Happy Winter DePaul, College of Education! The Center for Educational Technology (CET) hopes you are all having an awesome year. And, as always, we are here to support you in the use and integration of technology resources at the College of Education.
Updated CET Winter Hours
The CET remains dedicated to catering to the needs of the college, providing leadership in the advanced use of technology in the academic preparation of current and future education and counseling professionals. The CET is open, in COE, Room 250, weekdays to help with your technological needs.
You can visit our website at cet.depaul.edu or follow us on Twitter @CETDePaul to receive updates on upcoming events/workshops, helpful technology tips and tricks, and other news (like edTPA) throughout the school year.
Latest edTech Updates
CET hosts “Panel Discussion: AI & Tech Reshaping Special Education"
The Center for Educational Technology (CET) hosted a panel discussion on artificial intelligence and how new assistive technology is reshaping the special education classroom. The event took place on February 21st at the CET center. Students and faculty had the chance to learn about AI, Individualized Education Programs, Assistive Technologies, Early Disabilities Screening, and more. Panelists included: Dr. Brian S. Friedlander is an author, associate professor of education at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, and an expert in the area of assistive technology and mind mapping. Additionally, Ralph Samek, owner of Woodlake Technologies, joined the panel. Woodlake Technologies is the leading distributor of assistive technology throughout the Midwest. The company helps individual meet their vocational, educational, and personal goals. And, finally, DePaul's very own, Gregory A. Moorehead, Ed.D. also contributed to the panel. Dr. Moorehead is the director of the Center for Students with Disabilities at DePaul University. James Valles, Computer Science graduate student at DePaul University and Graduate Assistant for the College of Education's Center for Educational Technology, moderated the event.
The CET is proud to announce the launch of our new blog featuring lab hours, information about us, equipment rentals, our calendar, resources, and ways to stay in touch. Keep up to date with our latest news, and events by visiting: https://blogs.depaul.edu/cet/
Upcoming Digication System Maintenance
Digication would like to let you know about an upcoming system maintenance window involving the video uploading feature. "On March 9, 2019, our video processing software will be undergoing important system maintenance between noon and 2:00PM Central time. If you attempt to record or upload a video during this time, there is a possibility that it will not properly convert and upload into your ePortfolio. Existing videos will function as normal during this time, as will the rest of Digication," according to a statement posted on the Digication site.
Change to File Upload/TakePicure/Record Video/ Record Audio
Also, Digication upgraded its file management system, which has resulted in some minor changes to a few modules, including: File Upload, Take Picture, Record Video, and Record Audio.
When using these tools, you may notice some slight changes to the buttons and controls, though they will generally function the same. The Take Picture module now contains additional editing options, which are documented here: https://support.digication.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000605627
Goodbye DePaul Secure, Eduroam Wifi now primary wireless network
Eduroam network gives DePaul community access to the internet at other institutions. When accessing the internet, most of us connect using the “DepaulSecure” network, but did you know Eduroam is now available on the DePaul University Campus and on participating university campuses? Eduroam (educationroaming) is the secure worldwide federated network access service developed for the international research and education community. You can find more info at: https://www.eduroam.us/
This quarter, so far, we've hosted two Lunch & Learn workshops on Advanced Techniques in D2L, two edTPA workshops, and a panel discussion. Our team is hard at work planning a series of upcoming events and workshops for both Faculty/Students. Stay tuned by following our official Twitter account @CETDepaul and our official website cet.depaul.edu for event updates throughout the year
Submit your ideas!
What would you like us to host? If you have an idea for a workshop or event, let us know today by filling out our feedback form: https://goo.gl/forms/VnlsfHrexyj4lMPF3
Winter 2019: CET’s App Guide for Educators
Technology changes quickly and new educational tools are published daily. The CET has scoured the internet and compiled a list of clever edTech applications for educators.
Google Classroom
This is a free app for teachers that lets you easily grade assignments and projects. Teachers can make announcements, start class discussions and give real-time feedback. Students can share helpful resources too. This app works with Google Docs, Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Forms. The plus point of this free app is that it doesn’t contain ads and doesn’t use your data for any kind of advertising.
Slack
Slack is very well known in the business world for making communication easy among teams and industries. This has also been gaining considerable importance among educational institutions. Professors and students can use this to communicate about projects and share important updates. Send direct messages, calls, share big files, connect all tools that you use on a daily basis – everything in one app. Super useful!
Evernote
This is probably the best note-taking app ever. Not only useful for teachers and educational institutions, it is a must-have for almost every business organization. Trade those paper handouts with these notes for assignments and projects. Create a detailed to-do list for your students, share it with them, make notes for your coming lectures. There is so much you can do on this app.
Top Tech Tips for Educators
How to create a D2L Quiz with Optional Written Response Questions
Did you know you can create optional essay question options and still be able to use the points-based grading features in D2L? The article walks you through the process. Read full post: http://www.iddblog.org/?p=3813
Increasing Instructor Presence with Weekly Video Updates
When you are physically in a classroom, it may be harder to appreciate students are able to see, hear, and respond to you. But in a fully online environment, especially one that doesn’t hold real-time sessions, it can be a challenge to establish your presence as the professor. John Olivier with IDDBlog offers some insightful tips on how to increase your presence with video and offers some tips on how to get started: http://www.iddblog.org/?p=3759
Need help designing your course? Consider these three questions
Winter break can be the time to reflect and rework your courses and syllabi. And, there is an approach called Backward Course Design that has been steadily gaining popularity throughout recent years. Erin Stella from IDDBlog fills us in and suggests you ask yourself these three questions before designing your course. Full post: https://www.iddblog.org/3-questions-to-ask-yourself-when-designing-your-course/#more-3883
In the News: edTech
The CET has compiled a list of some interesting articles on how technology is changing the way students learn.
FREE Services Offered by DePaul's Information Services:
Information services provides a number of services to DePaul Students, Faculty, and Staff, we have highlighted a few below.
iDePaul
A University-wide smartphone application that you can use to access your class schedule, find a professor’s contact information, remind you when tuition is due, view campus maps, read university news and browse a calendar of upcoming campus events. Download the app from the iTunes App Store, Google Play or Blackberry App World.
Box
A cloud storage solution that allows faculty, staff and students unlimited storage for files. Box uses single sign on, so you will only need to use your DePaul account to access your files. There is also be a desktop client that will allow for ease of uploading files to the cloud. Click here for more info.
DePaul Blogs
An easy to use, wordpress-based blogging platform is available to all students, faculty, staff and departments at DePaul. Login at blogs.depaul.edu to get started!
Virtual Lab
Looking for free and easy access to many of the same applications you’ll find in the DePaul Student Computing Labs? Use the DePaul Virtual Lab, where you can access Maple, R, Minitab, SAS, SPSS, and more right from the comfort of your own home, apartment, or favorite coffee shop! Visit virtuallab.depaul.edu for more information and to get started today!
Building a website, need cloud storage?
Google is giving DePaul students $100 worth in free Google Cloud credit. Use the link below to redeem your credit, fill out this form to receive your credit: http://tiny.cc/depaulgcp
