Why

Distance in Online Courses

The last parallel session of day 3 of ALT 2021 was entitled “Distance makes the heart grow fonder?” with speakers Tarek Zoubir and Gabriella Bishop. They are both at Imperial College in the Business School. At the EdTech lab, they develop software platforms and collaborate with other business schools. The presenters wanted to explore how […]
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Messaging on Day 1

Today I watched a ROSE seminar agbout first-day experiences in STEM courses. Claire Meaders presented work done as a postdoctoral scholar with Michelle Smith, Brian Couch, and A. Kelly Lane, among others. Meaders asked the audience: why does the first day matter? Citing Vygotsky 1978: “Every class is a social context in which learning is shared between people. Meaders […]
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Support for Course Improvement

It was a rough long day, yet we were able to learn in lab and troubleshoot together. Tonight, we watched a session entitled “When support and quality assurance collide: A learning technologists’ journey to maintain staff wellbeing in a world full of data” by Laura Hollinshead from the University of Derby. Hollinshead worked with their […]
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Cameras Off? Cameras On?

We had an awesome OpenEd 2021 session despite a tough day. Tonight, we watched a recorded presentation from ALT 2021 entitled “Should we see students’ cameras when we teach online synchronous sessions?” presented by Catherine Bazela, Pete Mella, and Robert Spark. Mella began by asking the audience: “if we asked you to switch on your […]
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Making Media Accessible for an Entire Campus and Comparing Discussions

It was a busy day with scooters, painting, chalk, and baking. Tonight, we watched an ALT 2021 day 3 session entitled “Making Video and Multimedia for Learning Accessible and More Inclusive, at Scale” presented by Sandra Partington, Maria Kaffa, and Sandra Guzman Rodriguez. Partington spoke about the transition to online teaching and use of video. […]
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Being Well, Living Well and Digital Mental Health Interventions

Today was a busy day with trips to the playground and NC State Open House! Tonight, we watched the ALT 2021 session entitled “Online supports for flexible learners to support student mental health and wellbeing at scale” presented by Kelley Hester, Jacqueline McCormack, O’Gorman Louise, Louise Kearins, Jennifer Gilligan and Allison Gillen. Hester is doing […]
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The HyFlex Experience at King’s College

I have watched a couple of sessions by different speakers on what their institutions did during the transition to remote online teaching. I find the variety of approaches and “lessons learned” fascinating. Tonight, I watched an ALT 2021 session entitled “Reflections on hybrid flexible learning” by Michael Detyna from King’s College London. Detyna talked about […]
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Facilitating Professionalism in Teaching and Learning

It was a rainy day, and we mostly stayed at home. As we wind down, I found an ALT 2021 talk with a title that caught my attention: “Sharing experiences of an online HEA Fellowship scheme and its impact on learning and teaching” presented by Carina Bossu, Nashwa Ismail, Julia Sargent, and Jane Wilson. Bossu […]
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