Academic Technologies @ W&L

July 18, 2019August 22, 2019

Registration for Fall Academy 2019 is now OPEN!

Fall Academy is two weeks — Monday, August 19 through Friday, August 30 — of technology instruction, pedagogy discussions, guest speakers, hands-on workshops, panels, and other information sessions for new and returning faculty and staff, offered in coordination with the University Registrar, Dean of the College, Office of the Provost, and other offices.

NEW for 2019: Inclusivity Day!

The first Friday of Fall Academy (August 23) will offer four very special sessions, all in Hillel House 101, including:

Inclusive Teaching and Mentoring, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM;
Leveraging Technology to Cultivate an Inclusive Classroom, 12:00 – 1:30 PM;
Applied Inclusive Pedagogy: A Practical Guide, 2:00 – 3:00 PM; and
Disability, Diversity and Inclusivity: Pedagogy in Higher Education, 3:15 – 4:15 PM.

July 1, 2019

Transitioning from Tegrity to YuJa for course lecture capture

Washington and Lee is transitioning to YuJa as the university’s official lecture capture service. YuJa is a recognized leader in enterprise video solutions, serving over 4 million clients at universities, school districts, and institutions around the world. YuJa is an innovator in video capture and management, and their lecture capture and media management platform is recommended for being customizable, adaptable, and reliable.

W&L has used Tegrity as our lecture capture service  since 2009. Originally Tegrity was a very innovative and responsive privately-owned company, but it was bought by McGraw-Hill several years ago and development has since stagnated.  Earlier this year McGraw-Hill notified W&L that they were suspending future licensing of their Tegrity service, which would be completely shuttered by June 2020. The selection of YuJa was made after consideration of multiple lecture capture replacement solutions. It was determined that YuJa offers the best pathway to preserve our existing Tegrity assets while at the same time dramatically improving the lecture capture and media management features available to faculty and students.

YuJa will be up and running as a part of our new Canvas LMS by mid-July 2019, and will be available for all faculty and in all lecture capture-enabled classrooms beginning in the Fall 2019 term. Beginning in the Fall 2019 term, professors who wish to use lecture capture as part of their classes will need to use Canvas and not Sakai in order to do so. As of July 25, 2019, all Tegrity services and functionality will be terminated on campus.

All current recordings marked for migration in the Tegrity environment have successfully been migrated over to YuJa and will be available to faculty when they log in to the new system. Please do not use Tegrity recorder to record any further sessions between now and July 25, as newly recorded sessions will not be migrated.

In preparation for the upcoming school year, Academic Technologies is preparing detailed documentation to assist faculty with their use of lecture capture in the classroom, and will be conducting several YuJa (and Canvas) training sessions before the start of the term during Fall Academy (scheduled for August 19-30). Additional training opportunities will be provided earlier in August for Law School faculty, and Academic Technologies will be coordinating with Law Technology ensure a smooth transition and personal training opportunities. As always, Academic Technologies staff will also be available at any time for one-on-one faculty training and support sessions. Please contact me directly (bucyb@wlu.edu or x8651), or via help@wlu.edu to ask any questions about YuJa or to request personal training.

Be on the lookout for additional information as the summer progresses. We will continue to send updates via email and Campus Notices. To view further details about the LMS and lecture capture transition timeline, upcoming events, and training resources, please visit our Canvas website. We will also post additional information and updates about Canvas and YuJa on our blog page located at this site.

June 24, 2019July 1, 2019

ATTENTION! WordPress Update on Monday, July 1st at 5:00 am EST!

We will be pushing the WordPress 5.2.2. update on Monday, July 1, 2019.

This maintenance release fixes 13 bugs — see https://wordpress.org/news/2019/06/wordpress-5-2-2-maintenance-release/) for more information.

The update is scheduled for 5:00 am EST, with interruptions to the service potentially occurring for up to 1 hour.

***If you are working on an academic.wlu.edu site, please save all your work and log out before 5:00 am EST on Monday, July 1st.***

Contact the ITS Help Desk (540.458.4357 or help@wlu.edu) with any questions or concerns.

June 7, 2019June 20, 2019

Buh-bye, Lynda! Hello, LinkedIn Learning!

The upgrade to LinkedIn Learning is now complete! Your Lynda.com account — assuming you had one — has been upgraded and your data moved to Linkedin Learning.

Now, all you have to do is activate your account. There are two ways to do this!

#1: Click the activation link in the learner activation email you receive.

First: Activate your LinkedIn Learning account by clicking the link in the confirmation email you’ll receive once the upgrade is complete.

Second: Connect your LinkedIn account (optional) or create a separate Learning account.

Third: When you choose to connect your LinkedIn account, you’ll be prompted to log into LinkedIn, or you can create a LinkedIn account if you don’t have one.

Fourth: Click accept to complete the process of connecting your LinkedIn account to your LinkedIn Learning account.

#2: Click activation link in learner experience on Lynda.com when are you signed in to Lynda.com.

If you didn’t have a Lynda account, you can still have access to LinkedIn Learning. Email Helen MacDermott to request an invite.

Need help? Contact the ITS Information Desk at help@wlu.edu or call 540.458.4357.

