eLearning and Technology Showcase participates in Fall Teaching Conference

The eLearning and Emerging Technologies team, along with student Emerging Technology Specialists from the Atomic Object Technology Showcase participated in the Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center resource fair, which was part of the Fall Teaching Conference.

Ron and Sam, student Emerging Technology Specialists from the Atomic Object Technology Showcase brought innovative emerging technologies to demo for faculty attending the Fall Teaching Conference at GVSU.

On Wednesday, August 22, around 250-300 faculty arrived at the Eberhard Center to participate in the 24th Annual Fall Conference on Teaching & Learning. This year’s focus was on the importance of storytelling.

How are GVSU faculty, staff and students telling our stories of purpose, transformation, innovation, and accomplishment? This year’s Fall Conference theme was chosen with the intent of shedding light on the powerful stories we all have to tell and providing a space where we can reflect on the ways in which we use narrative in our teaching. Whether analog or digital, oral or written, the crafting of impactful stories requires intentionality, skill, and practice – hence, the focus of this event.

At this event, and throughout the morning and over lunch, faculty attendees had the opportunity to engage with a variety of departments offering services and support to faculty. GVSU’s eLearning and Emerging Technologies team provided demonstrations of emerging technology through the showcase, while highlighting the resources offered through the IDeL, Digital Studio, and support for using #edtech in teaching at the university.

If you missed seeing us at the event, here are some key support and services that are provided by the eLearning team:

• Online and Hybrid Faculty Learning Communities facilitated by IDeL.
• Digital Studio support for interactive media (lightboard, Panopto, etc.).
• Emerging technologies in the Atomic Object Technology Showcase (virtual reality, 3D printing, etc.).
• Fall Seminars to support faculty in learning to best leverage technology in teaching.
• The eLearning team’s Open Office Hours for drop-in assistance throughout the semester.

Top 10 Questions to Consider before the next Semester Begins

The eLearning team has assembled a list of the top #edtech 10 questions to consider before the semester begins!

1. Have you posted a welcome announcement to help students get started?

Providing instructor contact information, your standard response times, and preferred communication methods are important to keep the lines of communication open and to set proper expectations for your students. You can also embed welcome videos and course tours using Panopto.

2. Have you discussed with students your preferences on collaborating with each other on assignments, taking a test open-book, or using other resources?

Including academic integrity statements and your policies on collaboration within your syllabus gives students guidance as they work on graded activities in your course. Be sure to address these kinds of things, too, when you describe assignments to students.

3. How are you evaluating students?

As you think through a variety of assessment strategies for your course, it is helpful to review your learning objectives to align assignments and learning activities. Students sometimes complain that assignments are “busy work.” But, if they understand the point of an assignment and how it aligns with objectives, they are less likely to be negative.

4. Have you considered using Respondus to quickly move your paper/pencil exams and quizzes into Blackboard?

5. If you are using Blackboard’s online assessments, are you using question pools and randomization of questions and answer choices?

Using these functions reduces the ability of students to complete a test together.

6. Timely feedback is crucial for student success. Have you tried using Blackboard’s automated grading tools, assignment comments and feedback features, or including video in your comments with students?

7. Looking for ways to improve student engagement, beyond the discussion forum?

Try Flipgrid for student introductions, create a Lightboard mini-lecture, or learn about the new features that are available for digital media with Panopto. More ideas and more tools are available on the TECH BYTES web page.

8. Are you looking for new, free, or low-cost course materials to embed in Blackboard?

The eLearning team and the library provides assistance in locating open educational resources as well as videos, books, articles, and more that can be embedded to your site or added to your electronic course reserves. Your liaison librarian is available to help you locate a variety of course materials.

9. Do you know if your course materials are accessible?

On June 21, 2018, Blackboard Ally was made available at GVSU.  This application provides insight as to the course materials you have uploaded and their level of accessibility. In addition, if you have videos that need closed-captioning, be sure to review the capabilities in Panopto. eLearning has also developed a web page with accessibility tips, including techniques for creating an accessible syllabus.

10. Would you like to learn more and connect with other faculty teaching online and hybrid courses?

Join a Faculty Learning Community and stop by to visit the eLearning team for our Open Office Hours. In addition, log into Sprout to view seminars and hands-on workshops scheduled throughout the year.

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Want More Info? Need Help? Try These Resources!

• Consult with the instructional designers in IDeL for more online/hybrid course design tips and to learn how to increase your teaching, social, cognitive presence through the Community of Inquiry.
• Access tips, tutorials, and information for effectively using Blackboard and other instructional tools.
• Review the one-stop Faculty Resources for Online Education.
• Contact the Digital Studio for assistance in creating a welcome video or leveraging interactive media in your courses.
• Review University Library resources for distance learning.

