CTC Ed Tech News Dec. 12, 2013

Hi everyone,

I hope that your semester is ending well. 

Here are some dates to keep in mind:

• IDEA Survey closes on Tuesday, December 17 unless you have made other arrangements. You can still use the FIF to customize your objectives, but you can't add any custom questions. Students can respond to the survey through the 17th. It's not too late to remind students to complete the survey - it's shorter now and less onerous to complete.
• Grades are due on Wednesday, December 18 by 11:59 pm. Here is a tutorial from the registrar's office on submitting grades to UAOnline.
• Blackboard will be unavailable starting December 20 due to the upgrade. IT Services expects to have it up by December 29. I suspect that they will be done sooner. Check the Blackboard login page for status updates.

This is a good time, while things are fresh in your mind, to make some notes about how the class went, what you would change, and what seemed to work. It's also a good time to organize the files from the class if they've gotten into disarray so you can find what you need when you teach the class next time. Here's an article from Prof Hacker on organizing your teaching materials. 

I have wondered for many years how long I had to save student work after a class ended. Well, just this year I found out about the UA policy. Records related to classroom and course should be maintained for one full semester (excluding summer session) after the semester in which the final grade was recorded. 

• Items containing personally identifiable student information (i.e. student ID, SSN, date of birth, etc.) must be protected and secured. For faculty going off contract for the summer, please make sure that student files, thumb drives with student grades, and other related items are stored in a locked drawer or locked cabinet.
• Records that are duplicates of what is already maintained by Enrollment Services do not need to be maintained, and this is a good time to shred those documents.
• For more information see
  • University of Alaska course records retention schedule
  • General University of Alaska records retention and disposal schedules
• This means that student papers from spring 2013 and earlier can be shredded.

Here is one last fun item. I've been using WAZE on my iPhone for over a year to monitor traffic on the Glenn Highway and for route finding. Prof Hacker sings the praises of WAZE in this article. I recommend it to you.

CTC Ed Tech Dec. 2, 2013

I have a couple learning opportunities for you this week:

1. Blackboard Upgrade Show and Tell- get the scoop on the new features of SP 13. Friday, December 6, 3pm - 4:30pm, UC 133.

Take a tour of the new Blackboard: global navigation, improved text editor, inline grading, and more. For more info on the upgrade see Blackboard Upgrade for Spring 2014.

2. Copyright webinar - Tuesday, December 10, 10am - noon, UC 131M.  

From course management systems to e-reserves, technology and changes to copyright law are affecting the way faculty, staff, and students share information. This webinar provides a quick, but in-depth look at important concerns surrounding the use of copyright-protected content within a non-profit, academic environment.

I am hosting this session concurrent with the CAFE session. Bring your coffee and join me for the webinar and a discussion afterwards.

My sharing with you is not very techy this week: It's called One Small Step and presents a suggestion for change. I read a blog called Social Triggers and the writer has a similar suggestion: make a commitment to do one small thing before going to bed each day. For me, today, it's doing Yoga. So, in this hectic time, what is one small step you can take to maintain calm?  

Lastly, if you missed the Registrar's email about grades (sent to the Faculty Listserv on Nov. 25), here it is again, just as she sent it.

Fall 2013 grades due December 18th

Grading will be turned on December 6^th for fall classes (in UAOnline).  For fall courses which have ended, grades must be submitted via UAOnline by Wednesday, December 18^th at 11:59 p.m. 

 

Due to compliance requirements for institutions receiving federal money, any grades of "F" or "NB" will require a date of last attendance to be entered.  This fall there is an additional requirement to indicate students who never attended.  Out of a set of options, the Faculty Senate passed the first bullet below.

 

·         New Requirement for students who never attended:

o   Faculty should enter the first day of fall semester 08/26/2013 in the "Last Attend Date" column AND enter a 0 (zero) in the "Attend Hours" column.

o   A best guess is fine, especially as this is a new requirement.

·         For last date of attendance:

o   Enter the last date of attendance in the "last Attend Date" column next to the letter grade.

o   The date must be entered in MM/DD/YYYY form, i.e. if a student last attended on October 1^st, you would enter 10/01/2013. 

o   Instructors utilizing centralized scheduled classrooms will not be able to enter a date beyond December 6^th; however you may enter 100 in the "Attend Hours" column to indicate the student took the final. 

o   Again, best guess is fine.

