Posted on by cindyklassen

DEU EdTech Quick Tips – Issue 71

In this Issue: Updates and EdTech Tools for Your Course

    • Student Evaluation Update: SEEQ Shut Down
    • New: Learning with Technology Toolkit for Students
    • Media Production’s One Button Studio and Light Board
    • Thinking Midterms? How to Administer Written Exams via Canvas
    • Upcoming PD Opportunities: Webinars from CAUCE
    • DEU Support and Contact Information

Student Evaluation Update: SEEQ Shut Down

Recently, you may have noticed a small change to your course navigation bar in Canvas: any links to the Student Learning Experience Questionnaire (SEEQ) have now been removed. The university has now phased out support for SEEQ as a course feedback tool, and at the end of the month, the SEEQ system will be shut down entirely. For this reason, if you wish to archive your past surveys, please retrieve them from SEEQ before the end of the month! 

To retrieve your data from SEEQ, follow the steps in this article from ICT: How do I retrieve information from SEEQ (Student Evaluation of Education Quality)?

Although SEEQ is only now being retired, the tool’s replacement has been available for some time. Since 2015, the university has worked on creating and transitioning to the Student Learning Experience Questionnaire (SLEQ) as a replacement for SEEQ. In addition to the core questions, the SLEQ course feedback tool allows colleges, departments, and instructors to add their own questions, ensuring surveys target the specific needs of students, faculty, and administrators.

To learn more about course feedback at USask, check out Course Feedback for Faculty and Instructors.

Photo by Thirdman from Pexels.

New: Learning with Technology Toolkit for Students

Teaching and learning have become more and more technologically-mediated, and while this has been especially true through emergency remote learning, it has always been the case with online learning. Technology allows us to create diverse and engaging assignments, and enables our students to demonstrate their learning in many ways. However, it is important to keep in mind that while we may use technology for various purposes in all aspects of life, using specific technologies to meet learning goals often requires extra support. Online courses should ensure that requisite technological skills for success in the course are clearly stated and supported with resources.

Identifying and developing support for learning technologies can be a challenge. After all, we might not be an expert in all the different tools available on campus ourselves. Our colleagues at the University Library have developed a resource to help us overcome this challenge – the Learning with Technology Toolkit. This is a companion resource to the Learning Technology Ecosystem, written and organized with students as the intended audience.

As an instructor, you can browse the resources, and link to relevant resources from your Canvas course. The resources are organized by activity type (e.g., self-assessment, content creation, assistive technologies, etc.) and then broken down into sub-categories from there. Everyone will be able to find something useful for their class in these rich new resources.

Find something that is close, but not quite right for your course? Contact an Instructional Designer at DEU to fill in the gaps and support your students’ technology use for learning.

Photo by energepic.com from Pexels.

Media Production’s One Button Studio and Light Board

In working on the design and development of online and hybrid courses, DEU often relies upon our colleagues in Media Production to help faculty and instructors produce high-quality video materials that enhance the student learning experience and humanize their online teaching approach. The One Button Studio and Light Board, which can be accessed from Media Production’s professional studios (in the basement floor of the Education building), are excellent supported technologies that are available to USask faculty and instructors. The One Button Studio offers a variety of ways to present and record visual materials (like slides and presentation notes) with quality results, while the Light Board is a unique translucent florescent whiteboard that allows you to present using markers to write notes, draw diagrams, solve equations, and teach problem-solving concepts.

For more information on these tools, to see examples of videos produced, please see the following page: Video Production.

If you are interested in making an inquiry about the One Button Studio or Light Board, or to book some studio time to access these technologies, please message one.button.studio@usask.ca.

Thinking Midterms? How to Administer Written Exams via Canvas

Midterms are coming up! If you are planning a “take-home” style of exam, or a written exam, in your online course setting, both the Canvas Assignments tool and the Canvas Quiz tool can be used for this purpose. In a recently-updated post on the DEU Blog, we will discuss how to decide if this is the right approach for your course, how to set it up in Canvas, and some details for administering it to ensure a smooth launch come exam time.

Note: Choosing either the Canvas Assignments or Canvas Quiz tool will depend on how much granular control you wish to have over the students’ access window and writing time; while the Assignments tool offers maximum flexibility and is a low-bandwidth option, the Quiz tool allows you to restrict the allowed writing time within a larger window for the start time.

See more on the DEU Blog: Administering Written Exams via Canvas

Photo by Jeswin Thomas from Pexels.

Upcoming PD Opportunities: Webinars from CAUCE

The upcoming slate of free professional development webinar offerings from the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education (CAUCE) for 2022-2023 is now available. Check out the CAUCE website for more information or to register for these upcoming sessions and more:

    • Oct 18, 2022: Designing and Delivering Content for Working Professionals
    • Nov. 29, 2022: Digital Credentialing in the Micro-credentialing Space
    • Feb. 21, 2023: Why Online Learning Is Here to Stay
    • Mar. 21, 2023: Sustainable Design Strategies for Program Development in Continuing Education