We found 283 results that contain "virtual events"

April - Getting Started & Looking Back
The MSU IT Educational Technology workshops in April have a split focus: 1) resources for newer educators getting started in the summer & 2) deep dive into D2L tools for course review. If you want to review past workshops, please check out the archive of workshop recordings on the MSU Tools and Technologies site and the Instructional Technology & Development Mediaspace channel. As always, if you would like a one-on-one consultation on course design or academic technologies, please submit a service request to the MSU Help Desk and ask for the Instructional Technology & Development team.You may also want to check out the MSU IT Training Team's offering list (yep, there are two IT teams with free virtual trainings!).
Using Articles and Library Resources in Your Course
Friday April 8th, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. ET Facilitators: Heidi Schroeder & Jessica SenderThis webinar will review how to find and link to library articles & resources. We will discuss the importance of creating and using stable links in courses/D2L to ensure seamless access for students that adheres to library license agreements and copyright. We will also briefly discuss library e-resource accessibility and show attendees how to create accessible stable links.Register for Using Articles and Library Resources in Your Course
D2L Course Statistics
Wednesday April 20th, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. ET Facilitators: Susan Halick & Dr. Jennifer Wagner D2L tracking can be used to identify needs, prompt action, and impact course design. This webinar will demo a variety of D2L course analytics for monitoring your online course. Tools include the Course Overview widget, Engagement Dashboard, Content Reports, and Class Progress. Assessment statistics will also be covered, including grade item stats, quizzes, discussions, and rubrics.Register for D2L Course Statistics
D2L Basics for Educators
Wednesday April 27th, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. ET Facilitators: Dr. Cierra Presberry & KJ Downer-ShojgreenThis informational webinar will cover the basics of D2L, including an overview of the interface, how to create and manage the grade book, creating discussion forums, assignments and quizzes and uploading and creating your course content, quicklinks, and external activities.Register for D2L Basics for Educators

Educational Technology has partnered with the MSU Library and the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI) to use their calendar system for our upcoming events. This will provide the MSU community with a more seamless registration experience when registering for Ed Tech workshops and sessions. Going forward, we will be listing Instructional Technology and Development workshops on the event calendar linked below.Check out the new Educational Technology Events Calendar and register today!
 

Utilizing Zoom (and other video conferencing technologies) wasn't new for me. From the time I started working for MSU, "meeting" in a digital space was a part of my regular work. My role was an educator with MSU Extension where I was one member of a 10-person team with statewide responsibilities (and statewide home bases). I zoomed with my teammates every month, and we utilized the platform for steering committee meetings with youth leaders for our events. Little did I know, these regular parts of my job responsibilities would become my day-to-day. 
 
Covid19 pandemic has created the opportunity (or forced - depending on your perspective) for us to figure out interactions on a platform like Zoom. We have to think more intentionally about things like access, engagement, and active learning when we are planning, facilitating, and participating in video conferencing calls/classes. I was on parental leave during the start of this transition, so my work-from-home via Zoom has been a dive head-first... SO I thought I'd share a couple of the resources that have proven to be helpful to me. 
 
For starters... Zoom Keyboard shortcuts: (these are for a PC, but there are additional shortcuts and MAC specific options here)
Control your audio and video:

Alt + V: Start/Stop video
Alt + A: Mute/unmute audio
Alt + M: Mute/unmute audio for everyone except host
Alt + S: Launch share screen window and stop screen share
Alt + Shift + S: Start/stop new screen share
Alt + T: Pause or resume screen share

Since we're all at home... adding a virtual background can take away any unnecessary pressure to have the room behind you tidy:
Virtual backgrounds: "Hide your office clutter or add some corporate branding with a virtual background during a Zoom Meeting. Users can upload their own images (Zoom recommends that these images have an aspect ratio of 16:9 and a resolution of 1920 x 1080 px) and preview the virtual background to detect any issues before joining the meeting. And soon, Zoom will support Microsoft PowerPoint files as a custom background and the use of a video virtual background, a non-static background for added fun." More tips from Zoomie here. Plus, fun backgrounds from the New York Public Library (and additional virtual background instructions) here.
 
Not all the meetings we're joining are with people we know well.Display Names:
"This is less important when you’re chatting with people you know well, but if you use Zoom to do a lot of sales calls, then this setting will ensure you never accidentally forget the name of the person you’re talking to. Go to Settings > Video and check 'Always display participant’s name on their videos.'" More tips and how to's like this are available here. Another thing I noticed in one of my meetings recently, was a colleague in a meeting updated his "display name" to include his preferred gender pronouns - which I thought was a great idea for meetings with people we might not know well. For example, my displayed name now reads "Makena Neal (she/her/hers)".
 

In addition to pursuing a social event in his own college, Jacob was integral to the redesign of the overall fellows' application process. Jacob facilitated a group in defining a fellowship competency framework, and then using said framework to establish an application, referral form, and interview protocol.

 
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

What is Labster? 
Labster is a simulation library that provides over 150 virtual science labs. Instructors can choose specific simulations to download and install within their D2L course free of charge. Simulations consist of an interactive lab activity in which students learn and apply their understanding of important STEM topics within the context of a virtual lab. Quiz questions are interspersed throughout many of the simulations to help students link their understanding of theory to the lab activity they are performing. 
 
Who might consider using Labster? 
If you are a STEM instructor, Labster could be a useful tool to enhance teaching and learning within your science course. These virtual labs can be used as standalone units, or they can be used as supplemental activities to reinforce important concepts or lab techniques. The Labster simulation catalog includes lab experiences for 21 course packages such as Chemistry, Physics, Food Science and nutrition, Engineering, Biology, Safety, Biotechnology, and others. If you would like to try out Labster, please contact the MSU IT Service Desk at ithelp@msu.edu to get access to the Labster simulations.  
 
Why use Labster? 
Well-designed lab experiences are a key part of student learning within STEM fields. While virtual labs can never replicate real-world lab experiences, simulation-based labs can enhance student learning because they provide students important opportunities for them to put their knowledge to use and engage in important scientific practices (e.g. developing models, constructing explanations, and arguing using data and evidence). For example, simulation-based learning environments have been shown to improve student learning, motivation and, self-efficacy within medical education (Makransky et. al., 2016).  
 
How to use Labster? 
Simulations are uploaded onto D2L and students can access virtual labs directly through the simulation link within D2L. Instructors can impersonate the Demo Student within their D2L course and complete the simulation to get the same experience that their students would have when engaging in the virtual lab. To promote student exploration and engagement with the simulation (as opposed to students focusing their attention on the correctness of their answers to quiz questions), we recommend using the simulation quizzes as a low-stakes formative assessment. 
 
Where to find out more information on Labster? 
If you would like to find out more information about Labster, please see the links below: 

General information about Labster
List of available Labster simulations 
Labster resources page 
Labster help page 

Stories/Feedback 
We would love to hear from you about your experiences with Labster. How was the installation process? How are you using the Labster quizzes in your class? What are your students’ perceptions of Labster and their experiences with the simulations? If you would like to share some of your Labster stories (frustrations, joys, surprises) or need more information about Labster, contact the MSU IT Service Desk at ithelp@msu.edu. 
 
References 
Makransky, G., Bonde, M.T., Wulff, J.S. et al. Simulation based virtual learning environment in medical genetics counseling: an example of bridging the gap between theory and practice in medical education. BMC Med Educ 16, 98 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-016-0620-6 

 

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/