In the Classroom with Stan Skrabut: Recent Episodes
Stan Skrabut
Welcome to In the Classroom with Stan Skrabut where we will explore different tools and strategies for creating more engaging courses. In this podcast, Stan works out loud while prepping and teaching different courses in the higher education realm. He also will be sharing ideas that he is exploring to solve faculty teaching issues.
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This week, I am going to share the top ten episodes for 2021. As a bonus, I will share the top five episodes of all time for this podcast. Finally, I close with an important announcement.
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Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc148
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We have a responsibility to not only help our students understand the content of our disciplines but also help them start their careers.
This means they should have a profile, should start developing a network, and learn how to participate as a professional through their profile and as members of a community.
Not only can you help students set up powerful LinkedIn profiles, you can use LinkedIn as a teaching and learning platform.
This week, I am going to highlight getting started with LinkedIn as well as strategies for using LinkedIn in the classroom.
Come learn more.
Join me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InTheClassroomPodcast/
Other podcast episodes: https://tubarksblog.com/intheclassroom
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc147
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
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As I break down the 5 steps of ADDIE, I will focus on how it can be used in the classroom.
The five steps of the ADDIE model are:
● Analysis
● Design
● Development
● Implementation
● Evaluation
The use of ADDIE means that you are taking a deliberate approach to designing your course. Everything has a purpose and is interconnected. The ADDIE method is applicable regardless of course modality.
This week, I am going to explain each of the ADDIE steps and provide ideas for using ADDIE to design your courses.
Come learn more.
Join me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InTheClassroomPodcast/
Other podcast episodes: https://tubarksblog.com/intheclassroom
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc146
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/read-to-succeed/
During two previous attempts at NaNoWriMo or the National Novel Writing Month, I failed to hit the 50,000 word mark while working on just one project. So I had to try something different.
I recognized that I could not find enough time to craft the words by hand. This year I switched to dictation and that made all the difference.
This week, I am going to share tips for successfully getting through a time consuming project like NaNoWriMo.
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Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc145
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My inspiration for this episode comes from a wonderful Spanish professor named Theresa Baginski. She developed a series of study guides for her college-level Spanish classes.
A good study guide not only guides students through assigned readings, lectures, presentations, videos, handouts, etc., it also ties together goals and objectives, essential questions, key vocabulary and concepts, and formative activities.
This week, I am going to share tips for creating effective study guides to support lectures, videos, and reading assignments.
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Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc144
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One tool that can turn a lecture from a passive activity to an active one is guided notes also known as skeleton notes. Guided notes can also be used for grasping the essential content from videos and reading assignments.
According to William L. Heward, a professor at the Ohio State University, Guided Notes are “Guided notes are instructor-prepared handouts that provide all students with background information and standard cues with specific spaces to write key facts, concepts, and/or relationships during the lecture.”
Guided notes can help students stay on task while listening to a lecture, watching a video, or reading a chapter. This can lead to increased academic performance.
This week, I am going to share tips for creating beneficial guided notes to support lectures, videos, and reading assignments.
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Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc143
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With a lot less effort than starting from scratch, you can extract multiple learning assets out of a single piece of core content. For example, you can take a video file and extract an audio file and transcript that can create value for your students. You can then use these different parts to enhance LMS content pages or create OER content.
It is a strategy that I have used with a tremendous amount of success. This podcast has been repurposed into many different assets from blog posts to videos. Parts have also found their ways into books. The possibilities are boundless.
This week, I am going to share strategies for creating a core piece of content such as a video and then repurposing it into multiple learning assets.
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Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc142
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This week we are going to talk about making your instruction more personal. My inspiration is coming from Ruth Colvin Clark’s book, Evidence-Based Training Methods. I am also inspired by all the entrepreneurial podcasts that I listen to. They try to make their content and ads as personal as possible.
We are going to focus on the social presence in this episode. Social presence is the human element. This is where students and the instructor engaged in dialog. Ideally, there should be open communication to develop group cohesion, build trust, and make connections. This is where the greatest amount of dialog takes place.
This week, I am going to share strategies you can use to make your instruction more personal. It starts with the language you use and how you use it.
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I have participated in NaNoWriMo a few times. The first time resulted in my book, Read to Succeed. My last attempt has sparked progress to a book I am currently finalizing. I am hoping to have it released in the next couple of months. I am using this NaNoWriMo event as a catalyst to feed my latest book idea.
NaNoWriMo is a perfect vehicle for jump-starting a writing project. I think this is a wonderful challenge for students. It is a stretch goal, but it lets them know what is possible. Students will learn how to break down a large task into smaller, more manageable parts as well as manage a schedule to deliver on time.
This week, I am going to tell you about NaNoWriMo and my writing strategy. I will also encourage you to join me in this year’s NaNoWriMo.
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When I was in the Air Force, I had taken courses on instructional systems design or ISD. I learned about Gagné's 9 Events of Instruction. As I was pursuing my degrees, I was exposed to ADDIE, which is a waterfall design method. Along the way, I also learned about agile programming and its underlying methodology. During my exploration, I learned how to apply agile programming to instructional design. I was not the only one seeing the connection.
Dr. Michael Allen developed a more rapid design methodology called SAM or the Successive Approximation Model. It uses agile iterative design as its core to test and improve ideas. The goal is to develop working modules quicker. You prototype a solution, test it, and then make updates.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at SAM and how it can be useful for your course design.
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An ARS can automatically collect and report out student responses in a classroom. You can use them to test student opinions as well as test their knowledge on a subject. They can be used throughout a class period. Instructors can use an ARS in face-to-face classes and in some cases, depending on the system, in online courses.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at why you would want to use an audience response system as well as some options. Additionally, we will discuss question development and success tips.
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The first time I had heard about Digital Powerups was while listening to episode 295 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Bonnie Stachowiak was interviewing Travis Thurston, the Assistant Director of Empowering Teaching Excellence. I immediately knew I needed to share this with you.
Basically, students and the instructor use hashtags based on Bloom’s Taxonomy to code different aspects of their online discussion posts. This enhancement helps to move the discussions to a high level as well as highlight associations between posts.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at digital powerups. We will look at the different hashtags as well as provide tips for implementing them in your classroom.
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Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc137
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Throughout this podcast, I have referenced active learning but I have never really explained myself. The concept of active learning has been around since the 1860s. I suspect that it is not used in classrooms more is because it is not convenient for instructors. It is much easier to just spew out information as though students were sponges.
But research has demonstrated over and over again that this is not the best way to learn. We tend to learn best when confronted with opportunities to work with concepts.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at active learning and provide a list of techniques that you can use in your classroom.
