London Excursion

/in /by

To start off I am so excited for this trip and im ready to go site see and make the most of this experience. I have been waiting for an opportunity like this nearly all of my life and can’t wait to share it wih individuals who over the past few weeks have gotten to know in class and through group messages, testing out whatsapp. One   of the more exciting parts of this trip will definitely be going to Oxford and seeing one of the oldest English speaking universities in the world. It’s about an hour before our plane departs and I am looking forward to this excursion we all are about to experience together. This is the beginning of many traveling experiences for me and one thing im definitely hoping to do while I’m there is to visit the memorial and burial spot of author JRR Tolkien who was a famous British author. Well I’m about ready to head out and im so excited for this trip to begin. By the way be sure to keep an eye out for one of the posts of the most historic building, at least I think what is the most historic building in London because it hold so much history. The building was built in 1099 and it is the Westminster Anbey which by the way holds the coronations, funerals, serves as a memorial, and wedding spot for all of the Monarchs and those who are in the royal blood line. Keep an eye out for the many pictures and posts to come!  

 

Safe in the Cooks!

/in /by

We’ve landed safely, the students have had their first quick snorkel, and we’ve just let them off to go explore the BCI Trade Days for a few hours in Avarua (on Rarotonga).                  

THE PLAN – London July 27 – August 3 // Amsterdam August 3 – August 10

/in /by

July 27, 2015 – 6 hours prior to departure.
  
Hello friends and family,

I’m going to Europe for the next two weeks and I created this blog so that I could share my experiences with the world. If you don’t already know, I’ll be going to London with California State University Channel Islands (the school I just graduated from) from July 27th to August 3rd, then Amsterdam from August 3rd through the 10th. While in London, 15 students and I will be studying British architecture, intercultural communication, and going on tons of guided tours. Some of our main points of interest include:

Wednesday: Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, & The London Eye
Thursday: The Tower of London, The Shard, & Borough Market
Friday: Natural History Museum & Hyde Park
Saturday: Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, & Oxford University [and Fabric Nightclub]
Sunday: St. Paul’s Cathedral & Trafalgar Square
Monday: Pack up and head to Amsterdam

As my colleagues prepare to head back to the states, I’ll be hopping on a plane headed for Amsterdam. My mother was born in this wonderful little city, and we have lot’s of friends in The Netherlands (or as we call it, Holland), so I extended my stay in Europe so I could spend some time with them. As you might guess, the Dutch portion of my trip is a little less organized, but this is my tentative plan:

Monday/Tuesday: I land in Amsterdam Monday afternoon. My cousin, Bryce is picking me up from the airport, so I’ll hang out with him and his parents (his mom is one of my mom’s best friends) for a day or two. They live in a suburb of Amsterdam, about 20 minutes out.
Wednesday: Wednesday at some point I hope to head to my cousin Donny’s house, just outside of Amsterdam. He used to be deep into the nightlife scene in the city, so I’m hoping we can hit the town together. Donny is a successful hairdresser who has cut several famous DJ’s hair including Tiesto’s!
Thursday: I plan on spending the entire day Thursday in Amsterdam, visiting museums, etc.; perhaps with Donny if he’s free.
Friday/Saturday/Sunday: As the weekend approaches I will migrate to a family-friend, Mitchell’s house. Mitchell is my age and is in a similar scene as I am in Hollywood. He is going to show me the underground electronic music scene in Amsterdam. I’m really looking forward to this. If possible, we might even be able to find a festival we can attend.
Monday: I’ll stay with Mitchell for the remainder of the trip and head back to the US on Monday morning.

The last time I was in Europe I was only 15 years old, so I’m really excited to go on this adventure for the first time as an adult. I’m also really excited for the guided tours in London since I would probably never organize these type of activities into my own trips. I can’t wait to touch down in London and start exploring!

Thanks for reading!

