2008 Hands-On Technology Workshops
Workshop Descriptions
Below are detailed descriptions of the professional development workshops that the CTL is offering in August and September. CTL workshops are open to all DU instructors, staff and graduate teaching assistants. If the offerings listed below do not meet your needs, the CTL staff are available to meet one-on-one with DU faculty and staff any time of year. Please call x12084 to schedule an appointment.
Educational Technologies: A demonstration of three online applications (45 minutes)
Have you heard? The CTL supports many educational technologies and they are all free for you to use. Our clever programmers have developed several programs just for the DU community – and that includes you! Here’s your chance to get a brief overview of two of our favorites: DU VAGA and Portfolio. CTL also employs gifted Blackboard trainers and support staff so we’re adding a brief overview of Blackboard to this presentation. Come to this short demonstration and see what we have to offer!
CTL Open Labs
Drop by the CTL to learn about the many educational technology
tools available to DU faculty members (Blackboard, DU VAGA, DU Portfolio, Clickers,
and more). Demonstrations, Q&A, and one-on-one support will be provided.
September 2 - September 5, 2-4 PM each day, CTL Conference Room, Penrose Library,
Room 323. Registration is not required.
Design Your Online Portfolio in Minutes Hands-on Workshop(1 Hour)
Do you want a professional and robust presence on the web without using web-design software or knowing behind-the-scenes code? Is it hard to find time to work on your personal website, or do you run into technical problems with your software that prevent you from moving forward? In this hands-on workshop, you will create a web presence – called a personal portfolio – using the University of Denver’s Portfolio Community. You are encouraged to bring a variety of electronic items (documents, digital photos, and presentations) to the workshop. Want to see some portfolios before you register? Visit the University of Denver’s Portfolio Community website at http://portfolio.du.edu and do a search using keywords or last names, or check out one of the featured portfolios.
DU VAGA (Media Repository) Hands-on Workshop (1 Hour)
DU VAGA is a web-based system for finding, organizing, and delivering high
quality images, audio recordings, and video clips. In this hands-on workshop
you will learn how to use some of DU VAGA’s tools to create presentations
that contain both images and video.
What can you do with DU VAGA?
- Create high quality image, audio, and video presentations.
- Use copyright-sensitive media in a fair-use setting.
- Display video clips in a Blackboard course.
- Upload personal images, audio recordings, and video clips into a gallery.
- Import external video clips into a gallery from video-sharing services like YouTube and Google Video.
- Use a standard computer microphone to add voice narration to a gallery item.
- Create a gallery discussion board.
Blackboard hands-on computer workshop descriptions
Blackboard Courseware Basics (1.5 Hours)
This hands-on workshop is designed for instructors, graduate assistants, and staff with limited or no prior Blackboard experience. Learn the fundamentals of teaching with Blackboard including how to:
• add and manage content.
• use the communication tools.
• customize your Blackboard course container.
• manage your Blackboard course (course copy, archiving, course display, etc.).
Note: You will have an opportunity to upload course materials to your own Blackboard course container during the workshop so plan to bring electronic copies of your syllabus and other documents that you plan to post online.
Blackboard Refresher/Roundtable (1 Hour)
Are you an experienced Blackboard instructor who wants to learn about some of the new
tools in Blackboard such as the Performance Dashboard, Wikis and Voice Announcements? If so, join us for this interactive workshop. Instructors will be encouraged to share tips and best practices for teaching with Blackboard. We will also review some of the new tools and building blocks recently added to Blackboard during this session.
Blackboard Communication Tools (1 Hour)
This hands-on workshop will review the collaboration and communication tools available in Blackboard. Participants who attend this workshop will learn how to use the following tools:
- Announcements
- Messages
- Discussion Board
- Blackboard Group Pages
- Wimba Live Classroom
- Blackboard Virtual Classroom/Chat Tools
- Wikis & Blogs
Blackboard Gradebook (1 Hour)
This hands-on workshop is recommended for instructors who want to learn how to use the online gradebook in Blackboard. Instructors will learn how to:
- add and modify gradebook items
- post student grades
- download the Blackboard gradebook
- use the Blackboard assignment manager
- manage and navigate the Blackboard gradebook
Blackboard Wikis & Blogs(1 Hour)
Learn to use Blackboard's interactive wiki and blog tools. Wikis allow students
to create online, collaborative websites without knowing a web programming language
or using a web design software. Blogs are online journals with reflective entries
about a particular subject such as urban development, global warming, or 20th
century literature. Both wikis and blogs include text, images, multimedia, and
links to other websites.