June 6, 2019July 18, 2019

Important information about the upcoming transition from Sakai to Canvas

Greetings members of the W&L Community,

Washington and Lee is transitioning to Canvas as the university’s official learning management system (LMS). Canvas is the world’s fastest-growing LMS, used by more than 3,000 universities, school districts, and institutions around the world. Canvas is an innovator in educational technology, and their learning platform is known for being customizable, adaptable, and reliable.

The selection of Canvas was made after consideration by an LMS replacement working group composed of faculty, staff, and student representatives from across the university, charged with finding a solution that offers the best possible learning experience for students and an optimal platform for course delivery. The working group also conducted a thorough review of best practices at peer institutions. As an enterprise-wide technology, Canvas will be managed and supported by ITS Academic Technologies.

W&L has used Sakai as our LMS  since 2008. The system is open source and was originally supported by a large number of R1 institutions. Sakai’s share of the LMS market has been decreasing for the last five years and  the decline is now accelerating, with “no new significant institutional deployments in the US.” (Source:  www.edutechnica.com).  Additionally, almost all of the original founding Sakai schools have moved to Canvas, with Stanford being the last to move in 2016.

At W&L, Canvas will be up and running by mid-July 2019, and will be fully available for all courses beginning in the Fall 2019 term. Sakai will continue to operate as usual during the transition year (2019-2020 Academic Year). During this period you are free to use either platform, and assistance will be provided for any faculty wishing to migrate course content from Sakai into Canvas. However, professors who wish to use lecture capture as part of their classes will need to migrate to Canvas in order to do so. (Tegrity has been discontinued by their parent company, McGraw Hill, and we’ve been obliged to change to a new lecture capture software.) The new lecture capture software is YuJa, and it will be available only through Canvas. Please note that at the end of Spring Term 2020, no more classes may be offered in Sakai, as it will be retired in June 2020.

In preparation for the upcoming school year, Academic Technologies will be conducting numerous Canvas training sessions. We have daily Canvas sessions scheduled for faculty during Fall Academy (scheduled for August 19-30), and are also offering a 3-day workshop called Camp Canvas, running August 13-15. Participants in this workshop will leave with a thorough understanding of the new LMS and a Canvas course ready to go for the 2019-2020 academic year. Additional training opportunities will be provided earlier in August for Law School faculty. As always Academic Technologies staff will also be available at any time for one-on-one faculty training and support sessions. Please contact Brandon or Helen directly (bucyb@wlu.edu or x8651; hmacdermott@wlu.edu or x4561) or via help@wlu.edu to ask any Canvas questions or to request personal training.

Be on the lookout for additional information as the summer progresses. We will continue to send updates via email and Campus Notices. To view further details about the transition timeline, upcoming events, and training resources, please visit our Canvas web site: https://canvas.academic.wlu.edu. We will also post additional information and updates about Canvas on our blog page located at this site.

Many thanks, and have a great summer!

Regards,
Brandon Bucy

ITS Academic Technologies

May 29, 2019May 29, 2019

Upgrading Lynda to LinkedIn Learning

On Thursday, June 6, we will be upgrading Lynda to LinkedIn Learning. As such, Lynda will not be accessible on Thursday, June 6, as data is migrated over.

All account and course information will be transferred to LinkedIn Learning. Upgrading your Lynda account to LinkedIn Learning will require activation via an email from LinkedIn Learning that you will receive on June 7. You need to use a different link to access LinkedIn Learning, but you will still use your W&L credentials to log in.

If you have any questions, please contact the ITS Information Desk at help@wlu.edu or call 540.458.4357.

Visit this website for more information on upgrading to LinkedIn Learning or watch this short video:

About LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning, which acquired Lynda, has the same great content, but provides an even more personalized experience. And, it’s still free for you to use!

With LinkedIn Learning, you’ll experience the same things you love about Lynda.com like:

High-quality content: At the core of LinkedIn Learning is high-quality Lynda.com content. If you have favorite content on Lynda.com, don’t worry, it is still there!
Comprehensive data and progress: Data, including groups, playlists, assigned content, account settings, and histories were automatically migrated.
Learner course video page: All of the features and functionality of this page remains the same. This includes transcripts, exercise files, mobile viewing, and bookmarking.

You’ll also experience many new and improved features including:

A new, easy-to-use interface
Personalized course recommendations
Social curation, and more

During the activation process, you will have the option to connect a LinkedIn account to your LinkedIn Learning account. (If you do not have a LinkedIn account, you will be able to create one.)

If you choose to connect your LinkedIn account, you can rest assured that only your learning data will be shared with your employer. No other data from your LinkedIn account will be accessible or shared. See the details of the Privacy Information.

Learners who choose to opt out of connecting their LinkedIn account will create a separate LinkedIn Learning account that is not connected to LinkedIn.com.

May 21, 2019May 22, 2019

Want a FREE copy of “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning”?

“Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful. Learning that’s easy is like writing in sand, here today and gone tomorrow.”

As educators, we love learning. We’ve devoted our professional lives to teaching and are committed to developing lifelong learners, yet … most students don’t know how to learn.

