The Professional Adjunct Podcast | Instructional S

Episode PA031: Special Edition from the Online College Success Podcast by Jim and Beth Harger | The Professional Adjunct Podcast https://proadjunct.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/PA031.mp3 Beth and I have begun a new venture, OnlineCollegeSuccess.com, a website for students in nontraditional education. We want to share with you an episode from the podcast where we discuss 10 things a prospective student should consider when thinking of going to college. Some of the questions we discuss include: What format works best for you? Do you have good study habits, and if not, are you willing to do what it takes to fill in any gaps you may have? Do you have the time to commit to an education, or willing to give something up in order to make the time? Are you willing to put in the work necessary to do well in college? If not, why not? Do you have the support from friends and family to do this? Are you willing to make the commitment it takes? Join us as we explore these and other questions. We invite you to visit us at OnlineCollegeSuccess.com and share a comment letting us know what you thought about this show, what was most helpful, along with any suggestions for future topics you would like to hear about. The post PA031: Special Edition from the Online College Success Podcast appeared first on Professional Adjunct.

Beth and I just want to spend a minute wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We are truly thankful for the opportunity to do what we do, and you are a big part of that. We will be back on December 2nd with part two of our discussion on creating videos for your courses. Have a great Thanksgiving weekend! -Jim and Beth You can subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Overcast, Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

This week we discuss some of the things that go into recording videos for our classes. We begin by asking the question why videos. Jim makes the comment that if you do only one video for your course, make it your introduction and welcome to class. Students appreciate a welcome video because it helps them to get to know who you are and what you are all about. We then discuss the purpose of our videos followed by a discussion of the equipment we use. Next week, we will continue with a look at technique and how to upload your videos. On our website, you will find the video lesson, How to Make a Good Video for Your Course. For a limited time, we are making this course available to our listeners at no cost. This is a five-part training course that includes tips and techniques to recording videos, including example videos, how to upload the videos to YouTube, how to embed your videos in Blackboard, and a look at some of the equipment options to record videos. If you record videos for your classes, let us know how you do it. Perhaps we will include your tips in a future episode.  You can post a comment on our website, www.proadjunct.com, or send us an email at comments@proadjunct.com. We look forward to hearing from you! Subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Overcast, Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

Over the past four weeks, we have shared with you four interviews we recorded at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference held in Atlanta. On our show this week, we reflect on these interviews and discuss some of the ways we can apply them in our classes. If you have applied any of the strategies and techniques in your class, let us know how it went. You can post a comment on our website, www.professionaladjunct.com, or send us an email at comments@proadjunct.com. We look forward to hearing from you! Subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Overcast, Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

A common thought from instructors is if we make learning so easy for the knowledge to get into the brain, maybe we’re doing the students a disservice. Dr. Shibley’s response is, “My job as a teacher is to help students learn [the subject matter] in as efficient a manner possible so that they can put it in long-term memory and they can then use that in subsequent courses.” Part of the challenge is an inconsistency among classes. Dr. Shibley talks about how the faculty at Penn State Berks have gotten together to come up with similar learning activities that help the students feel more at ease in every class. When students do not have to learn a new technology in every class, they have more “cognitive space” to learn the subject of the class. The result is consistency in teaching, which results in more learning and higher graduation rates. Ivan A. Shibley, Jr. (Ike) is associate professor of chemistry at Penn State Berks, a small four-year college within the Penn State system. He has won both local and university-wide awards for his teaching including the Eisenhower Award presented to a tenured Penn State faculty member who exhibits excellent teaching as well as mentoring other teachers. He received his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from East Carolina University. Between undergraduate and graduate school he spent four years in the Navy where he taught nuclear physics and radiation safety. He now teaches introductory chemistry, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, philosophy of science courses, first-year bioethics seminar, and senior science seminar. Ike became involved in blended learning as part of an 18-month project to completely redesign the general chemistry course at Berks. As part of a team of six professionals who invested over 1,000 man-hours in the redesign Ike helped provide the pedagogical and subject matter expertise to help guide the redesign. The course has now been delivered in a blended format for three years with an average GPA almost 25% higher than previous years. Ike has taught the three sections of the course and is currently co-authoring a manuscript about the results. Subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Overcast, Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Goode to discuss the opportunities provided by Faculty Learning Communities (FLC’s), an established method of small-group faculty development. She addresses the challenges in managing them, including participation, commitment, follow-through, and focus on goals—all of which are magnified if the faculty members are geographically separated. She also shares with us many of the positive outcomes and benefits from FLC’s and how they can be implemented at any institution. One of the interesting things about this is the competitive application process to take part in the FLC’s. A Faculty Learning Community (FLC) is a cross-disciplinary faculty group of 5 or more members (8 to 12 is the recommended size) engaging in an active, collaborative, yearlong program with a curriculum about enhancing teaching and learning and with frequent seminars and activities that provide learning, development, interdisciplinarity, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and community. Dr. Jennifer E. Goode is an instructor in the Department of Technical Communication at Mercer University in Macon, GA. She is the founder and director of Mercer’s Distance and Online Teaching (DOT) Lab, a collaborative initiative to support faculty development needs in the area of online teaching and instructional design. Prior to joining the faculty in the Technical Communication Department, she served as an online learning consultant for Mercer’s College of Nursing and College of Health Professions. Dr. Goode has served in both government and higher education organizations in the areas of computer-based training, document production and management, and online course management. Dr. Goode’s teaching and research interests include instructional design, online learning design and delivery, evaluation in organizations, and STEM/STEAM initiatives in public schools. She has previously taught at the University of Louisville and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Goode earned her Ph.D. and M.Ed. in Human Resource Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She earned her B.S. in Technical Communication from Mercer University. One of the resources Dr. Goode refers to in our conversation is Achieving Teaching and Learning Excellence through Faculty Learning Communities by Milton D. Cox. You can find more information about FLC’s at http://www.units.miamioh.edu/flc/index.php. Base Camp is a free project management application for educators. For more information, please visit their website at https://basecamp.com. Subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Overcast, Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

On this episode, we sat down with Dr. Jean Mandernach at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference and discussed leveraging technology to maximize teaching effectiveness. We also discussed her presentation, “One Size Doesn’t Fit All” and “Pedagogy First,” a tool to help instructors select the most appropriate instructional technology for their class. According to Dr. Mandernach, one area that adjunct faculty struggle with is time management. She discusses how using time management priorities and batching tasks will help us to be more efficient with our tasks. “Consistently, [discussion threads and grading] account for about fifty percent of our instructional time in the online classroom.” One way to ensure we use our time wisely is to go into our discussions with a lesson plan with clear objectives that identify all of the topics that need to be brought up either by the students or the instructor in the discussion. Pedagogy First is a tool to help instructors select the most appropriate instructional technology for their class. You will find this tool on the website for Grand Canyon University and the Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching: www.pedagogyfirst.com. We then took a few minutes to discuss Dr. Mandernach’s presentation, “One Size Doesn’t Fit All.” When we set up our classes, we often look at our students’ learning preferences when we decide how to present material. However, Dr. Mandernach says we should be looking at our students’ lifestyle. She talks about how many students prefer video, but they do not have the time to sit and watch it. So what method do most students utilize? The answer may surprise you. B. Jean Mandernach, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching at Grand Canyon University. Her research focuses on enhancing student learning in the online classroom through innovative instructional and assessment strategies. In addition, she has interests in the development of effective faculty evaluation models, perception of online degrees, and faculty workload considerations. Jean received her B.S. in comprehensive psychology from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, an M.S. in experimental psychology from Western Illinois University and Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Along with Tom Tobin and Ann Taylor, Dr. Mandernach is the co-author of Evaluating Online Teaching: Implementing Best Practices.  In this book, we read how student ratings, peer observations, & administrative evaluations align to the online medium via five use-them-now practices. Dr. Mandernach also wrote the forward to Essential Teaching Principles: A Resource Collection for Adjunct Faculty. Subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Overcast, Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

