Author Archives: Joseph Antonioli

About Joseph Antonioli

Senior Curricular Innovation Specialist

ACTT Notes: Student Engagement/Studio Learning Model

Agenda

We will be using this time to follow up on a Student engagement/Employment conversation with folks from DLINQ and ITS that occurred a while ago. DLINQ would also like to introduce Studio Learning as a way to immerse our student staff in meaningful work.

To help guide the discussion here is a website representing what a specific studio could be- http://act.middcreate.net/studios/

Also, here is the start of a proposal for this studio –

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ss3XWKyTl_NPiohhMwoyyaZBHCJnxsPMHTVbcEEocQ4/edit

 

Notes

  • This meeting is a follow up from a previous meeting that included Bob, Heather, Joe A., Joe D., and Mack P.
  • Joe A. introduced the idea of Studio Learning as a strategy that DLINQ will be piloting in the fall.
  • Q: What technology will the Studios need?
    • Each Studio will have different needs. Some will need physical space and equipment, others will be able to operate in digital spaces.
  • Long-term storage and maintenance plans need to be a consideration for Studio projects.
  • Student staff supervisors in both DLINQ and ITS are seeing fewer students apply for jobs, and there is an interest in making these positions more appealing.
  • Studio Learning offers students the chance to participate in transformational activities, contributing to academic research while developing desirable skills for their careers.
  • Q: Is Studio Learning a way to connect student workers based on interest?
    • A: Students can engage in a Studio from an interest in the technologies being used or the topics that are being explored. Whether this could become part of a student staff job description would need further discussion.
  • Could Studio Learning engagement be an optional activity within a job description?
    • A: Possibly, needs further discussion.
  • ITS student staff do valuable work There is an expectation that the student workforce will continue to grow.
  • We need to recognize that there is a cost to management students. Web Development has learned that it takes a long time to get people up to speed on the complexities of the systems before they can make meaningful contributions. This is true for new staff hires, as well.
  • Q: Can students gain experience with the Studio Learning model that would prepare them for more complex student staff positions?
    • A: Possible, needs further discussion.
  • Current student staff are being “poached” by other programs. We are giving them valuable training and expertise that is desired by other departments. This has an effect on the development of our programs, senior student staff regularly become role models and supervisors of new student staff hires.
  • Q: What needs would not be met by the Studio model?
    • A: There is a tension when trying to meet a diverse set of needs and expectations with our various cultures and communities. Needs to be discussed more, may depend on the Studio. A shared Basic orientation may provide an opportunity for cross-training.
  • Q: Is there a desire to continue this discussion?
    • A: Yes. Needs to include others.
  • Q: Who else should be invited to future meetings?
    • A: Joe Durante, Charlotte Pratt. Who else?
Visions of the Apocalypse

Representations of the Apocalypse

During the Fall 2017 semester we worked with Professor Patricia Saldarriaga’s FYSE 1500A: Apocalyptic Representations class. The course explored theories and representations of “apocalyptic imagination” across many forms of media, including virtual reality. On Thursday, December 14th, students from the class gathered in the lobby of the Davis Family Library to present their final projects, virtual worlds representing the Apocalypse.

We recommend coming to the Library and immersing yourself in these worlds using the Oculus in LIB 240B. The worlds can also be explored using an up-to-date web3d-enabled browser. Here are some samples of the students’ work, along with links to all of the presented projects.

 

https://poly.google.com/view/73PRDSDa_dT

https://poly.google.com/view/4s_u7L6olPR

https://poly.google.com/view/2qDVZDLSCs0

https://poly.google.com/view/8d0u7LQnGHU

https://poly.google.com/view/1BmyJ1MldbF

https://poly.google.com/view/2ouipfvs5fd

https://poly.google.com/view/0FOFk4xAiyB

Academic Technology Fall Kick-Off Series

Members of the Academic Technology Group, Librarians, and Media Services are hosting workshops to help faculty learn about and use various services for the teaching toolkit. We are hosting a number of workshops on Canvas and Panopto, as well as an introduction to new services. We have also set aside time for faculty to get specific technology for teaching questions answered.

Please be aware that you must be logged into Google with your Middlebury username and password to fill out and submit the form.

SIGN-UP FORM

You may sign up for as many sessions as you would like to attend.

Please note that all sessions are about 60 minutes, and that they take place in the Wilson Media Lab.

Moodle Archive and the Transition to Canvas

Middlebury’s Moodle instance is redirecting to https://moodle.middlebury.edu. Please note that the archive is only accessible to Middlebury faculty, staff, and students who are accessing the site while on a Middlebury network, or via Middlebury VPN.

Archive Access

The site will prompt you with a drop-down request to login with your Middlebury username and password:

You will know that the login attempt worked when you are directed to Moodle.

To enter the site click the “Login” link which will re-direct to the MIddlebury login page. In testing, a dropdown menu came up a second time for some when attempting to login to Moodle as described below. Login once more with your Middlebury username and password.

Archive Restrictions

The archive will not be accessible to Middlebury self-registered guest accounts. The archive will be maintained until December 2018* when it is expected to be de-commissioned.

*December 2018 will mark the end of the two-year online course material retention policy since the adoption of Canvas in the Fall 2016 term.

Access from Course Hub

Active faculty, staff, and students can access the Moodle archives via Moodle links from the Course Hub. Clicking on a link to a past Moodle resource in Course Hub will prompt the login process described above.

Importing Moodle Courses into Canvas

We will continue to support faculty who plan to import archived course content from the Moodle archive to Canvas.* You may use the existing instructions to migrate your course sites, or you may request assistance.

*Some Moodle course archives are very large (greater than 1GB) due to repeated imports and remixing over the years. If your back-up is noticeably large, we may request that you be more selective with items included in the import file to reduce the file size import to Canvas. We may also make recommendations about ways to more distributively host file types (e.g. video and audio) that tend to take up greater amounts of server space.

Creating Back-Up Copies of Moodle Content for Personal Archiving

Moodle currently hosts course content dating back to Fall 2010 term. After December 2018, Moodle will be de-commissioned. If you would like to create a back-up of your Moodle formatted content for personal storage, we recommend following the course back-up process outlined by Moodle.org. The process will produce an .mbz formatted file. This file format can be imported into Canvas or re-imported into another instance of Moodle* which could be accomplished by installing a copy of Moodle on a personal MiddCreate site. Alternatively, an .mbz file can be renamed to .zip format for limited file access, or storing on a cloud file storage account like Google Drive or Microsoft 365 OneDrive.

*Please note that Moodle is frozen at version of Moodle 2.8.8 while the most recent stable version of Moodle is 3.3.1 (as of July 2017). This means that archive content may not be fully compatible with newer versions of Moodle.

Additional Questions or Help?

Contact library-at@middlebury.edu

Can Students See My Course Site?

Middlebury is approaching the start of the undergraduate academic year, this is the time where faculty are thinking about course web sites. The college has also started the transition from Moodle to Canvas, a new Learning Management System (LMS) that is developed and hosted by Instructure. Like Moodle, faculty can create their Canvas course sites…

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Moodle Maintenance: May 20, 2016 at 1am

From our Moodle host:

In order to ensure complete patching of OpenSSL the following site will be placed in maintenance mode, then rebooted during the listed maintenance window.

These patches have already been applied to the front end SSL for your site, but the reboot is a requirement for all services to run the fully patched OpenSSL version.

Hosted Site: http://moodle.middlebury.edu

Window: 1:00 AM to 5:00 AM EDT, May 20th, 2016

Please note the time zone specified above.

ACTT In-Progress Project Presentation for GoogleApps for Edu and OneDrive

Tuesday, May 17th from 3-4pm
LIB 105A or Polycom 712833

The new ACT Team process includes in-progress project presentations. These presentations are meant to inform the community about how things are going, what has been done and what still needs to be done, what is going well and what are the challenges.

Agenda

In this meeting we will look at the GoogleApps for Edu and OneDrive projects.

In-progress project presentations are open meetings, anyone may attend. Please feel free to share the invitation with anyone you feel is interested in the topics discussed.