We found 64 results that contain "#onlinelearning"

2023 Educator Seminars are presented by MSU Libraries, the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI), MSU IT Educational Technology, the Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative (EDLI) and MSU IT Training​. 
Day 2: August 24, 2023
Instructions: Click on the registration link and sign-up for the sessions you're interested in. After completing your registration you will receive an email with the Zoom link for the session.

9:00 - 10:00 am      Improve Course Accessibility with Ally
Facilitators: Kevin Henley & Susan Halick (IT & D)
Spartan Ally is an automated accessibility tool within D2L that provides feedback and guidance for improving the usability and accessibility of course materials. In this informational webinar we will cover how to use the data and tools available through Ally to evaluate the overall accessibility of your course and develop a plan for remediating inaccessible content.
View the Recording on MediaSpace

10:00-11:00 am      Citation Management Tools 
Facilitators: Andrea Kepsel, Suzi Teghtmeyer & Carin Graves (Libraries)
Three librarians, experts in Endnote, Mendeley and Zotero, will briefly introduce the three citation management tools and demonstrate effective use of the tools to organize and enhance research, engage and partner with colleagues to share research findings, and teach graduate and undergraduates these skills to develop valued scholarly practices. There will be time for questions.
View the Recording on MediaSpace

11:00 am -12:00 pm      Introduction to MSU Assessment Services
Facilitator: Amy Allingham (MSU Testing Center)
Assessment Services is a university-provided service for all faculty, staff, and TA’s use to score and analyze the results of required course examinations and surveys.  If you use Assessment Services, our professional staff provides the following: advice on assessment setup and scoring options; Scantron bubble sheets for exam administration; and most importantly, electronic assessment reports through DigitalDesk for completing grade books, as well as critical data to analyze exam validity and fairness.  Our paper-based assessment process offers an easy, secure, and staff-supported alternative.  Are paper exams not an option for you?  We also provide a digital examination option through WebAssess online technology that integrates with D2L gradebooks and any paper exam scoring reports for consolidated test analysis.  This presentation will take you step-by-step through the Assessment Services processes.  New this fall, Assessment Services reorganized under the MSU Testing Center.  For a small departmental fee, the Testing Center can help provide testing options for your students requiring makeup or accommodated testing options.  
View the Recording on MediaSpace

12:00 - 1:30pm      BREAK

1:30-2:30pm      Blended Learning Instructional Skills: In the Classroom 
Facilitators: Jay Loftus & Ellie Louson (CTLI)
Blended learning is the best of both worlds. It strategically combines online learning with traditional or face-to-face instructional practices. In this session participants will learn about the different types of blending and the necessary elements such as design, instructional strategies, assessment plans, and resources required for successful learning outcomes. 
View the Recording on MediaSpace

2:30-3:30pm      Forms - Creating Forms and Surveys 
Facilitators: Michael Julian & Megan Nicholas (IT: Training)
A live Virtual Instructor-Led Training session that will explore Forms, the go-to app for collecting data and storing it in Excel. Learn how to get started in Forms with areas in form and survey creation, formatting, branching, data collection, and sharing.
View the Recording on MediaSpace

Robots Talking to Robots
5 ways to fix online discussions
We have long touted the discussion board as a way to build community in virtual classrooms: Pose a question in a thread. Two points for a post, one point for a response. These perfunctory interactions are at most an assessment of knowledge, but hardly ever the critical analysis that leads to productive conversation.
And now, with a quick copy and paste to an LLM, students can post and respond with even less effort.

