Jump to sessions
Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3 | Session 4 | Lunchtime Session | Session 5 | Session 6 | Session 7 | Session 8
Session 1: 9:20-9:50
Building rapport online
Presenter: Christie DeCarolis, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching online and hybrid courses | Location: Multipurpose Room
Many faculty members fear that the transition to online teaching could result in the loss of personal connections with their students. While it’s impossible to replicate exactly the experience of a traditional classroom, it is possible to foster significant rapport between instructor and student online–and perhaps get to know every one of your students a little bit better. This presentation will review methods for fostering rapport online, and explain how tools such as VoiceThread, Zoom and Google Forms can be used to build relationships throughout the semester.
Audio writing
Presenter: Travis DuBose, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: South BC
This session discusses the constraints and affordances of using audio recording for writing assignments. Particular attention will be paid to the genre of the podcast and the ways in which podcasting can incorporate multiple composing modes in order to engage students. Practical considerations of recording equipment and software will also be discussed.
What does technology mean for teaching and learning?
Moderator: Emily Corse, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses, technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: West ABC
Are you a bit skeptical of integrating technology in your courses? Do you feel unsure about the impact of online and hybrid learning? This roundtable discussion will explore the implications of technology on teaching and learning, both positive and negative. Some questions to be discussed: how can instructors ensure they are implementing technology in a way that will assist students in achieving learning goals, and not as a flashy add-on? What are potential pitfalls of incorporating technology into courses? What are the most effective ways to choose appropriate technologies to use in teaching? Join us as we discuss these questions and address the concerns instructors might face when considering teaching with technology.
Session 2: 9:55-10:25
Twitter, Facebook, and student engagement
Presenter: Lee Ann Westman, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: Multipurpose Room
After teaching the same course in two formats—face-to-face and then completely online—I was surprised to find that students in the online course mastered certain course concepts more thoroughly than students in the face-to-face course. The increased mastery of course materials seemed to be related to the online students’ deeper engagement with the course material. I began researching student learning outcomes in online courses, and examined the best practices of online courses that could be used in any type of classroom setting, and found a study by Junco, et al entitled, “The Effect of Twitter on College Student Engagement and Grades.” They found that using Twitter “had a positive effect on student engagement as measured by our instrument,” including a positive impact on grades. Relying on the findings in Junco’s piece, and borrowing heavily from Mark Sample’s “Practical Advice for Teaching with Twitter” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, I added a Twitter assignment to two courses, and a Facebook assignment to a third course. I will describe these three projects, how they were assessed, and how social media engaged student learning outcomes. I will also discuss how social media employs the best practices of online courses in a format that is accessible and engaging.
What is wrong with Tina Jones today? Using ShadowHealth in the Nursing program
Presenters: Tyshaneka Saffold & Jeanann Sousou, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: South BC
Shadow Health, an online platform that allows students in the nursing program to apply critical thinking skills on a virtual patient, is a popular learning tool. It can be used both inside and outside the classroom for students to review and apply major concepts to certain clinical situations, to reinforce previously learned concepts, and to engage students in a safe environment. Shadow Health is a user-friendly platform in which nursing students encounter a virtual patient, Tina Jones, who presents with a specific health complaint. The platform has several modules that allows the students to tackle specific health systems and tests their understanding. Student are able to assess the patient using questions and collection of health data, interacting with a virtual interdisciplinary team, develop a nursing plan of care, and tests their knowledge on both age and cultural variations. More importantly, students have the opportunity to reflect on performance, and contemplate on lessons learned. This presentation will discuss this online platform, how it can be incorporated to stimulate critical thinking, reinforce concepts, how it can be used as an evaluation component, and how it can benefit both faculty and students. A demonstration of this online student learning platform will accompany the presentation.
Student critiques: What works best?
Moderator: Ken Hohing, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: West ABC
One of the obvious problems with in-person critique sessions is that no one wants to say anything considered “negative,” no matter how much I stress the point that criticism is a constructive and helpful endeavor. I tell them the process is akin to proof-reading someone’s written work. You are just pointing out the typos and punctuation errors. But it never seems to sink in, so what occurs is either silence in the room or, when a student is pressed to offer an opinion, it is usually a superficial and patronizing one.
