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ETUG Spring Workshop 2023

Briana Fraser

The Educational Technology Users Group (ETUG) is a community of BC post-secondary educators focused on the ways in which learning and teaching can be enhanced through technology. ETUG’s mission is to support and nurture a vibrant, innovative, evolving, and supportive community that thrives with the collegial sharing of ideas, resources, and ongoing professional development through face-to-face workshops and online activities.

Spring Workshop

This two-day online and in-person workshop will showcase how instructors, education developers, and education technologists are approaching design. For example, we’ll explore how digital literacy, inclusive technology, and AI could be “baked” into courses and how instructors are supported in making design decisions around technology. We’ll also consider the ongoing communication and capacity-building at institutions around digital literacy, accessibility, and AI, such as how teaching and learning centres and libraries get the word out to instructors and students about new approaches and resources.

Join ETUG online in Zoom or in-person at Kwantlen Polytechnic University Lansdowne Road Campus in Richmond, B.C. for this 2-day hybrid event, sponsored by BCcampus.

  • Day 1: June 1, 2023: 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM Pacific Time
  • Day 2: June 2, 2023: 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Pacific Time

Workshop Rates: 2-day Registration Only

  • Early Bird In-Person: $175 CAD + 5% GST (ends April 29 at 11:59 PM)
  • Regular Rate In-Person: $200 CAD + 5% GST
  • Online: $150 CAD + 5% GST
  • Students: Free

Childcare

Attending an event sometimes means choosing professional development at the expense of spending time with family, but for large, multi-day events hosted by BCcampus, participants do not have to choose one over the other. Please let us know when you register if you will require childcare. You can read more about our childcare program and provider here Childcare Program Information

In order to secure nannies in time, our childcare registration cut-off date is May 15, 2023. 

Registration

Register online to attend the ETUG Spring Workshop

 

Using Peer Assessment for Collaborative Learning

Diane Thompson

Peer Assessment

Peer Assessment PictureThere are several benefits to using peer assessment within your course, one of which is to provide students with a more engaging experience. Opportunities to assess other learners’ work will help students learn to give constructive feedback and gain different perspectives through viewing their peers’ work. There is evidence to show that including students in the assessment process improves their performance. (1) (2) (3)

Research also shows that students can improve their linguistic and communicative skills through peer review. (4) The exposure to a variety of feedback can help students improve their work and can even enhance their understanding of the subject matter. Furthermore, learning to give effective feedback helps develop self-regulated learning, as ‘assessment for learning [shifts] to assessment as learning’ in that it is ‘an active process of cognitive restructuring that occurs when individuals interact with new ideas’ (5).

In addition to the benefits to students, peer assessment can also provide instructors with an efficient way of engaging with a formative assessment framework where the student is given the chance to learn from their initial submission of an assignment.

Options for Peer Assessment within Brightspace:

Within Brightspace, there are several ways that instructors can set up peer assessment activities depending on the nature of the assignment and the needs of the instructor. Here we highlight several use cases.

Peer Assessment Example #1:

The instructor wants to have students assess each other’s group contributions for an assignment within Brightspace.

Using a Fillable PDF, which gives the students a rubric-like experience, a student can rate their peers based on different criteria that has been built into the assessment by the instructor. Students can provide feedback on a rating scale but also can provide more in-depth feedback if needed.

The advantage of using a fillable PDF is that the student can easily download the file and fill in the blanks. The student can reflect on the built-in criteria and the entire process should be quick and easy. The scores are calculated, and the instructor can interpret the results once the student has uploaded the PDF into the assignment folder.

A few disadvantages of this method are that the instructor will have to download each fillable PDF and manually enter a grade if marks are captured for peer assessment. The other issue is the level of student digital literacy. Directions on downloading the fillable PDF to the student’s desktop and not using the PDF within the browser is a key step for this process to work. Not all students are aware that fillable PDFs cannot be used successfully in-browser.

Peer Assessment Example #2:

Students are working towards a final paper that is worth 15% of their overall mark. Before they submit the final version to the instructor, they will have the opportunity to evaluate another student’s draft and their own work using a rubric. If time is limited for this activity, learners can be invited to submit just the first paragraph of the paper, rather than the whole draft.

