Our current help hours:
These hours sometimes change, so please check this page often. Click the Continue Reading link below.
These hours sometimes change, so please check this page often. Click the Continue Reading link below.
Are you facilitating an online course this semester or next and still feel a bit overwhelmed about using technology? Join the Ed Tech Sandbox Sessions to try out your tools and synchronous teaching in a safe and supportive space.
To give all participants a chance to practice, registration is limited to 10.
Sessions will be held from 11:00 until 12:30 on January 29th, February 26th, March 26th, and April 30th.
The January session will be dedicated to using Zoom. The rest of the sessions will be open to whatever tools and technologies participants want to try out.
Registration is open and space is still available.
The Educational Technology department wants to hear about the mobile apps that have made online teaching and learning better for you and your students.
Tell us about your app and be entered to win a gift card.
Closed captions are a transcription of dialogue that is added to a video or digital presentation and, when turned on, appears as text on the bottom of the screen. The primary purpose of captions is to support people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. However, captions have also been shown to support the learning of students who speak English as an additional language, students with learning disabilities, and students who are new to a discipline and may be unfamiliar with the jargon and unique terminology.
Before you can add closed captions to a video you will need to upload it to your MediaSpace library. If you are unfamiliar with uploading videos, click through the steps below. If you have experience with MediaSpace, skip ahead to find out how to add closed captions.
The following video will walk you through the steps of ordering and editing machine-generated closed captions in MediaSpace.
Direct video link: Kaltura MediaSpace: Adding closed captions
Newly uploaded media is set to Private by default so after adding closed captions, you will need to publish your video.
Setting a video to Unlisted allows you to share your video with students but makes it unsearchable. Setting a video to Published allows you to share your video or make it available in a Channel or playlist.
Save the changes, and then Click Go To Media to view the video, or Go To My Media to see the video in your MyMedia library.
You are now ready to share your closed-captioned video with students. In Brightspace, you can insert Kaltura videos anywhere you find the HTML Editor.
Many thanks to Mirabelle Tinio for this Infographic summarising some of our statistics for the Fall 2020 semester.
Pivoting to remote online teaching has been a learning journey that has felt more like a roller coaster ride than a road trip at times. Let’s continue on this adventure together.
Join the online book club as we read selected parts of Tony Bates’s Teaching in a Digital Age and continue evolving and improving our teaching practices through reading, discussion, and self-reflection.
“Through 12 informative chapters, Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for Teaching and Learning answers your questions and provides helpful guidance and suggestions on a host of topics including:
While understanding and respecting the individual nature of teaching, Tony talks theory, options, best practices, point-by-point strategies – offering clear, practical, and actionable advice and guidance based on research and best practices.”
As a group, we will decide on which chapters to focus and set goals together. The book club is a supportive environment in which to share ideas, questions, and learn about effective online teaching practices, EdTech theory, and hands-on online tools.
Date: Tuesday, January 12 – Tuesday, March 23, no meeting on Feb. 16
Time: 4:30 – 5:45 pm
Location: Online
Link to e-book: https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/
On Friday, November 27th from 10:30 until 12:00, Ed Tech is hosting an End-of-Semester Sharing Session and we would love for you to participate.
If you have adopted a tool or educational technology-based activity this semester that is effective for both you and your students and you would like to share it with others, we invite you to share.
Each Ed Tech tool/activity show & tell can be a few minutes long and up to 5 minutes and requires no formal preparation. If you would like, you can share a screenshot or share your screen to show us your activity, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
To sign-up as a presenter, email Mirabelle Tinio (mtinio@langara.ca) or Briana Fraser (bfraser@langara) and let us know what tool or activity you plan on sharing.
If you are looking to solve an issue with a tool or educational technology-based activity, we invite you to attend.
Through sharing our successes and challenges, we hope to brainstorm solutions we can test next semester.
To sign-up as an audience member, sign-up on the iWeb event page.
We hope to see you then.
Have you heard about Ed Tech’s Online Course Assistants (OCA) pilot program? We have hired and trained three Co-op students who can provide online course support for your department or individual instructors.
Our Co-op students are all hard-working and detail-oriented, with strong technical skills. They have had specific training on BrightSpace, Kaltura Capture, and Adobe Acrobat, in addition to the technical skills they acquired prior to joining Ed Tech, such as video editing. They are very keen to take some of the non-teaching and non-marking work off your plate, including helping to get test banks into Brightspace for Fall final exams, and helping you prep your Spring 2021 courses.
Through the OCA pilot program, the OCAs can:
All we need is content, such as Word or PDF documents or your exam in a Word format and we’ll work with the Online Course Assistants (OCAs) to upload this content to your course. In most situations the OCAs will work in a course that isn’t live, thus protecting your students’ data. If they must work in a live course, they will sign a non-disclosure form.