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What is Quest-based Learning?
According to Chris Haskell, “Quest-based learning is an instructional design theory of game-based learning that focuses on student activity choice within the curriculum.”
The key to this is that the learning design takes its cue from game design.
Some of the elements that I find important to quest-based learning include:
- Choice of assignment
- Multiple pathways
- Multiple attempts
- Additive grading
This week, we are going to take a closer look at quest-based learning to include key elements and tips for success.
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Over the years, I have sat in countless presentations. Many of them are extremely boring; however, some of the most fun, informative, and engaging presentations have adhered to the Pecha Kucha rules.
The campus where I work is about to launch a writing, math, and presentation center for our students. I have been tossing around the idea of using Pecha Kucha as a way to draw students to the center as well as holding fun informative contests.
According to Wikipedia, Pecha Kucha is Japanese for chit-chat. It is a storytelling presentation format. Presenters show 20 slides. Each slide is displayed for 20 seconds each. They, therefore, have 6 minutes and 40 seconds or 400 seconds to present. Slides advance automatically.
This week, we are going to highlight why you would want to use them in your classroom, tips for an engaging presentation, and how to introduce them in your classroom.
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There are many different activities for engaging students online. Students like an engaging class; however, in many cases, these activities are not being used.
In this episode, we will examine 12 strategies that are easy to implement and will increase engagement and interest in your course.
While there is a need to be consistent in your course design, you will want to offer different types of assignments as well as vary your communication methods. It helps make the class more interesting.
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Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc133
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I have been using the Google the alphabet technique for many years. I just didn’t realize there was a name for it. I learned this strategy while listening to other bloggers, podcasters, and vlogger pros. These folks constantly shared their methods and tools for generating topic ideas.
This week, we are going to walk through the Google the alphabet technique. Additionally, we are going to learn how to find content ideas that will make a difference to others.
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While I was a cadet candidate at the United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School, I was subjected to the Thayer Method of Instruction. With this method, students are able to recognize problems, think logically, define solutions using resources they possess and those they can acquire, and finally, they are able to communicate clearly and logically.
It is definitely learner-centric as students are responsible for their own learning.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at the Thayer Method of Instruction and its components.
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I have been using Diigo since 2008 when I switched from Delicious, another social bookmarking tool. Diigo’s prime purpose is to bookmark websites and documents that you want to refer to later. I have nearly 21,000 items organized with 1,842 different tags.
My primary use for Diigo when supporting a class is the curation of resources while I am researching a topic. I do this with all my research projects.
In my classes, I will share a tag link rather than list countless resources. Every time I add something new to Diigo and that specific tag, the list automatically updates. Students get the latest and greatest from my research efforts.
This week we are going to take a closer look at Diigo and how you can use it in the classroom.
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If our current rank and file classrooms are such a productive learning environment, why doesn’t the campus leadership team use them to conduct their meetings? Instead, they use conference rooms. Quite simply, there is power with discussion.
Ideally, we are trying to create a classroom that is student-centered that has a high level of communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. Rank and file classrooms do not achieve this goal.
Research has also shown that instructor behavior changes based on the environment. If there is a front of the classroom, that is where the instructor will go and they will then perform from that stage.
When considering an active learning classroom:
- Make the furniture mobile
- Provide ample workspaces
- Remove the front of the room
- Maximize opportunities for creativity and interaction
- Enhance technology
It is important to remember that change to an active learning classroom is for naught if instructors primarily teach using the lecture method.
This week we are going to take a closer look at essential elements for active learning classroom design. Fortunately, much can be done without running up the tab.
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Learning is about dialogue.
When we have conversations, we must adhere to established protocols, even when only having discussions with friends. During daily conversations with others, in the classroom, and through academic research, there are protocols that we must follow in order to be successful.
However, in each situation, there are some basics:
- One must have some knowledge of the topic.
- You should acknowledge your sources.
- You need to understand that the conversation has a past and will have a future.
This week we are going to take a closer look at teaching research as an ongoing conversation. I also share a simple exercise showing the conversation through journal articles as well as provide tips for helping students see their part in the conversation.
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Over a couple of decades working as an instructional technologist, I have developed my ideas on what a good assignment should cover. In preparation for this episode, I rediscovered the principles outlined by TILT - Transparency in Learning and Teaching. Since they mirror my principles and that are already documented, I am going to focus on transparent assignment design.
The goal of this episode is to help you develop assignments that help students achieve your learning objectives.
This week we are going to take a closer look at the three elements of Transparent Assignment Design. These elements are supported by Universal Design for Learning.
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I used after-action reviews for the last 40 years. I was first exposed to them in the Air Force as a strategy for continuous improvement. AARs have served me well. I continue to use them today. I also use them in the classroom and you can as well.
AARs are easy to conduct and yield a lot of valuable information about your course and its activities. The key is to do something with what you learn.
This week we are going to take a closer look at after-action reviews and how you can improve your courses.
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Other podcast episodes: https://tubarksblog.com/intheclassroom
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I use peer review in an online graduate-level course I teach. During the course, students are developing program proposals. They submit the proposal in three phases: two drafts and a final submission. Ideally, each phase leads to an improved product. During each of the drafts, students will also submit a peer review on two different proposals.
Students can provide feedback directly on the proposal. Additionally, they must complete a worksheet. The worksheet has reviewers analyze the program plan in terms of composition, program elements, support, citations, and overall writing. Each set of peer reviews is worth 10% over the overall grade. Ensuring that it is worth a letter grade helps to get back the quality that I am looking for.
Over the course of the term, I have witnessed substantial growth in terms of the subject matter and their writing capability. I will continue to use peer reviews and modify them as I learn more.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at using peer review in the classroom to include its benefits, steps to take before, during, and after a peer review session, and effective practices to consider when creating a peer review exercise.
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Throughout the year I do a lot of reading, however, this past year has been rather tough on my reading goals. But things are settling down and I have managed to carve out time for more books.
Today, I would like to share what I am reading as well as provide you with ideas for your summer reading list. My personal reading tends to revolve around instructional technology and productivity. What I have learned over the years has helped me become more efficient and effective. This has in turn allowed me to pursue other activities.
My summer reading list is primarily focused on productivity with a hint of instructional technology. While I have lots of recommendations, I have narrowed my list for you to eight books. I have read each of these books and I think you will find them inspirational and useful.
I hope you enjoy them
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I am on the fence with this one. Primarily, I teach online classes so participation and attendance are slightly different. I also believe that the more one is involved in a course, the better they will do. But I also believe in treating adults like adults. That means, they get to make their own decisions and must accept responsibility for the decisions they make. All I can do is create the conditions that they will want to participate and succeed.
The reason I am approaching this topic right now is that I have been helping faculty work on their courses and participation and attendance have been elements we have had to work out. Additionally, I had just read a couple of articles by James Lang in the Chronicle of Higher Education on the topic. I thought the articles made a lot of sense.
The reason why we grade participation is that we recognize that engagement in the classroom leads to greater success. Students also understand this basic fact. Learning is about dialogue. The grade should not be the reason to participate.
In this episode, we will look at grading participation and attendance to include the pros and cons. We will also discuss strategies for grading participation and attendance in your classroom.
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Choice sits at the heart of Universal Design for Learning. Ideally, you would want to provide a lot of choices for your assignments to include a choice of content and format. You would also want to have different choices for each learning objective.
Converting your entire course at one time can be exhausting. I recommend that you implement assignment choice one objective at a time. In some cases, you just need to tweak your rubric and the wording of the assignment itself.
In this episode, we will look at a list of things you should consider when creating assignment choice. We will also discuss a strategy for implementing assignment choice in your classroom.
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I just integrated Hypothes.is with Readwise and now I can send all the notes I take to Evernote. This makes it tremendously easy to do research. My research system now uses five programs:
- Feedly
- Hypothes.is
- Readwise
- Evernote
- Zotero
With these five tools, I can locate new material, take notes, curate those notes, and turn them into something useful. In this episode, I will explain my system and share how each tool serves a purpose.
If you would like to check out Readwise, use this link for a free month (I will also get a free month).
Come learn more.
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Why would you want to give students extra assignments when they cannot complete the regular assignments? I am of the opinion that you can create your course in a manner in which students will not need extra credit. I am not alone in this opinion.
Rather than have students do additional assignments, have them improve upon the assignments they have already completed.
This episode will take a closer look at the pros and cons of extra credit as well as strategies for avoiding it altogether.
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To keep a semester moving forward successfully, there are many opportunities for communicating important information. This is to alert faculty to key events taking place such as preparing courses, semester start-up, archiving old courses, and much more.
Instructional technologists, program coordinators, and department chairs all have key messages they need to get out term after term. They can provide better service in the long run by automating as much routine messaging as possible. They can then divert cognitive energy to tasks on their plate.
This episode will take a closer look at creating an editorial calendar and scheduling key messages.
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Seeking is about pulling in information that is new. It is basically keeping my eyes and ears open to what is happening in the world. I tend to find information around areas of interest or problems that I am trying to solve. They may be my problems or problems for others. Keeping an eye out for new information is a fairly rapid process. Primarily, I scan titles to articles until one looks interesting. I will then open it, read it, and decide if it is worth keeping or not.
The process of sense-making is necessary before I share information with others. In my various roles, I believe it is my responsibility to help find and distribute new content in order to help others excel. Sense-making is a key component of this process because I have to first understand it and know how the new knowledge will benefit others before I can share it.
While each element is critical to this framework, I am especially a fan of the Share element. Sharing is an opportunity to add to the world knowledge base with your interpretation of what you have learned. Learning is about dialogue; dialogue with either content or with others. By sharing content, you open a door to dialogue and learning with those who network with you.
This episode will take a closer look at the Seek - Sense - Share framework and the tools I use to carry out each part of the framework.
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Since my days in the Air Force, I always carried a small notebook with me - a Moleskine notebook. I would write notes as they occur to me. These notes would be from meetings, podcasts, books, or just random ideas I wanted to capture. My notebook was a mess.
I then tripped upon a method to help me stay on track better due to better note-taking. I have been using this method ever since.
This method is called bullet journaling, a creation of Ryder Carroll.
Each individual can personalize their method to what works best for them. Even though I am now using the bullet journaling method, I have adapted it to my own way of working.
The most important thing I have found in using bullet journals is that I am more relaxed because I offloaded content from my brain to a more reliable memory device.
This episode will take a closer look at bullet journaling and how you can use it to support your profession. We will look at key features of bullet journaling as well as provide examples of how to use it.
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Approximately two weeks ago, Thomas Frank introduced me to a new tool through one of his YouTube videos. Once I understood what it could do, I knew that I needed to add it to my mix of tools. While I am just getting familiar with it, I knew I had to introduce you to it. The tool is called Readwise.
With Readwise, I was able to connect to my Kindle account and export the highlights of 116 books to Evernote. Kindle is not the only application to which you can connect. Readwise will let you automatically sync with twelve different applications such as Twitter, Hypothesis, Goodreads, Feedly, Instapaper, Pocket, and many more.
Readwise also reminds me of the wisdom I have gleaned while reading with daily emails containing random highlights. I can also share these highlights with others.
Finally, Readwise allows you to create a study system to improve your information recall similar to flashcards.
This program has become an integral part of my learning system. It will also get me using Hypothes.is and Kindle much more.
This episode will take a closer look at Readwise. We will look at the features as well as how I am currently using it along with other strategies.
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Podcasting in your classroom can be a great way to develop lifelong learning habits in your students. Podcast episodes can be consumed anytime and anywhere. They provide an effective way to share content with your students and can be used for many different purposes.
Students can also create podcast episodes as a way to demonstrate what they have learned.
This episode will take a closer look at why you would want to use podcasts in your classroom, what you need to get started, and ideas for use.
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By controlling the 168 hours we are given each week, we can move our programs and visions forward. Using strategies I learned from Tim Ferriss and Michael Hyatt, I have been able to carve out time.
These fours strategies will help you increase classroom efficiency and get more time in your life include:
- Eliminate
- Simplify
- Automate
- Delegate
This episode will take a closer look at these strategies and provide ideas for incorporating them into your classroom.
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Providing accommodations for students with needs is a time suck for a lot of people. They cut into your time as the instructor. Students divert time and energy from their studies to request accommodation. Disability services also have to spend time and energy to put the accommodation in place. In most cases, the accommodation request would not have gone in if the course was created correctly.
Accessible and inclusive courses reduce accommodations. No one really wants to request accommodation due to the stigma. They request one as a last result.
If you want to create courses that
- Improve learning
- Reduce accommodations
- Increase engagement
- Increase retention
- Expands the capabilities of your course
Then build your course with sound principles such as Universal Design for Learning, accessibility, and backward design.
This episode will take a closer look at strategies you can use to reduce accommodations to deliver instruction to all your students.
