ITSS Summer “Showcases”

Academic Technology Ideas for Teaching and Learning

Wednesdays and Fridays, August 2009

Summer Showcases are designed to introduce faculty members to technology tools supported by Instructional Technology Support Services. Format is presentation with some hands-on, and focus is pedagogical as well as technical. All showcases are facilitated by ITSS staff, and are recommended for beginners.

Location: Instructional Technology Support Services (ITSS) lab on the lower level of the University Library. Reservations are not necessary.

Monday, August 3    2:00 pm    Beachboard: Getting Started

Students increasingly ask their professors to provide some level of electronic access to their courses. Discover Beachboard, CSU Long Beach’s learning management system. This one-hour clinic is designed to introduce CSULB faculty and instructors to the basics of using Beachboard—from logging in to setting up your course syllabus.

Wednesday, August 5    11:00 a.m.    iClicker

With classroom “clickers,” students can instantly provide feedback and answer questions posed by instructors. This one-hour clinic teaches faculty and instructors about the basics of classroom response systems and how to use the CSULB standard system, iClicker.  Faculty and instructors will learn how to set up their iClicker systems, how to prepare students for participation, how to conduct polling, and how to analyze poll results.

Friday, August 7    2:00 p.m.    Elluminate

Elluminate is a real-time virtual classroom environment designed for both distance education and online collaboration. Instructors can use Elluminate to add real-time interaction to distance learning, extend the boundaries of the traditional classroom, and engage more students in more ways.

Wednesday, August 12    2:00 p.m.    Respondus

Respondus is a Windows-based tool that makes it easy to create exams for Beachboard. This one-hour clinic teaches faculty and instructors how to create assessments offline using a Windows interface and Respondus. Faculty and instructors will learn the basic steps of creating a quiz in MS Word and loading it into Beachboard via the Respondus tool.

Friday, August 14    11:00 a.m.     Wikispaces

Wikis are easy to use, encourage collaboration, and are customizable to your teaching style. This one-hour clinic introduces CSULB faculty and instructors to the basics of wiki technology and how to use CSULB Wikispaces. Faculty and instructors will learn how to create and edit pages in their course wikis and how to add text, pictures, and documents to meet their pedagogical needs.

Wednesday, August 19    11:00 a.m.    Turnitin

Originality checking can help students become better writers and researchers. This one-hour clinic teaches CSULB faculty and instructors the basics about online plagiarism detection and how to use Turnitin.com effectively and proactively. Faculty and instructors will learn how to create a new account; add assignments; teach students how to submit documents for review; and read detection reports.

Friday, August 21    2:00 p.m.    Second Life   CANCELLED / FURLOUGH DAY

Just what are some of the educational possibilities of virtual worlds? This one-hour clinic introduces faculty and instructors to Second Life, an online, 3-D virtual world that is gaining in popularity in the United States and abroad. Learn how to sign up for a free Second Life account, create an “avatar,” and start exploring the many ways educators are using SL to support teaching and learning in higher education.

Wednesday, August 26    2:00 p.m.     iTunes

iTunes U is an Apple program focused specifically on education and learning. This one-hour clinic introduces faculty and instructors to video and audio podcasting as both an instructional tool for professors and a learning tool for students. Overviews of recording and publishing your music, lectures, or other digital events will be covered.

Friday, August 28    11:00 a.m.    CPR (Calibrated Peer Review)

Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) is a free Web-based program that enables frequent writing assignments even in large classes with limited instructional resources. Writing assignments are graded by the students using a structured program. The process of peer review and evaluation teaches higher-order, critical thinking skills, acquaints students with their peers’ work and gives a sense of group responsibility and participation.