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

Leave a reply

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

ACTT Notes: UDOIT and the Academic Cyberinfrastructure

ACTT Team Membership

Amy Slay is leaving ACTT Core team and is joining Extended Team. Looking for time for other projects.

Joe A. would like to have somebody from Media Services join the team, Bob is talking with John in MIIS.

Amy Frazier is also stepping down from the ACTT, she primarily joined to work on Panopto as Media Services Librarian. Interested in attending extended team meetings when media is being discussed.

Joe will work on Slack and Google Doc access for the departing Amys.

Thoughts on membership? Bob is looking for someone from MIIS. Are we missing a point of view, who maybe able to provide that? Faculty, Science Support, Humanities Support?

ITS potential reorganization and merging of ACT, DLA and Digital coming in the near future. Will Library be missing?

UDOIT

Project request for Universal Design Online Content Inspection Tool, or UDOIT submitted. Service is integrated with Canvas, runs an accessibility and usability report. Provides report to faculty on accessibility and usability. Creates a link on every site, only available for faculty. No global back end for all courses. Tech: runs on a server not software as a service, it can be added to Canvas using the LTI system. Some details needs to be worked out in the project process.

WHD Project Ticket:

https://webhelpdesk.middlebury.edu/helpdesk/WebObjects/Helpdesk.woa/wa/TicketActions/view?ticket=543406&_nr=1

Project Charter:

https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1gvMBN11EjLAHL3hqMNDy2kRlRVk0VQuQvfobZHbSMLE/edit

IT Gov Meeting scheduling and attendance discussion.

Academic Cyberinfrastructure

Prezi:

https://prezi.com/dRJ6UGcL0gbHf0bCM6Oh/
Question: what does somebody new need to know when they arrive on campus to do Academic work.

Joe A. we often spend a lot time looking at the software, would like to look at system as a whole. Joe did a demo in Prezi.

  • People: Tutors, Help Desk, Librarians, Instructional Designers… add; faculty & student peers, grad students, vendors?
  • Systems: LMS, Identity Management, Social Media & MiddCreate
  • Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning, Flipped classroom, blended learning & Hybrid
  • Policies: IP, Course Material Retention
  • Practices: Cloud Storage, Design Thinking
  • Programs: Lynda.com(could be viewed as a technology), DLA, Fund for Innovation, add CTLR(and list of programs), Symposia?
  • Technology: Link to Inventory.

Discussion, positive it goes beyond the tools.

Discussion about Programs, rename as Resources or leave as is?

Intended to supplement intro during faculty orientation and what is introduced during first year seminar.

How Middlebury-wide is this, place based? Identify equity and equivalency.

Help with shared definitions for blended and hybrid…

Would it be helpful to have a discussion around this with the ACTT Extended team.

Nothing under ZERO; ideas, map out options, things that spark ideas(presentations).

Add Security somewhere? Possibly under Identity Management in Systems.

Joe is looking for feedback to flesh this out more. May seek input from Extended Team members.

Bob, Adam and Jamie will share with their teams for input.

ACTT Notes: Canvas Evaluation

ACTT Extended Team Meeting August 29, 2017

Agenda

Instructure, the company that hosts Canvas, will be presenting an Executive Business Review, sharing data pertaining to Middlebury’s use of Canvas in the first year. This presentation will provide us with insights into how Canvas is being used and supported, and lay the groundwork for future evaluations.

 

Notes

Kelly Jerome, our Customer Success Manager from Instructure presented.

  • Stats are per-month, due to rolling on and off of terms, the data isn’t always reflective of a particular term.
  • Can get details on sub-accounts.
  • Includes support details, SLA compliance, support mechanism (phone, chat, email), and user-type.
  • For real-time reporting, the Canvas data-API would need to be used. For much custom reporting this would require our own developer time to leverage. Instructure has several pre-built reports that could be purchased that wouldn’t require local resources.

EBR

A copy of the report can be seen here. Please log in with your Middlebury username and password to view.

