Teaching Professor Technology Conference 2016

Apps Offer Intro to Digital Mapping

November 4, 2016

by Elliot Blair, Department of Anthropology Teaching Professor Technology Conference, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. A quick glance at the program showed that at least half of the sessions were oriented towards online classes (not something I currently teach), while the remainder were largely dedicated toward utilizing Web 2.0 interfaces (e.g., social media sites, smart phones) for active learning in the classroom. I’m no Luddite, but I’ve tried to keep cell phones out of my classroom and have generally […]

Do You Kahoot?

October 31, 2016

by Michael J. Altman, Department of Religious Studies Games are fun. Quizzes are not. But games can make quizzes more fun. That’s what I have learned by experimenting with the Kahoot, an interactive learning game, in my REL 130: Religion, Politics, and Law course. I discovered Kahoot during the Teaching Professor Technology Conference a few weeks ago. It is an online game that students can play with whatever device they have handy in class. The instructor builds a Kahoot by […]

Creating Personal, Interactive Online Courses

October 30, 2016

by Jessica Porter, Office of Educational Technology (eTech) A few weeks ago, I participated in a strategy swap at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference about engagement in online courses. Everyone agreed engagement is critical to online learning, yet we couldn’t decide how to facilitate connection and interaction beyond the usual tactics — video, discussion boards, group projects, etc. With this question in mind, I attended another session on student engagement that offered a few practical solutions. Our speakers, both of […]

Apps for Better Class Participation

October 24, 2016

by John Miller, New College My father was a gadget man. He loved a new doo-dad. Even something called a “heat bar,” an aluminum hunk you plugged into a wall socket, whereupon it would (wait for it . . .) get hot. He bought a truck-load he was going to sell to keep Alabamian’s pipes from freezing. That – well — I’m not exactly saying he hid them at my grandmother’s house but… All this to say, I grew up […]

Pecha Kucha A Perfect Complement to Writing Courses

October 20, 2016

by Jessica Fordham Kidd, Department of English My favorite presentation from The Teaching Professor Technology Conference 2016 was Dr. Gloria Niles’s presentation “Pecha Kucha: Multimedia Alternative to Term Papers for Digitial Natives.” Prior to this session, I was familiar with the term Pecha Kucha, but I had never given much thought to how it might be any better than a standard presentation with a time limit. The Pecha Kucha presentation consists of 20 slides that are given 20 seconds each. […]

Session Recap: “Fraught with Possibility: Can Good Pedagogy Negate Turnitin’s Problematic Image?”

October 19, 2016

By Jessica Fordham Kidd and Dr. Natalie Loper, Department of English At the Teaching Professor Technology Conference 2016, we led a session that simultaneously asked participants to critique plagiarism prevention software and consider best practices that would make it a legitimate addition to the college classroom. We discussed various criticisms of plagiarism prevention software, specifically Turnitin. Some say it can create a negative classroom environment or antagonistic student-teacher relationships, while others raise ethical questions about the use of student work. […]

Pecha Kucha or the Art of Live Research Narratives

October 19, 2016

by Marie-Eve Monette, Department of Modern Languages and Classics It is the beginning of class, and two students are getting ready to give their presentation. I know that they will probably talk for the 12-15 minute assigned time, some referring to their notes, others more at ease with speaking spontaneously. One slide after the other though, they will talk at the class, blurting out rehearsed information until the conclusion. All the while I think, there has to be a way […]

Would You Please Peer In?

October 18, 2016

Helping involves thinking, equal status, shared motivation, willingness to change and self-reflection for change

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies I appreciate peer mentoring of my teaching. A member of my department sits in on my class at least once per term. We have a follow-up conversation about the session. And then, usually a week later, a memo appears in my mailbox that evaluates my teaching. I keep these on record alongside my other teaching materials in order to create a sense of progress in my teaching capabilities. One reason why peer teaching observation works […]

Creating a Positive “Feel” for Online Classes

October 17, 2016

by Natalie Loper, Department of English As online coordinator for UA’s First-Year Writing Program, one issue I consistently face is how to create a positive classroom environment in online classes. Unlike face-to-face classes, where teachers can casually chat with students before and after class, get to know them during conferences and office hours, and gauge student interest by reading body language and facial expressions, online teachers communicate with students primarily through writing. After an initial discussion board, where students and […]

Put Your Best Phone Forward: Cellphones for In-Class Projects

October 13, 2016

by Nathan Loewen, Department of Religious Studies How did you obtain your first smartphone? I got a hand-me-down iPhone 3 in 2011, and it changed my world. I was about to leave for a research project in India (thanks to a grant from Fédération des CÉGEPs). My research technologies were glitchy and their codecs did not play well together: a SONY voice recorder, a 2.0 megapixel, brick-sized digital camera, a Samsung video camera and a dusty old laptop on which I […]

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