PlanetUSF

Hi, thanks for stopping by my page. I will start by telling you about myself. I live in Seminole Florida and have been there most of my life. I did go out of state for college in Alabama but returned to start my career as a social worker. I currently work full time for Pinellas County 4-H and have been there for 9 years. I am an agent and my job is primarily to develop and execute community educational programs and 4-H clubs with youth ages 5-18 developing their life skills. My program focus areas include healthy living, leadership, community service, and now technology. A strength that may be helpful for the group is my experience as a community educator. My role in a group is usually as an organizer and a worker bee. I am task oriented and pretty organized.
I have little experience with distance learning but am hoping to incorporate it into my teaching when I complete the class. This is my first course after being out of school for 15 years, but I am looking forward to all that the experience will bring to my life journey.
Now let me share a bit about what I do when I am not working. I am at my other job raising my 10-year-old son, Kyle. He keeps me busy. He is in Tae Kwon Do and plays soccer. We attend church regularly on Wednesday evenings and on Saturday or Sunday. We enjoy boating, fishing, and any outdoor activity. I love traveling and one day will make my way to Italy where I will eat, drink, and do a bit of site seeing. Until next blog…

PBL is a method where problems are presented at the beginning of the instructional cycle. The problem provides both the context and the stimulus for uncovering learning objectives. New information is not presented by the instructor, but acquired by the students through self-directed team learning. In addition to learning new information, PBL is concerned with students’ skill development and awareness of the learning and problem solving processes.

Because PBL has such diverse outcomes and can be implemented in many different ways, studies on the effectiveness of PBL are not conclusive. The most often cited downside of PBL is that the amount of knowledge acquired is slightly smaller than that acquired with traditional teaching methods (Prince, 2004). Nonetheless, the authors of various literature reviews and meta-analysis indicate there are some positive outcomes that can be expected from PBL:

· Long term retention of knowledge (Norman & Schmidt, 1992; Gijbels, et al.,2005).
· Improved student attitudes (Vernon & Blake, as cited in Prince, 2004)
· Improved study habits (Major & Palmer, 2001)

These outcomes are what keep instructors interested in the PBL approach. Still, implementing PBL requires a considerable investment of time and resources.

Over the next few posts I’ll be sharing some of the resources available to instructors interested in exploring the PBL approach.

References

Gijbels, D., Dochy, F., Van Den Bossche, P., & Segers, M. (2005). Effects of problem-based learning: A meta-analysis from the angle of assessment. Review of educational research, 75(1), 27-61.
Major, C. H., & Palmer, B. (2001). Assessing the effectiveness of problem-based learning in higher education: Lessons from the literature. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 5(1), 4.
Norman, G. R., & Schmidt, H. G. (1992). The psychological basis of problem-based learning: A review of the evidence. Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 67(9), 557-565.
Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223-232.

Due to increased usage of Elluminate at USF and in an effort to meet the needs of USF faculty and students, we have purchased an additional 100 concurrent seat licenses for our full-featured Elluminate Academic system, giving us a total of 200 seats at any one time for scheduling sessions.

Note that this means that at any one time, there can be 200 different users accessing Elluminate Academic at USF. This is a considerable increase in the number of seats available.

Please remember to schedule your sessions through our synchronous session request page at http://www.c21te.usf.edu/sync/requests

Follow the brief 6-step process to request your Elluminate sessions.

Thank you for your continued use of Elluminate and for making it a popular instructional tool at USF.

Elluminate Lite is a scaled-down version of Elluminate Academic (the 200-concurrent seat full-featured version of Elluminate we have had at USF for the last 2 years). The reason we have Elluminate Lite at USF is to serve as a backup system for moderators and participants when we exceed the seat availability on Elluminate Academic. On certain days and certain times, we do exceed seat availability in Elluminate Academic. Additionally Elluminate Lite is available for those situations where session moderators require larger amounts of time and more frequent sessions and do not need all the features of Elluminate Academic.

To learn more about Elluminate Lite, please visit:
http://www.elluminate.com/lite_edition.jsp

To view a feature-based comparison of Elluminate Lite and Elluminate Academic, please visit: http://www.elluminate.com/product_comparison.jsp

Alsoooooooo Heute gabs mal eine lustige Klasse: Am Anfang dachte ich - huihhh, der fordert ja ganz schön viel. Aber dann durfte ich feststellen, dass der Kerl echt lustig und sein Ziel ist, Spaß beim Lernen zu haben. Außerdem hat er dann sofort viel Gruppenarbeit und “interaction” gemacht, was noch viel lebendiger als in der Schule war und mit einer deutschen Uni rein garnix zu tun hat. Wir haben unsere Gruppe dann “Die glorreichen Sieben” genannt, da wir zwei Deutsche in der Gruppe waren und wir einen besonderen Gruppennamen haben wollte
Außerdem habe ich heute noch eine Klasse gewechselt (Kurs ist immer noch der gleiche - man kann hier meistens in zwei verschiedene “classes” für einen Kurs gehen) und habe jetzt meiner Meinung den perfekten Stundenplan bei tollen “Instructors”.

Zum Unileben kann man dann noch sagen, dass die Profs hier viel Wert auf Kommunikationsfähigkeit legen und man daher möglichst häufig präsentieren und diskutieren soll. Ich finds toll und es gefällt mir! Was auch super ist, dass meistens viele kleine Sachen bewertet werden und nicht am Ende eine Hammerklausur. Man kann auch seinen Fortschritt andauernd online kontrollieren, so dass man immer weiß wo man steht.

AmRande: Eben sind mir zwei schwarze Amerikaner entgegengekommen die gesungen haben, voll locker drauf die Typen und ich finde das spiegelt genau die Stimmung hier an der USF wider

Felix hat mir auch noch gesagt es wäre sinnig euch Telefonzeiten mitzuteilen. Mach’ ich hiermiet: Bin meistens um die Mittagszeit hier (so ab 20 Uhr bei euch) gut zu erreichen per Skype oder sonstwie. Wann ihr auch gute Chancen habt ist gegen 7 Uhr oder 14-16 Uhr bei euch. Also, lasst von euch hören!

My name is Marian Smith and I am a Reference/Instruction Librarian at Seminole Community College. I completed a M.A. in Library & Information Science at USF and a Graduate Certificate in Instructional Design in 2003. Now, I am back to finish (2/3 to go) a second Masters, M. Ed. Instructional Technology.

DL courses are most convienent since I live inVolusia County and the commute would be grueling. (I loath I4!) I have taken DL courses in the past and take turns with another librarian teaching LIS2204 Introduction to Internet Research. Having seen DL from both sides, with various professors, I know I can improve my own teaching/learning in the online environment.

As for group work, evening or weekend meetings would be best. Through work, I am training to be a moderator in Elluminate and like the collaborative features I’ve seen thus far. For better or worse, I am a “get it done” person with a dash of perfectionism. Have I scared you yet?

Personal blips:
I study Kundalini yoga, have the most supportive boyfriend in the world, love to garden and go camping.

An outsider’s take on Rising Tide 2:

In most cities, bloggers practice a peculiar virtual cannibalism, tearing each other apart for sport. But at Rising Tide, among people young and old, black and white, I saw my first glimpse of what can be termed blogger solidarity. It stemmed, as one told me, from “the necessity of coming together after Katrina.”

The bloggers represent the best of something beginning to bubble that you won’t see on the nightly news, as the two-year anniversary of Katrina arrives today. Amid the horror, amid the neighborhoods that the federal government seems content to see die, there are actual people sticking it out. And they do it with gusto.

I’ve never liked Oprah, particularly after she did that “look at my fabulous week-long birthday party and how much people with money love me” segment a couple years ago, but this takes the cake.

WTF????

Chris Rose’s book is amazing and I’ve required my students buy it, so let’s hope the word gets out and Americans do flock to bookstores!

EDITED 8/30–Not sure if word spread, but on Oprah’s website, the re-cap includes the following:

Chris Rose, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated columnist in New Orleans, wrote the book 1 Dead in Attic. Although he has no history of mental health problems, Chris is one of many Gulf-area residents who eventually found himself on the edge. “I’ve had a number of friends kill themselves since the storm. I now understood why people did such things.”