Taylor

5 Ways to Support Faculty who Teach with Emerging Technologies

/in /by

“We must support both sides of the chasm.” –Phil Hill

As online and blended learning reshapes the landscape of teaching and learning in higher education, the need to encourage and support faculty to move from delivering passive, teacher-centered experiences to designing active, student-centered learning increases.  Our new social era is rich with simple, free to low-cost emerging technologies that are increasing experimentation and discovery in the scholarship of teaching and learning. While the literature about Web 2.0 tools are impacting teaching and learning is increasing, there is a lack of knowledge about how the adoption of these technologies is impacting the support needs of higher education faculty. This knowledge is essential to develop new, sustainable faculty support solutions.

Driven by my own experiences as a full-time and part-time faculty and early adopter of VoiceThread — a Web 2.0 tool that fosters asynchronous voice, video, and text conversations around media — I designed my dissertation research study to investigate the how the use of Web 2.0 tools is impacting the support needs of higher education faculty. I performed this action research study in collaboration with the VoiceThread organization with the purpose of improving the support needs of their higher education users.

The study’s sample included 50 higher education faculty members, comprised of a mix of part-time and full-time faculty from 2-year and 4-year institutions in the United States with a VoiceThread account (free, an individual Higher Ed account, or a site license). The interview and reflection data revealed unique support needs of faculty who teach with emerging technologies, a growing demographic. These include:

  1. Just-in-time resources. Faculty support programs comprised of face-to-face workshops and consultations will not meet the needs of faculty. The issues underlying this finding are related to the significant changes in the demographics of faculty. Today, most classes are taught by part-time faculty and many of these individuals also have a full-time job and teach at multiple institutions. Online resources that can be accessed from anywhere at anytime from multiple devices are essential to supporting innovations in teaching and learning.
  2. Non-linear PD experiences. Faculty who adopt new technologies desire non-linear professional development experiences to support the integration of technology into their classes. Faculty noted that accessing an eBook to learn new strategies to teach with VoiceThread was “less risky” than spending the time in a workshop, as the eBook provided non-linear pathways, allowing a faculty member to engage with the topics that align best with her/his needs.
  3. Community. The adoption of emerging technologies by faculty is resulting in pockets of innovation on campus. As a result, faculty who integrate emerging technologies into their teaching feel isolated from their peers. Professional learning networks designed to connect faculty and promote sharing of practices and ideas will be key to supporting faculty. Social technologies like Twitter, Hangouts on Air, and Google+ Communities will continue to play important roles in connecting faculty innovators across campuses.
  4. Funding for accounts. The freemium model employed by most edtech companies provides faculty with a low-barrier entrance and encourages experimentation. However, as the adoption cycle for Web 2.0 tools matures, many faculty are finding themselves paying out of pocket for the premium version(s) of their tool(s) of choice. While will need to consider new funding approaches for supporting faculty within these pockets of innovation. 
  5. LMS integration. Learning Management Systems (LMSs) remain the most pervasively used technology in higher education. Learning Technologies Interoperability (LTI) is an industry standard that provides a simple way for web-based technologies to integrate with major LMSs. offering streamlined teaching experiences that may eliminate the need for students to create accounts and provide the ability to grade the activity inside the LMS. Faculty see LTI integration as an opportunity to save them time and promote more adoption across campus. However, faculty have the perception that administration want to see strong adoption rates prior to considering an LMS integration. This tension is evidence that faculty use of web-based tools is reshaping the teaching and learning landscape.

Faculty support must be understood as a dynamic process that needs to adapt to the changing needs of instructors. Colleges, universities, and edtech companies exist within a new edtech ecosystem. Organizations within this ecosystem have a shared interest in supporting faculty who teach with emerging technologies.  In my next post, I will discuss the potential that co-created faculty support resources hold for providing continuous support for faculty, as well as empowering instructors to be leaders in teaching and learning innovations. 

The very early morning of! 

/in /by

Oh my goodness, I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve! (To quote Adriana ;).  With all of my TSA  approved carry on bottles, jeans, all the Beatles shirts I own, and some Belvita breakfast bars I think I finally finished packing. 

