Technology Mind Blow! Professional Development Friday Update

By Gayle (G.G.) Golden

OK, maybe it didn't blow our minds. But our first Professional Development Friday to discuss teaching with technology was, by all accounts, a terrific exchange of tips on open-source and Canvas tools to stimulate learning.

Claire Segijn

A big thanks to Claire Segijn and Rachel Dallman for presenting and for preparing slides that all you blog readers can access below if you want to catch up on the content of the 90-minute discussion in Room 100 of Murphy Hall on Friday, Oct. 4. Here's a quick summary, with links to their slides embedded:

Segijn focused first on her use of mentimeter tools to poll students during class, showing results in real time. Although free use of the polling tool restricts the number of surveys per presentation, that's usually enough to engage students in useful reflections on what they expect to learn, what they took away from a lecture or on other questions that might help the instructor see what students are retaining or understand how they're thinking about a concept.

The second part of Segijn's discussion focused on her use of Canvas exams. She offered a clear set of best practices for preparing students in advance for the technical requirements of taking those in class. One key tip: Be sure the students install the LockDown browser BEFORE the exam -- the link to do so is in Canvas -- so that they are ready to go. The tests can only be taken in the LockDown browser. One further note: Scott Dierks now has a cart of laptops for any student who needs one to take an exam on Canvas. So that should not be a problem for any student.

Segijn's slides are here.

Rachel Dallman

Next up was Dallman. After noting that the university has a tool in beta development called ChimeIn, which is similar to mentimeter (but, as some of the users noted, a little more clunky), Dallman then launched into a wide-ranging discussion of Canvas' capabilities and design. The main message? Faculty should make course content as clear and accessible as possible on one page without overwhelming students with too much detail.

Links and clearly designed headings are usually the key to doing that. Dallman showed an example of how she compressed course material from a long list of undifferentiated assignments and readings into a curated table that lets students know what lies ahead.



(If you can't see the example below, you can click into her slides here to get the picture.)

                                     


Dallman can help instructors with sophisticated design tools to transform a Canvas course. But an easy way to make the course content accessible is to copy and paste a course schedule (the table form) from a printed syllabus onto a Canvas page. Then the links to assignments can simply be added to the table's content.

We talked about a lot more than this. Those who came remarked that it was refreshing to have time to chat about our teaching needs without the rush of classes or other meetings.

We're all looking forward to the next Professional Development Friday on Nov. 15, at 9:30 a.m., when we will be discussing how to handle controversial topics in the classroom. We hope to see you there.

We want faculty to lead the way in defining the focus of this discussion. Please post your questions or thoughts on this Google doc prior to the meeting. Before that session, it might be helpful to note that Pen America just released its Campus Free Speech Guide. This may or may not have relevance for you as you think about the upcoming discussion. Just throwing it out there. Please send other resources and questions.

As always, if you have a comment or a question about teaching, or want to add anything to the discussion at ProActive Teaching, please do so with the comments below or email me at ggolden@umn.edu.

G.G.