ISSUE XIX SEPT/OCT 2014 VOLUME III

DID YOU KNOW

THE CUOL STUDENT CENTRE AND THE CU

TESTING CENTRE HAVE NOW REOPENED IN

D299 LOEB BUILDING.

DID YOU KNOW

SUBSCRIBING TO THE VOD SERVICE ALLOWS

YOU TO VIEW YOUR LECTURES ON THE

INTERNET, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE? JUST CLICK

ON THE LECTURE AND WATCH IT STREAM OR

DOWNLOAD ONTO YOUR COMPUTER IN THE

COMFORT OF YOUR HOME.

FALL AND WINTER COURSES

PLEASE CHECK CUOL FALL AND WINTER

COURSE OFFERINGS AT

HTTP://TINYURL.COM/K3GHARL OnLine focus

In this Issue:

Professor Profile – Pablo Mendez

Discover the Discovery Centre

CUOL Conference on Online Learning

CUOL: How It Works!

Behind the Scenes – Then and Now...

Tech Corner

By Andrea Noriega

On a cold Monday morning, in January of 2014,

Dr. Pablo Mendez traversed the blustery winter

winds on his way to Carleton for his first teaching

experience with the university. While facing a

new class for the first time might be intimidating

for some, Dr. Mendez resourcefully leveraged the

cold as a topic in order to interact with his

students. “Telling the students that I was new to

real Canadian winters and asking them for winter

survival tips was a great way to quickly establish a

connection them” says Dr. Mendez.

The new academic year of 2014 has now begun,

and new faculty such as Dr. Mendez, now a

Geography professor at Carleton, are getting

their bearings. However the Carleton teaching

experience doesn’t start on the first day of class;

it starts at new faculty orientation (NFO). “It's

been fantastic to be able to count on so many

great people in the university who are dedicated

'Tis the season for new beginnings! Kick off your school year right by discovering the Discovery Centre, meeting new professors, and getting a CUOL refresher.

A Season of Firsts

Feature Story – New Faculty

As the warm weather slowly fades, and new winds

bring about change, the Carleton community

remains dedicated to teaching and learning.

Continuously searching for innovative ways to

improve faculty’s experiences is, by extension, a

pursuit in improving the experiences of students. “I

love the feeling I get when I'm coming to

understand something that I find perplexing or is

entirely new to me. The hope that I can help other

people feel that way is what motivates me as an

instructor” says Dr. Mendez – and maybe, these

are words to live by.

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to helping me do a good job” says Dr. Mendez. He

commented that “everyone has always been very

professional but also very personable” with him in

these experiences. At Carleton, there is a focus on

ensuring that new and returning faculty have the

resources they need to teach effectively.

This will be Dr. Mendez’s first time participating

as the instructor of a video recorded class. “This

being the first time I teach a course with an online

component, I have to admit I'm a bit nervous”

confesses Dr. Mendez, “particularly about being

video-recorded while I teach”. Having immersed

himself in the Carleton community, Dr. Mendez

will likely have several contacts he can turn to for

support. However this may not necessarily be

true for all faculty, especially new faculty, which is

why resources such as NFO are so important.

Additionally however, there are several Carleton

support services to help instructors navigate

through their teaching experiences. Carleton

University OnLine (CUOL) offers ongoing support

to their instructors and helps make the transition

for new faculty such as Dr. Mendez more

manageable.

Dr. Mendez met with the CUOL staff for a one-on-

one info session earlier this month where they

discussed how to facilitate midterms and final

exams both for the in-class and distance students.

Each year a general meeting is held for all CUOL

instructors in late August or early in September

per academic year. Dr. Mendez attended the

general meeting this year on August 28th

. The

keynote speaker has talked about the trends in

online learning and where online education is

headed.

Pablo Mendez

Geography

“They like the comfort, the flexibility, the

brightness and the technology. People work in

here for hours and that tells me we have it right,”

says Steele. “It’s nice to see the look of ‘wow’

when people get off the elevator and step into a

space they weren’t expecting.”

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Discover the Discovery Centre

Tucked between the floors of stacks by the

MacOdrum Library is the Discovery Centre, a new

7,000 square-foot space where students flock to

do research, conduct experiments, and watch the

occasional World Cup final. It’s an innovation

incubator—a free-rein, clean-slate study sanctum

that represents just one of the ways in which

Carleton University has committed to promoting

immersive learning.

