Category: Online Education News You Can Use

Hello, Faculty Community! 

***You are receiving this newsletter because you are a faculty member at MiraCosta College. I, Sean Davis, am the coordinator of our C3 Teaching and Learning Center***

For our resources this week, we focus on the local (MiraCosta), regional (NCHEA), and national (NCORE) work being done to create more justice-oriented spaces in higher education.

3 resources related to teaching and learning, 2 online tips and tricks, and 1 question for reflection

Looking for archived resources, tips/tricks, and questions?

Revisit the past editions of the C3-2-1 Newsletter here. 

Want to share? 

If you have some resources, tips/tricks, and questions to share, please contribute to the newsletter using this C3-2-1 Form.

(3) Resources

1. Black Community Ally Training (BCAT)

The Black Community Ally Training is a self-paced 4-part interactive training designed to increase participants’ understanding of anti-Black racism and strengthen strategies and skills to advance racial equity for the Black community at MiraCosta College.

The training is open to all MiraCosta employees (staff and faculty).  Participants will work with a cohort of peers across 4-5 weeks navigating through 4 modules in a Canvas course.  The training is designed for 1 module to be completed each week with approximately 2 hours of work expected in each module.  The 4th module requires participants to attend a 1.5 hour in-person zoom session focused on how to apply and put into practice what you learned.  Supervisors are encouraged to support staff/faculty interested in attending the live session during work hours.  The BCAT is flex eligible.

To sign-up for the BCAT:

• Complete the BCAT application/Pre-Survey
• You will receive a confirmation email with dates for your cohort class and live session
• Start the training!

If you have questions, you can contact bcat@miracosta.edu

2. NCHEA Tri-Equity: Embodying Anti-Racist Conference

Here is a part of the message sent out by one of the organizers – our own, Rachel Hastings:

Please allow me to formally invite you our Fall Tri Equity: Embodying Anti-Racism Conference on Saturday, October 24, 2020 from 8am – 8pm (Register here, Click Join Event). Tri-Equity features an array of Race and Equity scholars, gifting us with symposium style conversations and interactive trainings.

After investing in an exceptional amount of elbow-grease into embedding anti-racism into our institutional practices, all of “us” campus experts need a breather. Please consider our “come and go as you please” conference as an invitation to take a deep, cleansing breath while remaining 100% checked into the movement. Our conference is open to all governance, community members, and especially our students.

3. NCORE Webinar Series – Multiple Front Lines Involved in What We Call (Online) Learning 

Here is the webinar description: 

This session will help faculty gain an understanding of the needs of students in the online classrooms, how their individual situations during this time interface with the classroom learning environment, and through it all, how to keep your students engaged. We will provide tools and strategies that can help faculty adapt to their new online classroom and help students succeed.

I sent something out about this one on Monday, October 5. Check out that email for specific registration instructions. 

(2) Online Tips and Tricks

1. Embedding Google Docs into Your Canvas Pages

Using Google Docs and Canvas in tandem can help you in several ways. If you embed your course schedule in Canvas using Google Docs, you can easily and instantly make changes to assignment and activity deadlines. Moreover, you can create collaborative opportunities for students to engage in and track their learning in real-time

2. Using Your Presentation Slides as Your Virtual Background in Zoom

Chad Tsuyuki sent me this neat suggestion! 

Zoom has a new feature that allows you to use your presentation slides as your virtual background. I just tried it out and realized that if I want to use this, I will have to reformat my slides to account for my little head in the lower right corner. 

Note: This software is in beta. Your presentation’s sounds, transitions, and animations are not supported at this time. 

(1) Question

Since we know Spring will look much like this, do we want Spring to look much like this?

Stay joyful,

Sean Davis
Joyful Teacher in Residence 
Coordinator, C3 Teaching and Learning Center

Hello, Faculty Community! 

***You are receiving this newsletter because you are a faculty member at MiraCosta College. I, Sean Davis, am the coordinator of our C3 Teaching and Learning Center***

Audio, visual, and shameless self-promotion.

3 resources related to teaching and learning, 2 online tips and tricks, and 1 question for reflection

Looking for archived resources, tips/tricks, and questions?

Revisit the past editions of the C3-2-1 Newsletter here. 

Want to share? 

If you have some resources, tips/tricks, and questions to share, please contribute to the newsletter using this C3-2-1 Form.