Once grades have been submitted in UAOnline they cannot be changed.  Please wait to submit your grades until all items for your class have been graded.  After a grade has been submitted, if a grade change needs to occur you will need to submit a change of grade form.

 

UAOnline grading will remain on through Wednesday, December 18^th.   Academic standing, degree awarding, and financial aid eligibility are calculated beginning on Thursday, December 19^th .  Missing grades impact a student's ability to receive aid, maintain good academic standing, as well as graduate.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT GRADING:

 

Incomplete grades should only be assigned when a student has completed the majority of coursework.  Incomplete Grade Contracts can be found on this website and should be filed with the corresponding department.

 

Deferred grades- Research, thesis, or project courses which may have a deferred grade, must have a DF grade assigned as a place holder.

 

No Basis Grade- A no basis (NB) grade may be used when the student has not attended or if there is insufficient student progress and/or attendance for evaluation to occur.  NB is a permanent grade and may not be used to substitute for the incomplete grade.  It cannot be removed later by completing outstanding work.  Faculty are requested to submit a last date of attendance in conjunction with this grade (best guess is fine).  For students who have never attended the class, please use the first day of your class and enter a 0 in the attend hours column.  Faculty are not required to use the no basis grade and may instead assign a failing grade.

 

You must submit a grade for every person on your roster; if you do not know the student on your roster you should assign a NB or failing grade. 

 

Trouble shooting

If you can't access your class list it may be because there are multiple instructors (only the primary instructor of record may enter grades) or the faculty member is TBA.  Departments, make sure you have the correct faculty listed for all of your courses- this may be updated through a class schedule change form.  Pins may be reset by contacting Human Resources, IT Services (786-4646) or UAA One Stop (786-1480). 

 

Please contact Lora Volden, University Registrar, with any questions or concerns at (907) 786-1560

This handout from the registrar explains how to enter grades.

CTC Ed Tech Nov. 20, 2013

I hope that you are keeping warm. Here are my offerings this week:

Computer security

Last week I discussed the importance of keeping your computer up-to-date. One instructor pointed out to me that he was not sure about doing updates. Mr. Bill advised me that Java updates and Windows updates are the most important. Rather than create tutorials, I found some videos that explain how to do these updates:

• Update Java 
• Turn on Windows auto update (Mr. Bill recommends this)
• Manually do a Window update 

IDEA (remember IDEA?)

Have you completed the Faculty Information Form (FIF) for IDEA, our online course evaluation system? The FIF link is emailed to your UAA email account weekly until you complete the FIF or until Dec. 17, though you can't add additional questions after Nov. 27. Here is a guide for completing the FIF to customize the course evaluation and get more useful results. The survey opens to students on Wed. Nov. 27 and closes on Tues. Dec. 17 unless you have made other arrangements with Faculty Services.

Manifesto on for Active Learning

I came across this article on teaching in higher education. What impresses me is not so much the active learning in his classroom, but the reflection on teaching by this professor. 

Blackboard upgrade 

We are upgrading over winter break and Blackboard will be unavailable Dec. 20 -29. Get the scoop on the UAA Blackboard upgrade:

• Online resources
• Collaborate recording by Scott Ready from Blackboard 
•  Faculty Technology Center workshop schedule

Sign up to access the testing server to explore the new environment (open to the first 100 faculty who sign up)

Review resources at Blackboard.com

eTech Fair recordings  

Most of the sessions from last week's eTech Fair were recorded and the links are now up. Take a peek if you want to see what some of your colleagues here at UAA have done.  

I will be out of town Thanksgiving week, so there will be no email from me until December.

CTC Ed Tech News November 13, 2013

Dear faculty and staff,

Here's a smorgasbord for you this week:

Take your medicine

Bill, our IT person at University Center, wanted me to remind you to take your medicine, I mean, to do your computer updates. This is one of the best ways to keep your computer and your data safe (along with good passwords). So, do Bill and yourself a favor: Pick a time when you can let the computer do its thing and do your Window updates, Microsoft updates, Java updates, and Adobe updates. Read a real book, magazine, text book, or grade papers  while you monitor the progress. "Pretty please with sugar on top," says Bill.

