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*This feature will be added in our early fall release which is forthcoming.*This brief tutorial will demonstrate how you can update your #iteachmsu notifications and settings. How do I update my #iteachmsu settings?

After you have logged in using your MSU NetID and password, you will see your name in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Select 'Settings' to manage your #iteachmsu Commons notification and language settings. AccountOn the settings page you will first see the "Account" section. You can select the edit button on the right to change your preferred language and country settings.  NotificationsBelow is the "Notifications" section. At the top right of the section you will can toggle on or off all email notifications. You can also manage the specific types of alerts that you recieve from #iteachmsu. Under "Notifications" you can choose to turn on or off alerts for new connections, groups, or messages. Below you can also manage your notifications for new likes and comments on your #iteachmsu posts, articles, groups, playlists, and assessments. Click here to watch a video tutorial:

In-Person Lectures vs. Online Instruction
Actively engaging students in the learning process is important for both in-person lectures and for online instruction. The ways in which students engage with the instructor, their peers, and the course materials will vary based on the setting. In-person courses are often confined by the fact that instruction needs to be squeezed into a specific time period, which can result in there being a limited amount of time for students to perform group work or to actively think about the concepts they are learning. Alternatively, with online instruction, there is often more freedom (especially for an asynchronous course) on how you can present materials and structure the learning environment.
Currently, many instructors are faced with the challenge of adapting their in-person courses into an online format. How course materials are adapted into an online format are going to differ from course to course – however, a common practice shared across courses is to create lecture recordings or videos for students to watch. The format and length of these videos play an important role in the learning experience students have within a course. The ways in which students engage with a longer video recording is going to be much different than how students engage with multiple shorter videos. Below are some of the important reasons why shorter videos can enhance student learning when compared to longer videos.
 
More Opportunities for Students to Actively Engage with the Material
Decades of research on how people learn has shown that active learning (in comparison to more passive approaches, such as direct instruction or a traditional lecture) enhances student performance (Freeman et. al., 2014). While “active learning” can often be a nebulous phrase that has different meanings, active learning can be broadly thought of as any activity in which a learner is metacognitively thinking about and applying knowledge to accomplish some goal or task. Providing multiple opportunities for students to engage in these types of activities can help foster a more meaningful and inclusive learning environment for students. This is especially important for online instruction as students may feel isolated or have a difficult time navigating their learning within a virtual environment.
One of the biggest benefits of creating a series of shorter videos compared to creating one long video is that active learning techniques and activities can be more easily utilized and interspersed throughout a lesson. For example, if you were to record a video of a traditional lecture period, your video would be nearly an hour in length, and it would likely cover multiple important topics within that time period. Creating opportunities to actively engage students throughout an hour-long video is difficult and can result in students feeling overwhelmed.
Conversely, one of the affordances of online instruction is that lectures can be broken down into a series of smaller video lessons and activities. By having shorter videos with corresponding activities, students are going to spend more time actively thinking about and applying their understanding of concepts throughout a lesson. This in turn can promote metacognition by getting students to think about their thinking after each short video rather than at the end of a long video that covers multiple topics.
Additionally, concepts often build upon one another, and it is critical that students develop a solid foundation of prior knowledge before moving onto more complex topics. When you create multiple short videos and activities, it can be easier to get a snapshot of how students conceptualize different topics as they are learning it. This information can help both you as an instructor and your students become better aware of when they are having difficulties so that issues can be addressed before moving onto more complex topics. With longer videos, students may be confused on concepts discussed at the beginning of the video, which can then make it difficult for them to understand subsequent concepts.
Overall, chunking a longer video into multiple shorter videos is a simple technique you can use to create more meaningful learning opportunities in a virtual setting. Short videos, coupled with corresponding activities, is a powerful pedagogical approach to enhance student learning.
 
