We are in full swing for the fall semester and we are excited to share some new Digital Learning resources and opportunities with you. In this newsletter you'll learn about:
CFE and Digital Learning's Open House/Donation Drive
NEW ChatGPT Prompt Book Resource
An Update to the Keep Teaching Site
October Workshops
What we're doing with Competency-Based Education, Tune-up Grants and Individual Department Training
Join us for our Open House!
CFE and Digital Learning are hosting an open house on Friday, October 20th from1:00-4:00pm. Come check out our new space, located on the third floor of the library, just east of the faculty lounge!
We’re excited to show you not only our new space, but also the many ways we can help you grow in your teaching. Learn about the professional development opportunities offered by both of our departments and see demonstrations of academic technologies in action. Light refreshments will be provided.
We are also inviting everyone to take this opportunity to donate to the Maverick Food Pantry. We will be collecting donations of warm winter gear such as hats, scarves, and gloves as well as food and monetary donations. If you’d like to see a full list of what the Food Pantry needs, please visit the Maverick Food Pantry website.
Check out our NEW resource!
We are excited to share our newest resource with all faculty! Check out our new ChatGPT Prompt Book, filled with resources to help you write better prompts, examples of how you can use ChatGPT in the classroom, assignment templates you can personalize to get started, and how you can encourage students to use ChatGPT in their learning experience. Each example contains a use case, prompt for faculty/students to paste into ChatGPT, short directions on what you can have students do, and example input and output for you to see the type of response you might get.
This resource is set up for faculty to enroll in the course by themselves. Access the course by selecting the button below. To add yourself, select the +Join this course button in the upper right corner and select the enroll button. The course will then be available for you to access from Canvas at any point.
We've updated our Keep Teaching site to better reflect our post-pandemic vision. New name, same great resources! In the Future-Focused EDU Canvas site you'll find information on:
Humanizing Online
Digital Learning Workshops
Canvas Tech Tips
YuJa Resources
Canvas Design Studio
ChatGPT
and so much more.
Flipped Classroom
Tuesday, October 10, 10:00-11:00am
Do your students find your classroom lectures to be boring and bland? Do they seem uninterested and you struggle to get them to come to class? Join Digital Learning and faculty member, Nikae Perkinson, for a session on creating a flipped classroom. Learn about the benefits of a flipped classroom and the tools you can use to create an engaging class!
In the world of AI, the way to assess students may require us to think outside the box. Join us as we discuss the biggest struggles of assessments in the world of AI, alternative assessments you could consider and ways to mitigate student usage for cheating; you'll leave this session with action items to begin your own exploration!
Join our faculty-led discussion group! Our October session will focus on how ChatGPT and AI are impacting our academic fields! Join us to discuss how AI is being used in your field of study, what you (or other faculty) in your field are doing in the classroom with AI, expectations of future employers regarding students' AI proficiency, and any concerns that have been brought up in the field! All are welcome!
Competency Based Education (CBE) is an approach to teaching and learning that emphasizes what people can do, not the amount of time they spend in a classroom. While we will still schedule all courses at UNO within the current framework of existing semesters, we are eager to identify pedagogical strategies in all teaching modalities that allow students greater flexibility in moving through course content as they master concepts. Research shows that CBE increases access to postsecondary education, which is a key part of UNO’s mission.
What have we been doing?
UNO has been exploring CBE since Summer 2022. In Fall of 2022 and Spring of 2023, a group of 25 faculty and academic administrators spent time learning about CBE. That group invited over 30 faculty from our different colleges to participate in our Summer 2023 or Fall 2023 CBE pilot. Feedback has been very positive so far, with many faculty members from the pilot now experimenting with CBE teaching practices in their own courses. We are thrilled to see this excitement about CBE at UNO!
What opportunities are there for you?
If you are interested in learning more about competency-based pedagogical strategies, there are several options available:
The Digital Learning team offers individual department training. We offer workshops and training on a variety of topics including Fair Use, Accessibility, Copyright, Gamification, features within Canvas, YuJa and more! Feel free to send an email to innovate@unomaha.edu and we can set something up you!
Digital Learning/ILCI is now offering a new opportunity for academic programs to comprehensively review and refresh their online/flexible courses and programs. A program tune-up may be especially useful for programs with longstanding online degree offerings, programs considering curriculum changes, programs updating their strategic plans, or programs preparing for an upcoming Academic Program Review. If your interested in learning more about a Tune-Up in your unit, reach out to Dan Hawkins at dhawkins@unomaha.edu.
The Digital Learning team is available to help in a variety of ways:
Book a 30-minute meeting with an instructional designer or technologist on our bookings website (located in the help icon of Canvas)
Send us an email at uno.its.digitallearning@unomaha.edu
Schedule department training over various topics by contacting innovate@unomaha.edu
Know someone who might be interested in this content? Feel free to forward this newsletter and encourage them to subscribe. Missed out on our previous newsletters, you can check them out on our ILCI website page.
University of Nebraska Omaha, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182, United States, 402.554.2800