Recorded Faculty Development Sessions

Faculty Development Recorded Sessions

The New Kids on the Block: AI Generative Tools 

Interested in artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and what AI generative tools means for teaching & learning? Join Instructional Design & Technology in learning about some of the various AI-generative tools and platforms, like ChatGPT. There will be a short presentation providing background information about AI-generated content in teaching and learning along with potential applications in different educational settings. The workshop will cover the different types of outputs that can be generated using some of these tools as well as common concerns and solutions around their use. By the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped with a foundational understanding of AI generative tools and leave with a curated list of resources to continue the conversation. Note: although this description was prepared with the help of ChatGPT, an “AI Chatbot”, it will be delivered by real people working in the IDT department.

Watch "AI Generative Tools" Zoom Session recording from 3/29/2023

Watch "AI Generative Tools" Zoom Session recording from 3/30/2023

Tips & Tricks of the ulearn Grade Center 03/24/2023

Want to help support the university's retention efforts and cut down on student emails asking about grades? Gain skills and confidence in creating an up-to-date ulearn Grade Center that works for you. Learn how to check the Grade Center to ensure all graded items are accurately included in final grade calculations.

In this session, IDTs AJ Cho and Diane DeMelo will show you the ropes of diagnosing your Grade Center to reach the ultimate goal of calculated columns that will do the math for the final grade (and do it right). And not to miss - they will also share some of the most common problems and easily made mistakes so you can be sure to avoid them.

Stop the Plagiarism (or at least attempt to) with Turnitin (2/24/2023)
The Turnitin (Tii) Assignment tool is invaluable for checking that student-submitted work is original! It's a great tool to add to your course to promote academic integrity. Even long-time users of Turnitin will benefit from this session as the tool recently underwent a major upgrade that changes how Tii Assignments are added and used in your course. 

In this session, Instructional Technologist Diane DeMelo will demonstrate everything you need to know about the newly upgraded Tii Assignment tool including its Tii Studio with an originality checker and Grade Mark tool for feedback. 

Caption This! Editing your Kaltura Video Captions (2/24/2023)
So, you’ve created a video or audio file using Kaltura Capture. Kaltura will automatically audio-caption the video, but often there are many errors with the auto-generated captions. 

In this session, IDTs Kenny Wilson and Karen Morey will show you how to edit the video captions to ensure accuracy to provide an optimal student experience.

Accessible Course Content Helps All Students: a Primer for using Bb Ally (2/17/2023)

By now you’ve seen the accessible formats “colored dials” appearing within your ulearn courses indicating various levels of accessibility. Ally assists you with identifying content that is not fully accessible and provides guidance on how to fix the accessibility issues.

In this session, IDTs Brooks Robinson and Liz Fisher Sullivan will walk through an introduction to the Blackboard Ally tool and explain why students benefit from accessible materials, how students may be engaging with alternative formats, and how to ensure your material is accessible and compliant within ulearn.

Recording from 5/2022 Training Session

Exploring the Grade Center: Leveraging the Student Perspective (12/2/21) 

Teaching requirements for JWU online courses include providing students with timely grades, using course rubrics, providing meaningful feedback, and maintaining an accurate grade center. Grading is an important indicator of a student's progress. The grade center in ulearn provides critical information to you, your students, and their academic advisors. A proactive advising approach is used to support students enrolled in the Online campus. Data from the grade center is used to identify students who may need outreach from an academic advisor to offer support and resources. Effective use of the grade center contributes to student success, retention, and satisfaction. 

This session focused on the Why and How of using the ulearn grade center in your courses. With the help of a simulated course, this working session provided faculty with student perspectives that demonstrate the impact of common grade center errors and practical experience in a simulated grade center including:

• Common errors
• Workflow for grading rubrics 
• Updating zeros
• Tips for incorporating substantive feedback

Facilitated by: Meredith Hass, Linda St. Laurent, Scott Turner, Instructional Designers and Steve Barnes, Instructional Technologist

Making Changes to Your Online Course (2/26/21)

We often hear from you that you want to make changes to your online courses. We certainly support the faculty’s expertise and academic freedom, but want to make sure changes are done according to JWU standards and accessibility requirements and to make sure the grade center is accurate. In this session, we’ll cover the types of changes that need to be made by collaborating with your instructional team and the types of changes you can make on your own.