Intro to Blackboard 9.1, Service Pack 13 

Friday, November 15, noon-1:30 pm. This webinar delivered via Collaborate will go over some of the new features that will come with our Blackboard upgrade in December. I have been experimenting with it and really like the new text editor, improvements in the tests deployment, discussion board, blogs, and wikis. The new inline grading is really, really cool. I will host an in-person overview of SP 13 in December

Remember, IT Services plans to take Blackboard down from December 20 through 29 for the upgrade.  

New Resource from the Library

Librarian Christie Ericson sent this to the Faculty Listserv on November 13:

The Consortium Library has recently subscribed to a new service for reading electronic journals. BrowZine is a new tablet application that allows you to browse, read, and stay current with thousands of the library's top scholarly journals in a format optimized for your iPad, Android, or Kindle Fire tablet.With BrowZine, you can:

• Browse and read journals:  browse journals by subject, easily review tables of contents, and download full articles
• Create your own bookshelf:  add journals to your personal bookshelf and be notified when new articles are published (note: push notification begins mid-November for iPads, January for Android)
• Save and export articles:  Save articles for off-line reading or export to services such as RefWorks, Zotero, and more

Learn more and start using BrowZine today.

CTC Ed Tech November 5, 2013

Dear colleagues,

Here are a few hopefully tasty bites for you this week:

UAA eTech Fair for Distance Ed Week: Nov. 11-15, 2013

Just drop-in! No preregistration required.

Join the UAA Elearning Workgroup for our 3^rd annual eTech Fair during distance education week Nov. 11-15.  Attend daily sessions (morning & afternoon) presented by UAA faculty and instructional designers on distance education tools and resources. All sessions will be held online via Blackboard Collaborate. 

Door prizes will be given out at each session to randomly selected participants who complete the evaluation survey!  (Door prizes donated by: UAA IT Services, College of Education, College of Health, Disability Support Services, Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, School of Nursing)

Visit the eTech Fair website for this year's sessions and information on attending.

Student withdrawal deadline approaching

If a student has stopped coming to class, you can withdraw the student until November 15: 

• Contact the student via email or phone and ask the student to withdraw (you may or may not get a response)

• Use the online form to withdraw him/her from the class. 

The student will receive a "W" as a grade for this class and will not get a refund.

Please note that at the end of the semester, if a student has stopped coming to class and has not withdrawn, you must give him/her a grade:

• F for failing the class or

• NB (No Basis) for not having completed enough work to be graded.

A last date of attendance is required for F and NB grades. 

Understanding by Design Transfer Goals

In prior weeks, I've discussed the big idea for a course, essential questions, and the UBD egg.  One other important design consideration is transfer goals.  What do you expect the student to be able to do in other contexts besides your classroom as a result of your course? For skills classes, this is often more than just  the skill… there needs to be understanding of when,where, and why to apply a certain skill.  What good is learning how to use Word if the student can't write a business letter?  What good is knowing how to use AutoCAD if the student can't create a drawing to the specs provided by the employer?    I find transfer goals a great way to get at what we really want our students to understand and be able to do as a result of our instruction.

Tutoring addenda

Last week I wrote about tutoring options for students. D'Arcy Hutchings, librarian at the Learning Resource Center,  informed me about  the  excellent list  of  tutoring resources compiled by the staff at the Learning Resource Center. Check them out!  

Warm regards,

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

UC 132G

Beyond Anchorage Workforce Development Grant

Community and Technical College

University of Alaska Anchorage

blog: http://ak-lee.blogspot.com

907-786-4903

CTC Ed Tech News October 30, 2013

Hello all,

Lots of stuff to cover this week. I am going to postpone the continuing Understanding By Design discussion for one more week.

Faculty Technology Center (FTC) Professional Development Questionnaire

The FTC invites all faculty (including adjunct faculty) and staff to take ten minutes to complete their professional development questionnaire to help tailor offerings to your specific needs, concerns, and interests. Plus, two lucky winners will be selected to receive a $25 Amazon gift certificate. Please complete this questionnaire no later than Friday, November 1.

Blackboard to Be Upgraded Over Winter Break 
IT Services will upgrade to Blackboard 9.1 Service Pack13 over winter break (we are currently on Service Pack 9). This upgrade contains feature enhancements and no big change to the interface. Your spring courses will be available soon and will roll into the new version of Blackboard just fine. IT Services anticipates that Blackboard will be unavailable Dec. 20–29 for the upgrade. For more information check out What's New in Blackboard Learn.