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What I going to share with you comes from Raymond Wlodkowski’s book, Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn. As Wlodkowski pointed out there is a strong positive correlation between motivation and learning. As instructors, we can create the right conditions and environment to help them learn.
Wlodkowski and Ginsberg developed the Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching. Within this framework, Wlodkowski and Ginsberg incorporate four essential elements that will attend to the learning activities that meet four conditions: success, volition, value, and enjoyment. These elements include:
- Establishing inclusion
- Developing attitude
- Enhancing meaning
- Engendering competence
By attending to these four elements, you keep focused on learner motivation.
This episode will take a closer look at factors that affect motivation, characteristics and skills needed as a motivating instructor, and strategies for increasing motivation in the classroom.
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Dialog is foundational to meaningful learning. In a well-developed course, students need to have dialog with the teacher, fellow students, and the content. The Community of Inquiry Framework facilitates this dialog. We want students to ask questions that interest them about a topic and feel comfortable adding to the conversation. We want students to pull apart topics through personal review and reflection. Most importantly, learning is about dialogue.
The Community of Inquiry Framework achieves its effect through three presences:
- Teaching Presence
- Social Presence
- Cognitive Presence
These interconnected elements result in a heightened learner experience. The course will lack engagement and be lackluster if one element is missing.
This episode will take a closer look at the Community of Inquiry Framework. Specifically, I will break down the three main elements and highlight strategies for weaving the elements into your course.
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A lesson plan is a road map of all the key points your want to visit in your travels. It will help ensure that you get to each one in the right order. They are a way to organize your content and ensure that you have time to cover the essentials.
A lesson plan is a continuation of backward design. Your lesson plan will help you present the interconnected elements in a logical flow.
By having a written lesson plan, you can ensure that you are baking key teaching and learning strategies into your lesson.
This episode will take a closer look at lesson plans. Specifically, I will address ways that you can create them, what to include, and other considerations.
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While attending college classes, I have had to journal twice. Once when I was at the United States Air Force Academy Prep School for an English class. The other time was during a graduate-level course. But I turned that journaling experience into blogging, which I continue to do.
In both cases, I was frustrated because I really did not grasp the exercise. Journaling was certainly something that I did not continue past the class. At least, not until recently.
Listening to many different entrepreneurs on podcasts, I have come to appreciate the importance of journaling. I do believe it is a valuable activity and one that should be taught to students.
This episode will take a closer look at the benefits of journaling, types of learning prompts to write about, and tips for successfully implementing journaling in your class.
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We are going to tap into a learning method that is over 2,000 years old. It is the Socratic discussion method. The Socratic method flips the classroom instruction from one where the instructor shares information on a topic to one where students share what they know about a topic. This dialogue is achieved through open-ended questions.
Through this method, you will help students discover what they know about a topic like peeling back the layers of an onion.
This episode will take a closer look at the elements of the Socratic discussion method, tips for putting it into practice, and ideas for taking it online.
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Each term that I have been working as an instructional technologist, I have offered to show faculty members how each of the classrooms works. Only a handful of instructors take me up on it and test drive their classroom. As can be expected, they have fewer issues than many other instructors who did not capitalize on the opportunity.
When rehearsing your first class, it is important to do it in the classroom you are going to teach. You want to run through different scenarios to ensure everything runs smoothly. The last thing you want to have happened is for an issue to develop while you are teaching.
Unfortunately, term after term, I see upset instructors in their classrooms. This is not the experience that we want to first present to our students. We can avoid this disruption with a rehearsal.
This episode will take a closer look at the importance of rehearsing your first class. We will focus on the time spent before the first class.
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Reading is a fuel source for lifelong learning. If you want to be competitive in today’s world, you must continue to read and learn. Our students have not yet figured this out so we must guide them.
The bottom line is that students will assess your class and make a value judgment on whether they should dedicate time to reading. If you do nothing with what students have read or do the reading for them, they will never read.
This episode will take a closer look at strategies for encouraging reading in your classroom. Most of the strategies focus on making the reading assignments count as part of their grade.
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I had just finished reading Small Teaching by Dr. James Lang. He devoted an entire chapter to the concept of practicing. It certainly generated a lot of ideas.
When I was in the Air Force, practicing was central to everything we did as we improved our knowledge and skills. I, like Dr. Lang, believe more can be done in our classrooms to help students become more successful.
We can pack our courses full of content, but if students do not get a chance to get their hands dirty, they will not grasp the concepts as well.
This episode will take a closer look at practice in your classroom. In addition to explaining why you should include more practice, I will highlight three strategies to consider.
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Because of my new role as a director of an academic library, I have been taking deep dives into how libraries can help in the classroom. While I have always appreciated the role of the library, I now have a better understanding of libguides and how they can serve you and your students.
I was probably typical of most college students. I used Google and the general library database search engine. I was unaware of what libguides were and how they could help me.
Instructors are in the best position to guide students to these tools. Libguides can help reduce cognitive load as well as teach students about resources used in a discipline.
This episode will take a closer look at libguides. Specifically, we will examine why you would want to use a libguide for your course as well as ways to develop a libguide that will be used.
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Rubrics help to add grading consistency to assignments that can be difficult to grade. Adding a grading structure makes grading assignments easier and faster. Completed rubrics provide immediate feedback to students that is meaningful.
Used as a formative tool, rubrics can point out areas for improvement as students develop course products. A well-designed rubric clarifies assignment requirements.
This episode will take a closer look at rubrics. Specifically, we will examine why you would want to use rubrics and strategies for developing rubrics that will raise student performance.
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Scholarship is a conversation. At each instance, where it is a journal article, a class essay, or a conference presentation, we are contributing and extending the conversation. Too often students launch in a monologue rather than a discussion. They often present what they “know” without acknowledging those who contributed to their knowledge. Information literacy stresses the importance that scholarship is about dialogue. his means that we need to be teaching information literacy in every class.
According to the Association of Colleges and Research Libraries (ACRL), “Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.”
This episode will take a closer look at the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy. Specifically, we will examine each of the six frames and discuss strategies for incorporating information literacy in your classroom.
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I am a huge fan of using technology to improve performance but I also understand that technology can also quickly cause damage. It is how you use it. Turnitin is one of those tools that can improve performance but you can do a lot of damage if you use it incorrectly.
Turnitin checks paper submissions for originality. In other words, it does text matching to see if the content matches previously reviewed content. It will then generate a similarity report with a score.
Consider Turnitin as a check engine light. The check engine light lets you know that there may be an issue but you still have to check it out. Blindly reacting to a similarity score without understanding the underlying cause will result in a break of trust with your students.