When it comes to copyrights, do you know the difference between material you create for your class and material you are contracted to create for a class? Who owns the rights to that material? According to copyright law, can you use a student’s paper as an example in future classes? These are some of the questions Dr. Tobin answers in our interview conducted at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference this past weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. According to Dr. Tobin, there are four things we should consider before using copyright material in our classroom. As a way of helping us remember these four things, he uses the acronym PANE, which stands for Purpose, Amount, Nature of the work, and Economic impact. Dr. Tobin also gives suggestions on how to get permission to use copyright material. In our time together, we also discuss Universal Design for Learning. According to Dr. Tobin, when we discuss Universal Design for Learning, we are not thinking of making accommodations, but thinking about how we design our interaction with students. “Any way that we can design our interaction to be more inclusive and more accessible to all of our learners the better off we are going to be.” With that in mind, he gives us the three components of UDL: 1) Give information in more than one way. 2) Keep people engaged in more than one way. 3) Let students demonstrate their skills in more than one way. Thomas J. Tobin is the Coordinator of Learning Technologies in the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. In the field of online-course and program quality, he is best known for his work on administrative-evaluation techniques; his article on “Best Practices for Administrative Evaluation of Online Faculty” (2004) is considered a seminal work in the field, and has been cited in more than 150 publications. His latest work is Evaluating Online Teaching: Implementing Best Practices (Wiley, 2015) with B. Jean Mandernach and Ann H. Taylor. He is currently writing Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: A Practitioner’s Guide to Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education, expected from West Virginia University Press in 2017. Since the advent of online courses in higher education in the late 1990s, Tom’s work has focused on using technology to extend the reach of higher education beyond its traditional audience. He advocates for the educational rights of people with disabilities and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Tom serves on the editorial boards of InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration and the Journal of Interactive Online Learning, and he is an internationally-recognized speaker and author on topics related to quality in distance education, especially copyright, evaluation of teaching practice, academic integrity, and accessibility/universal design for learning. For more information about his book, Evaluating Online Teaching: Implementing Best Practices, go to www.thomasjtobin.com, where you will also find a flyer for 20% off the purchase price. Subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Overcast, Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

When it comes to plagiarism, do you use the Carrot or the Stick? On this episode, Jim and Beth discuss the issue of plagiarism and how best to deal with it. At one point, Beth asks the question, as instructors, are we a gatekeeper or a bridge-builder? Rather than jumping immediately to punitive actions when we discover plagiarism in a student’s work, perhaps we need to examine the circumstances and take action on teaching how to avoid it and building on the importance and value of giving credit to the source. If you have been a regular listener of this podcast, you know that Jim has a tendency to go down rabbit trails. Well, this episode is no different. One of Jim’s hot buttons is that students read all of the reading material each week. As he puts it, “What is the point of going to school and spending thousands of dollars for an education if all you are going to do is regurgitate what you already know!” In this episode, we mention two great resources: www.plagiarism.org www.grammarly.com Essential Teaching Principles: A Resource Collection for Adjunct Faculty. This book provides a wealth of research-driven and classroom-tested best practices to help adjuncts develop the knowledge and skills required to run a successful classroom. This helpful guide was compiled and edited by Maryellen Weimer, PhD, editor of The Teaching Professor newsletter and award-winning professor emerita of teaching and learning at Penn State Berks. To read more about this book or to purchase the Kindle edition or paperback, click here. Subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

Technology can be a distraction if it is not used properly says Assistant Professor Jeff Hammond of Metropolitan State University in Denver, Colorado. We met with Professor Hammond to discuss his presentation, “Instructional Design Strategies for Informational Media Presentations” which will be presented at the upcoming Teaching Professor Technology Conference, in Atlanta, beginning September 30th. In our conversation, he brings up some interesting questions about the use of media and technology. “We put the teaching and the technology in two different camps, and… it needs to be thought of as more integrated than that.” Jeff Hammond is an experienced educational and interactive multimedia trainer. In addition to teaching Communication classes at Metropolitan State University of Denver, he has served as a social media consultant for the Metropolitan Denver YMCA, and has been a featured audiovisual software trainer and presenter for Apple Computer’s MacWorld, the DVD Association, and the Colorado Film and Video Association. Jeff spent a good share of his professional life in broadcast television at KMGH-TV, Denver’s ABC affiliate and has authored numerous commercial DVD titles for a variety of professional clients. We enjoyed meeting with Professor Hammond and look forward to seeing him at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference in Atlanta. For information about the conference, please go to www.TeachingProfessorTechnologyConference.com. Subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