Reducing Cognitive Load
Another major benefit of having multiple shorter videos instead of one longer video is that it can reduce the cognitive load that students experience when engaging with the content. Learning is a process that requires the brain to adapt, develop, and ultimately form new neural connections in response to stimuli (National Academies of Sciences, 2018). If a video is long and packed with content, developing a meaningful understanding of concepts can be quite difficult. Even if the content is explained in detail (which many people think of as “good instruction”), students simply do not have enough time to process and critically think about the content they are learning. When taking in various stimuli and trying to comprehend multiple concepts, this can result in students feeling anxious and overwhelmed. Having time to self-reflect is one of the most important factors to promoting a deeper, more meaningful learning experience. Unfortunately, long video lectures provide few opportunities (even when done well!) for students to engage in these types of thinking and doing.
Additionally, an unintended drawback of long videos is that the listener can be lulled into a false sense of understanding. For example, have you ever watched a live lecture or an educational video where you followed along and felt like you understood the material, but then after when you went to apply this knowledge, you realized that you forgot or did not understand the content as well as you thought? Everyone has experienced this phenomenon in some form or another. As students watch long video lectures, especially lectures that have clear explanations of the content, they may get a false sense of how well they understand the material. This can result in students overestimating their ability and grasp of foundational ideas, which in turn, can make future learning more difficult as subsequent knowledge will be built upon a faulty base.
Long lecture videos are also more prone to having extraneous information or tangential discussions throughout. This additional information may cause students to shift their cognitive resources away from the core course content, resulting in a less meaningful learning experience (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). Breaking a long video into multiple shorter videos can reduce the cognitive load students may experience and it can create more opportunities for them to self-reflect on what they are learning. 
 
More Engaging for Students
Another important factor to think about is how video length affects student engagement. A study by Guo, Kim, and Rubin (2014) looked at how different forms of video production affected student engagement when watching videos. Two of their main findings were that (1) shorter videos improve student engagement, and that (2) recordings of traditional lectures are less engaging compared to digital tablet drawing or PowerPoint slide presentations. These findings show how it is not only important to record shorter videos, but that simply recording a traditional lecture and splicing it into smaller videos will not result in the most engaging experience for students.
When distilling a traditional lecture into a series of shorter videos, it is important to think about the pedagogical techniques you would normally use in the classroom and how these approaches might translate to an online setting. Identifying how these approaches might be adapted into a video recording can help create a more engaging experience for students in your course.
Overall, the length of lecture videos and the ways in which they are structured directly impacts how students learn in a virtual setting. Recording short, interactive videos, as opposed to long lecture videos, is a powerful technique you can use to enhance student learning and engagement.
 
References
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.
Guo, P. J., Kim, J., & Rubin, R. (2014, March). How video production affects student engagement: An empirical study of MOOC videos. In Proceedings of the first ACM conference on Learning@ scale conference (pp. 41-50).
Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational psychologist, 38(1), 43-52.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2018). How people learn II: Learners, contexts, and cultures. National Academies Press.

How many times have you been on campus at MSU - using a restroom, walking by a bulletin board in a hallway, waiting for an elevator - and saw a flyer or poster for an upcoming event. "Ooo, that sounds super interesting!" You scan the printed sheet of paper for details. "Bummer! I missed it." I have been at MSU in a variety of capacities since 2008 and I cannot count the number of times this has happened to me. If I happened to walk through a building that was outside my usual route and see a program or event of interest, it usually had already passed. Once I began my work in educational development, alongside with my doctoral studies in HALE, this became increasingly frusterating. I saw really cool topics, relevant across disciplines, being offered to limited groups - or even worse, being open to all MSU educators but not being promoted broadly. I was missing out so I knew others were as well. So when I saw the #iteachmsu Commons Educator Events Calendar, I was super excited. There is now a common calendar that, just like all of the #iteachmsu Commons, is for educators by educators. Anyone with MSU credentials can log in to iteach.msu.edu and share an event on the calendar. From unit, college, or organization-sponsored programs like educator trainings and workshops, to individual initatives like communities of practice, coworks, or meet-ups, any scheduled activity with an intended/open audience of folx who support the teaching and learning, student succes, and/or outreach mission of the university can be shared here!
      
From a self-proclaimed lifelong learner, I'm really excited to have a "one stop shop" where I can determine MSU personal growth and professional development activities, but as an educator at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation I am also thrilled about some of the ways the new #iteachmsu site functionality supports program facilitators. The "Going" button on an event details page can be linked directly to your event's registration. You can upload supporting materials or pre-activity details. There are easy ways to designate both face-to-face and virtual events. There's even a discussion thread for comments on each event!            If you have events that support MSU educators, start sharing them on the #iteachmsu Events Calendar today!Article cover photo by Windows on Unsplash

Welcome to the #iteachmsu Commons! We’re excited you’ve joined us here and want to make sure you feel comfortable with the basic ways you can engage in this space; because after all, engagement is what it’s all about!
Here are five easy ways to get started on iteach.msu.edu!
Log-in
Iteach.msu.edu is a website that is publicly accessible, so anyone can visit to consume content. The opportunities grow exponentially if you’re affiliated with Michigan State University. By clicking the “Log In” button in the upper right corner of the home screen, you can enter your MSU netID (the same information you’d use for your Spartan Mail or EBS) and be logged in as an active user. Logging in is a great first step that opens a lot of #iteachmsu doors! 