This episode will take a closer look at Turnitin. Specifically, we will examine strategies that will help you turn it into a teaching and learning tool.
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In this episode, we are going to celebrate our first 100 episodes by highlighting what you found popular. I will countdown the top 10 downloaded episodes.
When I looked over the list, there were only a couple of surprises but they were pleasant surprises. Come and hear what you and others found to be worth listening to.
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Professional athletes, musicians, CEOs, and other successful entities use coaches to take their abilities to the next level. During my time in higher education, I noticed that faculty are reluctant to use coaches. While workshops and conferences are beneficial learning opportunities, they pale in comparison to coaching in learning a new skill or raising a performance level.
We ask our students to use tutoring or coaching services because we know it works. Shouldn’t we also serve as role models by using coaches to improve our performance?
This week, I will be exploring instructional coaching. I will be looking at reasons why faculty shy away from coaching, reasons for using coaching, and tips for getting the most out of coaching.
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The decision to switch LMSs has already taken place. It is now a matter of executing the decision. In this episode, I am going to focus on the migration plan.
When building your migration plan, you need to gather information about all the steps that you will need to take. You need a place to build out this project plan.
This week, I will be talking about my process to develop a migration plan, the tools I am using, and key elements that I will be including in my plan.
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What is a lit trip?
Basically, you plot book character or scene locations on Google Earth. You can follow the journey of the characters. Lit trips help bring stories to life. It is a form of augmented reality. When you are done creating a lit trip, you can then export the file and share it with others. You can also narrate the lit trip by creating a screencast.
English teacher and technology-integration coordinator Jerome Burg helped to develop the concept of lit trips and put it on the map.
This week, we are going to explore the concept of lit trips and explain how you and your students can get started.
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I once had an instructor come to me complaining that none of her students completed a web creation assignment. After further investigation, I discovered that the assignment was worth only 3%. I commented that I would not have done the assignment either. The grade has to demonstrate value.
Likewise, creating practice quizzes with no grade attached will not get many takers. Students have been conditioned by the education system that anything worth doing has a grade attached. If you want students to practice more, then make the grade worth more.
This week, we are going to explore nine strategies for using grades and your grade book to help shape learning.
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Trying to stretch dollars, students will first purchase a mobile device before investing in a computer. In terms of convenience, students will have a mobile device in their possession virtually 24 hours per day and leave their computers at home.
It only makes sense that they will try to use their mobile devices to support their learning. By creating mobile-friendly content, you can make learning easier for students and increase classroom success.
Strategies for accessibility and Universal Design for Learning will certainly increase the likelihood of mobile-friendly content. However, there are other techniques you should consider. In this episode, we are going to cover 11 methods for making your courses more mobile-friendly.
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You can more quickly learn how to use new software by employing a method that Professor Allen applied at San Diego State University to help students learn new software.
The method is called the Menu Item Search Strategy or more commonly known as MISS. The MISS method helps you quickly identify what you already know and what you need to learn about a piece of software.
I will be employing this strategy as I help my faculty transition to a new learning management system.
In this episode, we are going to be covering the MISS method.
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I would like to take you on my journey as I hand over operations in Jamestown and start working at Dean College. I want to let you know what I am thinking about as I settle into my new instructional technology role.
First, I am going to talk about the strategies I used to plan my job search. Then I will share some of the things I did to help with the transition away from JCC. Finally, I will talk about what I am doing to prepare to go to Dean College.
I will actually start my first day when this episode releases. I will then start putting other strategies and tactics into motion as I settle into the new job.
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Audio files are a wonderful way to supplement the content already in your courses. They can provide an alternative to text files. Additionally, students can listen to lectures over and over again at a speed of their choice. This is good for review and note-taking.
In this episode, I will share six ways to capture an audio file that you can upload to your course. These methods include:
- Using Zoom audio recordings
- Recording a lecture with an audio recorder
- Converting text to speech
- Recording podcasts
- Converting YouTube to MP3
- Saving videos as MP3 files during processing
Also, come join me next week when I talk about a new learning journey that I am about to embark upon.
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The SAMR Model is a four-tiered framework created by Dr. Ruben Puentedura. The tiers include:
- Substitution
- Augmentation
- Modification
- Redefinition
These four levels will help you look at your current instructional strategy and help you find an appropriate technology equivalent.
Because of the need to move to an online or remote teaching format, there is an increased interest in using technology to increase engagement as well as accomplish tasks that were previously analog. The SAMR model provides a thoughtful approach to incorporating technology to enhance learning.
This week we are going to take a closer look at SAMR. Specifically, we will take a look at each tier and provide ideas for implementing this instructional technology model.
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I first learned about the SQ3R method while I was a student at the United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School. It is a strategy that has helped me as I worked through all my degree programs and during my career in the Air Force. It is a strategy that I think will help your students do better in their classes. I thought this strategy so important that I included it in my book, Read to Succeed: The Power of Books to Transform Your Life and Put You on the Path to Success.
The SQ3R method simplifies the process that Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren outlined in their book, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading. Adler and Van Doren provide a detailed process for analyzing a book. Most students will not go to such lengths; however, SQ3R will help them better read.
SQ3R is a five-step process for active reading: surveying, questioning, reading, reciting, and reviewing.
Students believe they are meeting the spirit and intent of a reading assignment when they passively read a chapter or article but they often fall short. However, they can build upon their knowledge when they actively read using a technique like SQ3R.
This week we are going to take a closer look at SQ3R. Specifically, we will take a look at why you would want your students to use this strategy and how they should do it.
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I just finished reading Brain Rules by John Medina. It was a fascinating look into how the brain works. Medina talked about sensory memory, short-term or working memory, and long-term. If we want our students to remember what we are teaching them, we have to obey the rules the brain puts into place. For long term memory to form, we need to keep strengthening the connections already formed.
It is a lot harder to remember something if you do not have experience with the topic. Experts are able to learn new concepts quicker if they are related to their discipline because they can recognize patterns quicker and tie new information to prior knowledge. Novices struggle with new knowledge because they do not have prior knowledge or do not recognize how it connects to previous experiences.
This week we are going to take a closer look at activating prior knowledge. Specifically, we will take a look at why this is important and 13 different ways to help connect new information to prior knowledge.
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I first learned about gallery walks attending Duncan Wardle’s presentation called “How to Innovate by Thinking Differently: The Disney Way” at Social Media Marketing World. Wardle’s focus was on improving creativity and innovation. One of the strategies he shared was this idea called a gallery walk. His reasoning was that we tend to become confrontational when we are across the table from each other. But by posting the presentation around the wall and reviewing it, a group begins to think more expansively. I thought this was a great idea and discovered that it was already being done in education.
