Thank you for your teaching-technology integration questions, keep them coming! This week we’re going to examine software, Respondus, that the university has licensed to make creating an exam in Blackboard a little easier. Creating a quiz or exam in Blackboard is time consuming. There are far too many steps and clicks that one must perform in order to successfully create and deploy the assessment. Respondus greatly reduces the time and effort involved. It’s even possible to publish an exam created in a word processor like Word to Blackboard. This makes it easier to use Blackboard to enhance the learning experience for students.

Most question types in Blackboard are automatically graded. This means you can construct a short quiz for students to take to check for understanding of your assigned readings before they come to class. Laurel Goodell of Princeton’s Geosciences department found that, once set up, the quizzes were easy to grade, easy to re-use and modify, and secure. The quizzes were counted as only a small part of the grade. To encourage learning, Goodell permitted students to print out the quizzes, correct them, and then resubmit them for a small adjustment of the grade.

The quizzes in her GEO206 quizzes employ many different question types, including multiple choice, true-false, fill-in-the-blank, and placing items in hierarchical order. Students are encouraged to have their pens and calculators at the ready. At the conclusion of the quiz, they receive immediate results and feedback. Goodell remarks that, as a result of the ongoing incentive to learn and stay current with the material, students are performing better on exams (citation ).

Please contact me if you are interested in learning more about Respondus or if you would like to try it out.

Now for another topic. We have been asked a question that we would like your input on. We will report anonymously unless you give your permission to use your name. We have been asked “Could you give us some help on web pages? After a number of years with them I am still confused.” In order to better assist this faculty member we have a couple of questions. What do you use to create and publish web pages? Do you use a template? Please share any tips for managing faculty web pages on the Arapaho server so we can assist.

Coming up next week… wikis

This semester the Center for Teaching and Learning will launch the "Tech Tip of the Week". I encourage you to email Rick Shelton, Kip Finnegan or myself with a question you may have concerning educational technology at NSU. We will pick at least one question per week and post a quick answer or How To. We will post your question anonymously unless we're given permission to use your name. If the answer is beyond our scope we will post the question and ask readers to weigh in. We will also post the Tips for archival or discussion purposes on the NSU Teaching and Learning community website, http://ctl.nsuok.edu/drupal. This week we've received many questions dealing with how to set up new course sites in Blackboard.

If you are ready to create a new course for this semester, you can use the Course Wizard posted in the NSU Blackboard Support course site in Blackboard. NSU Blackboard Course Creator. This feature searches in Osage/Excells to find your courses, and creates the shell(s) for you quickly and easily. Once the shell is created, the student roster is loaded for you. Plus, now as students continue to enroll in the course, each night the student roster for your course is updated.

The NSU Blackboard Support course site is full of tips, tricks and answers to some common questions, most of which have been posted by Will Gillen. Thanks Will! Step by step directions for every Blackboard function and tool are also posted at http://ctl.nsuok.edu/blackboard.

The LMS Subcommittee has sent to the Distance Learning Committee the following recommendation.

It is our pleasure to report to the NSU community the recommendation of the Learning Management Subcommittee of the Distance Learning Committee. In an email vote, of a voting period that lasted from 4pm April 29 to 5pm April 30 a quorum of votes from the eighteen members of the LMS Subcommittee made the following recommendation:

Blackboard
First 15
Second 0
Third 0

ANGEL
First 0
Second 8
Third 3

Desire2Learn
First 0
Second 4
Third 8

Four members abstained from voting.

Respectfully,
Dr. Diane Boze
Mr. James "Jym" Brittain
Dr. Richard Castillo
Dr. Kimberly Cottrell
Dr. Steven Dunker
Mr. Kip Finnegan
Ms. Barbara Fuller
Mr. Michael Gibbons
Mr. Will Gillen
Ms. Peggy Kaney
Dr. Tim McElroy
Mr. Tom Messner
Ms. Allie Ogle (NSGA)
Dr. Kathleen Reese
Ms. Elizabeth Reeve
Dr. Erik Terdal
Dr. Joyce Van Nostrand
Dr. Joan E Williams

A topic that came up during the Open Houses was the issue of transparency. Documentation and notes regarding the Blackboard upgrade/replacement process have been published at
http://ctl.nsuok.edu/drupal/?q=blog/38
We hope this satisfies the request to be more open about the process of how the Blackboard replacement or upgrade will be selected.Please send any comments regarding this page to brittaij@nsuok.edu

This video will describe how to create an audio podcast using Microsoft Movie Maker

It is advisable to record your podcast from a script. Use Microsoft word to type up what you want to say. This will lead to a more professional sounding recording. Additionally, the Word file can be copied and pasted into the podcast to ensure hearing impaired students have access to the content.

