Digital Teaching Symposium

Come together for a day of learning and sharing best practices.

April 21, 2022 | 9:00 am – 10:00 pm ET

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About the event

In a world of a million screens, keeping your learners focused on their studies is a complex challenge.  Digital teaching in 2022 is an ongoing exercise to engage your learners in new ways. Educators today are challenged with pairing their coursework with new tactics to get learners involved in their studies.

Digital teaching today requires resilience – the ability to keep helping your learners succeed no matter what. Let’s come together for a day of idea sharing about what helps you rise every day.

Join us on April 21st for a full day of peer-led sessions on digital teaching strategies for the unique needs of 2022. 

Who is this event for?

Educators! Whether you're full or part-time faculty, a teacher, lecturer, instructional designer, learning technologist, or any other instructional role, this symposium will further your familiarity and understanding of learning technologies.

Agenda

9:00 – 10:00am ET

Keynote: Change Chose Me

Speaker:
Merlyna Valentine

Change can be difficult; it is a process, not an event. In these unprecedented times, we have all experienced change, especially educators. When change chose her, Ms. Valentine transformed adversity into success, and obstacles into opportunities. Her message reminds us that we have the power to choose our mindset and thrive in challenging times. As we navigate the complex landscape of teaching today, her message is a roadmap for resilience. Get ready to be inspired and empowered to embrace change and live life “on purpose.”

10:10 – 10:45am ET

Breakout Sessions & Small Group Discussions

Small Group Discussions:
(limited to the first 15 people)

Screens Off, Hands-On! Using Creativity as Self-Care

Facilitator: Elizabeth Cobacho, Higher Colleges of Technology

Our host will provide an example of how their institution used hands-on creativity as a form of self-care in the fall of 2020. Join this discussion to share your own examples and ideas for screen-free self-care.

Managing Curriculum Design Among Remote Teams

Facilitators: Eugenie Wolff & Ankie Robberts, University of Pretoria

Join this discussion to share how you have managed curriculum design and development at your institution with a remote team and learn how the University of Pretoria has successfully managed their curriculum teams remotely.

How do you use your course evaluation reports to implement change in teaching and learning?

Facilitator: Anthology PM Team

Join peers and the Course Evaluations Product Team to discuss how you use your course evaluations reports to identify and measure change in your courses.

Breakout Sessions:

Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged in Online Sessions

Speakers: Ilaha Hajiyeva & Sevinj Guliyeva, ADA University

This session will cover tools in Blackboard that can increase student involvement such as polling, discussion boards, and Blackboard Collaborate. We will also discuss how to increase engagement by making course content more relevant and attractive, improving course navigation, and utilizing the white board feature—as well as additional online engagement programs like Kahoot, Near Pod, Menti.com, Quizlet, Quizalize, and Bookwidgets.

Teaching Clinical Skills through LMS: A Big Challenge

Speaker: Abdul Sattar Khan, King Faisal University

Hear the outcomes from a focus group discussion with clinical teachers and students from a medical school regarding the challenges they face and recommendations for improvement.

Using Learning Analytics as an Innovation in Assessment to Link Multiple Course Modalities

Speaker: Xyanthine Parillon, University of Houston

In this session, we will discuss four types of learning analytics to understand the student experience and how these analytics can be used to gather specific data based on course modality. You will walk away with a better understanding of the types of analytics available and ideas on how to analyze these for use in individual, institutional, and grant reporting.

Utilizing Blackboard Communities for Virtual Academic Advisement

Speakers: Katina Ward-James & Laurie Jean Carter, Hampton University

This session will detail how our institution utilized the Blackboard communities within each of our schools to conduct virtual academic advisement, including effective strategies and the tools that were used.

11:00 – 11:35am ET

Breakout Sessions & Small Group Discussions

Small Group Discussion:
(limited to the first 15 people)

Are You There, Student? It’s Me, Your Teacher.

Facilitators: Ashley Atwood & Heather Schoen, Angelo State University

Students working in online courses can feel disconnected from their instructor, classmates, and institution. The discussion hosts will share research and anecdotal data from their experiences in striving to keep their teaching practice fresh and inviting in order to keep online students engaged. Join this discussion to share your experience and gain ideas for your own practice.

