All posts by Sean Michael Morris

Digital Annotation Workshop in the Wilson Media Lab

For Faculty, For Staff, Midd News & Events, Midd Points, Wilson Media Lab, workshops

Join us on Thursday, April 6 at 1:30PM Eastern for a special workshop in the Wilson Media Lab focused on using digital annotation in classrooms and online. Digital annotation—a technology that allows us to annotate documents and web pages from inside a browser window or inside Canvas—is an alternative to online discussion forums, which can often be hard to make lively and interesting. Workshop participants will gain hands-on experience with an annotation client, Hypothes.is, and receive guidance on using Hypothes.is in WordPress, Canvas, and on the open Web.

This workshop explores collaborative web annotation as a core digital pedagogical practice in the 21st century classroom. This emergent technology enables everyday Internet users to comment on or publicly discuss any web page. It can be applied in education to teach students traditional literacy skills and newer forms of digital literacy.

For more information, visit the Office of Digital Learning blog.

Digital Annotation for Learning and Scholarship

Midd Points, Midd/MIIS Collaboration, Office of Digital Learning

From January 23 – February 3, the Office of Digital Learning will offer a special digital learning opportunity: a facilitated online experience called Digital Annotation for Learning and Scholarship. This experience is designed to give teachers, instructional designers and technologists, students, and others an introduction to digital annotation as both a means to greater engagement with digital texts, and an pathway to collaborative scholarly communication.

As a community, we will explore, among other things:

  • Digital reading vs. analog reading
  • Annotation as solution for deeper reading
  • History of annotation both analog and digital
  • Social annotation as a teaching modality, and as scholarly practice

Some of the questions we’ll be asking include:

  • Why collaborative annotation? Why social annotation?
  • What are the theories of annotation and learning? Is there a connection?
  • How are digital collaboration and community building related?

The digital learning opportunity is free and open to anyone interested in online and hybrid learning and teaching, digital collaboration, social networking, and digital scholarship. Pre-registration is required. To learn more, visit the Office of Digital Learning blog, or register to participate here.

Distance Collaboration Conversation a Success!

Midd/MIIS Collaboration, Office of Digital Learning

On Friday, November 11, the Office of Digital Learning, in partnership with the Digital Learning Commons and the ACTT, facilitated a community-initiated conversation about distance collaboration and remote work. A summary of the meeting has been posted to the Office of Digital Learning blog. The conversation was attended by more than 30 people—at both campuses and online—and covered topics including:

  • How to run virtual meetings;
  • How to provide leadership for virtual and hybrid teams;
  • How to build strong relationships with colleagues at a distance;
  • The benefits and obstacles of distance collaboration;
  • How to take advantage of the diversity of expertise available throughout the Middlebury community.

The conversation was a first step in moving toward a better understanding of the affordances of the widespread Middlebury ecosystem. Look for other opportunities to contribute to the ongoing conversation coming soon.

Envisioning Distance Collaboration

collaboration, Envisioning Middlebury, For Faculty, For Staff, learning, Middlebury, middpoints

The Office of Digital Learning, the Digital Learning Commons, and the Academic Cyberinfrastructure Transformation Team (ACTT) will be hosting a community-initiated conversation about remote work and distance collaboration on November 11, 2016 at 12:00pm ET / 9:00am PT. The event will include synchronous collaboration across both campuses and with other remote attendees. For more information, visit the Office of Digital Learning blog, or save your seat for the conversation right away.

Hack Education Writer / Activist Audrey Watters to Speak about MiddCreate

events, For Faculty, For Staff, MiddCreate, Middlebury, middpoints, pedagogy

On October 21 at 1:30pm ET, the Office of Digital Learning and the Digital Learning Commons will be hosting a talk by Audrey Watters, internationally recognized education writer and speaker. Audrey will give a talk called “Attending to the Digital / Reclaiming the Web“, which will focus on issues of digital identity and ownership, and on the Domain of One’s Own movement that inspired Middlebury’s own MiddCreate. On Middlebury Campus, we will gather to watch and discuss the livestream at 1:30pm ET in the Davis Family Library, room 105A. For more information, visit the Office of Digital Learning blog.

Canvas Is Coming

Canvas, For Faculty, For Staff, Middlebury, Moodle, Office of Digital Learning, pedagogy

Starting in Fall 2016, Middlebury will adopt Canvas for use across the institution—the undergraduate College, the Institute in Monterey, the summer Language Schools, the Bread Loaf School of English, and the Schools Abroad. And while the institution’s Moodle instance will remain intact until January, for most people accustomed to using Moodle, the change may come with a few hard turns. And even for those new to using any learning management system, the affordances of Canvas may go undetected. Additionally, the speed at which teachers and students must become familiar with a new platform can mean we don’t take full advantage of what a new digital tool offers.

Fortunately, the Office of Digital Learning is here to offer some pedagogical support for new and continuing Canvas users. Take a look at their blog post about some of the ways Canvas can be a great online and classroom tool.