Academic Technology Fall Kick-Off Series

Leave a reply

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

Leave a reply

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

ACTT Notes: One-year Evaluation

Presentation Slides

 

The proposal for the ACTT called for an evaluation at the one-year and two-year marks. The one-year evaluation was designed to assess the Team’s activities so that changes could be made. The evaluation was also designed to have as few survey questions as possible, some of the evaluations questions are designed to be answered with collected data. A brief survey was shared with Core members, Extended Team members, and members of the Project Teams.

 

Slide 3: Academic Cyberinfrastructure Inventory

We now have a searchable database of the web-based services that support academic work, with infrastructure dependencies. Now that budget decisions are being made, services are moving from pilot to production and enterprise phases, the information in the database needs to be updated.

 

Slide 4: Canvas

When Moodle was launched we saw a decrease in use from Fall to Spring. This year we saw an increase in Canvas use.

 

Slide 5: Canvas

Some faculty used Canvas in the Fall but did not use it in the Spring, and vice versa. Also, faculty did not use Canvas for all of their courses. This may mean that faculty are thinking critically about whether Canvas supports their teaching on a course by course basis. The CTLR-sponsored a number of Canvas-based workshops.

 

Slide 6: Panopto

Panopto is not just a streaming media service, it also offers expanded functionality for screen capturing, broadcasting, and media discussion. A CTLR-sponsored workshop used Panopto for flipping the classroom activities.

 

Slide 7: Zoom

The videoconferencing evaluation used an interesting method. 4 services were used in one hour in a round-robin style. The Team was able to quickly determine the top choices. The pilot of Zoom was so successful, and the platform so popular, that we needed to expand to a campus-wide license before the end.

 

Slide 8: RStudio

A handful of classes used RStudio Server this year. DLA-sponsored workshops on DATA were delivered, and a Data Study group was created.

The company has let us know that they will be launching a cloud-based version of RSTudio Server.

 

Slide 9: Who Took the Survey

We had a 75% return rate for the survey. All of the Core Team and most of the Extended Team took the survey. Some may have mis-identified themselves.

 

Slide 10: Other Roles

Many members of the ACTT serve on multiple teams. There are four members that serve on the Core, Extended, and Project Teams.

 

Slide 11: Usefulness of Information

Most members find the published information useful for their jobs.

 

Slide 12: Usefulness of Meetings

The majority of members in all roles believe that the information shared at meetings is useful for their jobs. 25% are Not Sure, which seems high. Some more investigation is needed.

Note from Discussion: Some may be feeling unsure about the usefulness because of their own participation in some of the discussions. We should look for ways to craft the discussions so that everyone feels they are able to participate.

Some feel that the multiple points of view are very valuable, otherwise they would be receiving one point of view, or a filtered point of view, from individuals. The Team has done well at being inclusive in its information gathering and sharing.

 

Slide 13: Meetings

This question is flawed, since members were not asked if they had a role on the CTT. It is expected that Core members that served on the CTT would see no change, new Core members would see an increase. Extended Team members that served on the CTT would see a decrease, new members would see an increase. Some follow up questions will need to be asked.

The projected number of Extended Team meetings was one per month. The average is very close, however it is noted that most of these meetings occurred in the fall as recommendations were crafted for budget proposals.

Note from Discussion: Some noted that the weekly meeting creates efficiencies, they are meeting collectively with people that they would meet with individually anyways.

 

Slides 14-17: Additional Notes

Some comments were broken up, with an attempt to group ideas based on content.

Notes from Discussion: There are outstanding questions about the relationship of the ACTT and ITS Governance/Priority Setting. We also identified future projects: WordPress sites and MiddCreate; Moodle Archiving; Panopto Rollout; Canvas LTIs.

 

Slide 18: Next Steps?

  • Joe will post the notes from this meeting.
  • The ACTT Core will discuss.
  • We will have follow-up conversations with members and others.