CETL Blog

Camosun Faculty Story #32: Leta

Leta is a faculty member in the Dental Hygiene program at Camosun.  The sudden pivot in March 2020 from face-to-face to online was a challenge, especially when Leta notes “I’m a person who can usually switch gears quite easily in situations I am familiar with, however, anything involving a computer is not intuitive to me and therefore takes time and repetition to learn how to navigate.  Plus, while I knew there was support available, with everything going on, I didn’t have time to pursue it.”

Leta told me “when we had to fast-track right away last March, we were survival mode. Even in September, after everything settled over the summer, I was reluctant to try anything new because it was such a learning curve for me. In addition, in our program we are stretched to the maximum with our curriculum, so having to learn how to manage new online tools was too much.”  Leta ended up teaching mostly synchronously, getting ongoing feedback from her students.  But she feels her students struggled with the online format.  “My classes are 2 ½ hours long which is long time to be sitting in front of a computer trying to stay engaged. And after my virtual class, they had to run off to campus for their clinical course. So I know they were signed in, but I don’t think they were always engaged.”

In addition to the stress of moving to online teaching, and the logistics of students having to move from virtual classrooms to face-to-face clinics daily, Leta expanded a bit on challenges she faced last year around student engagement.  “I teach clinical theory which integrates everything students have learned in their basic sciences courses, dental anatomy, etc. Usually we would have a lot of discussion in class, but due to the amount of content in the course, and the complexity of discussing questions online which can be time-consuming, we’d always be rushing through the class. Sometimes I would have to talk for the full 2 ½ hours and it became difficult to build in that engagement.”

In spite of all the challenges, Leta did have some good takeaways from her online teaching.  For example, “using the D2L quiz tool was great, because my courses have so much heavy content that can be hard to evaluate appropriately.”  Leta is excited because, while the program is required to run in-person midterms and finals to meet accreditation requirements, the quiz tool allows her to provide low-stakes evaluations for students which she is planning to incorporate when she moves back to face-to-face teaching.

One of the lessons Leta learned first-hand last year was that “you can’t follow your regular in-person style when you’re teaching, which I knew, but I didn’t really understand how different the modes of engagement were between teaching in-person and teaching online.”  Leta says she would have liked to have learned to use additional tools to support her students, like the Discussions in D2L, but found she “was not confident enough to both learn new tools and ensure that I could engage with students appropriately. It was just too much to wrap my head around while in the middle of doing it.”

Leta advises anyone moving their courses online to connect with CETL and eLearning for workshops, consultations, and one-on-one help.  She said she found the online tutorials especially useful “because while some people are great at remembering things. But I find a step-by-step tutorial that I can refer back to really helpful.”  A good reminder for us in CETL to provide help in as many ways as possible!

Moving forward, Leta wants to work with D2L quizzes, and to explore the Discussion tool to support students outside of class time.  “I want to incorporate more quizzing, because students don’t always ask questions until they’ve failed a midterm,” so having more options to test their knowledge will be useful.  “And I think discussion boards will give them more options to comment on or ask questions about content outside of the class.”  Leta also sees D2L as an option to provide students with content if she is unable to teach for a day.  “I could provide them with an asynchronous class so we don’t get behind in the schedule and then we can discuss the material in person later.”  Finally, “one thing that was nice last year was I could meet with students virtually outside of normal office hours.  They were in their own space and I didn’t have to worry about privacy,” since Leta works in a shared office space.  The virtual environment also allowed Leta to share her screen with students, so they could more easily go through their exams, etc. “I could see continuing with virtual office hours because we need to support our students however we can.”

Leta’s final words are to remember that “doing your best is good enough.  As educators, we always strive to make it better, but if you do the best you can, students will still learn and engage.”

Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning September Bulletin

Welcome to September from CETL at Camosun College.  Included here are some resources that might interest anyone getting ready to return to face-to-face teaching this fall, or exploring other modes of teaching after everything we’ve learned last year!

