During Spring 2021, the Teaching and Learning Innovations’ Learning Design Team was fortunate to partner with our first-ever TLi Faculty Mentors. Mentors are CSUCI Faculty who are experienced in the art of integrating teaching with technology to enhance student learning. As we get ready to introduce you to the 2021-2022 Digital Learning Mentors, we would like to highlight contributions from our founding Faculty Mentors shared during Spring 2021. As are the words of any influential mentor, the wisdom shared last year can be applied today, and provide food for thought as we look ahead. We hope you’ll find something you can apply this term and beyond.
The following replay features Dr. Leslie Abell from the Sociology Department.
Teaching Challenge: Which comes first?
We are in an era of mixed-modality teaching. While this affords students the flexibility essential to sustaining academic continuity, integrating asynchronous and synchronous instruction can feel a bit like trying to figure out that age-old question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Should synchronous, whether in-person or virtual, pave the way for asynchronous or visa versa? If you find yourself contemplating which comes first in your own course planning, we suggest you set aside 50 minutes to watch Dr. Abell’s webinar, Aligning Asynchronous and Synchronous Learning Activities. Dr. Abell provides insight into the steps she has taken to implement mixed-modality design.
Teaching Challenge: Video Lectures & Student Engagement
Dr. Abell’s blog, Encouraging Engagement with Recorded Videos: A Love Letter to PlayPosit, addresses the challenge of sustaining attention when watching a recorded lecture. Her solution, PlayPosit. For those in our audience teaching at CSUCI, this is a tool integrated into Canvas and ready for your use. To experience PlayPosit, and learn how Dr. Abell has leveraged this tool in her own teaching, check out her blog from April 2021 linked above.
