eLearning Newsletter for November & December, 2022
Comic Transcript
Panel 1: eLearning's ID team just returned from AECT's Conference (Association for Educational Communications & Technology) in Las Vegas. Here's what we learned! 1. Conference Bingo is a fun side-game to play. Picture of a bingo card with entries that include: Conference Swag; Disruptive ringtone; Slide uses Comic Sans or Papyrus; Presenter finishes way too early; Someone says "Digital Natives"; Moderator cuts off presenter; Someone falls asleep in a session; Major type in slides or materials; Way too many slides in presentation; Advisor in audience answers for grad student; Prezi or other weird presentation tool; VR/AI hype without clear application; Someone shows up visibly hungover; Chart too blurry or pixilated to read; More presenters than listeners; Question is really more of a comment; Not significant but still quote-unquote significant; Audience participation fails; Reads directly from the slides word for word; Slide uses clip art; Presenter makes inappropriate joke; Presenter chokes; Movie doesn't play; Intrusive surveillance Technology; Presenter is a no-show.
Panel 2: Swag is a great bartering resource. Nick and Melanie are sitting in front of piles of conference freebies. Nick says says, "I'll trade you three pens and a chapstick for that notebook!" Melanie says, "Deal. Would you take a hat and two squishy toys for that shirt?"
Panel 3: Las Vegas is an affront to both nature and human decency and an ethical society would not allow it to exist. A picture of the neon lights of Freemont Street. An announcer says, "Next up on the Freemont Street Experience stage is Brab Drembo, the 2016 third place runner-up of America's Got Singing!"
New team member in eLearning!
If you haven't met her yet, make sure to say hi to our new Instructional Designer, Dr. Melanie Coyan! Melanie has been an adjunct geology instructor at SFCC since 2017 and has taught geology courses both online and in the classroom. Prior to teaching at SFCC, she worked as an exploration geologist and also in a technical training and development role. She earned her Ph.D. in geology at Arizona State University. Since graduate school, she has been drawn to both geology and digital pedagogy. She has thoroughly enjoyed teaching geology courses at SFCC and is now excited to transition into this instructional designer role. In her free time, Melanie loves spending time with her husband and children, running with her dog, playing ultimate Frisbee, and generally spending time outside.
2022 eLearning Academy roundup
A huge thank-you to everyone that made our 2022 eLearning Academy a success. Remember that session recordings, supplemental materials, and discussions can all be found on the 2022 Academy Canvas shell!
Tech Talks
Nov. 8 @ 1:05pm: Design made easy with Canva
View the Nov. 8 conversation on YouTube Links to an external site.
Nov. 15 @ 1:05pm: AI is already disrupting your writing assignments
Students — likely including your students — are using artificial intelligence services to write paper outlines, improve grammar and writing, and even produce poetry! What are the implications for academic integrity and plagiarism? How should we be thinking about these new tools? Does writing even still matter? This is a complex topic that is not going away, let's start talking and thinking about it now.
Join the Nov. 15 conversation on Zoom Links to an external site.
View the Nov. 15 conversation on YouTube Links to an external site.
Nov. 22: NO TECH TALKS
Our Instructional Design team will be assisting with some program training for the TLC, so no Tech Talks on the 22nd.
Nov. 29 @ 1:05pm: Time to Marie Kondo your course
Does your course feel cluttered and crowded after multiple iterations over several years? Do you — and your students — feel overwhelmed with the number of assignments you’re giving out and having to grade? Does your content no longer spark joy? Let’s talk about doing more with less by using the principles of backwards design and outcomes alignment.
Join the Nov. 29 conversation on Zoom
Links to an external site.
View the Nov. 29 conversation on YouTube
Links to an external site.
Dec. 6 @ 1:05pm: Course Reviews 101
Course Reviews can be a fantastic resource for an instructor that wants to improve their course design and teaching practice, but it can also be a stressful or intimidating experience in the wrong hands. To be clear, we're not talking about an adversarial process, a job performance review, or anything like that. We’d like to open up the black box and talk about what a course review is; what it isn’t; the tools that we use; and how it can add value to even the strongest courses. We’ll also hear from some instructors that have already had a course review and enjoyed the process!
Join the Dec. 6 conversation on Zoom
Links to an external site.
View the Dec. 6 conversation on YouTube
Links to an external site.