 

Breakout Sessions:

HyFlex 101: Strategies for Success

Speakers: David Serna & Patrick Kittrell, University of the District of Columbia

This webinar will go over the implementation of HyFlex courses at the University of the District of Columbia. We’ll discuss “Digital Learning Rooms @ UDC,” outline the training and support for faculty on campus, and review how faculty use Blackboard Ultra as the central hub for students to access assignments, both in-person and online.

Incorporating E-Journaling into Student Assessment

Speaker: Lisa Thompson Sousa, Sul Ross State University

Instructors are looking for options to engage with learners online beyond a synchronous virtual meeting format. This session will discuss opportunities to incorporate the Blackboard Journal into student learning and discuss types of journals, examples of prompts, and ideas for assessment rubrics.

The Reality of Access for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

Speaker: Kacy Midkiff, Bluegrass Community & Technical College

What does access mean for the disability population? Learn about the college experience from the viewpoint of a coordinator for a comprehensive transition program, as well as first-year students with intellectual disabilities.

Using Online Course Templates for Non-Traditional Programs

Speaker: Sephra Scheuber, Oklahoma Christian University

When designing courses for a new online program, you have lots of work to do! How can you manage to make every course high-quality? One of the most helpful steps we have taken for our work-based programs is using a robust template as we develop our courses. This gives our subject matter experts (aka SMEs) and instructors a great foundation for a well-designed and well-executed course. Let's talk through how to build a great template in Blackboard.

11:50am – 12:25pm ET

Breakout Sessions & Small Group Discussions

Small Group Discussion:
(limited to the first 15 people)

Discrimination in a Sea of Data: Exploring the Ethical Implications of Student Success Analytics

Facilitator: Szymon Machajewski, University of Illinois Chicago

Join us for a discussion around improving equitable access to education, what you need to consider regarding data governance, integration of data silos, and effective reporting—as well as how to use a DEI framework when adopting Blackboard Data.

Instructor Focus Groups: Learn Ultra Courses

Facilitator: Anthology PM Team

Join members of the Learn Ultra Product Management team to share your experiences with Learn Ultra Courses! As we continue to enhance the Learn Ultra Course environment, having feedback from our instructors is an essential part of our development planning and prioritization. What do you love about Learn Ultra Courses? What would you like to do that you currently do not think you can? Share these insights and more with our Product Managers and your peers!

 

Breakout Sessions:

Blackboard + Microsoft 365 for Mobile First Learning

Speaker: Kat Biacindo, California State Univeristy, Fresno

Accessing and completing a course from a cell phone would be a preferred mode for many students today who do most everything else on their phones already. This session will show you how to use the Blackboard LMS and Microsoft 365 to make a course 100% mobile friendly by streamlining communication, enhancing collaboration, improving productivity, amplifying connections, and offering powerful accessibility options. We will also dive into Microsoft SharePoint, highlighting features such as language interpretations, having documents read to you (immersive reader), Sways for presentations, comments section for grades and feedback, dictation tool, and the ubiquitous designer engines which reduce document preparation time by at least 50%.  

Course Design in Ultra: Less Grading and More Collaborating

Speaker: Casandra Silva Sibilin, York College, CUNY

This session will demonstrate how to set up a course and grading percentages in a way which promotes active, live audio and video student participation in synchronous Blackboard Collaborate Ultra sessions. Students learn early on that the best way to show they did the readings is class participation, rather than traditional weekly quizzes or assignments. These students still have an option, however, to make up class participation with a discussion board, if needed.

Creating Accessible Audio in Blackboard

Speaker: Sharon Austin, University of Tampa

Audio is available through many paths and in many formats in a Learning Management System such as Blackboard. What makes accessible audio accessible? Join this session to learn which mechanisms for playing audio enable a person with disabilities to better access an audio recording and control it, what considerations need to be taken when recording audio, and how to ensure speech is recorded in a manner that makes the audio recording as accessible as possible.

Wicked Learning Experience Design: Preparing Students for a Wicked Problems World

Speaker: William Brantley, University of Maryland

According to Paul Hanstedt, author of "Creating Wicked Students: Designing Courses for a Complex World," the purpose of learning is to help students navigate a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. I have created an instructional systems design model that combines the flipped classroom model with Universal Design for Learning to create learner-centered activities and lessons for greater engagement and knowledge retention. We will discuss the structure of the model and how to create a course or training program using the model.

12:30 – 1:15pm ET

Large Group Discussions

 

Show Us Your Ultra!

Facilitator: Lisa Clark, Anthology

In this networking session, bring with us your best examples of how you are teaching in your Learn Ultra course! What are your most effective ways of engaging your students? How have you used media within your course to assess students and, if so, how? What are some of the ways you are measuring student success within your Ultra course? Come ready to share screen shots or live examples (maintaining student privacy, of course) with others!

Strategies for Managing Discussion Boards

Facilitator: Daniel Kuchinka, Keiser University

Join the conversation and share ideas of how to improve virtual discussions using various techniques such as applying effective communication strategies, requiring timely responses, encouraging critical thinking, and providing challenging topics.

Bringing Human Touch to the Virtual Classroom

Facilitator: Rebecca Cooney, Justin Barnes, Chelsea Newman & Ben Pingel, Washington State University

Join us to discuss tools, methods, and initiatives that amplify instructor-student interaction, facilitate student-student interaction, and adapt effective in-person methods to enhance engagement.

Where Are My Students? How to Engage Your Students Online

Facilitator: Agnes DeFranco & Arlene Ramirez, University of Houston

For seasoned educators to new lecturers, teaching online possesses the potential to be overwhelming and intimidating. Join this discussion to hear examples of what a teacher can consider in order to make online learning as rich as, and even more engaging, than face-to face learning. Participants are encouraged to bring their own examples.

1:25 – 2:00pm ET

Breakout Sessions & Small Group Discussions

Small Group Discussions:
(limited to the first 15 people)

Avoid Being Overwhelmed by Tech Programs: Technology Tool Kits, Optimization and Organization

Facilitator: Joseph Fees, Delaware State University

Let’s discuss how we evaluate, prioritize, organize, and bundle the technology tools we use in our classroom.

Elevating Discussion Boards Using Culturally Responsive Topics

Facilitator: Jennifer Boddiker, Keiser University

Join us in discussing how to engage learners from diverse backgrounds. Our discussion host will share how she used culturally responsive discussion board topics to better engage science learners and make online discussion boards more meaningful and effective.

 

Breakout Sessions:

Achievement Unlocked!: Using Gamification to Increase Student Engagement and Motivation

Speaker: Hayden Benson, Athens Technical College

When teaching online or hybrid classes, instructors and students may feel a disconnect due to the lack of face-to-face interactions. This disconnect may lead to students feeling less engaged and less motivated to complete their work, which can lead to students falling behind. To prevent this, we will discuss how instructors can use gamification and achievements to reward students and motivate them to continue staying engaged with their work.

Adapting Courses with Practical Work to HyFlex

Speaker: Joseline Felix-Minnaar, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Hear the outcomes of how a course consisting of 50% theory and 50% practical work went fully remote before transitioning to a more blended offering. Additionally, discover how the course blends both asynchronous and synchronous learning through videos, assessments, case study reporting, and practical performances.

Synchronous Remote Learning: Teaching Mathematics Using a Flipped Classroom Model

Speaker: Dina Yagodich, Frederick Community College

Synchronous remote learning offers the chance to turn online instruction into a flipped classroom. In this mathematics course, lectures are presented asynchronously, with the synchronous time used to work problems together and answer student questions. Learn best practices and discover how this model provides more personal instruction and increases the ease of access for students.

Using Blackboard Tests for Draft Review and Student Reflection

Speaker: Marie Hagan, University of Louisville

Self-Assessment and reflection on learning are valuable parts of the learning process. This session will demonstrate alternative uses for the “test” assessment type to support other assignments and activities (for example, using tests to encourage self-evaluation on drafts). We’ll walk through some tests that are also valuable to encourage reflection on learning skills or standards, as well as sample assignments in a Blackboard course to demonstrate set up, grading, feedback, and the student view.