Gallery walks allow students to tap into higher-order thinking skills like analysis, evaluation, and synthesis. They have an opportunity to practice other soft skills in a group setting while increasing their knowledge on a topic.
This week we are going to take a closer look at gallery walks. Gallery walks is a strategy for looking at and critiquing exhibits. We are going to look at what a gallery walk is, why use them, and how to conduct one. I will also provide examples. Let’s see how we can make gallery walks work in your classroom.
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Pinch points in your class are holding your students back. They are areas in your class where students are struggling. One of the simplest ways to revise your course is to apply Universal Design for Learning techniques to eliminate identified pinch points.
You can use strategies like Plus One to provide an instructional choice in a confusing area of your course. Naturally, use the 80/20 principle to identify the areas with the greatest impact.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at pinch points. Specifically, we are going to look at how to identify them and strategies for fixing them.
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No one likes to have their time wasted. However, disposable assignments do exactly that. Sure, a student may learn something while doing them but they are quickly discarded when returned. A lot of man-hours go into creating the assignment product, then grading the product. It is for nothing when the product is discarded shortly after getting back to the student.
What if the assignment served an additional purpose such as helping more people than just the student? By using open pedagogy, you can extend the value of an assignment and serve more people.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at disposable assignments and why you should switch them out with renewable assignments that provide greater benefit to more people.
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I believe that we can all safely agree that Wikipedia should not be used as a primary source in a formal journal article. However, as a learning and teaching tool, we should not discount it. Research has shown that Wikipedia is as accurate as common encyclopedias. It provides a solid jumping-off point for most research quests. It also ranks high in searches with most search engines.
We need to take time to show students how to use it because most students will leave academia and the library article databases. We need to teach students how to use tools like Wikipedia to support their everyday tasks.
You may say that Wikipedia is not always accurate. Well, you and your students can make the corrections. And you should.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at Wikipedia as a teaching and learning tool. I think you will be surprised at what I have pulled together for you.
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Research has shown that deeper learning will take place when students can tie new knowledge to prior knowledge. One cannot expect deep learning when the first exposure to new concepts is through only a lecture or simply passive reading. Students must engage with content to start forming mental models.
The strategy I picked up at the Prep School arranges learning in an order that helps to create prior knowledge thus allowing for deeper connections during lectures.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at this learning and teaching strategy. I will breakdown the necessary steps and highlight why each is important.
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After reading about Harvard Business School Board Planning strategy in Teaching Effectively With Zoom by Dan Levy, I wanted to learn more about improved chalkboard practices. You may be thinking to yourself, “Isn’t using a chalkboard pretty basic?” I thought so as well. However, there are strategies you can use to improve learning.
Another piece of research I found to be interesting is that students actually prefer instructors to use a chalkboard rather than using PowerPoint. Based on what I have learned about chalkboards, I have to rethink my position.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at using chalkboards, blackboards, and whiteboards in the classroom. We are going to look at the reasons why as well as strategies for improving effective practice. Finally, we are going to explore ways to use chalkboards in a virtual environment.
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Bloom’s Taxonomy is a wonderful model for developing the learning objectives necessary to identify what students need to know or do in your classroom. Bloom’s Taxonomy helps to identify the level and depth of knowledge or skill students need.
The great thing about this model is that you can use it to craft expectations at the appropriate level. Novice learners would start at the lower-order thinking skills, whereas the experienced learners would start at a higher level.
Educators across the globe have shared resources to help peers more easily adopt this model. I have shared links to some of these resources in the supporting blog post.
This week, we are going to take a closer look at Bloom’s Taxonomy, specifically, the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. I will include a strategy for putting it into practice.
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Very often, how we teach is not in alignment with how the brain works. Fortunately, we can change how we share content as well as how we assess to ensure students are comprehending the material. Using information recall techniques will help students process information from sensory memory through short-term memory to long-term memory.
You can control for Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve effect by intentionally using some of the information retention techniques that I share in this episode. Practicing information recall is a cornerstone to the success of this strategy.
This week, we are going to take a look at how memory works, strategies for increasing information retention, and specific ideas you and your students can use in your classroom.
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Each week, while preparing this podcast, I have to open a number of Google folders and files, websites, and Windows applications and folders. This process takes me two minutes to do. With AutoHotKey, a simple keystroke accomplishes this task in 15 seconds. Over the course of the next year, this will save me nearly two hours. Imagine the time savings if these hacks are applied to other processes.
AutoHotKey will allow you to script computer tasks to a key combination. With AutoHotKey, you can reprogram keys to serve your bidding. This program has already saved me time and increased the functionality of my computer. I am now using features that I previously did not use because it was too time-consuming to do.
This week, we are going to take a look at AutoHotKey and share some ideas of how you can use it.
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Many of the instructors I have met have not learned about instructional design and how it can help them. Instead, they build courses based on trial and error. My focus on different instructional design principles and theories is to help cut down on misspent time and energy while increasing the return on investment in terms of student learning.
Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction include:
- Gain attention
- Inform learners of objectives
- Stimulate recall of prior learning
- Present the content
- Provide “learning guidance”
- Elicit performance (practice)
- Provide feedback
- Assess performance
- Enhance retention and transfer to the job
Gagne’s 9 events of instruction can be applied at the course level, a module level, or an individual class session. You can layer the approach and create a powerful learning experience. These events can be used in online, hybrid, and face-to-face classes.
This week we are going to take a look at Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction and provide ideas for implementing each of the events.
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Most online courses I review as part of an instructional design quality review are missing a human element. Things we would do naturally in a face-to-face course are being left out of an online course. Video can help bring humanness into a course.
Many faculty are concerned about how they look or sound on a video. I would encourage them to remember who and what the video is for. The video is to help students learn a concept. If you have taught face to face courses, students already know what you look and sound like. They appreciate you because you are human. Do not deny them that.
With only the basics, you can create videos that will make a difference in your course. Videos can be used to clarify concepts, create community, and increase engagement.
This week we are going to take a look at humanizing your online course with videos. We’ll look at types of videos you could and should create, equipment needs, and success strategies.
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According to David Kolb, learners move through a four-stage cycle as they develop new skills and learn concepts. By learning about this cycle and associated learning styles, you can better assist students to master your content.
By understanding the learning styles, you can develop content and learning activities that are in line with how your students best learn. Incorporating these different learning styles align with Universal Design for Learning by providing more supports and choice in the classroom.
