Off to a Great Start!

Paul Beaudoin has some great strategies to get your online course off to a great start this semester and keep it that way all semester long.

His tips include:

  • Icebreakers and welcome videos
  • Sharing course expectations and using a virtual wall for students to write down their committments etc.
  • A video about creating a course newsletter for important details (great idea!)

There’s a lot there in this short post. We encourage you to click on the image below and visit his timely article, “Motivate and Engage Online Learners All Semester Long.”

Link to http://campustechnology.realviewdigital.com/?iid=98744#folio=15

Good find Nicole! If you have an article or tip that you’d like us to share with your colleagues, please email us and we’ll get the word out.

Did You Miss the WordPress Presentation at Convocation?

blog presentationNicole and I gave a presentation at Convocation on August 19 about the new Learning spaces WordPress site. Learning Spaces is UAS Sitka’s Title III pilot of a UAS WordPress Multisite. It’s a web presence where faculty can:

  • Promote and showcase departments or courses
  • Blog and reach out to colleagues and students
  • Create an authentic experience for students to share ideas
  • And lots more!

UAA and UAF both have similar WordPress communities. You can visit and explore UAFs Community and UAAs Academic Commons to observe how your colleagues are using similar WordPress sites.

We are excited to help UAS join in the open, sharing environment that Learning Spaces provides and we encourage you to add your voice to Learning Spaces.

If you missed our presentation, here’s a link to the presentation notes we used. Please explore both the presentation and the Learning Spaces website for more information and contact us if you have any questions.

Help us build our UAS Learning Spaces conversation!

20 Minute Monday Morning Mentor

That’s a lot of M’s but not a lot of time! Title III is once again providing interested faculty a chance to start their weeks off with dynamic, professional development – in only 20 minutes!

The Monday Morning Mentor is a program from Magna Publications. How does this practical and convenient program work? Each program is available online starting at 9 am CST – yes, that’s 6 am AK time. But don’t worry about setting an early alarm as the programs are available for on-demand viewing for one full week. New programs are available weekly beginning Monday, August 25 and continue every Monday through December 8. mentor

“In a compact format designed for busy schedules with a variety of topic categories:

  • Flipped classrooms
  • Student engagement
  • Teaching and learning
  • Teaching online
  • Assessment and learning goals
  • Classroom management
  • Legal concerns
  • Physical/mental/emotional health
  • Service learning”

-Magna Publications

The first program on August 25 is How Do I Include Introverts in Class Discussions? For a complete list of programs and dates, view and download the program schedule. Interested faculty should email Nicole Duclos for information on how to access the programs.

Just another awesome opportunity provided to you by your Sitka Title III team!

Fried Friday: Life After Death by PowerPoint

As we get ready for the new semester, it’s time to insert a little humor and perspective into the week. We hope you enjoy this ‘oldie’ but realize that his message is just as relevant today as when this first came out.

Click for Video

 

Nicole and I look forward to seeing you at Convocation next week. We will be presenting on our new WordPress blog site http://learningspaces.alaska.edu and will be sharing information on:

  • What Learning Spaces is going to be used for
  • A Quick Look at Academic WordPress Sites
  • Advantages of Joining us at Learning Spaces
  • Policy and Security Issues (Including FERPA and Intellectual Property)
  • Let’s Start Clicking– How to Create Your WordPress Site

We hope to see you Tuesday, the 19th, at 3:50pm.

The Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know Were in Blackboard Learn

Top 10 calloutWhen Kathi and I were at the Blackboard World conference 2014 we were amazed and excited by many Blackboard features that will be available to the University of Alaska once we upgrade to the latest version of Blackboard (without any additional costs!). Some features you may have access to right now and are unaware that they exist. Take a few minutes and see what’s currently available in Blackboard and you’ll know why we’re excited to get the latest version installed at UAS!

Register for a free webinar on what faculty can use today and what’s coming down the road.
Date: August 26th, 2014
Time: 2:30PM ET/11:30 AM PT

Tips for Online Instructors Gleaned from Bb Conference

Nicole and KathiNicole and I recently attended the Blackboard World 2014 User Conference (yes, Vegas in July) and came back with a number of ideas that we’d like to share with you. Here are some of the usable best practices that could easily be implemented this semester:

  • In Blackboard’s discussion forums, use the setting “Participants must create a thread in order to view other threads in this forum”. This forces the student to create a post before any other post is visible.
  • In Blackboard’s discussion forums, allow students to rate each other’s posts. You find this in the “additional options” area.
  • Use Blackboard’s video anywhere feature to create short (3-5 minute) video introductions every week. These videos are uploaded to YouTube and can be posted from the Announcement page, a folder or learning module, even the discussion board, blog or wiki! You’ll find the little red video “Record from Webcam” on every text box editor, third row of icons, on the left. Jason Rhode, PhD, presented on this topic and made his slides available and provided some resource links.
  • At the close of every module, take a few minutes to prepare students for the next week’s material. In other words, your wrap-up should include a brief, where you are going next.
  • Make sure you have some low, medium as well as high stake assessments. The low and medium assessments (like challenges, puzzles and self-check activities) help students build confidence.
  • Include the student’s name whenever you write to him/her. For example, replying to a blog post write “John, I didn’t quite understand your point here….”
  • Remember, you are the “mother duck”– model the behavior you want your students to display!

Pretty simple ideas but they can really pay off in a big way. Give one or two of these a try and let us know if you notice a difference in your classes.

A few other interesting things we encourage you to follow-up or take a look at:

  1. The keynote speaker, Geoffrey Canada was amazing. You might want to check out some of his talks. Worth the time.
  2. Another keynote speaker, Joe Ito from MIT Creativity Lab had some pretty remarkable ideas. You might want to catch his Ted Talk on bottom-up innovation and see what he and others did after the 2011 Japan earthquake.
  3. Interesting website: the Internet in Real Time.

 

We’ve Moved — Bookmark our New Address!

Faculty Learning Corner Has a New Address!

You’ve landed on our new home – all the same great content just an updated look and new url! We’re excited to announce that the Faculty Learning Corner has moved to this new address within LearningSpaces.alaska.edu. Be sure to bookmark the new URL.

LearningSpaces is the new UAS WordPress home. Please visit LearningSpaces to find out how you can apply for a blog for your course. We are excited to be able to use LearningSpaces to build community throughout UAS.

Be sure to sign up today to subscribe to the blog via Email to stay up to date on all the news!

Important: If you previously subscribed to the blog, your subscription should have transferred over in the move. If you do not receive updates you will need to resubscribe.

 

 

Enlighten Us, But Make It Quick– IGNITE

What happens when over 36 Instructional Designers from around the university system gather in one location? It’s a creativity fest where all participants walk away with new friends and new ideas. Thank you Dave Dannenberg and the UAA group for hosting this event this year.

One of my favorite take-aways from the conference was shared by UAF campus, and it’s called Ignite. Ignite is a way to present information, clearly, concisely, effectively and briefly!  There are Ignite events all over the world. Each presenter is permitted 20 slides which are advanced automatically after 15 seconds. That gives each presenter exactly 5 minutes.

Think about it — a subject you are passionate about, 20 slides and only 15 seconds per slide to tell your story. Exciting! Here are some tips:

  • Do not create a script or use notes to practice — rather, focus on the key points of each slide
  • Choose four or five key points that you want to make, then create your 20 slides
  • Your slides should support what you are saying, and have images flexible enough for you to gain or lose some time during your talk (you can even put the same image in twice if you need more time!)
  • Practice giving your Ignite talk

Match ignitingAt iTeach Juneau and Sitka this summer we talked about presenting our course and/or course objectives in more interesting ways. Why not try Ignite to explain to students the big idea of the course they are about to take? After all, isn’t this a topic that you are passionate about? Shouldn’t you be able to describe to them why this topic is so interesting and important with 20, 15 second slides?

THE CHALLENGE: Create an Ignite that describes YOUR course to students. We’ll record it for you!! You can use it at the start of your semester, you can use it to advertise for your course or we can have a UAS Ignite Event!! Let’s do it.

Image credit: iStockPhoto.com/philipdyer

Technology Tips from eCampus News

thumbUPDownfrArticleWe talk alot about using technology in both online and face-to-face classrooms. But we don’t want the technology to overshadow the learning and we don’t want to push technology on either our faculty or our students.

This week eCampusNews shares 10 Tech Do’s and Don’ts for Every Campus. It’s a good article and we encourage you to click the image and read it. There are a few on the list that I found particularly resonated with me.

  • We are seeing a lot about mobile learning in the news. This list encourages you to use mobile phones in your classroom, but use them wisely. Research is still indicating (at least for now) that the serious learning in classrooms still takes place on larger devices.
  • Don’t be afraid to introduce students to new and exciting technologies, BUT, don’t expect them to be tech-saavy enough to jump right in. You may have to explain and show them how to use these tools.

The article lists other good points so be sure to click the link and read through it. What do you think? Have you other tips you’d like to share on the do’s and don’ts list? Feel free to add these to the comment area.

Copyright Simplified

Infographic on Copyright

Maureen came across a great article today on making the complexities of copyright easier to understand. We encourage you to click on the Infographic here to read the article Copyright Flowchart: Can I Use It? Yes? No? If This… Then …

And, speaking of infographics– aren’t they popping up everywhere? Don’t you enjoy using them? Well, they really aren’t difficult to make. Nicole gave us some great resources during iTeach Juneau and iTeach2 Sitka for making your own infographics. Many classroom applications. Why not give it a try?

You might start by using Piktochart and you might want to follow or subscribe to eLearning Infographics, a blog that shows some really interesting eduational infographics. We’d love to see some examples of things you create–so share your infographics with us so we can celebrate your creations.

Speaking of sharing– did anyone make a good bubb.li or photo collage that they would like to share? We’re still waiting for your submissions. If you missed May 23rds post, it’s not too late to give it a try!