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Level Up Your Online Teaching with Our Revised Professional Development Series

By Kyle Sky
September 18, 2024

We’re excited to announce the latest revision of our Level Up professional development series. Level Up consists of three professional development courses housed in Canvas:

  • Level Up 1 – Planning Your Online Course
  • Level Up 2 – Developing Your Online Course
  • Level Up 3 – Teaching Your Online Course

These courses have been designed to support you in developing a new course or revising an existing one. The OPLR instructional design and media teams have worked together to carefully update Level Up to reflect current best practices and provide an even more engaging and effective learning experience. Here are the top five improvements we’re most excited about.

1. Updated Learning Resources and Activities

We’ve refreshed our learning resources and activities to ensure they address the most current challenges in online learning design. You will find revised materials such as:

  • Selecting materials for equity, diversity, and inclusion
  • Creating effective media
  • Cultivating a sense of community

The Level Up content is more relevant than ever, helping you navigate the evolving landscape of online education with confidence.

2. Enhanced In-House Resources and Examples

We’ve significantly expanded our collection of in-house learning resources, reducing reliance on third-party materials. This includes:

3. More Faculty-Centered Media Content

We’ve incorporated more media content featuring you, our faculty partners! In these videos, experienced instructors share their personal experiences adapting to the online environment and offer practical advice for colleagues new to online teaching. Check out this great example from Brenda Tyczkowski on the benefits of backward design:

We hope this video inspires you and demonstrates the power of presenting information in many formats (such as a tipsheet and a complementary video).

 

4. Revised Milestones and Digital Badges


We’ve updated the assessments within the Level Up courses to reflect current best practices. The templates and job aids associated with the milestone assessments closely resemble the tools our instructional design team uses when working with faculty partners. And, as you submit milestones, you’ll receive individualized feedback from our instructional design team.

As an added incentive, faculty can earn digital badges by completing each training course. These badges are a tangible recognition of your commitment to professional development in online education.

5. Best Practices in Action

We’ve applied our own best practices in online course design to these training courses, with a strong focus on:

  • Alignment: Ensuring course objectives, content, and assessments work together seamlessly. Every Level Up activity supports your goal of enhancing your online teaching.
  • Engagement: Creating interactive and motivating learning experiences. We’ve incorporated tailored media content and numerous examples to keep you engaged and connected to the content.
  • Scaffolding: Providing structured support to help you build skills over time. As you work through the three Level Up courses, you will be carefully guided through the planning, course design, and teaching processes for online learning. Every milestone includes templates and job aids that can be reused in future course projects.

By experiencing these best practices firsthand as learners, you can gain a deeper understanding of their impact and be better equipped to implement them in your courses.

We’re so excited to share these changes with you! Months of effort from the OPLR team have gone into making Level Up the best that it can be. As you embark upon your next course development or revision, be sure to ask your instructional designer about how the Level Up courses can contribute to your project goals.

Integrating AI into the Classroom: Strategies from UWEX Faculty

By Jessica O'Neel
May 6, 2024

A year ago, there were significant concerns, curiosities, and questions about how artificial intelligence and large language models like ChatGPT would impact higher education. Now, though questions and concerns change and evolve, curiosities have been turned into course activities. As AI continues to reshape various industries, UWEX faculty are actively exploring ways to harness its potential in the classroom. From enhancing accessibility and fostering critical thinking to simulating real-world scenarios and generating assessment assets, faculty members across disciplines are pioneering innovative approaches that leverage AI to enrich the learning experience.

Assessing AI’s Impacts in the Field and Creating Authenticity

In Dr. Adam Fornal’s Agile and Traditional IT Project Management course, students actively explore how AI is changing the field of project management and how it might impact their work in IT management. Dr. Fornal believes it is important for students to accept AI and learn how it can supplement their existing roles as opposed to fearing it. In the course, AI is responsible for handling some of the more administrative-type tasks for project managers (e.g., following up on assigned items, logging the status of tasks, transcribing and summarizing meetings, and generating project communications among other things). Students also complete a reflective journal and assignment to reflect on how AI is impacting the skills needed for project management work.

