The Digital Spark
Issue 3: October 16, 2017
Welcome to Our Third Issue
We are flying through October! Our team just hosted our Digital Innovation Group meeting for October where faculty showcased ODL-supported technologies that they were using in their World Campus courses to make their jobs easier and better. These technologies included gitbook, ELMS:LN, xAPI, H5P, web components, and more. (We plan on sharing more information about these tools in future newsletters.) Our faculty are on the front lines of the classroom everyday, adjusting their approaches to meet student's needs and improve student attention, engagement, and learning. Our goal as a team is to help you make that happen, digitally.
In this issue, we have information on Canvas, flipped classrooms, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and great events happening at the college and around Penn State. We are also announcing a new endeavor, ODL Office Hours. Our hope is that we can become a valued partner to you as we stand together on the front lines of digital education.
As always, if you have any questions, comments or ideas, use the button below to contact us!
Advanced Canvas Learning Path
The Advanced Canvas Learning Path is now available for faculty and staff who are ready to learn more about using Canvas. It will include resources on a variety of topics in modules that will be rolled out throughout the fall 2017 semester.
The first course is the Large Enrollment Overview Course (available now). The purpose of this module is to help address specific challenges faced by instructors of large-enrollment courses. While Canvas has many helpful features for managing assessments, course content, discussions, and communication, there are still some logistical issues experienced by many large-enrollment instructors and course builders. This module will help you anticipate and address a few of the common questions faced by those teaching and managing large-enrollment courses.
Access the Large Enrollment Overview Course.
Myths and Facts about Flipped Learning by Robert Talbert
It is an ideal environment for almost any instructor to move their courses from a traditional to a flipped model.
However, misconceptions can lead potential practitioners into error or away from using flipped learning entirely, to the detriment of their students and themselves.
This article looks at some of the myths about flipped learning and provides contradictory facts about this pedagogical approach.
Read Myths and Facts about Flipped Learning by Robert Talbert
The Ed Tech Network and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The Penn State EdTech Network is a strategic initiative that embraces technology-based disruption to create transformational solutions for higher education.
A core feature of the network is enabling collaborative innovation by bringing together students, faculty, staff, and industry partners, to solve high-priority challenges facing the University.
ODL's Melissa Hicks had the opportunity to attend the EdTech Engage Symposium on October 5-6 to learn more about where AI intersects with higher education, within and beyond at Penn State.
Read more on her blog about EdTech Engage.
Complete the AI survey below.
ODL Office Hours
Our first event will be "Engaging with H5P" and will be hosted by ODL multimedia specialist and H5P Guru, Charles Lavera. Learn more in the Events section below.
Events and Opportunities
Brown Bag: Discussions, Communication, and Groups for Large Enrollment Classes
The session will help participants in large-enrollment courses:
- Identify strategies for administering and managing discussions
- Identify methods of communication via announcements and inbox with students
- Evaluate options for creating, managing, and implementing collaborative learning groups
The session will include both demonstrations and discussion and will be held on Zoom.
Thursday, Oct 19, 2017, 12:00 PM
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Accessibility Workshops for October
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (along with its 2008 amendments) establish a firm legal basis for the requirement that IT procured, developed, and used by post-secondary institutions be accessible to individuals with disabilities.
It makes sense that providing multiple ways for students to gain knowledge, demonstrate knowledge, and interact goes a long way toward making a course accessible to all students, including those with disabilities.
This coming month, TLT, in conjunction with World Campus, is offering several information sessions via Zoom on Accessibility.
- Accessibility: Accessible Design with Adobe Captivate
Wednesday, Oct. 18, 11 a.m.–noon
- Optimizing Word and PowerPoint Files
Friday, Oct. 20, 8:30–11:30 a.m., 23 Willard Building, University Park
- Accessibility: Using Kurzweil 3000 to Meet Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Goals
- Monday, Oct. 23, 1:30–2:30 p.m.
- Accessibility: Accessible Equations with MathML for Canvas and Other Platforms
Thursday, Oct. 26, 10–11 a.m.
- Accessibility: Designing with Empathy Using Personas
Thursday, Oct. 26, 1:30–2:30 p.m.
- Accessibility: Screen Reader Testing on Mobile Devices
Friday, Oct. 27, 1:30–3:30 p.m.
Have a specific accessibility question? Ask ODL accessibility expert, Carly Dreibelbis.
ODL Office Hours: Engaging with H5P
Are you looking for creative ways to engage your online visitors? Does your website crave interactive content?
Please join ODL's Charles Lavera as he introduces and explores the free open-source solution, H5P. The presentation will offer participants valuable demonstrations and insight on how they can leverage this tool in their own projects.
Specifically, participants will receive:
- An introduction / virtual tour of H5P.org
- Instruction on building H5P content (DEMO)
- Guidance for placing H5P content onto a website (DEMO)
- An introduction to experience API (xAPI), which can be used to track user interactions on H5P and collect data
- An example of xAPI working inside the ODL course management system, ELMS:LN (DEMO)
- A chance to ask questions / discuss H5P throughout
This event will be hosted in Zoom: https://psu.zoom.us/j/834805212
Please RSVP to this event if you plan to attend.
Thursday, Oct 26, 2017, 02:00 PM
Zoom Link: https://psu.zoom.us/j/834805212
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Ed Tech Connect: Natural Language Processing to Improve Student Engagement
Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) Symposium
The Penn State Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology is an annual one-day event to showcase ways that technology can be used to enhance teaching, learning, and research. Our intent is to give faculty and staff the opportunity to share how they are using technology in unique ways, network with other colleagues, and generate new project ideas.
The symposium is a free event that welcomes all Penn State faculty, staff, and students.
Saturday, Mar 17, 2018, 07:30 AM
The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center, Innovation Boulevard, State College, PA, United States
The Office of Digital Learning
The Office of Digital Learning (ODL) helps faculty and students make the most of digital learning technology. We collaboratively design and build tools for any pedagogy.
Dream it and we can help bring it to life.
Email: odl@science.psu.edu
Website: odl.science.psu.edu
Phone: (814) 867-1391
Twitter: @eberly_odl