2020 Faculty Technology Showcase Program
The Center for Instructional Technology
The University of Alabama
Friday, February 28, 2020
Gordon Palmer Hall
Digital Poster Presentations, A232
9:00-9:50 am
Kimberly Blitch, PhD, and Alison Lewis
Personalized, Reflective Learning for Early Childhood Education Students
GoReact was integrated into a key methods course in early childhood curriculum planning. A digital tool for teaching performance-based skills online, this interactive platform has been quite influential in capturing students’ skills with young learners, providing specific feedback that correlates to particular moments during interactions with children, and developing reflective practitioners that can effectively self-critique their own practice and integrate feedback into practice. Attendees will experience live demonstrations of the platform.
Nathan Loewen, PhD
Developing Digital Research Tools in Disciplines that Historically Have None
How might faculty learn digital methods without formal training & disciplinary fora? A work-around is undergraduate researcher collaboration. Here, a religious studies professor learns computational text analysis to question topical gaps in the philosophy of religion. Several issues may be identified in the success of the project: faculty openness to instruction, creating conditions for faculty learning, supporting student learning outcomes, establishing forms of dialog & structures that enable faculty/student collaboration, creating agreements on co-authorship, and identifying/applying together for support/training (grants, workshops, publishing, conferences, and consultants).
Melissa Green
Introducing Blackboard Ally
Blackboard Ally for LMS helps make digital course content more accessible by automatically providing alternative formats (such as semantic HTML, audio, ePub, and electronic Braille) and providing instructor feedback and guidance on fixing accessibility issues in a course. This session will showcase the alternative formats Ally makes available for download to students and how to use Instructor Feedback and the Accessibility Report to learn about and fix course accessibility issues.
10:00-10:50
Stefanie Buckner, Tracy Hinton, PhD, and Robyn Hammontree
Gen Z and the 4Cs: Creating Engaging Course Content for the Next Generation
Although we just wrapped our minds around what “millennial” means, a new generation is headed our way. While a precise definition of Generation Z is hard to grasp, methods to engage Gen Z students are within reach. Join us to discover specific tools to stimulate, teach, and empower the next generation.
Cory Callahan, PhD
Using Flipgrid For International Collaboration
The Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project is a sponsored program from the American Council on Education, working with Teresa Wise and Carolina Robinson from UA’s Capstone International Center, Kevin Halbrook from UA’s Center for Instructional Technology, and Katsuki Umeda from Chiba University in Japan. University students in Chiba and Alabama use Flipgrid, to asynchronously introduce themselves to international partners and share their understanding of powerful secondary social studies instruction.
Amanda J. Thompson, PhD, and Marcy L. Koontz, PhD
The Color Conundrum: Ease of Use and Reliability of a Mobile Spectrophotometer and App for Recording True Color Measurements
This hands-on demonstration will introduce attendees to NIX™ Pro, a portable industry grade spectrophotometer and mobile app used to accurately identify the color of an object in situ. Attendees will have the opportunity to use the spectrophotometer on an object from The Fashion Archive and input the data into a spreadsheet to calculate its actual CIE L*a*b*color.
11:00-11:50
Heather Carter-Templeton, PhD, RN-BC, with Jessica Johnson, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC, and Alison Turner, MSN, BSN
Technology and Informatics Tools Used to Support PhD Nursing Students’ Research
This presentation will highlight how an online informatics course has the potential to yield the best possible learning outcomes for PhD nursing students. Faculty will describe the process of selecting appropriate interactive teaching strategies and the use of a variety of technology tools to meet multiple pedagogical principles. Anecdotal feedback and challenges encountered will be shared.
Kim Stran, PhD, and Shannon McMahon
The Hub: Bringing It All Together
The online NHM undergraduate courses are facilitated by 6 faculty and 26 adjunct faculty. Keeping these individuals up-to-date and connected has proven to be a challenge. The Hub is a single location that provides general, departmental, and program specific information and resources to help instructors maintain cohesion and unity across the program.
Darryl Thornton, DBA, Jennifer Humber, EdD, and Crystal Mealer
FlipGrid…ing: Student Community
Create a sense of community and an in-class experience in an online classroom environment through the use of video chat formats like Flipgrid. The senior-level writing course created by this team received a Blackboard Exemplary Course Award for the engagement in format using the video chat format.
12:00-12:50
Saad Bushaala, PhD
Tools for Searching Photos for Classes, and Finding Similar Tools You Have Previously Used
Searching for photos and pictures is a common practice among faculty members and instructors. Learn about new tools to find images for use in class and practice using these during the showcase. A reference handout will be provided.
Jessica Mendoza and Janet Horace
Teaching in the Digital Era
Using technology to administer exams online can help facilitate self-directed learning by enabling students to create their own resources that will be used during exams. In our online exams, we use a large pool of testing questions and present one question at a time in a randomized order to reduce the risk of cheating.
Erin O’Rourke, PhD, and Anne McDivitt, PhD, with Elizabeth Naranjo Hayes, Logan Fenhouse, and Ricardo DeLeon
Bringing the Past to Life: Old Spanish in the Digital Age
In this presentation we describe the use of three tools—WordPress, Hypothes.is, and SoundCite—which allow students to post Old Spanish texts, explain the evolution of words, and link recordings of themselves using Old Spanish pronunciation, in order to create a digitally enhanced, annotated version of the text.
Joshua Sahib
Cultivating the Local Innovation Network with StartupWind
Entrepreneurial and innovation efforts in a university setting are often siloed inside individual classes. StartupWind offers modules ranging from business planning to mentorship that can help consolidate innovation activity into one platform. During this session, Joshua will cover how UA is using StartupWind and offer tips on how instructors across disciplines can utilize the platform in their own courses.
Demonstrations of Campus Resources, A203
Keith Sims, UA SUPe Store
Access Granted Program
Access Granted is used to assist faculty with digital course materials, so students will have access to the digital materials on the first day of class at a reduced cost them compared to buying the physical book through the store or through the publisher directly. Students have the option to opt-out before the add/drop date.
Laura Gentry and Jon Ezell, UA Libraries
Digging into Digital Collections
The University of Alabama Libraries has a new platform for its digital collections containing over 500,000 images from items held here on campus in Special Collections. The content includes campus publications, photographs, and manuscripts covering everything from Autherine Lucy’s integration of the campus, LGBTQ organizations, Civil War letters, and more from the 18th century to the present. Come learn tips and tricks on how to navigate the digital collections website. Discover ways to integrate these primary sources into your classroom. Learn what unique and rare treasures are available in Special Collections.
Vanessa Goepel and Marion Stevens, Office of Disability Services
The ODS Online Portal: Changing How Students and Faculty Interact with the Office of Disability Services
Since its launch in July 2019, the ODS online portal has significantly changed the ways students and faculty interact with the Office of Disability Services. This presentation seeks to show faculty how those changes can streamline the process of providing accommodations to registered students.