One of the main challenges that I face in my second semester of elementary Italian is to strike a balance between meeting the needs of the students who want to continue studying the language and the needs of those who are not interested in continuing any further. How do I keep the former motivated and…
Building a New Approach to Online Discussions
Earlier this semester, I experimented with a “virtual class” on a day when snow closed down the college. Had there been class, students would have discussed a reading in small groups. Typically during these sessions, students spend roughly 2/3 of the class period working through discussion questions. The final 1/3 is spent debriefing with the…
Don’t Yuck Anyone’s Yum*: Using Google Drive and Moodle for Courses
In 2017, many faculty use an online platform to provide their students with course content and engage with them in or outside of the classroom. At Conn, we have two major ways to organize such work – Moodle and Google Drive. As I started to use Google Drive to organize my work from job applications…
Tools in a Flash Next Week
We have two Tools in a Flash workshops scheduled next week. Tools in a Flash are short, hands-on workshops with the goal of building confidence and skill in one specific technology tool. All Tools in a Flash workshops are held in the Advanced Technology Lab, located on the lower level of Shain Library. Register or just…
Register for February Workshops!
Join us for the following workshops! If you plan on attending, you can register by clicking on the workshop titles and filling out the form. Registration is not required, but it is helpful in knowing how much food and drink to order. We ❤️ Google February 14, 2017 at 9:00 am – 10:00 am Neff Lab,…
Bringing Experts into Class to Increase Student Engagement
How do we increase student engagement in a topic that is new to them? How do we promote collaboration between a class and an invited guest/speaker? These were the questions that I faced last term in preparing for the Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble to be in residence at Connecticut College as part of the Ammerman…
Snow Day Plan – Do You Have One?
As you prepare for the semester, this is a good time to review some of our “weatherproofing” suggestions. What do you do when classes are unexpectedly canceled? Share what has worked for you in the comments! Several low-effort ways to reach students when you can’t come to campus were featured in Snow Day Resources: Don’t…
OER Roundtable Recap at #aha17
Over the break I participated in a roundtable, “Free for All: A Discussion of Open Educational Resources (OER) in U.S. and World History Survey Courses,” at the the American Historical Association conference in Denver, Colorado. Members of our roundtable included Sarah Randow from LeTourneau University (Chair), Christy Jo Snider from Berry College, Ann Marie Davis…
Great Information Services Events Planned This Semester!
I am very excited to announce our line-up of workshops and special events this semester. We are widening our scope to include not just technology tools for teaching and productivity as in years past, but tools and resources that support both student and faculty research. This is a true collaborative effort and I hope that…
Building a bibliographic portfolio with RefWorks
Co-authored by James Gelarden, Access Services Librarian Building a bibliographic portfolio is a way for students and researchers to work smarter rather than harder. RefWorks is a tool that allows users to create bibliographies, organize references around a theme, and collaborate and share their bibliographic research. In October, we held a workshop for ANT 201…