Some techie thoughts as you plan for new classes

These are some ideas I recently circulated to our faculty related to possible increased tech use for learning:

1. Do you teach both a seated and online section of a class? If so, consider the learning possibilities for your online students if you could give them access to a recorded version of your seated classes. The benefits can also extend to your seated students too, as revisiting a lecture is great for review purposes. an audio recording of your class is EASY to create and PAINLESS to distribute. A microphone attached to the instructor's computer in the classroom with audio captured with the free Audacity program [Link to Audacity] can make this a reality with minimal equipment or expertise.
   
2. Do you assign research projects? If so, don't overlook helping them to learn about the online data bases available through your library. At our school that is a service called NCLIVE. I have developed interactive tutorials on the basic use of NC LIVE to help our students perfect their skills with this awesome tool. http://www.stanly.edu/learning/learnobj/NCLIVE/NC_LIVE_at_SCC.html
3. No time to create PowerPoint slides to accompany your classroom activities? Don't hesitate to start SMALL. Create a slide that lists today's learning objectives and display it as class begins. Redisplay that same slide at the end of class. Accompany the latter with summarizing concepts and assessment and you have a great learning tool. When time permits, add a slide to the end highlighting what students need to do before the next class. I have lots of templates and graphics, just let me know of your interest.
4. Are your office hours less than productive because they don't coincide with when your students are on campus? Consider holding some office hours via the web. At our school we use a web conferencing tool called Elluminate! [link to elluminate ], but you could use an instant messaging client like AOL messenger [link to aol messenger] or your school's web conferencing tool. Your students can take advantage of your counsel from any Internet connected computer AND you can create a recorded session for them to review later.
5. Do your students struggle with their writing projects? Consider introducing them to mind / concept mapping. At our school we use Open Mind [link to openmind], but there are lots of others, including some free open source programs [link to FreeMind]. Concept mapping helps students organize and plan projects before they know they are supposed to be scared of such things.