PRESENTATIONS, WORKSHOPS & READINGS

Read my posts about some of these presentations

Time Management for Adjunct Faculty –  Adjunct Faculty Workshop Series, Institute for Teaching Excellence, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), February 2019
An interactive session that will share ideas of many published time management experts and the results of a new online survey of adjuncts on managing classes with practical strategies and tools, and NJIT-specific tips.           presentation and information

3 of my poems were featured on The Writer’s Almanac in February 2019.
There is one more serious poem, “Shame”, and two poems that have the tongue in the cheek, at least partially – “Who Shows Up at My Poetry Reading” and my “Somewhat Optimistic Horoscopes”

Considerations for Video Accessibility – Accessibility Leadership Summit, The College of New Jersey, October 16, 2018
Videos used with students and staff should be produced and delivered in ways that ensure that all members of the audience can access the content. Videos need to comply with ADA and Section 508 requirements and in some schools Quality Matters standards and those of the institution. This session will look at the actual requirements and how production, captioning, transcripts, audio descriptions, and accessible media players should be implemented.

Predator and Prey: Active Learning Is Social Learning – Active Learning Symposium, Rutgers University, May 15, 2018
Based on the premise that active learning is often social learning, this session is primarily hands-on using a problem-solving activity identifying animal species based on skulls. With little or no background in this topic, learners can use active and social learning and everyday technology to complete this task.

OER and Media – PCCC Open Educational Resources (OER) Showcase, May 11, 2018
Informational presentation on using open media resources and the legal distinctions between freely accessible media (such as YouTube) and truly open resources.

OER IN K12 – PCCC Open Educational Resources (OER) Showcase, May 11, 2018, with Dr. Danielle Mirliss
A survey of the use of Open Educational Resources in the K12 levels compared and contrasted with higher education use.

Creating a Culture of Innovation –  Union County College, keynote, May 2, 2018
Society drives innovation in higher education through the challenges it presents to educators. Increasing demands to lower costs, improving completion rates, competition from alternative credentialing, and the possibility in New Jersey and other states for free two years of college will all dramatically force shifts in classroom demographics and approaches to teaching and learning.

Innovation requires innovators. In higher education, they can be faculty or administrators who promote pedagogical approaches, such as adaptive and active learning. Innovation can emerge from philosophical shifts, such as moving to the use of Open Educational Resources. Innovation can also come from the learning spaces and new technologies made available to teachers and students.

This presentation will address these drivers of innovation and how they impact community colleges.

Track Moderator for Education & Technology –  NJEDgeCon2018, January 11-12, 2018
This track is filled with presenters who explore best practices, innovations and the effectiveness associated with current learning management systems and online learning tools. Presenters discuss and share situational examples of effective infrastructure, resources, sustainability models and integrated assessment tools.
Other tracks at the conference are Big Data & Analytics, Networking & Data Security, Customer Support & Service Excellence,  Aligning Business & Technology Strategies. and Transformation Products & Services.

Gaming STEM in Humanities Courses – NJEDge Faculty Best Practices Showcase, March 2017, at Monmouth University
Using serious games,  such as the Web Adventures developed by Rice University, is a way to increase students’ science knowledge and to inspire science-related careers. This presentation looks at “gaming” these programs for teaching humanities courses.
presentation slides

Social Media Ethics and Law – NJEDge.Net Annual Conference, November 2016.
Social media is redefining the relationships between organizations and their audiences, and it introduces new ethical, privacy and legal issues. As an organization, an employee and an individual user, we need to have a better understanding of the ethics, and also the law, as it applies in these new contexts. Pre-existing media law about copyright and fair use was not written with social media in mind, so changes and interpretations are necessary. Technological advances blur the lines of what is or is not allowed to be published and shared and issues of accuracy, privacy and trust.
Presentation slides

Holistic Detective: Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently Novels, New Jersey College English Association (NJCEA) Annual Conference at Seton Hall University, April 2016

Research with/from/about Underrepresented Communities, Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Annual Convention, Houston, Texas,  April 2016
(panel chair)
This panel presents research, composing, and pedagogical practices for studying and recovering differences as it pertains to race, women, STEM, and the Deaf community.

The Maker Movement Connects STEAM Across New Jersey, NJEDge.net Faculty Showcase at Stevens Institute of Technology, March 2016, with Danielle Mirliss and Emily Witkowski
This presentation presents three aspects of the maker movement: in classrooms, in libraries and the community, and in higher education.

