Faculty Forum: Canvas Show and Tell By Dr. Alex Rockey We had our last Faculty Forum of the 23-24 year! Our focus was “Canvas Show and Tell.” As this is the last blog post before we break for summer, I thought it would be helpful to pro...

Canvas Show and Tell! Looking for inspiration on encouraging students to watch videos, building relationships online, or sharing additional resources? Check out these short videos from our most recent Renegade Faculty Forum. #EduSky #AcademicSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/05/07/f...

CLEAR Action Research Fellows 23-24: Faculty Videos on Evidence-Based Teaching By Dr. Alex Rockey I am pleased to announce our second cohort of CLEAR fellows have officially finished their action research projects! The CLEAR Action Research Fellowship provides faculty an opportu...

CLEAR Fellows have done it all this year! Check out their short videos (a treasure trove of helpful, boots-on-the ground strategies) on topics like belonging, active learning, labor based grading, peer groups, and more! #EduSky #academicsky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/c...

Self-Care: A Student Perspective This piece was written by communication intern Britney Rodriguez. Britney Rodriguez is a pre-nursing major. During her free time she likes to play games, watch anime, and spend time with family. Britn...

We all can use a little reminder to practice self-care...I'm definitely needing that reminder this week:) Helpful student perspective to remind us to practice self-care:) #EduSky #AcademicSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/04/25/s...

Renegade Workgroup: AI, Privacy, and Ethics By Dr. Alex Rockey In our April AI workgroup, we tackled the important subject of data privacy and ethics. We began our session by looking under the hood of AI so we could understand possibilities for...

Loved getting to explore AI, privacy and ethics with faculty colleagues at the most recent Renegade AI Workgroup:) #EduSky #AcademicSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/04/23/r...

Quick Tips for Making the Most of Canvas Course Settings By Dr. Alex Rockey Time for more quick tips! This week let’s dive into how we can customize our course settings in Canvas.  Limit Course Navigation Perhaps one of the easiest ways we can create a bett...

Quick tips! Check out these three easy ways we can customize our settings in Canvas to help students navigate our courses more easily:) #academicsky #EduSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/04/16/q...

Quick Tips for Making the Most of Canvas Quizzes By Dr. Alex Rockey Ready for more quick tips on Canvas? So far, we’ve covered Canvas Studio, modules, and pages. Now let’s dive into how we can make the most out of Quizzes in Canvas.  For the basics ...

More quick tips! Need to provide students extra time on Canvas quizzes? Looking to assign a different due date? These quick tips can save you some time (and frustration) whether you're using Classic Quizzes or New Quizzes. #EduSky #AcademicSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/04/09/q...

Communal Learning Lesson: A Faculty Example This piece is written by Jeff Newby. Jeff Newby is a Professor of History who teaches World History and Native American History. His areas of focus include Native American History and Modern East Asia...

Looking for an example of an Open Pedagogical Lesson? Check out this example (and short video overview) from my talented colleague... #EduSky #AcademicSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/03/19/c...

Renegade Workgroup: AI and Assessments By Dr. Alex Rockey Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting another AI workgroup. This time our focus was on assessments. Read on for a recap and short videos from the workgroup. Framing Our Discussio...

Assessments are such a powerful opportunity to build relationships with students. In our AI workgroup this month, we explored how we can create assessments that support student learning in an AI era. bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/03/12/r... #EduSky #AcademicSky

Eight Principles of Mobile Course Design By Dr. Alex Rockey As a community college professor, I know that many of my students are juggling multiple demands on their time. When I first started giving out a survey at the beginning of the semes...

My daughter was 9-months when I started grad school. All I had were the found moments of my day. Mobile-friendly courses can help students make use of these found moments... bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/03/05/e... #EduSky #AcademicSky #mobiledesign #mobilelearning

Awesome! Hope it goes well:) Keep me posted! Happy to share any strategies if it helps:)

Deep Dive: Renegade Faculty Discuss AI and the Turnitin Detection Tool By Dr. Alex Rockey Bakersfield College has recently made the Turnitin AI Detection tool available to faculty. As with any tool, we need to understand the benefits and limitations so we can effectively...

When use a tool for a purpose it wasn't intended for it won't go so well. Imagine trying to use a hammer to pick oranges. We wouldn't get many oranges and if we did they might be a bit mushed. Same goes for AI detection tools. bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/02/27/d... #EduSky #academicsky

Launching an AI Workgroup: Exploring Successful Uses of AI By Dr. Alex Rockey The Renegade AI Workgroup has officially launched! In Fall semester, Renegade faculty came together to refine and edit topics for a workgroup on AI that will meet monthly during the...

Officially launched the Renegade AI workgroup! Loved the chance to hear a student's perspective of how AI can support (and not supplant) learning. And of course, faculty had wonderful strategies to share on how they make use of AI for teaching and learning. #edusky #academicsky

Ensuring Human-to-Human Connections in Our Courses: A Faculty Perspective This piece was written by Nick Strobel. Nick Strobel has been teaching astronomy at Bakersfield College and running the Planetarium since 1996. A couple of doors down from my office in Math-Science is...

My favorite quote from this piece on the power of humanizing education? "As an astrophysicist, I find stars and galaxies much easier to understand than people, I do enjoy learning about the layers of humans below the surface..." #EduSky #AcademicSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/02/13/e...

Icebreakers: A Faculty Perspective Greetings, I am Kathleen Hicks; I am a native Bakersfieldian. I attended Bakersfield High –Driller! Also, I attended Bakersfield College then transferred to CSUB to earn a BA in Business and a Teach...

