Explore the World of AI: Join Our Monthly AI Tinker Time Workshops

December 7, 2023March 13, 2024 Briana Fraser

Are you curious about artificial intelligence and its applications but unsure where to begin? Look no further! Join us at AI Tinker Time, happening on the first Thursday of every month, and dive into the exciting world of AI tools.

Whether you’re new to AI or looking to expand your knowledge, these sessions are the perfect opportunity to experiment with various AI tools and discover how they can enhance your practice. Our EdTech faculty, staff, and TCDC colleagues will lead hands-on sessions, where we’ll test different AI tools for accuracy, quality, and effectiveness in addressing diverse teaching and learning needs.

Together, we’ll explore critical questions such as:

How accurate is the AI output?
Is the quality of AI output sufficient for practical application?
Can AI-generated content serve as a solid foundation for further refinement?
How do various AI tools compare in functionality and output?
Which AI tools can we recommend for specific needs based on our testing?

Don’t miss this chance to join a community of like-minded individuals eager to unlock the potential of AI in education. Whether you’re an educator, a technologist, or simply AI-curious, our AI Tinker Time workshops are the ideal space to learn, experiment, and collaborate.

Monthly topics:

January – Using AI to generate alternative text
February – Comparing output generated by Bing Chat’s different modes
March – Using AI audio generation and editing
April – Using AI to “break” assignments

Please register to join our AI tinker time.

EdTech Digital Media Can Help You Create Engaging Content for Your Courses

November 14, 2023March 13, 2024 Julian Prior

Are you looking for ways to enhance your online teaching and learning experience? Do you want to create media-rich content that captures the attention and interest of your students? If so, you should check out EdTech’s Digital Media services at Langara College.

EdTech Digital Media provides support and resources for Langara faculty and instructional staff who want to translate their ideas into educational, professional, and engaging media content. Whether you want to do it yourself or get some expert help, EdTech Digital Media has something for you.

Here are some of the services that EdTech Digital Media offers:

Studio: You can book the EdTech Digital Media studio, a professional space equipped with a green screen, a lightboard, a teleprompter, podcasting mixing desk and various cameras and microphones. You can use the studio to record lectures, presentations, interviews, demonstrations, and more. To book our studio, email us at edtech@langara.ca
Audio & Video Production: Get assistance from the EdTech Digital Media team to produce high-quality audio and video content for your courses. The team can help you with scripting, storyboarding, filming, editing, and publishing your media projects.
Digital Media Consultation: Before using our studio or other services we ask that you consult with one or more of our EdTech Digital Media team to discuss your media needs and goals. The team can provide you with advice, feedback, and recommendations on how to best use media in your courses. Email edtech@langara.ca to schedule a consultation.
Drop-Ins: You can pop by the EdTech Digital Media studio during our scheduled drop-in times for a studio tour or to get quick help or tips on any media-related projects.
Green Screen: Use our green screen technology to create immersive and interactive videos for your courses. You can replace the green background with any image or video of your choice, such as a map, a diagram, a historical scene, or a virtual environment.
Lightboard: You can use our lightboard technology to create engaging and dynamic videos for your courses. You can write or draw on a transparent glass board with fluorescent markers, while facing the camera and your audience. The lightboard allows you to illustrate your concepts and ideas in a clear and captivating way.
Motion Graphics: Take advantage of our expertise in motion graphics technology to create animated and eye-catching videos for your courses. You can use motion graphics to explain complex or abstract concepts, to visualize data or processes, or to add some fun and creativity to your media content.
Podcasting: Use our podcasting setup to create audio-only content for your courses. You can use podcasting to share your insights, opinions, or stories, to interview guests or experts, or to provide supplementary or alternative material for your students. Come and talk to us with any ideas or questions you might have about this popular way to share content.
Screen Capture: You can use screen capture technology (on your own or with our guidance) to create video tutorials, demonstrations or mini-lectures for your courses. You can use screen capture to show your students how to use software, a website, or an online tool, or to walk them through a problem or a solution.
Slide Design: Work with our team to create effective, attractive and accessible slides for your courses.

If you are interested in any of these services, please visit the EdTech Digital Media page to learn more, to book a service, or to contact the team. EdTech Digital Media is here to support you and your media needs. We hope to see you soon!

Generative AI and STEM

June 14, 2023March 13, 2024 susanbonham

Background

Artificial intelligence is not new. It has been part of our personal and work lives for a long time (autocorrect, facial recognition, satnav, etc.) and large language models like ChatGPT have been a big topic in education since version 3.5 was released in late November, 2022. Large language models (LLMs) are trained on enormous amounts of data in order to recognize the patterns of and connections between words, and then produce text based on the probabilities of which word is most likely to come next. One thing that LLMs don’t do, however, is computation; however, the most recent Open AI release, GPT-4, seems to have made strides in standardized tests in many STEM areas and GPT-4 now has a plug-in for Wolfram Alpha, which does do computation.

Chart from Open AI: exam result improvements from ChatGPT 3.5 to 4

Andrew Roberts (Math Dept) and Susan Bonham (EdTech) did some testing to see how ChatGPT (3.5), GPT-4, and GPT-4 with the Wolfram plugin would handle some questions from Langara’s math courses.

Test Details

Full test results are available. (accessible version of the problems and full details of the “chats” and subsequent discussion for each AI response are available at the link)

The following questions were tested:

Problem 1: (supplied by Langara mathematics instructor Vijay Singh)

Problem 2: (Precalculus)

Problem 3: (Calculus I)

Problem 4: (Calculus II)

Discussion

Responses from current versions of ChatGPT are not reliable enough to be accepted uncritically.

ChatGPT needs to be approached as a tool and careful proof-reading of responses is needed to check for errors in computation or reasoning. Errors may be blatant and readily apparent, or subtle and hard to spot without close reading and a solid understanding of the concepts.

Perhaps the biggest danger for a student learning a subject is in the “plausibility” of many responses even when they are incorrect. ChatGPT will present its responses with full confidence in their correctness, whether this is justified or not.

When errors or lack of clarity is noticed in a response, further prompting needs to be used to correct and refine the initial response. This requires a certain amount of base knowledge on the part of the user in order to guide ChatGPT to the correct solution.

Algebraic computations cannot be trusted as ChatGPT does not “know” the rules of algebra but is simply appending steps based on a probabilistic machine-learning model that references the material on which it was trained. The quality of the answers will depend on the quality of the content on which ChatGPT was trained. There is no way for us to know exactly what training material ChatGPT is referencing when generating its responses. The average quality of solutions sourced online should give us pause.

Below is one especially concerning example of an error encountered during our testing sessions:

In the response to the optimization problem (Problem 3), GPT-3.5 attempts to differentiate the volume function:

However, the derivative is computed as:

We see that it has incorrectly differentiated the first term with respect to R while correctly differentiating the second term with respect to h.

It is the plausibility of the above solution (despite the bad error) that is dangerous for a student who may take the ChatGPT response at face value.

Access to the Wolfram plugin in GPT-4 should mean that algebraic computations that occur within requests sent to Wolfram can be trusted. But the issues of errors in reasoning and interpretation still exist between requests sent to Wolfram.

Concluding Thought

It will be important for us educate our students about the dangers involved in using this tool uncritically while acknowledging the potential benefits if used correctly.

Want to Learn More?

EdTech and TCDC run workshops on various AI topics. You can request a bespoke AI workshop tailored to your department or check out the EdTech and TCDC workshop offerings. For all other questions, please contact edtech@langara.ca

Brightspace Accessibility in Five, 1: Link Text

February 10, 2023March 13, 2024 Luke McKnight

Brightspace plus accessibility logo

Brightspace is an exceptionally accessible platform. Using Brightspace for your course content, documents, and media is an excellent way to provide equitable, inclusive access to learning material.

Take advantage of Brightspace’s built-in tools and the Accessibility Checker to ensure what you share is accessible. Accessible content is inclusive, democratic, and maximizes learner independence.

In the first of this five-part series, we will learn about adding link text to your Brightspace content.

Link Text

Link text should provide a clear description of the destination, independent of the surrounding text.

Students that with a visual impairement may use screen reader software that allows them to navigate by links. Descriptive link text helps orient and guide them to resources. A list of “click here”, “click here”, “Read more”, etc. is not going to provide users with any meaningful information. Pasting raw URLs in Brightspace should also be avoided as, for example, heading “https://iweb.langara.ca/edtech/blog” is jarring and not a useful indicator of what that link would lead to.

Additionally, sighted users can easily spot or relocate a link when it has a clear text description. As well, all users benefit from quality link text to understand why they would want to click on the link.

Effective link text should be:

Descriptive
- Describe the destination
Concise
- Try to limit link text to a few words
Unique
- If two links on a page go to the same destination, they should have the same link text, otherwise ensure all link text is unique
Visually distinct
- Links should be visually distinct from surrounding text. In Brightspace, stick with default formatting (blue underlined text) for links.

To Link Text in Brightspace

Highlight the text to be linked and select Add/Edit Link
The highlighted text will appear in the Title field. Paste the URL in the Link field and select Create.

Find more information about link text in the Langara Accessibility Handbook and read more about adding hyperlinks in Brightspace.

Accessibility Checker

Brightspace includes a built-in accessibility checker. The checker appears on the second row of the editor toolbar.

Select More Actions to reveal the second row of the toolbar
Select Accessibility Checker

The accessibility checker will highlight many accessibility issues and offer solutions to correct them.

Watch for more posts in the Brightspace Accessibility in Five series coming soon, including:

Using Peer Assessment for Collaborative Learning

December 13, 2022March 13, 2024 Diane Thompson

Peer Assessment

Peer Assessment Picture There 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

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.
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.
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.
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.
Western and Northern Canadian Protocol for Collaboration in Education, 2006 p.41

Increasing Accessibility of Course Content: Tips for using the Brightspace Accessibility Checker

December 8, 2020March 13, 2024 Ari Crossby 2 Comments

Increasing accessibility of course content: Tips for using the Brightspace Accessibility Checker

Web Accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of making websites and online content usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. Use the Brightspace Accessibility Checker to identify common accessibility issues on your Brightspace course pages.

How to run the Accessibility Checker

The Accessibility Checker is available within the HTML Editor. When you are in edit HTML mode, the checker is located on the bottom right corner of the Editor, next to the Spellcheck button.

Alternative Text

The most common accessibility issue is missing image alternative text (alt text). Alt text is background code added to a digital image that allows a screen reader or other assistive technology to describe the image’s content and meaning to those who cannot see the image or may be unable to process the image due to a cognitive disability. When alt text is missing, the Brightspace Accessibility Checker will flag the issue, noting Images must have an alternative text description.

How to add alt text

The easiest way to add alt text is to include it when inserting images into a Brightspace page. When you insert an image using the HTML editor, a pop-up appears, prompting you to add alt text. Brightspace add the alt text to the HTML code (e.g., <img src=”filename.jpg” alt=”Example of Microsoft Forms response results.” />).

Treat informative images as decorative by supplying an empty alt attribute or checking the box next to This image is decorative. Brightspace will add alt text of “” to indicate an empty alt attribute.

If the Accessibility Checker flags an image as missing alternative text, you can fix the issue by adding alt text inside the report panel or by adding it directly to the HTML code.

Tips for creating alt text

When deciding what to include as alternative text, imagine that you are describing the image aloud over the phone to someone who needs to understand the image.

According to WebAIM, alternative text should:

Be accurate and equivalent in presenting the same content and function of the image.
Be succinct.
Not be redundant or provide the same information as text within the context of the image.
Not use the phrases “image of…” or “graphic of…” to describe the image unless the fact that an image is a photograph or illustration, etc. is important content.

WebAIM offers a fantastic guide to creating appropriate alternative text for images.

Note: It is always a good idea to double-check the alt text included in your HTML code. An accessibility checker only indicates whether alt text is included, it cannot check the quality or usability of the alt text.

Contrast

Low colour contrast is another common accessibility issue. Insufficient contrast between the foreground and background reduces readers’ ability to perceive content on the page.

The W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 define specific contrast ratios that must be met in order to comply at particular levels. To meet the guidelines, text or images of text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 (or 3:1 for large text).

The maximum contrast is black vs. white but other options are available such as navy/white, cream/dark brown, yellow/black, and similar color schemes. A colour scheme is considered legible if it can be read in grayscale/black and white mode.

The Accessibility Checker flags:

Large text that does not have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1.
Visual presentation that does not have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.

