A Warm Farewell: How I wrap up my online courses:
As the semester ends, I thought I would share the activities I do in the final weeks to wrap-up my online courses smoothly. We may not be able to have in-class parties, but there are other ways to conclude a course warmly.
I end the final module with firework GIFs and a celebratory Instagram post
Students say their final farewells to each other via video using Flipgrid
I ask students to offer words of wisdom and advice (using text, audio, or video) to future students using Voicethread on our Wisdom Wall.
Finally, I end with an anonymous survey using Google Forms that helps me reflect and make changes for the next semester.
Canvas Hack: Using Statuses in Gradebook
Here's another neat trick in the Canvas Gradebook: you can color code grades that are late, missing, resubmitted, dropped (as in, you're dropping the lowest grade) or excused. This lets you see students you may want to contact at a glance.
In the Gradebook, go to the View pull-down menu. Click on Statuses.
The menu will look something like this (I've messed around a little with the hex codes and switched color choices):
Click on the 3-dot menu and hit apply to select an option. I've chosen late and missing, so my gradebook looks like this:
It's a quick way to get an overview of students who need help.
I attended DET/CHE for the first time last week and highly recommend it. Next year's conference will be in December 2020 in Sacramento.
Here are just a few highlights I've rounded up for you:
Opening Keynote by Kevin Kelly, Ed.D on Increasing Equity for Online Learners: Course and Campus Strategies
My favorite presentation was this panel on Defining Leadership in EdTech facilitated by Michelle Pacansky-Brock from CVC-OEI, featuring Bryan Best (University of LaVerne), Fabiola Torres (Glendale College), and Andrew Roderick (San Francisco State University).
Wonderful presentation by Jim Julius, Faculty Director of Online Education at MiraCosta College: Streamlining Access to Student Support Services Through the LMS and a link to the Canvas course: Online Student Support Hub Guide
I also learned about this online resource LibGuides: Copyright Crash Course
What really impressed me was UCSD's Studio U: a self-service video studio for faculty which includes a Learning Glass, green screen, and everything faculty need to record professional quality instructional videos.
For more presentation links check the schedule here: DET/CHE schedule and see Twitter conference posts here #detche19
Links and Resources
Speaking of conferences, The Call for Proposals is open for the Online Teaching Conference in Pasadena, June 17 - 19
By the Chronicle of Education, How to Make Smart Choices About Tech for your Course
From Faculty Focus, Principles that Online and Flipped Teaching Can Learn From Themed Museum Exhibits
This book is on my list to read over the break.
I'll be keeping a close eye on the news that Instructure (Canvas) is set to be acquired by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo
If you want to learn more about Unicheck, you can view this demo recorded last spring: Unicheck Demo.
Call for Guest Bloggers, Spring 2020
My favorite part of this blog has been our Guest Blog Posts where we got to peek inside the courses of faculty teaching online. I hope you will consider writing a short blog post about your experiences teaching online or in any digital and tech-enhanced format!
Please reach out to me at dmaduliw@sdccd.edu to schedule a week to be a guest blogger and/or with ideas or tips for next semester's blog posts.
