New Blog Address

Our Faculty Learning Corner blog has a new address! Please update your bookmark with the new address: flc.learningspaces.alaska.edu. We have moved from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. Read why we made the change on our learningspaces site!

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Enlighten Us, But Make It Quick– IGNITE

What happens when over 36 Instructional Designers from around the university system gather in one location? It’s a creativity fest where all participants walk away with new friends and new ideas. Thank you Dave Dannenberg and the UAA group for hosting this event this year.

One of my favorite take-aways from the conference was shared by UAF campus, and it’s called Ignite. Ignite is a way to present information, clearly, concisely, effectively and briefly!  There are Ignite events all over the world. Each presenter is permitted 20 slides which are advanced automatically after 15 seconds. That gives each presenter exactly 5 minutes.

Think about it — a subject you are passionate about, 20 slides and only 15 seconds per slide to tell your story. Exciting! Here are some tips:

• Do not create a script or use notes to practice — rather, focus on the key points of each slide
• Choose four or five key points that you want to make, then create your 20 slides
• Your slides should support what you are saying, and have images flexible enough for you to gain or lose some time during your talk (you can even put the same image in twice if you need more time!)
• Practice giving your Ignite talk

At iTeach Juneau and Sitka this summer we talked about presenting our course and/or course objectives in more interesting ways. Why not try Ignite to explain to students the big idea of the course they are about to take? After all, isn’t this a topic that you are passionate about? Shouldn’t you be able to describe to them why this topic is so interesting and important with 20, 15 second slides?

THE CHALLENGE: Create an Ignite that describes YOUR course to students. We’ll record it for you!! You can use it at the start of your semester, you can use it to advertise for your course or we can have a UAS Ignite Event!! Let’s do it.

Image credit:philipdyer iStockPhoto.com

Technology Tips from eCampus News

We talk alot about using technology in both online and face-to-face classrooms. But we don’t want the technology to overshadow the learning and we don’t want to push technology on either our faculty or our students.

This week eCampusNews shares 10 Tech Do’s and Don’ts for Every Campus. It’s a good article and we encourage you to click the image and read it. There are a few on the list that I found particularly resonated with me.

• We are seeing a lot about mobile learning in the news. This list encourages you to use mobile phones in your classroom, but use them wisely. Research is still indicating (at least for now) that the serious learning in classrooms still takes place on larger devices.
• Don’t be afraid to introduce students to new and exciting technologies, BUT, don’t expect them to be tech-saavy enough to jump right in. You may have to explain and show them how to use these tools.

The article lists other good points so be sure to click the link and read through it. What do you think? Have you other tips you’d like to share on the do’s and don’ts list? Feel free to add these to the comment area.

Copyright Simplified

Maureen came across a great article today on making the complexities of copyright easier to understand. We encourage you to click on the Infographic here to read the article Copyright Flowchart: Can I Use It? Yes? No? If This… Then …

And, speaking of infographics– aren’t they popping up everywhere? Don’t you enjoy using them? Well, they really aren’t difficult to make. Nicole gave us some great resources during iTeach Juneau and iTeach2 Sitka for making your own infographics. Many classroom applications. Why not give it a try?

You might start by using Piktochart and you might want to follow or subscribe to eLearning Infographics, a blog that shows some really interesting eduational infographics. We’d love to see some examples of things you create–so share your infographics with us so we can celebrate your creations.

Speaking of sharing– did anyone make a good bubb.li or photo collage that they would like to share? We’re still waiting for your submissions. If you missed May 23rds post, it’s not too late to give it a try!

iTeach Sitka, Phew!! A Great Week

iTeach2: What a fabulous way to learn new skills, talk about pedagogy, look at what your colleagues are exploring, pick up new tricks, get feedback from experts, learn mobile technologies, and so much more, all packed in 5 fast and furious days. Wow. It’s hard to believe that we all survived!

We thank all of our faculty participants for enthusiastically joining us and sharing some great creations. And, in addition to the Title III and IDC crew, we want to thank our guests, Katie Walker, UAA, Susan Mircovich, KPC, and Madara Mason, UAF for making this week so successful.

If you want to see some of the great observations and creations from faculty last week you can search our twitter feed at #iteachak and you can visit our iTeach blog at http://iteachsitka2014.wordpress.com

Tina created a nice Mobile App Listing PDF which you might find helpful when evaluating or trying new apps. I found it helpful to use these categories to organize my iPad. See what you think. Click the image to view and print.

We’ll be sharing more resources soon– keep your eyes open this summer. There’s lots coming your way!

 

 

Fried Friday: A Weekend Photo Challenge!!

