FUSION Conference summary, June 22-24

“The new Brightspace Insights track, measure, and monitor student progress and help improve engagement at every step. With the transmission of IMS Caliper learning events from tools like the Kaltura® Video Platform, Microsoft® Office Mix and Microsoft OneNote® Class Notebook Creator into Brightspace, faculty and teachers now see a richer view of learning activities across all tools. The new Brightspace Insights pull the data into high-performance reports, comprehensive data visualizations, and predictive analytics to provide instructors with visibility into student issues at just the right time. Instructors can act immediately as real-time analytics are embedded into instructors’ workflows to make information timely, in-context, and actionable.” (D2L)

I attended these sessions:

·         Brightspace Learning Environment for Instructors (At the heart of Brightspace platform, the Brightspace Learning Environment combines usability and sophistication to support educators as they deliver a more personalized, social and engaging learning experience.)

·         Providing Feedback to Your Students (D2L wants to hear feedback on the Discussions, Quizzes and Dropbox tools. Attendees are invited to share ideas on how to improve the user experience when providing feedback to students. The goal is to make this consistent across all three tools.)

·         Connecting Students and Learning: Enhancing Student Engagement and Persistence (This generation is history’s first always-connected one and on course to become the most educated generation in American history – a trend driven largely by the demands of a modern knowledge-based society and economy. Attendees are invited to join others in this session to learn active instructional methodologies which engage students and have achieved results, such as a 94% persistence rate as estimated by South Florida State College.)

·         Brightspace Community 101 (Do you find yourself lying in bed at night asking questions like, “How can I find answers to my Brightspace questions?”, “Where do I find the latest release notes?”, or “How can I get the most out of my course discussions?” The Brightspace Community has a wealth of knowledge and resources available at the click of a button. This session discuss the features and functions of the Brightspace Community, as well as empower those experienced users to provide feedback.)

·         Using Brightspace to Deliver Competency-Based Learning (Motivating students online can be difficult. Hekademia’s Adaptive Competency-based eLearning (Ace) courses release targeted remedial and enrichment content to students based on individual needs. Using existing Brightspace tools and dynamic page descriptions help create engaging learning environments that ensure all students are motivated to achieve. Increasingly, institutions are turning to competency-based education to meet student needs and preferences. CBE allows students to move at their own pace, ensures that they can demonstrate what they have learned, and awards credit for what they already know.)

·         Re-Invent Student Interactivity and Productivity with Office 365 (See what Office 365 and Office 365 Pro Plus with Student Advantage can offer your campus in terms of productivity and social communication. Discover how Office 365 can help students gain the skills they need to achieve high-growth, high-pay careers upon graduation. Learn how Microsoft can help transition your campus to the cloud while allowing you to collaborate faster with Enterprise Social via Yammer from virtually anywhere.)

·         Blended Learning: Enhancing Face-to-Face Teaching and Learning with Brightspace (The challenge in a blended learning environment is selecting technologies that suit teachers’ pedagogical preferences, discipline-specific teaching methods, and diversity of students. A range of common teaching scenarios will be used to examine ways in which Brightspace technologies can enhance blended learning.)

·         Brightspace, SCORM, and Articulate Storyline: A Teaching and Learning Trifecta (Covering necessary information about literacy topics in one session can be difficult. To overcome this challenge, librarians created eight interactive Storyline SCORM packages, allowing them to flip parts of their sessions. Attendees will learn about the development, implementation, and evaluation of these packages.)

·         If You Build it, They Can Achieve – Objectives, Outcomes, and Assessments (The competency tool, insights the Brightspace Learning Environment can be a powerful combination to assess achievement at any level of an organization. One of the hardest parts is to get started. In this workshop, attendees will learn more about the tools at their disposal, and build a framework that can be applied in their own areas of focus.)

 In summary:

Most of the sessions I attended were focused on resources for instructors and creating engaging learning environments for students. As a new teacher, it was interesting for me to see how instructors in different universities use the Brightspace LMS. The sessions on blended and competency-based learning were very informational. Some of it I already knew, and some of it was new to me. I enjoyed the hands-on sessions the most because I had a chance to see what instructors could do and/or add to their courses utilizing Brightspace tools.

