Author Archives: Aaron Axelsen

Summer Flexible Blended Faculty Development Workshop Series

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This summer the Learning Technology Center is hosting a Flexible Blended Faculty Development Workshop Series. Definitions of blended learning vary but generally represent a structure that mixes online components into face-to-face teaching and learning, without being fully online (EDUCAUSE, 2020). This series builds from the context of providing online and face-to-face options to students (rather than the more traditional replacing some face-to-face class sessions with online class sessions) and planning toward moving components online later in the fall, following Thanksgiving break.

The series is divided into three categories, Planning for Flexibility, Blending Face-to-Face and Online Assessment, and The Blended Class. These sessions do not focus on specific learning technologies (other Learning Technology Center workshops do) but instead focus on technology-mediated activity design and development to help you plan for the next academic year.

UW-Whitewater faculty and instructors, with Learning Technology Center staff will facilitate these sessions. This summer workshop series also has a connected LTC Summer Blended Faculty Development Series Canvas course, with a variety of resources, which you will receive access to after you register for a session.

Planning for Flexibility Sessions

The Planning for Flexibility sessions aim to assist instructors with thinking through how they might modify their fall 2020 courses in a way that incorporates blended learning principles.

Overview of Blended Design and Scheduling (Wednesday June 24th, 9:00 am)

Using Technology for Learning in the Physical and Online Classroom (Tuesday June 30th, 9:00 am)

Designing Student Small Group Activities (Tuesday July 7th, 9:00 am)

Blending Face-to-Face and Online Assessment Sessions

The Blending Face-to-Face and Online Assessment sessions seek to assist instructors with creating online activities applicable across course delivery formats. The selected topics reflect findings from the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2019 (Gierdowski, 2019), where students rated assignments, exams/quizzes, and peer reviews as top online activities.

Assignment Options (Wednesday July 8th, 9:00 am)

Exams & Quizzes (Tuesday July 21st, 9:00 am)

Peer Review of Student Work (Friday July 24th, 9:00 am)

The Blended Class Sessions

The Blended Class sessions explore possible methods to transition face-to-face components that might be most challenging to you, and your students, in moving online. These topics arise from areas that students rated most highly for face-to-face delivery in the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2019 (Gierdowski, 2019).

Options for Instructor Presentation of Content (Tuesday August 4th, 9:00 am)

Student Presentations (Wednesday August 5th, 9:00 am)

Student-Student Interaction (Friday, August 7th, 9:00 am)

References

EDUCAUSE (2020). Blended learning. https://library.educause.edu/topics/teaching-and-learning/blended-learning

Gierdowski, D. C. (2019, October). ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2019. Research report. Louisville, CO: ECAR. https://library.educause.edu/resources/2019/10/2019-study-of-undergraduate-students-and-information-technology

For more specific information on these sessions, please click on the sign up tool links above (you will need to login). For any additional questions, please contact icit-techpilots@uww.edu

2020 Cisco/Presidio Teaching with Technology Honorarium Recipient: Dr. Eric Loepp

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The UW-Whitewater Learning Technology Center is proud to award the inaugural Cisco/Presidio Teaching the Technology Honorarium to Dr. Eric Loepp, Assistant Professor in the Political Science department. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Loepp on this honor!

The Cisco/Presidio Teaching with Technology Innovator Honorarium is a recognition bestowed upon an instructor who displays an outstanding commitment to leveraging learning technologies to solve common teaching challenges related to creating rich learning experiences to increase student success.

Dr. Loepp joined the Political Science department in 2015; additionally, he has actively been involved in campus learning technology initiatives (e.g., Active Learning Academy), participated in multiple learning technology pilots (e.g., Webex Teams, PollEverywhere), and co-facilitates the Institute for Online and Blended Teaching at UW-W. Dr. Loepp’s teaching philosophy “emphasizes the development of students as analytical critics of and participants in the American political system. This approach relies on a tripartite teaching model: students in my classes develop (1) technical proficiency in the material (2) an appreciation of political processes and how political systems work; and (3) a basic understanding of the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship.”

Dr. Loepp incorporates technology into his teaching philosophy because of the deep learning benefits he observes students experience from these enhancements, “A natural outgrowth of improved collaboration and communication is the breakdown of traditional notions of learning as an exclusively individualistic enterprise. Indeed, the capacity for Webex Teams to turn groups of students into communities of learners is one of its most powerful contributions to my classroom.” Additionally, Dr. Loepp found a profound, positive correlation between the integration of technology and attitudinal perspectives towards communication, collaboration, and group work. Dr. Loepp’s dedication to integrating technology, in parallel with his teaching philosophy, garnered student support for more widespread use of campus-supported technologies in the classroom and enhanced his face-to-face teaching.

“A natural outgrowth of improved collaboration and communication is the breakdown of traditional notions of learning as an exclusively individualistic enterprise. Indeed, the capacity for Webex Teams to turn groups of students into communities of learners is one of its most powerful contributions to my classroom.”

Dr. Eric Loepp
 

This award is sponsored by Presidio and Cisco Systems in conjunction with UWW’s Division of Instructional, Communication, and Information Technology (ICIT) and ICIT’s Learning Technology Center (LTC). Presidio and Cisco are proud of their work with institutions of higher education to inspire learning and connect campuses to enhance student outcomes. ICIT and the LTC are dedicated to working with instructors to understand teaching challenges, explore solutions, implement strategies, and evaluate their effectiveness.

Congratulations Dr. Loepp! 

Final Cerego Project Instructor Presentation this Thursday (5/14)

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The Learning Technology Center has been supporting instructors during the past two academic years on implementing the adaptive/personalized learning platform “Cerego” into their course.

If you are interested in adaptive/personalized learning, please consider joining us this Thursday (5/14) at 10:00 am for a presentation by a Cerego pilot instructor on experiences piloting the platform. Registration is requested so that we can provide with a link to the Webex Meeting.

If you have any questions about the Cerego pilot project or this presentation, please contact us at icit-techpilots@uww.edu.

Final Linkedin Learning Presentation of the Semester this Friday (5/1/20)

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This semester the Learning Technology Center has been supporting a small pilot of Linkedin Learning. The final Linkedin Learning pilot project instructor presentation this semester takes place this Friday (May 1st) at 12:00 PM via Webex Meetings.

You can register for the presentation here. Registration is requested, so that we can get you invited to the Webex Meeting.

If you have any questions about the presentation, please feel free to contact icit-techpilots@uww.edu. If you have any questions about Linkedin Learning more generally, please see ICIT’s technology service page on Linkedin Learning, or contact the Learning Technology Center.

Desire2Learn – 1 Month Left!

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The retirement of Desire2Learn is fast approaching! All information you would like to keep must be exported out of D2L before June 1st, 2020. Whether it’s an old for-credit based course, or an ongoing course – make sure all material is backed up. Once our access is removed, we will not have any way to obtain this data.

For more information check out the Desire2Learn Retirement Planning post.

Please contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support with any questions around the retirement of the service.

Canceled – 2020 Celebrating Teaching and Learning Conference

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We regret to inform you that we have decided to cancel the 2020 Celebrating Teaching and Learning Conference due to the many “new normals” resulting from COVID-19.

We would like to thank everyone who submitted a proposal, and we will be working with presenters on how we can capture and share the great work that everyone is doing at UW-Whitewater!

We are planning to hold this conference again in the future – so be sure to watch for news and announcements next year! Thanks for your understanding!

If you have any questions, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

Final Adaptive/Personalized Learning Meeting (4/21/20)

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For the past two years, the Learning Technology Center has worked with instructors to pilot adaptive and personalized learning platforms into their courses. Please consider joining us on Tuesday April 21st at 2:00 pm for a final meeting to discuss the past, present, and future of adaptive learning on campus. Some instructors who have participated in the pilot will also share their experiences with implementing adaptive learning at this meeting.

