CETL Blog

Please Stop Creating PDFs that Aren’t Accessible

Do you create your PDFs by photocopying the source material? Do your PDFs have any handwritten notes on the pages?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, you should know that many students can’t read these PDFs at all.

  • A photocopied PDF is just a picture of the page. It is 100% inaccessible for any student who uses text-to-speech tools to access course content.
  • Handwritten notes in PDFs present challenges for ALL students, and are also unreadable for text-to-speech tools.

Before you spend hours at a photocopier scanning your course readings into PDF files: STOP!

Take your clean (i.e. no handwritten notes) source materials to Printshop Services and ask them to scan your course readings as OCR’d* PDFs. (OCR is a scanning process that extracts the text from the source material; PDFs scanned for OCR are readable for most students.)

For more information about accessible print materials, see:

*OCR = Optical Character Recognition.

Open Education Week is NEXT Week!

From Open Education Global:

An annual celebration, Open Education Week (OE Week) is an opportunity for actively sharing and learning about the latest achievements in Open Education worldwide.

Open Education Week was launched in 2012 by Open Education Global as a collaborative, community-built open forum. Every year OE Week raises awareness and highlights innovative open education successes worldwide. OE Week provides practitioners, educators, and students with an opportunity to build a greater understanding of open educational practices and be inspired by the wonderful work being developed by the community around the world.

Next week is Open Education Week and there are many amazing events taking place online you can attend or register for and get the recording.  A large list is available at OEGlobal Open Education Week (see the 2022 Activity Schedule).  This is a great chance to hear what people from across Canada and the world are doing to support OE initiatives, and to connect yourselves with the wider community.  I will be attending a number of sessions myself and will try to note resources to share with everyone after.  If you go to any sessions and find some resources, or hear of something interesting you would like to explore or share, let me know!!

Feel free to share these sessions with others – they are open to all.  Here are a few more:

UBC

University of Alberta Open Education Week events:

BCcampus

Sask Polytechnic

Athabasca

Creative Comments: An Introductory Discussion of Open Licensing

On March 7th from 12-1pm MT, Athabasca University will be hosting a lunch-and-learn discussion panel on open licensing. Join Dan Cockcroft (OER Librarian), Rachel Conroy (Copyright Officer) and Mark McCutcheon (Chair of the Centre for Humanities and Professor of Literary Studies) to discuss common questions and misconceptions surrounding open licensing. While the discussion will be oriented to instructors who are curious about open licensing, we invite everyone from the education community to participate. See you there! Grab your free ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/266969201067

Evaluating Excellence: A Conversation About OER Quality

On March 9th from 12-1pm MT, Athabasca University will be hosting a lunch-and-learn discussion on the quality of Open Educational Resources (OER). Join Dan Cockcroft (OER librarian), Dr. Connie Blomgren (Assistant Professor, Distance Education), Michael Dabrowski (Academic Coordinator, Spanish), Dr. David Annand (Professor, Accounting), and Dr. Dietmar Kennepohl (Professor, Chemistry) to discuss common questions and misconceptions surrounding the quality of open resources. While the panel discussion will be oriented to instructors who are curious about OER, we invite everyone from the education community to participate. Grab your free ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/267142579647

SAIT

I’m excited to share SAIT’s Open Education Week activities.  We are still online for our classes and events, so two very talented students have developed the following online asynchronous activities that anyone can access:

Feel free to link to these resources. Our general calendar of events is available at https://libguides.sait.ca/OEWeek

Camosun Open Sustainability Project: Project Story #7

And now for the seventh and final story in our ongoing series related to Camosun’s Open Education Sustainability Project:  Liz Morch.

Liz teaches in the Dental Hygiene program at Camosun, and her project was “to develop five modules covering basic topics in nutrition that could be used by anybody teaching foundational nutritional courses.  Using open technology, we have the opportunity to share learning materials rather than having to (re)create information that should be readily available, leaving more time for instructors to focus on student needs and student interaction.”  The five modules Liz created were around the topics of Carbohydrates, Proteins, Lipids, Vitamins, and Minerals.  “I think we created five solid modules on those components containing foundational information that anyone could use for their own courses, or adapt for use in their own context, whatever discipline they might be in.”

Using and creating open resources fits well into Liz’s philosophy of teaching.  “I think we need to understand today’s student. When I went to university, I didn’t have to work because I was fortunate to have family support and scholarships, so all I did was focus on school. Today, many of our students are balancing work, family commitments, financial constraints and learning challenges, as  well as navigating huge volumes of information that they encounter in school and on the Internet. As an instructor, it is important to consider the challenges students face when learning, however every time I push myself to do something different to address this, I’m always amazed at how well students respond!”

Liz believes in sharing the wealth through using open resources as well.  “One of the challenges we face as faculty is staying current in our discipline. Every basic nutrition course, no matter what program it is part of, has content focused on proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, and minerals.  So, instead of creating and taking class time to deliver this common content every time you offer a course, students could complete these existing online modules on their own, and then classroom exercises can focus on  amazing discussions because they’ve had the flexibility to learn the content at their own pace and their own time.”

While creating and using open content is a priority for Liz, finding, adapting, or creating OER comes with challenges.  “During the semester, it’s very hard to find dedicated time for this kind of work.  Even when you dedicate focussed time, it’s amazing how many distractions come your way.”  While fortunately for this project Liz was given release time as a result of the grant funding, one other challenge Liz mentioned was the question of how much is enough?  “I want it to be extraordinary, so defining the breadth and scope for this project was a bit challenging. I wanted to make sure that it was not solely dental focused, and I also wanted it to be much more interactive, but I ran out of time.”

Despite these challenges, Liz still believes that working with open educational resources is the right thing to do.  One of the benefits she sees with her open project is the flexibility her nutrition site can afford students who have a very heavy course load.  “For my course within the heavy course load of our dental hygiene program, the end of their final semester students have many large comprehensive projects to complete. So, what I began to consider was how to organize my course to include these nutrition modules so that their work for the course was front loaded. In January, students have quite a bit of time, whereas in April, they are going to be stressed out and maxed out with projects that require considerable time and effort. If I create modules for them to work through on their own, then they can choose to finish 80 or 90 percent of this course in January so they have more time at the end of the term to devote to their final projects.”

When I asked Liz what advice she would have for other faculty wanting to work with open educational resources, she told me “We need to challenge tradition and consider not only a course’s learning objectives, but how to deliver the content in an inspiring flexible manner.  We have a responsibility in today’s world, where the volume of information and the speed of change is so great, to consider flexible ways for students to engage with course content so that it becomes more meaningful for them.”  Liz says she doesn’t see her role as being “a gatekeeper to knowledge, but rather as someone to bring course content to life.”

What’s next for Liz in the world of Open Education?  Well, she tells me she is close to retirement, but “if I could do anything, it would be to mentor new faculty and encourage them to not be afraid to think outside of the box.  I have tried many creative approaches over my career most of which have been wonderful with some that helped me learn tools to create the next opportunity.  I would love to support other faculty to figure that out, “that would be what I would really enjoy.”

Camosun Faculty Story #44: Kari

Kari is a faculty member in the English Department at Camosun College.  When the pandemic moved everyone online back in March 2020, Kari, who was teaching four in-person courses, says “at the beginning it was all panic and we just did what we could. But there one thing that happened despite that panic: we, in the English department, started supporting each other in amazing ways.” 

Finally, the winter term was over, and the summer term arrived.  While several English faculty members, including Kari, had scheduled development (SD) leave, there were three or four others who had to teach online with no prep time at all.  But they were not left to flounder on their own and their colleagues on SD stepped up to support them.  Kari related one example of that support: “Michael Stewart was teaching English 163, so I and two other members of the English department read and watched all the material in his class. Then Michael and the three of us created videos of us analyzing and discussing the course material, which Michael then posted on his D2L site for his students.” 

At one point as well, one of Kari’s colleagues sent out a cry for help asking for someone to co-create a lesson with her.  “So, three of us got together and created a lesson which I’m also using now because it is on a topic covered in multiple courses.”   But this co-creation of materials was not just a boon for faculty, but also useful from the student’s perspective.  “Because I’m still using some of those videos in my in-person class, using them as extension materials, students have the opportunity to watch experienced readers engaging in dialogue, building on each other’s ideas, disagreeing, and then finding understanding. We modelled discourse and disagreement, and how you can move through that to come to understanding, I think, from the student’s perspective, was really rich in building their understanding of these concepts.”  Another interesting outcome of this collaboration was that faculty members were essentially coming into each other’s classes reading each other’s course materials and discussing them, and Kari says she is grateful to have been a receiver as well as a giver within this context.  “On one hand, it’s important to have the academic freedom to do the things we want to do in our classes, but on the other hand, we don’t normally ever go into each other’s classes. We don’t ever see what other instructors are doing and seeing each other in action is a great way to learn.  This opportunity has helped us get a better sense of what other instructors do in their classes and how other they approach topics in our field.” 