Profile
For example, after logging in, you can click on the arrow next to your name in the upper right corner and select “Profile”. Here you can add some basic information about yourself, your role, and your interests/areas of expertise (this helps the site search connect others with you based on keywords). 

Join the Conversation
Once logged in, you can also engage with content shared in the space… You could comment on a post in the feed or on an article you find interesting by writing a response in the text box and clicking the green “comment” button. (You can also reply to comments made by others. Iteach.msu.edu is the space for educator conversations!) 

Share
Do you have a question you’d like to pose to the broader MSU community of educators? Maybe you’re facing a particular challenge, or you have an idea of an activity but aren’t sure how to put it into action. You can share content like this, plus upload artifacts like PDFs, via “posts”! If you have longer reflections or insights you’d like to share, an “article” gives you more formatting options in addition to the ability to embed photos and videos!


Connect
If you’re looking to connect with other educators who share a common interest as you, join a group! Groups function as informal learning communities or communities of practice, with the same functions as the broader site. You can engage in a discussion on a post in the group feed, share articles, and “connect” with other members! (By clicking the “connect” button on a user’s profile or the connections page, you can send the direct messages.)

Bonus: Thank an Educator
Clicking “Thank an Educator” in the left navigation bar will take you to a page with a short survey where you can submit an MSU educator for recognition from #iteachmsu. Who have you noticed stepping up? Who has made a positive impact on your MSU experience? Anyone can be thanked via this initiative, so start celebrating others today! Learn more about Thank an Educator here. 
 
The #iteachmsu Commons is a space “for educators, by educators”. But what does that mean? Please read more about the history of this platform on Medium here. 

Work with us to create a unique teaching and learning experience at CMERC.
You are invited to incorporate nature into courses and create learner‐centered experiences at CMERC (pronounced ‘see‐merk’), the Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center. CMERC is a 350‐acre ecological research center located 20 minutes from MSU campus in Bath Township, Michigan. It is a place for making scientific discoveries and integrating the arts and sciences in a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and inclusive space. CMERC welcomes educators, researchers, and citizens across MSU to explore, co‐create, facilitate and grow experiential courses for students.
CMERC seeks faculty and academic staff collaborators to develop learning experiences that will bring together educators, students, and community members to explore and learn from this vibrant ecological field site. MSU faculty and staff from across campus interested in this funded opportunity to join a SoTL Fellowship in land-based learning can connect with Jeno Rivera, Center Educational Program Development Leader at jeno@msu.edu.What is Corey Marsh (CMERC)?
CMERC is more than a physical place. It is a space that offers meaningful place-based experiences.CMERC was once MSU’s Muck Soils Research Center and operated from 1941 – 2012. In 2018, Fisheries and Wildlife associate professor Jen Owen, with the support of MSU AgBioResearch, led the reimagined CMERC into a place for integrating ecosystem science research with student learning and community engagement. In addition to training MSU undergraduate students in field‐based research and science  communication, the center aims to promote better land stewardship practices and the relevance of science to society. While still early in its development as an AgBioResearch site, CMERC has been engaging in a people-centered approach to the planning, design and management of the space. CMERC foresees a collaborative process transforming the space to a place that engages a diverse community – internal and external to the university in scientific discovery.Location of Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center in Bath TownshipHow can I contribute?
Given the unique opportunity CMERC provides to enhance student learning, we want to make sure that it serves a diverse student community that spans disciplines and units. We want educators in our SoTL Fellowship in land-based learning to reflect that diversity and help develop curriculum that will foster collaboration among students and serve to integrate arts and humanities with sciences.  Consider these examples of possible learning experiences at CMERC:

Edible and Medicinal Plants – for humans and wildlife. What is good for humans vs. wildlife?  What grows in muck soils? How can ecological restoration efforts incorporate edible plants? What is missing that was likely at CMERC in the past? 
Trails – People – Nature – Wildlife: How does trail design enhance natural experiences and maintain integrity of the ecosystem? What informs the development of a trail?
Land Grant or Land Grab?: Who was here before us? How did this land become a part of the land-grant system? How can this land honor those who used it in the past, present, and the future? 
Agriculture and Natural Resources – how can we document and understand how historic land-use affects ecosystem integrity now and in the future?

