Hello readers,
On behalf of the teams that contribute to the Extra Points blog, we want to extend a sincere thank you for being such an engaged community of readers. We directly support the University of Minnesota’s teaching mission, and this blog has been a terrific space to share information and highlight current topics. Our goal is to ensure the content we create is timely, relevant, and useful for your work. To do that effectively, we believe the most important voice in the room is yours. In this post, we are asking for your guidance: What do you want to learn about or discuss next?
Your challenges, curiosities, and innovative ideas are the best source of inspiration for our future posts. Your feedback will directly help our teams plan and write articles that address the real-world needs of instructors and staff.
What topics or formats would be most valuable to you?
To get the conversation started, here are some of the types of articles we often write. Are there specific topics within these categories you'd like to see?
- Deep Dives into Tools: A comprehensive look at a specific technology - for example, using the Canvas Rich Text Editor to apply the seven core accessibility skills.
- Emerging Technology & Trends: Our analysis of what's new and noteworthy in the world of academic technology, such as generative AI. What are you hearing about that you'd like us to investigate?
- Instructor Spotlights & Case Studies: Highlights of how your colleagues are using a specific tool to meet a teaching need. Instructors have shared how they flipped their classrooms and created videos to enhance student learning.
- Pedagogical Strategies: Posts exploring the intersection of technology and teaching methods, such as Beyond Passive Learning: Engage Students with FeedbackFruits Interactive Document & Video.
- Workshop Recaps & Resources: Summaries or extended resources from our professional development workshops, such as submitting final grades from Canvas to the Faculty Center.
Of course, you might just have a specific, burning question on your mind, such as:
- "How can I use [a specific tool] to solve [a common teaching challenge, like low engagement in large lectures]?"
- "What are the institutional best practices for [a task, like creating accessible course materials]?"
- "Could you compare [Tool A] and [Tool B] for [a specific purpose, like video assignments]?"
Share Your Ideas Directly With Us
Have an idea? We've embedded a short form within this post to make sharing your thoughts as easy as possible. It will take less than 5 minutes to complete, and your responses will directly influence our content calendar for the coming semester.
Thank you again for your readership and for your partnership. We are excited to read your suggestions and continue writing posts that impact your teaching needs. We will share feedback results in a future post.
Contributors
Team members of Academic Technology Support Services, Academic Technology Tools, and Video & Conferencing Services contributed to the creation and writing of this post.
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