Chat, Chow & Web 2.0

The next Chat, Chow & Web 2.0, hosted by the Fitzgerald Library, Information Technology, and Instructional Technology, will be held noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19. Meet in the main lounge of the McEnery Center. Lunch will be provided and RSVPs are appreciated to jspartz@smumn.edu.

In this session, titled “Talk to Me,” two faculty members enlist the power of social media technologies to promote engaged student response.  Lisa Truax (Art) will share her experiences with Flipgrid, a video response tool, and Janel Schultz (Math) will talk about how she is using Poll Everywhere, the classroom response system that incorporates mobile devices.

Chat, Chow & Web 2.0

The next Chat, Show & Web 2.0, hosted by the Fitzgerald Library, Information Technology, and Instructional Technology, will be held noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6. Meet in the main lounge of the McEnery Center. Lunch will be provided and RSVPs are appreciated to jspartz@smumn.edu.

The title of the presentation will be “Just Flip It, Flip It.” Weary of your sage on the stage role? Struggling to keep wired students engaged? Maybe you’re ready to flip the classroom.  Dr. Janelle Schultz and Dr. Kristen Selke from the Mathematics Department have done just that, and they will describe their experiment in this session and provide you with ideas for flipping your classes. 

Spartz quoted in AV Technology magazine

Jason Spartz, director of instructional technology, was quoted in the November issue of AV Technology magazine which is a publication for technology managers and users.  The article is titled “Top Ten Tips for New Tech Managers.”

Spartz presents at national conferences

Jason Spartz, director of Instructional Technology for the College, attended the annual EDUCAUSE conference in Anaheim, Calif.

Tegrity, a leading class capture company, recruited Spartz to provide daily presentations at the Tegrity booth regarding Saint Mary’s use of class capture technology. Spartz also took part in a planning meeting as a program committee member for the EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference 2011, which will take place in March.

Spartz also participated in the Consortium of College and University Media Centers (CCUMC) annual conference in Buffalo, N.Y. While there, he moderated a panel discussion on “Successful Applications of Videoconferencing in Education” and presented a session titled “5Ts: An Online Learning Gateway at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.” This session covered many of the lessons learned from a Department of Education funded grant initiative that supports Teachers Teaching Teachers through Technology (5Ts). This two-year grant program is now in its second year.

Spartz appointed director of Instructional Technology

Jason Spartz has been appointed the new director of Instructional Technology, replacing Dr. Chad Kjorlien. He began working in his new position on July 15 and is now located in Saint Mary’s Hall, Room 126B.

Please welcome Spartz in his new position and feel free to visit with him about needs and ideas for improving instructional capacity at the university.

Don Cisewski has taken over Spartz’s responsibilities. Please contact the Helpdesk for audio and video technology requests.

Spartz to present in Chicago

Jason Spartz, Information Technology Manager – Multimedia Systems will give a presentation on Tuesday, March 16, at the EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference in Chicago. The presentation topic is titled “Chat, Chow, and Web 2.0: Nourishing the Teaching and Learning Community.” Additional conference information can be found at http://net.educause.edu/mwrc10. Spartz has also accepted an invitation to participate on the planning committee for the EDUCAUSE 2011 Midwest Regional Conference which will be held March 14 -16, 2011 in Chicago.

Go to Educause 2009 without leaving campus

On Nov. 4-6, faculty and staff are invited to join members of the Saint Mary's Information Technology Department at EDUCAUSE 2009 Online, a virtual conference for IT professionals in higher education that explores the key issues impacting our institutions today, from understanding emerging technologies to the role that IT can play in developing collaborative, transformative learning environments.

The online conference includes a series of virtual presentations, including keynote addresses from Lawrence Lessig, Brenda Gourley, and Brad Wheeler, expert discussion sessions and streamed point/counterpoint sessions.

Participants will be watching the presentations as a group; however, there are opportunities to interact with fellow participants through chat and discussion boards, helping to drive home key ideas and lay the groundwork for future collaborations.

Saint Mary's Hall Room 8 (Training Lab) has been reserved for this event. The conference will run from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 4-5, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6.

Full schedule details are located at www.educause.edu/E2009/Online/Program. Note that the times on the web agenda are all listed in Mountain Time.

While participants are welcome to come and go as the topics you are interested in arise, please note that only one presentation can be viewed at a time.

If you are interested in a particular session, contact Sarah Bearbower (sbearbow@smumn.edu) with that information. All sessions will be recorded and available after the Educause Online event.

Spartz, Bearbower present iT poster session

Jason Spartz and Sarah Bearbower, iT, presented a poster session at the Educause Midwest Regional Conference in Chicago on March 21. The topic was titled “Tracking Transformative Change with Classroom Capture at a Liberal Arts Institution.” The presentation content was co-created with Dr. Chad Kjorlien.

The presentation was well-received by many. Gib Smart from Tegrity relayed comments from Dr. Kelly Wilkinson (director, Center for Instruction, Research, and Technology at Indiana State University) saying “she was raving about you guys, was very impressed…” while Bryon Glock, (IT director at Western Michigan University) said “Saint Mary’s has had some great presentations the past two years. Keep it up!”

SMU student receives Ipod Nano in Tegrity survey

Chad Kjorlien, director of Instructional Technology, presents an Ipod Nano to SMU student Matthew Pierskalla. Pierskalla won the Ipod in a drawing from Tegrity for filling out a survey.



SMU student Matthew Pierskalla was presented with an Ipod Nano for completing a Tegrity survey. Sixty students from SMU participated in Tegrity’s survey, and another survey — and giveaway — are planned for the end of fall semester.

Kjorlien co-writes article about Tegrity*

Chad Kjorlien, director of instructional technology, co-wrote a Tegrity bulletin, “Mobile Learning Technology: Aligning Mission with Motivation,” that was published through Educause Center for Applied Research on April 10. The link to this article is: www.educause.edu/content.asp?page_id=666&ID=ERB0708&bhcp=1. Contact Kjorlien for the user name and password to view the bulletin. SMU is a subscribing organization. The ECAR research bulletin was announced to more than 10,000 individuals at more than 400 higher education institutions.

Kjorlien writes online article about Tegrity*

Chad Kjorlien, director of instructional technology, wrote an article for the TLT (Teaching, Learning and Technology) Group titled “Evaluation of a Pilot Test of a new Technology for Faculty” in F-Light. View his article in this free online publication that features studies related to educational uses of technology at: www.tltgroup.org/n_flashlight/Eval-
CaseStudies/Kjorlien-eval_technology_pilot.htm.

A more detailed case study will be published online through Educause Center for Applied Research on April 10.