The last few weeks have been a blur for all of us with the sudden but necessary shift from teaching classes face-to-face to moving everything to remote or online teaching. Hopefully you have had a chance to take a look at the many resources available on the Remote Teaching website that have been compiled and created to help you navigate this unprecedented and overnight migration to online and remote learning.
Life happens. It’s always happened. People get sick. Family members pass. Spouses get divorced. Babies are born. Cars break down. Jobs are lost and gained. Personal and professional lives have always had ups and downs in terms of stressful events.
Are you new to teaching online? Not sure where to start with setting up your course in Canvas? Consider importing our CU Denver | Anschutz Online Course Template into your course! This online course template is a great starting off point for anyone new to building a course in Canvas.
Reflective practice is a well-known concept within education, and I believe it should be integrated into all courses and programs, regardless of discipline. It has theoretical foundations in promoting lifelong learning and professional development, and readily links with metacognition.
Being creative comes naturally to some; they can design and create easily and quickly. For some of us, it’s a bit harder to get the creativity flowing; we need a little guidance! Before becoming a Training Coordinator, I hadn’t heard of Canva. When I first heard the name, I was picturing a tool to design blank canvases. Canva is an easy graphic-design tool that’s incredibly user-friendly.
Last October, members of the Pedagome PLC connected with the creators of DigPINS, a faculty development experience created by Autumm Caines and Sundi Richard that focuses on the growth of digital identity and presence.
A quick perusal of the internet will turn up an unlimited number of extremely complicated rubrics for discussion boards. They can be overwhelming and scary. They can make you feel like you are nickel and diming your students for every aspect of their participation. Also, a callback to my previous post: discussions are not meant to serve as a platform for long-winded, one-sided speeches, but this is how it often translates online. Banal, wordy “discussions” can also translate into assessment burden and burnout for instructors.
Amy’s my name and educational tech conferences are my game! Ok, but seriously...I have quite a few ed. tech conferences under my belt. (Humble brag) So I decided to compile a quick list of pointers to help you get the most out of the conferences you attend. Additionally, I was recently named the eLCC (eLearning Consortium of Colorado) Conference Co-Chair so that I may share my expertise in this area by helping to plan the upcoming 2020 conference.
Last month I began outlining factors which contribute to online student success. I highlighted a few that I’ve seen over and over both through literature and in my own experiences as an instructional designer, doctoral student, and online instructor. To recap my first post on “What factors contribute to online student success?”, good course design and facilitation, feeling a part of a community, and effective feedback loops are all factors which contribute to student engagement, motivation, and ultimately success online.
One of my favorite tools to tell people about is Adobe Spark. It is an online tool that is completely free (with the option to upgrade some features) and can be used on almost any device as long as you have access to the internet. Adobe Spark starts out by giving you a wide range of templates that can be customized so you can create graphics, videos and webpages. With these templates you can easily change the text, graphics or other elements to make powerful multimedia for your courses.
