Keep using the discussion board to give us ideas how to set up a program for our own Maricopa Virtual Speaker's Bureau
In 2003, students and faculty in Colorado Community Colleges Online (CCC Online) classes began interacting virtually with storytelling experts, literary experts, online writing lab directors, and even a tenor from the Metropolitan Opera through the CCCOnline Virtual Speaker Bureau. According to the CCCOnline faculty who have used the service, guest speakers add energy and expertise to the classroom without constraints such as time and travel.
Alice Bedard-Voorhees, Coordinator of the CCCOnline Virtual Speaker Bureau worked with MERLOT about developing a similar sustainable service for higher education, to make online guest speakers available to educators across its virtual community.
Through the MERLOT Virtual Speakers Bureau, you can search for, locate, and invite guest speakers to your courses, professional development workshops, and special online events. You can even use it to invite content experts to visit your classes face-to-face.
Faculty members, faculty development specialists, and administrators who have expressed a desire to participate as Guest Experts have identified themselves in their MERLOT member profiles. They have provided information about their specific area(s) of expertise, specific topics they are available to discuss, the presentation format(s) they prefer (such as email, synchronous and/or asynchronous discussion forums, chats, online conferencing, and face-to-face meetings or visits), and any special arrangements they require for participation.
In this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to use the Virtual Speakers Bureua to locate experts you can use for your own classes and how to design effective online discussion activities.
Agenda
1:00 - 1:30 pm (Southwest Conference Room) Introduction to Virtual Speakers Bureau Concept
Overview of the basic steps a Virtual Speaker event and how the afternoon activities will work. Share our own experiences in this environment.
Welcome to 'Bringing Guests to your Courses with Virtual Speaker Bureaus' Overview presentation (34 minutes) Download audio [7.9 Mb MP3 audio]
Bringing Guests to your Courses with Virtual Speaker Bureaus presentation file
Acrobat PDF File: MaricopaVSB.pdf [840k PDF]
1:30 - 3:00 pm (2nd Floor Computer labs, MA2126 and MA 2128) Discussion Board Activities
A series of activities done together using a discussion board. Participants will interact with each other as well with a number of invited remote guests to learn more about how these really work. Discussion Board:http://vsb06.notlong.com/
3:00 - 3:30 pm (2nd Floor Computer labs, MA2126 and MA 2128) Questions and Further Discussion
About the speaker... Alice Bedard-Voorhees has English and Education courses with Colorado Community Colleges Online, served as faculty chair for Arts and Humanities, and am currently involved with curriculum design and delivery in faculty development. Her key role these days is the support of learners and faculty in course experiences.
Much of her life has involved crossing distances for learning connections--hHer first post-baccalaureate position involved converting a motor home to an adult-education classroom and library and driving it to nine reservation communities in North and South Dakota. Over time, she became very interested in the design and delivery of instructional models to answer these questions, "What does the learner need, and what are some possible ways to structure a successful experience?" Similar questions led her to work with Western Governors University, and with two curriculum projects for Community Colleges of Colorado on her way to CCCOnline.
The need to be a self-directed, continuous learner is evident everywhere a person looks. Out of this challenge has come the opportunity to facilitated both for-credit and workforce learning in two-, four-, and workplace settings. These class experiences were sometimes face-to-face, sometimes hybrid, sometimes on-line. And now, though technologies offer even more ways to structure learning, sound instructional practices and learner support are at the center of all successful efforts.
Publications
Increasing Engagement for Online and Face-to-Face Learning Through Online Learning Practices : The Cross Papers Number 8 (2005). Phoenix, AZ: League for Innovation in the Community College.
"Facilitating Asynchronous Discussions." (2005). Encycyclopedia of Distance Learning, pp. 912 Ð 917. Hershey, PA: Idea-Group, Inc.
"Assessment of Online Education: Policies, Practices, and Recommendations" (with J. Milam and R.A. Voorhees). (2004). Developing and Implementing Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes, pp. 73 Ð 85. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
"Creating and Implementing Compentency-Based Learning Models." (2001). Measuring What Matters: Competency-Based Learning Models in Higher Education, pp. 83 Ð 95. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
"Pull and Push: A Select Webliography of Products Serving Section 508." (2003). The Design and Delivery of Web-Enabled Teaching Tools, pp. 241 Ð 248. Hershey, PA: Idea Press.
