VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 THIS WEEK IN THE CTRE NOVEMBER 13—19, 2011 CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY UPCOMING TRAINING GOOGLE NINJAS IN THE CTRE! 11/15 On November 3-4, Theodis cally how Google and its “32 Ways to Use Google MOODLE NOON LIB 144 Garth and Rochelle John- many products can help Apps in the Classroom,” GRADEBOOK & son of the CTRE traveled to students learn, instructors highlighting such pro- 7:00PM ONLINE the Glacier Canyon Lodge in teach, and everyone to grams as Moderator, Wisconsin Dells to attend navigate the sea of apps SketchUp, and Knol. 11/17 MOODLE 11:00 the Google Sum- Stigliz was LIB 144 BASICS joined by 3 of & mit Midwest con- 7:00PM ference. her Google ONLINE peers at the For two days MOODLE 11/19 conference, GRADEBOOK 1:00PM straight, attendees who all came ONLINE talked, debated, to demonstrate MOODLE 11/20 and learned about how such time BASICS 3:00PM all things Google, ONLINE -tested applica- from Google Docs tions as Gmail to Picasa to the and Google Docs are still newly unveiled Chrome- that are available. evolving to allow for bet- SHOULD book. ter user experiences and CSU GO Julia Stigliz of Google’s The focus of the conference greater productivity. WITH Apps for Education team, was on education, specifi- AMBROSE? for example, presented on (continued on back) Let us know! Click here to look at HD VIDEO STREAMING AT CSU Ambrose Video’s list of programs, then A new HD video streaming Digital video streaming ser- and Discovery Education is send your thoughts— service may be coming to vice. In addition to all 37 the breadth of topics and good or bad–to the CSU. Shakespeare plays, Ambrose’s quality of video, in addition to collection includes a plethora features like a usage statistics CTRE by emailing On November 9, Allen Dohra of videos catering to core tool, which would allow in- James Kowalski of Ambrose Video Publish- physics, biology, history, law, structors to keep track of how ([email protected]) or ing met with members of the and minority studies classes. many students are watching CTRE to discuss the possibil- calling him at x.2498. What sets Ambrose apart videos, and which ones they ity of using the Ambrose from websites like YouTube are choosing. Follow the CTRE on Twitter! STUDENT ONLINE EVALUATIONS According to the CSU contract, the YOUR ONE-STOP SPOT FOR NEWS IN CTRE must provide a standard EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY course evaluation for all online and The CTRE now officially has a shiny new Twitter account. If you’d like hybrid courses. Therefore, we have to keep track of current trends and news stories regarding educational contracted with Digital Measures to technology and what’s going on in the CTRE, then follow pilot an online course evaluation sys- @CSU_CTRE. tem this semester. Faculty teaching For some academi- cians, Twitter represents an ominous en- online or hybrid courses will be noti- croachment on verbal articulation; for the fied this week with additional infor- CTRE, however, it simply represents a mation about how they can custom- great way for us to keep in touch with ize their individual course evalua- people not just across CSU, but other tions and the instrument will be open academic institutions as well. to all students beginning November So even if you’ve never considered 28. If this pilot is successful, this jumping on the Twitter bandwagon be- process may be rolled out for all fore, perhaps now is the time. Like many social me- courses next semester. For more in- dia outlets on the web, it can serve as an illuminating and fasci- nating learning tool if used wisely. formation please click here or email Liz Osika at [email protected]. And don’t forget– students will think you’re cool, too. GOOGLE NINJAS IN THE CTRE! (CONT.) Also featured at the confer- iPad, or if it will fade away learning as a whole—are ence was Google’s Chrome- like the ill-fated Newton. realities that are only going book, which is an innova- to grow in scope as time With 61 of the top 100 uni- tive alternative to the con- goes on. versities in the nation cur- ventional laptop. Rather rently using Google Apps, Luckily for skeptics and than a hard drive, for exam- it’s an undeniable presence slow adopters alike, the ple, all data is stored in the in higher education. CSU, technologies presented at cloud, and instead of using like many of its peer institu- the conference had one Windows or Mac OS X, a tions in the Midwest, have thing almost universally in proprietary, web-based An advertisement for the Google jumped onboard with common: they’re easy to Chromebook, highlighting its web- Chrome operating system is Google Apps, and with use. And therein lies centric operating system. used. So far, reception has good reason, too. If noth- Google Apps’ greatest been enthusiastic, though ing else, one reality was strength, which, inciden- measured; time will tell if made patently clear at the tally, is also the mark of a the Chromebook can serve conference: Google —and great educational tool. the myriad uses of, say, the especially Google online .