In this post, I’ll give you five ways to implement human authentication to mitigate discussion posts becoming conversations between AI. Then, I'll address some general pedagogical considerations for online discussions.
Only Replies
The instructor initiates the discussion with an opening post. Students can only reply to the previous response, simulating a natural conversation. Each reply should conclude with a question or statement that encourages further dialogue.
Optional: Award points based on the engagement generated by each student's post.
Human Aspect: This approach makes it challenging to simply copy and paste responses. Students must carefully consider how their replies will stimulate ongoing discussion.
In our recent lecture on social stratification, we discussed the concept of social mobility. Consider the factors that influence upward social mobility in contemporary society. What role does higher education play in this process? You may only reply to subsequent replies. Try to end each reply with a question or a statement that others can respond to.
Source Search
The instructor provides a specific topic from class, and students must find a relevant source that meets given criteria.
Optional: Students can include a quote from their source and explain its connection to the topic.
Human Aspect: While AI tools can find sources, they often struggle with relevancy, accurate quotations, and may even hallucinate information.
Find a peer-reviewed article published in the last two years that discusses the impact of climate change on Michigan's freshwater ecosystems. Your post should include the article's title, authors, publication, and a brief summary of the findings. How do these findings relate to our recent field trip to the Red Cedar River?
Multimedia
Students post video or audio files in discussion threads instead of written responses.
Optional: Have students experiment with MSU supported tools like Flip, Mediaspace, or Camtasia.
Human Aspect: This format allows students to present their natural selves, showcasing personality and communication skills that are difficult for AI to replicate.
Create a one minute video response to today’s lecture, or post an audio response to another student’s video.
Learning Reflections
Students reflect on their progression through a concept or discuss aspects of the course they find challenging.
Human Aspect: These personal reflections on the learning process are unique to each student's experience and difficult for AI to authentically generate.
As we conclude our unit on stereochemistry, reflect on your learning journey. Discuss concepts you initially struggled with, moments of clarity, and areas where you still have questions. How has your understanding of molecular structure and its importance in organic reactions evolved?
AI Critique
The instructor posts an example provided by an LLM and asks students to critique the information.
Optional: Students use AI to critique AI-generated content, and then reflect on the patterns they observe.
Human Aspect: This exercise encourages students to analyze how generated text compares to their own work or the course material in general, fostering conversation about AI's capabilities and limitations.

“All news outlets should transition to fully AI-generated content. AI can produce articles faster and more efficiently than human journalists, covering a wider range of events without bias. This change would allow for 24/7 news coverage while significantly reducing operational costs.”
Analyze the above AI-generated statement about AI in journalism. Identify any biases, oversimplifications, or logical flaws. Then, use an AI tool of your choice to generate a critique of this statement. Compare your analysis with the AI-generated critique. What patterns or differences do you notice?

Why are We Using Discussion Posts Anyway?
At MSU, discussion forums on D2L Brightspace allow students to post and reply. This is an asynchronous discussion; an online bulletin board that simulates the same level of conversation as a Reddit post. But without a clear objective to link the activity, discussion posts just end up being public knowledge checks. Which begs the question, why not just have students submit an assignment?
It is an intimate thing to share our work, and students are more likely to turn to AI if their work is reviewed publicly. Consider then, that discussion posts do not build community, but a classroom community can use discussions to achieve collaboration-based objectives. Some examples of collaboration objectives include:

Practice giving and receiving constructive feedback.
Engage in peer-to-peer learning by responding to classmates' ideas.
Develop interpersonal communication skills through discussions.

Don’t ditch the discussion posts, just align them with a goal that will help students develop skills to engage with others. How do you run discussions in your class? Comment below or drop me a line at freyesar@msu.edu.Freyesaur out.

The Zoom meeting size limit is 300 students, and webinar licenses are maxed out at 500 but in some cases MSU has courses that have more students enrolled than that. So, while each person has access to both a 300 student space and a 500 student space, that may not always be enough. This article provides alternatives to synchronous Zoom classes that may help not only solve the license challenges, but also help you navigate teaching a large course fully online. 
Berry (2009) notes that teaching a large course online “requires a shift in focus from teaching to learning (p. 176).” While 2009 was a full 11 years ago and the technologies driving online course delivery have advanced greatly, this fundamental idea remains as true today as it was then. Lynch & Pappas (2017) highlight the challenge that faculty-student interaction presents in large-enrollment courses, whether they be fully online or completely face-to-face. How can a single faculty member effectively communicate with 600 students? In this case, technological affordances are our friend – and Zoom is not necessarily the answer. 
Some Non-Zoom Solutions 
MediaSpace or Camtasia videos and D2L Discussion Forums 
I know this may not seem like the most exciting solution, but it can be an effective and efficient one. Picture this: 

Record a 20-minute video discussing your insights on the week’s content, focusing on what students won’t necessarily glean for themselves in their own review. 
Did you know you can request free captioning services from MSU IT on videos 20 minutes or less?

