Technology & Instruction for UNEX

Never. Peter Norvig's Powerpoint version of the Gettysburg Address One of the most common mistakes I see in online courses that have been converted from face-to-face is the use of Powerpoint files as replacements for what was an in-class presentation complete with live audio and a real person talking. Sure, it's tempting to think that all you need to do is upload the Powerpoint file to your online course and you are done. Your students will login, go through the trouble of downloading your file and opening it in Powerpoint or some other application. They may marvel at your choice of template as long as they haven't seen it before, but they will find one important thing missing with the presentation – You. Without your voice, the Powerpoint file is at best just an outline or rough sketch of your presentation and may lead to more confusion than learning. Most of the solitary Powerpoint files I see were not inspired by the kinds of design examples you'll find on Pr...

It looks like we will be able to upgrade from Moodle 1.9 to 2.4 starting with the fall quarter, assuming everything goes well during the summer when we need to get our course and student information into the new version of Moodle. Along with the many changes and new features we will have available in Moodle 2.4, this update will also involve moving the hosting of Moodle from our internal server to a server hosted by Remote-Learner . As a result of these changes, our summer courses for instructors will use Moodle 2.4. I will be putting together a self-paced course introducing some of the new features available in Moodle 2.4 for those online instructors who are already familiar with Moodle 1.9.  _______________________________________________________________ We have four free classes for instructors which are now available for registration for the Summer quarter. All classes will be using Moodle 2.4 to prepare instructors for the Fall quarter or later when we expect to have al...