What did I find the most useful/helpful from the ANGEL user conference....hmmm. Like both Cindi and Carrie, I found some sessions more tailored to my needs and my expertise level and other sessions less interesting. I found myself in at least one session that was way too techie for me and at least one session that was more basic than I needed. The most helpful info I gleaned at the conference was about the changes coming in 7.2, the templates Carrie referred to in the Penn State presentation, and the West Texas A&M Mentoring model.
The updates coming in version 7.2 look to be a great addition to our CMS. I especially am anxious to learn more about the wikis, blogs, and podcast area. I really like the idea of having the option to allow students unlimited quiz retakes to achieve mastery. I think I may try this with grammar basic skills. I think having the new mail interface (looking more like Outlook) and the capability of having all courses in one mail server will help with time management. I am sure there will be many more features of 7.2 that I will use and appreciate, but these were the features that I have in my notes.
Speaking of notes....I will upload some of my notes from the conference in the next few days.
The Penn State presentation showed a template with navigation that a team of designers (yes, I said designers) create for the instructor. (yes, designers create the ANGEL site....not the instructor) My notes from this presentation are voluminous! I would like to develop a template that includes a table of contents for the site, a "meet the instructor" page that includes a short video of me introducing myself and the course, a contents navigation menu for each unit, and navigation buttons for forward, backward, and home. I have BIG plans for ways I want to use the information from this session! I do believe it will take a fair amount of time to set up the template, but in the long run the template should save me time.
The West Texas A&M mentoring model is a 7-step program for mentoring a new user in ANGEL. During discussion in the van on the way home from Indianapolis, we talked about our responsibility to the college after attending this conference, and I believe we all have the responsibility to help others use the ANGEL CMS. I don't know if the college will institute any mentoring system at all, but I hope that each of us that attended will be open to helping anyone that asks for assistance. The West Texas A&M model included an online mentoring for adjuncts. I may attempt to set up an online mentoring program for adjuncts....I still need to think about this and plan how it would work, but I am sure it would be beneficial if I can get it started.
Right now I am energized to put into practice some of what we saw at the conference. This next week is when I hope to dedicate 15-20 hours of intense ANGEL time. I hope to get a start at the template and create a document for summer ANGEL orientation. When I get this handout created for the May 31 orientation, I will share it with you.
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It seems like we all came back with similar thoughts. I am looking forward to 7.2 also for similar reasons, but especially the email improvements. I am not good about using Angel email. I am making a vow to change my ways this summer. Even though with 3 sections online it will be quite a challenge.
I want to mention that Carol and I heard one of the founders of Wiki talk at the WCET conference in Portland last November. We were both amazed. It is an incredible resource that changes and responds to new info and is ACCURATE.
There was a study published in Science (I think) where a study was done to compare the accuracy of wiki to peer reviewed articles. They found an average of 2-3 mistakes in peer reviewed articles and 3-4 in wiki! My notes on the WCET conference can be found on the U drive under WCET conference.
The WCET conference was very much geared for administrators (system and college level), but was one of the most valuable, forward thinking and eye-opening conferences I have ever attended. So that made the Angel conference even more disappointing for me, because a conference geared for techs clearly does not have to be nearly a desert for faculty.
One of the points made about wiki is that when everyone is a critic and can challenge or change anything (well almost anything) the information tends to be a bit more balanced because if you don't write fairly and reasonably your critics will have it removed or changed.
Has anyone received info about links to notes for the Angel conference? I didn't take notes as I typically do at conferences because I thought that most of the info I would want was in the presentations. This is largely due to the fact that much of the info was too far on one side or the other - too technical or too simplistic - as Nancy said, or simply reinforced what I already thought. But the way Angel could be used with adaptive release for orientation purposes was powerful!
I see a need for two levels of orientation. One to help students evaluate if online education is appropriate for them and one to get them quickly up to speed on Angel. What do the rest of you think?
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