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Smeal Academy Newsletter

End of Semester Tips – Spring 2022 Newsletter 4

Spring 2022 Connections Newsletter 4 –  End of Semester Tips

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges of teaching and learning during the Fall 2021 semester. Between now and the end of the Fall 2021 semester, we will be sending periodic emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.
This week, we are sharing some tips for wrapping up your courses at the end of the semester. Hang in there! We are almost at the end!

FOUR End-of-Semester Tips

  • Encourage students to complete the SRTE.
    Penn State’s Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence has provided several strategies for improving your SRTE response rates. These include:

  • Make sure your Canvas grades are prepared for LionPATH.
    The following steps will ensure that your Canvas course is set up to successfully load your grades into LionPATH. As always, reach out to eLDIG if you would like to walk through the process with someone on our team.

  • Reflect on what went well and what could have gone better.
    HThe end of the semester is the best time to reflect on your semester. Everything that happened (or did not) is still fresh in your memory. This is a good opportunity to note resources you may want to add or eliminate; instructions that should be tweaked; ideas for new activities; or challenges you want to reflect on before the next time the course runs. The following list provides some good jumping-off points for reflection:What were some of your favorite moments of the semester? What happened that you would like to avoid in the future?What happened that you did not plan for?What did you do in the classroom to help students feel like they belonged? What more could you do in the future?With what activities and/or resources were students most engaged? When were they the least engaged?

    What surprised you about the students’ behavior?

  • Celebrate!
    Though this time of year is busy, make it a point to do something to acknowledge and celebrate the end of this semester. Maybe you go out for a meal to celebrate with colleagues or family, or perhaps you schedule time to quietly reflect on the end of this semester before beginning the next. Whatever you do, remember that there is power in marking the passing of time and celebrating milestones.

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • Smeal Academy Session: Microsoft Bookings Lunch & Learn
    Join us for a Microsoft Bookings Lunch & Learn facilitated by Jessie Sorensen and Carrie Marcinkevage. Several members of the Smeal College of Business utilize MS Bookings for admissions, coaching/advising, and individual appointments. Participants are invited to share their tips and tricks for maximizing MS Bookings’ value and use. If you have some MS Bookings success and tips, please come share and learn from peers! Join us Wednesday, April 27, 2022, 12-1 PM EST via Zoom.

Please note that rather than a first-time training for MS Bookings, this facilitated sharing session assumes basic knowledge and use.

NOTE: Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our SmealTLT Website.

Contact Us

Email us at: smealtlthelp@psu.edu or fill out the eLDIG contact form and we will be in touch.

Spring Cleaning – Spring 2022 Newsletter 3

Spring 2022 Connections Newsletter 3 –  Spring Cleaning for Your Courses

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges of teaching and learning during the Fall 2021 semester. Between now and the end of the Fall 2021 semester, we will be sending periodic emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.
This week, we are sharing some spring cleaning tips for courses and Canvas spaces.

THREE Spring Cleaning Tasks Worth Tackling Now

  1. Create a Canvas Master Course for your Spring Cleaning
    A Canvas Master course can be used as a space to clean up and prepare your course in a space other than your live courses with LionPath enrollments. Are you worried that your students might see changes, or do you need a place to make changes in between semesters? Request a Canvas Master course and then import course content to make your changes in a more secure editing environment. Another great use for Canvas Master courses is to import, save, and organize content from previous semesters.
  2. Delete Old or Unneeded Files
    One common issue in courses is that there often are several files no longer in use and/or the Canvas “Files” tab is cluttered or disorganized. You can delete Canvas files and you also can organize and move your Canvas files. Note that if you’d like to delete multiple files, you can do that: From “Files,” if you click one item (or folder) in the right-side menu, and then press CTRL+A or Apple/Cmd+A, you can then press the delete key to delete everything selected. It is much faster than going one by one.
  3. Review Your SRTEs and student feedback
    Have you taken the time to review the feedback received from students? Take a moment to look through your SRTEs and other student feedback (student emails with questions, anecdotal comments, your own student evaluations for feedback). Reflect on the information you have received. Are there any trends or common issues that should be addressed before the next time your course is offered? Make a list of what you’d like to keep the same, change, and/or remove based on your feedback and experiences. Check out this article outlining 10 Ways Faculty Can Support Student Success if you’re looking for inspiration or guidance.

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • Smeal Academy Session: Inclusive Classroom Practices
    Join Jamie Campbell and Olivia Lewis from Smeal’s Office of Diversity Enhancement Programs as they share tips and strategies to make our classes more inclusive for Smeal’s diverse student body. We will discuss five specific things everyone can do to promote a feeling of belonging in our classrooms. Join us Tuesday, April 12, 2022, 12-1 PM EST via Zoom.
  • Smeal Academy Session: Microsoft Bookings Lunch & Learn
    Join us for a Microsoft Bookings Lunch & Learn facilitated by Jessie Sorensen and Carrie Marcinkevage. Several members of the Smeal College of Business utilize MS Bookings for admissions, coaching/advising, and individual appointments. Participants are invited to share their tips and tricks for maximizing MS Bookings’ value and use. If you have some MS Bookings success and tips, please come share and learn from peers! Join us Wednesday, April 27, 2022, 12-1 PM EST via Zoom.

Please note that rather than a first-time training for MS Bookings, this facilitated sharing session assumes basic knowledge and use.

NOTE: Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our SmealTLT Website.

