Professional Development – Online Learning /online Wed, 25 Feb 2026 20:44:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Late work that actually works /online/2022/06/late-work-that-actually-works/ /online/2022/06/late-work-that-actually-works/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2022 13:33:55 +0000 /online/?p=13925 How to approach late work with students in online classes is a topic I’ve discussed many times with my colleagues. My own thoughts and practices around late work have changed significantly over the years.

What have I tried?

  • No late work unless extenuating circumstances (this hurt completion and morale).
  • 50% deduction for work submitted up to a week late (students seemed to think it wasn’t worth doing the late work).
  • 10% deduction for work submitted up to a week late (this did work better because a 90% was still possible).
  • No due dates at all, but I kept suggested due dates (this worked for some students, but many students fell really far behind and tried to do seven weeks of work in the last two weeks of the term).

One of the questions that has guided my thinking is this: “is submitting the work ‘on time’ more important than submitting the work?” I teach because I love to see students learn and grow, not because I like to micromanage due dates.

I understand the argument of teaching students to manage their time and be accountable for deadlines because that’s an important workplace skill. But I’m a professional in the workplace, and I don’t get everything done by every deadline all the time.

As an instructor I had to ask myself, do I always return grades and provide feedback by the time I say I will? Honestly, no. Sometimes my daughter gets sick and my schedule is thrown by a day or two. Sometimes an unexpected need for a committee or project pops up and I fall a little behind on grading. In these situations I expect grace from my students. So I believe that I should extend grace to students who also need it.

I’m going to share the most current iteration of my late work policy. And I invite you to share yours in the comments, and offer me some new ways of thinking about my policy.

What does my syllabus say?

Unit reflections and homework assignments can be submitted up to one week late without any deduction- no questions asked and no judgment given! Assignment folders close at 11:59pm one week after the due date. Discussions must be completed on time, and the final reflection cannot be submitted late because it’s due in finals week.

What does my policy look like in practice?

The day after an assignment was due (Monday morning), I go into the grade book and enter a 0 (or the word “Ignored” because I use contract grading). I then add a note like this:

“Oops- looks like you didn’t get a chance to submit this assignment. But don’t worry! You have until 4/24 at 11:59pm to submit this assignment- no questions asked! Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

What if a student needs even more time? I extend extra grace when needed. Sometimes a student needs an extra day or two, and that’s okay with me. If a student wants to do the work, and I think that the assignment deepens their learning, then a little extra time seems like a valuable way to support learning and equitable student success.

I do have a creative (unadvertised) way for students to make up a missed discussion, and I offer that to any student who needs to get caught up as we enter the last third of the term. Most students take me up on it, which means they got yet another important opportunity to engage with our course content.

How has this approach been working?

Really well! Most students end up submitting their work within just a couple of days after I notify them via the grade book that they can still submit an assignment. Completion is up – I see students persisting in the class more than I did with my previous policies.

I also have received notes from students thanking me for the reminder and ability to submit the assignment late. And overall, I find that students are more likely to reach out via email when they have a question about completing their late work. That open dialogue between us makes such a difference.

I’m happy with my current policy because I can be empathic and show grace while having a schedule and structure for completing coursework. But will I change my late work policy in the future? Probably. I’m always looking for ways to grow and do better for my students.

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Warm Demander Pedagogy /online/2022/02/warm-demander-pedagogy/ /online/2022/02/warm-demander-pedagogy/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2022 17:24:09 +0000 /online/?p=13722 sheet music
My voice quavered as I responded to Dr. Barr, my freshman class music theory professor. “Eh? You’d like me to sight-sing this line of notes in front of my classmates? As in ٴ--Ѿ…?” I had never even heard of “solfege” before, at least nothing beyond “Doe, a deer…” popularized by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. Dr. Barr, was not a warm and fuzzy fellow, quite the opposite of Maria, perhaps more like Captain Von Trapp. Clearly, running out of the classroom was not an option for me, nor was taking a pass, but somehow he earned my trust to lead me through that vulnerable moment without intimidation, and I grew to love his class.