In a different course, Dr. Fornal uses an interactive AI simulation with students where they serve as project managers, and based on their decisions, the simulation will respond with different variables and situations. This is a great way for students to apply their knowledge and see how projects function as close as possible to the real world. Student feedback supports that this is a worthwhile and enriching activity. It is also a different learning method as opposed to more traditional readings and assignments.

Critiquing AI’s Capabilities

In Dr. Dubear Kroening’s Heredity course, students are encouraged to ask AI to generate a paragraph for a research paper for them. Students are then asked to determine the accuracy of the information, including if AI plagiarized the information from another source. They also critique the AI’s output to see if it replicates their style of writing. Students then keep asking the AI tool to generate content until they get it to hallucinate or produce definitively false information. The assignment concludes with a reflection on the experience, including what they learned and how it could be helpful in the future.

The goal of this activity is to use AI to better understand the benefits and detriments of using it for both academic work and everyday use. Dr. Kroening believes it’s important for students to understand the difference between legitimate research and just finding things on the uncontrolled internet. Moreover, as AI will be used much more in the future, students must understand how it can be used properly to help with a variety of tasks.

*This is our featured example from the Instructional Strategies and Course Design Showcase for this issue!

Enhancing Accessibility and Deepening Discussions with AI

In Dr. Ryan Zellner’s Roots of Rock and Roll course, AI was used to generate song descriptions and visual representations for students who may have a hearing impairment. In this course, students are asked to analyze songs. Having these descriptions not only helps students with hearing impairments complete the activity successfully but also provides support for students who may not have a strong musical background.

Students were also asked in a discussion to reflect on how AI may impact the music industry in the future. Dr. Zellner states that students were able to apply their critical thinking skills in terms of the intersection of technology and music. In the discussion, students applied concepts they’d already learned in the course to make predictions about how AI might affect music in the future, such as the ability of AI to come up with new genres, the ability to bring “back” musicians who are no longer with us, and even the possibility of music completely generated by AI. This led the discussion into a deeper analysis of ownership, copyright, and the higher concept of art. Would music still be art if it is generated without human interaction?

Using AI to Create Assessment Assets

Dr. Jamie O’Neill is using AI in the classroom by giving students the option to use AI tools in creating marketing material for a public health campaign. If students choose to use AI, they are also tasked with evaluating the quality of the tool’s output, such as what they would change or improve or how they might revise the prompt they submitted. Not only does this give students awareness of the capabilities of AI tools, but it also asks students to critically think about their limitations and opportunities for improvement.

Dr. O’Neill believes that because AI is a tool available to everyone, it is helpful to give students ways to work with it to gauge its pros and cons. Students can then decide whether using it in their future work would be helpful.

Evaluating AI

Dr. Sakib Mahmud’s course Corporate Social Responsibility is a writing-intensive graduate course in the Sustainable Management program. It includes topic-focused writing assignments, case studies, a term paper, a group project, and discussions. During the course’s revision last fall, students’ use of AI in developing and writing the course assignments and how to evaluate their work were addressed. The goal was to provide robust guidelines that invite students to use the technology but also make them aware of the ethical and policy implications as well as quality and accuracy. Information on citing the AI tools was also provided to the students. Here is an example of verbiage provided to students from one of the writing assignments in the course:

“Apply caution and sound judgment when using artificial intelligence (AI) tools and applications (including, but not limited to Chat GPT, DALL-E, and others) in course assignments. Using them without appropriate citation and documentation is akin to plagiarism and a violation of academic misconduct policy.”

While the discussions and the group project in this course also reference the use of AI and how work will be evaluated, the verbiage here is deliberately brief and less detailed. In these types of activities, it was more important to encourage conversation and collaboration among students without making the use of AI such an important evaluation criterion as in the more formal written assignments.

Conclusion

The innovative practices highlighted in this article serve as a testament to our UWEX faculty, who are dedicated to equipping their students with the skills and mindset to be well-prepared for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. By integrating AI into their curricula, faculty are not only demystifying the technology but also empowering students to become active participants in shaping its responsible and ethical application. Though you may still have questions and concerns, hopefully, some curiosity has been sparked to incorporate AI into your course.