Through peer assessment, learners can often receive feedback more quickly than if they had to wait for the marker or instructor to review the class’s work.Aropa

Students upload their work to Brightspace Assignments where they are given a link to Aropä, a third-party open software which pairs students so they can assess each other’s work using a built-in rubric. Assessment can be anonymous, and the instructor can restrict feedback to students who have already submitted one review. Self-assessment can be required.

The advantages of Aropä is that it is free and gives instructors the ability to modify rubrics to suit one’s objectives. The disadvantage of this software is that it requires more time to set up. Rubrics provide only basic options: radio buttons or comment boxes. Instructors should be aware of privacy issues with Aropa and only upload first names of their students but avoid uploading student numbers.

Peer Assessment Activity #3

Students complete group presentations after which the class assesses each group’s performance, including their own group’s presentation, using a predetermined marking scheme.

The activity of assessing presentations encourages engagement with the work, versus passive observation, since students will be required to give feedback, encouraging deeper learning and enhancing retention.

The advantages of using an H5P Documentation tool are that H5P can be created directly within Brightspace. It looks nice and is versatile. The disadvantage is that learners will have to export their feedback and then upload it into Brightspace. This two-step process requires some digital literacy skills.

Sample H5P Documentation Tool

Peer Assessment Activity #4:

This peer assessment activity is more about checking completion. Instructor needs to ensure accountability with group work.

Students are given an MS Form with some basic criteria by which to rate themselves and their peers in terms of attendance to meetings, work on the final product / assignment and collaboration. Students will use a point rating scale and need to justify their evaluation by providing a concrete example.

Similar to Example #1, students can complete a form using a Fillable PDF or another software such as Jotform or MS Forms to reflect and assess their own work as well as the work of their teammates. Jotform allows for more complex form building and will calculate totals for each student while MS Forms will not calculate but will allow you to get a sense of how students are doing overall with a basic rating on each criteria. (Focus on qualitative assessment)

Sample MS Form

Sample Jotform

A Note on Third Party Peer Review Software:

There are many different software available for peer assessment. Edtech is currently testing out several different ones and hopes to pilot them in the spring or summer semester. Currently, the only one that we are recommending (because it’s 0-cost) is Aropa. Aropa does a great job of providing several options for peer assessment, including self-assessment, privacy options for students, anonymous assessment, etc. It does not integrate completely with Brightspace so that is one disadvantage over some of the paid peer assessment programs currently available. Programs such as peerScholar, Feedback Fruits and Peerceptive have the capability to integrate into the Gradebook, thereby making it very easy to provide marks for the feedback that your students provide for one another.

For more information on any of the above tools, please contact edtech@langara.ca

References

  1. Wu, Wenyan, et al. “Evaluating Peer Feedback as a Reliable and Valid Complementary Aid to Teacher Feedback in EFL Writing Classrooms: A Feedback Giver Perspective.” Studies in Educational Evaluation, vol. 73, June 2022. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2022.101140.
  2. Double, Kit S., et al. “The Impact of Peer Assessment on Academic Performance: A Meta-Analysis of Control Group Studies.” Educational Psychology Review, vol. 32, no. 2, June 2020, pp. 481–509. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09510-3.
  3. Planas-Lladó, A. et al., 2018. Using peer assessment to evaluate teamwork from a multidisciplinary perspective. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(1), pp.14–30.
  4. de Brusa, M. F. P., & Harutyunyan, L. (2019). Peer Review: A Tool to Enhance the Quality of Academic Written Productions. English Language Teaching, 12(5), 30-39.
  5. Western and Northern Canadian Protocol for Collaboration in Education, 2006 p.41

Fall 2022 EdTech & TCDC Book Club : Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology by Michelle Miller (2022)

Ari Crossby

How important is memorization to learning? Are our devices making us dumber? How can technology be used strategically in our classrooms?

