this online resource.

This is a workshop/tour of how we planned and developed content, resources, and lesson plans for an ICS 100 (Computing Literacy and Applications) course collaboratively mediated to four sections by two instructors.

This is an analysis of online MBA student persistence and performance as it relates to gender. This sample of convenience consists of 150 students taking various sections of an introductory course for management students. In an effort to sample a population from which some generalizable conclusions could be drawn, these data were gathered from spring, summer and fall sections of the same course at the same university.

One way to promote faculty retention is to connect them to those they have the most in common with, giving them a sense of belonging and an opportunity to contribute. This General Session will demonstrate the need and value of an online faculty community and offer suggestions and tips for create one.

This game was first tested over the Internet with online classes and replicated in a face-to-face classroom. The extensive field testing has shown that the Judge Jimmy game is an excellent tool for educators to use when teaching critical thinking and writing skills. Participants in the forum will tour the online game, view students performing in a sample “mock trial,” and end with an opportunity to ask questions.

This panel will draw connections between pedagogical theory and teamwork in the workplace; panel members will specifically explore the complicated notion of presence in virtual collaboration from a variety of perspectives.

Selecting and implementing a new Learning Management System (LMS) can be an overwhelming process. The decisions made during this process can impact the health and happiness of the learning organization as well as the future of the online learning offerings and success of the students.

As distance programs grow and online learning flourishes, a variety of learners are attracted to the prospect of this educational approach. This workshop presentation will discuss the emerging issues for institutions that include the ability to support and work within a diverse and multigenerational group of learners in the classroom.

Paradise Valley Community College librarians, in collaboration with two English division faculty members, developed a pilot (ILab) for an integrated curriculum model that systematically combines face to face instruction, technology and assessment. This is a unique blended learning model that allows students to connect with library faculty over multiple sessions as well as interact with content both in class and online.

The mission-driven League for Innovation and the National Repository of Online Courses have partnered to bring new and innovative tools and multimedia resources to community colleges. The presentation will focus on the online resources this partnership provides to administrators, faculty, staff, and students.

This workshop will explore Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and how the use of an online learning system can help to meet these varied learning styles in a single class. Student engagement, new pedagogies and new ways of approaching old pedagogies and assessments will all be explored as situations that can benefit from the use of a learning management system.

Far too often, students aspiring to be web professionals leave school with a degree but without adequate training to prepare them for the real world. The Web Standards Project (WaSP) announces a living curriculum to help schools, colleges and universities bridge the gap between educators and industry best practices.

This presentation uses principles of Taoism to emphasize the role of the facilitator. The presentation also shows how these principles complement the following adult education theories: constructivism, andragogy, cognitive economy, and asynchronous learning.

For successful existence in a paperless world it would be convenient for students to keep all their submissions in a locally accessible environment with round-the-clock. The EdD Program at Walden University has implemented the e-portfolio for student use. The portfolio, called “foliotek,” exists as a stand alone platform where users can access their information from any computer by logging into the web site.