Dr. Robert J. Baron, PhD
Assistant Professor & Graduate Coordinator
Department of Communication
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"I’ve been involved in distance education and online learning since I started at Austin Peay in 2012. I coordinate the Department of Communication’s all-online MA programs, I’ve taught dozens of online classes (at both the graduate and undergraduate levels), designed the master D2L shell for all online sections of COMM 2020, and have been a member of the Online Course Committee since Fall 2014.
I think online learning is a really important option for our students, and I’ve always sought out ways to hone my online teaching and support distance learning. I’ll be taking the first QM course in May of this year and redesigning all of my courses this summer for the new LMS."
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Do you know a faculty member who has taken strides to improve their online courses? Nominate them for our next Faculty Spotlight!
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VISITING LECTURE SERIES:
DR. WILLIAM RYAN
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Educational Intelligence = Aptitude + Motivation + Opportunity + Persistence
William Ryan, Ryan Consulting, LLC
"Competency Based Education: Focused on Student Success"
Speaker & Workshop
April 25, 2018
10:00 a.m. - 12 p.m.
UC 303/305
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Refreshments are provided and all faculty, students, and staff are welcome! Please visit our
Lecture Series website
for more information.
*If you need accommodations for this event, please email
online@apsu.edu
.
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Ed Tech Day 2018 was held on March 14, in the Morgan University Center Ballroom. There were
378 total attendees and
34 total vendors.
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Comments from Ed Tech Day attendees:
“I enjoyed learning the new technological innovations that could potentially become present everyday in today's classrooms.”
“I liked the interactive activities and the information.”
“I enjoyed looking at the different technologies that APSU could use. Most of these could help benefit our students work.”
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The LMS RFP process is still ongoing. All three vendors who submitted an RFP proposal (Blackboard, D2L, Canvas) have been sent Intent to Award letters that identified Canvas as the LMS bid winner. At this time, APSU has not participated in any contract negotiations.
Please be advised that this doesn't guarantee that APSU will enter into a Canvas contract.
Regardless of which LMS platform is chosen, APSU will have to go live in August 2018 with the new system. Whether APSU changes LMS platforms or stays with D2L, course content data will need to be migrated from our current system. Please be advised Distance Education will not be able to migrate all data from D2L. It is essential that APSU personnel begin to develop a plan to safeguard any data from D2L that they wish to keep. We would be more than happy to walk you through the exporting and archiving process. You can view a short tutorial video on
exporting course content from D2L.
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DISTANCE EDUCATION
SERVICE REQUESTS
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In collaboration with the Office of Information technology, the Service Request Catalog is now live. This catalog provides the campus community with a list of services that the Distance Education Support Desk can assist them with. Faculty, staff, and students are now able to submit their own request for service using the following directions.
- Log in to govstech.apsu.edu using university username and password.
- After logging in, select the “Services” option at the top of the screen.
- Select the option "Distance Education: Online/Innovative Learning."
- Choose appropriate category from “Distance Education Services”, “D2L Related Issues” or “TN eCampus."
- From chosen category, select a service and fill out the form.
- The service request will be assigned to the appropriate Distance Education team member.
By using the Service Request Catalog, users may easily track and monitor their service request.
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NEW SENIOR INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER
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Distance Education would like to welcome our newest team member, Dr. Timothy Oneal, who will be starting on May 14th. Dr. Oneal grew up in Murfreesboro before attending Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). While at MTSU, he earned a bachelor’s in liberal arts, a master’s in criminal justice administration, and an Ed.S. in educational leadership.
Dr. Oneal moved to the upper mid-west to pursue his Ph.D. in educational leadership at the University of North Dakota. Previously he worked as an Instructional Designer at the University of Louisville, U.S. Army at Fort. Knox, and the University of North Dakota. Specialties include multimedia, asynchronous educational materials, and instructional technology. An interesting fact about Dr. Oneal is that he has created many documentaries.
“What I love most about being an instructional designer is the diversity of projects...It's rewarding to see an idea start off as a conversation and then become something tangible with the ability to stimulate educational engagement.”
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ZOOM WEB CONFERENCING AVAILABLE
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Distance Education is excited to announce that we now have a university wide license for Zoom web-conferencing for all faculty, students, and staff. Please visit the
APSU Zoom Login page and click “sign in to my account.” Enter your APSU enterprise username and password (your email login information) to log in. Please contact
online@apsu.edu if you would like training.
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WINTER TERM 2018:
STUDENT AND FACULTY FEEDBACK
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During Winter Term 2018, Distance Education distributed a faculty and student questionnaire to gauge satisfaction with the resources and services provided during Winter Term. The overall results of both provided insights into faculty and student successes and challenges during Winter Term 2018.
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NEW "GETTING STARTED MODULE"
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If you teach an online/hybrid course, we have an updated “Getting Started” module for you which is specially designed to meet 14 of the total 43 Quality Matters standards for a quality online/hybrid course.
Contact us to import the “Getting Started” module in YOUR course/s by emailing
online@apsu.edu today! Don’t forget to include your full course name for convenience. Your students will thank you and your course will be on its way to meet Quality Matters standards. It’s a win-win for everyone!
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LYNDA.COM AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS
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APSU LyndaCampus is now available to ALL faculty, staff, and students to enhance teaching and learning. Sign in with your APSU username and password and start exploring. A great place to start is by viewing
How to Use Lynda.com course.
As a faculty member, you can use Lynda.com courses/videos in your courses by creating and assigning custom playlists to your students. Please contact Distance Education Support Desk at
online@apsu.edu if you need help with creating custom Lynda playlists. Happy teaching and learning with Lynda!
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QUALITY MATTERS TRAINING UPDATE
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Check out the complete list of
QM Peer Reviewers at APSU, you may find a colleague there! If you are interested in QM professional development for yourself or your department, please email
online@apsu.edu for more information.
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As we approach finals, please remind your students to allow extra time to setup their profile and to schedule exams at least 24 hours in advance. These tips will help keep the program sustainable, and make virtual proctoring a much smoother experience. Your help is greatly appreciated!
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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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STAY CONNECTED WITH APSU DISTANCE EDUCATION!
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