Workshops at Norfolk State

I just returned home from an excellent, very short, but very fun trip to Norfolk, VA. That was my first time in Norfolk and I found it to be an excellent place to visit. Great people, lots of history, and lots of things to do and see. The fun part for me was not the sightseeing; it was the four workshops that I presented to the faculty, staff, and administration at Norfolk State University School of Liberal Arts.

Here is the flyer that they distributed for the workshops (descriptions here). I keep all of my presentation materials online and available to the public. These are the four workshops that I presented at NSU:

• Wikis and Blogs and Pods, Oh My!!
• Podcasting without Fruit
• 10 Specific Suggestions to Improve Your e-Learning Programs
• Web 2.0 Whirlwind

What a great group of people. Many faculty attended, including several who are fairly tech-savvy as well as several who are just starting to cut their teeth on using technology in a serious way to enhance their teaching. Their enthusiasm and attentiveness was obvious and inspiring. These presentations tend to be fast and furious. I like to throw out lots of ideas, tools, and possibilities and hope that each participant picks up a few things that they can incorporate into their teaching and their own personal learning. Several administrators and staff members also attended the sessions.

My special thanks go to Damani D who invited me to come to Norfolk State and was my host during the stay. Damani had attended one of my sessions at the ITC Conference in Albuquerque and decided that I had something to offer to the employees at NSU. Harry S was very helpful, informative, and engaged in the whole process. It was pleasure meeting Danny A who is their director of e-learning, as well as the Dean and Assistant Dean of the School of Liberal Arts. Their instructional designer, a gentleman named Murat who hails from Turkey, can also be counted among my new friends.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Norfolk and especially enjoyed my role of opening the minds of some very smart people to some new possibilities for using collaborative web-based tools that they might not have considered previously. That is the fun part for me.