2024 Faculty Symposium Preview

By Abbie Amadio
May 2, 2024

Rebecca Glazier, PhD

Keynote Presentation by Dr. Rebecca Glazier

This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Rebecca A. Glazier. A political science professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Dr. Glazier’s research interests span religion and politics, foreign policy, community engagement, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and more. Her book Connecting in the Online Classroom: Building Rapport between Teachers and Students (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021) details how simple, regular, and science-based rapport-building strategies can significantly improve student retention and success. In 2023, EdTech named Dr. Glazier one of the top higher-education influencers to follow, which highlights Dr. Glazier’s championing of technology to connect with students on a human level in the virtual classroom. In her keynote presentation, Dr. Glazier will share research-backed evidence demonstrating the impact that building rapport can have, how to build that rapport, and how to make meaningful connections with your online students.

Faculty Breakout Sessions

At this year’s symposium, you’ll have the opportunity to attend several breakout sessions led by UW faculty and experts in instructional design and media. Offered in various formats, the sessions will all focus on current best practices in online teaching and learning and offer practical strategies on everything from producing impactful lectures to cultivating personal resilience and preparing students to flourish in the age of AI. Get a glimpse of each breakout session below and see the full details on the UW Extended Campus 2024 Faculty Symposium website.

 

Coaching Students on How to Thrive in the Era of AI

Dee Piziak, UW-Milwaukee

💻 Presentation Gain insights into the far-reaching impact of AI on various industries and careers and how educators can equip their students with the tools they’ll need to succeed in an AI-driven world.

 

 

Creating Effective 15-Minute Narrated PowerPoint Lectures for Online Classes

John Bennett, UW-Parkside

💻 Presentation Learn a streamlined approach for crafting concise and impactful 15-minute narrated PowerPoint lectures that efficiently use publisher-provided resources, existing slides, and additional relevant course material to foster a more engaged and informed learning experience.

 

 

Aligning Curriculum with Changing Industry Needs

Kelli Stein, UW-Parkside, and Eileen Horn (Instructional Designer), UW Extended Campus

💻 Presentation Through the lens of revamping the UW Flexible Option’s Project Management certificate, you will explore strategies for effectively aligning curriculum with changing industry needs. Additionally, this presentation will cover identifying emerging industry trends and integrating them into course design, ensuring students are equipped with relevant and marketable skills in their field of study.

 

 

Strategies for Incorporating Labs into Online Science Courses

Laura Lee, UW-Stevens Point; Kristine Prahl, UW-Stevens Point; Jennifer Bray, UW-Stevens Point; and Kristine Pierick (Instructional Designer), UW Extended Campus

🎤 Panel Discussion Learn innovative strategies for delivering meaningful lab experiences in online science courses. You will also have the opportunity to brainstorm and share your own best practices for designing and teaching online lab courses.

 

 

Challenges and Opportunities in Online Asynchronous Group Learning

Pritosh Kumar, UW-Parkside, and Michelle Gabor, UW-Parkside

💻 Presentation Explore the best methods to create, manage, and monitor effective group assignments for both undergraduate and graduate online students. You will also discover new online tools for group learning and how to gauge success by evaluating metrics like participation, cohesion, and individual learning in a group setting.

 

 

Creating Effective Group Project Teams

Scott Dickmeyer, UW-La Crosse

✏️ Workshop Learn how to craft better work groups by identifying students’ individual managerial strengths and communication styles, ensuring a balanced and effective team environment. You will complete a hands-on activity where you’ll learn your own managerial strengths and communication styles, thereby experiencing the same dynamics as your students when grouped using this approach.

 

 

Teaching Communication in Degree Programs

Tim Krause, UW-Stevens Point, and Terry Tao (Instructional Designer), UW Extended Campus

💻 Presentation Discover effective strategies to inform students of the importance of clear communication in diverse technical professions, particularly when engaging with students who may question the need for strong communication skills in their respective fields.

