Skip to main content

Posts

Designing Effective Instructional Videos Through Content Chunking

By
Designing a Canvas course requires careful consideration of how to make video content engaging, accessible, and sustainable over time. One highly effective strategy is content chunking , which not only enhances student learning but also streamlines the process of creating, editing, and reusing instructional materials. What Is Content Chunking? Content chunking involves dividing instructional material into shorter, more manageable segments that are easier for students to process and retain. This method has proven particularly effective in online and hybrid learning environments when it comes to video. Research shows that student engagement is highest when videos range between 6 and 15 minutes. In contrast, a 45‑minute video lecture can feel overwhelming and discourage active participation. While most lessons require more than six minutes to cover essential concepts, chunking allows instructors to distribute content across multiple concise videos. These can either be built sequentiall...
Read more
Recent posts

What's New in Learning Technologies for Fall 2025

By
If you have not logged into Canvas since May 2025, let's catch you up so you can hit the ground running this fall. This post is excerpted from a group presentation (Video 47:24) at the August 13th Canvas Investigations . Timestamps next to headings will link you directly to that topic in the recording.  Enhanced SpeedGrader 3:33 Instructors can enable "Performance and Usability Upgrades for SpeedGrader" . It's great for large enrollment courses because it loads fast and offers better section and student navigation.  CAUTION: The font looks retrograde and the mini RCE lacks buttons for Image upload, Math editor, the option 'course link' under the link button. If those issues are critical, deselect "Performance and Usability Upgrades for Speedgrader" in the course (provided it is not forced on at the sub-account level) to roll back to the legacy SpeedGrader. Discussion Checkpoints 5:29 Discussion Checkpoints are now available. If you wish to use...
Read more

Beyond Passive Learning: Engage Students with FeedbackFruits Interactive Document & Video

By
  Overview The University has recently added three new FeedbackFruits tools to its academic technology ecosystem: Interactive Document , Interactive Video , and Interactive Audio . This blog post shares how three instructors used these tools to actively engage their students with course materials and with their peers. In today's diverse educational landscape, traditional lectures and static readings often fall short. Many instructors continue to look for innovative ways to deliver content and facilitate meaningful student interaction with that content. If this sounds familiar, read on to see how FeedbackFruits interactive tools can be used to create dynamic, highly engaging learning activities. Interactive Documents: Transform Readings into Dynamic Conversations If you would like your students to move beyond passively reading assigned texts, the Interactive Document tool can help you turn reading assignments into collaborative workspaces, fostering accountability and deeper com...
Read more

Empowering Students Through Reflection and AI with FeedbackFruits Peer Review

By
In this blog post, Katy Guthrie , Teaching Assistant Professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Sciences (CFANS), shares her insights on using FeedbackFruits Peer Review to enhance student engagement and learning. Her experience provides valuable perspectives for other educators looking to enrich their teaching practices with technology-driven solutions. FeedbackFruits (FbF) offers a suite of academic technology tools that supports a variety of peer learning activities. The University is currently licensing four FbF tools , integrated in Canvas, that support self-assessment, peer review, and group member evaluation. Peer Learning Strategies: Efficient and effective Professor Guthrie is a strong advocate for teaching students how to provide constructive feedback on their peers' writing. FbF makes it seamless for her to integrate peer feedback activities into her classes. She particularly values the FbF Peer Review tool in her writing-intensive courses, where stude...
Read more

Navigating AI: Keeping pace with AI tools

By
Are you struggling to keep pace with artificial intelligence (AI) and its rapid pace of change? At Academic Technology Support Services, we were too, so we created this post to make sense of the AI tool categories and how they can support the teaching process. In the post, we compare various AI tools and delve a little deeper into the category of AI Agents or Assistants. Due to the rapid pace of AI functional development, combined with the proliferation of terms, definitions, and tools, this blog post has a significant caveat: This is our attempt to start/continue making sense of what’s new and upcoming in the use of AI; we aren’t looking for a right or wrong way to use an AI platform, or to accurately define groups of AI tools, but instead gain an understanding of how the various factors interact. Whether you agree with our characterizations or not, join the AI iCoP discussions and let us know your thoughts. After our AI review, we will apply AI concepts and tools to an example from ...
Read more

Gen AI Explorations: Conversation with Faculty Fellow Rob Erdmann

By Anonymous
  This spring Extra Points features a series of conversations focused on how faculty and staff around the University of Minnesota are using generative AI to do University work.  Lauren Marsh ( Academic Technology Support Services ) interviewed  Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow   Robert Erdmann , Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics/Data Science at UMN Rochester. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your role in the Center for Learning Innovation at Rochester, and how that informs your work with generative AI. Robert Erdmann: UMR is organized into just a single department, the Center for Learning Innovation (CLI). This means that faculty from all disciplines - biology, math, writing, public health - are all in the same unit. This lowers a lot of barriers to cross-disciplinary interactions and collaborations. You get to talk to a lot of people who aren't in your field. It gets us thinking about teaching in different ways. I do...
Read more

Gen AI Explorations: Conversation with Faculty Fellow Mark Collier

By Anonymous
  This spring Extra Points features a series of conversations focused on how faculty and staff around the University of Minnesota are using generative AI to do University work.  Adam Brisk ( Information Technology Systems and Services ) and Bill Rozaitis ( Center for Educational Innovation ) interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow   Mark Collier , Professor of Philosophy at UMN Morris. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your role in the Philosophy department and how that is informing your work with generative AI. Mark Collier: I'm a professor of philosophy. I teach a wide variety of courses, including the history of philosophy, artificial intelligence and ethics, philosophy of mind, and biomedical ethics. Because it's a small department, we have broad coverage. My research has primarily focused on the philosophy of David Hume. When I entered grad school at UC San Diego, I joined an interdisciplinary program in cognitive scie...
Read more