Don't Panic, Feedback, Online Testing, Cheating

Dear Colleagues,

I will be out of town March 6-17 and back at work on Monday, March 20. I hope you have a good spring break.

Don't Panic

You have several support mechanisms here at UAA:

The IT Services Call Center at 786-4646 option 1 can handle tech issues, basic Blackboard questions and more. I call them at least once a week with a question or issue. Many are surprised to learn that the Call Center is open 7 am – 10 pm M-F and 10 am – 2 pm S-S during the academic year.

Academic Innovations and eLearning (AIE)provides instructional design, more complex Blackboard support and more. I collaborate with their designers and other staff. They are open 8 am – 5 pm M-F.

What Do They Think of Your Class?

A few years ago, I taught EDFN 302, Foundations of Educational Technology online. After each online class meeting, I asked my students to fill out a quick survey in Qualtrics:

1. When did you feel most engaged in class tonight?
2. When did you feel most distanced in class tonight?
3. What about the activities and materials tonight surprised you the most?
4. When did you feel most engaged with the homework?
5. How much time did it take to do the homework?
6. Add any other comments here.


I found that my students consistently liked the small group conversations in the breakout rooms. They were surprised at how interactive our online class sessions were and had given me some good feedback on how my teaching can be improved. I put the survey result in Blackboard so they can see what the group is thinking. Many of them read the results and were surprised by converging and diverging answers to the questions.

Even if you don't collect feedback every week, asking for feedback on the class and letting your students know the aggregate feedback and your response is a powerful way to engage them in the learning process and to improve your teaching.

Secure Online Testing

eLearning: Distance Student Services now offers online testing services with Remote Proctor Now (RPNow). eLearning: Distance Student Services has coordinated test proctoring for students at proctor sites (schools, universities, etc.) for years. Now, students can be in a secure online test environment anywhere.

If you are interested in learning more about RPNow, set up an appointment with eLearning: Online Testing Services Outreach. 

Cheating

I don't want to believe this article on cheating from Campus Technology that states 9 in 10 students admit to cheating. But it is sobering to think that cheating is rampant. The rationale stated by some students was that this is what they thought faculty did. That horrified me as well, though I realize it could be a rationalization. In any canse, it is important that we model ethical behavior. I also think we can design and grade our assessments to make cheating harder for the students and easier to catch for the faculty. It's also important to be clear about the consequences. And, based on my experience elsewhere, we must support our adjunct faculty in dealing with cheating.

Thank you,

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 Jan. 26, 2015

Hello,

Hope you're staying warm… I don't remember weather this cold in the past year or so, but I am managing. 

Here are my offerings:

Cool Workshop for You

Beyond the Bullet List with Collaborate – a session for CTC and COE co-facilitated by Katie Walker and Lee Henrikson. Learn first hand how you can create active and engaged learning in Collaborate. Wednesday, February 11, 4:30- 5:30 in Collaborate. More details to come.

Improve your Online CoursesCourses

Quality Matters (QM) provides several ways for instructors to improve online and hybrid courses. . Learn more about QM on Feb. 4 at noon. Register for this one-hour Collaborate meeting. If you are interested in joining the session with me in my office, let me know. We can eat lunch and chat about QM. Learn more about UAA's QM initiative.

Connect with Others

Microsoft Lync is a collaboration tool available to all UAA faculty and staff. It can be used for IM, online meetings, and video chats. You can even host meetings with students and others not on Lync. For instance, CERC used Lync for online student advising.  One instructor uses Lync to connect military student on TDY to the class. I have connected my phone number to Lync so that I now receive all my work calls to my computer or the Lync app on my iPhone. Learn more about Lync.

Tests in Blackboard

Here are some suggested directions for students taking a test in Blackboard. In this example, the test is open book, open note.

1. Please use the Chrome web browser to take the test.  
2. Do not open any other windows or tabs in Chrome while you are taking the test.  
3. Do not use the back button for the browser.
4. Once in the test, do not leave that page.
5. I repeat, do not open any other windows or tabs in Chrome.
6. Your answers autosave by default. You don't need to save them. If they don't save, try to manually save your answers. If the answers still won't save, contact your instructor and the Call Center immediately.
7. Open Firefox if you need to use Internet resources, your notes, or items in Blackboard. Yes, it is acceptable to be logged into Blackboard from two different browsers.
8. Do not open the test in Firefox unless it locks up in Chrome. Please talk to your instructor before doing this.

