Previous Luncheons:
Do You Wimba? Using Wimba Voice Tools as a Means of Oral Assessment and Communication
April 22 , 2008
 Wimba Tools consist of a suite of tools that have been integrated with WebCT and Blackboard Vista. The Wimba voice tools facilitate and promote vocal instruction, collaboration, coaching, and assessment. During this presentation Andrea Javel from the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and Cindy Bravo from the Language Lab focused on the pedagogical implications of this application for the Foreign Language classroom. Examples of student work (in French and English) and its assessment.
The presentation was followed by a demo of Wimba's Live Classroom by Sarah Castricum. Wimba Live Classroom is a virtual classroom which supports audio, video, application sharing, and content display. This tool can be used inside of Blackboard Vista or as a stand alone web conferencing application.
Sharing Teaching Resources with an Online Repository
November 28 , 2007
 The First-Year Writing Seminar (FWS) is a required course in the BC core curriculum, with 2000 students enrolled each year. As there is also significant turn-over among instructors, some of whom have relatively little background in Composition and Rhetoric and many of whom are MA and PhD students new to teaching, there is a tremendous need to provide extensive training and support for faculty. Funded by a Faculty Summer Workshop Grant, Lad Tobin and Ricco Siasoco (English) collaborated with IDeS to create the online FWS Faculty Lounge, which includes basic information on the program, a collection of teaching materials with user commentary, and a discussion forum for ongoing conversations around teaching related issues and challenges. The site aims to enhance the program's existing faculty development efforts by providing an additional layer of online resources and interaction for faculty, whether they are just beginning to teach or are looking for new material to improve their existing lesson plans. The presentation featured a demonstration of the site, and reflections on the collaborative vision behind it and the process of developing it.
View video of the presentation
Using Personal Response Systems to Engage Students
February 8 , 2007
 Personal response systems, or clickers, offer a way to promote student engagement in large lecture classes. The devices allow instructors to ask questions in multiple formats and to obtain immediate feedback about student comprehension, which can be used to stimulate discussion. Student responses are recorded and stored as text files on the instructor's computer. Clare O'Connor from the Biology Department will discuss her experiences using clickers in two large lecture classes. Her presentation will be a clicker session, in which attendees have a chance to experiment with the technology.
View video of the presentation
Utilizing Blogs, Podcasts, and Websites to Publish Course Content
December 5, 2006
 The world of academic content is in flux. The year-plus textbook publishing cycle doesn't fit with high-change disciplines. Textbook prices are high, royalties are low, and the material is stale by the time it arrives in 'dead tree' form at the campus bookstore. But are there alternatives? John Gallaugher (Carrol School of Management) will share his experiences (positive and negative) with various alternative publishing forms including teaching textbook-free courses based entirely on online content, running a weekly 'blog-style' news digest for students & alumni, and podcasting lectures.
View video of the presentation and listen to Podcast
Enabling the Age of Immersive Education
October 23, 2006
 Aaron E. Walsh (Woods School of Advancing Studies) demonstrated Immersive Education. Unlike traditional online courses, which involve the delivery of basic Web pages or streaming video, Immersive Education combines interactive virtual reality and sophisticated digital media with collaborative online course environments and classrooms. Imagine, for instance, a history class that lets students explore the halls of the Forbidden City in Beijing from home, or a lecture on nanotechnology that includes a lab session for participants to examine and manipulate molecular structures entirely online. Immersive Education gives students a sense of "being there" even when attending class in person isn't possible, practical, or desirable, which in turn provides faculty and remote students with the ability to connect and communicate in a way that greatly enhances the distance learning experience. Walsh will demonstrate how Boston College faculty can utilize Immersive Education technology in their own classrooms.
View video of the presentation |
