The LTC is committed to providing reliable, accurate information about all things educational technology. Recently, ChatGPT, and other AI writers, catalyzed a national discussion, leaving many in the higher education community overwhelmed and unsure. To help answer some commonly asked questions and provide some useful resources, the LTC and LEARN Center are partnering to host an informational discussion on ChatGPT and other AI platforms. There will be AI experts, faculty, and a representative from Student Government present. The discussion will be held on February 28th at 3:30pm in McGraw Hall 19A or via Webex.
As a member of the UW-Whitewater community, you are invited to submit a session proposal for the campus event Celebrating Teaching and Learning Conference 2019. This special forum hosted by the LEARN Center and the LTC showcases the wide variety of ways we are all transforming the lives of our students through teaching and learning. The Conference will be held Wednesday, May 22, 2019 on the UW-Whitewater campus.
Proposals are due February 22, 2019.
Presentations — Concurrent Presentation Sessions will consist of 45 minute presentations with presenters having 30 minutes to discuss their topic and 15 minutes for questions and answers.
We encourage proposals in the following themes:
Student Engagement: Topics may include learner engagement strategies, discussing different ways of supporting students in courses, incorporating active learning strategies, or other engaging teaching activities.
Integrating Teaching and Technology: Topics may include lessons learned from Canvas, integrating emerging technology into teaching, managing mobile devices or apps, ePortfolio, or preparing students for 21st century skills (e.g., evaluating information, being a digital collaborator).
Civil Discourse and Diversity: Topics may include effective discussions, cultural navigation skills advocacy, relationship building, and a campus culture of belonging.
High Impact Practices: Topics may include showcasing high impact practices, community based learning, undergraduate research, first year experiences, or LEAP projects.
Something Else: Have an idea that doesn’t fit into the themes above? That’s okay! Submit your idea using the “Something Else” theme!
To submit a presentation proposal or learn more about this years Celebrating Teaching and Learning conference visit: Conference Website
As the 2018 Fall Semester concludes, I want to reflect on the first six months of writing this blog. It has been a great honor to share discoveries, explore new ideas, and write about topics related to Technology, Education, and Design. I hope that these TED tips continue to inform and inspire as we celebrate teaching and learning at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater.
Winter Break
Over the last six months, we have explored the difference is between a Learning Management System (LMS) and a Digital Learning Environment (DLE). This distinction is important as it helps to lay the foundation for some of the key decisions applicable to the migration from D2L to Canvas at Whitewater and throughout the UW System.
Canvas has been a source for several posts. The LTC Canvas peer mentors shared some of most important lessons learned while working with Canvas in the classroom. We looked at ways to support communications in Canvas and the importance of making a good first impressions. We explored grading and using Speed Grader in Canvas.
What are some different ways technology can be used in the classroom to support your teaching learning? Tools like Poll Everywhere can increase student engagement and interaction. “23 Things for Digital Knowledge” provided activities that can build student fluency in digital literacy.
TED Tips have explored the 2018 NMC Horizon Report and its view the trends, challenges, and developments in educational technology as it impacts higher education. Using the Horizon Report provides a lens to highlight pilots and innovative work taking place on campus like Adaptive Learning.
The blog will continue to promote workshops sponsored by the Learning Technology Center and its many partners and collaborators. For example, there is a series of upcoming Canvas workshops this winter: Canvas Open labs, hands on workshops for newcomers to Canvas, Construction Zones to help instructors move their courses from D2L to Canvas, and deep dives into single topics to help with your teaching. Grading in Canvas and building and using rubrics will be explored in early January. For a full list of times and locations of the upcoming winter Workshops visit the LTC. https://blogs.uww.edu/instructional/2018/12/12/canvas-workshops-winter-2019/
The next session in the 2018-19 UW-Whitewater LEARN Center/Learning Technology Center Workshop Series: “Back to Basics to Balance Workload” is Thursday, January 10th from 10:00am to 2:00pm in the University Center. This four hour workshop includes lunch and is designed as a hands-on activity to help prepare for your spring classes! Session Four: Setting the tone early saves time in the long run: Crafting your syllabus and engaging students before the first day of class and beyond.
