Week 6, Fall 2019

SDCCD Online Focus Group Report 2019

Guest Blogger: 

Patti Manley, Professor of History
Teaching History 105 and History 109 Online

Increasing Student to Student Engagement with VoiceThread  (Title V)

I’ve been using VoiceThread in my online and on campus courses for about four years.  VoiceThread is extremely easy to use for both instructors and students and can be embedded into a Canvas assignment or linked out to VoiceThread website. I really like that with the VoiceThread app students can complete their video posts using their phones.

For my online courses, students are required to post “video” responses to a prompt related to an image, document, artifact or website and to also interact with other students. Students are given a rubric that outlines the requirements and points possible. I’m happy to share with anyone who wants a copy of the rubric.   Don’t worry, students initially may be somewhat hesitant to use “video” but my experience has been, that within a few weeks, students already know each other’s names and have created a very interactive learning community. VoiceThread is a great way to promote the same student to student interaction as in a face to face classroom.

By moderating the VoiceThread, instructors can also use it as an assessment method other than the typical written assignment. Students whose writing skills are not as advanced, ELAC students or students with different learning styles have the opportunity to demonstrate their learning as well. I let students know that the post only needs to be about 1-2 minutes, but students’ posts are typically longer 3-4 minutes because they realize they have a lot to say about what they’ve learned.

Below are a few VoiceThread screenshots. 

In this VoiceThread, students read a document on Columbus interactions with the Taino peoples in the Caribbean, learn about vandalism to a Columbus statue in Chula Vista and comment on various historical interpretations of Columbus. 

In this example, students are asked to evaluate the extent of the Byzantine empire and the significance of the geographical location of Constantinople. Rather than just reading the text, students can crosstalk about the importance of geography in History and can visually understand how an empire’s expansive control affects other nations and individuals living within their empire.

The third example is an introduction VoiceThread.  Students were asked to tell others about the family background and history.  For confidentially reasons, student posts are hidden here but this one VoiceThread lead to over 2 hours of discussion among the students.  Students are excited to share and really excited when they find maybe someone they already know in the class or that their parents or grandparents grew up near each other. Student post video posts discussing their history and love to use the drawing tools in VoiceThread to circle the various areas on the map that their family has lived or a place that marks their heritage.

Don’t forget - VoiceThread has a Certified Educator course that teaches how to use all the great features and tools of VoiceThread.

See you online!

Canvas Hack: Hiding Grades (formerly known as "muting")

OK, why would anyone want to hide grades from students? Sounds a bit rude. But here are some ways I find this feature helpful:

• When I want to grade everyone’s papers before I release grades.
• When I have a discussion post assignment with multiple parts, such as a post + peer responses. I can grade posts as they’re submitted, then swing back after the deadline and look at the peer responses (it's a time management thing). No one but me will see the grades-in-progress.
• When I want to look at a certain group of students (those who are excelling, those who are struggling) first, to get a feel for how well they understood the assignment.

The setup
In the new Canvas gradebook, all grades are set up by default to post immediately when you enter them. When an assignment is hidden/muted, you will see an  eye with a line crossed through it in the gradebook.

In Speedgrader, the crossed eye will appear in the header AFTER you’ve graded the first entry (scary, I know, but the Canvas folks say it’s supposed to work that way). Once you submit a grade for the first student, you’ll see the word HIDDEN to reassure you that you’re still the only one who sees it.

Nuts and bolts
To set it up so that grades are hidden until you release them, you can select "manual" for a specific assignment or the whole course.

• Link: Hide grades for the whole course 
• Link: Hide grades for a specific assignment

*There have been a few random problems with hiding specific assignments only—I’ve found that setting the whole course to manual release works the best for me. You just have to remember to release them!

Troubleshooting
If YOU can’t see the grades when you hide them from students/set them up to be posted manually, do this:

• Go to the specific Assignment or Discussion
• Open the rubric (either through the little dots menu at the upper right or at the bottom of the page, depending on type of assignment)
• Click on the pencil icon to edit
• Make sure Use this rubric for assignment grading is checked.
• Hit save.

Seriously, it takes longer to write about this than to do it.

Resources & Links

Great ideas here: Cool Things You Can Do with the Canvas Discussions

Jumping off Patti Manley's post, here is an article about using Voicethread in Canvas along with accessiblity and universal design information.

If you're up for some reading, here is ECAR's 2019 Study of Community College Students and Information Technology.

Upcoming Conferences

The SDCCD Distance Education Summit is Friday, October 18, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. Details and an invitation to RSVP coming soon - space is limited.

Registration is open for Can-Innovate, Friday, October 25, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. 

• This is a free, online conference designed for California Community College Canvas Users.
• H-108 is our Miramar Viewing Room, so pop by anytime for one or more sessions. We'll be able to view together, try things out on our devices, and chat about what we learn.

CUE (Computer Using Educators) Conference, March 19-21, Palm Springs
Online Teaching Conference, July 17-19, Pasadena (Registration is now open with early bird pricing through April 14, 2020)