Academic Innovation Blog

The incomparable Bruce Lee said, "Learning is a constant process of discovery and never a concluding one."  The Division of Online Studies strives to educate our faculty in various technologies and best practices to teach effectively in online and hybrid classrooms, and it begins with D2L 101 – Introduction to Falcon Online.  The course provides you with the foundation to create modules and add content, create discussion boards, a grade book, and assignment folders.  D2L 101 is a requirement for anyone that teaches at DSC because we want you to be comfortable with the learning management system (LMS).  We cover some basics of the LMS like the home page, course homepage, navigation features, and e-mail.  In addition, we introduce you to best practices in course design, using multimedia, and the importance of discussions and announcements in your course.  For the hands-on learners, we include activities for you to complete in your practice shell too.  The class has elements that initiate critical thinking, comprehension, application, analysis of the materials, and what it is like to teach and learn in an online classroom.  The course is fully online and depending on your PC skills takes about 3-4 hours to complete.  Upon completion of D2L 101, you are rewarded with a Certificate of Completion, which allows you to register for D2L 102 - Advanced Falcon Online and Online Pedagogy.  We encourage our participants to provide us with direct feedback so we can improve the course for your peers. 

For those that do not know me, I am Aaron Sunday, or according to the most famous substitute teacher, Mr. Garvey, it is A-A-Ron.  I am an instructional designer within Online Studies, and I facilitate the D2L 101 course.  I recently completed an Instructional Designer certification program offered by the Online Learning Consortium and Open SUNY, and I hope to use the knowledge to help you with design and accessibility aspects, locate software and web tools, and create engaging activities that challenge your students.  It is my pleasure to provide my services to the DSC faculty and Online Studies.

If you have not taken and completed D2L 101 – Introduction to Falcon Online, you can register through ABC signup.  I look forward to our never concluding process of learning. 

Aaron Sunday
Instructional Designer
aaron.sunday@daytonastate.edu | 506-3209

A few years ago, at the close of a WAC/WID summer session, Dr. Trey Orndorff suggested that I read Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto. In it, Gawande makes a compelling case for the consideration and use of checklists in our lives. His argument: if checklists are mandatory and invaluable in fields like the airlines industry and building construction, often saving lives and creating more efficiency, other areas of our society might also benefit from using these tools long regarded as perfunctory. I'd immediately started using checklists to organize my day and teaching--and saw improvements—but wondered how I might incorporate checklists in my classes. It wasn't until I started reviewing award-winning course shells as a Faculty Fellow in Innovation that I discovered this feature in Dr. Diana Tata's online classes. As soon as I could, I incorporated checklists in my classes, and while I have no way of seeing which or whether students are using them, a number of students have already told me how valuable the checklists have been, either explicitly or indirectly. I recognize that when students visit areas in the Content section, they are shown which items they have visited. So, Falcon Online provides its own checklist of sorts. The checklists that instructors create, however, function a bit differently in that students who use them exhibit a sense of autonomy when they have to check off what they have completed. A second difference is that instructors generally include assignments only in the checklists, things that must be graded, whereas Content includes both assignments and supplementary resources. A student need not go to Content to access resources if the instructor provides them in other places like announcements or email. Therefore, students do not need to achieve 100% "topics complete" in Content to be successful. The checklist seems a better measurement of success.

Another thing I tried this semester is the ePortfolio, which was a major triumph for me. It had been about six or seven years since I'd required any type of portfolio, precisely because I dreaded having something outside of my office door that I have come to call the "pit of portfolio purgatory," that box of graded portfolios that sits outside a professor's door at the end of a semester and unhappily thereafter. Using ePortfolios would avoid this problem entirely and ensure that students submit something presentable. Although there have been a few glitches--text in the banner overlaps and changes to descriptions for the artifacts are not reflected in updates--I have been satisfied with the results but see room for improvement, either in the design or with my knowledge of ePortfolios. One of the issues that I'm facing is the storage of ePortfolios. Right now, when students share them, I see them all, not by class, but by date of submission. I have five classes submitting portfolios and anticipate getting more than a hundred. One quick solution I've discovered is to search by name. The most exciting feature has to be the option to export. A couple of years ago, I had a former student who'd already taken a few classes at Stetson return to ask for what is essentially a portfolio because the school was considering having him register for a college-level writing course, although he'd transferred into the school with ENC 1101 and 1102 credits. It wasn't an impossible task to reproduce the assignments, since I still had access to his courses, but it would have been a quicker process to retrieve a portfolio. If only we had done one in his class.

