Instructional Technology Webinar Series

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With the necessary shift to remote teaching over the past year, many instructors at the University of Guelph have just started using technologies that are new to them, while others have taken their use of some tools to the next level.

As we work towards a return to campus, the Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS) team at OpenEd has designed the following webinar series to help you continue to explore the various available technologies to facilitate assessment, student engagement, and collaboration. 


ASSESSMENT SERIES

Take a Bite Out of the Peer Review Process with PEAR

Date & Time: Thursday, June 24, 9:00 to 9:45 a.m.
Facilitators: Owen Wooding, Carolyn Creighton and Claire Coulter | Instructional Technology Specialists
Session Recording: Take a Bite Out of The Peer Review Process with PEAR - Session Recording
Presentation Slides: Take a Bite Out of The Peer Review Process with PEAR - Presentation Slides (PDF)

Description

In this session, we will explore how U of G’s powerful homegrown peer review solution, PEAR, can help you easily include a peer review component in your course design. Some of the topics covered include:

  • Exploring how PEAR’s peer review process allows students to think critically and reflect in an asynchronous active learning environment that lends itself well to all course delivery methods (online, remote, hybrid, blended, or traditional face-to-face)
  • Connecting PEAR with your CourseLink site to provide a simple way to assign peer reviewers to individual student or group submissions, and export any related scores back into a CourseLink grade item
  • Creating a grading form for reviewers (students) or evaluators (instructors) to use to provide quantitative scores and qualitative feedback
  • Demonstrating how to create a simple peer review setup that will work for almost any written assignment

Move Your Rubrics Online with CourseLink’s Rubrics Tool

Date & Time: Thursday, June 24, 10:00 to 10:45 a.m.
Facilitators: Claire Coulter, Carolyn Creighton and Owen Wooding | Instructional Technology Specialists
Session Recording: Move Your Rubrics Online with CourseLink's Rubrics Tool - Session Recording
Presentation Slides: Move Your Rubrics Online with CourseLink's Rubrics Tool - Presentation Slides (PDF)

Description

The use of rubrics in a course can facilitate both learning and teaching activities and can be used for both formative and summative assessments. Rubrics can benefit both instructors and students.

In this session we will discuss these benefits, provide tips on best practices associated with rubric development and use, and show you how to use the Courselink Rubrics tool to take this process online.


Go Beyond Traditional Written Assessments with Video Assignments

Date & Time: Thursday, June 24, 11:00 to 11:45 a.m.
Facilitators: Carolyn Creighton, Owen Wooding and Claire Coulter | Instructional Technology Specialists
Session Recording: Go Beyond Traditional Written Assessments with Video Assignments - Session Recording
Presentation Slides: Go Beyond Traditional Written Assessments with Video Assignments - Presentation Slides (PDF)

Description

Are you looking for an alternative to written assignments? Video Assignments is a powerful CourseLink integration that provides instructors with enhanced assessment flexibility and can help students develop their communication, collaboration, and communication skills.

In this session, we will explore the following:

  • Video Assignments access and setup
  • Use cases that harness the power of Video Assignments
  • Evaluation features that allow for constructive feedback

Assessment Series Drop-Ins

Have any questions about harnessing educational technologies for your assessments? Come and chat with an instructional technology specialist during our drop-in hours:


STUDENT ENGAGEMENT SERIES

From Zzz to Zoom! Exploring Zoom Tools to Keep Your Students Focused and Engaged

Date & Time: Monday, July 5, 9:00 to 9:45 a.m.
Facilitators: Carolyn Creighton, Owen Wooding and Claire Coulter | Instructional Technology Specialists
Session Recording: From Zzz to Zoom! Exploring Zoom Tools to Keep Your Students Focused and Engaged - Session Recording
Presentation Slides: From Zzz to Zoom! Exploring Zoom Tools to Keep Your Students Focused and Engaged - Presentation Slides (PDF)

Description

Zoom is a popular web-conferencing platform for the delivery of synchronous classes; but, sometimes it can feel like you are talking into the void. The visual clues available in a face-to-face class may not be available. How can you know if your students are staying engaged in the material or have questions?

In this session, we will explore the features available in Zoom—such as polling, annotations, chat, and breakout rooms—that you can use to help students stay engaged. We will also discuss best practices to get the most out of each feature.


Backchanneling - Encourage Learning by Letting Your Students Pass Notes Digitally

Date & Time: Postponed - new date/time TBD
Facilitators: Claire Coulter, Carolyn Creighton and Owen Wooding | Instructional Technology Specialists

Description

“Backchannel communication is a secondary electronic conversation that takes place at the same time as a[n]...instructor-led learning activity.” (EDUCAUSE, 2010). Essentially a parallel conversation within a lecture, a “backchannel” creates a synchronous “microdiscussion” occurring alongside the “front channel” or formal presentation. In a lecture 10 years ago, a backchannel might have existed through the passing of notes, or the whisperings of classmates. Today, new technologies have allowed educators to take advantage of social networks and Web 2.0 tools to make this conversation explicit, with pedagogical goals in mind.

In this session, we will discuss a variety of tools that can be used to introduce a backchannel to your classes. We will also discuss a variety of ways these tools can be used, not only for discussion but for other learning activities, and include tips for best practice.


I Have a hypothes.is! Make Reading Assignments a Community Activity with the hypothes.is Integration

Date & Time: Monday, July 5, 11:00 to 11:45 a.m.
Facilitators: Owen Wooding, Claire Coulter and Carolyn Creighton| Instructional Technology Specialists
Session Recording: I Have a hypothes.is! Make Reading Assignments a Community Activity with the hypothes.is Integration - Session Recording
Presentation Slides: I Have a hypothes.is! Make Reading Assignments a Community Activity with the hypothes.is Integration - Presentation Slides (PDF)

Description

A recent CourseLink update featured the addition of an integration with hypothes.is, a tool that allows for collaborative annotation of documents and websites. An alternative to the traditional “read pages 65-74 of your textbook”, this tool uses the practice of social reading to engage students with the material, their peers, and their instructors.

In this session, we will take a deeper look at how using hypothes.is can improve reading comprehension, encourage critical thinking, and help build a class community, especially in remote and hybrid learning environments. This session will also include a demonstration of how to set up the integration in a CourseLink course site and provide examples of various use cases for the tool.


Student Engagement Drop-Ins

Have any questions about harnessing educational technologies for student engagement? Come and chat with an instructional technology specialist during our drop-in hours:


COLLABORATION SERIES

Get a Grip on Groups - Exploring the CourseLink Groups Tools & How it Works with Other Tools

Date & Time: Tuesday, July 13, 9:00 to 9:45 a.m.
Facilitators: Claire Coulter, Owen Wooding and Carolyn Creighton | Instructional Technology Specialists
Session Recording: Get a Grip on Groups - Exploring the CourseLink Groups Tools & How it Works with Other Tools - Session Recording
Presentation Slides: Get a Grip on Groups - Exploring the CourseLink Groups Tools & How it Works with Other Tools - Presentation Slides (PDF)

Description

Group work and collaborative learning methods can be motivating for students and can contribute to the achievement of learning outcomes, while also developing interpersonal, communication and critical thinking skills.

This session will explore how using the CourseLink Groups tool can facilitate the administration of collaborative learning activities. Additionally, we will review a variety of use cases where the tool might be of benefit, and demonstrate how the tool works alongside other CourseLink tools.


Best Practices for Presentations - Synchronous and Asynchronous Options

Register for Best Practices for Presentations - Synchronous and Asynchronous Options.

Date & Time: Tuesday, July 13, 10:00 to 10:45 a.m.
Facilitators: Carolyn Creighton, Owen Wooding and Claire Coulter | Instructional Technology Specialists
Session Recording: Best Practices for Presentations - Synchronous and Asynchronous Options - Session Recording
Presentation Slides: Best Practices for Presentations - Synchronous and Asynchronous Options - Presentation Slides (PDF)

Description

Remote teaching and learning has presented challenges for courses that require student presentations. Should students present live or create a recording? What tools and technologies are available to support this?

In this session, we will look at the pros and cons of synchronous and asynchronous presentation, as well as the technology options available to support synchronous and asynchronous delivery and recording.


Leveraging PEAR and CourseLink for Group Peer Assessment

Register for Leveraging PEAR and CourseLink for Group Peer Assessment.

Date & Time: Tuesday, July 13, 11:00 to 11:45 a.m.
Facilitators: Owen Wooding, Claire Coulter and Carolyn Creighton | Instructional Technology Specialists
Session Recording: Leveraging PEAR and CourseLink for Group Peer Assessment - Session Recording
Presentation Slides: Leveraging PEAR and CourseLink for Group Peer Assessment - Presentation Slides (PDF)

Description

Including a group assessment component can be quite valuable both as motivation to participate and to provide a measure of accountability to students in group projects of any kind—paper submissions, presentations, poster sessions, field work, etc.

This session will focus on the group peer assessment options that PEAR offers—Group Assessment and Distribution of Effort. As components of PEAR separate from its more traditional submission and review process for a written submission, each group assessment option in PEAR offers a unique way for students to evaluate the contributions and efforts of their group members. We will explore the pros and cons of both group peer assessment types, how they can be set up in PEAR, how students use them to assess their group members, and how those scores can be exported to CourseLink. 


Collaboration Series Drop-Ins

Have a question about how to empower student collaboration using educational technologies? Come and chat with an instructional technology specialist during our drop-in hours: