September 24

Minnesota Online Quality Initiative Webinar series continue

Image credit: minnesota.qualitymatters.org

Image credit: minnesota.qualitymatters.org

All MnSCU faculty and staff are welcome to register for different D2L Brightspace and SIG (Special Interest Group for Learning Spaces & Instructional Technology) webinars.
There are a few that repeat so you can choose a date that works better for you. With the final one in September: D2L Brightspace Advanced: Checklist Tool
to the final one in October: SIG Webinar: Time-Saving Tips for Stressed Out Instructors there is a gamut of helpful one-hour sessions for instructors and staff of our MnSCU institutions. We will keep you posted on more events sponsored by MOQI as well as add these webinars to our calendar!

Category: Course Design, Online and Distance Education, Online Teaching Pedagogy, Professional Development, Quality Matters | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 21

D2L Q&A: “Not Authorized” error when accessing Email in D2L Brightspace

Q:  Why do I get a “not authorized” error when I click try to send an email message or access the email tool in D2L Brightspace?

A: It could be that a quiz in progress is causing this error.  If a quiz has a restriction that prohibits using messaging while taking the quiz, while the quiz is in progress, you will not be able to access the Pager tool or the Email tool in D2L Brightspace.  Once the quiz is submitted, access to the Pager and Email tools will be restored to the user.  If the quiz is no longer available to the student, then the instructor will need to intervene to get the quiz submitted.   See instructions and screen shot in FAQ #1527 at https://d2l.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1527MnSCU D2L Brightspace Service Desk

Category: D2L Tip of the Month | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 10

D2L Q&A: How do I create private discussion topics with my students?

MnSCU D2L Brightspace Service Desk

We bring you another great tip with detailed instructions on how to start a private online discussion with individual students.

Q: How can faculty have a private online conversation with each student in a D2L Brightspace course?

A: It is possible to set up an individual discussion with each student by creating groups of one member.  It takes some time to set up, because each group and discussion needs to be renamed, but is worth it if you want to have an ongoing conversation with individual students that is stored within the course.

Detailed instructions are offered here within the MnSCU D2L Brightspace Service Desk.

Category: D2L Tip of the Month, Online and Distance Education, Online Teaching Pedagogy | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 8

TK20: A Summer of Fun!

Photo Credit: http://www.tk20.com/

By Holly Evers
Assessment and Accreditation Coordinator

What did you do on your summer vacation? Ask around and you will find that there was a buzz of Tk20 activity going on behind the scenes, while you were away this summer!

A large delegation of campus users presented at the Tk20 User Conference. A group from the Meta-assessment Faculty Learning Community talked about meta-assessment (the assessment of assessment) in TK20. There is an underutilized area of the system built specifically to provide feedback on assessment plans. SCSU and the Meta-assessment FLC are pioneering its use.

A second group from School of Health and Human Services presented on how to adapt Tk20 for use outside of Education. Much of the system was built for the specific needs of education and its rigorous accreditation, but other areas of study undergo just as much scrutiny from external agencies. SHHS explained to this national audience how they are adapting and using areas of the Tk20 system like Field Experience, Applications, and Surveys to fulfill the needs of their own accrediting bodies.

Finally, there is a plethora of TK20 training opportunities coming up this fall. The School of Education is doing a brown bag lunch series. I will be doing drop in sessions and formal system training. The School of Health and Human Services will be doing more Lunch and Learn sessions. Be on the lookout for announcements with dates, times and locations!

And as always: let us know if you would like additional information about the Tk20 system. We are here to serve!

Category: Do you Tk20?, Future Trends, How Does It Work? | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 1

Academic Support Services at SCSU introduce online tutoring service Smarthinking

Attention instructors!

Please refer your students to their D2L/Brightspace home page that will show the academic support services for them or Tutoring Services/Options.

This leads our students to the listing of all SCSU on-campus tutoring services and Smarthinking.

Smarthinking is a 24/7 online and on-demand tutoring service, available at no charge to all enrolled students (each student is assigned 15 hours per semester by default).  They can use Smarthinking to schedule live tutoring appointments, participate in drop-in live sessions, ask questions, or submit writing assignments for feedback.

Students are able to access the Smarthinking website via a link on their D2L/Brightspace main page.

Finally, just below this new resource, remind them that there is a list of free self-registration offerings as well as student help documents and student overview videos for navigating D2L.

D2L help and tutring screenshot

 

Category: D2L Tip of the Month, Future Trends, How Does It Work?, Online and Distance Education, Online Collaborative Learning, Online Teaching Pedagogy, Open Educational Resources, Smarthinking | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 1

University Communications SCSU Brand Guidelines

Student organizations or departments presented tomorrow at MainStreet may not have known this…

In case you or your department need to use a St. Cloud State University logo, you should contact the University Communications to create one for you (unit logotype).

You can download the PDF or read the e-edition of the SCSU brand guidelines, or just quickly download the acceptable, already-made logos you can use.

SCSU Brand guideliens

 

Category: Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT