North Carolina Distance Learning Alliance (NCDLA)

This conference was a wonderful experience for anyone interested in learning about a variety of issues related to Distance Learning. My interest stems from the fact that we are looking at increasing the distance learning component of the Physical Therapy curriculum as we prepare to transition to the DPT when approved.

Although the majority of academic institutions represented were part of the NC Community College system, I think that it is important for those of us in the NC University system to be aware of what types of services and facilities are available to facilitate student learning and student preparation to advance into the 4 year university system.

Of particular interest to me were the following presentations:

1. Simulation-Based Learning Using Interactive 3 Dimensional Objects. Fayetteville Technical Community College will house a new i3D facility which has tremendous implications for a variety of learning experiences with long range implications for enhancement of Workforce development throughout the state. Their target date for introduction to system schools is June 2008. WSSU needs to get involved because there are potential applications for a number of our undergraduate and graduate level program.
2. SACS/COC Friendly Distance Policies. This program was presented by the Distance Learning Coordinator at Bladen Community College. Given the activity on this campus related to our upcoming SACS review and on site visit, I found this program very informative. The presenter shared a great deal of information in the form of handouts and made herself available to assist anyone on system campuses as needed. Clearly, the Distance Learning efforts at WSSU must be coordinated and managed to be sure that we meet all necessary requirements, especially in terms of documents and records that we might need to have available.
3. The TEACH Act: Help or Hindrance? The presenter was Peggy E. Hoon, J.D., Special Assistant to the Provost for Copyright Administration at North Carolina State University. She discussed implications of the TEACH Act relative to copyright infringement and distance learning. This is certainly something that must be addressed as this university moves forward along that path. On the NC State website, there is a TEACH Act Toolkit available for anyone at any UNC system institution to use. Needless to say as WSSU moves forward with the development of distance learning, copyright laws will continue to be of great importance. This was a very informative and engaging presentation.

Dr. Yolanda Rainey

Online Course Delivery Enhancement

In March 2008, I had the pleasure of attending The University of North Carolina Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference. Currently, I teach online courses in psychology and am always interested in learning of new ways to infuse technology in the learning process. Recently I have become interested in course redesign which is a method for modifying courses using technology to increase student success. Course redesign was developed by the National Center for Academic Transformation. At the UNC TLT conference, I was a panelist in a session for course redesign. I wanted to take the opportunity to learn about the latest in educational technology and to consider how I could incorporate it into a redesign proposal.

One session that I found particularly interesting was on engaging students with social software applications such as: blogs, wikis and podcasts. As I further attempt to further infuse technological tools in my online classes and the online component of my face-to-face courses, I was intrigued by the possibilities social applications can offer. For example, blogs would be an easy way to include journaling on a course related topic throughout a semester. Based on the subject matter I could allow other students read and comment on each others entries or only view and comment on a student's entry myself. I also think wikis would be an excellent tool for facilitating exam reviews. Students could be assigned to groups and determine how they would contribute information for the review. Finally for the visual learners, podcasting would be an excellent way for them to view demonstrations of concepts.

There was some discussion about how to infuse social networking sites such as: MySpace and Facebook in courses. I am a little wary of incorporating those tools yet. Inclusion of such sites would have to be considered on a course by course basis. After informally asking a few of my students whether they would want a professor to join Facebook and contact them about school, there was hesitation and responses of 'no'. There are some social environments, I think, where students would not prefer to be contacted by professors for pedagogical purposes.

Finally, I was very impressed with the notion of using virtual worlds for instruction. Based on the demonstration I could see many application centered disciplines, such as health care fields, benefiting from this technology. I also think it would be a useful tool to train counseling psychologists. Meeting different types of clients in a virtual world could teach them about how to handle clients with various psychological issues. I believe that there are many new and exciting ways to use new technological advances to enhance student learning. However, I think we should always proceed with caution in what types of tools we use for the learning environment.

3D virtual learning environments can make a difference in higher education

Many people talk about 3D virtual environments in higher education but very few have taken the time to explore and integrate them into their teaching. At the 2008 Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) Conference organized by UNC (Raleigh, NC, March 12-14, 2008) I had the opportunity to learn from pioneers in this field who shared their experiences and lessons learned. Let me comment on two of them.

Second Life has been a phenomenon in terms of engaging adults in “real life” experiences that occur in a 3D virtual environment in which users exist as an avatar and interact with other residents. In her presentation “3D Virtual World Learning Environments (i.e., Second Life) in blended and online education”, Victoria Lynn Walker shared her experience creating, implementing and learning from a pilot study in learning nonclinical counseling and group therapy skills. She states, “Virtual environments offer instructors the opportunity to make their classroom come alive. By using well-designed educational environments that match program and course needs, students can be inspired to explore learning and develop understanding of course content”. I was very pleased to realize there is a growing community of researchers who study the educational use of highly interactive technologies that students love using. I would be very interested giving support from WSSU-CETL to WSSU faculty members willing to participate in similar studies.

Google Earth has been also a great success, as long as it provides users with the possibility of easily and accurately exploring places on earth that are of their interest. It was announced that this tool “combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain, and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips”. I had the opportunity to participate in a demonstration by a group of foreign language professors from UNC Charlotte in which Rosalba Esparragoza Scott, a Spanish teacher, shared her experience using Google Earth-supported web quests as a means of learning foreign language, literature, and culture in an effective way. According to her, “Students can annotate maps on Google Earth with vocabulary terms, historical facts, literary information, or write sentences in the target language describing virtual visits to foreign cities”. Way to go!

I got a couple of coincident clear messages from the above two presentations:

1. Integrating technology into higher education courses requires effort from faculty, in the exploration of educational potential of digital tools as well as in reengineering their learning environments.
2. Students love courses where faculty make sound educational use of digital technologies they use with other purposes; they become engaged and participate more effectively.

Alvaro H. Galvis
Director CETL
Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning