Regent University Global Roundtable

Could the Future of Online Learning Really Be Free?

On Monday October 10th, Stanford University embarked on a radical new idea, offering their CS221: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence to anyone in the world, for free.

LibGuides: Your source to "just in time" library research information

At a recent new faculty orientation we heard how we now can "embed a librarian" into a Blackboard course. I called the Regent Library to find out just what that meant, whether it was linking to the page of the librarian assigned to each school or if there was something more to it. Turns out there is! Regent Library has been working on developing "LibGuides" that are specifically tailored to every school or graduate program Regent University offers, including undergrad. They're not done with all the guides yet, but 14 of them have been posted online already. Click this link and select "All Guides" on the page that opens up.

Chromebooks are coming...tell us what you think

Have you heard of Chromebooks? Is it a laptop? Is it a computer? Or is it a new way of thinking as we go about our work day? Watch how Google introduces it in this 1.5 minute video.

CTL’s Recent Tweets

This past week Regent University's Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) Tweeted about:

• Google Chromebooks are lightweight notebooks that come with free software and hardware updates. You pay a monthly fee and Google updates the Chromebooks' software AND hardware at the end of each hardware cycle. This may be an option to explore for schools thinking of providing their students with notebooks or laptops.  
• How faculty and students can build a web presence for their professional selves, with free and easy to use software options available online.
• YouTube Copyright School, a 4.5 min. video clip that highlights copyright law; It packs a lot of information on how to avoid copyright infringement and details things that we might do when using YouTube which actually violate copyright law.
• A guide to social media marketing best practices that Facebook just published. It is applicable to things Faculty or students do online when it comes to marketing their courses, skills, etc.

• An infograph showing how teens are using their mobile phones.
• A 4 min. video clip on how to use Twitter which demystifies the idea of using Twitter. In just 4 minutes covers the basics of how to open an account to how to start Twetting, i.e., make a post on the Twitter social networking site.

Mobile Devices & Learning

Smartphones give you wings:
Pedagogical affordances of mobile Web 2.0
Thomas Cochrane and Roger Bateman
Unitec New Zealand

Collaboration between Instructors & Tech Facilitators

Tech & Learning offers an interesting article, "Creating a Culture of Collaboration through Technology," proposing collaboration between instructors and technology facilitators to create courses relevant in this digital age. According to the article:

Once a school begins to build this culture of collaboration, it soon becomes second nature for teachers to work in partnership with the technology facilitator, bringing new and innovative ideas into the classroom, learning new ways to meet the needs of all students, and exploring the possibilities to connect, communicate and create on a global scale. This collaborative partnership is a powerful tool to increase student learning by combining the expertise of multiple educators.

Contact us at ctl@regent.edu to learn how you can begin to collaborate with our e-learning professionals.