Video Feedback

This article from Wired Campus describes using video to give feedback on student work rather than writing on papers.  If you want to experiment, Jing is a free online tool with a 5-minute limit. We have Screencast-o-Matic available at UAA as well.

CTC Ed Tech News Feb. 24, 2014

I am at ASTE (Alaska Society for Technology in Education) on Monday and Tuesday this week. I'll have information to share from the conference next week.

For now, here's a short article on asking questions of students. I've been thinking about questions as a way to provoke student learning. I am assisting a distance professional development course in which the teachers are learning some math along with the new Alaska State Math Standards. Monitoring a small group of students in a break out room in Collaborate, I will ask a question rather than provide the answer. Learning is deeper if there is work and struggle to find an answer rather than having it handed to one. 

Online Test Proctoring Webinar- Due to technical complications during the webinar for Software Secure last week, we have rescheduled it:

Software Secure webinar Tuesday, February 25 @ 11:30 am 

1.  Please join my meeting.

https://www4.gotomeeting.com/join/586706151

2.  Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) - a headset is recommended.  Or, call in using your telephone.

United States: +1 (213) 493-0015

United States (toll-free): 1 888 999 0073

Access Code: 586-706-151

Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Meeting ID: 586-706-151

CTC Ed Tech News February 18, 2014

Just a few tidbits for you:

Professor of the Future. I came across the Ontario Online Learning Portal for Faculty & Instructors. It's an incredibly rich set of resources for bringing courses online. My pick from the site to share with you this week is "Seven Habits of the Professor of the Future." One reason I am particularly struck by this article is the 2014 Horizon Report from the New Media Center and Educause  It sees a significant challenge to higher education technology adoption is low digital fluency of faculty. 

IDEA Survey. The Faculty Information Form (FIF)  for our online course evaluation system opens on Wednesday, February 19. 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 reminder emails to your UAA email account to complete the FIF each week, so doing so sooner means those emails cease.  

Read about the IDEA survey and contact Michael Smith in Faculty Services if you have any questions.

Proctoring online tests. You are welcome to attend a webinar on Software Secure, an online test proctoring service on Wednesday, February 19 at 12:00PM. Here is the log-in information if you are interested in joining this webinar.

1.  Go to https://www4.gotomeeting.com/join/932620943

2.  Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) - a headset is recommended.  

Or, call in using your telephone.

United States: +1 (626) 521-0016

United States (toll-free): 1 888 999 0073

Access Code: 932-620-943

Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Meeting ID: 932-620-943

CTC Ed Tech News February 10, 2014

Here are some things that I've been reading and thinking about.

Distance Education. Here are a couple interesting articles on distance education:

The Do's and Don'ts of Synchronous Online Learning - I know several UAA instructors who could have written this common sense set of guidelines for teaching in Collaborate.  

Backwards and In High Heels - Thoughts on providing professional development for online teachers with a Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire metaphor.  

Online testing. UAA is going to pilot a couple online testing solutions. If you want to learn more about one of the solutions, Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor, please attend the webinar by Respondus on Wednesday, February 12, at noon. Here's how to join:

1. In your web broswers, go to https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/274465909
2. Use your computer's microphone and speakers (VoIP) - a headset is recommended
3. Or, call in using your telephone:
   1. Dial +1 (312) 878-3081
   2. Access Code: 274-465-909
   3. Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting
   4. Meeting ID: 274-465-909

Lockdown browser provides a secure web browser for testing that disables all other onscreen activities. We are looking at it to both decrease cheating and decrease tests crashing and locking students out. Monitor is a deterrent to cheating. It records the student taking the test with the student's webcam and speakers. If the instructor thinks that there has been improper activity, he/she can review the recording of the student taking the test.

Blackboard resources. Here is a great collection of tutorials on Online Teaching Strategies from Blackboard. These recordings of webinars are 46 minutes to just over an hour in length.

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