We found 40 results that contain "virtual events"

 
Using Storytelling to Share the Universal Experience (in this case: resilience after failure)
 
Storytelling is powerful. Studies show that we retain information and experience better when presented to us in the form of a story. Are you a person that has empathy, do you care about raising people up? Those are special leadership qualities! Storytelling spaces are sacred and magical – and if conditions are right, it can feel like opening a portal of transcendence around your collective humanity. How should you go about doing it? Here are some tips from an event called CANR Rising – a storytelling session put on by me, a graduate student, and told by a set of high-level administrators and deans to graduate students and above in our college. It was, in fact, a temporary rift in time where we came together as a community of support – and deans became just “regular” people, albeit tremendously inspiring through their vulnerable courage.

Ask yourself: Why? What?

Do you have a group of people that could benefit from experiential learning, and learning from each other? Do you have a universal experiential theme that speaks towards bringing out your inner humanity – like resilience, rising from failure, work-life resilience, empathy? Are folks around you stuck in silos where they don’t share their inner lives at all, and life seems plastic?
Do you, as a facilitator feel comfortable getting vulnerable with these people? Are you qualified to facilitate this event? Are your speakers vulnerable in ways they might not be fully aware of?

Our population for CANR Rising was graduate students, post docs, faculty, administrators and staff in the college. We kept it closed to undergraduates and people outside the college to maintain our sense of community. These boundaries are fluid.
When planning an event with graduate-student speakers in 2020, we contacted the MSU counseling center about having a trained counselor on site, and having that counselor participate in how storytelling can be therapeutic and ways to keep it healthy for the storyteller.


Ask yourself: Who?

You need to recruit a set of speakers. These folks are the backbone of your event – their ability to both tell stories and be vulnerable is critical. You don’t want a jokester, you don’t want someone who will be inappropriate for your audience, and you don’t want someone who tells a story but leaves a wall protecting their vulnerability.
Unless you are a social unicorn that has lived within your community of interest for a long time – you are probably bad at knowing who would be a good speaker. You’ll need to find a unicorn to help you feel out potential speakers. This would be someone who knows people well, and really understands your cause from a. above. This person would probably be a good storyteller.
Ask the appropriate people – i.e. not people who could be marginalized if they are vulnerable at your event. We asked higher level administrators to speak at our event, because there was no power dynamic above them to affect their job. This is something to think about with vulnerability.
Ask in the appropriate way, make sure that you convey exactly what the event is about, the seriousness of it, and the difficulty of it. Tell them they have creative control as long as they are appropriate. Make it very clear that they can back out at any time, and to really think about it before responding.


Ask yourself: Where and How long?

Usually a 2 hour event is about as long as folks can take. We did 1.5 hours with food afterwards. We had some great food catered in from the Wilson Talent Center, Culinary Hospitality Vocational Program in Mason High School.
Choose an intimate setting that can hold enough people. We chose to have our event in a room that was shaped like an arena, as our theme was resilience – as described by Theodore Roosevelt’s famous quote, popularized in part by Brene Brown’s work (check her out).


Coach your speakers

Meet with your speakers on their terms, but at least once, in person, to make sure that their story aligns with the goals of the event, will be appropriate, and to lend your support. This is a huge ask for your speakers – be encouraging and overcommunicate with them, send them reminders. They should not have to worry about anything but showing up and being themselves. Give your speakers creative control of their stories! Ask them how much time the will need. Our storytellers were comfortable with 15 to 20 minutes.


Advertise

Ask your college (months ahead of time) to help create fliers to be sent on appropriate list servs and on campus. See if your community has appropriate social media outlets to share your event. We put fliers up in every building, on every floor, for our entire college, shared via social media, and sent out repeatedly 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day before – but this did not seem like enough advertising. I would have added another email.
Consider recording the event as an artifact – making sure you have permission from speakers if you choose to do it.


Prepare opening and closing remarks

How will you introduce the session? Make sure your remarks tie the whole thing together, and really share the purpose of this unique event.


Prepare your room

Find and reserve a spot for your event 6 months in advance.
Make sure you have a microphone, and ability for speakers to use slides if they prefer.


Enjoy the event and wonderful space you have created!

Responding to the Tragic Events at MSUWebinar created to assist with your own personal response as well as how to apply this information to assist in your colleagues’ response to the trauma we have faced. In this presentation, we will discuss the different ways in which we respond to trauma, what the natural recovery process looks like, as well as resources available to all of our MSU community. Watch webinar

The MSU Museum has a variety of great online resources that you can integrate into your teaching! Options include object-based activities, museum exhibition materials, and links to collection databases. Check out the options and let us know if you would like to consult with a museum staff member, to help with course activity design. Contact campus liaison Elesha Newberry (newber39@msu.edu).
 
