Campus Notice

Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning launches brown bag lunch series to strengthen distance faculty learning community

From: Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning

In an effort to create a stronger learning community for online and distance faculty to share best practice information, the Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning (IDDL) is launching a series of brown bag lunch discussions, beginning with three for the Fall 2009 semester. The discussions are open to any faculty member currently teaching online courses or anyone interested in learning more about distance education.

“I am excited to see what can happen when faculty who are interested in sharing online teaching and learning experiences come together to learn from one another,” says Aaron Bond, eLearning faculty development and support specialist and coordinator of the workshops. “This is an opportunity for all online educators and those interested in online education to discuss successful practices and methods used to facilitate learning throughout Virginia Tech’s electronic campus.”

The brown bag sessions will be led by eLearning faculty members who will share their online teaching experiences and success stories in an effort to create greater synergy among the distance faculty learning community. All of the workshops will be held from 12-1 p.m. in the conference room of the University Gateway Center, located at 902 Prices Fork Road.

The workshop dates and topics are as follows:

Teaching the Adult Learner
Wednesday, September 16th
Faculty Facilitator: Jane Falls, administrator for the Online Instructional Technology Master of Arts program, will facilitate a discussion on how to best create an online community for both traditional and non-traditional students.

Effectively Communicating Course Expectations:
Providing Specificity in the Online Course
Thursday, October 15th
Faculty Facilitator: Doug Pfeiffer, program director for the Online Masters of Agriculture and Life Sciences curriculum, will describe his experiences in online education and ways he provides specificity in his course.

Collaborative Writing in the Online Course:
Using Wikis to Enhance Student Learning
Wednesday, November 11th
Faculty Facilitator: Jim Collier, associate professor of English, will share ways to make classes more interactive through tools that facilitate collaborative learning, such as his experience with wikis.

Find more information about the brown bag discussions or to register

IDDL also hosts faculty development workshops each semester, with the focus this semester on course development, delivery considerations, and strategies for teaching distance learning courses via synchronous and asynchronous methods. Participants will have opportunities to use a variety of instructional tools and course development software that facilitate the process of delivering instruction at a distance.

Topics within the Fall track include creating online presentations; using online meeting spaces for office hours, group meetings, and lectures; creating accessible multimedia; and online interaction strategies.

Find more information about the workshop topics or to register

Contact Aaron Bond at mabond@vt.edu or call (540) 231-1832.

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