News and resources for people teaching online

WELCOME BACK!

Dear MTSU colleagues, 

On behalf of MTSU Online I am so pleased to welcome you to Fall 2022 at MTSU. If you are new to MTSU, I hope we get to personally meet you at the new faculty orientation events. At our booth you can meet us, and particularly our instructional designers who are here to help you be as effective an instructor as possible for MTSU students. This past year they helped develop or redesign almost 100 online courses.

It has been a very busy year (and summer) for MTSU Online. As you may know, about 18 months ago we began a special initiative to increase the number of fully online degree programs at MTSU. Thanks to the good work of the MTSU faculty, administrators, and our team, we have increased the number of fully online programs from 16 to now 31 programs during this time. Our goal is to ensure that students who want an education from MTSU are able to complete their degree with us and not have to turn to some other institution with an online degree. On our website you can find specific directions on how to propose an online course, and also how to develop a fully online degree program.

Our team exists to support the faculty as they teach and deliver programs, and also facilitate student success through all the services and resources detailed on our website. It is our pleasure to interact with and support faculty and students, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Respectfully, 

Trey Martindale 
Professor and Chief Online Learning Officer 

HAVE YOU HEARD?

MTSU Online YouTube Channel

Did you know that MTSU Online has a YouTube Channel? Started in 2020 by our first, dedicated online instructional designer, Dr. Kim Godwin, the MTSU Online YouTube Channel now has more than 30 videos on a variety of topics. While the creation of the channel intersected with COVID, that was not the reason for its creation. When asked what the impetus was for having the channel, Godwin states “IDs were new for our department, and we were just starting to co-host presentations with the LT&ITC. Their YouTube Channel is fantastic, but we wanted a place that was dedicated to online resources specifically to more readily meet the needs of our faculty developers and instructors. Little did we know that just weeks after posting our first video, everyone would suddenly go remote, and those videos would be so important.”

In the beginning, she was the primary creator of content. Since then, other MTSU Online instructional designers and MTSU faculty and staff have helped to create content on our channel that benefits faculty and the student experience. Many of our videos are workshops hosted in collaboration with the LT&ITC. According to Director of Teaching Excellence Shelia Otto, attendees look forward to what MTSU Online will offer each semester, that we have become among the “most popular presenters” that faculty can count on to learn not only skills but the pedagogy behind those skills.

So, want to know more about D2L tools such as quizzes, checklists, video notes, and groups? We’ve got you covered. What if you’re looking for videos about online course quality? We have videos on cognitive overload, aligning student outcomes to your activities and assessments, and using rubrics. Want to amp up your connection to students? View our videos on discussions, intelligent agents and replacement strings or the D2L App, Pulse. These topics and more are at your fingertips on our channel. We hope you’ll check it out!

Have an idea for a workshop? Let us know at online@mtsu.edu.

MTSU ONLINE PRESENTS AT D2L FUSION 2022

The annual international D2L conference, D2L Fusion, was held July 20th-22nd in Boston, and MTSU Online was represented! Two of our instructional design team, Dr. Kim Godwin and Tara Perrin, presented on two subjects in three different formats. The first presentation titled “Expectations, Engagement and Inclusion: Using Groups in Medium- and Large-Enrollment Courses” is a 25-minute on demand conversation focused on how the groups tool can help faculty and students manage larger online course discussions. The second presentation “H5Please! Interaction That is Worth the Investment” focused on the implementation plan and results for campus use of H5P, an interactive content creation tool that fully embeds into D2L. It was offered on two different days; the first as a 30-minute virtual event and the second as a 50-minute in-person presentation.

When asked about the event, Godwin and Perrin commented, “We were thrilled to be selected to present in all formats and to share our experiences with others on a broad scale. Learning from and hearing the experiences of other D2L users is a great way to inform your own practice, to gather and share ideas, and to connect with people whom you would never have met otherwise. Plus, it was great to be able to travel again, and Boston is a terrific city.”

We are proud of Kim and Tara and the way that they represented MTSU Online at the conference and the international exposure it gives our department and MTSU generally. Their knowledge and scholarship are a value to our institution, and we are honored that they were able to share that expertise with others all over the world. -- Dr. Louanne Bergman, MTSU Online Director

TECH TALK

Our colleagues at ITD and FITC have been very busy this summer! Thanks to their efforts, we now have several new integrations in D2L to improve the faculty and student experience.

EBSCO Library

Make it easier for your students to access course materials through the new EBSCO / D2L integration. EBSCO, one of the library’s leading providers of access to key journals, books, and other scholarly materials, has released an LTI for D2L, allowing you to easily search for and embed articles and eBooks in your course. As we recommend with videos, embedding content into your course rather than linking to another web site is best practice so that students stay within a familiar web space (D2L). Using the EBSCO LTI means students can access materials without having to log in again when they click the links to the articles and books you’ve selected from the EBSCO database. Options to save and export documents as well as to read abstracts and search for other materials on similar subjects remain available when articles are opened within D2L. Review Walker Library’s Guide for embedding eBooks, books, and articles for more information.