The online critique process on the other hand, allows for anonymity and distance. It can be compared perhaps to how the perceived safety of a car can bring out unbridled “road rage” in an otherwise passive and meek personality. The smartphone or laptop screen is merely an extension of a car’s protective frame. However, it is interesting that at the beginning of every online course the critiques look identical to those face-to-face, warm and fuzzy “be nice” versions.
In this session, we’ll discuss the differences between face-to-face and online critiques, as well as methods to increase student honesty in critiques.
Session 3: 10:30-11:00am
Teaching with technology: trial, error, and success
Presenter: Jennifer Oberle, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: Multipurpose Room
This presentation will discuss a beginner’s successes and pitfalls while implementing digital tools in the classroom. Topics will include the use of Socrative, Voicethread, Kaltura and Lessons Pages from a pedagogical perspective, with emphasis on choosing the right tools for the right task!
Problem sets without pressure: a unique approach to online peer grading in STEM
Presenter: Jennifer Kay, Rowan University
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: South BC
In many STEM subjects, the only way students will truly understand the course content is by frequent practice through problem sets. However, motivating students to complete these problems sets can often be a challenge: while the most motivated of our students will understand the value of practice problems, many students will not put significant effort into these problem sets unless they are included as part of the course grade. And then someone has to grade them! Many of us do not have the luxury of TAs, and even when we do their time is limited. Peer grading is an attractive alternative, but the instructor needs to be careful that the assignments don’t result in a barrage of “please regrade me” requests. In this talk I present my own approach to peer grading, which I have implemented in both in-person (using an LMS) and fully online courses. In my approach, students are assigned long problem sets and then grade their peers on a subset of the problems assigned using rubrics I provide them. Their final grade is assigned in such a way that “a point or two here or there” doesn’t make a difference, thus resulting in virtually no appeals for regrades!
Gaming learning (session canceled)
Moderator: Gail Caputo, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: West ABC
Gamification and game-based learning use game concepts and the gaming experience to increase student collaboration, interest, and achievement. This discussion offers two perspectives on gaming in the college classroom. The first is collaborative tabletop gaming in the traditional physical classroom and the second is digital gaming in blended and online course.
Session 4: 11:05-11:35am
Student response technologies
Presenters: Zhanel DeVides & Ethan Kinory, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: Multipurpose Room
The near ubiquity of smartphones in the college classroom has created new opportunities for educators to solicit immediate feedback from students. Freely available apps have largely replaced old school clickers as the tool of choice for engaging students in real time. We provide a detailed overview of two student response systems and demonstrate how these tools can be utilized for creating live quizzes, polls, and other classroom interactions. Analytics data, grading tools, and other reporting features for student response technologies are also discussed. In addition, we discuss technology for reaching students via smart-phone enabled applications, which improve instantaneous communications for important course updates and developments.
Note that this is a double-length session and will run until 12:10pm. Please plan accordingly!
Social media in online learning
Presenter: Jennifer Araten-Castillo, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching online and hybrid courses | Location: South BC
Through a newly created course, Social Media Marketing, Jennifer Araten-Castillo will demonstrate how social media can play an integral role in an online learning environment. Applications of these tools will be discussed in a broader sense. A walkthrough of both an online and face-to-face section of Business Communications will also demonstrate the advantages to both instructor and student through the Canvas course shells.
Assessing online courses
Moderators: Joe Barbarese, Keith Green & Carol Singley, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: West ABC
As online course offerings continue to expand, it becomes important to assess teaching effectiveness. We will share the results of our assessment of online courses offered in the Department of English from 2013-2017. To the best of our knowledge ours is the first, or one of the first, such assessment done in FAS and should be of interest to faculty in all disciplines. Our initial charge from the department chair—to assess the amount of reading and writing in these courses—expanded as we worked with Emily Corse in Instructional Design & Technology to consider pedagogical and technological factors that enhance or detract from effective online teaching. We present, on paper and in PowerPoint, the results of three methods of assessment: a faculty survey, student evaluations, and our observation of selected online courses. We discuss differences in semester-long, winterim, and summer formats as well as differences in the kinds of courses offered, for example, literature or writing, film or literature. We address the capabilities and limitations of Sakai, and we close with recommendations for professional development and the continued strengthening of online teaching.
