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Author: Karen Nichols

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Published on 1 Comment on New Year’s Resolutions

by Karen Nichols
Happy New Year Everyone! Did you make any resolutions for 2015? I don't usually try to set goals on January 1st other than the rather nebulous "try to be a better person" one. However, Dr. Michaelis recently wrote a blog for the Huffington Post in which he recommended a few apps to help us keep our New Year's Resolutions. His recommendations are Rise (nutrition coaching), My Quit Coach (quit smoking) and Buddhify.

Perhaps one of your resolutions was to do more than use an app or two. If you've resolved to become more comfortable with technology and to try to use more of it in your courses, I have a few sites that I recommend in order to help you keep that resolution!

Try Sue Frantz' Technology for Academics! She is an expert on "finding new technologies so you don't have to".  Thousands of people have blogs with lists of new technologies, but Sue Frantz roadtests each one she writes about and then provides the most clear instructions on how and why to use them.

The John A. Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning and the Office of Information Technologies at the University of Notre Dame (the hosts of our Professional and Organizational Development listserv) has a very good blog, NspireD2. The entries are concise, relevant and numerous.

Finally (or should I have said Firstly?) CAT is always a great resource, so please consider adding a visit to us on the 5th floor of the library to your list of resolutions--we'll be happy to help you!

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Published on 1 Comment on Don’t forget the audio!

by Karen Nichols
A few of our veteran online instructors recently had a panel on the positives of teaching online and hybrid courses. At the last minute, we decided to record the discussion. It worked out very well and we created and disseminated it as a podcast which was helpful to instructors who were unable to attend. Thanks to Bart Everson for helping us at the last minute but having forgotten this option in the beginning really gave me pause.

There are myriad programs and apps to produce amazing visuals and videos which we frequently present and write about. After the above incident, I thought I'd also provide information for the auditory side. eLearning Industry just published an article yesterday, "Audio in eLearning: Top 10 Tips For eLearning Professionals" which contains several best practices.  I've chosen three here to give you a sampling of their recommendations:

  • Have your students show their knowledge by creating and submitting an audio presentation.  I have had my French students record themselves reciting a French poem and then discussing certain aspects of it.
  • Provide audio instructions for assignments, especially the more complicated ones.  I have actually included audio files in which I read the instructions for my students.  They will hear me in French as they are reading along.
  • Include a "player" for each sound file so that your students can replay it as often as necessary and also adjust the volume and other aspects of the recording.

How are you using auditory files in your courses?  Do you narrate your power points?  Please share your best practices.  Meanwhile, in celebration of the season, here is an AUDIO FILE for you to enjoy--The Night Before Christmas as read by Louis Armstrong.  Happy Holidays Everyone!

Published on Leave a comment on Let’s grow an (Answer) Garden!

What is Answer Garden?
AnswerGarden is a new, free, quick and easy feedback tool. Use it for real time class participation, online brainstorming and feedback. AnswerGarden is standalone and embeddable, and shows hundreds of answers all at once.

How do I create an AnswerGarden?
No logins are necessary. Go to the Create New AnswerGarden page, type in your question and then press the "Create"-button. We recommend that you provide a password for your garden so you can edit it later. You can also choose a few preferences for the number of times a student can respond, etc. Your AnswerGarden is then ready to use!

Tutorials
Here is one of several tutorials created in different languages about using AnswerGarden.

There's a new free ipad app as well.

Let's grow our own Garden!  Click to give your answer to "What are your holiday plans?"

Published on Leave a comment on New York Times Webinar

by Karen Nichols:  I'm posting this message for anyone who may be interested.

Hello,

Please join me, Emily Ryan, Education Manager with The New York Times, for a brief demonstration of the various academic resources from NYTimes.com on Thursday, November 20th at 10AM PST / 1PM EST.

Learn About:

Academic resources inside NYTimes.com that will support your courses
Examples of how others have incorporated NYTimes.com into their curriculum
Special programs for core curriculum instruction and the study of leadership

Please feel free to register in advance and add this event to your calendar.

Click or copy/paste this link into your web browser: http://clearslide.com/v/k9u38s

To join the webinar on November 20th at 10AM PST/ 1PM EST simply click on the link below and dial into the toll-free conference line noted below.

Presentation Link:

clearslide.com/emilyryan

Dial in:
United States: (888) 419-5364
Conference Access Code: 3977-6248

I look forward to seeing you online.

