eLearning Newsletter for April/May, 2023
Comic Transcript
Panel 1: Caleb is making coffee in the CETL. Melanie says, "Hey Caleb, check this out! I've been looking at textbooks for an environmental geology class on metals contamination in groundwater."
Panel 2: Melanie says, "The books were all so expensive, I was worrying about the cost to students. But then I found this OER!" She holds up a black and white magazine called "Heavy Metal Underground."
Panel 3: Caleb flips through the zine and says, "The table of contents seems pretty solid... Cadmium, Arsenic, Cesium Syndrome, Toxic Earth, Municipal Waste..."
Panel 4: Nick peeks around the corner and says, "I saw Toxic Earth play at El Corazon in Seattle in 2010, they put on a killer show!"
Panel 5: Nick shows off his heavy metal jacket covered in band patches, and throws the devil horns gesture. "Some dude got in a fight with the bouncers before the show and sprayed bear mace everywhere. Everyone was crying from the spray but the band went on anyway and played through their tears, it was brutal."
Panel 6: Melanie says, "Ugh, not again... this is just like that geology conference in Helsinki that turned out to be a Finnish death metal festival. Still need to schedule that tattoo removal."
Registration open for the 2023 eLearning Academy!
We're excited to open registration for the 2023 eLearning Academy, Sept. 12-14! Our theme this year is
Come as you are: Finding the human in the classroom.
We'll be focussing on the teaching practices, course designs, and learner support that humanizes our classrooms, reveals our humanity as instructors, and values the humanity of our learners. We've got some amazing potential keynote speakers in the pipeline, and will announce them once everything is finalized.
We're also planning on hosting this Academy as a fully Flex event! Attendees will be able to participate via Zoom, or in-person at both SFCC and SCC. This is a bit of an experiment, but we're excited to demonstrate some best practices for a flexible conference experience.
Register now to attend the 2023 eLearning Academy! Links to an external site.
eLearning Academy Call for Proposals
We have also opened up our call for proposals for the eLearning Academy! We are hoping to find sessions that cover the memorable activities, strategies, and opportunities that you created to help your students find stability in their learning, achieve growth by taking risks, or engage with each other or their instructors. We would love to hear how you intentionally developed connections and created a community where students feel able to explore and learn as holistic individuals.
Proposals will be reviewed in July for approval. You will be notified soon after if your proposal has been selected for this year's eLearning Academy. Proposals that align with our theme, Finding the human in the classroom, will be given priority over others. Have an idea that's not fully fleshed out? Reach out and the eLearning team would be more than happy to work through it with you.
Submit your eLearning Academy presentation proposal here. Links to an external site.
Creating Better Audio: Tips and Resources
Equipment Guide: Audio/Video Equipment Recommendations Links to an external site.
Equipment Guide: Higher-End Audio/Video Equipment for Faculty Links to an external site.
Tech Talks
April 25 @ 1:05pm: Pressbooks makes OER adoption easy
Trying to get students to read your class texts? Concerned about how much students have to pay for your textbook? Open educational resources can help, but building resources from scratch is a heavy lift in both time and resources. This is where we can lean on remixing existing resources. We recently received access to Pressbooks, a great tool for building your own custom textbook. We'll show how you can adopt whole texts, take snippets from the extensive Pressbooks library, or remix and revise chapters from other texts, to create custom OER materials with ease!
Join the April 25 conversation on Zoom
Links to an external site.
View the April 25 conversation on YouTube
Links to an external site.
May 9 @ 1:05pm: The Student Whisperers: Q&A with Student Success Coaches
In this session, you'll have a chance to meet the CCS Student Success Coaches who work closely with online students — many of whom may be enrolled in your courses. The Coaches will discuss some of the ways they support students, as well as provide information about how to connect your online students with their services. They will also share some of the key concerns and challenges that online students face in their courses, as well as what strategies have been successful in helping them overcome those obstacles. Whether you're an online instructor looking to support your students or simply interested in learning more about student success in the online classroom, join us for this Tech Talks session!
Join the May 9 conversation on Zoom
Links to an external site.
View the May 9 conversation on YouTube
Links to an external site.
May 16 @ 1:05pm: New Quizzes: Item Banks
Item Banks are associated with the New Quizzes quiz engine in Canvas similar to how Question Banks are associated with the classic quiz engine. In this session, we’ll take a closer look at Canvas Item Banks and discuss how to create, edit, share, and deploy questions. In doing so, we’ll consider the ways in which they are similar to and different from Question Banks. The goal of this session is to share the knowledge and skills necessary for you to begin taking advantage of this quiz feature should you decide to use New Quizzes in your courses.
Join the May 16 conversation on Zoom
Links to an external site.
View the May 16 conversation on YouTube
Links to an external site.
May 23 @ 1:05pm: Humanize your Syllabus in Canvas
Your course syllabus is often the first impression that your students have of your course. Fortunately, there are some best practices for syllabus development that can help create a welcoming and transparent impression. In this session, we'll explore the key elements of a "liquid" syllabus that can create the foundation for a positive teaching and learning experience, and we'll discuss ways to implement these practices using Canvas. Join us to learn about the power of a well-crafted syllabus and how it can set the tone for a positive and successful learning experience for your students.
Join the May 23 conversation on Zoom
Links to an external site.
View the May 23 conversation on YouTube
Links to an external site.
May 30 @ 1:05pm: RSI: Not that Hard, not that Scary
Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) between instructor and learner is one of the things that separates a quality online course from a correspondence course. It's also a requirement of the Department of Education for financial aid, so it's kind of a big deal for online education. But meeting RSI requirements is not that complicated, and not that scary! We'll talk about what RSI is, and share some specific, actionable, practical ways that you can achieve RSI in your online courses.
Join the May 30 conversation on Zoom
Links to an external site.
View the May 30 conversation on YouTube
Links to an external site.