Oct 23

iPads for UAS Sitka Faculty

ipadFLC_croppedSome of you have been using iPad’s that we purchased a few years ago for faculty check-out. These devices have supported your teaching, helped lighten your load when you travel, helped you take notes during conferences, provided a way to check mail, compile data, research your content area, and more. In short, they have become indispensable. In fact, when I asked you to turn them in so we could give you new ones, we heard more than a few gasps! However, you were willing to turn them in to upgrade to a retinal display model, more memory, better processing, the addition of FaceTime capability etc. When we got the new iPads, we also required you to submit a report about how you used the iPad in your teaching and Personal Learning Environment. We have really enjoyed reading your reports and hearing all the creative ways this device has become essential to you.

If you do not have an iPad yet and would like to check one out, please email Mary Purvis. You will need to submit a proposal for its use, and then you can begin using it. We still have a few left – first come, first serve!

To pique your interest in how helpful an iPad can be to your teaching, read this report, graciously shared by Gayle Hammons.

Interested in trying out a Chromebook or Microsoft Surface? We have a few display models you can check out for a limited time. Contact Mary for details!

Image: ©iStockphoto.com/Sitade

Oct 18

Two New Tutorials for Your Students

Do you use a WordPress blog in your courses? If you do, and are inviting students to post with the role of ‘author,’ then the two tutorials below may help your student create and edit their posts. To view the tutorials visit the Tutorial page on the Tips for Student Success blog.

ScreenShotPosts Create Posts in WordPress
This short tutorial will show you how to quickly create posts on a WordPress blog when you are granted access as an author. September 2013. Duration: 15-20 minutes.
ScreenShotEdit Edit Your Posts in WordPress
This short tutorial will show you how to quickly edit your posts on a WordPress blog when you are granted access as an author. September 2013. Duration: 10-15 minutes.

Oct 16

We Have a Blog For Your Students Too!

Don’t let your students miss out on great posted tips and tutorials! Let them know about the Tips for Student Success blog. Check out the latest post to see how easy it is to sign up and forward the link to your students! (Of course you’re welcome to sign up too!)

tssSubscribe We’ll have two new tutorials posted this week – Creating Posts in WordPress and Editing Your Posts in WordPress. On the list for upcoming posts and tutorials are:

  • Uploading and Inserting Media in WordPress
  • Pop-up Blockers
  • Graphing with Excel
  • Citations and References

Do you have a need for a student tutorial? If we can’t find one that’s already developed, we may be able to create it for you. Let us know!

Oct 14

How to Subscribe to Comments

When you leave a comment on a WordPress.com blog, you can choose to automatically receive email updates about other comments on that specific post by checking the ‘Notify me of follow-up comments via email’ checkbox that appears in the comment form.

If you did not leave a comment but would like to be notified when comments are posted to the Faculty Learning Corner, view the short demo below to find out how to change your settings!

demoComments

Oct 11

Peer Review of Online Courses

UAS Sitka RubricAs most of you know, UAS Sitka’s active Peer Review Committee has recently finished the first official course review of an online course. We think the experience for the faculty member undergoing a course review as well as the three course reviewers was very positive and productive. It was a learning experience for all those involved.

The Peer Review Committee is now looking for a UAS faculty member who would be interested in having his or her course reviewed this Spring. You must have taught your course for at least one semester before bringing it to our committee for review (we already have a candidate for Summer semester).  Please contact Mary Purvis if you would like to begin the Peer Review process for Spring 2014.

Our committee, in partnership with the UAS Sitka Title III grant, is sponsoring UAS faculty to participate in the 2-week long online professional development workshop on Applying the QM Rubric offered by Quality Matters. All of our course reviewers must take this course to qualify for our Peer Review Committee Reviewer status. Title III will cover the cost of this online workshop. Contact Mary Purvis is you are interested in taking this online workshop for more details.

The Peer Review Rubric and Checklist are available to all faculty who want to improve their course design and development process. We’d love to hear from you:

  • How does using the Peer Review Rubric/Checklist help your design process?
  • How has the Peer Review Rubric/Checklist improved your course creation or re-design?
  • How has access to the Peer Review Rubric/Checklist improved your knowledge of teaching online?
  • What do you think of the Peer Review Process in general?

