Schedule

Any online course is an easy A

Karen Herland

This discussion board observation sums up the all-too-frequent assumption of many students who sign up for online learning. This session will explore the possibilities and pitfalls of engaging students who will likely remain a list of names that appear on class lists, in your inbox, on discussion boards, and, in my case, along the left margin of my weekly virtual classroom. We’ll discuss tips, tricks and traps based on my first experience teaching to/with a computer screen.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Offer tips and strategies for preparing an online course.
2. Identify the pros and cons of online education in a virtual classroom.

My experience building an award-winning online course

Jordan Le Bel

In this session, I will share tips and ideas based on my experience co-developing (with Harold Simpkins) Marketing Yourself (Comm299M) introduced in 2004 and recipient, in 2005, of the award for Excellence and Innovation in Instructional Design by the Canadian Association for Distance Education.

Chat-Skype-Tweet

Sorel Friedman

The title of my session is “Chat-Skype-Tweet”, and in it, I will be describing various ways in which I have used these social networking and communication tools in English language and culture classes. These tools have not necessarily been designed for pedagogical uses, but they are flexible enough to be incorporated in university classes. These communication tools help to break the boundaries of the traditional classroom, by expanding both the time and the space of learning, as students react to course materials and subject in an immediate fashion.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Think outside the box when it comes to social networking in the classroom;
2. Extend learning both in time and in space beyond the classroom walls;
3. Share experiences and experiments (both those that have been successful and those that haven’t).

Moodle 2.3 Information Session

Reham Mahdi

Moodle is a course management system that provides a web-based interface for posting materials to supplement courses and foster collaboration, activities, and critical reflection.

Concordia University will be upgrading the current Moodle system from 1.9 to 2.3 on May 1st, 2013. This upgraded system will provide with new features such as drag and drop, access to private files, activity chooser, file picker and many more.

Be among the first to know about these new features in Moodle 2.3! And learn how these features will affect your teaching.

e-learning, hybrid learning, new learning

Alan Shepard

Concordia President Alan Shepard will talk about the impact and potential e-learning and blended learning for Canada’s universities and Concordia. Shepard shares conference organizers’ goal of bringing together faculty, students and staff at e.SCAPE to explore how we can make the 21^st century university experience at Concordia better with new technologies and approaches that broaden our thinking, teaching and learning.

Online, Hybrid & Present: The Future of Learning

Moderator: Arshad Ahmad
Panelists: John P. Anchan, Patrick Blessinger, Saul Carliner, Rob Cassidy, Denise Stockley

TED, The Khan Academy and now MOOCs are said to usher significant change in teaching and learning. If content was flipped, what might a typical class look like? Will hybrids accelerate learning? What lessons can we realize from e-learning in workplaces outside the academy? Cutting-edge technologies might create classrooms without borders, but are they really going to change the nature of our work? Are faculty and administration looking at different headlines? These are some of the questions that will be addressed by an eclectic group of panelists who promise to engage you with diverse and thought provoking ideas. Join the conversation!

Applications of simulations and games in e-learning for international relations

Julian Schofield

I will cover the theory and demonstrate the application of simulations in courses POLI 298H Balance of Power and POLI 216 Introduction to the United Nations, as well as broader issues of management and resource application in the running of e-learning courses.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Theory of Games and Simulations
2. Course Management Issues
3. Resource Management

Online Education – Changes and Challenges

Paul Shrivastava

Based on personal experiences of developing online courses, designing learning management systems, and teaching online, this presentation focuses on the challenges of leveraging eLearning technologies to create online learning communities (OLC). Online learning communities refers to groups of motivated learners engaged in technology mediated, interactive, multi-media, self-paced, self-directed learning. Moving from traditional class room based learning to such OLCs is fraught with many technological, social, institutional, and pedagogical challenges. I will selectively highlight a few of these challenges to provoke discussion about how we can deal with them. Sorry, I don't have the answers.

Learning objectives for the session

1. understand what are "online learning communities" and how they are different from a classroom community
2. understand challenges posed by CONSTANTLY evolving elearning technologies
3. understand challenges to elearning posed by INSTITUTIONAL norms, rules, practices

Moodle as a blended learning toolbox

Madoka Gray-Mitsumune

You know that Moodle is a great way to distribute course materials to students. Perhaps, you use Moodle for assignment submission and grading? But did you know that you can set up different types of online quizzes? Have you used Moodle forum for purposes other than message distribution? Have you dare to try out other Moodle activities? This session will explore Moodle as learning and interaction toolbox to facilitate students’ learning outside of classroom and enrich classroom experiences by showcasing how it is used in Biology courses. Participants are encouraged to share their own experiences about Moodle activities.

Learning objectives for the session

By the end of this session, the attendees will be able to evaluate several Moodle activities, including online quizzes and forums, to adapt to their courses.

Improve PowerPoint by trashing the bullet points

David Price

How do you convert a wall of text into a PowerPoint slide that supports conversation in a classroom? How do you escape the role of someone reading endless bullet points off slides, and become someone who prompts discussion about deeper concepts? The "assertion-evidence" style of PowerPoint slide design focuses on arguments, images, and metaphors. This interactive presentation will guide you through recognizing issues with traditional slides and creating new "assertion-evidence" style slides. The presentation includes before-and-after samples from the Accounting and Management departments at Concordia.

Learning objectives for the session

By the end of the session, the participants will be able to

1. Recognize the weaknesses of traditional PowerPoint.
2. Contrast traditional PowerPoint to "assertion-evidence" style.
3. Transform a traditional slide in an "assertion-evidence" slide.

Online Teaching – Best Practices: Making it Personal, Making it Real

Robert Soroka

Given an increased demand for online courses, coupled with courses trending toward skills development, instructors face a paradigmatic shift in the manner in which content is delivered. On the other side, students may enjoy the notion of taking a course in the privacy and comfort of their own home, but once the course begins motivation and expectations are challenged. In this session we will look at the various ways to engage the student and effectively evaluate progress within online courses. Among other things, we will discuss narrated lectures, video guests, discussion boards, blogging, examinations, final projects, and interactive live sessions.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Become familiar with various online methods to deliver content
2. Recognize the unique challenges to motivating the online student
3. Determine the optimal way to evaluate your online students

The unexpected journey from a 60 minute lecture to a MOOC: a librarian’s mid-way report

Olivier Charbonneau

Information Literacy can be understood as the curriculum Librarians must curate without a classroom. Traditionally, this has meant organising library services as well as in-class lectures to advise students on research skills and strategies. But two factors have moved me to explore a new approach. Firstly, the Internet and open education offer incredible opportunities to disseminate knowledge and collaborate with colleagues worldwide. Secondly, as one of the Business Librarians working closely with the John Molson School of Business, my community is broad and their needs are as deep as their passion for their field. In order to meet this challenge, I’ve implemented a series of training videos in order to test a new curriculum deployment strategy.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Determine the resource implications of designing a MOOC, in terms of effort (time), technology and skill
2. Evaluate the relevance of the MOOC model for one’s teaching

E-teaching: My Experiences

Bhuvan Pant

The presentation will concentrate on my experiences in developing and providing the on-line course entitled ”Chemistry in Our Lives” for the past nine years. The 3-credit course is designed for non-science students. The presentation will discuss various aspects of the course such as:

• Course material and format development
• Course structure
• Communication
• Evaluation
• Enrollment
• Drop-out rates
• Roadblocks
• Comparison with in-class version of the course
• Future

Adobe Presentation – Session 1 - The Connected Classroom

Jim Babbage

An interactive overview of Adobe Connect, demonstrating how Connect can be used to engage and enrich the learning experience of distance learners. You will see how to create a room and set it up to maximize the experience and how to add break out rooms (for group work), files, including PowerPoint for presenting and other files for sharing. Session attendees with the free Connect app on their devices will be able to enter the room and see things from the student’s perspective.

Five Ways to Adjust Teaching from the Face-to-Face to Virtual Classroom

Saul Carliner

What is the Live Virtual Classroom and how do instructors need to adjust their practices to teach and present with it? For those unfamiliar with it, the Live Virtual Classroom--also called webinars--are virtual spaces where instructors and students meet at an assigned time on a regular basis. So they have many similarities to face-to-face classes. But the meeting occurs online, so instructors need to adjust their practices to actively engage participants in the session. This session provides five practical guidelines for doing so.