Iris taken with UV and infrared film

Image licensed CC-BY-SA 3.0 David Kennard

“Why do you approach this research with such hesitancy? Such timidness?” Such were the words of my 400-level botany professor, Dr. Meese, spoken in a moment of frustration to the whole class in his thick German accent. The Reproductive Biology of Flowers was truly a fascinating course, and I gradually found myself following the lead of Dr. Meese, diving into close-up UV photography of irises scattered around the University of Washington campus, deeply intrigued that those fat furry bumblebees could visualize those attractive runways in ways that eluded my human sight.

These are among the professors I remember when asked to think of an educator who inspired a leap to a new level, someone who broadened my capacity for growth in an area I barely knew existed. Who are the educators who inspired you to new heights?

I think of Dr. Barr and Dr. Meese as “warm demanders” in a sense. Though not warm and fuzzy, they were not without compassion. Had I known what they were doing, I would have realized they were not trying to be rigid and inflexible. In their own way, they were showing compassion while at the same time providing an opportunity for me to engage in productive struggle, a necessary path toward moving from a dependent learner to an independent learner.

Leaning into productive struggle

Michelle Pacansky-Brock defines warm demander pedagogy as a culturally responsive teaching approach that creates opportunities for students to engage in productive struggle through engaging in challenging tasks, and this helps students develop from dependent into independent learners. She goes on to assert that all humans begin as dependent learners, and students who are poor and people of color are less likely to have had the privilege to be challenged in their educational experiences through productive struggle, which means they are more likely to be dependent learners.

Coach offering help

Photo by Julia Larson, Pexels

It is precisely the productive struggle I experienced in the aforementioned classes that allowed me to engage and challenge myself, and struggle, but this is not the first step. Warm demander pedagogy and creating those opportunities for “productive struggle” is rooted in a strategy Pacansky-Brock refers to as “care and push.” The foundation for this is the building of trust in the instructor-student relationship. As Pacansky-Brock explains, “once a student knows you care about them and that you believe in them, they lean in. They challenge themselves. That’s when a student can flourish and reach their full intellectual potential.” I’m personally drawn to this image that a student will “lean in” and accept more challenge after gaining trust in the instructor.

Among the key characteristics of warm demander pedagogy is the need to express concern for students, not through passive sympathy, but by demanding a high quality of academic work. One of the main concerns we often have about showing compassion and some flexibility with our students in terms of deadlines, for example, is the fear that our expectations will diminish, that our courses will become less rigorous. Yet one of the pillars of the warm demander approach is that we challenge our students, all students, that we give them the opportunities for productive struggle essential in the path to become independent learners. Denying some students of this challenge denies them an opportunity for growth.

In discussing culturally relevant pedagogy, Gloria Ladson-Billings puts it this way…

Professor guiding student in the library

Photo by Cottonbro, Pexels

“Culturally relevant teachers envision their students as being filled with possibilities. They imagine that somewhere in the classroom is the next Nobel laureate (a Toni Morrison), the next neurosurgeon (a Benjamin Carson), or the next pioneer for social justice (a Fannie Lou Hamer). The perspective moves the teachers from a position of sympathy (“you poor dear”) to one of informed empathy. This informed empathy requires the teacher to feel with the students rather than feel for them. Feeling with the students builds a sense of solidarity between the teacher and the students but does not excuse students from working hard in pursuit of excellence.” (White Teachers/Diverse Classrooms, p. 31)

The last phrase of that quote is the most revealing for us as educators. Indeed, the key principles of warm demander pedagogy used to develop intellectual abilities in dependent learners through cognitive struggle are perhaps best summarized by Pacansky-Brock in this intricate flow of “care and push.” A warm demander…

  • Expresses personal warmth vs. impersonal professionalism
  • Prioritizes building rapport and trust
  • Clearly communicates high standards and scaffolds learning
  • Shows personal regard for students
  • Earns the right to demand engagement and effort
  • Encourages and celebrates productive struggle

What about rigor?

What does this mean in terms of course rigor? Indeed, showing informed empathy, personal warmth, and compassion should not be equated with lowering our standards or less rigor. The warm demander approach starts with trust, proceeds with building the relationship, and at that point students will more readily engage with the challenge.

