Category: Technology
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VIULearn Quiz Time Settings Are Changing
There are some exciting changes coming to the VIULearn Quiz tool this summer. Starting July 20, 2023, the following changes will take effect for all users in the VIULearn Quiz tool: Read on to learn how this will affect existing and newly created quizzes going forward. Changes to Existing Quizzes All quizzes that are currently…
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Creating, Editing, and Adding Captions using Camtasia & VIUTube
For video content, the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning strongly recommends adding captions to your videos or making a transcript available. Doing so will make your content more assessible to your students. What Are Captions? Captions (also know as Closed Captions or Subtitles) are text that appears on the screen that allow the…
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The Share Drive (Episode 19): What Went Well and Why I Feel a Little Guilty (Martin L. Martens, Management and Law)
In a time when many of us were seeking strategies to pivot our face to face classes to online delivery, Martin L. Martens (Chair, Management and Law) was feeling a little bit guilty. It turns out that his face to face teaching style translated almost seamlessly into the online world. Using a teaching style focused…
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Set Up VIULearn to Facilitate Student Choice
Giving students meaningful choices about how they demonstrate their learning can help students become self-directed learners who can apply the skills they learn with us in their future endeavours. However, for instructors in an online learning environment, giving meaningful choices can quickly become a logistical nightmare. Thankfully, there are things you can do to facilitate…
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Learning to Learn Online: An Open Educational Resource (OER) for Students and Instructors
For months now, members of the CIEL have been shouldering questions about how to help students be effective online learners. Now, thanks to some student authors and the power of Pressbooks, the world of higher education is privy to a timely resource that provides tips for students (and instructors!) as they continue to transition to…
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New VIULearn Rubric Creation Experience Available for Opt-In
It’s a new year and we are kicking it off with some big improvements to the Rubrics tool in VIULearn. A new Rubric Creation Experience is now available for instructors who wish to opt in. The new experience makes it easier than ever to put your rubrics online. Keep reading to learn what’s new and…
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VIU Students Saved $483,000 in Textbook Costs Since 2015
Open Textbooks Remove Some Barriers for Students to Learn Over half of B.C. students do not buy the required textbooks for a course, and over a quarter of potential learners choose not to register for a class due to excessive textbook costs.* Since Fall 2015, 21 Vancouver Island University faculty members have been using open…
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New Content Creation Experience Coming to VIUBlogs!
You have likely seen the notice on your VIUBlogs Dashboard announcing “ A new, modern publishing experience is coming soon.” If you have not yet seen that message, or if you have yet to click the blue Try Gutenberg button to see the new editing interface in action, we strongly suggest doing so now. The…
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Introducing VIU’s Open Education Working Group
Photo by James Sutton on Unsplash The VIU Open Education Working Group (VIU-OEWG) brings together key stakeholders from across the institution to provide advice and support for VIU’s open education initiatives, which include the creation, adaptation, and adoption of open educational resources while embracing innovative open pedagogies. Email maxwell.stevenson@viu.ca if you wish to join this meeting. Meetings happen…
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Student Digital Learning Experience: Requirements for Learner Success at Vancouver Island University
Digital technologies are an essential part of student learning. The student digital learning experience encompasses the required technology services, supports, infrastructure, access and learning tools for ensuring graduates of post-secondary institutions have the necessary digital skills, knowledge and abilities to thrive in the world. Students need a robust, reliable, flexible, and accessible digital learning experience for…
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Changes to the VIUBlogs WordPress Service
Since 2012, the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning has supported two WordPress installations under the banner, VIUBlogs. One of these installations was intended for students (studentblogs.viu.ca), and one was for use by University employees (wordpress.viu.ca). The two separate installations were created because, at the time, we could only technically connect to either student…
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VIU Course Retention Process: Why Are We Deleting VIULearn Courses?
Photo Courtesy of: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash VIU has implemented a Course Retention Process to protect and streamline course and student data in VIULearn, our virtual learning environment (Brightspace by D2L). Since implementing VIULearn in Spring of 2012, there were over 40,000 courses in our system as of June 2018. Because we create a blank ‘shell’…