Digital Resources and eLearning

CELT works closely with the Center for eLearning to support VSU faculty who integrate educational technology into the classroom or teach fully online courses. When off-campus, faculty might also want to utilize digital resources to help them as teachers and throughout their academic careers, ranging from viewing Hoonuit's quick videos to reading blogs about higher education.  

Center for eLearning

The Center for eLearning supports individual faculty and academic programs in a number of ways:

• One-on-one consultations with instructional designers, who can recommend online teaching strategies and educational technologies that are informed by research and best practices. Call (229-245-6490), e-mail (blazeview@valdosta.edu), or set up appointments in the Center for eLearning. Additionally, stop by their Office Hours in CELT that are visible in their individual online bios.
  

• Assistance with designing an online course in BlazeVIEW, or building an entire online curriculum, as well as making revisions in the following years. Rubrics can be created and will follow standards in online learning, such as this Rubric for BlazeVIEW Course Design. Faculty can also watch videos or download digital BlazeVIEW Guides for Instructors if they need assistance with the Gradebook tool, for instance.

• A three-week asynchronous online course accessed via BlazeVIEW for individual faculty to learn how to create and teach a class online, and faculty receive a certificate upon completion of this professional development course. Call the Center for eLearning (229-245-6490) to confirm dates of this course offering. 

• Workshops on how to effectively use educational technology in face-to-face, hybrid, and online classes, such as BlazeVIEW (VSU's learning management system), Qualtrics survey tool, Kaltura, Blackboard Collaborate, Byte, BlueJeans video conferencing, web-based Clickers, and much more. Check VSU's Training Portal for dates of upcoming eLearning workshops and to officially register.

• In partnership with CELT, faculty learning communities (FLCs) where novice and veteran faculty who teach online and/or use academic technology gather every three weeks throughout a semester to share their successes, tips, and challenges. An Online Instructional Designer often co-facilitates the FLC with a faculty member. To see if an eLearning-themed FLC is currently offered, check out CELT's updated list of faculty learning communities. 

• CELT's university-wide Peer Faculty Mentoring Program will eventually match VSU faculty who teach online to support one another. For more information, contact the CELT Director. 

infobase (formerly Hoonuit)

Through infobase, that is available in the list of portals in MyVSU, faculty have continuous access to online professional development videos about teaching. VSU faculty are encouraged to use infobase as a 24-hour resource for improving instruction and which can be embedded into their BlazeVIEW courses. All videos are short for quick viewing.

Sample infobase videos include strategies for critical thinking, cooperative learning, reading comprehension, online instruction, using technology in the classroom, supporting diverse populations of students, accessibility, and academic integrity, as well as there are some modules about course design and assessment. 

For instructional support with this tool, see the eLearning website about infobase and contact eLearning's staff with questions.

More Digital Resources on Teaching and Academic Careers

Check out this archive of websites, advice columns, CELT Tuesday Teaching Tips, and blogs about teaching. They are quick reads. Or, you can even see links to the list of our colleagues who won the highest honor at VSU for excellence in teaching, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), and online teaching.