This session will be held online and requires advance registration.

To register, send a note to Emilie Martel by noon, Wednesday, April 3.
Instructions for connecting to the online session will be send the evening before this presentation.

Using Moodle 2.3 in a learner-centered classroom

Walcir Cardoso

The goals of this presentation are twofold: (1) It will introduce some of the changes implemented in Moodle 2.3, particularly those related to social media such as wikis, blogs, forums and chats; and (2) it will demonstrate how one of these Moodle-based media, wikis, can be used in a constructivist, learner-centred learning environment. Due to their editing abilities, cooperative nature, ease of use, and shareability, wikis are ideal tools for the implementation of a blended (online/face-to-face) environment that is responsive, collaborative, problem-centered, and democratic in which both students and the instructor decide how, what, and when learning occurs.

Learning objectives for the session

Participants will learn: (1) about some of the changes implemented in Moodle 2.3, particularly involving social media such as wikis, blogs, forums and chats; and (2) how Moodle wikis can be combined with classroom (face-to-face) activities to promote a learner-centred learning environment

From the flipped classrooms to MOOCs: Making sense of the new digital models of teaching and learning.

Claude Martel

During the last decade, we have seen a worldwide acceleration in the use of digital and distance education solutions. These have gone from fairly peripheral to mainstream solutions during that period.

New concepts like multiversities, international training hubs, global accreditation programs and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are appearing and taking full advantage of the possibilities that digital technology offers. Some like the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) have millions of online students in accredited programs.

In this presentation we will look at the different emerging models of online education and how they may affect the way we perceive education.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Identify some of the reason behind the recent acceleration of the use of digital and distance education solutions.
2. Identify some of the new models used in these ventures.
3. Identify some of the potential benefits and challenges these new models bring on.

Using Technology to Enhance eLearning

Penelope A. Ellison

This session will describe the unique challenges facing the professor, her teaching assistants and students when a university credit course is offered on-line. It will then describe how to meet these challenges through appropriate course design and the use of technology to facilitate student learning, improve student/professor communication and accommodate large group assessments.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Understanding the particular challenges of eLearning.
2. Using technology to enhance student learning.
3. Using technology to enhance professor/student communication.
4. Using technology to facilitate assessments.

Teaching as Community Management: Engaging Learners through Online Discussions

Alex Enkerli

As we’re moving away from the Industrial-Era classroom, new models for learning are emerging. From the “flipped classroom” to MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), technology and pedagogy are intersecting in potentially interesting ways.

This session focuses an approach to teaching which benefits from online interactions. By playing the role of a community manager, a teacher can use forums and other simple tools to broaden learning experiences and, hopefully, enhance learner engagement.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Imagine opportunities for transforming a class into a community.
2. Conceive of pedagogical implications behind online discussions.
3. Create appropriate expectations as to the use of technology in teaching.

Grounded Designs for Preparing Students for Work in the 21^st Century

Atsusi Hirumi

With little time and training, faculty have little recourse but to rely on past practices. As a result, online courses frequently employ teacher-directed methods and materials, concentrating on the transmission of information, rather than the cycle of knowledge acquisition, critical evaluation and knowledge validation that is vital to higher-order thinking. For the keynote, Dr. Atsusi “2c” Hirumi will posit a framework for grounding the design of online and hybrid coursework, and the use of emerging technologies on learner-centered instructional strategies. He will contrast alternative strategies, illustrate the application of InterPLAY, and discuss conditions necessary for fostering creativity and the development of innovative, student-centered e-learning environments.

Objectives

Participants will:

• Distinguish behavioral, cognitive information processing, cognitive constructivist, and neurobiological explanations of human learning;
• compare and contrast teacher-directed and learner-centered instructional strategies;
• recognize the value of grounding key design decisions and the integration of emerging technologies on learning research and theory;
• see how story, game and play may be applied to advance experiential learning; and
• discuss tactics and conditions for fostering creativity and the development of innovative, student-centered e-learning environments.

