Blog

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

In December of 1776, Thomas Paine wrote to his fellow American patriots that “These are the times that try men’s souls.” As our January plans to teach in-person classes have been thwarted by Covid, we recognize that we are again facing trying times.

If you’ve walked around the west side of campus in the last year, you’ve likely seen the modern Teaching and Learning Complex that has grown majestically between the Silo and Surge II, home of Academic Technology Services. Even more impressive on the inside, the TLC (as we call it) will quickly become a favorite teaching location for many faculty who get to teach there.

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Happy New Year, and welcome back to another quarter at UC Davis! We hope that you will join us on Zoom this Friday, January 7th, at 12-1pm, for the first DOLCE (Discussing Online Learning and Collaborative Education) event of 2022!

Trends from SITT 2021: A Five-Part Blog Series 

By Lillian Jones

Part 1 of 5: Trends from SITT 2021: Going Forward: Online Teaching Strategies Applied to In-Person Classes

In March of 2020, higher education faculty suddenly pivoted to emergency online teaching. At first, some felt overwhelmed and distressed, but as the months continued on, instructors discovered helpful tools and developed efficient ways of delivering information, communicating with their students, and fostering a sense of community online. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a helping hand while you’re preparing the technologies for your next course? We think so!

Starting January 4, 2022, Academic Technology Services will be hosting events and resources as part of our quarterly Ed Tech Week to help faculty design Canvas courses, produce and share instructional materials and videos, and set up other academic technologies (such as Gradescope) for the winter term.

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

On Friday, November 19th, faculty and instructors gathered to share and hear ways we teach effectively and innovatively with UC Davis Canvas. Please review the recording of the event.

Consider this list of some of the recurring topics from the lively conversation:

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

During our long stretch of remote teaching, we have tried a number of tools and strategies to continue to teach inspiring and transformational classes. Some of us have recorded our lectures and posted them using AggieVideo, and most of us have depended upon Zoom for synchronous lessons. But no matter what strategies we have used to connect with students or augment our captured lectures, all of us continue to depend upon UC Davis Canvas, our learning management system, to teach effectively at UC Davis.

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Thanks to all of you who attended our November 5th special DOLCE (Discussing Online Learning and Collaborative Education) on technology affordances and challenges when assessing our students. Find the recording of the event here.

“Assessment is today's means of modifying tomorrow's instruction.” Carol Ann Tomlinson

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

We invite you to join us on Friday, November 5th at noon via Zoom to a special DOLCE (Discussing Online Learning and Collaborative Education) on technology affordances and challenges when assessing how well our students are learning the content, practices, and applications of our classes.

"Necessity is the mother of invention." 

While much of society came to a halt because of the pandemic, education had to carry on. University faculty, staff, administrators, and students forged on, and in doing so, birthed many innovations in teaching and learning. 

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

All of us are masked in the classroom this fall, and some of us are using microphones to compensate for the potential muffling, breathing, and projection challenges that accompany masks. For this month’s October 15 (at noon) Faculty Forum, titled “Of Mics and Masks,” we will discuss primarily audio challenges that come with teaching while masked, teaching while capturing content, and teaching while some students are joining classes both remotely and synchronously.

We anticipate addressing the following questions:

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

On behalf of Academic Technology Services (ATS), I would like to welcome back to campus and to teaching at UC Davis this fall. We at ATS are hosting a mobile learning event next Friday, October 1st at noon via Zoom, and we hope you will join us.

Because I start teaching my fall class tomorrow, I suppose that today is my last day of summer. And as I start teaching in person tomorrow, today is arguably my last day of quarantine. My imagination has yet to catch up with our new reality.