Writing vs. Writing

As a student and educator for the past 20 years or so, I've seen the traditional world of academia both embrace and resist technology on myriad fronts over the decades. This one is a classic struggle between traditionalists and those more progressive faculty who understand that the world is changing around us, whether we participate in that change or not.

I offer this piece for consideration not only by those responsible for teaching English and writing, but by those teaching in all academic fields. All the expertise in the collective field of an(y) academic area is worthless unless one can communicate it effectively to both colleagues within one's field of expertise/study and to a greater public audience, when appropriate.

Tell Me a Smart Story: On Podcasts, Videos, and Websites as Writing Assignments takes the concept of writing to "new millennial" levels with the actual experiences of one instructor whose iterative approach to integrating multimedia as assignment options for students led to breakthroughs for both her and her learners. (Be sure to read the comments on the post as well!)

Skeptics will, I’m sure, insist that podcasts, videos, and websites are not writing assignments.

I would argue that they absolutely are. They require students to organize materials in a similar way and to literally write out their scripts. And just because these arguments are not made in a dry, formal prose style doesn’t mean they aren’t effective or smart. In most cases, I’ve found that students who choose to do one of these nontraditional research projects are making better arguments and end up putting a lot more effort into the overall project. 

Worth a try? For ideas on how to integrate multimedia creation into your course assignments or assessments, contact Tess.Olten@uah.edu.

OER Research Fellowships

For faculty interested in becoming an OER Research Fellow:

We (the Open Education Group) ... are in the process of identifying early career researchers and/or qualified Masters/PhD candidates in the United States and Canada for a fellowship to research topics related to Open Educational Resources (OER).

Successful candidates will publish papers relating to the educational outcomes that take place when OER and/or open pedagogy are substituted for traditional learning materials and approaches. OER Research Fellows will receive funding to attend two conferences, one of which will be the Open Education Conference in Phoenix, AZ, October 30–Nov. 1, 2019. The second conference will be the 2020 OpenEd conference (date and place to be determined).

In addition, Fellows will receive mentoring in OER research and guidance in identifying, researching, and writing specific OER projects. Small stipends will be made available to OER Research Fellows who successfully complete the program; the overall funding support for Fellows will be approximately $5,000 (including conference costs and stipend).

Apply here! The deadline is May 15th.

Panopto: Securing Folders & Videos

Secure Access to Folders and Videos is one in a series of Panopto Advanced Training Webinars and the recording is now available for your review. Captions will be available within a few days. For those who view the video, Panopto seeks feedback on this survey.

And here's a handy extra article on using Panopto's quizzing feature to assess learning in Canvas.

Cool Tool: Draw.IO (*Free!)

Ever been stuck finding a way to create a flow chart or diagram for a report or your course materials? Draw.IO could be the answer to your prayers. It comes with many templates and a fairly robust set of tools for a free program. And it works great with Google Drive! Certainly worth bookmarking and sharing with students and colleagues.

In case you're interested in the nitty gritty, PC Mag gives it to you straight and recommends it among free programs.

Mining USAFacts.org

It happens all the time. I find bits and pieces of great info and resources I want to share with my colleagues when I least expect it. Watching CBS Sunday Morning this past weekend, my ears perked toward the end of this story about Steve Ballmer, ex-Microsoft billionaire recently turned philanthropist at the urging of his wife. Check out this video, which begins at what I consider the "good part" but feel free to rewind if you'd like his whole story:



USA Data has a lot of promise in teaching and learning in virtually every field of study. While government databases have offered access in the past, most require a level of expertise to use and analyze that leave the resource still out of reach for many would-be researchers.

What a great resource to introduce to colleagues and to our own learners!

Mistakes as a Part of Learning

Do your courses allow for the free-range thought and exploration that leads to ... mistakes being made—without penalty to the final learning outcome and quantitative assessment of the entire process?

Be inspired by Phil Plait as he explains how mistakes are integral to learning, discovery, and growth.

Phil Plait was on a Hubble Space Telescope team of astronomers who thought they may have captured the first direct photo of an exoplanet ever taken. But did the evidence actually support that? Follow along as Plait shows how science progresses -- through a robust amount of making and correcting errors. "The price of doing science is admitting when you're wrong, but the payoff is the best there is: knowledge and understanding," he says. (TED.com)

From On-ground to Online: Advice You Need From the Trenches

Where I teach — a small, primarily residential liberal-arts college — there was a time when professors would have avoided online teaching like the plague. Five years ago I wasn’t teaching any online courses. This semester, my entire course load is online. And so is next semester’s. 

What’s interesting is how many of us who work at "traditional" colleges — where dorms and dining halls occupy equal pride of place with classrooms and laboratories — are now trying to figure out how to create an online version of a face-to-face courses we’ve been teaching for years.

From 4 Lessons From Moving a Face-to-Face Course Online at Chronicle Vitae.