Tag: learning technologies

PebblePad: Unlocking Learning Potential

susanbonham

PebblePad, Langara’s ePortfolio platform, is out of pilot phase and now one of our core tools. It’s well suited to support both open-ended creative assignments and guided authentic learning. If you are looking for a way for students to document, share, and reflect on learning experiences, or if you need them to evidence their skills, capabilities, and achievements, PebblePad can be a great fit. In this age of AI, instructors are also looking to PebblePad for process assignments. 

Use at Langara

At Langara, PebblePad is currently used to support teaching and learning in Nursing, Recreation Studies, Library Technology, English, Geography, Publishing, Co-op, and Supply Chain Management, with more instructors and programs coming on board every semester.

The Affordances of PebblePad

  • Empowers students by providing a private and secure space to actively engage in their learning journey, promoting a sense of ownership and agency.
  • Promotes meaningful engagement in learning through critical thinking and reflection, contributing to a deeper understanding and retention of knowledge.
  • Helps students make connections in learning across multiple contexts: between individual courses, over an entire program, and with knowledge gained outside of formal learning contexts.
  • Supports students’ transition to future employment or academic pursuits by enabling them to identify knowledge, competencies, and creativity and then to showcase their projects and achievements.

How to Learn More

If you’re interested in PebblePad, the next introductory workshop is on January 11th from 10:00-11:00. Participants will activate their accounts, learn the basics of PebblePad, discover how it’s being used in various departments, and get ideas about how it could be used in their own courses.

In addition to scheduled workshops, you’re welcome to reach out to EdTech anytime to learn more about PebblePad.

Learning Labs

Introducing Learning Labs

Briana Fraser

Learning Labs are interactive, focused, and supported learning sessions where you can learn how to implement Langara’s teaching and learning technologies and tools. Capacity is limited to ensure all attendees have an opportunity to ask questions, try out tools, and receive support. Support in the room will reflect the technology, tool, and learning outcomes; however, you can expect to interact with EdTech Advisors, Specialists, and Technologists as well as TCDC Curriculum Consultants. The Labs are an opportunity to implement something new or improve what already exists with experts who can answer technical questions and provide advice.

Fall Learning Lab session topics include:

Brightspace HTML Templates

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to:

  • Use the Brightspace HTML editor.
  • Explain the benefits of using the Brightspace HTML templates.
  • Apply the templates to a new Brightspace HTML page.
  • Apply the latest version of the template to an existing Brightspace HTML page.
  • Mix and match HTML elements—such as image placement, accordions, callouts, tables, and tabs—from the various templates.

Adding closed captions to a video in Brightspace

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to:

  • Upload a video to MediaSpace.
  • Add closed captions to a video.
  • Use the MediaSpace captions editor.
  • Use the OneDrive captioning tool.
  • Embed a video in a Brightspace course file.

Creating an accessible Word document

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to:

  • Employ plain language.
  • Select styles that improve legibility of text.
  • Structure a document.
  • Create accessible hyperlinks and tables.
  • Add alternative text to visual content.
  • Use the built-in accessibility checker.

Improving the accessibility of existing PowerPoint slides

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to:

  • Avoid the most common PowerPoint accessibility mistakes.
  • Use the accessibility checker and make corrections.
  • Apply templates.
  • Apply structure.
  • Select accessible fonts and font styling.
  • Employ accessible use of colour.
  • Add alternative text to images.
  • Write meaningful hyperlink text.

Save time marking with Rubrics

After participating in this lab, participants should be able to: 

  • Define the purpose of the assignment or assessment 
  • Decide which type of rubric will be used with assignments
  • Create statements of expected performance at each level of the rubric 
  • Transfer analog rubrics into a digital version on Brightspace 
  • Associate their rubric with the assignment in Brightspace 

 

New Text to Speech Tools in Brightspace

Luke McKnight

EdTech is excited to announce new text to speech tools in Brightspace.

A new toolbar (pictured below) automatically appears on content pages, Quizzes, Assignments, and Discussions.

Screenshot of ReadSpeaker toolbar

The simple, intuitive interface allows for users to hear text read aloud. In Brightspace, simply select Listen and the toolbar instantly creates an audio version of text.

This tool offers students the choice of reading, listening, or both simultaneously. Allowing users choice and customization accounts for learner needs and preferences.

This tool may assist learners with:

  • Increased understanding
  • Improved reading comprehension
  • Information retention and recall
  • Vocabulary
  • Fluency and accuracy
  • Motivation and attitudes toward reading

Available user features include:

  • Customization of colour, style, and size of font
  • Choice of reading voice and speed
  • Synchronous text highlighting
  • Page masking and text-only view
  • Ability to select content to be read aloud
  • No download required
    • Learners can use this tool on campus, at home, on their phone, or on the bus

In addition to Brightspace pages, Word and PDF documents uploaded to Brightspace also have a text to speech reader option.

While a benefit to all learners, this tool is especially important to users that need content to be read aloud. The addition of text to speech is an important step in Langara’s work toward accessibility and universal design for learning.

For more information, read about the toolbar’s features or contact assistivetech@langara.

PebblePad Brief: Feedback Options

Ari Crossby

Langara’s pilot of the ePortfolio learning platform, PebblePad, is now in its second year. This is the second in a series highlighting some of the platform’s features. Whether you’re already using PebblePad or considering using it at some point in the future, our hope is that the PebblePad Brief series extends your understanding of the platform’s capabilities.
This month’s “Brief” is going to focus on the variety of feedback options available within PebblePad, and how they can benefit students and instructors. Whether you’re looking for a tool to give formative or summative feedback, PebblePad has multiple options.

Feedback in Brightspace Versus PebblePad:

PebblePad functions differently than Brightspace when it comes to assignments. In Brightspace, students usually submit a file by a due date and the instructor has no way of giving formative feedback on the developing assignment unless they ask students to submit a draft of their work. PebblePad, on the other hand, doesn’t work with file submissions but with shared links. If an assignment is set up for auto-submission, the instructor is able to see the students’ work in real time as soon as they start it. This enables instructors to give formative feedback any time prior to a due date, as well as summative assessment after a due date. Further, unlike Brightspace, students have access to the feedback after their course finishes and even after they graduate.

Feedback Options:

Simple Comments:

  • The simplest way to give feedback in PebblePad is through general comments. To use the comment feature, a student shares a link with someone else. When that person clicks on the link, there’s a comment icon on to the top-right which can be used to by instructors, mentors, or peers to provide feedback. The student can reply to the comments so feedback is potentially dialogic.

Adding Comments Via the Comment Icon

 

Feedback Comments:

  • By using the tools in the formal assessment part of the platform called ATLAS, there are extended options. Here we can to a specific answer, a page, or the entire assignment. If an instructor will be using the same comments for many students, feedback statements can be created that will be available when marking. Any comments added via ATLAS have the advantage that they are only visible to the student and won’t be seen by anyone they share their work with. When assessing in ATLAS, instructors have the option to release feedback as it’s added, or hold all feedback for later release so that the whole class receives it at the same time.

Adding Block Feedback Comments via ATLAS

 Assessor Fields:

  • When creating scaffolded learning activities for students, assessor fields can be inserted right into body of the assignment. It’s possible to assign “blocks” or sections to either the students or the instructor to complete. Instructors can be assigned text fields, drop-downs, radio buttons, checkboxes, and rubrics that only they can complete (the student will see them but not be able to complete them). These fields are easy for instructors to find when they’re assessing, and easy for the student to see when they’re looking for feedback. This type of feedback will always be visible so is generally used for activities to develop knowledge or skills, rather than assignments that might be used as a showcase in future.

Adding Feedback via Assessor Fields

Feedback Templates:

  • These are very similar to rubrics in Brightspace, and can be created and used to assess students’ work in ATLAS. They can include any or all of: clickable rubric components, comment fields, radio buttons, drop-downs, and checkboxes. Because this feedback will only be visible to the student, this is a better option to use with assignments that the student might want to use as a showcase to show to others.

Providing Feedback via Feedback Templates

Grades:

  • Assignments can also be graded in ATLAS. Grading is flexible as instructors can enter percentages, letter grades, or even pass/fail wording such as “meets expectations/does not meet expectations”. Although PebblePad is not currently integrated with Brightspace, it is possible to get a CSV file of all grades and easily transfer them to a gradebook.

    Adding Grades

Feedback Longevity:

  • We all know that it takes time and effort to provide meaningful feedback to learners. One of the advantages of using PebblePad is that the students have access to feedback long after the course ends and even after they graduate as students can get an alumni account. This will help them make meaningful connections between assignments, between courses, and between studies and career. Feedback can be fed forward.

