Tip of the Week
Each week, the Office of Distance Learning sets out to provide interesting and helpful topics in technology and education.
Create a reading guide with template
Week of 07/01/2024
Reading challenges can negatively affect students’ comprehension of critical course content. Recognizing the problem, some instructors cover textbook assignments during class, but the practice can disincentivize students from doing their own reading. A reading ...
Week of 06/24/2024
Flip, a video discussions tool better known as Flipgrid, will soon be integrated into Microsoft Teams for Education. The current Flip website and app will be view-only after July 1. Existing content can be downloaded until September 30. What next? Padlet, a ...
Add podcasts to your YouTube channel
Week of 06/17/2024
Podcasting is a medium that excels at informing and engaging on-the-go learners. Podcasts are digital audio files that can be consumed on demand or downloaded for off-line listening, making them ideal for smartphones or other small portable devices favored by ...
More tips for captioning YouTube videos
Week of 06/10/2024
As more educators add video content to their course materials, accurate captioning has become crucial to providing an equitable experience for all learners. Many students turn on video captions to improve their comprehension and focus, so consider captions as a ...
Organize ideas with Canva Whiteboard
Week of 06/03/2024
Many rely on Canva to create promotional materials, presentations, and social media posts. The site also offers collaborative decision-making tools for those accessing Canva Teams. For example, the Canva Whiteboard can be used with templates to direct and ...
Start a conversation with a word cloud
Week of 05/27/2024
A word cloud is a visual collection of text data with frequently occurring words appearing larger and bolder within a random cluster. Word clouds can be used to open a discussion, gather opinions, check for understanding, or prompt reflection. Slido, a word ...
Week of 05/20/2024
As generative AI tools have become readily available to learners, some instructors have turned to AI detectors purporting to call out AI-authored assignments. Unfortunately, there are high error rates when AI detectors are tasked with determining whether a piece ...
Camtasia introduces proxy videos
Week of 05/13/2024
Camtasia’s new proxy video feature speeds up the editing of large video files. Lengthy videos or footage recorded on a smartphone can result in unwieldy files that are hard for some computers to handle. Proxy videos are rendered in lower resolution while ...
Microsoft Designer creates images from prompts
Week of 05/06/2024
Strong visual messaging can engage readers and audiences, but gathering images can be a time-consuming task. Looking for a zippy text-to-image tool? Try Designer, a free-to-use feature of Microsoft Copilot, a gpt suite that includes a chat function, a vacation ...
Dawson discusses effective feedback
Week of 04/29/2024
In April, ODEL invited Phill Dawson, co-director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University, to discuss his work via Zoom webinars. Dawson’s research focuses on assessment and feedback design. The first session, ...