Click here for more information on getting started with the MSU Crowd Sourced Closed Captioning Program. 


Save the video to Mediaspace and share it with your students in D2L. Give them a few questions to think about while they watch it. 
Guide students to the D2L discussion forum where discussions will happen. Configure the discussion forum to require that they post their response before they can see the responses of others. 
Learn more about ways to configure your discussion forum here 
Grade the discussion forum using the D2L Quick Discussion Grader tool. 
Learn how to use the D2L Quick Discussion Grader tool here 

Half on, half off 
You can split your course in half. What if you had two smaller large courses? Consider inviting half of your students to Zoom, while the others engage in an asynchronous assignment such as a discussion forum or a low-stakes knowledge-testing quiz that’s automatically graded by D2L. Then, use your Zoom time together to discuss what students can only get from you – instructor-student interaction! 

Asynchronous activity idea: Try setting up a discussion forum and have your students work on an applied case together based on the content. 
Asynchronous activity idea: Ask students to collaboratively build a study guide for the exam based on the week’s content. 

Peer Review using Eli Review 
Eli Review is a peer review tool that is free for faculty and students at Michigan State University. Here, you can configure peer review writing exercises, automatically sort students into groups, and provide them with a clear series of writing, review, and revision tasks. You can see analytics for completion, helpfulness, and more.  
As stated on the tech.msu.edu page for Eli Review, "many writing instructors have found using Eli for small assignments (i.e., a thesis statement, annotated bibliography) works better than for entire papers. Smaller assignments make it easier to focus on one specific set of criteria and goals. Students stay more engaged with a small task and can move forward in an assignment when the core elements are properly set up." 
Since Eli Review is an online platform, students can use it any time, allowing instructors flexibility in assigning reviews. Eli has a feature to accept or decline late work, so students are responsible for the online homework just as in-class homework. 
Need more help? 
Hopefully some of the ideas shared here have helped you think about some alternatives to pursue should Zoom not be an option for your courses. The instructional technology and development team in MSU IT is happy to consult with you on how you can leverage academic technologies to make your large course experience feel smaller. We can help you think about how to live without Zoom and embrace the asynchronous teaching life if you choose.
 
MSU IT offers a number of valuable tools and services that can help you create an experience that facilitates student success regardless of bandwidth, time zones, or class size. To make an appointment with an instructional technologist, fill out the appointment form located at https://tech.msu.edu/service-catalog/teaching/instructional-design-development/ or e-mail the MSU IT Service Desk at ithelp@msu.edu and request a consultation with Instructional Technology and Development. If you prefer the phone, you can also contact them at (517)432-6200. 
References 
Berry, R. W. (2009). Meeting the challenges of teaching large online classes: Shifting to a learner-focus. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 5(1), 176-182. 
Boettcher, J. (2011). Ten best practices for teaching online. Quick Guide for New Online faculty. 
Lynch, R. P., & Pappas, E. (2017). A Model for Teaching Large Classes: Facilitating a" Small Class Feel". International Journal of Higher Education, 6(2), 199-212. 

The following is a list of the educators receiving the #iteachmsu Educator Award from the College of Nursing. For more information on these awards, check out the article entitled "#iteachmsu Educator Awards".
Rebecca Boni: Thank you for being an amazing mentor, role model, and friend this past year at MSU.  I appreciate our many chats whether it was work, school, or kid related.  Your patience and prompt answers to my many questions/concerns was very appreciated.  Excited that I am able to call you my friend and mentor!
 
Betty Buck: I appreciate your input and guidance on nursing matters and the fun we have when we get together!  Thank you for being an amazing co-worker and friend!  
 
Patrick Crane: As new faculty for NUR 460, you took the time to meet with me one on one and make sure I understood the course and how to communicate with preceptors-something I had never done before.  While I did require a lot of support teaching this course for the first time, you understood and offered all the support and guidance I needed to help me be successful and the students as well.  Thank you!
 
Izabella de Barbaro: Izabella is hands down the most passionate instructor I have had while at MSU and I am so grateful for her patience in teaching and contagious enthusiasm. 
 