(3) Resources

1. S.A.F.E. Topics Podcast

A homegrown MiraCosta Podcast. 
Show Description:
The goal of the pod is to place students and faculty into dialogue with each other about issues that impact teaching and learning experiences in community college. We want student and faculty voices to be unfiltered, reactionary, and raw. Through these discussions, we will not arrive at decisions or solutions but rather provide listeners of the pod with a range of perspectives to weigh the interests, values, and outcomes of pedagogical and policy decision making processes. 

2. (Re) Teach Podcast

Another homegrown MiraCosta Podcast.
Show Description: 
This podcast focuses on becoming a more culturally-responsive and economically-responsible professor at the community college level. I will discuss specific teaching techniques, give practical classroom management advice, and engage in meaningful dialogues about teaching and learning so that we may positively affect student-equity groups.

3. Teaching in Higher Ed. Podcast

Although this one is not a homegrown MiraCosta podcast, it is excellent nonetheless! 🙂
Here is a description from the website:
This is the space where we explore the art and science of being more effective at facilitating learning. We also share ways to increase our personal productivity, so we can have more peace in our lives and be even more present for our students.

(2) Online Tips and Tricks

1. Captioning Your Videos Using Canvas Studio

We are recording videos for our classes more than ever. Canvas Studio makes captioning easy, issues and it is pretty accurate; however, reviewing and correcting the captions is vital (you can do this in Studio)You can request captioning for the videos you create in Studio and import the captions from videos you upload to Studio. In my experience with requesting captions, processing usually only takes a few minutes (but it could take a few hours according to various sources).

The MiraCosta Access Specialist for DSPS, Aaron Holmes, adds that we have resources for captioning that go beyond what is offered in Canvas Studio. If you have 3rd party videos, your own longer videos, and/or any issues with captioning, please reach out to our DSPS Office.

Aaron also points us to this helpful page – Captioning FAQs 

2. Embedding Quiz Questions into Your Canvas Studio Videos

This tool is excellent for keeping your videos engaging! It also helps you ensure that students are paying attention throughout your presentation. Embed some quiz questions at various points in your Canvas Studio videos to create multiple check-ins and drive home the most significant points! 

(1) Question

What are we learning from our students about how to cope with and adapt to the new normal?

Stay joyful,

Sean Davis
Joyful Teacher in Residence 
Coordinator, C3 Teaching and Learning Center

Hello, Faculty Community! 

***You are receiving this newsletter because you are a faculty member at MiraCosta College. I, Sean Davis, am the coordinator of our C3 Teaching and Learning Center***

It is not you – the world is really weird right now…

3 resources related to teaching and learning, 2 online tips and tricks, and 1 question for reflection

Looking for archived resources, tips/tricks, and questions?

Revisit the past editions of the C3-2-1 Newsletter here. 

Want to share? 

If you have some resources, tips/tricks, and questions to share, please contribute to the newsletter using this C3-2-1 Form.

(3) Resources

1. Black Students Matter Training on Canvas (self-enroll by using this link)

A new training at MiraCosta focuses on the experiences of Black students and gives us direction on how to better serve this community. 

Here is a message from one of the facilitators, Dr. Bruce Hoskins – 

I know y’all are busy surviving, but we need to create the space to live, grow and get better.  I created this Black Students Matter course for exactly that purpose. Shout out to Edwina Williams and Shawntae Mitchum for developing the material and doing the research for this project!  I will hit you with Working While Black later this semester (November-ish) and Anti-White Supremacy Teaching will be our spring project.

You will receive a certificate and #Blackstudentsmatter sticker on the successful completion of the course.  The class will close by December 10, but feel free to complete this course as quickly as you can.  I will reopen this class in spring if you do not get a chance to complete it this Fall.  Just a heads up, I put in deadlines to help give people a pace, but don’t worry, I ALWAYS take late work!  So just get the course completed by December 10 and you will receive full credit 🙂

2. PROJECT Online Faculty Mentor Program

Are you struggling with online instruction? Or do you just want a colleague to work with on your courses to help you develop and implement new ideas? We have a team of folks who are ready and willing to be at your side! 

We have 12 faculty members on the team who are ready to work with you on your online courses – synchronous and asynchronous classes. Our mentors work in non-credit and credit in disciplines across all ACPs (Academic and Career Pathways.

If you want to connect with and be assigned a mentor, please complete the following form so we can assess your needs and know how to best pair you with a member of the team: PROJECT – Online Faculty Mentorship Program.

