Online Courses: Where to Start?

Where are you "on the map" of teaching online?

Helen and I have identified some key points on such a map:

We both started by created web-enhanced courses. In other words, we began to use online resources to supplement a course. Then, as we developed confidence and skills, we were able to replace some "seat time" with online activities. If we had to miss a face-to-face class session in order to attend a conference or for other reasons, we were able to still hold class. Eventually, we made a course officially hybrid - which means the university can schedule the classroom for other uses when we have slated class meetings to be fully online (while retaining certain days as face-to-face). Flipped and blended courses continue this hybridized element. Finally, teaching a fully online course requires knowledge of synchronous and asynchronous elements and the capacity to decide which to use when.

Where are you on this map? Have you created a web-enhanced course? Have you flipped your classroom? Are you looking to teach a fully online class or perhaps you have already done so? In preparation for our last Just-in-Time session (Tuesday, 4/28 @ 1:00pm in KPlz 175), think about what you would like learn/gain from a discussion about online teaching.

We will demonstrate a template on Moodle, showcase some screenshots from your colleague's online courses, and show our own work teaching online.

You might like to consider taking a MOOC about teaching online with Moodle. It begins on May 1st: http://www.wiziq.com/teachblog/moodle-mooc-6

Lastly, here is some great advice about "humanizing online teaching."

Different Approaches to Using Moodle

We had a great session today, sharing different approaches to using Moodle (the learning management system used at UMD).

Brian Gute, Rachel Breckenridge, and Char Harkins each walked us through a "show and tell" of a course or two that they have designed on Moodle and are currently teaching.

Brian's "tab view" method of setting up his course was a big hit.

Rachel showed us the value of keeping hidden links and materials from previous iterations of a course.

Char showed the interface with Turnitin and how robust the feedback mechanisms are in that interface.

Here are the examples of student work that Char shared as she discussed her Chapter Project assignment: http://www.d.umn.edu/hper/majors/exercise_science/chapterproject.html.  (These are public links through which students are sharing their work.)

If you are new to Moodle, here is a video to help you get started: http://www.lynda.com/Moodle-tutorials/Moodle-26-Essential-Training/163093-2.html.

Remember that you can get help learning more about Moodle from our academic technologists at UMD, simply by emailing at-itss@d.umn.edu.

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Post amended on 4/16/15 to include some inspiration!
Laure Charleux from the Georgraphy Department recently presented her work on gamifying a class in Moodle.  Here is her video demonstrating the game she created to teach statistics for students in the GIS major: https://youtu.be/SuSlF2G_rSU
Here is Laure's presentation from last week on Game Dynamics in Moodle.

Creating Google Hangout with Custom URL

For this week's Just-in-Time series we shared how to create a Google Hangout with a Custom URL. In this blog we provide 2 resources to guide you:

1. How to set up a Google Hangout with customized URL: This is a written, step-by-step guide with screenshots showing you what to do at each step
   
   OR
   
2. Watch the video below that show you step by step what to do:

Learning the Ropes on Google Calendar

These are some resources we will share in our session today.

UMD has recently started a subscription with Lynda.com (go to lynda.umn.edu and log in with your x.500 and password). There are some amazing resources there on just about everything technical.

 Once you log in, search "Google Calendar" and you will find a fabulously organized tutorial on different aspects of the Calendar called "Google Calendar Essential Training with Jess Stratton."  You can select the specific issue you want more information on. Everything is included from how to get started using the Calendar to creating and responding to invitation, to sharing calendars, to going mobile.

Also, Helen made this fun video demonstrating how to make an appointment with a colleague on Google Calendar:
http://youtu.be/-yG0cIx4M4w

As with all of our just-in-time topics, remember to approach the Calendar - whether or not to use it, how you want to use it, with whom you'd like to share, etc. - with utmost intentionality.  It's your tool; use it to bring ease into your daily work life, not to create further stress.

Organizing Google Drive

Organizing Google Drive

Just-in-Time Session February 10, 2015

Here are the basics for creating, working with, and sharing a Google Document: "Overview of Google Drive Basics" by Helen Mongan-Rallis.

Once you have created and worked with some Google Docs (as well as receiving them from students and colleagues), you may find that your Google Drive is looking a little confusing and/or messy.  Here is a helpful tutorial video on three different ways to organize files on Google Drive.

This video (“Organizing Your Google Drive”) begins with a different approach - searching first, rather than necessarily using folders.

For general questions, here is Google's own help page for Google Drive.

Lastly, we will demonstrate some examples of using Google Docs and the Drive for collaboration, particularly in the classroom.

Again, we encourage you to bring intentionality to your use of technology. What do you want to get from your use of the Google Drive? Let's find the easiest and fastest way to accomplish this.

Flipped Classroom Community of Practice Series started this week

In response to the interest across campus in using a flipped classroom approach to teaching, we put out calls for faculty who would like to participate in a flipped classroom community of practice (FCCoP) cohort series of sessions. Within a few days of sending out the call our cohort was fully enrolled (27 members) with a waiting list! This week was our first of 6 sessions.  Participants introduced themselves, shared any experiences they have had to date in using a flipped classroom approach, and suggested topics they would like to address in future sessions.

We have created a closed Moodle site to serve as a learning space where our FCCoP group can ask questions of each other, share work in progress, and access resources. To accompany the site we also created a shared Flipped Classroom Google Doc where the group can post resources. Unlike the closed Moodle site, this Google document is open to anyone at UMD to access, both to learn about and to contribute resources on flipped classrooms. So please check it out and share resources that you have found helpful!

Automatically archiving emails once you have replied to them

At our Just-in-time session last week there was a question about how to automatically archive an email once you have replied to it. Here are the steps to show you how to do this:

1. Go to your gmail settings (you get there by selecting "settings" from the cog wheel that appears on the right hand side of your gmail inbox):
   
2. Under the "general" tab in your gmail settings, scroll down to the section on "Send and Archive." Select the option to "Show Send and Archive button in reply."
   
   
3. When you reply to an email, the blue "Send +" button will be at the bottom of the reply text box. Once you have typed your response, instead of clicking the "send" button, you can choose the "Send+" and the email to which you replied will automatically be archived in your gmail archive. This removes it from your inbox, but keeps it (in your archive) so that you can access it later should you need to refer to it. You can find it by searching for it by keyword in the email, subject line or by the email address of the sender.
   (Note: if you don't want to archive the message, then just click on "Send" rather than "Send+")
   
   

[Helen posted this blog post on her personal Tech Tips for Teachers blog, but she re-posted it here as this addresses a specific question raised in our Just-in-Time session]