Not familiar with Kaltura or My Media? Kaltura is a streaming video service that can adapt video playback quality to the needs of your students. It can play in HD when available or scale down media on the fly to support mobile users on shaky internet connections. It supports basic recording, machine captioning, adds a layer of security to your videos, and even lets you make some simple edits to your videos after you upload them! Weʻve created this Kaltura My Media Student Support Guide you can share when you use these features in your courses.

To get started, students can simply upload their media files using the “Add New” button they will find in My Media from their Brightspace by D2L home page:

and then

Media stored here can easily be used in any D2L course via “Insert Stuff”

Simple recording features are easy to access and use too!

We also have equipment check out  available for students needing webcams, microphones, tripods, etc. from our libraries at each campus.

Students have access to Kaltura My Media across all of their courses within Brightspace by D2L. Anyone needing further assistance or one on one support can contact our Student Help Desk.

That’s the basic overview of helping students get started with Kaltura My Media. If you are wondering how this might be used with students in your specific curriculum, reach out to your local campus Instructional Technology Specialist. Also, check out our Faculty Training Workshop schedule for upcoming Kaltura sessions.

This request resonated with both of us, as we and the entire Online Learning team know that we’re all working hard on BIG changes through a holistic span of initiatives that include department growth and governance, student support, course quality and design, Improved faculty on-boarding in a full training redesign, expansion of our Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS) support team, and growth in both administrative and innovative instructional technology teams, all our efforts aligning with system wide strategic plans. We’re proud to work on the “big stuff” of Online Learning’s system design to offer a solid framework for faculty to share their excellence in little, manageable ways with our students.

With so many ways to continuously improve our practice and service, we all want to focus on higher-quality interactions, not more work. In this spirit, I approached team Online Learning to glean a shortlist of some of the little things that matter so much. We’re sure this is in no way an exhaustive list, and I want to take a moment here to thank my experienced colleagues for sharing their collective wisdom. We also want to acknowledge that there is a lot of good going on! We hear the positive feedback of our students too, and some of these tips echo the little things they commonly share that support their learning journeys:

• Bookmark this page and when you are working in BrightSpace, save often. – Melany
• Create learning objectives that are immediately relevant to learners, that are stated in language that learners can understand, and that describe performances that learners can be expected to carry out at a job or in some other “real world” context. It’s not enough to know stuff – learners need to know the immediate relevance of what they are learning. Students usually need to be given the challenge of DOING something before they will undertake the hard work of learning the skills and knowledge that underpin the doing. – Peter
• Use Item Descriptions. That short blurb you can add to an item in a module by choosing  ” Edit Properties In-place.” They help students understand “what” they are clicking on and “why” you think it is important. I love them as vital road signs in the course that help students know where they are and how to get to the next place. And you can even add an icon if appropriate to help students make visual connections to the same type of content. Modules that are just a long list of item names feel naked (and less welcoming)!- Emma
• Communicate often and honestly. Can’t get all the assignments graded as soon as you hoped you would? Email your students and let them know you are working on it and need extra time to give them substantive feedback. Most will be happy to wait for higher quality feedback and they’ll be happy (often surprised) you reached out.- Heather
• Use consistent naming structures for everything, and when you’re creating new pages, don’t start from scratch-  search for a template to begin from. Here, for example, is an accessible syllabus template. We have more within Brightspace.- Michael
• When you have a challenge, use the search tool at PCC.edu to find information first. Many times our support pages will come up at the top of a Google Search, but this assures that you get system-specific support when it’s available. – Brian
• When search doesn’t work for you, reach out to our Instructional Technical Support Specialist team. They are our front line connection to a deep faculty support net that helps you focus your time on teaching, not technology. You can also reach them at dlhelp@pcc.edu. – The entire ITS team
• Use the Brightspace Calendar that connects with Pulse- the mobile app to help students stay on track. – Andy
• Don’t use Word docs to present module content- copy and paste into the Brightspace editor. Having layout issues? Reach out to an ITS member, they’ve probably seen the issue before and can give you situated feedback. – Casey
• Also, when you make a change in your course or content, always quickly use the “Student View” feature of Brightspace to verify that the changes you intend to make are what your learners will see. – Casey

This list is rich, and I wonder were I to pose the same question to you as faculty, what would you say? What is the one little thing you do that always gives you a high return on your investment of time and teaching? There are so many ways to pick just one little thing to improve your practice with students! We are a team of colleagues all dedicated to continuously increasing student success, and we hope this list helps you feel both inspired to find just one little thing to do, and better connected to our incredible support team that’s got your back every step of the way.