An Online Information Literacy Course for Undergraduates: Some Lessons Learned

Anne Wade, Joanne H. Locke, Patrick Devey

This presentation will discuss the conversion of a longstanding popular course that is designed to teach information literacy skills to undergraduate students and that has been taught for the last twenty years in a face-to-face format. Both the face-to-face and the recently designed online course address the recommended learning outcomes put forward by the Association of College and Research Libraries (2000), including the effective articulation of a relevant researchable question, the ability to access the needed information effectively and efficiently, the critical evaluation of sources, the integration of selected, pertinent information into one’s knowledge base, and the utilization of this new understanding to accomplish a specific purpose. The lessons learned following the completion of three sessions of the online version are discussed.

Learning objectives for the session

1. What are some successful design principles for eLearning?
2. What are some challenges when scaling up enrolment in an online course?
3. How can we effectively teach information literacy skills within an online environment?

Adobe Presentation – Session 2 - Digital Publishing and Digital Literacy

Jim Babbage

Digital Literacy is no longer a “nice-to-have” in the workforce. It’s an expectation of employers that their workers are comfortable and proficient using technology in their day-to-day work. This session will showcase how to demonstrate digital literacy using two forms of digital publishing – e-portfolios creation, and interactive app creation, both of which can be created by students – or teachers – with no coding experience.

Concordia Libraries’ streaming media service: integrating audio and video content into e-learning

Jared Wiercinski

In this session I will briefly review new developments in the multimodal web (i.e. visual, auditory, haptic, olfactory and gustatory) and will discuss the relevance of these developments to e-learning. I will also introduce Concordia Libraries’ new streaming media service, which facilitates enhanced access to course-related audio and video content, and will suggest ways in which it can used to promote e-learning at Concordia.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Learn about the multimodal web and its relevance to online learning
2. Discover Concordia Libraries’ streaming media service and learn how it can be used to enhance e-learning

“A Tale of Two Identities”

Kenneth G. Brown

In many academic disciplines there are significant gaps between what scholars study and what associated practitioners find useful. Drawing on research in the field of management, Professor Brown will describe underlying causes for these gaps along with possible practical and scholarly solutions. He will discuss his struggle for a coherent identity in education, psychology, and management, and attendees will be encouraged to consider how their own identity can be forged amid tensions between scholarly and practical work.

Learning objectives for the session

• Understand the conflicting values, knowledge bases, and identities held by “scholars” and “practitioners” in disciplines including but not limited to management
• Explain categories of solutions offered to bridge the gap between scholars and practitioners
• Appreciate challenges faced by scholars who seek a balanced identity
• Describe the scientist-practitioner model advocated in applied psychology and management
• Develop a personal narrative explaining your (current or planned) connection to practice

Online education: Coming of age

Dennis Murphy

This address incorporates a personal look at five unfounded misgivings and concerns about teaching online. Foremost among these issues is meaningful contact with students in an online environment. The presentation will identify scripting as the central element in designing an online course and consider a specific post-online follow up. The session will conclude with a synopsis of the experience of some other senior professors who took the challenge to redesign a course for online purposes.

Learning objectives for the session

• To recognize the potential for meaningful and effective professor/student contact in an online environment.
• To identify scripting as the significant design element in reworking course materials for a successful online course experience and reasons why.

Grand Theft Rez: Cultural Expression in Video Game Production

Jason Lewis

The Skins Workshops on Aboriginal Storytelling and Video Game Design aim to convert Native youth from consumers of video games to creators of video games. We do this within a context that emphasizes stories and storytelling from our communities, and from a standpoint that empowering youth in this way will lead to them becoming more active participants in the wider conversations regarding the development of media technology.

Transitioning from in-class to online learning: An overview for instructors

Patrick Devey & Saul Carliner

Thinking about transferring your course from the classroom to online? This session provides an overview of the process. It describes the process of--and considerations for--developing an online course, the key participants in the process, and the expectations of instructors.

