May 3, 2012 Showcase: Teaching, Services, Innovation

Teaching, Services, Innovation

Services Available for UofA Instructors

Please join us on Thursday May 3 for our annual Reading Day Showcase.  We will be highlighting services that are available to enhance, improve and support teaching on the UA campus in addition to showcasing interesting innovations. 

In the OIA lobby, ILC Room 103, 8:30am to 12 Noon

Information on OIA services: D2L, consulting on teaching practices, web services, multimedia production and imaging, mobile computing, web development, program assessment

Information on UITS services: Office of Student Computing (OSCR) resources, 3D imaging, High Performance Computing, Gear-to-go, the iPad Cart

Information on Electronic Texts (etexts) and how etexts can fit into the teaching practices at the UofA.  Information will be provided on etexts from the Main Library, Campus Bookstore and a demonstration of Apple iBook software from OIA's Bruce Cameron.

And finally information will be available from Disability Resources.

Scheduled Seminars:


Seminar Descriptions:

Critical Thinking Strategies and Activities for the Classroom. Kyla Macario, Erin Dokter and Joseph Boudreaux
Description: This session will explore classroom-ready strategies and teaching activities to support students in developing and practicing critical thinking skills for problem-solving in any discipline.  The Foundation and Center for Critical Thinking

_____________________________________________

Twitter as an Instructional Tool. Facilitated by Phyllis Brodsky, Disability and Psychoeducational Studies, College of Education

Description: Using Twitter as an instructional tool, demonstration of how it is used, provide strategies for the use of Twitter and provide feedback on what is successful and what the pitfalls can be for using Twitter both in and out of the classroom for instruction.

From Dr. Brodsky “Twitter is an assignment in both classes (SERP 197b, 22 students and SERP 415/515, 35 students) … we are using it as a tool for students to gather information and develop a professional network on a guided topic related to the course. While they develop the skills necessary to develop a network, they keep on top of the latest information on academic/professional areas of interest.”

_____________________________________________

Writing Effective Multiple Choice Questions. Terri Riffe
Description: Learn key strategies for writing multiple choice questions that effectively measure learning.  Bring ideas for questions to work on during the session.

_____________________________________________

D2L Update: Wrap up the Semester, Get Ready for Summer Sessions. Jennifer Bailey
Description: The bulk of this session will be structured as a workshop. D2L Instructional Team members will be on hand to answer questions and offer guidance to participants as they work on their courses. There will also be a brief overview of subjects that concern many instructors at the end of the semester, like grading and cheating prevention. We’ll also be sharing updates about upcoming changes to D2L.

Note: If you do not yet have a course site in the system, but would like to attend the workshop, you can request one here as long as you have a NetID: http://help.d2l.arizona.edu/instructors/course_site_request_form. Please use “D2L Workshop” as the title for your site so that we can identify it and make sure it’s ready by Reading Day. 
_____________________________________________
 
Virtual Reality (VR) Imaging and Instruction. Gary Mackender
Description: We will provide an overview and examples of what virtual reality images are, how the images are created, and how they are used in instruction.  Facilitated by Gary Mackender, we are seeking instructors who have ‘objects’ or ‘views’ that they can use in their instruction, and that would benefit from providing these images digitally.  Many times its hard to get objects into students hands, because they are scarce, rare, expensive or all three.  VR imaging lets instructors share objects that students can manipulate and zoom in to examine, projected in the classroom or on their own desktop, laptop or mobile device.  Join us for this session to explore how to incorporate VR into your instruction.
 

(Netmanagers will be co-convening their meeting in ILC room 151 also)

Also happening on the same day in the ILC:

What: UA Mobile Health (mHealth) Interest Group Meeting
Date: Thursday, May 3, 2012
Time: 8:30am-12:30pm
Location: ILC 140, UA Main Campus
More information and register online at http://mhealth.arizona.edu/meeting