National Distance Learning Week 2021

National Distance Learning Week 2021 - Life in a Hybrid World, Learning How to Flex

Join us as we celebrate National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) 2021! An initiative from the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), NDLW aims “to generate greater awareness and appreciation for distance learning, including K-12, Higher Education, Corporate, and Military while recognizing leaders and best practices in the field.”

This year’s theme, Life in a Hybrid World – Learning How to Flex, really hits home as we reflect on what teaching in 2020 and 2021 has meant for each of us. Throughout NDLW, schools, colleges, and corporations nationwide are conducting local events to celebrate and promote the field of online learning.

In this spirit, Miami University Regionals E-Campus is proud to partner with USDLA to offer an affiliate local NDLW event. Join us November 8 – 12, 2021 for a series of virtual workshops all aimed at exploring this year’s theme of flexibility in a hybrid world and to celebrate our continued commitment to student success.

NDLW 2021 Logo

 

November 8 – 12, 2021

Pandemic Teaching: Lessons Learned for the Future

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2021 | 11:30-1 PM
Leah Henson, Senior Lecturer, Languages, Literatures, and Writing

As a result of teaching during the pandemic, many faculty are taking a fresh look at their courses and modifying their policies and setup. Faculty can support students and ease their anxiety by using Canvas in all of their courses and by building flexibility into their course policies. At the same time, faculty can ease their own workload by using Canvas features, Gmail templates, and more. Senior Lecturer Leah Henson (LLW) will give an overview of Canvas features and policies that allow for flexibility, and time-saving tips for course setup, grading, and more.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Identify Canvas features for use in face-to-face and synchronous courses
  • Build flexibility into course policies and in Canvas
  • Utilize Canvas and Google features to work more efficiently

Register

Flexible Teaching: Flipped Classroom Panel Discussion

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2021 | 11:30-1 PM
Leah Henson, Senior Lecturer, Languages, Literatures, and Writing
Britt Cole, Assistant Professor, Nursing
and Jen Purdum, Assistant Teaching Professor, Humanities and Creative Arts

Join your colleagues for this panel discussion in which MUR Faculty and Staff explore the ways in which they’ve utilized the flipped classroom approach to allow for flexibility in the classroom. They’ll discuss how to construct a course design that allows more class time for discussions, critiques, and application of course concepts.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Identify advantages to implementing a flipped classroom approach
  • Identify ways in which they could flip their own course(s)
  • Explore flexibility in higher ed through the flipped classroom
  • Utilize the learning management system to support a flipped classroom approach

Register

Flexibility in Action: Maximizing Google Workspace

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2021 | 11:30-1 PM
Ruowei Fischer, Technical Solutions Specialist, Google Certified Trainer, Apple Teacher, Miami Regionals E-Campus

Increasing flexibility in the workplace can be challenging, but with the right tools it can make your life much easier. Join Ruowei Fischer, E-Campus Solutions Specialist extraordinaire, as she shares the most popular applications from the Google Workspace suite handpicked to help boost your daily productivity and efficiency. In a time where everything may seem uncertain, this session can help you manage technology to take control of your workday.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Organize Gmail inboxes to help achieve Inbox Zero
  • Connect Google Docs and Google Keep together to capture all inspirations
  • Identify key features on Google Drive to help organize files
  • Use Google Calendar to neatly schedule your day

Register

Meet Them Where They Are: Flexible Teaching for Online Synchronous Courses, Part 1

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 | 9:30-10:30 AM
Dr. Tammie L Gerke, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science and Department of Mathematical and Physical Science