Pallav Deka: In the beginning of the semester, Dr. Deka told our pathophysiology class that it would be his first time teaching the class. Usually, it is professors talking about how great it was to see students grow, but this time I'd like to acknowledge how much Dr. Deka has improved already in just one semester. He made the class interesting and enjoyable, even when the information got hard. He was willing to work with students when they needed help and often stayed after class. There was not one single day that Dr. Deka was not willing to go above and beyond for his students, or just be generally kind to them. I hope that Dr. Deka will continue teaching this course, and as he did on the last day of class, finish the lecture slides all at once:) Thank you for a wonderful semester, Dr. Deka!
 
Jessica Ery: This semester was Dr. Ery's first semester teaching NUR 205 and she did a wonderful job. I feel very prepared to move on to the next step with the base knowledge she has provided us. There are a lot of things Dr. Ery did a lot of great things throughout the semester, but the thing that has made the largest impact on me was not a teaching moment. On our last clinical day, Dr. Ery took a guess at which type of nursing everyone in the clinical group would do. During the semester while I was waiting to find out her prediction for me, I thought it would just be fun to see how my instructor saw me. However, when she told me her guess, pediatric oncology, and the reasons she thought so, it opened my eyes to a type of nursing I had never considered before. Pediatric oncology is now at the top of my interests, but without Dr. Ery I may have never discovered this. So I would like to thank her for not only doing an incredible job of teaching us all, but also for making clinical a fun, safe environment and opening my eyes to an area of nursing that I believe I will one day love being a part of.
 
Joanne Golbert: Thank you for an amazing semester where you offered me a LOT of support and guidance on student issues that were new to me at MSU.  I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help me navigate MSU policies and vesting in my success that in turn ensured students' success this semester.  Thank you!
 
Stephanie Gray: Thank you for all the support and willingness to go above and beyond to make a learning event that much better for the DMC students.  I appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share that knowledge with me to teach the future of our profession.
 
Andy Greger: Andy works tirelessly to support faculty and students successful navigation of all things technology to enhance the learning environment. He responds, without hesitation, to urgent calls about computer blue screens, presentation issues, to evaluating software, designing online learning environments, integration of technology and continuous faculty development and support. Most impressive - he is always patient, supportive, and professional.
 
Jackie  Iseler: As my Academic Advisor in both my MSN CNS and now in my post masters DNP program Dr. Iseler has been extremely supportive and encouraging. Dr. Iseler often checks in to see how I am doing with course work and provides support as needed. I have also had Dr. Iseler as course faculty in many of my CNS courses and she always did a great job of incorporating real life examples from her own clinical setting into our instruction providing an authentic learning environment. I would like to thank Dr. Iseler for providing me the support and guidance I need as I work towards achieving my academic goals. 
John Mailey John was the best clinical instructor I've ever had, and was by far the most influential in developing my clinical skills, knowledge, and confidence. 
 
Emily McIntire: Emily McIntire is the director of the simulation lab and has developed a program of simulated learning at the College of Nursing that uses the best technology available.  However, beyond that, she has amazing skills in developing real life scripted situations that allow nursing students to experience fully the minute to minute consequences of their nursing decisions in a high pressure setting.  Over the past two years, Emily and I have been adopting and presenting the first ever community based simulation at the College of Nursing using the Missouri Community Action Network Poverty simulation kit.  As we provide this simulation, Emily and I have become aware of the emotional aspect of this experience.  She is currently exploring the concept of embodied learning in order to understand how simulation can provide more than kinesthetic based learning, but also help develop emotional intelligence and compassionate based care giving.  This project has been presented at the National Conference for the Association of Contemplative Learning in Higher Education and is currently an active IRB based study with a manuscript in process.  We can always train intelligent nurses, but exploring how to train wise and compassionate nurses is a more daunting task.  I believe Emily McIntire is a champion and leader in this important area. 
 
Kyle Miller: Bio was a hard subject for me to comprehend and Dr.Miller really made it more enjoyable and showed that he really cared when I was having difficulties 
 
Francisika Nekaien: I appreciate the helpful and flexible office hour times and that the professor showed that she genuinely cared about students understanding of the material.  I appreciate the professor's down to earth personality and also her patience when I was struggling to understand the material. Getting one on one help time surely help me understand the class material. 
 