During the morning session of the workshop, presenters will share evidence-based strategies for creating a more learner-centered syllabus and share tips for engaging students from the first day (and even before class begins!). After a lunch discussion, participants will learn more on how to better utilize Canvas in their courses in a way that clarifies organization and sets expectations in a more transparent manner. Participants will end the session with time to revise their syllabi, first day activities, and/or Canvas course pages and share their materials for small group feedback.
Participants will leave with:
An overview of best practices for syllabus development
Experience with a variety of first day activities that can increase student engagement and sense of community
Ideas to organize their Canvas course pages
Revised syllabi/activities to enhance student engagement
Thank you for taking the time to read these posts! TED Tips will return in 2019. Topics next year will build on and support some of the upcoming workshops with TED Tips planned to explore several types of rubrics, building them in Canvas, design of a course homepage, navigation, analytics, and many others. I hope to experiment a bit more in format and content and hope to record the occasional complementary podcast! Until then, have a great holiday break, recharge, and relax! See you next year!
– Ted Witt
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Consultant
LEARN Center/Learning Technology Center Workshop Series: “Back to Basics to Balance Workload.” Session Four: Setting the tone early saves time in the long run: Crafting your syllabus and engaging students before the first day of class and beyond. https://my.uww.edu/signup/Registration/Details/15867
An abbreviated TED Tip this week: I want to take the opportunity on behalf of the Learning and Technology Center to give thanks! Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for the opportunity each week to write these blog posts and explore some of the ideas and themes about which I am passionate.
It has been an honor to explore the themes of Technology, Education, and Design (TED). I continue to examine our technological environment and learn more about the tools available to us. What can they do? How do we use them well to enhance our teaching and learning? What types of things help us to make a difference in our students’ lives? What contributes toward student success? How do we design experiences that support our students in this way? Please feel free to drop by Learning Technology Center on the Whitewater Campus, leave a comment here, or send me an email!
I plan on continuing to provide tips each week on these themes and am thankful to have a platform to do so! There are a number of planned tips over the next few weeks. Topics include: how to design successful layouts and content, how to build rubrics in Canvas, and an exploration of additional tools and services. There are more stories to tell and things to be thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving
The next Workshop in the 2018-19 UW-Whitewater LEARN Center/Learning Technology Center Workshop Series “Back to Basics to Balance Workload” is this coming Tuesday, November 27 from 12:30 – 1:45 in the University Center room 259A. This workshop is specifically focused on “Using Groups to Engage Students and Maximize Instructor Time: A Conversation about How to Use Team Projects in the Classroom.” Eric Loepp from Political Science and Michele Peets in Management will discuss how and why they use group work, what benefits you can gain from using group activities, what strategies work, and practical tips to help you save yourself time.
Well-structured group work can produce a more meaningful learning experience for students. Instructors are the critical factor in facilitating a successful environment for that meaningful work to occur. This workshop will review the benefits of group work in the classroom, the conditions needed for successful implementation, and provide tools to assist in transforming a traditional classroom setting into a thriving group environment
Participants can expect to:
Learn why we use group work as a classroom strategy
Identify the benefits of group work in the classroom
Learn strategies for employing group work in assignments
Take away practical tools/ resources for instructors to use
– Ted Witt
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Consultant
As we settle into the start of the term, it is great to see people on campus, observe the bustle and scramble between classes, and listen to the conversations of students studying hard! There is an excitement and energy unmatched at the beginning of a semester!
As I observe, I start to pick up threads of some common conversations: “What do I have to do for this assignment? Where do I go? Is it on the quiz?” Many of these questions could be answered if communicate clearly, listen, and use some tools to aid our efforts. Clear communications are built into most parts of successful teaching and learning and start from a clear statement of learning objectives to a well-written syllabus, to good directions for homework. We strive to provide lectures and content that insightful and informative to help our students to succeed. This week I want to share two tips related to communication: reinforcing active listening and using technology. I will provide information on two supported technology tools that communication: Webex Teams (formerly Spark) and blogging. Finally, I will invite you to attend an upcoming workshop on September 20 entitled “Efficient and Effective Communication Strategies” co-sponsored by the LEARN Center and the LTC.
Reinforce active listening
What challenges are our students facing? Active listening can help us to understand those challenges so we can provide guidance. Active listening is a valuable skill that asks a listener to make a conscious effort to understand what people are really saying. It requires a listener concentrate, understand, respond, and remember what is said. Active listening helps foster relationships built on trust, respect, and honesty.
The Center for Creative Leadership’s Michael Hoppe identified six steps that enhance active listening.
Pay Attention – Allow time for the other person to think and speak.
Withhold Judgment – be open to new ideas, new perspectives, and new possibilities.
Reflect – Paraphrase key point to get on the same page.
Clarify – Use open-ended and clarifying questions to draw people into the conversation.
Summarize – Confirm a sense of mutual understanding.
Share – After understanding the others perspective, you can incorporate your own ideas, feelings, and suggestions.
Active listening can be used in the classroom as a method to gauge students understanding of the subject, what they think they need to do for an assignment, and whether or not they believe something is on a quiz! Taking the time to listen helps us to craft better communications that meets students’ needs.
Use technology
My second tip this week is to use technology to engage our students and colleagues in (hopefully) active listening. I want to highlight two technologies that the University of Wisconsin Whitewater supports: Webex Teams and Blogging.
Webex Teams
Webex Teams is specifically a communication tool. It is an application that facilitates collaboration. Webex Teams supports group messaging, video meetings, file sharing and white boarding. Webex Teams supports group messaging and creates a secured environment for communications. Messages can be read and responded to right away, or flagged for follow up later. Andrew Cole facilitates a three part bootcamp this fall in McGraw 19A on Wednesday afternoons in October (10/10, 10/17, 10/24) from 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm. The first session on October 10 introduces Cisco Webex Teams and explains why instructors and students might benefit from incorporating it. It is encouraged, but not required, to attend all three sessions.
Blogging
The second tool I want to explore this week is one that I have personally started to use as part of writing TED Tips: blogging. Whitewater supports WordPress and has blogs available for instructional, departmental, student organizations or clubs, and personal use. Setting up your own blog site for classroom use, could be a good way to encourage communications. Share class updates on a blog. By sharing the link to your blog, students and parents can sign up for the update notifications and stay informed throughout the year. You can also create assignments or activities that support your learning objectives by having students create and post blog posts and submit the link to you. More information can be found in the Resources section at the end of this post.
Upcoming Workshop on Communications
Finally, I want to invite folks to attend the first of the LEARN Center/LTC Workshop Series of the year. The theme of the 2018-2019 year is “Back to Basics to Balance Workload”. The first workshop is this coming Thursday, September 20 from 12:30 to 1:45pm in the UC 259A. Lunch is provided! Heather Pelzel from Biological Science and the LEARN Center will be presenting with me.
The theme for the workshop is “Efficient and Effective Communication Strategies.” Strategies to communicate with students while also making good use of your available time will be provided. Good interactions start with setting expectations. Setting boundaries for appropriate times, methods, and places for communications is important; we’ll share some examples. We will discuss considerations and options to do this in the syllabus, as well as in the classroom or online learning spaces. Specifically, we will look at how to identify early indications that your students are struggling and then determine if, when, and how to intervene can play a large role in student retention and success.
