Teaching in Higher Ed

Resources

My bag is packed for a new academic year

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Back to school

We just started our semester this week. My second day of classes begins tomorrow. It has been fun getting to know our students a bit and experiencing all the energy and chaos that a new academic year can bring.

Here is what I've got “packed” in my bag for the start to school:

Grit-It Organizer

I discovered the Grid-It organizer a couple of years ago and have found it extremely helpful in not leaving things behind in the classroom. One of my colleagues will tell you that as recently as yesterday, I left my adapter behind in the classroom. But, it sure doesn't happen nearly anywhere near as often as it used to… And I make sure and label everything I might potentially leave behind, to lessen the likelihood of losing items forever.

Poll Everywhere

This polling service has been my go-to tool for helping the students discover the power of retrieval practice. I get by with the free version, which allows for up to 40 anonymous respondents at one time. While I do have times in the classroom when we are device-free, there's something about starting a semester by encouraging the students to take out their phones and to engage in that manner that surprises them.

Wireless Presenter

My preference is to move about the classroom, without being stuck behind a laptop to advance my slides. While I know there are now options to advance slides on one's Apple Watch or mobile phone, I still have a preference for a wireless presenter remote. I own two different types of wireless presenters, which I like equally well. As long as they fit easily in my hand and I'm unlikely to accidentally press the button to advance a slide when I didn't intend to, they work great for me.

Apple Pencil

I've been a user of various stylus devices for decades now. Apple Pencil is hands down the best one I've ever used. I use a blended learning approach in most of my classes. I typically don't lecture in the in-person classes, but instead create what I call pencasts (which are videos of me talking about a topic, while drawing like a seven year-old, images that make the main points much more memorable). The Apple Pencil glides across the iPad screen and allows for adding color and varying the pen/pencil thickness easily.

Doceri

The app that I have found most useful for capturing / creating pencasts is Doceri. I first sketch out whatever the drawing is going to be for the pencast. Doceri is recording a video of my ever pencil stroke, for playback when adding in the audio portion. When I record myself narrating the drawing portion, I can pause the playback of my pencil strokes, as well as slow them down. I used to need to draw at the same time as talking, which I found to be incredibly difficult. Doceri and the Apple Pencil are game-changers for those who want to create pencasts.

What's “packed” in your bag for the start of your academic year? 

Video course trailers

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Our university is moving to Canvas this summer.

One feature I'm looking forward to utilizing is way Canvas approaches syllabi. The dates that many faculty re-create each and every semester at the bottom of their syllabi are auto-populated by whatever assignments and other date-related items you enter within the learning management system (LMS).

Above those dates is an empty space, just waiting for a professor to get creative…

2016-05-03_18-49-54

At the 2016 OLC Innovate conference, I saw a plethora of ways faculty are using either a custom course home page, or the top of the syllabus page to draw students in… This isn't specific to Canvas and would work in any learning management system (LMS).

I'm thinking I would like to use video to develop a sense of curiosity about my classes within an online syllabus.

Video course trailers

Thanks to Derek Bruff, I rediscovered what are called course trailers. These are similar to move trailers, but rather than getting students excited about a forthcoming movie, you get them excited about your class.

Duke has an introduction on how to create video course trailers, while there are plenty of other places to go for inspiration.

Harvard was one of the earliest developers of course trailers. They have a collection of trailers for their general ed courses and also from their school of government courses.

This trailer for a C.S. Lewis course is very inspiring. I suspect it could leave some faculty perceiving that the process of making a course trailer is too daunting, after watching it, however.

https://vimeo.com/album/2977329/video/47097354

Most of the trailers that I watched seemed to be geared toward attempting to persuade a potential student to take a particular course. Our department is such that getting students to enroll in my classes isn't typically the problem. Instead, I would like to have a course trailer to get them excited about what they are going to learn, once they have registered for one of my classes.

https://vimeo.com/album/2977329/video/20933798

Should any of us desire another resource for how to make a course trailer, this post from the University of Mary Washington should meet that need.

[reminder]What will you be working on over the summer to incorporate into your future classes? [/reminder]

My learning from the OLC Innovate 2016 conference

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Untitled design

This week, I've been experiencing the OLC Innovate 2016 conference in New Orleans.

Back in January, I was contacted by someone from MERLOT, to let me know that the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast had been included in their collection and had then won a MERLOT Classics award. They invited me to come have the award conferred at the OLC Innovate conference and to give a presentation.

That's how I got here.

