Recently in Instructional Technologies Category

AI Round Table

Monday, June 12, 2023
11:00 a.m. -- 12:30 p.m.

We've been discussing AI concerns and issues. Let's also discuss promising strategies for the productive, creative, and ethical use of AI in our classrooms and with our students. Join us and special guest Associate Professor Joyce Valenza for an AI petting zoo, where we will explore and test-drive applications for productivity, research, and instructional design and consider the framing of new norms for integration the coming semester (You can learn more about Joyce's work here).

If you wish to attend the workshop or to receive the video recording, please register: 

At the conclusion of the Fall 2020 term, CTAAR gathered feedback from instructors and students across the university about their teaching and learning experiences. This month we analyzed the data and delivered a presentation on our findings to the university community. We followed up on the presentation with a "Reflecting on Online Teaching Experiences" workshop where instructors discussed some of the themes that emerged within the data, shared ideas, and developed a collection of ideas to share with the Rutgers community. 

We have posted the recordings and PowerPoints from both sessions on our Canvas site which can be accessed through this link:  

https://rutgers.instructure.com/courses/16464/pages/presentation-rutgers-covid-19-response-what-we-learned-fall-2020?module_item_id=4023187 (you will need to sign into Canvas with your netID and password)

You will also find on this page a curated list of suggestions from instructors and students to combat some of the main challenges experienced during the fall term. We would encourage you to take a look at some of the wonderful solutions offered by your colleagues, even if you do not have a chance to watch the recordings!

CTAAR is piloting the use of BluePulse. This is a new tool that allows instructors to ask quick questions of the students in their courses. Student's can reply anonymously, and can maintain anonymity while engaging in an ongoing dialog. BluePulse is well-suited to "one minute papers", checking in on the well-being of students, or getting quick feedback about the a particular lesson or topic. 

Fall rosters are now loaded into BluePulse and the system is ready for instructors to begin using it. Simply log in at https://rutgers.m.bluepulse.com and click "Add a Question", then give your students the same link so that they can respond. If you are teaching a course that does not appear as an option when adding a question, please contact us at ctaar@brokenmail.rutgers.edu please replace brokenmail with docs.rutgers.edu and we will ensure that you are correctly listed as the instructor. 

See our web site for more information about how to use BluePulse and details about limitations during the pilot phase.  

CTAAR, in collaboration with OIT, is pleased to offer: 

This session will demonstrate the features of the Zoom integration in Canvas including how to set-up your Zoom account in Canvas, schedule meetings, record meetings, manage recordings, and set up polling. Advanced set-up options of these meetings will be covered including how to pre-assign students to break-out rooms and security options. How to manage your Zoom synchronous sessions will not be covered in this meeting, but is rather to assist faculty and instructors in organizing their synchronous meetings within Canvas. 

 

Online & Remote Instruction for Quantitative Disciplines Round Table

Faculty within quantitatively based disciplines may have difficulties such as how to handle student submissions of problems or calculations, how to provide feedback on this work, and how to use technology to replicate a "blackboard" for writing out problems in a synchronous environment or asynchronous videos. This round table will provide an opportunity for faculty to engage in a conversation surrounding their unique challenges and solutions they have developed. A survey will be sent closer to the event to all registered participants to help focus the discussion of the first meeting of the round table. 

Monday, August 17th, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Please RSVP at: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1094 

BluePulse Pilot - Student Engagement & Feedback Tool Demo 

CTAAR is running a pilot of a new tool called BluePulse for collecting informal feedback from students.  This provides a way to "take the pulse" of your class and will be available for all instructors to use in the fall. This is a pilot with BluePulse being available through Spring 2021. BluePulse is a simple tool to ask one question at a time and collect anonymous feedback from students.  You can also respond to students comments in follow-up dialogues. More information is available on our website: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/technology/pulse  Please consider attending the demo if you are interested in using the tool to engage your students in Fall 2020. 

Wednesday, August 12th from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Please RSVP at: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1071

Managing Zoom Sessions

Due to high demand, we have opened additional "Managing Zoom Session" trainings!

