Reading Time: 10 minutes Recently, I was tasked with creating a remedial English course for dual-credit students – but for this course, I needed to expand beyond my standard role as the instructional designer and also be the subject matter expert. Playing both roles is difficult, so I decided to employ ChatGPT to help with parts of the design. I started with what I knew. Because this is a dual-credit course, I knew there would be English content the students were passing over and, as a result, not getting in their high school courses. I also knew that the learners in this course would go directly into another college writing…
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AECT Reflection: Jared Pyles on Quality Assurance Frameworks
Reading Time: 2 minutes Fresh from the AECT conference in Orlando, I find myself swimming in a sea of thoughts and questions surrounding the role of Quality Assurance (QA) frameworks in higher education, such as Quality Matters and OSCQR. We at CTL work with faculty and constantly strive to provide the best learning experience for our students. But as we navigate the complex waters of QA, we’re left wondering: Are these frameworks helping or hindering our efforts? This was a hot topic at AECT this year, and one of the most pressing concerns that was surfaced is whether QA frameworks stifle faculty creativity. Educators value their ability to engage students…
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Backward Design: Starting at the Finish
Reading Time: 2 minutes Let’s take a moment and think about this statement: “Our flight is at 5 AM.” As you think about it, consider the various questions you must answer to be on that plane at 5 AM. What questions would you ask yourself to prepare? Here are some that I have on my list: You may have similar questions or ones that I didn’t ask (or maybe fewer questions…my hamartia is overplanning), but hopefully you see that those questions need to be answered before you show up at the airport. You may also need to qualify how well they’re answered: Did you pack well or throw everything at…
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Final Thoughts about Vegas
Reading Time: 3 minutes I was raised in Ohio and have never lived outside of it. So Las Vegas was a cultural experience for me, to put it lightly. Here are some of my final thoughts on the conference and Vegas, complete with pictures. Panel Presenters and Audience This was the panel and the audience for our presentation on how our institutions reacted and pivoted to COVID-19. Also: researchers are now starting to look at how that rapid transition has made a lasting impact on education. I attended several sessions on educators’ and students’ perceptions of education (both online and face-to-face). It will be interesting, to say the least, when…
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Lessons from Vegas: Rapid Course Design with Project-Based Learning
Reading Time: 2 minutes While I was in Vegas, another session I attended focused on instructional design. A group of designers from Utah Tech University faced the daunting task of developing or redesigning 175 courses as part of 14 new online programs. And they had to finish it in nine months. Oh, and did I mention there were only four designers? Because there were only four designers. It was clear they would need some help. Their solution was to equip their faculty with the skills and tools needed to design courses. For their instructional method, they decided to employ project-based learning. As an aside: project-based learning is an excellent teaching…
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Lessons from Vegas: The Digital Florilegium
Reading Time: 2 minutes Florilegium is a medieval Latin word that is a combination of flor (flowers) + legere (to gather). The term is first seen in print as a title of a book from 1590. The book was a collection of engraved pictures of flowers. That tradition continued through the 1600s and even today through printed books or curated collections. However, that’s not really where florilegium gets its roots. “Jared, that was a horrible pun. Also I’m lost.” I know. I’m getting there. Florilegium is a reading practice used by medieval scribes as early as the 5th century. It referred to the reading of a manuscript and gathering (legre)…
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Lessons Learned in Las Vegas
Reading Time: 3 minutes I know what you’re thinking…what a bizarre title for a post. Especially on a blog that is part of Cedarville University. You would be right in thinking that if I had not attended the AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology) convention in Las Vegas last month. I was invited to be a part of a panel with some other Boise State doctoral students and alums to discuss how our professions changed in response to COVID-19. So I figured that while I’m in the area, I’ll attend some sessions and see what I can bring back to share. This month, I’ll be sharing some of the…
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Kaltura: Creating Videos, Editing Videos, and Creating Playlists
Reading Time: 3 minutes Now that you know how to add existing videos to Kaltura and share those videos, we’ll turn our attention to some additional tools Kaltura provides. Creating Videos using Express Capture and Kaltura Capture Kaltura Capture is already downloaded on classroom/lab computers as well as tech cars. For personal devices, install Kaltura Capture through my Media according to these instructions: download and install Kaltura Capture. With Kaltura Capture, you can capture a screen through either Canvas or Kaltura Media Space (video.cedarville.edu). You have two options: Express Capture and Kaltura Capture Kaltura has created thorough resources for using Kaltura Capture: Editing a Video and Specifying…
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Kaltura: Video Analytics and Creating Video Quizzes
Reading Time: 4 minutes We’ve reached the last post of our Kaltura series! Here, we’ll be covering two final aspects of Kaltura – accessing video analytics and creating video quizzes. Finding Video Analytics Viewer analytics can be accessed from My Media both inside and outside of Canvas (through video.cedarville.edu). Creating a video quiz Creating a video quiz can be done in My Media either inside and outside of Canvas (through video.cedarville.edu). You can create video quizzes with media you upload, media that is shared with you as a collaborator, YouTube videos, and audio recordings. After you are satisfied with your quiz, click “Done.” You can then preview it and embed…
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Kaltura: Sharing Videos
Reading Time: 2 minutes Now that you’ve added videos to Kaltura, we’ll talk about how to share them. You can share videos from Kaltura two different ways – generating a permalink (permanent link) or embedding the video directly into Canvas. Generating a Permalink and Sharing A permalink is a dedicated link to a webpage (permanent + link). In this case, Kaltura can give you a direct link to a specific video. You cannot get a permalink from Kaltura inside Canvas. Go to “My Media” in your Media Space (video.cedarville.edu), and click a video. Click the “Share” tab under the video. Make sure “Link to Media Page” is selected, then copy…