Registration Now Open for Online/Blended Summer Workshop

The Learning Technology Center is pleased to announce the fourth annual summer faculty development opportunity on how to “Navigate Content and Teach Online and Blended Courses.”  If you need to design a new or refresh an older online or blended course, consider participating in this unique opportunity to collaborate with other UW-Whitewater instructors and explore proven course design strategies and best practices.

This unique summer workshop demonstrates teaching best practices using a variety of teaching methods and technology tools presented in an experiential learning model format. The structure of this course not only allows you to explore new teaching and course design methods, but it also enables you to participate in activities that provide you with experience in being an online “student.” During the course, you will learn about a variety of technologies and teaching techniques to support online instruction as well as gain a better understanding of the Quality Matters Program.

The workshop consists of an online component conducted via Desire2Learn (D2L), face-to-face meetings, and webinars. The online portion starts May 21 and ends July 31.  There are also five, “in-person” face-to-face sessions scheduled for May 31, June 25-26, and July 30-31 as well as three webinars scheduled for June 4, June 18, and July 16. For more details, to register, and to listen to what last year’s participants learned from participating, visit the Online/Blended Workshop Blog.

This workshop is sponsored by the by the UW-Whitewater College of Letters and Sciences, the LEARN Center, and the Learning Technology Center.

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact the Learning Technology Center (LTC) at ltc@uww.edu or call 262-472-1004.

New Snackable Workshop, Distance Education Room

The Learning Technology Center (LTC) is pleased to invite faculty and instructional staff to attend the next free session in the Snackable Series “Technology – One Byte at a Time.” In the “Snackable Series” sessions, a specific learning technology is spotlighted. The next sessions will be held April 18 and 19, 2012 and focus on the use of the Distance Education Room.

UW-Whitewater faculty and staff have access to a number of distance education technologies that enable them to reach students who are not on campus, share resources/courses with other UW institutions, and participate in statewide meetings without leaving campus. The Distance Education room is equipped with video conferencing technology and is located in room L1230a in the Andersen Library Building.

The speakers featured for this Snackable, Michael “Shelly” Allen, from UW-Whitewater, and Terry Wirkus, UW-La Crosse’s Distance Education Manager, will be sharing their experiences and best practices using distance education.

The dates, times, and location for this Snackable are as follows:

Wednesday, April 18, 2012: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday, April 19, 2012: 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Location: Anderson Library Building, Room L1230a (Building Entrance 6, end of the long hallway)

Register online today for this “Snackable Series” session – seating is limited: http://signup.uww.edu

Sloan Blended Conference in Milwaukee: April 23-24

Sloan Blended Conference 2012

The 9th Annual Sloan Consortium Blended Learning Conference, “Perfecting the Blend,” will be held on April 23-24, 2012 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You can attend in-person or virtually.

Blended learning is more than a combination of online and face-to-face instruction. It is, fundamentally, a rethinking of how we teach, how our students learn, and how we can harness a myriad possibilities to taking advantage of the best of face-to-face and online instruction.

For additional details on the conference, please visit: http://sloanconsortium.org/blended

May Workshop: Digital Storytelling

The May 16-18, 2012 digital storytelling workshop has been cancelled due to conflicts with other events. This workshop will be offered again in the future. New dates will announced in the coming months.

Digital Storytelling, also referred to as a “Digital Media Narrative,” has gained momentum and visibility as a modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. The process of digitally integrating images, music, narrative, and voice “makes meaning” through the development of characters, situations, experiences, and insights with deep dimensions and vivid colors. This form of expression has also gained credibility as an avenue to achieve course learning outcomes.

Jim Winship, Professional Storyteller and Professor of Social Work, and the UW-Whitewater Learning Technology Center will be facilitating this workshop series. Participants will create a digital narrative or story to share with the UW-Whitewater community or to improve learning outcomes in their courses. The goal of this workshop is to create a compelling digital work that is two to three minutes in length. By the end of the workshop, each participant will have written a story, recorded the voice narration of the story, supplemented it with background sounds, and enhanced through the use of visual images. Participants can also use the techniques learned to help students develop digital stories for their course.

