Reminder – eLearning Spring Workshops Open for Registration!

I just wanted to send a reminder to remind you to register for our eLearning Spring Workshops.  We have amazing offerings at both Lansdowne and Interurban covering D2L, Articulate Storyline, Kaltura, Collaborate Ultra, Open Education, Universal Design for Learning, and a wide range of topics around teaching with educational technology.

Before I give you the links to the spring workshop information, I also wanted to let you know that we have another workshop running on Tuesday, March 17th called Top 10 Digital Learning Skills Strategies for Your Students.  You can find out more, and register on our website, but here is a bit more information:  “Are you looking for strategies to support your students who are learning to use digital resources? Whether you are using D2L to support your face-to-face teaching, teaching blended, or completely online, we have some tips and resources for you!”

And now, follow the links to our eLearning Spring Workshops at Lansdowne and our eLearning Spring Workshops at Interurban to register for our May/June offerings!

Reminder: Open Education Week is Next Week!!

Next week is Open Education Week. What does this mean, you are undoubtedly asking yourselves. Well, let me tell you!

First, a quote from the Open Education website:

“Founded in 2013 by the Open Education Global (previously Open Education Consortium), the goal of Open Education Week is to raise awareness and showcase impact of open education on teaching and learning worldwide. Open Education Week has become one of the most foremost global events recognizing high achievement and excellence in open education.

The week-long event spotlights amazing work from over a dozen categories including live, face-to-face events, webinars, projects, and resources.  The Best-of-the-Best participate in Open Education Week. “

So, here we are in year 8 of this amazing event. Institutions around the world are running face to face and online events, and all online events are free so you can attend from your own desk.

The Events page on the Open Education website lets you know what is happening, and where, but it’s a little tricky to navigate.

Open Ed Week events page screen capture

Interested in an event? Click on it to find out more. And then you can click on Event Schedule to see a complete calendar of events taking place next week.

Event Schedule screen capture

Click on the date to see all the events, Online Events are listed first, followed by Local (on-site) Events. If it is an online event, click on the event title and then you can click Join Webinar to connect to the session once it begins. The Events page does not have an option to automatically add calendar events to your calendar of choice, so you will have to do that yourself. Just make sure you have the time right, as these events are originating from all over the world.

Next week I’ll be blogging some more about Open Education Week as it happens!

New Quiz Building Experience in D2L

There is a new “Quiz Building Experience” in D2L. What does this mean? It means you have the option right not to opt a new Add/Edit Questions interface when you are creating a quiz. Here’s how to opt in, and how to navigate this new interface:

  1. Create a New Quiz, or Edit an existing one.
  2. Make sure your Quiz has a Name, then click Add/Edit Questions.

    This new experience brings the Add/Edit Question interface in line with the design you have already seen in several of the Question types, as well as adding the drag and drop option for reordering which is already present in other D2L tools.

  3. At the top, right (right above Settings) you will see a little down arrow – click this.

    Click the arrow at top right

  4. Click Turn it on. If you decide you want to go back to the original experience, you can click the down arrow and the Turn it off button that will appear. Note that eventually, this will be the default experience so it’s a good idea to try it out now!

    Click Turn it on

  5. On the “Ready to begin adding quiz content?” screen, click Import and select Browse Question Library (you could also click Add, but we recommend you create your questions in the Question Library first, then Import them into a quiz.)

    Click Import and select Browse Question Library

  6. Use the arrows to open sections in your Question Library, and the select boxes to select sections or questions to add to your Quiz. Once you have selected the questions you wish to add, click Add.

    Select questions and click Add

  7. If you then click on a question, you will be able to edit it (and you will be asked if you want to save it to all the places the question is being used). And if you hover your mouse on a question, and then hold down your mouse on the dots on the left side, you can drag questions around to change their order.

    Click to edit or drag questions

  8. Once you are done adding and editing your questions, click Back to Settings for “Quiz Title” (at the top left).

    Click Back to Settings for Quiz

  9. You can now finish editing your Quiz (Restrictions, Assessment, etc.) and click Save and Close.

    Click Save and Close

This new experience brings the Add/Edit Question interface in line with the design you have already seen in several of the Question types, as well as adding the drag and drop option for reordering which is already present in other D2L tools.

Any questions?  Send a note to desupport@camosun.ca to book a consult with an instructional designer.

Camosun Faculty: Please share this message with your students! (time-sensitive)

Dear Camosun College Students,

** Do accessibility-related challenges impact your student life at college? **

Accessibility challenges for students at college can be the result of a mismatch between what you need to succeed as a student and how components of college experiences & environments have been designed.

For example, you may have experienced accessibility-related challenges associated with a physical or learning disability, or associated with speaking English as a second language, or associated with financial limitations, or associated with the use of technology at the college.

The 2019/2020 “Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Project: Phase 2” is a faculty/student-partners project at Camosun College. Our project team is interested in hearing your stories about accessibility-related challenges in college life, learning what would help to minimize those challenges, and creating learning tools out of your stories that will help our college community better understand how we can all help design experiences and environments that are more accessible for everyone.

** What does our college community need to know about accessibility-related challenges? What do you want us to know? **

We invite you to share your stories with us between February 24 to March 16, 2020 in small groups (Sharing Circles) or anonymously (Online Form).

Questions about this project may be directed to: Sue Doner, UDL Project team leader, in the Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (doners@camosun.ca).

Information about this project and a schedule of opportunities for you to participate may also be found on the project website “Practical Applications of Universal Design for Learning”

Educause

If you don’t already know about Educause, you need to check it out.

Educause is “a non-profit association and the largest community of technology, academic, industry, and campus leaders advancing higher education through the use of IT.” And you can find all kinds of resources, research, and connections at the Educause website.

For example, last December Educause published a 2019 Study of Faculty and Information Technology. While the data comes from 119 US institutions, much of the information collected is likely also reflective of trends in Canada.

I encourage you to take a look around the Educause site and let us know if you have any questions or want to find out more about any of the issues discussed there.

Adding Links to your D2L Course Navbar

A quick tip for you today.

Wanting to add links to your D2L course Navbar (for example, a link to My Media to enable Kaltura for your students)? Here’s a quick way to do that.

  1. Go to your D2L course
  2. Hover your mouse over the Navbar, and click on the three dots that appear at the top, right, and select Customize this Navbar (note, if you have already customized your Navbar, you will select Edit this Navbar).

    Select Customize or Edit this Navbar

  3. In the Create a Copy? box, click Yes! I’ll work with a copy of the navbar. (Note that if you have already customized your Navbar, you will not see this box and can move to the next step).

    Click Yes! I'll work with a copy of the navbar.

  4. Change the Name of your Navbar if you like, then in the Links area, click Add Links.

    Click Add Links

  5. In the Add Links box, find and select the link(s) you wish to place on the Navbar, then click Add.

    Select links and click Add

  6. Move the new navbar link as needed (click and hold your mouse button on the new link and move around the navbar), then click Save and Close.

    Click Save and Close

  7. Your new link will now appear in your navbar.

    Navbar with new link