Canvas Post-Announcement News (Part 2)

NOTE: The following information is also available in the IDT team's full Canvas Post-Announcement Newsletter in Sway.

Our Transition Plan

UHCL is in the very early stages of transitioning from Blackboard to Canvas. University Technology Advisory Committee (UTAC) reviewed a tentative plan in October 2022. Below is the high-level visual timeline for the UHCL transition plan. We expect to complete our transition by the end of Spring 2024.

The following additional resources outline UHCL’s tentative transition timeline and plan:

• [Document] Blackboard to Canvas: Transition Plan (October 2022) NOTE: This document is subject to change, especially in the period until the Provost makes his presentation at the November 2022 Faculty Senate meeting.
• [Video] Canvas Preliminary Transition Plan [11:48]
• [Webpage] IDT Canvas Faculty Support Page

When Can I Start Using Canvas?

Instructors cannot yet teach their UHCL classes in Canvas. However, there are several opportunities for faculty to get practice in using Canvas:

• Volunteer to be an "early adopter" or "Canvas champion." Complete and submit the online Canvas Pilot Program form for more information or to volunteer.
• Review the IDT team's document for Canvas "early birds" to complete the following:
• Sign up for a free Canvas account and begin learning Canvas and preparing your Blackboard courses for migration in Instructure's "public" Canvas system. NOTE: Instructors must not teach their UHCL classes from this public system. Think of it as a "sandbox" space to familiarize yourself with the new LMS, import into and edit your existing Blackboard course content in Canvas, or practice building a new course "from scratch" in the new environment.
• Complete the Introducing Canvas course available on UHCL's LinkedIn Learning system. NOTE: We recommend that you obtain a free Canvas account and create a blank shell on their public system in which you can practice as you advance through the two-hour training.
• Make plans to participate in the Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team's upcoming informational and initial Canvas familiarization sessions beginning in November 2022.

“Early Adopters” and Canvas “Champions”

We recognize that UHCL faculty and staff may already have experience with, expertise in, or are simply eager to learn the Canvas LMS. Faculty have the option of volunteering to be a Canvas "early adopter," Canvas "champion," or both via our team's Canvas Pilot Program online request form.

• "Early Adopter:" faculty member who would like to prepare their course(s) and deliver them in Canvas before the SP24 full deployment semester. Early adopters may opt to first teach in Canvas in either the SU23 or FA23 semesters.
• Canvas "Champion:" faculty member with previous Canvas experience willing to support other instructors throughout the Canvas transition, provide regular feedback via the UTAC, and participate in Canvas informational and professional development sessions.

OIT's Instructional Design and Technology team looks forward to collaborating with all early adopters and Canvas champions throughout this exciting transition!

What Options Exist for Training/Support?

OIT's Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) team is planning a robust schedule of informational and training opportunities that will begin in late October or early November 2022. Visit the IDT team's new Canvas Faculty Support webpage for the latest resources.

This "special edition" of the IDT weekly newsletter is the first of many electronic communications to the campus to keep everyone informed over the next 18 months. Our weekly newsletter will be the primary means of electronic communication. To continue receiving those newsletters, please email IDT@uhcl.edu to opt into the newsletter mailing list. Less frequent electronic communication may originate as emails from either IDT@uhcl.edu or SupportCenter@uhcl.edu, so please keep an eye out for emails from those addresses, especially if they reference Canvas in the subject.

We invite faculty to use our "early bird" instructions document to familiarize themselves with Canvas while we finalize training and professional development opportunities. The document includes instructions for creating a free Canvas account and information about a LinkedIn Learning course that can get you acclimated to the new system.

What’s Next?

OIT is working with the University of Houston System (UHS) to secure a contract for a UHCL-specific Canvas environment. The IDT staff is continuing our documentation efforts and setting a schedule for professional development and informational sessions beginning in November 2022.

Faculty with questions currently are welcome to contact their college's University Technology Advisory Committee (UTAC) representative or contact the Support Center to request a consultation with a member of the IDT team.

Canvas Post-Announcement News (Part 1)

NOTE: The following information is also available in the IDT team's full Canvas Post-Announcement Newsletter in Sway.

Provost’s Message from the Academic Affairs Update 10-24 Email - Learning Management System (LMS) Update

The University Technology Advisory Committee (UTAC) has explored options for transitioning from Blackboard to Canvas. The process included a survey among faculty to determine the needs of the LMS as well as familiarity with Canvas. UTAC has unanimously approved a recommendation to transition to Canvas. The Provost has accepted their recommendation and will present a transition plan at the next Faculty Senate Meeting. Dr. Jana Willis, the chair of UTAC, will be one of the presenters at Faculty Assembly, and faculty are invited to ask questions about UTAC’s recommendation during the Assembly. There is much work to be done, but please join us in thanking UTAC for their hard work that led to this recommendation, as well as their work to assist in the planning of a smooth transition.

What is Canvas?

Canvas by Instructure (Canvas) is a learning management system (LMS) used to deliver 100% online courses and to support teaching and learning in face-to-face, web-support, hybrid/blended, and HyFlex courses. On Instructure's Community page, What is Canvas? they describe their product as follows:
Canvas is a web-based learning management system or LMS. It is used by learning institutions, educators, and students to access and manage online course learning materials and communicate about skill development and learning achievement.

Major Improvements Over Blackboard

Blackboard and Canvas share many similarities. Both are categorized as learning management systems and are suitable for use by medium and large entities, including colleges, universities, K-12 schools, and businesses. They share a number of tools and features, although how each LMS refers to those tools and how they function differently from one another. The University of Houston’s Instruction@UH office webpage, Blackboard-to-Canvas Tool Comparison, provides a nice overview of both platforms’ major features, a brief description of differences, and links to Canvas resources about their version of each feature.

Those who have never seen a Canvas course are invited to view the IDT team’s “crash course” video, Canvas "First Look" [6:07], in which we provide a brief visual comparison of the same course in both Blackboard Learn and Instructure Canvas.

Link to Canvas Post-Announcement News (Part 2)

Reminders About Available (and Possibly Misunderstood) Instructional Technologies and Capabilities

Contributed by Jenni Willis-Opalenik – Director, Technology Learning Services

Recently, the IDT team assisted the University Technology Advisory Committee (UTAC) in disseminating the university’s LMS Survey. In reviewing survey data, we saw some open-ended comments that suggest a need for more information about a few existing tools and capabilities of which some instructors are unaware.

• Live video classroom capabilities…to have class online and in person at the same time. Two options are available to faculty from within Blackboard while teaching: (1) Zoom integration with Zoom to set up and conduct Zoom sessions that enable virtual students to “attend” your in-person class, and (2) Echo360’s lecture capture with live streaming.
• A video assignment (recorded presentations) submission portal that reduces video size automatically. Students can use Echo360 Universal Capture: Personal to create video presentations and save them in their Echo360 Library. They can then submit their video as a hyperlink in a Blackboard assignment drop box, discussion, or another area in a course. Our team has created a short “crash course” video, Student Presentations Using Echo360, for students on all of these Echo360 topics.
• I would like to see the data on student time spent within the course each day or week. Blackboard provides two options for faculty interested in student activity and performance data within a Blackboard course. For more information, you may want to review Blackboard’s support pages on Course Reports and the Retention Center.
• Download the Blackboard exam into Microsoft Word. I’m not sure whether this request references downloading a blank copy of an exam to Word for in-person use, or whether the instructor wants to be able to download students’ completed online exams to Word for offline grading. If the request is in reference to the first option, the IDT team’s staff can assist you. Simply email the Support Center to request assistance and your inquiry will be routed to our team. An instructional designer or learning technology administrator will be assigned to use Respondus Exam 4.0 to extract your online exam from Blackboard into a Word exam and answer key. Regarding the second option, we do not have a solution for that request available at this time.
• A product like Studio for video storage, and the capabilities to create video interactive quizzes. The university acquired Echo360 several years ago, and the IDT team continues to promote awareness of and provide training on that application for the following features: (1) video lecture/presentation recording, (2) storage for audio/video contents created in Echo360 or Zoom, or imported from another source, (3) modification of videos stored in Echo360 to include embedded questions for students to answer as they watch the video, and (4) accessing student viewing and response data. Please refer to the following IDT resources for more information on these features:Promoting Active Engagement with Within-Video Polls/Questions
• Video: Setting Zoom to Work with Echo360 [2:55]
• Video: Basic Upload to Echo360 [3:59]
• Video: Echo 360 Basics [13:31]
• Additional Echo360-related videos are available on the IDT team’s blog post, "Crash Course" Video Library.
• I would like to be able to add comments on written work that students can access without my having to download and save a file that I have to post back…Even better would be the ability to offer spoken comments that are recorded by the system. Blackboard provides some degree support for both of these requests. For more information, you may want to review Blackboard’s support pages on Assignment Inline Grading and Record Audio and Video Feedback.
• Creating tests in Blackboard is so painful that the thought of having to recreate the tests used in my lab classes is making me nauseous. Most were developed when the university had a license for Respondus 4.0, which greatly facilitated setting up automated tests, but since losing that option, the one or two quizzes I've had to create or modify have been tremendous time holes. UHCL still has Respondus Exam 4.0. However, when we needed to implement single sign-on (SSO) security protocols, making a connection between Respondus Exam 4.0 and Blackboard became problematic and frustrating. However, the IDT team regularly assists faculty with getting exam questions from a Word document into the Blackboard course(s) via Respondus. Simply email the Support Center and request that assistance. Your inquiry will be sent to the IDT team, and one of our Instructional Designers will be assigned to help you. For those faculty of a more “do it yourself” approach, we do have a DIY workaround that enables you to upload questions from a Word document into a Respondus exam, exporting/downloading the test from Respondus as a Blackboard-ready exam file, and importing that file into the Tests, Surveys, and Pools area in your Blackboard course. For more information about the workaround, please review the IDT team’s “crash course” video, Respondus Exam – Manual Workaround [5:49].