First, make sure you have a microphone either built in or plugged into your computer.

Next, launch Movie Maker. This application is found on all windows computers running XP or Vista. Click on the start button , then the programs button. Windows Movie Maker should be listed.

Once the application is launched click on Tools and then Narrate Timeline…Say a few words into your microphone to make sure the input level does not bounce into the red or stay too low. Move the slider up or down to keep the level mid-range.

Click on the start narration button to begin recording. Read your script. Click Stop Narration when you are through.

Name the file something descriptive and save it in a location you can later find.

This ends this tutorial.

Video of the presentations at the ODLA meeting have been published online. Topics range from "Enhancing your Course with Web Video" to "What Can Podcasting Do For Students". My presentation, "Crystal Ball Gazing: What's Beyond Web 2.0" is also included. Videos can be freely accessed at http://www.veoh.com/channelVideos.html?c=ODLA2007

Join the Inaugural Faculty 12:30 Book Club as we discuss Angelo & Cross’ Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. This revised and greatly expanded edition offers teachers at all levels of experience detailed, how-to advice on classroom assessment—from what it is and how it works to planning, implementing, and analyzing assessment projects. The authors illustrate their approach through twelve case studies that detail the real-life classroom experiences of teachers carrying out successful classroom assessment projects. The book selected is provided free of charge to those teaching faculty who make a commitment to participate during the spring. All sessions will be held in NET 621, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m and B226 in Broken Arrow.

The remaining sessions are February 14, February 28, March 13 and March 27th.

You are invited to participate in the 2008 Oklahoma Higher Education Teaching and Learning Conference. The conference will take place April 10 and 11, 2008 on the beautiful Tahlequah campus of Northeastern State University. Join faculty-scholars who will discuss teaching and learning topics ranging from using technology to cooperative learning. Opportunities to meet and talk to the presenters are provided throughout the conference. Join us as we celebrate innovative educators from Oklahoma Higher Education institutions.

Our theme this year is Teaching 360°. This theme is broad enough to cover topics such as:
• Where does learning take place? - Service Learning, Distance Learning, Mobile Learning, and Classroom Based Learning
• How do we know learning has taken place? - Instructional Design, Effective Teaching and Assessment
• How do we improve teaching? - Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Professional Development and Issues impacting the professoriate

We are proud to announce our Plenary Speakers for the 2008 conference:
Dr. Ken Bain, Vice Provost for Instruction, Professor of History, Director of the Teaching and Learning Resource Center at Montclair State University and author of the groundbreaking book "What the Best College Teachers Do" will be a featured speaker at the 2008 Oklahoma Higher Education Teaching and Learning Conference.

Dr. Barbara Millis, Director of the University of Nevada - Reno Excellence in Teaching Program, will present a plenary session titled Using Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) to Promote Student Learning

New This Year!
• Expanded Format
We are expanding the conference from a single day event to two days. This will allow for more meaningful sessions, additional highlighted speakers, poster sessions, more networking time and educational excursions.
• Graduate Student Poster Sessions
Graduate Students enrolled in higher education institutions in Oklahoma are encouraged to present research in the any of our conference theme areas in the form of poster sessions.
• Pre-conference Workshops
We have arranged for the use of classrooms and computer labs for presenters to give 60 minute, 90 minute, or three hour workshops to conference attendees before the conference kicks off. Workshop descriptions and titles will be published in early January.
• Educational excursions for conference participants.
You have the opportunity to attend a theatrical production titled The Souls of Our Feet: A Celebration of American Tap Dance after conference activities wind down on April 10.

Additionally, we have arranged a special tour of the Cherokee Heritage Center to experience the history and culture of the Cherokee. This excursion is on April 11th after the closure of the conference. There is a modest additional fee to participate.

Register early to ensure your opportunity to participate in these activities. Visit http://www.teachingconference.org for more information.

In this article from thejournal.com education technology and the skills modern educators should possess are explored.

"During the last 15 years, we in education have moved at light speed in the area of educational technology. Whether you are involved in higher ed, secondary ed, elementary ed, or special ed, all of us find it difficult to catch up, keep up, and put up with fast-moving computer-based technology. Not since the introduction of the blackboard have we seen a piece of equipment make such a difference in how we teach."