From 3D printers to mobile whiteboards to

gaming labs, the futuristic space fosters creativity

in a way that can’t be matched by library kiosks

and lecture halls. Furniture on wheels and

semicircle sofas to encourage group sessions, and

bursts of bright-yellow chairs keep the space

from feeling too clinical. It even houses a couple

of treadmill desks for those who work better in

motion.

“One path I wanted to take with the design of the

space and what was put in items or features you

cannot easily find elsewhere on campus,” says

Alan Steele, director of the Discovery Centre.

“Many of the items of furniture are on wheels so

groups can cluster where they want. From one

person to groups of 12 or more, they can all

gather to work and study.”

Steele has been working at Carleton University since 2002, when he joined the Department of Electronics. Almost 10 years later, he was appointed Special Assistant to the Provost and part of the job was the setting up of the Discovery Centre. The space officially opened its doors in November 2013, but Steele says it’s a work in progress. “We are still less than a year old and so still developing,” Steele says. “I would like to see more events, like our ‘Expert and a Movie’, or more talks involving students. I would like to see more student work in the Centre, items students have created, or posters.”

Alan Steele

Steele and his team are also considering covering

one or more walls with a dry-erase surface so

students can create large-scale drawings or

collaborative brainstorming.

The space currently consists of three rooms: a

Gaming Lab equipped with consoles and a gaming

computer as well as the 3D printer and scanner, a

Multimedia Lab with a 18x5 foot display and

surround sound for presentations, and a Learning

Lab with a reconfigured classroom set up to

encourage student-teacher interaction.

Steele’s tip for making the best use of the centre?

Get there in the morning when it’s at its quietest

to snag a whiteboard—it can get pretty busy in

the afternoon and during exams, he says. And the

traffic isn’t just limited to undergrads.

Professors use it for their office hours, and

students from all faculties have been using it to

bring designs to life using the 3D facilities,

building models of fish fins, chess sets and even

video game characters.

Lisgar High School’s Calculus and Vectors class

paid a visit to design and print racecars, creating a

75-foot racetrack to test out their creations.

Steele says he’s happy to hear any comments,

ideas or suggestions for the space from new

users. As for the students who’ve already settled

in, the repeat visits speak for themselves.

From 3D printers to treadmill desks, Carleton’s creation station is the future of learning.

Cracker barrel session topics ranged from innovations in e-portfolios, to student support services for online learning, to gamification as a pedagogical tool. Knowledgeable professionals from the Educational Development Centre (EDC), the Library, CUOL, and the University of Ottawa were involved in leading discussions on the range of topics currently of interest in the developing world of online teaching and learning. At the table on The Future of CUOL Online Exams and Proctoring, facilitated by Nestor Querido and Jeff Cohen from CUOL, the matter of “what makes a good exam question” was raised as a point of concern when managing large online classes. Ensuring that assessments are effectively administered entails creative solutions to ensure students are completing the assessments properly.

A few tables down, Andrew Barrett and Samah

Sabra from the EDC presented on Professional

Development for Online and Ontario Online

Institute. They introduce CU Open, CU Portfolio,

and the certification program that is currently

being launched and will offer modules in course

design for instructors. Only a few tables away,

an engaging presentation was made by Kevin

Cheung, on Reigniting Students’ Learning: Using

Game Techniques, Apps and YouTube.

By Andrea Noriega

Associate Vice President Teaching and Learning, Joy Mighty, warmly welcomed this year’s keynote speaker, Matthew Pellish, the director of member education at the Education Advisory Board at this year’s online learning conference at the bright and inspiring River Building on Thursday, August 28th. Organized by Carleton University OnLine (CUOL) staff, the conference was fortunate to have Mr. Pellish present on the trajectory of the MOOC from its advent to its more recent descent as what was previously seen as an educational innovation. This short morning conference included a cracker barrel session with ten discussion tables each boasting their own unique area of expertise in online teaching and learning. Mr. Pellish’s presentation, entitled Promise and Perils of Innovation remarked on the affordability and accessibility of higher education, positioning these issues as the catalysts for innovations in online education. More centrally, the area of discussion was around MOOCs , and how they have moved from a perceived threat to the structure of higher education, to arguably innocuous in all counts. The interest in MOOCs, Mr. Pellish explained, peaked and then steadily dropped off as institutions realized that while enrolment was high, MOOC completion rates were actually drastically low. With an average completion rate at 2% of enrolment, the MOOC proved to be a less than desirable approach to creating a solution for affordable and accessible education. However Mr. Pellish’s take away message is more powerful than just this – he stresses the importance of seeing online learning as an opportunity to expand learning resources toward a multimodal approach. Mr. Pellish describes this as an “unbundling” of traditional packaging of courses and programs, a process which is expected to open up more education consumption options for the multimodal learner.

