2:05 p.m., March 2, 2010----The University of Delaware Learning Management System Committee, a 41-member University-wide committee whose members are ambassadors to their departments regarding the use of Sakai@UD, held its spring meeting on Feb. 23 at a luncheon in the Trabant University Center.

THIS STORY

E-mail

Print

Twitter

Deputy Provost Havidán Rodríguez welcomed the participants and thanked them for their work on the committee and in their departments. He spoke about how Sakai enhances teaching and learning and allows increased communication between students and faculty.

The good news, according to Rodríguez, is that no courses remain on MyCourses (WebCT) for the spring semester. This puts the project four months ahead of its original deadline.

Mathieu Plourde, IT Client Support and Services, elaborated on the Sakai@UD project timeline. This spring, there are 1226 Sakai@UD courses, representing 40 percent of all University rosters, Plourde said.

He also spoke about the Sakai@UD Guest Management System that will empower faculty and staff to give access to their sites to external contributors. This welcome addition to Sakai@UD will prevent bottlenecks in having guest accounts created.

Following Plourde's talk, Kathy Pusecker, associate director of the Office of Educational Assessment, thanked IT Client Support and Services for their support of the recent e-portfolio grant process. Twelve projects were awarded grants to deploy e-portfolios that will enable students to reflect on their work, showcase their best artifacts, and allow the University to gather data on the achievement of our general education and programmatic goals. The ultimate goal is to make portfolios a tool that the entire University community can use.

The spring meeting featured presentations by three faculty members who use Sakai@UD to enhance their students' learning in interesting ways.

Bob Hodson, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, explained his novel use of Sakai@UD's Tests and Quizzes tool to increase dialog in his class. Hodson said that he asks students to read the material prior to coming to class and to submit a question in advance for which they will be responsible for providing the answer. He then arranges the submitted questions according to the topics in that week's chapter. The questions provide a framework for in-class discussion. This process enables just-in-time teaching and makes the students active participants during the face-to-face time, letting them teach their peers.

Gabriele Bauer, associate director of the Center for Educational Effectiveness, demonstrated her use of Sakai@UD forums in the Higher Education Teaching Certification program. Forums help to integrate course content and reading with teaching practice, extend communication, and help students articulate their approaches to teaching, Bauer said.

Fred Hofstetter, professor in the School of Education, demonstrated his use of the Dimdim, web conferencing software that allows a presentation to be shared from one computer to multiple locations without any software installation. From a link on Hofstetter's Sakai@UD course page, students can access the web-conferencing tool and participate face-to-face in class even if they are at remote locations. A chat room and audio capabilities allow them to communicate with the rest of the class. Hofstetter said that using this tool has changed the dynamics in his class and has been welcomed by those who would otherwise have to travel a great distance to be present.

Janet de Vry, IT Client Support and Services, concluded the meeting by reminding participants of the Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award. Offered by the Sakai Foundation to faculty using the Sakai collaboration and learning environment in their classes, this award honors successful pedagogical innovation and best practices in teaching and learning. Winners will receive a trip to the 11th Sakai Conference, June 14-17, in Denver, Colo., to give a featured presentation about their teaching with Sakai. The submission deadline is March 15.

The meeting was recorded using the UD Capture classroom capture system.