Workshops

Whichever learning community you work in this summer, you'll have an opportunity to choose from the following list of workshops. We suggest you work with the Online Learning team to choose workshops that help you complete the work you'd like to do this summer.

Not enough time for a learning community? No worries. Workshops are open to all FHDA employees. Most summer workshops are 60 minutes, though a few are up to 120 minutes.

Joining a Workshop

You do not need to register in order to attend a workshop. Use the following link to join any workshop scheduled this summer:

Join a Summer PD Workshop

Effective Learning Units

7/12/2022 | 10 AM

Presenter: Amy Shidler

In this workshop we’ll start small, using Backward Design to build one learning unit of a course. Come ready to talk about one of your own favorite learning units, be it an example from a course you currently teach or one you plan to teach in the future.

By the end of the workshop you’ll have the outline for a learning unit, including:

The goal(s) of the unit - what you want students to understand
The type of assessment(s) you’ll use as evidence of student understanding
An outline of meaningful learning activities you will use to teach this unit

We’ll also brainstorm ways you can get ongoing support throughout the academic year, as you continue to develop and refine your learning units.

Accessibility: Good for All Students

7/12/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Sally Baldwin

Learn how and why to use our built-in accessibility checker, Pope Tech in Canvas. It’s fast and easy; plus, accessible content is the law.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Check a page in your course with Pope Tech
Identify and correct accessibility errors
Increase student engagement using headers

Designing Awesome College Courses

7/13/2022 | 10:00 AM

Presenter: Lené Whitley-Putz

Designing your class--regardless of the modality--is both exciting and daunting. Backward Design provides a framework for designing your courses that allows you to have a laser focus on what you're trying to teaching, helping you discover the enduring ideas you'll want your students to remember long after they finish your class.

In this workshop, we'll introduce you to the main ideas of Backward Design, and get you started on intentionally building learning units to support your students.

In this workshop, we will:

Discuss the main components of Backward Design;
Identify Enduring Understandings that will guide your content;
Brainstorm Essential Questions that lead students along a learning path;
Develop plans that ensure students have what they need to meet the learning outcomes.

Accessibility Basics: Canvas' Rich Content Editor

7/13/2022 | 1 PM

Presenter: Debra Sayble

In this workshop, we’ll learn some universal, important practices for formatting text using Canvas's Rich Content Editor. We’ll demonstrate how (and why!) to use headings, and explore some formatting to avoid. We'll show you PopeTech--an amazing tool to help with accessibility. Using the correct tools to make our text look a certain way, and ensuring that our content is accessible, are keys to creating content in Canvas.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Enter text using the Rich Content Editor;
Format headings;
Employ PopeTech to check a Canvas Page for accessibility .

Engaging Projects

7/18/2022 | 1 PM

Presenter: Amy Shidler

Academic integrity is important, and cheating is a problem! How can we design assessments that spark student interest, and at the same time avoid the usual tests and exams? Project- or Problem-based learning is one way to engage students in activities that are relevant to them personally and it provides you with tangible evidence of student learning.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Describe the term Authentic Assessment and brainstorm some examples for your own course
Define “asset-based approach to teaching” and identify one way to apply this to your course
Outline a rubric for a hypothetical project/problem based assessment

Understanding Your Students

7/19/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Sally Baldwin

Use research-based practices to analyze your students and course content to help deliver a more engaging, effective course.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Create a plan to deliver instruction better targeted to your learners
Stimulate learners’ interest by offering multiple means of engagement
Differentiate the ways students can express what they know

What is Regular and Substantive Interaction?

7/19/2022 | 1 PM

Presenter: Lené Whitley-Putz

Regular and Substantive Interaction is a federal requirement--all campuses are required to have a policy on regular and substantive interaction (RSI), and all online courses are required to document and demonstrate how they meet the campus policy. While "policy" might be a persuasive stick for some, it's best to look past the policy and ask why the federal government even cares!