Session 5: 11:40-12:10
Student response technologies (continued)
Presenters: Zhanel DeVides and Ethan Kinory, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: Multipurpose Room
Note that this is a double-length session that started during Session 4.
The near ubiquity of smartphones in the college classroom has created new opportunities for educators to solicit immediate feedback from students. Freely available apps have largely replaced old school clickers as the tool of choice for engaging students in real time. We provide a detailed overview of two student response systems and demonstrate how these tools can be utilized for creating live quizzes, polls, and other classroom interactions. Analytics data, grading tools, and other reporting features for student response technologies are also discussed. In addition, we discuss technology for reaching student population via smart-phone enabled application, which increases the instantaneous communications for important course updates and developments.
Tell me about your analysis and process
Presenter: Ruth Anne Robbins, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: South BC
My course goals in introductory and advanced courses emphasize both analytical process and appropriate written product. I thus want to know whether I am assessing both process and product—rather than merely the product. In this presentation, I will talk about two annotation techniques I use that show me what students are thinking as they read critical course materials and as they formulate strategies for audience-driven writing. The technologies allow me to more accurately pinpoint what went right and not-as-right. The first technique is VoiceThread and the second is a guided use of the endnote/footnote functions of MS Word.
Maximizing blogging to promote learning opportunities inside and outside of the classroom
Moderator: Próspero García, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Roundtable discussion | Location: West ABC
Even though blogs and blogging have become essential tools for communication since their inception in 1994, educators have generally had a very difficult time integrating them in the classroom to maximize learning opportunities and promote students’ autonomous learning. Often, the use of blogs in the classroom ends up becoming a chore for students rather than a way of stimulating their creativity. On the other hand, teachers find it difficult to connect learners’ blogging with course-content. In order to address these issues, this roundtable will discuss best practices for online discussions, and how to incorporate them to the classroom in a meaningful and engaging way. Attendants will be exposed to three different ways of integrating blogging in the curriculum, addressing their advantages and disadvantages for promoting autonomous learning and productive classroom discussions.
Lunch: 12:15-1:15
Location: Campus Center Multi-Purpose Room
From the other side: students dish on online learning (12:35-1:15)
Student Panel
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: Multipurpose Room
In this panel session, held over lunch, we’ll hear the student perspective on online learning here at Rutgers University–Camden. Students will share what they like about taking online classes, the problems they’ve faced, and what professors can do to help them succeed.
Session 6: 1:20-1:50
Can your students afford their textbooks? Moving towards OER
Panel: Zara Wilkinson, Sarah Allred, Joseph Barbarese, and Rasheda Weaver; Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: Multipurpose Room
According to Rutgers Libraries, “Open educational resources (OER) are any learning or teaching resources that are available at little or no cost.” As textbook prices continue to climb, many instructors are exploring OER options to make course materials more accessible for students. In this session, a panel of faculty members will share stories of using OER in their classrooms. They will focus on both their successes and some ongoing challenges in assigning Open Educational Resources in place of traditional textbooks.
Creative integrative writing assignments in a distance learning environment
Presenter: Jeffrey Podoshen, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: South BC
This session gives insight and examples of how to create formal integrative writing assignments that are easy to deploy in distance learning environments. Specifically, we will cover how to create formal, yet somewhat open-ended writing assignments that require students to integrate theory with application (and practice), ensuring that students demonstrate mastery of assigned course concepts in a manner that is not exam dependent and enhances writing and critical thinking skills. Examples of assignments will be shared that require students to find real-world scenarios of concepts using high-quality online sources available to all students in the Rutgers University Libraries. This assists in reducing costs and increasing convenience to the student and ensuring that students are using high-quality, academically appropriate materials instead of “fake news” or unsubstantiated random web sources. Sample rubrics will also be shared that will guide the student towards expectations. This session will be geared primarily to those in the areas of Business and Social Sciences.
Using technology to engage students in introductory biostatistics
Moderator: Amy Savage, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Technology in the face-to-face classroom | Location: West ABC
As in many mathematically intensive fields, students often approach introductory statistics with some trepidation. Statistical courses are usually taught using traditional lectures. However, the availability of technology has made active learning approaches more accessible for students learning statistics across a broad range of disciplines. In this round-table discussion, I will share my experience designing a required, introductory-level course in biostatistics using a variety of active learning tools (flipped classroom, hands-on workshops, group workshops, and online forum discussions). I will discuss which approaches and methods were most and least successful, and moderate a discussion about challenges associated with this approach to student learning.
Session 7: 1:55-2:25
Using discussion boards to enhance student interaction in the online classroom
Presenter: Allyson Scavuzzo, Camden County College
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: Multipurpose Room
Fostering student interactions in an online classroom format can often prove to be challenging. In order to increase student interaction in my online classrooms over the past several years, I have added a discussion board component to my online courses. There are three different types of discussion board that I require each of my students to complete during the semester. These include the following: attendance discussion boards, in which students are asked to give their opinion on a topic related to what is covered during that week in class, critical thinking discussion boards, which enable students to utilize what they have learned in class to address a related issues, and chapter test discussion boards, which serve as an online study group for students in the class. In this presentation, I will review my use of the discussion boards and examine the pros and cons of this method in the online classroom.
Facing the class
Presenter: Mark Zaki, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: South BC
Implementing technology in a Gen Ed Music Appreciation style course (Facing the Music). Presentation will describe moving a traditional face to face appreciation class to a hybrid/online environment. Discussion will focus on the challenges of teaching music appreciation, how technology was used to address and target desired student outcomes, and which strategies were more successful for this type of course.
The big LMS question
Moderator: Emily Corse, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching hybrid or online courses, tech in the face-to-face classroom | Location: West ABC
How important is the learning management system in teaching online, hybrid, or face-to-face? Here at Rutgers, we’re undergoing yet another evaluation, with the goal of replacing six current LMSs with one perfect solution. Please share your experiences and your perspective on which features and implementations are most important for you and your students.
Session 8: 2:30-3:00
Best practices in online teaching
Presenters: Dana Pilla, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: Multipurpose Room
In this session you will learn how to create an online course that engages learners, adequately assesses skills using multiple modalities, caters to the varied learning styles of all students, and generates lasting student interest. The instructor will use the Sakai course platform to illustrate assessment options, informal group discussion through video and/or audio, and course visual layout. Participants will come away with an easy to follow format for creating a new course that is steeped in best practice in online education.
Self-directed learning: onboarding in an elementary algebra course
Presenter: Lester Owens, Camden County College
Track: Teaching online or hybrid courses | Location: South BC
Self-Directed Learning, SDL, has become a requirement in education today because of the changing demands on education, requiring learners to take responsibility for their personal learning and skills. Alvin Toffer states “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” One of the most enjoyable and important processes you’ll ever be involved with is the new student onboarding process. The onboarding process is called “organizational socialization” in the business world. It is a series of activities designed to help the new student become aware of the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and connections needed to become an effective member of the classroom, post onboarding. The presentation will address many of the tasks you’ll want to complete before students arrive, such as access to course web sites, apps, and printed material. When the they arrive to start their new course, they will be helped by faculty-student interaction, peer-to-peer interaction, and the use of technology, to structure things to ensure their success. A new student’s first few weeks with the new classmates, instructor, and course is a special time. How the new students perceive and judge these initial experiences will heavily influence how they view the remainder of their time with the instructor and the course.
Fostering discussion with online forum assignments
Moderator: Tim Knievel, Rutgers University–Camden
Track: Teaching hybrid or online courses | Location: West ABC
How can we leverage online platforms (Sakai, WordPress) to encourage more extensive classroom engagement?