April 12

STAR Symposium Presentations and Handouts

STAR Symposium photo credit to: https://mnqm.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/logo2.png

The STAR Symposium, sponsored by the Minnesota Online Quality Initiative and the first completely online conference in MN, is behind us. However, we can always look at the handouts and presentations in search of some best practices. Presenters at the conference focused on pedagogical approaches to face-to-face, online, and blended learning delivery. You can access the presentations and handouts here.

February 17

8 MOOCs that Support Technology in Teaching

online_livingroom 011An article written by Dian Schaffhauser on Campus Technology website has listed 8 MOOCs that can help faculty learn more on technology use in classroom (“8 MOOCs for Better Technology-Enhanced Teaching”). These professional development opportunities are, of course, open and offered through different universities. They are offered at different times, are self paced, and you can take what interests you the most from them. I will list them as they appear in the article.

1) Instructional Design Service Course: Gain Experience for Good    (starts February 22; runs 12 weeks; requires 2-3 hours of work per week, Canvas platform, Description: Learn how to create open educational resources (OER) for people in adult basic education programs.)

2) Becoming a Blended Learning Designer    (starts February 22; runs for 5 weeks; requires 2-3 hours of work per week, canvas paltform, Description: This MOOC will talk you through the Blended Learning Toolkit, a free, open resource for institutions that want to develop or expand their blended learning programs.)

3) Teaching with Tablets  (February 29, 2016; runs for 5 weeks; requires about 3 hours of work per week, Blackboard platform, Description: Intended for educators from elementary school through higher ed, this MOOC will cover the use of iPads and other tablets for teaching and learning.)

4) Accessibility: Designing and Teaching Courses for All Learners  (February 22, 2016; runs 6 weeks, Canvas, Description: Your chance to gain the knowledge and skills to design inclusive learning experiences, especially for students with disabilities.)

5) Disability Awareness and Support  (Timeline: Self-paced, Coursera, Description: Advance your understanding of accessibility issues in education, including legislation, universal design and assistive technologies.)

6) Prior Learning Assessment for Educators and Industry (February 22; runs 3 weeks; requires 2 hours of work per week, Canvas, Description: This course will teach you how to develop policies and articulations for credit for prior learning (CPL), explain the use of portfolios and assessments and introduce you to existing credit “crosswalks” and assessment resources.)

7) Blended Learning Essentials: Getting Started (March 7; runs for 5 weeks; requires about 4 hours of work per week, FutureLearn platform, Description: This UK-produced course covers multiple practices and pedagogies to help participants learn how to use blended or hybrid tools and technologies “with confidence.” The “getting started” session is followed by an additional series on “embedding the practices.”)

8) Leaders of Learning (May 2016; runs 6 weeks; requires 2-4 hours of work per week, edX platform, Description: Richard Elmore, a professor of educational leadership in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, takes participants on a tour of the “shifting landscape of learning.” You’ll explore how learning is changing in a digital culture.)

January 14

Library Widgets for D2L Brightspace

Instructors,

Our dear librarians have developed beautiful widgets that you can just add to your course page on D2L. It is very easy to find it: on the library homepage, under Find a Research Guide> By Subject/Topic choose Widgets for D2L Brightspace from the drop down list. You can see it on the screenshot below:

Library homepage Find a Research GuideThen, they give you a wide range of samples to choose from, depending on the course you teach. Further there are several documents that further explain how to add a widget you choose, and the embedded codes for specific widgets. The widgets give direct access to databases.

Library Widgets examplesYou can access the step by step description of how to add a widget to your D2L course here.

Big thanks to Cindy Gruwell and Melissa Prescott for developing this and making it available for our faculty and students.

November 24

NCDAE Accessibility Resources

photocredit: ncdae.org NCDAE Cheatsheets screenshot

 

National Center on Disability and Access to Education (© NCDAE) has developed a list of resources that can help with accessibility. If you wonder how to make your documents more accessible, you can find tips for Word, PDF, PowerPoint, and Excel files. You can also find some resources on Adobe and Web content issues. They are on the NCDAE website, and they call them Cheatsheets.

Click here to access these great accessibility resources.

November 23

MOQI Webinars for the end of the year

Image credit: minnesota.qualitymatters.org

Image credit: minnesota.qualitymatters.org

Minnesota Online Quality Initiative continue with their series of webinars. The upcoming professional development series focus on Quality Matters standards, as well as the interventions for stereotype threats. You can register here for the final four webinars of this year.

Good news is that the group is almost done with their Spring schedule, so we are looking forward to learning more and bringing these to our St. Cloud State faculty.

A big thanks to the MOQI group for providing free, short, and relevant professional development sessions.

November 16

Recorded Webinars on Online Learning Accessibility

3Play media Recorded Webinars

 

Implementing Universal and Inclusive Design for Online Learning
This webinar discussed how the principles of universal and inclusive design can be applied to the online learning environment, with a particular focus on the accessibility of course content and materials.Here you can find the Recorded webinar of Implementing Universal and Inclusive Design for Online Learning, which includes closed captions and a searchable interactive transcript, as well as the slide deck.

10 Tips for Creating Accessible Online Course Content
With recent lawsuits in higher education and updates to Section 508 on the horizon, it is more important than ever that online learning content be made accessible to students with disabilities. In this webinar, Janet Sylvia, Web Accessibility Group Leader and Web Accessibility Trainer, will provided 10 tips for making your online course material accessible. Here you can find the Recorded webinar of 10 Tips for Creating Accessible Online Course Content, which includes closed captions and a searchable interactive transcript, as well as the slide deck and handout.

Also, see additional free recorded webinars on various topics, including accessibility, captioning, and universal design.