Registration is suggested but not required. You can register at this link. You will need to login with your UWW credentials in order to register. If you do not register but would still like to attend, please email icit-techpilots@uww.edu so that we can get you the link to the Webex Meeting session.

If you have any questions about adaptive learning or this pilot, please contact the technology pilots team at icit-techpilots@uww.edu. If you have any general learning technology questions or concerns, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

[RESOLVED] Issues with Webex Meetings / Teams in Canvas

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RESOLVED: 12:45 PM (4/15).  The issue should now be resolved for all courses.  If you are still noticing this issue in your course, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

Update 12:10 PM (4/15).  The issue has been resolved for the majority of courses.  There are still some outstanding issues impacting certain courses that the vendor is investigating.  If you are still noticing this issue in your course, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

We are investigating an issue that appears to be impacting the view of currently scheduled Webex Meetings, Classroom Collaborations and Office Hours inside of Canvas. We will provide additional details as they are made available.

Instructors who had previous meetings scheduled should follow these steps:

  1. Login to http://uww.webex.com with your Net-Id and Password.
  2. Click on Meetings from the navigation menu.
  3. Locate the Meeting and click on the Meeting Name.
  4. Copy the Meeting Link and send that to your students as an Email or Canvas Announcement.
  5. The students can then use the meeting link to join the meeting.

Students unable to join a class meeting should contact their instructors for the meeting link.

If you have additional questions, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

Adaptive/Personalized Learning Presentation this Week

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During this academic year, the Learning Technology Center (LTC) has been supporting a group of instructors in piloting the online platform “Cerego,” as a way to incorporate adaptive and personalized learning into their courses.

Join one of the current pilot instructors at 2:00 pm this Thursday (4/9) as he discusses his use of the platform, and what he has learned throughout the experience. The presentation will take place via Webex Meetings, due to the COVID-19 situation.

Registration is requested, so that we can supply you with the link to the Webex Meeting. You can sign up here (please note that you will need to log in, using your UWW username and password).

If you have any questions about this presentation, or would like the link to the Webex Meeting, please contact us at icit-techpilots@uww.edu

Learning Technology Center Virtual Operations

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With recent announcements encouraging remote work and reduced building access, the Learning Technology Center (LTC) will be shifting operations to be fully virtual beginning the week of March 23. 

How Do I Get Help?

We will continue to be available to answer your questions and provide consultations regarding your transition to alternative delivery and technology tools that can support the things you do.  

LTC staff will be available via phone (262-472-1004), email (ltc@uww.edu), and Webex Monday – Friday from 8:00am to 4:30pm. To request a Webex consultation, all instructors need to do is email or call and the next available team member will email them a direct link that they can click on to receive assistance. We have been doing a lot of those this week and this process has been working well! Please note that we are seeing an increased volume of inquiries at this time and our staff is working hard to answer inquiries in a timely manner. While it may be much sooner than this, every effort will be made to answer your message within 1 business day of receipt.   

Also, don’t forget that Canvas provides support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year by phone, chat, or email!  

What About Trainings? 

We will also continue offering virtual training on key tools to support your remote teaching and work. Please visit http://go.uww.edu/ltc-workshop-signup for the most up-to-date list of training sessions!

What Isn’t Available?

Due to the shift to virtual operations, we will be closing the media studio until further notice. In its place, we urge instructors to use home recording options and techniques that are featured on the ICIT Remote Teaching Website. Not sure how to record at home? Contact us for help! 

As the Media Lab (Andersen L1008C) has closed and with an increased number of items being checked out, A/V Checkouts will be facilitated differently. If you are in need of a webcam or microphone to create your course material, a limited number are available for checkout by contacting the ICIT Helpdesk.