Here are some insights on digital storytelling from past workshop participants:

“I got intellectually re-energized, more aware of the ‘heart’ at the center of education, more passionate about telling my stories.”- Marjorie Rhine, Associate Professor, Languages and Literature

“The camaraderie of the participants was very moving and so were the emotional content of the stories shared.”- Max White, Associate Professor, Art

“I am changed as a result of the power, wisdom, and generosity of spirit shared by Jim Winship. He shared himself, and as a result, each participant was encouraged to share themselves as well.” – David Reinhart, Lecturer, Philosophy and Religious Studies

For more information and video examples of digital stories created by UW-Whitewater faculty, please see the Faculty Best Practices: Digital Storytelling wiki page.

This workshop will be held May 16th through 18th, 2012. To apply for the workshop, please complete this brief survey by April 13th, 2012. About ten applicants will be selected by April 19th, 2012 to participate.

This workshop is sponsored by the by the UW-Whitewater College of Letters and Sciences, the Division of Student Affairs, the LEARN Center, and the Learning Technology Center.

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact the Learning Technology Center (LTC) at ltc@uww.edu or call 262-472-1004.

Turnitin Suite, New in the Snackable Series

The Learning Technology Center (LTC) is pleased to invite faculty and instructional staff to attend the next free session in the Snackable Series “Technology – One Byte at a Time.” In the “Snackable Series” sessions, a specific learning technology is spotlighted. The next sessions will be held March 14 and 15, 2012 and focus on the use of Turninin Suite.

The Turnitin Suite includes the following:

  • OriginalityCheck helps eliminate abuse of the Internet as a research tool and minimizes any potentially negative impact on the development of quality reading, writing, and research skills.
  • GradeMark saves instructors time by providing an easy-to-use tool for electronically grading student papers.
  • PeerMark can also be used to allow students to evaluate each others work and provide structured, anonymous feedback.

Bring your lunch, and join your peers for this session on the following days:

Wednesday, March 14, 2012: Noon to 1 p.m.
Thursday, March 15, 2012: 11 a.m. to Noon
Location: iCIT Training Center, McGraw 112

Register online today for this “Snackable Series” session – seating is limited: http://signup.uww.edu

Registration is also open for upcoming Snackable sessions on the Distance Education Room (April 18 and 19). To submit ideas for future topics for the “Snackable Series”, please e-mail the UW-Whitewater Learning Technology Center at ltc@uww.edu.

For more information on these Turnitin tools, please visit the Turnitin wiki or schedule a personal consultation with a member of the Learning Technology Center.

Webinar: Respondus LockDown Browser

UW-Whitewater faculty and teaching academic staff are invited to join a 45-minute webinar presented by Respondus experts.

In this webinar, you’ll learn more about Respondus LockDown Browser (LDB) and how this custom browser prevents students from printing, copying, going to other URLs, accessing other applications during an online test, or exiting a test before it’s been submitted.

To register for the webinar, please go to: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/953384144

The Respondus LockDown Browser is currently integrated in D2L and is easy for instructors and students to use. For more information, please see the LockDown Browser Instructor Guide.

New Digital Assessment Tool: GradeMark

A new online tool called “GradeMark” is now available to UW-Whitewater instructors!  GradeMark allows instructors to more easily and quickly provide “digital” (rather than handwritten) feedback and grades on student papers and assignments. GradeMark is a digital assessment tool that is part of the Turnitin suite. Both OriginalityCheck for plagiarism detection and GradeMark tools are integrated in the dropbox of Desire2Learn (D2L).

Using GradeMark, instructors may electronically edit, provide customized comments, and grade papers utilizing time-saving drag-and-drop tools, including:

  1. QuickMarks: Standard editing marks and comments for composition format, punctuation, and usage.
  2. General Comments:  Instructor personal comments that can be linked to any word, paragraph, or point in the document. Comments may be stored and used again.
  3. Comments Lists: View all QuickMarks and comments for the document in one location.