If you have questions about PebblePad or any other learning technology that EdTech supports, we can be contacted at edtech@langara.ca

PebblePad Briefs: Interactive Curriculum Materials

Ari Crossby

Langara’s pilot of the ePortfolio learning platform, PebblePad, is now in its second year. This will be the first in a series highlighting some of the platform’s features. Whether you’re already using PebblePad or considering using it at some point in the future, our hope is that the PebblePad Briefs extend your understanding of the platform’s capabilities.
Our first “Brief” is going to focus on what components you can include in learning materials.  Although ePortfolio (electronic/digital portfolio) technology is a tool for students to showcase their work, that’s not all PebblePad can do. In fact, it’s also a great platform to build scaffolded learning activities.
When building learning resources in PebblePad, content can be multimodal and responses can be dynamic. A learning activity, for example, might have text for students to read, a podcast for them to listen to, and a video for them to watch.  You could then add interactive fields for the students to respond to this content by checking their comprehension, rating their response, reflecting on what they’ve learned, or planning their next steps – all on the same page (or in a separate tab or resource if you’d prefer).
Content types that can be added to a learning resource include:

  • text
  • image
  • audio
  • video
  • links to other resource

Interactive response fields that can be added for students to actively engage in learning can include:

  • text fields (single or multi-line)
  • radio buttons (one answer only), checkboxes (multiple answers possible) or drop-downs
  • ratings (binary, Likert, numeric)
  • fillable tables
  • rubrics
  • add evidence buttons (allows comment or file upload)
  • date pickers
  • signature fields

Those at Langara already using PebblePad have provided feedback that the templates look great and, even more importantly, students find them easy to use.
It’s also easy to share these learning resources with your students… but we’ll leave that for another PebblePad Brief.
If you have questions about PebblePad or any other learning technology that EdTech supports, we can be contacted at edtech@langara.ca

PebblePad template with text and video in the top half and questions for students to answer in the bottom half
PebblePad Interactive Worksheet

PebblePad Brief: Interactive Curriculum Materials

Ari Crossby

Langara’s pilot of the ePortfolio learning platform, PebblePad, is now in its second year. This will be the first in a series highlighting some of the platform’s features. Whether you’re already using PebblePad or considering using it at some point in the future, our hope is that the PebblePad Brief series extends your understanding of the platform’s capabilities.
Our first “Brief” is going to focus on what components you can include in learning materials.  Although ePortfolio (electronic/digital portfolio) technology is a tool for students to showcase their work, that’s not all PebblePad can do. In fact, it’s also a great platform to build scaffolded learning activities.
When building learning resources in PebblePad, content can be multimodal and responses can be dynamic. A learning activity, for example, might have text for students to read, a podcast for them to listen to, and a video for them to watch.  You could then add interactive fields for the students to respond to this content by checking their comprehension, rating their response, reflecting on what they’ve learned, or planning their next steps – all on the same page (or in a separate tab or resource if you’d prefer).
Content types that can be added to a learning resource include:

  • text
  • image
  • audio
  • video
  • links to other resources

Interactive response fields that can be added for students to actively engage in learning can include:

  • text fields (single or multi-line)
  • radio buttons (one answer only), checkboxes (multiple answers possible) or drop-downs
  • ratings (binary, Likert, numeric)
  • fillable tables
  • rubrics
  • add evidence buttons (allows comment or file upload)
  • date pickers
  • signature fields

Those at Langara already using PebblePad have provided feedback that the templates look great and, even more importantly, students find them easy to use.
It’s also easy to share these learning resources with your students… but we’ll leave that for another PebblePad Brief.
If you have questions about PebblePad or any other learning technology that EdTech supports, we can be contacted at edtech@langara.ca

PebblePad template with text and video in the top half and questions for students to answer in the bottom half
PebblePad Interactive Worksheet

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!

Turnitin and Student Privacy

Ari Crossby

Turnitin is a text matching tool that compares students’ written work with a database of student papers, web pages, and academic publications. The two main uses for Turnitin are: 1) for formative or low-stakes assessment of paraphrasing or citation; and 2) for prevention and identification of plagiarism.

Privacy Concerns

When an assignment is submitted to Turnitin for a text matching report, the student’s work is saved as part of Turnitin’s database of more than 1 billion student papers. This raises privacy concerns that include:

  • Students’ inability to remove their work from the database
  • The indefinite length of time that papers are stored
  • Access to the content of the papers, especially personal data or sensitive content, including potential security breaches of the server

Copyright Concerns

In addition, saving a student’s work on Turnitin’s database without their consent may put an institution at risk for legal action based on Canadian copyright law (Strawczynski, 2004). 

