This version has a few nice new features, such as better tools for participant list management. The basic functions for creating clickers questions remain the same.

EdTech highly recommends obtaining the updated version (8.5+) for personal and office computers.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Login to the TurningPoint application.
2. Click the Turning Technologies logo at the bottom of the TurningPoint Dashboard.
3. Click Check for Updates.
4. Go through the steps to install the update.

NOTE: If you do not have administrative rights on your office computer, contact the IT Help Desk (573-341-HELP or help.mst.edu) for assistance.

https://itweb.mst.edu/auth-cgi-bin/cgiwrap/clickers/request_clickers.pl

This information helps EdTech prepare the classrooms for clicker technology. The S&T Store also needs to have a rough estimate of how many Turning Account licenses and clickers required for FALL 2018.

If you haven’t used clickers before and would like more information, please contact Educational Technology at edtech@mst.edu or 573-341-4131.

Thanks for your assistance!

• IMPORTANT: PowerPoint Polling files (i.e. TurningPoint presentations) within TP 8.2 are NOT backwards compatible with TurningPoint Cloud files. When you first open TurningPoint 8.2, you will be prompted to create new versions of the presentations. The original files will still be available.
  • EdTech recommends TurningPoint 8.2 be installed on any computers on which you may be editing TurningPoint presentations.
• “Participant Lists” are now referred to as “Courses” or “Course Rosters” within TurningPoint.
• “ResponseWare” is now known as “Mobile Responses.” The ResponseWare app on mobile devices is now simply “TurningPoint.”
• The Manage tab of the TurningPoint dashboard now has the following buttons:
  • Upload Grades – push the existing grades into Canvas.
  • Update (highly recommended!) – quickly updates any changes to the course roster.
  • Edit Roster (not recommended) – allows instructors to manually make changes to the course roster.
  • Results Manager – same button as before, just moved to a different location.
• The buttons for PowerPoint Polling, Anywhere Polling, and Self-Paced Polling look different, but function as before.

Students will NOT need to do anything differently in order to ensure their Turning Account is synced with a course. They still need to do the following:

1. Purchase a Turning Account – this can be done from the S&T store or through the TurningPoint store.
2. Sync their Turning Account with Canvas – this can be done via the Canvas Help and Resources course in Canvas, in which ALL students are enrolled.
3. (Optional) Register a Clicker – Students who purchase a clicker will need to also register their device with TurningPoint. This only applies if students are required to purchase a clicker and the Mobile Devices option (formerly know as ResponseWare) is not being used.

Instructors: The server you will connect to is mst.turningtechnologies.com. Questions? Call us.

Educational Technology will be spending a lot of time in the Library during the week before classes start as well as the first week of classes. We’ll be available to help both students and instructors prepare for TurningPoint.
As always, Educational Technology (edtech@mst.edu) will gladly hear any questions, comments, or concerns regarding TurningPoint. We look forward to a smooth transition to the new TurningPoint!

On the technology front, we’re supporting the IT department as they work on the continuing rollout of Windows 10 & Office 2016 in classroom computers around campus. In our own technology portfolio, we’re sundowning the Tegrity lecture capture tool in favor of another tool called Panopto, and we’re upgrading to the latest Turning Point software release.

We’ll be in touch as these projects mature, and as the Fall semester gets closer. Have a happy and productive summer!

EdTech will continue to monitor the situation.

As a result, students are unable to register their devices or create new accounts (or both). Faculty are unable to access their TurningPoint slides in the classroom, load participant lists, or manage a session.

Turning Technologies is working on a solution and hopes to have their servers up and running again soon. Please be patient.

We’ll send out an update once services have returned to normal.

This event is an open-attendance, free-form workshop. You can come when you want, stay for as long as you want, and leave when you want.

Workshop sessions will focus on:

• Using Learning Management Systems (e.g. Blackboard)
• Building Student Engagement (e.g. VoiceThread, Piazza, Google Apps, Clickers, etc.)
• Fostering Online Collaboration (e.g. Kaltura streaming media, Tegrity lecture capture, Adobe Connect, and Big Blue Button).
• S&Tconnect Early Alert replaces the current Academic Alert system and will be hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Studies.

EdTech staff will be available to assist you with any questions you may have about using EdTech-supported technologies. Have questions? We have answers!

The workshop schedule is listed below. Attend any or all as needed! No pre-registration required!