The interest in MOOCs, Pellish explains, peaked and then steadily dropped off as institutions realized that while enrolment was high, completion rates were drastically low.

He describes how he transformed a remedial math course into an engaging learning experience for students through the use of gamification strategies. Turning his lectures into the clues to solving an App game, Cheung was able to increase his student’s success in the course.

With several discussions in a short period of time,

the cracker barrel sessions remained interesting

and allowed participants to navigate through the

topics of their choosing, and ultimately helped

make this event a success.

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CUOL Conference on Online Learning

L-R Donna Hay, Patrick Lyons, Matthew Pellish

Retrieve the presentation materials for this conference at carleton.ca/cuol or email cuol@carleton.ca

L-R: Donna Hay, Joy Mighty, Matthew Pellish

By Andrea Noriega

Things only last so long. With technology moving at

warp speed, changes at the university have required

a lot of adaptation from the staff, and also from the

physical structures of the university itself. This year’s

students will be walking into a newly renovated

CUOL office, and are none the wiser as to the

processes that have been left behind.

What is CUOL today was once known as iTV

(Instructional Television). Its viewing room was

housed in the library, and had only a modest four

viewing stations for students to watch recorded

lectures via the ¾ inch videocassettes still used in

the 1980s. Around to bear witness of this, and all of

the changes iTV was about to undergo, was Maria

Brocklehurst, a library employee, poised and about

to traverse into the world of online learning.

In the time of iTV, there were fewer courses

that were recorded, and the tapes were

intended as a resource for student’s who had

missed a television broadcast and wanted to

catch up. The lectures were filmed, edited, and

sent to the Library audio-visual room where

they were made available to students for a

short two-week period, explains Maria. With

only 4 kiosks, and a narrow time window in

which to view, iTV quickly found itself

inundated by demand.

Maria recounts a time when there were waiting

lists for lecture tapes, students would call in to

reserve copies, and long line-ups would form

regularly – but most distressingly of all, tapes

were being hoarded, students would squirrel

them away before midterms and exams,

stashing tapes in pamphlet boxes, back issues

of the serials section, and even more

remarkably, in behind the ceiling tiles of the

bathrooms.

Needless to say, there was an increasing

urgency to accommodate the demand for

lecture viewing. iTV rebranded to CUTV

(Carleton University Television), and was

relocated to its current home in the Loeb

Building – Maria Brocklehurst along with it.

Other transitions began to happen more swiftly

– lectures went from being on ¾”

videocassettes, to VHS tapes, to DVDs that

could more easily be recorded, duplicated, and

stored, making the availability of recorded

lectures more accessible. However with the

advent of VOD (Video on Demand), the DVD

was quickly phased out.

Cont. on next page

BEHIND THE SCENES – MARIA BROCKLEHURST

Melissa Bumstead

Then and Now…

CUOL: How It Works!

Whether you are a new or returning CUOL

student, you are bound to need some advice to

help keep on track with your university courses.

Follow these tips and your online learning

experience will be a success!

Prepare your “viewing” environment

Since your classroom is your computer or TV,

make your “viewing” area conducive to learning

so you can get the most out of your CUOL course.

For example, do you require silence? Specific

materials? A pot of tea to hand? Make that

happen!

Create a “viewing” habit

Schedule a specific time of the day for your “class

time”, and view your lecture from start to finish.

Make it a regular part of your weekly routine. If

you try to view the lectures all at once, chances

are that there will never be any time to finish

viewing them.

