Category Archives: Uncategorized

Collect Assignments and Provide Feedback

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Collect student assignments and provide feedback online all without cluttering up your inbox.

As you consider your options, check with your students about their access to technology. Do they have access to a computer at home or do they only have a mobile device (tablet or mobile phone)? Do they have fast, reliable internet at home or are they on a slower connection or data plan? This information will help you as you plan for which tools and workflows will work best for your course.

  • Online Discussions: Create and facilitate online discussions using the myLesley Discussion Board. You may use the Discussion Board to replace or enhance classroom discussions in a digital format. The discussion board is also a great tool for peer review. Students can post their work to the discussion and receive feedback from their fellow classmates.
  • Blogs and Journals: Use the myLesley Blogs or Journals tool to have your students create articles or editorial, review their readings or reflect on assignments and progress on coursework. Blogs can be shared with the entire class allowing students to view and comment. Journals are a private space between you and the individual student. It’s a great place for reflection and private feedback from the instructor.
  • Assignments: Use the myLesley Assignment tool to post, collect, and grade papers or other written assignments all within your myLesley course.
  • Presentations: Use VoiceThread to create and collaborate on online presentations. Students can create individual or group presentations to share with class and receive feedback.
  • Tests: Create a test to assess student comprehension. myLesley supports a large number of test formats including multiple choice, essay, short answer, calculated numeric, and more, all which may be taken online. Create a full mid-term exam or a series of smaller knowledge checks to ensure everyone is mastering the content or to discover gaps.

Help and Resources

Online Tutorials 

The IT/eLIS Support Site provides resources and tutorials for all Lesley-supported technology, including myLesley, Kaltura Media, VoiceThread, Collaborate Ultra, Microsoft Teams, and more. Not finding what you’re looking for? Put in a support ticket for more information or to set up a training. 
 
Hoonuit (formerly Atomic Learning) features hundreds of self-paced video tutorials for popular software, online tools, tech integration, and more. Log in to Hoonuit with your myLesley username and password. 

Request a training 

Do you have questions or don’t know where to start? Reach out to eLIS and set up an appointment to learn more. eLIS staff are available to meet with you in person in University Hall, online, or on the phone. 

Introducing Kaltura Personal Capture

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Kaltura Capture is Kaltura’s updated presentation and production tool, replacing CaptureSpace Lite. You may use Kaltura Capture to record any combination of your screen, voice, and webcam. These videos can then be easily uploaded to your My Media library in myLesley.

Some sample use cases for Kaltura Capture include:

  • Create a webcam recording as part of your course introduction.
  • Narrate a PowerPoint presentation and post it in your course.
  • Record an application demo on your computer.
  • Walk your students through a process or analysis while providing commentary.
  • Give a tour of your myLesley course.

If you can view it on your computer, you can record it, narrate it, and share it with your students. Your students can then review it as often as needed.

Kaltura Capture will be replacing the older tool: Kaltura CaptureSpace Lite. If you have been using CaptureSpace Lite, we recommend switching over to Kaltura Capture.

More information and detailed instructions may be found on our support site: Kaltura Capture

Additional SafeAssign Maintenance and Downtime

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SafeAssign, the anti-plagiarism service in Blackboard, will not be available Wednesday, April 3rd, 11:30 AM – 5:00 PM ET. Blackboard performed maintenance to move the service to new servers on April 2nd, however unforeseen performance concerns have arisen that require additional maintenance to resolve.

What does this mean for you? 

Assignments submitted by students during this time will not be processed by SafeAssign, nor will they be queued for processing once the service is back online. Instructors can Direct Submit any submitted assignments once the service resumes.

Please note that the Assignment tool itself will not be affected. The maintenance will only affect the SafeAssign feature within the Assignment tool.

Making the Switch to Collaborate Ultra

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Still using Collaborate Original as your myLesley web conferencing tool? It’s time to switch to Collaborate Ultra. Earlier this year, Collaborate Ultra was integrated into myLesley and this January 2018, we will remove Collaborate Original from myLesley as part of our migration to SaaS.

Why are we making the switch?

Collaborate Original has been integrated into myLesley for several years. It has served us well, but as a java-based tool it required users to install multiple softwares on their computer often making it difficult to simply access an online meeting. Many faculty and students also found the interface overwhelming and clunky.

Collaborate Ultra has many advantages. First of all, it’s web-based. There is nothing to install on your computer prior to using Collaborate Ultra. Simply click on the link to the online meeting and join.

Secondly, it has a streamlined, easier to use interface. Faculty who have used it to meet with their students have found it much easier to use with a more familiar interface making it faster find the tools they need. We’ve been using it here in eLIS for two years and have been able to meet with many faculty, staff and students online while providing minimal to no prior training.

Finally, Collaborate Ultra is also integrated directly into myLesley. You can start using it right now.

Check it Out!

Take a look at the new look and feel in this video tour.

If you have questions or need assistance switching to Collaborate Ultra, contact us at elis@lesley.edu.

12 Days of Learning: Online Course Design

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Atomic Learning has created the 12 Days of Learning, a series of articles designed to kick off resolutions to keep learning in the new year. We thought this was a great idea and have decided borrow (shamelessly steal) it and do our own. Today’s post looks at planning and designing an online course.  

When designing an online course there are several key elements you will need to consider. You will need to reimagine your course activities focusing on pedagogy first and technology second. It’s important to align your learning outcomes to your assessments and activities and pay careful attention to the selection of technology to achieve those outcomes without having it become about the technology.

Planning Your online course
This video from the University of New South Wales in Australia walks you through some useful strategies to begin planning your online course.  


 

Overview of the Course Design Process
This VoiceThread provides a brief overview of the eLIS course design process we use with Lesley faculty.