I stopped at the Office 365 booth as I was curious about it because Regis has recently introduced it to the Regis community. At that time they demonstrated and introduced Office Mix (A free add-on for PowerPoint, for more information see: https://mix.office.com/en-us/Education). In order to be able to download and use Office Mix, you need to have PowerPoint 2013. I am planning on learning more about Office Mix and how it works.

After that, I went to the Re-Invent Student Interactivity and Productivity with Office 365 session, where I learned about Microsoft and D2L Brightspace and Office 365 integration (video: http://www.brightspace.com/resources/video/view/1_x8gqgul5/)

D2L Resource Center: https://documentation.desire2learn.com/en/Microsoft%20Office%20365%20Administration%20Guide

If you are interested, I found these two short videos on this topic:

Microsoft Office 365 Integration with Brightspace - For Administrators https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efg5JqeY9eQ or

Microsoft Office 365 Integration with Brightspace - For Instructors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_OXkYQE7CU)

 

  I enjoyed the conference, and I am grateful that I had this opportunity. Thank you.

What I Did at My Summer Conference: Four Key Takeaways from OLC Denver 2015

Earlier this month, I attended the 12th Annual Online Learning Consortium’s Blended Learning: Leading Education’s Digital Future conference here in Denver. Generally, blended learning refers to using both online and face-to-face learning experiences to teach students.

A common example of blended learning is students in a course traveling to campus to meet face-to-face one only once per week, instead of twice, and the coursework they would have otherwise completed in that second meeting takes place online. I have also heard other terms such as “hybrid” used to describe this type of approach, and through reading online resources and having conversations I have found that exactly how “blended” or “hybrid” courses are delivered can vary widely.

This was my first conference dedicated to blended learning topics, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  What I found was, while there certainly were many sessions that addressed issues specific to creating blended courses, much of the information shared could also apply to the process of creating sound and engaging courses regardless of the delivery method.
  

I attended several different sessions and made my choices based on how the topic might apply to my job as an Instructional Designer (ID). I’m always looking for new tools and ideas that I can use in my work developing courses with faculty. As a result, I ended up attending several sessions that were presented by IDs. While I took lots of notes and saw several great presentations, there were four takeaways that lodged themselves in the crevices of my brain and stayed with me to ponder after the final session ended.

 

Before, During and After Approach to Blended Course Development

I attended a session titled Walk in an Instructional Designer’s Shoes: Designing Hybrid Courses which was presented by an ID named Bill Egan from Penn State. Bill shared in detail the process that Penn State uses to support faculty in creating blended courses, highlighting the concept of “before, during, and after”. Blended development is approached from the perspective of how students will be using technology to learn before, during and after face-to-face class time. Bill’s presentation, which addresses this approach, is available on the OLC Conference website. I also found an online resource title What is Blended Learning? which outlines the process. Definitely worth a look.

 

Online Faculty Development Resources

I saw some very interesting sessions that shared online courses that were created to provide faculty with resources for developing and teaching online courses.  One such example was provided by CU Online. In Reinventing Faculty Professional Development the UCD team provided a look at their Online Skills Mastery (OSM) Program--a 10-week online facilitated course designed to “prepare University of Colorado - Denver faculty for teaching with digital tools, with a focus on great digital pedagogy.” (CU Online OSM website). You can take a peek at a sample of the OSM course  and explore the growing list of electives they plan to offer as a part of this program at the CU Online OSM website.

Another session I attended, Collaborating with Faculty to Produce High Quality Instructional Design in Online and Hybrid Courses, was presented by several individuals from Concordia University, Irvine. Their team shared how faculty professional development plays an integral role in course development and facilitation. Concordia’s Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) is the training arm of Concordia. They have a website with many resources for faculty, provide trainings both face-to-face and remotely and have developed a self-paced five module course that provides faculty with the information they need to facilitate online courses. The five modules are:

• Module 1-Concordia’s Lutheran Background
• Module 2-LearningTheories
• Module 3--Pedagogy in Practice--Covers such things as honesty in courses, how to conduct an online synchronous session and facilitate engaging online discussions and includes a course readiness checklist
• Module 4--LMS Basic Skills--Provides information about how to complete basic functions in the LMS using pictorials and videos
•  Module 5—Useful Tools--Provides a plethora of tools to help facilitators in their teaching (e.g., shows how to record videos with a smartphone to do a weekly introduction)

Both CU Denver and Concordia reported a great deal of success with their respective approaches. These presentations gave us plenty of food for thought about how we could borrow some of these ideas to support faculty at Regis.

