Our busy lives pull us in so many directions. Taking time to relax, reconnect with ourselves, and reset is critical for being able to show up for others. In this session, we share a wide variety of resources you can use every day to feel calmer, more centered, and refreshed.
Links Shared in Presentation:
Interactive Trick-or-Treat Map
Come 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 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. 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 (though you will see many in this presentation)!
Penn State Counseling and Psychological Center (CAPS) led 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. This session was held on Tuesday, September 28 from 12 to 1 p.m. via Zoom.
Student enrollments are beginning to shift to reflect the long-term desire of some students for flexible learning with the option of accessing the robust remote learning designs you offered during the pandemic. Enrollments may increase or may vary in delivery mode with students attending class from multiple audiences (face-to-face, hybrid, and/or online/asynchronous). In this session, we discussed how to respond to the growing demands for your class and best practices in scaling your course for continued engagement shifts, regardless of course size or delivery mode.
As we prepare for the new normal in teaching and learning, let’s pause to reflect on the lessons we’ve learned over the past year. We will be joined by a panel of Smeal faculty sharing what they plan to carry forward into their teaching next semester.
Some Helpful Resources:
Not all students will be able to return to campus this Fall. Will you be teaching students both in the classroom and online? This session, which was held on June 24, 2021, shared some best practices to ensure a great learning experience for all students (while keeping things manageable for you).
Some Helpful Resources:
We are moving rapidly through the semester, and many students are in the process of returning to some version of on-campus instruction. Amid the pressures and transition, there are many instructional strategies that you can incorporate to support the well-being of your students. This important session held on February 19, 2021, is filled with supportive strategies you can immediately implement in your teaching (bonus: many of these ideas will support your well-being, too!).
25 Classroom Icebreakers For College Professors [Plus: Free List of 50 Icebreakers]
Greater Good in Action Well-Being Practices
Penn State Student Wellness Resources
Penn State Wellness Days Resources
Smeal Academy – Key Lessons Learned from Remote Teaching
Well, it’s Groundhog Day – and here we are teaching remotely again this semester! What have we learned from our past experiences of remote teaching? What real-world strategies work? Come and hear from Smeal faculty and staff about tips, tricks, and lessons learned as we continue to deliver instruction remotely.
Panelists:
Active Learning Session – January 13, 2021
Think about the last time you learned something. What was the topic? How did you learn it? What motivated you to engage in the learning and stay engaged? What got you thinking critically about the knowledge you were seeking? What kind of innovation had you wished had been applied to the topic? What new tool would have been fun? This session discussed active learning strategies in online learning that help faculty engage learners and can lead to innovation in the classroom. Active learning is a teaching method that supports learning. The method uses techniques and activities that promote analysis, synthesis, and evaluation that guides students towards achieving learning objectives. These techniques and activities are based on ideas about how people learn and engage regardless of content discipline. Multiple strategies were discussed in a very active session.
Links mentioned:
Discovery Education Puzzle Maker Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. Create and print customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more-using your own word lists.
Kahoot Millions of teachers and students unleash the magic of learning with Kahoot!. Create your own kahoot in minutes or choose from 40+ million ready-to-play games. Engage students who aren’t in school with our distance learning features, play in class, and dive into game reports to assess learning.
Faculty Panel – Group Projects in Online, Remote, and Hybrid Courses:
Are you trying to figure out strategies for group work in your online/remote and hybrid classes? This session explored how some of our faculty are integrating group work in their classes. They discussed best practices and lessons learned and allowed time for participant Q & A to discuss questions, concerns, and needs. This session was held Wednesday, September 9 from 9 to 10 a.m.
Panelists: Norm Aggon, Shawn Clark, Nancy McClure, Jeanette Miller, Felisa Preciado-Higgins, and Al Vicere
Engaging Students Synchronously (A session designed as a collaboration between TLT and eLDIG): Are you interested in improving student engagement in your synchronous online classes? This August 27, 2020 session covered best practices when engaging students in synchronous, online settings. Topics included how to help students engage with the content, instructors, and their fellow students, as well as how to best adapt in-class activities to the synchronous online environment. This content applies to both blended and online courses.
Engaging Students Through Assessment (A session designed as a collaboration between Teaching and Learning with Technology and eLDIG): How can you engage your students through online assessments (both formative and summative)? This August 19, 2020 session covered the changes can you make to your assessments to take advantage of the affordances of the online environment. Topics include setting expectations for online assessments, managing student stress levels, determining the most effective delivery method in your teaching context, adapting both formative and summative assessments from in-person to online formats, and alternatives to online exams.
Session Resources
You Got This – Prepping Your Course for the New Normal
This August 12, 2020 session reviewed strategies for the first week of class, orientation tips and tricks, academic integrity/online honor code resources, COVID updates, course communication, and Canvas navigation considerations to ensure a successful course launch.
Are you pre-recording your lectures for Fall, but aren’t sure where to begin? Do you have questions about Zoom settings for teaching and learning? Are you curious about best practices for sharing your recordings? This July 15 session led by Ian Nalepa and Renee Ford focused on tips and strategies for recording, hosting, and sharing recordings from an instructor’s perspective.
This page shares some takeaways from our April 30, 2020 session concerning strategies and challenges of working remotely.
Virtual Bingo created by the eLDIG team for your entertainment