2:15 – 2:50pm ET

Breakout Sessions & Small Group Discussions

Small Group Discussion:
(limited to the first 15 people)

Making Blackboard Learn Meaningful for Faculty

Facilitators: Dara Faul, Andrea Guthridge, Diane Lundeen & Jenny Reichart, University of North Dakota

Let's get a conversation started about how our institutions can utilize Blackboard Learn analytics, create programming to help make these analytics meaningful and actionable for faculty, and improve student learning outcomes through targeted, data-informed teaching strategies.

Instructor Focus Groups: Learn Ultra Courses

Facilitators: Anthology PM Team

Join members of the Learn Ultra Product Management team to share your experiences with Learn Ultra Courses! As we continue to enhance the Learn Ultra Course environment, having feedback from our instructors is an essential part of our development planning and prioritization. What do you love about Learn Ultra Courses? What would you like to do that you currently do not think you can? Share these insights and more with our Product Managers and your peers!

 

Breakout Sessions:

Accessibility Review Hacks: Translating Blackboard Ally Data to Meaningful Feedback

Speaker: Krystal Iseminger, WSU Tech

Reviewing a course for quality should also include reviewing for accessibility. It is a daunting task without a tool like Blackboard Ally, but it can still be a challenge even with a course report in hand. This session breaks down several ways to interpret and translate Blackboard Ally Course Report results to save time in formal or informal reviews, explain them to new users, and allow faculty to get the most useful information quickly. Everyone from Blackboard Ally super-users to non-users and faculty to designers will find something to take away from this session, including ideas on how to structure accessibility review in general. 

Building Student Connections with Strengths-Based Values

Speaker: Donald DeSormoux, Keiser University

As leaders in education, we all might have a different theory we embrace regarding student learning. We sometimes need to go the extra mile to help align students’ educational and professional goals. One common goal must focus on the “why” factor. Developing a purpose and expressing specific strengths-based values will be the center of this session where we review an appreciative education approach with meaningful results that focus on helping others achieve online success.

Leveraging Interdisciplinary Strengths to Maximize Effectiveness in Remote and Online Learning

Speakers: Toby Brooks & Ryan Schmidt, Texas Tech University

This session will present a number of strategies and ideas employed by faculty from a diverse and robust school of health professions to deliver meaningful and effective learning experiences for students remotely and online. While faculty in many places have undergone such efforts in isolation, this collaborative team has helped all emerge better equipped to teach, learn, lead, and grow in the present and beyond.

Using Release Conditions to Create a Blackboard Survival Guide

Speaker: Joshua Tidwell, Central Arizona College

Imagine if every course started with its own survival guide covering course navigation, course technology, and any other essential components. I created a virtual survival guide to provide every student an equitable experience and the level of knowledge needed to access the content and tools in my Blackboard course within that first week of class. In this session, I will walk through how I used mini-instructional assignments with automatically graded questions to help the students understand the technological tools and concepts that we will use frequently in the course and how I built release conditions to move them through the process.

8:00 – 8:35pm ET

Breakout Sessions & Small Group Discussions

Small Group Discussion:
(limited to the first 15 people)

Empathy in Teaching: Caring, Understanding, and Adapting

Facilitator: Gioella Chaparro, California State University Dominguez Hills

Join this discussion to share your experiences demonstrating empathy toward your students. Hear from the discussion host on how they show care, exemplify understanding and adapt to student needs.

Instructor Focus Groups: Learn Ultra Courses

Facilitator: Anthology PM Team

Join members of the Learn Ultra Product Management team to share your experiences with Learn Ultra Courses! As we continue to enhance the Learn Ultra Course environment, having feedback from our instructors is an essential part of our development planning and prioritization. What do you love about Learn Ultra Courses? What would you like to do that you currently do not think you can? Share these insights and more with our Product Managers and your peers!

 

Breakout Sessions:

Engaging Students from the Start: How to Hook Your Students in HyFlex Courses

Speaker: Edie Fabiyi, Morton College

Engaging your students at the start of class is essential to a successful session. I use a variety of opening activities at the beginning of class (HyFlex and traditional) to reinforce, educate, and motivate. In this session, I will share the various Blackboard features and online tools I use to engage my students. From word searches and group feedback to live polling and crossword puzzles, we’ll explore why it’s important to hook students in from the moment they “arrive” in class.

