BuzzLion for week of March 2

Posted on March 7, 2008 
Filed Under BuzzLion

Spring Break is right around the corner, although the weather has been anything but spring-like. Most people think of spring as a time of rebirth and growing, but ETS is like a heated greenhouse for innovation - it keeps growing no matter what the temperature is outside (although we hold many, many fewer discussions outside leaning on the garden wall at the Rider Building). Before we head off to our Spring Break destination (BuzzLion is going to Port Matilda, the beach is fabulous this time of year), here is the BuzzLion for the week of March 2….

Just THREE more weeks to the March 29 Penn State Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology, an event that ETS staff has a large role in planning and organizing. Since Web 2.0 continues to be a major player in educational technology, a lot of the Symposium “hype” is generated via Web 2.0 tools. For example, there is a Symposium Facebook group. By all means, feel free to join. The Symposium site includes a blog. As you may have already heard, registration for the Symposium is full, but BuzzLion recommends going to the blog before and after the event. The blog will have posts on the different sessions, videos, podcasts, etc. Of course, not as good as being there, but valuable never the less. If you would like to see what will go on at the Symposium, Allan Gyorke of ETS posted the Attendee Guide to the Symposium Blog.

Jeff Swain, instructional designer, recently traveled to the Committee on Institutional Cooperation’s (CIC) Learning Technology meeting in Indianapolis. He talked about his experience in his blog.

One thing that should make all of Penn State proud is Jeff found that other Big Ten schools are watching what we are doing here at ETS with great interest. On the other hand, Jeff also learned some things from talking to his peers at these other schools, about what they are doing, similar challenges they face, etc. It’s well worth clicking on the above link and reading more. Jeff also included two podcast interviews he conducted with people he met at the event. Truly a multimedia experience.

Cole Camplese, ETS director, has recently rediscovered Twitter, the mini-blog of sorts that has been around now for a few years. Cole discusses how he uses it in his classes, to keep up with peers, and he gets a feeling of connectedness from the experience. He also talks about some interesting ways to use it. In fact, it is pretty inspiring - makes BuzzLion think that perhaps he should go back to Twittering as well. Want to Twitter? Go here to start.


Not that BuzzLion wants to give Jeff Swain a big head, but he deserves another mention for the ANGEL Shorts Series. As you can see on the link, this edition is Five Things Faculty Should Know about the Resources Tab. ANGEL Shorts are one-page documents covering a specific point of interest in ANGEL, ad are a fantastic tool to help you get the most out of Penn State’s Course Management System.There is even a video version of this ANGEL Short at that link created by ETS graduate assistant Yu Chang Hsu. By the way, BuzzLion would also like to recognize ANGEL Shorts co-creator, Mary Janzen, ANGEL documentation editor/grammar goddess.

That’s all for this week on the BuzzLion. If you have anything going on in your world that you would like BuzzLion to mention, such as an interesting way you are using technology in classes, a question about an ETS program, or an event you have attended, send a note to jco11@psu.edu, and we will run it in the next edition.

Thanks for reading

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