Code as a (second) Language, NJEDge.net Faculty Showcase at Stevens Institute of Technology, March 2016
Coding, like language study, has cognitive advantages. Learning a system of signs, symbols, and rules used to communicate improves thinking by challenging the brain to recognize, negotiate meaning and master different language patterns. Multilingual people are more adept at switching between communication structures. Unfortunately, few high schools and far fewer middle and elementary schools offer courses in computer programming. Some educators are considering a programming language as fulfilling the requirement for a “second language.” Why teach coding outside a computer science class? Should it count as a “second language?” How is a programming language comparable to a spoken language? What should we be teaching as coding?    presentation slides

The Disconnected, keynote at the Rutgers Online Learning Conference,  January 2016
Will the cord-cutters and the cord-nevers want to go to college? They already rent and lease and don’t want to own. They are building a sharing economy. They don’t want a car, or shelves of CDs, or books. They comprise about 25% of Americans, and, according to Forrester Research, that number will double in the next ten years. They are not just Millennials. The disconnected encompass the potential students in undergraduate and graduate programs. In 2015, The Chronicle of Higher Education started a series about credentials examining MOOCs, badges, certificates, microdegrees, nanodegrees and non-traditional degrees that may be competency-based. There may be a growing number of those who are disconnected from traditional information channels. They are still interested in learning, but will they also disconnect from traditional education, and are schools prepared to provide something that these autodidacts will find appealing?

Making Space for DIY Innovation on Campus, NJEDge.Net Annual Conference, November 2015, workshop with Danielle Mirliss and Emily Witkowski
People may call them makerspaces, innovation labs, fablabs or hackerspaces, but in the past decade an increasing number of community spaces offering public, shared access to high-end equipment and guidance have appeared. These spaces for experimentation with technologies like desktop fabrication, physical computing, and augmented reality, first appeared more naturally in the STEM areas, but are now being used more for applications and research questions in the humanities and arts. In this two-hour, hands-on workshop, we presented information on creating, branding and maintaining spaces on campus, in libraries or in the community and shared examples of DIY projects, discussed their applications to the classroom, and had participants try a hands-on activity.

Rubrics for Learning  NJIT Faculty Institute, August 2015
Rubrics are a powerful tool for grading and assessment in education and in corporate and government settings. They can make the grading process more efficient and less biased, and they can aid self-reflection, peer review and revision. This session will look at the evolution of the rubric, types and uses. In our discussion of rubric creation, we will also look at using Moodle’s rubric tool.

Flipping the Learning Model  Connecticut Education Network, May 15, 2015
The flipped classroom has been a hot topic in education for a number of years. More recently, the idea of flipping professional development has been experimented at schools and in corporate training. In both cases, the idea is to rethink what we want to spend our time with in face-to-face (F2F) sessions and how can we move training before and after those sessions to be self-directed. The flipped learning model using technology, even in our personal learning, maximizes the F2F time for interaction. This session is paired with a session on makerspaces and attendees are encouraged to try this flipped learning activity before coming to the conference to be completed F2F.             View slide presentation

Making Learning Visible, Best Practices Faculty Showcase, NJEDge.Net, New Jersey City University, March 13, 2015
Based on educational research from the Project Zero group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, this presentation discusses the practice of using a public forum in both online and in face-to-face classes and having students publicly reflect on their learning experiences. Requiring students to document their work in a class forum immediately changes student ownership of their work. This type of documentation makes learning visible, rather than the private 1:1 relationship that assessment and evaluation often has between a student and instructor. This presentation explains the documentation and process reflection methodology and will show student examples.

Flipped Professional Development, NJEDge.Net Annual Conference, November 20, 2014
Taking the flipped classroom into the world of professional development is a relatively new step in the flipped learning model. Rethinking how we have learners work before and after a face-to-face training session to make it more self-directed, leads us to use not only technology integration but andragogical concepts that maximize the time online and during the live group sessions.                     video of presentation

I Have A Theory About Learning, New Jersey City University, June 3, 2014, Summer Faculty Institute on Learning Technologies
Keynote talk on learning theory that is emerging from current technologies; a 2-hour workshop on finding and bringing Open Educational Resources (OER) into courses, focusing on open textbooks and open courseware.

