Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Francine Guice on January 22, 2013 at 10:51am

For what ever reason, I didn't see this forum and started another. I am posting to the correct forum now.

Hi everyone,

First, thank you Cathy for teaching the class.

My name is Francine Guice and I teach (both online and on ground) at Oakland University, in Rochester Hills, Michigan and I also teach at Keller Graduate School of Management in Southfield, Michigan. My disciplines are business and commercial law, management and ethics. I have been teaching online for about 12 years. I am really looking forward to being a peer reviewer with Merlot as I believe that while I am reviewing and providing service to academe, I am also learning a lot. So to me it’s a win-win deal!

I have looked through the Merlot site and so far have made a comment on one teaching resource and expect to make 3 more prior to class tomorrow. I have also review the tape of last week's session along with the business tutorials. I will review the Ethics in the Workplace material shortly.

 Sorry that I wasn't able to attend the first session real time. Unfortunately, I had a prior commitment with a class which I teach online. That same class will prevent me from joining you promptly again tomorrow, but I will long on and adjourn my class a little early and will get back on with the camp for the balance of the session.

See everyone (electronically speaking) tomorrow.

Francine

Permalink Reply by Cathy Swift on January 22, 2013 at 11:00am

Hi, Francine:

Welcome.  I used to live in Bloomfield Hills and worked for Ford Tractor in Birmingham, so am familiar with Rochester Hills.  Since I am still the Editor of the Business Editorial Board, we also welcome you to the business collection.  We have a lot of materials there in the management area.

I'm sorry you missed the first session also, but you can catch up, as it sounds as if you have.

Permalink Reply by Janiess Sallee on January 23, 2013 at 11:51am

Hello!

My name is Janiess Sallee (sounds like Ja-neice, and I serve as the Assistant Director of Instructional Technology Services at Seattle Pacific University.  I also teach an online orientation course for incoming Master of Education Teacher Leadership and Curriculum & Instruction students.  

Our office focuses on helping faculty integrate educational technology into their instruction so that they may prepare students for leadership in an information society.  As a result, we are continually searching for new technologies and researching how they might be best used in instruction.

I'm looking forward to learning more about MERLOT, the resources available, and ways in which I may contribute via the peer review process.  Thanks, Cathy, for making it possible for folks to participate asynchronously.  Much appreciated!

Janiess

Permalink Reply by Cathy Swift on January 28, 2013 at 8:30am

Welcome, Janiess.  We're happy to have the folks from Seattle Pacific with us.  If you ever have any questions, you're lucky to have David Wicks available to help you.

Permalink Reply by Cathy Swift on January 29, 2013 at 3:09pm

And congratulations to Janiess for being the first person in her community of practice at SPU to complete GRAPE Camp!r 

Permalink Reply by Karen Evans on January 25, 2013 at 6:51am

Hello,

My name is Karen Evans; I am an Instruction and Reference Librarian at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, IN.  I also serve as the Criminology and Criminal Justice Librarian.  I spent several years working for two law enforcement departments and I have a graduate degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice. 

Nice to meet everyone (electronically speaking).

Karen

 

Permalink Reply by Cathy Swift on January 28, 2013 at 8:31am

Welcome, Karen. We're happy you're willing to build up the Criminal Justice Editorial Board.

Permalink Reply by Tracy Williams on January 25, 2013 at 6:26pm

Hello, My name is Tracy Williams, and I am Chair of Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education at Seattle Pacific University. Thanks, Cathy for taking us on this journey!  I am looking forward to learning new things every day.  

