DET/CHE 2018

Titanium Engagement, a tool developed at California State University, Fullerton, monitors student usage patterns of Titanium (Moodle LMS), as an indication of their engagement with learning. Unlike typical end-of-term LMS reports, Titanium Engagement provides faculty with easily accessible, real time updates of how each student in the course is using the course site. The tool provides a clear visual indicator system for quick identification of students who may be disengaged. The instructor can also view a longitudinal pattern of student Titanium Engagement to spot behavior changes. Appropriate interventions deemed appropriate by the instructor can then be initiated to help bring the students back on track.

We are using Zoom conferencing software to meet three classroom needs. One of our students can only read text when it is very close to him. Zoom systems in his classrooms takes the content displayed on the projector and mirrors it to the student's tablet computer. A similar system sends the projector's image and the audio from the classroom to a remote American Sign Language interpreter. Video of the interpreter is displayed on the student's computer. We will be adding wireless projection in the next few years, but in the meantime we have instructors who want to walk around their classrooms and project from their tablets now. Loading Zoom on the installed computers in our lecture halls and enabling them to connect from their tablets was a cheap and easy solution for that.

At UC Berkeley, active learning classrooms have typically been small to moderate sized. What happens when we scale up technology in the active learning classroom model -- eight projectors, eight interactive displays, advanced video distribution, multiple source destination -- to accommodate class sizes of 120 students? In this session we’ll share strategies for balancing classroom technology and flexible furniture design elements with learning goals, and supporting a community of instructors of varying experience with active learning. We will also share data from faculty and students across disciplines teaching and learning in our new large active learning space, and highlight collaborative efforts to coordinate scheduling and continued support.

Although some software applications are discipline specific, more and more applications have a broader appeal and provide an opportunity for cross-disciplinary projects. Adoption is further expanded as the platforms provide an easier, less technical user interface. One application, Esri Story Maps, is a geographic information system software that provides a digital storytelling platform that leverages location-based spaces with the visual appeal of accompanying media elements. Another application, Adobe Spark, is a creative application focused on storytelling by means of graphics, videos, and webpages. This presentation will showcase examples of ways these two applications were used in courses and will provide recommendations regarding ways to integrate them into the curriculum.

“Creating” is the peak of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning: the ability to synthesize material can reveal topic mastery. This philosophy exists across disciplines, with many assessing students by asking them to create (e.g. written and musical composition, video, website e-portfolio, oral-visual presentation like a poster). Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) can support these goals to engage students, train them to use industry-standard software, and examine their ability to create, communicate, and think critically. Many campuses have reduced cost CC licenses. Here, I share a plethora of ways that students, faculty, staff, and administration can use CC to improve learning and campus processes and reduce student course material costs.