Viewing a climbing challenge

Photo by Allan Mas, Pexels

Thinking back to my own situation, what was it about the teaching of my professors, Dr. Barr and Dr. Meese that allowed me, actually inspired me to “lean in,” to accept the challenge, and to do so with passion, not only because a grade was at stake? What inspires you to “lean in?”

In my attempts to apply these strategies to my own teaching, I have not found the perfect balance of compassion, trust, relationship building and flexibility that always leads to student engagement. I think this pathway to engagement and the readiness to lean into productive struggle is highly individualized. A viable approach is to design what we think could be the most effective path toward this goal, but then be keenly aware of where our students are at, focus on trust, relationship building, and engagement, and then be prepared to to make small adjustments along the way.

Our students may not be ready to climb every mountain, but they will be leaning in more often to productive struggle along the path toward becoming independent learners. If there are warm demander strategies that have worked for you, please share!

Acknowledgement

Many of the ideas shared in this are based on the research of Michelle Pacansky-Brock, Faculty Mentor for the California Community Colleges CVC-OEI/@ONE. Michelle’s work focuses largely on humanized online instruction, and you’ll find a link to her full workshop presentation below. (If you can find the time, focus on the first 45 minutes.)

Resources for Further Exploration

  • , Michelle Pacansky-Brock, from the series “Fall Into Humanized Online Teaching: A Pathway to Equity, Fall 2021 ()
  • , Marcee Harris, The Chalk Blog, Mar 30, 2018.
  • Krysti Ryan, Kathryn Boucher, Christine Logel, & Mary Murphy, College Transition Collaborative, (See the final FAQ section Do student centered policies sacrifice rigor?)
  • White Teachers/Diverse Classrooms, A Guide to Building Inclusive Schools, Promoting High Expectations, and Eliminating Racism, Chance Lewis and Julie Landsman, editors, 2006.
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Welcome and thank you, CTLE! /online/2021/12/welcome-and-thank-you-ctle/ Mon, 06 Dec 2021 18:00:20 +0000 /online/?p=13506 At the beginning of Fall term ’21 our Teaching and Learning Centers (TLCʻs) at each campus became part of a district-wide unified Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) at PCC. Anne Gray, Ed. D. and Samm Erikson are currently serving as our inaugural CTLE coordinators.

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.

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Leveraging D2L/Brightspace to Enhance Equity in Your Course: Part 4 – Consistency Continued /online/2021/11/leveraging-d2l-brightspace-to-enhance-equity-in-your-course-part-4-consistency-continued/ Mon, 15 Nov 2021 22:50:43 +0000 /online/?p=13462 view of a labyrinth or maze from above

Last week we shared some tips on how to improve your course organization by creating consistency within modules and naming conventions and by using dates on assigned materials. This week we share a few more ideas on how to improve consistency and navigation in your course.

Why target the LMS?

D2L Brightspace is the common denominator among almost every course offered at PCC. We are all using the LMS for, at the bare minimum, grade reporting, and PCC offers support to faculty who are using and learning D2L for online teaching.

In a recent survey given by the Online Student Services Team, students were asked “What has made you feel successful in one of your classes?”. The overwhelming majority of responses related to course organization. It was clear that courses with consistent organization and a clear schedule with a consistent rhythm to each week provided the most support for student success.

Why not meet students where they are at? Below, we give some tried and true ways you can use the tools in D2L/Brightspace to improve the organization and consistency of your course.

Course introduction video

Provide an overview video with a “tour” of how to navigate your course in D2L. What you think is intuitive may not be. Some things to include in your overview video are:

  • Here’s the syllabus, here’s why it is important
  • Here’s the gradebook and how to read it from the student view
  • Assignments are due every Monday…
  • Here’s how the units, weeks, etc. are organized
  • Here is the list of required course materials
  • Here’s how to contact me

Check out Media Options from Instructional Support for more information on making a course introduction video. Record your screencast using the student view in D2L so it looks the same as their experience.

Checklists

There is a checklist tool in D2L that has the ability to link to assignments, quizzes, and most other content in your course. Students can check off what they have done in that week or module. If you are linking to publisher content and are unable to add due dates to assignments, you can put the assignments in a checklist to help students know when they are due. Read more from D2L/Brightspace on the .

