Dear Colleagues,
Happy New Year! What a snowy start to the semester! Between the weather and Omicron, those of us with the FCTL know you are dealing with a lot already.
We also know many of us are struggling with burn out and could use some support. The first FCTL workshop this spring is on Faculty Mental Health on February 22 and 23 from 3:30-5:00 in WebEx. Drs. Bernadette Barton and Connie Hardesty will lead workshops laying out some of the research-based stresses faculty are experiencing during Covid, and explore strategies to enhance individual well-being. We will discuss how we can help ourselves, help one another, and how MSU can best support us. The same material will be offered on two consecutive days to best accommodate campus teaching schedules. To save your spot, register here: https://www.moreheadstate.edu/Academic-Affairs/Undergraduate-Education-and-Student-Success/Faculty-Center-for-Teaching-and-Learning/Gather-and-share
Wishing you smooth sailing this semester!
FCTL
|
|
Designing discussion topics that engage all members of the class is difficult, especially with the additional challenges in creating a sense of classroom camaraderie that the digital divide may present for some. Often, we see online class discussion boards designed with a single prompt, sometimes with multiple parts to generate appropriately thorough responses from students. All students respond to the same prompt and occasionally comment on the responses of their peers. While this style gets the job done, it does not allow for diverse interests; students who do not find the prompt that week particularly interesting are likely to glean very little from the academic discourse.
Using the multiple prompt style is a clever way around this issue. In this style, we instead see the instructor post multiple prompts that focus on various subtopics in the overarching theme of that particular week or module. The prompts may present different questions or different learning tasks for students to complete and the instructor will often set a minimum number of posts for satisfactory participation. The defining feature of this approach is that students get to choose what they want to investigate based on what stands out to them the most. By utilizing this technique, we as educators hand students the reigns to their discussion-based learning by allowing them to take an exploratory approach to the task. They are free to choose the aspects of the topic that appeal most to them—perhaps some aspects are more in-line with their learning goals while others are not. Whatever the case, students may choose the educational threads they wish to follow and may therefore have an easier time with finding relevance and satisfaction in the topic.
More information about how to design and facilitate this discussion board style is presented in this video, created by PIE Assistant Director Caity Kelly, M.S.: https://youtu.be/F8fuhB8sYyo
Submitted by:
Caity Kelly, M.S., Assistant Director
Program for Instructional Excellence (PIE)
Florida State University
|
|
Pearson: Getting Students to Prepare for Class |
|
Whether you're teaching face to face, online, or through a hybrid model, students still need to prepare to get the best learning experience in class. Join authors Tracie Miller-Nobles and Brenda Mattison as they share some tips and techniques for ensuring that students are prepared for class.
You can view the webinar by clicking on the link here.
|
|
Instructor Training:
LockDown Browser & Respondus Monitor
|
|
This comprehensive training webinar is intended for instructors who plan to use LockDown Browser and/or Respondus Monitor with online exams. The session provides a detailed demonstration of both applications, including enhancements that make Respondus Monitor even more effective and easy to use. The training will cover:
- How to use LockDown Browser to prevent digital cheating in proctored testing environments.
- How to use Respondus Monitor in non-proctored environments, to protect exam integrity and confirm student identity.
- The student perspective using each application.
- Efficient review of the assessment data collected, including the Review Priority system, timeline, and milestone features.
- Best practices and tips for success with both applications.
Click on the link(s) below to schedule a training session:
Find out how Respondus 4 allows you to create and manage exams that can be printed to paper or published directly to your LMS, and how the Test Bank Network enables instructors to create online tests from official publisher test banks. The training will cover:
- Overview of Respondus 4.
- Overview of the Test Bank Network, which includes official test banks from dozens of leading publishers.
- Creating test questions from test bank items with Respondus 4.
- Editing, formatting, and publishing test questions to your LMS from Respondus 4.
Click on the link below to schedule a training session:
|
|
Quality Matters:
What the Research Says About Video Length
|
|
Using videos in your course can be a great way to engage students. They also provide an alternative way of delivering course material. But beware! Students report that the length of the video impacts whether or not they will watch it. During his presentation at the 2021 Research Online Conference, Dr. Steven Crawford shared the following:
- 1:30 to 3:00 minutes - Preferred video time for in-person students in a flipped or blended classroom.
- 3:00 to 7:00 minutes - Referred length for online students
- 6:00 minutes - Recommended max video time. Break it into subtopics.
You can learn more about course design here. |
|
Resources for Online Course Delivery |
|
The office of Distance Education & Instructional Design continues to provide Resources for Online Course Delivery for faculty, which contains resources on how to transition face-to-face course delivery to fully online modalities. Should you need it, this resource can be found in your MyMoreheadState Portal under Online Teaching & Learning Resources.
You can find more information here.
|
|
What I Love About Teaching |
|
|
|
Let's hear from you!
Share your response to the question "What I Love About Teaching". Your response can be short, long, a bulleted list, or an image to offer up a few suggestions.
To share your response, click here.
|
|
Create Discussion Board Forums in the Original Course View
You can create forums and threads to organize discussions into units or topics relevant to your course.
|
|
Ambassadors for Excellence in Teaching
Morehead State University
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