This last week I’ve ridden the biggest emotional rollercoaster to have ever been built in the theme park that is my life.

Sunday I had the pleasure of attending a mandatory meeting at my workplace, Toys R Us, only to learn that the store would be “relocating” to Wesley Chapel. All hope of getting the TRU insurance policy and earning massive hours during the Christmas season are out the door as I attempt to look for a higher paying job thats flexible, gives me enough hours and is not entirely miserable. My Love and I are looking at reasonably priced apartments around the campus and to somehwat comfortably afford t we need to make more money.

Which leads me to my next point. The Love of My Life recently unlocked the floodgate on his emotions and admitted his true feelings for me. Though we have been together nearly one year and one month, he just recently admitted that he was in love with me and now has proclaimed his eternal love. An unofficial marriage proposal, if you will, coming from a man who emphasized that he would never get married or be tied down and he particularly did not want kids. I am beyond shocked and exhilarated. I love him with all my heart and soul and to hear those things from him was like having a heavy weight lifted off my heart. All fear of losing him or him not reciprocating my feelings has dispersed and despite the encumberment of a heavy classload and many work hours, I feel light and happier than I have ever felt because I know that whatever else happens-I have him and all the hope and promise of a future together.

The only thing standing in the way is four more years, at least, of college. While I’m still excited to be here, after only two days of classes it’s starting to get to me. I already haeve several assignments which ironically seem only to be due on days that i work the previous two nights, leaving little room for me to do them. Thank the lord for the time in between classes I manage to snag. Also, I managed to use ALL of my Bright Futures’ allowance for the year, leaving it up to me to find money for next semester’s books. I’m also on my third, and probably not last, day of buying a visitors’ parking permit to park near the Sun Dome while I’m waiting to get my yearly hangtag. The official is closed at the most inconvenient hours and I needed prior approval to even purchase the hangtag, which is beyond me as I’m a registered student and that should be enough. But agaibn, this is USF and its not the first, and certainly won’t be the last, of many obstacles I will have to jump through. As we all know, there are many incompetent staff and administrators at every school.

But enough of that. I have two chapters to read for Contemporary Moral Issues (easy A my ass) and a follow up assignment due in a few hours. Off the laptop I am to sit in my quiet, secluded little corner on the third floor of the campus library.

Graphic by Greg Peters

I don’t know about anyone else but I know that I find the whole “college experience” to be alittle scary at first. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love being independent; not having anyone telling me what to do. It’s great! The only problem is that now that I have that freedom, it’s not alll that delightful. But the worse part about being a “grown up” is having to leave the coop and in doing so, you have to leave all of your friends and family.
The day I left was an extremely sad day for me. It wasn’t too bad leaving my mom and family because the truth of the matter is that I had been preparing myself to leave since I was about sixteen. But the hard part of leaving was saying goodbye to all the relationships that I had developed recently. Everyone tells you that it will be fine and that “you’ll adjust” but it is just difficult.
But I guess its not that bad and I’m sure everything will be alright, and there’s always the weekends to drive back. Afterall, I’ve always liked road trips!

While I am wary of any site whose tagline includes the phrases “Your Go-To Page” and “Everything you need and need to know is right here” [is it me or is that redundant and grammatically awkward?], I do appreciate any effort to gather the latest in Katrina headlines and resources. Check it out here.

Much more interesting to me is this new book, Heart Like Water, which only reminds me to finish my dissertation as soon as possible so I too can publish something great and evocative.

Heute und gestern hatte ich zum ersten Mal “class”. Der Unterschied zu Deutschland ist doch recht groß, da wirklich alles eher wie in der Schule ist und mündl. Mitarbeit und verschiedene Formen von Tests in die Endnote miteinfließen. Jeder Prof. hat dabei ein leicht anderes System in das man sich immer wieder einfuchsen muss. Anfangs muss man sich auch noch das Sprechtempo gewöhnen und konzentriert dranbleiben, aber dann funktionierts ganz gut. Vom Thema her ist zu erwarten, dass es nicht allzu schwer wird. Mir gefällt das ganze System ganz gut, da man ständig gefordert wird und auch konstant einen Überblick über seine Note erhält. Die Überraschung am Ende des Semesters und die Abhängigkeit von nur einer Klausur ist damit wesentlich kleiner.

