2008 Fall Kickoff
An Appalachian Homecoming

The Ohio Learning Network Southeast Regional Center celebrated of learning and community at the 2008 Fall Kickoff event held on October 17 in Portsmouth, Ohio. It was a day of friendship, sharing, learning, and hospitality for the new 2008-2009 OLN Professional Learning Communities. If you've ever been in a learning community, you know what a wonderful, exciting experience it is. We welcomed all our new OLN PLC Innovations Grant recipients and former PLC members who came out to wish them well, offer words of wisdom, and share the excitement that new learning brings. Throughout the day, the new learning communities shared their ideas and discussed how to accomplish the goals of the Learning Communities Initiative while still building a sense of community that will last well past the year of OLN funded activities.

Schedule of Activities

Keynote Speaker

Our keynote talk on technology and the digital divide in Appalachian Ohio was delivered by Louis Brown with Matt Christian, using the WIMBA classroom application. Louis is currently a professor and the librarian at Southern State Community College. He has been the librarian at Southern State over 30 years. In addition to directing four campus libraries, he also teaches for the college in the areas of library science and also teaches PSYC 108 College Success, a course designed for college freshmen. Matt is professional services manager for Wimba, Inc.

Louis is an active member of the American Library Association, the Academic Library Association of Ohio, and has been treasurer of the college's faculty association for the past 15 years. He is an avid gardener and enjoys tennis and an occasional game of ping pong. A resident of Lake Waynoka in Brown County, Louis hopes to one day become a Master Gardener and work in a greenhouse after retirement.

Powerpoint Presentations

Some of the speakers at the Fall Kickoff provided powerpoints of their presentations. Click each one to download.

Info from OLN

Balancing Act

Grant Business

Technology Rich Creative Writing Learning Community