News and Events.Articles.• NewBlackboardFeatures

• BuildingMediaLiteracy

• MobileTechintheAPLab

• NonlinearstorytellingwithTwine

• ChecklistforOnlineLearning

Workshops.• ePortfolios

• MobileLearning

• LectureCapture

• UniversalDesign ...and more

O�ce of Educational Technology O�ce of Academic A�airs

• BronxEdTechShowcase2018

• Panopto

• CelebrationofInnovation

Spring 2018, Issue 14

InnovationsInnovSpring 2018

• iPads teachAnatomyand Physiology

• UsingBlackboardas a FakeNewsDetector

• Nonl inear storytel l ingwith Twine

InstructorsleadasInnovators

SavetheDates:Friday,April27,2018BronxEdTechShowcase

SubmissionDetailsonback

Thursday,May10,2018CelebrationofInnovation

12n-2:30pm,RmB-115

Focus On TECHNOLOGY

Hands-On TECH

WORKSHOPS

Blackboard Essentials Feb 7 - 3:30pm Feb 8 - 3:30pm

Feb 15 - 3:30pm

Blackboard Advanced Jan 31 - 11:00am and 3:30pm Feb 1 - 11:00am and 3:30pm

Feb 15 - 3:30pm Feb 28 - 11:00am

Blackboard Grade Center Feb 21 - 13:30pm Feb 22 - 3:30pm

ePortfolios Mar 7 - 3:30pm Mar 8 - 3:30pm

Assessment Tools Feb 14 - 11:00am Feb 21 - 11:00am Feb 22 - 11:00am Feb 28 - 3:30pm

Mar 1 11:00am and 3:30pm

Lecture Capture Feb 14 - 3:30pm Feb 15 - 11:00m

Blackboard Collaborate Mar 14 - 11:00am Mar 15 - 11:00am

Editor-in-Chief - George Rosa Executive Editor, Consultant - Carlos GuevaraContributors - David Dos Santos, Vyacheslav Dushenkov, Karin Lundberg, Kate Lyons, Lisa Tappeiner

EdTech is pleased to present the workshop calendar for the Spring 2018 semester. This semester includes Focus On Technology workshops that encourage conversations focused on faculty issues within the classroom. Included in the discussions will be how di�erent technologies are able to solve these issues and bring about meaningful solutions. There will also be one-to-one meetings to demonstrate the Technical aspects of the technologies. To �nd out exact times of the workshops, and to register, go to: http://www.hostos.cuny.edu/edtech/for-faculty/workshops/ InnovationsInnov

Focus On Technology workshops cover a variety of topics concern-ing faculty issues in the class-room. The emphasis is less about a speci�c technology and more about pedagogical goals reached with an approach that at least partly uses tech solutions. After the discussions, faculty can make an appointment or stop by Room C-556 and speak with one of the specialists on how to implement the technologies that are avail-able to them at Hostos.

Mobile Learning Feb 7 - 11:00am

Making Cheating Harder on Online Exams

Mar 7 - 11:00am Mar 8 - 11:00am

Bene�ts of the Hostos Social Network

Apr 12 -11:00am

Increase Student Participation with Engagement Tools

Apr 12 -3:30pm

Universal Design / Course Accessibility

Apr 18 - 11:00am

page 2

new and innovative Black b oard features

by George Rosa

Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semes-ters have brought some innovative

changes toBlackboard that faculty,aswell as studentswill find useful. Onechangemakes iteasiertoaccesstoolsthatexpandthepossibilitiesforbring-ing dynamic, media-driven collabora-tion to classroomandonlinepedago-gy,increasingstudentengagement.

The Collaboration LinkIntheorangeNavigationMenuontheleft in aBb course youwill seeanewbutton“Collaboration”.Thislinkservesasanentrywayfortwopowerfulmediatools – Panopto, for lecture capture,and Collaborate Ultra, for live video-conferencing,

bothhavingbeencoveredinpreviousissuesofEdTechInnovations. Bothoftheseweb-basedapplicationsareavail-abletoallfacultytousewiththeirstu-dents,whethertheyteachclassroomoronlinecourses.BothPanoptoandCol-laboratearepowerfulmediaenhance-ments that greatly facilitate distancelearningandmediation,but they alsomakeforengagingcollaborativetools.For instance, in Panopto an instructorcan create subfolders that allow stu-dentstouploadandsharevideoswithclassmatesusingthePanoptoRecordertoolaswellasvideofilesrecordedus-ing their smartphones or cameras,withstudentsassignedasmoderators.Collaborateuses a similar concept, al-lowing instructors to create“breakout

such as a Capstone course, needs toenrollfacultyasstudents.Asfarasen-rollingstudentsintoaregularacademiccourse,it’sbesttoleaveittotheauto-mated process that feeds enrollmentdatafromCUNYfirstintoBlackboard.

Submission receipt for Assignment submissionsThisnewfeatureisasteptowardsdeal-ingwiththeproblemofstudentsclaim-ing they submitted an assignmenteven though itwasn’t receivedby theinstructor.

Whenastudentsubmitsanassignmentsuccessfully, the Review SubmissionHistorypageappearswithinformationaboutthesubmittedassignmentandasuccess message with a confirmationnumber.Thestudentcancopyandsavethisnumberasproofofsubmission.Forassignments with multiple attempts,thestudentreceiveadifferentnumberfor each submission. The student canaccess submission receipts from theSubmittedtabontheMyGradespage.They can select the number next toSubmission Receipts at the bottomofthelisttoseesubmissionhistory.

Akademos Building Block in Black-boardInstructorsatHostosarenowrequiredtopostthetextbook(s)they“adopt”fortheir courses in the Akademos book-store website. Students can see thetextbooks that have been adoptedfor their courses and purchase themthrough the site at a great discount.ThissemesterAkademoswillbeacces-sible through a module within Black-board.Facultywillbeabletoposttheiradoptions while in Blackboard andstudentswillbeabletomaketheirpur-chases,andthesepostingswillbeuni-versal,thepostingswillappearwhetherfacultyandstudentsaccessAkademosthrough Blackboard, through its web-site or through the link in the Hostoswebsite.

rooms”,dividingtheclassintogroupsand distributing them among therooms,withstudentsasmoderators.

Of course there are other collabora-tion tools available in a Blackboardcourse not found through this link,specificallytheDiscussionBoard,Blog,WikiandJournaltools.

Please contact EdTech if youwish touseoneorbothoftheseapplicationsin your course teaching. Workshopsthat cover thesearealsooffered,butyoucanstopbyanytimeforanover-view.

Nowletstalkaboutotherchangesthat

make certaintasksinBlackboardeasier.

Easier for Faculty to enroll instruc-tors and students into a Bb courseEveryonewhousesBlackboardisnowfamiliarwiththeCUNYlogintoBlack-board. As part of Blackboard’s newintegration with CUNYfirst your CU-NYfirstEmployeeIDisnowyourBlack-boardusername.Thisactuallymakesit easier for faculty to enroll Black-boardusersintheircoursesmanually.Manual enrollment can be useful forspecial situations, such as when aninstructor needs to have another in-structorinacourseaspartofanobser-vation, a student from another cam-pusemployedasapeerleaderneedsaccesstothecourse,ortheleaderofamanually-created Blackboard course,

page 3

by George Rosa

new and innovative

Black b oard featuresHow to manually enroll a Blackboard User into your coursePlease consult with EdTech before manually enrolling anyone in a course because of security considerations! Toenrollsomeoneinyourcourse,she/hemustbea“CUNYBlackboardUser”.AUsermustbeacurrentlyenrolledstudentorcurrentlyemployedfacultyorstaff,withavalidCUNYfirstEmployeeID.TheseindividualshavetheirstatusimportedintoBlackboardinadailydatafeed.NormallystudentsregisteredforcoursesareautomaticallyenrolledintothembasedondataenteredbytheRegistrarintoCUNYfrst.Usersshouldonlybemanuallyenrolledintoacourseforspecialreasons,suchasgivingaccesstoaprofessoraspartofadepartmentobservation,enrollingastudentasapeerleader,allowingguestsfromotherCUNYcampusestovisitcourses,orsomeotherspecialcircumstance.

In the Control Panel, click on Users and Groups > Users.

In Users, click on the button at the upper left Find Users to Enroll.

In the Add Enrollments page simply type the enroll-ees CUNYfirst Employee ID in the Username field. Choose the Role the enrollee will have in the course, set the Availability, then click the Submit button.

IMPORTANT: Note that you can choose the Role of the enrollee in the course. It’s extremely important that a manual enrollee in a course not be given a status other than Student or Guest without consulting with the department chairperson or Dean.

2.

3.

1.

page 4

Today, it is difficult formany read-ers of online information to dis-

tinguish scientific evidence, seriousjournalism, or informed opinion frompublicationswith the solepurposeofsupporting a political point of viewand encouraging inflammatory reac-tions. All kinds of information, bothfacts and alternative facts, appear onprofessional-looking websites withcatchy graphics and attention-grab-bingheadlines.Moreover,inacontextwhere readers’ comments are promi-nent, unfiltered, and entertaining toread, it is as easy tobepersuadedbysocial media’s reactions to a piece ofonlinewritingasbythestrengthofan

argumentanditssupportingevidence,the reputation of a publication, or anauthor’scredentials. Inthischaotic in-formationenvironment,whatkindsofstrategies can we use to prepare ourstudentstoconsumemediawiselyandmakeinformeddecisions,bothaspro-fessionalsandcitizens?

AttheannualBronxEdTechShowcasein April at Bronx Community College,George Rosa, Senior InstructionalDe-signer and Blackboard Administratorand Lisa Tappeiner, Collection Devel-opment and Allied Health Liaison Li-brarianteameduptodiscussstrategiesfor addressing the problem of medialiteracy and the proliferation of falseinformation. They reviewed researchthat shows that despite being“digitalnatives,” students are coming to col-lege unprepared to critically evaluate

information sources at a time whenthese skills are increasingly essential.A 2016 study by the StanfordHistoryEducation Group found that studentsranging from middle school to col-legelevelfromavarietyofgeographicandsocioeconomicbackgroundswere“easilyduped”by information comingfrom social media platforms, such asTwitterorphotosharingwebsites.Thiscomes asno surprise tomanyeduca-torswhoareconfrontedwith studentworkbasedonunreliable informationsources. Students, new to academiclife, are encountering academic con-cepts, jargon, and research practices

forthefirsttimeinaconfusingonlineinformationenvironment.

It isup to faculty, librarians, andedu-cational technologists to provide stu-dentswithopportunities to reflectontheinformationtheyencounteronlineandinsocialmediaandprovidestrat-egies for critical evaluation. GeorgeRosa presented a Fake News Evalua-tor that he developed on Blackboardusingthequiztoolaskingstudentstoreview science-related websites andratethemaccordingtovariouscriteriarelatedtoreliability,authorityofsourc-es,transparencyofsourcesofinforma-tion, emotional content, typographyandlayout,claimsofsecrecy.Studentswereabletoseehowtheclasscollec-tively rated different websites, whichserves as a springboard for criticaldiscussions. They also distributed a

Strategies for building

M edia Literac y in the c lassro om

handout with ideas for simple activi-tiesthatcouldbeusedinanydisciplineto sharpenmedia literacy skills whilebuildingcontentknowledge.

Ifyouareinterestedinlearningaboutthe Blackboard Fake News Evaluator

or implementing critical media liter-acy activities in your classes, contactGeorgeRosainEdTech(grosa@hostos.cuny.edu),LisaTappeinerinthelibrary(etappeiner@hostos.cuny.edu), or joinforceswith theHostosMediaLiteracyMovement (medialit@hostos.cuny.edu).

SourceEvaluatingInformation:theCorner-stoneofCivicOnlineReasoning(Stan-fordHistoryEducationGroup)https://sheg.stanford.edu/upload/V3Les-sonPlans/Executive%20Summary%2011.21.16.pdf

by Lisa Tappeiner

page 5

by Zvi Ostrin and Vyacheslav Dushenkov

study; each instructor taught one“ex-perimental”labsectionwherestudentsusedmobiledeviceswithhistologyandanatomy apps, and taught a second“control” labsectioninwhichstudentsused their lab manuals. Detailed labworksheetswerecreated toguide thetwo groups of students through their

labactivities.Fourcoretopicswereex-amined:TissuesandIntegument,Skel-etal System, Muscle System, and theHeart.

