CTC Ed Tech News October 24, 2016

Dear Colleagues,

In this high tech world, we are forced to reframe our work or be eternally frustrated. Technology, for better or worse, has changed how we work. For better and worse, it's always changing. This means we're always having to adapt and learn. It can be frustrating. Here are some options to ease the pain.

eTech Fair November 7- 12 (Monday-Saturday)

The eTech Fair is an online conference by and for UAA faculty and staff. Get more information or sign up to host a session here. Sessions are still being finalized, but topics include Google Apps for Education, Online Course Facilitation, Accessibility, ePortfolios, Blackboard, and High Impact Practices. I will be facilitating a few sessions. This is an a la carte conference, just sign up for the sessions that interest you.

Gmail secrets revealed

Last newsletter I wrote about how to add a preview pane to Gmail. This week, I urge to you explore your Gmail settings. Click the gear in the upper right corner of the Gmail window and select Settings from the drop down list. Look at the general settings. Scroll down to add a signature file or a vacation notice. Customize the other options to match your preferences. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom when you're done.

Accessibility

We are required by Federal law to not discriminate against a student with a disability. This means if a student can't access the class materials due to her disability, an alternative must be provided.

There are several ways to accomplish this with videos. The first is closed captioning. If you use YouTube videos in your class, start by looking for videos that are already captioned. In your search list, look for the boxed cc in the video description.

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Flipped classroom strategies

To me, the flipped classroom idea is all about active learning in the classroom. Students do homework- reading, watching recorded lectures, etc. and come to class prepared to apply and extend that learning. The real challenge for most faculty is the design of the classroom learning activities. Faculty Focus published some ideas last month. I have also used a variant of the Final Word protocol. At UAA, some faculty have implemented Team Based Learning.

Warmly,

Lee

Lee Maria Henrikson

Instructional Designer

907-786-4903

http://ak-lee.blogspot.com

UAA Community and Technical College

Building Alaska's Workforce

CTC Ed Tech News October 10, 2016

Dear Colleagues,

Lots to share this week:  professional learning opportunities, an update on Blackboard, and a reminder about emergency alerts at UAA.

Gmail Lunch & Learn Monday October 17 at Noon

I confess, I just started using Gmail recently – as a Mac user, I was able to use the Mac Mail client to access Gmail and it had the added advantage that I could see all my old UAA email. On the minus side, I sometimes sent mail from the old UAA account (which didn't work!)

So, I decided to make the migration to Gmail.  I've learned a few things that I think will be useful to you.  Bring your lunch to UC 145 on Monday, October 17 at noon to learn more about using Gmail effectively.

Please, email me any specific questions you have about Gmail.

Here's one tip to entice you:  Enable the preview pane in Gmail to look more like Outlook. Go to Mail>Settings>labs>Preview Pane>enable.

​And, you can toggle the preview pane on and off:

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​eTech Fair

The UAA Instructional Designers and Academic Innovations are bringing you the UAA annual eTech Fair this year. The Fair will feature a variety of sessions – all online in either Collaborate or Google Hangouts the week of November 7-12. We want to know what you want to learn about the Google Apps we now have at UAA. Please help us by completing this quick surveyby Friday, October 14.

 Look for the eTech Fair schedule in the next couple weeks.  

Blackboard Update

Today I have access to the new UA-wide Blackboard for testing and learning materials development. Yes, it's here!

The plan is for all faculty to have access to the new Blackboard on October 31. All of your 2016 courses will be in the Single Instance of Blackboard, as well as your 2017 course shells.  2015 and earlier courses will still be available in BBarchive.uaa.alaska.edu.  

Emergency Alerts

It's time to start preparing for weather and other events that can disrupt teaching. UA alerts sends closure and emergency notices to your email address or text address listed in UAOnline. Please make sure your information is current.  Please note: 

•     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.

•    The main UAA web page contains current closure notices and local radio stations also carry announcements.

CTC Ed Tech News October 3, 2016

Dear Colleagues,

Another semester is rolling by. It's a good time to take stock while you can still make changes to your courses.

Midterm Evaluations

You don't have to wait until the end of the semester to collect feedback from your students. Find out now, while you could still change something, what's working and not working to support their learning in your course.  

I like to use Qualtrics, our survey tool, to collect the data. You can also use the survey tool in Blackboard or a Google Form.

Here's some inspiration: Robert Talbert shares his strategies, approaches, and reasons for collecting more frequent feedback from students.  His questions are simple and he explains to the students what he's doing or not doing based on the feedback. Student feedback is a great source of information on how to improve teaching. 

 

Annual eTech Fair

Coinciding with Distance Education Week, Nov. 7-11, the eLearning Workgroup and the UAA Instructional Designers are hosting an a la carte series of webinars on educational technology topics. Look for more details in the coming weeks, including a survey on your learning needs for the Google suite of applications.

 

Sign Your Blackboard Emails

With the new Blackboard, the from: field is not always visible. I recommend signing all emails from Blackboard and all announcements that are emailed to students.  

 

Accessible Videos

We have a legal requirement to provide an alternative for the audio in videos. There are three options: close captioning, providing a transcript, and providing an alternative activity. In the weeks and months to come, I'll be sharing resources on close captioning. This is a serious issue for the university. This EduTip from Academic Innovations provides some background.