One of the challenges Kari faced preparing for teaching online back in 2020 was that there is “a difference between taking an in-person class and throwing it online, and actually designing an online class, because it takes a long time to put together a well-conceived, well-supported online course.” And in addition to trying to create good online courses without adequate time, Kari told me that “the biggest challenge for me was not being able to put a face and personality to the students.”  To try and build some community, she set up online co-writing sessions with her students. “I said, I’m going to be online and I’m just going to do my thing, so you can come do your thing. Some of the students did come to those sessions which I think was valuable for all of us because I was able to interact with them directly.  It really brought home how much, for me, teaching is about interactions with people and watching them build community amongst themselves.” 

One lesson Kari has learned from moving courses online and working with students struggling during COVID-related stress and absences is that flexibility is important for both teaching and learning. As a result, she is now flipping her classes to leverage the best of both the online and in-person worlds.  “I’m saying to the students, all materials are online, and when you come to class, we’ll discuss the material and do writing exercises. Then when they do come to class, we are having great conversations, and doing in-class writing exercises and a lot of peer work because those are the things that you can’t do as effectively online.”  What Kari is also excited about is that flipping the class “gives students more autonomy. They can decide how much further they want to go with the material, if they want to learn more.”  And in addition, it opens the door for them to learn from others, including Kari’s colleagues.  “Often when students come into your classroom the only person they learn from is you, but this way they learn not only from you, but also from each other and from other instructors.” 

Kari has some advice for faculty moving to online teaching.  “First of all, ask for help. There is a lot of help available both institutionally, and within the department. And second, if you’re teaching online, keep it simple. Ask yourself what are the key things the students need? How can they achieve them? And finally, make sure to communicate with the students in whatever way you find most helpful.  What I do with my online students is I send a note on Fridays telling them what’s coming up the next week. And then on Monday I say, hey, welcome to this week.” 

Moving forward, Kari tells me “I feel like I would like to get better at figuring out what’s best online and what’s best in-person and taking advantage of both.” In addition, now that courses have moved back to a mostly pre-pandemic teaching mode, Kari and her colleagues are looking forward to building on the kind of collaboration that evolved over the past two years, creating course materials that can be used by many instructors. I know I am excited to see that, while the English department already had a strong culture of collaboration prior to COVID, it was further strengthened through the common goal of designing and sharing good online activities.   

Open Conversation Cafe, Survey, and Workshops at Camosun

Are you a Camosun faculty or staff member?  Do you want to know more about Open Education or share your experiences with Open Educational Resources or Open Pedagogy with others?  The Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has some opportunities for you!  Don’t see what you are looking for or have questions?  Email Emily at schudele@camosun.ca.

Open Education Conversation Cafe

Open Education Conversation Café March 30, 3-4:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Have you heard of Open Education, but are not sure what it is? Have you been using, or wanting to use Open Educational Resources or Open Pedagogy?  Let’s explore ways to integrate these into your courses.

Open Education Survey for Camosun Faculty

CETL and the Camosun Library need your help!

We are investigating faculty members’ perceptions and use of Open Educational Resources (OER), such as freely available online textbooks and other course materials. Whether or not you are using OER, we would like to hear from you to provide valuable insight for us on how we can better support initiatives related to OER going forward.

This short survey will take about 5–10 minutes to complete and will remain open until February 28th. If you have any questions about this or want to talk more about how OER can support you and your students, email Emily Schudel at schudele@camosun.ca.  Thanks for your time. Click here to fill out the survey

Definition of Open Educational Resources (UNESCO, 2016): Open Educational Resources (OER) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or that are openly licensed (for example, with a Creative Commons license). The nature of open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. OER range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video, and animations.  In addition, OER can help improve the learning experience for students while mitigating financial barriers which may prevent them from achieving their academic goals.

Spring Open Education Workshops

Introduction to Open Ed & Open Ed Resources May 10, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Learn how to help students achieve course learning outcomes in a more efficient way while balancing your workload as an instructor. Bring relevant information, such as program outcomes, course outline, activities, assignments, and tests/exams to the workshop.

Introduction to Open Pedagogy May 13, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Open pedagogy allows the full potential of education to be realized. It invites students in as co-creators, creating rich opportunities for deep and active learning and empowers faculty to make education more diverse and inclusive.  Together, we will begin to explore the full potential of open pedagogy.

Introduction to H5P for interactive learning May 17, 1-2:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

H5P technology makes it possible to integrate interactive learning elements into HTML pages in D2L, WordPress, or Pressbooks. H5P applications include formative quizzes (with immediate feedback), flash cards, slide decks, images with clickable hotspots, and interactive videos; see: https://h5p.org/content-types-and-applications for more information. This workshop will introduce you to a range of H5P applications that are commonly used to support teaching and learning. During the workshop you will build some H5P content that you can reuse to support your own courses.

Redesign Your Course to be More Open May 31, 1:30-3:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Wondering how to get started integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) into your courses? This workshop will help you get started.

Open Education Week: March 7-11

From Open Education Global:

An annual celebration, Open Education Week (OE Week) is an opportunity for actively sharing and learning about the latest achievements in Open Education worldwide.

Open Education Week was launched in 2012 by Open Education Global as a collaborative, community-built open forum. Every year OE Week raises awareness and highlights innovative open education successes worldwide. OE Week provides practitioners, educators, and students with an opportunity to build a greater understanding of open educational practices and be inspired by the wonderful work being developed by the community around the world.

In this post I wanted to share some Open Education Week events hosted by a variety of institutions that anyone is welcome to access.  As I hear about more events, I will update this Blog post.

UBC

University of Alberta Open Education Week events:

BCcampus

So, that’s a start!  I hope to have more to list here soon.

Camosun Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning February Bulletin

In this bulletin from the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning you will find information and opportunities that we hope are of interest to you. To get in touch with us go to: CETL Contact Information.  Note that registration and survey links are for Camosun faculty and staff only.

NEW: Teacher Recognition Initiatives

These initiatives are brought to you by Camosun’s Teaching and Learning Council – a collaborative, peer-based, interdisciplinary group of faculty from across the college with a passion for advancing quality teaching and learning at Camosun, including advocacy, supports and strategies.

  1. Teaching Excellence Shout Out! Recognize a great teacher by sharing a Shout Out. This is an opportunity to acknowledge big and small contributions to teaching and learning at Camosun.  Submit your accolades here and we will post them in the Bulletin each month.
  2. Four Instructors will be recognized each year at Camosun’s annual Walls Optional Conference. Nominations can come from peers or students, and need to be submitted to CETL by March 15.  Click here for more details and to access the nomination form.

SHOUT OUT!

… To Anastasia Butcher of the Early Learning and Care (ELC) Program, who brings much energy, time, and thought to enhancing curriculum for students through experiential learning.  From Kristin Ross Submit your SHOUT OUT here

Hold the Date for Camosun’s annual Walls Optional conference, April 28

The Walls Optional committee invites proposals for the Thursday, April 28 conference. We are planning for an in-person conference if we can, but there will also be some virtual options.

Over the past two years, our teaching and learning communities have been disrupted in fundamental ways. Walls Optional 2022 provides an opportunity for us to reground, reconnect, and reflect as a college community.  Theme: Regrounding and Reconnecting 

  • How did the reconnection to campus this fall impact your teaching and learning? 
  • What keeps you grounded and connected in your work and practice? 
  • What aspirations do have for our teaching and learning communities going forward? 

Call for Proposals will remain open until Friday, March 4.   Click here to submit your proposal

Open Education Survey for Camosun Faculty

CETL and the Camosun Library need your help!

We are investigating faculty members’ perceptions and use of Open Educational Resources (OER), such as freely available online textbooks and other course materials. Whether or not you are using OER, we would like to hear from you to provide valuable insight for us on how we can better support initiatives related to OER going forward.

This short survey will take about 5–10 minutes to complete and will remain open until February 28th. If you have any questions about this or want to talk more about how OER can support you and your students, email Emily Schudel at schudele@camosun.ca.  Thanks for your time. Click here to fill out the survey

Definition of Open Educational Resources (UNESCO, 2016): Open Educational Resources (OER) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or that are openly licensed (for example, with a Creative Commons license). The nature of open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. OER range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video, and animations.  In addition, OER can help improve the learning experience for students while mitigating financial barriers which may prevent them from achieving their academic goals.