I've always struggled with icebreakers, but a good icebreaker can go a long way towards helping build a community (whether we're online or in-person). For some inspiration, check out this faculty's perspective on icebreakers. #academicsky #EduSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/02/06/i...

Renegade Book Club: Engaging Discussions By Dr. Alex Rockey Creating engaging discussions is an art. Engaging discussions can be magical. Whether online or in-person, a vibrant discussion provides the magic that fuels us as educators. For st...

Announcing our Renegade Book Club for Spring semester... we'll be reading "Creating Engaging Discussions: Strategies for 'Avoiding Crickets' in Any Size Classroom and Online." The pressure is on to have a vibrant (cricketless) book club discussion! bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/01/30/r...

BC Academic Technology Welcome to the Teaching and Technology Blog of Bakersfield College! Learn more about the BC Academic Technology Blog! Subscribe now to have blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.

Mobile design can increase access for student parents, working students, commuting students, students without home internet, students experiencing homelessness and more. For more, check out "Why Mobile Design matters." #mobiledesign #EduSky #academicsky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com

Using My iPad for School: A Student Perspective This piece was written by communication intern Britney Rodriguez. Britney Rodriguez is currently undecided in what major she wants to pursue. She sees it as a learning opportunity to discover more ab...

It's no secret I'm a fan of using mobile devices to support student learning. Love this insight into how one student uses her iPad for school. One benefit... it's easy to grab if she's running late to school:) #EduSky #academicsky #mobilelearning bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/01/18/u...

The “I Forgot How to Do That” Canvas Toolkit By Dr. Alex Rockey As we start the beginning of the semester, I wanted to take a moment to curate a bit of a toolkit for the first few weeks. No matter how many times we have assigned separate due dat...

Feeling a bit of beginning of the semester Canvas amnesia? Check out this quick toolkit with three quick how-tos to help jump start your semester. #EduSky #academicsky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2024/01/16/t...

My New Year’s Resolution By Dr. Alex Rockey Sometimes as an educator, it can feel like we are pulled in different directions. All the good work, care, initiatives, and change can be overwhelming. We are often presented with m...

My goal in 2024- create magical interactions in my asynchronous online class. I'm thinking I might need to explore ideas outside discussions. If anyone has any tips, I'm all ears:) #EduSky #academicsky
bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2023/12/05/m...

Unboxing the Mobile Course Design Journey Finally get to see my book "The Mobile Course Design Journey." To learn more about the book, check out: https://bit.ly/mobilecoursejourney

Pretty exciting to open a box of my books with my daughter! She thought my books were soft...so if you're looking for a soft book on mobile-friendly course design, check out "The Mobile Course Design Journey" #EduSky #academicsky (bit.ly/mobilecourse... ) youtu.be/-NRG2YvgnQM?...

Common Tech Issues and How to Prevent Them: A Student Perspective This piece was written by Caroline Contreras.  Caroline is a student here on campus working to earn her Bachelor’s in Computer Science.  Her goal is to one day become a competent back-end develope...

Interested in learning more about tech issues students face in our Canvas courses? Check out this student perspective with the most common questions she gets working at our student technology help desk. #EduSky #academicsky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2023/11/30/c...

Yep:) If you click on the link in the original post, you'll be able to see the recording post on my Renegade Tech blog:) Let me know if you have trouble accessing!

Can't believe Zaretta Hammond joined our Renegade Book Club on "Culturally-Responsive Teaching and the Brain!" Such a powerful discussion on "cognitive redlining" and how the science of learning can disrupt it. #EduSky #academicsky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2023/11/28/r...

Course Modality: A Student Perspective This piece was written by Naomi Joy Bautista. Naomi is a student majoring in History and is planning on transferring to a 4-year university after Bakersfield College. Before getting a Bachelor’s deg...

Wonderful student perspective on the deciding factors when choosing between online and face-to-face courses. #academicsky #EduSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2023/11/16/c...

Renegade Approaches to Culturally-Responsive Pedagogy By Dr. Alex Rockey Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to host a workshop on culturally-responsive pedagogy with a panelists of Renegade professors. We had a vibrant discussion on how to actually imp...

Wonderful panel discussion on actionable approaches to culturally-responsive pedagogy. Panelists shared strategies for implementing labor-based grading, reflecting, and building meaningful relationships with our students. #academicsky #EduSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2023/11/14/r...

Phone screen showing Google Bard

Loved sharing approaches to faculty PD related to AI at the Chancellor's Seminar... Imagine using AI to leverage students' smartphones to brainstorm engaging in class discussions. Interesting chance to use students' phones while modeling effective use of AI for learning. #academicsky #EduSky

Wonderful piece from a CLEAR Action Research fellow on how she has continued iterating on her feedback practices to support student learning. Spoiler alert: she found student reflection on feedback improves grades. #academicsky #edusky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com/2023/11/07/c...

Thanks for sharing that perspective! And in the U.S.- yes some textbooks can be crazy expensive.

BC Academic Technology Welcome to the Teaching and Technology Blog of Bakersfield College! Learn more about the BC Academic Technology Blog! Subscribe now to have blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.

No matter where you teach, I'm willing to bet (and I never bet) that most of our students have to make some sort of sacrifice to buy their college textbooks. For some students, they may be choosing between full meals and a $200 textbook. #OER #academicsky #EduSky bcacademictechnology.wordpress.com

Love this! Just finished a book. My big trick was to just have focus time and do a little bit every day. Somedays I could write for two hours. Other days I could just write for 20 minutes. But it became my special time where I wouldn't look at my phone.