Organizational Learning's News YOU Can Use, April 9, 2007

A weekly e-newsletter from CNM's Organizational Learning Division with training and development ideas and opportunities for all employees

 

"It's not what is poured into a student, but what is planted."
--Linda Conway
 

April 9 Issue: Table of Contents

  • Making the Move to Hybrid Courses:  A new course for faculty who want to blend online and face-to-face learning in their courses
  • End-of-term test ideas:  "Allaying Students' Anxieties about Tests"
  • Last week's Blackboard tutorial: A caveat
  • At-your-desk learning: Multimedia PowerPoint tutorials--from basics to advanced
  • Productivity primer: "4 Ways to Take Control of Your E-Mail Inbox" 
  • Preview Apr. 9-14 training events and learnshops
  • Preview Apr. 16-21 training events and learnshops
  • This week's joke

4 Making the Move to Hybrid Courses:  A new course for faculty who want to blend online and face-to-face learning in their courses

Organizational Learning offers a new course that begins in the Summer term called "Making the Move to Hybrid Courses."  Participants in this new course will "experience 'hybrid' learning and explore new opportunities in both blended and distance education," according to Bill Meador, designer and facilitator. 

 

Two sections--one on the Main Campus and one at JMMC--will be offered, but only 20 seats are available per section, so Bill recommends that you sign up right away if you want to take one of these sections.  Part-time instructors who register will be paid for attending the five on-campus class meetings.

 

To learn more about this course, view this brochure (Word file) or this informative webpage on the Organizational Learning site.

 

Register for either section of this course on this webpage: http://planet.cnm.edu/orglearn/Institute/2007Spring/calendar_registration.htm  

 

4 End-of-term test ideas:  "Allaying Students' Anxieties about Tests"

"Anxiety can interfere with students' performance on tests. You can reduce students' anxiety and enhance their performance by taking care in how you prepare students for an exam, how you administer and return the test, and how you handle makeup tests. All students, but especially freshmen and sophomores, can benefit from knowing what they will be asked to do on an exam and under what conditions. Students will also feel more relaxed and less intimidated if you provide reassurance and encouragement rather than dire warnings about a test's difficulty. The suggestions below are designed to help you prepare your students to do their best on tests."  From the Tools for Teaching website:

http://teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/allay.html

 

4 Last week's Blackboard tutorial: A caveat

The "excellent Blackboard tutorial" linked in last week's newsletter features screen images of an older version of Blackboard, not the latest CE 6 version that CNM distance learning instructors will be using beginning this summer.  This caution comes from Donna Harrington, BIT instructor who also facilitates learnshops to help CNM distance learning faculty move from WebCT to Blackboard CE 6.  Donna points out that "the screens are different" and is concerned that this will cause confusion for some instructors.

So, here's the caveat:  if you use this tutorial, be aware that the screen shots show an older version of Blackboard. But the tutorial is still an excellent resource for those who want to consider how the tools that come with a course management system such as Blackboard can help improve online learning. It isn't a how-to-use-Blackboard tutorial but rather a how-to-facilitate-learning-online tutorial:
http://blackboardsupport.calpoly.edu/content/faculty/main_pedagog.html

4At-your-desk learning:  Multimedia PowerPoint tutorials--from basics to advanced

Sonia Coleman has made these PowerPoint tutorials freely available on her website.  If you need a patient instructor to talk you through the use of PowerPoint's tools--and to show you with clear graphics just what to do--these tutorials may be a good way for you to learn this software.

http://www.soniacoleman.com/Tutorials/tutorials.htm

4Productivity Primer:  "4 Ways to Take Control of Your E-Mail Inbox"
Sally McGhee, consultant and productivity expert writes: "No doubt you've opened an e-mail and thought, 'Hmmm, not sure what to do with this. I'll deal with it later!'—and promptly closed the message. If you do this over and over again, it doesn't take long to end up with several hundred (or thousand) messages in your Inbox." 

"Developing a new approach to processing your Inbox will help you to gain more control, improve your response time, and keep up with critical actions and due dates."
http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/manageinfo/email.mspx 

4Preview April 9-14 training events and learnshops
The following events are scheduled for the week of April 9-14. View complete details and register for these events on this webpage: http://planet.cnm.edu/orglearn/Institute/2007Spring/calendar_registration.htm

 Thursday, Apr. 12

  • Access: Intermediate (Main)
  • Student Employee Supervisor Training  (Main)

4Preview April 16-21 training events and learnshops
The following events are scheduled for the week of April 16-21. View complete details and register for these events on this webpage: http://planet.cnm.edu/orglearn/Institute/2007Spring/calendar_registration.htm

 Tuesday, Arp. 17

  • Outlook, Part 3 (Workforce Training Center)
  • Ergonomic Training (Main)
  • Student Employee Supervisor Training (Main)

 Wednesday, Arp. 18

  • Digital Visual Resources for Instruction 3: Creating Visual Presentations for Instruction (Main)

 Thursday, Apr. 19

  • Access: Advanced (Main)

 Friday, Apr. 20 

  • Hazard Communication (Main)

4Joke of the week
Q: What washes up on very tiny beaches?
A:  Microwaves.

Q: What is the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
A: One has strings, the other has strangs.

If you need help to register or find out more about Organizational Learning events, contact Jean Montaño at 224-4400 or by email: jmontano@cnm.edu.