Brought to you by the Online Education Council, eLearning and Emerging Technologies, University Libraries, the Pew Faculty Teaching & Learning Center, and the Office of the Provost

For Faculty @GVSU – A Plethora of Possibilities using #EdTech in Teaching

In just 17 days, a new semester of teaching and learning will begin with nearly 25,000 students enrolled in traditional and online/hybrid courses.

While students will soon be moving into the dorms and living centers, the eLearning and Emerging Technologies team is busy helping new university faculty get plugged in to a plethora of possibilities in leveraging #edtech in teaching.

With the Fall 2018 semester, the eLearning team has prepared over 20 sessions on a variety of instructional technology topics. From using the brand new accessibility solution called Blackboard Ally, to taking advantage of the new capabilities such as embedding quizzes into video content with Panopto, there are exciting new ways to engage students.

On Wednesday, August 8, nearly 100 faculty participated in “New Faculty Orientation”, where the eLearning team shared resources and provided how to information for best using technology to enhance student success. Sessions at the faculty orientation included tips for:

• Using Blackboard to effectively and efficiently share course content, communicate with students, and deliver assignments and grading feedback.
• Connecting live with students for office hours and guest speakers with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra.
• Increasing the accessibility of course content while providing Universal Design for Learning with Blackboard Ally.
• Engaging students with interactive and media-rich video content with Panopto.
• Building custom multimedia content including lightboard videos through the Digital Studio.
• Discovering emerging technologies such as 3D printing and virtual reality in the Technology Showcase.
• and more!

In addition, for faculty teaching online, the eLearning team offers a variety of resources and support. The IDeL team in eLearning specializes in expert instructional design in the design, development, and delivery of distance education.

The use of Blackboard and the design, development, and delivery of online and hybrid courses remain a top priority at GVSU, in fact, flexible learning options that meet students’ needs are part of the 2021 GVSU Strategic Plan.

If you are a new faculty member at GVSU, or if you have been teaching at the university for years, the eLearning team is here to help you support student success!

 

GVSU uses Augmented Reality to help Students Experience Vision Loss in Medical Education

This post by Hunter Bridwell, Digital Media Developer in eLearning and Emerging Technologies at Grand Valley State University.

 

 

Update:  The app developed by Hunter Bridwell will be presented at the American Occupational Therapy Association AOTA Annual Conference in April 2019! Carla Floyd-Slabaugh, will present the left visual field cut app in a session entitled: “Augmented Reality to Simulate and Instruct on the Topic of Left Visual Field Cut and Left Neglect in Context” on April 6, 2019 at the conference from 1:30 – 3:00 in New Orleans, LA. 

As Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies develop, the market for apps and their various uses has begun to broaden, particularly in education. Even two years ago, the selection of applicable programs was slim and considered by most to be very gimmicky. Faculty often have very specific needs from lesson to lesson and while the platforms are currently picking up steam, a prepackaged app often doesn’t have everything that faculty may need and can have a lot of things they don’t need. Instead of waiting for someone to make an app and bring it to market, I worked in Unity to create it myself.

First, I was presented with a problem. Students in Carla Slabaugh’s Occupational Therapy courses have no effective way to experience what a “Left Field Cut” is without putting tape over glasses. It’s a simple solution but it doesn’t really meet the needs of the lesson. A Left Field Cut occurs after someone has a stroke: a large, left part of their vision is essentially cut out, but the brain doesn’t register this as blackness like the tape on the glasses would. Instead, it realigns the vision altogether. This affects patients’ motor skills. It often causes people to run into walls and door frames when they thought they were walking through the door. By programing a camera with a visual field cut in the Unity software, I used augmented reality to help students bridge the gap of understanding from what is being described to them to what a patient is actually experiencing.

“It worked great to simulate the field cut,” said Carla Slabaugh, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy. “With the fuzzy edge you made it let the student better understand how information on the left side can be missed. It is a huge improvement over the tape on glasses method.”

Learn more about the plethora of possibilities available through the Digital Studio at GVSU by visiting our Digital Studio Projects page.

Teaching with the Lightboard @GVSU

 

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Video is becoming an important tool in teaching. The value of video to support traditional classes, online/hybrid courses, and “flipped classrooms” has rapidly increased at GVSU.

With over 100 videos being created in the past year, the Digital Studio, along with digital media developers, Justin Melick and Hunter Bridwell have been busy!

Lightboard videos are engaging and an innovative approach to a standard “screen recording”

In a nutshell, Lightboard videos are created when an instructor writes on a glass panel with flourescent markers that are lit by LEDs. This creates a unique display as compared to the typical whiteboard recording that is common in many instructional videos such as those from Khan Academy.

The benefit of the Lightboard is that students can also view the instructor which increases teaching presence and the inclusion of the non-verbal instructor cues that are so important.