Navigating HyFlex: Upskilling Staff and Students

Speaker: Jerrylynn Manuel, Southern Institute of Technology

After a positive Hyflex course pilot in 2021, the School of Screen Arts at the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) rolled out a series of additional Hyflex courses in 2022. Join this session to hear the approaches used to prepare staff and students for HyFlex teaching and learning, and to outline challenges of HyFlex delivery.

8:40 – 9:15pm ET

Breakout Sessions

Breakout Sessions:

Redesigning a Distance Learning Course to Boost Student Engagement

Speaker: Balint Koller, Southern Institute of Technology

In March 2021, a collaborative course re-design project was launched to revamp a course with feedback that students were feeling isolated. Efforts were taken to boost student engagement through increased facilitator presence, more collaborative assignments, workforce experience and interaction, holistic indigenous perspectives, and additional formative feedback. While the revamp project is still ongoing (at its halfway point), student feedback has been positive so far. In this session, we will share the rationale for, and details of, some engagement-boosting strategies and present some early findings on their effectiveness.

Integrating the Learning Glass into Collaborate

Speaker: Jaimee Hamilton, James Cook University

In this session we will demonstrate how the Learning Glass can be integrated into collaborate to teach an online synchronous class.

9:20 – 10:00pm ET

Keynote: Weathering the Storm: Circumventing the Hang-Ups of Hybrid Teaching

Speaker:
Yvette Drager, Anthology

The world we live in is constantly changing and it is becoming difficult to predict or anticipate events. Planning is critical for any business to provide clear strategic and operational visions that provide direction. Future planning became almost impossible for educational institutions and organizations due to the global pandemic, as planning fast became redundant due to the unpredictable nature of the world. Organizations and educators have had to pivot and embrace transformational education methodologies and re-invent teaching offerings to ensure their learners are provided meaningful learning experiences that facilitate positive course outcomes. One prominent methodologies suite is hybrid-learning models of teaching, which over all aim to combine face-to-face and remote into a well-planned coherent whole. Are you and your organization in a place of preparedness to capitalize on this delivery model and help plan for your future?

9:20 – 10:00pm ET

Keynote: Change Chose Me [Rebroadcast]

Speaker:
Merlyna Valentine

Change can be difficult; it is a process, not an event. In these unprecedented times, we have all experienced change, especially educators. When change chose her, Ms. Valentine transformed adversity into success, and obstacles into opportunities. Her message reminds us that we have the power to choose our mindset and thrive in challenging times. As we navigate the complex landscape of teaching today, her message is a roadmap for resilience. Get ready to be inspired and empowered to embrace change and live life “on purpose.”

Keynote Speakers

Presenter Name

Merlyna Valentine

Merlyna Mathieu Valentine is an international speaker, author, and consultant. She retired after thirty years having served as a teacher, principal, and executive director in an extraordinarily successful school district in Louisiana. Her transformational leadership as a school principal resulted in her school’s recognition as a “Top Gains” school.

In the face of tragedy and daunting obstacles, Ms. Valentine unleashed a remarkable inner strength that enabled her to lead by example. She has learned some valuable lessons since 2007, when her life as she knew it was forever changed and she experienced the closest call to death imaginable. Instead of focusing on what happened and what’s missing from her new life, Ms. Valentine chooses to embrace this very different path with a positive attitude. Through her current endeavors as an international speaker and consultant, Ms. Valentine empowers audiences to embrace their personal power and prove what’s possible.

Yvette Drager

Yvette Drager

Senior Education Consultant
Anthology

Yvette Drager has been involved in adult education for over 24 years with more than 19 years of that experience within the adult education sectors. For several years Yvette ran a successful education consulting firm that supported small organizations with onboarding solutions to move into a technology enabled training space. During the COVID-19 pandemic, via her consulting business, she supported many educators around the world probono to ensure that they could move into the online space seamlessly with the minimum of disruption. She is a well-known keynote presenter with a focus on improving trainers facilitation/teaching skills via the use of technology to enhance training delivery that will increase education success for organizations of various sizes.

Sponsored by:

Blackboard Academy

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