I am primarily engaged in the further education of teachers who are in need of a master's degree, second level certification, or who are contemplating their future leadership roles in K-12 schools.  SPU just launched a new degree program in Teacher Leadership, and our first cohort is in the midst of a set of hybrid courses on How People Learn and Technology that supports learning.  The teachers and I are having a blast.  I think it is the best possible job as I get to team with a National Board Certificated school librarian who works in the district where the cohort works.  The degree is situated to take advantage of the best of the university resources as well as the world class university scholars.  I am humbled by the incredibly talented veteran professors that I get to learn from as well.  My teaching background is in secondary humanities and gifted education, though I took a particular liking to motivating non-readers to really read in 9th grade.  I spent a considerable number of years teaching and mentoring teachers in a school system in Washington's premier wine country, and then moved to another appellation where I partnered with school principals in improving student learning by increasing the capacity of the teachers and teacher leaders.  We hired and deployed nearly 50 math coaches and increased the student achievement in schools with high poverty faster than any other district in our state.  That said, though, I am committed to the slow mode of education reform - the one that believes that it is in the quality of the individuals who teach the children where a difference is made every day.  Increasing the capacity of educators is a slow, murky path, and is not for those who want instant results... it is not add hot water and stir (though I can point you to places where they have tried that strategy!) I am interested in how technology supports us as learners as we read and write, think and listen, compose and problem solve.  I want my technology to make my life a little more organized.  I want to use technology to connect with like minded people who are working on making their community schools the best places that they can be for both the kids and the adults who serve them.  I want technology to support my musings and data as I design and conduct scholarly research.  

Many of the classes in our new degree program are designed to utilize a hybrid approach to delivery, and the current C&I degree program is delivered totally online.  I am torn about the elements of teaching and learning online.  There are definite trade-offs for both faculty and students.  I've appreciated some of the flexibility while my 17 year old son is in high school.  I do however, think that I spend way more time preparing for my online courses with far less satisfaction on my part.  One of my recent grads implored me to keep the online program in place as she benefitted from the remote accessibility and is now fully engaged in a face to face doctoral program, and she makes a case for being well prepared for that transition.  While I continue to ponder this dilemma, I use Google Documents to partner with colleagues on state level projects and to organize the moms on our sons' swim team.  My students are avid bloggers, and I've picked my blog back up in the past two months, and was a serial tweeter on inauguration day.  I have a fairly interesting group of Twitter friends spanning some social media folks who introduced me to the principals, some technology and media friends who are always in the know, and a lot of colleagues and friends in the education community.  On occasion, I run a "Linda Darling Hammond for EdSec" campaign just because I think it is the right thing to do.  I still think that we can have better schools for all kids.  I am still working on that for my own son.  I want it for yours, too!

Permalink Reply by Cathy Swift on January 29, 2013 at 3:04pm

Hi, Tracy:

Thank you for the great information.  We're very happy to have another SPU person attend.  I think it will be very helpful to all the Seattle Pacific folks.  You can call on each other if needed.  Great!

Permalink Reply by Katie Larkin on January 26, 2013 at 12:09pm

Hello everyone!

My name is Katie Larkin and I'm going through the Grape Camp training asynchronously due to my teaching schedule.  I teach in the classroom at Sierra Nevada College in beautiful Lake Tahoe, NV.  I also taught on campus at Lake Tahoe Community College up until this quarter when I was offered a job teaching online for National University.  I will still continue with LTCC in the spring with some online courses.

Larry Green directed me to MERLOT in December and I've been pleasantly surprised with the site.  I've been surfing around on my own and cannot believe the amount of material!  My area of expertise is mathematics and statistics and I have already found many useful sites and material that I will try to incorporate into my teaching ASAP.

I look forward to becoming a peer reviewer and active member in MERLOT!

Cheers,

Katie

Permalink Reply by Cathy Swift on January 29, 2013 at 3:05pm

That's great, Katie.  I'm glad that Larry told you about MERLOT.  When you start doing Peer Reviews, you will be working with Larry.  I also hope you consider adding your own materials.  There are a lot of Math materials in MERLOT, so please use them.

Permalink Reply by David Wicks on January 26, 2013 at 12:57pm

Hi All,

 

My name is David Wicks. I am director of instructional technology at SPU and teach ed tech courses in the school of education. I have been involved with MERLOT for over a decade. Grape Camp did not exist back but Cathy has provided lots of great professional development over the years. I am attending GC now because we have started a community of practice at SPU around the topic of iPads in Education, and we are reviewing apps as part of that experience. I want to experience everything my colleagues are experiencing. My bio is here if you want to learn more about me. http://about.me/dwicks

 

Thanks,

 

David

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