The Laptop Learning Project

Fred Szabo

Mathematics is often called “the science of patterns.” Mathematica is built on pattern-matching. It allows us to juxtapose conceptual and computational patterns, symbolic and visual patterns, and concrete and abstract patterns. The purpose of this talk is to illustrate how, in combinations with Moodle and mobile technology such as laptops, smartphones, and tablet computers, Mathematica is an ideal teaching and learning tool, independent of space and time. The examples and illustrations chosen to support this claim are from courses taught with Mathematica at Concordia University as part of the Laptop Learning Project, supported by the Faculty of Arts and Science. The mathematical examples used to illustrate the synergy between mobile teaching and learning are elementary and show how the described methods are interdisciplinary in nature and apply to a wide range of disciplines.

What the Evidence Says about Teaching Online

Saul Carliner

"Computers replace teachers in the classroom?'"
"E-learning is less effective than classroom teaching."
"Teaching online is less interactive than classroom instruction."

Many concerns exist about e-learning and other forms of technology-based learning, but what does the evidence and other instructors’ experience actually say? This session explores some of the most commonly cited concerns about e-learning and provides evidence and examples to address these concerns.

Exploring the assignment module as a learning/teaching opportunity in Moodle 2.3

Warren Linds

This session will explore all aspects of the assignment module in Moodle 2.3. I have been using 'advance uploading of files' since Concordia got Moodle in order to manage and mark student essays. We will look at the use of Moodle to receive student essays, to upload from professors essays that have been marked using track changes and the new Moodle's 'drag and drop' capability. We will also explore how you can create assignment files that can be transferred across courses and across years. Lastly we will look at the group/groupings module so that assignments can be assigned to specific students and specific groups. The session will identify challenges and opportunities with Moodle 2.3 so that it can enhance teaching approaches and deepen student learning opportunities.

Learning objectives for the session

• to learn the new Moodle's capability to manage student assignments
• to share problems or challenges with the new Moodle
• to explore solutions to these challenges

Flipping the classroom: Benefits and Challenges from the Instructor’s Standpoint

Jean-Paul Rémillieux

Flipping the classroom consists of turning around the traditional way of teaching where learners attend in-class lectures and later review the course material at home. With the flipped classroom, learners watch pre-recorded video lectures online before going to class. Class time is dedicated to problem solving activities, group discussions and Q&A sessions. This presentation describes a first experience of flipped classroom from the point of view of the instructor. The rationale for using this approach, the inherent benefits and challenges as well as practical lessons learned are presented. Participants are invited to contribute to the discussion with questions and their own personal experience.

Learning objectives for the session

• see a practical example of the flipped classroom approach
• build a sense of the implications of flipping the classroom for the instructor

InterPLAY: Applying Story, Play and Game to Foster Creativity and Innovation

Atsusi Hirumi

Innovation has driven the upward mobility, health and prosperity in both industrialized and developing countries for decades. However, in 2011, the Atlantic Century report indicated that the United States now ranks fourth and Canada seventh among industrialized nations in innovation-based competitiveness. Today’s training and educational system must do better to solidify the scientific and technological building blocks as well as foster the passion and creativity necessary to innovate. For the Master Class, Dr. Hirumi will present the development and testing of InterPLAY; an innovative instructional theory that applies key conventions of interactive entertainment (i.e., story, play and game) to evoke emotions, spark imagination, and advance experiential learning.

Learning objectives for the session

Participants will:

• Examine research on creativity, and tools and techniques for fostering creativity;
• identify conditions necessary to foster creativity;
• characterize experiential learning theories and strategies;
• discuss the application of the InterPLAY instructional theory; and
• gain experience in formulating key elements of story, play and game.

Designing and Developing courses with eConcordia

Patrick Devey

Developing an online course is an endeavour that offers an opportunity for faculty to reinvent their course. Although some of the techniques that worked well in the classroom can be repurposed online, others have to be redesigned or replaced altogether with activities that are supported with technology and the realities of online instruction. Instructors working with eConcordia are assigned a team of eLearning professionals to support them throughout the process, from the conceptual phase all the way to the course delivery. This presentation will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the process involved in the design and delivery of online courses with eConcordia.

Learning objectives for the session

PAt the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:

• Describe the procedure for developing courses with eConcordia
• Identify instructional techniques that work well with the medium of delivery
• List potential obstacles in the repurposing of classroom based courses online

Google Earth Flight Simulation

Luis Rodrigues

This project interfaces a dynamic system software package called Matlab/Simulink with the visualizer Google Earth and a joystick to create a flight simulator. The simulation package generates the position and orientation of the aircraft (three position coordinates and three angles) that are transmitted in real-time to Google Earth.
The result is a flight simulator with the capability of flying around the world and testing any aircraft model of interest.