Watch this video to learn more:

For detailed instructions, please visit the GradeMark wiki.  Attend the LTC workshop on the Turninin Suite (register at http://signup.uww.edu) or schedule a personal consultation with a member of the Learning Technology Center.

StudyMate Author: Easily Create Educational Games and Activities

The Learning Technology Center (LTC) is pleased to invite faculty and instructional staff to attend the next free session in the Snackable Series “Technology – One Byte at a Time.” In the “Snackable Series” sessions, a specific learning technology is spotlighted. The next sessions will be held February 15 and 16, 2012 and focus on the use of StudyMate Author. Please bring your lunch and join your peers on the following days:

StudyMate Author
Wednesday, February 15, 2012: Noon to 1 p.m.
Thursday, February 16, 2012: 11 a.m. to Noon (join via Webinar or in-person)
iCIT Training Center, McGraw 112

StudyMate Author is a software tool that instructors can use to create interactive Flash-based activities and games. A dozen activities are available to engage students with course content in an individualized way. Activities include challenge games, flash cards, crossword puzzles, and quizzes. Students have fun and learn at the same time.

Register online today for this “Snackable Series” session – seating is limited: https://signup.uww.edu

Registration is also open for upcoming Snackable sessions on Turnitin Suite (March 14 and 15) and Distance Education Room (April 18 and 19). To submit ideas for future topics for the “Snackable Series”, please e-mail the UW-Whitewater Learning Technology Center at ltc@uww.edu.

D2L Starter Course Updated

The D2L Starter Course includes a number of useful templates and other resources that you may copy and modify for use in your own course, and it is now in version 2.1 with new and improved content. In addition, many of the resources and templates now also help courses meet Quality Matters standards for online and blended courses.

Some of the new updates include:

  • Student resources provide useful information on Turnitin (anti-plagiarism detector), “clickers” (student response devices), D2L assistance, technology help, and university policies.
  • Time-saving templates present easy to edit electronic D2L rubrics, activities, assignments, topic overviews, discussion starters, and more.
  • Quizzes help students prepare to use LockDown Browser, to find out “Are You Ready for Online?”, and to learn helpful tips and success strategies.
  • A mid-course student evaluation survey gauges whether the course is meeting your (and your students’) expectations.
  • News announcements offer suggested wording to post in online, blended/hybrid, and web-enhanced courses.

Would you like to review these new items or add them to your own course? To access and register for the D2L Starter Course, please login to D2L and use the link “register here” provided in the “D2L Resources and Training Available” news announcement. When the registration form appears, simply click on the “Register” button at the bottom right of the screen, and then click “submit and finish.”  Once you are registered, the D2L Starter Course will be listed within your “Instructor tab” in the folder labeled “OTHER – Courses With No Semester.”

Please remember that these resources are used by instructors across campus. Do not edit any of the items found in the original D2L Starter course!

Learn about Student Response Systems (Clickers)

The Learning Technology Center (LTC) is pleased to invite faculty and instructional staff to attend the next free session in the Snackable Series “Technology – One Byte at a Time.”  In the “Snackable Series” sessions, a specific learning technology is spotlighted.

The next sessions will be held November 16 and 17 and focus on the use of Student Response System (Clickers).  Ben Bestic, from Turning Technologies will lead the session and discuss classroom use of clicker keypads and the ResponseWare “clicker app.”

Please join your peers on the following days to learn about Student Response Systems:

Student Response System “Clickers”
Wednesday, 11/16: Noon to 1 pm
Thursday, 11/17: 11 am to Noon
iCIT Training Center, McGraw 112

Use of a student response system can transform a standard PowerPoint lecture into a powerful, interactive presentation that engages students in interactive learning. Through the use of a clicker keypad, or the new clicker mobile app, student responses can be captured and immediately displayed from within your PowerPoint presentation.

Register online today for this “Snackable Series” session – seating is limited: https://signup.uww.edu

To submit ideas for future topics for the “Snackable Series”, please e-mail the UW-Whitewater Learning Technology Center at ltc@uww.edu.