Tips of the Week

  • Tip #1: Course Announcements. Consider using announcements for course communication to inform the entire class about something. It is easier to use than course mail for sharing global information – but you have to tell students at the beginning of the course to check announcements frequently!
  • Tip #2: Remind students to enable Canvas notifications.
    To ensure students are receiving Canvas notifications, show them how to enable them. The default settings in Canvas do notify students of announcements right away, but they might miss discussion notifications because those are set to be “off” by default.

Resources

Welcome Back to the Arctic! – Spring 2022 Newsletter 1

Spring 2022 Connections Newsletter 1 –  Ready or Not, Here We Go!!

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges of teaching and learning during the Fall 2021 semester. Between now and the end of the Fall 2021 semester, we will be sending periodic emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.
This week, we are sharing some beginning-of-the-semester tips and pointers to get your semester off to a great start.

Welcome Back! We hope you had some downtime before the launch of the new semester.
We know that members of the Smeal community – faculty, staff, and students alike – are juggling a lot at the start of this semester. It’s great to be back and we are still navigating all the regular semester challenges along with COVID-19 changes. The following are some resources and reminders to get the semester off on your best foot.

Productivity Tips

  • Use Available Tech Tools. Get to know the tools available to us at Penn State. Schedule a meeting with someone from the eLDIG team or check out Penn State’s Ed Tech Advisor to learn more about available tools to enhance your teaching and learning.
  • Compose Ahead and Delay Posting of Canvas Announcements. Instructors are carrying an increasingly heavy workload and balancing all the new intricacies of teaching can feel overwhelming. When possible, consider composing your regular course tips and announcements ahead of time using Canvas announcements and delaying posting so that they are ready when you need them.
  • Explore suggested teaching strategies in residential courses for temporary instructor or student absence in order to be prepared (as much as possible) with contingency plans. Note: This is a resource Felisa Preciado-Higgins shared with us during a recent Smeal Community meeting.
  • Schedule Grading Time On Your Calendar. Just as we schedule meetings and office hours, scheduling time for grading can help ensure that you can reserve time for grading and still have time for work-life balance.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the eLDIG team.

Tech Tips for Teaching with Masks

  • Use the Mic. No one thinks they need a microphone. But even in non-masked situations, it’s best to use microphones when they are available. It’s essential when teaching with a mask so people can hear. Just use it – all General Purpose classrooms have them. Checkout the list of Classroom Technology for more information on GPC technology.
  • Use Tech Tools to Gauge Emotions and Build Community. Masks make it difficult to see nonverbal cues. You can use tools like Top Hat to generate a word cloud at the beginning of class so students can let you know how they’re feeling. You could have a simple prompt like “Describe your current mood in one word.” It is as important as ever to build connections with our students.
  • Model the Correct Way to Wear Masks. Our ability to continue in-person instruction depends on all of us to do our part to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Consider reminding students that this is part of upholding the Smeal Honor Code. To reinforce mask adherence, have students agree (via a Canvas or Top Hat quiz) at the beginning of each class to abide by PSU’s masking requirements completely to receive full participation credit for the day. You can also add a slide at the beginning of each class to remind students how to correctly wear masks. Note the new mask guidelines this semester – check your inbox for a January 11 email from Yvonne Gaudelius, Vice President and Dean for Undergraduate Education and Kathryn Drager, Interim Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education.

Resource

Check the following resource for more information: Effective ways to teach in person with a mask on (opinion).

Here are some additional Top Hat Teaching Tips for the beginning of the semester.

Current News

Canvas Archiving – Opt-Out Before January 25, 2022

On January 25, 2022, Penn State IT will perform its regular archiving of older Canvas courses. Beginning December 7, 2021, you may choose to delay particular courses from being archived by using the in-Canvas Course Archive Manager tool. Please be sure to opt-out of any courses you do not want archived before January 25th.

Archiving on January 25 will include:

  • All LionPATH courses taught prior to, and including, Fall 2020 (LionPATH term 2208) will be archived.
  • All LionPATH courses that you may have previously opted out of archiving will be archived.
  • All non-LionPATH courses, regardless of creation date, including Master, Manually Created, Sandbox courses, and Prides will be archived.

Full details on the long-term archival storage and instructions on how to opt a course out of archiving are available on the Penn State Canvas website.

Register Now for the 2022 TLT Symposium on March 19, 2022

The Penn State Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology is an annual event to showcase ways that technology can be used to enhance teaching, learning, and research. Our intent is to give faculty, staff, and students 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. Please be sure to use your Penn State email when registering.

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • ITLD Session: SharePoint – An Introduction to File Storage and Collaboration in the Document Library
    Are you new to SharePoint for Office365? Do you have an existing SharePoint site you don’t quite know how to leverage for file storage and collaboration? Join us to learn how to navigate SharePoint online. We’ll cover file sharing and how to leverage your document libraries to collaborate effectively. We will also discuss how SharePoint interacts with Teams and OneDrive to simplify your work and collaboration. Register by January 25th for the session being held Wed, Jan 26, 2022, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM EST
  • Smeal Academy Session: Contingency Planning – Coming Soon
    We will be holding a Smeal Academy session to explore and discuss strategies and tools for contingency planning. More to come in next week’s newsletter!

NOTE: Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our SmealTLT Website.

