Seeking Gold Standard

Dr. Patricia McGee opened the second day of the conference with a whirlwind of a presentation. Gold standards are apparently not sought lightly. Nor should they be. Her presentation ended with an image of the Conference Bike:


I think DL should get one of these. Or maybe KCELT? Or maybe for the next Institutional Effectiveness retreat?

The point of the bike illustrates the need to collaborate across many departments for what we hope to accomplish in teaching and learning at a distance. We need to be working with IT, training, advising, all the programs, etc... And the bike would, in theory, bring those people together, at least for as long as their legs hold out.

There was so much covered in this talk, I'm not sure where to begin. Her presentation is online via SlideShare (I couldn't find it just yet, but search for 'gold standard').

A couple of book recommendation: "Future Shock", "The Kids Are Alright", "Course Management Systems for Learning".

Several Web 2.0 type site recommendations: Gabbly, Bubbl.us, Notemesh, Buddyspace, Wikihow, and a repository of many more on Go2Web20.net.

And finally, Dr. McGee is big time into researching more about what is happening in the teaching and learning process. Her website will have more.