The process for setting up your Chalk & Wire assignment looks slightly different in Canvas, but is much simpler! First, browse to the place in Canvas where you would like your assignment to appear (whether in a module or the assignments page). The steps to set up a link are as follows: Add a new assignment as usual, making sure… Read more →
Author: Abi Johnson
Faculty Presence and Student Expectations in Online Learning
Post by: Jennifer Campbell, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Music Education and participant in the Learning Community on Online Teaching & Learning “But how do I get a good grade?” Every instructor has been asked this question by a student, and to boil it down to a single word answer, hopefully we can agree upon, “expectations.” Students are asked to… Read more →
Academic Twitter: is it worth it?
How can academic Twitter be useful? Networking: Twitter can be useful for academics to identify and connect with global peers. Connecting with authors of texts or other people working in the same field of interest can be very useful and enlightening. Webinar and conference presenters often share their Twitter handles as well as their email addresses, so it can… Read more →
What is Gamification?
We know that there are benefits to harnessing certain elements of games in learning, and we know that there are more and less ideal ways to implement games in the classroom. We also know that there are two common terms for this implementation: gamifying and gameful learning. So, what’s the difference between the two? Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, and Nacke attempted… Read more →
Gamifying/Gameful Learning: Do’s and Don’ts
Gamifying learning and its young, hip child gameful learning are interesting ideas, often executed poorly. We know that the point of including game-like elements (or games themselves) in the classroom is a way to increase motivation and utilize implicit learning skills. What are the basic do’s and don’ts of incorporating these ideas? Do: Use games the way you would assigned… Read more →
TechSmith Relay Upgrade – Integration, Quizzing, and Analytics, Oh My!
The upgraded TechSmith Relay carries with it a slew of new features, as well as performance improvements on the features you were accustomed to! Some of the features we’re most excited about are Canvas integration, quizzing, and analytics. For beginners, start by watching the video, “TechSmith Relay in 1 Minute,” then return here to dive in. TechSmith Relay is now integrated… Read more →
Help Your Students Develop Personal Responsibility – with Tools You Already Use
The ability for students to benchmark their performance against that of their peers can lead to greater self-awareness, increased effort, and personal achievement. A Blackboard Blog post highlights the use of a tool developed by the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The tool, called Check My Activity, is intended to encourage students’ personal responsibility for learning by allowing them to… Read more →
Captions as Universal Design
Increasingly, studies are being released that suggest that video captions help more than just D/deaf or hard of hearing students.* I recently watched a webinar on the “e-accessibility” movement at the University of Cincinnati that focused heavily on captioning and made captions the first step to a universal design environment for students. So how can captions help all types of… Read more →
On UC Berkeley and Accessibility Solutions
In September 2016, UC Berkeley made news for considering taking down their free MOOCs rather than making them accessible. The full Department of Justice letter cites Berkeley for inaccessible links, videos without captions, lack of alternate text on images and visuals, poor formatting of documents, and using inaccessible websites. UC Berkeley responded with a statement of their own, claiming that… Read more →
Blackboard Discussion Boards
Blackboard’s Discussion Boards are a great place to build community among your students and to mimic face-to-face classroom discussion in hybrid or online courses. The asynchronous nature of online discussions allows students to reflect on their responses before posting them and can help more reserved students feel comfortable participating. A Forum is a site where instructors and students can hold… Read more →