Category

Smeal Academy Sessions

Transitioning to Canvas New Quizzes: An ID Perspective

Penn State now supports the creation of quizzes using Canvas’s New Quizzes​ ​tool. Are you ready to jump in?

Join the eLearning Design & Innovation Group (eLDIG)in the Smeal College of Business as we gather to learn from an instructional designer who has successfully navigated the transition to New Quizzes!

Becky Moulder, Senior Instructional Design Project Leader from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, will be leading a session on New Quizzes from an ID perspective. She will share advantages, stumbling blocks, and the potential for New Quizzes to engage learners. We will also hear Wharton’s recipe for success when supporting faculty in making the switch!

Responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in Business Education and Research Reading and Discussion Group (Session 3)

The third session of a Smeal series on the role of artificial intelligence in our teaching and research focused on our shared commitment to preparing leaders to responsibly leverage artificial intelligence responsibly in business. Ed shared some trends in the field of accounting and how they impact his approach to teaching at Smeal. Ed recently wrote an article for Tax Adviser. (Page 42.) A teaching ethics article (Page 46) may interest those who watch this session recording.

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Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in Business Education and Research Reading and Discussion Group (Session 2)

Join us for the second session of a Smeal series on the role of artificial intelligence in our teaching and research, which focused on our shared commitment to preparing leaders to leverage artificial intelligence responsibly in business.

Student Disability Resources

Join us for a special Smeal Academy session with disability specialists, Krista Biesinger and Fran Zola. We discuss the basics of who SDR is and SDR’s role on campus and go into specific strategies for helping support student learning and accommodations.

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Supporting Student Wellness Through Course Design

A recent survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse revealed that college students want their professors and advisers to be very involved in promoting their mental health and well-being. What does that mean for us in higher education? In this session, we will share some easy teaching strategies that you can implement today to support students that might make your job a little easier too.

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Policy 42-27, Election Day, and Contingency Planning

Did you know there’s a new Faculty Senate guideline in Policy 42-27 stating that “Instructors should provide, within reason, pedagogical and curricular necessity, the opportunity for a day consisting solely of remote asynchronous instruction on a November election day?” In this session, we will share some strategies and best practices for asynchronous instruction and contingency planning for those days and times when plans change, and instruction must go on.  This session is designed for instructors and staff who support Canvas courses.

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Bring Business to Life with SAGE Business Cases

Are you on the lookout for new case studies for your course or interesting content to support curriculum and independent research? Would you like to help students better understand business practices while developing a business plan of their own? Are you interested in publishing interdisciplinary case studies? If so, join us for a custom session to learn more about SAGE Business Cases. SAGE Business Cases are free to Penn State Faculty, Staff, and Students through Penn State Libraries.

SAGE Business Cases bring business to life—inspiring students and researchers to develop their own best practices and prepare for professional success. Tailored to meet the various needs of librarians, faculty, and students, these cases cover a variety of in-demand subjects including entrepreneurship, accounting, healthcare management, leadership, and social enterprise. In this session, we will provide in-depth instruction on using SAGE Business Cases to illuminate real-life business scenarios and theories and understand their application outside the classroom.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

  • Review the SAGE Business Cases collection and explore how it is curated and developed
  • Create a user profile, save searches, and build custom lists of content
  • Search, browse, and filter to find specific cases in the platform
  • Link cases into learning management systems, websites, and LibGuides
  • Use learning objectives, teaching notes, and other supplemental materials to enhance course instruction

We will use the first 30 minutes to discover these benefits (and more) and reserve the rest of the time for a Q&A session, sharing how cases and simulations might be used to enhance your courses!

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Anthology Ally

The University has enabled a Canvas feature called Ally in all Fall courses. The tool helps support our goals of equity and inclusion, improving course accessibility and usability. With Ally, students are able to download alternative accessible file formats such as HTML, Audio, and Electronic Braille. Providing students with more accessible content allows students to choose the format that works best for them, improving student success. Ally also provides faculty with detailed feedback and resources. Through Ally, instructors can learn more about accessibility issues, why accessibility matters, and how to manage issues as they arise. In addition, Ally provides guidance and tips for continual improvements to course accessibility.

This session provides an overview of the features available with Anthology Ally, exploring:

  • on-demand student alternative format download options,
  • faculty accessibility tools, and
  • course accessibility scores.

As you begin to review your courses, the eLDIG team is available for consultations to help remediate existing course content and improve accessibility. This session is designed for instructors and staff who support Canvas courses.

 

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Session slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KXg5N5U81JU5jXVN6dUC7wMYe3WrV1ayqIeZ6TM95fs/edit?usp=sharing

 

Reports and Alternative Formats

Remediate Content

Everything I Know About Instructional Design I Learned from the Far Side

With a career at Penn State dating back to 1984, Dr. Brett Bixler brings almost four decades of instructional design experience to his role as an instructional designer on the eLDIG team. Come hear how teaching and learning with technology has evolved during his career as he discusses whether or not our brains work like snow globes (to paraphrase the Far Side): You know those little snow globes that you shake up? I always thought my brain was sort of like that. You know, where you just give it a shake and watch what comes out and shake it again. It’s like that.

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Artificial Intelligence and The Future of Learning

In this session we discuss the brave, new world of Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity. If ChatGPT passed a Wharton MBA exam, could ChatGPT pass Smeal classes? ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools make it much easier to cheat on assessments. The eLDIG team has been experimenting with AI tools and evaluating their impact for Smeal.

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