In the Spotlight: The Open Road

colored pencils arranged in a circle with 'back to school' in the middle — Image source: George Hodan

Hello all, happy new year, and welcome back (nearly)! It’s that time of the year again when professors are scrambling to finish composing their classes, finalize assignments and get their course sites up and running on the OpenLab. With this in mind, this week we’d like to, once again, bring your attention to the Open Road, your one-stop-shop for ‘all things OpenLab’. The site houses information about our monthly updates, office hours, detailed information about our upcoming workshops and our weekly blog series, ‘In the Spotlight’.

Here at the OpenLab we are committed to helping you start the semester off right. With this in mind, we are offering numerous workshops in the next couple of weeks. We have workshops for everyone from first- or second-time to more advanced users (our ‘Open Hours’ are most appropriate for the latter) and remember, newly-attending part-time faculty receive a stipend. RSVP today (January / Spring 2017) !

‘In the Spotlight’ is another resource on the Open Road that may be helpful in making sure you are prepared this Spring. ‘In the Spotlight’ is a weekly blog that highlights best practices in site-making and course design here on the OpenLab. Thus, the archive – being full of analytic course reviews – is an important resource for thinking about how your site or course might be structured or what kinds of assignments might be possible when hosted on the OpenLab. In case you didn’t know, ‘In the Spotlight’ also has a participatory feature, ‘People’s Choice’, wherein you have the opportunity to recommend sites to be featured in the weekly series. Check it out and make a recommendation!

We look forward to hearing from you and working with you more closely this semester!

In the Spotlight: Introducing “People’s Choice”

“In the Spotlight,” housed on the Open Road, is a blog series that aims to showcase all the amazing work our students, faculty and staff are doing by featuring a different course, project, club or ePortfolio each week. Specifically, we highlight the unique ways users are designing their sites to meet their teaching, learning, professional, and/or extracurricular needs. Taken together, this collection of sites is a testament to the expansiveness of the OpenLab community and the diverse ways members are using the platform.

In addition to continuing this tradition this semester, we’re also introducing a new feature called “People’s Choice.” People’s Choice calls on all users and visitors of the OpenLab to recommend sites they feel are particularly successful and exemplify the excellence we promote here, “In the Spotlight,” on the Openlab. So start exploring all of the amazing sites on the OpenLab, and use this form to let us know what you like and why!

We look forward to hearing from you soon about which sites are your favorites!

In the Spotlight: The OpenLab is Growing!

461976874_92114e4ece_o — Image Credit: ntr23

This week we, the OpenLab team, are proud to announce OpenLab is now home to over 19,000 members! Thank you for joining us!

Given our growing community, we’d like to take a minute to remind you of all of the services available to you:

We offer skill-building workshops tailored to the needs of faculty/staff and students to help you improve the quality and functionality of your sites.

We have office hours where you can ask questions and get one-on-one assistance.

We offer support via email 7 days a week – Openlab@citytech.cuny.edu

We have a student blogging team who populate The Buzz with stories from their everyday lives, their experiences at City Tech, and advice.

Join the Open Road today for up-to-date news about the OpenLab and information about our workshops and events. Also visit “In the Spotlight” Here, we showcase the excellence and innovation of particularly well-done sites, which may spark ideas for other users about their own sites. We may even feature your site! This fall we are introducing a new feature, “People’s Choice”, offering an opportunity for members to recommend sites for recognitions — Stay tuned for more details!

We look forward to working with you,
The OpenLab Team

In the Spotlight: Apply to become an OpenLab Student Blogger or Photoblogger!

Apply to become an OpenLab Student Blogger or Photoblogger!

The Buzz is hiring! We are an Openlab student project dedicated to all things City Tech, where students blog about themselves and/or topics of their choice. We seek enthusiastic student bloggers to join The Buzz and create conversation, community, and engagement on the OpenLab and strengthen the intellectual and social life of the college community.

Why join the OpenLab student blogging team?

