Our goal is to communicate the latest news and updates related to UC’s eLearning ecosystem, Canopy. If you have ideas, announcements, or suggestions for the newsletter, please email us at ucitpio@ucmail.uc.edu.
View past publications of the Canopy Newsletter in our newsletter archive at uc.edu/canopy.
eLearning champions:
Sonja Andrus, Brenda Refaei, Jo Ann Thompson, Sharon Burns & Ruth Benander
“Individual innovations are good, but team innovations create sustainable and wide spread change,” Ruth Benander, English professor and Director of the Learning and Teaching Center at UC Blue Ash, said.
Benander, along with Sonja Andrus and Brenda Refaei, assistant professors in UCBA’s English department, as well as Sharon Burns and Jo Ann Thompson, assistant professors in UC Clermont’s English department, are demonstrating what it really means to be innovative, collaborative and student-centric in this new and evolving eLearning ecosystem.
United by the need to transform the traditional English portfolio to an online platform, these faculty began working on a three-year research project, through the International Coalition for ePortfolio research, centered on the implementation of ePortfolios in the BTAS and English Composition programs at both regional campuses.
According to Benander, ePortfolios help UC to achieve one of its primary missions, lifelong learning. Lifelong learning means building connections between all courses students take throughout their time at UC, from freshmen to seniors.
"The ePortfolio is a fabulous way for students to find meaning in those connections," she said. "It creates a more complete and complex picture, and helps them transfer knowledge."
It is difficult for students to transfer knowledge in their classrooms, Benander said, but ePortfolios make transfer easy for them. "It means students learn more, they know they learn more and they can take their portfolio with them and show what they have learned," she said.
Students remained at the center of this team's research when they formed their approach. They followed the "Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" movement that is sweeping through higher education, which emphasizes research in the classroom that is then shared with the public. Sharing is the key.
As a result of the team's shared research, Benander said that improved recommendations for implementing ePortfolios in face to face, hybrid and online courses are now available in faculty development workshops, individual classes, international presentations and research publications.
These five faculty continue to exemplify what UC's eLearning ecosystem is all about: finding innovative solutions to continue an educational tradition, working together to put forth shared research to benefit the UC community and keeping students at the center of their research, asking them to see what really works. These actions can be described in just three words...
Innovative. Collaborative. Student-centric.
ePortfolio task force
ePortfolios are effective tools for synthesizing academic work, showcasing talent to employers, and providing holistic assessment for programs and institutions. ePortfolios can foster interdisciplinary connections and promote lifelong learning.
Across our university, there are pockets of ePortfolio creation, but the power and benefits of ePortfolios would be enhanced if the UC community could coordinate its efforts. As a result, a task force is forming out of the eLearning Committee as an exploration of how we might realize and even expand this coordination.
The task force will evaluate the current use of ePortfolios across campus and complete a needs analysis to determine the possibility of adopting an ePortfolio system for the university. The co-chairs, Sarah Schroeder (CECH) and Ruth Benander (UCBA), are looking for volunteers to serve on the task force. Once membership has been defined, the co-chairs will send out an invitation and agenda for the first meeting.
Please email UCIT-PMO@uc.edu if you are interested in serving on the ePortfolio task force and helping UC excel at eLearning.
blackboard upgrade updates
Course migrations are now complete!
Three years of courses, Fall 2011 through Spring 2014, have been migrated to the upgraded Blackboard system.
training
Sign up for a training session today on Faculty OneStop. Upcoming training sessions are:
Teaching and Learning with the New Blackboard: An Introduction
Tuesday, July 29, 8 a.m. - noon Constructing Your Grade Center and Inline Grading
Friday, Aug. 1, 8:30 - 10 a.m. Multimedia in Blackboard
Friday, Aug. 1, 10:15 - 11:15 a.m. Web Conferencing for Class or Office Hours
Friday, Aug. 1, 1 - 2 p.m. Increasing Student Retention and Analyzing Reports in the New Blackboard
Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2 - 3 p.m.
nominate
Do you know someone who is excelling at eLearning? Nominate him or her to be an eLearning Champion! Just submit his or her name, a brief explanation and a headshot to ucitpio@ucmail.uc.edu.
get involved
Get involved! If you are interested in becoming an active member of this growing eLearning community, please email ucitpio@ucmail.uc.edu and let us know how you would like to be involved.