Tips of the Week

  • Tip #1: Course Announcements. Consider using announcements for course communication to inform the entire class about something. It is easier to use than course mail for sharing global information – but you have to tell students at the beginning of the course to check announcements frequently!
  • Tip #2: Remind students to enable Canvas notifications.
    To ensure students are receiving Canvas notifications, show them how to enable them. The default settings in Canvas do notify students of announcements right away, but they might miss discussion notifications because those are set to be “off” by default.

Resources

Grading and Semester Wrap-Up Essentials – Fall 2021 Newsletter 6

So Much to Grade, So Little Time – Fall 2021 Resilience Newsletter 6

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges of teaching and learning during the Fall 2021 semester. Between now and the end of the Fall 2021 semester, we will be sending periodic emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.

A nod to Art Jones for this image:

The eLDIG team knows you are busy right now and possibly just a little stressed, so we will keep things short, providing a couple of key resources and reminders intended to make your life easier.

Preparing Final Grades in Canvas

These helpful resources will help you wrap up the Fall 2021 semester courses and ship the grades away to LionPATH:

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the eLDIG team.

Current News

Canvas Archiving – Opt Out Before January 25, 2022

On January 25, 2022, Penn State IT will perform its regular archiving of older Canvas courses. Beginning December 7, 2021, you may choose to delay particular courses from being archived by using the in-Canvas Course Archive Manager tool. Please be sure to opt-out of any courses you do not want archived before January 25th.

Archiving on January 25 will include:

  • All LionPATH courses taught prior to, and including, Fall 2020 (LionPATH term 2208) will be archived.
  • All LionPATH courses that you may have previously opted out of archiving will be archived.
  • All non-LionPATH courses, regardless of creation date, including Master, Manually Created, Sandbox courses, and Prides will be archived.

Full details on the long-term archival storage and instructions on how to opt a course out of archiving are available on the Penn State Canvas website.

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • ITLD Winterfest Training: During December and January, Penn State IT Learning and Development is offering Winterfest training sessions via Zoom on a variety of topics. Winterfest is a collection of courses traditionally focused on faculty. The goal is to help participants learn something new that might help them or improve the experience for their students in the semester to come. Everything from the basics to advanced topics will be covered in Canvas, Kaltura, Office 365, Zoom, and more.

NOTE: Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our eLDIG Website.

Tips of the Week

  • Tip #1:  Export Canvas Grades to Verify Final Grades
    The final grade column is the grade that will import into LionPath. Be sure to export Canvas grades and check the Excel file to make sure that students’ “Current Grade” column is the same as their “Final Grade” column. If these numbers are not the same, then there is an issue somewhere in the Canvas Gradebook that will need to be resolved before importing grades into LionPath.
  • Tip #2: Consider Adding a Student Feedback Survey
    If you want to know things beyond what is asked on the SRTE, you can create your own end-of-semester survey to gather feedback to improve future offerings of your course. Here is one example survey for your reference. NOTE: Smeal has an instance of Qualtrics. If anyone would like to have an account set up, please email the eLDIG team and we’ll get you set up.

Resources

Helpful Websites

Website

Check out the eLDIG Website for more resources and support.

Contact Us

Email us at: smealtlthelp@psu.edu or fill out our Remote Teaching Support form.

WE ARE…Grateful – Fall 2021 Newsletter 5

Fall 2021 Resilience – Newsletter 5

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges of teaching and learning during the Fall 2021 semester. Between now and the end of the Fall 2021 semester, we will be sending periodic emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.

thankful to be stuffed with knowledge

November is the month of gratitude. Here in eLDIG, we are often grateful to work with amazing staff and faculty to create courses that make a difference to our students.

In our work, we can get tired and stressed. In some ways, in this pandemic era, we have more pressure on us than ever before. Mitigating that stress and pressure can be achieved by practicing gratitude. When someone asks what we are grateful for we think of family, friends, opportunities, etc. Gratitude is something that we accept we should do, but that we rarely talk about how to do. When someone practices gratitude, what do they actually do each day? It is really just about the small things. Someone might:

  • Say one small thing they are grateful that happened in their day before a meal
  • Keep a gratitude journal
  • Include an act of kindness in your life each day
  • Look up from your phone or work and notice the beauty in nature each day
  • Avoid negative media and movies with destructive content
  • Commit to one day a week when you won’t complain about anything
  • Say thank you for the little things others do for you, things you normally take for granted.

Conlon C. (nd) 40 Simple Ways To Practice Gratitude, Lifehack

Gratitude in Teaching and Learning

A growing body of groundbreaking research shows that gratitude has the power to heal, energize, and transform lives by enhancing people psychologically, spiritually, physically, and cognitively. Gratitude can impact focus and resilience in class and when experiencing difficulties. Wilson (2016) found that “when students intentionally practice gratitude toward learning, they tended to report better focus during class, while studying, or taking an exam. This increased focus may be linked to a more positive attitude about learning as well as a reduced stress level. Since college academics often produce stress, these findings are worth considering. Energy that might be taken up feeling stressed or anxious may be able to be redirected to focusing on and making sense of new information after a student mindfully chooses a grateful spirit. Another benefit for students who intentionally practice gratitude is experiencing added strength to sustain effort when learning feels challenging. This resilient spirit is rooted in students’ appreciation that challenges can help them grow as learners. Thus, rather than closing down one’s mind when faced with challenges, a student with a grateful spirit may view those challenges as an opportunity to learn.” (p. 9)

With this in mind, we can be role models and consider embedding gratitude practices into the classroom. A study by Howels (2014) found that when teachers embed this practice it has positive impacts in areas of relationship between teachers and students. Thereby increasing student wellbeing and a positive atmosphere. Some gratitude activities you could try in the classroom include:

  • Model gratitude yourself
  • Start the day with positive affirmation
  • Have students make a social media post about something they are grateful they learned in class that day
  • Thank a student when they make an excellent observation of the materials in class
  • Provide opportunities for students to show gratitude to peers in their class
  • Ask students to complete one act of kindness in their day, and to tell you how that went
  • Celebrate students’ growth and achievement in class
  • Encourage student independence
  • Ask a student to describe why and how they expressed gratitude
  • Have students reflect on the past, express gratitude and recognize their changes over time

With our own gratitude practice at the heart of our pedagogy, we create the right environment for gratitude to flourish.

