Author: smantle

We need to get online learning right before the next crisis hits

smantleTeaching and Learning

George Veletsianos recently contributed an article to The Globe And Mail about being proactive in investing the time and effort into online learning. Besides the COVID-19 Pandemic, climate-related crises have and are likely to continue disrupting the much-preferred mode of in-person learning.

“Design makes or breaks online learning, which is the exact reason why much of the online learning that happened during the pandemic – what researchers have dubbed emergency remote learning – was indeed awful. It was designed and delivered by professionals who were never trained for it, who never signed up for it and who were doing it while dealing with grief, loss, anxiety and the broader repercussions of the pandemic. What students need more than access to education is access to well-planned and purposefully designed education.”

Read the full article – https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-we-need-to-get-online-learning-right-before-the-next-crisis-hits/. George Veletsianos is a professor of education and Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology at Royal Roads University.

Making Your Course Available to Students

smantleBrightspace

Making your course available thumbnailEach semester, Brightspace course sites must be activated as all courses are set to “inactive” to prevent students from seeing unused course spaces. Where possible, instructors are encouraged to leave their course start date as is (the default start date) to allow students to see introductory content, such as a welcome announcement and the syllabus. Otherwise, instructors are encouraged to delay commencing significant course activity until the semester begins.

Making Your Course Available to Students [PDF]

Adding Users to Your Course in Brightspace

smantleBrightspace

Link to PDFStudents are added to courses automatically in Brightspace, based on their course registrations. While Instructors do not have to worry about adding students to their courses, they will need to add other instructors, lab instructors and/or teaching assistants to their courses. We recommend searching for users to add based on the user’s NetID.

Adding Users to a Brightspace Course [PDF]

Please note it is NOT possible to unenroll a user from your course. If it is necessary to remove a user from your course, please contact ETD at etd@dal.ca.

What all academics should know about the growth mindset: your science-based superpower for success

smantleTeaching and Learning

Bailey Sousa and Alexander Clark (June 23 2022) recently published an article in University Affairs about mindsets and their influence over success and failure. “While most people reading this will still believe they have dominant growth mindsets, unless you devote at least an hour a week to your personal growth, be careful of this conclusion.” The authors list four simple changes one can make to strengthen a growth mindset:

  1. From proving to improving
  2. From better than others, to better than before
  3. From demonstrating to developing skills
  4. From failing to succeed to successful failure

“While we continue to luxuriate in reassuring ourselves that we embrace learning, many practices in academia both show and reinforce fixed mindsets in ourselves, our workplaces, and in our students. Yet, our cultural preoccupation with talent holds us back en masse from the very successes we seek.”

What all academics should know about the growth mindset: your science-based superpower for success, by Bailey Sousa and Alexander Clark – https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/effective-successfull-happy-academic/what-all-academics-should-know-about-the-growth-mindset-your-science-based-superpower-for-success/

Online Course Support for Faculty of Agriculture

smantleETD Updates

With the news that the Winter 2022 term will begin online, please note the following online teaching/learning supports and reminders available for the Faculty of Agriculture:

  • Copying content: ETD can assist you in copying content from last winter and checking permissions on Panopto videos so that current students will be able to view. Email etd@dal.ca
  • Synchronous sessions: Consider keeping your timetabled lecture times by offering synchronous sessions to connect with students. ETD can help you get up and running with Collaborate, or Teams. Email etd@dal.ca
  • It is suggested you keep your original scheduling of lecture and lab topics as much as possible, to avoid overloading the latter part of the term.
  • Communicating with students: You can easily email all currently registered students by going to the Brightspace course > Course Admin > Classlist > Email Classlist button. The classlist is refreshed with new enrolments each business day, and will be updated on weekdays over the holiday break as well.
  • Extended support: 
    • ETD will be available on a limited basis during the week of Dec 27th – 31st. Please email etd@dal.ca with requests for assistance, course building, content copying, etc.
    • Halifax’s ATS is also offering extended technical support hours over the holiday. See the announcement on the Brightspace homepage for hours. To access during open hours, click Help inside Brightspace and choose ‘Virtual Support Room’.
  • Last-minute support:
    • ETD will be available on January 4 at 10 AM for an optional Q&A, and to coordinate any last minute adjustments. Join the Teams meeting Click here to join the meeting on Jan 4 at 10.

If you have any questions or concerns about online delivery, you can also reach out directly to Brian.Lesser@Dal.Ca for additional support. Through this period of continued uncertainty, we’re here to help so please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Wishing you all a restful, restorative, and safe holiday break. 

The ETD Team

End of Semester Reminders from ETD

smantleETD Updates

As we near the end of the semester and instructors work to prepare final assessments and grade student work, Educational Technology & Design can offer assistance along the way.  

Final Assessments 

Dalhousie Letter Grade 

 

Winter 2022
For instructors already keen to work on their winter courses, some of the things you can do now are covered in our Semester Start Checklist (https://edtechtruro.edublogs.org/2021/08/20/semester-start-checklist-for-brightspace-courses/). Namely, the list includes: 

  1. Copying course content 
  2. Activating the course and setting dates 
  3. Formally requesting the cross-listing of multiple course sites 
  4. Preparing to reuse Panopto videos 
  5. Preparing to reuse Collaborate Ultra recordings, and 
  6. Adding users (not on the list but our blog post (https://edtechtruro.edublogs.org/2021/05/20/adding-users-to-your-course-in-brightspace/) runs through the steps. 