Technology & Teaching: Where are we and where should we be?

Ken Brown

Reading the popular press, one might believe that the biggest innovation in university teaching today is the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Without minimizing the possibility of these courses, Professor Brown will put them in context and focus on the broader questions of how technology is being used for university teaching today, and how it could be used more effectively. Specific examples of creative technology use across various disciplines will be provided, and a call for experimentation will be advanced.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Describe the categories of technology in use for university teaching today
2. Summarize at least two specific examples of technology in use
3. Connect course objectives or teaching challenges to potential technology-based solutions
4. Explain the components of the Mishra and Koehler TPACK model, and note its implications for personal and departmental activities over the next academic year
5. Appreciate the usefulness of scholarly approaches to teaching and learning

Messing about with technology in higher education: dispatches from the field

Steven Shaw

“Best practices” concerning the introduction of technology abound, but experience also teaches us that what works is a highly contextual, nuanced matter. In this presentation we will examine some specific examples of how technological innovations that support teaching and learning in higher education came into being. In each case we will ask: What was the situation or pretext? What was the solution? Why was it successful? What were the benefits?

While educational technologists and reformers often tout technology as an instrument to introduce massive change to educational practices, these cases illustrate the principle that success often depends on some continuity with existing teaching practices and established student behaviors.

Learning objectives for the session

1. understand key factors that underlie successful integration of technology in education
2. recognize elements associated with failure, or high risk of failure
3. acquire a framework for thinking about innovating with technology that goes beyond the “best practices” associated with different technologies

Blending learning: Creating an invitingly sophisticated online learning environment with Moodle and Prezi

Rob Cassidy

Moodle – Concordia’s online course management system — offers sophisticated pedagogical features, yet many instructors use it simply to distribute course documents.

Prezi is a free presentation platform that breaks free from the traditional presentation format. This session will showcase how these two technologies can combine to offer a pedagogically rich environment that allows students to explore course topics and participate in online learning activities.

You’ll see how the combination of these two technologies allows you to build a sophisticated online complement to your course that supports students’ out-of-class learning. In doing so, you may also learn a great deal about your course in the process.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Learn about a refreshingly alternative presentation technology called Prezi and find out where to get it for free.
2. See both Moodle and Prezi as more than vehicles for transmitting information.
3. Become aware of the synergies available when the best features of both technologies are combined.
4. See these technologies as supportive of your own learning as well.

Using Interactive Maps as a Learning Tool

Bill Reimer

This presentation outlines an example where an interactive map is used to deal with the challenges of student engagement, geographical knowledge, and analytical skills. In the Canadian Society course I have been faced with the challenge of engaging students from a large number of locations, communicating to people who have a wide range of familiarity with the history and geography of Canada, and introducing comparative analysis to those who are unfamiliar with the concept. By using an interactive map I have been able to address all three of these challenges. Students are required to select a location in Canada, use the Statistics Canada website to collect information regarding the location, and post this information on a map along with a brief account regarding the significance of the site. The data from these postings is then used at later points in the course – to build the students’ skills in comparative analysis.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Inform the audience regarding a technique for online learning.
2. Provide a rationale for the design of the technique.
3. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the technique.
4. Consider generalizable lessons from the use of this technique.

The ethics and dynamics of social search

Lisa Lynch

Lynch will lead the audience through a “social search” to gather information relating to a current topic, talking about best practices in using social networks and social media to research and report.

Showcase: Incorporating Social Media Into Your Course & Research

Jeannette Novakovich

Online publishing provides a motivating factor for students to improve performance as quickly and efficiently as possible, increasing their level of engagement and enhancing attention to collaboration, self-regulation, and performance. Integrating social media practices into the classroom also affords students with opportunities to engage in apprenticeship learning by immersing them in online professional communities in order to sharpen their professional writing skills and build valuable social networks. Furthermore, social media can be integrated into weekly course activities, utilizing a number of social software technologies, to create an engaging educational environment, one that strengthens the classroom community.