In this workshop, we'll explore the data behind RSI, and look at the many opportunities for interaction that can be built into an online course. After the workshop, you will be able to:

Develop course design elements that aid RSI;
Use Canvas tools to support RSI;
Identify methods of RSI that best fit with your discipline;
Create a communication plan to help all students succeed in your class.

Canvas Basics: Create an Assignment

7/20/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Debra Sayble

The Assignment tool in Canvas is a flexible tool that allows you to create everything from a simple short answer response for your students, to a complex project. In this workshop, we'll walk you through the many features in the Assignment tool, from setting due dates to collecting submissions. We'll even show you some "advanced" settings that allow you to create group assignments or custom due dates for specific students.

After this workshop, you’ll be able to:

Create a new assignment in Canvas;
Add written instructions;
Customize assignment settings.

Humanizing & Learning Empathy

7/26/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Sally Baldwin

Adding the human into your online course helps engage students. In this workshop we will talk about how to humanize and add empathy to your course.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Develop course policies using empathetic language
Design an equitable, thoughtful orientation module

All Is Fair, or is it? Understanding Copyright & Fair Use Rules

7/27/2022 | 11:30 AM

Presenter: Carolyn Holcroft

As you are choosing high quality materials for your students, it can quickly become confusing as you hear terms like, "fair use" and "OER" and "public domain," and this list of legalese and jargon could go on much further! In this 75 minute workshop, you'll learn:

what kinds of materials are protected by copyright;
distinguish between different types of licenses and how you can use them, and;
discover how you can tell whether you're covered under fair use.

Chunking Your Page Visually

7/27/2022 | 3 PM

Presenter: Paula Schales

Students learn better when information is designed well. Crowded text, too much information or too many choices, missing headings, and lack of white space can actually interfere with learning by raising the brain power--called cognitive load--that students need to process the information. But you can reduce cognitive load by visually chunking your pages.

In this workshop you’ll

Learn how to add visual cues to group relevant information, and
Be introduced to some design elements that can be used to “visually” chunk pages.

When Less Is More: Chunking Lecture Recordings Into Microlessons

7/28/2022 | 10:00 AM

Presenter: Amy Shidler

Practice “chunking” by editing your Zoom lecture recordings. Using free and user-friendly software, edit your video recordings into bite sized chunks, and use them as the basis of micro lessons.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Record a Zoom lecture
Access the recording
Use one of a handful of video editing softwares to cut the video into smaller lessons, demos, or examples
Embed the videos into Canvas pages, using accessible design concepts to chunk content, provide context, and signal meaning for students
Use short videos in Canvas assessments, including assignments, discussions, and quizzes

Meaningful Learning Units & Assessment

7/28/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Lené Whitley-Putz

We know asynchronous online courses already play with time. In higher ed, where the M/W T/Th schedule and the difference between "classwork" and "homework" are encoded in our DNA, it can be hard to rethink how we spend "time" in an online course. In this workshop, we'll explore how the concept of "chunking"--breaking complex topics and outcomes into smaller pieces for learners--can help you design meaningful learning units and assessments.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Parse an online course into meaningful learning units;
Identify places to weave in formative assessments to support learning within a unit;
Map out content needed for the learning unit.

Developing Open-Ended Questions that Support Student-Learning

8/1/2022 | 10 AM

Presenter: Lené Whitley-Putz

Online discussions, student reflections, and short-answer questions can be time-sucks for both students and faculty if the questions being asked accidentally reinforce rote responses. In this workshop, we'll explore techniques for developing excellent open-ended questions that move students beyond busy work and into the realm of deeper learning.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Identify Essential Questions for a unit;
Develop questions that target higher-order thinking skills;
Develop strategies for responding to student work that help reinforce deep learning.

Canvas Basics: Create a Discussion

8/3/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Debra Sayble

Canvas Discussions are an interactive tool that allows students to engage in an asynchronous conversation about a proposed topic. In this workshop, you will learn how to create a Discussion in Canvas, and we'll walk you through the various settings, including what your students see when they reply to a discussion prompt.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Create a new Discussion in Canvas;
Enter a written prompt and instructions to students;
Customize settings, such as due date, grading options, and reply options.

