Category: CTL

CTL Technical Workshop: Canvas Grading and Gradebook

Thursday, January 11, 2024 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Location: Library Room 244

Do you have questions about how the Canvas gradebook works? Do you need help grading assignments in SpeedGrader and posting them in the gradebook? Making sure your students have accurate and updated grades in Canvas is important. The Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will be hosting a technical workshop on Canvas grading and gradebook practices.

We’ll cover some of the common pinch points that instructors encounter, including the use of assignment groups for grade weighting, setting up a grading scheme that matches your syllabus, using grade posting policies and attaching grading rubrics to your assignments.

Register to attend the CTL Technical Workshop: Canvas Grading and Gradebook at 1 p.m. on January 11, 2024.

The workshop will be held in Library 244.

Contact the CTL at elearning@mtu.edu for more information.

Quality Matters: A Tool for Assessing Course Quality

As online courses become increasingly popular, it’s important to ensure that they are designed with quality in mind. That’s where Quality Matters (QM) comes in. QM is a tool and process used to assess the quality of a course. It’s helpful to consider these types of recommendations when designing and developing courses.

What is Quality Matters?

Quality Matters began with a small group of colleagues in the MarylandOnline, Inc. (MOL) consortium trying to solve a common problem among institutions: how do we measure and guarantee the quality of a course? The developers of a set of instructional guidance felt the same and even named it, “Quality Matters”. QM is a nonprofit organization comprised of dedicated staff from all over the United States who work together virtually to support everyone’s quality assurance goals.

How does Quality Matters work?

QM is built on a rubric of course design standards and a replicable peer-review process that can:

  • Train and empower faculty to evaluate courses against these standards
  • Provide guidance for improving the quality of courses
  • Certify the quality of online and blended college courses across institutions

The seventh edition QM Rubric is a set of 8 general standards and 44 specific standards used to evaluate the design of online and blended courses. The Rubric is complete with annotations that explain the application of the standards and the relationship among them. A scoring system and set of online tools facilitate the evaluation by a team of reviewers. The eight general standards are:

  • Course overview and introduction
  • Learning objectives
  • Assessment and measurement
  • Instructional materials
  • Learning activities and learner interaction
  • Course technology
  • Learner support
  • Accessibility and usability

Why should you use Quality Matters?

QM provides a framework for designing, reviewing, and revising online courses to ensure that they meet research-supported standards of quality. By using QM, you can:

  • Ensure that your course meets the needs of your students
  • Provide flexible scheduling options
  • Offer courses everywhere because geography would no longer be a constraint for enrollment
  • Ensure course quality for your students, regardless of where the course originated
  • Create quality online courses that are equivalent to traditional face-to-face courses
  • Improve student learning outcomes

Conclusion

Quality Matters is an essential tool for online faculty who want to ensure that their courses are designed with quality in mind. By using QM, you can create quality online courses that meet research-based standards of quality and improve student learning outcomes. If you are interested in learning more about QM, visit QM website or contact online@mtu.edu to schedule a meeting with us at CTL.

CTL Services and Points of Interest

CTL Services

Ever wonder how the Center for Teaching and Learning can support your instructional needs? We are here with support for any questions you may have about Canvas, Huskycast, Gradescope, Turnitin, Zoom, or iClicker. Already familiar with these but would like to take a deeper dive into some of these technologies or maybe you have never used these and would like to give them a try in your classroom, we would be happy to provide some one-to-one training! Feel free to drop by during our walk-in hours from 10-noon and 1-4pm Monday through Friday. We can also provide in-person consultations in classrooms for classroom teaching technologies. No time to stop by the CTL? Be sure to check out our online resources that can be found on our site in our Teaching and Learning Knowledge Base, Canvas Instructor Guides, and the Getting Started With Canvas sections. 

Are you interested in taking a deeper dive into a specific instructional topic? We also have a periodical library available for checkout covering a wide range of topics! Feel free to stop in anytime and review the collection.

Points of Interest

iClicker Cloud Reminding you that iClicker Classic is being retired at the end of 2023 and iClicker Cloud will be the only supported polling software. The student experience will not change and students can still use either physical iClicker remotes or the mobile/web app. iClicker hardware – student remotes, instructor remotes, and bases – as well as the student mobile app will continue to be supported in iClicker Cloud. Visit the Center for Teaching and Learning’s iClicker resource page to get started using iClicker and for more information on transitioning to iClicker Cloud visit iClicker’s online resource page.

iClicker Groups (Beta) – iClicker Groups is now available in Beta, a new method of engaging your students with polling: promote discussion, open new lines of communication, and encourage collaboration. Utilizing this part of the iClicker suite divides your participants in groups to work on building a consensus for your polling. You can find the instructor guide at iClicker Groups (Beta). If you have any questions or would like to know more, visit the iClicker Groups Instructor FAQ or contact us at the Center for Teaching and Learning for more information.