In part of one of this two-part series, Dr. Tammie L. Gerke will share her experience creating a modified flipped online synchronous science course. During the past year and a half, instructors have begun to rethink teaching methods they may not have previously considered. This provided an opportunity to create new and innovative approaches to teaching that might not otherwise have been developed. This presentation will focus on how Dr. Gerke converted her Geology course work from face-to-face to asynchronous online, then synchronous online with a “flipped” course component. This new synchronous “flipped” class was designed to meet the challenges of teaching first-generation, high-risk, and non-traditional students.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Explore methods to increase instructor presence and avoid becoming the “talking head”
  • Set up pre-class activities that prepare the students for in-class activities
  • Develop in-class activities that empower students to take the lead in their learning without leaving them feeling frustrated and abandoned
  • Engage first-generation and high-risk students
  • Discuss the role of relationship-building in the learning process and its importance to student retention
  • Adapt and apply this approach for any discipline and introductory or advanced level course

Register




Meet Them Where They Are: Flexible Teaching for Online Synchronous Courses, Part 2

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 | 10:30-11:30 AM
Dr. Tammie L Gerke, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science and Department of Mathematical and Physical Science

In part two of this series, Dr. Tammie L. Gerke will explore what happens when course development goes from theory to application. The synchronous “flipped” classroom was developed, seems brilliant, and should work for every student... in theory. But, in practice, things don’t always go as envisioned. Dr. Gerke will share how to effectively modify the course “on the fly” without overwhelming or alienating students. Or worse, have them start dropping the course! This presentation will focus on how to address these “good enough” modifications while still teaching the content, connecting with students, and involving them in the learning process.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Identify ways to be flexible in the online synchronous environment
  • Balance flexible teaching approaches with traditional instructor-led course management
  • Discuss why enforcing all course policies is critical for first-generation and high-risk students and how to do this without “losing” them
  • Explore where “on the fly ideas” originate and how well they work
  • Evaluate the differences between implementing real-time changes for an introductory course versus an upper-level course

Register




Turn It Upside Down: Creating a Flipped Classroom in Canvas

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 | 11:30 - 1 PM
Jennifer Purdum, Assistant Teaching Professor, Humanities and Creative Arts
and Anthony Mansfield, Instructional Designer, Miami Regionals E-Campus

Join Jennifer Purdum, Assistant Teaching Professor for Humanities & Creative Arts, and E-Campus Instructional Designer, Anthony Mansfield, as they share insights from their course development process for creating a flipped-classroom approach. This presentation focuses on the importance of bringing teamwork, critique, creativity, design, learning patterns, and storytelling together to make a course where students focus on critical thinking and develop skills they’ll use in the modern workplace.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Create a flipped classroom that can be used in either a face-to-face, synchronous, or asynchronous environment
  • Produce lecture videos for students to watch outside of class in lieu of in-class lectures
  • Assemble a Canvas course with an instructional designer that includes videos, podcasts, recorded lectures, and more
  • Design in-class interactions that focus on constructivism and oblique strategies
  • Develop rapport and collaboration between yourself and your project partner
  • Critique your collaborator’s ideas to identify areas for improvement in the course and/or creative solutions

Register

Apple Ecosystem Tips You Don’t Want To Miss

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021 | 11-12 PM
Ruowei Fischer, Technical Solutions Specialist, Google Certified Trainer, Apple Teacher, Miami Regionals E-Campus

Do you own a lot of Apple devices? Have you thought about using your iPhone, iPad or iMac to create a simple and efficient streamline? Come and join Ruowei Fischer, E-Campus Solutions Specialist-extraordinaire, as she introduces and demonstrates features tailored to flawlessly optimize your Apple device experience. Take advantage of the Apple Ecosystem to make your day more organized and productive!

