Author: Bob Cole

Video conference simulcast of Dr. Amy Collier’s talk at Middlebury | Tues, March 31

Bob Cole Events, TW@M

Amy Collier, Ph.D. is Senior Director for Inspiration and Outreach, Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning at Stanford University. The simulcast of this talk is co-sponsored by the MIddlebury Provost’s Office and the Digital Learning Commons.

Tuesday, March 31 | 9:30 – 11:00am | 499 Van Buren Video Conference Room*.
*499 Van Buren is located at the corner of Van Buren and Jefferson Streets, CNS headquarters

Attend simulcast of Dr. Amy Collier talk at Middlebury College

Date: March 31, 2015

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Photoshop 101 – Poster Design Clinic | March 30 | 2-3:00pm

Bob Cole Events

How do you turn a simple black and white line drawing into something much more fun and colorful? Facilitated by DLC Photoshop guru, Evelyn Helminen, this 1 hour hands-on workshop will teach you how to manipulate images, text, and graphical layers to produce your own version of the event poster for the April 16 Pecha-Kucha inspired MIIS Happening event. Monday, March 30 | 2:00-3:00PM | DLC Design Space.

Photoshop 101 – Poster Design Clinic | 2:00-3:00PM | Location: DLC Design Space

Date: March 30, 2015

Description:

Sign up below…

What Name
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Photoshop 101 – Poster Design Clinic: Mon 3/30 2:00-3:00PM #1:
Nell T.
#2:
Amy M.
#3:
Tillie G.
#4:
Julia T.
#5:
rafael H.
#6:
Emily S.
#7:
Chanel B.
#8:
Yingchun S.
#9:
Majda G.
#10:
Olga M.
#11:
Tingyu S.
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MIIS Happening is April 16!

Bob Cole Events

“A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings occur anywhere and are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience. Key elements of happenings are planned but artists sometimes retain room for improvisation. This new media art aspect to happenings eliminates the boundary between the artwork and its viewer.” –http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happening

What is MIIS Happening?

A two hour Pecha Kucha-inspired event featuring short 6 minute and 40 second (20 slides x 20 seconds) talks, by MIIS students, staff, and faculty. The program will be generated through a massively open invitation for contributions by MIIS community members from all walks of campus. We’re seeking 20×20’s to inspire, engage and entertain a diverse audience, promote cross-disciplinary sharing, put a dent in programmatic silos, stir up some serendipity, celebrate creativity, and generally mix things up for a couple of hours. Talks may be inspired by storytelling or any number of themes, such as: change, place, culture, immersion, identity, adaptation, systems, ecologies, climate, language, among others. MIIS Happening! is two hours of participatory, fly-by-the-seat of your-pants intellectual exchange and exploration of unexpected connections among fields and schools of thought across the campus! MIIS Happening! is for everyone being shaped by and shaping MIIS.

How can I get involved?

We are seeking 20×20 presentations from across the MIIS community. To get involved:

SIGN UP TO PRESENT!


PARTICIPATE IN A PECHA KUCHA DESIGN CLINIC

Participate in a DLC MIIS Happening design clinic to learn how to present in the Pecha Kucha inspired 20 images x 20 seconds format.

Current Sign-up Sheets

Title Date Open Spots  
Pecha Kucha Design & Feedback Clinic II: 2 – 4:00pm | Weds, April 15 | DLC Design Space April 15, 2015 14 View & sign-up »
miis-happening-prep

MIIS Happening Presenter Toolkit

Types:

Download the Pecha Kucha slide template with built-in timing: pk_template.pptx

Curricular Possibilities of GIS, Spatial Thinking & Cartography with Jeff Howarth

Bob Cole Events, TW@M

The DLC welcomes Middlebury Asst. Professor of Geography, Jeff Howarth, for a morning ideation session and exploration to diversify and strengthen curricular connections between MIIS critical areas of interest and GIS, spatial thinking/analysis, and cartography.

Some questions that might spark this session: What kinds of problems are faculty and students working on at the Institute that might benefit from a spatial/cartographic perspective? How might we collaborate with faculty and students at Middlebury to develop curricula or interdisciplinary projects that integrate spatial thinking, GIS, and cartography.