CETL Learning Opportunities – February through April

Copyright Q&A February 8, 11am-12pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Course packs are due on March 15th for the spring/summer term. Now is a great time to get your questions answered about copyright, fair dealing, and using copyrighted materials in your class.

Lunch and Learn Article Discussion Series February 16, March 16, April 20, 12-1pm ONLINE

Read an article and then meet with faculty colleagues for some lively conversation on various topics related to teaching and learning.

  1. Grading as Instruction February 16, 12-1pm REGISTER HERE
  2. In-the-moment Responses for Addressing Classroom Aggression March 16, 12-1pm  REGISTER HERE
  3. Designing Self-care Practices for this Academic Year  April 20, 12-1pm  REGISTER HERE

Open Education Conversation Café March 30, 3-4:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Have you heard of Open Education, but are not sure what it is? Have you been using, or wanting to use Open Educational Resources or Open Pedagogy?  Let’s explore ways to integrate these into your courses.

How to Export Your Final Marks from D2L to myCamosun

This workshop will walk you through the process of how to export your final grades from D2L to myCamosun. Have your final grades ready to publish in D2L and follow along with the steps provided. We will help troubleshoot the process.

Getting Started with D2L

This workshop will provide you with an overview of the essential teaching tools available in our learning management system, and D2L Brightspace.

  • Focus on Supporting Face-to-Face Delivery April 26, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE
  • Focus on Supporting Online and Blended Delivery April 26, 1-2:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Getting Started with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Web Conferencing April 27, 1-2:30 ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Collaborate is a web-conferencing tool that integrates with D2L. This session will provide you with a basic overview of the tools and functions within Collaborate as well as provide instructors with tips on how to use this tool to connect with students and facilitate effective learning experiences.

CETL Learning Opportunities – May through June

Workshops:

Streamlining Your Course May 3, 10-11:30am IN-PERSON REGISTER HERE

Learn how to help students achieve course learning outcomes in a more efficient way while balancing your workload as an instructor. Bring relevant information, such as program outcomes, course outline, activities, assignments, and tests/exams to the workshop.

Streamlining Your Assessment

This two-part workshop will provide you with strategies for streamlining your assessment practices to make them more effective and efficient. Part 1 will focus on assessment design and Part 2 will focus on how D2L can provide administrative efficiencies.

Streamlining Your Marking with Rubrics

This two-part workshop will give you with strategies for designing and using rubrics to provide effective and efficient feedback to students. Part 1 will focus on the pedagogical advantages of rubrics as a means of providing feedback to students, as well ask key design considerations. Part 2 will focus on how to create a rubric in D2L, attach it to various assessment items, and mark student work using the rubric.

  • Part 1: Rubric Design May 24, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE
  • Part 2: Rubric Tool in D2L May 31, 10:00-11:30 ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Open Education workshops

  • Introduction to Open Ed & Open Ed Resources May 10, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE 

    Learn how to help students achieve course learning outcomes in a more efficient way while balancing your workload as an instructor. Bring relevant information, such as program outcomes, course outline, activities, assignments, and tests/exams to the workshop.

  • Introduction to Open Pedagogy May 13, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HEREOpen pedagogy allows the full potential of education to be realized. It invites students in as co-creators, creating rich opportunities for deep and active learning and empowers faculty to make education more diverse and inclusive.  Together, we will begin to explore the full potential of open pedagogy.
  • Redesign Your Course to be More Open May 31, 1:30-3:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HEREWondering how to get started integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) into your courses? This workshop will help you get started.

New Student Onboarding: A Faculty Perspective May 30, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE

This session will explore how we as faculty can support our ‘new to Camosun’ or ‘new to D2L’ students to be successful in our own courses and in D2L in general. We will discuss how using D2L to facilitate this process can foster confidence in the students and provide them with the information they need to be able to fully participate in their in-class, blended and online courses. Please bring your ideas with you as there will be an opportunity to share with the group.

Deterring Plagiarism June 1, 10-11:30am HYBRID REGISTER HERE

Learn strategies and tools for deterring plagiarism and encouraging academic honesty in your courses. Participants will be invited to share their own ideas and to discuss how best to promote a culture of academic integrity at the college. This workshop will be offered in hybrid format. Participants can join in person or via MS Teams.

eLearning workshops (focus on online tools):

All these eLearning workshops take place online in Blackboard Collaborate.  Click on the links for a description and to register.

