Targeted Tech Workshops from CAE and Academic Computing

As part of our ongoing collaboration with Academic Computing to prepare you for a flexible approach to fall teaching, the CAE and Academic Computing are pleased to announce targeted, specific workshops to meet particular technical approaches to teaching that may be especially useful this fall.  Given that these tools may require special preparation, we are offering these sessions now rather than during the usual back-to-school workshop time frame in August. Our offerings include additional specific workshops (see below) on aspects of Blackboard, Zoom, Padlet, and Quip, as well as information on the video applications Kaltura and FlipGrid.  Each tool has proven especially useful in student engagement, creation, instruction, and assessment, and these sessions will later be available as recordings should your need for them arrive subsequent to the dates below; this is your chance for in-person learning on these technological tools in order to integrate them into your fall teaching. 

 

We remind all faculty that we encourage you to engage with our self-paced course on flexible planning for fall teaching (found at https://fairfield.quip.com/Z4kbARJQcIYN/Adapting-Your-Courses-for-Fall-2020, based on our June as in-person workshops), and to use that work to drive your decisions about the technical options below.  Of course, we also continue to offer individual, program- and department-wide consults at cae@fairfield.edu.  Please continue to share both your challenges and your insights with at our working documents from our June working groups at this https://fairfield.quip.com/xYHMAkGRiofa/Summer-2020-Working-Group-Documents.  

 

We are all enriched by the community of practice these workshops and documents represent, and the team at CAE and Academic Computing continue to be inspired and encouraged by your level of engagement and dedication during these summer months. Please reach out to us is we can assist you in any way—find us at academiccomputing@fairfield.edu and cae@fairfield.edu.

 

Carol Ann Davis

Jay Rozgonyi

Emily Smith

 

Deborah Whalley

 

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This workshop is designed for faculty new to the Blackboard Learn learning management system and will cover the basics on getting your course set up, with demos of how to upload files to Blackboard, send emails to students, or any other functionality of interest to those in attendance. There will be plenty of time for Q&A. Session facilitated by Mary Kleps, Instructional Support Manager, Academic Computing/ITS.

 

Offered Tuesday, July 21, from 11 am - 12:30 pm 

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544697/form

 

 

This workshop is designed for Blackboard users who would like to learn more about assessment tools available through Blackboard Learn. Topics to be discussed include: creating assignments and tests, and setting up the grade center. Session facilitated by Mary Kleps, Instructional Support Manager, Academic Computing/ITS.

 

Offered Thursday, July 23, from 11 am - 12:30 pm 

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544790/form

     

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Join us for this introduction to Zoom, the web conferencing, screen sharing, and collaboration tool. Perfect for sharing applications and presentations either in class or across the Internet, Zoom will also open up a new world of group collaboration for your students, with audio, video, virtual white boarding, and full desktop interaction available anywhere there's Internet access. CAE and Academic Computing staff will lead the session and be available to help you think about how you can integrate this exciting technology into your class. Session facilitated by Debbie Whalley, Manager of Academic Computing/ITS.

 

Offered Thursday, July 16, from 2 pm - 3:30 pm

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544689/form

Offered Monday, July 20, from 10 am - 11:30 am

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544674/form

    

    

Trying to figure out how to have students work in small groups during your classes when you can’t all meet face-to-face? Breakout rooms are here to help you! With breakout rooms you can split your Zoom class into up to 50 separate groups where they have full control of the whiteboard and screen sharing in their space. As the host of the main meeting you will have the ability to move from room to room to monitor what is happening and then your students can come back to the main Zoom classroom and report back on their work. Learn about assigning students to breakout rooms in advance or on the fly during a meeting. Session facilitated by Debbie Whalley, Manager of Academic Computing/ITS.

 

Offered Thursday, July 16, from 9 am - 10:30 am

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544680/form

Offered Wednesday, July 22, from 10 am - 11:30 am 

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544679/form

 

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As the University’s new streaming video tool, Kaltura is replacing the previously licensed ShareStream but adds an extended set of features that ShareStream did not provide. As before, faculty can still search for and deliver films within their Blackboard courses, and this workshop will cover that, along with the uploading and management of faculty-created videos. Perhaps the best new feature that Kaltura brings, however, is the ability to take your own videos or videos from YouTube and add quizzing or commenting to them - a function that we’d previously turned to outside tools like EdPuzzle to accomplish. Especially in an online or remote teaching environment, videos are an essential means for delivering content - and now, with Kaltura you can do it easily within Blackboard and even make their viewing an interactive experience for your students. Session facilitated by Heather Ulrich, Instructional Support Specialist in Academic Computing/ITS.

 

Offered Friday, July 17, from 10 am - 11:30 am

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544691/form

 

Offered Friday, July 24, from 10 am - 11:30 am

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544797/form

        

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This workshop will introduce two newer tools that can be easily linked to from Blackboard, or embedded within a Blackboard page, to add an engaging level of collaboration and student interaction to your course. Flipgrid enables the simple sharing of videos and comments in a discussion board-style format, while Padlet acts as a bulletin board upon which students can post text, images, or videos and comment on each other’s contributions.  With mobile apps that notify students whenever activity is taking place and allow for easy and immediate responses, Flipgrid and Padlet can be especially useful in keeping remote students involved in your classes. Session facilitated by Jay Rozgonyi, Director of Learning Technologies for the CAE.

 

Offered Thursday, July 16, from 11 am - 12:30 pm

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544685/form

 

Offered Wednesday, July 22, from 2 pm - 3:30 pm

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544702/form

    

    

If you’re one of the many faculty who find Blackboard’s Discussion Boards to be stilted and unsatisfying, and see students providing perfunctory responses, perhaps it’s time to try Quip for online discussions.  Quip is a collaboration tool that allows all students to add posts to a shared document, but more importantly it also allows for highlighting and commenting on any portion of the document. Students can highlight an entire paragraph or a single phrase and launch a conversation just on that portion of a post. In addition, with its modern mobile app, Quip will send students notifications on their phones whenever activity takes place in the document, continually bringing the class and its material back to the forefront of your students’ minds. You can leave behind the predictable post-once/respond-three-times nature of discussion boards by using Quip to engage your students in online conversations. Session facilitated by Jay Rozgonyi, Director of Learning Technologies for the CAE.

 

Offered Monday, July 20, from 1 pm - 2:30 pm

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544694/form

 

Offered Thursday, July 23, from 1 pm - 2:30 pm

Register at https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-5544796/form