This fall, EdTech and TCDC are co-hosting a book club on Dr. Michelle D. Miller’s Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World (2022). Join facilitators Mirabelle Tinio and Alex Samur as they explore how the digital devices our students bring to in-person and virtual classrooms impact learning.
In her latest book, Dr. Miller, a psychology professor, explains the role of memory and attention in how we learn. Her book also helps guide instructors in discussing technology with their students and using it in the classroom. Her research is relevant to anyone who is concerned about how the time we spend on our devices may affect our memory.
The weekly online (Zoom) book club begins on Tuesday, Sept. 20 (4:30-5:30pm) and runs until Oct. 25. Find the chapter breakdown below. During our first gathering, we will meet participants and start discussing Chapter 1. We would also like to spend some time co-creating the format of the book club with participants. We are just as happy to have a free-flowing discussion as we are to organize talks around guiding questions.
Sign-up here.
Accessing the book:The eBook version of Remembering and Forgetting will be available to borrow from the Langara library in early September.
Weekly chapter breakdown:

  • Week 1 (Sept. 20) – Intro: Machines, Memory, and Learning
  • Week 2 (Sept. 27) – Chapter 1: What Technology Does to Us (and for Us): Taking a Critical Look at Common Narratives
  • Week 3 (Oct. 4) – Chapter 2: Why We Remember, Why We Forget
  • Week 4 (Oct. 11) – Chapter 3: Enhancing Memory and Why It Matters (Even though Google Exists)
  • Week 5 (Oct. 18) – Chapter 4: Memory Requires Attention
  • Week 6 (Oct. 25) – Chapter 5: The Devices We Can’t Put Down: Smartphones, Laptops, Memory, and Learning
  • Conclusion: How Memory Can Thrive in a Technology-Saturated Future

Discontinuing LockDown Browser

Ari Crossby 1 Comment

LockDown Browser
As the spring semester winds down, you may now be shifting your focus to final exams and wondering if LockDown Browser will be available for the upcoming exam period. After over six months of troubleshooting, it has become clear that, unfortunately, LockDown Browser is no longer compatible with Langara’s computing infrastructure.
While this announcement may disappoint some faculty members, please know that this decision was not taken lightly. There were several key issues that contributed to our decision:

  • Random Freezing on Citrix Computers

    Since LockDown Browser was most frequently used during midterm and final exams, the fact that it might freeze up a Citrix computer during these critical and stressful times made it an unreliable solution—for both instructors and students. Furthermore, the conditions under which Citrix computers froze were quite random. This made it challenging to identify the specific circumstances / scenarios that might trigger these freezes. And given the prevalence of Citrix computers across Langara’s campus, EdTech and IT needed to ensure a solution that would work with all of Langara’s computers.

  • Only an Older Version Worked on Citrix Computers

    In trying to find a solution, EdTech discovered that only an older version (from Summer 2021) worked on the Citrix computers and this older version is no longer supported by Respondus, LockDown Browser’s parent company. Taking into consideration future support and compatibility issues, this was not a viable solution.

  • Reduced Use of LockDown Browser Post-Pandemic

    During the pandemic, many instructors revamped their online exams and quizzes to address academic integrity in new, innovative, and creative ways. As a result, fewer faculty required LockDown Browser after our return to campus.

That said, we are committed to supporting our faculty and instructional staff. So, if you are still concerned about academic integrity, please feel free to read our article, Designing Online Exams / Quizzes, and/or contact us. We are more than happy to help you explore and implement alternative online exam / quiz options!

Spring 2022 Ed Tech Book Club

Ari Crossby

Spring, 2022 Book Club

The Spring, 2022 Book Club selection

This spring, the EdTech Book Club will be reading Should robots replace teachers? AI and the Future of Education by Neil Selwyn (2019).
The author shares his research on AI and robotics in education. By exploring how AI is being used to develop teacher-bots, ‘intelligent tutors,’ and pedagogical agents, among other EdTech tools, he shines a light on issues around the politics and ethics of automated teaching. He clarifies what AI can do to benefit education and what it cannot do. He also warns instructors about the dangers of AI in education and advocates for critical discussions among teachers, learners, AI developers, and communities.

We invite you to join us in weekly discussions inspired by this book and other topics related to Educational Technology.