Resources:
Back to Basics to Balance Workload Learn Center/LTC Workshop series Thursday, September 20: “Efficient and Effective Communication Strategies” 12:30-1:45 p.m., Lunch Included University Center, Room 259A Register by September 14. If you have any questions about this workshop or for late registrations, please contact Sally Lange at learn@uww.edu or 262-472-5242
Upcoming Back to Basics to Balance Workload Sessions:
October 18: Best Practices on Providing Effective Feedback Using Low-Tech and High-Tech options November 27: Using Groups to Engage Students and Maximize Your Class Time
Last week, I introduced the idea of “learning technologies” as the broad range of communication, information, and related technologies that support learning, teaching, and assessment. This week, I want to explore a few upcoming Learning Technology Center (LTC) activities where you can learn more about various “learning technologies”.
training
Welcome Back Week
One of the most important events at the start of the academic year is Welcome Back Week. Each year, ICIT hosts a Technology Open House where faculty, staff, and students explore new campus technology and technology related initiatives. This year’s Tech Open House is Wednesday, August 29 from 1:30 – 4:30 pm in UC 275. You will find hands-on interactive demonstrations, information from vendors, and can participate in a “GooseChase” scavenger hunt. There will be free food and door prizes. Complete scavenger hunt missions to win additional door prize entries. See the resources section at the end of this TED Tip for more information on how to get started on the GooseChase.
In addition to the Technology Open House, there are several Canvas workshops throughout “Welcome Back Week”. These workshops cover a variety of topics from getting started in Canvas, a look at building content, and a more hands-on approach to features like “SpeedGrader” and other ways to expedite grading and provide feedback. These workshops will are all held in Hyland 3101.
Introduction to Canvas — Friday, August 24 from 8:30 – noon
Using Canvas for Grading and Feedback – Friday, August 24 from 2:00 – 3:00 pm
How to Build Content in Canvas – Tuesday, August 28 from 3:30 – 4:30 pm
LEARN Center/LTC Collaborative Workshop Series
The LTC/LEARN Center collaborative series for the 2018-2019 is on the theme of “Back to Basics to Balance Workload” and will focus on strategies to improve your teaching practice and student learning without adding to your workload. The first session “Efficient and Effective Communication Strategies,” will be Thursday, September 20 from 12:30 until 1:45 pm in UC259A. Heather Pelzel, Biological Sciences and LEARN Center and Ted Witt from the LTC will present communications strategies to help you:
Establish expectations and boundaries for communications between instructor and students.
Evaluate strategies for determining academic “at-risk” students and tips for how and when to facilitate academic interventions.
Explore methods to use CANVAS for additional ways to communicate with students.
The other workshops in the fall series will be on October 18th “Best practices on providing effective feedback using low-tech and high-tech options” and November 27th “Using groups to engage students and maximize your class time”.
Teaching with Technology
Searching for ways to build community with students in your online class? Looking for a way to facilitate communication and collaboration between your students in your face-to-face class? You may benefit from the Learning Technology Center’s (LTC) “Teaching with WebEx Teams Bootcamp!” Webex Teams is an app for continuous teamwork with video meetings, group messaging, file sharing and white boarding. This three part series is on Wednesdays at 3:00 pm in October.
Why Should I Use WebEx Teams? October 10
How Do I Use WebEx Teams? October 17
Now What Do I Do With WebEx Teams? October 24
Additionally, there are two upcoming “Poll Everywhere” information sessions. Poll Everywhere is a polling application that can enhance live interactive audience participation in class in real time. You can learn more about “Using Poll Everywhere to Engage Students” through two upcoming workshops:
September 26 at 3:00pm
October 4 at 11:00 am
Institute for Online / Blended Teaching
If you are new to teaching online or blended courses, or are interested in revitalizing a current course, the Institute for Online/Blended Teaching provides instructors the opportunity to collaborate on course design strategies and teaching best practices. This intensive and interactive series of workshops simulates taking a blended course and integrates a variety of different methods and technologies. The structure of the Institute allows participants to explore new instructional and course design methods, and participate in learning activities similar to what a student would experience. Look for registration for the Winter 2018 program early this fall.
Next week I want to peer into the future and explore the innovative practices, trends, and technologies for higher education as presented by the 2018 Horizon Report.
– Ted Witt
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Consultant
