Notes & NewsNotes & NewsFeatured Staff Member

Jon ImmelComputer Art

At the CTLTJon assists withthe following:

• Consulting faculty• Blackboard issues• Web sites• Conducting and developing workshops for faculty

The Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology * 201 University Hall * 419-372-6898 * http://ctlt.bgsu.edu/

October, 2003 * Volume 4, Issue 2

This year, CTLT is sponsoring six faculty learning communities. These learning communities have brought together over 50 BGSU faculty for purposes of enhancing their learning experiences and the learning experiences of their students. By definition, Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) are cross disciplinary faculty groups who are engaged in programs with a curriculum about enhanc-ing teaching, research and learning and with frequent seminars and activities that provide learning, development and community building. Sharing information and projects is a staple in each learning community. There are two categories of faculty learn-ing communities: cohort-based and topic-based. This year CTLT sponsors one cohort-based FLC for first-year tenure track faculty. The purpose of this FLC is to support new faculty in their overall teaching efforts and to provide more specific support in the area of one selected course that the faculty member has chosen to modify for the next semester.

CTLT also sponsors 5 topic-based cross-disciplinary FLCs. They are the General Education FLC, the Information Literacy FLC, two Research/Teaching FLCs, and a Technology FLC. The Gen Ed FLC brings together faculty who seek to enhance the learning experiences of both themselves and their students in a selected General Education course. The Information Literacy FLC provides an opportunity for faculty to discuss ways in which information lit-eracy threads can be integrated into a specific course. Both of the Research/Teaching FLCs bring together faculty who are interested in getting support for the preparation and delivery of a manuscript that is ready for publica-tion. The research from these manuscript projects will be tied to the pedagogical efforts of each faculty member. Technology FLC members have chosen to integrate a particular kind of technology into their curriculum and to seek support from one another for the purposes of exploring new technologies that enhance student learning in specific disciplines.

The director of CTLT believes that these FLCs create an opportunity for the faculty to have a very positive im-pact on student learning at BGSU specifically because each member of the FLC consistently shares best teaching and research practices with each other. In addition, within their learning communities these faculty demonstrate

and share methods, activities, and informa-tion about ways in which student learning can be enhanced. Faculty from these learning communi-ties have the potential to enhance the learning of several thousand BGSU students during the up-coming academic year.

CTLT also sponsors one Graduate Learning Com-munity this year. More detail on this learning community will be pro-vided in the next CTLT newsletter.

Faculty Learning Communities

New Faculty Learning Community members gather for a meeting at CTLT

Transitioning from Blackboard 5.5 to Blackboard 6 Th Dec 11 10:00-11:00 W Dec 17 10:00-11:00 M Dec 22 10:00-11:00 Intro to Blackboard 6 T Oct 14 9:00-11:00 W Oct 22 9:00-11:00 M Nov 10 9:00-11:00 T Nov 25 9:00-11:00 M Dec 8 9:00-11:00 Blackboard Online Assessment W Oct 15 10:00-12:00 Th Oct 23 1:00-3:00

Using Online Communication Tools in Blackboard W Oct 29 9:00-11:00 Th Nov 13 9:00-11:00 Introduction to Videography W Oct 15 2:00-4:00 T Nov 18 1:30-3:30 IMovie W Nov 5 1:30-3:00 Tenure & Promotion Th Nov 20 11:30-1:00

DVD Burning M Oct 20 9:30-10:00 CD Development F Oct 17 3:30-4:00 M Oct 27 1:30-2:00 T Nov 4 10:00-10:30 Image Retouching/Manipulation T Oct 21 9:30-10:00 Creating a Digital Photo Album W Oct 22 2:30-3:00 CD Labeling W Oct 29 1:15-1:45 M Nov 17 9:30-10:00

Blackboard 6 is coming to BGSU

Published ByThe Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology

Join CTLT to learn about practical technology application in a short amount of time in one of our Mini Workshops.

All workshops will be held on site at 201 University Hall. Register for workshops online at: http://ctlt.bgsu.edu/workshops/registration.php or email a message to Kris Sautter at ksautte@bgnet.bgsu.edu

Upcoming Workshops

Mini Workshops

Batch Processing in Photoshop M Oct 13 3:30-4:00 F Nov 14 2:00-2:30 VR Worx T Oct 14 3:00-3:30 Th Nov 6 4:00-4:30 Intro to Digital Camera Th Oct 30 10:00-10:30 Scanning Text M Oct 20 3:30-4:00 Scanning Slides T Oct 28 2:30-3:00

BGSU will be upgrading to Blackboard 6 at the start of the winter/spring, 2004 semester. The Blackboard 6 environment is expected to be implemented on January 5, 2004.

In preparation for the upgrade, a testing environment has been prepared to allow faculty a first look at the Blackboard 6 course management system. A copy of the current MyBGSU system was migrated to the Bb 6 test server so that all instructors can see how courses and organizations look in the new environment.

The data on the testing server is current as of August 4, 2003. The courses on the test server will NOT be forwarded to the new system in January. This is a testing and development environment only and all data on this server will be deleted at the end of the Fall 2003 semester.

All faculty who are using Blackboard are highly encouraged to take a look at the Blackboard 6 test server to see how courses and organizations will appear when Blackboard 6 is implemented in January. In addition, Blackboard 6 seminars are now being offered. CTLT workshop schedules and registration information can be viewed on this newsletter and at: http://ctlt.bgsu.edu/workshops/list.php

To view your courses on the Blackboard 6 testing server:

Go to: http://bb6.bgsu.edu and click on the “Login to Blackboard 6” link. Enter your BGNet username and password on the next page. Your online courses will be located under the “Courses” tab.