Here are a few example videos of professors at GVSU who have used the Lightboard:

• Becky Bergakker – Stats
• Star Swift – Management
• Babasola Fateye – Ionization

Ready to start creating you own Lightboard videos? Here is how to get started:

1. Meet with one of our Digital Media Developers, Justin Melick (melicjus@gvsu.edu) or Hunter Bridwell (bridwehu@gvsu.edu) to get a tour of a ligthboard studio and set a date to record your first video!
2. Use our planning document to lay out what you want to present during your lightboard video. This document helps you plan what you will write on the board and how to space that content in a way that is more meaningful and easy to understand.
3. Come and record your first video! Usually faculty will take a half hour to forty five minutes to record their first five to seven minute lightboard video. After a few presentations most people get used to the format and can create five to six videos in an hour.

Learn more about Lightboards at GVSU on our eLearning Web Site!

Article in Rapid Growth features eLearning Team and Showcase

Rapid Growth has a series running on the topic of technology and education. In an article written on March 16, 2017, author Matthew Russell highlights a variety of innovative ideas and happenings from around West Michigan.

The article entitled “From virtual reality to online libraries, how technology is revolutionizing education in GR” highlights the work of the eLearning and Emerging Technologies team as well as the Atomic Object Technology Showcase.

Explorative spaces installed at Grand Valley State University will help older students test and build the devices that tomorrow’s learning environments may rely on.

Atomic Object Technology Showcase – An immersive and engaging space for faculty and students to interact, discover, learn, and share how technology can transform teaching and learning.

“We have a lot of different drop-in space for students and faculty to experiment and play around with technology, to imagine what it would look like if we used these in teaching, and how it would make us more effective. The ultimate purpose is to solve instructional problems to meet students needs so that they’re successful.“

Read the Full Article on Rapid Growth Media

Delivering Great Online Courses via Effective Teaching Strategies

 In a recent Blackboard Blog post, Eric Kunnen, Associate Director of eLearning and Emerging Technologies, highlighted a few tips for “delivering great online courses via effective teaching strategies“.

“Great Teaching is Great Teaching”

In this post, Eric highlights the a few keys to success in delivering high quality courses:

#1. Student and faculty interaction is KEY

#2. Course design is KEY

#3. Instructional design and digital media development is KEY

#4. Faculty professional development and support resources are KEY

Finally, in the quest for delivering quality online courses, it is important to reach out to the campus for support. The eLearning Team provides an outstanding array of support, from exemplary instructional design, to instructional technology support, to digital media development, to Blackboard resources, and future oriented emerging technologies in the Technology Showcase.

Let the eLearning team know how we can help you deliver great courses through effective teaching strategies! We are here for YOU!

Read the entire article on the Blackboard Blog.

GVSUeLearn visits Digital Media Commons at UMich

Justin Melick, Vince St. Germain, Paul Wilson, and Eric Kunnen from the eLearning team and Technology Showcase, along with professor Star Swift from Grand Valley State University visited the University of Michigan Digital Media Commons to learn about the innovative digital media technologies available at the University of Michigan on September 6.

In brief, the Digital Media Commons (DMC) has a plethora of resources and services available to faculty, staff, and students to use to create a wide array of teaching and learning resources. The DMC includes:

1.  Groundworks – A collaborative facility to create digital media and also to convert analog resources. There is even an audio booth that can be used to create podcasts. There is also a recording studio where you can walk in to record a lecture or as a student, work on a video assignment for class.
2. Design Labs – This lab is the place for tinkering and making with a variety of tools to create.
3. Video Studio – A cutting edge production studio that can be used for performances, motion capture, green screen and other creative projects.
4. 3D Lab – A place to create 3D simulations and objects.  In addition there is a 3D “cave” where you can “walk through” your 3D designs.
5. Emerging Technologies Group – Provides services and support for creative projects.
6. Audio Studios – World class lab and recording facility.

Here at GVSU, we were inspired by all the technology resources available at the University of Michigan.  As we look to the future of the Technology Showcase, Digital Studio, our work in eLearning, and across the university, we will use our experiences at the DMC to help us move forward!

Thank  you to Eric Maslowski, Robert Newcomb, and the team at the DMC for the tour!

Innovative Teaching, an Invisible Whiteboard, and Student Engagement via the Lightboard at GVSU

The lightboard is an innovative teaching and learning tool that allows instructors to write out their content while still being able to give both verbal and non-verbal cues to their students on video. As the instructors write with the markers on the board the colors appear to glow, allowing faculty to create engaging visuals that help drive home vital concepts. This technology was originally created by Michael Peshkin of Northwestern University and has spread to institutions around the world.

In the six months that the lightboard has been available for use, seven faculty members have created 38 videos for twelve course sections. Additionally, two videos were created for international conferences using the lightboard. Beyond presenting content faculty have also used the lightboard to create class introductions that include concept maps connecting learning objectives to course content and assessments. 

If you would like to schedule a time to create a video on the lightboard contact Justin Melick at melicjus@gvsu.edu. For more information regarding the ligthboard at GVSU visit http://www.gvsu.edu/elearn/gvsu-lightboard-8.htm