Technical Writing Across Disciplines, 15th Annual New Jersey Writing Alliance Conference NJWA), May 29, 2014
This presentation looks at how a technical writing course can emphasize a research approach and problem solving unlike the academic writing done for most classes. Students learn to do audience analysis, work in collaborative environments and gain familiarity with tools used for writing digital modes. While designing professional documents, such as proposals, they become familiar with the cultural and ethical concerns of a global workplace. The writing tasks are all based on the content of their majors.

The Moodle Rubric Tool – NJIT Teaching, Learning and Technology Faculty Institute, May 21-22, 2014
Using the rubric tool in Moodle to create them for grading, assessment and student self-reflection and revision. Covers rubric types such as analytic & holistic, uses for graded & non-graded work, and best practices in rubric creation by students and faculty.

MOOC: The Seven Year Itch –  NJEDge.Net’s 15th Annual Faculty Showcase, March 28, 2014
The MOOC turns seven. If 2012 was the “Year of the MOOC”, then what happened in 2013 – and what will become of the MOOC in 2014?

To MOOC or Not To MOOC– NJEDge.Net Annual Conference, November 2013, with Mary Zedeck (Seton Hall University)
A workshop for faculty, instructional designers and higher education administrators to sort through the pros and cons of using MOOCs for stakeholders across the campus. This includes creating and offering MOOCs, as well as allowing students to take them for credit and faculty using them to enhance their own teaching.           video

The MOOC Experience: Faculty Reflections – William Paterson University, October 2013

A panel discussion and a breakout session on experiences teaching in a Massive Open Online Course. Offered by the WPU Technology Across the Curriculum and Instructional Research Technology groups and co-Sponsored by the NJEDge Academic Technology Group. This event video is archived at http://www.njvid.net

What The Best Teachers Do Online – Raritan Valley Community College, May 2013
As the first day of three days of faculty technology and teaching days, this workshop was for online instructors and it was based in spirit on the National Great Teachers Movement retreats and Ken Bain’s What the Best College Teachers Do. This workshop brings teachers from different teaching fields together to explore teaching and learning, innovations and solutions. Rather than presentations and PowerPoint slides, this was a day of discussion using the collective wisdom of the group, their experiences and the creativity of the group.
Some of the topics we discussed were:

• What is instructor presence in the online classroom?
• How do we best engage students? How do we, as teachers, stay engaged too? The best teachers I ever had were engaged in their subject and that’s why I was engaged in their class.
• The importance of feedback to students and teachers.
• What does teaching online offer us as teachers that we don’t get in a physical classroom? (I like turning around the question that is more commonly asked of online teaching – what is lost.)
• What can we learn from MOOCs? They may not replace college courses or even online courses, but they will change how we do online learning and how we teach on and offline.
• Shared best practices of online pedagogy/methodology and of using the technology.
• What are your continuing challenges in teaching online?

Engaging Students in an Age of Disengagement – Stevens Institute of Technology, May 9, 2013
The popular media tells us that we live in an age of disengagement. 21st-century professors are told they need to design a curriculum to support student success and create an engaging classroom whether it is face-to-face, online, or in a blended learning environment.
Can educators hijack social media engagement design and tools for academic engagement? Can we meet student expectations within academic objectives? Can we (re)design curriculum using pedagogy that encourages engagement? How does engagement differ F2F, online, in hybrid and MOOC settings?                 presentation slides

The 21st Century Professor: Challenges of Digital Learning – Union County College, NJ, May 1, 2013
The 21st-century professor designs curriculum to support student success and creates an engaging classroom whether it is face-to-face, online, or in a blended learning environment. This professor engages students through a variety of learning strategies, creates effective instructional materials and assesses student learning with a variety of tools and strategies. In this workshop, we examined the professional practices of the 21st-century educator and the tools and strategies being used now. This included mobile learning, apps, learning networks, open education resources (including open textbooks), and collaborative learning online from Google Docs to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC).

