Categories
Online Courses

Vista: What is it and Why do I Care?

If you aren’t teaching an online course, and don’t plan to in the future, you probably don’t care. If you are, or plan to, this post is for you.

Vista is the new learning management system that UBC is moving to over the next year.

Some of you may be teaching on Vista already, more of you will be in May and many more in September as your courses are “migrated” to the new system”. Your course developer will contact you to let you know when your course is due to migrate.

There are resources to help you with some of the new (redesigned) features in Vista. It will look very different from the current version of WebCT.

The Office of Learning Technology is working with others on campus to ensure that training opportunities are available throughout the year. If you have a course moving over to Vista for May, you may want to take advantage of some of the great sessions offered during Reading Week (Feb.19th-23rd) as part of the E-Learning Institute.. This includes a Monday morning session comparing the features of Vista and version 4.1 and a mid week Vista Quick Start..

Can’t make those sessions?

Not to worry, OLT will be hosting “hands on” Q&A drop in sessions every Wednesday from 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. in the small conference room at the ITServices Telestudios, #0115, Lower Level, 2329 West Mall. No need to register, just show up with your questions.

Categories
Policy & Practice

Mid-Course Assessment: What Do Learners Think?




Food for Thought A

Originally uploaded by Iguana Jo.

I recently co-facilitated a focus group of about 10 learners – with Jeff Friedrich from the AMS. Our intention was to learn something about:

  • what motivates students to participate in course evaluations?

  • what kind of results would students like to see made public and how would they use that information?

  • what are the most important outcomes in the process – from their perspective

Here’s a brief summary of what we learned:

  • Learners are motivated when instructors demonstrate that they care about the feedback they receive. This is most evident when instructors use mid-course evaluation to guage reaction to the course and instructional approaches. Learners like it when instructors say how they will use the feedback to improve teaching and dedicate some time to discuss evaluation – makes it more meaningful to them.

  • Not all data needs to be made public but learners want to see information about the instructional approaches, grading practices, etc. in order to make decisions about which courses to take. Learners use sites like Rate My Professor, not because they think the info is reliable but because they have no alternative (perhaps slightly more objective) sources .

  • Learners want to know that their feedback changes something (hopefully improving the course) – for the instructor, for themselves, if possible and for their peers.

The comments from these students reinforce some of the findings in a 2003 US based research study (sample size of 208) on the topic of student motivation and perception in student evaluation of teaching.

So, what to do?
Richard Felder of North Carolina State University thinks that open ended questions may be the way to go if your goal is to both identify teaching “problems” and do something about them.
Others have cautionary advice about seeking out and using mid-course feedback from learners.

Either way, it would be useful to know about your experience with mid course student feedback. Do you collect it from your distance cohorts? If not, what are the barriers as you see them?

Please post to the comments section if you would like to share your thoughts on this.

Categories
Teaching Resources

Digital Age: Scholars and Bloggers

There are a couple of events coming up that might interest you.

Weblogger’s Salon — UBC’s Bloggers Sound Off
Date: Thursday, February 15, 2007 – 1:30 – 3:30pm
Location: Telestudios Main Theatre, Lower Level, 2329 West Mall, Rm. #0110
http://www.telestudios.ubc.ca

The simplicity and flexibility of weblog systems has led to an explosion of popularity in all domains, including education. The dramatic growth in the ranks of UBC bloggers across the university is undeniable. But have the shiny tools fundamentally changed educational practice? Do weblogs and other social software tools truly provide a superior means of publishing information and communicating with a community? What happens when students are given meaningful control over their online environments? What are the drawbacks or dangers of this approach? What can technology units do to provide the support that bloggers really need?

As a special event leading up to the Northern Voice weblog conference, some of UBC’s most innovative and accomplished webloggers will lead a discussion of these and other critical issues. For those who can stay after the discussion, convenor Brian Lamb will run through a series of lightning demos of tools and tricks that are indispensable for the educational blogger.

Facilitators:
E. Wayne Ross: Professor, Department of Curriculum Studies – http://ewaynesworld.notlong.com
Jon Beasley-Murray: Assistant Professor, French, Hispanic & Italian Studies – http://posthegemony.org
Eugene Barsky: Physiotherapy Outreach Librarian, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre – http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/physio/

Register through TAG

Scholarship in the Digital Age: Author Rights, Copyright, and Emerging Changes in the Scholarly Communication System

Facilitator: Joy Kirchner and Hilde Colenbrander, UBC Library
Date: February 22, 2007
Time: 9:30am – Noon
Location: TAG Meeting Room, Basement of David Lam Bldg., 6326 Agricultural Road

This session will describe what authors are permitted to do with their scholarship in the digital arena, emerging developments in digital rights management, new developments in the sharing and storing of scholarly works and building momentum worldwide to change the current system of scholarly communication to a more open, less restrictive model.

The Presenters are interested in hearing beforehand any specific questions or specific areas of interest you might have about these issues so that they might integrate these into the workshop. Send questions or comments to Joy Kirchner

Register through TAG

Categories
Using Technology

Opportunities for Learning

A few upcoming events to tell you about…

Reading Week 2007 – February 19-23

Join us for a full week of the e-Learning Institute. Hands-on and seminar sessions on various topics will be offered, including communicating online with students, keeping up with day to day tasks in WebCT, overview of WebCT Vista, social software, Horizon Wimba, accessibility and more!
Registration for these sessions is now open.

