NEW - Quality Matters Fall Workshops
We are excited to announce that we have added a new set of Quality Matters workshops starting the week of September 14, targeted at providing just-in-time support for faculty teaching this fall. Topics include active learning strategies, assessment, accessibility, and increasing engagement. Please encourage faculty to register now to secure their spot.
There is no cost for any USM faculty or staff member to attend these workshops, but each workshop does have a 30-person limit, so we encourage you to promote these as soon as possible. We will be monitoring registrations as will add additional sessions if we see high demand.
Week of August 24 | ||
Wednesday August 26, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Creating Accessible Word Docs |
Thursday, August 27, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Providing Accessible Web Content |
Week of September 14 | ||
Tuesday, September 15, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Rethinking Assessments for Application & Engagement |
Tuesday, September 15, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Connecting LOs & Assessments |
Wednesday, September 16, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Active Learning Strategies |
Wednesday, September 16, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Increasing Learning Engagement with Web 2.0 Tools |
Thursday, September 17, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Helping Learners Track Their Progress |
Thursday, September 17, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Creating Rubrics |
Week of September 21 | ||
Tuesday, September 22, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Captioning Videos |
Tuesday, September 22, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Rethinking Assessments for Application & Engagement |
Wednesday, September 23, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Connecting LOs & Assessments |
Wednesday, September 23, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Active Learning Strategies |
Thursday, September 24, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Increasing Learning Engagement with Web 2.0 Tools |
Thursday, September 24, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Helping Learners Track Their Progress |
Week of September 28 | ||
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Creating Rubrics |
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Captioning Videos |
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Rethinking Assessments for Application & Engagement |
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Connecting LOs & Assessments |
Thursday, October 1, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Active Learning Strategies |
Thursday, October 1, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Increasing Learning Engagement with Web 2.0 Tools |
2-Step Instructions for Self-Registering for USM OnTrack QM Workshops
Today's talk is The power of believing that you can improve by Carol Dweck. Carol Dweck researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain's capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet? A great introduction to this influential field.
Does your course offer students multiple ways to consume content, complete activities, and demonstrate learning? Accessible course content is good content, as the saying goes, but how can you offer multiple modalities that meet the needs of diverse learners?
The framework to support this practice is Universal Design for Learning (UDL). At its core, UDL is about providing all learners with experiences that include multiple ways to engage, represent, and express. It is about intentional and proactive steps faculty take to create an accessible course for everyone.
These steps often begin with identifying one more option for students, what Tobin and Behling (2018) call a +1 strategy. Ultimately, what is one more way students can engage with content, complete an activity, or show what they know?
You can develop a +1 strategy by considering these questions:
Where do students tend to ask lots of questions?
Where do students often get things wrong on quizzes or tests?
Where do you almost always need to re-teach or explain things in a different way?
The answers can help you develop the framework for meaningful enhancements each semester. You can develop a +1 strategy by starting where you are. You may focus on enhancing course content options first, then expand learning activities or assessments.
Some +1 ideas for expanding content choices beyond reading text include:
Chunk content into smaller videos, with captions (and transcripts if possible)
Offer podcasts for those who are auditory learners
Create evergreen content; that is, it can be repurposed from one semester to another
Some +1 ideas for offering students multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge or proficiency include:
Journaling or blogging
Creating a video
Creating a multimedia presentation
Writing a paper
As you create a +1 strategy, consider Blackboard Ally -- a tool that provides alternative formats students can download in order to access course information in a format they need or want. Students who are prone to eye strain might prefer to download an HTML or ePub format of text for easier reading on a mobile device, or because they want options to copy, paste, search, or highlight passages of text. Students who are auditory learners find listening more helpful than reading and can download an audio format of text. Other alternative formats include electronic braille and BeeLine Reader.
Alternative formats aren't just for a select group of students: They benefit everyone in your quest to design accessible course content.
As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:
Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources
Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
Request a consult with instructional technology staff
Now available to the campus community and beyond, PIVOT Solo contains lessons on five key topics including course organization, active learning, community building, assessment, and supporting students. PIVOT Solo is designed to be a flexible, self-directed experience, allowing faculty to determine what knowledge they want to refresh or enhance. It is important to note that completion of any or all of PIVOT Solo will not result in eligibility for the professional development stipend that accompanies participation in PIVOT Live and PIVOT+.