“Everyone is exhausted… Everyone has a metaphor… Everyone appreciated a chance to reflect… Everyone has learned more about themselves… Everyone has embraced (mostly) change… Everyone tried new things they will keep using… Everyone put themselves in the shoes of their students…” From: Faculty stories: A reflection

Check out all our Faculty Stories, where faculty at Camosun share their reflections on the past year.

Tips on teaching while wearing a mask

As you know, Camosun now has a mandatory mask requirement for all indoor public spaces, including classrooms. Teaching and learning in a mask may be new to many of us, and so let’s be patient as we all work through this new reality together. Below are some resources that may be of help:

Beyond the basics of adapting to masks, perhaps this is another “challenge as opportunity” to reflect on how we continually improve our teaching practice. This might provide an incentive to move away from instructor-focused teaching toward learning-focused teaching/facilitation, incorporating more blended and active learning, and some of the skills and technologies that we’ve learned to use over the past 18 months.

Blended learning resources

As we get ready for the coming semester, many of us are wondering how to leverage our recent experience and are exploring ways to integrate classroom and online learning.  If we use a blended model, how do we make the most of both the classroom and the online experience? How do we ensure we are altering rather than adding to student work? How do we match the delivery to the desired outcome? Below are a few resources that can help. Expect additional resources and learning opportunities as we move into the fall. Questions or ideas? Email Robin Fast or Emily Schudel

Encouraging academic integrity through a preventative framework: Start off right

“Langara College has created an open access toolkit for educators titled: Encouraging Academic Integrity Through a Preventative Framework (2020). The e-book is available for free through BC Campus Pressbooks Open Education Resources. This toolkit was a collaborative initiative that arose because of increasing requests from faculty for support in addressing and promoting academic integrity in higher education. It is meant to be a starting point on a journey towards a solution-focused discourse on educational integrity, using the Complexity Quadrant to reframe conversations around academic integrity and develop assessments that encourage it.”

(description taken from BC Academic Integrity Network email promotion)

Camosun Faculty Story #31: Asha

Asha is a faculty member in the Community Child Family Studies program at Camosun.  Now, Asha’s programs are cohort-based, so not only did she face moving all her current students online in March 2020, but they also had a brand new cohort starting in May 2020, meaning they would start off their Camosun studies as online learners!  “We were a bit panicked about how we could make the student experience relational, because our program is about interpersonal relationships. So collectively our faculty worked together to figure out how we were going to make this happen when everyone’s learning to navigate the technology of Collaborate and online learning.  That was so great, that peer-to-peer piece where everyone was helping each other.”

While Asha’s program had to postpone some courses due to practicum changes in our community, and found it challenging to move the rest online so quickly without time to prepare, the challenges weren’t all bad.  “We thought, we’re educators.  We can figure out all these things. We didn’t have to do everything, but we could start small and build from there. I think a big takeaway from going online is that we can scaffold how we teach online and what tools and technology we use. We can learn little pieces, get good at them, and learn some more, and keep the best of them depending on what works for our teaching style.”  But in addition to sorting out the pieces, and learning how to teach in this new online mode, Asha says “we also had to support our students in learning what it means to be an online learner. I think the technology lent itself well to scaffolding this learning, and they gradually built confidence around it. So, it was two-fold for the students: building technology skills and confidence, and building confidence learning new content.”

Like many faculty, Asha also found herself developing online courses as she was teaching them, working to “translate things to online  figuring out different ways to do things, and still being creative, while finding ways to keep students engaged like I would have in a face-to-face classroom. In addition, many students were reluctant to be online, so creating community and maintaining a culture of safety was a challenge. But we overcame that in many ways, for example, playing games online, dancing in our classes, working in smaller groups, respecting our diverse needs and cultures and building peer support, which helped.”  In the end, Asha says that they did the best they could, and students still learned, still understood the big ideas, and were able to continue to develop as compassionate learners and professionals.”