 

Use of Student- and Instructor-Created Videos in Courses

The proliferation of mobile devices and the ability for anyone to easily capture and share video in just a few simple steps is definitely having an impact on how video is being used in both classroom and online courses. Concordia reported that every online course they develop includes an introduction video and, as a standard practice, instructors record and upload a brand new video to introduce each week as they are teaching a course to foster a greater sense of connection and increase student engagement.

Another session I attended titled Moving Student Presentations Online addressed using video in online or classroom-based courses for presentations. This session showcased how the faculty at Grand Valley State University in Michigan are seeing positive results using Ensemble Video in their LMS for student group work and peer review. Additionally, Ensemble’s annotation feature allows instructors to stop and start a student’s video presentation submission and provide feedback at specific time signatures throughout the presentation. They posted their slides for this presentation online, a resource definitely worth checking out if you are interested in learning more about this valuable tool.

 

Communication and Collaboration Essential in Course Development

The last major takeaway I gained from the OLC Conference was the perspective that I heard time and time again in several sessions—whatever course development approach an institution uses, it is essential to have good communication between all parties involved to facilitate the collaborative effort. 

Bill Egan from Penn State shared the process that his department uses in his slide presentation, which typically consists of a guided development process that supports the faculty in course development at each stage. A detailed look at the Penn state process can also be found on the PSU Learning Design website. 

In the session Intentional Blended Design: Creating an Evaluative Course Map, Jason Drysdale of UC-Denver also emphasized the importance of collaboration by sharing his process of working with faculty to map an existing course. The process he described covered how an instructional designer and course author can to use mind mapping tools to work together and examine a course’s outcomes and assignments to target where changes need to be made. 

Last, the team at Concordia shared their “rigorous process/project management system for designing high quality, digitally rich course learning environments through collaborative partnerships with faculty” (OLCConference Presentation page). Their presentation walked the attendees through their muliti-step process (see slide 14 for an overview) which provides guidance and support for faculty every step of the way.

Online Learning Consortium Blended Learning Conference Summary

Adaptive Learning in Blended, Flipped and Online Environments

This session was a collaborative effort between the Gates Foundation and various institutions including Arizona State University. The Gates Foundation funded an initiative and research conducted by ASU regarding adaptive learning environments. Research focused on traditional undergraduate students taking no higher than 200 level courses. They developed multiple courses in an adaptive format. Developing a brand new course was time intensive and took about a year to create. They also adapted existing courses within a shorter timeframe. Students were grouped in a flipped environment where they were exposed to lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy before coming to class. This included reading assignments and watching videos. The learning management system was used as the course infrastructure and plugins within that system were used to make the learning more adaptive. An example was given by Rio Salado University who integrated an adaptive formative assessment tool. This tool was used to help students build towards higher levels of thinking under Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Collaborating with Faculty to Produce High Quality Instructional Design in Online and Hybrid Courses   

This discussion provided insight into how Concordia University is developing quality courses at their institution. The main goal of their process is preserving course quality and preserving the institution brand by ensuring quality standards are being met. To assist them in meeting this goal they have the support and backing from the deans of each respective school. The deans work with the program director to ensure the right faculty are put into place when developing an online course. Some criteria of a good course developer include someone who can develop original content, someone with good writing skills and someone who is comfortable with technology. Faculty are given timelines, due dates, and must sign a contract before beginning the course development process. The process includes a kickoff meeting, the designing of the syllabus, drafting the modules, and the design of the final course shell. They typically develop four to five courses within a four month time frame. To support faculty efforts, Concordia University has a training department that specifically support faculty needs. Trainings include pedagogy in practice, the use of the learning management system, and technology tools for teaching. The final product of this process is a master course. This course is taught once by the faculty developer to determine what adjustments need to be made. From there the schools work with individual faculty teaching sections of the course to see what can and will be adapted for each section. Consistent user experience and consistent content structure is a key piece to the course development process.