Gestern Abend haben wir mal wieder eine kleine Party mit ein paar Amis gehabt. Dabei stellte sich erneut heraus, dass mein Akzent wohl auffällig ist: Die einen meinen ich sei Franzose oder Grieche, manche sagen ich habe einen New Yorker Akzent und wieder andere finden meinen Akzent einfach nur gut - wirklich Ahnung hat wohl keiner

Hier übrigens noch ein kleines Update meiner Kontaktdaten:

Bernd Schwegmann
84568 Magnolia Complex
Tampa, FL 33620
USA

Ich bin auch bei Skype, Facebook, StudiVZ, ICQ und Konsorten vertreten. Einfach mal nach meinem Namen suchen. Die Nummern möchte ich hier lieber nicht posten

After much testing, we are pleased to inform you that we have launched the 500 concurrent user Elluminate Lite service at USF (refer: http://elluminate.blog.usf.edu/2007/01/25/upcoming-elluminate-lite-service-usf). The launch was postponed earlier due to technical difficulties with the installation and Elluminate Support staff helped us rectify the issue.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused due to the installation delay.

However, we now have the Elluminate Lite service available for use at USF in addition to the Elluminate Academic (200 concurrent user license - http://elluminate.blog.usf.edu/2006/11/14/hello-world) which is also fully functional and available.

I just finished my first day of class of the new school year. This is my first time taking classes online rather than on campus, and I must admit that it is a little anti-climactic. Nevertheless, I am really excited about starting my program at USF. I feel like there is so much opportunity out there to learn new things, and I plan on capitalizing on it as much as possible.

Please note that Elluminate session scheduling for the fall 2007 semester is now open.

You can request sessions by following the brief 6-step process at: http://www.c21te.usf.edu/sync/requests

Also note that we now offer two types of Elluminate sessions, namely: Sessions in the full-featured Elluminate Academic and Sessions in Elluminate Lite (a lighter version of Elluminate).

You can read about Elluminate Lite and learn how it compares with Elluminate Academic by visiting:
http://elluminate.blog.usf.edu/2007/08/30/what-is-elluminate-lite

The version of the Virtual Classroom / Lightweight Chat included in Blackboard 7.3 is not currently compatible with Java 6. We are planning to patch Blackboard within the next two weeks to correct this issue, but for now, if you have troubles loading the Virtual Classroom, please check if you are using Java 6.

A patch is coming from Blackboard which will allow the chat tool to work with Java 6. It will be installed during one of our regular maintenance windows, Friday Morning from midnight and 5am. We hope to have this tested and ready to install in the next two weeks. For now, the workaround is to downgrade to Java 5.

Grüße nach Deutschland (bitte klicken!)

With the 2 year anniversary coming up, NOLA theatre writer David Cuthbert has written a great piece on all of the works written and performed by locals, those “creative voices… raised in response.” Here’s a snippit from the section that features my best friend, Rudy:

[In Fleeing Katrina there is] Rudy Rasmussen, a hotel concierge/actor and one of the funniest people you will ever meet in life or onstage. Rasmussen, a flip, glib live wire, proved to be the voice of reason at the American Can Apartments building where he still lives. “We have food and we have Scotch,” he told his neighbors, “everything’s OK.” His mother, Ione Rasmussen, the longtime band director at Ridgewood Preparatory School, was infirm and, as something of a local legend, wasn’t used to being told what to do. Rasmussen had to cajole, plead and bully her to safety via helicopter and two planes. Along the way they met Geraldo Rivera, Al Gore and his kids (”sweating and helping people at the airport, changing people’s diapers — he’s a hero to me”) and ended up flying to Houston on a private jet.

