Online Faculty Resources

New OLE coming soon – self-paced migration underway

IL — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:24:23 +0000

The CU Boulder campus is in the process of transitioning our online learning environment from Blackboard (known on campus as CULearn) to Desire2Learn or D2L.

Independent Learning is taking advantage of this transition to revise and update all of our online courses to take full advantage of this new tool and to align with our new quality standards. We have begun the self-paced migration process and soon our first new D2L courses will be open and ready for new students. The majority of Independent Learning term-based courses will be moved and updated during the Fall 2011 term and will be opened in D2L in Spring 2012.

We are currently developing training resources and workshops. We will make online resources available here as they are developed. A few of instructors were able to take advantage of our invitation to join us at the upcoming D2L Fusion conference in Denver this June. The COLTT conference in Boulder this August is another opportunity to learn more about D2L and teaching with technology.

If you would like to begin exploring the functionality and options available in D2L you should join the Desire2Learn Online Community maintained by the LMS developers and available only to D2L clients. You will need to use a colorado.edu email address to join this community. Look for the enrollment link near the top right of their website to join. https://community.desire2learn.com/index.asp

CU Boulder is also hosting their own D2L Community Exchange which is the easiest way to get immediate access to an example D2L course. The Community Exchange is intended to serve as a best practices community for faculty to share their experiences teaching with technology. Independent Learning will be posting resources and helping develop the online community exchange; we hope you decide to participate.

D2L Community Exchange members have access to:
· a forum for members to exchange tips for using Desire2Learn and suggestions for best use practices
· news about Desire2Learn updates, webinars, conferences and related topics
· links to training videos
· articles on pedagogy and best practices for setting up and maintaining your course

To join the community, email Mitzy Forbes at mitzy.forbes@colorado.edu and include your Department and Identikey name.

Protected: Accessibility Reminders from Disability Services

IL — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:24:41 +0000

Authentic Tasks in Web-Based Learning Environments

IL — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 21:59:49 +0000

Students at every level commonly complain that they do not perceive the relevance of the academic learning tasks assigned. If the learning tasks are authentic, then students can make direct connections between the new material and their prior experience. They can also apply the new learning to their current practice and future activities.

Characteristics of Authentic Activity
In describing the characteristics of authentic activities, different scholars have delineated them in different ways. Herrington, Oliver, and Reeves conducted a rigorous literature review related to these characteristics and identified 10 key characteristics of authentic activities.

Authentic activities

Have real-world relevance.
Are ill-defined, requiring students to define the tasks and subtasks needed to complete the activity.
Comprise complex tasks to be investigated by students over a sustained period of time.
Provide the opportunity for students to examine the task from different perspectives, using a variety of resources.
Provide the opportunity to collaborate.
Provide the opportunity to reflect.
Can be integrated and applied across different subject areas and lead beyond domain-specific outcomes.
Are seamlessly integrated with assessment.
Create polished products valuable in their own right rather than as preparation for something else.
Allow competing solutions and diverse outcomes.
Authentic activities that encompass these 10 characteristics facilitate group work. Within a learning environment built around authentic activities, students have their own roles similar to those found in a real-world team at work, at play, or in other collaborative social contexts. The instructor acts as a coach and facilitator, supporting students as they accomplish authentic tasks.

Visit Educause.com for more information.

Teaching Metacognition

IL — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 05:07:42 +0000

As educators we tend to focus on teaching students “content,” but we also want to help students develop as learners. Metacognition—thinking about one’s own thinking and reflecting on one’s own learning—is essential to achieving both goals, and yet instructors often feel they lack time or expertise to teach their students metacognitive skills. Learn more in this 60 minute video featuring Marsha Lovett’s popular session from a 2008 Educause Learning Initiative web seminar.

Marsha Lovett
Associate Research Professor, Department of Psychology and Associate Director, Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence, Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Lovett’s slides and a podcast of her presentation can be accessed via the conference website.

