Online Check-In? Breathe.

Campus,

How are you? Truly. How is everyone doing? I wanted to take a minute and just reflect on you and how you are managing with online courses. I've seen you in trainings, I've heard from you via email, text and phone calls. But most of that correspondence has been a quick question or just-in-time training that was needed on the spot. I, like you, have felt overwhelmed and it wasn't until today I came up for air and took a walk. It may have been short, but it felt great to feel the wind on my face and my eyes were able to relax from the glowing screen time - I know you must be feeling this way too.

I'm reflecting on the resources I have provided, the tremendous amount of time spent by Canvas Champions and our terrific leadership who has given us the tools we needed to keep connected. But, what I don't know - is how well of a job have we done to support you? Are there other needs that I haven't considered? What else can I do to help you on this journey?  I want to be sure that I provide you with all of the tools you need during this transition. If there is something that I am not covering and you need help - please, contact me. I'm here for you.

Some areas that I wanted to reflect on:

Workshop Opportunities

I have heard from some of you that the amount of training and workshops is overwhelming and for that, I apologize. There are so many diverse needs, some that never taught online to others who need advanced technologies to help them keep students engaged. It's hard to cover all those areas with one training so I over-saturated the workshops with dozens of opportunities with different times of the day. You don't have to attend them all, take some time to reflect on where you are at this very moment and chose a training that fits your needs. Next week, we have added the training schedule and they are similar to this week. But again, not to overwhelm - just to provide options in different areas depending on your needs. Some of you have noticed that many of the workshops are now being led by Canvas Champions! Hooray for the Champs! I'm so grateful for them, isn't it great to learn from your peers across difference disciplines? They have been a tremendous help and I can't thank them enough. Wayne Bass, Janice Malick, Kim McHale, Stephanie Turner, Krista Tilford, Manju Kishore, Sharon Migotsky, Tara Morris, Kim Travers & Michelle Green - I'm talking about YOU! Also, special thank you to Jewel, who's been instrumental in scheduling all of these so quickly. We're all here for you.

Alternative Delivery Certification (ADC) Course

You may have heard that I am offering the ADC course starting in May x 4. We will have 4 different cohorts in May that you can chose from. Each cohort last one week with one of the cohorts lasting each Saturday in May. These sessions are intense - think of a 3-credit hour class drilled down into 5 days. I have done this format in the past at other institutions and I have always enjoyed it however, I must be honest - it's work, a lot of work. But, once you go through it you will be glad you did. The same deliverables will be expected which is 1/2 of the course design. Ask your Dean about these opportunities and if you want to be included. We're here for you.

Pivoting

Now that we are all coming up for air and starting to think about the the summer and fall terms, I'm pivoting my emergency response of COVID to quality instructional design methodologies. We are pivoting away from Emergency Remote Teaching and we are working towards Online Course Design with a focus on THE best quality we can provide to students. All of our future workshops and offerings will be centered on our students. Let's take the next few weeks and reflect on quality assurance with online courses; let's turn the tide and apply sound instructional design theories into our instruction. The next workshops you will see posted will be focused on that; you may have seen some of those this week including the great session that Wayne Bass led on Instructor Presence. Let's continue talking, thinking, applying, shifting our mindset from Emergency Remote Teaching to Designing with a Purpose. We have a real opportunity here to make lemonade out of some very sour lemons - who wants a cup? I know we are exhausted and you may not think you have enough steam to push through - but let me help, let the Champs help - we're here for you.

Finally, as we wrap up this week, I wanted to share an electronic book that I helped contribute a chapter of titled "Connecting the Dots: Improving Student outcomes and Experiences with Exceptional Instructional Design" - if you have some spare reading time, I'd encourage you to review this e-text. Also, Chapter 7, is especially near and dear.

Thank you for your commitment to your students, I appreciate you and here for you.

Anna