Teaching Metacognition and Learning Strategies to Your Students

8/3/2022 | 3 PM

Presenter: Paula Schales

Help your students develop a growth, intelligence mindset by teaching them about metacognition and learning strategies. In this workshop you’ll get some tips on what you can do to engage your students by teaching them learning strategies.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Explain the difference between fixed and growth mindset;
Critically examine your own mindset;
Design learning strategies that focus on the abilities, traits, and skills of growth mindset.

Rubrics as a Formative Assessment Tool

8/8/2022 | 9 AM

Presenter: Lené Whitley-Putz

A great tool can transform the way we live and work--think of the way search engines and smart phones have changed our lives just in the past decade! According to Liz Stinson, who wrote an article on transformative tools for Wired, transformative tools are designed to fit unique needs based on time and place. As we work to create robust, engaging, and interactive online courses that provide students plenty of feedback on their formative assessment, one tool that can transform your work (and your students' learning) is a well-designed rubric.

In this workshop, we'll explore how, when, and why to use the Canvas Rubric tool, and we'll provide examples for creating meaningful rubrics that make Speedgrader more efficient, make assessment more transparent, and make feedback more meaningful.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Create a rubric in Canvas
Use a rubric for grading or feedback
Design rubric criteria with well-developed explanations
Create a grading range for a rubric.

Want to know more about Rubrics in Canvas? Self-enroll in the following short course: Rubrics Short Course

Canvas Basics: Create a Canvas Quiz

8/10/22 | 11 AM

Presenter: Debra Sayble

In this workshop, you will learn how to design and build an online Canvas Quiz that has great versatility. The tools that the quiz feature has can create short essay types of questions as well as the usual standardized ones. You get to set up things like how many points each question is worth, whether the quiz is timed to a certain number of minutes, and if and when to show students the correct answers.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Create a new Canvas Quiz;
Design and build a variety of quiz questions (and the answers that go with them);

Manage the quiz settings.

What Are OATs?

8/11/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Lené Whitley-Putz

Online Assessment Techniques, or OATs, are fast formative assessments designed to take a quick learning "pulse" in your online course. Developed from Angelo & Cross's Classroom Assessment Techniques, OATs allow teachers to quickly identify concepts that may need clarification and/or students who may need additional help.

In this workshop, we'll explore a few common OATs and discuss how they can be adapted to fit your course or discipline. We'll look at ways to use Canvas tools to create OATs, and show you when and where OATs can have the most impact on student learning.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Design OATs to measure student learning;
Integrate OATs into a learning unit/module;
Use Canvas assignments, quizzes, and discussions to create OATs.

No time for the workshop, but need some ideas for quick, intentional, meaningful formative assessments? Enroll in our self-paced resource, Online Assessment Techniques

Using the Web to Find Course Content

8/16/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Sally Baldwin

No need to reinvent the wheel! The web has a ton of resources that can be used in your course to provide free, up-to-date information for your students.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Search the web for timely, accessible course content
Create Canvas pages to incorporate Internet-based content

Books & Way More: Using Library Resources to Build Course Content

8/16/2022 | 1 PM

Presenter: Ileana da Silva & Laura Gamez

You likely know that, in addition to the physical space (and books!), the library and its databases offer students and faculty access to many digital texts, including articles and e-books. However, the library provides a multitude of services to students and its librarians are happy to support instructors and their courses in teaching and scaffolding information literacy as well as different steps in the research process. In this workshop, we’ll learn from our librarians about the ways instruction can be made easier and more effective when using the library.

In this workshop you will learn about:

The types of subscriptions available through the library and the media you can access (and assign!),
General services the library offers to students,
Ready-made/grab-n-go library tutorials, and
LibGuides and how the library can curate one for your course!