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Turn an iPad into a second monitor for Mac using Sidecar
  • Send files easily across Apple devices with Airdrop
  • Utilize the cross-device Universal Clipboard
  • Use Markup to sync document and image edits

Register




faculty lounge: Learning how to flex in a hybrid world

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021 | 12-1 PM | VIRTUAL DISCUSSION
Jennifer, Purdum Assistant Teaching Professor, Humanities and Creative Arts

At this month’s faculty lounge session, we’ll gather around the topic of flexibility in teaching, the problems and rewards of critiques and discussions online, and in the flipped classroom. Participants will have a chance to share success stories and challenges imposed by the pandemic, and how to leverage these experiences for better teaching in the future.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Engage with peers through conversation and discussion related to leading better discussions and critiques in the classroom
  • Share a series of specific discussion and critique patterns that enable students to take the lead in discussing material
  • Share specific tools and technologies that can enable students to voice their opinions and share concepts that support many learning styles

Register

Monday

Pandemic Teaching: Lessons Learned for the Future

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2021 | 11:30-1 PM
Leah Henson, Senior Lecturer, Languages, Literatures, and Writing

As a result of teaching during the pandemic, many faculty are taking a fresh look at their courses and modifying their policies and setup. Faculty can support students and ease their anxiety by using Canvas in all of their courses and by building flexibility into their course policies. At the same time, faculty can ease their own workload by using Canvas features, Gmail templates, and more. Senior Lecturer Leah Henson (LLW) will give an overview of Canvas features and policies that allow for flexibility, and time-saving tips for course setup, grading, and more.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Identify Canvas features for use in face-to-face and synchronous courses
  • Build flexibility into course policies and in Canvas
  • Utilize Canvas and Google features to work more efficiently

Register

Tuesday

Flexible Teaching: Flipped Classroom Panel Discussion

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2021 | 11:30-1 PM
Leah Henson, Senior Lecturer, Languages, Literatures, and Writing
Britt Cole, Assistant Professor, Nursing
and Jen Purdum, Assistant Teaching Professor, Humanities and Creative Arts

Join your colleagues for this panel discussion in which MUR Faculty and Staff explore the ways in which they’ve utilized the flipped classroom approach to allow for flexibility in the classroom. They’ll discuss how to construct a course design that allows more class time for discussions, critiques, and application of course concepts.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Identify advantages to implementing a flipped classroom approach
  • Identify ways in which they could flip their own course(s)
  • Explore flexibility in higher ed through the flipped classroom
  • Utilize the learning management system to support a flipped classroom approach

Register

Wednesday

Flexibility in Action: Maximizing Google Workspace

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2021 | 11:30-1 PM
Ruowei Fischer, Technical Solutions Specialist, Google Certified Trainer, Apple Teacher, Miami Regionals E-Campus

Increasing flexibility in the workplace can be challenging, but with the right tools it can make your life much easier. Join Ruowei Fischer, E-Campus Solutions Specialist extraordinaire, as she shares the most popular applications from the Google Workspace suite handpicked to help boost your daily productivity and efficiency. In a time where everything may seem uncertain, this session can help you manage technology to take control of your workday.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Organize Gmail inboxes to help achieve Inbox Zero
  • Connect Google Docs and Google Keep together to capture all inspirations
  • Identify key features on Google Drive to help organize files
  • Use Google Calendar to neatly schedule your day

Register

Thursday

Meet Them Where They Are: Flexible Teaching for Online Synchronous Courses, Part 1

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 | 9:30-10:30 AM
Dr. Tammie L Gerke, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science and Department of Mathematical and Physical Science

In part of one of this two-part series, Dr. Tammie L. Gerke will share her experience creating a modified flipped online synchronous science course. During the past year and a half, instructors have begun to rethink teaching methods they may not have previously considered. This provided an opportunity to create new and innovative approaches to teaching that might not otherwise have been developed. This presentation will focus on how Dr. Gerke converted her Geology course work from face-to-face to asynchronous online, then synchronous online with a “flipped” course component. This new synchronous “flipped” class was designed to meet the challenges of teaching first-generation, high-risk, and non-traditional students.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Explore methods to increase instructor presence and avoid becoming the “talking head”
  • Set up pre-class activities that prepare the students for in-class activities
  • Develop in-class activities that empower students to take the lead in their learning without leaving them feeling frustrated and abandoned
  • Engage first-generation and high-risk students
  • Discuss the role of relationship-building in the learning process and its importance to student retention
  • Adapt and apply this approach for any discipline and introductory or advanced level course