Regards,
Emily Ryan
Education Manager

The New York Times
Sold by PCF, Inc.
(201) 560-2564

Published on Leave a comment on POD 2014 Leverage

by Karen Nichols
I attended my first POD conference last week and the theme was Leverage.  POD is our faculty development organization and such a wonderful group of people. I returned with a number of ideas and tools, not only for online teaching, but teaching with technology and general faculty development best practices as well.

I'd like to share a couple of links with you.  You'll be able to see the conference theme is well-used in a variety of ways.

One fun tool I learned about was 3M's Post-It Plus app. If you use post-it notes in workshops or classes and the students have to affix them to a board in order to see the responses from the entire group, this nifty app will allow you to snap a photo of the post-it-filled board. It then digitizes each note and allows you to organize them and share the board with everyone else. Here's a demonstration:

I'll be sharing more goodies from the conference in upcoming posts. Meanwhile, let us know if you try this app or find something that interests you in the conference links.

Published on Leave a comment on Midcourse Reviews for Online Classes Too

CAT has just wrapped up our season of midcourse reviews. After piloting the online midcourse reviews last spring, we offered this service to all of our online instructors this fall during the same period as our face to face ones. In fact, the procedure is quite similar to the face to face midcourse review. We create a questionnaire on Survey Monkey for each instructor who requests the online midcourse review using the following three questions:

1. What is working in the online course (what is helping you to learn)?

2. What is not working(what is keeping you from learning)?

3. What are your suggestions for improvement?

We then send to the instructors the unique link for his or her students, along with a message from CAT explaining what the review is, why the instructor is requesting it and of course, the fact that the survey is completely anonymous.

We keep the survey open for a few days and once it's closed, we create the midcourse review report which summarizes the student feedback and delete the survey.  We then meet with the online instructor either face to face or via videoconference and discuss the report.  Like the face to face midcourse reviews, CAT does not keep copies of the reports.

So, if you're teaching online in the near future and would like to take advantage of this service, don't worry! We'll contact our online instructors each semester to remind you.

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Published on Leave a comment on Infographics are easel.ly created for your courses

by Karen Nichols

What are infographs? Despite their shortcomings, I do like the first line of wikipedia's definition of infographic: Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly.  I found a particularly appropriate infograph, given CAT's 20th anniversary theme of sustainability on the easel.ly website which I will present momentarily.

Why would we use infographs? Well, according to an article last fall in the New Yorker, infographics are "trending" right now and are found everywhere--newspapers, websites, blogs, etc. With the onslaught of data from all angles, readers can use a little help deciphering the information bombarding us.

Infographics in the classroom have myriad uses and you probably already use them. But have you ever used an infograph to introduce yourself? Think about it. The infographic format would add a visual dimension to your biographical sketch that you probably include in your syllabus or in Blackboard. If you haven't experimented very much with infographics, here is an easy website to try: http://www.easel.ly/

There are other sites where you can create infographs, but I like this one because it's easy and pre-loaded with a variety of templates.
Here's a quick "how-to" video from the site:

I hope you enjoy experimenting. Please share any infographs you use or create!

Published on Leave a comment on Ed Tech Week Oct 6-10

by Karen Nichols
In celebration of Ed Tech Week next week, a number of companies are offering free webinars, ostensibly to showcase their products, but I read in our POD (Professional and Organizational Development) Network newsletter about Macmillan's webinars. A few are featuring their products, but some are for the general public and may be of interest to ed tech enthusiasts and online instructors.  Go to Macmillan's Ed Tech Week webpage to register for any of these and to see all of their offerings.  Let me know if you're interested in getting a group together to participate in the webinar.  I can see if CAT's conference room is available.  I'll also be attending a few sessions myself so please let me know if you'd like to come over and join me.

Monday, October 6th at 3pm EST
Use What Your Students Do Already: Optimizing Students' Tech Skills for Communicating
Johndan Johnson-Eilola, Clarkson University

Most college students feel comfortable working with information in a variety of technologies (sometimes too comfortable). They spend their lives, it seems, with their hands on keyboards or thumbs on smartphones. But often they (and we) do not think critically about how best to use these technologies to improve our communication practices. In this webinar, we’ll discuss ways of teaching students to more productively use technology in their writing practices across a spectrum of genres and media types.

Tuesday, October 7th at 12pm EST

The Economics of Online Education and the Future of Teaching

Alex Tabarrok, George Mason University

Online education has cost and flexibility advantages over in-class teaching. Online education also has a different cost structure than in-class teaching, namely lower marginal cost but higher and endogenous fixed costs. I discuss how these advantages and differences in cost structure will disrupt and shape the future of higher education.

Thursday, October 9th at 2pm EST

Assessment and Utilization of Non-Cognitives to Support Student Success and Retention

Paul Gore, University of Utah, and Wade Leuwerke, Drake University

This presentation will describe the role of noncognitive factors in student success. Evidence of the role of noncognitives in both academic success and retention will be explored. Methods and assessment tools will be described. Strategies that encourage students to build plans to bolster their noncognitive skills will be described, including online platforms to track and support students’ success plans.

Friday, October 10th at 3pm EST

Innovations in Assignment Design Using Technology

Rob Lue, Harvard University

Technology has transformed the ways we deliver content to our students, both in the classroom and online. Similarly it now provides new ways for us to engage students through assignments that are more collaborative, self-paced and focused on the synthesis of ideas. When these possibilities are coupled with real-time analytics on student performance and behavior, we can develop assignments that are remarkably formative for students while also allowing us to evaluate their performance. I will discuss several approaches to assignment design that take advantage of software environments such as LaunchPad.

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Published on 2 Comments on Best Practices for Posting Video Announcements

by Karen Nichols

In the September 8, 2014 issue of Faculty Focus, Amy Erickson and Catz Neset offer in their article "Building Community and Creating Relevance in the Online Classroom," several best practices for creating video announcements to post in Blackboard (or whatever Learning Management System you may be using).

In addition to your students having more exposure to you as a "real" person speaking to them, video announcements can also be a presentation of material or virtual tour of the week's lesson, narrated by you.

Here is the authors' formula for success:

  • Provide an introduction each week and share your availability
  • Give feedback and answer questions from the previous week
  • Showcase exceptional student work from the previous week
  • Highlight the objectives of the coming week and any special preparation or required resources
  • Connect your coursework to relevant current events
  • **I would add to this list:  Keep in mind that students may be using mobile devices to access Blackboard so you'll want to create your video announcement to be easily viewed on a smartphone or ipad

Video announcements are not limited to strictly online courses. Posting a video announcement in a traditional face to face class can be a timesaver in that you can answer questions from last week and set up the coming week's agenda before the students arrive in class.

Here's a video announcement from Xavier's own Mark Gstohl.  He introduces himself, gives his contact information and tells the students about an upcoming assignment.  He also adds a bit of humor which goes a long way to building a rapport with the students.

Please feel free to share a link to one of your video announcements!

Published on Leave a comment on CAT Support for Online/Hybrid Instruction

by Karen Nichols
Hi Everyone and welcome back for the fall 2014 semester! Here is a timely reminder of the various ways CAT can support your online/hybrid courses (and even technology-infused face to face courses).

  • One to one sessions on using technology such as Blackboard, plus one to one sessions on the pedagogy of online teaching--please contact Janice Florent, jflorent@xula.edu, for Blackboard help and Karen Nichols, knichola@xula.edu, for pedagogical assistance with your courses
  • Workshops, presentations and panel discussions about online teaching including accessibility, student conduct and providing quality feedback--please see our CAT events
  • CAT's Online Faculty Resource Center, an organization in Blackboard to which you can subscribe by emailing Janice Florent, jflorent@xula.aedu, or Karen Nichols, knichola@xula.edu  (If you use the Bb Mobile app on your mobile device, you'll be notified each time new content is added)
  • ETC (Educational Technology Community), Xavier's special interest group that meets virtually throughout the academic year and which you can join by emailing Karen Nichols, knichola@xula.edu
  • Camtasia Studio--please contact Bart Everson, bpeverso@xula.edu, for more information
  • Books on best practices of teaching online that can be checked out--please ask Ms. Olivia Crum, ocrum@xula.edu, to check them out
  • Resources on this blog page dedicated to Blackboard and other technology used

If you're interested in learning more about any of these items, please contact us:  cat@xula.edu; 504-520-7512  We'll be delighted to assist you--wishing everyone a great fall semester!

CAT's Online Faculty Resource Center

CAT's Online Faculty Resource Center