May 2013 SLATE Meeting

This is a reminder that the next monthly SLATE meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 15th beginning at 10:00am and hosted by the College of Lake County. Meeting location coming soon. To give CLC time to prepare for our visit, please RSVP back to me by Monday, May 13th with the names of those that will be attending from your institution. Feel free to share this information with others, including faculty, that may be interested in this topic. See the information at the end of this message for location, directions, etc.

AGENDA
What do you do for Student (technology) Support ?
We seem to assume that students are very "tech savvy" when it comes to using technology. But what about using technology in a teaching and learning environment. Do they know how to use certain tools, how programs function, and best practices on their part. At this meeting, lets share what your institution does to support students in their use of technology, whether its the LMS, a specific program, any other technology programs. Do you provide training to students; do you provide written documentation or a knowledge base that they can access. What about off-hours support and help desk functions. Technology orientations - for credit...? Let's see what we are doing to assist students in these areas.

***** NOTE: THIS MEETING WILL NOT BE STREAMED *****

ADDITIONAL ITEMS OF NOTE ON UPCOMING EVENT IN CHICAGO

Dear SLATE members,

Blackboard is doing a series of one day events across North America looking to meet with technologists, educators and leaders that share our passion for making the educational experience the best it can be. Each stop is custom designed to the region, bringing a robust agenda full of dynamic speakers from the local area as well as updates and training directly from Blackboard staff.

There is an stop in Chicago coming up quickly at University of Illinois at Chicago - Student Center West on May 23^rd and SLATE will be supporting the event.

This is a FREE one-day event provides content and session tracks relevant for Sys Admins, Instructional Designers and Faculty or Teachers using Blackboard.

Click here to learn more about the Never Stop Learning Tour and to register for the event.

Klaire Marino

Senior Manager, Client Community

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MAPS & DIRECTIONS
Parking & Directions: http://www.clcillinois.edu/aboutclc/grayslake_directions.asp

April 2013 SLATE Meeting

This is a reminder that the next monthly SLATE meeting will be held next Wednesday, April 17th beginning at 10:00am and hosted by University of Illinois - Chicago. We will be meeting in COMRB (College of Medicine Research Building) 3175. The building is on Wolcott between Taylor on the South and Polk on the North. The room is on the third floor South end of the building (a great view). See additional information below.

To give UIC time to prepare for our visit, please RSVP back to me by Monday, April 15th with the names of those that will be attending from your institution. Feel free to share this information with others, including faculty, that may be interested in this topic. See the information at the end of this message for location, directions, etc.

AGENDA

What's All the Fuss about MOOC's

Originated around 2008 withing the open educational resources movement - massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aiming at large-scale interactive participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as videos, readings, and problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive user forums that help build a community for the students, professors, and TAs. MOOCs are a recent development in distance education and often use open educational resources. Typically they do not offer academic credit or charge tuition fees. Only about 10% of the tens of thousands of students who may sign up complete the course

Here first-hand, the experience of a student (Anna Brown) in a MOOC and also how an institution has approached developing and implementing a program. Have MOOC's gone through there "hype-cycle", are MOOC's here to stay, or is acedamia MOOC'd out.

NOTE: If your are unable to attend in person - the monthly SLATE meetings
are streamed live using Blackboard Collaborate.

To participate, visit: http://live.slategroup.org/ and enter your name to login.
Streaming will begin at approximately at 9:55am

ADDITIONAL ITEMS OF NOTE

- TBD
MAPS & DIRECTIONS
Driving:

1. Get off the Eisenhower at Damen.
2. Drive South (right) to Taylor.
3. Drive East (left) to Wood.
4. Drive South (right) half a block.
5. Turn right into the Wood Street Parking Structure (WSPS).

Walking to:

1. Walk out of the WSPS the way you came in (North).
2. Turn left and walk the sidewalk along the North side of the WSPS.
3. When you get to the corner of the WSPS (as well as to the corner of the building to your right), turn North (right).
4. Walk North across Taylor onto Wolcott.
5. Walk half a block up Wolcott to the COMRB.

