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10 Great Ways to Annotate Resources
Introduction Many online classes provide resources as a weekly, no-nonsense bibliography, a chain of citations. It is an efficient, time-tested way of presenting resources, and there is some benefit to letting students forge their own reading path through them. But it can also be intimidating.…
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Successes and Lessons Learned: Designing Online Group Presentations
As much as we like to think our online courses are perfect, there is always room for improvement. Our job is never done. On the Distance Learning team, we are first and foremost concerned with partnering with faculty to develop high-quality learning experiences for students.…
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Ready, Set, Collaborate!
Designing and assessing group projects that promote meaningful learning experiences in positive collaborative environments. While students may groan at the prospect of performing group work, positive group experiences have been shown to contribute to student learning, retention, and overall program success.…
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TCC Online Conference Reflections
The Distance Learning Team recently attended the TCC Online Conference hosted by TCC Hawaii. Because the conference was virtual, the team brought Hawaii to their office in Chicago via decorations, Hawaiian music, and Hawaiian snacks while they enjoyed the webinars. Conference topics included connecting with students, providing constructive feedback, building faculty community, and using video…
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TEACHx 2016 Reflections
On Monday, May 16, SPS Distance Learning staff attended the first annual TEACHx Program, a one-day conference showcasing innovations in educational technology and digital learning. There were numerous projects and presentations, including a poster presentation on learning analytics by our own Jackie Wickham!…
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Nine Events of Learning
Robert Gagne is a well-known educational psychologist who developed a theory of instructional design that is widely recognized in both education and cognitive sciences literature. There are two major parts of the theory. First, Gagne explains, soundly designed educational experiences should reflect clear decisions about what you want the students to know and to be…
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Quality Matters: May 2016 Online Learning Webinar
In this Learning Webinar, the Director of Online Program Development, Dr. Reba-Anna Lee covered the Quality Matters Standards Rubric in depth. She focused on how the standards are defined and some of the ways they can be met in an online/hybrid course.…
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Maximizing Your Synchronous Sessions – Part II: Agenda
In the School of Professional Studies, most students are busy adult professionals who have to carefully carve time out to focus on coursework. This post is part two of a series on how to make the most of synchronous time, or time when all students in the course and the instructor are online at the…
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Looking for the Little Things in Big Data
This post was guest authored by David S. Noffs M.P.H., Ed.D. Since 2001 Dr. David S. Noffs has worked at Columbia College Chicago as an adjunct faculty member in the Interactive Arts and Media department teaching sound design, web design and programming.…
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Rubrics: A Clear Pathway to Success, Part 2
In my recent blog post Rubrics: A Clear Pathway To Success, I discussed the purpose of a rubric and its value for students and instructors. In this post, I will discuss three key ingredients of rubrics, different types of rubrics, and how to select a rubric.…