It order to efficiently run the sessions, we recorded a 30-minute presentation which we ask that you watch prior to the session. It contains screen shots of the controls and explanations for how to set up meetings, manage Zoom security, build and launch polls, and create breakout rooms. Here is the link: https://ru-stream.rutgers.edu/media/Managing+Zoom+Sessions/1_cp6b7ry3

It is important that you watch the video prior to enrolling in a session, because we will not be reviewing the video content in each session. Instead, the sessions will consist of a Q&A followed by hands-on training where we will practice together.

To learn more and register for a hand-on practice session, please go to https://rutgers.instructure.com/courses/16464/pages/managing-zoom-sessions (you must be signed in to Canvas to view the page). If you have trouble registering for the session, please email ctaar@docs.rutgers.edu for assistance.

CTAAR is pleased to announce that the BluePulse tool for collecting feedback from students is available now. This pilot program will run from Summer 2020 through Spring 2021. 

Summer rosters are currently loaded, so any instructor who wants to use this tool can go to https://rutgers.m.bluepulse.com/ and begin creating questions immediately (if you do not see your course, please contact ctaar@docs.rutgers.edu for assistance). 

BluePulse can be used to collect anonymous student feedback for:

• Formative feedback
• Midcourse surveys
• Quick "check-in" questions after lectures
• Clicker-style questions during live sessions

More information about the pilot is available on our web site, and more information about how to use BluePulse can be found on the BluePulse help pages. 

Managing Large Online Classes

Teaching online is especially challenging when managing large classes, because many activities that work with smaller groups are unwieldy when teaching to 100 or even 400 students. In this session, CTAAR examines how to manage students, assessment, and engagement in large classes. We cover creating and evaluating discussions in discussion forums, developing meaningful assessments that are possible to grade in a time-efficient manner, hosting and managing synchronous sessions using Zoom, and incorporating tools such as iClicker or TopHat to enrich content.

Thursday, July 16th 10:00 am - 11:30 am

Please RSVP at: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1055

Peer Review of Online Teaching

In spring of 2020, peer review of teaching was suddenly halted by the rapid shift to remote teaching. In the fall term, peer review will need to continue so that faculty can have documentation of their successful teaching to use as evidence in teaching portfolios, and departments can better understand what is happening in virtual or partially virtual classrooms. For many instructors, the process of peer review of online teaching is entirely new. In this workshop, CTAAR discusses how to conduct online peer review of teaching, how to develop a rubric or guide that matches best practices for online teaching, and what to expect if someone will be reviewing your online course.

Wednesday August 5th, 9:30 am - 11:00 am

Please RSVP at: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1058

Tuesday August 18th, 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Please RSVP at: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1059

Grading Schemes that Support Student Success

Grades have historically served a variety of purposes, from ranking students among their peers, to identifying high performing students who might excel in further study. However, scholarship of teaching and learning suggests that an instructor's grading scheme can significantly impact student learning. In particular, two related approaches to grading, Master Learning with Competency Based Grading, and Specifications Grading, align grades with learning objectives, and promote greater mastery of course material. In this workshop, CTAAR introduces different grading schemes while also reviewing general best practices for promoting grading transparency and reducing grade challenges including clear weighting, use of gradebook options in the LMS, and development of appropriate rubrics.

Thursday, August 13th 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

Please RSVP at: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1056

Personalizing Learning to Improve Outcomes

The constructivist approach to pedagogy affirms that learning is an individualistic practice, and that new knowledge is always built on an individual's prior understanding and experience. Personalized learning is an educational approach where instruction and assessments are aligned with individual students to address their diverse cultural backgrounds, interests, strengths, and learning needs. While it can be challenging to tailor activities for each individual in a course, students learn more when instructors create personalized learning environments. This session provides suggestions to move in this direction ranging from quick and simple strategies to more time-intensive approaches.

Tuesday, August 11th, 10:00 am - 11:30 am

Please RSVP at: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1057

Pedagogy before Technology: Designing Courses for Online Environments - June 8 and July 14, 2020

Faculty can feel overwhelmed when exploring the technology options to help present content to students in online courses. Moving a course online is an opportunity to rethink the pedagogical principles and learning goals that form the core of the course. A useful approach to structure this "rethinking" is backward design.

