Rick Lillie's Page

Since early 2008, I have been using a great new video-messaging service with my students.  The service is called TokBox (http://www.tokbox.com).  The service is free, hosted, and allows you to record a video message of up to 15 minutes.  Overall audio/video quality is outstanding!  I use TokBox to communicate with my students and as a way to add video commentary to course materials.

Click on the link below to view a short video message that I recorded on TokBox.  Reply to this post, telling me what you think of TokBox.  My students and colleagues give TokBox very high ratings.

Example TokBox Video Message

Rick Lillie (CalState San Bernardino, Email:  rlillie@csusb.edu)

The 2007-2008 academic year ended today.  Spring Quarter 2008 grades have been posted.  Graduation exercises are over.  It has been a great year.  Now, it's time to relax, read, explore, and work on writing articles.

A couple of years ago, I decided not to teach summer term courses.  I decided to take the summer off, enjoy a different pace, relax, read, explore, and write.  This was the first time that I had not taught summer courses in many years.  What an experience!  It was like taking a mini sabbatical.  I returned to the Fall Quarter with a fresh state-of-mind and a renewed energy.

This summer, I have an interesting reading list.  I am close to finishing The World is Flat, A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman.  If you have not read the book, I highly recommend it.  Friedman is a great storyteller.  Even if you don't agree with something that he says, he will certainly make you think.  The ISBN for Friedman's book is 0-312-42507-4.  Enjoy the read! 

Earlier this year, when Eduspaces came back to us, I set up a community to focus on what constitutes blended learning.  My Spring Quarter 2008 has been so busy that I have not had time to get the discussion group started on the issue.  I hope to jump-start the discussion soon.

I serve on my university's distance learning committee.  Over the past year, we have engaged in extensive discussion about what constitutes blended learning.  Our objective "was" to develop a way to measure the approaches being used by faculty to design/deliver their courses (i.e., face-to-face, blended, or online). 

Administrators are hell-bent on using the Sloan-C Consortium definition of blended learning which emphasizes "butt time" (i.e., defining a course design based on the amount of time that a student's "butt" is parked in a chair in a face-to-face setting).  What a crass way to define or catagorize course design!

While "butt time" may have some relevance, I keep asking about other things like how technology is integrated into course design.  Should a course that includes face-to-face contact and use of technology-based activities that occur outside of class (e.g., online simulation-based problem-solving hosted by the textbook publisher) be classified as face-to-face or as blended?

This is a hot issue for many university administrators.  It is amazing how fixed they are in their positions.

Oh well, perhaps we will be able to explore this issue during the summer months.  If you're interested in joining the discussion, please send me a request asking to join the discussion community.

Best wishes for an enjoyable summer!

Rick Lillie (CalState San Bernardino)

Click on the start icon (>) below to view a short, very interesting video presentation entitled "A Vision of 21st Century Learners."  There have been several videos like this one published recently, but this one is pretty good.

The academic community is not all that different from the for-profit workplace.  We have time schedules, use to-do lists, and have a need to plan and account for our time.  Earlier this year, I discovered a free, hosted Web 2.0 tool called iZepto, a personal timesheet service created by an Australian company.

iZepto is very easy to use and can be tailored to personal needs with ease.  I use it to keep track of how I spend my time.  In particular, I use iZepto to help me track time that I spend on research and writing projects.  This is a great Web 2.0 tool.  I thought I would share it with you.  Enjoy!

Click to View iZepto

This past week, I spent two days at the 20th Annual Lilly Conference on College & University Teaching (West) at Cal Poly Pomona, in Pomona California.  The conference focused on the scholarship of teaching and learning.  I came away from the conference with several ideas that I would like to talk with others about. 

I added a post to Spaces Central indicating that I will set up a discussion community that will focus on a more comprehensive way to define and catagorize blended learning.  If you are interested in participating in the discussion, post a reply comment to the forum in Spaces Central.  I'll contact you soon.

Best wishes,

Rick Lillie (CalState San Bernardino)

Great news!  Your message warms my heart.  Welcome back Eduspaces and the Eduspaces Team. 

Rick Lillie (California State University, San Bernardino)

I am quoted in an article in USA Today about using technology tools to work with students online.  Click on the link below to read the article.  It's enjoyable when online faculty get a little recognition.  I am an assistant professor.  Not all of their facts were exactly correct.

PROFESSORS HELP STUDENTS VIRTUALLY

Rick Lillie  (California State University, San Bernardino)