February | 2019

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

Dr. Stephen Truhon Associate Professor of Psychology Department of Psychological Science and Counseling College of Behavioral Health and Sciences

The Department of Distance Education would like to recognize Dr. Stephen Truhon for using Zoom web conferencing to help augment learning experience for his online students. Dr. Truhon joined Austin Peay State University’s Department of Psychological Science and Counseling in 2005. He teaches General Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Adolescent Psychology and Psychology Applied to Work at the Fort Campbell campus. He also teaches Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology on the Clarksville campus. Dr. Truhon received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA and master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Michigan State University. Dr. Truhon is an excellent advocate for technology in the classroom. A word from our spotlight: When asked what the main benefit was to the students, he used this analogy: “Because most of my classes are online, I use Zoom as a substitute for the loss of face-to-face interaction. I realize that no time I choose will fit everyone’s schedule, but that is the beauty of Zoom. I can use the software to record the class meeting for others to view later. Zoom works best for upper division courses where the books I use are not conventional textbooks. In my Zoom meetings, I try to highlight the important material from the chapters of the textbooks that they are reading next week. Additionally, the master’s program in I/O psychology is completely online. I teach Research Methods & Statistics and Tests & Measurements for the program. Because of the share-screen function in Zoom, I show the students the steps to follow in SPSS to calculate statistics. ” - Dr. Stephen Truhon  Do you know a faculty member who has taken strides to improve their online courses? Nominate them for our next Faculty Spotlight!

Online Nomination Form

EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE LECTURE SERIES

Mark your calendars! The next lecture in Distance Education’s Educational Intelligence Lecture Series is just two days away. You don’t want to miss out on this great opportunity to hear this mover and shaker in the education technology field. All attendees have a chance to win 1 OF 4 $25 gift cards to the Bookstore! You don’t want to miss out on this event.

NEW INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT MANAGER

Distance Education team member Crystal Faulkner was promoted to Instructional Technology Support Manager from Instructional Technology Specialist in February. She has been with higher education since 2004. Working her way up from student worker to technology manager over the years, Crystal has experienced many aspects of the industry from both a student and professional viewpoint. She brings this perspective and a zeal for learning and technology to APSU every day. During her time with DE thus far, she was instrumental in implementing new technology for student support including a partnership with Admissions to provide technology and orientation materials to new students, the SmarterMeasure online learning readiness assessment, a joint project for online tutoring with the Academic Support Center, and more. Crystal also received her Master of Arts in Education for Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Instructional Technology from APSU. Crystal has a passion for instructional technology and leveraging it to improve faculty’s ability to understand and connect with their students and content. She is excited about what is next for her time at APSU.

ACADEMIC FEEDBACK

No matter what we are trying to master, everyone needs feedback when learning something new. This is true for learning to ride a bike all the way to learning Calculus. Effective academic feedback has a positive impact on student achievement. In face-to-face classes, instructors have “in the moment” feedback opportunities such as time before or after class for discussion or brick-and-mortar office hours. So what should academic feedback look like in an online class? Very much the same! Email, Turnitin marks, audio recordings, and video conferencing are all great ways to build an online presence and connect with students.  Turnitin can be integrated right into D2L for online courses. Instructors can easily make annotations and comments directly onto student work. Distance Education also provides licenses for SnagIt and Zoom. SnagIt is a screen capture tool that can easily be used to provide audio feedback to students via a simple screen cast. Zoom is a video conferencing platform that can be used for one-on-one or group conferencing. For licenses and/or training for these technologies, please email online@apsu.edu. Regardless of the media you choose to use to provide feedback, here are some top tips on making sure that feedback will improve student outcomes: Be specific – Relate your feedback to the learning objective(s). Be descriptive – What parts of their work were good and/or lacking? Explain why? Be constructive – Give them a snapshot of where they are in their learning. Then tell them what they can do to improve. Be recurrent – Don’t skip providing feedback on assignments. Have a feedback plan and stick to it. Be timely – Students need to know how they are doing so they can improve on future work.

TURNITIN TRAINING

Distance Education has scheduled Turnitin “Just the Basics” training for all faculty interested in learning about this instructional technology. Come to this 60 minute live webinar hosted by Turnitin to learn about: how to create a Turnitin assignment (including how to create rubrics) how students submit a Turnitin assignment and how they access the originality report and e-rater spelling and grammar feedback how instructors access the originality report and what it means how instructors access the e-rater spelling and grammar feedback and what it means how instructors provide feedback to their students (including how to grade with rubrics and manage quickmarks) how students access their feedback and grades Access the webinar via this Zoom link or come to MCR 203 on February 27 at 9AM. https://turnitin.zoom.us/j/527877482

LINKEDIN LEARNING DAY

MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE WITH AN EASY TOOL

The Academic Recovery Coordinator for Student Success, Mary Catherine Denmark, and Distance Education would like to remind online faculty to participate in the academic alert process. Academic alert is a web-based early warning process that allows instructors to notify students when they have concerns about their performance in several areas. Students are notified when they are alerted and put in touch with the Academic Recovery Team who will work to help them understand the available resources and steps that can be taken to improve their grades. The academic alert process is very easy and available through AP OneStop. Follow these step-by-step directions for assistance. Faculty can alert students beginning the first day of classes until approximately two-thirds (2/3) of the term has been completed. Academic alert can make a big difference in the academic progress of your students by getting them the assistance they need to be successful in their classes and at APSU. For questions or more information, please contact Mary Catherine Denmark at 931-221-6555 or academicalert@apsu.edu.

DEPARTMENT WIDE TRAINING

As a reminder, Distance Education now offers department-wide training sessions! We can come to you, or you can come to us. We offer training in many different subjects including accessible syllabus, D2L, course design, and more. Request a department-wide training by emailing online@apsu.edu .

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