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Category: CAT & Mouse: E-Learning

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 1 Comment on Bb Tip #108: Videos

Video is one of the most powerful, motivating, and visual ways to learn. You can use videos to promote critical thinking and active learning.

There's a big difference between watching a video and learning something from it.

Emily A. Moore, M.Ed., instructional designer in the online learning office at Texas State Technical College – Harlingen Campus, gives suggestions to help increase the educational effectiveness of an online course video. Read more in her article, "From Passive Viewing to Online Learning: Simple Techniques for Applying Active Learning Strategies to Online Course Videos."

Video can easily and effectively be incorporated inside your Blackboard courses. There are several ways to add videos to your Blackboard courses.

To provide just-in-time feedback or to build in spontaneous interaction, faculty and students can use the Video Everywhere tool to record video directly via their webcam or reuse an already recorded video from their playlist. The Video Everywhere tool allows faculty and students to place video wherever the Content Editor is available, from discussion board posts, to assessment feedback, to blog posts, journals, wikis, and of course in announcements and content areas. Furthermore, by leveraging the power and ease of use of YouTube, the Video Everywhere tool allows you to add rich media into courses quickly and efficiently.

image showing Video Everywhere recording

Blackboard supports embedding and/or linking to video from many other systems and solutions. Sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, or other video repositories can be embedded easily by switching to html mode in the Content Editor and then pasting in the embed code.

image showing Embed Video using HTML code

The benefit of embedding video into a course is that it enables the students to stay within the context of the course and within the sequence of instruction, rather than linking out away from course content.

Another way to add video to your course is to upload the video file (i.e., MPEG/AVI, QuickTime, Flash/Shockwave, Microsoft .asf and .wmv formats).

Video files are generally large files. Your course size is total of your uploaded video files sizes along with the size of all other course content. Each Blackboard course has a 1.25 GB maximum course size limit. It is a good idea to embed or link to videos rather than uploading video files to your course to help you to stay within the maximum course size limit. You can upload your videos to YouTube, Vimeo, or other media server and then embed or link to the video within the course as explained above.

image showing Build Content

When adding video files, it is a good idea to include links to any browser plug-ins or media player files that users will need to view the videos.

Want more information?

Simple Techniques for Applying Active Learning Strategies to Videos
Video Everywhere
Best Practices for Posting Video Announcements
Creating Mashups
Embed Videos into Your Course
How to Create Audio, Image, and Video Links
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Visit the Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

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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 The Art of Effectively Managing Discussion Board Posts

by Karen Nichols
A recent edition of Faculty Focus includes an article on successful discussions conducted online. There is after all an art to effective online communication. These considerations include the necessity to communicate with all students in the discussion forum. Personally, I respond to each of my students' original postings, but I do not intrude in subsequent conversations between the students. (I do monitor them however, to ensure that the students are communicating appropriately.)

The Faculty Focus article also describes how you should communicate with your students depending on their individual needs. For example, if a student actively and fully participates in the discussions, you may wish to challenge him/her, while students who express confusion may need more direction and time spent in explaining the goals of the discussion assignments.

Further, try to be open to a variety of responses and lengths. More is not always better so be sure to give shorter postings and unexpected opinions and answers due consideration. Along these lines, there is an art to knowing when to lead the discussions and when to gently guide them along in order for the students to feel comfortable taking the lead themselves and/or expressing their sentiments even if they may differ from those of the instructor.

Last year, Blackboard sponsored a discussion on breathing new life into Discussion Boards:

Do you use online discussions? If so, what are some of your best practices and suggestions?

Published on Leave a comment on My 1 Year Anniversary!

by Karen Nichols

Greetings! I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for this incredible first year in CAT as Xavier's Distance Education Coordinator. I have learned so much and feel so privileged to be part of such an extraordinary team. CAT has an exciting calendar of events and workshops for the upcoming academic year and I'm looking forward to presenting a few as well as participating in them.

It would be easy to look back at this past year or to look around at the current state of distance education at Xavier, but I prefer to use the opportunity to look beyond our campus instead. My professional reading has led me to a positive report on the state of distance education in Africa.

The eLearning Africa Report 2014 contains several interesting articles, from a retrospective of Nelson Mandela's contributions in the field of education to a focus on distance education in three arenas--agriculture, health and tourism. 55 countries in Africa are included in the various data analyses. I highly recommend the editorial at the beginning in order to give you an idea of the scope and fairly optimistic tone of the report.

With the beginning of the fall semester right around the corner, I'm busily making preparations for our faculty and students but I'm glad that I took the time to learn about our distance education colleagues in Africa and the hope and vision they have for the future and their students. I believe I'll celebrate my future anniversaries by "looking outward" as well.

Published on Leave a comment on Geocaching: A Real Life Scavenger Hunt!

by Karen Nichols

I've just returned from a Distance Learning Administration conference on Jekyll Island in Georgia. It's a small island that is part of the Golden Isles group and very green, ecofriendly and easily navigable on foot or bike. I discovered there were over a hundred "geocaches" just on that small island and many of them were environment, nature and/or ecology-themed. Until recently, I didn't know about geocaching even though it's been in existence since 2000.

What is Geocaching?  Geocaching uses GPS-enabled devices to play an outdoor treasure hunting game.  It's international in scope and easy to play.  Basic membership is free.  Here's a quick introductory video:

Jekyll Island is a sea turtle sanctuary and is home to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center where the turtles are given medical treatment and the center offers educational exhibits and programming. A few of the geocaches had the sea turtle as the theme.

What a great way to get children excited about discovery and learning! In our Xavier zip code, 70125, there are over 900 geocaches so you can begin exploring today.

Published on Leave a comment on Using a Backchannel to Engage Students

Are you looking for new ways to engage more of your students? Do you want to provide more authentic learning opportunities for your students? Searching for some way to help students write concisely, critically examine arguments, or take notes? One strategy you might consider using is a “backchannel”

Dr. Michelle Rodems, program manager at the School of Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies (SIGS) and at the Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning suggests using a “backchannel” to give your students a secondary way to communicate with you or each other.

Want to know more? Read Dr. Rodems' article on "Using a Backchannel to Engage Students."

Published on Leave a comment on Can online note taking help to limit plagiarism?

Google Chrome offers a variety of extensions for taking notes on the web page you're browsing. After my own experiences (I still teach as an adjunct and taught online over 20 years before becoming the Distance Education Coordinator) and hearing stories from other educators, I am wondering if these online note taking services could help combat plagiarism.

Copying and pasting from online sources is so easy for students. Even if they go back and try to change a few words here and there, their work is usually flagged in such apps as Turnitin. If we make it easier for them to take notes on the materials, they would then have to write more of their own content for their papers and other assignments.

Here are 5 Chrome extensions, all with various features, that we can recommend to our students. They are Simple Notepad, Note anywhere, Mini Notepad, Note Board, and Chrome Notepad. Viveka Nagar reviewed these 5 features this past fall for I love free software.

Since it's not unusual for me to have sticky notes surrounding my computer screen and liberally posted across my desk and on walls, I tend to prefer the Note Anywhere add-on.  Here's a snapshot from their app store of what it may look like:

Note anywhere screen shot
Note anywhere screen shot

I invite you to experiment with some or all of these possibilities and let us know if you and your students find them useful.  Karen Nichols