WeusedAppleiPadsasmobiledeviceplatforms to run the digitalapps in the experimental labsections. Hostos Ed Tech wasinvaluable inacquiringand in-stalling thenecessary apps, aswellas insuringthetimelydis-tributionofiPadsintwentydif-ferentlabperiods.

Pedagogical assessment and conclusion

The experimental students’ re-sponsesweremeasuredviaexit

surveys. Our data support theconclusionthatenthusiasmand

engagementintheA&P1labincreaseswhenstudentsusemobiledevicesandcontent-specific apps. Metacognitive

assessment of the students revealedthat they felt thatusing the apps and

Mobile devices offer many peda-gogical opportunities—especial-

ly easy access to textual informationandvisualresources,three-dimension-al representation of anatomical struc-

tures, as well as the ability to studydynamicprocesses—powerfulcapabil-ities that traditional textbooks cannotmatch.

In light of these advantageswe designed a one-semesterstudy, which was funded byaC3IRGgrant,toevaluatethepedagogical utility ofmobiledevices and content-specificapplication software in theAnatomyandPhysiology lab-oratory. Our primary hypoth-esis going forward was thatmobile devices and content-specific apps would increasestudent enthusiasm and en-gagement.

Twohundredandeightystudentsandfivelabinstructorswereinvolvedinthe

mobile devices in the lab was enjoy-able, provided a positive learning ex-perience,motivatedthemto learnthesubjectmatter,andwasmoreeffectiveasalearningtoolthanthelabmanual.Furtherresearchisneededtoclarifytheextent to which students’ positive re-sponsetodigitaltechnologytranslates

into gains in learning, understanding,andinformationretention.

Thefiveinstructorswerealsosurveyedandinterviewed.Ingeneral,theyfoundthat mobile devices and apps couldplayapositiveandusefulroleinthelab.Thismodalitywasa“newandattractivewayofpresenting thematerial taughtforthatclass,”whichkeptthestudentsengagedinlearning.Theinstructorsfeltthat thenoveltyof theapps triggeredapositiveresponsefromthestudents,whowerethenstimulatedtoengageinactivelearning.

We have published the results of thisstudy (Ostrin and Dushenkov, 2016).Going forward,we plan on extendingour research to explore the effective-ness of virtual microscopy—onlinehigh resolution histology images—asareplacementforthetraditionalmicro-scopeandglassslides (OstrinandDu-shenkov2017).

PublicationsOstrin,Z.andV.Dushenkov(2016).“Thepedagogical value of mobile devicesand content-specific application soft-wareintheA&Plaboratory.”HAPSEdu-cator 20(4): 97-103. http://academic-works.cuny.edu/ho_pubs/47/

Ostrin, Z. and V. Dushenkov (2017).“PullingthePlugonMicroscopesintheAnatomy and Physiology Laboratory.”HAPS Educator 21(2): 112-118. http://academicworks.cuny.edu/ho_pubs/61

Using Mobile Technology in the Anatomy and Physiology Lab

The“experimental”labsection,usingiPadsandapps.

Content-specificapplicationsprovideaneasyaccesstotextualinformationandthree-dimensionalrepresenta-tionsofanatomicalstructuressuchastheheart.

page 6

Twine(http://twinery.org/)describesitself as “an open-source tool for

tellinginteractive,nonlinearstories.”Itis similar to the print-based, “ChooseYour Own Adventure Series” (https://www.cyoa.com/). A user playing a

Twinegamereadsapassageandthenmakes a choice about how the storywill continue, by clicking on a link.Twineisapowerfultooleducatorscanuse to gamify and digitize their owncourse content, and then assess stu-dents’learning.Harnessingtheplayful-ness inherent inTwinehelps studentsunlock the emotional state that leadstodeeperlearning.