Mode: Online through Zoom with the potential for an in-person option pending COVID-19 prevention protocols.

Time / Location: Tuesdays, 4:30 – 5:30 pm

Duration: 6 weeks

Dates: February 1st – March 15th (No gathering on Tuesday, Feb 22nd during Spring Break)

The first four (4) registrants will receive a free copy of the book.

Sign Up Here

For a lighthearted song to get you in the mood for reading this book, we will leave you with a song by the Flight of the Conchords which describes the distant future: Video on YouTube

Fall, 2020 Book Club

Last fall, the EdTech Book Club read The Manifesto for Teaching Online by Bayne, et al. (2020). Participants met weekly, either via Zoom and/or in-person, to discuss the book and create our very own Manifesto. Here are some of the highlights according to a few book clubbers:

“I really enjoyed the mix of people from other educational institutions taking part in the conversation, I enjoyed that different participants had the opportunity to facilitate, bringing in the author to take part in the conversation was a great idea! The book content was interesting, engaging and allowed for a broad conversation on a range of topics.”

“Being able to connect with colleagues, and learn about tools and techniques through them, such as H5P. Also, tea and chocolate.”

“Having Jen [one of the authors of The Manifesto] come in for a meeting was really great […]. It was great to hear how things are done at other institutions. “

“Having it open to colleagues from other institutions was very helpful, so keep advertising it to the public. Being hybrid was also good, because it allows more people to participate and allows for an “after-party” session, for less structured discussion.”

After 9 weeks of rich discussions, we created the following Manifesto:

 

A Curated List of Ed Tech Articles

Ari Crossby 1 Comment

A Curated List of Ed Tech Articles

""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.

Ideas for Remote Online Classes

""“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.

Lessons Learned

""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.

The images gives examples of how technology can be used as a tool, not a learning outcome.

Using Padlet to Enhance Online Group work

Ari Crossby 3 Comments

Wondering how to keep your online students engaged?  EdTech Advisor and former Chair of Library Tech, Diane Thompson, suggests Padlet, a tool that facilitates interactive and collaborative creativity.

Using Padlet to Enhance Online Group work

The challenge of maintaining teaching continuity in the era of COVID, which has forced the rapid switch from classroom to online activities, requires creativity. Fear not: familiar ways of engaging our students can be modified for online use.

Collaborative work in the classroom is relatively straightforward. Students can be divided into groups and active learning techniques can be employed to explore relevant course topics. In an online course, this is a bit more challenging as students may be in other time zones, or have different schedules.

The goal of technology is to solve a problem. One technology tool that may prove to be very effective in the context of online group work is Padlet. This visual tool allows your students to express their thoughts on a given topic or assignment. Its application allows users to include various content, such as images, videos, documents, and texts in real time communications. In my experience, the collaborative nature of Padlet makes for a great way to explore ideas as a class or in small group projects. Padlet allows for a number of different templates, including a timeline template, grid or map.

Here is an example from an English class where everyone contributed to literary quotes.

Here’s another example from Jessie Smith’s Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) assignment. She used Padlet to explore specific topics for her Latin American Studies course in connection with her partner and class in Argentina.

The last Padlet example demonstrated is from my own course (LIBR 1219) where students collaborate to come up with engaging questions to ask their tour guides when visiting various libraries in our community as part of their field work / practicum course. Students are asked to form groups and come up with categories. Once categories are established, they must then work together to come up with questions pertaining to the workplace. This is all done online.

Overall, Padlet is very easy to use. All you need to do is sign up at padlet.com and start creating. Security levels can be adjusted so that you can share your Padlets publicly or keep them password- protected. Sharing the link to your class is simple and, from your students’ perspective, editing is also straightforward once you have selected the template and explained how to complete the assignment.

The basic version of the programme will allow you to have up to three Padlets, whereas if you choose to sign up for the Pro version (not free), you can have multiple Padlets going at once.

If you have stories to share about how you are using Padlet, I would love to hear them.

General Guidelines for using Zoom

Ari Crossby

Zoom is a modern web-based video communication platform that can be used to introduce a synchronous (real-time) element to online teaching and learning. For example an instructor could use Zoom to conduct online office hours or use the breakout rooms functionality for student group-work.