Campus Map:

http://www.uic.edu/uic/about/visit/directions.shtml

March 2013 SLATE Meeting

This is a reminder that the next monthly SLATE meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 20th beginning at 10:00 am and hosted by Waubonsee Community College. We will be meeting in Bodie 150 on the Sugar Grove Campus. Map attached and below. To give Waubonsee time to prepare for our visit, please RSVP back to Ken Sadowski by Monday, March 18th with the names of those that will be attending from your institution. Feel free to share this information with others, including faculty, that may be interested in this topic. See the information at the end of this message for location, directions, etc.

AGENDA

Issues and Concerns of Accessibility to Technology in Teaching & Learning

This discussion and demonstration will center around the following:

1. ensuring that web technologies support accessibility
2. developing guidelines for accessibility
3. developing tools to evaluate and facilitate accessibility
4. conducting education and outreach
5. coordinating with research and development

NOTE: If your are unable to attend in person - the monthly SLATE meetings
are streamed live using Blackboard Collaborate.

To participate, visit: http://live.slategroup.org/ and enter your name to login.
Streaming will begin at approximately at 9:55am

ADDITIONAL ITEMS OF NOTE

- Topics for future meetings
- Suggestions for keynote speaker at SLATE 2013

MAPS & DIRECTIONS

Parking & Directions: http://www.waubonsee.edu/about/facilities/sugarGrove/directions/index.php

February 2013 SLATE Meeting

This is the a reminder that the next monthly SLATE meeting will be held Wednesday, February 20th beginning at 10:00am and hosted by The Adler School of Professional Psychology. So that is able to prepare for our visit, please RSVP back to me by Friday, February 15th with the names of those that will be attending from your institution. Feel free to share this information with others, including faculty, that may be interested in this topic. See the information at the end of this message for location, directions, etc.

AGENDA

Best Practice for using Technology in Online or Hybrid Classes

In this open discussion and informational sharing session, we would like to hear from institutions on how they support, maintain, and implement teaching technologies on campus. Of particular interest will be finding out what teaching technologies are used on your campus and have been embraced by faculty (we will take the LMS off the table as a given). What services are provided to faculty on using these technologies? Who are the early-adopters of these technologies and/or the heavy hitters? Does the approach and support of using these technologies differ in traditional vs. online classes. Can we come up with a best practices document that can be shared by all?

NOTE: If your are unable to attend in person - the monthly SLATE meetings
are streamed live using Blackboard Collaborate.

To participate, visit: http://live.slategroup.org and enter your name to login.
Streaming will begin at approximately at 9:55am

ADDITIONAL ITEMS OF NOTE
- Topics for future meetings
- Early-bird registration for BbWorld 2013 now open
- Suggestions for keynote speaker at SLATE 2013
- Engaging faculty in SLATE. What do we need to do

MAPS & DIRECTIONS

The Adler School of Professional Psychology is located at:

17 North Dearborn, 15th Floor

Chicago, IL 60602

for additional information: 312.662.4000

January 2013 SLATE Meeting

We don't do it very often, but yes, we are meeting in January this year. Note a change in the day and date.

So, this is the a reminder that the next monthly SLATE meeting will be held Tuesday, January 15th beginning at 10:00am and hosted by Naperville SD 203. So that Napervill SD 203 is able to prepare for our visit, please RSVP back to Ken Sadowski by Friday, January 11th with the names of those that will be attending from your institution. Feel free to share this information with others, including faculty, that may be interested in this topic. We will be meeting in the Central Administration Building, located at 203 West Hillside Road, Naperville, IL., in Conference room A. Additional information, directions, parking info, at the end of this message.

AGENDA

Canvas - by Instructure - Paint by Number Demo

In August of last year, Naperville School District 203 selected Canvas from Instructure as its new, modern learning platform for all its elementary, middle and high schools. Canvas provides improved collaboration between students and teachers and a way for teachers to deliver media-rich lessons and assessments to students. Naperville SD 203 opted against a traditional evaluation process and chose an all-inclusive approach, involving input from parents, students, teachers and staff.

“We chose Canvas to meet the broad educational needs from across the school district,” said John David Son, Director of Instructional Technology at Naperville Community Unit District 203. “We looked at Canvas from every direction and followed a collaborative process that involved many groups of people before making our selection.”