The screenshot below shows detail of the student view of a checklist in a module in D2L. Students can see a progress bar (1), can checkboxes for the items they have completed (2), and can follow hyperlinks to the activities in the list (3).

Screenshot of checklist in D2L from student view. A box highlights the progress bar showing 25% complete with a number 1 next to the box. Another box highlighting the box checked in front of a list item with a number 2 by the box. A last box highlighting hyperlinks to graded activities with a number 3 next to it.

Below are some ways you can use checklists in your course.

  • Use in each module in the course
  • Create module introductions and conclusions with written checklists using “Create a file”
  • Create a PDF with a checklist of important dates for the entire course

Organize your Gradebook

You can improve the transparency of your expectations for graded work in your course by using some of the gradebook tools in D2L. The gradebook is one area for which the Faculty Help Desk gets many calls. We know the gradebook tools aren’t always self-explanatory, so we hope these ideas help you create consistency and clarity for students around graded work. First and foremost, make sure all graded work is represented in the gradebook in D2L before the start of class so your students don’t have any surprises. The following resources will help you get your gradebook set up before the term starts.

  • Choose how you are going to set up the gradebook, you can use .
  • Set the course grade to show from the start so students know where they are throughout the course. There are a lot of nuances with this step so take your time and call an ITS if you need guidance.
  • to the gradebook

This wraps up our focus on how to create consistency in your course using tools in D2L. We would love to hear how you create consistency in your course. Please share your ideas and questions below. In our next installment, we will be sharing tools in D2L to help you reduce bias in grading.

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Leveraging D2L/Brightspace to Enhance Equity in Your Course: Part 3 of 6 /online/2021/11/leveraging-d2l-brightspace-to-enhance-equity-in-your-course-part-3-of-6/ /online/2021/11/leveraging-d2l-brightspace-to-enhance-equity-in-your-course-part-3-of-6/#comments Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:52:04 +0000 /online/?p=13421 Leveraging D2L/Brightspace to Enhance Equity in Your Course: Part 3 – Be Consistent (your course is not as intuitive as you think it is)
view of a labyrinth or maze from above

Image courtesy of pixabay.com

Why enhance equity?

One of the priorities of the strategic plan is Belonging:

Create a sense of belonging in our learning environment as a college priority, and as a key factor in equitable student success.

In our last blog post, we offered some suggestions for using rubrics in D2L to enhance equity. This week we will explore how course organization and consistency can be used to reduce cognitive load and enhance equity.

Good teaching = inclusive teaching.

Why target the LMS?

Students at PCC in 2021 reported high importance and low satisfaction with the consistency in the quality of instruction from one online course to another. We can use the tools in D2L Brightspace to address consistency and quality very easily. Additionally, leveraging the LMS is a low cost, high impact strategy for faculty to save time and energy in delivering consistency and reducing cognitive load.

Editor’s note: Our students have also indicated many times that they prefer consistent navigation and layout in online courses.

The approach

A simple definition of cognitive load is the amount of information being processed in a person’s working memory at a given time. Generally speaking, if your students spend a lot of time finding content in D2L, trying to decipher instructions for assignments, or finding their grades, there is less cognitive “bandwidth” for understanding new information. You can make intentional decisions about course organization that will reduce cognitive load no matter your skill level with D2L.

Here are a few suggestions for reducing cognitive load through consistent course organization.

Weekly or module structure

Create a weekly or module structure to organize content items in sequential order. We recommend chronological order. Additionally, avoid using sub-modules. A module or weekly structure may include:

  • Learn (lectures, readings, articles, notes, video)
  • Connect (discussions, low stakes questions, journaling prompts)
  • Demonstrate (graded assignments, low stakes practice, labs)
  • Feedback

This can be especially helpful to new students and .

Naming conventions

Create meaningful names for your content items and repeat the conventions throughout the course. For example, if you have weekly discussions, you could name them Week # Discussion: Topic. (i.e., Week 5 Discussion: Igneous Rock Formations in the Columbia River Gorge). When you create the gradebook item for a graded activity, give it the same name (or as close as possible) so students aren’t confused about what grade goes with which activity.