Register




Meet Them Where They Are: Flexible Teaching for Online Synchronous Courses, Part 2

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 | 10:30-11:30 AM
Dr. Tammie L Gerke, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science and Department of Mathematical and Physical Science

In part two of this series, Dr. Tammie L. Gerke will explore what happens when course development goes from theory to application. The synchronous “flipped” classroom was developed, seems brilliant, and should work for every student... in theory. But, in practice, things don’t always go as envisioned. Dr. Gerke will share how to effectively modify the course “on the fly” without overwhelming or alienating students. Or worse, have them start dropping the course! This presentation will focus on how to address these “good enough” modifications while still teaching the content, connecting with students, and involving them in the learning process.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Identify ways to be flexible in the online synchronous environment
  • Balance flexible teaching approaches with traditional instructor-led course management
  • Discuss why enforcing all course policies is critical for first-generation and high-risk students and how to do this without “losing” them
  • Explore where “on the fly ideas” originate and how well they work
  • Evaluate the differences between implementing real-time changes for an introductory course versus an upper-level course

Register




Turn It Upside Down: Creating a Flipped Classroom in Canvas

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 | 11:30 - 1 PM
Jennifer Purdum, Assistant Teaching Professor, Humanities and Creative Arts
and Anthony Mansfield, Instructional Designer, Miami Regionals E-Campus

Join Jennifer Purdum, Assistant Teaching Professor for Humanities & Creative Arts, and E-Campus Instructional Designer, Anthony Mansfield, as they share insights from their course development process for creating a flipped-classroom approach. This presentation focuses on the importance of bringing teamwork, critique, creativity, design, learning patterns, and storytelling together to make a course where students focus on critical thinking and develop skills they’ll use in the modern workplace.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Create a flipped classroom that can be used in either a face-to-face, synchronous, or asynchronous environment
  • Produce lecture videos for students to watch outside of class in lieu of in-class lectures
  • Assemble a Canvas course with an instructional designer that includes videos, podcasts, recorded lectures, and more
  • Design in-class interactions that focus on constructivism and oblique strategies
  • Develop rapport and collaboration between yourself and your project partner
  • Critique your collaborator’s ideas to identify areas for improvement in the course and/or creative solutions

Register

Friday

Apple Ecosystem Tips You Don’t Want To Miss

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021 | 11-12 PM
Ruowei Fischer, Technical Solutions Specialist, Google Certified Trainer, Apple Teacher, Miami Regionals E-Campus

Do you own a lot of Apple devices? Have you thought about using your iPhone, iPad or iMac to create a simple and efficient streamline? Come and join Ruowei Fischer, E-Campus Solutions Specialist-extraordinaire, as she introduces and demonstrates features tailored to flawlessly optimize your Apple device experience. Take advantage of the Apple Ecosystem to make your day more organized and productive!

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Turn an iPad into a second monitor for Mac using Sidecar
  • Send files easily across Apple devices with Airdrop
  • Utilize the cross-device Universal Clipboard
  • Use Markup to sync document and image edits

Register




faculty lounge: Learning how to flex in a hybrid world

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021 | 12-1 PM | VIRTUAL DISCUSSION
Jennifer, Purdum Assistant Teaching Professor, Humanities and Creative Arts

At this month’s faculty lounge session, we’ll gather around the topic of flexibility in teaching, the problems and rewards of critiques and discussions online, and in the flipped classroom. Participants will have a chance to share success stories and challenges imposed by the pandemic, and how to leverage these experiences for better teaching in the future.

Takeaways

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Engage with peers through conversation and discussion related to leading better discussions and critiques in the classroom
  • Share a series of specific discussion and critique patterns that enable students to take the lead in discussing material
  • Share specific tools and technologies that can enable students to voice their opinions and share concepts that support many learning styles

Register