More and more colleges and universities are using ‘Live Chats’ and ‘Virtual Office Hours’ to connect with students. On this episode, Jim and Beth review the article, “Build Community, Extend Learning with Online Synchronous Sessions” by Rob Kelly, published on Faculty Focus on March 14, 2014. For several years, Jim has used ‘Live Chats’ in his classes and adds insights based on his experiences. To read the original article, go to http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/asynchronous-learning-and-trends/build-community-extend-learning-online-synchronous-sessions/. We hope to see you at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference September 30 through October 2 in Atlanta. We will be there interviewing some of the presenters for our podcast. We hope you will stop by our table and say hello! For information about the conference, go to www.TeachingProfessorTechnologyConference.com. Subscribe to our show through iTunes and help us spread the word by posting a rating and review. You can also find us on Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

On this episode, we talk with Dr. Oliver Dreon, the Conference Chair of the Teaching Professor Technology Conference. In the first half of our conversation, Dr. Dreon talks about the upcoming conference and what makes this conference different from others. We also talk about how technology is changing how we teach and how students learn. In the second half of our discussion, Dr. Dreon talks about his Preconference Workshop, Level Up: Including Game Elements in Your Online and Face-to-Face Courses. Neither of us are gamers, but he says this is not just for video-gamers. He discusses the social aspect of playing games and how we can incorporate that into our classes. Dr. Dreon then gives us a preview of his presentation, What’s up with Open Educational Resources (OER)? Along with his co-presenter, Greg Szczyrbak, he will introduce everyone to OER and how they can be used effectively. This led to some interesting dialogue in our conversation. We sure appreciate the time Dr. Dreon spent with us and look forward to seeing him at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference in Atlanta. For information about the conference, please go to www.TeachingProfessorTechnologyConference.com.  Be sure to also check out Dr. Dreon’s blog, The 8 Blog at https://the8blog.wordpress.com. Some of the resources mentioned in this episode include: Authentic Instruction with Technology: A Student-Centered Approach written by Nanette Marcum-Dietrich Nanette and Oliver Dreon available at Amazon.com. The book, How College Works by Daniel Chambliss and Christopher Takacs available at Amazon.com. MERLOT, a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed and used by an international education community. For more information, visit their website at https://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm.

The potential for burnout is something in which we must all be aware. According to Dr. Oral A. Waldo, “It takes at least 3x the time and energy to recover from burnout than to prevent it.” On this episode, we discuss ways to avoid burnout based on Dr. Waldo’s article “The 3 ‘Rs’ – Relax, Reflect, and Regroup.”   To read the original article, go to http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=2432966. We hope to see you at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference September 30 through October 2 in Atlanta. We will be there interviewing some of the presenters for our podcast. We hope you will stop by our table and say hello! For information about the conference, go to www.TeachingProfessorTechnologyConference.com. Subscribe to our show through iTunes and give us a rating and review. You can also find us on Stitcher, Google Play, and other podcast apps.

On this episode, we discuss the article “Ten Tips for More Efficient and Effective Grading” written by Victoria Smith, PhD, and Stephanie Maher Palenque published in Faculty Focus on February 2, 2015. We discuss practical ways to apply these ten tips based on our experience, such as using a bank of comments, frontloading feedback, attitude and approach, and avoiding surprises. To read the original article, go to http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/ten-tips-efficient-effective-grading/. Resources mentioned in this episode include www.grammarly.com and https://textexpander.com. You can find other resources at www.professionaladjunct.com/wordpress/booksandresources/. We hope to see you at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference September 30 through October 2 in Atlanta. We will be there interviewing some of the presenters for our podcast. We hope you will stop by our table and say hello! For information about the conference, go to www.TeachingProfessorTechnologyConference.com. Please post your comments on our blog at www.professionaladjunct.com or send your comments to comments@proadjunct.com.