At this meeting Naperville SD 203 will share the rest of their story as well as provide a demo and discussion of Canvas. Account Managers from Instructure will be on hand to answer questions and provide insights to the product and support models.

(Instructure is a technology company committed to improving education. We provide instructors and students modern tools and resources to empower the learning experience. Founded by graduate students in collaboration with educational institutions, Instructure provides Canvas the open, easy-to-use, cloud-native learning platform).

NOTE: If your are unable to attend in person - the monthly SLATE meetings are streamed live using Blackboard Collaborate.

To participate, visit: http://live.slategroup.org and enter your name to login. Streaming will begin at approximately at 9:55am


ADDITIONAL ITEMS OF NOTE

- Still looking for a couple institutions that can host a meeting. Also, what do you want to talk about. Topics that we would like to discuss.
- Thank you to our friends at Instructure for providing lunch.


MAPS & DIRECTIONS

People should park in the parking lot just West of the building. The lot is between the football field and the Central Administration Building. They should enter door one by the flagpole and we will be in Conference room A inside the front door.

For maps & directions, search for: Naperville Community Unit School District 203, 203 West Hillside Road, Naperville, IL

December 2012 SLATE Meeting

This is the a reminder that the next monthly SLATE meeting will be held Wednesday, December 19th beginning at 10:00am and hosted by Chicago State University. So that CSU is able to prepare for our visit, please RSVP back to Ken Sadowski by Monday, December 17th with the names of those that will be attending from your institution. Feel free to share this information with others, including faculty, that may be interested in this topic. We will be meeting in the Library Sun Room (4th floor) - which is in the library. Additional information, directions, parking info, at the end of this message.

AGENDA

Using e-Portfolios in an Integrative Environment

Come join in this forum as we discus the 5 W's of ePortfolio usage: Who is currently using ePortfolios; What is an ePortfolio; Where are they used at your institution; When do they make the most impact; and Why use them. Hopefully these questions will allow for a general overview of ePortfolios as pedagogy and technology, discussion of how ePortfolios are being used at different institutions (or how they would like them to be used), and a sense of where the SLATE membership is in terms of using ePortfolios so that we can support each other. Additionally, there will be a demonstration of Mahara - an open source e-Portfolio and social networking software.

IN ADDITION

As has become the tradition at our December meetings, there will be time for friendship and fun. Once again we will be having our "white elephant" gift exchange during lunch. Wikipedia describes it pretty well, but for those who are unfamiliar... a white elephant gift exchange is as follows: each participant supplies one wrapped gift which is typically inexpensive (under $10), humorous, and can be new or used. Each person takes turns picking a gift. When all gifts are chosen, gifts are opened one at a time, and the "stealing" begins. You have to be there to experience the rest. I hope everyone will participate.

NOTE: If your are unable to attend in person - the monthly SLATE meetings are streamed live using Blackboard Collaborate.

To participate, visit: http://live.slategroup.org and enter your name to login. Streaming will begin at approximately at 9:55am

ADDITIONAL ITEMS OF NOTE
- the newly formed Moodle SIG will meet after lunch for anyone who is interested
- Still looking for a couple institutions that can host a meeting. Also, what do you want to talk about. Topics that we would like to discuss.

MAPS & DIRECTIONS

Here's a link to a map and parking directions: www.csu.edu/locator.

Hosting SLATE Group Meetings in 2013

Dear SLATE Community,

As we continue to plan for 2013, I am still looking for institutions that are able to host one of our monthly meetings. All we need is a room - to accommodate about 30 - and a wired internet connection so we can stream the meeting. If you are able to provide refreshments in the morning and/or lunch that is a bonus but not a requirement.

If you are able to host please send me your first and second choice. Meetings are usually the third Wednesday of the month but we can adjust for schedules, semester breaks, holidays, etc.

We are also looking for suggestions for topics at these meetings. Anything that is important or timely to you or your organization s great. And just because you suggest doesn't mean you have to present... Please let me know as soon as possible so I can get the schedule together. Thanks to those already have offered.

Look for details about our December meeting at Chicago State coming soon.

Ken
ken@slategroup.org