Database Deep Dive: Films on Demand, Kanopy, and Swank

Presenter: Emily Sahib, Senior Instructional Designer, Instructional Technology and Academic Services

Do you need engaging, relevant, and accessible video content for your online course but don’t know where to start and are on a tight budget? Well, you’re in luck, because UA Libraries subscribes to 27 different streaming video databases, and you have access to all of them – for free! So, whether you want your students to watch the latest award-winning, independent documentary, a big name feature film, a six part series on a special interest topic, or an episode of 60 Minutes from 20 years ago, look for it in a UA Libraries database. Emily Sahib takes you on a deep dive into the top three video databases this librarian turned instructional designer always recommends – Films on Demand, Kanopy, and Swank.

ZOOMing Toward Student Engagement

Presenter: Amanda Ingram, Assistant Director, New College LifeTrack

The pandemic forced many faculty to adjust their course delivery format in order to continue live instruction remotely. Zoom became commonplace last spring when the University abruptly shifted to remote learning.  Moving forward, Zoom continues to provide the opportunity to connect with students remotely. In this session participants will learn some tips and tricks to using Zoom in the classroom to keep students actively engaged while online.

Get the handout for this webinar.

Defeating the Cheating: Preventing Academic Dishonesty with Proctored Testing

Presenters: Sonya Dunkin, Associate Director of Bama By Distance Student Services; James Shamlee, Testing Services Manager; Nichelle McMullen, Testing Services Coordinator; Rebecca Skipper, Testing Associate; Sabrina Snowberger, Testing Associate

Join the Bama By Distance Testing Services team to learn how proctored testing can be your first line of defense against academic dishonesty. Team members will share an overview of services they offer, walk faculty through the request process, show you how to set up exams for proctored testing and demonstrate the student proctored testing experience.

About our presenters: Bama By Distance Testing Services administers proctored testing services online, on campus, and off campus for professors teaching courses that are administered by Bama By Distance.

Online Learners’ Perceptions of Student Engagement

Presenters: Presenter: Jennifer F. Humber, Ed.D., Adjunct Online Instructor/Director of Student Services for the College of Human Environmental Sciences, The University of Alabama

To understand how student engagement applies in online education, it is important to gain additional insight as to how online students actually define student engagement on an individual level. In this qualitative case study, online learners were interviewed to gain their perceptions of engagement in an online course required for online education programs at a large public institution. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, their perceptions were used to determine how this specific group of online students define student engagement in an online learning environment. The study also revealed various types of activities that were perceived to be most engaging to students enrolled in the online course. The results of this study provide administrators and faculty the ability to better understand student perceptions so that they can be considered when developing resources to enhance instructional design and communication with online learners. Attendees of this presentation will gain a better understanding of how student engagement may be viewed differently by those enrolled in online courses.