In addition to the specific resources referenced above, the IDT team encourages you to contact the Support Center to request more information about these features, or about anything related to instructional design and instructional technologies. You may do so by email at SupportCenter@uhcl.edu or by telephone at (281) 283-2828.

Respondus LockDown Browser Information

Contributed by Sam Houston, Learning Technology Administrator

Faculty: For information on Respondus LockDown Browser, please click “Faculty Information” on our Online Proctoring Resources page. Under “Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor” you will find links for various help sources including how to configure a Blackboard test to use LockDown Browser and a quick start guide for Respondus LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor. Note: When directing your students to information about Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor, please remind them to visit the IDT team's web page, Online Proctoring Resources -- NOT to our team's Respondus web page. As noted in bold at the top of our Respondus page, it "is not the page for information about RESPONDUS LockDown Browser. For help with LockDown Browser, please refer to our Online Proctoring Resources page."

Students: In order to take exams and review results, students will need to download and install the UHCL-specific Respondus LockDown Browser. Students can find tutorials, the download link, quick start guide, and test-taking tips for Respondus by clicking “Student information” on our Online Proctoring Resources page.

An important note: If an exam is set up to use Respondus LockDown Browser, after taking the exam, students will need to log into Blackboard using the Respondus LockDown Browser to retrieve their grades and exam feedback. If they use any other browser to log into Blackboard and access their exam results, they will receive this message: “You cannot review the assessment results without using Respondus LockDown Browser. Start Respondus LockDown Browser and navigate back to this point to continue.”

If you have any questions about the above information, please feel free to contact the Support Center at either 281-283-2828 or supportcenter@uhcl.edu, and a member of our team will be in touch to assist!

Student Engagement in Hybrid Learning: Part 2

Contributed by Jane Nguyen, Instructional Designer I (CSE)

A couple weeks ago, I wrote an article giving two tips on student engagement in hybrid mode (This means students meet in person sometimes; other times they are engaging with the material from a distance through a learning management system [LMS], like Blackboard). The article also covered how to bridge an activity started in an in-person session to the LMS so that there is cohesion and fluidity.

I want to continue discussing student engagement this week. It’s an especially important topic to me because I've spent my entire teaching career trying to improve it, as have other instructors.

It tends to be the case that we know our material very well, and the subject matter is indeed interesting, and relevant in ways many students don’t realize. But that is still separate from whether we can deliver it in a way that is engaging for students. This is the challenge. Infusing active-learning tasks has the potential to get students to see the material as, at best, very engrossing, and at least, not terribly boring.

All it takes, in my view, is the old adage of making learning fun. At the root of “making learning fun” is the concept of “play.” Of course, “play” for young adult and adult learners doesn’t look like play for kids, but it’s true that adult learners appreciate adult versions of play, which includes engaging with classmates, experiencing new concepts in connection with things they like and love outside of school, and lastly, hands-on “tinkering.”

I made this infographic to give you some ideas on how to engage students in the classroom and to then connect it to the LMS (learning management system) to continue that engagement. The first two items are the tips I touched on two weeks ago. The others are new. Take a chance and try them, as you see fit. Your students may be taken aback at first by the creative spin, but they will appreciate your livening things up.