Kathleen Poindexter: 
a) You are a wonderful leader, teacher, and friend.  It is impossible to count the ways that you have helped me to achieve my professional and personal goals.  Without you, I would not be the nurse, leader, or educator I am today.  Thank you for believing in me and teaching me how to believe in myself.  
 
b) Dr. Poindexter impacted my life tremendously as a graduate student at MSU in the MSN clinical nurse specialist (CNS) program. As a graduate student I had to balance many responsibilities (family/children, full time employment etc.). Dr. Poindexter gave me the support, encouragement, and guidance I needed to continue to achieve my goal of becoming a Masters prepared CNS. Dr. Poindexter was always there when I needed her, once when I was feeling very overwhelmed in my second semester of coursework I called Dr. Poindexter and her and I spoke for almost 2 hours and our conversation helped me to have a renewed sense of confidence and determination, this was a turning point for me in the program. Currently I am faculty in the CON at MSU and a Masters prepared CNS and again with Dr. Poindexter's encouragement and support I am continuing my education to pursue my post masters DNP. Dr. Poindexter is my faculty mentor and is helping me to transition into my faculty role at MSU as well. Dr. Poindexter is  great role model and someone I greatly admire and would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank her for the role she has played in my academic and professional career thus far. 
 
c) Thank you for your assistance on my first poster presentation, promotion of an EBP clinical learning environment, and navigating scholarship at MSU.  My success (current and future) is because you believed in me and guided me to the path I needed to be on.  Thank you!
 
Amy Pollock: Dr. Pollock was an amazing professor.  She knew her subject very well and made it as easy as possible for me to understand the material.  She was also very helpful during her office hour and I would definitely have her again!
 
Lorraine Robbins: Dr. Robbins has provided guidance and support throughout my PhD Nursing Program at Michigan State University. She is always available and willing to share her vast experience in research. She has the nursing research experience to know and adhere to the ethical standards associated with conducting research. Her professionalism and expertise in nursing research should be applauded.  Through her research experience she is well versed in conducted research and analyzing data in a detailed and scientific manner to accurately assess the benefits of program interventions. She is able to communicate these skills across all levels of the interdisciplinary research team. She is committed to ensuring efficient, high-impact and well-organized research studies and holds her students to these same standards. She is very deserving of this recognition.  
 
Carol Vermeesch: Thank you for always being available and responding to the many needs and questions I had through the past year.  As new faculty, your guidance has made me feel more welcomed at MSU and successful in being a Spartan Nurse! 
 
Anne Thomas (Passed in July): Thank you for being inclusionary of all new faculty.  I truly have felt very welcomed and set-up for success at MSU because of the environment you have created among faculty.  This environment that is welcoming and supportive does not go unnoticed by our faculty, especially those of us that are new!  Thank you!
Anyone can recognize a fellow Spartan for their contributions to MSU's teaching and learning mission or for how they made a lasting impression on your experience. All you have to do is click "Thank an Educator" in the left panel of iteach.msu.edu. From there you'll be directed to a form where you can enter the name, netID, and a short story of the educator you'd like to recognize.