As we all engage in service that aligns with primary college goals, the CTLE can be a focusing resource to find out what professional development is available along our continuous improvement journey.��The CTLE continues to support our long-standing signature programs Teaching Week and The Andersen Conference, while also offering an ongoing program of professional learning opportunities with college and community partners.

Going forward, this blog will be expanding to proudly include topics and writers from the CTLE – weʻre excited to have them on board next term, and look forward to increasing opportunities for collaboration.

We invited the PCC community to join us with the Peralta Community College District’s Online Equity Team, for their first Online Equity Conference that took place virtually from April 21 to April 23, 2021. We welcomed equity-minded students, educators, staff and leaders who represent colleges, universities, non-profit organizations and vendors from all around the world. Our equity goals are 1) to increase the visibility of all efforts to increase learning equity in higher education and 2) to bring together institutions that want to share and adopt equitable practices for all online students globally.

If you have questions about this prior event, feel free to contact us with any questions at equity@peralta.edu.��

Best wishes,
Peralta Equity Team & PCC Online Learning

This post is preserved for archiving purposes. For further information on upcoming professional development events please contact your Instructional Technology Specialist at a campus near you.

Online Learning Faculty Summit

• Friday, May 3, 2019 Cascade Campus
• 8 AM Registration & breakfast, 1st floor Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building
• 9 AM – 4:20 PM Keynote, student panel, breakout sessions
• 4:30 PM – 7 PM Dinner reception and DJ Fun-Fun!
• Don’t miss our keynote, guests, and faculty and staff facilitating the breakout sessions!

Keynote Speaker – Kari Frisch

eLearning Coordinator and Communication Instructor at Central Lakes College in Brainerd, Minnesota

“Teaching to the first degree equals learning to the infinite!” Kari has been teaching for 18 years, helped develop a grass-roots online course peer review process, and led the Center for Teaching & Learning. Frisch sees educational connections in terms of relatable distances or “degrees” from one’s own place in the world. The further away a concept is from a student’s current experience/knowledge, the less personal it seems and the more steps (degrees) needed for that student to make the connection. Join Kari as we explore personalized approaches and inclusive teaching techniques to elevate the power of both the teaching and learning experience. Come gather methods, examples, and tools for this inspired model leaving you with your own first degree knowledge of how to generate “learning to the infinite.”

Guest- Dr. Kirsten Butcher

Dr. Kirsten Butcher is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Utah.

Kirsten also directs the Center for the Advancement of Technology in Education (CATE) in the College of Education. Her research interests include use of visual representations and interactive media to support high-level cognitive processes, effective learning outcomes, and positive learner experiences with technology. She teaches a broad array of courses, including technology in the classroom, learning science, human/computer interaction and advanced instructional design. Sessions: Quizzes for Deep Learning followed by an optional hands-on lab session.

Guest- Barry Dahl

Barry Dahl is the Teaching & Learning Advocate at D2L

Prior to joining D2L, Barry worked as an independent contractor and consultant with a focus on e-Learning and educational technology. Prior to that, he served as the Vice President of Technology and Lake Superior Connect e-Campus at Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minnesota where he was the senior administrator in charge of online learning. Sessions: Using Brightspace Tools to Increase Student Engagement and Instructor Presence and 10 Bright Ideas to Make BrightSpace More Accessible.

Guest- Jane Mathers

Jane Mather is a Solutions Engineer at D2L

Jane has worked in digital solutions for higher education for nearly 15 years. Jane has a passion for helping educators understand how and why how to use Brightspace inside and outside the classroom. Session: Using the Rubrics Tool in Brightspace and Going Mobile with Brightspace.