Inspire Blog Author: donaldjo

Citations in Online Discussions

In the classroom we often discuss readings and other sources of information. Because students are often accustomed to digital communications in which sources are rarely cited, they can benefit from guidance concerning your expectations regarding citation. The instructor for TCE 512, Psychology of the Adolescent, worked with Ecampus to create an infographic through which she provides such guidance. This infographic is licensed under a Creative Commons license, so you can feel free to download and post it in your own courses. Also, remember that we enjoy collaborating with Ecampus instructors to create innovative resources, so if you have any interesting ideas we would love to work with you!
by · July 20, 2015

Effective Narrated Presentations

When developing course material for online learning environments—especially narrated presentations—it is important to consider not only the content, but also the design of the material. If material is designed in a way that minimizes visual and cognitive distractions it will be easier for your students to engage with the content. A particularly effective paradigm in understanding the relationship between content and design can be found in cognitive load theory articulated by John Sweller (1988, 1999). When students are processing learning materials, their total cognitive load is made up of intrinsic cognitive load and extraneous cognitive load. The intrinsic cognitive load is the amount of mental energy required to process the content of the learning at hand. The extraneous cognitive load … Effective Narrated Presentations
by · April 30, 2014

Infographics

One of the trends of 2014 is the explosion of infographics. Although they have been around for centuries, the creation of infographics has been limited to specialists such as cartographers, graphic designers, and others who specialize in data visualization. The popularity of data visualization experienced a surge in 2006 when Hans Rosling created the free Gapminder tool and presented The Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen on the TED stage. He demonstrated the need for easily accessible tools regular people could use to transform complex information into easy-to-comprehend visual format. The word infographic has undergone a shift in popular usage over the last three years. In the past, it meant anything that conveyed data or complex information in visual format, including … Infographics
by · February 10, 2014

Rubrics

There is an exciting new feature in Blackboard which will help instructors provide more detailed feedback in less time. This is the rubrics feature. What are they? Rubrics are tables of assessment. Blackboard uses the most common layout, which has columns of proficiency with the greatest levels of achievement on the right moving down to the lowest levels on the left. The rows indicate what is being measured. For example, a piece of writing may be assessed on measures of grammar, structure, clarity, formatting, and citations. Points are attached to each aspect being assessed, with the highest possible points in the right column. Different aspects can have different values. For example, perhaps the focus of this assignment was proper citations, … Rubrics
by · October 10, 2013

Screencasting Made Easy

Have you ever wished you could record whatever you are doing on your screen while narrating? Well, doing so is becoming easier every day. Screencasting means recording your screen, or an area of your screen, along with a recording of your voice. Screencasting has become insanely easy because of new online tools. You don’t need to download any software or deal with any files. Your recordings are saved on the internet, so links are the way you share your screencasts. When would you use a screencast? The most common use is to demonstrate how to use a website or piece of software. You can also open up a free online drawing tool and sketch something to demonstrate a concept as … Screencasting Made Easy
by · July 16, 2013