February IDIG Meeting Recap

IDIG, NC State’s Instructional Design Interest Group, held its monthly meeting in Poe Hall February 23 at 3:30 p.m. IDIG serves as a way for local higher education faculty and staff interested in different aspects of instructional design to meet and collaborate. Individuals’ interests may include best practices and useful tools for learning and assessment among a range of other topics.

February’s meeting was titled “Making the Online Classroom More Interactive and Applied.” The goal of this meeting was to share tools and techniques individuals use to engage students with course material, instructors and among their peers. A review of best practices and resources was also on the agenda.

As the group gathered, they discussed various tools for online learning. After a live poll was taken, the main tools and techniques currently used in classrooms by IDIG attendees were forums, followed by videos and Mediasite.

Meeting facilitator and DELTA Associate Director of Instructional Design and Development Daniel Davis introduced ThingLink, a media platform that allows individuals to create interactive videos, photos, infographics and more. These interactive videos can be used as instruments to “retrigger and refocus” students. Vialogues was also presented to the group. Instructors can use this site to include comments about specific parts of videos they wish to highlight. Another great feature of this tool is the instructor’s ability to track students’ responses to comments made on videos.

In addition to new information, the group also discussed more traditional technologies used in the classroom. A number of IDIG members are familiar with the use of clickers for seated classrooms and noted their ability to spark conversation prior to and during class. Polls are a great way to initiate this conversation. However, polls can also be utilized in asynchronous environments. Instructors may use them as a means to ensure students are watching and understanding material then asking them to respond to content by a given time.

IDIG meets every fourth Tuesday of the month and on the third Tuesday in November and December. All meetings are held at 3:30 p.m. and are open to all faculty and staff members with interests in teaching and learning with technologies. The next IDIG event will be held March 22 in Poe Hall room 512.

Visit the links below for more information regarding the February IDIG meeting and presentation.

IDIG February Presentation: Making the Online Classroom More Interactive and Applied

IDIG Greet & Grow Discussion Notes