Put dates on everything

Adding a start date, end date, or due date to assignments, quizzes, or discussions will automatically add the item to the course calendar. The calendar is an often-overlooked tool in D2L that can save you time answering questions about when things are due, and can give students a sense of autonomy and control over their schoolwork. Take time at the start of the term to show your students how to adjust the and how they can access content and assignments from the calendar. Include reminders for long term projects to break them into pieces – first draft, peer review, editing, etc.

Editor’s note: You don’t need to add start/end dates to every file in the content module though. Focus on the important activities

student view of calendar with daily detail on the left hand side and the month fo November on the right. there are blue dots on the monthly calndear to show when items are due.

Here are some resources for adding dates to content items in your D2L course.

We hope you are enjoying our series on how to use the tools in D2L to enhance equity in your course. We love your feedback and want to hear what you think! Please share a comment below to get the conversation started.

References:

  1. Wyatt, MA/MFA, PhD, C. S. (2020, April 14). ONLINE EDUCATION & AUTISM. Organization for Autism Research; Organization for Autism Research.
  2. Sweller , J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011).Cognitive Load Theory. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8126-4
  3. From the presentation by Amy Ort given at the Peralta Online Equity Conference on April 23, 2021,
  4. Day, Alyson. (2021). .
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Leveraging D2L/Brightspace to Enhance Equity in Your Course: Part 2 of 6 /online/2021/11/leveraging-d2l-brightspace-to-enhance-equity-in-your-course-part-2-of-6/ /online/2021/11/leveraging-d2l-brightspace-to-enhance-equity-in-your-course-part-2-of-6/#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2021 16:18:51 +0000 /online/?p=13384 Why Enhance Equity?

One of the strategic priorities of the strategic plan is Belonging:

Create a sense of belonging in our learning environment as a college priority, and as a key factor in equitable student success.

The goal of this series of blog posts is to set an intention of moving toward all teaching being inclusive and equitable, and away from having to define what inclusive, equitable teaching is. In our last blog post, we offered some suggestions for using announcements in D2L to make connections with students. This week we will explore tools in D2L Brightspace that can be used to enhance equity using feedback.

Feedback can Enhance or Diminish Equity

Research has confirmed that feedback is not reliably equitable. For example, in early academic life, female students are more likely to receive feedback on their learning, while male students are more likely to receive feedback on behavior (2). Additionally, research has also confirmed that African American and Hispanic students are less likely to receive targeted feedback that fosters growth than their White peers (1). The suggests that “Students from racially minoritized backgrounds may even hear ‘I am criticizing you because I hold prejudices’” when they read feedback on assignments. They further suggest that referencing the standards you set for the work along with your assurance that the student can meet them can increase the likelihood of students using feedback to improve.

Using tools in D2L can provide you with a means to give objective feedback in three ways:

  1. Regarding the content of student work
  2. When the feedback is delivered
  3. Who receives the feedback

Recall that for all Remote and Online courses, there are for use of D2L that include things like announcements to students, course information/syllabus, and grade updates so students can track progress. Furthermore, Students at PCC in 2021 reported high importance but lower satisfaction with the quality of online instruction, feedback, and consistency in the quality of instruction from one online course to another. We can use the tools in D2L Brightspace to provide feedback easily, at once meeting requirements and addressing student needs.

Rubrics

Using a grading rubric can address all three ways to give objective feedback by providing students with explicit expectations for assignments, and indicators for both the strongest and weakest ways to complete an assignment within given skill areas (3). The rubric tool in D2L can also help you deliver feedback consistently across your roster. When you grade an assignment in D2L with the rubric tool, feedback is delivered immediately to students, and they will see exactly which level was met for each criteria in the rubric. (see screenshot below). You can additionally add individualized feedback to the assignment for each student to further build connections.

Graded rubric in D2L from student view. The first group of criteria include two rows and 6 columns. In the first row the cel in teh second column is highlighted to indicate the level achieved by the student on the assignment. There are two additional criterion groups with similar shading indicating student achievement. the final row indicates overall score and is highlighted blue in the cell labeled A.