If you would like to download and print this infographic, please use the following hyperlink to download the shareable PDF document: Student Engagement Hybrid Learning. NOTE: You may be prompted to enter your UHCL account credentials to open this file from OneDrive.

Adding Library Research Guides to Blackboard

The Neumann Library at UHCL maintains an extensive catalog of subject- and course-specific Research Guides. Each Research Guide has been created by UHCL librarians to help students find, learn about, and use scholarly information resources and services. Each guide’s Home tab provides links to databases that are specifically relevant to the subject area or course for which the guide was developed. The page also provides quick email links that students can use to contact specific research librarians for more assistance.

Other tabs on the research guide provide students with easy access to general resources, tips for effective research and academic writing, and information about other library services. If your course requires students to research and write, the use of a research guide may be a valuable resource for you and your students. It’s a fairly simple process to locate a research guide and then place a link to that guide into your Blackboard course. UCT’s Course Development & Support Team, in collaboration with the Neumann Library, has developed a handout that demonstrates how to locate a research guide on the library’s web site, copy its web address (or URL), and use the URL to provide a quick link in your Blackboard course that will take students directly to the research guide. The PDF document, Adding ResearchGuides to Blackboard, is available on the library’s Linking to Library Resources web page.

Infographic: Common Blackboard Exam and Assignment Issues

Contributed by Jenn Ray, Learning Technology Administrator

If you would like to share this infographic with your students, please use the following hyperlink to download the shareable PDF document: Infographic: Common Blackboard Exam and Assignment Issues. NOTE: You may be prompted to enter your UHCL account credentials to open this file from OneDrive.

Infographic: Need Blackboard Help?

Contributed by Jenn Ray, Learning Technology Administrator

If you would like to share this infographic with your students, please use the following hyperlink to download the shareable PDF document, which will enable them to use the clickable links: Infographic: Need Blackboard Help? NOTE: You may be prompted to enter your UHCL account credentials to open this file from OneDrive.

EDUCAUSE 2022 Students and Technology Report: Rebalancing the Student Experience

Contributed by Izaak Diefenbach, Instructional Designer I (COE)

This week, I would like to draw your attention to the 2022 Students and Technology Report from EDUCAUSE. Entitled “Rebalancing the Student Experience,” the report presents the results of a national survey of 820 undergraduate students in the USA. Much like the renewed focus on work/life balance among American workers, students want the same from higher education. The report presents its findings in four key areas:

• Technology Challenges and Solutions
• Modality Preferences
• Access to Educational Technology
• Student Success

The Technology Challenges and Solutions section reports some interesting findings. 51% of students report that unreliable technology causes them stress. 77% of students report experiencing at least one technology issue in the past year. Unstable internet is the most common issue, reported by 66% of students, with 29% reporting having lost internet connectivity during online synchronous sessions. When it comes to resolving technology challenges, many students report trying to fix them on their own or asking friends and family to help them.

The Modality Preferences section reports data that is not a surprise to those of us in instructional technology. Since the pandemic, student preference for online course options is increasing. In 2020 (pre-pandemic), 35% of students reported a preference for completely face-to-face courses, compared to 29% in this year’s report. In contrast, in 2020, 5% of students reported a preference for completely online courses, compared to 20% this year. Percentages for mostly face-to-face and mostly online courses show similar results.

The Access to Technology section of the report echoes previous research in that most students have the devices they need for school, and that they own and have access to their devices whenever they need them. The majority of students (86%) also report using a laptop or desktop computer as their primary device. While most students (62%) report that their choice of device was based on personal preference, only 52% of those with a reported disability and 44% with pandemic-related housing issues reported basing their decision on personal preference.

The final section of the report, Student Success, also echoes previous research, with 30% of students reporting that completing their degree was the greatest measure of success for higher education. The other 70% is divided among such indicators as securing a job, achieving personal growth, and securing a high salary. The report also investigated how students felt supported by their institutions as well as how they felt the institutions did not support them. Among the ways students felt supported are academic support, career services, online courses, and extracurricular activities. Among the ways students felt institutions did not help are financial aid, inadequate access to technology, inadequate disability accommodations, and insufficient availability of courses.

The report concludes with several recommendations for institutional leaders. These include investigating how technology is supporting and causing stress for students, discontinuing support initiatives that are not being used and developing new ones, and engaging faculty and staff to disrupt the “face-to-face versus online” dichotomy. The entire report is available here: 2022 Students and Technology Report from EDUCAUSE. I recommend reading the full report. It is an interesting read.