Facilitated by: Amy Ricci, Ed.D., Executive Director of Academic Operations and Amy Pallotta, Instructional Technologist

Grade Center Tips & Tricks (12/11/20)

Grading in ulearn can be a counterintuitive process, but it doesn’t have to be! In this session, we explore tools and strategies for organizing your grade center so you can provide grades and substantive feedback to your students as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Facilitated by: Steve Barnes, Brooks Robinson, and Karen Morey, Instructional Technologists

Faculty Best Practices and Applications for Recording Video Remotely (11/20/20)

More than ever, video is taking center stage as an important content delivery tool. Whether it’s via live streaming or recording your own announcements and mini-lectures, video is a key opportunity to communicate well with your students and deliver a robust virtual classroom experience. In this session, we reviewed some tips, tricks, and best practices that can help you take full advantage of this essential medium when recording your own videos.

Facilitated by: Chris Sheppard, Multimedia Developer and AJ Cho, Instructional Designer

Supporting Students Through Difficult Circumstances (11/6/20)

As higher education professionals, we've all encountered and supported students facing a wide array of challenging situations. The pandemic, however, has drastically increased the frequency and scope of student exigencies. In this roundtable discussion, we intend to share our lived experiences working with online students over the past several months, including our successes and shortcomings, while providing attendees tangible examples, action steps, and methods to best support JWU COE students. Attendees gain a deeper understanding of JWU COE student support processes and steps online faculty can take to best support those proceedings when faced with struggling COE students.

Facilitated by: Matt O'Brien, Director of Online Student Services, Jess Rounds, Online Academic Adviser, Liz Fisher-Sullivan and Heather Myers, Instructional Designers

Enhancing Student Learning in Online Courses with Accessible Content (3/9/18)

Research shows that most students benefit from online content available in multiple formats. Additionally, legal requirements make it necessary for us to make online course content available in multiple formats to meet the needs of all learners. This session focused on how instructors can enhance student learning by making content that incorporates visual, auditory, and textual elements. We covered the legal requirements for providing accessible content and discussed the potential of accessible content to improve student learning in online courses.

Facilitated by Andrew Walsh and Megan Giebert, Instructional Designers

2021 Online Faculty Symposium

Equity-Minded Online Teaching & Learning Part I: Getting Started

This session introduced tangible steps for faculty seeking to create “equity-minded” learning experiences in their online courses. The research-based practices discussed are appropriate for any discipline. Suggestions were included for techniques that can be quickly applied, regardless of where you may be on your equity, inclusion, diversity, and access journey.

Facilitated by: Marleny Nesshengel-Hopp, Instructional Technologist and Bridget Landry, Instructional Designer

Equity-Minded Online Teaching & Learning Part II: Case Studies & Peer Networking

An essential component of equity-minded teaching in any modality is peer support and the willingness to share or revise our practices. This session serves as a space to engage a network of COE faculty peer support.

Facilitated by: Liz Fisher-Sullivan, Ed.D. and Kelly Moore, Instructional Designers

Giving Substantive and Constructive Feedback on Writing Assignments

We know that substantive and constructive feedback is integral to our students’ learning and course performance, which is why this type of feedback is a teaching requirement of COE. Yet characterizing “substantive and constructive feedback” is difficult. What does it mean and how do our evaluations of students’ engagement with course content facilitate their learning?

In this session we considered qualities of “substantive and constructive feedback” on writing assignments specifically, which include that it is:

• Individualized (i.e., any barriers to the student’s learning are taken into account)
• Evidence-based
• Goal-directed (i.e., responses are comprised of practical, applicable next steps, and expectations for required tasks are clearly defined)
• Digestible (i.e., it is transparent in its intentions)
• Collaborative (i.e., invites questions from students) (“Practice Education,” n.d.).

Using tangible, course-specific examples, we modeled what evidence-based, goal-directed, and digestible feedback looks like, in order to equip you with the tools you need to readily incorporate the recommendations shared into your own instruction.

Facilitated by: Kellie Nappa and Alison McIntosh, JWU Writing Coaches

Critical Teaching Requirements for a Successful Semester

How can we improve student success and satisfaction by leveraging our teaching requirements? COE has several teaching requirements and this session focuses on four areas that not only impact student success but also lead to positive student evaluations. These areas are Announcements, Rubrics, Questions, and Grading.

Facilitated by: Scott Turner, April Hodge, and Kristin Wakefield, Ed.D., Instructional Designers, and Karen Morey, Instructional Technologist