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

CTC Ed Tech September 11, 2013

Hello all,

It's certainly fall … and the rain has been falling too.  

Collaborate Show and Tell

I will be hosting a Collaborate conversation this Friday from 3 to 4 pm. This is for instructors who have been using Collaborate, not an introduction to it.  Here's the link to the session: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2012643&password=M.4EF2ADF2E71A10FB234C16993C9431

Blackboard Resource Shell for Faculty and Adjunct Faculty in CTC

I have created a Blackboard shell for resources for CTC faculty and adjunct faculty.  It's open enrollment. To add yourself to the course:

1. Log in to Blackboard

2. Click the Courses tab on the right side of the window

3. In the courses window, on the left, locate the Course Search box

4. In the search box, type (or paste) *CTC.  The name of the course is *CTC Faculty Resources

5. This is the only course that shows up in the list. Click on it.

6. Click on the drop down chevron at the end of the course name.

7. Click Enroll from the drop down list. (It's your only option.)

8. Type in the password ctc

9.  You are now in the course!

Here's a short flash video of the process.

And if you really don't want to go through this process, send me your Blackboard username and I'll add you to the shell.

Best Loved Assignments

This article from Prof Hacker  reminds me of the joys of teaching. The comments are great, although the ones that I read were more academic than career and technical assignments.  I'll put a discussion board in *CTC Faculty and Adjunct Faculty Resources if you want to comment on your favorite assignment.

Drone Email Strikes

I'm a  firm believer in face to face discussions  or a phone call if the email trail gets too long.  Here's a take on dealing with those occasional crabby emails that we all get (but hopefully don't send!)

Be safe, be happy, be kind,

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

UC 132G

Beyond Anchorage Workforce Development Grant

Community and Technical College

University of Alaska Anchorage

907-786-4903

CTC Ed Tech September 3, 2013

Hi all,

The long weekend was certainly great.  Hope you got whatever you needed with the extra day off.

Add/Drop Deadline 

The Add/Drop Deadline for regular, semester length courses is this Friday, September 6 at 5 pm. Students can drop a class and their tuition will be refunded 100%. If there are students registered for your class that you have not seen, you can drop them as well. This saves the students money and may save headaches for the Registrar later on when students come back asking for refunds for a course that they didn't know they were signed up for. You are under no requirement to do so as students are adults who have signed up for the course and if it costs them their tuition (and likely late fees, etc), then so be it.  At the end of the semester, you would give the students a grade of NB or F.  

CTC Workshops for Fall

I will again offer four workshops to faculty and staff at the CTC.  Here is the schedule, even if I have not pinned down the rooms for the last three:

Friday September 13, 2 pm - 3 pm:  Blackboard Collaborate Conversation and Sharing - in Collaborate.  Bring your questions and observations.

Friday September 27  2 pm - 3 pm:  IDEA Surveys and  completing the FIF at UC

Friday October 18 2 pm - 3 pm:  Simple Screen Capture Lectures wiht Camtasia (unless I have jury duty) at UC

Friday November 15 2 pm - 3 pm: Online Survey Tools - we will focus on Qualtrics and Blackboard Surveys at UC

More Workshops

CAFE and FTC also host a series of workshops and now have a shared calendar on which you can view all their offerings.

Blackboard Course of Distinction and Catalyst Award Winner

Kathi Baldwin and Mary Purvis from UAS designed a course for UAS instructors to learn how to teach online.  It won a Blackboard award.  Here's a video that describes their course.  There's something distinctly fishy about their course.

Warm regards,

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

Beyond Anchorage Workforce Development Grant

Community and Technical College

University of Alaska Anchorage

907-786-4903