Presented By: Melinda Boland (Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME))
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

This seminar focuses on discovery, evaluation, and creation. We'll look at how information architecture of a digital library promotes discovery; how evaluation rubrics can further use of high quality materials; and how content creation can fill curricular gaps and be designed to meet specific course goals. 

Presented By: Arturo Z. Vasquez
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Watch the Recording

To make this presentation attractive to the audience and favor interactivity, it will focus on the challenges of implementing the four types of interactions, including measures, pedagogical tools, resources, and learning outcomes. It will add discussion of the various alternatives used to obtain aimed results. Finally, it will show several concrete examples of failure and success in using delivery methods and achieving learning outcomes, in lieu of best practices in online teaching. 

1. Online teaching effectiveness versus face-to-face teaching effectiveness:
   1. Class content: chapter example from a marketing strategy class. The author has been instructor for this class in both formats, face-to-face and online.
   2. Delivery methods: 
      • Lecture and attendance versus assignments that are based on conceptual and applied questions.
      • Materials based on textbook and readings books versus materials produced digitally (text, video and sound) almost on a daily basis.
      • Voluntary questions in face-to-face class versus mandatory questions in online class.
      • Voluntary participation in face-to-face discussions versus mandatory participation in online discussions.
      • University requirements for face-to-face classes versus university requirements for online classes, in particular those certified by Quality Matters
   3. Assessment: 
      • Exams and papers in face-to-face class versus assignments, quizzes, projects, and discussions of many types in online class.
      • Few scores to assess performance in face-to-face class versus several scores on several components to assess performance in online class.
2. Challenges and alternatives in the implementation of online teaching effectiveness: 
   • Collecting and selecting digital material to make the course valuable for learning and interesting for student motivation.
   • Balancing mandatory questions between being elevant to learning and motivational to students
   • Making mandatory discussions necessary and attractive at the same time
   • Multiplying the learning performance methods to secure a more comprehensive and fair assessment of student learning
   • Motivating the instructor's commitment to sizable work and dedication in response to more comprehensive and fair assessment of student learning
3. Research results on the effectiveness of face-to-face teaching versus online teaching: 
   • General tendencies
   • Differences by level of education, master versus undergraduate
   • Differences between core courses and optional courses

Presented By: Mabel Muñoz Carrasco (Tecnológico de Monterrey), Rosa Gabriela Méndez Carrera (Tecnológico de Monterrey), Ana Maylour Puente Audiffred (Tecnológico de Monterrey)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

As part of the internationalization options that we offer to our graduate students enrolled in online programs, we invited students from foreign Universities to join our students for a two-week online experience where they were able to reinforce transversal skills. In addition, one of the aims of the experience was to observe the impact of the virtual intercultural interaction in the perception of the cultural intelligence that students have about themselves. Once the students finished the activities, we noticed a considerable improvement and a change of mindset. 

The previous exercise led us to improve the program based on the comments of the students, and a detailed analysis of the opportunity areas to offer the best experience to our students. We developed the Global Classroom strategy, each collaboration is embedded in each participating course, and technological guidance is provided to faculty members. 

In 2018, two main collaborations were performed in different courses: 

1. Strategic Development of Human Capital from the Business Graduate Online Programs of Tec de Monterrey, and Problem Solving and Communication Tools from SUNY Broome. 
2. Technology Consulting Project from the Information Systems Graduate Online Programs of Tec de Monterrey, and three different courses from Saint Leo University; Field Practicum I, Diversity Issues in Social Work Practice, and Documentation and Technology. 

These experiences were developed for over three months and had an impact on 120 students from six different courses and the three universities. Some of the tools used were Google Sites, Padlet, Zoom, and Slack. 

Some of the most important outcomes were that students were able to break stereotypes, to have a global vision, to start networking, and to generate a positive impact on others. 

In this presentation, we would like to create awareness about the importance of the internationalization in the curriculum to generate new opportunities for both, students and professors. Our online programs allow us to have a different perspective of the world, challenging time and distance through technology. 

Presented By: Marcus Galle (UTRGV)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Watch the Recording

Presented By: Beatrice Mendez Newman (UTRGV)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Watch the Recording

5 min.: On entry, participants will receive an index card with questions triggered by issues in online teaching, such as “what is one thing we do in online learning that is not possible in face-to-face teaching?" “what one strategy is vital for reducing anxiety in first-time online learners?" Flash activity: juxtaposition of concerns with advantages. 

10 min.: We will identify realities of online teaching, such as redundancies to ensure learners do not overlook vital expectations, possibilities that learners might get lost in online work despite the best constructed framework, ways to address students' variable preparedness for online work, strategies for keeping online learners engaged, realities of integrating logistics for online learning with discipline-specific content, and identification of the best aspects of online teaching. Flash activity: a preliminary set of best practices illuminated by our collective work as online instructors 

25 min.: We will explore the downsides and advantages of rubrics, one of the cornerstones of online teaching. From a sample rubric, we will move to a micro workshop for participants to sketch out a rudimentary rubric relevant to their course. Honest comments about the best and worst of rubric-based assessment will be aligned with comments from rubric specialists. Flash activity: discipline-specific draft rubrics 

10 min.: A closing forum on the “tranformativity" of online teaching and learning will consider how we can craft best online teaching selves and help learners discover potential and possibilities in online learning. 

Selected Resources 

Buelow, J.R., Barry, T., & Rich, L.E. (2018). Supporting learning engagement with online students. Online Learning, 22(4), 313-340. doi:10.24059/olj.v22i4.1384 

Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence. (2019). Grading smarter, not harder: Making and using a rubric. Retrieved from https://www.duq.edu/about/centers-and-institutes/center-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-and-learning/grading-smarter-through-rubrics 

Ko, S., & Rossen, S. (2017). Preparing students for online learning. In J. Buban (Ed.), Online & blended learning: Selections from the field (61-75) [routledge.com]. Retrieved from https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/

St. Clair, D. (2015). A simple suggestion for reducing first-time online student anxiety. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 11.1, 125-135. Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol11no1/StClair_0315.pdf 

Presented By: Rolando Garza (Texas A&M University-Kingsville), Sergio Ortiz (Texas A&M University-Kingsville)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

The purpose of this presentation is to unveil the next evolution a LMS Administrator and the next phase advancement of an LMS in education. While online education offers new avenues of learning, instructors and administrators alike must continuously consider the advances of an LMS and its possibilities to build indispensable connections of innovation for online education and distance learning. By implementing 3rd party services with a LMS the quality of education and the online experience can be improved when properly managed.

Presented By: Dr. Joanna Dzionek-Kozlowska (University of Lodz), Sharaf Rehman (UTRGV)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

Even though most students are against group work, more than 90% admit that the groups projects get completed. Several factors contribute to the general apprehension toward group work. In many of the Business, Marketing, and Economics courses, the students are encouraged to compete to maximize the profits, market share, and social utility. Different teams within a class compete. The American (individualistic) culture rewards people for being self-reliant and "stand their own two feet". Thus, to collaborate is to help one's competition. Students also fear that because of the 'free-riders', they may end up doing all, or, most of the work while everyone in the group earns the same grade.

Recruiters and employers hiring are putting a greater emphasis on communication skills, such as listening, teamwork, and leadership. If our accounting, economics, and business majors are going to get hired, they are going to need to work with others. Thus group projects are important not only in theater or music courses but also in biology and business. This article/presentation offers some pointers on how to create effective groups and engage the students in group activities.

Presented By: Leila Flores-Torres
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

Students with disabilities are enrolling in college and in online courses at increasing rates. This session is designed to promote awareness of the need for accessibility for students with disabilities in an online environment. In addition, the session seeks to improve understanding of faculty's role in contributing to online accessibility. Key concepts, principles of universal design, and case scenarios will be reviewed during the session.

Presented By: Art Brownlow (UTRGV), Justin M. White (UTRGV)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Watch the Recording

In Spring 2019, UTRGV started a pilot Open Educational Resources (OER) program with three general education courses in different disciplines: history, biology, and college algebra. Each course was designed around OER textbooks and supplemented with free or library-licensed materials, resulting in zero materials cost for students. The session will provide practical insight into utilizing OERs, including the principles guiding the movement known as the 5R Permissions (retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute). There will also be a recap of the progress made over the past few years that has led to UTRGV's current pilot program. Both panelists also represent UTRGV in the UT System's Affordable Learning Accelerator Task Force and will provide updates on this statewide initiative.

One major incentivization for moving a course to OER is lowering course materials cost. That drive is amplified thanks to designations in course schedules that show which courses have adopted free or low-cost materials, leading students to prefer those sections and increasing institutional momentum towards OERs. The presentation will also cover current trends across the country as laid out in various annual reports on OER availability, awareness, and motivations of faculty members in pursuing OERs.

Textbook Affordability Programs are popping up across the country. Sometimes these are statewide initiatives, sometimes they're limited to a single campus. This session will describe the components of a typical program and demonstrate how they drive down costs, increase transparency for students, and drive the adoption of OERs. Many of the programs that make up a Textbook Affordability Program are already in their nascent forms at UTRGV, but can be expanded. The current award for OER given by COLTT can be expanded into a more formal recognition, with increased funding from other stakeholders in the university. The current OER pilot can also be expanded with further involvement by the Library in purchasing licensed materials for courses with unlimited digital licenses, or acquiring other databases that can serve as instructional materials.

Presented By: Javier Cavazos (UTRGV), Claudia Vela (UTRGV)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

Building connections in an online environment can be challenging. Many students find themselves working in isolation being unable to connect with each other within an online course. However, we can enhance their online learning experience with a learning community. A supportive and collaborative learning community within your course helps students acquire and retain knowledge, share common goals and work collaboratively. "Sense of community," which is developed through interaction and is closely related to student engagement, is a crucial element to online student success (Moore, 2014; Byrd, 2016)

Presented By: Shoney Flores (UTRGV)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Watch the Recording 

This session will start with a brief presentation introducing the approach and inspiration behind this assignment and how it can be applicable to lecture-based and discussion-based classes alike. I'll be sharing examples of collaborative notes from my Advanced Composition class, which meets once a week and is where I am piloting this assignment and finding great and interesting results. While the presentation progresses, participants will be collaborating on a document, marking down notes, revisions, and asking questions. The document will be prepared and designed prior to the start of the session, and participants will be able to access it via their device through a shortened link for easy access. After the presentation, we'll engage in a discussion to review their notes and talk about how this assignment can be applied to their own circumstances.

Presented By: Marco Garza (UTRGV)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

Hear from faculty who have used zoom in recent classes 

• What works well
• What are the challenges
• Basic course design fundamentals
• Etiquette guidelines in Zoom environment
• Where can zoom support ITV deliver sessions

Presented By: Rita Vela (Blackboard)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

Presented By: Marcela Hebbard (UTRGV), Catrina Mitchum (University of Arizona), Janine Morris (Nova Southeastern University)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Watch the Recording

This session will articulate the importance of learning about student backgrounds and expectations as a first step in implementing online instruction across disciplines. Presenters will discuss preliminary results from a two-year cross-institutional study that began in the fall 2017. Study investigates four dimensions of student backgrounds and expectations:

1. students' past educational experiences with writing and online learning;
2. students' sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds;
3. students' expectations for online interactions; and
4. types of support students expect to access both institutionally and at home. 

Data collection includes pre- and post- surveys, focus groups, and audio journals. This session will focus only on preliminary results from selected pre-survey questions. Pre-survey consists of 50 questions; a combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions. A total of 155 students (83 UTRGV students from five First-Year Writing courses and 72 UA students from 17 writing courses) participated in study. Only survey responses that completed all the standalone closed-ended questions were included. 

To analyze quantitative survey data, descriptive analyses primarily focusing on the total count for each response type were used. For qualitative data, InVivo and Descriptive coding were used. 

Among findings obtained, data reveals that understanding students' perceptions of themselves as writers and the experiences that shape those perceptions can shed light on student insecurities when entering online courses where writing is used as a tool for learning. Regarding students' sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds, data reveals that while UTRGV and UA are both designated Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), they are in fact quite different culturally and linguistically. 

Presenters will use the four dimensions to offer considerations for faculty and administrators to anticipate student expectations without placing constraints on students because of their backgrounds. Participants will be asked to reflect on their current practices and devise concrete actions where they can implement appropriate frameworks in place at the outset of a semester, rather than waiting until students are struggling which might result in greater student success later on. 

Presented By: Felicia Cruz (St. Mary's University), Kevin Hearn (St. Mary's University), Jeff Schomburg (St. Mary's University)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

Presented By: Yong-Kang Wei (UTRGV)
Resources: Not Available
Recording: Not Available

Group work can be a “headache," to both the instructor and students, if not managed properly, even more so when it comes to teaching online courses. However, through years of online teaching, I have developed a set of methods that can be effectively executed when guided by a clear policy on group work and a “student-attitude" teaching philosophy. The end result is, most of the students have come to appreciate and even enjoy group work assignments, as evidenced in their end-of-semester reflections on their learning experience. 

“Student Attitude" is borrowed from the term “You Attitude" in business communication which refers to a philosophy that approaches communications from readers' perspective. In my class, it means understanding students' needs and situations and seeing things from their perspective. This way, I will try to give group work assignments that can truly pique their interest in working together as a group. Also, this way, I won't get upset if a group misses an assignment deadline. Instead, I will work with them by, for example, giving them more time. In short, student success overrides everything else. This would mandate that we need to exercise flexibility dealing with issues arising from group work. 

On the other hand, a clear policy on group work has to be in place so that students can unambiguously see what is expected of them, and what the consequences will be if they fail to participate in group work activities. Group work is group work, which must be driven home in students' mind. However, "how to," or the methods of managing online group work, will be the focus of my presentation, in which I will share “tricks" or tactics on such management from A to Z: that is, how to select group work assignments, how to arrange student groups, how to mentally prepare students for group work, how to monitor group work, how to deal with conflicts among group members, etc., etc.