A new light of day (Daylight Experience) is upon us, so I'd suggest trying something new in Falcon Online, even if it is minor. Daylight certainly looks more aesthetically pleasing, and what better way to usher in the new year by learning a new trick. 

Best of luck, my DSC friends, and have a wonderful semester!

Harun Karim Thomas, Ph.D.
Associate Professor | School of Humanities and Communication
harun.thomas@daytonastate.edu | 386.506.3948

In this post I will give a few updates and reminders for Falcon Online.

On December 18, Falcon Online was switched to the new “Daylight” interface.

Daylight is a brighter and more stream-lined environment with emphasis on faculty and student activity. The way Falcon Online functions (where buttons are, how things work) remains untouched as the entire system will work the same. Everything will be in the same spot and function the way it always has.

Daylight is like a new ‘skin’ for the platform that includes larger fonts, more space between lines of text and a new color palette. It is all geared for mobile learning with more space for people’s fingers to locate tools and buttons with greater ease. Daylight improves accessibility, readability and navigation.

By far the best feature of Daylight is called “responsive design”. This means that the web environment is the same for mobile and desktop systems through an automatic adjustment of page items depending on screen size (i.e. the screen readjusts for smartphones and tablets with blocks of content tiling or stacking for access in narrower screen widths).

For this transition there is also a new default navbar.

The Mail link has been removed as it is now available in the minibar.

The More Tools link group has been renamed to Tools and the Help/Resources link group has been renamed to Help.

The new My Courses widget now includes an image tile for each course.

The image in the course tile also shows as a banner on the course homepage.

You may change these images and choose from the included library or upload your own image. All standard image file types are supported. If you choose to upload you own image, it must be 2400 x 960 pixels and should not contain text. This ensures they can be resized to look great in different contexts and on different devices. Do not use any copyrighted image unless you have received permission. It is highly recommended that you work with the Faculty Innovation Center if you wish to create your own course image.

Two new tools, Video Assignments and Virtual Classroom, have also been made available on the Tools link group from the navbar. Help and documentation are provided via the Student Videos and Instructor Videos links on the Help link group from the navbar.

View this video for more details and as always contact the FIC if you need assistance.

Bill Harrison
Senior Instructional Designer/Instructional Technologist
william.harrison@daytonastate.edu | 386.506.4306

Author Donna J. Abernathy wrote “Online learning is not the next big thing; it is now the big thing.” This statement speaks volumes. Many students now turn to online learning as their source of education. As an educational institution our main focus is the success of students. It is important that an online student feel the same amount of attention that they would in a physical classroom. A great and simple way to achieve this connection is with a Welcome Video.

Welcome videos are a fun and easy way to connect with your students. These videos can inform students of class information (office hours, what to expect, etc.) They also help build community and create personal connections. Welcome videos let students “meet” the professor they may never meet face-to-face. See Harun's example below:

Don’t worry! You won’t be alone in this video process. Instructional Resources is ready to help you create your welcome video. We make the process as simple as possible! Just write a short script (script-writing is taught in the Faculty Toolset training, if you need help!) and contact us to set up a shoot time. Don’t be nervous to be in the studio, our team is here to help you and make sure your video turns out well. If you have any questions regarding what to expect please refer to the Instructional Resource’s “Media Guide,” or contact me, April Brunning (details below). We hope to see you soon! 

April Brunning (and the Instructional Resources Team)
Production Manager | IT - Instructional Resources
april.brunning@daytonastate.edu | 386.506.3041