University Technology

Webinars & Events

Click on one of the  Register Now! links anywhere on this page to register for these webinars and training. We look forward to seeing you!   

*New Self-Guided Training* End of Semester Checklist

Dates & Times: Self-Guided Training
 Location: via Western Online

Description: The End of Semester Checklist self-guided training module provides online and hybrid course instructors a step-by-step reference of items that must be finalized as they near the end of the semester. The module covers topics such as releasing final student grades, requesting cross-listing, preparing for next semester’s courses, providing a link to the course evaluation, and many more! This guided training is equivalent to an OTL webinar in terms of attendance. Instructors who complete the training module will receive a certificate and a webinar credit for retention. Participants can complete this short module at the pace that's right for them.

Register Now! 

*New Self-Guided Training* Copyright and Teaching Online @ WIU

Dates & Times:  Self-Guided Training
 Location:  via Western Online

Description:The Copyright and Teaching Online self-guided training will provide instructors with information on how to follow copyright law when using materials in an online course. Participants will test their knowledge of the material covered to complete the module. This guided training is equivalent to an OTL webinar in terms of attendance. Instructors who complete the Copyright and Teaching Online module will receive a certificate and a webinar credit for retention. Participants can complete this short module at the pace that's right for them.

Register Now! 

Webinar: Setting up Grades with the Western Online Grades Tool

Dates & Times:  January 9, 10-11AM  &  January 17 ,10 AM-11 AM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Dawn Sweet

Description: This webinar will focus on mastering the built-in grade book in Western Online. Faculty will learn how to create and edit grade items, reorder items, enter grades, create categories, and change grade book settings including the grading system to be used, the grade scheme to be used, and more. 

Register Now! 

Webinar: Improve Presence and Student Engagement using the Western Online Video Note and Web Capture Tools

Dates & Times:  January 21, 11 AM - 12 PM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Joan Nkansaa Nkansah

Description: Instructor Presence and Student engagement are areas of concern for many faculty teaching online courses. The Video Notes tool is very easy to use and can help improve engagement for students and instructors. Video Notes can be recorded within the Western Online/Brightspace Editor in announcements, assignments, quizzes, discussions, and more. The Capture web tool lets you capture full presentations from your Chrome browser. Using Capture Web, you can create both screen and mixed camera presentations. Capture Web eliminates the need for an external recording application and the necessity to upload your file to YouTube and then embed it into Western Online. This tool will simplify the process by meeting your needs, including automatic captioning within Western Online.

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Using the Groups Tool in Western Online

Dates & Times:  January 22, 3 PM - 4 PM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Dawn Sweet

Description: During this webinar we will discuss how you can use the Groups feature in Western Online to enhance engagement and collaboration amongst your students. We will discuss best practices for use and lead you through a step-by-step process for setting up groups in your course.

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Structure Content in Your Course with Creator + Layouts Tool

Dates & Times:  January 23, 10 AM - 11 PM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Joan Nkansaa Nkansah

Description: During this webinar, participants will learn about the Creator + Layouts tool. Brightspace Creator + tools are available to instructors to create highly desirable, engaging, and delightful learning experiences on Western Online. The Layouts tool enables creators to create panels that add structure and help organize course content. Layouts make configuring content easier, and faster, as creators can arrange text, media, and even Creator+ Elements into panels. Thus, Layouts can be used with any element that is part of Insert Element.

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Using the Rubrics Tool in Western Online

Dates & Times:  January 24, 10 AM - 11 AM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Dawn Sweet

Description: During this webinar, we will discuss the types of rubrics that can be created in D2L, and best practices for using them. We will lead you through a step-by-step process that demonstrates how to create a rubric, attach a rubric to an assignment, and grade from a rubric. 

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Current Online Proctoring Options at WIU

Dates & Times:  January 27, 9 AM - 10 AM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Dawn Sweet

Description: During this webinar, we will present you with current online proctoring options available at Western Illinois University. Lockdown Browser, Respondus Monitor and Respondus Instructor Live Proctoring options will be discussed. Participants will be shown where to find information and help resources about each tool as well as the processes and procedures they will need to follow to set up these systems. 

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Create Interactive Learning Activities with the Creator + Insert Practices Tool to Deepen Students’ Comprehension 

Dates & Times:  January 28, 11 AM - 12 PM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Joan Nkansaa Nkansah

Description: During this webinar, participants will learn about the Creator + Insert Practices tool. Instructors can use Brightspace Creator + tools to create highly desirable, engaging, and delightful learning experiences on Western Online. The Insert Practices tool deepens comprehension and reinforces concepts using formative practice questions in Content HTML topics. Instructors can use the tool to create interactive learning activities that allow learners to test their comprehension and get immediate feedback on their understanding of a topic outside of a formal assessment.

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Create Dynamic Content in Your Course with the Creator + Insert Element Tool

Dates & Times:  January 30, 2 PM - 3 PM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Joan Nkansaa Nkansah

Description: Participants will learn about the Creator + Insert Element tool during this webinar. Brightspace Creator + tools are available to instructors to create highly desirable, engaging, and delightful learning experiences on Western Online. The Insert Element tool enables creators to easily and seamlessly create dynamic content and chunk concepts following instructional design best practices. Instructors can use Insert Element to build and insert stylized, interactive HTML elements without HTML coding.

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Creating Video Quizzes in Western Online

Dates & Times:  January 31, 10 AM - 11 AM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Dawn Sweet

Description: Are you a fan of formative video assessment tools such as TedEd which allow students to watch a video and answer questions about it? Are you discouraged that such assessments cannot be graded automatically? During this workshop, we will show you how to create video stems and add questions to create a graded video quiz in WesternOnline! 

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Monitoring Class and Learner Progress in Western Online

Dates & Times: February 3 , 10 AM - 11 AM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Dawn Sweet

Description: The user monitoring capabilities in Western Online allow instructors to see an overview of student performance across their entire course. During this webinar, we will demonstrate how instructors can use the user and class progress tools built into Western Online to measure student progress, monitor completion, and identify areas of concern at the individual and class levels. The information gained by using these tools can assist you in preparing performance progress reports, providing midterm feedback, and developing remediation plans to support learners in meeting course requirements as the course progresses. Specifically, we will demonstrate and discuss the Completion Status, Class Progress, User Progress, and Reports tools in Western Online. We recommend that you open one of your courses that contains student progress in order to follow along with the examples we demonstrate. 

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Western Online Tools for Connecting with your Students

Dates & Times:  February 4, 10 AM - 11 AM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Joan Nkansaa Nkansah

Description: This session will provide a basic overview of the main tools used to connect with your students from within your Western Online Course. Tools explored will include Announcements, Email, Discussions, and Activity Feed. This session is best for faculty, graduate assistants, and TA's that are new to Western Online and are looking for a basic introduction to the tools listed.

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Creating Quizzes and Exams in Western Online

Dates & Times:  February 6, 10 AM - 11 AM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Joan Nkansaa Nkansah

Description: During this webinar, participants will learn how to use the question library and create a quiz or exam. We will also cover how to connect quizzes to the grade book, setting release conditions, providing special access, releasing exam scores, and more.

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Automating your Western Online Course

Dates & Times: February 7 , 11 AM - 12 PM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Dawn Sweet

Description: Within Western Online there are multiple tools to help you automate your course. You can customize what is released to students using release conditions, automatically fill in system information using replacement strings, and send an auto email based on a student's login times and completion status using intelligent agents. After registering, you will receive a Google Calendar link with joining information and materials. You must register at least 1 hour before the workshop to ensure that you receive the link.

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Western Online AhHa Moments Vol. 3

Dates & Times: February 10 , 2 PM - 3 PM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Dawn Sweet

Description: We are back to provide a third installment on our series with Western Online “Ah-Ha” Moments & Other Discoveries Vol. 3! In this webinar, we will continue to explore various questions commonly asked by faculty regarding their Western Online course. We will explore solutions to some of the most common challenges faced by instructors such as, “How can I grab my students’ attention in online discussions?” to “My course includes graduate and undergraduate students. How do I keep my undergrad students from seeing graduate only assessments and grades?” and everything in between! 

Register Now! 

Webinar: Creating Assignments with the Western Online Assignments Tool

Dates & Times:  February 11, 11 AM - 12 PM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Joan Nkansaa Nkansah

Description: The Assignments tool is used to create assignments in which students can submit electronic files. Instructors can see users’ submission times, download Assignments folders to your computer, view submissions with the document viewer, associate Assignments folders to rubrics, and return submissions with grades and feedback.

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Using the Western Online Discussion Tool

Dates & Times:  February 13, 10 AM - 11 AM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Joan Nkansaa Nkansah

Description: The Western Online Discussions tool helps you organize discussion posts. This workshop will cover the difference between a forum and topic and how to create them, as well as how to set availability and locking options, linking to a grade item, and replying to discussion posts. 

 Register Now! 

Webinar: Building Midterm and Final Exams in Western Online

Dates & Times: February 14 , 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
 Location:  via Zoom
Facilitator: Dawn Sweet

Description: In this webinar, we will walk through the step-by-step process of building a midterm or final exam that combines a variety of questions from previously offered quizzes and exams. Copying an exam from one course to another, importing questions from existing quizzes or exams to the question library, adding specific questions from previous assessments, and adding random question pools will be demonstrated.

Register Now! 

 

 

Registrants will receive a Google Calendar invitation containing the Zoom Meeting link.
Accept the workshop invitation if you plan to attend. 
Register at least 1 hour prior  to the workshop to ensure you receive the Zoom Meeting Link and session materials.
Please contact the webinar instructor or event sponsor in the workshop description with questions.

Registrants will be added to the OTL Webinar and Events Portal in Western Online
for tracking attendance and receipt of participation certificates. They will also receive an email providing an evaluation link,
and confirming their attendance and participation after the webinar or even has concluded.

Participants will be responsible for saving a copy of their emailed receipt of participation and certificates.