3. OpenStax – Webinars (both live and recorded, archived sessions)

OpenStax is a nonprofit charitable corporation that is housed at Rice University. They offer Open Education Resources (OER) in the way of textbooks, supplemental learning materials, and webinars focused on teaching and learning. You can register for these free webinars or watch the archived webinars by using the title link. Be sure to check out their textbook offerings as well. You might find an OER solution for a course that you teach! 

(2) Online Tips and Tricks

1. Creating Extra Credit Assignments in Canvas

Canvas does not have a default extra credit option. So, if you are offering extra credit in your class, you will have to create extra credit opportunities as you would any other assignment with the key caveat of assigning a zero point value to the assignment. 

2. Using “Moderate” to Set Accommodations for Individual Students 

Do you have students who need extra time on your quizzes and exams? Maybe you have students whose accommodations require extra attempts. Well, you can use the Moderate panel to make these accommodations and more. 

(1) Question

What do we need to let go of to be more effective and useful in the long-term? 

Stay joyful,

Sean Davis
Joyful Teacher in Residence 
Coordinator, C3 Teaching and Learning Center

Hello, Faculty Community! 

***You are receiving this newsletter because you are a faculty member at MiraCosta College. I, Sean Davis, am the coordinator of our C3 Teaching and Learning Center***

Do your students need help? Do you need help? Let’s get everyone what they need! 

3 resources related to teaching and learning, 2 online tips and tricks, and 1 question for reflection

Want to share? 

If you have some resources, tips/tricks, and questions to share, please contribute to the newsletter using this C3-2-1 Form.

(3) Resources

1. MiraCosta Online Tutoring Services – Tons of support for our students…
   1. TASC – Free online support for ACCT, CSIT, ECON, MAT, Music, PLSC, PSYC, SOC, foreign languages, and CLC students.
   2. MLC – Free online support for all math and statistics courses, including CLC students.
   3. Writing Center – Free online writing feedback and speech support. We can help with grammar, reading, and scholarship/transfer statements.
   4. Language Resource Center – Free online support for Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Japanese.
   5. Student Help Desk – Free online support for passwords, technical issues & information about online portals.
   6. STEM Learning Center – Free online support for all science courses (Bio, Chem, CS, and Physical Sciences).
2. The Distance Learning Playbook for College & University InstructionThis resource was sent to me by Dean Mike Fino. Thanks, Mike! The Distance Learning Playbook covers a wide array of pedagogical concerns and topics and can be useful for us as we continue this online adventure. Some of the topics explored in the book include – faculty-student relationships from a distance, teacher credibility from a distance, teacher clarity from a distance, engaging tasks from a distance, Planning learning experiences from a distance, feedback, assessment, and grading from a distance, keeping the focus on learning, from a distance or otherwise.
   
   As you can tell, they emphasize the “distance.” Maybe they can also help us close the distance…
   
   ***You can read the book for free using the title link above.
   
3. Student Support Guide and Reshaping Your School Schedule During Remote Instruction (Canvas modules available to plug into your courses)At the start of each term, Our Vice President of Student Services, Alketa Wojcik, sends out a PDF version of the Student Support Guide that outlines many of the support resources that are available to our students. This Fall’s version also provides a guide – Reshaping Your School Schedule During Remote Instruction. Thanks to our guest CE Instructional Designer, Liesl Madrona, these two resources are now available in the Canvas Commons for you to upload into your Canvas Classes. The modules are very user-friendly and include iFrames embedded in the pages that allow students to explore the resources on our campus website without ever leaving your Canvas course! (2) Online Tips and Tricks

(2) Online Tips and Tricks

1. New Quizzes vs. Classic Quizzes in Canvas – What you need to knowWhen creating a quiz in Canvas, do we go with Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes? Well, it depends on what we are trying to accomplish with the quiz and how we want the quiz to work. Check out this resource that includes an in-depth look at the similarities and differences between these two Canvas tools.  
   
   *Important note – New Quizzes are set to replace Classic quizzes July 2021
   
2. Adding Prerequisites to Modules Are you into scaffolding? Do you want to make sure students have read or reviewed a page before moving on to the next activity? Add prerequisites in Canvas to help your students build-up to the next course item by ensuring they have been exposed to what will help them make the most of a deeper learning experience. 

(1) Question

Are our automated processes freeing up our time, or are they enabling us to commit to more busyness?

Stay joyful,

Sean Davis
Joyful Teacher in Residence 
Coordinator, C3 Teaching and Learning Center