Academia and the MOOC – 14th Annual NJ Faculty Best Practices Showcase, Academic Technology Group of NJEDge.Net, Georgian Court University, March 15, 2013
While many élite universities are offering Massive Open Online Courses, most colleges and educators are still unsure about what MOOCs are and if they are worthwhile.Can a course where the participants and the course materials are distributed across the web and the courses are “open” and offered at no cost to a very large number of participants who do not receive institutional credit be a worthwhile venture for a college? This presentation will cover some history of the development of MOOCs and the possible benefits and problems for schools and students.
I taught a meta-MOOC (also titled “Academia and the MOOC) on the Campus Network during April and May 2013.      more info                view slide presentation

2013: The Beginning of the End of the University – Rutgers University, Office of Instructional and Research Technology, Technology in Learning Showcase, December 12, 2012
Examining the issues and trends in technology that have emerged this year that some are saying will lead to the end of the traditional university and/or the traditional degree. Is 2013 the beginning of the end of the university, or the starting place for University 2.0?

It’s the End of the University As We Know It (and I feel fine) – NJEDge.Net Annual Conference, November 28-30, 2012
The next ten years will transform universities in ways that will be frightening for anyone hoping to hold onto the university model that has existed for almost 900 years. It is very likely that, powered by technology, movements such as open educational resources, MOOCs, big data, non-degree programs, badges and alternatives to a university degree will lead to the end of University 1.0. What will be the tipping point that brings about University 2.0?               presentation slides

Life after Composition: Improving Student Learning with Writing – TYCA-NE (Two Year College Association – Northeast) 47th Annual Conference in Syracuse, New York, October 25-27, 2012, with Elizabeth Nesius.
Our presentation was about the Writing Initiative at Passaic County Community College which we developed over the past five years. This Title V grant program of student and faculty support and collaboration across disciplines at the general education course level. The Writing Initiative, which received an NCTE Diane Hacker 2012 Award, solidifies a targeted approach to student success by focusing on reforming curriculum using writing-intensive courses and providing ample academic support and creating opportunities for faculty professional development.               presentation slides

Unintended Consequences: Measuring Faculty Buy-in to Instructional Technology – NJEDge.Net Faculty Best Practices Showcase 2012
Besides redesigning 25 GenEd courses across disciplines to include more writing, an initiative at PCCC has been to introduce instructional technology into those same courses. Now in its fifth year, we have found varied success with the six technology components. This presentation looks at the assessment of “faculty buy-in” (or lack thereof) for e-portfolios, video lecture capture, supplementary websites, streaming media, reusable learning objects, and online gaming. Through surveys of faculty and students and focus groups, we have tried to determine the best practices that led to faculty using technology in the intended and some unintended ways. Through data from institutional research, we have determined what impact the initiative has had on overall student success. Our efforts have been the 2012 National Council of the Teachers of English (NCTE) Award for Two-Year Colleges in fostering student success.  presentation slides        slides with audio

There’s An App for That: Educating in an App World – 8th Annual Faculty Technology Showcase, Bloomfield College
This keynote presentation addresses the current advertising tagline that “There’s an app for that” which has moved into education as a possible solution for many software needs. Apps – small, easy to download software for mobile devices – are changing how students use technology. It is also changing the way colleges design and deploy software. How are schools reacting to this app world? This presentation examines how mobile and web apps are currently being developed and used, and the ways educators can implement them for teaching and for campus-wide initiatives.
slide presentation

Open Learning Through Open Textbooks – an NJEDge.Net Sponsored Session at the Emerging Learning Design conference, at Montclair State University, June 2011
Open Textbooks combine eTextbooks and Open Educational Resources and are helping to drive a growing number of emerging high school and higher education models. Open Textbooks are free, or very nearly free, electronic textbooks that are also editable so instructors can customize content. They are cross-platform compatible, printable, and accessible so they work with adaptive technology. This session looks at the opportunities to find and adopt open textbooks.   Presentation and additional information on eTextbooks and open textbooks at http://pccc.libguides.com/etextbooks

Opening Textbooks – Seton Hall University, February 2011
As an advocate/trainer for CollegeOpenTextbooks.org (funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.) I will talk about how open textbooks offer colleges opportunities to use open education resources (OER), deliver content via mobile devices and allow for customized course materials while lowering student costs. Unlike commercial e-books, open textbooks are accessible online at no cost, very affordable as a print book, and are licensed to allow faculty to legally access and reformat copies of the text at no additional cost. But, although the content of open textbooks is similar to traditional texts, the traditional models for adoption, sale by bookstores and repurposing are different enough to cause concern on college campuses. This session will introduce you to the adoption of open textbooks and examine the ways that they are being promoted, marketed, authored and utilized in higher education. We will also examine organizations that are developing peer-reviewed repositories of digital textbooks.