Publish your work on the OpenLab and develop a public portfolio of professional writing
Learn best practices for managing an online presence, social media writing professionally, and developing a personal brand
Build your resume and get paid $500/semester

Contact us at openlab@citytech.cuny.edu & jbelli@citytech.cuny.edu if you’re interested. See the full call below and submit the complete application by Monday, October 10th at 12 pm. Interviews will be conducted shortly after.

Download (PDF, 63KB)

In the Spotlight: Open Pedagogy on the Open Lab!

Image: opensource.com

Open Pedagogy on the OpenLab is a forum where our community can ask questions, stimulate discussion, and access/share resources related to teaching and learning on the OpenLab. This site is a good place to find ideas for digital pedagogy assignments, access information on best practices and tips for open digital pedagogy, and engage other faculty members in discussions about what open pedagogy is and what shape it can take in our classrooms at City Tech. With this in mind, faculty members are encouraged to join and contribute to the site, to help expand the available resources and generate further the discussion. If you join, you will also receive notifications when new content is added or discussion is happening on the site.

In addition to this site, the OpenLab also hosts a series of Open Pedagogy events each semester. Our first event for the Fall of 2016, held in conjunction with the Library, will focus on open educational resources (OERs) at City Tech. In addition to deconstructing the term “OER,” we will hear from several City Tech faculty on OERs they have developed. Refreshments will be served (thanks to the Faculty commons for its generous support of this event!) and part-time faculty are eligible to receive a stipend for participation. Visit the event posting for more information and to RSVP! We hope to see you there!

In the Spotlight: The Open Road, of course!

Welcome back faculty, staff, and students! We missed you this summer! Whether you’re returning to the OpenLab or signing up for the first time, remember to join the Open Road. The project is the one-stop-shop for the OpenLab’s Community Team. Here we keep you, our users, up to date on all the site’s goings-on, including news and updates. Check back here to find our office hours, workshops for students, or workshops faculty and staff. See our OpenLab calendar for all OpenLab events. And of course don’t forget about our Spotlight posts, where we highlight excellence and innovation on the OpenLab each week.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to join The Buzz, too, our student-run site!

As always, the OpenLab Community Team is here for you. Contact us online or at OpenLab@citytech.cuny.edu.

In the Spotlight: New Features on The Open Road

The Open Road has been updated, with new easy-to-use features! Check out our OpenLab Calendar where you can see the month’s upcoming workshops, events, and office hours. See OpenLab News for weekly announcements and updates. And stay tuned for This Month in the OpenLab, a monthly post that will announce new developments on the site, including the plugins that you’ve requested. As always, we will continue to highlight noteworthy courses, projects, clubs, and ePortfolios in the Spotlight, and you will always be able to RSVP to workshops from the Workshops and Events menu item.

In the Spotlight: City Tech Printmaking Club

City Tech’s Printmaking Club is a one-stop shop for students learning to make prints. The club, advised by Profs. Libby Clarke and David Barthold and staffed by a top-notch team of student officers, is dedicated to “keeping traditional printmaking alive at City Tech.” On the club’s OpenLab site, students can find posts on the history of printmaking through the development of ink, on printmaking techniques like linocut, and on events like their recent Valentine’s Day Card sale. All around, this site is a great example for any club trying to boost their online presence.

P.S. Want to learn more about the Printmaking Club? Check out their current exhibition of prints in the City Tech library!

In the Spotlight: Literary Arts Festival

Planning for the 2016 City Tech Literary Arts Festival is underway, and the organizing committee is making full use of their site to get out the word. Check it out to see a great example of a Project on the OpenLab. You can find information about previous festivals, this year’s featured writer Mary Gaitskill, and the 2016 Writing Competition. And don’t forget to submit your writing to the competition; the deadline is February 25th! Have questions? Contact Festival Directors Professor Robert Ostrom and Professor Jennifer Sears.

In the Spotlight: Computer Systems Technology Colloquium

The CST Colloquium site is well-organized and has many great features. Their events calendar page and events widget in the site footer make it easy to find out about upcoming colloquium talks. They link to the slides for past talks so visitors can catch up on anything they missed. There’s also an easy way to subscribe to the group’s email list, and a submissions page for talk proposals. Take a look!

Category: Info&Events