Howells, K. (2014). An exploration of the role of gratitude in enhancing teacher–student relationships. Teaching and Teacher Education, 42, 58-67.
Howells, K. (2004). The role of gratitude in higher education. Research and Development in Higher Education, 27(2), 164-173.
Wilson, J. T. (2016). Brightening the mind: The impact of practicing gratitude on focus and resilience in learning. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 16(4), 1-13.

Current News

Canvas Training Sessions available through ITLD

Penn State IT Learning and Development is offering Canvas training sessions via Zoom on a variety of topics, from designing effective content to empowering students to collaborate using Canvas groups. Join them in for one of these upcoming sessions:

November

Canvas: Transition your Canvas Course to a New Semester
Thursday, November 18, 10 a.m. ET
Identify essential and recommended tasks to complete at the beginning and end of each semester.

December

Canvas: Empowering Your Students to Collaborate Effectively Using Canvas Groups
Wednesday, December 8, 11 a.m. ET
Learn to identify how students can use Canvas Group Tools to collaborate with peers.

For more information or to register visit the ITLD page here.

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • Smeal Academy Session: The Finish Line – Strategies for Ending the Semester Strong As we approach the end of the semester, there’s so much to do to ensure a smooth and successful finish. Come for a discussion about some practices and time-saving tips to end the semester strong! We’ll explore tips related to Canvas, grading, student communication and feedback and more. Please feel free to enjoy your lunch while we meet. Join us Monday, November 15th from Noon–1 via Zoom: https://psu.zoom.us/j/710269538?pwd=THlOeHlobTRFbmtTL2RoZG1VbjNGZz09

NOTE: Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our SmealTLT Website.

Tips of the Week

  • Tip #1: Make sure that important dates and information are provided in multiple modalities, such as on Canvas, in the syllabus, and on slides or other visual means of communication.
  • Tip #2: Check in on your students’ understanding. Use a minute paper, exit tickets, and online discussion forums or social annotation tools to check for students’ understanding after class. If you discover after class that students did not understand a key course concept, take time to review it at the start of the next class session.
  • Tip #3: Encourage students to engage with the course and collaborate virtually. Many of the tools that instructors use when teaching remotely can be brought into the face-to-face classroom, allowing students to interact with each other virtually while in the same space. These tools also allow instructors to monitor student work in real-time and offer feedback and guidance.

Rice University (nd) “Can you hear me in the back?”: Strategies for teaching (and learning) while wearing a mask.

Resources

Helpful Websites

Website

Check out the eLDIG website for more resources and support.

Contact Us

Email us at: course-support@smeal.psu.edu or fill out our Remote Teaching Support form.

Video, Pedagogy, and Kaltura (oh my!) – Fall 2021 Newsletter 4

Fall 2021 Resilience – Newsletter 4

Video has become more and more a part of our lives, from visiting family in distant places to education and entertainment. In this newsletter, we’ll take a look at how student learning can benefit from this powerful medium. We’ll look at survey data and best practices to help hone your video skills and we’ll also review Penn State tools available to help craft your instruction.

Once videos are recorded in Zoom, they’re automatically sent to Kaltura–Penn State’s Media Management Platform. Many of you are already aware of this because after you finish recording a lecture through Zoom, you receive an email from Kaltura saying that a recording is available to view on their platform.

After accessing a video directly on Kaltura’s site, you can edit many aspects of the video, such as the title, description, and length. You also can share the recording through a URL link or embed the video directly into your Canvas course(s). We’ll go over how to do all of this and more in our live session on October 15th at 9:00.

Helpful Links Related to Educational Video Strategies:

Current News

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • How to enhance pedagogy through video and integrate video into Penn State’s learning systems.This session will discuss numerous ways to enhance pedagogy through video and best practices to manage your video library and Canvas integration.Join us October 15, from 9 to 10 a.m. via Zoom:  https://psu.zoom.us/j/710269538?pwd=THlOeHlobTRFbmtTL2RoZG1VbjNGZz09
  • Smeal Academy Session: Learning Analytics Tricks and TreatsCome trick or treating with the eLDIG team and collect some creative basic learning analytics treats to inform and guide our teaching and learning efforts. We will have several doors to knock on from the Canvas house to the Zoom family…. and we may even check out what the Top Hat home is giving out this year. You never know what tricks might be up our costume sleeves or what haunted houses we’ll need to avoid as we wander through the analytics neighborhood. Come and join the fun as we collect some trick or treat loot (hopefully, there’ll be at least one or two full-sized candy bars)! Costumes are optional!Join us Tuesday, October 26 from 12 to 1 p.m. via Zoom: https://psu.zoom.us/j/710269538?pwd=THlOeHlobTRFbmtTL2RoZG1VbjNGZz09

NOTE:  Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our SmealTLT Website.

