Teaching and Learning

Here are a couple of online professional development opportunities to get in on! These will help you get your required PD hours (4 per year for online instructors), and they’re “homegrown” – from our own OK institutions.

OKLIS January Session

OKLIS (Oklahoma Learning Innovations Summit) is offering the following for January…

Virtual OKLIS Session January 26, 11am on Accessibility

This two-part session will include:

11:00am – Accessibility in Office 365 with Ally Sharp of Langston University
12:00pm – Discussion on Legal Aspects of Accessibility with Mackenzie Murphy-Wilphong of Tulsa Community College and Brandee Hancock of Oklahoma State University

Register to Attend or Receive the Recording

Here’s a pretty great resource for thinking about course calendars, and creating them in ways that fosters student success (hey, that phrase sounds familiar…). I’ve found that although the work is a bit front-loaded, once it’s there it really alleviates student stress…and therefore cuts down on the amount of emails and questions I have to field. 🙂 As we’re getting our courses ready, consider giving more detail to your course calendar to give your students an even better shot at success.

If you’re wanting an easy way to get in some professional development at the end of the semester, check this out!

Click here: Quality Matters Winter Series: Building Engagement with Your Online Learners

Contact Kyla Bailey at kmbailey@carlalbert.edu or 918-647-1377 if you’d like to take this for FREE!

Discussion boards in online courses are probably one of the most misunderstood and potential-filled tools that exist in the online world. This misunderstanding leads to a lack-luster and obligatory use, which nobody enjoys or finds value in. The potential of discussion boards, though, lie in recognizing what they’re for.

They aren’t meant to take the place of in-class, live discussion. Nothing can replace that. But they are meant to provide a space for student-student interaction, student-instructor interaction, and discovery by all involved.

Here’s an awesome (short) video with some tips, if you’re wanting to make your discussion boards more awesome and less painful.

Here’s a very cool opportunity for professional development, especially if anything you teach is online!

Here’s the link: Anthology Symposium

Teaching with AI is fun/hard/weird/unsettling/surprising/all of the above.

ChatGPT gets all the press (plus, saying “ChatGPT” sounds techy and cool), but did you know there are waaaaay more AI Tools out there? To do more things than just generate text?

Oklahoma’s own Dr. Buck Dodd has made an AI Toolkit available through his company ClearKinetic. Check it out below to explore more of what AI can do!

Leave a comment below if you’ve used some in the online or F2F (face-to-face for all you cool kids) classroom.

Creating with AI Toolkit

Hello CASC Online,

As faculty members deeply committed to student success in online education, we are delving into a crucial topic today and exploring strategies to make interactions more meaningful. You can access the article here: Link to the article. Here are some highlights of strategies you can implement to ensure regular and substantive interaction without overwhelming yourself

Structured Discussion Boards: Creating structured discussion board activities with clear prompts and expectations can help maintain regular interaction without the need for constant monitoring. This structure encourages focused and substantive conversations.
Peer Interaction: Encouraging peer-to-peer interactions and group work can distribute the interaction load and foster substantive learning. When students engage with each other, they benefit from diverse perspectives and collaborative learning.
Scheduled Office Hours: Setting specific times for virtual office hours or Q&A sessions provides dedicated times for students to interact with you. This ensures regularity without being overwhelming and allows for more in-depth discussions.
Automation: Leveraging technology to automate routine tasks, such as scheduling the sending reminders or announcements, can help you stay engaged with students without the need for constant manual intervention. This way, you can focus on meaningful interactions.

Our collective goal is to enhance student success in online education. By implementing these strategies, we can keep creating engaging online learning environments that empower our students to thrive.

I encourage you to read the article! Together, we can strengthen the quality of online learning and set our students on a path to success.

Happy teaching, and here’s to fostering a more interactive and effective online education environment!

Link to the article

Category: Teaching and Learning

Online Professional Development

OKLIS January Session

Course Calendars

Free Online Training!

How To Make Discussion Boards Less Painful

Digital Teaching Symposium

AI Tools

Strategies for Meaningful Interaction

Share this Page

Students

Community

About CASC

Poteau Campus

Sallisaw Campus