Using Analytics to Measure How Blended Models Impact Students’ Experiences with Learning

Institution analytics was a common theme of this conference and this session provided great examples of how schools are using this information to better serve learner needs. Lee College, for example, used analytics to define their students. This in turn helped them to develop their programs to better serve their student population. With a more non-traditional base of students Lee College created a weekend college. Utilizing a cohort model, each fall 100 students would begin an accelerated program of eight week courses. Programs included computer technology, welding, and business. The timeframe for completion was two years and the institution utilized student success coaches to assist students along the way. These coaches used analytics to track their students and intervene before students got into academic trouble. This tool was also used to define risk factors up front for each student in an effort to circumvent any issues down the road. This tool has helped with student success and retention.

Getting faculty on board the blended learning train

Reflections from the 2015 Online Learning Consortium Blended conference

Yet another excellent OLC Blended conference was held this past week at the Denver Sheraton  Downtown conference center. This year saw a significant focus on methods for encouraging adoption of blended methods by faculty. 

Blended Learning Toolkit

Presenters from University of Central Florida showcased their Blended Learning Toolkit, a group of tools and resources for designing blended course materials. The BlendKit was developed in association with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). Using the BlendKit materials, instructional designers from UCF offer a 5-week MOOC for guiding faculty in the development of a blended course. Materials are also available for self-paced study. And all BlendKit resources can be freely used and shared through a Creative Commons license.  Kudos to UCF for sharing their exceptionally well thought out processes for getting faculty on board the blended band wagon. The BlendKit partnered with EDUCAUSE so that participants could pay a small fee and submit their portfolios to EDUCASE to earn a master badge.

Reinventing Faculty Professional Development

In the session titled Reinventing Faculty Professional Development, presenters from CU-Online  explained their approach to faculty development. Using internal funding, CU-Online staffers created the Online Skills Mastery (OSM) program, a 10 week, fully online, facilitated workshop for teaching with digital tools. The entire workshop is facilitated by faculty, with UC-Online instructional design staff providing grading and technical support. Faculty participants are enrolled as students. A small monetary stipend is offered to all faculty successfully completing all requirements of the workshop including readings, discussion postings, assignments and other assessments. A badging program is in pilot stage and uses the Canvas BadgeSafe platform.

Blend and flex: One size fits all

A third approach for preparing faculty to use blended methods was presented by colleagues from Florida Atlantic University. Their approach focuses on a one-size-fits-all method. Funded through a DL student fee, their approach uses a combination of consultations, workshops, open labs, eDesign and eCertifications to prepare faculty for using blended methods. Atlantic U. uses more of a just-in-time approach that doesn’t require an extended time commitment by faculty.

For example, their one-hour lunchtime technology workshops are sharply focused. The first 30 minutes are spent on the pedagogy of the technology and the last 30 minutes demonstrating the use of the technology. An important point is that all workshops are facilitated by faculty users. Using faculty facilitators brings that all-important buy-in from faculty colleagues. Staffers may know more about the mechanics but faculty users bring the classroom experience that colleagues can relate to. 

Other stuff

Technology showcases are always a treat for me, and the conference didn't let me down. The Technology Test Kitchen was an area set up withing the exhibit hall containing a variety of apps and devices for hands-on demos. I finally got my hands on a pair of Google glasses for a quick view. The "chef" explained that first generation devices were in the $1,500 range but Sony is scheduled to release a new-and-improved version for a more reasonable cost.

 

There was also a green screen setup using a tripodded iPad and the Green Screen app. This has great potential for livening up webcasts and lecture captures. 

Several Google Cardboard devices were available but iPhone apps that take advantage of the virtual environment are still in very short supply. 

And I finally saw the Swivl device demoed. The Swivl is used to record presenters. A mobile device is placed in the Swivl. After turning on the Swivl app, the presenter places a small tracking device on their person. They can then walk around the classroom and the Swivl device will follow their movement. This would certainly fit the bill of on-the-fly lecture capture and has definite possibilities.