More Feedback Tools in Brightspace

The following provide details on how to use rubrics and other feedback tools in D2L including annotating written assignments and adding audio or video recordings in the feedback area.

We hope you are finding our series on enhancing equity in your D2L course helpful. Please share any ideas or anecdotes you have from using rubrics or other kinds of feedback in D2L in the comments below. Come back next week to read about how you can use D2L to increase equity through consistent and intentional course organization.

References

  1. Harber KD, Reeves S, Gorman JL, Williams CH, Malin J, Pennebaker JW. The Conflicted Language of Interracial Feedback.Journal of Educational Psychology. 2019;111(7):1220-1242. doi:10.1037/edu0000326
  2. Irvine, J. J. (1986). Teacher–student interactions: Effects of student race, sex, and grade level. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78(1), 14–21. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.78.1.14
  3. GORDON AD. Better Than Our Biases: Using Psychological Research to Inform Our Approach to Inclusive, Effective Feedback. Clinical Law Review. 2021;27(2):195-252. https://search-ebscohost-com.libproxy.pcc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=149934602&site=ehost-live
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Prepping for the next academic year /online/2021/06/prepping-for-the-next-academic-year/ Fri, 04 Jun 2021 14:16:42 +0000 /online/?p=13098 hands on a computer keyboardThe past year has been a challenging mad dash to figure out how to best deliver instructional material in a fully remote environment. Summer is a time when many of us re-visit our courses with a critical eye to see what we can improve for the next academic year. You may be thinking – where do I even start? So, I’ve put together a list for you to consider as you prep your courses for Fall.

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New entry-level training on D2L Brightspace /online/2021/05/new-entry-level-training-on-d2l-brightspace/ Mon, 17 May 2021 21:24:28 +0000 /online/?p=13047 CUBS mascot and badge

The new CUBS mascot and badge!

If you have been using D2L Brightspace for a while, to teach online courses, then you will NOT be excited to hear that Online Learning is getting ready to roll out new training for instructors who need to learn to use D2L Brightspace.

But if you teach hybrid courses, or you use D2L to supplement your face-to-face classes, or you are an FDC or a mentor to part-time faculty, then you will obviously be excited to hear that Online Learning is getting ready to roll out new training for instructors who need to learn to use D2L Brightspace!

The training is called CUBS – short for “Competencies for Using Brightspace.”

Since we are all PCC Panthers, we couldn’t resist an acronym like “CUBS.” Think of the branding possibilities!

The CUBS course has some really exciting and innovative features:

  • Available to ALL instructors at PCC, whether you are assigned to teach online or not! Any instructor who wants to learn more about using D2L Brightspace can take the CUBS course.
  • The CUBS course will take place entirely in D2L: you learn in the same learning management system (LMS) that you are learning about.
  • The CUBS course will be available to instructors on demand, at any time! Instructors will self-enroll via the professional development channel in MyPCC.
  • The course uses a “hands-on” method: trainees will complete all of the tasks, in a “sandbox” course shell in D2L, that they are learning about. The tasks are the same ones any online instructor will need to be able to accomplish to get an online course ready to teach at a basic level.
  • The course is self-paced: trainees can self-check all of their work on key D2L tasks and be able to gauge their progress in twelve important areas.

The CUBS course is designed to serve two groups simultaneously:

  • Instructors who want to learn more about using D2L but haven’t yet been assigned an online class to teach; and
  • Instructors who have been assigned an online class and need training to prepare them to use D2L effectively, at a basic level.

Every instructor who is assigned to teach online will continue to undergo a skills assessment prior to commencing the rest of the OIO training. Those who have no experience with D2L can use the CUBS course to prepare for the skills assessment, but anyone who completed the course independently will still get credit upon successful completion of the skills assessment.

So that’s the low-down on the CUBS course – the training that prepares instructors to use PCC’s LMS.

The other part of the training – all of the OTHER stuff you need to know about teaching online (humanizing your online course, techniques for teaching effectively and equitably, etc) – will be included in a new course that is currently in development.

We’re planning to roll out this new online-teaching course in fall term 2021. Watch this space for more details!

If you have any questions or thoughts or ideas about the new training program, please reach out to me via email. I’m happy to field any questions or steal any good ideas.