On this episode, we continue our interview with Dr. Bridget Arend, Director of University Teaching at the Office of Teaching and Learning at the University of Denver. On this episode, we discuss her book co-authored with Dr. James Davis about college teaching, Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning: A Resource for More Purposeful, Effective, and Enjoyable College Teaching. For more information, check out their website at http://sevenwaysoflearning.com. Dr. Arend organizes and facilitates teaching-related initiatives for higher education faculty and has consulted in the areas of teaching, learning and assessment for both educational and corporate settings for over 15 years. Dr. Arend publishes in the area of online learning and educational technology in higher education. She teaches with the Morgridge College of Education and University College at the University of Denver and holds degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Denver, and received her Ph.D. in Adult Learning and Higher Education from the University of Denver. Please post your comments on our blog at www.professionaladjunct.com or send your comments to comments@proadjunct.com.

On this episode, we discuss a couple of articles on time management published by Faculty Focus. We review the tips in these articles and share practical suggestions on time management.     To read the article, “Be Efficient, Not Busy: Time Management Strategies for Online Teaching,” go to http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/be-efficient-not-busy-time-management-strategies-for-online-teaching/. To read the article, “Time Management Reminders that Boost Efficiency, Peace of Mind,” go to http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-careers/time-management-reminders-that-boost-efficiency-peace-of-mind/. For more information about free tutorials on Microsoft Office, visit http://www.gcflearnfree.org. To purchase a copy of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, click here. (Affiliate Link: http://amzn.to/29G7j8O) To download a copy of the Daily Work Checklist, click on the PDF icon.  You can also find this and other resources at www.professionaladjunct.com/wordpress/booksandresources/. Please post your comments on our blog at www.professionaladjunct.com or send your comments to comments@proadjunct.com.

On this episode, we interview Dr. Bridget Arend, Director of University Teaching at the Office of Teaching and Learning at the University of Denver. Our discussion is a follow-up to her presentation at the Teaching Professor Conference in June, where she gave the presentation, “Best of all worlds: Combining discussion formats for deeper inquiry.” Dr. Arend organizes and facilitates teaching-related initiatives for higher education faculty and has consulted in the areas of teaching, learning and assessment for both educational and corporate settings for over 15 years. Dr. Arend publishes in the area of online learning and educational technology in higher education. She teaches with the Morgridge College of Education and University College at the University of Denver and holds degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Denver, and received her Ph.D. in Adult Learning and Higher Education from the University of Denver. Dr. Arend co-authored a book with Dr. James Davis about college teaching, Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning: A Resource for More Purposeful, Effective, and Enjoyable College Teaching. For more information, check out their website at http://sevenwaysoflearning.com. Another book Dr. Arend mentioned was Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators by George Collison, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind, and Robert Tinker. Please post your comments on our blog at www.professionaladjunct.com or send your comments to jimharger@proadjunct.com.

On this episode, we take a look at an article by Rob Kelly, “Six Tips for Preparing Your Online Course,” published by Faculty Focus on January 16th, 2015. In this discussion, we apply these tips to a Course Prep Checklist. To read the article, “Six Tips for Preparing Your Online Course,” go to http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/six-tips-preparing-online-course/. For more information about DropBox, visit www.dropbox.com. To download copies of the Course Prep Checklist and Assignment Checklist, go to our website: www.professionaladjunct.com/wordpress/booksandresources/. Please post your comments on our blog at www.professionaladjunct.com or send your comments to comments@proadjunct.com.

On this episode, we give you a preview of upcoming changes to our podcast including a new partnership with Faculty Focus (www.facultyfocus.com). Please post your comments on our blog at www.professionaladjunct.com or send your comments to jimharger@proadjunct.com.

On this episode, we continue our discussion on conducting effective online discussions with a look at the “10 Reasons Students Don’t Participate in Online Discussions and How to Remedy Each.” This is from an article I found on the blog, Online Learning Insights, by Debbie Morrison at https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com.   If you want to read the article go to https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/resources-for-developing-online-interaction/. The other resources I mentioned in this episode are the website Magna Publications at http://www.magnapubs.com and the Faculty Focus newsletter at http://www.facultyfocus.com.