Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/
MCLI had investigated the embryonic World Wide Web in the spring of 1993, and launched the first web server in the Maricopa district in December 1993. We recognized the early potential of the hyperlinked, platform-independent graphic environment and promoted this through many avenues. Our "count" page is updated daily and features details on our web history. We also keep a list of award "badges" earned.
Ocotillo focus on instructional technology URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ocotillo/
Since 1987, Ocotillo has been a faculty-led driving force for examining the issues surround the use of instructional technology at Maricopa. Every year, groups of faculty and staff convene to research, recommend, pilot, and pursue the critical issues related to how technology can be best used. Over the years the successes have included network wiring standards, Open-Entry/Open-Exit courses, the Electronic Forum, Video Conferencing Network, Chart for Change innovation model, Intellectual Rights policies, and much more. see also Past year's Ocotillo reports, year-end retreats, a chart showing the evolution of Ocotillo committees, and technology planning resources.
The Labyrinth-Forum a dual publication URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/labyforum/
The Labyrinth-Forum, published twice a year, is two journals in one. The Labyrinth highlights instructional technology and the Forum addresses the roles and issues of teaching and learning. When you reach the end of one journal, just flip it over and the next one starts! Distributed in print format to more than 500 Maricopa faculty and staff, all issues of the Labyrinth-Forum (starting in 1992) are available on the web in HTML format as well as Adobe Acrobat for those that wish to print a formatted version. In addition, the web version features links to related resources, extended versions of articles, extra photographs, Real-Audio transmissions of interviews, and a web discussion board.
learning@maricopa.edu transforming our system URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learning/
Coordinated by MCLI, this project has a simple, but tremendous goal-- to truly change Maricopa into a system that is focused on learning in all of its actions. It was originally funded as part of a PEW-Kellogg-American Council on Education (ACE) project to look at change and institutional transformation. The project is lead by a steering team of faculty and administrators. In addition to a 1997 guiding document, learning@maricopa.edu has been bringing this discourse to our colleges via a series of Open Space Forums, in which the agenda is decided by the faculty, staff, and students that choose to attend.
Maricopa Institute for Learning (MIL) faculty scholars URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mil/
A new initiative for 1999, the Maricopa Institute for Learning (MIL) provides a year-long learning fellowship for highly innovative faculty and a place, time, and community to commit and engage in community college leadership; to investigate, research, and develop learning and teaching scholarship; and to manifest and promote deeper understanding and commitment to student learning. This project is guided by the learning@maricopa.edu leadership team. Faculty participate in a summer seminar to launch their fellowship. The web site is used to provide information about the fellows, their online portfolio. A web discussion board is used for the fellows to have a virtual community space.
All-Faculty Convocation a day devoted to teaching URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/fsd/afc.html
The All-Faculty Convocation is held the first day of faculty accountability in the Spring Semester. The event is planned by the Faculty-Staff Developers, representatives from all of our colleges, who shape the agenda and invite a national speaker to speak to a theme.
Studio 1151 multimedia development process URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/studio/
This project started out as idea by one of our Ocotillo committees as a means of promoting the team process for multimedia development. Borrowing from a movie-making metaphor, Studio 1151 provides a structured process designed for teams of faculty and students to design and implement a multimedia project. The online guidebook provides the necessary information, from brainstorming to RFPs, to flowcharting, to creating an audience preview. Our pilot from 1996 produced two outstanding projects, Negative Reinforcement University (a CD-ROM) and A Web of Labyrinths (website). MCLI provided the production support for these two projects.
The next phase of the Studio will include a complete guide for both the design and development phase, and the "studio" will serve as a clearinghouse for ongoing and finished products.
Presentations à la Web faculty evaluating software URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/show/
We create nearly all of our presentations in web-based format to make them widely and freely available. This site provides most of MCLI's presentations related to technology and learning since 1994 as well as ones by faculty members who have worked on projects with us We can run such presentations locally from a laptop computer. If appropriate and the connection is available, we can link to related Internet sites. But the best thing is that we can easily print a web page as a brief handout that includes a URL for the presentation pointing to our web server. That way, anyone can pull up an exact copy of our presentations. At any time.
Community College Web resource for web sites URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/cc/
CC Web features a searchable database to the web site addresses of more than 1120 community colleges. It may be searched by keyword or geographic location. In addition, it provides a searchable index to more than 150 related web site resources. This collection is designed so that anyone can automatically enter a college currently not in the database.
Writing HTML a self-paced tutorial URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/
One of our most popular web sites is this tutorial that was originally designed in 1994 as a workshop for our faculty. We created it because most of the "tutorials" we had seen were more references. In Writing HTML, you are presented with a well designed series of lessons that do more than list "tags" but help you understand what is going on behind the web page.
Featured on many other sites, books, and magazines, Writing HTML is set up so you can download the entire package and do most of your work off-line. The tutorial has been translated by volunteers into Spanish, Icelandic, Korean, Italian, and Japanese languages. You can get a sense of how it has been used by looking at our list of alumni and the feedback we receive by e-mail.
Teaching and Learning on the Web access to examples URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tl/
We have discovered that one of the more useful methods for generating ideas on how to use the web, is for our faculty to see specific examples in their discipline. This web site collection grew from the typical static web page of links, to a dynamic database that may be searched by keyword and/or within a specific study area. Like many of our other web resource sites, this collection is designed as a system where visitors may submit a new site, and our customized management program allows us to preview, edit, and update the database without manual HTML coding.
How to be a Web Hound how to find X on the web URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/webhound/
Like our tutorial on creating web pages, this one arose out of a lack of good materials that covered the techniques of finding information on the web, or at least something more substantial than links to web search engines. The WebHound takes you through a series of steps to help you learn how to frame your quest, and guidance on when to use what kind of resources. It features specific examples, as well as a fun "scavenger hunt". The Webhound is designed as an entire package that we encourage others to download, and includes a separate guide written for anyone that wishes to use the tutorial as a workshop.
Learning English Electronically (LEE) grammar cd-rom for esl students URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/lee/
LEE is a CD-ROM for Macintosh and Windows based computers that includes 110 lessons covering 22 grammatical concepts in the English langauge. Designed by MCLI staff and ESL instructors from the Maricopa colleges, LEE presents instruction via a series of stories that may be read or played as audio, plus practice with feedback. The LEE CD includes an extensive Instructor and Student guides plus additional practice items, which may be printed via Acrobat format. 25 copies of LEE were provided to the 10 Maricopa colleges and the Skills Center, and via our order form we make copies available to anyone for a nominal materials shipping charge.
The Hero's Journey an online writing environment URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/
Working with South Mountain Community College faculty and their Storytelling Institute, we created this site for learning about the mythical story structure popularized by writer Joseph Campbell. The Hero's Journey is almost a formula that you can find in many classic stories as well as popular films. But more than just a reference, our web site provides a story tool for students to create their own original stories using the writing prompts for each step of the "journey". All of the writing is stored on line, and when the writer is ready, he/she can make them public viewable.
Research Methods in social & natural sciences URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/res_meth/
Originally developed as a HyperCard program, Research Methods is now available completely online as a web application. It offers instructional materials of the five different methods used in the sciences, with examples provided for multiple disciplines. The program includes an interactive practice areas as well as a post-test to measure how well you have learned to identify and distinguish the methods.
Multimedia Authoring Web resources for developers URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/authoring/
What was once a static collection of web links is now a dynamic, searchable collection of hundreds of resources for multimedia developers. This site is one of our major visited areas, and is listed among the resources at the Argus Clearinghouse
DirectorWeb resources for macromedia director URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/director/
Widely recognized as one of the leading web resource sites for users of Macromedia Director, the multimedia development tool, DirectorWeb includes searchable collections of demos and director add-ons, a searchable archive of the Direct-L listserv digest, a FAQ, a searchable collection of Tips and Tricks, a huge listing of shockwave sites, and more.
Negative Reinforcement University learn psychology from simulation URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/
Developed with students and faculty from Scottsdale Community College as part of our Studio 1151 pilot project, NRU is a Macintosh and Windows CD-ROM environment for learning one fo the more difficult concepts in introductory psychology. NRU is a 3D world to navigate and explore, and includes a highly interactive simulation, a lab of examples, and a post test. There are additional tools available for instructors as well. As an experiment we were able to convert NRU to a web-based version using Macromedia Shockwave technology, and this version was a finalist for the 1997 Macromedia People's Choice Awards.
In the Spring of 1998, we embarked on a detailed evaluation of NRU, necessitated writing NRU into a paper version (available via Adobe Acrobat format).
A Web of Labyrinths a site about labyrinths URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/labyrinth/
With the design developed by students from South Mountain Community College, this web site was the end product of their work with Studio 1151. It includes background information on labyrinths, a gallery of examples from around the world, interactive activities, and a timeline of the project to create a physical labyrinth garden on their campus.
The Flip Site the mathematics of a years worth of flips URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mobius/flip/
This site started as an off the cuff idea of John Losse, mathematics instructor at Scottsdale Community College. John thought it would be valuable to create an environment for students to learn about the mathematics of probability using coin flips, so we created a "virtual" site where it looks like John is flipping a coin every 5 seconds for an entire year. But more than just displaying the flips, the site includes tools to query the database of flips occurred for streaks of arbitrary length and also to conduct experiments to look at the probability distribution of flips.
Bag of URLs a place to share web sites URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/eye/bag/
Here at MCLI, we have seen a lot of web sites go by! To better provide a resource for sharing interesting sites for educators, we built this all-purpose site for collecting sites. A form allows anyone to drop a new site into our bag, and every few weeks (when the bag starts to fill!), it is automatically compiled into a new web page, and an email message is sent to everyone who is subscribed to our mailing list. The site also provides a search form to look for items in past bags, more than 1400 so far.
What a Site! online workshop for teachers URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/show/what/
"What a Site!" was created for a workshop at the Connections98 conference in Vancouver, B.C. and also presented at the Oregon Online 99 Conference.The materials may be used at any time, by any one, any place. The purpose of "What a Site" is to help teachers locate, evaluate, and integrate web resources for their area of interest-- the subjects that they teach.
The jClicker web slide show maker URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/jclicker/
With out jClicker, anyone can easily create a web-based slide show using our JavaScript template. We provide detailed instructions, examples, and the necessary downloads. For more, you can find it from our online workshop, Adding Interactivity to Your Web Sites:
enzymeTA biology lab simulation URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mobius/enzyme/
This web virtual lab (under development in the fall of 1998) provides a place to learn about the relationships between enzyme activity and temperature. The labs are all based upon actual experimental data, and the lab stores your results and allows you to compare your results to that of others.
Software for Learning faculty evaluating software URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/sw/
It has been a while since we did our software evaluations, but for several years we invited faculty to review software titles in different subject areas, including counseling, humanities, math, critical reading, and games/simulations. Results were published in paper and electronic format and we strove to have our review process generate lesson ideas and activities that used the titles reviewed.