Guidelines for Using Turnitin

To mitigate these concerns, we recommend the following guidelines for all instructors using Turnitin:

  1. Be clear and transparent that you will be using Turnitin. Even if a course outline includes a statement indicating that Turnitin will be used in a course, we recommend not relying on that statement alone. Ideally, instructors should also explain to students that their papers will be stored on the company’s database and ask for their consent. If they don’t provide consent, have an alternate plan (see below).
  2. Decide whether or not students’ work needs to be saved on Turnitin’s database. The default is for all papers to be saved, but this can be changed. Not saving papers to the database means that those papers can’t be used to generate future similarity reports, but it does remove the privacy and copyright concerns.
  3. Coach students to remove identifying details. If the students’ submissions will be added to Turnitin’s database, make sure you get them to remove any personal information from their assignment, including their name, student number, address, etc. Meta-data that is embedded should also be removed (e.g. in track changes or file properties). If you’re having them submit to an assignment folder on Brightspace, their name will be with their submission so it shouldn’t be a problem if it’s not on the paper itself.
  4. Don’t run a similarity report for an individual student without their knowledge. Ethical use of Turnitin occurs when it is transparently and equally used for all students. Running a report only on a specific student’s work without their knowledge or consent is not transparent or equal.
  5. Consider whether or not the assignment is appropriate for Turnitin. If the students need to include personal or sensitive information in the assignment, Turnitin should probably not be used. If you do decide to use it, the students’ papers should not be stored in the database.
  6. If contacted by another institution, be cautious about revealing student information. If at some point in the future there is a match to one of your student’s papers in Turnitin’s database, Turnitin does not give the other institution access to the text of the paper but will provide the instructor at the other institution with your email. If you are contacted about a match, consider carefully before forwarding the paper or any identifying details about the student to the other institution. If you do want to forward the paper, you should obtain the student’s consent.

Alternatives to Confirm Authorship When Turnitin is Not Used

If a student objects to having their paper submitted to Turnitin, or if the assignment is not appropriate for submission to Turnitin because it includes personal or sensitive content, you can increase confidence that the students are doing their own work in other ways. For example, an instructor can require any or all of the following:

  • submission of multiple drafts
  • annotation of reference lists
  • oral defence of their work

Requiring students to complete any or all of these will increase the student’s workload which would mean that students who opt out of Turnitin aren’t at an advantage over students who opt in.

Helping Students Make Turnitin Work for Them

If you’re using Turnitin, it’s highly recommended that you adjust the settings to allow the students to see their similarity reports. You may need to teach students how to interpret the reports if they haven’t learned how to do so from a previous course. Turnitin’s website has resources if you need them (https://help.turnitin.com/feedback-studio/turnitin-website/student/student-category.htm#TheSimilarityReport) and you can also point your students to the Turnitin link on Langara’s Help with Student Learning Tools iweb (https://iweb.langara.ca/lts/brightspace/turnitin/). Finally, remember that these reports won’t be helpful to a student if they’re not given the chance to revise and resubmit after they see the report. In Brightspace, we recommend that instructors set up two separate assignment folders with Turnitin enabled: one for their draft and one for the final submission.

Have questions?

If you need support with Turnitin, please contact edtech@langara.ca

References

Strawczynski, J. (2004). When students won’t Turnitin: An examination of the use of plagiarism prevention services in Canada. Education & Law Journal 14(2), 167-190. 

Vanacker, B. (2011). Returning students’ right to access, choice and notice: a proposed code of ethics for instructors using Turnitin. Ethics & Information Technology, 13(4), 327-338.

Zaza, C., & McKenzie, A. (2018). Turnitin® Use at a Canadian University. Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2018.2.4

Zimmerman, T.A. (2018). Twenty years of Turnitin: In an age of big data, even bigger questions remain. The 2017 CCCC Intellectual Property Annual. Retrieved from https://prod-ncte-cdn.azureedge.net/nctefiles/groups/cccc/committees/ip/2017/zimmerman2017.pdf

Podcast Playlist – Podcast recommendations from your Ed Tech team

Ari Crossby

Looking for inspiration? Podcasts are a convenient and approachable way to pick up some new tools for your teaching toolkit. In this new feature, we’ll share a few of our favorite episodes with a teaching and learning focus.

Maybe It Doesn’t Need to be a Video

In this episode of Think UDL Clea and host Lillian Nave talk about multiple ways of representing information in online classes, customizing the display of information, offering alternatives for text or auditory information, and guiding information processing and visualization for students

In this episode of Teaching in Higher Ed, Dan Levy, faculty director of the Public Leadership Credential, the Harvard Kennedy School’s flagship online learning initiative, talks about his book, Teaching Effectively with Zoom.

Talking Tech

In this episode of tea for teaching Michelle Miller, author of Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology, examines how we can talk to students about technology in ways that will help them become more efficient in their learning and professional lives.

How to Use Audio Lessons in Your Course to Engage Students and Improve Learning

In this episode of Lecture Breakers Yehoshua Zlotogorski the power of audio for learning, especially when the audio lesson or audio course is intentionally designed based on cognitive science and pedagogy.

Equity-Enhancing Data Tools

In this episode of Teaching in Higher Ed Viji Sathy, award-winning Professor of the Practice in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Kelly Hogan, Teaching Professor of Biology and Associate Dean of Instructional Innovation at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, share two equity-enhancing data tools.

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.