Contact your Instructor or TA

If you have any questions about the course, your

Instructor and T.A. can help. You can find contact

information for CUOL instructors on cuLearn, on

course outlines, and sometimes on the CUOL web

site (www.carleton.ca/cuol).

Keep up-to-date with announcements

Not only should you follow your course outline,

but watch for upcoming deadlines and important

course information as announced on cuLearn, the

CUOL website, and/or the CUOL newsletter. We

also have a Facebook page (Carleton University

OnLine – CUOL) and a Twitter feed (@askcuol)

Participate

Enter into cuLearn discussions, ask questions of

your fellow students, keep up with readings,

clarify points with your Instructors and TAs – it all

helps you make the most of the material and the

online experience.

Always plan ahead

Make sure you are aware of course assignment

deadlines and midterm/final exam periods.

Designate specific blocks of time for studying,

rather than trying to “cram” right before the

exam takes place. If you need a distance exam,

make sure you apply by the deadline!

https://carleton.ca/cuol/examination-services/

So I’m registered in a CUOL course! What do I do

now?

-Determine how you will view your lectures

-If you are a distance student and wish to write

your exams and midterms off-campus, apply by

the deadline

-Test your chosen viewing method: log in to VOD

even if your course is not yet posted, tune to

Channel 243 on Rogers, try the Webcast, visit the

CUOL Student Centre in D299 Loeb…

-Visit your course website for your course

information (cuLearn)

-Get your required textbooks (see cuLearn for

your course outline, use the Carleton Bookstore or

other source to purchase your texts) -Take note of assignment deadlines and midterm

exam information

-Plan your viewing and coursework schedule –

don’t let yourself fall behind! -Get hints and support on making the most of

Online Courses (see Making the Most of CUOL)

CUOL Examinations

Please note: Local CUOL students do not need to

register for examination, only if you are a distance

student (100 km or more from Carleton Campus).

Distance (off-campus) Exams:

Eligible students who require distance

examinations must ensure that the appropriate

examination application is received by the CUOL

office before Sept. 20, 2014, the deadline for Fall

2014 half-credit and full-credit CUOL courses, and

Jan. 19, 2015, the deadline for Winter 2015 half-

credit courses. Please go to the CUOL website for

more information and to fill out the distance

application form

(https://carleton.ca/cuol/examination-services/)

You must be in the CUOL (R, T or V) section of the

course to qualify for distance exams.

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Maria Brocklehurst

Book your External Exam

with CU Testing Centre

Are you registered in a CUOL or Evening course

and need to see an Advisor? Do you have

questions about changing your major, adding a

minor or dropping a course but aren’t on campus

during the day?

The Student Academic Success Centre is happy to

announce extended advising hours during the

2014 winter term for students registered in CUOL

or Evening courses only. This option is available

in an effort to accommodate those students who

are not on campus during our regular office

hours and cannot use our drop-in advising

service. We will be scheduling appointments on

Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 5:00 p.m.,

but space is limited, so please contact us via

email to schedule your advising session soon!

Planet Money is a smart-yet-comprehensible snapshot of what’s going on in the economy. But it’s not just for business majors—Planet Money takes complex financial concepts and breaks them down into bite-sized 20-minute segments scripted in a way that feels more entertaining than it does educational. Some favourite episodes for students are “What’s Your Major” and “A Teenager’s Guide to Doing Business in North Korea”. THIS AMERICAN LIFE In our opinion, it’s the best podcast out there today (and the best source for dinner-table conversation starters). This American Life’s premise is simple—stories. Tons of them. Exceptional stories from everyday people, with the occasional piece featuring a not-so-everyday guest like Molly Ringwald, Malcolm Gladwell or Phil Collins (spoiler alert: he writes a song for one of the episodes linked below. Take a wild guess as to which one). They’re grouped together in hour-long thematic segments divided into acts. Some recommended episodes for students include “Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde”, “Break-Up” and “How I Got Into College”. (Just give one a listen—you’ll be hooked.) 99% INVISIBLE Design enthusiasts and architecture students, this one is for you. 99% invisible is a weekly podcast that explores the process and power of design and architecture—and with over 17 million downloads; you know they’re doing something right. Some great episodes for students are “Hacking IKEA”, “Title TK”, and “Sounds of the Artificial World”. TED RADIO HOUR If you’re a TED Talks lover, we highly recommend TED Radio Hour to keep you company on your commute to school. Popular talks are reproduced for radio, strung together thematically with added interviews, with topics ranging from segments on crowd-sourcing innovation to power struggles to finding happiness. Some recommended episodes for students are “Unstoppable Learning” and “Making Mistakes”. UNDER THE INFLUENCE Under the Influence with Terry O’Reilly is a CBC radio show that explores creativity and influence in marketing. Terry’s talks are stitched together using audio clips and music, making his show so fun and effervescent, you won’t even realize how much useful information you actually glean from listening. Future marketing gurus and advertising aficionados, take note. Favourite episodes include “This I Know”, “Brand Envy” and “Nudge: The Persuasive Power of Whispers”. All podcasts are available on iTunes or through your Podcasts app.