Tutoring Options for Students

If your students are in need of additional assistance to be successful, here are some tutoring options:

• Chugiak-Eagle River Campus offers tutoring. Send your students to this web page for information and to schedule a tutoring appointment. CERC also offers Open Lab tutoring hours in math and writing on Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m, often in small groups.
• On the main campus, the Learning Resource Center is the place to start for tutoring. Their lab is open Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.; Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday Noon - 5:00 p.m. Their page has links to other tutoring options.
• Kodiak College has access to Student Lingo online tutorials through July 2014.
• Kenai College developed online open-access College Readiness courses for students needing developmental courses.

Professional Development Opportunities for You

iPhonography Friday November 1, 2:30-4 pm, UC 123

Take a break for something fun! Join Jeanette Renaudineau from the Faculty Technology Center, for a practical and fun workshop. Learn how to take better pictures using your iPhone, iPad, or other mobile device (including Android devices!). Be prepared for an action-packed session including photography tips, a photo shoot, and quick photo editing. Bring your favorite device and a mobile Paparazzi attitude. 

Educause Fall Focus Session November 5-7, 8 am - noon (via Adobe Connect)

I will be hosting a viewing of the Educause Fall Focus Session in UC 131M on November 2-4 from 8 am to 11:30 am. Check out the schedule and drop in on any session. (The times in the schedule are Eastern, don't forget to subtract 4 hours for AK time.) Remember, parking is free at the University Center if you want to stop by. T

eTech Fair Nov 11-15 via Collaborate

The eLearning Workgroup is putting together a series of workshops the week of November 11-15 for Distance Education Week.There will be morning and afternoon sessions each day. I will be doing a session on Understanding by Design on Thursday afternoon (are you surprised?). The schedule is final and will be available soon on the eTech Fair web page. These sessions will be recorded so that if a session interests you, it will be available to watch. 

Warm regards,

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

UC 132G

Beyond Anchorage Workforce Development Grant

Community and Technical College

University of Alaska Anchorage

blog: http://ak-lee.blogspot.com

907-786-4903

CTC Ed Tech October 24, 2012

Hi all,

I guess it's that time of semester… I am falling behind. So, this week I'll keep it brief. 

IT Services is fairly confident that they have solved the Blackboard problems that have plagued UAA for the past week as of 4 pm on Wed.  They are monitoring the servers just to be sure.  It really is helpful to them to have problems reported.  They can't solve problems that they don't know about.  I find it easy to send an email to callcenter@uaa.alaska.edu.  Just include as many details as possible :  computer operating system, web browser version, location, network connection, and if you can figure it out, Java version.  You can also call and report the issue.  

Next week I'll pick up again with Understanding by Design and transfer goals.

Here are three learning opportunities for CTC faculty and staff in the coming weeks:  

iPhonography Friday November 1, 2:30-4 pm, UC 123

Take a break for something fun! Join Jeanette Renaudineau from the Faculty Technology Center, for a practical and fun workshop. Learn how to take better pictures using your iPhone, iPad, or other mobile device (including Android devices!).  Be prepared for an action-packed session including photography tips, a photo shoot, and quick photo editing.  Bring your favorite device and a mobile Paparazzi attitude.  Jeanette did this workshop at the College of Ed - I was jealous, so asked her if she would come to the UC to repeat it.  

eTech Fair Nov 11-15 via Collaborate

The eLearning Workgroup is putting together  a series of workshops the week of November 11-15 for Distance Education Week.  There will be morning and afternoon sessions each day via Collaborate.  I will be doing a session on Understanding by Design on Thursday afternoon (are you surprised?).  The schedule is final and will be available soon.  These sessions will be recorded so that if a session interests you, it will be available to watch.  

Educauase Fall Focus Session November 5-7, 8 am - noon

I will be hosting a viewing of the Educause Fall Focus Session  in UC 131M on November 2-4 from 8 am to 11:30 am.  Check out the schedule and drop in on any session. (The times in the schedule are Eastern, don't forget to subtract 4 hours to determine the AK time.)  Remember, parking is free at the University Center if you want to stop by.

These sessions  will be delivered via Adobe Connect.