Written by storyteller Peter Brown and two cognitive scientists who have spent their careers studying learning and memory, Henry Roediger and Mark McDaniel, “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning”, is an in-depth review of the most effective ways in which people learn (interleaving, retrieval practice) and a rebuke against widely used methods (re-reading, highlighting texts) that are not as effective.

In exchange for a free copy of the book, we ask that you read it over the summer and come to the Fall Academy luncheon on Friday, August 30 at 12:00 pm, ready to discuss the book. Sign up for Fall Academy begins on July 1.

In order to best facilitate a lively discussion, we are capping enrollment to fifteen, so please apply ASAP!

Questions? Contact Julie Knudson at jmknudson@wlu.edu.

May 2, 2019May 21, 2019

10 active learning strategies that connect teachers with students

Poll Everywhere is a classroom response system that engages students on devices they already have: their phones. Educators create and embed live, interactive questions into their lectures, and students respond in real-time from the privacy of their phones. The results are immediate.

Poll Everywhere’s Maxwell McGee recently blogged about a few of the wonderful strategies teachers and professors alike have produced using interactive questioning. Each example actively engages students in the learning process, and includes a link for further exploration …

Use multiple-choice questions to kickstart classroom debates

Christopher Robertson helps his first-year law students at the University of Arizona understand the nuances of law with a technique called cascading persuasion. If too many students answer the question incorrectly, Robertson will not reveal the correct answer. Instead, he has each student turn to their neighbor and debate whose choice was correct. When the two reach a consensus, they find another pair of students and plead their case.

“Law students can easily go an entire semester passively attending class [only to] discover on the final exam that they have not grasped the concepts covered in class,” said Robertson. “I find that polling in class encourages active student participation and uncovers misunderstanding of how to apply the law.”

Eventually the entire class will agree on which answer is correct. Most of the time their consensus is correct, but on the rare occasion it’s not, Robertson says it’s an easy fix.

Want to try out Poll Everywhere? Great! Email Brandon Bucy or Helen MacDermott and we’ll get you set up!

April 21, 2019May 21, 2019

The potential perils of screen sharing at work!

Check out this unintentionally hilarious and totally helpful piece in the NY Times , “How to Not Ruin Your Life (or Just Die of Embarrassment) With a Screen Share“:

Whether it’s happened to you or in front of you, many of us are familiar with the screen-share d isaster: the accidental exposure of something private (like, say, a friend’s “I’m pooping at work” text) while projecting your screen before a group of colleagues.

The only surefire way to avoid this is to do as the lawyers recommend and keep your personal things on your personal devices and your work things on you work computer. Sonia Farber, a partner and founder of Kluk Farber Law, acknowledges that may not be feasible for everyone. “But, to the extent that you can keep some separation of church and state, you should make every effort to do that,” she said.

Here’s a checklist of things to do before your next meeting.

April 10, 2019May 21, 2019

“Tell Me a Smart Story: On Podcasts, Videos, and Websites as Writing Assignments”

Great article by Theresa MacPhail, assistant professor in the science and technology studies program at the Stevens Institute of Technology, in The Chronicle of Higher Education: Tell Me a Smart Story: On Podcasts, Videos, and Websites as Writing Assignments.

MacPhail talks about “going out on a pedagogical limb” in giving her students—enrolled in a class focused on medical topics from the perspectives of the humanities and social sciences—the option to write a traditional research paper OR create a 45-minute podcast, 10-to-15-minute video, a website, or an interactive, digital essay (on a blog or a Word document) that used embedded videos, photos, and audio for their final project.

Here’s my best argument for trying this in your own classes, summed up in — of course — a good story.

What struck me most about that first experiment was this: A couple of the students who had turned in lackluster reading responses all semester long had clearly taken the interactive essay — with its less formal and more journalistic tone — very seriously.

A standout in this category was a male student athlete who sat in the back corner of the classroom with three other athletes. Often it was clear they hadn’t done the readings, and the quality of their reading responses reflected that — yet they seemed alert and interested during class. This particular student, however, was quiet. So quiet that I had no idea what his voice sounded like, since he had never uttered a word in class discussions.

On his final project, he had chosen to do the interactive essay. His subject was rapid weight-loss techniques used by wrestlers before “weigh-ins” for competition and their effects on mental and physical health. He deftly used videos to illustrate not only how the techniques themselves worked, but how they were shared on social media and set up a culture that normalized dangerous methods of weight loss. He applied concepts from class and used them to work out his own personal relationship to his training routines and diet.

He wrote, very movingly, about how wrestling affected his body image and sense of self. At the bottom of the essay, he wrote a short note to thank me for allowing him to write in a nontraditional, creative way. He also said that the process of doing research on the topic had fundamentally changed how he would train as a wrestler and that he would no longer participate in the more dangerous weight-loss techniques.

He would, he said, never forget the class or what he had learned. If that’s not a major pedagogical victory, then I don’t know what is.”

We couldn’t agree more that allowing students to “write” in nontraditional formats has the potential to have a major impact on our classrooms. And, remember, ITS Academic Technologies is always here to support your students with video, podcast, or website-related projects!