 

Topic Area: Information Session
Presented By: Erica Shifflet-Chila, Gary Anderson, Gretchen Sheneman
Abstract:
This session will detail a pilot program used by The School of Social Work to begin studying the use of Virtual Reality as a supplement to current methods of child welfare training for both students and currently practicing professionals. Recruiting, orienting, training and retaining a competent workforce in the field of child welfare is serious business. Social workers, and other child welfare professionals, are responsible for investigating reports of child abuse and neglect, assessing the safety and well-being of children, and potentially removing children from their parents temporarily or permanently. Creating and supporting a workforce able to make good decisions requires careful training and that is the challenge. Training professionals typically relies on classroom teaching methods or shadowing veteran workers in the course of their work in the community. Classroom role-playing and case discussions lacks authenticity and shadowing provides limited exposure to family circumstances and minimal responsibility for assessing family strengths and risks. Immersive scenarios delivered through virtual reality technology introduces the powerful learning environment lacking in the traditional training room and provides an intense and realistic experience that can be explored beyond job shadowing. So, MSU School of Social Work invested in a pilot program: licensing virtual reality equipment and an actor-staged immersive home visit for training purposes. The goal for this round-table session is to offer an introduction to this learning tool, and lead discussion on how this technology could be incorporated into other fields.
Session Resources: VR as a Teaching Tool (PowerPoint)

 

Intro & Set-up Zoom Webinar (0 – 7:24)
D2L

Create module and add virtual class zoom link (7:25 – 10:15)
Powerpoint presentation in Zoom Webinar (10:16 – 17:20)
How to store your recorded Webinar in D2L (17:21 – 24:07)



 
 
More information on securing your virtual classroom: https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/03/27/best-practices-for-securing-your-virtual-classroom/
 

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

The pandemic presented several challenges across the landscape of academia. Continuity for classrooms, events, and conference were an absolute must, but there was a need to advance beyond our prior modes of operation. We answered the call over the past year, but now realize that it is in our best interest to plan for the possibility of hybrid and virtual events going forward. Most notably, embracing proper strategies can help foster a strong user-centered approach for said events.
Knowing that preparedness yields tremendous dividends for the institution, staff, and participants, The Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology is happy to present a new set of guidelines to support planning efforts for future events. The guidelines are divided into two groups: 1) Strategy and Empathy and 2) Execution. The first group will help establish a strong foundation for your event, while the second group helps streamline execution of how the event will be experienced.
The two groups are presented in this document as follows:

Strategy & Empathy

Vision & Purpose
Understanding Attendees
The Benefits of Design Sprints




Execution

Event Promotion
Event Structure
Engagement Opportunities
Virtual Solutions
Accessibility
Evaluation



You can also download the full document here.Also, to help support your efforts and to help you keep track of progress, a checklist is included on the last page. Happy planning!

MSU Extension has developed a three-part document to guide employees in creating and delivering educational materials and programs as well as event planning in a way that reflects our values and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The first section focuses on considerations and strategies for facilitating, or delivering, programming.
The second section focuses on the development of educational materials, or products.
The last section focuses on event planning considerations.

An appendix of useful sites is also included, including a section on sources for diverse images.  This document can also serve to help outside trainers and contractors understand our values and how we expect them to play out in educational programming. https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/dei-in-action-developing-planning-and-facilitating-educational-programs-and-events

Topic Area: Pandemic Pivot
Presented by: Carrie Hauser
Abstract:
COVID unexpectedly challenged us all to truly assess the needs of our students, what it means to have a campus environment, and how to develop that in a virtual space. The Michigan School of Psychology (MSP), a small graduate program in Farmington Hills, is known for having a very personal and connected environment. Faculty and staff know almost the entire campus by name and students are truly invested in each other’s lives. When the school changed to remote teaching in March, 2020, the Student Engagement Office went to work to figure out how to offer anything virtual that would create that same feeling of care and nurture that the campus typically provided. This presentation will discuss how MSP developed an online supportive culture, how student needs were assessed, and how creativity helped save the day. It will also cover programming ideas for faculty and staff members that can be implemented at all types of institutions and how to remain creative with programming in the face of adversity. The presentation will finally discuss how COVID will impact the future of student programming.
Session Resources:A PDF of Carrie's presentation can be accessed here. 

Use this checklist to keep track of progress and support the management of your event.

Conducting evaluations, especially at strategic times, can help optimize attendee experiences — for upcoming, current, and future events. Consider the following approaches:

Pre-Event: Surveying interested parties can help further understand of attendee needs and expectations. After identifying the needs and expectations, you can make changes to your approach for the
In-Event: Collecting feedback during the event can provide you with actionable data and apprise the team of any issues that need
Post-Event: This traditional approach of collecting data after an event is critical to understanding and analyzing how success the event was, including focusing on specific aspects.

Each of these approaches can help develop mental models for your current and future events, driving more rewarding experiences for attendees and stakeholders alike.

A design sprint is a multi-day process that allows selected team members to brainstorm, review ideas, define and discuss business problems, and dialogue about potential solutions. Design sprints consist of the following steps:

Day 1 — Map: This portion of the sprint is used to establish structure for the week’s activities, most notably focusing on your long-term goals (e.g., addressing the “why” of the event) and questions, concerns, and or issues you feel should be addressed during the week. It should be noted that assumptions your team currently embrace can be rephrased as questions and deliberated upon to foster more success.
Day 2 — Sketch: The goal of this step is to generate several ideas (as quickly as possible), including tapping into existing ideas that are useful to consider.
Day 3 — Decide: This is the phase where the team collectively decides which of the ideas presented on Day 2 are the most viable and doable.
Day 4 — Prototype: On day 4, it’s time to start creating visualizations of the most viable ideas and prepare for validation.
Day 5 — Test: If possible, present the ideas you generated to understand and validate how well they would

These five steps provide the ability to validate ideas and bring others to the surface that might be overlooked, collectively helping to optimize success for your initiative.
When it comes to design sprints, you don’t have to go it alone. The Hub offers design sprint support as one of its services. We can assist your team by organizing and facilitating the sessions, as well as prescribing a plan to execute the results from your sprint.