Posted on by cindyklassen

DEU EdTech Quick Tips – Issue 23

In this Issue: Upcoming Learning Opportunities!

    • How to: Use WebEx Breakout Rooms effectively
    • See Portfolium ePortfolios in action
    • CanvasCon Online 2020
    • Many more opportunities to learn
    • DEU support and contact information

How to: Use WebEx Breakout Rooms effectively

Now that WebEx can do Breakout Rooms, how can we design group activities that make good use of the tools? Open Learning and Teaching Collaborative (OpenCoLab) from Pymouth State University has crowdsourced a great list of ideas on how to make breakout groups NOT BORING. Although they use Zoom as their platform, the principles of group activity design are easily transferable to WebEx. Find out how to not be boring in breakout rooms.

If you need a more technical introduction to WebEx Breakout Rooms, IT Training and Support at USask has upcoming sessions for learning more about the Breakout Room features in WebEx.

Webex: Breakout Rooms ONLY – Sept. 28 – 11:30am-12pm

WebEx: Using WebEx for Meetings (includes breakout room intro) – Sept. 29 – 1pm – 2:30pm

Webex: Breakout Rooms ONLY – Oct.1 – 2pm-2:30pm

See Portfolium ePortfolios in action

Join a live webinar that will take an inside look at how Portfolium can enable students to curate achievements, build competencies and wow potential employers, while simultaneously supporting institutions in measuring student success, tracking learning outcomes, and connecting students with the right opportunities.  USask has included Portfolium as an integrated component of the Canvas LMS.

Sept. 29 – 11am-12pm Register for the live webinar to see Portfolium in action

CanvasCon Online 2020

What is CanvasCon? It’s a FREE global conference for educators, edtech experts, Canvas lovers, and Canvas lurkers. And for the health and safety of all attendees, it’s virtual.

The event will be hosted live on October 15th at 10 a.m. in Sydney, London, and Salt Lake City. (Visit our FAQ page for more info about timing in your region.)

You’ll get:

    • A morning full of inspirational keynotes
    • Dedicated time to chat with peers, partners, and product experts
    • An interactive virtual partner hall
    • The best of the best breakout sessions
    • Plenty of virtual fun and friend-making

Join us for professional development, idea-sharing, and skill-building at CanvasCon Online. Registration closes October 9th at 5 p.m. MDT.

Find out more about CanvasCon 2020 and Register for the event.

Many more opportunities to learn

The fall line-ups of various Teaching and Learning webinars are starting to trickle across our inboxes at DEU so we thought we’d share a few places you can look for some great learning opportunities beyond the USask borders.

BCcampus has a great set of upcoming and relevant workshops on topics from Open Textbooks, Online Facilitation, a Fall Indigenous Series, to an Open Education Challenge Series.

Find out more and register for these open events at BCcampus

Canadian Association for University Continuing Education

CAUCE is an organization that we at the Distance Education Unit have been active with for a long time. CAUCE is pleased to announce its 2020-2021 Webinar Series. We hope you find the following topics of interest and complement your professional development goals for the year. These sessions are free of charge for CAUCE members. Please feel free to register for one or more of their thought-provoking and engaging webinars.

Find out more about the upcoming CAUCE webinars and Register with the Password: 202021

The Canadian Initiative for Distance Education Research (CIDER) sponsors a variety of professional development activities designed to increase the quantity and quality of distance education research.

In an upcoming presentation, they’ll discuss strategies for creating a community of learning in Zoom classrooms. By establishing a sense of community, shared ownership of the learning space, and clear expectations for both students and instructors, we suggest that instructors can not only anticipate but mitigate the challenges that might otherwise compromise learning in the Zoom classroom.

Register for Creating a Community of Learning in the Zoom Classroom: Strategies for Establishing a Positive Online Learning Environment and see more from the COHERE-CIDER Sessions