The following is a list of the educators receiving the #iteachmsu Educator Award from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. For more information on these awards, check out the article entitled "#iteachmsu Educator Awards".
Jenifer Fenton: Jenifer is a fantastic mentor and constantly seeks out new pedagogical information to pass on to others. Her knowledge and direction really helped me improve my summer asynchronous online courses, and current and upcoming synchronous online courses. Additionally, she was fundamental in the redesign of our Nutritional Sciences major.
Tatiana Thomas: In a very challenging semester, Tati committed to helping me with ANS 300E, animal welfare judging. She served as both a ULA, an assistant coach for the judging team, and in both roles was a huge help to me. She came to each class with a positive attitude, always encouraging and ready to support the students and instructor. In her role as a ULA, Tati created a mock welfare scenario for the students and monitored their fact sheet submissions providing valuable practice and important feedback to the students. With such a trying semester for me, the quality of this course would have suffered had it not been for Tati. A million times over, thank you.
Jessica Kiesling: Jessica seems to be an endless well of patience, positivity, and productivity. She gives students meaningful assignments, path-plowing networking opportunities, and much-needed grace as we stumble our way into the professional world. I am so grateful to have Jessica as advisor and instructor, and the animal science community is so lucky to have her! Thank you, Jessica!
Scott Winterstein: I would like to give a huge shoutout to Dr. Winterstein for being the most exemplary mentor for the past 3 years and for his unparalleled dedication to excellence in teaching that I have witnessed the past 2 years as his Undergraduate Learning Assistant (ULA).
I met Dr. Winterstein when I was a freshman psychology major in his ISB202 course. Dr. Winterstein’s ISB202 course and our discussions after class strengthened my passion for environmental protection and showed me that I could turn my passion into a career. Near the end of the course, I changed my major to Environmental Studies and Sustainability. Now a graduating senior, Dr. Winterstein has been an amazing mentor to me and has completely shaped my career goals and introduced me to all the amazing opportunities the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) has to offer.
I have had the pleasure of working as his ULA for the last 4 semesters. In this role, I have seen him consistently go above and beyond for his students. He is incredibly committed to spreading his love of environmental science and supporting every one of his students. Dr. Winterstein’s work ethic and devotion to creating the best academic experience for his students is unparalleled. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and transition to online learning, I have seen many classes decline in quality and effort. For his ISB202 sections, I have only seen Dr. Winterstein dedicate more time and effort to perfecting his course. Moreover, he seriously takes into consideration the end of the semester surveys every time. Although he already has recorded lectures from the last two semesters online he could easily use, he re-records them every week adding new information and slight changes he makes based on survey results and careful analysis. He is extremely understanding of student difficulties, organized, and well-read. Additionally, I have seen many professors throughout my years at MSU change office hours to by appointment only, understandably, due to a lack of participation. When students would not show up to office hours due to zoom exhaustion, Dr. Winterstein opened up an extra office hour day in hopes of fitting student’s schedules better. He is always open to talking to his students about questions, related or unrelated to the course. And, many students have shared how fascinating and inspirational his memories about the history of the environmental movement and his own research is. While reading feedback he received from students on how to improve the course, a common trend I found was a deep appreciation of how enjoyable he made the science lectures through his humor and clear passion. He teaches in a way that is easily digestible to non-science major students and stimulating enough to convince me and many others to switch to science majors.
As a mentor, Dr. Winterstein has changed my life for the better. Always more than happy to help, I have asked Dr. Winterstein for endless letter of recommendation requests and his references has helped me secure over $8,000 in scholarships. Not to mention, he always forwards workshops/conferences he finds relating to environmental protection and my goals that he thinks may be of interest to me. Moreover, this year Dr. Winterstein offered to serve as the faculty advisor for my personal gap year project, a clean drinking water initiative in Mfangano Island, Kenya. Since, he has helped me apply to grants that could fund clean drinking water for 700+ residents and helped me secure an amazing summer internship.
Professor Winterstein is clearly in the top 1% of professors I have encountered at MSU based on both his dedication to his subject matter and unwavering passion in helping his students succeed. Personally, he helped me tremendously in growing from a confused freshman to a passionate and experienced professional with a clear career goal and life purpose. To be frank, MSU was not my top choice, but now I am graduating with an overwhelming sense of belonging within the CANR and forever proud to be a Spartan. His passion in helping his students inspired me to be a student mentor to a handful of CANR students and to pitch a mentorship program to the CANR Alumni Association which they will be pursuing. Thank you Dr. Winterstein for all that you do. I know the trajectory of my entire life has been significantly improved thanks to your course and mentorship. It is educators like you that make the world go round!
Aakanksha Melkani: Aakanksha is an amazing peer: she is a skillful, thoughtful woman who is as much fun to work with as she is to eat a meal or chat with! Aakanksha helps address the concerns of graduate students in her role as AFRE Graduate Student Organization Vice President. Her research work focuses on understanding marketing decisions in Zambia and trade of agricultural inputs. Aakanksha really represents excellence in all its forms :)
April Athnos: GTA April Athnos chooses to be an “usher” rather than a “gatekeeper” to knowledge for students of Ecological Economics (EEM 255). She welcomes students to identify environmental challenges and uncover the economic factors underpinning them. Said one student, “April used a variety of teaching methods, to promote an inclusive learning experience for all different types of students.” April makes the time to tailor the course to individual student needs, so that another student, “had the opportunity to write a research paper on the topic of the Coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the U.S. economy for my Honors Project.”
Ankita Bhattacharya: Ankita, is the true example of a graduate student. She started in the department as a Masters student and just recently transferred into the PhD program. Several semesters she has held the position as a TA for FSC 430, with the instructor giving her rave reviews. Ankita, is a kind student that always has a smile on her face.
Sihan Bu:

Sihan is a fantastic teaching assistant. She was instrumental in the process of converting a course from in-class to synchronous online, even though she had never assisted with the course prior. The course has a lot of "moving parts", and I was very impressed with her ability to adapt and provide input. Sihan completed every task bestowed upon her, and readily took the initiative when needed. Additionally, she has been a reference for me in using R for a course I am teaching this spring. I had never used R before, and I would often reach out to her inquiring about specific codes.


Sihan is such a kind person and always has a smile. She received her MS at MSU and is continuing on with her PhD. She has contributed to several different studies within the department and with a previous FSHN student at Wayne State University.

Rick Jorgensen: Rick, is one of the most delightful, enjoyable students to be around. He has continued to keep a 4.0 GPA, His first project was to establish a IgE-Western blot method for studying wheat allergenicity. He has presented at the AAI meeting. Is a co-author on an abstract, a co-author on 2 peer-reviewed papers, the list continues on. He is also the student representative for FSHN GAC, all this while being a TA for the fall and spring semesters.
Srishti LNU: From the time Srishti entered the MS program she has had a smile on her face. Almost everyday she would stop by my desk to just say Hi and have a short conversation. This is her last semester as she will be graduating, while I am so excited for her and her future, it is sad to see her go.
Chia-Lun Yang: Chia-Lun is planning on graduating summer semester. Her career goal is to become a nutrition scientist, delivering knowledge to the general public. We have no doubt that she will meet and exceed her expectations. Chia was/is a great addition to FSHN, always kind, always smiling and always helpful.
Lucas Krusinski: Lucas is in his second year and has maintained a 4.0 GPA. He is overseeing projects and training other student in techniques and completed work on two funded grants. He also presented his research findings at the annual meeting of the American Association of Animal Science, his abstract was published in their journal. FSHN is lucky to have Lucas as a Grad student.
Alyssa Harben: Alyssa Harben has engaged opportunities across the mission (teaching, research and service) more deeply than any other student that I have had the privilege to mentor. She is critical player in our research, collecting and analyzing data as well as mentoring students and actively engaging community partners. She is an excellent teacher former FAST fellow, who has engaged in critical inquiry related to teaching and learning. All of this has led to the creation of new knowledge and new scientists. Her enthusiasm is as endless as her energy and it has been to my benefit to have known her.
Anyone can recognize a fellow Spartan for their contributions to MSU's teaching and learning mission or for how they made a lasting impression on your experience. All you have to do is click "Thank an Educator" in the left panel of iteach.msu.edu. From there you'll see a short form where you can enter the name, netID, and a short story of the educator you'd like to recognize

Dr. Cui ChengTitleOnline Learning Specialist with the Instructional Technology and Development Team, MSU ITEducationPh.D. in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, Michigan State UniversityM.A. in Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Tianjin UniversityB.A. in English, Tianjin UniversityWork ExperienceA major part of my work is to assist faculty in course design and technology integration. I enjoy working with faculty from different disciplines across the campus and exploring a variety of course design contexts. I gained my Ph.D. from the Educational Psychology and Educational Technology program in the College of Education at MSU in 2020. During my doctoral studies, I had the opportunities to teach, design, and research courses of different modalities. Before coming to MSU, I worked in Beijing for several years in a technology company, focusing on user demand analysis and user experience design.Professional InterestsBroadly, I am interested in how technologies can facilitate, enhance, and even transform teaching and learning in higher education. Under this broad umbrella, I am specifically interested in user experience design and research, new literacies of reading and learning on the open Web for complex problem solving, and teaching and learning in online, hybrid, and synchronous hybrid courses, where face-to-face and online participants interact in real time through technologies.
 

OLC Innovate™
(Virtual Conference)
Education Reimagined
March 15-19, 2021 
PLUS, 1-year of on-demand access!
 
