February | 2020
Digital Learning Digest Logo
"When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts." - Dalai Lama
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Shondell Hickson
DNP PST- MSN- family nurse practitioner
MSN- clinical nurse specialist
BSN- nursing
Associate Professor
School of Nursing
The Department of Distance Education would like to recognize Dr. Shondell Hickson as this month’s faculty spotlight. Dr. Hickson is an associate professor in the School of Nursing and has created over 30 new instructional videos for her online courses using the Distance Education video production service. When asked about her experiences using the service she had this to say:

“Between my responsibilities as a full-time instructor and as a practicing clinician it is challenging to find the time to create engaging lecture videos for my students. The instructional design team at Distance Education makes the process easy by handling all of the technical details from shooting and editing the content, to placing the videos into my D2L course shell. What I like most about the process is that it allows me to focus on the instructional message of my lecture without having to worry about the technical side.”
Do you know a faculty member who has taken strides to improve their online courses? Nominate them for our next Faculty Spotlight!
YUJA ANNOUNCEMENT
Identify yourselves! If you are using Kaltura’s MyMedia in D2L for video content in your Spring 2020 online course, please contact Distance Education to ensure you are not affected while we transition from Kaltura to the new platform, Yuja.
ACTIVATE YOUR YUJA ACCOUNT TODAY!
EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
LECTURE SERIES
EXCITING NEW TOOLS IN D2L!
Distance Education is excited to announce the introduction of some new features to our D2L toolbox as part of our January 2020 update!

  1. Quiz Builder – Opt-In: Instructors can opt-in to the new Quiz Builder quiz creation experience. Quiz Builder will become the default in May 2020, so check it out ahead of time by opting in.
  2. Rubric Creation experience – Opt-In: Instructors can opt-in to the new Rubric creation experience. The new experience will become the default in November 2020.
  3. New Dropbox Assignments List Page: For several months, instructors have been able to opt-in to the new Dropbox assignments list page. With the January 2020 update, this new page will become the default.
  4. Awards: The Awards tool can be used to create Badges to reflect the achievement of different milestones within a course offering. In the Awards tool, instructors can design badges and link them to release conditions to allow automatic awarding. Learners can see the awards that they have already earned, as well as those that they have yet to earn, in the associated My Awards tool.
  5. Notifications: Notifications will help you and your students control how you receive notifications about activity in your courses. You can receive a periodic summary of activity, or receive instant notifications as things happen.

Please see the links below for short guides on opting in (or out) of the new


Contact the Distance Education Support Desk with any questions: (931) 221-6625 or  online@apsu.edu .
FALL 2019 TUTOR.COM USAGE STATS
Fall 2019 was another great semester for online tutoring usage at APSU. The semester was very successful and students reported great experiences. See the graphic below for some stats that will make you want to encourage online tutoring for your courses! Plenty of student hours remain for this spring semester. If you are interested in encouraging the use of online tutoring, please check out our online tutoring website for information and how-to guides for both faculty and students. You can also contact Distance Education at online@apsu.edu for tailored support.
ACCESSIBLE SYLLABUS TRAINING SERIES
INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY CORNER
D2L – Adobe Flash End of Life

Adobe has announced that Flash will no longer be a distributed and supported product as of the end of 2020. D2L will also be ending support for Flash at the end of the year.

D2L users should prepare themselves for the removal of Flash ahead of the End of Life date. Any objects that were created using Flash should be converted to a different format such as MP4. There are many options available for this type of conversion.

D2L recommends validating that no Flash objects remain in active courses moving forward to avoid any disruption to users. Materials such as SCORM objects, Video Recordings, and Links within Content Files are potential areas where Flash could have been used. The upcoming Spring and Summer semesters are a great time to evaluate your courses to ensure they are using the most up-to-date technologies.

If you have any questions about converting Flash objects to other formats, please contact Dr. Tim Oneal at (931) 221-6484 or onealt@apsu.edu .
FREE WEBCASTS!
As a member of WCET, Austin Peay State University faculty and staff have access to free webcasts, training, and more!

Curated List of Webcasts

  • Redefining Liberal Arts: The Future of Liberal Arts in a Hybrid World

  • Navigating the OPM Marketplace: Picking the Right Partners While Avoiding Market Chaos

  • Student Ready: Increasing Retention for Universities and Career Outcomes for Students

  • Flipped Webcast: Conversation with Chris Gilliard About Digital Redlining
DEPARTMENT WIDE TRAINING
workshop
As a reminder, Distance Education offers department-wide training sessions! We can come to you, or you can come to us. We offer training in many different subjects including accessible documents, D2L, course design, and more. Request department-wide training by emailing online@apsu.edu .