Last but not least, ETD is again offering a Panopto Video Audit for instructors who wish to reuse Panopto videos. Please get in touch with us as soon as possible to take advantage of this service! Email etd@dal.ca to get your name on our list. Visit our blog post (https://edtechtruro.edublogs.org/2021/07/30/successful-reuse-of-panopto-videos/) for more information. 

Why and How to Teach Teamwork

smantleBest Practice

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Why and How to Teach Teamwork written by Jane S. Halonen and Dana S. Dunn (November 15, 2021), provided some great suggestions on how instructors could improve the structure and design of group projects. “We ask students to exercise their leadership and interpersonal muscles, but we rarely offer any instruction on how to operate effectively in a group.” There is great value in improving students’ experience with working in groups, and adopting even one of their suggestions could make a huge difference.

The article requires a username and password (access is free), but the key takeaways are:

  1. Link group projects to future success on the job.
  2. Improvise a model of a dysfunctional group.
  3. Have students practice how not to cooperate in a group.
  4. Guide their group discussions with a structured list of questions.
  5. Dedicate precious class time to group projects.
  6. Enlist students to provide feedback to one another.
  7. Ask groups to rotate the leadership role.
  8. Conduct equity reviews at the end of major projects.
  9. Require self-assessment.

Why and How to Teach Teamwork, by Jane S. Halonen and Dana S. Dunn – https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-and-how-to-teach-teamwork?cid=gen_sign_in

Ouriginal – Plagiarism detection (formerly Urkund)

smantleBest Practice

Urkund, now known as Ouriginal, is a software platform that integrates with Brightspace for the purpose of verifying the originality of student submitted assignments. Operationally, there aren’t a lot of differences and the name change is reflected in most places within Brightspace.  

From the company’s website, “Ouriginal brings together the combined expertise of Urkund and PlagScan’s plagiarism detection solution, that combines text-matching with writing-style analysis to promote academic integrity and help prevent plagiarism.” Their Quick Start Guide (https://www.ouriginal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Guide-to-the-Analysis-Report_EN.pdf) provides a detailed, step-by-step overview of their improved and modernized interface. At this time, it is still possible to toggle back to Urkund’s report interface.  

After being integrated with a course and connected to assignment dropboxes, Ouriginal works by immediately searching for matches in a student’s submission with the internet, journal publications, assignments submitted by other Dalhousie students, and Ouriginal’s global database of student submissions. Depending on the size of the submission, reports are typically generated within 30 minutes. 

Ouriginal/Urkund can be enabled for any Assignment in a Brightspace course, and reports are generated automatically for any submissions. For information on setting up Ouriginal in Brightspace, visit this post on our blog https://edtechtruro.edublogs.org/2021/08/20/adding-ouriginal-to-your-brightspace-course/. 

Best Practices for Using Ouriginal 

  1. Remind students that their work will be submitted for originality review
    The Faculty of Agriculture’s Syllabus template includes specific language to be included advising students that “all assignments may be submitted to Dalhousie’s current plagiarism detection software”. Please ensure that this language, in its entirety is included in your Syllabus if Ouriginal will be used for student submissions. 
  2. Reiterate the importance of academic integrity
    Including Ouriginal in your teaching provides an opportunity to discuss academic integrity and intellectual property with students. It’s easy to assume that students grasp the significance of academic integrity, but the reality is that they may not have a complete understanding of what constitutes academic integrity. Be clear about your expectations for original work. 
  3. Consider introducing Ouriginal with a low-stakes assessment
    Consider offering a short introductory assignment enabling Ouriginal on this so that both you and the students become familiar with the tool. You can also turn on the setting that allows students to view the Similarity Report for the work they’ve submitted. This setting is off by default, but enabling it can give students a closer look at which skills to focus on. 
  4. Supplement the use of Ouriginal with the resources available from Dalhousie
    The Faculty of Agriculture Brightspace homepage has a widget available that outlines the role students play in academic integrity. Ensure this widget is included on your course’s homepage as it includes links to central resources and additional information. 
  5. Provide Additional Information
    Include Ouriginal’s Student Guide (https://www.ouriginal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/D2L-Student-Guide_EN.pdf) as a link in your course. 
  6. Remember –
    Ouriginal is a tool that helps identify issues with academic integrity, but it does not replace instructor intuition. It is possible for Ouriginal to miss instances of blatant plagiarism (false negative), and it’s also possible for a submission to be flagged as problematic when it shouldn’t be (false positive). Instructors should still complete their own analysis to verify integrity, while assessing the submission. 

 

 

Educational Technology and Design – Getting Help/Support

smantleEducational Technology & Design

The Educational Technology & Design (ETD) team is here to assist members of the Faculty of Agriculture by providing personalized support and expertise in instructional design, visual design, course development, technical support, and course delivery through a range of delivery modes. ETD is available for support virtually (preferred) and as of September 2021, for in-person support in Room 236, Haley Institute. To book an appointment, visit https://bit.ly/etd-bookings or view the PDF linked below for more information.

Educational Technology and Design – Getting Help/Support [PDF]