It takes commitment from all participants in a Zoom session — instructors and students — to develop and maintain a positive learning environment. Everyone is responsible for creating a safe and inclusive collaboration space when using Zoom and is expected to behave in a manner that is professional and ethical.

Before Using Zoom

For resources on using Zoom, visit Langara’s Zoom landing page to learn more about the functionality and use of this platform.

Ensure Zoom is accessible to the students in your classes. Synchronous learning tools often present unique challenges to students including whether they have access to devices with webcams, caps on data, internet speed and stability, finding a quiet place to participate, and the challenge of studying in different time zones. If in doubt consider using pre-recorded video instead.

If you are recording synchronous Zoom sessions, students need to be notified. Zoom recordings are to be used to support student learning only and should not be shared or used for any other purpose. Ask students to turn off their webcam and identify themselves using a first name only. If you upload the recording to Kaltura Mediaspace for sharing, make sure you delete the recording from your personal computer.

Setting up Zoom Sessions

There are a number of recommendations below on how to use Zoom effectively in teaching and learning to increase the safety and security of the learning environment.

  • Set up a password for all Zoom sessions as an added layer of security.
  • Enable the “mute upon entry” feature for your classroom participants
  • Control the chat function and disable private chats. Chats are retained if a session is recorded, and may be accessible under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
  • If possible, set up a co-host to help during Zoom sessions. This could be a colleague,  teaching assistant or other responsible student that can assist you to host the session. Co-hosts can help manage the chat function, set up break out rooms, and help manage the learning environment.
  • If practical, you can enable the “Waiting Room” feature – one of the most secure ways to allow only those invited to the session to attend.
  • The default screen-sharing option for educational accounts is “Host Only” – this allows only instructors to share their screen, unless they change it. If you want others to share their screen content, you can invite them during the session to do so, or via settings beforehand. See here for information on screen sharing.

Adapted from University of Calgary Guidelines for Zoom

This content is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

OER Publishing With Jekyll, Reveal.js, and GitLab

Ari Crossby

Learning management systems (LMS) have some great content authoring tools. Unfortunately, LMS have some limitations when it comes to OER publishing. Students typically lose access to the content once the course ends and LMS are not really designed for broad collaboration among content authors. One practical solution is to author OER content outside the LMS. The problem then becomes which tools to use and how to make that content available to others to collaborate on. I recently completed a project to do just this using a collection of open source software and services.

I wanted to create a collection of lecture notes, lab exercises, and presentation slide decks for a new course I was developing and make the content available online to students. For the lecture notes and lab exercises, I settled on using the Jekyll static site generator. A static site generator transforms simple content written in markdown into a beautiful website. Using markdown allows the author to focus solely on the content without getting hung up on the minutiae of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Many themes are available and most of the more popular ones produce a website that works well on desktop as well as mobile browsers.

For presentation slide decks, I used Reveal.js. Like Jekyll, slide decks can be authored either in markdown or very simple HTML. The major benefit of Reveal.js is that you can present directly from the browser. No special software or plugins are required. Presentations can contain many of the basic features that you might expect from PowerPoint or Keynote.

The final piece of the puzzle is making the content available and inviting collaboration. Both of these objectives can be met using the GitLab service. GitLab is an online service primarily designed to enable computer programmers to collaborate on the development of software projects. The service can be easily adapted to collaborative authoring of OER content. It is a simple matter of creating a public project and letting others know. For public projects, anyone can submit a “pull request” which the project owner can accept and incorporate into the project. For an OER project, this might be other instructors or even students. Like any other public project, if some members of the community are dissatisfied with the direction the project is taking, they are free to “fork” the project and continue developing the project independently. Finally, GitLab offers a service called “Pages” which allows the project to published in a format suitable for consumption by students and others.

jekyll logo reveal.js logo GitLab logo

Meet the people supporting you as EdTech Support Specialists!