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

D2L

Content management in D2L

May 2, 1-2:30pm

Setting up your gradebook

May 5, 10-11:30am

Advanced quizzing

May 11, 10-11:30am

Introduction to quizzes in D2L  May 4, 10-11:30am

Facilitating creative online discussions

May 16, 10-11:30am

Working with master courses

May 12, 1-2:30pm

 

Spring Cleaning

May 19, 10-11:30am

Advanced content creation using templates and accessible design  

May 25, 10-11:30am

Accessibility

Text-to-Speech support for students: An orientation to the ReadSpeaker tools in Your D2L course  May 5, 1-2:30pm

Introduction to ALLY tool in D2L

May 12, 10am-12:30pm

Using the accessibility reports in D2L: What do I need to do?

May 18, 10-11:30am

Creating accessible content for your online classroom: 7 things you can do right now! 

May 10, 1-2:30pm

Introduction to H5P for interactive learning

May 17, 1-2:30pm

Kaltura

Enhancing your courses with video (Introduction to Kaltura) May 19, 1-2:30pm

Going deeper with videos and Kaltura  May 26, 2-3:30pm

Creating great accessible Kaltura capture videos  June 2, 1-2:30pm

Courses:

Instructional Skills Workshop May 2-5, IN-PERSON, Lansdowne Campus REGISTER HERE

The 3½ day peer-based workshop is an excellent opportunity to learn in a fun, safe environment with colleagues from across the college, and improve your teaching practice. (More info)

Great Teachers Seminar May 9-12, IN-PERSON, Honeymoon Bay Retreat Centre REGISTER HERE

Venture beyond the limits of your usual environment and deepen your connection with colleagues. Engage in a learning process of shared information and experiences, self-reflection, and action planning. Explore a variety of teaching strategies, innovations, challenges and solutions.

Working Together: Indigenizing your Course May 13, 20, 27, June 3 IN-PERSON 9:30am-12pm. REGISTER HERE

Enhance and integrate your course with Indigenous ways of being and doing in this practical and hands on workshop series. We will work together using the Circle of Courage model as a teaching and learning framework with instructors implementing their changes into their course in the Fall.

FLO Blended Learning May 16-June 3, ONLINE AND IN-PERSON at both campuses REGISTER HERE

Learn research-based concepts, principles, and strategies that will make facilitating a course with both online and face-to-face components effective and engaging. This course will help you create seamless lesson plans that utilize the most applicable elements of both the online and face-to-face environments.

Camosun Communities of Practice (ONLINE)

Check out these new Camosun resources

Healthy Together!

Employee wellness program

CAL faculty support

Supports for instructors

Applied Learning

Introducing  CamSTAR

Office of Student Support

Resources for faculty

Library workshops

For students

HR – OPD

Employee learning opportunities

Other learning opportunities

The Teaching Professor Conference June 3-5, Atlanta Georgie

BC Campus learning opportunities:

 

 

 

 

Grading Assignment Submissions using Anonymous Marking – D2L Tutorial

This tutorial is for faculty who have previous experience using the Assignments tool in D2L and will cover the steps involved when you wish to grade student submissions for an Assignment using Anonymous Marking.  For further information or assistance, go to our Team Dynamix Support portal and click the appropriate Category to submit a ticket. 

Steps for enabling Anonymous marking 

  1. Go to the Assignments tool in your course.
  2. Either create a new Assignment, or click on the drop-down menu (down arrow) next to the title of the Assignment you want to set for Anonymous Marking and select Edit Folder.

    Click Edit Folder

  3. Give your Assignment a Name if needed, then click Evaluation & Feedback on the right.

    Click Evaluation & Feedback

  4. Under Anonymous Marking, select Hide student names during assessment.  Finish editing the Assignment and click Save and Close.

    Select Hide student names during assessment

  5. You will now see a symbol next to your Assignment title indicating that it has Anonymous Marking enabled.

    Anonymous marking enabled symbol

 Steps for grading using Anonymous marking 

  1. Go to the Submission area for the assignment and click the Evaluate link for an assignment.  Note that student names are anonymized.

    Click Evaluate

  2. You will not see student names in the Submission areas, nor in the names of the submitted files if you choose to download them for offline marking.  Add your feedback, and/or upload your feedback files, and click Save Draft.  You will NOT be able to Publish individual student grades – you will need to Publish All at the same time.

    Add feedback and click Save Draft

  3. Once you have finished saving all Draft feedback, return to the main submission area, select all students and click Publish All Feedback.  In the Confirmation pop-up box, click Yes.  You may need to refresh your browser window to see that the submissions have been published.