 

 

Managing Capstone and Other Online Projects

Tim Krause, UW-Stevens Point; Michael Steury, UW-Stevens Point; and Kristin Kowal (Instructional Designer), UW Extended Campus

🎤 Panel Discussion Gain deeper insight into the challenges of guiding capstone students through applied projects in an entirely online, asynchronous setting. You will gain a deeper understanding of how to help students evaluate and select their projects and manage them throughout the semester using methods like Agile and scrum reporting via Google Sheets, interactive video demonstrations, and the Capstone database.

 

 

Practice Resilience by Inviting New Challenges: Activate Your “Bucket List”!

Theresa Dionne, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Madison

✏️ Workshop Learn how to cultivate resilience by designing a personalized “bucket list,” a strategy for increasing well-being and reducing the negative effects of stress often encountered in the demanding world of academia.

 

 

Driving Choice and Collaboration in Asynchronous Quantitative Environments

Lauren Mauel, UW-Green Bay

✏️ Workshop Discover innovative strategies to foster collaboration and empower student choice within asynchronous online courses, specifically looking at quantitative subject areas.

 

 

Open Topics Discussion

Ryan Anderson (Director of Instructional Design), Kyle Sky (Instructional Designer), Laurie Berry (Instructional Designer), Kristine Pierick (Instructional Designer), and the Media Team, UW Extended Campus

🎤 Open Discussion Join experts from the Instructional Design and Media Teams for an open discussion with your fellow online faculty members. In this engaging session, you will brainstorm with other attendees to select four main topics of discussion, ensuring a balanced conversation on each. The moderators will also review the resources available to faculty to assist with course development.

 

AI Roundtable Discussion

Nate Ewings (Instructional Designer) and Kelsey Zeller (Instructional Designer), UW Extended Campus

🎤 Open Discussion Join instructional designers leading the conversion about AI in online education for this roundtable discussion that will give you the opportunity to share with your colleagues how AI has impacted your teaching, how you’re using AI in your work, and how you are seeing students use it in your classroom.

 

See the full schedule and read more about the sessions and speakers on the UW Extended Campus 2024 Faculty Symposium website.

Faculty Spotlight: Blanca Munoz

By Abbie Amadio

In our latest “Faculty Spotlight,” we share the experience of instructor Blanca Munoz who proudly holds the distinction of being the first instructor to receive the Level Up digital badges upon successfully mastering each of the courses. Our Level Up professional development courses are designed to support faculty members in the planning, development, and teaching of online courses.

Instructor Munoz underscores how the Level Up courses empowered her to enhance her online course significantly. Through a comprehensive understanding gained from the Level Up courses, she was able to refine her course planning, development, and teaching methodologies, resulting in a more engaging and effective learning experience for her students. Her perspective of these courses serves as a testament to the profound impact they can have on faculty members, equipping them with the expertise and confidence needed to excel in online teaching. In the following interview, instructional designer Kristine Pierick sits down with Instructor Munoz to discuss the transformative benefits she gained from completing our Level Up courses.

Blanca Munoz, Adjunct Instructor of Modern Languages, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Blanca Munoz is an Adjunct Instructor in Modern Languages at UW-Parkside.

Kristine Pierick, Instructional Designer, University of Wisconsin

Kristine Pierick is a Senior Instructional Designer with UW Extended Campus. She has worked on the UW Independent Learning, Collaborative, and Flexible Option programs.

Interview

What motivated you to enroll in these courses, and what were your expectations before starting them?

What motivated me to enroll in these courses was to learn more about how to prepare a good online class. I had taught synchronous online classes but not asynchronous, so the preparation was different. My expectations were to learn more about how to help students have a good experience with their online course as well as obtain all the necessary tools to prepare my course and provide students with good teaching.

Could you share some insights into the Planning Your Online Course? What key concepts or strategies did you learn that you found particularly beneficial?

Planning Your Online Course is the starting point for creating a great online course. What do we want students to learn at the end of the course? We cannot start creating a course if we do not have the main goal and the course objectives in front of us. This course helped me plan my course in a more organized way and take into account the course objectives. Also, it helped me write each of them considering they are divided into three parts: verb, content, and context. This is thinking about each lesson goal. In this course, I also learned how to create a course alignment map so that the course meets all the objectives in an organized way. Another thing that was beneficial and important to me is the levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, mainly the verbs because they help a lot when writing the course objectives. Before taking this class, I ignored how beneficial it is to start planning a course from its objectives.