This week we are going to take a look at Kolb's Learning Styles and Experiential Learning Cycle. Additionally, we are going to see how these concepts can be used in your classroom.
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This week I want to take a look at digital badging as a tool for your academic tool chest. I have been around the concept of badging my whole life.
Badging in the workplace and through volunteering has shaped my life. There is more to learning than what occurs in the classroom. Digital badging helps to capture learning that is not formally recognized through the formal transcript process.
This week we are going to take a look at digital badges for an academic classroom. For part of that discussion, I am going to tell you about my experiences with badging.
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This week I am going to address one of my pet peeves. It focuses on a word that is frequently used in higher education by faculty and staff. It is also a word used in college sports and even professional sports.
I never heard the word being used in the 20 years I served in the Air Force. I was shocked to hear this word used in higher ed with regular frequency. It is insulting to those it is referring to. It is disrespectful.
This week we are going to take a look at what I consider an offensive four-letter word used in higher ed.
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Have you ever had a student ask what they needed to do to increase their grade? I never have because I did not set up the conditions where they needed to. With subtractive grading, students can only go down and then need extra points to raise their grades. Additive grading works the other way around. Students are always moving up.
In order for students to attain the grade they desire, they must accumulate points. They start at zero and then everything they do contributes to the grade they want. I picked this strategy up from the book The Multiplayer Classroom by Lee Sheldon.
Additive grading leverages the best of game-based elements to encourage students to keep improving. Because there is regular and constant positive feedback, students tend to repeat positive performance.
This week we are going to take a look at additive grading.
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Throughout my life, I have benefited from self-directed learning. Skills I have brought to my work have in a large part been developed through a self-directed learning journey.
With a rapidly changing world, everyone needs to develop skills to stay current. Those who do not continue to learn and adapt will be left behind.
The challenge is to transform students who are dependent upon a teacher or professor into learners who are responsible for their own learning.
This week we are going to take a look at self-directed learning and different ideas for getting students started down a self-directed learning path.
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Assessments done well measure a student’s ability to meet objectives, the quality of instruction, and the quality of the assessment instrument. This must be done in a balanced and fair manner. When the approach is focused more on the education system of sorting rather than learning, some students may resort to cheating.
When the stakes of assessment become too great or when they are perceived to be not authentic then cheating can occur.
There are steps instructors can take to help reduce cheating. This takes the shape of authentic learning and increased human interaction in a course.
This week we are going to take a look at cheating, specifically, why does cheating exist, What type of environment do you want to create, and what you can do to prevent cheating.
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Due to the current COID-19 pandemic, I can expect that we will be delivering a lot more instruction online. What was thrown together for the spring due to the outbreak does not resemble a well-designed online course. We can do much better.
I am recommending that you explore these five strategies for building an online course that is engaging and useful—one that you will be proud of. These strategies are
- Backward design
- Open Educational Resources
- Universal Design for Learning
- Quality Course Review
- Accessibility
This week we are going to take a look at these five strategies and set you on a self-directed learning path to designing a great online course.
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Love them or hate them, group projects are essential to learning. They should not be discarded if you are teaching in an online environment. With the current COID-19 pandemic, who isn’t teaching online.
Your LMS has tools that will make it easier to facilitate group projects as well as encourage communication and participation. Use these LMS tools to create your student groups as well as provide students with collaboration tools to help them succeed. Most LMSs provide group tools for file sharing, discussion boards, email, page creation, and virtual meetings.
This week we are going to take a look at why you would want to have your students participate in group projects, common tools found in two LMSs, and strategies for successfully implementing the tools.
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All good courses start with a plan. All good plans start with goals and have intended outcomes. Yet, a lot of instructors creating courses only pay lip service to the goals they list in their course.
Goals, objectives, and outcomes are the foundation of your plan. They define what will occur in the course and more importantly what will not be covered.
Goals and outcomes describe broad aspects of behavior. They indicate what students will learn as well as what they have learned and how well.
Learning objectives operationalize course goals. They indicate what a student must be able to demonstrate what they know or can do.
This week we are going to take a closer look at course goals, objectives, and outcomes as they apply to your course.
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Dr. Elliot Aronson developed the Jigsaw Method as a strategy to increase cooperation at a time when classrooms were plagued by hostility due to classroom desegregation. The Jigsaw Method both had students standout as unique entities as well as essential group members.
Students become experts on a topic but then must teach what they know to the rest of their group. During an intermediate step, the experts come together to improve upon what has been learned during independent study.
Dr. John Hattie conducted extensive metastudy analysis to include the Jigsaw Method. He discovered that the effect size for the Jigsaw method was very large (1.2). Out of 130 learning factors, the Jigsaw method ranked seventh.
In this episode, we look at the Jigsaw Method in more depth.
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The Faculty Four for Accessibility Development was created by Jordan Cameron and Jim Cope from Kennesaw State University. I first learned about it while reading Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone. The Faculty Four focuses on four techniques:
- Alternative text
- Captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions
- Accessible documents
- Accessible third-party resources
By ensuring that our content is in line with the Faculty Four, we can create content that is accessible by all students in the class.
In this episode, we look at the Faculty Four in more depth.
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When we talk about interaction in a course, whether that course is face-to-face or online, we are typically talking about three different interactions:
- Learner-content
- Learner-learner
- Learner-instructor
For many online courses, most of the interaction is learner-content. If this is the sole means of interaction, it is a correspondence course.
We want to humanize a course because it is required and it is the right thing to do.
According to the U.S. Department of Education Distance education, distance education courses must have “regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor, either synchronously or asynchronously.”
Student-instructor interactions and timely feedback contribute to increased retention and satisfaction.
In this episode, we look at sixteen strategies to humanize your course.
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Dr. Maria Andersen’s ESIL Lens is a useful tool for identifying what should be covered in a course or program. The ESIL Lens has four levels:
- Existence
- Supported
- Independent
- Lifetime
The ESIL Lens helps to determine what you should share to increase student awareness to what is essential to know and do in a specific discipline.
In this episode, I review the ESIL Lens by specifically addressing each level.
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Bonni Stachowiak, the host of the podcast Teaching in Higher Ed, has written a wonderful book on educator productivity called The Productive Online and Offline Professor. It is packed full of great tips and strategies for getting more time in your life so that you can be more present for your students and others.
The book focuses on five key areas. They include:
- Translating Intention into Action
- Facilitating Communication
- Finding, Curating, and Sharing knowledge
- Leveraging Technology Toward Greater Productivity
- Keeping Current
In this episode, I review the book by touching upon the highlights of each area. It is certainly a book that should be in your library.
