June 29

Study Skills Courses for Students

Future Learn, an open digital education platform offering free online courses from universities around the world, has a collection of courses on improving student study skills.

The topics range from improving students’ writing skills, English as a second language, online learning, to career prep and advice.

This can be a really neat collection to recommend to your students this summer – majority of courses do not require more than 1-2 hours a week but hold valuable information and resources.

list of seevral study skills courses like prepare for college and studying online

 

 

Category: Open Educational Resources | LEAVE A COMMENT
December 28

SIG Spring 2017 Free Webinars on D2L Brightspace & Teaching, Learning, and Technology

Just a reminder, the Special Interest Group: Learning Spaces and Instructional Technology (SIG) and Minnesota Online Quality Initiative (MOQI) webinars start in less than two weeks.  These are FREE and open to anyone.  Below you will find the scheduled webinars for spring semester. Tuesday’s webinars will focus in D2L Brightspace. Wednesday’s webinar will focus more on teaching, learning, and technology. Only Wednesday webinars will be recorded and can be found on the MOQI website three weeks after the session is held: https://minnesota.qualitymatters.org/video-resources/.

Click here to register for the sessions described below.

sig_spring2017

 

Category: Course Design, D2L Tip of the Month, Professional Development, Quality Matters | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 12

Free Open Online Course: Designing Digital Media for Teaching & Learning

This four week long open course (digitalmediaeducation.org – Join here) offers different paths of engagement with digital media. You will be using free tools to create, implement, and assess digital media for teaching and learning.

The course started this Monday, October 10, and will be running until November 6. It requires about 2-3 hours of work per week. There is also a possibility of getting a certificate from ISTE Teacher Education Network. The course is designed by faculty and graduate students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Education. They also lead a Google+ Learning Community (for which a gmail account is needed).

The course is very easy to navigate and has set learning objectives and the schedule. If you were wondering how to engage digital media in your course, this can be a great start!photo-credit-to-designing-digital-media-course-website-welcome-page-screenshot

 

Category: Course Design, Online Teaching Pedagogy, Open Educational Resources, Professional Development, Spotlight on Ed Tech | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 26

Lynda.com Video Library

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Lynda.com is an online training resource that offers thousands of video tutorials in various areas such as technology, business, software and creative skills. Training modules are available for Microsoft Office (2013, 2016 and Office365), Adobe Creative Cloud, graphic design, e-learning, social media, customer service, project management, and much more.These videos can be used as supplemental material for classes or a learning database for students. In addition, LinkedIn purchased Lynda and is offering learning opportunities to their users through this integration.

Even though our SCSU Library currently does not subscribe to Lynda, these resources can be accessed for free with an active Great River Regional Library card.

  • Instructions on how to obtain a GRRL card for free.
  • If you already have a GRRL card, go to the Great River Regional Library web site. Click on Databases in the navigation and locate Lynda.com in the list of databases. Log in using your GRRL barcode and PIN. (Note: You must access Lynda.com via the GRRL web site.)

Other county library sites such as Anoka, Dakota, Carver, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington also provide similar free access to Lynda.com with an active library card.

Category: Online and Distance Education, Professional Development | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 13

Free Accessibility Webinars by 3Play Media

Both online and on ground classes can always use more tips on how to make them more accessible. 3Play Media, a leader in captioning and accessibility support, provides complimentary webinars that can help institutions with accessibility requirements. Below is a list of the upcoming webinars:

  • webinar: National Research Results: How & Why Do Students Use Closed Captioning?

    National Research Results: How & Why Do Students Use Closed Captioning?

    September 15, 2016 at 2pm – 3pm ET

    In this webinar, Dr. Katie Linder, the head researcher on the project, will present for the first time on the findings of a national study of over 2,500 students. She will take a close look at how students use and perceive captioning and transcription at their institutions (beyond the need for accommodation).
    Register now!

  • webinar: Captioning the 3Play Way

    Captioning the 3Play Way

    September 20, 2016 at 2pm – 2:30pm ET

    Join us to learn more about 3Play Media’s closed captioning process, services, tools, and standards. In this webinar, Chief Revenue Officer and co-founder Josh Miller will address how 3Play Media can help make your videos fully accessible, searchable, and more engaging for all viewers.
    Register now!

  • webinar: 2016 Legal Update on Digital Accessibility Cases

    2016 Legal Update on Digital Accessibility Cases

    September 29, 2016 at 2pm – 3pm ET

    This webinar will be presented by Lainey Feingold, a nationally recognized disability rights lawyer and pioneer of Structured Negotiation known for negotiating landmark accessibility agreements. In the Fall of 2016 the American Bar Association is publishing Lainey’s book, Structured Negotiation: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits. Her presentation will analyze key cases, government agency activity, settlements, and other developments in digital accessibility through September 2016.
    Register now!

  • webinar: Words of Experience: Developing an Electronic and Information (EIT) Accessibility Policy

    Words of Experience: Developing an Electronic and Information (EIT) Accessibility Policy

    October 6, 2016 at 2pm – 3pm ET

    You recognize the need for an electronic information technology (EIT) policy at your college or university, but now what? In this webinar, the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) EIT Accessibility Team reveals how they successfully went about planning, designing, and implementing an accessibility policy at their institution.
    Register now!

  • webinar: National Research Results: How Colleges Nationwide Are Handling Captioning

    National Research Results: How Colleges Nationwide Are Handling Captioning

    October 12, 2016 at 2pm – 3pm ET

    Earlier this year, the Oregon State University Ecampus Research Unit conducted two nationwide research projects on closed captioning in higher education. In this webinar, Dr. Katie Linder, the head researcher on the project, will present for the first time on the findings of the institutional survey. Katie will take a close look at the results from over 50 colleges and universities nationwide, focusing on the challenges of and solutions for captioning.
    Register now!

  • webinar: An Architect of the ADA on Its Application to Modern Technology

    An Architect of the ADA on Its Application to Modern Technology

    October 20, 2016 at 2pm – 3pm ET

    In this webinar, one of the architects of the ADA, Bobby Silverstein, will discuss his perspective on the development of the ADA, as well as on its application to modern technology, the Internet, and accessible workplace technology.
    Register now!

  • webinar: Quick Start to Captioning

    Quick Start to Captioning

    December 8, 2016 at 2pm – 2:30pm ET

    Watch this webinar to learn the basics of how to add closed captions to online video to make it fully accessible, searchable, and SEO-friendly. This webinar covers Section 508 and ADA accessibility compliance, creation of closed captions, explanation of caption formats and video player compatibility, as well as an overview of automated workflows and integration with lecture capture and video platforms.
    Register now!

Category: Accessibility in Online Learning, Open Educational Resources, Professional Development, Universal Design for Learning UDL | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 2

Managing Online Learning: Free Online Courses

IMG_2802FutureLearn and The Open University with partnerships from universities across continents offer a selection of free online courses (with possibilities of gaining certificates too). Here are the five courses listed that can help you understand online learning better – you can recommend it to your students or take a look yourself if interested. Click on each link below to learn more/enroll in the course.

Get Started with Online Learning: This free online course will explain how you can study online without putting the rest of your life on hold.

Learning Online: Learning and Collaborating:Become an effective online learner and develop your online communication skills when working with others.

Learning Online: Managing Your Identity: Reflect on how you want to present yourself online and take positive steps towards these goals.

Learning Online: Reflecting and Sharing: Get the most out of online learning by reflecting and sharing your learning with others.

Learning Online: Searching and Researching: Improve your online research skills and your ability to critically analyze sources of information.

Category: How Does It Work?, Online and Distance Education, Open Educational Resources | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 28

Special Interest Group: Learning Spaces and Instructional Technology webinars and Campus Tour

Special Interest Group (SIG) is again organizing a series of free and open to anyone Learning Spaces and Instructional Technology  webinars. What is new is that they have prepared a Learning Space Tour at Hennepin Technical College on April 8. You can register for these events here: http://mnquality.eventbrite.com

Special Interest Group Learning Spaces and Instructional Technology webinars March AprilSpecial Interest Group Campus Tour

Category: Accessibility in Online Learning, Course Design, Online Teaching Pedagogy, Professional Development, Quality Matters | LEAVE A COMMENT
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.

Category: Course Design, Online and Distance Education, Open Educational Resources, Professional Development, Quality Matters | LEAVE A COMMENT
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.

Category: Accessibility in Online Learning, Future Trends, How Does It Work?, Online and Distance Education, Online Teaching Pedagogy, Open Educational Resources, Professional Development | LEAVE A COMMENT