The Office of Educational Technology provides several resources to support your teaching, whether it's by pairing you with an instructional designer to help you create videos that enhance lessons, or by providing you with access to important software.
Below are a few of the Technologies and links to support pages to help instructors who are using or considering using technology in their teaching. Click below to find out more about these tools.
Brightspace is a cloud-based learning management system (LMS) that runs blended and fully online courses. It comprises three integrated pla orms: learning environment, learning repository, and ePor olio. It was developed by D2L and designed to provide the tools necessary for content crea on, assignment submissions, communica on, and assessment by combining a collabora ve and interac ve virtual learning environment.
VoiceThread is a new type of multimedia discussion board that allows instructors and students to share images, documents, PowerPoint presentations,PFDs, videos and audio files. Instructors and students can then participate in the discussion by leaving feedback/ comments using a microphone, webcam, text, phone and file uploads. Participants can also use VoiceThread's doodle tool to illustrate their point.
SoftChalk Cloud is a platform that makes it easy to create interactive websites to improve student teaching and learning. SoftChalk also allows you to host and share your websites (lessons)
Respondus 4.0 is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams that can be printed to paper or published to Blackboard. Exams can be created offline using a familiar Windows environment, or moved between different learning systems. Whether you are a veteran of online testing or relatively new to it, Respondus 4 will save you hours on each project.
As the QCC community begins the preparation for another semester in a fully online setup, the Office of Educational Technology thought it would be helpful to develop a list of best practices and recommendations for creating an effective online course. These guidelines are based on the nationally recognized Quality Matters Rubric, which is used to assess the design and quality of online courses.
As we know the summer classes come with new challenges for both the students and faculty. These guidelines will help you to be proactive and prepare your course for the upcoming semester.
1. Provide instructions to make clear how to get started and where to find various course components.
Information posted at the beginning of the course provides a general course overview, presents the schedule of activities, guides the learner to explore the course site, and indicates what to do first, in addition to listing detailed navigational instructions for the whole course. A useful feature is a “Getting Started” or “Start Here” button or icon on the course home page, linking learners to start-up information.
2. The course grading policy is stated clearly.
3. Upload your course syllabus
4. Minimum technology requirements are clearly stated and instructions for use provided.
5. All learning objectives should be stated clearly and written from the student's perspective.
6. The relationship between learning objectives and course activities is clearly stated.
The learning activities should not be seen as arbitrary or unconnected; their purpose in the course is explained in terms of the learning objectives or competencies.
Examples of course components that clarify the relationship:
7. The course provides learners with multiple opportunities to track their learning progress
Learning is more effective if learners receive frequent, substantive, and timely feedback. The feedback may come from the instructor directly, from assignments and assessments that have feedback built into them, or from other learners.
Examples that meet this recommendation:
8. A variety of instructional materials is used in the course.
The course presents a variety of relevant instructional materials that may include textbooks, e-textbooks, online publications, Open Educational Resources (OER), instructor-created resources, websites, and multimedia. Variety may take the form of different types of media used to deliver content.
Examples of variety in instructional materials:
9. Learning activities provide opportunities for interaction that support active learning
Interactive learning activities promote active learning and engagement through three types of interaction: learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-learner. Active learning entails guiding learners to increasing levels of responsibility for their own learning. Activities for learner-instructor interaction might include an assignment or project submitted for instructor feedback; learner-instructor discussion in a synchronous session or an asynchronous discussion board exchange; or a frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) discussion forum moderated by the instructor.
10. Course tools promote learner engagement and active learning.
Examples of tools that support engagement and active learning:
Quality Matters (QM) is a nationally recognized, faculty-driven peer review process used to ensure the quality of online and partially-onlinecourse design. The Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric is a set of standards used to evaluate the design of online and blended courses. These standards were developed and revised based on research and established standards in the fields of instructional design and online learning.
A set of eight General Standards and 42 Specific Review Standards used to evaluate the design of online and partially-onlinecourses. Annotations explain the applications of the Standards and their inter-relationships. The Rubric has a scoring system used by the mentor or self-evaluator to determinewhether a course meets the standards.
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The KHC uses the lessons of the Holocaust to educate current and future generations about the ramifications of unbridled prejudice, racism and stereotyping.
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QPAC is an invaluable entertainment company in this region with a growing national reputation. The arts at QPAC continues to play a vital role in transforming lives and building stronger communities.
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The QCC Art Gallery of the City University of New York is a vital educational and cultural resource for Queensborough Community College, the Borough of Queens and the surrounding communities.
