The spring semester is underway, and it finally feels like we’ve settled into the new year. It’s time to dust off the blogging routine after a year of reconnecting with our purpose. It’s a familiar routine: creating a content schedule with deadlines and potential topics; brainstorming new ideas; outlining drafts of posts; and iterating through the words which will eventually be published on Model eLearning.
Continue reading “Refining Our Focus: A Design Team’s Journey”Tag: Technology
Creating eLearning Solutions Using OBS Studio
eLearning problems; eLearning solutions
This blog post is written in collaboration with Kyle, Instructional Media Support.
Last Fall, Kyle and I tested five different instructional technology tools, and we have been eager to use these technologies to assist with eLearning team projects. In January, Tara, Lead Instructional Designer and assistant professor at Spring Arbor University (SAU), asked for help clarifying expectations for a major group presentation assignment in her History 221: Black Experience in America course. She needed to communicate the links between the expectations outlined in the syllabus and rubric to a sample presentation provided to students. With these requirements in mind, we chose OBS Studio to best support Tara and her students.
Continue reading “Creating eLearning Solutions Using OBS Studio”Instructional Technologies for Presentation and Organization: A Technical and Pedagogical Perspective
This blog post is written in collaboration with Kyle, Instructional Media Support.
In this post, we’re excited to introduce and discuss four instructional technologies useful in eLearning environments: Descript, OBS, Coda, and H5P! Originally, we began exploring these technologies from a purely technological perspective. Tara asked Kyle to review the tools to understand them from a technical point of view: how do these technologies work? What are their practical uses and limitations?
Continue reading “Instructional Technologies for Presentation and Organization: A Technical and Pedagogical Perspective”Introducing Our New Media Assessment Rubrics
Instructional media (images, video, and audio content) helps students visualize topics, practice skills central to a course, and allows them to interact with content in a variety of ways. At its best, high-quality instructional media “engages students, aids student retention of knowledge, motivates interest in the subject matter, and illustrates the relevance of many concepts” (Mateer, Ghent, Porter, et al., n.d.). Our eLearning team at SAU takes high-quality instructional content seriously, and we are currently developing new ways to determine the quality of media used in our courses.
Continue reading “Introducing Our New Media Assessment Rubrics”The Basics of Video Editing
You’ve recorded your lecture or instructional video, and now you need to edit it into something you can share with your students. With the complex elements and tools involved, the process to convert a simple recording into a full-fledged video can seem intimidating or daunting. While the technical side of editing can be very complicated, it’s a very simple and straightforward process.
Today, I’m going to walk you through the basics of video editing. Whether you’re learning editing for yourself or just interested in understanding the process, this post will give you an overview some of the elements of video editing basics. I’ll use Adobe Premiere Pro as our example, but video editing software like Camtasia, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve have similar features. So, without any further ado, let’s begin!
Continue reading “The Basics of Video Editing”Collaborative and Social Learning Tools for eLearning
Authentic engagement between students and instructors is immensely important in eLearning. That being said, both collaborative and social learning are the heart behind any virtual course. Not only that, but researchers at the University of Calgary Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning describe these modes of learning as an “opportunity for students and instructors to engage in shared efforts to search for meaning, understanding, and solutions to complex problems or concepts” (Anselmo et al., n.d.). Thankfully, the rapidly-developing sector of collaborative and social learning tools allows us to provide these opportunities for authentic engagement.
Continue reading “Collaborative and Social Learning Tools for eLearning”Creating Accessible Learning Materials — Microsoft Excel
Hey there! Ready to continue learning about how to make your course materials accessible? In keeping with our theme thus far, we’ll look at another program in the Microsoft Office Suite–Excel.
Continue reading “Creating Accessible Learning Materials — Microsoft Excel”Creating Accessible Learning Materials – Microsoft PowerPoint
Welcome back! In Creating Accessible Learning Materials – Microsoft Word, I outlined some ways you can format your Microsoft Word documents to be more accessible. By maintaining the alt text, color contrast, and using the accessibility checker, your document should be accessible to anyone who needs it.
Continue reading “Creating Accessible Learning Materials – Microsoft PowerPoint”Alternative Ideas for Discussion Boards: Reinventing a Classic Online Class Activity
If you’ve been around higher education for very long as a professor, instructional designer, or student, you know there’s one activity you can never seem to get away from in an online course: Discussion Boards.
Continue reading “Alternative Ideas for Discussion Boards: Reinventing a Classic Online Class Activity”Creating Accessible Learning Materials – Microsoft Word
Our team has been infusing accessibility into our process for a while. In the blog series, “Formatting eLearning Documents,” former team member Wendy detailed how to effectively format documents in Microsoft Word and take full advantage of its features. I intend to add to that resource with my own article series, with a specific focus on accessibility.
In “Creating Accessible Learning Materials,” I’ll explore a few ways accessibility practices can be implemented when creating content in Microsoft Office. Today, I’ll focus on Word and briefly cover some useful tips to improve the documents you share.
Continue reading “Creating Accessible Learning Materials – Microsoft Word”
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