Summary of Marsha Lovett’s presentation written by Carol Ormand

IL Faculty Meet & Greet

IL — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 02:32:48 +0000

On January 26th the IL team is holding an informal get together for all Independent Learning faculty. We have reserved the Great Room from 4-6 and have invited all faculty to attend if possible. For those instructors who are not physically able to attend, we will provide a synchronous online tool such as Skype to allow for real-time interaction with their online teaching colleagues.
IL faculty have been asking for this opportunity to meet with their peers to exchange ideas, stories and best practices; we hope this meeting will be the first in a series of networking and professional development opportunities available to our faculty. We intend to follow up this first informal get-together with a hands-on workshop in late Spring focused on using lecture capture technologies to enhance the online course experience. Each Fall we will encourage and sponsor all interested faculty to attend the Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference on the Boulder campus.
On January 26th the IL team is holding an informal get together for all Independent Learning faculty. We have reserved the Great Room from 4-6 and have invited all faculty to attend if possible. For those instructors who are not physically able to attend, we will provide a synchronous online tool such as Skype to allow for real-time interaction with their online teaching colleagues.
IL faculty have been asking for this opportunity to meet with their peers to exchange ideas, stories and best practices; we hope this meeting will be the first in a series of networking and professional development opportunities available to our faculty. We intend to follow up this first informal get-together with a hands-on workshop in late Spring focused on using lecture capture technologies to enhance the online course experience. Each Fall we will encourage and sponsor all interested faculty to attend the Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference on the Boulder campus.

CU Boulder Discrimination and Harassment Online Training

IL — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 02:58:07 +0000

As of August 9, 2010, the Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH) mandatory training is offered in an online format through SkillSoft (formerly SkillPort). Faculty, staff, and student employees can all take the online training, either for their initial Discrimination and Harassment training as a new employee or for their five year refresher training. Employees must be set up in HRMS in order to take the training.

This online training is replacing our on-site training sessions. However, if you have been instructed to attend an ODH training during orientation, please be sure to attend that on-site training. Additionally, if you want to request an on-site or customized training for your department, or if you have questions about the online training, please contact Megan Rowland at 303-492-2797.

Instructions on how to access the CU Boulder Discrimination and Harassment online training:

Logon to your campus employee CU Connect portal (https://cuconnect.colorado.edu)

Go to the MyCU Links box, click the Training link to access the MyCU portal

Click the MY.TRAINING tab

Click, Click here for SkillSoft – CU’s Online Learning and also CU’s Instructor Led Training

Click Catalog

Click CU Courses to view the expandable folder structure

Click the Human Resources folder

Click the course title, Discrimination and Harassment–CU Boulder, then [Launch]

**Please note: All CU Boulder employees are required to take the Discrimination and Harassment training course within the first 30 days of employment with the Boulder campus, and all CU Boulder faculty members must complete the training within their first semester of employment. After completing this initial training, all employees and faculty members are required to take a Discrimination and Harassment training at least once every five years, although some departments require employees to complete the training more frequently. If you have completed an on-site training in the past five years, you do not need to take the online training course until your five years has expired.

Discrimination and Harassment Training Requirements

Reporting an Honor Code Violation

IL — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 03:18:47 +0000

In the case where a faculty member believes that a violation of the Honor Code may have occurred, the University Community expects the faculty member will either choose to confront the student(s) personally, or may instead choose to delegate the responsibility for assessing whether the alleged violation has actually occurred to the Honor Council.

If the student denies responsibility for the alleged violation, the faculty member is expected to submit an accusation report form to the Honor Council, which will initiate an investigation and hearing as detailed in the Honor Code Bylaws

It is also possible that a student may submit an accusation report form to a faculty member or speak with a faculty member regarding a suspected violation. If this occurs it is expected the faculty member will either confront the alleged violator or forward the accusation to the Honor Code Office who will investigate it further.

The Honor Code strongly recommends that faculty members who submit an accusation report form attend the hearing of the accused student. This greatly reduces ambiguity during the hearing and consistently increases faculty satisfaction with our process.

http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/facultyinfo/accusations.htm