What?     Morning Discussion with Pastries & Coffee
Where?  Design Space @ the Digital Learning Commons, 420 Calle Principal / 001 McGowan
When?   9:30 – 11:00am, Friday, February 20, 2015
Who?      MIIS Faculty, Students, Staff with an interest in GIS, mapping, spatial thinking and analysis

Please sign-up online below to participate by Wednesday, February 18, 2015. No technical knowledge required to attend!

Current Sign-up Sheets

Title Date Open Spots  
GIS | Spatial Thinking | Cartography Curricular Possibilities with Middlebury Asst. Professor of Geography Jeff Howarth February 20, 2015 18 View & sign-up »

Emerging Practices Teaching Conversation with Middlebury Asst. Professor Jeff Howarth – Self Publishing Online Materials

Bob Cole Events, TW@M

The Digital Learning Commons is pleased to invite MIIS faculty as well as interested staff to a lunchtime brown bag conversation on effective and emerging ‘next generation’ teaching practices.

Middlebury Assistant Professor of Geography, Jeff Howarth will share his experience “self-publishing” course materials for use in his teaching. Recognized at Middlebury in 2014 for his excellence in teaching, particularly for his adaptation of the flipped approach to course design, Jeff is actively experimenting with an alternative instructional model which he describes as “self-publishing a new kind of textbook” via his Youtube channel: GIS at Midd.

Participants will get a behind the scenes perspective on the benefits, challenges, and opportunities of teaching with “self-published online materials”, share their own approaches, connect with DLC staff, and take away some new ideas for future course development.

What?     Brown Bag Lunch Collegial Conversation
Where?  Design Space @ the Digital Learning Commons, 420 Calle Principal / 001 McGowan
When?   12:15 – 1:15pm, Thursday, February 19, 2015
Who?      MIIS Faculty, interested staff

Please sign-up online below to attend by Tuesday, February 17, 2015. No technical knowledge required to attend!

Current Sign-up Sheets

Title Date Open Spots  
Emerging Practices Brownbag – Middlebury Asst. Professor of Geography Jeff Howarth February 19, 2015 5 View & sign-up »

MIIS Moodle Updated to version 2.6.6

Bob Cole Curricular Technology, MIIS Update, TW@M

On December 22, 2014 the Institute’s course management system “iLearn” at http://ilearn.miis.edu underwent a much needed version update from 2.4.1 to 2.6.6. This update does not impact existing courses from previous terms or course sites that have been created for the 2015 January- or Spring terms.

With this update you will notice some changes to the look and interface of the MIIS iLearn site, but for the most part this update provides a number of usability and instructional feature improvements that we hope you will appreciate as you look ahead to building course Moodle resources.

Usability Improvements

With this update MIIS iLearn will include some noticeable usability improvements. They include:

  • A more user-friendly web / WYSIWYG editor.Watch a short video describing this changeMoodle 2.6 editor
  • Improved course activity and resource editing (move, drag&drop, drop-down menu): Watch a short video describing this change moodle 2.6 resource editor
  • Drag and drop media and text directly onto the course page
  • Word count visible in discussion forum posts
  • Responsive theme and interface for variety of devices (desktop, tablet, smartphone)

Functional Improvements for Instructors

Other Features of Interest that Instructors may not be aware of

  • Online audio recording in Moodle with Poodll Anywhere plug-in: Watch a short video describing how this feature works
  • Rubrics for criterion based assessments in the Gradebook
  • Conditional Activities and Completion Tracking for hybrid and flipped models of instruction
  • Messaging Students by e-mail from Moodle

If you have any questions or concerns about the update, please e-mail Bob Cole at bcole @ miis.edu.

Spring 2015 Course Hub Sites Available for Moodle Rollovers/Imports

Bob Cole Uncategorized

imgresCourse Hub sites for the current version of the Spring 2015 academic course catalog are now available online. When you login to the Course Hub at http://courses.miis.edu you will now see “Spring 2015” courses in the dashboard menu on the left. Please note that Fall 2014 courses will continue to appear when you click on “My Semester Dashboard” until the term is over.

Adding a new Moodle Site via Course Hub
To add a Moodle site, review the steps for Setting up a Moodle Resource in Course Hub.