MSU IT and MSU’s Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology are pleased to offer MSU Faculty, Staff, and Students an opportunity to participate in virtual-to-virtual presentations and the recorded session package for the OLC Innovate 2021 virtual conference. (Do not register here, use the link below.)
Group Registration Package Instructions
This link is unique to register MSU group members, and participants should register only with their organization-affiliated email address.
MSU has an Unlimited Group Full Virtual Pass for OLC Innovate 2021 which provides access to the OLC Innovate virtual conference; including virtual presenter to virtual audience presentations plus asynchronous Discovery and Exposition Foundry Sessions (estimated to be 150+ sessions in total). PLUS, access to live and on-demand recordings for one (1) year post-conference.
What this means:

Any time throughout the year following Innovate 2021, you can "register" to access the 2021 programming/materials.

If you learn about OLC Innovate and MSU's Unlimited Group Pass on Wednesday, March 17, 2021 (during the live virtual conference)- you can still register using the link above and participate.
If you learn about MSU's Unlimited Group Pass for OLC Innovate 2021 in July, November, or even January 2022, you can still register using your MSU e-mail at the link above. 


If you're registered and plan to participate live March 15-19, 2021 but are disappointed that some of the many sessions you are excited to attend overlap - no worries, log back into the conference platform at any time to engage with the programming you missed!

REMEMBER: Register with your MSU email address (at any time in the next year) to access OLC Innovate 2021 content using the MSU Unlimited Group Pass link (not the OLC website).

There are a variety of platforms you can consider in supporting remote learning for your students. Some are expanded upon in greater detail in other articles and playlists in the MSU Remote Teaching Group. They each offer different affordances for your consideration.  
Podcasts

Your platform for learning on-the-go.
Podcasts allow you to review workshops and training material while taking a run, walking the dog, etc.

Zoom

Zoom allows you to video conference with up to 300 students at a time by logging into https://msu.zoom.us/.
You can use Zoom to join a virtual classroom for lecture, share your screen for group projects and easily integrate your scheduled meetings with calendar integration.
Beginning April 1, 2020, all Zoom meetings will require a password in order to access the meeting room.

When setting up a meeting using a randomly-generated user ID, Zoom meetings automatically create a password.

Meeting creators can modify meeting passwords by doing the following: https://bit.ly/2xAMFss 


Meeting creators who use their Personal Meeting ID (PMI) when creating a Zoom meeting will need to manually enter a password in order to schedule a meeting.



D2L

Holds course materials, communicates course grades, hold discussions with your classmates, etc.
MSU sets up every credit-bearing course section at MSU in D2L each semester and enrolls all students.
D2L is recommended as the place to find your syllabus, readings, and engage with your classmates online.

YouTube: Your Virtual Tutor

Videos facilitate remote learning.

MediaSpace

Create screen recordings, voiceovers for presentations, podcasts, etc.
All students and faculty have free licenses for MediaSpace.
You can log in with your MSU NetID to use the resources provided and share with classmates and professors.
For tutorials and 24/7 help, please reference Kaltura MediaSpace Help.

Spartan 365
Spartan 365 makes Microsoft Office applications and files available wherever the user goes, on whichever device the user chooses. This platform – available to all MSU staff, faculty, and students – provides remote access to a user’s work and organizational tools and is essential for telecommuters. Programs available through Spartan 365 include Word, Excel, OneDrive, Teams, Outlook, and more.
 
Spartan 365 is compliant with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This means student and health information are protected and onshore data storage is ensured. As part of this agreement, Microsoft will not mine individual data and will only access that data for troubleshooting needs or malware prevention. Spartan 365 customer data belongs to individuals and they can export their data at any time.
Learn more about Spartan 365: go.msu.edu/about365

How to save your documents to Spartan 365

Uploading your local files to Spartan 365 is simple. Microsoft OneDrive is an online storage tool that is available after logging into Spartan 365. This tool is the ideal place to upload documents, spreadsheets, and other files for personal use. Files located on OneDrive can then be shared to other users using links.



Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a program available through Spartan 365 that allows users to chat, video conference, share files, and collaboratively work on projects. It is one of the most useful tools available when collaborating remotely. Access Teams at spartan365.msu.edu or to request a team or learn more about teams, visit Microsoft Teams.

Set up a Teams meeting

If you are a member of a Microsoft Team, you can schedule a meeting in teams. Teams meetings support up to 250 people.


Record your meeting

If you are a member of a Microsoft Team, you can record your meeting.