How Revolutionary are Open Textbooks? – NJEDge.Net / EATF Webinar, January 2011
Unlike commercial e-books, open textbooks are accessible online at no cost, very affordable as a print book, and are licensed to allow faculty to legally access and reformat copies of the text at no additional cost. The educational material inside open textbooks is similar to traditional texts – but the traditional models for adoption, sale by bookstores and repurposing are different enough to cause concern on college campuses. How can faculty and instructional designers introduce open textbooks on campus and include the stakeholders so that this revolution is a quiet(er) and more productive one?

E-Books, E-Readers, E-Textbooks, & E-Pub: Explanations and Examples of the New and Not-So-New Technologies, Middlesex County College, January 2011
Google has just entered the e-book selling environment. Amazon’s e-books sales have outpaced print sales. Find out who the major players are, what technologies are available and MCC Library’s efforts to provide access to electronic book collections. Hear about the Open Textbook project and how Open Textbooks can be used, modified and created. See examples of hardware and software eReaders and the iPad. Facilitators: Elisabeth Oliu, Research Librarian, Middlesex County College Library; Brian Richards, Director Instructional Design & Media Services; Ken Ronkowitz, Director of the Writing initiative, Passaic County Community College

Increasing Writing Across Disciplines, Atlantic Cape Community College (NJ), January 2011
A presentation by Greg Fallon, Martha Brozyna and Ken Ronkowitz on the Writing Initiative at Passaic County Community College. The Initiative is a 5-year Title V grant-funded project to increase writing through the introduction of 20 distinct writing-intensive general education courses. This presentation covered the history of the project (now in its fourth year), the course redesign and faculty professional development process and a view from the perspective of a faculty member who has developed and taught a WI course.

It’s an Open Book: Adopting Open Textbooks, NJEDge Annual Conference, November 2011
This session details how open textbooks offer schools entry opportunities to use open education resources, deliver content via mobile devices, give faculty a way to integrate new technology delivery tools that meet today’s student’s preferences, and allow for customized course materials while lowering student costs.            view presentation

Adopting Open Textbooks, Two Year College Association Northeast Conference, Washington, DC, November 2010
The presentation was an introduction to open textbooks with a focus on English teachers. We discussed how the open license sets them apart from traditional textbooks by allowing users to read online, download, and print. The idea that they are editable so that instructors can customize content, cross-platform compatible and work with adaptive technology is new to many if not most educators. The session looked at how to identify, evaluate, and adopt Open Textbooks, and some training opportunities for those wanting to adopt open resources, do peer reviews or open their own writing.   view  presentation

Soft Launching an Institutional ePortfolio Initiative, NJEDge Faculty Best Practices Showcase, March 2010, Presenters: Anita Kumar, Elizabeth Nesius and Ken Ronkowitz      view presentation

Feedback 360, NJEDge Faculty Best Practices Showcase, March 2010
Rethinking the use of feedback in the college classroom.      view presentation

The Ripple Effect: Faculty Redesign Through Course Redesign, NJEDge.Net Annual Conference, November 2009               view presentation

Web 2.0 Delivery & Content for University 2.0 –  E-Learning 2.0: The Next Generation of Online Education Conference, September 25, 2009, University of Connecticut
Web 2.0 allows small businesses, K-12 and home schools, and groups to create learning environments for very little cost that were once only the domain of universities and large corporations. Many colleges that offer online courses, continue to offer what might be called E-Learning 1.0. This session looks at the collaboration, discussion, social networking and interactivity that defines 2.0.

Web 2.0 Tools: What’s Writing Got to Do with It?   Summer Faculty Series at Seton Hall University, June 2009
Redefining the university and what we do in our classrooms through the filter of web and learning 2.0.

Better Writers, Not Just Better Writing: Online Strategies to Support Writers in All Disciplines – sponsored by NJEDge.Net, at Fairleigh-Dickinson University,  April 2009
This hands-on workshop will take participants through the process of planning, developing, designing, and delivering online writing resources to support students across the curricula. Presenters: Ellen Spaldo, Assistant Professor of English and Director of Writing, FDU, Janet Boyd, Assistant Professor of English and Coordinator, Metro Writing Studio, Metropolitan Campus, FDU, Kenneth Ronkowitz, Director, Writing Initiative, Passaic County Community College and Elizabeth Nesius, Coordinator of the Writing Center, PCCC.