How did Developing Your Online Course contribute to your understanding and execution of effective online teaching strategies? Were there any specific tools or methodologies introduced that stood out to you?

According to the course Developing Your Online Course, for an online course to be effective, we need different strategies. For example, after we have prepared the course objectives and the course alignment map, then we can start with the next steps, developing the lessons and assessments. To design a lesson, we can think about having different types of activities to help all students and their different needs. Achieving the main points of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, we can create formative assessments, summative assessments, and authentic assessments. By having multiple activities, we give students the opportunity to receive good feedback and re-learn what they studied to meet the learning objectives. Something that caught my attention was the use of scaffolding activities because they are good and very practical for students to reach the course goal. Another thing is the use of Universal Design of Instruction because it helps design courses that are accessible and inclusive for all people who want to take those courses.

Transitioning from course planning and development to actual teaching, what were some of the key takeaways from the Teaching Your Online Course? How did it help you in implementing your online teaching strategies effectively?

Teaching Your Online Course focuses on how important it is to be present as an instructor in the class during the whole semester. This course helped me think about how I could be more present in my class. So, I established my presence from day one with two videos. In one, I give a brief introduction about myself, and in the other, I give more information about the course; I recorded videos in each lesson as well. I’ll also reply to students’ discussion posts and give feedback on their assignments in a reasonable time frame. Giving them good feedback and time helps students to not continue doing the same in the next activities. This helps them to get and achieve the course objectives.

In what specific ways have these courses enhanced your ability to engage with students in the online learning environment? Can you provide any examples of strategies you’ve implemented successfully as a result of this training?

These courses have helped me improve student engagement by providing me with good strategies for how I, as a teacher, can be present and active in the course. Some examples they have given are providing various contact methods on how students can ask their teacher their questions and giving students feedback in a short time. It is important for the teacher to be part of the discussion posts. To be present in the course, I have two videos at the beginning of the course, one to welcome students to class and the other to introduce myself and give a short biography. Also, for each lesson, I prepared videos to give them a brief review of what they would find in each chapter.

One concern many educators have with online teaching is maintaining student motivation and participation. Did these courses offer any insights or strategies to address this challenge? If so, how have you applied them in your teaching practice?

Maintaining motivation and participation in online courses is a bit complicated. In these courses, I learned how to solve these challenges and what activities to prepare to help students. In my course, I have prepared different and fun activities through which students can connect with their classmates. For example, in some discussion posts, students record videos and then reply to their classmates. This motivates students to see their peers and be in contact with each other. I also respond to their posts with feedback, which helps me to be in contact with them and motivates them to complete their work.

Reflecting on your experience completing these courses, how would you summarize the overall benefits they provided in terms of enhancing your online teaching capabilities?

All three courses were very interesting and provided very good training to start teaching online courses. The courses provide good pedagogy and also practice. In all three courses, there were assessments that I had to complete to see if I was on the right path. I learned from how to write the course objectives to how to teach and be present in the online course. The feedback that I received from the activities I completed was also very good and helped me improve my own course. Now I feel more capable of being able to teach students in an online course and not just in in-person courses.

Finally, for educators who may be considering similar professional development opportunities, what advice or encouragement would you offer based on your experience with these courses?

These courses are very good, and they have a lot of good information. Sometimes it may seem overwhelming, but it’s all about patience. It is not necessary to finish everything in one sitting; it is better to take your time. Little by little you can reach the goal and thus you can pay more attention to the content of each module.

Please contact your instructional designer to complete the three Level Up professional development courses.

Lights, Camera, Success: Elevate Your Course with UWEX Media

By Jessica O'Neel
January 31, 2024

Infographic of Media Services
Download the media studio infographic above or the accessible PDF to share with your students or colleagues.

One of the unique services of developing courses with UWEX is access to our media team to create a variety of custom media for your course. As you develop or revise your course, you will collaborate with your instructional designer and a media team representative to brainstorm and create unique and engaging media. Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about coming to record media at our studio in Madison.