We used Twine to create and imple-ment an interactive, non-linear story(http://commons.hostos.cuny.edu/esl/) that encourages college-levelEnglishLanguageLearnerstopracticegrammar concepts as they play the

gamenarrativewewrote.In the game’s narrative,students played the roleof the main character,whowasvisitingtheMet-ropolitanMuseumofArt(MET) for the first time.ThiscontenttiedintothethemesoftheESLcourse

curriculum, as this andotherESLcoursesatHos-tos often involve a trip

to theMET.As theyplayed thegame,studentsearnedpointsbasedontheirgrammar choices, and then depend-ingontheirfinalscores,theywerepre-sented with varying creative writingprompts.

The creative writing prompts at theend of the story were meant to trig-ger students’ imaginations based ontheir experiences playing the game.Theyformedconnectionsbetweenthe

coursecontent, thegrammarandthenew domain-specific language theywere exposed to as they played thegameaboutanartmuseum. In theirnarrativestheywereabletore-activatevocabularywordsandgrammarstruc-turestheylearnedearlierinthecourse,and bring that to this assignment. Inthisway,studentswereabletosynthe-size and own their language and ex-ploretheirauthorialvoices.Althoughour experience using this Twine as-signment is anecdotal, we observedthat the writing students produceddemonstrated a higher level of flu-ency,creativityandslightlymorecon-troloverlanguagemechanics,thanontraditional formal assignments thatwould otherwise be assigned at thatpointinthecourse.

The model of using Twine to delivercontent could be adapted to anyGeneral EducationCourse.Twinewas

beneficial as a means to create non-traditional assessments. As a tool tocreate games, Twine is intuitive andopensadoorforeducatorstoengagestudentsinactivelearningandrethinkthe way they deliver content. In thiscase,theassignmentwasgiveninthehybridESL86course,sostudentswerealreadyaccustomedtoexperimentingwithtechnology,andtheywereopento non-traditional assessments andmethodology.

by Kate Lyons and Karin Lundberg

TWINE using non- l inear s tory te l l ing in

y o u r p e d a g o g y

Thestartingpageofthestory.

AsamplestorymapinTwine.

page 7

by David Dos Santos

through Blackboard Announce-ments.

• Verify the start date by looking uptheacademiccalendarandstartyourfinalpreparationsforyourcourseatleasttwoweeksinadvance.

It is a good idea to utilize the studentpreview function in Blackboard to seeyour course through the eyes of a stu-dent. Most importantly, make yourcourseavailable. This isthe#1causeofBlackboard issues when the professordoes notmake their Blackboard courseavailable. IfyouareteachingintheHy-

bridmodality,youwillhaveachancetointroduceyourselftostudentsinpersonbutanyonlineteachingmodalityshouldincludeanonlineintroduction.

Initialweekofclass:

• Introduce your course through aPanoptovideo.

• Assign the ‘Are You Ready?’ onlinelearningworkshop.

• Have students try out assessmenttoolsby creatingan ice-breakerex-ercise.

• Verify attendance throughanactiv-ityorsmallassignment.

• Respond to questions or feedbackfromstudents.

• Settherhythmofthecoursebyuti-lizing theAnnouncements tool andsendingstudentsreminders.

• Respond to emails of any issues/problems and be sure studentsknow what other online resourcesareavailabletothem.

for Online Teaching

Oneofthemostcommonmisconcep-tions for first time students taking

an online course is that it is easier andrequireslesstime.Therealityisthattheonly timesaved is thecommuting timeasstudentsshouldbepreparedtospend

the same time and effort on an onlineclassasan inpersonclass. Inaddition,online classes requiremoredemandingtimemanagementandtechnologyskillsfor both students and professors. Asa professor, you should be well versedin time management, online teachingtechnology, and online teaching peda-gogy by the time you have completedtheOnlineLearning Initiative. Herearesometipstokeepinmind.

Beforeyourcoursebegins:

• Makesureyoursyllabusisuptodateincluding the course schedule andallduedates.

• Check due dates and settings ontests, assignments, discussionboards,etc.

• Check that all graded assessmentsarelinkedtoGradeCentercolumns.

• Check for broken links to attacheddocumentsandexternallinks.

