Consider This...
Wilma Whale is a new faculty member at NEOMED, and they're designing a course on neurodiversity in healthcare. They've already written goals and outcomes, planned key assignments and assessments, and chosen and sequenced the content. Now they are planning how to deliver their instruction—this includes choosing the most suitable learning technologies for the course.
Professor Whale knows Canvas is NEOMED’s learning management system (LMS), so it will be the centralized hub for course materials, assignments, and online discussions. But they didn't research the other tools available at NEOMED. They wind up selecting several apps for various course activities because they believe students might encounter them in their marketing careers. A third of the chosen tools store student data in their cloud versions, half require a paid subscription, and at least one is not accessible to screen readers.
Professor Whale’s choices could infringe on students’ privacy, violate FERPA, and even negatively impact students’ learning. What could they have done differently?
NEOMED provides faculty, staff, and students access to numerous learning technology tools and applications to enhance teaching and learning. This guide will introduce those tools and the benefits of university-supported and vetted tools so you can make informed choices about the technology you use in your own teaching.
What are Learning Technologies?
Learning technologies are the broad range of communication, information, and related technologies that are used to support learning, teaching, and assessment in an in-person, hybrid, or online course (Association for Learning Technology, 2024). Some of their uses include:
- managing course materials
- fostering discussion in and outside of class
- authoring learning materials
- sharing media files
- assessing learning
Examples of learning technologies include learning management systems (LMS) such as Canvas or student response systems like PointSolutions.
Learning Systems
NEOMED learning Systems are available for free to all faculty, staff, and students and is centrally supported by the Institute for Teaching Excellence and IT Education Services teams.
- Canvas is NEOMED’s learning management system (LMS) for in-person and online courses. Canvas is used as a hub for course content, assignments, grades, communication, and more. It is the foundation for building and integrating other tools into your course.
- Zoom is the academic audio and web conferencing platform for NEOMED, used for remote teaching, advising, appointments, group projects, recording video lectures, and more.
- EchoVideo is the university’s video and lecture capture tool used to record class sessions or lectures, screen or slide share with audio or video from a desktop computer, and upload recordings to university servers.
- PointSolutions is a student response system that allows you to create an interactive lecture experience for students. Using PointSolutions, you can poll students, present discussion prompts, display lecture material, track attendance, and sync grades with Canvas. Students can respond to PointSolutions questions and prompts using the devices they already own, such as smartphones, laptops or tablets.
- Microsoft 365 is available to all NEOMED students, faculty, and staff who have free access to the suite of desktop and mobile apps, including Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, Sway and Whiteboard.
Classroom Technology
Technology within NEOMED lecture halls that are supported by the IT Department vary from room to room, but all will include a projector, a wall-mounted camera, and an in-room microphone to assist with lecture recording or simulcasting. Your department or unit may provide additional classroom technology.
What are the Benefits of Using University-Supported Systems?
When you use university-supported tools and other approved technologies in your course, you can focus on teaching without worrying about barriers for your students or potential legal liabilities. Additionally, technical support for these systems is provided by experienced staff right here at NEOMED.
There are various factors considered when tools are evaluated for use at the university, including cost, accessibility, security, and FERPA compliance.
How Do I Get Technical Support?
As mentioned above, one of the benefits of using university-supported tools is that they are supported by the IT Department.
What About Other Systems?
Using tools that have not been through the NEOMED vetting process could cause a variety of negative outcomes for students, instructors, and the university. It's important to be aware of potential consequences, including:
- Cost to students: Students are more likely to incur additional expenses or encounter technical issues that the university cannot help them work through. Both factors create barriers to academic success.
- Student data security concerns: Student data can become vulnerable, potentially being exploited in ways that cause harm and create instructor liability for said harm.
- Breach of student privacy: Grades and personal information cannot occur through the tool without violating FERPA guidelines and exposing the instructor to legal risk.
- Inaccessible tools: Tools may be incompatible with screen readers or other assistive technology devices, making it difficult or impossible for students reliant on them to use.
- Unexpected tool changes: Because there is no contract in place, the vendor can change the settings and functions of a tool at any time, potentially making them inoperable mid-term.
- No integration with Canvas: There will be no integration with other NEOMED systems, meaning student activity data cannot be imported into Canvas.
- Wasted student effort: Students might learn to use the tool for just one class in one semester, which may not feel like a useful expenditure of time or effort, particularly if the tool is complex or does not help students meet one of your learning outcomes.