Tips of the Week

  • Tip #1:  Set up thresholds in Starfish
    To make Starfish reporting easier, be sure to set up your grading thresholds in Starfish (and your gradebook and grading scheme in Canvas). Check out this Knowledge Base article for instructions. Students have indicated that Starfish feedback helps them better understand how they’re doing in their classes, and it also supports advisors as they guide their advisees.
  • Tip #2:  Aim to keep your instructional videos no more than 5-7 minutes long.
    According to Techsmith, 52% of viewers prefer instructional and informational videos that are between 3-6 minutes in length. When the eLDIG team reviews Kaltura video analytics for Smeal courses, this preference is reflected in student video completion rates – the longer the video, the less the students watch. They also tend to watch the beginning, middle and end of the videos, so be sure to use these points to convey key information.

Resources

Helpful Websites

Website

Check out the eLDIG website for more resources and support.

Contact Us

Email us at: course-support@smeal.psu.edu or fill out our Remote Teaching Support form.

Midterm Motivation – Fall 2021 Newsletter 3

Fall 2021 Resilience – Newsletter 3

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges of teaching and learning during the Fall 2021 semester. Between now and the end of the Fall 2021 semester, we will be sending weekly emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.

This week, we share resources that can help you with student motivation.


During COVID we used more video than ever before. Students can find the use of video helpful, especially for second language students and students with disabilities.  This week, we will be talking a bit about the use of video in the Smeal Academy Sessions. Check out the list below for more information.

We all know it is important to motivate our learners and ensure the continuity of the motivation during the semester’s instruction. ARCS is an instructional model developed by John Keller and focuses on motivation.

There are four components of the ARCS model and stands for Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction.

  1. Attention: This refers to the learners’ interests. It is critical to get and hold the learners’ interests and attention. Some ideas for capturing student attention include:
    • Using video to allow for hearing the content again.
    • Providing real-world, related, and specific examples about content.
    • Using humor.
    • Going against learners’ past experience or providing an opposite point of view.
    • Using hands-on and role-playing activities.
    • Including brainstorming and critical thinking activities.
  2. Relevance: The learning process should show the usefulness of the content so that learners can bridge the gap between content and the real world. Some ideas for making content relevant to students include:
    • Explaining why and how this content helps the learners today or in the future.
    • Allow learners to choose their own paper topics or other ways to personalize their assignments.
    • Give learners continuity by establishing connections between new information and prior learning.
  3. Confidence: This component focuses on developing success expectations that allow learners to be in control of their learning processes. Some ideas for helping to build confidence in students include:
    • Use rubrics and checklists so that they can establish positive expectations and achieve success on your assignments.
    • Give learners’ early, and frequent feedback about their improvements/deficiencies during the course so that they can adjust their performance.
    • Allow learners the opportunity to be successful by providing multiple and varied assessment experiences. Avoid having only a few exams to measure understanding, instead include other assessments to vary the ways students can earn points.
  4. Satisfaction: There is a direct relationship between motivation and satisfaction. Learners should be satisfied with what they achieved during the learning process. Some ideas for making the content satisfying to students include:
    • Encourage intrinsic enjoyment of the learning experience so that learners have fun, continue the learning process without expecting reward or another kind of external motivational elements.
    • Extrinsic Rewards: Provide learners with positive feedback, rewards, and reinforcements. Be careful about scheduling reinforcement. It is more effective when you provide reinforcement at non-predictable intervals.
    • Maintain consistent standards and consequences for success. Check that there is consistency between yourself and your TA when sharing grading responsibilities.

References

Current News

  • Reminder: How to get your Zoom Recordings into Canvas
    If you missed last month’s session on getting your Zoom recordings into your Canvas Course using Kaltura. Be sure to look back at the sessions and watch these helpful videos.

  • Canvas Course Archiving took place  September 28
    Penn State IT will perform its regular archiving of older Canvas courses. You may choose to delay particular courses from being archived by using the in-Canvas Course Archive Manager tool. This can be found in the right navigation on your Canvas. Dashboard. Archiving includes: All LionPATH courses taught prior to and including Summer 2020 (LionPATH term 2205). All LionPATH courses that you may have previously opted out of archiving. Non-LionPATH courses, including Master, Manually Created, and Sandbox courses will not be archived. Full details, including instructions on how to opt a course out of archiving, are available on the Penn State Canvas website. This is a regular occurrence, please keep an eye on the notifications at the top of your Dashboard for future notices.
  • Spring Student Registration Has Begun
    Penn State undergraduates can view the full schedule of courses for Spring 2022. The LionPATH enrollment shopping carts opened Sept. 22. The first day of registration for graduate students is October 12, and undergraduate students is October 13. Encourage your students to talk to their advisors about what to take next.
  • Canvas Training Available
    As we begin to return to campus for the Fall semester, Penn State IT Learning and Development (ITLD) is offering Canvas training sessions via Zoom on a variety of topics, from designing effective content to empowering students to collaborate using Canvas groups. Register and check out the complete schedule of training sessions for Fall 2021.