Using Student Blogs As Reflective Practice NJ Faculty Best Practices Showcase, March 2009, College of St. Elizabeth
The progression in the past decade of blogs from personal web journals to a platform for established professionals, corporations and writers has also created opportunities for education. This session looks at the use of blogs with graduate students at NJIT since 2007 as a method for regular student reflection on learning. Using either free services or commercial products, blogs offer the easiest method for students to publish online to a large audience without sophisticated web design skills. This allows them to focus on specific topics and on their knowledge construction. Built-in feedback tools allow teacher-to-student and peer-to-peer commentary. Though blogs can serve as e-portfolios, this project focused on writing concepts, publishing practices, intellectual property and digital design as a learning portfolio. This project will be incorporated into program competencies for students as reflective practitioners in addition to an established e-portfolio program.

Blogging as Pedagogic Practice Across the Curriculum, Bloomfield College Faculty Technology Showcase, January 2009
Most discussion and research on blogs and teaching and learning in higher education focuses on them as another technological tool. This session looks at the use of blogging as a way to address traditional writing practices. Using college-wide blogging tools or free blogging services, instructors are addressing e-portfolios, audience, publishing, copyright and plagiarism, authentic writing, and writing in a digital age in varied disciplines. Examples from NJIT student blogs, and practices at PCCC and other colleges will be shared and participants should be able to replicate these practices in their own teaching.

Tear Down the Walls: LibGuides and Evolving Learning Spaces – at the Northeast Connect Annual Conference, Montclair State University, November 2008
Learning spaces continue to evolve as web tools further erase the physical walls of classrooms, libraries and other educational settings. This session examines the use of LibGuides, a web 2.0 content management and information sharing system designed specifically for libraries but being used at Passaic County Community College as a collaborative tool for courses. This hosted service offers opportunities to create and share reusable content, tagging, widgets, embedded video, RSS, and easy integration with other tools like Delicious and Facebook.               view presentation and materials

Technology Ethics: An Oxymoron?  (Writing Ethics and Technology panel) NJ Writing Alliance Annual Conference, Georgian Court University, April 2008.
presentation materials

How the Open Source Movement Will Change Writing  NJ College English Association Annual Conference, Seton Hall University, March 2008.

Granted, Technology Makes Better Writers – NJEDge.Net Faculty Best Practices Showcase, Fairleigh Dickinson University, March 2008
An overview of the Writing Initiative at Passaic County Community College. A five-year grant of $2.5 million at PCCC that is in the process of creating a GenEd curriculum of writing-intensive courses for the improvement of writing across the curriculum and college. Co-presented with Greg Fallon.            view presentation slides

Human Networking: A University, High School, Industry Partnership  – at the EduComm Conference, Anaheim, CA, June 2007
Science Park High School is a magnet school that prepares students in grades 7-12 for academic careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. SPHS is the product of a unique partnership between Newark Public Schools, University Heights Science Park and three public research universities. New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), The University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ (UMDNJ), Rutgers University at Newark and Essex County College, all collaborate with the students and teachers of SPHS. The schools also collaborate with the private industry tenants of Science Park who recognize the competitive business advantage of being physically adjacent to the universities with whom they have established cooperative research, licensing and development agreements. This year, NJIT is providing two professional staff positions to manage the SPHS instructional technology network and provide instructional and technical support. The Managers of Instructional Technology, and Network Resources are physically located at the high school, report to the principal on a day-to-day basis, and are culturally part of the SPHS community. This case study will examine NJIT’s vision of a high school and university collaboration in science and technology will affect the pedagogy of both schools, and how this model can be replicated by other institutions

Authentic Assessment – Title V sponsored Summer Teaching Institute, Passaic County Community College, June 2007
Authentic assessment is a form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills. They generally call upon the examinee to demonstrate specific skills and competencies, that is, to apply the skills and knowledge they have mastered. Unlike “traditional assessment” (multiple-choice tests, fill-in-the-blanks, true-false, matching etc.) that is common in education, in authentic assessment teachers first determine the tasks that students will perform to demonstrate their mastery, and then a curriculum is developed that will enable students to perform those tasks well, including the acquisition of essential knowledge and skills. This has been referred to as planning backward. This session examines the pedagogy of assessment and in the course of the workshop, each participant will examine their current assessment methodology.
pdf of presentation