We hope that everyone is going to have a fantastic holiday weekend and we’re throwing out a challenge– share your weekend with us using either the photo collage app that we recommend below (and have examples here for you), the cool video app that we’ve demo’d below, OR an equivalent product of your choice. Remember, we’ll be posting any submissions publicly so be sure you send us material that’s appropriate! And have fun.

Tina made each of these collages from iTeach Juneau photos taken last week. She used the Pic Collage for ipads/iphones. It’s so easy to use and fun to create some beautiful photo collages. Click each to enlarge.

Those are our sample collages. Email ksbaldwin@alaska.edu with YOUR weekend collage.

OR, if you’d like to try a really cool 360 and more video creation tool, download bubbli to your phone or ipad and make a bubble video. This app makes a dynamic spherical photo video clip. Quite unique and fun.

Here are a few examples taken in Juneau by Tina, CLICK EACH BUBBLE BELOW:

 

OK, don’t forget this is a competition! Have fun and please send (ksbaldwin@alaska.edu) us your weekend photo collages or bubbles so we can post!

iTeach Juneau–phew!

We just completed an intense week of faculty development in Juneau and I’m sure all would agree, it was stimulating! Don’t take my word for it, feel free to browse our week’s blog and pay particular attention to the Resource Links page (last link on menu bar). We’ll be moving these resources to this blog after iTeach2 next month.

A quick recap of some of the highlight of the week include:

• Fun with iPads creating videos, 360 photos, ‘bubbles’
• Creating interesting teasers with Pixton and Powtoons and other products
• Honing in on the big idea and learning objectives in interesting and creative ways
• Learning about the newest features in our latest Blackboard upgrade
• Seeing Collaborate used by a pro (thanks for joining us Katie Walker, UAA) and learning about file sharing tools and the cloud
• Good discussions on the use of video in the classroom, intellectual property and copyright laws

There was a lot more going on, but that list gives you a glimpse of the activities we engaged in. We thank everyone who participated and hope that they took away lots of useful ideas.

 

Who Are Our “Customers” Now and in the Future?

Jim Seeland shared this article with me with the following note (and permission to post to our FLC blog)–

“This message is a good one for anybody but, as I read through it, I was struck by how pertinent it is for UAS faculty and staff.   Being able to relate to folks across several generations is critical to good communication and, of course, good customer service and getting a grasp on development of new coursework and delivery methods.   It’s not earth-shattering news I suppose – well written though.”

Jim adds to check out the statistics in the article with the population differences between the Boomer and GenX generations. Rather staggering, if not alarming! Check out the article in question. I found it very timely and interesting. Thanks Jim for sharing!

 

Plagiarism Education Week – Free Webcast Series

The 2^nd annual Plagiarism Education Week virtual conference is April 21-25. Free, daily webcasts will share ideas and best practices to teach educators and students how to stop copying and start thinking critically.

• Monday, April 21 – Understanding Plagiarism with Help from Dr. Seuss
• Tuesday, April 22 – Tweets from the French Revolution? Using What Students Know to Promote Original Work and Critical Thinking
• Wednesday, April 23 – “I Plagiarized My Child’s Birth”: From Extreme Plagiarism to Contextualized Understanding
• Thursday, April 24 – How to Keep Your Job, Not Lose Your Reputation, Avoid Getting Sued, and Not Kill People
• Thursday, April 24 – IRAC, Therefore I Write
• Friday, April 25 – Survival of the Fittest: Adapting Methodologies for Successful Plagiarism Discussions

Visit Turnitin’s web site for more information on the sessions above and to register! Certificates of Participation are available.

Sponsors: AIC, SEE, 6IPC, NITLE, and PlagiarismToday.

How Can I Make My Multiple Choice Tests More Effective?

Today’s 20 Minute Monday Morning Mentor is by Linda Suskie and talks about making your exams more effective. If you haven’t seen this short video, contact Nicole to get access to the video– it has many helpful tips to make your exams more effective. Linda’s supplemental materials include a blueprint for creating an examination that can also be used by students as a study guide. She also provides many useful tips on creating questions.

Here are a few tips that I found important:

• Do not ask questions on trivia or common knowledge.
• Avoid negative items and if you must use them, underline  and bold the NOT or EXCEPT.
• Order responses numerically or alphabetically if single words are used.
• Make Alternatives roughly all the same length.

There are many other tips, so be sure to contact Nicole D. for the link and check out her video and her “examples” handout.

 

Fried Friday: Identifying Serious Sleep Disorders

You and/or your students may be plagued by serious sleep disorders and not realize the cause. The Groat Center for Sleep Disorders provides some excellent examples for you. Enjoy your Friday and stay tuned for more tips and humor from your friends at Title III! Click image below to begin the video.