Tuesday Nov. 5  (subtract  4 hours)

12:00 PM  Focus Session Welcome

SPEAKERS: MALCOLM BROWN, VERONICA DIAZ

12:15 PM Accelerated Innovation in Higher Ed: Is It Driving a Higher Return on Education?

SPEAKERS: DEBORAH QUAZZO

12:50 PM Teaching to the Network: Public Pedagogy across Institutional Barriers

SPEAKERS: MATTHEW K. GOLD

THEME: PROMOTION OF PERSONALIZATION, ENGAGEMENT AND EFFICIENCY IN LEARNING

1:15 PM Break

1:25 PM TBA

SPEAKERS: JOHN MITCHELL

THEME: PROMOTION OF PERSONALIZATION, ENGAGEMENT AND EFFICIENCY IN LEARNING

2:15 PM New Methods to Grade Student Essay and Short-Answer Responses

SPEAKERS: VIK PARUCHURI

THEME: PROMOTION OF PERSONALIZATION, ENGAGEMENT AND EFFICIENCY IN LEARNING

2:25 PM Break

3:20 PM Design Thinking for Higher Education

SPEAKERS: DAN PERKEL

THEME: PROMOTION OF PERSONALIZATION, ENGAGEMENT AND EFFICIENCY IN LEARNING

3:30 PM Focus Session Closing

SPEAKERS: MALCOLM BROWN, VERONICA DIAZ

Wednesday  Nov. 6 (subtract  4 hours)

12:00 PM Focus Session Welcome

SPEAKERS: MALCOLM BROWN, VERONICA DIAZ

12:05 PM Leadership in a Disrupted Industry

SPEAKERS: ED KLONOSKI

12:35 PM TBA

THEME: USE OF LEARNER ANALYTICS TO SUPPORT QUALITY, AFFORDABILITY AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

1:00 PM Break

1:10 PM Learners and Learning in MOOCs: Findings from Stanford's Lytics Lab

SPEAKERS: JONATHAN HUANG, CHRIS PIECH, EMILY SCHNEIDER, JOSEPH JAY WILLIAMS

THEME: USE OF LEARNER ANALYTICS TO SUPPORT QUALITY, AFFORDABILITY AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

1:50 PM Is Your Institution Ready to Innovate with Learning Analytics?

SPEAKERS: KIMBERLY ARNOLD, STEVEN LONN

THEME: USE OF LEARNER ANALYTICS TO SUPPORT QUALITY, AFFORDABILITY AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

2:20 PM Break

2:30 PM Designing Customer-Focused Service Processes

SPEAKERS: NANCY STEPHENS

THEME: USE OF LEARNER ANALYTICS TO SUPPORT QUALITY, AFFORDABILITY AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

3:10 PM Service Blueprinting Activity

SPEAKERS: NANCY STEPHENS

3:25 PM Focus Session Closing

SPEAKERS: MALCOLM BROWN, VERONICA DIAZ

Thursday  Nov. 7 (subtract  4 hours)

12:00 PM Focus Session Welcome

SPEAKERS: MALCOLM BROWN, VERONICA DIAZ

12:10 PM Personalized Learning Using Continuously Adaptive Technology

SPEAKERS: PHILIP REGIER

THEME: USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AND PLATFORMS THAT SUPPORT COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING, ADAPTIVE LEARNING AND OTHER CUSTOMIZED LEARNING APPROACHES

12:45 PM TBA

SPEAKERS: JODY CLARKE-MIDURA

THEME: USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AND PLATFORMS THAT SUPPORT COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING, ADAPTIVE LEARNING AND OTHER CUSTOMIZED LEARNING APPROACHES

1:10 PM Break

1:20 PM Peer Assessment in MOOCs

SPEAKERS: HOI SUEN

THEME: USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AND PLATFORMS THAT SUPPORT COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING, ADAPTIVE LEARNING AND OTHER CUSTOMIZED LEARNING APPROACHES

1:45 PM Adaptively Building Math Skills with ALEKS

SPEAKERS: STANLEY SMITH

THEME: USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AND PLATFORMS THAT SUPPORT COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING, ADAPTIVE LEARNING AND OTHER CUSTOMIZED LEARNING APPROACHES

2:10 PM Break

2:20 PM A Faculty Perspective on the First ACE Review of a MOOC: What We Learned, and Where Do We Go Now?

SPEAKERS: ELIZABETH ALLAN

THEME: USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AND PLATFORMS THAT SUPPORT COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING, ADAPTIVE LEARNING AND OTHER CUSTOMIZED LEARNING APPROACHES

2:45 PM Designing for Online and Blended Courses

SPEAKERS: ALEC COUROS

THEME: USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AND PLATFORMS THAT SUPPORT COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING, ADAPTIVE LEARNING AND OTHER CUSTOMIZED LEARNING APPROACHES

3:15 PM Focus Session Closing

SPEAKERS: MALCOLM BROWN, VERONICA DIAZ

Warm regards, 

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

UC 132G

Beyond Anchorage Workforce Development Grant

Community and Technical College

University of Alaska Anchorage

blog: http://ak-lee.blogspot.com

907-786-4903

CTC Ed Tech News Oct. 17, 2013

Hello all,

I had the great experience of serving on a jury selection panel this week.  I did not get selected for the jury, but it was fascinating to be reminded about our system of justice.  

Continuing on with Understanding by Design (UBD)

Understanding by Design is a framework for course design that we have been exploring for several weeks.  A backwards design process, it asks us to determine what we want students to know and be able to do, then to determine how we will assess them for this learning, and lastly to design the learning activities. The learning outcomes are designed around one or two big ideas that overarch all the content of the course. The outcomes are nested around the big idea. This nesting helps us to determine what need to be covered in a course. There is often a great deal of material in a course, so the UDB "egg" helps prioritize the desired learning:

As you think of what you want students to learn in a course, determine what's important, what's worth being familiar with, and what doesn't fit.  The "egg" can help you do that.  

Learning Opportunities

Dr. Curtis Bonk from University of Indiana has developed a rich repository of videos on teaching online. You can access them through his webpage or Youtube channel   Let me know if you watch any of his videos - and what you think of them.

I will be hosting a viewing of the Educause Fall Focus Session  in UC 131M on November 2-4 from 8 am to 11:30 am.  Check out the schedule and drop in on any session. (The times in the schedule are Eastern, don't forget to subtract 4 hours to determine the AK time.)  Remember, parking is free at the University Center if you want to stop by.

The eLearning Workgroup is putting together  a series of workshops the week of November 11-15 for Distance Education Week.  There will a morning and an afternoon session each day via Collaborate.  I will be doing a session on Understanding by Design on Thursday afternoon (are you surprised?).  The schedule should be final by next week.  These sessions will be recorded so that if a session interests you, it will be available to watch.  

Warm regards,

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

UC 132G

Beyond Anchorage Workforce Development Grant

Community and Technical College

University of Alaska Anchorage

blog: http://ak-lee.blogspot.com

907-786-4903

CTC Ed Tech News October 8, 2013

Hello everyone,

I hope that you are settling in to the semester nicely.  In this newsletter, I will continue the discussion of Understanding by Design, explain about the Faculty Information Form requests that were emailed to you last week, and share some feedback from a faculty member.

Understanding By Design:  Big Ideas and Essential Questions

To continue the thread from last week's e-newsletter, UBD argues for designing a course around a "big idea" that encompasses the course. The big idea may not be immediately obvious; it could be messy and controversial.  It is unpacked or discovered by students as they proceed through the course.

The Essential Questions help the students grapple with the big idea. They are " thought provoking questions [that] foster inquiry, meaning making and transfer" (McTighe and Wiggins handout, 2011).  Let's take a look at an example provided by a CTC staff member who is an adjunct instructor for English 212, Technical Writing.  

Big Idea: Technical communication rules the workplace.

Essential Questions:

• How can the writer analyze audience needs?
• How does research fit into workplace communication?
• Whom does the communicator need to involve? (team work, collaboration)

Do you see how students will have to really think about and argue with the big idea?  Do you see how the essential questions can help?  

I will lead a beginning workshop on Understanding By Design on Friday, October 10, at 1 pm in UC 132M and via Collaborate.   Please check in with me before the session since I am on call for jury duty and may need to reschedule it.  

 

IDEA Faculty Information Form (FIF) now available

IDEA is our online course evaluation system; The FIF link was emailed to faculty last week. If you want to customize the course evaluation and get more accurate results, complete the FIF. Here is a guide for completing it.  You will receive the reminder emails to your UAA email account to complete the FIF each week, so doing so sooner means those emails cease.  