Feel free to contact us at 7-3000 or email us at elearning@mtu.edu.

Learning from each other-Peer Review Assignments

To strengthen students’ written work, instructors will spend a great deal of time providing detailed feedback in the hopes that students will apply the suggestions to their next written assignment. Unfortunately, many instructors feel that their efforts to provide feedback is being overlooked or not appreciated by the students.

What if an instructor could reduce the burden of providing all the detailed feedback YET increase students engagement in the review process? Maybe even strengthen their writing skills and assessment skills in the process…

Peer Review Assignments

Think about the possibility of having students review each others work and provide each other feedback. If you read through the body of literature, you will find many supporting arguments which state that peer review in the feedback process provides many benefits to students learning.

Benefits of Peer Review

  • Ability to become more aware of alternative perspectives on a topic.
  • Lifelong learning skills in how to effectively assess another person’s work.
  • Building self-assessment of their work by benchmarking themselves against their peers.
  • Critical thinking and diplomacy skills.

Canvas Peer Review Assignments

A Canvas Peer Review Assignment allows students to provide feedback on another student’s assignment submission. Setting up an assignment for peer review is fairly simple within Canvas. One of the options when setting up a new assignment is to designate it as a Peer Review assignment. You can select to manually or automatically assign the peer reviews. There is an option to set up the peer reviews to be anonymous or you can include a rubric for the reviewer to complete as the peer review. Peer reviews can not be used with External Tool Assignments.

Peer Review options in Assignments

Students will see a list of peer reviews assigned to them within the assignment. Based on how the assignment submission is designated, the student could annotate the document, add a comment in the comment field or complete the included rubric. A student reviewing another student’s assignment would need to leave at least one comment in order for the review to be considered complete.

Students will see their peers’ reviews in the right sidebar of the Canvas course under Recent Feedback. A student can simply click on the assignment title to access the feedback.

November 2023

Thursday November 2, 2023, at 3:30 PM

Attention Instructors: Let’s Talk AI in the Classroom!

Do you have insights or questions about the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education? Are you curious about how your colleagues are integrating AI into their teaching? Join us for an engaging coffee chat on November 2, 2023, at 3:30 PM hosted by the Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning, the Van Pelt and Opie Library, and the Office of Academic and Community Conduct.

What We’ll Discuss

  • Course Policies: Do you have an official policy on the use of AI tools in your classes?
  • Student Engagement: How are you encouraging or discouraging students to utilize AI in their coursework?
  • Instructor Use: How much are you using AI tools in your teaching?
  • Workforce Preparedness: What skills do your students need to effectively use AI tools in their future careers?

Why You Should Attend

  • Share Best Practices: Learn from your peers and share your own experiences.
  • Influence Policy: Your input may help shape institutional guidelines on AI use.
  • Network: Connect with other forward-thinking educators on campus.

Event Details

  • Topic: Navigating the AI Landscape in Teaching and Learning
  • Date: November 2, 2023
  • Time: 3:30 PM
  • Location: Library East Reading Room

Register, and make plans to be part of this conversation about the role of AI in education. Refreshments will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Thursday November 2, 2023, 2:00pm – 3:00pm

CTL Course Design Series: #1- Learning Objectives

Join the CTL Instructional Design team for an active and hands-on workshop where we will take a deep dive into the first step in creating high quality courses: defining and developing observable and measurable learning objectives.

When you begin creating a course, you want to design with the end in mind. The best way to approach this is to start by writing observable and measurable course learning objectives. Course learning objectives are the destinations on your course map. They state where you want students to go. A learning objective is a statement that clearly and precisely describes what the learner will know and be able to DO by the end of the course, module or unit. Bring your tablet or laptop and have a course in mind you would like to start the Instructional Design process on, and let’s get to work!

Register here for part 1, the second event in the series will be held on Nov 9. Watch for details to be published Thursday, November 9, 2023

soon.