When I asked about any rewards Asha sees from the past year, she told me that she has always been interested in Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and thinks that, overall, courses were better designed for UDL because “we used closed captioning on videos, readings were more accessible for reading, and I think the online provided opportunities for many students to learn in the ways that suit them. I think we met the needs of a more diverse group by going on line.”  Asha also told me how surprised she was with the closeness some of the cohorts developed.  â€śI thought people would feel more disconnected, but they found ways to be connected by building relationships through the technology or outside of class. What also surprised me was how creative students can be when they have to use technology to create assignments. For example videos, podcasts, skits online or demonstrating their learning in other ways, which is UDL.”

In addition, Asha was delighted to discover inventive ways to bring her personality into the online classroom.  “For example, every class I showed something from my garden, and that became part of the culture of the classroom. And then the students started bringing things in – we were creating our community of learners.”  And this community ended up including students from different parts of Canada and the world.  “We had the beginnings of this global network, which I thought was really exciting because in a live online classroom, we were hearing different perspectives from people living in different countries.”

Asha learned many lessons from last year, including one that keeps coming up again in again in my conversations with faculty.  “We have learned new ways to deliver our courses, as well as how to meet and collaborate with our colleagues, which I’d like to explore more.”  Although she did recognize the challenge learning online is for some students.  “Some people didn’t love being online, and some people really needed a personal connection. So one question I still have is how do I keep students motivated in an online environment?”  The advice Asha has for anyone moving their courses online is “to be gentle with yourself because you do know what you’re doing. You know how to connect with students, and that will come through online. But also dig into all the resources you can find, and challenge yourself to try somethings you never did before. And remember you are not alone and that you can reach out to colleagues for support”

Moving forward, Asha’s Interurban cohort program is staying online for Fall 2021, with a plan to have face-to-face with some blended courses in the Winter 2022 term.  “We’d like to potentially offer a completely online program at some point, because we recognize there’s a need for that in our community.”  Asha does think that we, at the college, need to all take some time to reflect on all that we have accomplished, all that we have learned over the past year and a half.  “We have already begun to reflect on how our eyes and minds were open to the creativity of online teaching and learning, and to the many things we actually gained going online.  But now we need to take what we’ve learned, and think about how we want to deliver courses in the future, about what courses could stay online, which could be blended, etc.  Ask ourselves, does everything have to be in the lab or classroom or can we do some things virtually? Can we condense things and have students on campus for shorter amounts of time? It has made me rethink how we schedule and design education.”  And I definitely agree with something Asha said to me, “I think this year has allowed us to blow up education a bit – it allowed us as a college and as educators to jump forward a few years, and hopefully we don’t retract entirely back into what was our comfort zone – this goes for all levels of the College. I think this year we saw some of the most creative work and dedication from faculty- they showed professionalism and innovation in a pandemic, and I hope that faculty are encouraged to keep creating education in new ways.”

Asha’s final words reflect how I think so many feel now.  “It was a pretty emotionally draining year, but I think that allowed us to feel more empathy and compassion for our students and for each other. We needed each other more than we would have done before.”  Let’s hope we don’t forget that!

Reminders for Fall 2021 Term from eLearning

As we gear up for the new school year, I wanted to remind you of some important information related to eLearning and D2L, both for faculty and students.

For new students logging into D2L for the first time, find out how to Log into D2L, and also check out all our tutorials and student support on our eLearning Tutorials site.

For ALL faculty, new and those who have enjoyed their summers so much that all things D2L have drifted away,  here are some Things for Faculty to know about eLearning and D2L.  NOTE:  This document contains updated information about how D2L works now with our new Colleague integrations, so make sure to review it!!

And for all students and faculty don’t forget to check out our eLearning Tutorials site, jam packed with D2L, Collaborate, and Kaltura help documents, as well as links to other resources on Accessibility, and online teaching and learning.

Camosun Faculty Story #30: Alexis

Alexis is a faculty member in the English Department at Camosun, teaching academic writing to students coming from a wide range of disciplines.  Alexis, like many others in March 2020, was “overwhelmed and unsure if we were just managing through a brief crisis, or if we would be teaching online for some time.  It soon became apparent it would be for longer, but as an educator, and someone who’s really keen on pedagogy, part of me was really excited.”

