The TRACS Faculty Showcase on April 1, 2011 was a positive and engaging event for the 21 faculty members who attended to see four presenters show how they use particular TRACS tools and functions. Dr. Deb Balzhiser from the English Department served as master of ceremonies and the presenters kept things moving with a sense of humor and fun.
Assistant Professor Scott Bowman (Criminal Justice) showed his award-winning course that uses the TRACS Wiki tool. Dr. Bowman is the first-place winner of the 2010 Teaching With Sakai Innovation Award.
Associate Professor Rubén Garza from the Curriculum & Instruction Department showed how he uses Learning Modules in TRACS to incorporate documents, images and other learning materials.
Assistant Professor Alejandra Sorto from Mathematics demonstrated her use of the Assignments tool and show how she uses it to provide audio feedback to students.
Mary Lorenz, Grant Coordinator at The Education Institute presented on her project site which is used for professional development and certification for adult educators.
A short Q & A session followed the presentations. Several faculty members remarked on how useful the session was. One said it was valuable because faculty were able to see what is possible. Along the same lines, another faculty member commented that it is very important to see what others are doing. Generally, faculty cannot see each other’s sites, so this session provided a way for them to experience other faculty member’s sites and uses of TRACS.
Attendees were asked for feedback and ideas for future events. Below are some of those ideas:
- Following several presentations, provide breakout sessions where attendees could talk further with one of the presenters.
- Following the showcase, have a how-to do it workshop
- An online component could provide instruction for the how to do it part.
- Do a showcase by topic—for example, select a particular TRACS tool and have each presenter show different aspects of that tool
Videos
Click the presenter's name to watch video of their presentation
Scott Bowman
Ruben Garza
Alejandra Sorto
Mary Lorenz
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