That calculus study is a perfect example of structural inequality at work.

Last week, the Wi-Fi went out all over campus. It was supposed to be a research day in class so we pivoted in-class activities, and I moved the due dates back by a few hours for students who planted to turn things in at that point.

That’s amazing. Hahaha.

When you show a film in class, other than having closed captioning on, are there other things to help with accessibility? I’d love to hear what you do so I can grow too.

Can you tell me more about the file naming? I think I’m missing that part.

That’s a great idea too!

Do you have other tips to make just regular PowerPoints more accessible? It’s definitely something I could be working on.

I have been doing this too. I didn’t realize that you actually need to use the header function in applications in order for it to be accessible.

I’ll be interested in seeing how Turnitin discusses this. I tend to be more interested in learning about innovative uses and teaching students how to use it than in the larger integrity conversation. It is certainly important, but I think it’s more of a way to protect my own mental sanity.

It’s always wonderful to get an email or call from an alum, no matter what they are doing, but it is especially great when they have found their path.

Being present is so true. I need to leave my phone at home more often.

Nothing specifically. Just doing the things that interest us and making them a priority.

Ohhh. This is a good question. For work life, I think my focus is going to be on coolness. I mean that mainly in the sense of things being tranquil but obviously in the suave-type way too.

For my personal life, it would be fun and experiment. I’d love to focus on pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying new things with my family.

You can do this! Small piece by small piece 🙂

Wow. I’m super impressed. That seems like a lot of work on your end.

How did they just figure that out? I mean, we have known about the World Cup for years. Lol.

I love the way you phrased this. Do you build things into your syllabus that allow you to freedom to move topics?

That’s great. I am always concerned about where the discussion is headed. I feel like it may depend on the topic that is covered, too.

I’m more of a detailed planner, but I definitely don’t have it down to a science. I use a notecard for each week of each class and I put the outline for the week on that notecard. It also becomes a catchall for any questions or things that I have to do for that class outside of class time.

Welcome April! I can’t wait to learn more with you this summer.

Everyone has really good ideas. An up-to-date AI unit would be a good one. I also think updating exams and other assessments would be good, but I think I would go with building out more field trips and off-campus experiences. They are always so fun to do, but it takes time to build relationships and get the paperwork and everything put together.

This is a good one! We just did a professional development course on the new accessibility features in Blackboard so that was useful.

Yup, Libby is what our library uses, which is really nice, but I am always so far away on the list. I ended up reading all of the Sue Grafton series because they are old, and they were available.

When I was an undergrad at Michigan, they had their own LMS called CTools. It went down pretty regularly. To be fair, that was a long time ago, but there is something to be said for consolidation in this case.

I’m reading some new books that came out in criminal justice. One is called Crime Fictions and one is called Marked by Time.

I also need some non-academic reading so I’d love any recommendations. My only requirement is that it is a little old because nothing is worse than wanting to read something and you are #1,093 on the waitlist for the library 😜

@amesidor is also reading it. Maybe you two can chat 🙂

They are all wonderful! I may have to reread these. Thanks for the inspiration!

Do you know if other LMS programs have something similar? This sounds really interesting.

.

I like this one too. Do you make sure to ask your students about themselves too? I find that helpful because it puts onus on them too.

This is a really good idea. Would you share the syllabus language that you use about the de-identified work? I think this would be really beneficial to see what I mean when there are common errors.

The privacy part is really interesting. I would assume that if it is within your university email system then it should be okay. That said, I don’t want to start receiving papers and grades and everything in my email. It would just get too clogged.

All of those are great ideas, but there are probably even simpler things too. Like how many people back up their grades? I usually have a relatively recent version of my gradebook outside of Blackboard, but I know a lot of people rely solely on their LMS.