Self-Service Steps For Importing Moodle Archives From Previous Terms
Last term we introduced a How-To Guide demonstrating and outlining the steps to complete the Moodle Course Archive Import process on your own. To fast track and complete this process on your own, watch the brief How-to Guide video and follow the steps for completing a Moodle course import: go.miis.edu/diyrollover

Assistance With Importing Moodle Course Content From Previous Terms – AKA “Rollover”
Returning faculty who teach with MIIS iLearn (Moodle) should be familiar with the Moodle Course “rollover” process of importing archived course content from previous terms into a new Moodle site. To request assistance with your course archive import, use the updated Moodle Archive Import Request Form. Expect a 3-4 day turn around on these requests.

You may direct questions to helpdesk@miis.edu or call Help Desk at (831) 647-6656.

#IDSP15: J-Term Intercultural Digital Storytelling Project

Bob Cole Events, Storytelling, TW@M

Learn about the Spring 2015 pilot #IDSP15 Intercultural Digital Storytelling Project and consider applying to be a digital storytelling fellow as part of your January Term immersive learning program experience.

Tuesday, September 23, 12:15 – 1:30pm

Upstairs Digital Learning Commons, 001 McGowan Building

About #IDSP15

#IDSP15 is a 1 unit (15 hours) open and directed study framework designed for MIIS students involved in immersive learning activities affiliated with their academic experience with the aim of maximizing the potential for personal intercultural competency (ICC) development through peer-interaction, self-reflection, design, and digital media. The learning series will integrate inductive research, data collection, and experiential reflection methods with hands-on training in digital storytelling and multimedia creation to enable participants to reflect upon, express, and share critical insights and lessons they have learned while engaged in immersive learning activities and programs; e.g. J-term, IPSS, DPMI Plus, IBP, Translation/Interpretation, Language Teaching Practica, FMScouts, and others.

Fellows

#IDSP15 seeks 3-5 digital storytelling fellows who plan to participate or engage in immersive learning experiences over the 2015 January Term. Selected fellows will commit to working together with other #IDSP15 fellows, Digital Learning Commons staff, and supporting faculty to create a digital story documenting their experience, insights, and new perspectives. As an incentive, selected fellows will receive an iPod Touch to aid field-based data collection (photos, video, journaling).

Interested in participating? Apply below:

Teach Massively. Learn Locally. Sign Up to Participate in DLC Hybrid MOOC Experience

Bob Cole Digital Storytelling, Workshops

In our on-going attempts to explore emerging practices and learning opportunities for professional development, the DLC is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a local learning cohort of participants in the Coursera course: Powerful Tools for Teaching and Learning: Digital Storytelling.

The 5-week MOOC (massive open online course), scheduled to run September 8 – October 12, 2014, will be our sandbox and digital storytelling techniques and tools will be our goal!

DLC Staff and interested faculty, staff, and students will meet weekly in the DLC Design Space to share hybrid learning experiences, review course topics, and support one another toward achieving and applying course learning goals.

Our working hypothesis is that a well designed Coursera course offers an open framework for social, peer-driven learning, collaboration, and co-creation.

Topics to be Covered During the 5-week Course

  • Week 1: Choosing a topic and purpose
  • Week 2: Writing an effective script and creating a storyboard
  • Week 3: Recording audio narration
  • Week 4: Using technology to build a digital story
  • Week 5: Revising, publishing and sharing the final digital story for use in the classroom

To Participate!

1. Register for the Coursera course online here: https://www.coursera.org/course/digitalstorytelling

2. Fill out the DLC Participation Form below by Friday, September 5, 2014:

Earth Day Pop Up Lunch & Working Session: Innovating “Green Teaching” Practices

Bob Cole Events, MIIS Update, Workshops

Co-sponsored by the MIIS Sustainability Council and the Digital Learning Commons, the biased toward action agenda for this lunch-time working session is the question:

“How might we improve and encourage innovation around ‘green teaching’ practices that improve the student learning experience while also achieving campus pro-sustainability goals?” e.g. reducing paper use, conserving energy, leveraging new technologies and incorporating sustainability themes into our campus culture.

Join us for a sandwich and drink if you want to help develop and implement ideas to improve current “green classroom” policies and campus sustainability!

Download: GreenTeachingCertificateQuestionaire.xlsx.pdf

RSVP Required by Monday, April 19 with an e-mail to Meagan Braun, Sustainability Council graduate assistant: mbraun@miis.edu