Welcome to the Fall 2013 Newsletter!
Welcome to the Fall 2013 MDE Newsletter. This is the place to find the latest MDE Community news. Our presence in distance education events, our publications, awards, and new initiatives is all presented here! The MDE Community has been busy since last fall! Presentations, honors and publications throughout. Read on for the latest and greatest information on your fellow MDE community members.
Important news...Lisa Blaschke is new MDE manager in OldenburgOn Feb 1st, Lisa Blaschke joined the management of the MDE, representing Oldenburg in the MDE partnership.
Thomas Huelsmann, who has worked in this role since 2007, is stepped down from his position, but luckily will continue to teach in the program, and contribute with his expertise. From Oldenburg, Olaf comments: "I am very happy that we were able to appoint Lisa for this important position here in Oldenburg. Lisa is an expert in distance education and e-learning and a very active member of the European DE and e-learning community. With her American and German background she is the perfect person for our international MDE program." Since then many of us have expressed their welcome message to Lisa, and she has fully taken charge of MDE OL duties. The LEO project: new learning environment at UMUC
In Spring 2013, UMUC began the move to a new learning-management system (LMS) as the first step in what will become a broader, integrated, and seamless experience for the UMUC community - LEO (Learning Experience Online). LEO is a constellation of technologies and approaches that will expand teaching and learning modalities to allow individualized pathways for student progress, more educational tools for faculty to choose from, and better ways to track student progress. The new LMS (Desire2Learn) selected in 2012 is one part of this system, and is being adopted in a phased approach. The MDE was an early adopter of the new LMS, piloting it in 5 courses in the summer: OMDE 601, OMDE 603, OMDE 610, DETT 607 and DETT 611. Given the complexity of this migration, no new courses are being added in the fall, but all MDE courses in Spring 2014 are expected to be offered through the new LMS.
Significant Changes in Course Offerings patterns... (must read)There are VERY important changes in the 2-year plan for MDE class offerings, which you should take notice immediately and re-visit your study plan.
Changes starting Fall 2013 2013:
DETT 621 re-design: new course offered this fall
During the last spring, DETT 621 - Training at a Distance was completely revised. Zane Berge and Brenda Ledford worked on the re-design of the course, which will be offered for the first time this fall. One of the highlights of the course is the use of the ASTD competency model.
Events
EDEN 2013 Annual Conference
Oslo, Norway - June 12-15, 2013 "The 2013 Annual EDEN Conference in Oslo was again a great success with 400 delegates with over 24 workshops, 25 poster presentations and 10 demonstrations from all over the world. The event was rich both in content and in collaboration opportunities and was highly interactive not only face-to-face, but also on the web."
Several MDE faculty members were present at the event, including Lisa Blaschke, Thomas Huelsmann, Don Olcott, Gila Kurtz and Stella Porto. A few of these presentations can be found here:
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New people and new roles...
Dr. Claudia Schrader
Claudia Schrader holds a doctoral degree in the field of Educational Science and Media Research. She has extensive experience in teaching in distance education due to her past employment at the Distance University in Hagen, Germany. Currently, Claudia Schrader has a temporary professorship at the University Oldenburg, Germany. Starting next semester, she will take up a professorship ’Serious Games’ at the University Ulm, Germany. Her main area of research focuses on the effects of instructional design of educational media on emotions, motivation and learning. Claudia hs taught DETC 620 with Jill Fresen in the summer 2013 semester.
Welcome to new TAs and WCs
The teaching assistant and writing coach program continues to grow. Three MDE graduates have now joined the MDE TA-WC group: Susan Pollack, Lealan Zaccone and Jacklyn Thompson. This fall, Susan will be the writing coach in OMDE 603, Lealan will be working as a TA and writing coach for OMDE 670, and Jacklyn will be serving as TA and Writing Coach for DETC 630.
Publications & Presentations continued...
Presentations and publications from the MDE community can be found in the embedded document below or here.
AwardsBrenda Ledford and Julie Rozzi received ACPA awards...
Two of our graduates were awarded with two distinct awards by ACPA (College Student Educators International) late last December: Brenda Ledford and Julie Rozzi.
Julie is a 2010 MDE graduate, is the creator and leader of the MDE peer-mentoring program, which has been running since 2010. She has received the ACPA 2012 Commission XII Individual Award: Commuter/Adult Learner Perspective by Student Development Professional Award. Julie has also presented this work in conferences, namely USDLA 2011 and IFWE'2012. For more information on Julie, here is her e-portfolio link: https://pathbrite.com/portfolio/PX3WOPssG Brenda is a graduate of the MDE from 2009, but has continued on, and will be graduating again next spring with a Masters in Management. Brenda has received the ACPA 2012 Graduate Student Research and Innovation Award. Brenda has been key in creating and supporting the MDE Writing Coach program, and now holds several publications in distance education. For more information on Brenda, here is her e-portfolio link: http://brendacledford.weebly.com/ Upcoming Events
MDE Orientation The MDE Orientation is held in the third week of each session and brings together a multitude of MDE resources which a valuable to students at every point of their MDE journey. There is extensive information provided on the many support resources MDE students have access to. Additionally. there's great information on the MDE E-portfolio and capstone research project. All MDE students, faculty and alumni are welcome. Sign up either through OMDE 601 or by email to Stella Porto
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- MDE Lounge (Google groups): http://bit.ly/mdelounge
- MDE Faculty Forum (Google groups): http://bit.ly/mdefaculty
- Facebook: http://bit.ly/FBMDE-UMUC
- LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/linkedin-MDE
- Academia.edu: http://bit.ly/mde-academia-edu
- MDE Blog: http://mdeblog.blogspot.com
- MDE Hub: http://mdehub.weebly.com
- MDE orientation: http://sites.google.com/site/mdeorientation