CMERC actively seeks MSU faculty and staff interested in designing and facilitating an interdisciplinary, learner-centered, sense-making experience built on the resources of CMERC. This curricular/co-curricular programming will be titled Lessons from Nature: Stories from CMERC. We envision that the learning inquiries would be co-created by faculty and students together. More specifically, the lessons will be shaped as a studio experience that is akin to Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars (BSP) integrated learning/self-directed courses or modular programming. These experiences would be facilitated by a faculty member, but inquiry and assessment are student led. Alternatively, you can develop learning experiences to enhance an existing course or curriculum. You may also be interested in giving your students the opportunity to facilitate place-based informal learning for youth in the local community.Next Steps: Have Fun. Explore Nature. Get to Know Us!
We invite your ideas and input for designing meaningful experiences at CMERC. Collaborators who are selected for our Fall 2022 cohort will receive $2,000 to support their participation. To explore how you can partner with CMERC, contact Jeno Rivera, Center Educational Program Development Leader at jeno@msu.edu  
Deadline to apply: June 15th, 2022.
 

Through different class communications, the presenter collected MSU international students' reflections on their study and life in the pandemic and tries to reveal a glimpse of their remote learning in global contexts through a documentary report. To many international students, studying in the pandemic was just like riding a roller coaster: a great expectation of study abroad at the beginning, then disappointment as it had been changed into online classes, and then excitement again with interesting findings on Zoom class. This, however, was often followed by mid-term exhaustion after a few weeks' struggle with study pressure and time differences. First, online classes offered great convenience and mobility. Many international students could now enjoy a nice family reunion while taking online classes. When attending Zoom lectures, many international students were nervous and worried about their English. Therefore, remote teaching of international students often requires much more patience and understanding.Many students also liked the self-paced learning offered by asynchronous classes. Still, many times the class would be reduced to a routine of watching class videos and finishing follow-up quizzes.In 2020, MSU collaborated with Fudan University in Shanghai to offer some local classes during the pandemic. Though students could only take online classes from Fudan, they still enjoyed some of the classes and different activities/events organized by MSU students' association. In this way, they got to know each other better and became more familiar with MSU courses and culture.To access a PDF of the "Global Spartan Stories: International Students in the Pandemic" poster, click here.Description of the Poster :
Global Spartan Stories: International Students in the Pandemic 
Xinqiang Li 
Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures 
Why MSU 
“My father studied at MSU 30 years ago. And surprisingly I’ve been assigned to the same dormitory building as my father’s!” – a student from Korea 
“I have many friends studying here and dreamed one day I could see the beautiful snow at MSU. Because of the recent chaos, my parents worried about my future study in the US and tried to persuade me to transfer to Singapore, but I eventually chose MSU for its higher quality of education.”  – a student from China 
“My older brother studied at MSU and he suggested me apply to this school. He gave me a lot of advice on how to apply for scholarship (from my country) for studying abroad.” – a student from UAE 
“I attended high school here in Michigan and really enjoyed the football games at MSU. Actually, it was my American host mother who drove me to campus when I moved in, as she was concerned about my safety in the pandemic.” – a student from China 
Taking online classes  
Zoom in – Classes on Zoom 
First contact – in English  
For the very first time Hua (pseudonym) clicked into Zoom class, rehearsing in her mind the self-introduction she previously wrote: “My name is…”.  To many international students like Hua, this was their first time to take overseas class online. They were nervous, worried about their English expression and often kept silent until the teacher asked them to answer questions. Luckily, many times the instructors showed patience and understanding to such situation and tried to accommodate the international students in the online space. 
Breakout room and groupwork 
Groupwork might sometimes be a challenge, too. Coming from different cultural and educational background, many international students might still need time to adapt to different groupwork. There were inspiring conversations in Zoom Breakout rooms, but there were also awkward 15 minutes of silence before the instructor pulled them back to the main room.   
On the other hand, there were happy collaborations in online class. International students often found their American classmates “friendly” and “helpful”, offering to input discussion summaries on Google doc. and never hesitating to shout out “Good job!” when their international partners finished their presentations. This was one of the sweetest cultural experiences the international students had enjoyed, even in an online space.   
