Distance Learning Workshop at WCC

I’m presenting a workshop on the various uses of Blogging, Youtube and Itunes in online instruction. I will be blogging this presentation as I go this afternoon. I’ll  also take a few photos and post them as the workshop progresses. This is first in a series of workshops I’ll be giving on this topic in the coming months thanks to a Tech Center grant from the state and Wayne Community College.

I have a very motivated and creative group of educators in my workshop today. They are all creating  Blogs and  posting their initial welcomes, in addition to adding pictures and videos from the web. The main point I like to get across in my workshops is that it’s NOT only about learning HOW to harness and incorporate these powerful tools (rich media) into our online classe – that’s is the easy part. Online instructors just have to sit and spend some time learning WordPress or copy and pasting YouTube embedding codes into their blogs and/or online classes. The real challenge for educators is making rich media content i.e. podcasts, enhanced podcasts and video  viable supplements and enhancements in their online classes. Sure its cool to put some videos in our online classes, but is learning truly occurring because of it? Is rich media a catalyst for engaging our students and connecting with multiple learning styles we have to address and meet.  We also need to be thinking of new and innovative ways to assess the impact rich media content has on the online learning experience. So hopefully I planted some seeds and sparked some interest in getting WCC faculty to explore and investigate Blogging, YouTube and Itunes as a viable compliment and enhancement to  their online courses.

Randall and Michelle blogging up a storm

Workshop Participants Create Blogs and Embed Videos into their online classes