For those of you that haven't heard, the UAA Faculty Senate decided to go to the short form of the student survey this year and to make the survey available only to classes with more than 10 students.  For more information on the IDEA survey, contact Michael Smith in Faculty Services.

Faculty Gateway Page Feedback Request

UAA WebPros are pursuing updates to some UAA Webpages based on changing needs of our audience and website users. We are asking your feedback during this stage as a potential user of these pages. Please use this Feedback form so that we can track this. 

Page group in review: 

http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/faculty/

http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/adjuncts/

http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/staff/

Background: 

In light of recent upgrades, branding efforts and design refresh on the UAA Websites, UAA Web Pros have been looking over pages that are still in past template designs. We have a few pages that are considered "Gateway" pages, meaning pages that historically tried to serve as a"one-stop" for a certain audience to link to everything they might need. Over the last several years, there has been a considerable shift in the way people use the web. Current research show that people now search for what they need on the web, and that pages set up as "link farms" can actually hinder navigation for the user. Web and user interface design has changed to reflect these trends. 

Recent refreshes to the style of a few other "Gateway" pages are already in progress, which provide a more "modularized" look, including:

• Future Students
• Native Students (this page is still in development- but has a good example of the calendar)

Data-based decision-making:

We looked specifically at the usage statistics on the pages and on each of click-able areas. The range we looked at was the last one year. Attached is a screen shot of the Analytics we have on the Faculty Gateway Page.  

Summary/Interpretation of key findings that are driving our proposed changes. 

Faculty Gateway

The top most-used links from Faculty Gateway:

1. 49%: Faculty/Staff email

  (in footer template-NOT from the link on the actual page). This was a surprising finding from the UAA Homepage as well, indicating to us that this is a usual behavior for getting to faculty/staff email. 

2. 11 % UAA Homepage (in template)

3. 11% Blackboard (in body of the page)

4. 4.4%: Faculty Staff Directory (in template)

5. 0.9%: Campus Map (in template)

6. 0.8% Faculty Technology Center 

(in body of the page)

7. 0.5% A-Z (in Template)

The remaining (less than) 20% of the usage of the page is comprised of a total of other links that all equal less that  .5% usage each. Many links had not been clicked on at all in the past year. 

We believe that some faculty are using this as a homepage, but only to link directly to email and blackboard, and to get the occasional update. 

Staff Gateway

We found very low usage of this page, along with similar usage stats to Faculty Gateway with most used areas being part of the template and footer. 

Adjunct Gateway

There is also very low usage of this page. There are only 4 active links on the Adjuncts gateway.  While the original idea for this page seems to be to celebrate adjuncts, and we feel that isolating them away from other faculty resources may actually provide opposite effect of inclusion. 

Proposed Changes:

1. Adding "Blackboard" to the main (all) navigation on all pages in upper right in the UAA Webpages, It is our 2nd most visited page to the UAA Homepage. 

2. Creating  one "Faculty/Staff" gateway page from UAA Homepage with these features:

Modular Boxes (with 5-6 links max in each) for: 

1. Faculty

    ---with Adjuncts Corner for handbook and orientation or something similar

2. Staff

3. Future Employees

2 large button for Faculty/Staff email and Backboard

Embedding a combined calendar that feeds:

1. Faculty/Staff Master Calendar

2. FTC and CAFE workshop events

3. Academic dates and deadline calendar

Again, we are open to feedback and ideas during our process. Again,  Please use this Feedback form so that we can track this. 

Mail bag

Last week I sent a link to an article about using email with students.  Here's the reply I received from Carrollea Hubbard on how she uses email and other communication tools with her students:

I have found blogging a useful communication tool for teaching with technology.  I have taken two courses in the EDET UAS program where blogging is key focus for student/teacher communication, works great.

As far as my classroom, I encourage the students to check their email frequently because this is where they will find important course information.

I provide the added enthusiasm for email correspondence by letting them know that I love to receive emails and that I check my email at least 10 times / day between work, home, and school, with emphasis on school.

I have suggested we start a class hashtag for Twitter or a class blogging website but have yet to receive feedback on these communication platforms.

For now, it's Bb announcements with an email too.

