Digital Storytelling Workshop: Registration Open

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David and JimThe Learning Technology Center is pleased to announce a special workshop May 18-20 on digital storytelling.  The workshop will be facilitated by Jim Winship, Professional Storyteller and Professor of Social Work.

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.

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 by a sound track and 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, 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 Digital Storytelling wiki page.

To apply for the workshop, go to the Digital Storytelling Application by April 11, 2016.  Participation is limited to 12 participants.

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.

Accessible Presentations, March 16 & 17, 2016

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DSC_3956The innovative use of technology in higher education continues to provide new possibilities for enhancing teaching and learning. The Learning Technology Center (LTC) Spring 2016 “Snackable Series” is a special collaboration with the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD).

The March workshops will address the common issues with presentations (both face-to-face lectures and online), captioning, and some advice for creating presentations with accessibility in mind.

Accessible Presentations Sessions:
Wednesday, March 16, 2016:  Noon to 1 p.m.
Location:  iCIT Training Center, McGraw 112
Registration: https://my.uww.edu/signup/Registration/Details/14599

Thursday, March 17, 2016:  11 a.m. to Noon
WebEx Link:  https://uww.webex.com/uww/j.php?MTID=mf28c4fb36127d237c681ce9cfcf960e0
Registration:  https://my.uww.edu/signup/Registration/Details/14600

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

D2L Discussions

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Today we’re going to discuss how to navigate through the discussion tab in D2L. Most teachers utilize discussions in their class so it’s more than likely that you will have to compose your own thread and respond to others in the Discussion tab in D2L.

First to get to the Discussions page click on the link in the course navigation bar.

Discussions

This will take you to your Discussions List Page.disussion list

Here you have the ability to collapse everything, then you have the ability to look at just one discussion forum at a time and collapse past discussion forms.

capture #1

To view a discussion topic click on the discussion post you would like to view or add content too.

On the right side of the page there are announcements on who last posted to the discussion and when. You can also organize the posts by; ‘Unread’, ‘Flagged’, and ‘Drafts’. Posts can be sorted a number of different ways, such as “Most Recent Activity” and “Least Recent Activity”. If you would like an update about these as soon as they happen, there is a ‘Subscribe’ button with a star next to the post.

subscribe

To compose your own thread click on the ‘Start a New Thread‘ button. Here you can create your post and may subscribe to the thread from here if you so choose. You can also upload files under ‘Add attachments‘. If you aren’t ready to post you can save it as a draft or cancel your post.

new thread

To reply to someone else’s post simply click on their post, click ‘Reply to Thread‘, write your response and click ‘Post‘.

If you want more information about Discussions check out our YouTube videos!

For more information or if you have any questions, contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support.

Thanks for your time!

 

Registration Open: 2016 Summer Institute for Online/Blended Teaching

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DSC_3940The Learning Technology Center is pleased to announce that registration is open for the 2016 Summer session of the Institute for Online/Blended Teaching.

If you need to design a new (or refresh an older) online or blended course, please consider participating in this unique opportunity to collaborate with other UW-Whitewater instructors and explore proven course design strategies and best practices. This intensive and highly interactive workshop demonstrates teaching best practices using a variety of teaching methods and technology tools. 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.”

The session will consist of online components, face-to-face meetings on the Whitewater campus, and web conferencing sessions.

Dates and Requirements:

The focus of the institute is to learn and practice online teaching skills, and will only briefly address D2L mechanics.  Applicants must have familiarity with basic D2L features, such as creating content, discussions, and drop-box assignments.

There are 5 mandatory meetings for the Institute; three “in-person” face-to-face sessions on the UW-Whitewater campus, and two web-conferencing meetings. The institute begins with a one-half day orientation session on April 29,  a full day meeting on May 27, and a concluding half-day meeting on July 29. In addition, there are two WebEx meetings scheduled for June 3 and July 1.

All faculty and academic staff who will be teaching at UW-Whitewater during the 2016-2017 academic year are eligible to apply. However, the workshop will be limited to 20 participants. Applications are due Friday, April 1, 2016.

Before applying, please review the syllabus: 2016 Summer Institute Syllabus

Apply Here:  2016 Summer Institute Application

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

Customize Your D2L Notifications

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Did you know you can get D2L notifications sent to your phone? You can easily edit what notifications you want sent to your phone, e-mail, or no notifications at all! Easily know when classes are cancelled, grades are updated, quizzes are due, and more!