 

It was announced that this was the final OLC Blended conference. OLC is merging their Blended and Emerging Technology conferences into a single event, with the 1st Annual Innovate conference scheduled for April 20-22 in New Orleans. 

ID&T Today: “Building a Pathway for StudentLearning” Course De...

ID&T Today: “Building a Pathway for StudentLearning” Course De...: “Building a Pathway for Student Learning” Course Design Retreat - June 2-5, 2015, Colorado Springs I was fortunate to attend the “Bui...

“Building a Pathway for Student Learning” Course Design Retreat - June 2-5, 2015, Colorado Springs

I was fortunate to attend the “Building a Pathway for Student Learning” Course Design Retreat June 2-5, 2015 in Colorado Springs. The retreat is a joint effort offered each year with faculty from both Regis University and the United States Air Force Academy. The hands-on approach to course design created a fun and interactive learning community. I was a facilitator for one of the five tables of intermingled faculty. This role provided me with the opportunity to gain insights into the difficult “thinking processes” that it takes faculty to craft a well-integrated, aligned, and transparent course. The following is a summary of what I learned and observed.

There are five phases within the course design’s “thinking process,” each with attention to requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) students must gain in order to be successful in the course. First is identification of “student learning factors.” Second is the formulation of a well-crafted and measureable “learning goal.” Third is the identification of the “proficiencies” student must gain in order to achieve the learning goal. Fourth is the development of appropriate “learning experiences” that support students in moving toward the proficiency and ultimately the learning goal. Fifth is the identification of appropriate formative assessments for both students and faculty to determine if students had gained the requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes to gain the needed proficiencies.

Faculty were instructed to come with a course in mind to either create or revise throughout the retreat. The focus was on “student learning” rather than on content development. This may sound like a minor difference in wording, but it was a major shift in how faculty approach the course design process. The goal of the retreat was to facilitate faculty through their thinking processes in order for each to craft a well-integrated, aligned, and transparent course. A “Course Poster” template was used to facilitate each phase.

Course Poster Template

Throughout the retreat the faculty progress through an iterative refinement of their “thinking process.” These refinement processes provide the faculty with the opportunity to revisit any assumptions they may have made about the student learning factors without realizing it. Often, assumptions impact the student learning factors and targeted learning goal. One of the key aspects of the retreat was the iterative refinement of the thinking process with input and feedback from peers. This was crucial to allow for different perspectives from other faculty who are not familiar with the course content. Often faculty are so familiar with their content that they fall into the “Curse of Knowledge.” They forget all of the proficiencies that they have to learn and assimilate to build their wealth of knowledge of the content area.

Phase 1: The faculty begin by brainstorming a list of student learning factors for their courses such as diversity motivation to learn, cultural backgrounds, background experiences and many other factors to consider. Faculty moved from identifying “who are my students” with a continuous refinement of the student learning factors to formulate “what do my students need to learn” in order to meet the learning goal. This initial phase begins to build the pathway for student learning.

Phase 2: The faculty were instructed to identify the learning goals but to pick one to focus on throughout the retreat. The learning goal served as the bulls-eye target for the course design process. Notice that I am not saying content development process. All aspects of the course design process had to align with their selected learning goal. If everything didn’t align, there was a mismatch of what students needed to learn, practice, and do (KSA) to meet the learning goal. Throughout the retreat there was an ongoing refinement of the learning goal and the student learning factors to make sure that the targeted learning goal aligned with what students needed to know, do or value (KSA) in order to meet that learning goal.

The next step within this second phase was to identify what type of summative assessment would be appropriate for the selected learning goal. Identifying the summative assessment at this point in the thinking process provided continuity of thought and alignment with the learning goal. If the summative assessment didn’t accurately measure the student’s learning related to the course goal, then the summative assessment needed to be revisited and potentially the learning goal as well.

Phase 3: This phase in the course design process was to identify all of the proficiencies (KSA) that students must gain within the course in order to meeting the targeted learning goal.  Another way of thinking of proficiencies is as learning objectives or outcomes. Faculty then brainstorm with their peers and facilitator to identify all of the student learning proficiencies needed. This thinking process further refines the course design since the proficiencies have to align with both the student learning factors and the learning goal. If the proficiencies don’t align then more thinking and brainstorming will be needed.

