Assess-It! 

Provost Conference  

in Review   

Congratulations to this years' CTL Grant Recipients! 

20K Grants  

Joseph Labrecque, Senior Interactive Software Engineer at the CTL, has recently had two new books published.

What's New in Adobe AIR 3 

and   

Both books are available through O'Reilly Media. 

Staff Picks:

Apps We Love  

CTL Contacts

Renew DU Initiative    

CTL Expands to the "Office of Teaching and Learning"   

As a part of the University's strategic plan to further strengthen its academic programs, the CTL will expand to the "Office of Teaching and Learning" under the Provost's Renew DU initiative.  

Renew DU identifies six themes to prioritize the University's response to the ever-changing and increasingly global environment of higher education: internationalization, interdisciplinary programs, academic research, academic technology, undergraduate academic experience, and faculty enhancement.    

Winter Quarter Workshops

The Center for Teaching and Learning invites you to attend the following upcoming workshops:

ADOBE CONNECT BASICS

Wednesday, February 1, 12-1 pm  

or

Wednesday, March 7, 12 - 1 pm 

Online via Adobe Connect   

Adobe Connect is an online web conferencing system. In this workshop, you'll get an overview of DU's Adobe Connect application and learn ways to incorporate it into your interactions with students.

 

Register online 

 

 

ASSESS-IT! BASICS   

Friday, February 10, 10-11 am

CTL Classroom, 102 Nagel Hall

or 

Wednesday, February 15, 12-1 pm

Online via Adobe Connect

In this info session you will learn about the features of Assess-It! and how it can support your program assessment efforts through electronic collection, evaluation, analysis, and archiving of program assessment data.

Register online


HOW LEARNING WORKS: PART I 

Friday, February 17, 9:30  - 11:00 am  

CTL Classroom, 102 Nagel Hall

Sometimes even our best teaching efforts are met with blank stares and incorrect answers. Drawing from the book, How Learning Works, participants in this session will discuss practical strategies to address the issues of "prior knowledge" and "knowledge organization" in teaching. 

Register online


CLICKER BASICS
Wednesday, February 29, 12 - 1 pm
Online via Adobe Connect

 

Curious about clickers? In this session, hosted online in Adobe Connect, you will learn to use clickers to engage students in large and small classes with questions that stimulate learning using polling software. 

 

Register online 

 

 

Due to popular demand, the Advanced Tools in Blackboard workshop will be offered again in March, check back on our website for the exact date.  

Teaching Tip:  

Encouraging Critical Thinking in Your Discussions 

Critical thinking is not something that is taught once and "mastered." Rather, critical thinking is a skill in continual development, one that develops slowly through many opportunities for practice under skilled guidance. Discussions are effective methods for teaching and modeling to students the process of thinking.

What are some effective practices to teach thinking through discussions? 

• Use a "triggering event" that provokes thought and is relevant to students. Good opening questions or problems are ones where the students have not just the ability, but also the motivation to participate.


• Understand the thinking process you are asking students to undertake. Read up on the elements, rules, and fallacies of the critical, reflective, creative, or dialogical thinking you are trying to develop. Think through possible responses to your questions and anticipate common roadblocks and misconceptions.


• Give students time and opportunities to think. This sounds obvious, but allowing time for students to think before answering a question, such as asking them to respond in writing to a question or talk with a neighbor first, will create a more thoughtful dialogue.  


• Create a safe environment where students are allowed to make mistakes in their thinking. If discussions feel like an oral exam, students will not be encouraged to think critically but will be instead preoccupied with coming up with the answer the instructor deems correct, even if they don't fully understand it.


• Manage the discussions. Allow students the opportunity to respond to each other, but at the same time, take the lead in keeping students on track. Encourage multiple perspectives, make sure harmful or unsupported assertions do not go unchecked, and continually ask meaningful, probing, open-ended questions.


• Model critical thinking yourself. Students do not have the benefit of the extensive background and knowledge organization of their instructors. Share your thinking processes with them, explain why some insights are incorrect as well as which ones are correct, and talk through the ways a problem is solved or an issue is conceptualized. 

Technology Tip:  

Using Tests in Blackboard 

Blackboard has a robust system for assessing students via online quizzes and exams. However, there are certain precautions you should take to avoid the most common problems associated with online exams in Blackboard. 

• Make sure your students are accessing exams directly through http://blackboard.du.edu rather than through WebCentral. WebCentral is set to time out after five minutes of inactivity, which will prevent students from submitting their answers.


• Give your students a practice exam, and make it count for points to ensure that they take it. This will help identify any issues with your students' browsers or settings before they take a "real" test or quiz.


• Think twice about using Blackboard for "high stakes" tests and quizzes, such as a midterm or final, especially if you have not administered a test or quiz in Blackboard before. 


• Have a back-up plan in case students are unable to access or complete the test due to a network failure or a connection problem.    

Respondus & Respondus LockDown Browser

If you do plan to use Blackboard tests, you may want to utilize Respondus and Respondus LockDown Browser. Respondus is a tool for creating and managing exams that can be published directly into Blackboard from Word or a publisher's test bank. Respondus LockDown Browser is a custom browser that limits the testing environment within Blackboard, preventing students from being able to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications. Visit the BbSupplements/Building Blocks support page for more information.

Questions? please contact Blackboard Support at x12084, [email protected], or visit the DU Blackboard Support Portfolio.