In this workshop, CTAAR reviews the principles of backward design beginning with learning goals for online teaching, and prompts attendees to align learning goals to assignments, projects, quizzes, and tests that are appropriate for remote learning. The workshop explores the different reasons for choosing asynchronous sessions and synchronous class sessions and concludes by reviewing the technology that is available to support these options while engaging students. 

For the workshop scheduled Monday June 8 at 10:00am interested faculty and staff may RSVP using the following link: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1043 

For the workshop scheduled Tuesday July 14 at 10:00am interested faculty and staff may RSVP using the following link: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1042

Engaging Students in Online Courses - June 11 and July 8, 2020

Engaging students in the learning environment is one of the biggest challenges faced by instructors, especially when teaching remotely or online. From our surveys, we know that both faculty and students desire the engagement they are familiar with through face-to-face teaching. Faculty have mentioned the limitations of online classes and their frustrations because they cannot gauge student learning via body language, alertness, and facial expressions. These problems are magnified when faculty must teach to large classes. Students appreciate the spontaneity of synchronous classes but value asynchronous recorded content so that they can review the material. 

In this workshop, we review the literature on the effectiveness of engaging students online, and explore best practices for building engagement opportunities into synchronous sessions asynchronous sessions. We provide training on how to use some of our favorite tools including PlayPosit, VoiceThread, and breakout rooms.

Engaging Students in Asynchronous Classes: This workshop is scheduled for Thursday June 11 at 10:00am. Interested faculty and staff may RSVP using the following link: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1044 

Engaging Students in Synchronous Sessions: This workshop is scheduled for Wednesday July 8 at 3:00pm. Interested faculty and staff may RSVP using the following link: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1041

Teaching Models for Fall 2020: Understanding Synchronous, Asynchronous, and Hy-Flex Class Structures - June 25, 2020

This summer, schools and departments are grappling with deciding what parts of their courses they will do synchronously and asynchronously. These decisions are the basis for the models and pedagogical advice that we share with our faculty. With the uncertainty that comes with the pandemic, many universities are considering a new model called the "hybrid flex" model in which faculty design a course that can be simultaneously held in-person or taken remotely depending on weekly changes in health or university status.

This workshop explores the different models that we can adopt now to best adopt our course offerings to the evolving conditions in fall of 2020 and beyond. We address how faculty might develop a syllabus and other advance materials to handle evolving circumstances.

This workshop is scheduled for Thursday June 25 at 1:00pm. Interested faculty and staff may RSVP using the following link: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1040

The Center for Teaching Advancement and Assessment Research (CTAAR) invites you to attend a new virtual workshop, "Options for Giving your Remote Final Exam" on Friday April 10th from 10am-11am.

In this workshop we will explore some technological options available at Rutgers, including Canvas, Akindi, Respondus, and ProctorTrack. We will also review practical and policy considerations given academic integrity concerns and the technological limitations of remote instruction. We will provide space for you to ask questions and share solutions.

Please RSVP so we can send advance materials, announcements, and WebEx connection details: https://ctaar.rutgers.edu/workshops/register/index.php?ws=1032

 ** While this session is over, you can obtain a copy of the video by emailing ctaar@docs.rutgers.edu **

The Rutgers Teaching and Learning with Technology office has scheduled an additional series of live webinars (recordings will be available afterwards) to assist faculty with quickly coming up to speed when teaching online. 

To participate, go to the event registration page
https://ruonlinecon.rutgers.edu/events

Webinar Schedule (Monday, March 16th)

Session A 10am-11am

• Intro to Google Colaboratory
• Intro to Online Teaching
• Showcase: Canvas Tools for Student Engagement

Session B 1pm-2pm

• Alternative Assessment: Beyond Exams
• How to Use MERLOT Like a Pro: For Free!
• Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Teaching: Considerations and Best Practices

Session C 2pm-3pm

• Engaging Students Online Using BigBlueButton/Conferences
• Using Proctortrack for Your Online Assessments
• Utilizing Canvas Analytics to Support Student Success

Session D 3pm-4pm

• Best Practices for Lecture Capture
• Creating Accessible Content: Images, Documents, and Videos
• Roundtable on Game Resources at Rutgers?

Each session will be recorded and posted on the website.