Rap Your Message!
Posted by: Nancy Kiplinger in Just for Fun, Try it! on November 18th, 2009
Two YouTube video clips show that learning complex content can be fun. Watch the videos by clicking on the links below. Can you see yourself teaching like this?
Webinars at the SOG: The Numbers
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Did you Know?, Distance Learning, Tools on October 2nd, 2009
Webinars are a major new way we’ve been frugal while providing real value to our clients where and when they need it. SOG’s use of the webinars as a means of reaching out to clients has increased in recent months.
Here are some unofficial numbers as of October 1, 2009:
- 24 webinars conducted
- 5 webinars still scheduled for this fall
- At least 2,599* webinar attendees
- At least 1,105** webinar archive viewings
These figures include the EFC’s webinar use. These days EFC runs about one webinar a month. You can view their webinar schedule here.
Our webinars have overwhelmingly gone off well, but things don’t always go smoothly. Being (mentally and logistically) prepared for technical problems (lost connections, frozen slides, audio difficulties) is important, and TLS can offer tips to help ensure a smoother recovery. We are fortunate in that clients are very forgiving and consistently rate our webinars very highly
You can view some examples below. Recognize the faces or voices? Want to know more? Contact Joel Galbraith AND go talk to your pioneering, trail-blazing, webinaring colleagues about their experience.
Notes:
*The real count is actually much higher, but numbers are difficult to pin down from server data alone since multiple registered clients often attend together around a single computer…but log in as a single user.
**Statistics for webinar archive views are also challenging to interpret, but we clearly distinguish an *additional* 1,105 archive viewings (688 in the Karl Smith Economy Webinar alone)
These numbers do *NOT* include Online Learning Modules (i.e. Indigent Defense Lectures, LME board training, Involuntary Commitment, Judicial College modules)
New Poster Theme: Frugality in Teaching and Learning
Posted by: Nancy Kiplinger in Best Practice, Instructional Design, Teaching on August 13th, 2009
How does the concept of frugality apply to teaching and learning?
For me, it is about being economical while being effective–that is:
- using sound instructional practices that have been empirically proven to produce learning,
- focusing on the knowledge and skills learners need to do their jobs and protecting learners from cognitive overload, and
- producing instruction and instructional materials that are engaging.
Likely there’s not much in the previous sentence that instructors would disagree with, yet many continue to rely on unproven concepts (or misconcepts) when designing instruction. For example, many instructors waste time and effort because they believe they must consider and design for multiple learning styles. Others try to fit the notion of a learning pyramid (learners remember 10% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they do, etc., etc.) with the way they develop and deliver instruction. Still others adhere to the belief that we learn best from formal instruction.
Persuasive arguments are made against these and other learning myths in Parts 1 and 2 of an article by Wallace Hannum of this university entitled Training Myths: False Beliefs That Limit the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Training Solutions. Part 1 has been available for several months in the TLS literature racks in the 3rd-floor break room or next to the mailboxes on the 4th floor. Part 2 was published in July, and you can find copies of it and Part 1 in the literature racks. While you’re there, please notice the latest TLS poster on the theme of frugality and let us know what you think.
I encourage you to read both short parts of this article and then weigh in with your thoughts. Or, drop by for a friendly debate or a conversation about really works since mythical concepts don’t.
Adding a PDF to your blog post
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in How To, Try it! on August 3rd, 2009
Due to popular demand, I’ve created a short “how to” movie on adding PDF (or other documents) to your SOG blog post.
Let us know if there are other topics on which you’d like similar tutorials.
-Joel G.
Multi-use Computer Training Room (1300). Now Open for Business.
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in How To, SOG, Teaching, Try it! on July 30th, 2009
A couple weeks ago, construction was completed on the new multi-use, computer classroom in 1300, funded by the Knapp Foundation. The 20-computer, 30-seat room is now ready and can be scheduled in CollegeNet. The room has already accommodated multiple successful inaugural training sessions. It has been thrilling to see people in the room anxiously engaged in learning new skills where just months ago the space served as a large, concrete storage closet–packed with the building’s odd and ends and surplus furniture–but no longer!
ITD hosted two Outlook training sessions which were well-attended, and useful to those in attendance. If you missed those, links to the edited archives will be available shortly. In addition Dale Roenigk has also conducted a couple Microsoft Excel trainings in the room.
I’m attaching excerpts of James Balfour’s original detailed room description below:
The room is equipped with a fixed podium, computer, VCR/DVD player, document camera, and a connection for a laptop. A wall panel allows easy control of which device is sent to the projector. The room also has dimmable fluorescent lights controlled with a wall panel near the podium. Three round tables are also available at the rear of the room.
The classroom supports software training for 20 students (i.e. Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Blogs, Turning Point etc.). As part of your conference, you may also bring in outside instructors to train clients on software and applications relevant to their jobs. The space can also be used as a normal lecture space, but note that the desk arrangement is fixed.
We would like to thank Sean Downing for all of his work coordinating contractors and ensuring the project was completed as quickly and accurately as possible. We would also like to thank Kelly Medlin for her behind-the-scenes work coordinating and tracking expenditures on this Knapp Foundation project.
Online Learning Communities: Time To Get Wet?
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Govt. 2.0, Local Government, Tools on June 12th, 2009
Within a couple months of my hiring and having gained a better appreciation of what the SOG is all about, it became clear to me that something was missing–online Communities of Practice (CoP). We were the great conveners–regularly bringing communities of practice together face-to-face to learn from us and from one another, and then they all went home…until we did it again. I know this doesn’t capture the ongoing phone and email support we provide our clients, nor the collective toe we’ve stuck in the water, or knee-depth wading we’ve done with our listservs. Some have even waded in quite deep with their wikis and blogs, but in my view, we’ve not yet realized the potential synergies of bridging the experience and expertise of our clients with that of our own in-house experts.
Last year we submitted a grant proposal (unsuccessful) to lay the technical foundation for a NC Land Use Planners Community of Practice–an open forum for government practitioners to learn from each other as well as providing a common platform to engage with School of Government faculty and resources. More than a portal where people come to find resources, a CoP is place where all can contribute resources, and at many different levels. More than a blog, with a single or few authors, a CoP can be “authored” by all subscribers. More than a wiki, A CoP is equally focused on the community and contributers as it is the content they contribute. I think this quote captures much of my thinking on CoP:
“People are the best conduits of information. Studies have shown that workers spend a third of their time looking for information and are five times more likely to turn to a coworker rather than an explicit source of information (book, manual, or database). Time is saved by conferring with members of a CoP. People have tacit knowledge which is not found in a book [or blog, webpage or wiki]. ” (Dalkir 2005).
Such a community space would allow our client groups to: Read the rest of this entry »
Visuals and Dumping the Drone
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Distance Learning, Instructional Design, Presentations on May 29th, 2009
With the Online Modules pilot group, we’ve been discussing ways to make our presentations less wordy, and more visual. I was impressed with this slideshow on dumping the drone form our presentations, and the way it used so few words—yet it’s still easy to follow even without the audio (narration) or script!
It’s geared toward online corporate presentations, but it’s relevant to the elearning modules that a number of faculty in the school are currently developing. There are also some great nuggets in there for any of our presentations. Take a look.
Understanding SOG Webinars
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Best Practice, Distance Learning, Tools, Try it! on May 5th, 2009
We’ve written a couple posts now on webinars at SOG (here and here), but today’s event wins the prize. For those unable to attend today’s webinar, you missed out! I hope you will take the time to watch the archive. It is well-worth a lunch time viewing…but not as good as the live event!
The goals of the webinar were to:
- give all attendees a first-hand look at what SOG webinars look–and act–like
- demonstrate a range of activities available in an SOG webinar (hint: you can do more than PowerPoint)
- Help you see ways a webinar might be useful to your courses, conferences and programs.
While viewing the archive, you’ll hear from numerous SOG colleagues: Donna Warner, Jen Lobenhofer, Joel Galbraith, Nancy Kiplinger, Shadi Eskaf, Cindy Lee. You’ll also hear and read responses to a number of questions from your peers.
The webinar covers: using PowerPoints, playing videos, using multiple presenters, using remote presenters, conducting audience polls (ala TurningPoint and clickers), online group discussions, question moderating, shared web browsing, annotation, session breaks, and much more 
Webinar archive link: http://breeze.unc.edu/p25529382/
Thank you to all those that helped with *and* participated in the event. What did YOU think of it? Did you gain any new insights? What challenges/benefits do you foresee? Please share your comments with us below!
-TLS team
Faculty Spotlight: IDE Online Presentations
Posted by: Greg Whisenhunt in Distance Learning, Faculty Spotlight, How To, Instructional Design, Just for Fun, Presentations, Tools on April 27th, 2009
Indigent Defense Education
- Faculty: John Rubin, Whitney Fairbanks, and Alyson Grine
- Program Manager: Meredith Murray
- Events: Indigent Defense Education
- Type: Narrated PowerPoint: recorded during live presentation
- Tools: PowerPoint, Adobe Presenter, lavalier microphone
- Date: Fall 2008-ongoing
- Clients: Indigent Defense
- Link (view sample):Involuntary Commitment Process
Objective:
Make Indigent Defense training available for clients unable to attend live sessions.
Webinars: Currently More Than One Flavor Served
Posted by: Joel Galbraith in Did you Know?, Distance Learning on April 24th, 2009
Elsewhere in this blog, I’ve discussed webinars generally in the context of being one of the distance learning options we support at the SOG, but I’ve not adequately described them in terms of ice-cream flavors. We’ve now created a few of these interactive events with great success and positive feedback from delighted clients. More recently, a new webinar flavor has emerged from the kitchen for trials–with a third intriguing, likely-to-please flavor still in the works. Note that all SOG webinar flavors are inherently interactive, and at a minimum, allow our clients to ask questions during the event.
Vanilla (an enduring favorite)
- Presenter(s) present with slides and audio (video) from an SOG computer to clients around the State seated at their computers.
- Jen Lobenhofer, Donna Warner, Gail Wilkins and Karl Smith might be cornered for their thoughts on this flavor.
Rocky Road (aptly named for it’s increased complexity, but likely to gaining a steady following)
- The distinguishing ingredient of a Rocky Road webinar is that it simultaneously addresses both a live, face-to-face audience and an online remote audience. This webinar flavor is also known as a “Simulcast” event.
- Janet Mason and Jessica O’Sullivan have enjoyed a generous serving of this flavor and should be consulted for recommendations. Meredith Murray and John Rubin have submitted an order and are already feeling the rocky road part–but looking forward to the tasty payoff.
Goo Goo cluster (it’s all about the goo and clusters–but it’s still in the kitchen labs)
- Goo Goo cluster is a webinar flavor that clusters clients together around single computers (connected to projectors) at select sites around the state to enjoy the online event with each other rather than individually at their own computers. The networking (goo) running throughout this flavor, helps clients stay regionally connected, and also allows for group learning activities.
- Eileen Youens is our chief flavorologist on this one, but don’t bug her yet, this one’s not yet on the menu.
Join us May 5th for a lunchtime, brownbag, *virtual* webinar smorgasborg — an online webinar experience that will tickle your taste buds and have you lining up for more. TLS and other SOG colleagues will cover the why, who, when, where, whats of webinars, and showcase a variety of activities that can be included in webinars. (details to follow in the coming week)
-Joel G.