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • How to enhance pedagogy through video and integrate video into Penn State’s learning systems.This session will discuss numerous ways to enhance pedagogy through video and best practices to manage your video library and Canvas integration.Join us October 15, from 9 to 10 a.m. via Zoom:  https://psu.zoom.us/j/710269538?pwd=THlOeHlobTRFbmtTL2RoZG1VbjNGZz09
  • Smeal Academy Session: Learning Analytics Tricks and TreatsCome trick or treating with the eLDIG team and collect some creative basic learning analytics treats to inform and guide our teaching and learning efforts. We will have several doors to knock on from the Canvas house to the Zoom family…. and we may even check out what the Top Hat home is giving out this year. You never know what tricks might be up our costume sleeves or what haunted houses we’ll need to avoid as we wander through the analytics neighborhood. Come and join the fun as we collect some trick or treat loot (hopefully, there’ll be at least one or two full-sized candy bars)! Costumes are optional!Join us Tuesday, October 26 from 12 to 1 p.m. via Zoom: https://psu.zoom.us/j/710269538?pwd=THlOeHlobTRFbmtTL2RoZG1VbjNGZz09

NOTE:  Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our SmealTLT Website.

Tips of the Week

Motivating Yourself: Did you know that a faculty’s intrinsic or “autonomous” motivations predict greater use of proven, effective teaching methods — namely instructional clarity and higher-order, reflective and integrative, and collaborative learning? Faculty who teach because they enjoy and value it tends to teach in the most effective ways.

Stupnisky, R. H., BrckaLorenz, A., Yuhas, B., & Guay, F. (2018). Faculty members’ motivation for teaching and best practices: Testing a model based on self-determination theory across institution types. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 53, 15-26.

  • Tip #1:  Attend professional development workshops about teaching
    Smeal faculty cherish the idea of continuous quality improvement in business. The same applies to the business of teaching. Collect the data you need to ensure you are making improvements. Then attend professional development workshops with teaching experts to improve your teaching methods.
  • Tip #2:   Allow yourself adequate teaching preparation time
    Preparation and planning are critical components of effective teaching. A common misnomer is that faculty only work a limited workday, but when the time for preparing and planning is accounted for, the time increases significantly. Teaching is not something you can do effectively on the fly. It requires a healthy blend of content knowledge, instructional strategies, and classroom management tactics. Plan days to weeks in advance if possible. Do not wait until the last minute to try to put content together. Doing so limits your effectiveness. Staying organized and budgeting your time can ease your stress.
  • Tip #3:  Connect with other teaching faculty
    Connecting with other educators is probably the best way to grow yourself as an educator. You can connect with other faculty through social media, in person, and in professional development sessions. Find a like-minded faculty member and truly connect to exchange ideas and make changes to your processes.

Meirovich, G., & Romar, E. J. (2006). The difficulty in implementing TQM in higher education instruction: The duality of instructor/student roles. Quality Assurance in Education.
Meador, D. (May 04, 2019). Strategies for Teachers: The Power of Preparation and Planning.
Heick, T. (nd.d). What Happens When Teachers Connect.

Resources

Helpful Websites

Website

Check out the eLDIG website for more resources and support.

Contact Us

Email us at: course-support@smeal.psu.edu or fill out our Remote Teaching Support form.

Wellness – Fall 2021 Newsletter 2

Fall 2021 Resilience – Week 2

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges of teaching and learning during the Fall 2021 semester. Between now and the end of the Fall 2021 semester, we will be sending weekly emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.

This week, we are sharing some strategies to support wellness for you and your students.

Pause and Take a Breath…

It is hard to believe that we are already a quarter of the way through the semester! Our lives are a whirlwind of activities, adaptations, and anxieties that cause us to feel anything from exhilaration to exhaustion, and everything in between.
First and foremost, remember to notice and accept whatever it is that you are feeling. That is information you need to respond in a way that best supports your well-being.

A recent blog post on BetterUp’s website outlined seven types of rest, as defined by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, M.D. These include: creative, mental, physical, social, emotional, sensory, and spiritual rest. Often, sleep is not the only “time-out” your brain and body need in order to recover from the constant pressures of daily life. You may be excited to learn that a wide variety of activities can give your nervous system the break it needs to recover. These ideas, which span all seven types of rest, include:

  • Take a walk in nature (creative rest)
  • Put your devices aside for a while (mental rest)
  • Sleep (physical rest)
  • Turn down an invitation and recharge on your own (social rest)
  • Write in a journal (emotional rest)
  • Meditate or pray (sensory rest)
  • Volunteer for something meaningful (spiritual rest)

Finally, take just a moment to pause – relax your shoulder blades down your back body – sit up tall – take a deep breath in – exhale – and savor this moment of being human. Sometimes a little breath can go a long way.

Resource

Cooks-Campbell, A. (2021, August 11). 7 types of rest (because you need more rest in your life). BetterUp.

Current News

  • Smeal Academy Video Tip: Accessing Zoom Recordings Through Kaltura
    Are you trying to figure out how to access your Zoom recordings in Kaltura? Check out this web page and watch the short video to learn the basics of how to access your Zoom videos.
  • New Analytics Now Available in Canvas
    New Analytics gives instructors the ability to evaluate student performance in published courses, track and analyze participation, identify at-risk students, and determine the effectiveness of various teaching strategies.  More information about monitoring student performance with analytics is available in Penn State’s Canvas Learning Path.

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • Supporting Distressed Students
    CAPS will help lead a session about Supporting Distressed Students and Red Folder Resources. The Red Folder initiative is a guide to help faculty, staff, and others who interact with students to recognize, respond effectively to, and refer distressed students at Penn State.Join us Tuesday, September 28 from 12 to 1 p.m. am via Zoom: https://psu.zoom.us/j/710269538?pwd=THlOeHlobTRFbmtTL2RoZG1VbjNGZz09

NOTE:  Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our SmealTLT Website.