Learning objectives for the session

Key learning objectives for introducing social media technology:

• Develop a portfolio in order to showcase core writing skills
• Cultivate professional branding
• Master social writing skills through authentic communities of practice

The course design for Advanced Composition and Professional Writing utilizes the following social media software:

• Course website - open educational practice
• Student process portfolios – students draft workshop on integrated blogging CMS
  • Autobiography-engaging About page
  • Job application project-examine current job market and develop a marketable CV
  • Profile – research and prepare for interview
  • Interview – engaging Q&A
  • Feature – informative and entertaining article
  • Review – entertaining article
  • Interactive web project – engaging your audience
• Student professional showcase portfolios
• Community blog, Montrealites, that reaches upwards of 10,000 visitors /month
• Social media networks: Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
• LinkedIn profiles

Blogs as pedagogical tool: Why and how?

Philippe Caignon

In this session, I will talk about how I assess my students’ blogs for one of my terminology courses. I will begin by explaining why I chose this medium for this particular course, and what the pedagogical implications were.

The content of a blog is different from the content of a paper assignment: From multimedia content to comments left by visitors, from medium adaptation to evolving argumentation and presentation, these differences require a unique form of assessment that take the ever-changing nature of a blog and its content into account.

Learning objectives for the session

• Decide if blogs are suitable pedagogical tools for their courses;
• Understand the differences in characteristics between paper and blog assignments;
• Determine which learning outcomes have to be changed or added when using blogs as pedagogical tools;
• Design their own assessment strategy, if they decide to use blogs for their courses.

Constructing a Collective Memory in the Classroom

Juan Carlos Castro

Social media, specifically social bookmarking platforms, can be used to create a collective memory in the classroom. A collective memory in the classroom context is defined as shared resources, information, and knowledge. Social bookmarking enables groups of people to share and access content asynchronously thus expanding the content of a course; time and place of learning; and diversifying knowledge amongst students and the teacher. This presentation will demonstrate two social bookmarking platforms and the application of them in classroom teaching and learning.

Learning objectives for the session

Participants will be able to identify and describe social media platforms for social bookmarking, the application of these technologies in establishing a collective memory, and considerations for teaching.

Learning Math Online

Fred Szabo

When the distinguished philosopher Isaiah Berlin gave his inaugural lecture at Oxford University, he entitled his lecture “Two Concepts of Liberty,” freedom to and freedom from. I attended the lecture and the recognition of the importance of the distinction between “freedom to” and “freedom from” for learning has been the basis for my approach to teaching ever since.

Learning mathematics online provides learners with the freedom to learn in their own space and time. It also frees them from the pressure of performing in front of their peers in a classroom setting. Learning mathematics is different from learning other subjects. Mathematics is hierarchical and everyday common experience only rarely leads to mathematical inspiration and insight.

In this talk, I will document with examples from my three eConcordia courses how the neutrality of learning mathematics with technology in an online setting guarantees learners both kinds of freedom.

You Have to Know Moodle 2.3 to Use Moodle 2.3

Luis Ochoa

I will present ways in which I use Moodle to enhance my teaching of Spanish as a foreign language with a series of activities using different functions available on Moodle. While the examples will come from a language course, these tasks are easily adapted to other teaching contexts.

Learning objectives for the session

Attendees will see…

1. … how Moodle can be used for audio-oral interactions with students (students recording oral presentations or commentary and listening/viewing multimedia content)
2. … the usefulness of Moodle in the teaching and learning of new vocabulary / terminology.
3. … how the assignment box can be used for effective feedback on assignments.

Teaching the humanities through game design

Mia Consalvo & Stuart Thiel

What issues are involved in creating games that explore ethical issues in complex ways? What debates in game studies could be better argued via gameplay mechanics rather than prose? This presentation discusses several courses that have used game design assignments not to teach game production, but to have students explore a variety of issues related to games. The central argument is that one must understand the tools of production if one wants to fully engage with and critique them.

Learning objectives for the session

1. Participants will learn about simple game design tools that can be used for critical analysis assignments.
2. Participants will gain a sense of what works and doesn't work when teaching game design to humanities focused students.