Camera on and off 
One of the advantages of Zoom class at MSU is students were allowed to turn off their camera during the class. Such flexibility added more home comfort to the “learning-at-home” format and enhanced the learning effects. More importantly, this way international students would suffer less language difficulties and Zoom fatigue, and concentrate more on the instructor’s English speech. This actually provided one special advantage which could hardly be achieved in a traditional classroom. Admittedly, this might sometimes lead to abuse of the freedom, with students swiping cell phone or sleeping behind the camera. Still, it turned out there were few students drifting away from my class behind the black screens, and I was fine with students taking class in pajamas or drinking coffee behind the camera, if only this could make themselves at home and help to improve their learning.    
Zoom inspiration and fatigueThe exciting moment on Zoom was when students from countries, despite the time difference, insisted on participating in the class and sharing their cultures, exchanging different perspectives and building constructive relationship online.  
“Every class having a similar format, such as sharing a power-point presentation, and lecturing on the side, has gotten to be quite tiring. From hearing and looking at the same thing every day, I have lost interest in a lot of my classes.”
Zoom out - online classes in general 
To many international students, studying in the pandemic was just like riding a roller coaster: a great expectation when getting admitted to MSU, then disappointment as it switched to online class, and then the excitement came back when they met people from different countries online while enjoying home comfort.  This, however, was often followed by a mid-term burnout after a few weeks’ struggle with study pressure and time differences.  
“After a few weeks, my enthusiasm waned and didn’t care about my class anymore. Since the class was recorded, I can always watch the recordings. That gave me an excuse for not paying attention to the class.” 
Time difference 
“Due to different time zones, I start my first class at 10 pm. If I have a class at 4 AM, I try to sleep 2 or 3 hours before the first-class starts. I usually set an alarm 15 minutes before the class starts. Waking up, I take some water, and this helps me to stay awake at 4 AM and concentrate on the class.”  
“At 3am I woke up all of a sudden, and sadly found I’ve missed the CAS 110 class at 12 am. Then, I fell asleep again…” 
Time difference posed many challenges to international students. Luckily, most classes offered the advantage of having class sessions recorded, which is “a useful resource for all students, not just those attending asynchronously” (Gannon). On the other hand, there were also many enthusiastic international students who expected and enjoyed the intimacy of the overseas class and insisted on participating in the synchronous lectures (instead of watching the class recordings) even when it was 3, 4am in their home countries. 
Bonuses of online class 
Online class offered more convenience and mobility. Now students didn’t have to get up early and wait for the bus in the cold winter morning. Even though they sometimes had to take class late at night, they could at least enjoy the delicious midnight snacks made by their moms. Despite the inconveniences of class time, they could now celebrate different festivals with their families, which was unimaginable when they studied in the US. 
“In order to celebrate the Spring Festival with my family, I tried to finish all my homework on New Year’s Eve. Even though I had to leave the dinner party earlier for another online class, I was excited when hearing my American professor greet us with “Happy New Year” in the class.” In the meantime, their friends staying at MSU admired their photos of family reunion and festival celebration. These friends, however, had their own way of celebration, enjoying the spacious hall of the dormitory building, and sometimes cooking together with friends. When they missed home, their moms were always available on video chat asking about their life in the US. 
The Fudan program  
In 2020, MSU collaborated with different partner schools around the world to offer more classes during the pandemic. The collaboration with Fudan University in Shanghai was one of the major programs. Fudan is a well-known university in China (“it’s just like Stanford University in China”, as one student said) and Shanghai is such a vibrant cosmopolitan city. Therefore, this program had attracted many Chinese students. However, it was a pity that they could not visit the campus of Fudan as the program offered only online classes. Despite the disadvantages, many students still enjoyed some classes, and they could speak Chinese freely in the class, which was an added bonus. Even in Shanghai the MSU students could still participate in different activities/events organized by MSU students’ association, and in this way, they got to know each other better and became more familiar with MSU courses and culture.  
Acknowledgments  
Thank WRA 1004 classes for their contribution. All the materials come from in-class discussions and writing practices.  
References  
Gannon, K. (2020, October 26). Advice: Our hyflex experiment: What's worked and what hasn’t.  
MSU Alumni Office (2021, April 28). Global Day of Service, Spartans Will!