Ari Crossby

 
 
Daniel Andrade Fonseca 
My specialties are web development and project management; I offer technical support to instructors in Brightspace and other Langara tools, like Zoom and Kaltura.    
My interest in technology started early.  I’ve loved video games since I was a kid in Brazil; I have a big collection of consoles and games, including PS4, Xbox One, and retro games, such as Super Nintendo.  I am also a big fan of sports, especially soccer and basketball. I recently attended NFL, NBA games and went to the last Olympic Games in Rio. During my weekly 10 k run, I enjoy Vancouver’s weather and think about life. 

  
Nimmy Nelson 
I have been with EdTech since 2016. 
I did my Bachelor’s in Computer Science (2011-2015) in Kerala, India and my PDD in Business Administration here at Langara (2016-2017). 
My hobbies include cooking traditional South Indian dishes like Sambhar and Kozhikode biriyani and I recently picked up crocheting and embroidery. I also love listening to books in Audible. Most recently, I’ve read Inglorious Empire by Shashi Tharoor and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. 

 
Heidi Mede 
I joined the EdTech department in 2006 as Support Specialist and became the Supervisor of Department Operations in 2016. My career path has had several zigzags; working in a shelter for the homeless, with children with physical and mental challenges, in a transition home for people with traumatic brain injuries and operating my own daycare. Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved taking apart electronics, so during the dot-com boom, I went back to school to learn about computers & graduated in network administration. I worked at Oracle Corporation for 5 years, but always felt like a square peg in a round hole and didn’t know why. It wasn’t until I came to Langara that I realized it was the public sector where I belong; showing people how to blend technology and education has become my passion. 
Outside of work, I get out into nature as much as possible and I love to garden. I’m known to remove dead flower heads from plants on my walks, which shocks my walking partners. 

  
Brett Foster 
Since I was a child, I’ve enjoyed taking things apart to see how they work and then putting them back together.  I operated a computer consulting business for over ten years and worked with the IT Department at the Vancouver Sun/Province newspapers for many years. To this day, I love to learn about technology and share what I’ve learned. 
I came to Langara in 2018 to work as a Technical Services Coordinator for Ricoh Canada in the Information Technology Department, where I managed over 100 Ricoh Multi-Function devices. 
In December of 2019, I was hired to work in the Educational Technology Department as a Support Specialist. I love my new job and coworkers in EdTech and TCDC. 
When I am not on the campus, I run, play guitar and listen to music. 

 
Serenia Tam 
My technical education began in San Francisco, from which I have a BA in Industrial Design, concentrating in Web Design; AS concentrating in Computer Science; AAs in Illustration & Fashion Design and a certificate in Library & Information Technology.  I also have certificates in Web Developer & Publisher from Langara, where I’m currently studying photography.  I’ve worked with EdTech since early 2010 after having worked in BCIT, VGH, VPL, and San Francisco Public Library in addition to freelancing as a website designer.  I’m currently a Support Specialist in EdTech and an Instructional Assistant in Library & Information Tech.   
I read and write Cantonese & Mandarin, and have studied Japanese, French & English.  I love traveling, photography, fabric arts and gardening and am passionate about animal rights & social justice.   
  
 
Craig Madokoro 
I’ve been the Media Production Technician for the Educational Technology department for 4 years, after having worked at the College for many more.  In addition to maintaining the EdTech recording studio, I livestream College events, facilitate workshops and preserve and convert analogue to digital material.  I also enjoy helping faculty and staff create audio & video content to enhance learning using state of the art technical equipment. 
After graduating from the Vancouver Film School, I worked in the local film & television industry (CBC, Roger’s Community TV) as an editor, camera operator, audio recorder and special effects artist.  
When I’m not at work, I enjoy painting, playing hockey, and caring for my 2 dogs, Coco and Bboshong.   

Ari Crossby 
I love learning new interfaces and technologies and helping others learn them. I’ve been with EdTech since 2011, around the time that we began the transition from Blackboard to Brightspace. I have a background in web design, and started at Langara in the Library & Information Technology program. Now you can ask me your questions about Brightspace, Zoom web conferencing, Kaltura/MediaSpace, or setting up or maintaining your WordPress site on CourseWeb or iWeb. 
 In my free time I do a lot of knitting, gardening, and fitting in as much tabletop gaming as I can manage