The recordings from the PIVOT Live 5 hour webinar series are also available; these are the recordings of the live sessions that can be viewed in their entirety to meet the requirements of the Hrabowski stipend for adjunct faculty.
Additionally, faculty can access recordings of previous training sessions on a number of instructional technologies topics and tools in our recording archives including Blackboard, Collaborate, Panopto, and VoiceThread.
Finally, faculty may want to take advantage of the Course Workload Estimator, which will assist in determining how long it may take a student to complete various course activities, and the many other resources we've provided on the site to help support their online course development and delivery.
Check out this new professional development resource today!
Upcoming Quality Matters Workshops
USM OnTrack has pre-purchased a pool of online teaching professional development workshops from Quality Matters on beginning to advanced topics, including designing for learner engagement, flipping the online course, setting expectations with students, active learning strategies, accessibility, and online assessment. There is no cost for any USM faculty or staff member to attend these workshops, but each workshop does have a 30-person limit, so we encourage you to promote these as soon as possible. We will be monitoring registrations as will add additional sessions if we see high demand.
Below are the workshop titles for the final two weeks, along with registration information. NOTE: We have added a number of additional sessions for high-demand topics; please encourage faculty to come back to our web page to see if a session that was previously full is now available.
Week of August 17 | ||
Monday, August 17, 2020 (NEW!) | 9:00-11:00 | Rethinking Assessments for Application and Engagement |
Monday, August 17, 2020 (NEW!) | 1:00-3:00 | Rethinking Assessments for Application and Engagement |
Tuesday, August 18, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Flipped Approach for Synchronous Online |
Tuesday, August 18, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Setting Expectations and Learner Support: Helping Learners be Successful |
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Communicating New Policies for Online Courses |
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 (NEW!) | 1:00-3:00 | Creating Discussion Board Rubrics |
Thursday, August 20, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Creating Discussion Board Rubrics |
Week of August 24 | ||
Wednesday August 26, 2020 | 1:00-3:00 | Creating Accessible Word Docs |
Thursday, August 27, 2020 | 9:00-11:00 | Providing Accessible Web Content |
2-Step Instructions for Self-Registering for USM OnTrack QM Workshops
Today's talk is In uncertain times, think like a mother by Yifat Susskind. There's a simple and powerful way to confront the world's most pressing crises, says women's rights activist Yifat Susskind: think like a mother. As she puts it: "When you think like a mother, you prioritize the needs of the many, not the whims of the few." Follow along as she shares moving stories of people around the world who embody this mindset -- and shows how it can also help you see beyond suffering and act to build a better world.
Over the summer, DoIT’s instructional technology team delivered four cohorts of PIVOT+ training to 275 UMBC faculty. Leveraging peer mentors and daily webinars focused on effective pedagogy for online teaching, the PIVOT+ program offered new opportunities for faculty to reflect on teaching and connect with each other as they prepared courses for fall.
Now available to the campus community and beyond, PIVOT Solo contains lessons on five key topics including course organization, active learning, community building, assessment, and supporting students. Choose one or all lessons, or just some content within a single lesson. PIVOT Solo is designed to be a flexible, self-directed experience, allowing faculty to determine what knowledge they want to refresh or enhance.
PIVOT Solo follows the PIVOT Live webinar series, which generated enormous interest. More than 1,000 registrations were recorded for the first five PIVOT Live sessions. More than 250 PIVOT Live participants were unique during the week, nearly half of which were teaching online during the summer. To date, over380 unique faculty have either attended the synchronous sessions or viewed the recorded PIVOT LIVE webinar series.
It is important to note that completion of any or all of PIVOT Solo will not result in eligibility for the professional development stipend that accompanies participation in PIVOT Live and PIVOT+.
As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:
Downtime
On Saturday, August 15, Panopto will be making a number of updates to their Cloud infrastructure to improve performance and scalability. These updates will require up to 3 hours of downtime, with a target start time of 9:00 PM EDT.
During the downtime, users will not be able to access videos on our Panopto site, and any attempts to upload from recording clients will result in a "Server unable to connect" message.
TLS 1.0/1.1 support end of life
TLS is the cryptographic protocol. Older versions of TLS, specifically 1.0 and 1.1 are no longer considered to be secure and Panopto will discontinue support of them on August 19th, 2020.
Please submit an RT ticket if you have any questions or concerns.