Tips of the Week

  • Tip #1:  Mindful Making
    Penn State’s Mindful Making and Health Promotion and Wellness teams have created a beautiful website with a variety of activities that you may try yourself and/or in your classroom. Looking for journal prompts or an idea for a walking meditation? They have it all here along with many other activity ideas.
  • Tip #2:  Explore Mindfulness
    Penn State’s Health Promotion and Wellness Team has also curated a website devoted to mindfulness resources. Check out this amazing list of apps, books, podcasts, and websites that can support your mindfulness journey.

Resources

Helpful Websites

Website

Check out the eLDIG website for more resources and support.

Contact Us

Email us at: course-support@smeal.psu.edu or fill out our Remote Teaching Support form.

Welcome Back  – Fall 2021 Newsletter 1

Fall 2021 Resilience – Week 1

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges of teaching and learning during the Fall 2021 semester. Between now and the end of the Fall 2021 semester, we will be sending weekly emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.

Here’s hoping you had a wonderful Labor Day holiday! This week, we are sharing some back to campus tips and pointers to keep your semester running smoothly.

Return to Campus Is In The Books

We know that members of the Smeal community – faculty, staff, and students alike – are juggling so much at the start of this semester. It’s great to be back and it’s also an adjustment. The following are some resources and reminders to get the semester off on your best foot.

Tech Tips for Teaching with Masks

  • Use the Mic. No one thinks they need a microphone. But even in non-masked situations, it’s best to use microphones when they are available. It’s essential when teaching with a mask so people can hear. Typically, people who can’t hear won’t be comfortable speaking up to let us know. eLDIG encourages our community to mic up when teaching and presenting – all General Purpose classrooms have them. For more information on GPC technology, check out the list of Classroom Technology. Contact TLT if you’d like to schedule a consultation to better utilize your classroom technology. Speaking of using a mic, try to make a habit of repeating student questions so everyone can hear them.
  • Use Tech Tools to Gauge Emotions and Build Community. Masks make it difficult to see nonverbal cues. You can use tools like Top Hat to generate a word cloud at the beginning of class so students can let you know how they’re feeling. You could have a simple prompt like “Describe your current mood in one word.” It is as important as ever to build connections with our students.
  • Model the Correct Way to Wear Masks. Our ability to continue in-person instruction depends on all of us to do our part to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Consider reminding students that this is part of upholding the Smeal Honor Code. To reinforce mask adherence, have students agree (via a Canvas or Top Hat quiz) at the beginning of each class to abide by PSU’s masking requirements completely to receive full participation credit for the day. You can also add a slide at the beginning of each class to remind students how to correctly wear masks.

Resources

Check out the following resources for more information:

Productivity Tips

  • Use Available Tech Tools. Get to know the tools available to us at Penn State. Schedule a meeting with someone from the eLDIG team or check out Penn State’s Ed Tech Advisor to learn more about available tools to enhance your teaching and learning.
  • Compose Ahead and Delay Posting of Canvas Announcements. Instructors are carrying an increasingly heavy workload and balancing all the new intricacies of teaching can feel overwhelming. When possible, consider composing your regular course tips and announcements ahead of time using Canvas announcements and delaying posting so that they are ready when you need them.
  • Schedule Grading Time On Your Calendar. Just as we schedule meetings and office hours, scheduling time for grading can help ensure that you can reserve time for grading and still have time for work-life balance.

Here are some additional tips for the beginning of the semester: Top Hat Teaching Tips.

 

Current News

  • eLDIG Continues to Grow! This week we would like to introduce Matt Mignogna to the eLDIG team. Matt joins eLDIG as an Instructional Designer after serving as one of Smeal’s Undergraduate Programs advisors. He brings a wealth of expertise in teaching and learning theory, course design, and video creation. Check out his YouTube channel for videos ranging in topics from things he should have learned in school to gaming. Welcome to the team, Matt!
  • Smeal Academy Video Tip. Are you trying to figure out how to make the switch from Zoom to Kaltura video recording and sharing? Watch this short video to learn the basics of how to share your Zoom recordings with Kaltura: Editing and Sharing Zoom Recordings in Kaltura

Upcoming Live Sessions

  • Who Moved My Zoom?
    This session will discuss recent changes to Penn State’s Zoom recording storage. We will share tips and strategies for creating and sharing recordings with your students and for student-created video assignments using Kaltura, Penn State’s video hosting platform.
    Join us Monday, September 13 from 12 to 1 p.m. via Zoom.
  • Supporting Distressed Students
    CAPS will help lead a session about Supporting Distressed Students and Red Folder Resources. The Red Folder initiative is a guide to help faculty, staff, and others who interact with students to recognize, respond effectively to, and refer distressed students at Penn State.
    Join us Tuesday, September 28 from 12 to 1 p.m. am via Zoom.

NOTE: Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our SmealTLT Website.

 

Tips of the Week

  • Tip #1:   Use videos for announcements and grading feedback.
    Let’s face it – we are becoming a more video-based culture. Consider adding videos to your Canvas announcements or providing video feedback in Canvas assignments. It might even save some time and increase the likelihood of students listening.
  • Tip #2:   Remind students to enable Canvas notifications.
    To ensure students are receiving Canvas notifications, show them how to enable them. The default settings in Canvas do notify students of announcements right away, but they might miss discussion notifications because those are set to be “off” by default.

