Congratulations to Tim Owens, instructional technology specialist in the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, who has been selected as an Excellent Eagle Employee by the Staff Advisory Council. To thank him for such a wonderful job, Tim will have a reserved parking spot of his choosing from Monday, April 2 through Monday, April 30. Here is what one of Tim’s co-workers said about him: “Tim sets a high standard for customer service at the university. He provides prompt, professional service and takes the extra step to find the solution to technical problems. Not only will he find solutions but he will explain your options, make recommendations and work to put the solution into place. He is incredibly accommodating and always happy to work with people.” To nominate someone who you believe is an Excellent Eagle Employee, send an email to Priscilla Sullivan (psulliva@umw.edu) with Excellent Eagle Employee in the Subject Line. In your email, be sure to list the person’s name, … [Read more...]
UMW Talks Educational Technology at the ACCS 2012 Conference
UMW was well represented at the Association of Collegiate Computing Services of Virginia Conference held in Charlottesville, March 14-16. DTLT’s Lisa Ames, LMS Admin, gave a presentation on UMW’s adoption of a new learning management system titled “Designing from a Blank Canvas” while Tim Owens, ITS, partnered with Andy Rush, New Media Specialist, to lead a session called “Ad-free Streaming with the Change in Your Pocket.” Webmasters Cathy Derecki and Curtiss Grymala led a birds-of-the-feather discussion on Web Redesign and Edward Gray, Systems Integration and Support Specialist, gave a presentation titled “Making a World of Difference: Inventory, Licensing and Software Management.” … [Read more...]
DTLT Controls the Vertical and the Horizontal
In January the DTLT group presented at the Educause Midatlantic Regional Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The panel discussion covered the Digital Storytelling class being taught here at UMW, affectionately know as ds106. Martha Burtis provided an overview of the course, Tim Owens the technical framework, I featured the radio, and Andy Rush closed with our experiments with live, streaming video. It’s not only a great overview of ds106, but it is also a great overview of the chemistry that drives the creative, innovative machine that is DTLT. … [Read more...]
Jim Groom Published in Debates in the Digital Humanities
Jim Groom, Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies, published a co-authored piece with Matt Gold in the recently publishing anthology Debates in the Digital Humanities titled “Looking for Whitman: A Grand Aggregated Experiment.” According to the University of Minnesota Press this volume ….brings together leading figures in the field to explore its theories, methods, and practices and to clarify its multiple possibilities and tensions. Together, the essays—which will be published later as an ongoing, open-access website—suggest that the digital humanities is uniquely positioned to contribute to the revival of the humanities and academic life. … [Read more...]
Chronicle Names Jim Groom “Tech Innovator”
The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Jim Groom, director of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, one of 12 “tech innovators who are transforming campuses.” Along with the distinction, Groom is featured in the Sunday, Feb. 26 issue. The article “Self-Described ‘EduPunk’ Says Colleges Should Abandon Course-Management Systems” explores Groom’s involvement with UMW’s digital-storytelling course and his ideas on learning management systems. … [Read more...]
UMW Cited as Model for Future of Networked Learning
UMW, and UMW Blogs in particular, is being heralded in Richard Demillo’s new book Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Colleges and Universities as a space of great educational ferment, to quote from George Leef’s review of the book here. In fact, Leef’s review not only examines more popular open education mainstays like MIT’s Open Courseware, but spends a bit of time discussing the role of networked culture in re-imagining the future of higher education: Open courseware is not the only way online learning is going to change higher education. DeMillo observes that whereas the traditional college class involves the broadcasting of information from the professor to (doubtfully alert) students, blogs involve rich connection networks where students and instructors interact and share their questions and information. In that regard, DeMillo points to a little-known school where there is great educational ferment: “At the University of Mary Washington, learning takes … [Read more...]
Jim Groom Featured in Times Higher Education
Jim Groom, director of the Division for Teaching and Learning Technologies, is featured in the article “DIY, says ‘edupunk’ star. Distortion and sellout, say critics” in Times Higher Education. In the article, which appeared in the Thursday, Nov. 17 issue, Groom discusses the ideas behind the word “edupunk” and how they have evolved in the past few years. … [Read more...]
Jim Groom Featured in Educause Newsletter
Jim Groom, director of teaching and learning technologies, is featured in the November 2011 newsletter of Educause. The newsletter, “7 Things You Should Know About MOOCs,” mentions Groom’s leadership with the “Digital Storytelling” course. Read the full article. … [Read more...]
Jim Groom on Tour!
Jim Groom, director of the Division for Teaching and Learning Technologies, recently invited to present at Baruch College’s Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute about innovative pedagogies in regards to the Digital Storytelling course (ds106) he teaches. He was also invited back to Baruch the following week to join a panel about the possibilities of DIY, web-based radio and teaching and learning. On October 27th Jim Groom presented a well-received keynote at the Open Education Conference that focused on re-focusing the emphasis of the open education movement from resources to experiences titled “#occupyopened11″. The presentation included some drama around “occupying the open education” movement, complete with a tent and a ruffled looking presenter. See the full presentation here: Additionally, Jim Groom has upcoming keynote presentations at the North West Academic Computing Consortium on November 3rd and a keynote presentation for the K12 Online … [Read more...]
Jim Groom Speaks at Elon University and Publishes Article
Jim Groom, instructional technology specialist, presented the closing plenary at Elon University’s 8th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference on August 18, 2011. His presentation “Independent Domains – Thresholds to Teaching and Learning on the Open Web” featured the innovative work being done by faculty and students at UMW in regards to teaching and learning technologies. Following is an excerpt of the positive reception of the session from Elon University’s Teaching and Learning Center blog as well as the slides and audio from his presentation. In the closing plenary, Jim Groom, in a lively display of humor and insight, posited that independent domains and open web tools provide students, faculty, and people outside the university from all walks of life and around the world opportunities to express, exhibit, and be discovered online with the encumbrance of institutional rules and regulations. He described how MWU [sic] applied simple blog technology … [Read more...]