Ocotillo Learning Objects

A New School Year

lyoung — 2006-08-14T07:53:30-08:00

Hi All!
It is a new school year and although the Resuable Learning Object (RLO) Action Group has served its duty in bringing awareness and use of RLOs to the District, I will still blog interesting information regarding RLOs that I find. Although my postings will not be regularly posted, I hope you will check out the blog when you have a chance.

RWLO Library Has Many New Additions

lyoung — 2006-06-20T07:17:34-08:00

I have addressed Real World Learning Objects (RWLOs) in previous blog entries; however I wanted to let you all know that manynew RWLOs have been submitted to this library/repository. I encourage you to review them at http://www.ciese.org/pathways/rwlo

RWLOs differ from RLOs in that they use unique and compelling web resources that cannot be done any other way. Additionally, all RWLOs consist of eight components including course competencies that the RWLO addresses, assessment, student and instructor procedures, etc.

For more information on RWLOs, read on...

RLO of the Month: April

lyoung — 2006-04-05T06:54:37-08:00

This month's RLO is Anatomy Revealed and is provided by the Medical College of Ohio. I found this RLO in the Apple Learning Interchange.

I was intrigued by this particular RLO because I have been working with some faculty on the development of some RLO's dealing with sectional anatomy and I thought that this may be helpful for other anatomy classes.

Greetings from Innovations: Day 3

lyoung — 2006-03-21T13:09:59-08:00

The sun is finally shining in Atlanta. I had an opportunity to attend a number of sessions today, including:

* What is an A? Training Adjunct Faculty Using Grading Rubrics
* Keynote panel moderated by Mason Bishop, Department of Labor
* Ten Ways to Improve Your Online Course
* Teaching Practices That Work in the Online Classroom

Read on to hear about these sessions.

Greetings from the League for Innovation � Part 1

lyoung — 2006-03-19T17:56:40-08:00

Greetings from the League for Innovation � Part 1

Today was the first day of the League for Innovation conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

I attended a session titled, Designing Learning Objects for the iPod and More by TechSmith, the makers of Camtasia ad SnagIt.

I also attended the keynote presentation, by Dr. Belle Wheelan, the executive director of the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges.

Repository of the Month: March

lyoung — 2006-03-19T07:00:33-08:00

March's Repository of the Month is Apple Learning Interchange .

The Apple Learning Interchange is a repository of RLOs designed for higher education. When you enter the repository, you are able to view a quicktime movie that provides an overview of the repository.

Each RLO has a quicktime movie that highlights the features of the RLO.

Greetings from NACCTEP

lyoung — 2006-03-18T18:46:02-08:00

Hi. I am attending the National Association of Community College Technical Education Programs (NACCTEP) conference "Jazzing Up Teacher Education Programs in the Community College" here in Atlanta, Georgia.

I attended a number of sessions today:
* The Savvy Cyber Professor
* Virtual Interest Groups: Enhancing Advisement and Transfer
* Keynote: Dr. Belle Wheelan
* See Me, Hear Me: Producing Professional Quality Video Presentatios for Online Instuction
* Jazz Up Your Lessons with Active Learning Strategies

Please read on for a summary of each of the sessions.

My next posting will be detailing the League for Innovation conference sessions, also in Atlanta...

BbWorld '06 Presentations Now Available

lyoung — 2006-03-14T20:58:50-08:00

As promised, Blackboard made their client presentations available.
They have been uploaded to Blackboard Connections (http://connections.blackboard.com). Sessions are categorized as they were in the BbWorld program.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

The Wisc-Online Store

lyoung — 2006-03-14T20:49:11-08:00

As educators, we are always thrilled to find resources available to us that we can use for instruction and the Internet has been a great source of reusable learning objects (RLO). One comment that I hear a lot is can I download the RLO so that I can continue to use it if the site is no longer available. This generally leads to a conversation about copyright, record keeping and a myriad of other discussions. Wisc-online, a popular RLO repository has found a way to surpass this issue with the Wisc-Online Store.

Bb World '06: Part 2

lyoung — 2006-03-08T15:28:03-08:00

The BbWorld �06 was one of the best conferences that I have attended. I think that the major factor that made this so, was the keynote speaker, Malcolm Gladwell. I have never attended a conference where the keynote was so aligned with what the attendees are experiencing. It was clear that he took the time to research Blackboard and what you�re their clients� needs are. What amazed me the most was how his message regarding The Tipping Point and how technologies are adopted permeated through every session that I attended, whether they were technical or pedagogical, every single presentation related to what he had to say. Some presenters even changed their already prepared slides to address these new insights that they were newly aware of.

The sessions that I attended were excellent. I was quite impressed with the moderators of the panel discussion. They had a great ability to truly hear what the panel was saying and keep the momentum among the panel members. Those sessions were so enjoyable.

I have addressed the first day�s presentations in an earlier blog, following are some highlights of the later sessions that I attended.

RLO of the Month: March

lyoung — 2006-03-02T11:36:22-08:00

As you may have read, I have been searching for the Pachyderm. To that end, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at a RLO created using Pachyderm.

Educate. Innovate. Everywhere. Blackboard World '06

lyoung — 2006-02-28T16:42:03-08:00

Hi from rainy San Diego. After 132 days without rain in Arizona, it is a welcome site. I am in San Diego with a number of my colleagues from GateWay Community College, Scottsdale Community College, Estrella Mountain Community College and the District Office to attend the Blackboard World �06 conference.

The conference is organized into two tracks � the Academic and K-12 track and the Commerce Track. I plan to spend most of my time at the Academic Track.

Today I will be attending the following sessions:
� Holistic Approaches for New Releases: Training, Implementation and Support
� Keynote Session: Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Blink!
� Project Management for Creating Rich, Interactive Online Courses
� Facilitating Challenging Situations with Blackboard�s Discussion Board
� Keynote Session: Blackboard Academic Suite Roadmap

Read further to learn about what I discovered in these sessions.

Pachyderm is within my view

lyoung — 2006-02-18T14:44:31-08:00

I am getting closer to working with Pachyderm.

I now have a username and a password and I found that the NMC has provided a template workbooks so we can plan our learning objects effectively.

Researching the Pachyderm

lyoung — 2006-02-15T19:46:03-08:00

When I dive into a project, I like to learn as much about it as possible before I begin. I do this whenever I travel or try something new. So, as my loved ones back East dealt with a blizzard, I sat in the 80 degree Arizona sun and read as much as I could about Pachyderm.

RLO of the Month: February

lyoung — 2006-02-13T07:52:44-08:00

February's RLO of the month is The Particle Adventure, created by the Particle Group of Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory.

This RLO is supported by the US Department of Energy and the NSF, and has been translated into 14 languages. It has won many awards, including those from Discovery Channel School, Science Magazine, Scientific American and many more.