Good, fun, and effective communication is the key to a successful learning environment.

I hope this helps you with ideas,

Carrollea

I am working on good, fun effective communication with all of you - to build relationships and encourage wise, effective use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. 

Warm regards,

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

UC 132G

Beyond Anchorage Workforce Development Grant

Community and Technical College

University of Alaska Anchorage

blog: http://ak-lee.blogspot.com

907-786-4903

CTC Ed Tech October 1, 2013

Hello all, 

Just a couple items for this week. 

Understanding by Design and Big Ideas

Let's continue our discussion of Understanding by Design (UBD) that I started last week. As I mentioned, UBD is a backwards design process: first determine what you want the students to know and be able to do and then design the rest of the course. This process starts with the "big idea."

The "big idea" overarches all the  learning objectives of the course. This leads to all the content of the course being connected in a framework around the big idea.  It is easier for students to make meaning and problem solve when learning is structured this way. "The primary goal of UBD is student understanding: the ability to make meaning of 'big ideas' and transfer learning" (McTighe and Wiggins, 2011 handout). 

One last thought on the "big idea":  it's often messy, controversial, and may not be immediately obvious.  It is unpacked or discovered by students as they proceed through the course.

I know most faculty members have the big idea for each course in their minds, but it is surprisingly hard to articulate.  I love seeing te Big Ideas for courses. Please, send me what your is.  And remember, your understanding of your big idea may change through time.

Next week I'll continue with the Essential Questions for UBD.  Here is some information if you want to jump ahead.

Student Use of Email

This article from the New York Times  gives a mixed message on student use of email. On the one hand, some research shows that students have moved away from using email to texting and social media for communication. On the other hand, in the closing example, most students in a class opted for email reminders (vs. texts, Facebook, etc.). It can be challenging if you use email to communicate with your students about the course between class sessions if they don't access it. My one take away: put in your syllabus your expectations of how often students should access their UAA email. I also recommend that all Blackboard announcements also be emailed to students. One more bit of information: I have talked with a couple faculty members who use texting to keep in touch with students. It's good to check with your students on this since some texting plans have monthly limits.

Warm regards,

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

Beyond Anchorage Workforce Development Grant

Community and Technical College

University of Alaska Anchorage

blog: http://ak-lee.blogspot.com

907-786-4903

CTC Ed Tech September 24, 2013

Hello all,

Here are my not-quite-random thoughts for this week:

Understanding by Design

I attended an all-day workshop in August with Jay McTighe, one of the creators of Understanding by Design, a framework for curriculum design.  It was great to meet Jay and to be reintroduced to the Understanding by Design (UBD) framework.  Over the next few weeks, I'll discuss UBD in more detail.  It's a backwards design model of curriculum development.  That is, one starts with what one expects the students to learn and understand, then designs the assessments to determine if they've learned and understand the material, and lastly one designs the learning activities.  The process is more iterative than linear and it can help one be more intentional about the course.  

The learning objectives are centered around one or two "big ideas." I remember a few years ago working with one instructor who always had trouble with one activity in her course.  When introduced to UBD, she realized that the activity did not connect to her big ideas for the course. She removed the activity from the course.  More on big ideas and understanding next week.  In the meantime, start thinking about what the "big ideas" are for your course(s).  Can you make one or two broad statements that encompass the course?  

 

UA Alerts

It's time to start thinking about snow days. 

• In the event of bad weather, UAA announces any potential closures by 6 a.m. for day classes and by 4 p.m. for evening classes.
• Sign up for alerts to receive an email, phone call, or text message about UAA closures. On the page, click on the UA Alerts Users Portal button. You can also disable alerts on this page. Here are  directions for signing up for alerts.
• The main UAA web page contains current closure notices and local radio stations also carry announcements.

Rethinking Studying and Flipped Classroom

This ed tech blog post comments on a couple of studies that shown that problem solving and taking tests increase learning as opposed to studying before problem solving and tests.  "[T]he critical feature of learning is trying to understand, trying to generate an answer, even more than reading an answer." As we think of ways to help students master materials, what can we do to use this information?

Warm regards,

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

UC 132G

Beyond Anchorage Workforce Development Grant

Community and Technical College

University of Alaska Anchorage

blog: http://ak-lee.blogspot.com

907-786-4903