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If you don’t like checking your e-mail, or checking D2L, then D2L mobile notification’s is your new best friend! To edit your D2L notifications, click on your name and picture at the top right corner of D2L, and click on Notifications.

Click on “Register your mobile”. Choose your Country, Mobile Carrier and lastly enter in your mobile number. When you enter in your number do not add a 1 at the beginning (ex. (262-123-4567). Click Save when your are done entering in your information. Next a pop up will appear, sending a confirmation code to your phone. Enter the code, then hit Confirm.

Now that your mobile device is connected you can choose which notifications are sent to your e-mail, mobile device, or not at all under Instant Notifications.

You can also exclude classes and groups you do not to receive notification’s from. First, click on “Manage my course exclusions“. Click on the X to the right of the group or class you do not want to receive notification for, and click Close when you are done.

When you are done changing your settings make sure to click Save at the bottom of the page.

Now you can get real time updates about class cancellation’s, grades, new content and more!

For more information or if you have any questions, contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support.

Thanks for your time!

Embedded mp3 files autoplay in Desire2Learn

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In the latest version of Chrome and Firefox, mp3 files embedded via D2L will auto play even when they are set to not autoplay.  This is a known issue with newer browsers.

The best work around is to use an HTML5 player to embed your mp3 files.

1. Upload your mp3 files to D2L. We suggest putting them in a directory to help keep your files organized. In this example that directory will be “audiofolder”.

2. Create or edit a content page in D2L.

3. Inside the content page click HTML source editor. The icon is in the lower left of the content editing window:
HTML Source Editor icon

4. After the <body> tag cut-and-paste the following code:

<audio controls>
<source src=”audiofolder/audiofile.mp3″ type=”audio/mpeg”>
Your browser does not support the audio element.
</audio>

Replace “audiofolder/audiofile.mp3” with the location and name of your mp3 file. Your HTML editor will look something like this:
HTML Source Editor with HTML5 mp3 player code inserted

5. Click Save.

6. Click Update.

7. Your Content page with the HTML5 mp3 player should look something like this:
D2L Content page with HTML5 mp3 player embedded in it

If you have additional questions, please contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support.

Quizzes and LockDown Browser

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Hey everyone!

With midterms approaching it’s important to know how online quizzes and LockDown browser work.

First let’s talk about LockDown Browser. Some teachers may require you to use LockDown browser to take a quiz. If you log into D2L and click on the quiz you need to take and no start button appears, this means that you need to take the quiz in LockDown browser. The following message will also appear.lockdown

This is a separate browser that does not allow you to open any tabs or other programs until you close the browser. This browser is downloaded to all the computers in the campus computer labs.

For more information about LockDown browser and how to download it to your own computer please visit our wiki page about it.

To access the quizzes page click on the “Quizzes” in the course navigation bar.

quizzesThis will take you to the quiz page where you can see past, current and future quizzes.

quiz list

Some professors may leave their quizzes open to take whenever, but most have a specific date and time set for when you need to take the quiz. These dates are located underneath the quiz title.

To the far right of the row you can see how many “Attempts” you have to take the quiz. Some professors will allow you to take multiple or unlimited attempts, but most will only give you one attempt.

To begin taking a quiz, click on the blue link of the quiz you need like to take. You will then be taken to a new window that contains all of your questions.

save all1**Always make sure to save your answers after each question. There is a “Save” button after each question. In case their is some sort of computer problem (internet crashes, computer freezes, ect.) all of your questions that you have saved will remain intact!

You can check if you have saved your answers by looking at the left side bar. All completed questions will have a blue floppy disk. If the symbol does not have any color that means your answer is unsaved.

save all1

When you are are finished with your quiz, I would recommend clicking the “Save All Responses” button at the bottom of the page, just in case an answer didn’t get saved along the way. Then click “Go to Submit Quiz“.

save all

Next, a Quiz Submission Confirmation will pop up. Click “Submit Quiz“.

Another confirmation box will appear. If you need to make any last minute changes you have the chance to do so by clicking on the “No, don’t submit quiz“. If you are completely done and satisfied with your answers click “Yes, submit quiz“.

yes submit

If would like more information about quizzes feel free to check out our YouTube videos!

For more information or if you have any questions, contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support.