-o-

PodCasts

Five podcasts to subscribe to now.

Cont. from previous page

Removed from the shelves, and replaced by the intangible medium of VOD, the DVD left an empty space where it once used to sit. As the decade turned in 2010, the department was once again rebranded and became CUOL (Carleton University Online), as it is known today. The technology that once allowed students to view recorded lectures based on the availability of the recordings, had now evolved to be completely available online and be watched by multiple viewers simultaneously. This fall CUOL will be boasting new 24/7 viewing stations that have doubled the capacity of viewing stations. “When you think of how limited it used to be, to how it is now, it’s a huge improvement” Maria noted. Lecture recordings and viewing have really come a long way; it makes you wonder what someone like Maria might see next.

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If you think of the radio in the same way you think of floppy disks, cassette tapes and the Backstreet Boys, think again. With online radio and podcasts better than ever these days, we decided to round up a few of our favourites for your listening pleasure. Yes, we’re talking about that little purple icon you’ve left untouched somewhere in the depths of your phone, in favour of giving prime home-screen real estate to Snapchat and Candy Crush.

If you haven’t already hopped on board the podcast bandwagon, here’s your starter kit. NPR’S PLANET MONEY Why are we still using signatures in the digital age? What are the highest and lowest-paying majors? Why is milk always in the back of the grocery store?

TECH CORNER

Fall ‘14 Midterm Exam Schedules (http://tinyurl.com/cs5u8rn) NOTE: DISTANCE EXAMS ARE HELD AT THE SAME DAY BUT CHECK WITH YOUR INDIVIDUAL PROCTOR FOR THE TIME.

LOCAL EXAMS (Carleton Campus)

LOCAL EXAMS (Carleton Campus)

LOCAL EXAMS (Carleton Campus)

COURSE MIDTERM EXAM DATES COURSE MIDTERM EXAM DATES/TIMES COURSE MIDTERM EXAM DATES/TIMES

ALDS 1001 W TBA

ERTH 2415 T Saturday, October 25, 2014 – 12:00 Loeb

Building/Southam Hall NEUR 2200 T

#1 Saturday, October 4, 2014 - 16:30; Loeb Building/Southam Hall

#2 Saturday, November 15, 2014 - 16:30; Loeb Building/Southam Hall

BIOL 1010 T N/A FINS 2105 T

#1 Sunday, October 19, 2014 - 10:00; Southam Hall #2 Friday, November 21, 2014 - 18:00; Southam Hall

NEUR 3204 T

#1 Sunday, October 5, 2014 - 13:00; Loeb Building/Southam Hall #2 Sunday, November 9, 2014 - 13:00; Loeb Building/Southam Hall

BIOL 1902 T Sunday, October 19, 2014 15:00; Azrieli Theater/Tory Building

FINS 2510 R Saturday, August 23, 2014 12:30

PHYS 1901 T Friday, October 24, 2014 - 18:00; Southam Hall

BUSI 1001 R

# 1 – Friday, October 17, 2014 – 18:00; Loeb

Building/Southam Hall # 2 – Friday, November 21, 2014 – 18:00; Tory Building/Azrieli Theatre

FINS 2511 R N/A PHYS 1905 W TBA

BUSI 1002 T

# 1 – Friday, October 17, 2014 – 18:00; Southam Hall # 2 – Friday, November 21, 2014 – 18:00; Tory Building

GEOG 2200 T Sunday, November 9, 2014 - 10:00; Southam Hall

PSYC 1001 R Please contact your professor.

