Have you been looking for a way to continue exploring issues related with technology and teaching. Consider subscribing to the TGIF (TLT Group Inspirational Fridays) email. Maricopa Community Colleges has an institutional subscription to TLT Group (Teaching, Learning & Technology). The weekly emails invite you to participate in a weekly online session about some topic or technology. Some of the upcoming Friday Live events include:

• Is Facebook the ePortfolio we’ve all been looking for or a distraction worse than …say…heroin?
• Poster Sessions - The Pros and Cons of Using Virtual Worlds in Teaching Beyond Second Life……………..
• 10 Years Back, 10 months Forward…Where is the Educational Starbucks?
• If you build it, will they come? POD/MERLOT

If you are interested in subscribing to the email and possibly attending some of these online events, go to: http://www.tltgroup.org/TGIF_subscribe.htm

In surfing for content to post to a variety of blogs this week, I came upon an interesting article that doesn’t necessarily relate to this week’s topics in any of my classes, but thought I would share anyway. (Besides, it’s my turn to present in my Recent Innovations in Ed Tech class this week)

Inside is an interesting reference on how technology is affecting instruction today. I like the fact that it focuses back on the teacher: (note that in the following quote, IT is referring to Information Technology and NOT Instructional Technology, but I think in the end it applies to both)

“IT is not a good substitute for good teaching. Good teachers are good with or without IT and students learn a great deal from them. Poor teachers are poor with or without IT and students learn little from them.”

Here’s the link: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/17/it

Here’s a website that anyone who teaches may find worth the visit.

In particular, you might want to click on “Face Talk.”

http://adjunctprofessoring.blogspot.com/

As instructors continue to increase the number of online courses MCC offers, as well as continue to shift from paper to electronic homework submissions, we are beginning to notice the following two trends:
1. many of our students do not own MS Word; therefore,
2. an increasing number of our students electronically submit documents that are not in the “.doc” format.

There are a few easy suggestions to help with this issues.
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