Online Learning News - March 31, 2021

Learn 10 Social Media Strategies to Connect with Online Students 

Tuesday, April 6, 2021
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (ET)

Register Now!

As COVID-19 continues to upend the normal social connections between students and professors — casual interactions during office hours, pre-class conversation, post-class questions — social media is emerging as a tool to maintain and improve those connections that are vital for student retention, academic development, diversity and inclusion.

In this webinar, participants learn how to:

1. Use social media to complement traditional communication
2. Find the platform of choice
3. Stay on brand
4. Recognize we’re all #InItTogether
5. Target the “whole” student
6. Use social media to engage students
7. Cross-promote their institution
8. Build a discipline co-educational space
9. Share discipline-specific content
10. Share student successes

Our Host:

Dr. Abdullah Al-Bahrani Associate Professor, Center for Economic Education, Northern Kentucky University	Dr. Rebecca Moryl Associate Professor, School of Business and Management, Emmanuel College, Boston

Francophone MOOCs with High Completion Rates

A Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Innovation

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) offered two MOOCs, a course on personal finance and a course on the importance of children’s play, with the second geared toward the general public as well as teachers and early childhood educators.  High registration and completion indicate that the MOOCs were successful in reaching their goals of expanding access.

Dr. Mathieu Point
Professor, Department of Education
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Learn How to Use OBS Studio with Zoom
to Transform Your Presentations

Friday, April 9, 2021
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (ET)

Register Now!

When students login, only to turn off their microphones and video, you don’t know if they’re tuned in or tuned out. You want them to be actively learning, focused and engaged, which is why you need to make your Zoom class a learning experience they’ll never forget.

In this engaging and interactive webinar, you’ll gain an understanding of how you can use OBS Studio and Zoom to significantly improve student engagement and learning outcomes. You’ll explore:

• How to integrate OBS Studio into Zoom in learner-effective ways
• How to stream video from OBS Studio to Zoom
• How to connect your webcam to OBS Studio
• How to create rich media presentations and experiences, linking video, sound, PowerPoint and other media

Before taking part in this webinar, we encourage you download OBS Studio.

Our Host:

Dr. Ron Owston
Contact North | Contact Nord Research Associate

Contact North | Contact Nord’s Directory of 83 Online, Open & Distance Learning Associations and Consortia Throughout the World 

Contact North | Contact Nord created this non-exhaustive list of online, distance and open learning associations and consortia around the world, providing links to websites (if available) to widen access to the valuable information offered by each.

Explore the Directory

Discover Five Things Instructional Designers Did Right in Their Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

1. Shared their expert knowledge widely
2. Focused on known challenges
3. Helped to reimagine assessment
4. Created how-to-learn online courses and supports for students
5. Helped evaluate and deploy appropriate technology

Get the full story

Read Dr. Tony Bates’ Blog Post

In this blog post, Dr. Bates analyzes JISC’s (Joint Information Systems Committee) study on U.K. student responses to the COVID-19 emergency teaching and provides these thoughts and comments.

Read Contact North I Contact Nord Research Associate Dr. Tony Bates’ blog post: 

Study of British students’ digital experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic

This Week's Must-Read Book on Online Learning

Digital Learning and Collaborative Practices: Lessons from Inclusive and Empowering Participation with Emerging Technologies

Edited by Eva Brooks, Susanne Dau, & Staffan Selander (2021)

How can we use iPads in music education? What else can we do with Zoom? What are some creative uses of augmented and virtual reality? How can tech-based play be used to create stories and learning? What do we need to ensure to enable inclusive and equitable learning? These topics and others are explored here. While focused on school-based learning, it takes a nano-second to connect this text to opportunities for engaged design for college or university courses. There are some fun ideas here — well worth reading.

Browse all Must-Read Books

Most Popular Resources on teachonline.ca

1. A New Pedagogy Is Emerging... and Online Learning Is a Key Contributing Factor
2. Contact North | Contact Nord Webinars
3. Ten Facts You Need to Know About Micro-Credentials
4. 2017 Top Ten Books on Online Learning 
5. Five Things Colleges and Universities Did Right in Their Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic