Upcoming Sessions

Unleashing Analytics in the Classroom

This session will consider the purpose of measuring student engagement. We will identify which activities not only engage students but also produce quality analysis, which is critical to designing and adapting both online and face-to-face courses.

Some of the questions that we will show you how to answer are:

  • When are students logging into my course?
  • Which course resources/tools are being used most frequently?
  • Which discussions boards generate the most traffic?
  • What are the patterns of performance in an online assessment?
  • What are some of my opportunities for improvement?
Gaming in Education: Using the Blackboard Achievement Feature

Achievements were put into games first by Microsoft who were trying to think of ways to keep people playing. Gamers play a game and when they do something they can occasionally get an achievement. It may be beating a level under a specific time limit or it could be finding something hidden. Achievements are all over the place in gaming. Microsoft really hit a nerve with gamers because today achievements are EVERYWHERE and some gamers literally spend all of their time getting achievements and never beating the game. Main Theme: Achievements to NOT impact beating a game but rather act as side bonuses. Some of the topics that we will discuss in this session are:

  • What are the three types of achievements?
  • What are the 4 rules that should be adhered to when creating achievements in your courses?
It's Not the Answer, It's How You Construct the Question. How to Assess Students Using the Principles of Bloom's Taxonomy

This session will focus on creating engaging student questions using Bloom’s Taxonomy as the basis. The following concepts will be discussed during this session:

  • Students learn key concepts better when they have opportunities to actively monitor their understanding.
  • Knowledge is socially constructed and people learn best in supportive social settings when working with peers.
  • Students become better learners when we challenge them to answer questions that require the use of higher order thinking skills.