Alexis told me that a large part of her classes involve discussion, so she was nervous about how that aspect of her courses would work online.  However, she did see the possibility the online tools offered: “when I got on to Collaborate and saw the breakout groups, I was heartened because I thought they would enable me to place students into small groups to do the work they would have done face-to-face. In the end, I think that was one of the more successful aspects of my teaching this term.”  As the term went on, Alexis felt her use of the online tools improved as she got feedback from students.  “It was really important for me to hear student suggestions about what was or wasn’t working, or to receive suggestions for me to try.  I also ask for feedback at the end of each term, and this year, most of the students commented that they liked the synchronous online experience, that they enjoyed being able to connect with their colleagues.”

As you may have guessed, Alexis, like Maureen, opted for a more synchronous model to support her course discussions, rather than the Discussions tool in D2L at all.  “Learning too many tools at once would make you and your students go crazy, so I decided to be intentional in choosing those tools that would best support my course and my students and learn those tools the best I could.” However, she notes: “I’ve heard many stories from colleagues in English about the rich responses they’re getting from these online discussions. It seems to have revolutionized their teaching, and while I didn’t use them this last year, I would like to investigate them and, perhaps, try them out in the future.”

Working out how to run group discussions online was one challenge for Alexis.  Another challenge she faced, which is not only a challenge for online teaching, was flipping her class, trying “to figure out how to separate groups into those that had completed the flipped element, the online reading for example, and those who hadn’t in a way that didn’t shame students for not completing the work in advance.”  In addition, she found that “the online pivot allowed me to dig into how I was handling the diagnostic elements I do in week one, like getting a sample of a student’s writing. There was no good way to do that in the online environment, but I let it go and redesigned the diagnostic so students completed it on their own time. Moving forward I can expand the diagnostic and include richer questions, in addition to adding a self-assessment component.”

And finally, one other challenge Alexis noted is one we all recognize.  “Everything took more time. The time it took to learn the technology, to make new resources, to think through all the elements of my course, and to be intentional in creating a course that would make sense to me.”  And, of course, missing seeing students “grimacing, or raising their eyebrows, or opening their mouth in surprise – you can’t replicate that in this forum, and I really miss those moments.”

When I asked her about what rewards or memorable moments stuck with her, Alexis told me a wonderful story.  She had “brought in a piece from CBC with three panellists discussing removing John A. McDonald’s name from schools.  Students had to read some articles in advance, and come to class prepared to free-write.  Students then worked in groups and came back to report on the most salient points of the group discussions.  But what happened next, I don’t think would have occurred in an in-person class.  A student who seemed rather shy shared a story with everyone, explaining how our exploration of indigenous rights and attention to discriminatory practices made her think about experiences from her own cultural background.  What came to mind for me was some research that suggests students learn more from their peers than they do from their teachers. I feel like the learning that happened in that moment was so profound, and even if I could have told that story, it wouldn’t have had the emotional impact it had coming from that student at that time. That was one of the most memorable experiences for me last year.”

For faculty moving their courses online, Alexis advises “challenge yourself and challenge your students. Keep exploring, because online tools have a lot to offer, so make the space to keep learning without overwhelming yourself.  Look at your course and outcomes, as well as what you know works for students and what you value, and consider how you would replicate that online and focus on those things. In addition, be intentional with what you want to do but be open to advice from others.”

As I mentioned earlier, moving forward, Alexis is interested in exploring asynchronous discussions in D2L.  This would enable students “to have a record of their discussions that they could draw on for future assignments.  My colleague Kelly said she found it wonderful that students were quoting each other in final exam questions. In Discussions, students could be having academic conversations, drawing on each other’s insights and thoughts in an ongoing fashion. That’s what we want for students as producers of academic work, and the discussion forums can give them more space to really tackle questions and engage with their colleagues in a way that they can’t, perhaps, in live sessions.”

“While last year, I think students were hungry for the immediate contact with me and their peers that the synchronous model provided, in the future, I would like to explore blended options, because you’d potentially have the best of both worlds, face-to-face and online, depending on how the course is built.”  I look forward to talking to Alexis more about this soon!