WebCT & Vista Drop-in QA Session

Facilitators: Emily Renoe & Joey Zerdin, Office of Learning Technology
Date: Every Wednesday to March 28 (no drop-in on Feb 21)
Time: 12:30 – 2:00 pm
Location: ITServices Telestudios, #0115, Lower Level, 2329 West Mall
http://www.telestudios.ubc.ca

The e-Learning Institute and the Office of Learning Technology will be holding a series WebCT & Vista drop-in sessions for faculty throughout winter term. These are informal question and answer sessions with WebCT & Vista specialists in attendance. Bring your questions and we’ll do our best to provide the answers.

Registration not required, drop-in only.

We gratefully acknowledge funding for these events, provided by UBC students through the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF). The TLT Series is sponsored by members of the Faculty Alliance for Technology in Education (FATE), the UBC Office of Learning Technology, and the Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth.

Categories
Learning Resources Online Courses Teaching Resources

APA Citation Addendum for Online Sources – CIDER




First day of the Semester

Originally uploaded by PartsnPieces.

I was browsing through the CIDER site and happened to come upon this tidbit that I thought may be interesting to some of you. Apparently, Jamie Anderson, from SFU Surrey Library has created an addendum for the APA Manual that provides updates and suggested formats for citing online resources. He provides some very helpful examples of recommended citation protocol for a variety of electronic sources including webpages, blogs, online journals and email. Look for these editions in the next edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

The UBC Library also has a useful reference on APA style with suggestions for some digital sources (mainly web pages, journals and e-books).

Both of these references will provide some helpful guidance for students using APA citation styles.

Categories
Teaching Resources

Thriving in the Online Classroom

On Thursday, January 18th at 10:00 am in the TAG Seminar room, OLT will be hosting an interactive broadcast session sponsored by Magna Online Seminars called: Managing to Thrive in the Online Classroom.. The presenter for this session will be Dr. Lawrence Ragan, Director of Instructional Design and Development for Penn State’s World Campus. Dr. Ragan is charged with directing the design and development of learning spaces for PSU online learners. He is responsible for directing the integration of a wide range of electronic media technologies into the instructional process in order to create dynamic, student-centered learning systems.

If you want more detail about what Dr. Ragan will offer up on Thursday, check the Magna Pubs Calendar. No need to pay or register, just show up at the TAG Seminar Room on Thursday, Jan. 18th at 10:00.

Categories
Start of Term

Welcome back!




UBC

Originally uploaded by Mikey720.

It’s deceptively quiet on campus today. Some of us are still recovering from the “holiday” and others are in full prep mode for the start of term next week.

On that note, here are a couple of things to keep in mind as you head into next week:
* WebCT servers will be challenged with the start of term volume. Remind your students to log on during mid-day (rather than evening) whenever possible – they’ll be less frustrated. You may want to check for updates on the WebCT upgrade project – periodically.
* Check your class list on the Faculty Service Centre.
* Send a welcome message to your students via the Faculty Service Centre. Online instructors usually do this as soon as the term starts (Monday, Jan 8th). Print based instructors may want to wait until the close of registration (January 22nd).

Note that the Teaching and Learning with Technology series starts up again on January 30th. Watch for upcoming events on the OLT or TAG websites.

Happy start of term!

Categories
Administrivia

Who’s Who at Enrolment Services?

Enrolment Services staff assist you in managing your distance education courses in the following ways:
• Assistance in resolving registration related issues.
• Assistance in facilitating course extensions or accelerations.
• Arrangements for final exams for DE&T delivered courses (both on and off campus).
• Help with CWL issues.
• Access and troubleshooting for the Faculty Service Centre (FSC)
• Questions about final grades submission

For learner support, contact Paul, Linda, Lucie or Bernadette at: Learner Support
For exam support, contact Sheila at: Exams
For FSC support or questions about final grades, contact Denise
or Maureen

Other Key Contacts are listed in OLT’s Instructor’s Guide for DE.

Categories
Group Work

Collaboration Frustration

Students and instructors share ambivalence when it comes to groupwork online. When it goes well, the learning experience is positive and provides a foundation for future collaborative work. When it doesn’t, it can be like a bad case of food poisoning – you’ll want to avoid a repeat episode at all costs.

This month’s edition of Online Classroom has a brief but useful article about teamwork: Activities 101: Improving Results and Reducing Frustrations from Team Activities. The summary: the most common reasons for learner frustrations include inadequate preparation and communication, and the most common reasons for faculty frustration include the need to deal with learner frustrations.

To register for your free subscription(s) enter the following Voucher Code and PIN number when prompted:
Voucher Code: UBC
PIN number: 0302

I’ll be working with some colleagues to develop an orientation piece on Group Work for learners. Look for it this Spring as one of the Learning Toolkits on LEAP and as part of OLT’s Orientation to Online Learning in WebCT.

If you have any ideas/resources to share here – they would be much appreciated.

Cindy

Categories
Start of Term

January…coming soon!




Snowy Gastown

Originally uploaded by gray_eminence.

Time to prepare for another term start. Here are a few things you may want to do in preparation for the start of another term:

  • Review your course site. Your course will typically be cleaned out and reset somewhere between the final exam and the start of the new term. Check with your course developer to find out when you can access the reset course to check links and review content.
  • Prepare any new exams as required. If you’re not sure whether you need a new exam for your course, or you would like to view previous exams, contact Enrolment Services.
  • Check your course enrolment on the Faculty Service Centre
  • Check out the Orientation to Online Learning. If your course is online, your students will have access to a self paced Orientation resource in WebCT. If you would like to check this out yourself, send your CWL with your request for access to our helpdesk
  • Send a welcome email to your students on or just before the term starts (this year it is January 8th).

    • If you’re a new instructor, be sure to familiarize yourself with the OLT Instructor’s Guide

    You may also want to download the full Term Prep Checklist (pdf)

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