Discoveries

Here are just a few things I discovered this week:

GooseChase is a great way to build mobile phone scavenger hunt for your classes. The service is free to educators using it in our classrooms. The presenter of this session built a game, using our input, in less than five minutes.

Dr. Katie Linder gave me a pair of Research in Action earbuds, having no idea that one of my trusty pairs of earbuds had broken right before I took off for the airport.

The new Research in Action podcast is fabulous and is a great complement to Teaching in Higher Ed. It focuses on topics that aren't addressed on Teaching in Higher Ed, while still making their content accessible to diverse listeners.

I had to privilege to talk with Dr. Carl Moore after my session. We covered all the bases: race, religion, politics, teaching, social justice, productivity, iPhone apps, and music. I'm not kidding. As you might imagine, I invited him to come on the podcast and look forward to having him share with us about proactive inclusion.

Carl shared with me about a professor who has taught him so much by always having two rules for his classes: That you be yourself and that you are present. 

Universities are experimenting with hyflex models of course delivery. Dr. Brian Beatty put together a great panel of  presenters, discussing the various ways they are giving their students flexibility, while ensuring that they still maintain the following four hyflex principles: Alternatives, equivalence, reuse, and accessibility.

Travis Thurston shared about the creative ways they are developing learning paths within the Canvas LMS. He's doing what seems to be a combination of choose your own adventure learning, as well as choose your own adventure assessment.

The presenters from UCSF shared about how to create screen lessons for our students and provided a link to their online resources. They gave four ideas for creating more engaging videos:

  1. Provide a virtual demo in a screencast format
  2. Ask questions (can even do video-based questions in a quiz)
  3. Annotate with ink using a stylus
  4. Use props to illustrate your point

They also suggested keeping videos less than 10 minutes, in most cases even as short as 3-5 minutes. They make use of Screenflow and Camtasia in creating their videos.

Finally, I started coveting the Swivl robot, once again.

You hold a small remote in your hand while you're presenting and the robot “follows” you to keep your image on camera. Also, you indicate using the remote whether you want to be recording your image, or whatever you're projecting on to the screen.

Given that our university is switching over to Canvas this summer, something tells me it isn't the right time to make a purchase of an entirely new type of device… But, that's probably just because I'm tired and I'll be back to wanting one, again, tomorrow.

I didn't do any sketchnotes, like I usually do at conferences. The tip of my Apple Pencil had fallen off and I didn't notice until I took it out to start my first note. Fortunately, I located it in the bottom of the tote bag they gave us and order was restored in my iUniverse.

You can view the slides and resources from my session online.

Help me help you

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My apologies to those of you who prefer a bit more sophisticated reference to the movie Jerry Maguire… I'm coming off of more than a week with a nasty virus and may not be able to manage much more than this.

At 1:15 in the clip, Jerry says, “Help me, help you.”

That's what I'm asking you for today…

I've been airing Teaching in Higher Ed podcasts weekly since June 2014.

As I start thinking about summer of 2016, I wonder if I should keep going with the same pattern that I have been on, or perhaps modify my approach a bit during those months.

Help me, help you

Please consider getting in touch through the comments section, below, or if you receive this via email, you can just reply with answers to any of the following questions:

  1. How could Teaching in Higher Ed best support your professional development over the summer?
  2. How regularly will you be listening to podcasts over the summer?
  3. What have been 1-2 of the episodes that we have aired so far that have changed your teaching in some way and how did they impact that change?
  4. What's one area in your teaching or personal productivity that you are struggling with right now?

[reminder]Thank you for considering providing input as I consider how to approach summertime with Teaching in Higher Ed. [/reminder]

I know that many of you teach year round and appreciate hearing from you, as well, about your listening habits and episodes that have transformed  your teaching… 

A rewarding week…

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A rewarding week...

This past week was definitely rewarding.

It is so energizing to get to connect with people who are so committed to teaching and learning. I'm excited to think about what this next year in podcasting will bring.

If you have gotten something out of Teaching in Higher Ed, would you consider helping others discover the show by:

  1. Forwarding James Lang's article about Teaching in Higher Ed to others who have a passion for teaching
  2. Commenting on the article James Lang wrote with what has been your favorite episode of Teaching in Higher Ed, so that it might get additional exposure with those who read The Chronicle
  3. Rating or ranking the show (https://teachinginhighered.com/itunes – it will take you into iTunes, where you can rate/rank it, or via whatever app/service you usually use to listen)

Thanks for being a part of the Teaching in Higher Ed community.