Thursday, November 9, 2023, 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Planning out your course map is a pivotal step towards success in teaching your course. It serves as the blueprint for your course design. In this workshop, we will help you plan out your course content, assessments, and learning activities using backward design so that they align with your module learning objectives.  Backward design starts with the end in mind, which is a very useful model for planning out your course map.

So bring your tablet or laptop, have a course in mind that you would like to start the Instructional Design process on, and let’s get to work!

Register for this event here.

Testing Center Celebrates 10 years

Thanks to a generous gift from William G. Jackson, the testing center was established in conjunction with the Center for Teaching and Learning. A server room and office space in the center of the library were renovated to make three private and seven quiet spaces for testing. 

Opening in the Fall of 2013, the Testing Center was started to assist students with accommodations. Prior to that, students were left in classrooms, put into conference rooms or even instructor’s offices. 

Today, the Testing Center uses a software specifically designed for Testing Centers called RegisterBlast. RegisterBlast tracks time allotments for each different exam, the available seating and hours of the Testing Center, specific instructions and accommodations for different students. There are a huge number of variables to track, using this software helps keep it all straight.  

Find more information and instructional videos, see our website. Scheduling Procedures | Michigan Tech Testing Center | Michigan Tech (mtu.edu)

In the 10 years the Michigan Tech Testing Center has been serving our community, over 45,000 Michigan Tech exams and almost 3,000 sponsored exams have been given.

The Michigan Tech Testing Center offers many things to help the students with their testing session. Of course we have lockers for students to put away their belongings, and have items that they can borrow, such as calculators, rulers, pencils, scratch paper, noise canceling headphones or ear plugs. We have desks with computers and desks with electrical outlets, if either are needed. 

Let us help you and the students with testing needs.

October 2023

CTL Lunch and Learn – Accessible and Affordable Learning Materials

Tuesday October 10, 2023 at 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Are you passionate about making higher education more accessible and affordable for your students?  Make plans to attend the next CTL Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, October 10, at noon in the MUB Alumni Lounge, featuring the Committee for Accessible and Affordable Learning Materials (CAALM).

During the luncheon members of CAALM will introduce the committee’s mission and discuss three critical areas of focus that promise to improve the way we approach course materials:

1. Enhancing Course Material Affordability:

Discover how inclusive access agreements with publishers can help reduce the burden of expensive textbooks and course materials. We’ll shed light on innovative strategies to make education more cost-effective without compromising quality.

2. Embracing Open Educational Resources (OER):

Explore the world of Open Educational Resources and learn how to find course materials tailored to your discipline. There is a wealth of freely available resources that can enrich your curriculum while reducing financial strain on your students.

3. Ensuring Digital Accessibility:

It’s time to ensure that your instructional materials are inclusive for all students, regardless of their abilities.  We’ll share insights on the importance of the digital accessibility of course materials, including ebooks, PDF documents, slide presentations, and video recordings.

This Lunch and Learn event promises to be a source of inspiration, innovation, and collaboration.  Lunch will be provided to those who register in advance. We look forward to seeing you there!  Contact the CTL (ctl@mtu.edu) with any questions.

CTL Workshop: Enhancing Canvas Course Design Using DesignPlus

Thursday, October 12, 2023, 2:00pm – 3:00pm,

Would you like to develop a high quality, engaging course using a modern and professional looking course template? Plan to attend the instructional design team from the William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning for a workshop about enhancing Canvas course design using DesignPlus tools. We will introduce DesignPlus and the course template, review how to import the course template, and show you how you can customize it for your own course. This workshop will focus on the most common and easy course design features to help you build a high quality professional looking course. No advanced technical skills are necessary.  

Registration for this event can be found here.

CTL Coffee Chat- Michigan Tech Writing Center: Supporting Students

Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 3:30pm – 4:30pm

You’re invited to the next CTL Coffee Chat on Tuesday, October 17, at 3:30. Claire Helakoski, Assistant Director of the MTU Writing Center, will discuss the Center’s role, the different types of plagiarism that instructors might encounter in student work, and provide practical insights on effective language to discuss citing issues with your students. We’ll also review the Turnitin (TII) similarity tool, demonstrate how to enable this feature in a Canvas-based writing assignment and provide guidance for interpreting Turnitin reports.

Registration for this event can be found here.

CTL Lunch and Learn – Essential Education Experience

Monday, October 23, 2023, 12:00pm – 1:00 PM

Learn more about the Essential Education Experience at our next CTL Lunch and Learn.