Camosun Faculty Story #29: Dave

Dave is a Trades instructor teaching Metal Fabrication and Sheet Metal courses at Camosun.  Like many Trades faculty, he had used some of the tools in D2L prior to the pivot to complete online learning in March 2020, but found being completely online a challenge with the hands-on nature of the courses he teaches (as many instructors will relate to).

Dave told me that the transition to online wasn’t too bad for him because he had been using online tools to support his teaching for about 8 years.  What he found challenging, and time consuming, was making videos for demonstrations of various tasks and activities, since students could not come into the classroom for live demonstrations.  “While moving online was easy, the amount of camera work was overwhelming because I had to edit and split and mesh and trim and review the videos for quality.  It was also challenging trying to find quiet times for filming in the shop.  I’d have to film in the morning or later on or a weekend, and if I tried to film during the day, I’d have to ask everybody to be quiet. And that was stressful too because everybody would be watching and listening and waiting for me to finish. But otherwise, everything was pretty good for me moving online.”  In fact, Dave reflected (like other faculty) that “we needed this pandemic to force us to do something a little bit out of our comfort zone.” In addition to creating demonstration videos, Dave pre-recorded all his lessons and made “how-to” videos for all his assignments.  He then was able to use his synchronous classroom time, in Collaborate, to talk to students and answer their questions.

After the initial move to completely-online learning, students were gradually allowed back into the shop for limited contact hours.  “For my next course, for example, I have two weeks of online learning work on the computer, and then I have three weeks in the shop.”  He found blocking like this was much more convenient for students as they didn’t have to travel to the college every day or for long hours.  “It just didn’t make a lot of sense for students to travel for an hour or sometimes two, and pay for parking to do only one or two hours in the shop. I had a lot of students say they appreciated their shop time being blocked together.”

Dave found that the biggest challenge with online learning was students not having laptops or Internet access.  And in addition, even when they had access to computers and Internet, they often couldn’t find a quiet space to work.  “I’ve heard of people using their travel trailer in the driveway as a quiet spot for working on their courses.”

One of the biggest rewards from the past year for Dave was working with the Quizzes tool in D2L.  “We created self-tests of 50 or a 100 questions, for students to review, and we can set them up so students can redo the quizzes, but only those questions they got wrong.”  Dave credits having self-test quizzes available for the higher than expected averages in his classes this last year.  In addition, they had the highest Red Seal average as well.  “It’s not really fair for the person with the best memory to always do the best on the test. What’s important is students are understanding and moving forward.  In addition to being able to do the quizzes over and over again, Dave thinks that another bonus of using the quizzes tool is that students can complete the quizzes when they have time, because they are always open and available.  “Some students wake up at 5:00AM and do all their work by noon. Some students wake up at noon and they’re up till midnight. They perform best when they are ready to perform, so that was a major reward, for them to be able to complete quizzes and assignments at their own convenience.  We’ve heard that a lot from the students: they were really scared of taking an online course, but found it manageable because of the flexibility it offered.”  Dave told me that in the end, 1/3 of the class ended up preferring online learning, 1/3 had no preference and 1/3 preferred the classroom to help them focus on the task at hand.

When I asked him about some of his own takeaways from this past year, Dave said he learned that you really need to understand the various software and online platforms you are going to use, and take the time to set them up right at the beginning for the long term.  In addition, you also need to set students up for success in terms of the technologies and what they can expect.  “Make sure the students are informed coming in, and giving them the chance to experience the technology in advance so they aren’t seeing it for the first time on the first day of class. They need to have a chance to develop some comfort with the tools before they can start studying what they need to know.”

Moving forward, Dave is definitely planning to keep what he created over the past year.  “Having videos will definitely complement what we’re doing in the classroom, so students watch the demonstrations before as well as after for review.”  In addition he will keep the self-test/quizzes both to enhance student learning, and because he has discovered that they also “save me maybe 20 hours per course, which gives me an extra three to four days I can spend with students in the shop.”  Dave also plans on building on what he created, with “more videos, more self-tests, and better content.  And I guess the next thing we’ll do start using the marking rubrics on D2L, so I can have the rubric open and mark their project right there in the shop.”