Thanks to my colleagues in Online Learning, especially Heather Guevara, Greg Kaminski, Monica Marlo M-G, and Michael Moss who have served on the training-revision team since last year, and also to the thousands of online instructors who have taken the OIO training since 2006 and taught us so much about online learning.

CUBS banner title

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Oregon Distance Learning Completion Conference /online/2021/05/oregon-distance-learning-completion-conference/ Mon, 03 May 2021 15:52:25 +0000 /online/?p=13020 group of people at sunset

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I know, just what you need, another professional development opportunity, right? I understand, it’s the end of the year and we’re feeling fried, but take a look. This “mini-conference” is very doable, only 3 hours. It is open to all faculty/staff involved with online or remote learning. Many of you attended in previous years. Registration is free, and there’s a stipend for PT faculty. This is a great time to connect with colleagues across the state as we reflect on the academic year.

OCCDLA Distance Learning Completion Conference
June 4, 9:00 – 12:00

(OCCDLA = Oregon Community College Distance Learning Association)

This entirely online conference will feature:

  • A keynote address from Maritez Apigo, Distance Education and OER coordinator and English faculty at Contra Costa College in California, focused on designing engaging asynchronous student-to-student interaction in courses..
  • Two sessions of breakout discussions, including Q&A with Professor Apigo, facilitated discussion about best practices in online engagement, and time to reflect with colleagues from around the state about what we’ve learned (and learned to avoid) in the last year.

All faculty and staff at Oregon community colleges involved with online learning are encouraged to attend, and registration is free. A stipend is available for part-time faculty who attend.

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Creating presence in your online course /online/2021/04/creating-presence-in-your-online-course/ Mon, 19 Apr 2021 14:01:38 +0000 /online/?p=12976 picture of cat with head on a laptop

Photo credit pixaby

“I don’t care what you know until I know that you care.”
(from the voice of our students, as quoted by Flower Darby, educator/author)

Students notice a lack of presence. They want to know that instructors are there and that we care about them.

Creating Presence – Workshop

This is a terrific professional development opportunity to explore ways to create presence in your online course. Examine strategies for creating a welcoming, engaging learning environment where students feel a sense of connection to the instructor, other students, and the course. This workshop is recommended for current online instructors interested in taking another step toward mastery of online teaching.

Learning Objective
photo of dog bursting through a laptop screen

Photo credit pixaby

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to describe how to create instructor, social, and cognitive presence in online courses.

Format

This Quality Matters workshop is asynchronous, 2 weeks, with 7 hours/week of work expected. There is a completion stipend of $350 for PT faculty. (FT instructors will also be eligible for a stipend for workshops completed during a non-contract period, e.g. summer.)

Other workshops of potential interest to online instructors.

  • Increasing Interaction and Engagement (May 3rd, 1 week)
  • Creating Presence in your Online Course (May 5th, 2 weeks)
  • Using YouTube for Teaching & Learning (May 10th, 1 week)
  • Engaging Learners in Online Discussions (May 17th, 1 week)
  • Using Instructional Materials & Technology to Promote Learner Engagement (May 20th, 2 weeks)
  • Giving Effective Feedback (June 14th, 1 week)
  • Improving your Online Course (July 8th, 2 weeks)
  • Strategies for Improving Retention (July 12, 1 week)

Workshop Details, Dates & Registration

The workshops are asynchronous, but you’ll need to block out time on your calendar to work on the learning activities. It’s most effective to spread the workload throughout the duration of the workshop. (These are not workshops that you can complete in the final couple of days.)

Workshops must be completed in entirety within the timeframe of the workshop in order for PT instructors to be eligible for a stipend. (FT instructors will also be eligible for a stipend for workshops that are completed during a non-contract period, e.g. summer.)

Any changes or cancellation of workshops must be done in Cornerstone at least 3 days prior to the start date. (How to withdraw)

Additional resources related to creating presence and building community

  • , Crystal O. Wong, Oct 14 2020
  • , Harriet Swartz, April 2, 2020
  • , PCC webinar, May 1, 2020
  • , Rob Kelly, Oct 17, 2013
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