February 28

Reminder: T4TL Workshop Today 2/28 and Tomorrow 3/1

Unleash Amazing Using Instructional Technology Tools 

Wednesday, Feb. 28 from noon- 1 in CH 106 OR Thursday, Mar. 1 from 3:30 – 4:30 in CH 106 OR use this link to join us remotely T4TL remote access.

Workshop Description:

Would you like to reach more students with the same email message, but you want it to feel more personal? Are you curious to know what other faculty are doing in the classroom with technology? Join the Technology for Teaching and Learning (T4TL) workshop to learn more about instructional technology tools.

  • Wednesday join Dr. Mark Petzold to hear more about how he uses D2L Intelligent Agents to reach out to his students without needing to create individual emails.
  • Thursday join Dr. Kannan Sivaprakasam to hear how he is using instructional technology tools like Respondus, LICEcap, Zoomit, and Clickers to engage his students in Chemistry.

We would love to see you in person, but if that is not convenient, please join us remotely to learn more.

February 20

Technology for Teaching & Learning Workshop Feb. 28 – Mar. 1

Unleash Amazing Using Instructional Technology Tools 

Wednesday, Feb. 28 from noon- 1 in CH 106 OR Thursday, Mar. 1 from 3:30 – 4:30 in CH 106 OR use this link to join us remotely T4TL remote access.

Workshop Description:

Would you like to reach more students with the same email message, but you want it to feel more personal? Are you curious to know what other faculty are doing in the classroom with technology? Join the Technology for Teaching and Learning (T4TL) workshop to learn more about instructional technology tools.

  • Wednesday join Dr. Mark Petzold to hear more about how he uses D2L Intelligent Agents to reach out to his students without needing to create individual emails.
  • Thursday join Dr. Kannan Sivaprakasam to hear how he is using instructional technology tools like Respondus, LICEcap, Zoomit, and Clickers to engage his students in Chemistry.

We would love to see you in person, but if that is not convenient, please join us remotely to learn more.

January 31

Upcoming MOQI & SIG Free Webinars

If you have an hour to spare, some really awesome topics are being presented in Learning Spaces & Instructional Technology Special Interest Group (SIG) and Minnesota Online Quality Initiative (MOQI) webinars. It is very easy to register, so just try out one of the topics of your interest and I am sure you will be back for more. 🙂

Click here to browse the events and register.

Below you will see webinars happening this February. Plus, don’t forget, a one-day virtual conference STAR Symposium will be held on February 10,  2017 (Register here for STAR Symposium).

November 14

STAR Symposium 2017 – Call for Proposals

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

There’s still time to submit a proposal to present at the STAR Symposium! This is a state-wide conference focused on teaching and learning best practices. The all day conference is completely virtual – attend and present from your home or campus office. 

Call for proposals is open until November 21.  All presenters will receive training related to effective web-based presentation.

Share your Ideas

Do you have an innovative approach for engaging your students, managing your classroom, integrating best practices or collaborating for improvement? This is your opportunity to share the innovative work you’re doing at your institution, for your department and in your classroom! The STAR Symposium Planning Committee is seeking proposals  related to best practices and innovation related to teaching, technology, course design, faculty support, etc. for face-to-face, blended, and online courses and/or programs. Check this list for ideas for topics:

– Faculty Development and Support
– Course Design and Delivery
– Grading, Assessment and Feedback
– Student Engagement
– Technology Integration
– Measuring the Impact of Best Practices
– Other Innovations…

The committee is seeking both 50 minute and 25 minute presentations which will be offered concurrently. Individuals looking for information about the types of sessions offered last year are encouraged to review the STAR Conference Guide. (http://bit.ly/STARGuide16)

To submit your proposal, please complete this form. The conference planning committee will review all proposals and will contact everyone regarding the status of their proposal in December.

Registration is open!

Registration for the STAR Symposium is managed by Northland Community & Technical College. To register individuals or a group, use the STAR Symposium Registration Link (opens in a new window). The cost to attend the all-day conference is $50 (presenters pay $25).

