Course Development Summer Institute Professional Development

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Professional Development is a great way to take advantage of Title III funds. To apply for funds to attend an instructional technology focused training or conference check out the criteria for professional development and the Request for Professional Development Funds found in the Resources section of the site.

Blackboard Southeast Users Group Conference
Adam Bryant used Title III funds to attend the BbSEUG conference, intended for Blackboard Administrators and instructors. Conference sessions were organized into the following tracks: Supporting Users, Best Practices, Faculty Showcase, Extending Blackboard and Sys Admin and Planning. Several sessions directly applied to the use of Blackboard specifically at NRCC and within the VCCS. Adam attended several sessions but found three particularly informative or pertinent to Blackboard use at NRCC. "Addressing Diverse Learning Styles Using Blackboard", an interesting session that discussed several examples of content organized or delivered in a way to accommodate multiple learning styles; "Using Tablet PCs to Enhance Blackboard Courses" showed how one instructor uses his tablet PC to enhance his physics courses; and a session about the Content Manager in Blackboard 6.1. This feature will do much to streamline and organize instructor's content in Blackboard while solving many shortfalls faculty are realizing currently when preparing their courses. The conference was very well organized and highly recommended for all faculty and Blackboard Administrators.

Online Learning Conference
Adam Bryant used Title III funds to attend the Online Learning Conference and Technology Expo in Los Angeles, CA. Linda Claussen also attended but did not use Title III funds. The Online Learning conference is well known and the presenting corporation, VNULearning has a good reputation in the instructional technology field. Linda and Adam hoped to see creative and new uses of technology in the classroom and in distance learning. While many sessions attended inspired ideas to incorporate at New River, the Technology Expo was smaller than expected and did not introduce many new technologies or solutions that had not already been explored. The keynote speaker was Richard Saul Wurman, a usability expert and author of many books from Usability Design to travel guides, all published in his unique style of information design. This presentation was very interesting and helped inspire new and different thoughts in distributing and displaying information to faculty and students for easier "consumption".

Learning System Administrators Meeting
Adam Bryant received Title III funding to participate in a Learning System Administrators (LSA) group meeting in Virginia Beach. This group consists of each of the LSA's and backup LSA's at each of the VCCS colleges. The group meets face to face periodically to discuss and make decisions concerning the centralized VCCS Blackboard Learning System. This particular meeting focused on the future migration to the newest release of the Blackboard system, a major upgrade of the system effecting all aspects of VCCS Blackboard policies and management.