Resources

Helpful Websites

Website

Check out the eLDIG website for more resources and support.

Contact Us

Email us at: course-support@smeal.psu.edu or fill out our Remote Teaching Support form.

Who Moved My Zoom? – Summer 2021 Newsletter 4

Summer 2021 Resilience – Week 4

The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique teaching challenges of this time. Throughout the summer, we will be sending emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.

Last week we discussed reshaping your Fall semester. This week, we share resources that can help you utilize Kaltura for your video storage and sharing needs.

Who Moved My Zoom?

Penn State is urging you to do a “Summer Clean Up” of Zoom storage. This announcement reflects a shift in the University’s video storage and delivery policy away from Zoom and towards Kaltura. Recording in Zoom is still recommended.

Accompanying the request to delete unused recordings from Zoom will be other changes coming this Fall which could change workflows related to sharing video content with students.

To ease the transition from Zoom to Kaltura for video storage and delivery we’ve provided an overview of Kaltura and its integration with Canvas below. We will also be conducting a “Who Moved My Zoom?” Smeal Faculty Academy session in the near future to discuss some of the Fall changes and updated best practices in more detail.

What Is Kaltura?

Kaltura is Penn State’s tool for storing, publishing and streaming media. It’s cloud based and works in conjunction with Zoom and Canvas to help incorporate digital content into coursework easily and seamlessly. The Penn State Web site that hosts Kaltura is named Mediaspace – so you may read articles that mention it.

Why Zoom Video Storage is Transitioning to Kaltura

  • Zoom storage is expensive. Penn State needs to reduce our costs.
  • Zoom videos are already automatically transferred to Kaltura for storage/delivery.
  • Providing captions to videos is easier in Kaltura.
  • You can structure your Kaltura videos into Playlists for easy access.
  • You can easily integrate your videos and Playlists into Canvas.
  • You can view robust viewer analytics on Kaltura videos.

How Zoom and Kaltura Work Together

  • Video content recorded in Zoom is automatically stored in Kaltura as well.
  • While Kaltura does have a tool to record video, it is not an optimal recording solution. We recommend recording videos using Zoom then using Kaltura to publish, store, and deliver video content through its seamless integration with Canvas.

How to Access Kaltura

  • You can go to the Kaltura Web Site.
  • You can access it directly at the Mediaspace Web Site.
  • You can also view your Kaltura videos from Canvas by clicking the “My Media” option on your Canvas Main Navigation.

How to Locate and Organize Your Kaltura Videos

  1. Locate Kaltura Videos
    Once you have logged into Kaltura or opened My Media in Canvas, you can search by keywords in Kaltura’s search functionality, or use search Filters to narrow your results.
  2. Organize Kaltura Videos
    Videos can be organized into Playlists (video collections in a list viewable by anyone) and Channels (video collections shared with specific users).
  3. Access Kaltura Analytics
    Instructors can view robust Kaltura analytics for both stand-alone videos embedded into course content as well as Course Media Galleries. These analytics can provide useful insights using metrics such as Plays, Minutes Viewed, and Completion Rate, to name a few. This data can be used to improve future content offerings, identify content that is under-utilized by students, and provide a means to hold students accountable for watching required content.
  4. Share Your Kaltura Videos in Canvas
    Rich integrations between the Canvas and Kaltura platforms streamline delivering video content to students. These integrations eliminate the need to log into multiple systems to find and deliver videos, reduce the chance of errors caused by copying long links or embed code, and provide the assurance that security, access, and analytics are at optimum levels.Videos can be organized within Canvas using the Course Media Gallery option. Each Canvas course contains a “hidden” Course Media Gallery. It must be activated by the instructor or other course editor within Canvas to be used. Using the Course Media Gallery ensures that analytics will capture individual student activity and that video permissions are set to allow students in your course to view video content.You can also embed individual videos into Canvas pages, announcements, quizzes, etc.

Upcoming Live Sessions

Clickers Be Gone: What Now?

With iClicker support ending in Spring 2022, this session will explore alternative technologies and strategies for interactive polling in your courses and explore some considerations as you transition away from iClicker use.

Join us Wednesday, August 11 from 12 to 1 p.m. via Zoom: https://psu.zoom.us/j/710269538?pwd=THlOeHlobTRFbmtTL2RoZG1VbjNGZz09

NOTE:  Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our eLDIG Website.

Tips of the Week

Tip 1: Access Help Docs About Canvas

Got a burning Canvas question and you need the answer NOW? Here are some ways to get that answer:

  • Access Canvas Docs: Visit the Canvas Community for great, step-by-step instructions on just about anything related to Canvas.
  • Access Canvas Help: In Canvas, click the Help button (a question mark) in the lower left area of the screen. From there you can text chat with or call an expert, access help documents, and more!

Tip 2: Write Better Discussion Questions

Match discussion questions with your learning objectives to evoke deeper, richer responses and interactions in online discussions. View this site on Online Discussions to learn more!

Tip 3: Use Low or No-stakes Quizzes to Elicit Learning

Research on low or no-stakes quizzes indicates that students perform better on the “real” quizzes and exams. It’s a great way for students to test themselves, discover their weaknesses and proactively address them.
Source: Ungraded Quizzes: Any Chance They Promote Learning? (2015). Teaching Professor, 29(5), 3.

Resources

Helpful Websites

Website

Check out the eLDIG website for more resources and support.

Contact Us

Email us at: course-support@smeal.psu.edu or fill out our Remote Teaching Support form.