An Introduction to ePortfolios – Title V sponsored Summer Teaching Institute, Passaic County Community College, June 2007
The ePortfolio is one type of authentic assessment. In education, “portfolio” refers to a personal collection of information describing and documenting a person’s achievements and learning. Portfolios may be required for accreditation, job search, continuing professional development, or certification of competencies.
Currently, an electronic portfolio (AKA ePortfolio or digital portfolio) is the most common type. This collection of electronic evidence not only acts as a learning record but also provides evidence of achievement. During this workshop, we looked at the types of portfolios used in educational settings, available electronic portfolio tools, and examples of student portfolios.                  pdf of presentation

Moodle: Free Course management Software (Free, like free kittens) –  NJEDge.Net Faculty Best Practices Showcase, at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ, March 2007
Like other universities, NJIT feels that it is in our best interest to explore some of the available open-source course management systems that are alternatives to commercial products such as WebCT. The instructional technology team at NJIT first began to look at Moodle during the fall 2005 semester and looked at pilot programs at other schools. Seventeen NJIT faculty ran test courses during the spring and summer of 2006 and a formal pilot program using Moodle was instituted in fall 2006. Participants included current users of WebCT & faculty who were new to using any type of learning management system. Fully online courses and face-to-face or hybrid courses were in the fall group. This presentation looks at the “cost” of free software in terms of training, administration and implementation.
presentation slides

The Reading and Writing Homework You Don’t Need to Assign and Taking Advantage of Learning 2.0 – two presentations at the 21st Century Learning at the Crossroads (Center for Innovative Education and NJ Consortium for Middle Schools), Kean University, December 2006

The Reading and Writing Homework You Don’t Need to Assign – All your students are distance learning students. They are reading and writing outside the school without you having to make any assignments. Digital natives are using blogs, discussion tools, social networking, wikis, meta-tagging, image sharing and sophisticated search tools at sites like MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Wikipedia, and YouTube. This session was to bring teachers up to date on these trends and the current research into student online activities to help familiarize you with what and where on the Net is occupying more hours than they spend with you in a classroom.

Taking Advantage of Learning 2.0 – Many of the Web 2.0 applications that students are willingly using outside school have educators and parents concerned. Sites like MySpace and Facebook offer frightening personal information. Flickr and YouTube offer images that can shock us. And students turn to Wikipedia and paper mills for cut and paste research. As with earlier technologies, teachers need to familiarize themselves with these tools in order to guide students in their uses for educational purposes. This session looked at some positive applications of these technologies.
Presentation materials for both sessions

Heart of Darkness: Entering the Land of Digital Natives  – NJAET (NJ Association for Educational Technology) Annual Conference, October 2006
Have you followed your students into the jungle of the wildly popular MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Second Life and Flickr? Did you even know that MoSoSo, Nerve, Plazes and Meetup existed? This Net travelogue offered a tour into some of the forbidden lands inhabited by our students that should be experienced as a teacher, parent and Netizen. For this conference (an audience of primarily K-12 teachers), this was a 60-minute tour upriver. For those of you who have read Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness – or think you did because you saw the movie Apocalypse Now – that makes me Marlow and my Kurtz is all the juicy Web 2.0 applications that students are using and that many teachers know nothing about.

Paths to Bring Faculty to Podcasting: Apple’s iTunes U – June 2006, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
About NJIT’s pre-iTunes U pilot program in podcasting course materials (formats we used and why, recruiting faculty, creating podcasts, software and hardware) and our path to becoming one of the initial sixteen universities to be part of the newly-launched iTunes U site.

Open Source Blogs and Wikis – NYNJASTAR – June 19, 2006, Princeton University
Many colleges are considering using open-source software as a way of taking control of both the design and cost of supporting instruction and administration. At NJIT, we have created Moodle and Sakai sandbox environments to experiment with, but our earlier entry into open source software was using OSS blogs and wikis. Blog and wiki installations require many of the same considerations as a CMS, but on a much smaller scale. The theme of the conference is “interoperability” and my session looks at starting out with an open source project using a wiki or blog and included: obtaining the software, installation, user training, support issues.