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning is a great way to enhance your content with expertise you know you can trust. With thousands of subjects ranging from coding to production, you are bound to find something that will engage your students. Want to include a single video or playlist? Embed the link directly in D2L content so the student can easily access it. Want that LinkedIn Learning activity to be connected to the gradebook? Select “LinkedIn Learning” under “Add Existing Activities” in D2L, and it will automatically create a grade item connected to the content you select from LinkedIn. From there you can edit the grade item just like any other. Keep in mind the default is to “exclude from final grade calculation” so change this option if you want the grade item to count toward the final grade.

OneDrive

If you’re not using OneDrive, consider the possibilities! With OneDrive you can easily share documents, images, and presentations in D2L with your students. This would eliminate the need to upload the file(s) to D2L since students can easily download the shared content from the OneDrive link. Have a group project that students submit? Create a shared file for each group in OneDrive and share the link with them in D2L. You can then monitor what each student contributes, type feedback directly in the shared document, and help guide students through the project. Since OneDrive is part of our Microsoft (MS) suite of products, it is FERPA secure and accessible through D2L or Single Sign On. Learn more about OneDrive with these LinkedIn Learning videos.

FALL '22 WORKSHOPS

MTSU Online collaborates with the LT&ITC each semester to host virtual workshops with an online focus. Please see our upcoming events below. All MTSU Online workshops are recorded and posted to our MTSU Online YouTube Channel. We hope you’ll subscribe!

D2L Five for Fall: Updates and Tips 2022
August 16th (Tuesday) 1:30pm-2:30pm

The beginning of the semester wouldn’t be the same without a few updates to D2L.  Join MTSU Online and the LT&ITC for this overview of what’s changed and how you can make the most of these updates, as well as some helpful tips.

1. Integrations (LinkedIn Learning, EBSCO Library, OneDrive, MS Teams)
2. Preferred Name
3. Discussion Word Counts
4. Adding a midterm calculation to your Grade Book
5. Private Comments (Grade Items)
   
   Okay, maybe 7, the recent summer D2L update included a couple cool new tools!
6. Edit Accommodations
7. Insights Portal

The Groups Tool: Why Use It?
September 13th (Tuesday) 1:30pm-2:30pm
This workshop will not only cover the basics of groups in D2L but will, more importantly, discuss how using groups creates a stronger community among your students. This tool can help you manage your large courses while promoting students' learning and engagement. Large courses need some tips and tricks to help you manage your time and student learning.

H5Please! Creating Interactive Elements in Your Online Courses
September 20th (Tuesday) 10:00am-11:00am
Please join us for this introductory workshop about our latest D2L Integration, H5P. We will discuss the basics of our newest technology, see a demonstration of the creative possibilities for your onlne course, and provide some practical applications for its' use. To maximize your workshop experience, you should create an H5P account prior to the day of the workshop. See directions here.

Infographics as Assessment: The Benefits to Faculty and Students
October 4th (Tuesday) 11:30am-12:30pm
We hope you’ll join us for this workshop about using graphic visual representations as assessment. We’ll discuss the basics of what infographics are and are not, accelerating grading while creating variety for you, and ways in which they can be used to measure student learning. Any current assignments feel stale? Bring your ideas – there could be an existing paper or written assessment that would be great as an infographic!

H5P Series Showcase #3
October 25th (Tuesday) 11:30am-12:30pm
This workshop is the third in an ongoing series to provide practical, hands-on experience focused on creating activities using the tools highlighted in each showcase. Attendees should create an H5P account prior to the workshop to best maximize the experience. This showcase will focus exclusively on creating a Course Presentation.

To register for these or any of the other faculty development opportunities offered through the LT&ITC please visit the LT&ITC Workshop Calendar.

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Carol Hayes

Hello. I have worked within University College in multiple positions over the last 22 years. As Faculty Coordinator for MTSU Online for the last seven years, I am the primary point of contact for faculty interested in (re)developing online and distance education courses. I process online proposal requests, set up agreements, maintain the development database and approved course list, assign instructional designers to work with faculty, and initiate payroll upon completion of course development(s).

After a short hiatus during my undergraduate program (years ago), I returned to complete my University Studies Degree and later earned my M.Ed. in Administration & Supervision. As an adult learner who took telecourses, correspondence courses, and evening and on-ground courses to earn portions of both my degrees, while raising kids, I enjoy working with faculty to make education more accessible to distance learners at MTSU.

I have an old grumpy cat and three wonderfully quirky children. My son is an Army Medic and recently finished a rotation in Poland. My daughter is beginning her freshman year running for the University of Alabama Birmingham with plans to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. My youngest son is in eighth grade and believes he can do all the things. He wants to follow his brother into the Army.

I enjoy spending time with my friends and family, watching my kids participate in their sports, hiking, crocheting, reading, working in my flower garden, and napping to recover from all of that fun.

This biannual newsletter is produced by MTSU Online. Comments and feedback should be sent to online@mtsu.edu.