Category: Online learning
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My First Year at a Teaching and Learning Centre
by Melissa Robertson, Learning Technologies Support Specialist, Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL), VIU For my first post in the 5X5X25 challenge, I decided to reflect on my learning journey while working at the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning. When I first started at the Centre, I had decided I no…
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EDUCAUSE 2013 Conference
A couple of us attended the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference held this year in Anaheim, California from October 15-18. The conference program is derived from member-driven content organized across six overarching IT domains including: Data/Information Access and Management; Enterprise and Infrastructure; Leadership and Management; Security, Privacy, and Compliance; Services and Support; and Teaching and Learning. This…
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Fast and Furious Learning – An Overview of Desire2Learn Fusion 2013 – Part 1
For the past few months I have been busy converting a multitude of courses from Moodle to Desire2Learn at VIU. When I heard that I was going to have the opportunity to go to Desire2Learn’s Fusion 2013 (Website).I was ecstatic! Not only was I going to learn a great deal I was going to have…
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Achieving Better Balance: Learning First, Technology Second
There is a better balance yet to be achieved – between technology and learning in higher education (well K-16 education for that matter). I don’t believe we are there yet. There is a lot of “technology talk” these days….. technology training, technology tweets, technology blog posts, technology spending, technology conference keynotes, technology hype, technology expenses,…
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Design Alchemy: Transforming the Way We Think about Teaching and Learning – in Online Courses
Review of Talk: EdMedia (Victoria, BC, June 2013) Keynote: Design Alchemy: Transforming the Way We Think about Teaching and Learning Presenter: Dr. Rod Sims (Senior Lecturer, Online Learning), University of South Queensland YouTube Capture of Keynote: One of my staff attended the EdMedia Conference and was telling me about this keynote talk. Wow…what a great…
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D2L 10.2 Upgrade
The Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning is very excited about the June 27, 2013 D2L upgrade to the latest version 10.2! Version 10.2 offers a more streamlined navigation for two of the system’s most used tools – Content and Discussions – as well as other improvements. Please be assured this is not a…
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Pros and Cons of Technology Embedded within Teaching and Learning Centres – and Not in IT
At a recent Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference (STLHE), I was part of a round table discussion about the pros and cons of including educational technology departments (serving learning management systems, blogging, video streaming, mobile devices, online course instructional design) within higher education teaching and learning centres. In Canadian colleges and…
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Have you tried a “week zero” in your D2L course?
When teaching an online or web-enhanced course, how do you make essential course information stand out from all the rest of the course content? The first week in an online environment can be overwhelming. In addition to encountering Desire2Learn, students are provided with a course tour that reviews the syllabus, explains how to participate in…
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Will understanding the basics of web design help you build better online courses? Yes!
I recently completed a 7-week course titled Designing Online Information/Dreamweaver CS6. This is just one in many web-related courses that I have either taken or facilitated over in the past 20 years. As you can imagine, working with websites has really assisted me in working with various LMS systems and helping faculty with their online…
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Integrating Online Textbooks within D2L
Online textbook producers for classrooms have created online books that have more than just the printed words from a book on a computer screen. Online textbooks that are used in the classroom come complete with color, pictures, interactive tutorials, and supplemental links. It is possible to integrate these resources within your D2L courses, providing a…
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Embedding media in your D2L course
Video and other visual media enrich your course. Video allows your students to access material at their own pace – they have the power to pause, rewind and replay material as many times as they like. You could record your lecture (for help getting started, see the post by Michael Paskevicius here) or you could…
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NMC Horizon Report: 2013 Higher Education Edition
The 2013 Horizon Report is now available on the New Media Consortium website. The Horizon Report is a yearly publication which identifies trends and technologies to watch in higher education. It is definitely something I look forward to reviewing each year. From the projects website: The NMC Horizon Project is a decade-long research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to…