    Click Publish All Feedback

Things to Remember 

You can enable and disable Anonymous Marking as you need to, but once it is enabled and you have a submission, you will NOT be able to disable it. 

If you publish some assignments, and not all (for example if you are grading assignments before all students have submitted), after publishing you will be able to see all student names (so you will not be able to grade any new submissions anonymously).

Camosun Faculty Story #43: Carl

Carl is the Chair of, as well as an instructor in, the Hospitality and Tourism Management Program at Camosun.  While I talked to Carl almost 2 years after we all moved to online teaching, he remembers it well. “Having to suddenly shift into an online world for those last three weeks of the semester was very challenging. Fortunately, we already had existing relationships with our students, but one of my concerns was making sure students came to the synchronous online classes.”

Carl’s program is designed to be a face-to-face program, which is not surprising given the nature of the hospitality industry.  “What we do is interact with people, and the types of learners attracted to our program are face-to-face learners. In addition, they’re typically very young learners coming into a two-year diploma and during that first semester they are also learning how to learn, so the challenge was finding ways to keep them engaged.  I think all of us were quite surprised at how engaged the students were and surprised that attendance was in some ways better than face-to-face classes because of the convenience created through online learning.”

Fortunately, Carl had scheduled development time in May/June 2020 to redesign his fall courses for online delivery.  “It was really about rethinking our courses and creating plans B and plan C for the fall.  We had time as a department to step back and say, okay, how are we going to get ready for this?”  Carl counted himself fortunate as he was going to be teaching our Post Degree Diploma students a third-year course in Fall 2020. which meant “because of the nature of a cohort program, I already had an established relationship with those students. Students were very familiar with my expectations about how I teach so my work was more about adjusting expectations for the online world.  For example, considering how to be accessible to students for online, and how to bring in guest speakers (as I normally do) to enrich my class.” 

While Carl feels that he was able to achieve what he wanted to when he moved to online teaching in the fall of 2020, “for those in the department teaching first-year classes it was a different experience. I know some of our learners were struggling with being self-directed and engaged in their first semester in the program.”  Luckily, they were able to run some of their lab classes in person, so faculty could spend time building relationships and giving students more in-person support to help them succeed overall.  Creating a community of learners online was one of the challenges Carl’s program faced. “We try to create a family of students in our program, and then beyond our program, we have graduates who are very connected to our program and often hire our students for work terms. I think the biggest concern I had was that we would lose some of those relationships, lose that larger community as a program.”

Being online, however, proved to be an asset when bringing in guest speakers. “Because we were using Collaborate, our guest was able to speak to the students from Tofino and talk about her property, whereas in the old world, she would not likely have been able to come to Victoria.  I would not likely have delved in that world had it not been for that shift to online learning and being able to bring the outside world into the classroom, I think that was very powerful.”  Carl took a few additional risks with Collaborate to engage with students. “I use a lot of team-based exercises in my classes and while I was worried about recapturing those, I was able to replicate them using breakout rooms, which surprised me.”

Like other faculty, one of the lessons Carl learned moving his courses online “was a reminder that you need to have a very well laid out curriculum and a clear vision of what your course is going to look like.  Then, you need to consider what tools, what pedagogies, to use to deliver that course and engage with student in the online environment, rather than reverting back to your face-to-face pedagogy.”

In addition to adding remote guest speakers to his in-person classes, using Collaborate, Carl told me one of the tools in D2L he will continue to use is the Checklist tool.  “Checklists have been a lifesaver.  They really help your students stay focused, especially when they have multiple courses, and students agreed when I asked them for feedback.” In addition, Carl discovered the Discussions tool in D2L.  I don’t think students are huge fans of it in some ways, but online Discussions help keep students focused on the course material and create conversation. There is nothing in those discussions that is not in my assessments, and when in person, I even allow a little bit of time in class for them, after a lecture, to go to the computer lab and respond to a question in a discussion,” which can help clarify the connection between the discussions and the rest of the course.

Carl has some advice for faculty moving courses online.  First, “think of it as an opportunity rather than a threat because it’s a chance to add to your skill set.”  Then it’s about finding comfort in taking risks and being humble and honest with your students.  “I think it’s okay to feel uncomfortable because it puts you more in line with the student perspective which helps build rapport. Whether you’re teaching face-to-face or online, it’s all about how you create that relationship with students in the first few weeks of the course.”  In addition, learn how to be flexible.  “Don’t be afraid to being those curve ball moments into the classroom for students to see firsthand. I think that helps build capacity, strength, and resilience, all those things we want our learners to be ready with when they go into the workplace.”

