Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great Summer. I wanted to update you on a few items so you get off to a good start this Fall. VoiceThread VoiceThread has a new Assignment Builder, so if you use this tool, you will want to watch this 45 minute video that outlines all the new …
Category: Uncategorized
Nov 08
Gamification
When looking at learning motivation, an idea that you may keep hearing about is gamification. As technology and gaming evolves, the use of games as a standard teaching mechanism becomes closer to reality, especially with Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) devices. Two factors in effective e-learning are motivation and community building, both of …
Oct 23
Pause, Play, Repeat
Here is an interesting article from Faculty Focus Pause, Play, Repeat: Using Pause Procedure in Online Microlectures By: Judith Dutill, MA, and Melissa Wehler, PhD The article advocates combining microlectures with pauses for interactive activities that allow students to review, process and clarify their understanding. The can include responding to brief writing prompts, playing “Devils …
Dec 13
Audio feedback for student assignments
Here is a pretty good 8 minute video on using audio feedback for student assignments. It shows how you can use Audacity to record mp3 audio files and return them to students. If you are using Blackboard you can return them as a file attached to their graded assignment – just use the paperclip icon …
Oct 05
Teaching Lessons from Bobby McFerrin
Thought I’d share this article from Teaching in Higher Ed http://teachinginhighered.com/2016/08/17/bobby-mcferrin-teaching-lessons/ It includes a youtube video of Bobby McFerrin giving a lesson about the Pentatonic Scale – the Youtube is embedded below but go and read the whole article to highlight some teaching tips
Jul 20
“Flipping” your class?
“Flipping the classroom” is a buzzword for supposedly reversing the delivery of lecture/homework. Instead of lecturing in a classroom or synchronous online class session and then assigning homework for students to do outside of class time, you make students responsible for reading or viewing content before class then plan more engaging and challenging activities during the …
Mar 23
Why can they print??: A conversation about online testing
You may be interested in a Blackboard sponsored webinar on online testing. “Assessing students in an online environment is alternatively enthralling, overwhelming and frustrating. Instructors are sometimes shocked to discover that students can print or take screenshots of online tests, or that the test banks to all the major textbooks are for sale on the …
May 19
Tech Tuesday: More On Bb’s Achievements
Yesterday’s post mentioned Bb’s Achievements and today we want to leave with you a little more background and “how to” information. You will find Achievements under Control Panel > Tools > Achievements. After creating an Achievement Badge you can modify the achievement and even swap out the badge, even if it has already been awarded …
Apr 21
Tech Tuesday: Overview of Presentation Authoring Tools
We talk a lot about creating engaging presentations for our online students. Many faculty start with Microsoft’s PowerPoint as a creation tool. UAS supports two tools that easily convert or re-purpose PowerPoint content into slick presentations that can be viewed online and/or from within your Blackboard course. These tools are Adobe’s Presenter and TechSmith’s Camtasia. Here’s …
Apr 03
Fried Friday: April Fools!
Were you bamboozled by any of the online April Fools pranks this year? I always look forward to the clever pranks Google, Amazon, and other companies come up with each year. Their clever stories and advertisements really caught my attention and had me questioning everything I read on Wednesday. Did you do anything to trick your …
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