Even though Dave recognizes that there are still challenges ahead (for example, how to support students with access to technology and the Internet while in the classroom), he says “to go back to the way things were before would just be ludicrous.  It wouldn’t make any sense to throw away everything we’ve developed to go back to paper – that is just not reality in industry right now.”  All I can say is that I am looking forward to seeing where Dave is at in another year!

Camosun Faculty Stories – a Reflection

Well, it’s almost September, and things are almost as confusing now as they were last fall.  Probably it’s safe to say they are more confusing in many ways.  But what is not confusing is reflecting on the stories told to me by Camosun faculty about their experiences moving all their courses online last year.  In this post, I wanted to take a bit of time to remind you about those stories, and to reflect a bit myself on what I heard in these stories.

To say that I am inspired every day by faculty at Camosun is, while perhaps sounding a little cheesy, putting it mildly.  The work I saw faculty do to support their students last year, however, went above and beyond every day, and makes me wonder why we aren’t celebrating them more widely across the institution, as well as across the province.  Because, I am sure that Camosun’s stories are not the only ones of excellence in the face of adversity.  Alas, I am at a loss some days as to how to get the word out more widely.

But, that aside.  I wanted to share here some of the highlights from these stories, as I presented them at last spring’s ETUG workshop.  Note I’ve opened my ETUG PowerPoint presentation for viewing if you want to have a look.  I think, since there is so much to unpack from the stories, I will stick to letting you know the top seven main themes, as I see them, in this post.  I wonder if you will find yourself in any of these themes.

First theme:  Everyone is exhausted.  I said this back in June, and I still say it now, even though many faculty have had some vacation over the summer.  This last year took a lot out of everyone, and it really seemed to hit folks in the Winter 2021 term.  Fall 2020 was about adrenaline, and Winter 2021 was about wanting it to all be over (even if they were enjoying some of what they were doing).

Second theme: Everyone has a metaphor.  Ok, I confess that this was a fun one.  But so many people had vibrant ways to describe what they went through.  Like Debra’s “How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.” Or Deanna and Lynelle’s “this was an opportunity to rip the bandaid off.”  Linda’s “last year was like jumping off a cliff without knowing where the bottom is.”  Chris’s “it was like a tightrope walk over a live volcano.” Diane’s “overnight we were thrown into, not even the deep end of the pool, but into the ocean.” And Chrisa’s “it was like swimming through mud.”

Third theme: Everyone appreciated a chance to reflect.  I don’t know if you have had a chance to talk to anyone about last year, but many of the faculty I talked to had not, and they thanked me for the opportunity to laugh and cry and talk about their fear and triumphs.

Fourth theme: Everyone has learned more about themselves.  As educators, as human beings, the whole gamut.  They’ve learned that it’s ok to not be perfect.  That they are more resilient than they thought (as were their students).  That they don’t have to be afraid to ask for help, even though it’s hard to admit you don’t know something.  And that it’s ok to be vulnerable, to be human, and to take risks.

Fifth theme: Everyone has embraced (mostly) change.  They’ve learned new things, things many said they would never have learned without this shove.  They’ve discovered new things about their teaching, as well as about their assumptions of student learning.  They will all keep something from the past year.  And they all learned it was ok to let things go, and re-evaluate the priorities for their courses.

Sixth theme:  Everyone tried new things they will keep using.  I already said this in the fifth theme, but I think it bears repeating.  Nursing has discovered a new way (and less stressful way for students) to do skills tests.  Many faculty will continue to provide students with video lessons, skills demos, etc.  Some faculty embraced using online quizzes, and many discovered the Assignment dropbox for “paper” assessments.  Online office hours in Collaborate are an option now for students who can’t come to campus for a regular in-person time, and some faculty want to use Collaborate in the classroom to allow for anonymous engagement with the Collaborate Whiteboard.  And the list goes on and on…

Seventh theme:  Everyone put themselves in the shoes of their students.  Faculty overwhelmingly noted that they felt like they were experiencing what their students experience every term, being vulnerable and learning new things, and they discovered that compassion, taking risks, and being vulnerable are things they can be and do face-to-face too.  They discovered that many students like learning online, or at least its flexibility, and while building relationships online can be harder, some found that students felt more connection when they could be more anonymous.  They discovered that access to education is complicated.  Faculty and students experienced challenges with access to the technology (and the understanding of how to use it), but at the same time, moving online opened doors to students who may not have come to face-to-face classes.  Finally, faculty were afforded a rare glimpse into students’ lives, and vice versa, bringing a whole range of possibilities (bringing music and art into the classroom) and privacy implications (other people in homes, personal space) to the classroom.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this short reflection on the stories I’ve collected so far.  There is so much more I want to talk about, but baby steps, right?  Stay tuned for more.  And if you have any questions or want to talk to me about this project, shoot me an email at schudele@camosun.ca.

Camosun Faculty Story #28: Maureen

Maureen, a faculty member in the English Department at Camosun, had not used many online tools, including D2L, to support her teaching in the past.  So for her, the pivot to online was “from zero to hero, because I really was starting with zero!”  Also, initially Maureen “didn’t have a computer, had no printer, no equipment.”  Luckily, Camosun provided her with that infrastructure very quickly, and then she just had to learn to use it all for her teaching.  Maureen also noted how because everyone had to pivot at the same time, students, faculty, administration, “that synchronization of all of our efforts towards one goal made for as smooth a transition as possible for the students.”

As you can imagine, Maureen faced many challenges as she moved her courses online.  She told me her biggest challenges was her fear “that because of my inexperience, it wouldn’t work, that I wouldn’t be able to connect in an interactive, interesting, stimulating, thought-provoking way with my students the way I did face-to-face. Trying to keep that active learning environment alive was one of my biggest fears and challenge as well. Or maybe the challenge was to overcome that fear.”

She overcame her fears, however, by attending workshops and reviewing CELT resources containing “tips and things to watch out for, as well as other things you could do once the basics were in place. Then I was able to consider what I could reach for, to try that next skill. I really liked the building block approach, which got me started and built my confidence.” In addition, Maureen was able to take a step back and look at her course from a student perspective.  “I realized that certain things would have to go, and worked on the clarity and organization, by always looking at things with a student’s point of view.”

Unlike some of her colleagues in English, Maureen decided to teach synchronously with some D2L support.  “The core material was in D2L: PowerPoints with voice-overs, videos, links to readings, as well weekly instructions.  Then I would have one Collaborate session a week which was very helpful. Students who attended those sessions tended to do better: they were more engaged and more connected with the class. I also used Collaborate for my office hour and individual meetings, which was nice because students could load their documents in Collaborate and then we could look at things together.”  Teaching synchronously, however, doesn’t always mean you see your students.  For Maureen, the day when students started turning on their cameras made her feel “like I had overcome the hurdle of connecting with them. You have to overcome that feeling of being so exposed, and for them to trust the classroom space, as well as me and each other, was really encouraging. I felt like we were all together on this adventure, creating it as we went along.”

Maureen told me that she also appreciated being able to meet students when they needed to meet with her, rather than being bound by specific office hours on-campus.  “Even by appointment, meeting times are dependent on when students are on campus, and when I am on campus. Having the online learning environment available adds some flexibility, and makes for much richer meeting opportunities.  We can see each other face to face, I can look at their work and give feedback. So having roving office hours, being able to quickly help students, I really enjoyed that, and I would like to keep that even when we go back to face to face.”

Maureen’s advice for faculty moving courses online? “Sign up for the workshops, and if you have a question for the e-learning team, ask it. When you have a question, even if it’s small, ask it because it will keep coming up. And another thing I found useful is repetition, doing things over and over again. Like learning anything else, practice makes perfect.”