The Beauty of OpenStax

8/17/2022 | 10 AM

Presenter: Lené Whitley-Putz

Open Educational Resources (OER) are amazing textbooks and other teaching material that we can use without any cost to the campus or our students. In most cases, OER are modifiable, so you can edit the resource in any way that best fits your needs. OER are awesome, but imagine how beautiful it would be if those resources were already integrated in a Canvas shell--are you imagining the beauty? Well, you don't have to use your imagination anymore, because the CVC is working with OpenStax to create a library of OER resources that are already integrated with Canvas!

In this workshop, we'll show you how to search for OER in Canvas Commons, how to import materials from the Commons into a DEV site, and how to modify the content for your use. It's going to be beautiful!

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Locate OER in Canvas Commons;
Import OER from the Commons to your DEV site;
Modify the imported material;
Enjoy the beauty of an online course created with free, high-quality OER resources.

Using Films on Demand

8/17/22 | 11 AM

Presenter: Debra Sayble

We’ve come a long way since the days of rolling an old television set into a classroom and hoping that the VCR machine would work! In this workshop, you will learn how to use Films on Demand, a tool provided by our amazing library, that lets you search for video content from a wide-range of resources within the Films on Demand database, and seamlessly embed them in your Canvas course.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Locate the Films on Demand tool with Canvas;
Search for various genres, subjects, and titles of films using FOD’s filters
Embed an FOD selection into a Canvas Assignment, Discussion, Page, and Quiz.

All Is Fair, or is it? Understanding Copyright & Fair Use Rules

8/18/2022 | 1 PM

Presenter: Carolyn Holcroft

what kinds of materials are protected by copyright;
distinguish between different types of licenses and how you can use them, and;
discover how you can tell whether you're covered under fair use.

Simple Syllabus

8/23/2022 | 2 PM

Presenter: Amy Shidler

Simple Syllabus is a digital tool that promotes equitable course design, providing consistency and transparency for students. Simple Syllabus supports faculty by automatically populating and updating college dates and institutional policy language into course syllabi every quarter. By doing so it alleviates the cognitive load of identifying, locating, and revising those portions of the syllabus, freeing up time for faculty to teach!

After this workshop, you will know how to:

Activate Simple Syllabus in your course
Customize your syllabus
Share your Simple Syllabus outside of Canvas, in an email or in a welcome message

Creating an Interactive Video Experience with PlayPosit

8/24/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Debra Sayble

PlayPosit is a video platform integrated within Canvas that layers interaction onto virtually any video. You can use PlayPosit to create a "bulb"--an ungraded activity or a graded assignment connected to the Canvas Gradebook. PlayPosit bulbs have a variety of interactive features, including "pauses" to allow for student reflection, quiz questions to check for and reinforce understanding, and group discussions. It also has an amazing analytics tool that lets you monitor every detail about how your students are doing.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Launch PlayPosit within Canvas;

Import a video and create a bulb;
Add interactivity to your bulb;
Use the PlayPosit Monitor to observe student progress .

Visually Appealing Homepages

8/30/2022 | 11 AM

Presenter: Sally Baldwin

We know that first opinions really matter, and that one of the most effective ways to spark curiosity is to activate multiple parts of the brain by using multi-media. In this workshop, you'll learn how to strike that spark by creating a homepage that engages students and helps students enter your course.

In this workshop, you will create a homepage that:

Provides basic information about the course
Provides clear directions about what a student should do first and where to start the course
Includes an engaging graphic
Manages the cognitive load on students

That Could’ve Been an Infographic: Epitomizing Your Lectures

8/30/2022 | 2 PM

Presenter: Ileana da Silva

Ever attend a meeting and think, “Gosh, that could have been an email”? Just like how an email, when done well, can be an effective tool to convey the gist of a topic (and a record to which you can return!), an infographic can be an engaging and more inclusive method of condensing and highlighting key content you’d like your students to learn and remember—and it’s a great way to check whether your summative assessment is jibing with it!

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Condense your lecture thoughtfully
Create an infographic
Provide students options on how to access the infographic (including embedding into Canvas)

Canvas Basics: Be the Producer, Director, and Star of Your Canvas Studio Video!