Citation for the report:

Jenay Robert. 2022 Students and Technology Report: Rebalancing the Student Experience. Research report. Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE, September 2022.

Resources and Professional Development Recommendations

Contributed by Jenni Willis-Opalenik, Director - Technology Learning Services

Are you looking for some new information to support your web-supported, hybrid, or online teaching? If so, we suggest that you may find one or more of the following of value:

Recommended LinkedIn Learning Courses

As stated on UHCL’s Human Resources web page, “UHCL faculty and staff have free access to LinkedIn Learning.” Access LinkedIn Learning to review their “online library of instructional videos and content that will help you strengthen your skills in technology, business, creative design, and much more,” including the following:

• Teaching with Technology (2 hours 30 minutes) - Kevin Kelly
• Learning How to Increase Learner Engagement (41 minutes) - Karl Kapp
• Gamification of Learning (2 hours, 16 minutes) - Karl Kapp

New EDUCAUSE Articles

Martin, F. & Kui, X. (2022 Sept 27). Digital Transformation in Higher Education: 7 Areas for Enhancing Digital Learning. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2022/9/digital-transformation-in-higher-education-7-areas-for-enhancing-digital-learning

Abstract: This article reflects on current practices and directions for digital transformation through a framework that supports the strategic responses and structural changes that higher education institutions could implement to enhance digital teaching and learning.

Thanaraj, A., Durston, P., Chathangoth, A., & Sumpter, J. (2022 Jul 29). The Digital Learning Design Framework and Toolkit: Transforming Course Design. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2022/7/the-digital-learning-design-framework-and-toolkit-transforming-course-design

Abstract: Teesside University and Jisc UK have developed a Digital Learning Design Framework and Toolkit. The framework and toolkit were created to help nurture and cultivate the digital confidence and fluencies of teaching staff who design and deliver courses, challenging them to think about learning design and the intersection of pedagogy and digital solutions to map the student learning journey. This collaborative effort combines national and international perspectives on digital learning design. The toolkit contains seven sections and is intended to be used by course leaders and course design event facilitators to inform their course designs.

Downloadable the Toolkit PDF at https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2022/7/digitallearningdesignframeworkandtoolkit.pptx

Comparing the Zoom Desktop App, Mobile App, and Web Option

Contributed by Jenni Willis-Opalenik, Director - Technology Learning Services

It might surprise some to learn that there are significant differences in tools and functionality of Zoom depending on whether you access it from a desktop app, a mobile app, or just in a browser on the web. For this reason, and especially if you don’t regularly use the Zoom desktop app, you might want to switch to that tool to see if it resolves your Zoom technical issues before calling for support. One of the first items our Tier I support staff will ask you is how you accessed Zoom and if you have tried accessing your meeting from the desktop app. Equally important is ensuring that you regularly update your desktop app (Zoom Desktop Client) to the latest release. You can find the latest Zoom downloads, including the Desktop Client, in Zoom’s Download Center.

You should use the Zoom desktop app when you are hosting or co-hosting meetings. The desktop app has the most features and tools, some of which are important to leading a successful Zoom meeting. As the University of Iowa’s Information Technology Services office notes, “The Zoom desktop and mobile apps are great for scheduling quick meetings, seeing what meetings you have coming up, and allowing you the best experience when joining a meeting. These should be thought of as an extension of the web portal. They can allow you access to some of the web portal settings but are mostly used for joining meetings.”

To review the entire list of differences between the various Zoom access options (and it’s a very long list), visit Zoom’s support page Desktop client, mobile app, web client, and PWA comparison.

Learning Management System (LMS) Survey

In a recent accessibility review at the University of Houston, Bb Learn, as a Learning Management System (LMS), did not meet the state and federal requirements. Consequently, UHS (UH, UHV, and UHD) decided to move to a new LMS to meet accessibility requirements.

The University Technology Advisory Committee (UTAC) is gathering faculty input to select our new LMS, an implementation timeline, and needed resources for the transition.

Please contribute your input on this process by completing the UHCL LMS Survey using the link below.

UHCL Learning Management System (LMS) Survey

General Tips for Hybrid Teaching: Part 1

Contributed by Jane Nguyen – Instructional Designer I (COE)

Some of you may be aware that in addition to being an instructional designer here at UHCL, I am also a long-time college instructor who has, for years, taught both in-person and online. Currently, it’s an in-person Saturday class at Houston Community College. Even with the “in-person” designation, however, our heavy use of a learning management system (LMS) when not in class makes it effectively hybrid as well.

