Blended Learning Symposium Oct. 17

04 Oct 2013    

This year’s Blended Learning Symposium will “walk the talk” with three outcome-driven sessions prefaced with brief asynchronous online front-loading activities designed to maximize the dialogue during the face-to-face sessions on October 17.

The sessions will be facilitated by Francine Glazer, assistant provost and director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the New York Institute of Technology. Glazer is a biologist by training and has been actively working with faculty members on teaching and learning since 1993. Her current areas of interest include use of educational technologies to promote active learning, work-life balance, faculty learning communities, new faculty mentoring, and online and blended learning. She is the author of numerous articles and the editor of "Blended Learning: Across the Disciplines, Across the Academy."

SESSIONS
9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
STEM-FOCUSED: Blended Learning, Better Learning

In this session, we will look at key considerations in adapting content-rich courses in science, engineering, mathematics, or technology to a blended environment, with particular focus on what happens in the classroom, when the students come in with more familiarity with the content.

At the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• identify ways a blended format can enhance student learning in their discipline
• identify key considerations before taking the plunge
• plan their first steps in converting a face-to-face course to a blended format
• adapt interactive structures for use in the face-to-face portion of a blended course

11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
LUNCHEON: Create Time, Create Conversation, Create Depth

Not ready to take the plunge? Explore some approaches you can use to "get your toes wet" and see how blended learning might work in your discipline to engage students and promote deeper learning.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• identify benefits of a blended format in enhancing student learning
• use one or two simple active learning structures in class
• create a model for “dipping their toes in the water”

1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE: Building Courses in a Learning Community

Participants will design the structure of a year-long faculty learning community, set goals for their own course redesign projects, and create a timeline for their shared work to integrate blended learning throughout the curriculum.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:explain the principles and benefits of a successful faculty learning community

• identify resources and commitments required
• create a process for selecting suitable projects
• identify a potential curriculum, timeline, and structure for a faculty learning community
• integrate lessons learned from a successful New York Institute of Technology faculty learning community

Questions

If you have questions, please contact Sydney Brown (Blended Learning) at sbrown3@unl.edu or 472-5204 Beverly Russell (Distance Learning) at brussell1@unl.edu or 472-4358.