June 15

Educause: 7 Things You Should Know About…™

EDUCAUSE 7 Things You Should Know About …™ is a series of publications that provides concise information about diverse range of professional challenges in higher education IT, from updates on current developments to explorations of important overarching issues. Use these quick reads to get essential information on emerging technologies and related practices, including potential implications and opportunities. Each two-page brief focuses on a single technology or practice and how it relates to higher education.

Here are the seven questions they answer in each publication:

  1. What is it?
  2. How does it work?
  3. Who’s doing it?
  4. Why is it significant?
  5. What are the downsides?
  6. Where is it going?
  7. What are the implications for higher education?

Among the most interesting topics, which you can skim through in less then a minute yet learn a lot, are: Remote Proctoring, One-Button Studio, Institutional Self-Assessment, Universal Design, Games and Learning, Open Educational Resources, E-Books, Podcasting, and many more.

They group the topics into two themes: Campus-Wide IT and Learning Technology Topics (click on each to access the list of publications).

June 9

MediaSpace to D2L Brightspace: Step by Step Instructions

MediaspaceMediaspace is a nifty solution for using multimedia in your in class or online courses. It is very easy to put stuff from your media to D2L. You simply log in (here) with your star ID and password.

Many faculty members get frustrated with putting up an audio Power Point in their D2L course. The issues are: students cannot view them while in D2L, they have to download the PPT first. Then, many faculty do not want their PPTs downloaded so they would just upload the PDF version of their PPT to their course. This way, the idea of having a voice over Power Point is lost, and you have to settle with what works best for you.

However, using Screen Recording tool in Mediaspace Kaltura enables you to select the specific area on your screen  to record and use the mic along the way. You can record your Power Point and have the audio with it, then just upload it in your D2L course. The cool thing about it – students can view it (and hear the audio) straight from the course and cannot download it.

Bellow are step-by-step instructions of how to do a Webcam Recording or Screen Recording and then embed the video in a Content Module. For additional help and FAQs click here.

  1. Once you log in, you will see your name in the upper right corner. Next to it, to the left, you will see Add New, with the drop down menu. You can select Screen Recording or Webcam Recording (as you can see there are 3 more options, but I will cover the basic two now).Mediaspace Screen Recording tool
  2. Once you click, you will be prompted to Launch the Screen Recorder or if it is just a video – you will be asked to “Record from Webcam” where you click “Allow Camera and Microphone Access”  on the screen. Mediaspace Screen Recording launchMediaspace Record from Webcam
  3. Next, you start recording.  In Screen recording you control the pause button and once you are ready, click done. In Webcam recording, you just click anywhere to start recording and then click anywhere on the screen to stop recording. You will see a box with “Save” appear on the screen. Mediaspace Webcam recording save
  4. It is very important to Save on the screen, as that is how the video is uploaded to your media. Then, Name the video. You can also add a Description for your students.
  5. The most important thing is to always save it as Unlisted! Why – if it is Private, you will not be able to share it with anyone. If it is Published, anyone can see it right away. Therefore, always click Unlisted and then click on the blue save button below. Once it is saved, you get the option Go to Media.
  6. You will click Go to Media and it will take you to the newly recorded video/screen capture. From there, you will click Share. You want to be able to get the embed code and share it with your students in your D2L Brightspace course shell. Have your D2L course open in a new tab/new window next to it. Once you click Embed, you will get an embed code in a window and all you need to do is copy it (right click or ctrl-c).Mediaspace Webcam recording embed code
  7. Now that you have copied the embed code, open your D2L course. In Materials > Content > (any selected) Module > New > Create a File.Mediaspace Webcam recording embed to D2L 1
  8.  Once you click Create a File:  Enter a Title > (**Below the Title box there are options: The first icon in the upper left corner says  Insert Stuff**) > Click Insert Stuff > Enter Embed Code > Paste!!! what you copied in Mediaspace – your embed code > Next >  Allow > Insert. Voila, you have inserted the video in your D2L content page. Don’t forget to publish the newly created file.Mediaspace Webcam recording embed to D2L 2

We hope this post can help you navigate these resources. Again, if you have any trouble getting through the steps, we are here to help! Contact us here, by email att@stcloudstate.edu or just walk in to Miller Center 118.

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