Oct 09

Two Fun Tools To Enhance Your Courses and Engage Your Students

Announcing TWO exciting tools for our faculty* to use. Pixton and PowToon. Each of these tools can liven up your content and help make your class more interesting to your students. Here’s a little info on each product:

pixtonTitle III purchased a license for Pixton, a cartoon tool for you to create innovative content. Use comic characters to explain a concept, or create scenarios or situations using comics. You can create storyboards that fit your needs quickly and easily. You can even upload audio to your comics. Here’s a short video clip explaining how Pixton works. In the video it mentions giving Pixton to your students. Our license is ONLY for our faculty’s use. There is a free Pixton that your students can use to create cartoons.

powtoonPowToon is a little different from Pixton. Powtoon is an “intuitive presentation software that allows someone with no technical or design skills to create engaging professional ‘look and feel’ animated presentations.” This is available NOW for a short time only on a 1 year trial basis for teachers. We’d love to see some faculty try this tool out and let us know if they’d like us to find the funding to continue the license when the year is up. This tool lets you create animated clips, short information pieces that can easily upload to YouTube. Here’s an example of PowToon in use.

Each product has great examples to view and tutorials to help you get started. If you are interested in one or both of these products please contact Nicole. (PowToon’s free offer is only available for a limited time!)

*UAS faculty teaching a Sitka course, or faculty participating in Title III projects (like Peer Review or iTeach).

Oct 04

Non-traditional Students?

Recently we’ve had some great discussions in our ED593:Design and Teach an Online Course including a talk about lessons we have learned from our “non-traditional” students. When I read those posts I thought I understood what faculty were talking about. But, after reading Clinton’s blog post (below), I am now wondering, what we really mean by that term “non-traditional” students, and, is it really a) accurate or b) helping us as educators to categorize students in this manner?

Brian Murphy Clinton, the executive director of Enrollment Management for the Northeastern University College of Professional studies feels that using the term ‘non-traditional’ marginalizes the very population of individuals that universities cater to! I hope you’ll take the time to read his post: “Is there Really Such a Thing As a Nontraditional Student?”

You can click the image to find his article. Let us know if you agree or disagree!

What's In a Name Quote

http://aspireblog.org/higher-ed/is-there-really-such-a-thing-as-a-nontraditional-student/

Sep 24

Motivating Adult Learners

We’ve been talking about learning styles in general, but what about adult learners, as a group? Are there things that online instructors can do to motivate and keep adult learners engaged? Tom Kuhlman things so.  He believes that practice activities, meaningful feedback, and providing an environment where adults have freedom to learn are some of the keys.

Take a look at his blog post by clicking on Tom’s unique character avatar below. Do you agree with this list? Have any ideas from your experience that you’d care to share with us?

http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/how-to-motivate-adult-learners/

Tom Kuhlman from Rapid eLearning

Sep 03

Learning Styles Explored

Gayle H. began the conversation on Friday when she spoke on Learning Styles at the first “Teaching Tips in 30” gathering.

I thought the article Learn Faster, Learn Better: What Style Fits You Best might be a nice follow-up.

Does this agree with what you shared in your session Gayle? How much credence do faculty put into learning styles and how does this affect the way you teach?

Click the image to explore this info-graphic.

Learning Styles

From the Education Database Online Blog. http://www.onlineeducation.net/2013/05/28/types-of-learning

Aug 29

Why Your Students Might NOT Be Reading

booksmallIt’s a busy time of year as we ramp up for Fall 2013. Most of us have textbooks or articles that we assign as critical components of our course.

We thought you might be interested in a recent study “Why University Students Don’t Read: What Professors Can Do to Increase Compliance” by Mary Hoeft.

If you think reading is essential to your student’s success, you might be interested to read that this study suggests graded journals and quizzes will greatly impact the rate of reading compliance.  It might be worth taking a few minutes to look over this study.

Image: ©iStockphoto.com/R-J-Seymour