This series will explore and expose current innovative uses of the UMW Blogs platform. It will also provide consulting, support, and resources to the UMW Blogs user who wishes to go beyond basic blogging capabilities. The series will be book-ended with two, more formal, forums made up of UMW Blogs users. In between, DTLT will host several open sessions which anybody at UMW can attend to learn more about the possibilities of building a site on UMW Blogs. At the conclusion of each session, DTLT will develop and make available online any resources that grew out of conversations, questions, or ideas brought up at the session.
Read more about this series in our official announcement.
Schedule
Kickoff Forum
3/10 in Combs 139
3:00-4:00
Signup to Present at this Event!
During this forum, current users of UMW Blogs will share some of the innovative uses of the system, from outstanding course blogs, to student portfolios, to club Web sites, to “professional domains” created by faculty. UMW Blog users will be invited to sign up to present (in 5 minutes or so) their exemplary site. The purpose of this event will be to spark the imaginations of attendees and inspire them to try something new in UMW Blogs; the subsequent open sessions will provide the one-on-one support and hands-on opportunities to build and develop something new.
Open Sessions
3/24 (Stafford), 3/26(Fredericksburg), 4/2(Fredericksburg), 4/14(Stafford), 4/16(Fredericskburg), 4/30(Fredericksburg), 5/5 (Stafford)
2:00 to 4:00
These sessions will be held in duPont 310 or the Curriculum Development Lab (North 226) on the Stafford campus from 2:00 to 4:00 on scheduled days. A wiki will be available before each session which people can use to ask questions, suggest topics to discuss/get help on. The format of the actual session will be dictated, primarily, by the attendees and their needs. If several people are interested in a particular topic, we can devote 30 minutes to demonstration and then the rest of the time to development/helping people do something. If there are a few people with different topics of interest, we can break into small groups or work one-on-one. Whenever possible, whatever is developed or discussed at the session will be turned into some kind of “persistent resource” which DTLT will post on the UMW Blogs support site. This might be a quick tutorial, a list of links/resources, a description of an innovative use of the system, etc.
There is no requirement to attend all of these sessions; we invite you to join us for as many as your schedule allows.
Closing Forum
5/12 or 5/13
Location and Time at Faculty Academy TBD
The closing forum of the series will take place at Faculty Academy (May 12th and 13th on the Stafford Campus) and will serve the purpose of showing off things people have done over the course of the semester as part of the open sessions.