Moving forward, Carl does see room for online courses in his program, specifically with some of the Business classes students are required to take.  “One of the positive outcomes of these COVID years is the addition of choice to how students can access courses. Students are now able to make more informed choices about whether they want to be in a classroom or whether they want to be online and having more options is good for students.”

Carl’s final words to me spoke to new directions for his program and the college.  “We shouldn’t be afraid to reinvent ourselves as instructors, as teachers, don’t be afraid to make a leap in a new direction, because it’s all possible.  Two years ago, I would never have imagined that this is where we would be, faculty who never intended on delivering courses online, now online instructors.”

Introduction to Kaltura Express Capture in D2L – Kaltura Tutorial 

This tutorial is designed for faculty who have previous experience using Kaltura in D2L, as well as the Assignments tool. For further information or assistance, go to our Team Dynamix Support portal and click the appropriate Category to submit a ticket. 

This tutorial will cover the steps involved when you wish to create a simple video right within D2L.  Kaltura Express Capture allows you to created videos using your webcam and audio within various assessment tools in D2L (such as Assignments) as well as in your My Media area. Kaltura Capture Express recordings are saved in your My Media space in D2L. 

Scenario 1: Adding a Kaltura Capture Express recording to My Media 

  1. Go to your course in D2L. 
  2. Go to My Media.Click My Media

     

  3. Click Add New and select Express Capture.Click Add New and select Express Capture

     

  4. You will see your webcam video appear with a red round record button at the bottom centre. Click the Settings icon at the top right of the video to change your camera and/or microphone settings.  Click the record button to begin recording your video.Click Record

     

  5. After the countdown (from 3) ends, start talking (note that it’s good to have a script or very clear idea of what you want to say to avoid having to re-take or edit your video(s) later.  Click the Stop button to end the recording.Click Stop

     

  6. Click the Play icon to play the video.  Click Record Again to re-record your video.  Click Download a Copy to download the video to your device.  Click Use This to save the video to My Media.Click Use This

     

  7. Once the video is saved to My Media you can change the Name, add a Description, etc. See the Tutorial Uploading Media to My Media (page 4) for more information.

Scenario 2: Adding a Kaltura Capture Express recording as feedback to an Assignment submission 

  1. Go to your course in D2L.  Go to Assignments (through the link on your Navbar, or in your My Tools drop-down menu, or in a draft Topic in the Content tool).
  2. Go to the Submissions area for an assignment and go to a specific assignment submission. 
  3. In the Overall Feedback box, click the Plus drop-down menu and select Insert Stuff.

    Click Insert Stuff

  4. In the Insert Stuff pop-up box, click Add from My Media.

    Click Add from My Media

  5. Click Add New and select Express Capture.

    Click Add New and select Express Capture

  6. As per step 4 in the previous scenario, you will see your webcam video appear with a record button at the bottom centre. Click the Settings icon at the top right of the video to change your camera and/or microphone settings.  Click the Record button.
  7. As per step 5 in the previous scenario, after the countdown (from 3) ends, start talking (note that it’s good to have a script or very clear idea of what you want to say to avoid having to re-take or edit your video(s) later.  Click the Stop button to end the recording. 
  8. Click the Start Over icon in the centre of the video to play the video.  Click Record Again to re-record your video.  Click Download a Copy to download the video to your device.  Click Use This to save the video to My Media. 
  9. Click Save and Embed.

    Click Save and Embed

  10. Click Insert.

    Click Insert

  11. Publish or save your feedback as Draft and continue to the next submission. 

Things to Remember 

You can add a Kaltura Express Capture video into the HTML editor wherever it appears in D2L.  For example, you could add a quick video into a News post or a Discussion post.  But we recommend if you are creating videos you want to use for more than one iteration of a course (a video for more than just in the moment feedback), use the regular Kaltura Capture on your device.  See the tutorial Introduction to Kaltura Capture for more information. 

All videos you create using Kaltura Express Capture will be saved in your My Media area no matter where you create them, so you should delete them from the My Media area periodically (e.g., a year after a course has ended) so you don’t end up with hundreds of feedback videos in your My Media space.