During the National Distance Learning Week a number of organizations will be hosting free webinars. As these events are announced we will be posting them on this page. So please return to this page often to check on the latest webinars available.

 

Penn State Webinars during the National Distance Learning Week – 2018

The following webinars are being hosted by colleges, campuses, and departments across Penn State.

Note the Monday webinars have been moved to later in the week. We apologize for this late change in the schedule.

  • Penn State Erie, The Behrend College – Exploring Adaptivity: Overview of an Adaptive Learning Pilot in Online and Hybrid Courses – Presented by Jessica Resig, Lynne Johnson, Andrea Gregg, Eunsung Park, and Junxiu Yu
    • Tuesday November 6th, 2018 at 11 AM
    • As a pedagogical approach, adaptive learning offers potential advantages when compared to the “one size fits all” standard mode of instruction. In this session, we’ll discuss a multi-semester adaptive learning pilot, including course design considerations, evaluation and feedback, and a demonstration of the adaptive platform.
  • Penn State World Campus – Mapping the Trajectory of Distance Education: Contemporary Perspectives in Research and Practice – Presented by Rebecca Heiser, Will Diehl, and Kate Antanovich

    • Tuesday November 6th, 2018 at 2 PM
    • This comprehensive webinar will guide anyone engaged in distance education through the historical and theoretical foundations of distance education to contemporary research and practice in the field. Using a systems-view perspective, we will discuss how research guides application in teaching, learning, design and development, scholarship, and management. Finally, we will summarize current trends to map the trajectory of future opportunities in distance education research and practice.
  • Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Science – From Static to Dynamic: A Continuum of Online Strategies for Interaction – Presented by April Millet and Megan Kohler
    • Wednesday November 7th, 2018 at 9 AM
    • Distance Learning has come a long way since the early days of correspondence courses when we asked our students to read printed course manuals, complete their assignments, mail them in to be graded, and wait for the grades to arrive in the mail. Fast forward to today and students are offered a wide continuum of learning experiences from fair static options that offer students the digital version of a course manual to fully immersive virtual reality world to in which to explore, interact and learn. Learning designers from the Dutton Institute will share examples, strategies and best practices of learning experiences spanning the continuum from courses offered to students in the College of Earth and Mineral Science. Among the learning experiences described will be interactive course content, online labs, simulations, uses of external tools, uses of real-time data, and creative ways of bringing the real-world into the online classroom.
    • Recording of Session
  • Penn State College of Engineering – Upholding Academic Integrity in an Online Environment: Current Practices and Future Goals – Presented by Christa Watschke
    • Wednesday November 7th, 2018 at 11 AM
    • The goal of the session is to initiate discussion related to academic integrity and assessment processes with the goal of on-going (post webinar)  collaboration related to alternative assessments, refocusing with the emphasis on integrity and its importance to academic endeavors and life!
    • Recording of Session
  • Penn State World Campus Student Affairs – An Overview of Student Support Services for Online Learners – Presented by Jennifer Toof and Nadiya Tucker
    • Wednesday November 7th, 2018 at 1 PM
    • Penn State World Campus Student Affairs will host a 60-minute webinar discussing student support services for online learners.  Attendees can expect to learn an overview of the Student Affairs resources available to students, and how to make a referral.  The 2nd half of the webinar will introduce the natural disaster protocol and how these catastrophic events impact World Campus students.  Jennifer Toof and Nadiya Tucker work in Student Conduct, Care, and Counseling & Psychological Services, and will present the most common types of concerns students may display.
    • Recording of Session
  • Penn State World Campus – Quality Matters at Penn State – Presented by Penny Ralston-Berg
    • Wednesday November 7th, 2018 at 2:30 PM
    • Quality Matters (QM) is a research-based set of standards used to evaluate the design of online and blended courses. Learn more about how QM is being implemented at Penn State before, during and after course design and development. 
    • Recording of Session
  • Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Science – Have It All: Boost Evaluations, Enhance Learning and Minimize Cheating!   – Presented by Emily Baxter and Jane Sutterlin
    • Thursday November 8th, 2018 at 10 AM
    • Join us to explore practical ways to leverage technology to cultivate a classroom environment where instructor-student relationships are positive, and students are motivated to work hard and understand the relevance of the course content. Course evaluations are bound to skyrocket!Participants will be able to:
      • Cultivate meaningful relationships with students utilizing a variety of learning technologies.
      • Cultivate a classroom culture that clearly demonstrates the relevance of the course material to the overarching purpose of students’ education.
      • Implement rigorous teaching and assessment strategies that help students solidify learning
  • Penn State World Campus – Low Fidelity, High Impact: Using Simulations to Foster Learning – Presented by Penny Ralston-Berg and Jana Hitchcock
    • Thursday November 8th, 2018 at 1 PM
    • Are you looking for a way to provide authentic learning experiences that approximate real-life problems, conditions, or tasks? Low-fidelity simulations may be the approach for you. This presentation will explore how to design and implement a low-fidelity simulation and will share examples of simulations used in World Campus courses.
    • Recording of Session
  • Penn State World Campus Faculty Development – Rethinking Online Teaching Competence – Presented by Andrew M Tatusko
    • Thursday November 8th, 2018 at 2 PM
    • What does it mean to be an effective online teacher? One approach to answering this question is to comb through the research available on teaching, develop teaching strategies that correspond to those findings, and then assess how well the teacher implemented those strategies based on student outcomes. But maybe there is a different way to develop competence that takes into account the often messy and ambiguous practice of teaching and how teachers develop their practice over time. This webinar will present one lens to imagine what that looks like.
  • Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Science – Evaluation is hard! Rubrics Don’t Have to Be – Presented by Megan Kohler and April Millet
    • Friday November 9th, 2018 at 11 AM
    • There’s no doubt about it, assessing students is hard! Creating rubrics doesn’t have to be. Join us to learn how to write a rubric using rubric starters. Not sure if what you have created is any good? Learn how to evaluate rubrics using a simple mnemonic device.

Links to other organizations hosting events for this year’s National Distance Learning Week