Dr. Melissa Shew (Philosophy Department/Center for Teaching and Learning) interviews Marquette faculty and staff about their favorite tips, tricks, and ideas for remote, blended, and face-to-face education. All interviews are framed by meaningful discussion about the pedagogical value of the interviewee’s topic, and most include tutorials about how to develop and implement their “favorite things” in your own class.

Video runtimes range from 10-25 minutes.  Click the title to play the video.

Creating and Using Breakout Rooms in Microsoft Teams
Interviewee: Drew Stathus, College of Business
Drew and Melissa discuss how to setup class groups in Teams, and how to use those groups to hold breakout sessions for in-class discussions or groups to work together on their own.

An Introduction to Microsoft Teams 
Interviewee: Pam Lewis, College of Business Administration
Pam discusses how to use some basic elements of Microsoft Teams, including splitting and sharing screens, uploading and using files, and how to use the chat feature. Note that since Teams frequently updates, some items in this demo may change. To that end, please create a Team for your class through Checkmarq (there's an icon to create a Team!), not by adding students as is shown in this video.

Using the D2L News Item Function for Consistent Communication with Students
Interviewee: Dr. Melissa Shew, Philosophy Department
Melissa discusses several reasons why educators should communicate with their students through the D2L News Item function, showing how consistent messaging is key to student engagement, access to materials, and communicating expectations. Melissa also demos how to create News Items and shares some examples from her own classes as well.

How D2L Checklists Help Manage Student Expectations and Anxiety
Interviewee: Dr. Jennifer Fenton, Political Science Department
Jen discusses how the checklist feature in D2L empowers students to manage course content and assessments, reducing their anxiety in the process.

Distance Learning Labs
Interviewee: Mike Nichols, Physics Department
Mike discusses how students and faculty can perform experiments in their own domains. Mike also shows how to set up a doc cam at home as well as how to use Loggerpro, a Physics-sponsored program, for interactive laboratory assessments.

Access, Equity, and E-Books through Raynor Memorial Libraries
Interviewee: Claire Dinkelman, Raynor Memorial Libraries
Claire discusses the wide variety of e-books available for use by faculty and students as well as how to access these resources through the library and link permanently to them in your D2L courses. Claire also emphasizes the accessibility and equity dimensions of using e-books in courses.

Being Intentional: Course Design and Presence in an Online Environment
Interviewee: Dr. Amber Young-Bryce, College of Nursing
Amber discusses the power and importance of intentional and transparent course design in remote settings, showing how educators can take practical steps to be mindful at all stages of designing a remote class.

D2L Quizzes: The Many Joys and Uses
Interviewee: Dr. Ayleen Cabas-Mijares, College of Communication
Ayleen discusses how to use the quiz function in D2L effectively, highlighting many different options for assessment through this function. She also shows how to create question pools and create multifaceted quizzes through D2L.

Open Source Technology and Scholarship through the Digital Learning Lab
Interviewee: Elizabeth Audreausage Gibes
Elizabeth discusses several free resources available to enhance technological components of any classroom. She demos several exciting tools like interactive timeline and mapping technologies as well as sound technologies that can help bring student and faculty work to life.

The Power and Importance of Organizing Your Course through D2L
Interviewee: Dr. Laurieann Klockow, Department of Biological Sciences
Laurieann discusses strategies she’s developed for organizing her class through D2L, showing how she uses clear communication, color-coding, and consistent messaging to help students learn in her classes.

How to use Synchronous and Asynchronous Reflection in Blended Courses
Interviewee: Fr. Jeff LaBelle, S.J.
Jeff discusses three different ways to incorporate reflection into synchronous and asynchronous courses. He highlights individual and group reflections as well as some great ideas about timed reflections in synchronous sessions, be them in face-to-face or virtual courses.

Technological Tools and Student Empowerment through Adobe
Interviewee: Linda Menck, College of Communication
Linda discusses three main ways that faculty and students can develop content through the free Adobe suite available online. She shows how faculty can incorporate Adobe tools to deliver content and also how students can engage in these tools with great success.

Building Websites to Enhance Students’ Skills and Learning
Interviewee: Linda Menck, College of Communication
Linda discusses three ways that students and faculty can incorporate building websites through free platforms like Wix and Weebly. She discusses the benefits for students in their being able to transfer these skills to a variety of workplace and life experiences in the 21st century.

Service Learning in Remote and Blended Courses
Interviewee: Kim Jensen Bohat, Service Learning
Kim discusses a range of possibilities for service learning in remote and blended classes, showing that there are more possibilities that faculty might think. Kim also shows a wealth of resources for reflection activities for students through D2L resources that Service Learning has created.

Information Literacy and Embedding Research Skills in D2L
Interviewee: Eric Kowalik, Raynor Memorial Libraries
Eric discusses the ways that faculty can use online resources through the library’s website to provide a host of research tutorials and information to students. Many of these tutorials are interactive and can be linked through D2L. Eric shows us how to do these things.

Streaming Videos through Raynor Memorial in the D2L Platform
Interviewee: Taylor Ralph, Raynor Memorial Libraries
Taylor discusses the many uses of streaming videos in classes through resources provided in Raynor. She shows how to access videos and embed them in D2L sites as well as how to request videos for your classes. Plus, she explains how videos are helpful in providing a range of learning opportunities for students.

Creating and Using Rubrics in D2L
Interviewee: Melissa Vigil, Physics Department
Melissa discusses how to create and use rubrics in D2L, showing a variety of analytical rubric styles and how to connect them to discussion board posts. We also discuss different kinds of rubrics, like holistic rubrics, and the ways that rubric usage helps increase equity and access for students, especially those who may be returning students or who may be new to the university in other ways.

Embedding a Research Librarian in Your Courses
Interviewee: Tara Baillargeon, Raynor Memorial Libraries
Tara discusses the value and many uses of embedding a research librarian in courses. Taylor explains the function of subject liaisons and how to coordinate with research librarians in different disciplines to help students’ research. She also shows how faculty can use librarians’ skills to prepare tenure and promotion files as well as how librarians can be helpful in the D2L platform.

Formative Assessments in D2L Discussion Forums
Interviewee: Dr. Jax Sanders, Physics Department
Jax discusses the ways that discussion forums can be created to allow students opportunities for formative learning, not only to show their knowledge in summative assessments. Focusing on critical thinking and the process of learning and explanation, Jax shows how valuable assessments can happen in a remote setting.

Adult Learning: Strategies for Engagement
Interviewee: Robin Hoke, College of Business Administration
Robin discusses particular ways to meet adult learners' needs, focusing on task-based learning and micro-learning to help our professional and returning students. Drawing on her background in industry and higher education, Robin offers suggestions for how to reach this particular growing population at Marquette.

How to Create and Use Peer Review Exercises in Remote Learning Situations
Interviewee: Dr. Michael Olson, Philosophy Department
Mike discusses how to take peer review exercises, which are often done in person and are especially useful for writing-intensive courses, and adapt them to D2L. He shows how to incorporate peer review into D2L discussion forums as well as how to consider evaluating and assessing peer review elements in a class.