• Educational Tools,  Podcast

    Transform Your Teaching: The What, the Why, and the How of Technology Integration – The What

    Reading Time: < 1 minute In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles discuss the “what” of technology integration. They delve into the definition of technology integration and best practices, using ChatGPT as their co-pilot. Check out the episode to hear about enhancing teaching and learning through appropriate technology integration.  We would love to get your feedback!  Please fill out our survey to help improve our podcast and serve you better.  Podcast links Show notes  Webster’s definition of technology is expansive. For the sake of our series, we will be limiting our discussion to the use of electronic hardware or software in educational settings that enhance the learning experience.…

  • Canvas

    Preparing for Finals: How Turnitin and Proctoring Exams Can Help

    Reading Time: 2 minutes We’re quickly approaching the end of the semester, so it’s time to make sure you have all the info you need to finish strong. Today we’re going to be talking about finals, and make sure you check out our post about reviewing your gradebook and submitting your grades as you prepare to do that.   Because of the unique challenges of this year, your finals may look different from the norm. Whether you’re having your students write a final paper or take an exam, here’s a few features to consider as you make your plans.   1. Use Turnitin for written final projects  Turnitin integrates seamlessly into Canvas assignments – you only need to select “Turnitin” from the…

  • Educational Tools,  Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: The What, the Why, and the How of Technology Integration – Introduction

    Reading Time: 2 minutes In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles introduce their next series on technology integration. Check out the episode to hear about using technology as a teaching method to enhance a student’s understanding of the content rather than just integrating it for its own sake.  Additionally, we would love to get your feedback! Please fill out our survey to help improve our podcast and serve you better.  Podcast links Show notes  Early on as a teacher, Jared started exploring how technology integration could be used in his classes. He discovered that embracing technology integration allows both students to engage the content in a new way…

  • Canvas,  Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    Turnitin Adds AI Writing Indicator to Similarity Report 

    Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s no secret that ChatGPT’s popularity is growing. And plagiarism detecting tools are aware of that – and the need to adjust their offerings to help identify when student work may have been supplemented or entirely created by AI. Turnitin recently announced that it will now display a score to instructors within the Similarity Report to indicate what percentage of a paper is highly likely to be generated by AI.  Turnitin is quick to say that their detection isn’t foolproof and the percentage displayed “should not be used as a definitive measure of misconduct or punitive tool.” The AI percentage is presented to inform instructors and…

  • Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: A Conversation with Dr. Heather Kuruvilla

    Reading Time: < 1 minute In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles have a conversation with Dr. Heather Kuruvilla, senior professor of biology at Cedarville University. “Dr. K,” as she is known by her students, earned her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from State University of New York at Buffalo. She has a passion for developing curiosity and motivation in her students. Check out this episode to hear how she takes strides to make her content more accessible and interactive for students.   Podcast links Show notes  Dr. K came to Cedarville to build the undergraduate research program because she sees teaching students as an opportunity for discipleship. Teaching research…

  • Canvas,  Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    Canvas Update: Grade by Question in SpeedGrader

    Reading Time: 2 minutes With the update releasing April 15, Canvas is adjusting how instructors can review and grade New Quiz questions in SpeedGrader.   Previously when scoring questions that needed manual grading, instructors could only view results organized by student. Now, Canvas will allow instructors to flip between students to grade by question. This is controlled by a setting in the “options” menu when you’re in SpeedGrader for a New Quiz.   Turning on grade by question  When in SpeedGrader for a New Quiz, click the settings gear at the top left, then click “options” in the menu.   In the window that pops up, check the box for “grade by question,”…

  • Educational Theories,  Podcast,  Teaching & Learning

    Transform Your Teaching: A Debrief of Servant Teaching 

    Reading Time: 2 minutes In this episode, Dr. Rob McDole and Jared Pyles wrap up the servant teaching series, highlighting crucial points from their various guests. Check out the episode to hear their own takeaways on applying servant teaching.   Servant teaching defines who we are as believers in Christ, but any instructor—regardless of belief—can use servant teaching principles in their instruction. To implement servant teaching, consider these takeaways from our series.   Resources  Amerstorfer, C. M., & Freiin von Munster-Kistner, C. (2021). Student Perceptions of Academic Engagement and Student-Teacher Relationships in Problem-Based Learning. Front Psychol, 12, 713057. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.713057  Sybing, R. (2019). Making Connections: Student-Teacher Rapport in Higher Education Classrooms. Journal…

  • Educational Tools,  Teaching & Learning

    ChatGPT: What’s Next?

    Reading Time: 3 minutes Vaulting onto my stand-up stool, I contorted into a jockey’s position while piping the Classical Motivation playlist from Apple’s freshly minted Classical Music app–off to the races of the new, new frontier. Using the old to discuss the new isn’t unfamiliar, but Apple isn’t the only tech company to release something recently. OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, released ChatGPT-4 last week–a total paradigm shift. Below is an example of the power of ChatGPT-4. I fed it my first two ChatGPT blog posts and asked it to write the next post.  As we continue to grapple with the integration of AI tools like ChatGPT into our…