This Week in the LEC

People most often use Canvas as a home for formal course content, but it has an even broader capacity to support students’ learning when we think outside of the box. In this presentation, Susan Landrum will demonstrate how non-CRN Canvas “courses” can be used to create targeted academic content for students, such as supplemental modules that can be assigned to multiple courses; orientation mini-courses introducing students to the basic academic skills they will need for their program; and other types of academic skills instruction.

Are you looking to hone your online teaching skills? The LEC is excited to announce its Fall lineup of faculty professional development including its new Wednesday Workshop Series, which focuses on the Foundations of Teaching Online. Whether you’re new to teaching online or are looking for new ideas to implement in your online and blended classes, our Wednesday Workshop Series will introduce you to the basics of teaching and learning in online and blended learning environments. While the workshops focus on strategies for teaching online, most can be applied to any modality.

In this workshop, we will discuss the foundational knowledge and skills needed to teach effectively in Canvas. While this session is not training on how to build courses in Canvas, participants will gain an overall understanding of how the Canvas LMS is used at NSU, what Canvas components should be included in academic courses, and where to find help and support.

This workshop is designed to show you different classroom technologies that can assist you in enhancing your online, blended, or face-to-face classroom experience. The instructor will take you step by step through each topic by telling you what it is, why would you use it, and demonstrate how to use it before you try it.

Creating accessible PowerPoints is easy using Microsoft’s built-in accessibility checker. In this presentation, Carolyn Fitzpatrick will review common accessibility mistakes in PowerPoint, and demonstrate how to fix them quickly. 

Active learning modalities of teaching are instructional undertakings involving students participating in an engaging manner in their education. Approaches that promote active learning focus more on developing students’ skills instead of transmitting information through a traditional didactic lecture setup which can be relative, a more passive level of participation for the student. Active learning sessions require students to indulge actively (read, discuss, write, analyze) that requires higher-order and critical thinking, and emphasis is placed on the students’ explorations of their own attitudes and values. This presentation explores the different modalities which practice an active learning format, insights into the facilitation of these sessions, and measurement of student outcomes of these sessions. 

Before classes officially start, students begin accessing your course in Canvas. What do they see? A course welcome video allows students to become familiar with you and your course before class actually starts. During this in-person workshop, Gregory, an experienced multimedia producer, will show you around the video editing tool Adobe Rush and share some basic video editing principles. Be sure to bring your previously recorded video content to edit. If you don’t have a video, you can schedule a time to film in the new LEC Faculty Studio. If you prefer to film the video on your own, the presenter Gregory Wright has created a video with some easy-to-implement suggestions to improve your video quality. By the conclusion of the workshop, you will have a welcome video that can be used in your course to greet your students.