Tag: CITT

Workshops to Enhance Online Learning

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The Best Practices for Teaching Online certificate provides instructional faculty with the opportunity to explore pedagogically sound course design principles that promote student success in the online learning environment. This series addresses the needs of diverse learners through student-centered activities, while also focusing on key issues such as accessibility, usability, and engagement. Each course also counts towards the Passport to Great Teaching program with the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Engaging Online Learners: August 29 – September 11
Participants will experience the online learning environment from the student perspective, while working through activities that demonstrate mastery of designing for student success, aligning student learning objectives, and creating engaging and accessible presentations. Register for the next offering of Engaging Online Learners.

Creating Student-Centered Assignments: September 12 – September 25
Participants explore ways to develop varied student-centered content while establishing a collaborative learning environment through the use of active learning and feedback.
Register for the next offering of Creating Student-Centered Assignments.

Accessible Online Environments: September 26 – October 9
Participants learn to address the different types of accessibility needs and implement improvements for making an online course more accessible.
Register for the next offering of Accessible Online Environments.

Instructors with questions about this certificate program are welcome to contact UFIT’s Center for Instructional Technology and Teaching Assistant Director Rodney Gammons.

Course Development Assistance for Fall 2022

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Faculty who would like to work with a UFIT instructional designer to develop or revise a course for Fall 2022–the time is now! UFIT’s Center for Instructional Technology & Training (CITT) can help enhance your traditional, flipped, hybrid, online course, or flipped advising site.

Some instructional faculty would like the expertise of an instructional designer but cannot commit to a full course development. Not a problem! UFIT can create a custom development plan for just the items you have time to focus on. Whether you have two weeks or a few months, CITT staff will assist you with developing assessments, course content, or accessibility review. Visit the instructional design page to view all services available. Interested in developing videos for your online or in-person course? UFIT can create welcome videos, course intro videos, and film facets of your course, like a lab experiment. Several examples of in-studio and location shoots are featured on https://citt.ufl.edu/about/academic-media-productions/.

Expertise is available to support your teaching and learning, regardless of your course development needs. Instructors interested in working with the CITT staff may complete the Request Assistance webpage, and a staff member will contact you.

Accessibility Tools and Training for Campus

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UFIT provides numerous services to enable compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as all other applicable federal and state regulations. Among the available services are
Site Improve access, which checks current website content for accessibility issues, and the SensusAccess document conversion tool. UFIT also has two web and content accessibility training opportunities:

Accessibility Basics, an easy to follow, free, online self-paced video course is designed for staff. The Accessibility Basics training takes approximately two hours and provides instruction on how to create accessible documents (e.g., Word, images, .PDFs) and website content.

Accessibility Fundamentals, created for an instructor audience, is also a free, self-paced online training. Accessibility Fundamentals shows how to design accessible online course materials. The course covers different types of accessibility needs and suggestions for making an online course more accessible.

UFIT is here to help instructors and staff who post online content!  Visit UFIT’s digital standards and website recommendations page for additional compliance tips and resources.

Seeking Instructors for My Learning Analytics Pilot

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UFIT is seeking instructors to join the My Learning Analytics (MyLA) pilot study in the spring semester. MyLA empowers students to improve their academic outcomes by providing data visualizations for their customized goals and progress monitoring; and to view their activities relative to their peers. Online courses will provide the most data but any course using Files, Assignments/Quizzes, and Grades will generate actionable data for the students.

If you choose to participate, it just takes a few clicks to enable MyLA in your spring course shell and notify your students. Data collection will include student surveys and instructor focus groups and/or interviews, as well as system logs data. Your participation in this activity is completely voluntary. We believe there are no risks to you for participating in this study. There is also no direct compensation to instructors who elect to participate. If you have questions about your rights, contact the UF IRB office, PO Box 100173, Gainesville, FL 32611, and reference #202102061.

Please contact Dr. Heather Maness (htdaniel@ufl.edu) in UFIT’s Center for Instructional Technology and Training with any questions you may have about the spring 2022 pilot, your participation rights, or to participate.

Tech Byte Event: Learning Analytics

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Instructors are invited to attend Tech Bytes, a Teaching TechXploration online event. This installment of Tech Bytes is focused on how learning analytics is transforming teaching and learning:

NEW DATE: September 1
2:00-3:00 p.m.
Registration Link

This one-hour event features presentations on two new UF initiatives that can make data more valuable for instructors and students. The first presenter will be Instructional Designer Heather Maness of UFIT’s Center for Instructional Technology and Training. Dr. Maness will discuss a pilot of the My Learning Analytics tool that enables students to improve their academic outcomes by better understanding their online course performance and progress. The second presenter will be by Instructional Assessment Coordinator John Jordi from UF’s Center for Teaching Excellence. Dr. Jordi will share how he is engaging with learning analytics through structured conversations with faculty. Attendees will have an opportunity to get involved with both initiatives.

Register now for this virtual Tech Bytes event, part of a series that covers the intersections of technology and teaching in bite-sized pieces. Instructional faculty with questions about either presentation are welcome to contact Heather Maness or John Jordi.

Supporting Faculty Video Needs

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Faculty can now record course videos or professional work on their own time. UFIT recently opened its On-Demand Studio, offering a quick and easy alternative to filming lectures, trainings, or presentations.

UFIT produces instructional videos related to an official UF course at no cost to the instructor or department. The On-Demand Studio enables faculty to create professional-quality videos through a self-serve process for courses, research, or pre-recorded conference presentations. The studio is professionally set up with lights, a camera, and a green screen. Follow the instructions labelled in the room to start recording. The studio is located in the HUB room 225 and is open on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Faculty can book time in the studio by using the calendar link on the On-Demand Studio webpage. A complete list of instructions, what to bring, and FAQs are also available. Please contact the academic media productions team with any questions
or to schedule a consultation.

Support for HyFlex Teaching

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HyFlex teaching classrooms are now ready for use. To assist teaching faculty transition to the enhanced classroom technologies, UFIT has multiple online and in-person options available the week prior to the start of the Spring 2021 term.

Short video trainings:
1. What Do Students and Faculty See in a HyFlex Classroom?
2. Teaching with PowerPoint in a UF HyFlex Classroom
3. How to Use a HyFlex Document Camera
4. Using the Annotation Monitor in a UF HyFlex Classroom

Hands-on practice options:
Instructors can also get comfortable with the new technologies during the week of January 4-10 in Turlington Hall L007, L011, 1101, 2305, or 2306. The rooms will be open from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and staffed with teaching with technology experts. No reservation required!

Talk 1-on-1 with an expert:
Instructors can also drop in and ask questions of instructional technology experts from January 4-10 in Turlington Hall L005 and 2319. These rooms will be staffed from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 1:30-4:30 p.m.

More help is available on https://elearning.ufl.edu/keep-teaching/preparing-for-spring/.