So, this week I’d like to riff on hybrid teaching. This will necessarily mean tips on engaging students in the classroom, engaging them online, and how to bridge the two for hybrid cohesiveness. To make this clear and easy, I’ll organize this by mode and give two tips per mode (a small # since I tend to elaborate).

Classroom Teaching Tips

Pair Share – The potential for good class discussions is always the first thing I think of when I’m assigned an in-person class – how my class and I will engage in a lively intellectual conversation where people share intelligent perspectives along with relevant personal experiences. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen easily at all. Too often, students behave as if they have nothing to say even when given an interesting topic.

I find that…they do have something to say; they are often just disinclined to share it with the whole class (too much potential for embarrassment). I overheard another educator this week talking about the very same issue—students clamming up if they’re asked a question as a whole, but gabbing away the moment they’re put in a group of three to discuss or with just another partner.

So…do that. “Pair Share” is a good practice regardless of your content. You might think…but my content isn’t the type of content that students can or will discuss. First of all, you’d be surprised at what students can come up with even about factual, non-controversial, or what seems like “dry” topics. And two, talking to one’s neighbor (classmate sitting n isn’t always about hashing out a controversial issue or giving an opinion. Letting students summarize or explain a concept you just talked about helps them learn it and helps it crystallize in their working and long-term memory. It also gives them a chance to clarify information to each other, which they will do, and even if they don’t say so, the act of articulating and demystifying concepts through speaking out loud will feel satisfying to them.

I encourage you to do this even if you are lecturing. Find breakpoints within a 45-minute lecture to let students pair-share. These pair-shares (can be three students if you prefer) are typically followed by asking if any group or pair wants to share with the whole class (either their opinion or a point of confusion). It is often the case that they will at this point since now they feel more validated in their thoughts or confusion and are willing to take them public.

How to bridge to online mode on the LMS?

Consider latching onto an interesting point that was made in person and creating a discussion board prompt in Blackboard related to it, beginning it with “In class on Thursday, Parker made the astute observation that…” and then posing the new question.

You can also latch onto an interesting resource or idea a student brought up, and post links related to the student’s mention. (A couple Saturdays ago, a student of mine mentioned a book relevant to what we were discussing in class. The next day, I posted a link to the book on Amazon as well as a YouTube video/TED talk of a person talking about the book, and I mentioned the student who talked about it in class). When you do this consistently, you’re not only bridging the in-person realm and the online realm, you’re showing students that you’re thinking of them and the ways you want them to be enriched. The class also feels more personal because there isn’t just a fixed set of resources put in place at the beginning of the semester that every semester’s iteration of that class gets, but also intermittent personalization to their specific ideas, thoughts, and interests in that semester’s unique version of the class.

Play Music

This tip will be shorter because it’s a little more whimsical. But…I want to share that a couple Saturdays ago while I was waiting for class to fill up, I had YouTube up on my projector screen and the classroom sound on and allowed a few popular easy-listening songs to play while we were idle before class started. This was at a low/moderate volume but loud enough for us to listen and enjoy. Several of my students loved it. One said, with a peaceful look on her face, “I like this…this is nice.” Another said, bright-eyed, “I like this song. This is one of my favorites.” I said, “I was just trying to wake us up.” She said with a smile, “You did.”

Of course, I did not play music once we got started (although there are pedagogical approaches for the appropriate use of music during class too, especially when it’s related to your subject matter). But I think many educators could use a reminder that school environments should not be austere all the time. School is a place to learn, but that can happen in a relaxed, easygoing, friendly atmosphere while still being serious about learning. Not to mention…your students like to see the human side of you - the side that likes some of the same things they like.

How to bridge to online on the LMS?

Well, as I said, don’t be afraid to share school-appropriate elements of pop culture and entertainment that you enjoy and that might help relax your students and give them a sense of your class and college as serious but also fun, connected to real-life, pop culture, recreation, and niche interests, etc. Of course, as with everything, don’t go overboard!

This week, I gave two classroom teaching tips and bridged them to the LMS (Blackboard or Canvas). In my next installment, I’ll give two tips on components of your class that start online but are then taken to the in-person realm. Until then, here is a good resource from Cornell University about hybrid teaching.