I realized on Saturday that I have been to all of the TLT Symposiums throughout the years, at least I think so. Over the years the program and the conference itself have both changed for the better each year. One of the main changes that I've noticed is the increased number of faculty that are coming from not only University Park campus, but other campuses as well. For many of us who have been with the University for a long time, it's a sort of homecoming. We get to see peers we haven't seen in a few years to catch up, make new connections and see how different areas in the University have changed. The feeling of community is just amazing to me. Smiles and hugs all around.
Michael Wesch's presentation was as informative as it was entertaining. I took a lot away from the talk he gave as far as what students expect and what students know and what as educators we expect them to know that they might or might not know. The project that he had his class work on together was fantastic. It goes to show how a sense of community can makes students feel and work to a higher level even with distractions. His talk was streamed and recorded. If you get a chance to watch it, it's worth the 45 minutes of you day.
The lunchtime faculty panel was very interesting. The four panel members discussed how they used various Web 2.0 technologies within their teaching. I think that any other faculty member that was in the audience would certainly benefit from hearing all of their advice.
I thought the program this year was very good. I image that selecting the sessions was a very difficult task this year. I've been on that committee in years past and it was difficult to evaluate one project over another because they are all worth hearing more about. It was difficult to select just one for each slot. I am hoping to catch some of the others that were recorded later.
I attended two sessions on Digital Story Telling (one by Kira Baker-Doye, a Berks faculty member and one by Ellysa Cahoy and Chris Millet) mainly because a few of the new modules that I am develop could benefit from it and because story telling interests me personally. Both sessions were interesting and packed with nuggets of information that will be valuable as I begin to develop modules on Ethics and Leadership.
Sam Richards session on large enrollment classes was entertaining and eye opening. Some of the statistics he shared were not at all what I suspected as far as what student think of large enrollment classes versus small enrollment classes. This session was recorded, if you get the change to watch it once it is posted, you should. Good stuff.
The last session that I attended was on eportfolios. It was a interesting story of how Gabriela Alpirez, the Humphrey Fellow, took an idea that she first used in a small high school and has developed it over the years to incorporate open source and government resources. It will be interesting to see how she is able to integrate the feature from her previous eportfolio systems into Moveable Type. She was very hopeful that MT will be able to do what she needs it to do. Maybe next year, she'll present again about the results.
Michael Wesch's presentation was as informative as it was entertaining. I took a lot away from the talk he gave as far as what students expect and what students know and what as educators we expect them to know that they might or might not know. The project that he had his class work on together was fantastic. It goes to show how a sense of community can makes students feel and work to a higher level even with distractions. His talk was streamed and recorded. If you get a chance to watch it, it's worth the 45 minutes of you day.
The lunchtime faculty panel was very interesting. The four panel members discussed how they used various Web 2.0 technologies within their teaching. I think that any other faculty member that was in the audience would certainly benefit from hearing all of their advice.
I thought the program this year was very good. I image that selecting the sessions was a very difficult task this year. I've been on that committee in years past and it was difficult to evaluate one project over another because they are all worth hearing more about. It was difficult to select just one for each slot. I am hoping to catch some of the others that were recorded later.
I attended two sessions on Digital Story Telling (one by Kira Baker-Doye, a Berks faculty member and one by Ellysa Cahoy and Chris Millet) mainly because a few of the new modules that I am develop could benefit from it and because story telling interests me personally. Both sessions were interesting and packed with nuggets of information that will be valuable as I begin to develop modules on Ethics and Leadership.
Sam Richards session on large enrollment classes was entertaining and eye opening. Some of the statistics he shared were not at all what I suspected as far as what student think of large enrollment classes versus small enrollment classes. This session was recorded, if you get the change to watch it once it is posted, you should. Good stuff.
The last session that I attended was on eportfolios. It was a interesting story of how Gabriela Alpirez, the Humphrey Fellow, took an idea that she first used in a small high school and has developed it over the years to incorporate open source and government resources. It will be interesting to see how she is able to integrate the feature from her previous eportfolio systems into Moveable Type. She was very hopeful that MT will be able to do what she needs it to do. Maybe next year, she'll present again about the results.
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