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We can easily be overwhelmed as instructional technologists by all the requests for assistance that we receive. By using a strategy called “working out loud,” I have been able to help more people with better quality assistance.
In addition to the immediate support that I provide, I am also able to assist others as they search the internet for answers to their questions.
In this episode, I will be sharing the strategy I use for working out loud as well as the insight I have gleaned from others. Finally, I will share perceived benefits from working out loud.
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Life became suddenly quite busy as my team was helping faculty transition to an online format. Because of online preparations, our transition was rather smooth but it could have gone better.
Let me share strategies that I have been employing to prepare for situations like the Coronavirus as well as some lessons learned during the process.
Resources I am putting in place now will help me for future events. I will also be solidifying my emergency plan.
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A week ago, the governor of New York made the decision to suspend all face-to-face classes across the SUNY and CUNY systems and move them to an online format. My life suddenly became quite busy.
How do you move hundreds of face-to-face courses online in less than two weeks? New York is not the only state facing this question. A lot of other people are trying to figure it out.
In this episode, I am going to share strategies to help make the transition just a little smoother. I will be addressing points that you need to consider before making the move as well as strategies during the move. I am confident we will come out stronger on the other end of this exercise.
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A week ago, I had the opportunity to attend the SUNY Online Summit in York City. The event was broken up into two major parts. The first part focused on the progress of SUNY Online. The second part was various presentations and panels dedicated to better teaching online.
In this episode, I am going to share what I learned during the sessions focusing on SUNY Online. In a future episode, I will provide details about the other sessions. There are also a number of strategies that I will dig deeper in subsequent episodes.
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Zotero is a free open source tool that I learned about while I was a graduate student. I used it to help write my dissertation, journal articles, and books. I continue to use it to this day as a way to collect, organize and cite my research.
If you have to conduct research to write articles, grants, and books then I strongly recommend Zotero for your citation management.
In this episode, we are going to explore Zotero. Specifically, we are going to look at collecting research, organizing it, and using the citations. It is definitely one of my power tools.
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I discovered that normally word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs were time-consuming and clumsy for organizing research. I started to use Scrivener to organize my thoughts. It has been a game-changer.
Every day, I find new uses for Scrivener. I used to write one book and I am now working on my second one. I use it to draft my podcast episodes. I even use it to draft my blog posts.
I wished I had it available when I was working on my dissertation, at least to organize my thoughts.
In this episode, we are going to explore the wonderful writing tool called Scrivener. Specifically, we are going to examine the features that have made it a centerpiece of my writing world.
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Online courses can be so isolating when there is no interaction between students and the instructor and fellow students. A key component of learning is dialog. Learners need to reflect and discuss what they are observing and experiencing with others to help construct knowledge.
The strategies shared in this episode build upon what has been shared in the Universal Design for Learning and Quality Review episodes.
In this episode, we are going to explore online learning community building. Specifically, we are going to examine the Community of Inquiry framework and strategies for putting the framework into practice.
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One of the most memorable learning activities that I have had was when I completed my dissertation. I believe this typifies project-based learning.
Project-based learning activities are long classroom pursuits that are student-centered and focus on real-world problems. There are no defined solutions. Learning is definitely messy and chaotic. But they result in deep learning.
In this episode, we are going to explore project-based learning to include its characteristics, essential elements, and steps for designing, implementing, and assessing problem-based learning activities.
Come learn more.
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc56
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/read-to-succeed/
Through day-to-day scanning of the horizon or through deep dives on topics of interest, you can curate resources that will serve your faculty now and in the future.
Through curation, I have amassed a collection of resources that I can tap into when a faculty member wants to learn something new or when I am building something new to help them get to a new level.
In this episode, I am going to share my strategy for scanning the horizon and curating resources that will serve me now and in the future.
Come learn more.
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc55
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/read-to-succeed/
Hypothes.is is a social annotation tool that you can use to make annotations to a web-based document. You can make public or private notes as an individual, in groups, or as part of the general public.
In this episode, we are going to explore why you should try out Hypothes.is, how to start using it, and what you can do with it.
Come learn more.
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc54
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/read-to-succeed/
Research has shown that office hours or increased interaction with a professor leads to increased retention, engagement, and academic performance. The challenge is getting students to participate in office hours. Students are increasingly involved in more than classroom pursuits. They are also supporting families and working. By incorporating virtual hours into your schedule, you can connect with more students.
In this episode, We are going to explore why you should incorporate virtual office hours into your classroom, examine points to consider, and look at strategies to make them more effective.
Come learn more.
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc53
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/read-to-succeed/
To get your year off on the right foot, I am going to recommend 25 books that will help you improve what you are doing. They are arranged in these categories:
- Rethinking Education
- Teaching
- UDL
- Online Instruction
- OER
- Productivity
- Working Out Loud
You can see the individual titles in the show notes. I would like to also encourage you to join me on Goodreads where we can recommend books to each other.
Come learn more.
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc52
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/read-to-succeed/
First impressions are key for many circumstances to include launching an online course for the term. You can reduce the attrition rate for your course by setting up your students for success. This starts with how you open the course on the first day of the term. Ways to help ensure success include:
- Ensure your course is ready to go
- Prepare a personal introduction
- Prepare a course orientation
- Participate in the introduction discussion
- Send an email to students on the first day of class
- Follow on students who have not checked in
In this episode, we are going to discuss things you should do to get your course ready for the new term as well as steps you should take to launch your course. What you do helps set your students up for success.
Come learn more.
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc51
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/read-to-succeed/
We are about to start a new decade. At the end of the decade, what goals do you want to have completed? How have you been in setting and achieving your goals? If you are like me, I struggled meeting my goals. However, I have implemented some strategies that have kept me on track and my success rate has jumped considerably.
In this episode, we are going to discuss strategies for setting and attaining your goals. I also want to share some ideas for you to consider as your goals.
Come learn more.
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc50
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/read-to-succeed/
The RAFT strategy was initially designed for writing assignments but I believe it can be used for much more. RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. It allows for student choice when deciding how they will complete the assignment.
RAFT assignments are certainly in line with Universal Design for Learning principles.
In this episode, you will learn about the RAFT strategy for creating assignments as well as developing rubrics to help assess diverse submissions. This will lead to more creative and engaging assignments.
Come learn more.
Show notes: https://tubarksblog.com/itc49
Music credit: https://www.purple-planet.com/
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/textexpander
Sponsor: https://tubarksblog.com/read-to-succeed/