Brock University COED 2008 Update

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1 Triumphs in 2007-08
2 Challenges in 2007-08
3 What else is new?
- 3.1 Educational Technology
- 3.2 Workshops
  - 3.2.1 Instructor Workshops
  - 3.2.2 TA Workshops
4 References

[edit] Triumphs in 2007-08

Senate and VPA accountability for LMS decision
Success in liaison advisory groups (BRAG, ETAG, TC)
Learning Commons is now open. Increased distributed learning opportunities.
Instructional Skills Workshops still a signature program for faculty and teaching assistant training, so far Brock has:
- 12 Facilitators to lead ISWs
- 94 Faculty (11 external) completed 3-day ISW
- 93 Graduate Teaching Assistants completed 3-day ISW
- Brock is taking the lead on the first professional development retreat for ISW facilitators in Ontario
3M, TVO Award nominations

[edit] Challenges in 2007-08

Maximizing teaching and learning opportunities in the Learning Commons.
LMS transitions
Online policy (gee whiz, policies in general!)
Evaluation of Teaching
Environmental Awareness
Outreach; Preaching to the converted

[edit] What else is new?

[edit] Educational Technology

[edit] Kumu wiki

Instructors can now request wiki spaces in the Brock University Teaching Wiki.
Teaching & Learning Guide moves online

[edit] Goodbye Blackboard, Hello Sakai

^[1] Thanks to the decision of the office of the Vice-President Academic to move to an open source Sakai-based Learning Management System (LMS), Brock University has an opportunity to build a new LMS.

This proposed new system will be based on the community-based LMS: Sakai (Wikipedia article). Brock's new Sakai-based system will be built upon a cluster (Wikipedia article) that will have all the features of a strong system that is redundant, reliable, scalable, and with sufficient capacity.

The spring of 2008 marked the beginning of a phased transition to Brock using exclusively a Sakai-based LMS for the 2009 academic year. As of July 31st 2009 WebCT will no longer be available at Brock. An implementation plan has been drafted to assure this transition can be accomplished without incidents and discontinuities.

A contest to name the new Sakai-based is currently being held. The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Educational Technologies (CTLET) and others are already beginning the process of documenting Sakai and training faculty.

Matt Clare, from the CTLET presented a summary of the Sakai pilot in poster format in Paris, France this past July 2008.

<xfeeds>http://ctlet.brocku.ca/events/taxonomy/term/15/0/feed</xfeeds>

[edit] iTunesU

The CTLET has recently taken the lead in implementing iTunes U at Brock University. Through Brock's iTunes U presence, podcasts can be distributed publicly and semi-privately to authenticated members of the Brock University. This tool provides the necessary storage and bandwidth for large scale distribution of video and audio content as well as an interface to allow instructors, staff, and maybe students to distribute content directly without having to go through any form of gate-keeping.

http://kumu.brocku.ca/itunesu/Main_Page