Now more than ever, students are choosing to take their courses online, often enticed by access, flexibility, and the desire to continue their studies while working and raising families. As institutions and individual faculty members, we can collectively respond to this trend with well-designed courses that are delivered in engaging ways and that leverage evidence-based pedagogies for the virtual learning environment. During this workshop, specific approaches to structuring online courses that align with best practices for quality online teaching are shared. These approaches traverse Learning Management Systems such as Canvas, Blackboard, and D2L. Through hands-on activities, participants are exposed to examples and models that highlight several relevant and engaging delivery methods. The workshop ends with a summary of the next steps via an action plan that details what faculty can specifically do to develop their online courses.
Through four separate workshop modules, participants gain knowledge and skills to build their own HyFlex course using specific learning theories, instructional design models, and assessment frameworks that align with the flexible course modality. This workshop is designed for HyFlex beginners, but will be differentiated to also provide valuable insights to instructors who are already implementing the course modality. The goal of the workshop is to equip participants so they leave confident and satisfied they can effectively and efficiently implement HyFlex within their own courses.
During this webinar, the Research Institute at Dallas College brings together faculty, staff, and administrators to explore how data dashboards can help build a data-informed culture, communicate actionable research results throughout an institution, and guide strategies at every level, from classroom instruction to executive leadership. The facilitators share best practices for dashboard users and creators (no research experience required!) and provide robust tools that participants can use at their own institutions. Within the spotlight topic of an institution’s value proposition to its students, we’ll highlight key findings on academic and career pathways, as well as the financial return on investment to students. We’ll present interactive dashboards that help practitioners easily digest complex data and customize their analyses in a way that is most useful in their work as instructors and/or academic leadership.
This webinar demonstrates the urgent need for enhancing excellence in higher education in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants learn how to outreach more effectively to a diverse array of persons and institutions, including: Students, families, administrators, politicians, businesses, and citizens. Community college educators are highly trained professionals whose expertise enhances the citizen skill base and their understanding of the function and value of democracy in a civil society. It is vital to communicate the urgent need for narrative and funding support to ensure the success of community colleges.
Students in online courses often don't have the option to interact live with instructors and other students. With more students taking online courses in the post-COVID era, creating opportunities for such interaction becomes problematic. To address this issue, I have used the free GroupMe app to engage in weekly chat sessions with students in my online courses. With this app, students in a particular class can interact with one another and the instructor through text messaging, a communication format that they are comfortable using. The GroupMe app has a polling feature, which can be used to ask students questions regarding the weekly reading assignments. Through the app, the instructor can post links to a Google Jamboard or a Padlet, where students can post written responses to an instructor's questions. Instructors can post links to Kahoot and Quizizz and allow students to compete for points by answering multiple-choice questions.