One of the signature pieces of the new Essential Education curriculum is the Essential Education Experience. This credit-bearing experience will give all Michigan Tech undergraduate students an opportunity to use what they are learning in their general education coursework to engage in collaborative, project-based work that connects them with the local community or with global partners. Join leaders from the Essential Education implementation leadership team to learn more about the Essential Education Experience and share your ideas about the kinds of innovative opportunities we can develop to address this new requirement.

Registration for this event can be found here.

Video Assignments

Have you ever considered a different format for your assignments? How about having students create an explanatory video of how they analyze and stepped through a homework problem? Or it could be a short video of them applying a course concept in their daily life. Have you thought about offering a video assignments that involve opportunities to practice professional communication skills, project management skills or a practice presentation. Did you know that students can provide a video response to a discussion thread?

Benefits of video assignments

There are many ways to incorporate a video assignment/response into your course content but you may be wondering what benefit(s) does a video assignment provide over the previous written assignment you had originally assigned? The most significant benefit noted by researchers is that students find video assignments to be more beneficial to their own understanding and mastery of the content. By creating a video, it provides students with an opportunities to practice and demonstrate course concepts. This often involves writing out a script, practicing their response or gaining additional information on the topic before creating the video.

Creating a video assignment in Canvas

You will want to begin by creating a Huskycast student assignment folder. Creating this folder will give students access to record and upload video. Once that is complete, you can now go ahead and create the Canvas Video Assignment. Since students may not be familiar with how to create or upload a video assignment in Canvas, you will want to be sure to provide some guidelines on submitting a video assignment.

After students have submitted their video assignment, the instructor can navigate to the assignment in Canvas and click on Speedgrader. Each submitted video will be embedded on the student’s Speedgrader page. The instructor can review the video, add comments and a score.

Other video response opportunities

You may also want to consider other opportunities for a student to provide a short media response. Maybe there is an opportunity in a discussion or an announcement for a student to provide a short media response.? The Rich Content Editor (available on Announcements, Assignments, Discussions, Pages and Quizzes) allows students to record or upload a short video and/or audio media. Video and audio uploads to Canvas can be up to 500 MB. Media recording submissions are not downloadable.

Upload/Record Media

Additional guidance on video assignments

Not sure where to start with incorporating videos assignments into your course content? Or maybe you have some questions about setting up the assignments….if so, feel free to reach out to elearning@mtu.edu or contact the CTL at 7-3000.

CTL Lunch and Learn: Accessible and Affordable Learning Materials

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Are you passionate about making higher education more accessible and affordable for your students?  Make plans to attend the next CTL Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, October 10, at noon in the MUB Alumni Lounge, featuring the Committee for Accessible and Affordable Learning Materials (CAALM).

During the luncheon members of CAALM will introduce the committee’s mission and discuss three critical areas of focus that promise to improve the way we approach course materials:

1. Enhancing Course Material Affordability:

Discover how inclusive access agreements with publishers can help reduce the burden of expensive textbooks and course materials. We’ll shed light on innovative strategies to make education more cost-effective without compromising quality.

2. Embracing Open Educational Resources (OER):

Explore the world of Open Educational Resources and learn how to find course materials tailored to your discipline. There is a wealth of freely available resources that can enrich your curriculum while reducing financial strain on your students.

3. Ensuring Digital Accessibility:

It’s time to ensure that your instructional materials are inclusive for all students, regardless of their abilities.  We’ll share insights on the importance of the digital accessibility of course materials, including ebooks, PDF documents, slide presentations, and video recordings.

This Lunch and Learn event promises to be a source of inspiration, innovation, and collaboration.  Lunch will be provided to those who register in advance. We look forward to seeing you there!  Contact the CTL (ctl@mtu.edu) with any questions.

Inclusive STEM Teaching Project

Inclusive STEM Teaching ProjectThe Inclusive STEM Teaching Project is offering another 6-week course designed to advance the awareness, self-efficacy, and the ability of faculty, postdocs, and doctoral students to cultivate inclusive STEM learning environments for all their students and to develop themselves as reflective, inclusive practitioners.

The free, instructor-led course begins on October 2 and will require approximately 2-3 hours of participation per week. Instructors can learn more about the course by visiting the edX Inclusive STEM Teaching Project course page. Michigan Tech will not be facilitating a campus learning community this semester.

Contact the CTL if you have questions (487-3000, ctl@mtu.edu)