Faculty Feature
Abbie Brown
Department of Library Science
and Instructional
Technology
College of Education
brownab@ecu.edu
 I started at ECU in 2006 and teach in the Instructional Technology program, in which all courses are graduate level and offered online. I began teaching online in 1996 as a part-time instructor for Walden University. I have developed and taught online courses forIndiana University, Western Governors University , and
California State University.
My
online course design is centered on bi-weekly “modules”
which include readings, projects, and regular
participation in threaded (asynchronous) discussion. I
strive to create an environment where students interact
with classmates much as they might if they were involved
in a more traditional, face-to-face seminar.
Areas of Specialization
Instructional Design, Instructional Media Production, and Distance Learning.
Courses Currently Teaching
EDTC 7330: Management of Distance Education
EDTC 6135: Instructional Graphics for Educational Media
Using Technology to Teach DE Courses
I use Blackboard as my primary “classroom.” I have found students appreciate my keeping the course content and resources organized in one area (in this case the Blackboard class site). I make extensive use of the Discussion Area section of Blackboard; all students are required to participate in discussion forums held over a period of one or two weeks. The discussions are asynchronous in that students may post messages any time within the assigned discussion period, but I require students to post messages on multiple days during the discussion and often require their first message be posted within a few days of the discussion’s start.
I also make use of audio and video podcasts and screencasts to communicate content and feedback. I save the audio and video files to my ECU Personal Server account and create links to them in Blackboard. I keep these multimedia presentations small and brief (under two minutes and under 4 MB, typically). In the case of audio podcasts I supply a text file transcript in case students have trouble accessing the file.
Most recently I have been experimenting with holding office hours in the online virtual reality environment, Second Life. ECU now has a campus in Second Life and I invite students to meet with me in my virtual office on Monday evenings. So far only a few students have taken advantage of this, but there seems to be tremendous potential for using an online virtual reality environment to foster a sense of community among distant learners.
 Abbie's Technology Tip:
Experiment with the “Manage Course Menu” option in Blackboard! Too often instructors think they must use the default settings for the left-hand menu of links without realizing that menu area can be customized. I use a <HR> tag (“hard rule”) to set lines that separate the menu into three sections: “Stuff that needs to be read immediately;” “Individual Course Modules:” and “Content and Administration Resources and Links.” Organizing the course menu to one’s own specifications tends to make navigating the course much easie
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Blackboard Updates and Information
Blackboard 7.3 Upgrade
The Blackboard 7.3 was successfully completed over the winter break. Many new features have been added to the faculty view of the course to enhance the learning environment. A full list of these new features can be reviewed HERE. The student view of Bb is unchanged.
Here is a quick list of the most important new features.
- Browser compatible: Internet Explorer 6 and 7. Firefox 1.0 and 2.0. Netscape 8.0. Mozilla 2.0
- You can now send any announcement as an email with the click of one check box
- Spell Check within the email interface
- Ability to export and import tests in the Test Manager Area
- Improved Discussion Board. More options and embedded grading feature.
- Early Warning System
- Allows you to set up benchmarks and the tool will tell you what students are meeting or not meeting these marks.
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Out and About ~ February 4-15, 2008
Academic Outreach will host its second Out and About Sessions scheduled February 4-15, 2008. What is Out and About? AO staff will schedule appointments and visit your office for one-on-one personalized training. We have found this is the best way for our faculty to learn how to use our new tools and ask questions about any existing tools. These tools include Blackboard, Centra, Moodle, Open Journal System, Sakai , Camtasia, and Second Life.
Sign up now and have a personal visit from one of our expert staff members.