After teaching online this past year, Maureen has learned some new skills to complement her face-to-face teaching.  “I’ve always used course packs, but now I love the flexibility of being able to just make changes when I need to.  Using online content allows you to be ultra-current, and to be responsive to students’ questions using the Discussion forums.  In addition, Maureen has found having students submit their assignments in D2L has allowed her to give feedback in more ways.  “For every assignment I can change it up so that it looks different, to get them thinking about it in a different way. I will definitely keep online assignment and marking as one option for them.”

As we wrapped up our chat, I asked Maureen if she would teach online again, and her answer made me smile “: I found out that I love both: I love face-to-face, but you know what?  Online was pretty fun too, and I would like to get better at it.”

Reminder: eLearning Workshops for Fall Start-Up

Welcome to the eLearning Team’s virtual workshop offerings to support the start-up of the fall term (note: the first day of classes is September 7, 2021).

These workshops will provide faculty with a basic orientation to Camosun’s core educational technologies:

  • Desire2Learn (D2L) – Learning Management System
  • Blackboard Collaborate Ultra – Web Conferencing
  • Kaltura – Video Streaming Service

Note:

  • Since our new Colleague integration, a D2L course shell will be automatically generated for all course sections.
  • Most eLearning workshops are recorded unless otherwise noted.
  • If you are unable to attend the workshops and need assistance, contact elearning@camosun.ca and you will be connected with an instructional designer.

Registration

For registering into any of our workshops, go to the Library Workshops page.

Workshops for Fall Start-Up

D2L Overview

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

Dates & Times

  • Tuesday, August 31, 10:00-11:30am
  • Wednesday, September 8, 1:30-3:00pm

D2L Course Set-up

Description:  This workshop will focus on setting up your course for Day 1. We will demonstrate how to copy course components (from your DEV or MASTER course to your LIVE offering), customize your homepage, apply a course banner, create a welcome news item and streamline your navigation bar.

Date & Time

  • Wednesday, September 1,  10:30am-12:00 pm

Introduction to Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

Description: 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.

Date & Time

  • Thursday, September 2, 10:30am-12:00pm

Video Basics with Kaltura and D2L

Description: Kaltura is Camosun College’s streaming media service that offers easy-to-use video management and creation tools that integrate directly into D2L. Think of it as Camosun’s own YouTube service. Learn how faculty and students can create and manage their videos from one central location and publish those videos directly into D2L.

Date & Time

  • September 2, 1:30-3:00pm

Additional Suggestions

If there is a workshop topic you are interested in but is not offered, please let us know and we will follow up with you on how to best support your needs.  Email elearning@camosun.ca.

eLearning Tutorials Site Updates

Good morning all!  As I return from a nice long vacation, the eLearning Tutorials site is calling my name, asking for some overhauls.  Yesterday, thanks to colleague Sue Doner, I got started, revamping the Accessibility tab with new resources created and curated by Sue, so I invite you to have a look.

The four main topic areas you will now find are:

Assistive Technology Tools Available in D2L, where you will find more information on BBAlly, ReadSpeaker, and TextAid, as well as information on how to add these tools to your course.  Tutorials are available for both students and faculty on how you can use these tools to support your teaching and learning.

Tutorials for Making your Digital Content more Accessible is where you will find links to the Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit (BCcampus) and a variety of Accessibility Checkpoints materials (created by Sue Doner) to help you make your WORD documents, images, audio, and video files more accessible for your students.  There is also information for you on how to use BBAlly (in D2L) to support you in fixing accessibility issues you might have in your Content files.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Projects at Camosun is where you can find information on some of the UDL work people at the college are working on.  We would like to keep adding projects to this page, so if you are also working on a UDL project (or working on ways to support your students using UDL principles) and would like to share that with us, email Sue Doner at doners@camosun.ca.

Finally, Academic Accommodations at Camosun is where you will find information and tutorials around accessing and implementing academic accommodations through the Centre for Accessible Learning at the college.

If you have any questions about the information or tutorials on these Accessibility pages, please send me (Emily Schudel, schudele@camosun.ca) or Sue Doner (doners@camosun.ca) and email.  We hope you find the resources useful!