Adjusting contrast

Try using the WebAIM Color Contrast Checker to adjust the contrast by lightening or darkening elements.

Headings

A heading describes the content that follows it, giving uses a sense of the page’s organization and structure. Headings give sighted users a way to quickly find what they want on the page.

If the underlying code for a page’s headings is correct, screen reader users can also benefit from headings. Screen reader and other assistive technology users can also skip from heading to heading.

How to create headings in Brightspace

Select the text then set it to the proper heading using the Format dropdown menu. Do not skip levels. If the heading levels are not in the correct order, the Accessibility Checker will flag the issue.

Tips for creating headings

- Headings are ranked <h1> through <h6>.
- Every page should have an H1 heading, representing the most important idea on the page, and sub-sections organized with <h2> level headings. Those sub-sections can themselves be divided with <h3> level headings, and so on.

Headings need to be used in the correct order.
Do not skip heading levels to be more specific (for example, do not skip from <h2> to <h5>).
Do not select heading levels based on their appearance. Select the appropriate heading rank in your hierarchy.

Note: The Brightspace Accessibility Checker will not flag a page without headings; it only flags incorrectly ordered headings.

Lists

Lists are great from an accessibility standpoint because they provide structured order to content in a linear fashion. Lists are recommended as potential replacements for simple tables, as tables can be more challenging to navigate. Properly code the lists so that they convey the hierarchical content structure to screen reader users. Use unordered lists <ul> when there is no specific order intended for the list you are creating. Use ordered lists <ol> when there is a defined sequence or order for the list.

The Brightspace Accessibility Checker will flag items that appear to be a list but do have unordered or ordered list styles applied.

How to use lists

Select the items, then choose the Unordered List icon if the order does not matter, or select Ordered List from the dropdown menu if it is sequential.

Descriptive Hyperlink Text

The Accessibility Checker cannot assess whether links are meaningful or accessible; however, making hypertext links accessible is one of the most basic and most important aspects of web accessibility.

How to create a hyperlink

Select Insert Quicklink icon, then select URL in the popup window, enter the URL and a title that describes the link’s destination.

Suggestions for creating meaningful and accessible hyperlinks

Link text should be unique within a page, should be meaningful when read out of context, and should help users to know something about their destination if they click on it. Link text such as “Click here” and “More” fail to meet these criteria.
Avoid providing two links right next to each other that point to the same location (it can be confusing for screen reader users).

To request help with improving the accessibility of your course content, email edtech@langara.ca

Spring 2021 Online Book Club

December 8, 2020March 13, 2024 Ari Crossby 1 Comment

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:

How do I decide whether my courses should be campus-based, blended or fully online?
What strategies work best when teaching in a technology-rich environment? What methods of teaching are most effective for blended and online classes?
How do I make choices among all the available media, whether text, audio, video, computer, or social media, in order to benefit my students and my subject?
How do I maintain quality of teaching, learning, and resources in a rapidly changing learning environment?
What are the real possibilities for teaching and learning using MOOCs, OERS, open textbooks?

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/

Sign up here: Spring 2021 Online Book Club

Spark your creativity!

September 6, 2019March 13, 2024 Ari Crossby

There are many misconceptions about creativity. One is that it is the exclusive preserve of geniuses – think Mozart or Picasso. Another is that creativity is a genetic trait passed on within families (while partly true your environment still plays a major role in how creativity is expressed). A third is that it is the domain of teachers and students in creative arts subjects. Forget encouraging creativity in Math, Business or Physics.

The good news: researchers from Durham University argue that we all possess “small c creativity,” that is, the kind of creativity that encourages us to “think differently” in social circumstances (including teaching) and find new ways of doing and thinking about things (Davies and Newton, 2018). Sir Ken Robinson goes further; paraphrasing Picasso he argues that the education system stifles the artist within all of us and one of our jobs as educators is to take risks in order to nurture and spark our creative capacities.