I set up my blog about a year ago and I have been putting off starting to blog. At first the wedding and then the long nine months of Miranda’s pregnancy keep me from getting an opportunity to write on the blog (and that with my comps and dissertation). So I will be posting some things a little out of date until I catch up.

But, now to the important stuff. On August 10th my daughter, Amelia Madeline Blaeuer, was born at 12.16 am. She weighed in at 6 lb and 2 oz and stretched to a length of nineteen inches. After a ten day stay at the hospital with three days of labor and five days of recovery, we were able to bring her home. She has already gained her birth weigh back and even a few extra ounces. We have been doing a good job getting her on a better sleeping schedule and with Miranda and I splitting shifts we have both been averaging 5 or 6 hours of sleep. Five hours of sleep is still quite good– it is a little less then the 7-8 hours we were used to, but is it still better then those 3-4 hours of sleep during final exams. Miranda is also doing great and her blood pressure is stabilizing — she will soon be up and running about showing off the new baby.

Heute war ich endlich zum ersten Mal am Strand!

Leider zog zum Zeitpunkt des Fotos schon ein wenig Regen auf, aber der Aufenthalt war trotzdem schön, der Sand war wunderbar weiß, die Strandbar spielte Livemusik und das Wetter war am Anfang auch sehr gut.

Zum Strand sind wir - das sind Annika, Christina, Christina, Juliane (unser Chauffeur ) und meine Wenigkeit - gefahren, nach dem wir morgens im Outlet Store waren. Dort habe ich mich natürlich auch mit einigen benötigten Kleidungsstücken eingedeckt und mich eindeutig zum Markenschwein entwickelt. Dennoch habe ich nur rund 130 $ dort gelassen und bin der Meinung ein Schnäppchen gemacht zu haben. Den Abend haben wir dann wieder in gemütlicher Runde bei Timm und Christop (dank an die Gastgeber!) verbracht. Natürlich hat auch fast jeder die neuen Kleidungsstücke präsentiert!

Am Freitag hat Tobi dann einen Studenten aus Osnabrück getroffen, der hier auch einmal studiert hat und der uns noch Tipps gegeben hat bei einem leckeren All-You-Can-Eat beim Asiaten. Anschließend gings in die Library, um kurz ins Internet zu schauen. Leider begann es gegen 16 Uhr heftig zu regnen und gegen 16.45 Uhr hat die Bibliothek dann geschlossen und uns rausgeschmissen. So mussten wir bestimmt eine halbe Stunde draußen warten, dass der Regen aufhörte. Jetzt weiß ich auch, dass ich unbedingt einen Schirm brauche, auch wenn die Sonne hier sonst wie blöd brennt
Abends stand dann noch ein Einkauf bei Sweetbay an, in dem man dann auch endlich “europäisch” einkaufen konnte, da ein ordentliches Sortiment vorhanden ist. Die Ordnung erschließt sich dennoch erst auf den zweiten Blick. Abends war dann natürlich auch wieder Action aber, da ich jetzt eindeutig ins Bett muss, weil wir morgen noch “meilen machen wollen” und wieder einen Strand aufsuchen werden, hört ihr da leider nix mehr von

Have a nice day!

Our civil ceremony on the beach [Palm Cove, Australia] was about a half hour, including the photo-taking, so instead of dealing out cash for someone to sing one song, we opted for the boombox so we could make a mix!

These three, all by Sam Cooke, were played before the ceremony:

Sugar Dumpling
You Belong To Me
You Send Me

The next six blared in celebration:

Love Today by MIKA
I Only Want to Be With You by Dusty Springfield
Renee by Panorama Jazz Band
Mardi Gras In New Orleans by Harry Connick, Jr.
Oh, My Nola by Harry Connick, Jr.
Sheik of Araby by Harry Connick, Jr.

Something borrowed: the fabric that lined the inside of my dress was leftover from the batch used for the petticoats of the Broadway cast of Mary Poppins [it helps to have a fabulous dress designer in NYC!]

Something blue: my garter [basically the only “traditional” thing I had to have!]

Something old: my engagement ring [originally my godmother’s]

Something new: my wedding ring [a band that matches Andy’s exactly]