At this point in the retreat the faculty seemed to gain confidence in their thinking process around course design. Faculty seemed to pick up their momentum and enthusiasm for how they were designing their courses that would indeed build a pathway for student learning.  

Phase 4: Faculty moved on to identifying learning experiences (not the assignments themselves) which support student learning for each of the proficiencies identified in Phase 3 as they kept in mind the KSAs students need to develop. As an aside, this is where I often see faculty spend most of their time on course development.

Phase 5: Faculty then move on to the last phase by brainstorming and identifying appropriate formative assessments for each of the proficiencies. This part seemed hard and simple at the same time. The thinking process that was required to determine appropriate evaluations for each of the proficiencies was simple though more creativity was encouraged. In turn, each of the formative evaluations identified needed to align with the summative assessment. This was the harder part of the thinking process. For example, if the summative assessment was an essay, then one of the formative assessments needed to be some type of an essay to provide students with the opportunity to have their writing skills evaluated prior to the summative assessment.

At the end of the retreat faculty presented their Course Poster and discussed their rationale for how they mapped the pathways for student learning clearly identified.

Violetta Miles Course Poster Presentation

There were many ah-ha moments as faculty wrestled with the complexity of their own course design in order to ensure that they built a pathway to set students up for success in their courses. The course poster provides transparency for their course design and shows the integration of the five phases. Faculty discussed whether they would share their course poster with their students or not. The jury is still out on this one.

My appreciation and gratitude goes to Ken Sagendorf in the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) for the opportunity to participate in this course design retreat. I will use this course design framework to help me as I work with faculty moving forward. I believe this is a wonderful process to pull apart a course and fit it back together (like a puzzle) in a more cohesive and aligned manner. I am grateful to my department, Instructional Design & Technology (IDT) for their support of me in attending this retreat. My hope is to share what I’ve learned with my colleagues and that we may all focus more on student learning rather than primarily on course content development.  

eLCC May 2015 monthly meeting

Professional development

The May 2015 eLCC monthly meeting was hosted by Red Rocks Community College at their beautiful campus nestled in the foothills near Golden.

Jon Johnson, Director of Instructional Technology and eLearning, and Kai Savi, Instructional Designer, both at Red Rocks, got things started with a professional development session on the use of of universal design concepts when developing course content. The session spurred a lively discussion on the struggles faced at institutions with the acceptance of universal design principles.

Three attendees work at institutions that have, or are working on, an institutional policy for ADA compliance. Others shared that training is being provided to faculty course developers on how to incorporate ADA-friendly universal design concepts. There was unanimous agreement that, although federal mandates and lawsuit threats will ultimately force compliance, that instructional designers should focus training efforts on the learner benefits of universal design rather than compliance mandates.

Jon and Kai then went through several slides on methods for incorporating ADA-friendly electronic course elements. Their PPT will be shared with eLCC members in the near future.

Jon then took attendees on a tour of the multi-purpose building that houses, among other things, the library, IT, cafeteria, and classrooms. Of note were the dedicated classrooms equipped with short throw projectors and adjustable seating that easily accommodates small group collaborations.

Business meeting

Conference update

• Overall a great success
• Some discussion on a possible change in location for 2016 conference
• Bidding process used to determine location
• Thursday luncheon speaker Robbie Melton was a big hit with attendees
• Many institutions are no longer allowed to purchase door prizes

Website

• WordPress corporate site got hacked, causing eLCC site to be down for several days
• eLCC site had to be recreated from scratch by Nate Wadman
• Front page now sequential by date
• Still needs ADA compliance verification
• Will soon incorporate an RSS option

Listserv

• New listserv tool coming this summer
• Paid site, funded by eLCC
• Should be much easier to manage

Professional development day

• October 23rd at Metro State
• May or may not co-sponsor with Metro State
• If not co-sponsoring, eLCC will have a separate event
• eLCC members attend free of charge
• RFP coming this summer

Upcoming eLCC meetings

• June 26: Colorado Mountain College (campus TBD)
• July: virtual meeting hosted by Pikes Peak CC
• August: none
• September: retreat, location TBD (possibly at Penrose House in Colorado Springs)