For more information, contact Educational Technology at edtech@mst.edu or 573-341-4131.

https://itweb.mst.edu/auth-cgi-bin/cgiwrap/clickers/request_clickers.pl

This information helps EdTech prepare the classrooms for clicker technology and also alerts the bookstore about the number of clickers to purchase.

If you haven’t used clickers before and would like more information, please contact Educational Technology at edtech@mst.edu or 573-341-4131.

Thanks for your assistance!

NOTES:

• IT will be updating TurningPoint on all classroom computers to version 5.3 for Fall 2014. There are no real noticeable changes.
• STUDENTS WITH CLICKERS SHOULD GET A FIRMWARE UPGRADE! Students can visit the Walk-in Center on the first floor of the Library. It only takes a few seconds to perform the upgrade.

Ed Said

• Blackboard – New “inline grading” feature.
• TurningPoint – Unified interface that integrates PowerPoint Polling, Anywhere Polling, and Self-Paced Polling.
• Kaltura – Upload streaming media files into Blackboard.

The newsletter also discusses the effective use of blogs in a course, additional student-focused resources that can be added to a Blackboard course, tips for managing online discussions, and more.

Download the current version of the newsletter today!

Presenter: Gerald
Bergtrom; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Dr. Bergtrom teaches biological
science at UWM.

Dr. Bergtrom’s blended course is
cellular biology. It has around 80 students and meets once a week for
75 minutes. The other 75 minutes takes place in the online environment.

His traditional face-to-face
(F2F) course met for 150 minutes per week. Students were required to
read the text, take online quizzes, and attend lectures & exams.
Topic quizzes were worth 10% of the grade. Lecture and exams constituted
the other 90% of the grade. Assessments for online should be designed
to encourage collaboration (this is why online quizzes were worth only a
small fraction of the total grade–students would get points, but would
not get so many to skew the assessment of their knowledge due to
cheating).

Step 1 in his blended
redesign was to add more tasks for students to complete at home (text
readings, online quizzes, short papers, voice-over PowerPoints,
discussion fora, and “muddy cards”). F2F comprised debriefing of muddy
points (i.e. points on which students are confused or unclear), clicker
questions, and index card questions. Exams were also completed at
home. The final was delivered in class. The points were distributed more
evenly across all of the activities (e.g. exams were worth 50% instead
of 90%).

Step 2 in the blended redesign
had the same basic structure as Step 1, with minor changes. He added
unnarrated PowerPoint slides (at the request of the students) and did
not cover any content in class at all. All exams were taken at home.

During the redesign process, Dr.
Bergtrom learned a few things:

• Articulate learning
  outcomes when designing a blended course.
• Design learning
  modules to lead students to desired learning outcomes.
• Design
  and schedule assessments to keep students on track and measure student
  performance.
• Integrate both online and f2f parts of the course.

Students should leave his course
with: essential content (knowing the basics); critical thinking skills
(inquiry, analysis, synthesis); quantitative literacy; information
literacy; ability to communicate ideas, concepts and facts;
collaborative skills to solve problems and realize a final product;
scientific literacy; self confidence (knowing what you don’t know and
understanding how to change that).

One of the biggest challenges in
science is how to deliver substantial content (hundreds, maybe over a
thousand pages). It is also important to inform students and help them
engage in critical thinking over the content. You also need to be able
to assess critical thinking skills.

Strategies that leave no one
behind: Multiple learning options help student acquire basic content on
their own. Engage students to interact with content and each other. This
leads to deeper understanding of material, stronger conceptual grasp of
material, and improves their analytical and synthetic prowess. Finally,
challenging activities reach students with diverse educational and
cultural backgrounds.

Multiple learning options for
content acquisition include text readings, voice-over PPTs, unnarrated
PPTs.

Muddiest point technique lets
students bring a question to class on an index card. If no one in class
can answer the question, the instructor answers. About 10 minutes is
spent answering the question(s) at the beginning of class. These are
worth 5% of the grade. The learning objective (LO) for this exercise is
for students to ID what they don’t know.

In a blended course, clickers
engage all students, promote collaboration, and leave no one behind. Dr.
Bergtrom allows 13% of the grade to be met with clickers. LOs for
clickers include critical thinking, analytical inquiry, quantitative
literacy, and more.

Dr. Bergtrom illustrated the use
of clickers with a number of example clicker slides.

Overall, this session
demonstrated a number of pedagogic techniques for engaging students both
in and out of the classroom in a blended learning environment. Students
are expected to familiarize themselves with the course material outside
of class and then bring their questions to class for further discussion
and analysis.