C3-2-1 Newsletter – Fall 2022 Week Two!

Hello, Faculty Community! 

Off and running. 

These weekly newsletters feature 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.  FLEX Week Revisited – As we move into week two of the fall semester, Flex Week feels like a lifetime ago. It is near impossible to participate in all of the wonderful offerings our professional development jumpstart to the academic term provides. Well, we are in luck! Aaron Roberts (PDP Coordinator / Letters) and the PDP team are keeping that busy Google Doc active so we can go back and watch the recordings of many of the sessions we might have missed or want to revisit. Please remember – time spent viewing these recordings is just as eligible for Flex as attending them live. 
  2.  A conversation about Flow State – Here, our colleagues Steve Isachsen (CSIT) and Rick White (CSIT) provide a thorough and engaging dialogue on “flow state.” We all know how it feels to be in the groove and pretty much unstoppable when we are fully immersed in something we are doing. Watch and listen for numerous examples of flow state, the science behind it, and how we can tap into this phenomenon to help us in our work and facilitate environments that can potentially get our students “flowing” – or at least steer them away from the “Zone of Delusion.”
  3.  A Real World Approach To Deadlines – This quick read (approx. 8 minutes) interrogates commonplace ideas about deadlines and the idea that we are preparing students for the “real world” (isn’t our classroom the real world?). Robert Talbert, a mathematics professor in Michigan, discusses how to use deadlines and create clear policies on extensions effectively. Additionally, he reminds us that “clear communication solves most pedagogical problems.” Thanks to Dean Mike Fino for sending this my way. 

(2) Tips & Tricks

  1.  Canvas Overview (Students) – While many of our new students are familiar with Canvas, it never hurts to review the basics. For those new to college and Canvas, this short video and the wealth of tutorial resources can clear up a muddy start to the term. You may want to consider embedding this video into your classes, along with links to Canvas Student Guides.  
  2. Perusall – Having students work together in the online environment is something we are constantly working to achieve. Perusall is available for us to integrate into our Canvas course to create opportunities for students to annotate the textbook collaboratively, take shared notes on pdf files, comment on videos/images/other media, and more. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to set up Perusall, coupled with a complete explanation of the features, tools, and grading options. 

(1) Question

  1. With week one behind us, what are the similarities and differences that we have observed during yet another – but very unique – start to our school year? 

Stay joyful,

Sean Davis
Joyful Teacher in Residence 🙂
Coordinator, C3 Teaching and Learning Center
Sociology Department Chair

Fall 2022 Online Support for Equity & Success

Please see below for quick reminders of important online-focused resources to help you help your students succeed!

Support for You

Support for Your Students – Please help your students to be aware of and make use of these important services and resources!

  • Student Online Academic Readiness workshops  In collaboration with the library, I’ll be offering about 20 of these across the first 9 weeks of fall – see all dates and times on the TASC site and in Canvas announcements. These workshops (formerly known as Student Orientation to Online Learning) help to familiarize students with the resources MiraCosta provides online to support them, as well as to adopt habits and attitudes of successful online students. Encourage your students to attend and, if you like, find out which of your students participated in order to incentivize their attendance.
  • Online Student Support Access Points – the Student Support Hubin Canvas, accessed via the Student Support button on the bottom left in Canvas, gives quick access to online support from the library, STEM & MLC, online tutoring, writing center, counseling, career center, open computer lab staff, student help desk, health services, CARE team, and more! The Help Hut on the MiraCosta website is also a quick way for students to connect with all kinds of support services including A&R and Financial Aid.
  • Tech Support – Also at lower left in Canvas is a button for students to quickly access Tech Support options, including 24×7 phone and chat support from Canvas, and our local MiraCosta student help desk.
  • Technology Needs? – Be sure to share the updated form for students to fill out if they need a loaner laptop or hotspot.
  • Class Availability in Canvas – Faculty teaching distance education (online and hybrid) classes are expected to make their classes available by mid-day on the Monday of the week in which they begin. To learn more, please see MiraCosta Distance Education Class Authentication Compliance, Start-of-Term Availability Procedures, and Recommendations.

MiraCosta’s Online Education Tools

Click the link immediately after each bullet for a detailed MiraCosta-specific overview of each item below. This is not intended as a comprehensive review of all technologies for online teaching supported by the college, but rather a quick look at the essentials available to all faculty. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions about these or other resources.

  • Canvas – the #1 tool for faculty and students
  • Zoom – if you’re using Zoom, make sure you’re using a pro Zoom account through MiraCosta.
  • Canvas Studio – enables faculty and students to create videos while inside Canvas. Faculty can create interactive discussion or quiz activities based on video.
  • Pronto is an incredible mobile-friendly and Canvas-integrated messaging platform that’s ready to use in every course.
  • Perusall is a social annotation tool available within Canvas that makes it easy for students to comment/discuss right on a text, document, or image.
  • Lab Archives Electronic Notebook is an online notebook especially useful for translating lab manuals and student notes/work into the online environment.
  • Pope Tech helps faculty detect and correct accessibility issues within Canvas. See also Tips for Creating Accessible Course Content.
  • Ally automatically converts content you share through Canvas into multiple formats for students, allowing for listening rather than reading and better access to content on mobile devices.
  • PlayPosit – This video interaction tool offers more complexity and options than Studio. Studio is a great place to start, but if you’re looking for more question types to add to your videos, PlayPosit is a great option. 
  • Turnitin – help students learn to properly cite sources and avoid plagiarism. Also provides grading and peer review tools for written work.

Best wishes for a 😊 🍁

– Jim

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

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