Category: Online Education News You Can Use

Online Teaching Support and Professional Growth Opportunities

Hello, all!

Whew! You’ve just about made it to mid-semester. As you begin thinking about finishing fall well and looking ahead to another semester online in the spring, I want to remind you of various ways you can get support and enhance your professional knowledge and practice in online education.

Collegial Mentoring Available!

If you’d like to connect with a faculty colleague for any kinds of questions about online teaching – from getting a quick answer to a head-scratcher, to a more comprehensive conversation about effective practices and/or a walkthrough of a course – we have a dozen folks ready to help. Just fill out the form to request a mentor.

Career Education Faculty – Would you like professional instructional design support?

A strong workforce grant has given our CE faculty access to an outstanding instructional design expert, who has been working with many MiraCosta faculty for more than a year. She can help you with online course design guidance/advice and she can also work directly to make enhancements to your course(s), if you desire. Just reply to this email indicating interest and I will get you connected.

CE Faculty may also be interested in the Developing and Strengthening Online Career Education: The CVC-OEI Improving Online CTE Pathways Speaker Series featuring CE discipline-specific and general online teaching webinars later in October and November.

Interested in Open Educational Resources (OER)?

Adopting OER is a great way to support equity by lowering course material costs, and through greater flexibility to teach a course the way you think students will learn best, rather than being tied to the organization of a traditional textbook. Over 340 MiraCosta fall classes are listed in SURF as Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC)– that is awesome! Want to get more involved with OER?

  • MiraCosta still has grant funds available to provide stipends, timesheet-based compensation, and/or instructional designer expertise to support efforts to reduce course material costs by at least 30% through the adoption of OER and other no-cost course material. Please reply to me if you would like to learn more.
  • The statewide Academic Senate (ASCCC) has great resources available via the ASCCC OERI website, as well as a Canvas site (tinyurl.com/ASCCC-OpenEd) with more informal sharing of discipline-oriented information.
  • The ASCCC is recruiting discipline faculty to support OER advocacy efforts by serving as Discipline Leads. “Our intent is to expand our discipline collections during the fall 2020 term and to increase our targeted advocacy efforts across all identified disciplines in the spring 2021 term. In order to meet these goals, we are now seeking Discipline Leads for disciplines that have never had a Lead and we will be seeking new Leads for the disciplines that have had a Lead previously. Read more about the disciplines we are recruiting, the Discipline Lead role, and the application process.”
  • Register for Copyright, Fair Use, and Piracy. Where does OER Fit In?webinar from ASCCC this Friday, Oct. 16 at 3 pm.
  • The Open Education Global conferenceis online Nov. 16-20. MiraCosta is an OEGlobal member, making your registration just $25.

Additional Upcoming Events, Courses, and Recorded Workshops

  • Check out our comprehensive set of recordings of past MiraCosta Online Education workshops. Viewing workshop recordings is always Flex-eligible.
  • FACCC is holding a statewide “Future of Distance Education” event on Friday afternoon, Oct. 23.See details and register.
  • @ONE provides comprehensive online teaching courses for CCC faculty. New courses are starting soon – check out what’s available. Departmental travel funds can potentially be used to pay for your registration in these courses; if you don’t have access to such funds please reach out to me for support from the Online Education budget.

What Additional Training Opportunities Would You Like?

As you think about your needs over the next few months in finishing out fall and preparing for spring, what kinds of training and support are you looking for? Please reply to me with any requests/suggestions. I will be collaborating with Sean Davis, Joyful Teacher in Residence, to plan online teaching workshops over the next two months.

Jim Julius, Ed.D.
Faculty Director, Online Education

C3-2-1 Newsletter – Week Seven!

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.

C321 Newsletter

(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

C3-2-1 Newsletter – Week Six!

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.

C321 Newsletter

(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. 

  1. (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.

  1. 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 

  1. 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

Important Zoom News / Updates

If you use Zoom for meeting and/or teaching (and don’t we all?), please review the updates and guidance below!

Participants self-selecting Breakout Rooms is now A THING!

I’ve heard from so many of you about this need. Zoom has finally come through! The latest Zoom app update, 5.3.0, includes this ability. Meeting hosts now see this option when setting up breakout rooms: Allow participants to choose room. Please note that in order to have your Zoom meeting participants use this feature, they must be on the latest Zoom mobile or computer app – browser-based Zoom does not support this. Make sure your students/participants have updated their app or downloaded the latest from http://zoom.us/download .

Forcing Passwords on all Meetings is NOT a thing (yet)!

At the end of August, TechConnect sent out a notice saying that by the end of September, all ConferZoom meetings which were not set up with passwords would have passwords imposed upon them by Zoom. However, information on the ConferZoom site now states that Zoom has delayed this change. (By the way, TechConnect email notices are ending up in my Outlook junk. If you aren’t checking your Junk email once in a while, you may want to do so.) (Also by the way, Zoom is apparently going to start calling passwords “passcodes”.)

Zoombombing, sadly, is STILL a thing

While not extensive, I have heard several faculty report “Zoombombing” incidents this fall. This generally consists of an unwanted participant disrupting a Zoom meeting. It’s clear that most incidents of Zoombombing aren’t random “hacks” preventable through passwords on meetings, but rather cases where invited participants are sharing access information with outsiders. Waiting Rooms can help but even those aren’t foolproof (take that word literally), and they do add overhead to running a Zoom meeting. Check out our 2-page Zoom tips which describe a variety of strategies to try to reduce the likelihood/impact of Zoombombing. Most important may be the Security button on the Zoom toolbar to allow you to quickly deal with a disruptor by kicking them out, reporting them to Zoom, and/or shutting off access to certain tools. Also, if you experience Zoombombing, please fill out the Maxient CARE form to report the incident, which will help the college to centrally track this issue.

Privacy Guidance when using Zoom with students from multiple class sections

The college is continuing to explore issues related to privacy regulations and live online interactions with students. For now, please abide by the following:

  1. Recorded Zoom sessions should only be shared back with the participating class section
  2. Regular instructional sessions for Zoom classes should only be held with one class section (except for true cross-listed classes)
  3. Optional/supplemental Zoom sessions that combine students from multiple sections are ok (do give students the option to participate anonymously)

Weird issue with ConferZoom recordings in Canvas modules, on Chrome         

A ConferZoom cloud recording shared as a singular linked item in a Canvas module, set to open within Canvas rather than in a new tab, for unknown reasons now fails to play back properly in the latest version of the Chrome browser. If you share ConferZoom recordings this way, the simplest fix is to set the link to open in a new tab.

Zoom support info

  • If you are still using a free account from Zoom.us, please switch to a fully licensed account through CCC TechConnect. Details about how to do that, along with lots of other Zoom tips and recorded trainings by MiraCosta faculty, are available at https://tic.miracosta.edu/conferzoom
  • CCC Tech Connect provides 1 hour training sessions every day on using Zoom. Learn more including how to sign up.

Zoomily yours,

Jim Julius, Ed.D.
Faculty Director, Online Education

C3-2-1 Newsletter – Week Five!

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.

C321 Newsletter

(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 🙂

  1. 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.

  1. 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. 

  1. 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

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