In the Spotlight: Student Kim Mohammed’s ePortfolio

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Though many of us may more readily think ‘coursework’ or ‘group project coordination’ when we think of the OpenLab, the platform also offers an important opportunity for displaying individual work in a unique and professional way. City Tech student, Kim Mohammed offers an excellent example of how this can be accomplished. Kim’s site is clear on her professional ambitions – to be a graphic designer – and aims to highlight the various academic and professional stepping stones that are preparing her for and leading her in that direction. For example, Kim has posted a 5-part-series documenting her experience finding and securing an internship (Part 1 here), a link to well-designed resume, and an ‘About Me’ page with a brief overview of her ambitions and link to an external site displaying her design work. Kim has also shared and summarized webinars and interviews with role models in her field and reviewed apps in her blog. In addition to the functionality of the site, Kim’s site is clean and easy to navigate, as well as – with a selected quote, image, and brief professional biography framing each page – unique and personalized. All-in-all, Kim’s site is a great example of how the OpenLab can be used to store one’s work in an organized and presentable manner so that it may be used in the pursuit of larger ambitions beyond your time at City Tech.

In the Spotlight: SADHA

header image for SADHAOpenLab affords many opportunities for student-faculty collaboration and professional development for students. For a great example of this, look no further than SADHA. SADHA, short for Student American Dental Hygiene Association, is a site that facilitates the membership of first and second year Dental Hygiene students in an important professional organization – the American Dental Hygiene Association. In addition to coordinating the submission of dues and alerting students to related events, the club cultivates a sense of community and shared identity among those in the Dental Hygiene (DH) field at City Tech. This is accomplished by posting information regarding social and professional-development events, money-making opportunities, articles and videos of interest to those in the DH field, and connecting students with important resources for success in the field.  The coordination of these resources is the joint effort of Professor Ana Matthews, a graduate of City Tech’s DH program and now full-time faculty member, and yearly appointed student leaders. With 320 members to date, the usefulness of this site for the DH community at City Tech in undeniable.

In the Spotlight: Introducing “People’s Choice”

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Image Credit: Geralt

“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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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: Prof. Jason Montgomery’s ePortfolio

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The upcoming summer is a great opportunity for faculty and students alike to work on developing their ePortfolios. For inspiration, look no further than Prof. Jason Montgomery’s example. Prof. Montgomery’s site draws on a clean, well-organized architecture to highlight his skills and accomplishments. Visually appealing images drive the site’s content, and Prof. Montgomery has smartly streamlined the appearance of images and text across the site’s pages. Examples of his scholarly work, teaching experience, and institutional service are easy to find, as is a link to his blog. Check out the site, and let us know if you update yours! We are always excited to highlight the excellent work that is happening on the OpenLab in the Spotlight!

In the Spotlight: Crear Futuros

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The OpenLab is not for coursework alone! City Tech’s CREAR Futuros is a great example of a clean and straight-forward project on the site. CREAR Futuros, a joint project of the Hispanic Federation and the City University of New York, is dedicated to bringing increasing attention and resources to improve educational achievement and economic opportunity to Latinos. The OpenLab project site supports these goals by offering resources and information to City Tech’s Latino students. Students can come to the site to get oriented to opportunities offered by CREAR Futuros, to find contact information for key team members, and to learn about upcoming cultural events. Check out the site for an example of just one of many exciting projects that are using the OpenLab to build community within City Tech and beyond.

 

In the Spotlight: ENG2003 – Intro to Literature: Poetry

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Prof. Cecily Iddings’ course ENG2003 – Intro to Literature: Poetry offers a great example of OpenLab use to encourage student writing and feedback. Students blog on assigned topics like close reading or language, sound, and form in poetry. They are also required to comment on each other’s posts, creating an ongoing discussion about course readings that extends from classroom to site. Especially exciting too is the course Glossary that students continually upgrade with definitions, examples of word use in poems, and their own analysis of the word in context. Be sure to check out the course site for new ideas to generate student engagement online!