8/31/2022 | 1 PM

Presenter: Debra Sayble

Learn to use the Canvas built-in moviemaker! Called “Studio,” this versatile tool lets you create your own instructional videos. In this workshop, you get to record your own video using your computer, even if it doesn’t have a webcam. We’ll also cover how to make your video accessible by captioning it, using Studio’s easy captioning feature.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Navigate your Studio Library within Canvas;

Upload an existing video into your Canvas Library;
Record your own brief, original video;
Caption a video within Studio.

Adobe Express: Humanize Your Course with Video

8/31/2022 | 3 PM

Presenter: Paula Schales

Students love to learn who their instructor is. Videos are a great way to let your students see the human side of you and Adobe Express makes it fun and easy. In this workshop you’ll be introduced to Adobe Express and see how to get started creating your own videos.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Access your free Adobe account;
Create a short video using Adobe Express;
Caption and embed the video in your Canvas course using Studio.

Golden Nuggets: Finding & Using Quality Videos on YouTube

9/1/2022 | 1 PM

Presenter: Lené Whitley-Putz

Curated video can be an amazing teaching tool, but searching through YouTube can be time-consuming and frustrating. In this workshop, we'll show you tools within YouTube that will help you find high-quality, accessible instructional videos, and we'll show you how to import them into your Canvas course so your students can get the most from them.

By the end of this workshop, you will know how to:

Search for educational videos on YouTube;
Search for captioned videos on YouTube, and assess the quality of the captions;
Embed YouTube videos in Canvas, or upload them to Studio and/or PlayPosit;
Caption videos that don't have accurate captions;
Provide instructional context for students so they can make the most of the video.

Create a Public, Humanized Persona

9/7/2022 | 3 PM

Presenters: Paula Schales & Ileana da Silva

Studies have shown that students perform better when they feel a sense of belonging, and giving students a preview of who you are and what your courses are about empowers both you and your students—not only can you create a welcoming atmosphere before the course even starts, but by creating a media-rich site, students will know what they are getting into when registering for classes. Learn how you can create a hospitable, media-rich site to welcome your students. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to create a Google Site, including the elements that go into creating a warm welcome.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Create a Google Site;
Use the Google Site editor to build your welcome site;
Incorporate humanized elements that build a sense of belonging.

Simple Syllabus

9/12/2022 | 1 PM

Presenter: Amy Shidler

After this workshop, you will know how to:

Activate Simple Syllabus in your course
Customize your syllabus
Share your Simple Syllabus outside of Canvas, in an email or in a welcome message

Design a Welcome Banner with Canva

9/14/2022 | 3 PM

Presenter: Paula Schales

There’s nothing like a beautiful banner to set the mood of a Canvas course. Students will enjoy the visual appeal of a well-designed banner, and the image will help you create a welcoming course. And the best news is that there is a FREE, easy to use graphics program that will help you create your course banner--Canva!

In this workshop you will:

Set up your Canva account;
Learn about banner and graphic sizes that work well in Canvas;
Create banners that you can use to jazz up your Canvas courses;
Download graphics from Canva, upload them to Canvas, and embed them in a Canvas page;
Add alternative text so your graphics are 100% accessible;
Set up your Canva account.

How to Use Padlet: A Remarkable Collaboration Tool

9/16/2022 | 1 PM

Presenter: Debra Sayble

Padlet is more than just a fun tool . . . it’s a place where you and your students can place digital, Post-It-type notes onto a virtual wall that you design. But it’s way more than just a bulletin board! The notes can be comprised of text you write, or images you upload, or videos you find or create.

There’s more. You and your students can also enter comments into one another’s Padlet notes; and you can decide whether to make your notes or comments anonymous or show your name. Best of all, you can add your Padlet to Canvas in just a few easy steps. Padlet brings the bulletin board into the 21^st century.

After this workshop, you will be able to:

Create a Padlet account;

Design a Padlet board;
Customize the settings for your board;
Embed the Padlet within Canvas.