Taking advantage of the OCA program may help you enjoy your winter break more. Please contact us edtech@langara.ca to find out more about how we can help.
Frederick is a 4th year BBA Marketing Management Student. He has worked in technology sales, acquiring advanced knowledge of productivity software and file transfer support, as well as developing excellent customer service skills. He has advanced Excel skills, as well as experience course building in BrightSpace, and making Adobe fillable files. Frederick is excited about this opportunity to provide support for instructors in their transition to an online teaching environment.
Mike is a 4th year BBA Student. Mike is detail-oriented and highly committed to excellence in project execution. Well-versed with educational technologies like Brightspace, Kaltura, and Zoom, he also has excellent skills converting handouts into fillable PDF documents. He looks forward to helping relieve some of the pressure instructors are experiencing because of the transition to online course delivery.
Lily is a 4th year accounting student who is proficient in Microsoft Office, BrightSpace, WordPress, and Sage 50, as well as video editing. She has 3 years’ experience as a Langara accounting marker, a position that has honed her attention to detail. She looks forward to helping instructors save time and create a better distant learning experience.
Video Introduction to the OCAs: https://stream.langara.ca/media/t/0_6zkmdscv
Video Showcasing OCA Skills: https://stream.langara.ca/media/t/0_3rai92zj
Whether you are on your NID and preparing for the spring semester or you are currently tackling your debut semester teaching remotely online, this list has something useful for you. In this short curated collection of articles, you will find practical tips for the use of educational technology in online classes, lessons learned and opportunities made possible by the pivot to remote teaching and food for thought related to the use of tech for teaching and learning.
“Structuring Synchronous Classes for Engagement” by Bonni Stachowiak suggests how one can structure a 50-minute online synchronous session followed by an after-party office hour.
Zoom to the next level: Active learning in the virtual classroom An openly licensed Pressbook from Indiana University.
From note-taking tools, to online book creation, to 3D modelling tools, you’ll find a plethora of free tech tools in a “Typology of Free Web-based Learning Technologies” by Matt Bower and Jodi Torrington.
“7 High-impact evidence-based tips for remote online teaching” by Youki Terada offers ideas on organizing your virtual learning space and time, and other simple but powerful practices.
The pandemic is forcing many instructors to rethink and sometimes reinvent their teaching practices. Here are one instructor’s reflections:
“What an Ed-Tech Skeptic Learned About Her Own Teaching in the Covid-19 Crisis” by Manya Whitaker
Nine ways online teaching should be different from face-to-face by Jennifer Gonzalez (Cult of Pedagogy podcast).
For certain courses, technology may be a learning outcome, but for most courses, it isn’t, so it’s useful to be reminded that it’s a tool and re-direct our attention to how we can effectively achieve our learning outcomes.
We know you are becoming Brightspace experts, but have you tried out any of Langara’s other learning tools and technologies? Try this quiz to see how much you know about our tools and support.
Langara’s Ed Tech department provides expertise, support, and guidance in a wide range of learning tools and technologies. To clarify our support structure we have categorized these into four levels: Level 1: core, supported technologies, Level 2: advised-on technologies, Level 3: recognized technologies, and Level 4: technologies in the pilot phase.
Level 1: Core, Supported Technologies
Core technologies are those that Ed Tech administers, controls, and supports as part of our core business. Support for core technologies includes:
Ed Tech’s core, supported technologies are currently:
Level 2: Advised-On Technologies
Ed Tech faculty and staff have expertise with a range of apps, software, and cloud tools which have the potential to enrich learning and teaching. However, we do not necessarily have administration rights or control over these tools and they are not part of our core business. Support for these tools predominantly consists of advising on effective pedagogical practice in embedding them in learning and teaching activities. Where troubleshooting or technical support is required, please be aware that it may take us longer to respond as we prioritize our Level 1 technologies.
Users must ensure that their use of ‘advised-on’ technologies complies with legal requirements (i.e. FIPPA, PIPA, data protection, copyright) and institutional policies.
Ed Tech’s advised-on technologies include:
Level 3: Recognized Educational Technologies
Recognized technologies are used in many educational institutions to enhance learning and teaching. Ed Tech does not offer any formal support of these tools so be prepared to seek out online support yourself; however, faculty and staff may be able to offer some support.
Users must ensure that their use of ‘recognized’ technologies complies with legal requirements (i.e. FIPPA, PIPA, data protection, copyright) and institutional policies.
Ed Tech’s recognized technologies include:
Technologies in the Pilot Phase
Before Ed Tech adopts a tool as a core supported technology it must go through a pilot process. The following technologies are currently in the pilot phase:
To connect with us about a tool or technology, visit our Hours page for contact information.