Thanks to Robinson and people like Andrew Churches (2008) who reformulated Bloom’s Taxonomy for the digital age, creativity is now seen as an essential 21st century set of skills alongside those of literacy, numeracy, critical thinking and collaboration. The ability to adapt and remix, make, publish, build and construct are considered valuable higher order skills in the classroom but also increasingly in the workplace. A 2014 Adobe study of over 1000 hiring managers found that 94% look for evidence of creativity in job applications. In the classroom both teachers and students are expected to demonstrate a degree of digital fluency when it comes to creative higher order skills. Students in particular are being encouraged to move beyond a consumer model of education and instead co-create their learning experiences while as educators we are being told we should provide opportunities for our students to demonstrate multiple means of action, expression and communication.

The Digital Media Creator (DMC) Program

In EdTech our response to the need for more more creativity in the classroom and online has been to offer a program of professional development which we call Digital Media Creator. There are six modules: one a month from September through to March, focusing on creative practices such as podcasting, video production, screencasting and using cartoons/comics in teaching. We also offer an intensive DMC ‘boot camp’ where we cover all six modules in one week around NID time in early May. Each session is 90 mins long with an additional 30 mins “stay and play.” We aim to create an informal, stimulating and supportive learning environment in which to develop your creative skills, and we help you to create digital artefacts that you can use in your teaching. While we encourage you to sign up for all six modules you can also sign up for them individually depending on your interests and skill levels if you wish. Spots fill up quickly so you need to move fast!

References:

Adobe (2014) ‘Study reveals students lack the necessary skills for success.’ https://blogs.adobe.com/education/2014/09/29/study-reveals-students-lack-the-necessary-skills-for-success/ (retrieved September 04, 2019)

Churches, Andrew (2008) Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228381038_Bloom’s_Digital_Taxonomy (retrieved September 6, 2019)

Davies, Lucy M and Newton, Lynn (2018) ‘Creativity is a human quality that exists in every single one of us.’ https://theconversation.com/creativity-is-a-human-quality-that-exists-in-every-single-one-of-us-92053 (retrieved September 5, 2019)

Lunch and Learn with Lynda.com

September 19, 2018February 24, 2023 Ari Crossby

Lynda.com (by LinkedIn Learning) is an online library of over 6,000 instructional videos organized in over 2000 courses covering a wide range of business, creative and professional skills. Taught by accomplished teachers and industry experts Lynda.com is a high quality resource for students, faculty and staff looking to develop skills in Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, project management, social media and many other areas.

EdTech are offering the following sessions in the EdTech Lab and online via Zoom. The sessions will be facilitated by Lindsey Mussack from Lynda.com/LinkedIn.

Lunch and Learn with Lynda 1: Getting to know Lynda.com Friday October 19, 12.30-1.00 p.m.

Lunch and Learn with Lynda 2: Improve your Office 365 skills Friday October 26, 12.30-1.00 p.m.

Lunch and Learn with Lynda 3: Mapping content to your Brightspace courses Friday November 2, 12.30-1.00 p.m.

Bring your lunch and we’ll provide the snacks and inspiration!

To sign up to attend the sessions in person in the EdTech Lab click on the links above.

If you would like to attend the sessions remotely let us know in the comments below and we will send you the URL for the Zoom room.

Screencasting: Engaging learners with multimodalities

May 2, 2017March 13, 2024 Ari Crossby

Screencasting involves the use of software to record the screen of your computer (or mobile device) while you narrate over the recording. It is an effective way to offer multiple representations of information (images, text, video, audio etc.) in order to widen access to learning. Making a screencast is relatively easy and requires technology that most of us have access to. The completed file can easily be shared via learning platforms such as Kaltura, Brightspace or iWeb. They are great fun to create and you can invest as much or as little time as you want to produce either a professional quality screencast or one that may not be quite as slick but is perfectly acceptable for teaching and learning.

Ed Tech can support your efforts whether you are a first-timer or seasoned screencaster. We run regular workshops (the next one is on Tuesday May 30th – sign up here), we have produced a Little Guide to Screencasting and we can provide you with one-to-one support and advice on the best software and microphones to use, the planning process and how to share your screencast with your students.
Some great resources that cover screencasting in education are available, my personal favourite being Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Screencasting and Screen Recording in the Classroom.

Screencasting is a great way to make learning more fun, engaging and accessible. Whether you want to create a mini-lecture, demonstrate how a piece of software works or give assignment feedback, you are helping to ensure your students learn from a variety of presentation methods which will be beneficial to their learning. And why not tap into your students’ creativity by getting them to create a screencast as part of their coursework?