Free MOOC on Blended Learning (Feb 27-May 22)

From Campus Technologies:

University of Central Florida (UCF) and Educause have re-launched a no-cost massive open online course (MOOC) that offers facilitated assistance to faculty members and instructional designers who want to develop blended courses. It is the 5th round of this course.

BlendKit2017: Becoming a Blended Learning Designer, hosted on Instructure‘s Canvas Network, will be facilitated by Sue Bauer and Baiyun Chen, instructional designers at UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning. Throughout the five-week course, participants will explore key issues related to blended learning and best practices. They will also receive step-by-step guidance on developing design documents, creating content pages and other materials needed for a blended course.

The MOOC includes:

  • Practical step-by-step “how to” guides;
  • Assessment and critique on design work from course experts and peers;
  • Blogging and social networking opportunities; and
  • Weekly webinars with guest presenters.

BlendKit2017 runs Feb. 27 to May 22. The course is free, but students can choose to participate in the $89 certification track to have their portfolios reviewed (this is optional!). The track includes a certificate and digital badge from UCF and Educause.

 

10 Different Approaches to Creating Digital Learning Content

Very useful post form EmergingEdTech! Check them out and use in your teaching.

  1. The perennially popular technique of screencasting
  2. Narrating over PowerPoint
  3. The low-tech FIZZ method
  4. The web app mysimpleshow
  5. The high tech (but probably not as challenging as you might think) approach of using a light board
  6. The use of Blendspace as a tool for assembling digital content for flipped or blended lessons
  7. The powerful ed.ted.com platform
  8. In our last post, we discussed the use of the Learning Management or Course Management system as a vehicle for flipped or blended lessons
  9. EdPuzzle (you can insert questions into any video!)
  10. Illustrated, Hand-Drawn Notes

Happy new semester and happy new class!

We knew long time ago that positive environment is contributing to better learning. Faculty Focus shares some strategies on how to make your classroom a more positive one, be happier, and help students to be more engaged in learning. In brief:

  • Develop a “positive” syllabus or course outline
  • Focus on student strengths
  • Teach students about mindfulness
  • Build intrinsic motivation
  • Encourage a growth mindset
  • Practice gratitude

Happy new semester!

Visit the updated Diigo collection!

I hope you had a chance to visit several Diigo collections I made available for you. The post here has a consolidated list of most frequently visited collections related to teaching and learning. I will be keeping them updated, so come here often (and explore new ones)! My next post will be listing Diigo collection of tools that both you and your students can use.