• Makeyourcourseavailable.

• Sendawelcomeemailtoallstudents

Typically, the first day of class is whenyou introduce yourself and go aroundthe room asking students to introducethemselves. Youmayevenspeakaboutthe textbook youwill be using this se-mester.Ifyouareteachingonlineintheasynchronous modality, you can repli-catethisthroughaPanoptovideowhereyou introduce yourself and provide anoverviewof the course. An ice-breakerexercisethroughaninteractivetoolsuchastheDiscussionboardallowsstudentstointroducethemselvestoeachotheraswellaslearnhowtousethenewtool.Allstudentsshouldberequiredtocompletethe ‘Are You Ready?’ online workshopwhichwill provide a comprehensive in-troduction to Blackboard and all of itstools.Besuretomonitorandrespondtostudent questions and concerns duringtheinitialweeksandstartastrongonlinepresence.

Throughoutthesemester:

• Checkemailsatleastonceaday.

• Moderategradeddiscussionboardsatleastonceaday.

• Providetimelygradingononlineas-sessments.

• Maintain the rhythm of the coursewithclearlystatedduedatesandfre-quentreminders.

• Maintainastrongonlinepresenceinyourcourse.

Teachingonlinemeans thatyouwillberequiredtodedicateenoughscreentimethroughout the week. Check emailsdailyandbeanactivemoderator inthediscussionboardandsimilartools.Stickto your grading schedule and make itclear that students must keep up withtherhythmofthecoursebyutilizingAn-nouncementstosendreminders.

Whether it is your first time teachingonlineoryouarealongtimeveteranofonlineteaching,thereisalwaysroomforimprovement.Reviseyourcourseeverysemester accordingly. Online teachingisarewardingexperience,youwillreachstudents who are otherwise unable toattendatraditionalclassandbetterpre-pare students for their future careerswhere online training is becoming thedominantmodalityforpreparingtomor-row’sprofessionals.

Checklist

page 8

C559

718 319-7915

Monday - Friday

9:00am to 5:00pm

edtech@hostos.cuny.edu

Wilfredo Rodríguez Coordinator of EdTech wrodriguez@hostos.cuny.edu

Carlos Guevara Director of EdTech cguevara@hostos.cuny.edu

Iber Poma Coordinator of Student Services ipoma@hostos.cuny.edu

http://www.hostos.cuny.edu/edtech

Faculty Learning Commons (FLC) Sta�

WHO WE ARE

David Dos Santos Instructional Designer dsantos@hostos.cuny.edu

Dontae Richardson Instructional Design Assistant drichardson@hostos.cuny.edu

Zsoreign Sanchez Instructional Design Assistant zsanchez@hostos.cuny.edu

George Rosa Senior Instructional Design Specialist grosa@hostos.cuny.edu

Allied HealthRayola ChelladuraiRonette ShawSandra Castellanos

Education Elys Vasquez-Iscan

Language and CognitionKarin Lundberg

Business Sandy FigueroaLinda Ridley

Mathematics Edme Soho

CounselingLuz Fontanez

BSS Kate Wolfe

Humanities Alexander McclureKatherine Boehm

Natural Sciences Damaris Lois-Lang

http://www.hostos.cuny.edu/ edtech/about-edtech/

Educational Technology Leadership Council (ETLC)

Kate Wolfe, Chairperson kwolfe@hostos.cuny.edu

Carlos Guevara, Co-Chairperson cguevara@hostos.cuny.edu

EnglishJason Buchanan

LibraryKate LyonsLisa Tappeiner

http://www.hostos.cuny.edu/edtech/etlc

EdTech Iber PomaWilfredo Rodríguez

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

2018BronxCUNYEdTechShowcase

“IgnitingInnovation:Literacy,AccessandLearning”

SubmissionDeadline:Tuesday,February20th,2018

http://cuny.is/bronxedtechWewelcomepresentationsonthefollowingtracks:

OnlineLearning

StudentEngagement&ActiveLearning

FlippedLearning&DifferentiatedInstruction

DigitalLiteracyintheClassroom

UniversalDesign

OpenAccess:OERsandmore