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Following a seven-month reorganization process, Ocotillo is completely restructured and repurposed for 2004-2005. The structure includes four topical action groups with paired faculty "Co-Chairs" leading each initiative:
- Hybrid Structures Action Group:
- co-chairs Debby Kurtz-Weidinger (Dental Hygiene faculty, Phoenix College) and Shelley Rodrigo (English faculty, Mesa Community College)
- E-Portfolios Action Group:
- co-chairs David Weaver (Physics faculty, Chandler-Gilbert Community College) and Dale Doubleday (Art faculty, Phoenix College)
- Learning Objects Action Group:
- co-chairs Lisa Young (Water Resources Technology faculty, Gateway Community College) and Donna Rebadow (Wellness faculty, Paradise Valley Community College)
- Emerging Learning Technologies:
- co-chairs Jim Patterson (Computer Information Sciences faculty, Paradise Valley Community College) and Dr. Roger Yohe (Faculty Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Estrella Mountain Community College).
This past summer, several of the Co-chairs began work on their specific focus initiative. This momentum has carried into the 2004-2005 academic year and provides an outstanding array of learning opportunities for Maricopa faculty and administrators.
Each month, the Ocotillo leadership team has met with Deans of Instruction Dr. Bryan Tippett (Estrella Mountain) and Dr. Ken Roberts (South Mountain) who have volunteered to work with us through this year. Beginning in 2003-2004, these monthly "Meetings with the Deans" served a critical role in coordinating the work and direction of Ocotillo. This year's meetings have been equally productive in establishing effective methods of disseminating the Ocotillo work. September's New Faculty Orientation to Ocotillo is a prime example. Twenty-four new faculty members had the opportunity to hear what Ocotillo offers in terms of pedagogy and support, and also had the opportunity to dialogue with representative Co-Chairs.
Another 2004-2005 addition is Ocotillo Central, a website dedicated to the activities and events available to faculty and staff of the Maricopa district: http://graphite.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ocotillo/
This site is a "dashboard" for everything going on in the four action groups, linking together technologies such as weblogs, wikis, and discussion boards. Upcoming events are fed to the site from a database. We are using these technologies so anyone can easily follow the work and progress of the Ocotillo team through weekly blog entries.
Ocotillo was launched this year by a "virtual kickoff" featuring streaming video welcomes from the faculty co-chairs as well as Chancellor Rufus Glasper, Vice-Chancellors Anna Solley and Ron Bleed, and Dean of Instruction Ken Roberts. They are still available online (as well as some "bloopers"!) at: http://graphite.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ocotillo/kickoff.php
There are sixteen activities and events currently listed on the Ocotillo schedule, and this list is growing. Each of these opportunities provides faculty and staff the chance to learn and interact with techniques and technologies that will enhance learning.
At this point, the Hybrid Structures group has been pre-approved Faculty Professional Growth credit for their fall workshops and events - which appropriately will be offered in a hybrid format (face to face workshops and follow-up synchronous online chat sessions). The E-Portfolio group is arranging a series of college "ePort Show and Tell" sessions. The Learning Objects group is planning a series of "LearnShops" to bring the concepts of RLOs (Reusable Learning Objects) to you. The Emerging Learning Technologies group is going "on the road" and hoping to meet this year at least once with every campus or district technology group.
The date is also set for Ocotillo Retreat 2005. This year's event will be held May 17, 2005 on the South Mountain Community College campus and will include two guest speakers. Larry Johnson, CEO of the New Media Consortium, has his finger on the pulse of how technology has changed the face of education and what is emerging on the horizon. Richard Baraniuk is the Director of the Connexions project at Rice University. This project asserts that knowledge is free, open, and shared and has established a rapidly growing collection of free scholarly materials and a powerful set of free software tools. In addition, there will be open computer demos of best practices from across the district and a variety of concurrent session demos/presentations from peers and colleagues.
In closure, Ocotillo's primary effort this year is to offer a wide range of convenient and productive opportunities for all faculty and staff. I've coined the slogan, "Gaining Time with Technology." Everyone feels there is too much to do and not enough time to get it done. The Ocotillo action groups are making every effort to bring some new methods to the "Maricopa family" that will help. We hope everyone takes advantage of the hard work and valuable resources offered by your Ocotillo team.
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