December 9, 2020
This message is distributed to All-Instructors, Academic-Assistant-Deans, and Academic-Department-Managers.
The following is being sent on behalf of the Instructional Support Team
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This week’s message includes updates, workshops, and trainings for the end of Fall quarter.
Remote Learning Student Survey Webinar: Tuesday, December 15, 1-2pm
Join us for a webinar presentation of the results from the Fall quarter remote learning survey. This quarter’s survey will present data from 2265 survey respondents about their experience during the quarter. URL:
https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/
Passcode: 901256
Faculty Remote Learning Survey: Tell us about your experience!
We also want to learn about YOUR experience with remote teaching and learning. Please complete this brief survey to tell us about this quarter and your needs and desires for the future.
Remote Teaching “What Works” Spotlight Series: Plan for Winter Quarter! (December 14-17)
Instructors from the summer “Reimagining Instruction for the Student Experience” (RISE) Institute will share their insights and experiences from Fall quarter. Come to hear about what works, what doesn’t, and to ask your questions about all things related to remote teaching. All workshops are 11-12 (Monday through Thursday). Each day will focus on a different theme:
Monday: Fostering Community
Tuesday: Creating Engaging Synchronous Courses
Wednesday: Creating Engaging Asynchronous Courses
Thursday: Remote Assessments/Academic Integrity
RSVP for one or more sessions here!
Technology Training for Winter Quarter Changes!
GauchoSpace Update for Winter Quarter
The next major update to GauchoSpace, updating the core code to Moodle 3.9, will take place on Monday, December 28, 2020. GauchoSpace will be unavailable that day from 8am to noon. Overview workshops are available now and can be scheduled here. Documentation of new features added to GauchoSpace from the Winter Quarter update can be found here.
iClicker Cloud Training: UCSB is securing a campus-wide license for i>clicker Cloud, making the technology FREE for all students (and instructors) to use. Are you considering new ways to promote active learning in your lecture? Come learn how to quickly and easily engage students, promote learning and discussion, and assess student understanding using clickers or students’ own devices in class or online.
Synchronous Faculty Training Sessions Scheduled:
Tuesday, December 15th, 1-2 pm
Wednesday, December 16th, 1-2 pm
Zoom link for both trainings: https://macmillanlearning.
Asynchronous training resources for iClicker Cloud are available at: https://go.oncehub.com/
Thinking ahead (a little bit): Winter Quarter Welcome Messages with Course Information. Set up for sending before the New Year!
Winter quarter begins on Monday, January 4, right after you and your students say goodbye to 2020 and welcome in the new year. Please let students know how about your course BEFORE they (and you) might take some much-needed down time during the break.
You can (and should!) use the “Welcome message” feature in GauchoSpace for this purpose. Remember that welcoming students to the course starts with this very first contact! Tell them a bit about the course, a bit about you, and ask them to tell them a bit about themselves using something like an introductory survey or the remote learning survey built into GauchoSpace. Then, let students know:
1) if the course is asynchronous, synchronous, or both;
2) any important Zoom links (class meetings, office hours);
3) when the course will begin/when content will be ready; and
4) what they can expect as the weekly pattern.
Here’s a sample message (from an actual course) that you can adapt, adopt, or use as a model.
You can enable the Welcome message *before* the term begins by checking the box underneath the text edit screen. If your GauchoSpace site isn’t quite ready by the time the message goes out, that’s okay! Let students know that you will make it visible to them by January 4.
Make your life easier by enabling GauchoSpace course crashing
Enabling course crashing means that students on the course waiting list can keep up with class readings and activities on your GauchoSpace site until they become officially enrolled, at which time they are automatically kept in your GauchoSpace site.
Good luck with the end of the term!
The Instructional Support Team