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/academicoutreach/outabout.cfm |
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Quick Start to Online Teaching ~ February 13, 2008
ECU is well known for offering students the opportunity to participate in courses through online activities. In order to help prepare you for teaching online at ECU, for either campus or DE courses, Academic Outreach is offering a presentation for all faculty new to online teaching - Quick Start to Online Teaching. The Quick Start presentation will include the following topics: Blackboard, Centra Web Conferencing and Successful Online Teaching Practices. Please visit the website for more information or to register for the February 13th session. http://www.ecu.edu/academicoutreach/quickstart/ |
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Second Life ~ A 3D Virtual World
ECU has entered another life! Second Life that is….the 3D virtual world which is gaining popularity in the real world. Academic Outreach now has space available for instructors that would like to use the virtual world for classes, office hours, and research. Other universities such as UNC-Chapel Hill andDuke University have also embarked on this new and exciting method of teaching. If you are interested in learning more about Second Life, please contact Sharon Collins collinss@ecu.edu or Travis Hufford tjh0713@ecu.edu. |
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- Faculty Feature
- Blackboard Update
- Out & About
- Quick Start To Online Teaching
- Second Life-A 3D Virtual World
- Moodle & Sakai
- Think-In 2008
- Academic Integrity
- DE Orientation Website
- Contingency Plan-DE Courses
- Technology Advancement Center
- D-ECU News
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Moodle @ECU
Join the many Moodle users and become a member of an exciting online learning community. Moodle is an open source course management system designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities and is available for you to use. Discover a new way to share and teach with your students and revamp your current course. You do not have to be part of our Course Management System study to teach a class on Moodle. If you would like to teach with Moodle in the Spring 2008 semester, please contact Sharon Collins at collinss@ecu.edu. We have a staff that will assist you in moving your content and teaching you how to use Moodle
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Sakai
Sakai is an open source course management system that supports teaching and learning, group collaboration, and research collaboration. You do not have to be part of our Course Management System study to teach a class in Sakai. If you would like more information or if you would like to teach a class in Sakai, please contact Ginny Sconiers at sconiersg@ecu.ed.
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ECU Think-In 2008
Think-In 2008 will be held in November. This event will showcase faculty and how they utilize technology to educate students in the classroom – in both face-to-face and distance education courses. Presentations will be made via “laptop” poster sessions and will include course demonstrations. It’s not too early to start thinking about submitting a proposal.
Visit last years’ Think-In website for a video summary and a list of all presentations. |
Academic Integrity for DE Courses
Distance Education courses, whether they are fully online or blended, pose new challenges in the area of Academic Integrity. Presenting students with guidelines or discussions concerning integrity early in each course will go a long way in securing decisions which will help develop ethical behavior and improve Academic Integrity. An Academic Integrity web site for Distance Education is now available at http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/ academicoutreach/Integrity/.
This website contains information and strategies that will help foster Academic Integrity within online and blended courses.
Please direct questions or comments to Ginny Sconiers at coniersg@ecu.edu or Sherion Jackson at jacksonsh@ecu.edu.
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Distance Education Orientation Website - For Students
 The DE Orientation will take you step-by-step through the process of how to get started taking classes online. As you work through the orientation, you will discover answers to questions you may have such as: What is distance education? Who is my advisor, and how do I contact him/her? How do I access course material? How do I get an email account and DE student card?
http://author.ecu.edu/DEOrientation/
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Contingency Plan DE Courses
As
with any technology, Blackboard and other
Internet based course delivery systems have the
potential for technical problems. To prepare for potential
problems and/or downtime, we strongly advise all
instructors using Blackboard or other Internet
based course delivery systems to have a
contingency plan when the technology is not
available. A contingency plan involves
anticipating and planning for an alternate
delivery of course material and communication
when a service interruption occurs. Your
contingency plan should appear on your course
syllabus or other course documents
so that students know their
responsibilities and what to expect in a
downtime situation. You can
find suggestions to
help develop your contingency plan at: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-
acad/learningplatforms/contingency.cfm
Please direct questions to
Ginny Sconiers at sconiersg@ecu.edu.
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Technology Advancement
Center
The TAC (www.tac.ecu.edu) designs and implements new products, solutions and applications for distance, mobile, and hybrid eLearning. Our alliance partners represent corporations, universities, public schools, the military and professional organizations. To discuss collaboration, moving your innovative idea into action, contact: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/tac/
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