Does it take longer to come to Madison and record compared with doing the recording myself?

Recording your media in the studio saves time in the long run. With a little prep work on your end, all your media for the entire course is recorded within a few hours. The media team takes care of the technical setup, audio or video recording, file naming and saving, and any troubleshooting that may need to be done. All you need to do is come to the studio and the team takes care of the rest. You get to focus on the content of your course. The media team takes care of the asset creation and distribution. This can save a lot of time compared to the back and forth that may ensue if a potential media piece needs multiple takes to get it right. It also reduces the risk of files becoming corrupted and thus needing to be re-recorded.

What if I have a little bit of stage fright or don’t like the way my voice sounds?

Everyone feels this way from time to time. Our media team professionals will make you feel and look your best during your studio session. There’s no need to memorize lines as you’ll have access to a teleprompter to assist you with script delivery. Studio lighting is often more flattering than a computer webcam. High-fidelity audio and advanced camera setups ensure you will look and sound polished and professional. Studio-produced assets also provide more flexibility for post-production adjustments. Additionally, the media team members are excellent at providing nonjudgmental feedback to help you with your delivery. They can edit multiple takes together to create the best possible product.

“I had a fantastic day recording video with the media team. Having never done anything like this before, I was a bit intimidated by the studio and the process. But the media crew made me feel very relaxed and comfortable and showed me everything I needed to know to make my course videos successful.”
-Tim Knautz, UW-Parkside

“The media team is the best! [They] helped me ease my tension. The media room is well organized, and it is easy to understand what is supposed to be done. I was nervous to do the video shoot, but when I went to the studio, [they] explained everything and made the entire process look so easy. I finally did the video shoot, and it was easy. I enjoyed it. Kudos to the media team for everything they did.”
-Raghava Gundala, UW-Parkside

Who will I work with once I am at the studio?

Coming into the studio is a great way to network and build relationships. When you record in the studio, it becomes a truly collaborative process between you, your ID, and a media team member. Often, “in-the-moment” ideas come up, such as adding a whiteboard or embedding a video or song. In these situations, you can work with your media person and ID to implement them on the spot.

Why should I record in the studio when I can record myself? Won’t that seem more personal?

The set can be decorated to reflect your personality and topics of the course. Because our media team takes care of all the technical details, you’ll even have time for wardrobe changes if you want to use clothing to tell your story. One faculty member wore a different rock band T-shirt for each video they created!

Many faculty appreciate  The media team will help you produce content that will make your course stand out and look very professional. The pieces you record with UWEX can also be used with other UWEX courses you teach or in courses you teach on your home campus. Studio-recorded pieces proved consistent student experiences across UWEX courses.

“The amazing people at the UWEX media team make me feel like a rock star. They’ve helped me come up with plans, outlines, and scripts to deliver effective instructional content for my course. When I go to the studio, they make everything comfortable and relaxed, from the studio setup to them running the teleprompter to having bottles of water available to keep my voice working at full strength throughout the various recordings. And those special graphics and effects they create add a high production value to my course materials. I am so proud of what we’ve created!”
-J. Richard Freese, UW-Superior

Are there unique tools I will have access to if I record in the studio?

The media team has several unique tools to make your content stand out, allowing you to create a wide variety of unique media items. The media team can add animations and graphics to videos to enhance what you are saying and keep students engaged. They can record custom stock footage, including drone footage, to add authenticity. Tools like the Lightboard can provide a unique way to demonstrate content while maintaining a personal connection with students.

“…it was a smooth operation in terms of scheduling our time, working through the project plan and executing what I needed for the course. In the end, we ended up with some dramatic drone videos, and interviews with industry leaders. I also shot weekly introductions to the materials in the studio. They look highly professional and make me look better than I am. 🙂 I highly recommend the services of this team and look forward to working with them again in the future.”
-Steve Dunn, UW-Oshkosh

If you have recorded in the studio, we’d love to hear your feedback! Please reach out to Melissa Smiley, Director of Instructional Media to share your experience.