I cannot believe that by this time tomorrow we will be in London, England.  A city crawling with history and beauty!  I’m most excited to see all of the building’s Dr. J has been teaching us about.  Seeing them in person and truly appreciating the architectural genius behind them.  Especially that of Stonehenge, The Shard, and the Gherkin.  I’m also so excited for the culture of London.  Of course I’m looking forward to all the touristy things in London, how could you not be? Having taken a Shakespeare class at CI I am bursting at the seams to get to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and actually see a play!  I want to go to Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter and of course, Abbey Road.  

I am so thankful for this opportunity. 

Ready to fly

/in , /by

Everyone is at gate 132 waiting on this here jet plane.              

Smooth Sailing From Here

/in /by

July 26, 2015 At home in California
Getting ready to go on this trip has been quite the experience for me considering the furthest I have traveled is to Davis and it was only for a weekend. Prior to leaving I made sure to do my research even if that meant being a little nerdy and stocking up on books. Determined to make the most of my trip, I bought books on what the “must sees” in London were and bought enough maps to ensure I never get lost (although I know I probably will still get lost). 

 

I think the most challenging part of the process though, was the packing. Keep in mind, I have never been away for a week let alone in another country! It seems that London has what we in California call “spring weather” so that meant packing a lot of layers. Being a California native, I’m embarrassingly used to the stereotypical jeans, t-shirt and sandals. Layers is something I hardly ever have to worry about. That being said, it was definitely interesting trying to sort through the list of “needs” and “wants”.

  

After a little help and several mini panic attacks, I was all done with the getting ready process and find myself beyond excited for the upcoming week. I cannot wait to emerge myself into a new culture and compare the normalities of their every day life to ours. At this point everything I know about Lonodon has been from books and while it’s useful information I am thrilled to finally get to experience some of it personally.  I am even more excited to experience the architecture that London has to offer. Doing my report on the London Eye and researching the Borough Market has only made me more anxious to visit these places especially the market. I am a big foodie and look forward to everything it has to offer! My only reservation is that I wish I was going for more than a week! Regardless, I am certain that I will not be disappointed in the time that I do spend there. 

Bon Voyage!

/in /by

Here I am back home from acquiring more necessary items for this long awaited adventure. I purchased a brightly colored bandana from the craft store Michaels, to tie onto my upgraded luggage from Costco. In hopes that, it will not be confused with other checked baggage or get lost at the airport. Oddly enough, this bandana strategy has washed away my biggest worry. In any case, I’m overwhelmed with joy because in less then 24 hours I’ll be hopping on a plane to London! I’ll get to share this experience with 14 other awesome students who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know over the last few weeks. I find myself constantly looking at the forecast in London and repacking. Some of you might have guessed that I’m a novice international traveler, and you would be right. This is going to be my first time traveling abroad and I’m ecstatic! 

  

(The above picture is from a few days ago when Bri, Amber, Monique and I met at the Camarillo Public Library to work on our group presentation due in London.)

Leading up to this has been an emotional roller coaster. The anxiety of waiting to hear who was chosen for Dr. Jenkins’ Intercultural and Design class was almost the death of me. Fortunately, the odds were in my favor and I made the cut. This summer Dr. J. has enlighten us on the six periods of architecture, dating back thousands of years. I now have a greater appreciation for everything that a building entails. Even more, he prepped us on London’s drastically different transit system. I cannot wait to explore the city! Incidentally, I have been dominating in the mobile app game called Trivia Crack. “What is the tallest building in the world?” Obviously, it’s the Burj Khalifa in Dubia! #humblebrag. Needless to say, five days in London is a brilliant way to end summer school. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to embrace London’s culture and architectural beauty! 

Sidenote: I am excited to go to Saint Paul’s Cathedral while in London. #blessed 

Xoxo A

Culture and Marine Life

/in /by

As we take off in a couple of hours, I look forward to immersing myself in another culture. I have traveled throughout Europe and spent time in high school studying a few European cultures. Being in a culture is vastly different from reading and learning about them at home. Last semester, I took the Issues […]

Gardenia taitensis

/in /by

Gardenia taitensis or Tiare Maori is the national flower of the Cook Islands. This flower was introduced to the Cook Islands from Western Polynesia. The flower grows on shrubs that can reach four meters in height and is white with five to nine petals. In Novemeber, there is a week long Tiare Flower Festival where […]