BUSI 1003 T Saturday, October 18, 2014 – 09:00; Southam Hall

HIST 3305 T N/A PSYC 1001 T

#1 Saturday, October 4, 2014 - 9:00; Azrieli Theatres/Tory Building #2 Saturday, November 8, 2014 - 9:00; Azrieli Theatres/Tory Building

BUSI 1402 T N/A HIST 3902 T N/A PSYC 2001 T Friday, October 24, 2014 - 18:00; Azrieli Theatres/Tory Building

CDNS 2510 R N/A ISCI 1001 T N/A PSYC 2400 T Saturday, October 25, 2014 - 12:00; Azrieli Theatres/Tory Building

CDNS 2511 R N/A ISCI 2000 T Friday, November 7, 2014 - 18:00; Southam Hall

PSYC 2600 T

#1 Saturday, October 4, 2014 - 10:00; Loeb Building/Southam Hall #2 Saturday, November 8, 2014 - 10:00; Loeb Building/Southam Hall

CGSC 1001 T

#1 Saturday, September 27, 2014 - 09:00; Azrieli Theatre/Tory Building #2 – Friday, November 7, 2014 – 18:00; Azrieli Building/ Tory Building

LAWS 2201 T N/A PSYC 2700 T

#1 Saturday, October 4, 2014 - 14:00; Loeb Building/Southam Hall #2 Saturday, November 15, 2014 - 14:00; Loeb Building / Southam Hall

CHEM 1001 T

#1 Friday, October 17, 2014 – 18:30; Azrieli Theatre/Tory Building #2 – Friday, November 14, 2014 – 18:30; Azrieli Building/ Tory Building

LAWS 2301 T Sunday, October 19, 2014 - 17:00; Azrieli Theatres/Tory Building

PSYC 3403 T Saturday, October 25, 2014 - 14:00; Azrieli Theatres/Tory Building

CHEM 1004 T Saturday, October 25, 2014 – 09:00; Azrieli Theater/Tory Building

LAWS 2501 T N/A PSYC 3505 T Saturday, October 18, 2014 - 9:00; Tory Building

CIVE 5610 R N/A LAWS 3305 T N/A RELI 1710 T Saturday, October 18, 2014 - 12:30; Azrieli Theatres/Tory Building

ERTH 1006 T

#1 Sunday, October 5, 2014 - 09:00; Loeb Building/Southam Hall

#2 – Saturday, November 8, 2014 – 14:00; Loeb Building/Southam Hall

LAWS 3307 T Friday, November 14, 2014 - 18:00; Loeb

Building/Southam Hall SOWK 2501 T Saturday, October 25, 2014

ERTH 1010 T

#1 Sunday, October 5, 2014 - 09:00; Loeb Building/Southam Hall #2 – Saturday, November 8, 2014 – 14:00; Loeb Building/Southam Hall

MATH 1107 D N/A TSES 3001 T N/A

ERTH 2401 T Friday, October 3, 2014 – 18:00 Loeb Building/Southam Hall

NEUR 2001 T Friday, October 24, 2014 - 18:00; Azrieli Theatres/Tory Building

TSES 4007 V N/A

Full Credit Course

MIDTERM EXAM SCHEDULE Full Credit Course

MIDTERM EXAM SCHEDULE Full Credit Course

MIDTERM EXAM SCHEDULE

CDNS 1000 V Saturday Oct. 18, 2014 14:30 – Tory Building

LAWS 1000 V TBA

CLCV 2305 V TBA SOWK 1000 V N/A

ECON 1000 V TBA TSES 2305 V TBA

CUOL – D299 LA, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 Web: www.cuol.ca or www.carleton.ca/cuol Email: cuol@carleton.ca Tel: 613.520.4055 Fax: 613.520.3459

CUOL – D299 LA, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 Web: www.cuol.ca or www.carleton.ca/cuol Email: cuol@carleton.ca Tel: 613.520.4055 Fax: 613.520.3459

CUOL Newsletter

Reporter/Writer:

Chelsey Burnside

Layout:

Nestor Querido

Contributors:

Jeff Cohen

Maria Brocklehurst

Andrea Noriega

Nestor Querido

Patrick Lyons