News

Enhancing Educational Videos with Open-Source Technology

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 08:46:29

Faculty Learning Community Meeting.

Presented by: Nick Zentner, CWU Science Outreach and Education Coordinator for Geological Sciences
Date: Friday, February 18, @ Noon
Register for Zoom Meeting

Nick Zentner and Nat Nickel, MML Media Technician, have teamed up to enhance synchronous online teaching with the use of OBS broadcasting software, an iPhone and iPad, a virtual lightboard and tracking cameras. These technologies along with Nick’s teaching style and personality build engagement and community for his online learners. Come see what Nick is doing and explore ways you might incorporate some of these strategies into your own teaching.

Digitizing 3D Artifacts for Online Exploration

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 08:42:49

Faculty Learning Community Meeting this Friday at 12 Noon. Join us!

Presented by: Lynn Bethke, Museum Collections Manager, Museum of Culture and Environment
Date: Friday, February 11, @ Noon
Register for Zoom Meeting

Discover the purpose and process that Lynn employed to preserve and share artifacts from the CWU Museum of Culture and Environment. In this Faculty Learning Community session, we will discuss and explore the potential to incorporate 3D scanned objects into online curriculum and bring 'hands-on' learning to the cloud. Preview scanned artifacts.

Faculty Opportunity: Foundations of Online & Remote Instruction

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 07:42:03

To prepare for Fall Quarter 2020 all CWU faculty have the opportunity to complete the Foundations of Online and Remote Instruction course, developed by the Multimodal Learning Team. The self-paced course can be completed within 3-5 hours and will give faculty, experience using Canvas tools, and exploring online best practices.

The course will cover the basics of online/remote instruction as well as an intermediate level with pro tips and resources. The final assessment will result in a completed online course planning guide that can be used for Fall Quarter Online/Remote courses. The course will be available in the Canvas Dashboard starting July 1st. Access Canvas at https://canvas.cwu.edu

Upon completion of the basic and intermediate course levels and the final assessment a 500-dollar compensation will be provided by Office of the Provost for those completing the course between July 1st and August 15th. best practices. The final assessment will result in a completed online course planning guide that can be used for Fall Quarter Online/Remote courses.

CWU's Multimodal Learning department helping faculty transition spring quarter online

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 15:34:06

CWU’s Office of Multimodal Learning is helping faculty move all CWU courses online, available for live chat and questions, all while working remotely themselves.

“I’m so super proud of this team,” said Joy Fuqua, executive director of multimodal learning. “(We have) worked with all the other departments and we have a standardized training for all the faculty ... right now everybody is making live connections to faculty members if they want to import things or create new things in their classes online.”

Read the full article in the Daily Record

Multimodal Learning Helps Support KVH with PPE

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 15:29:38

Central Washington University’s student Public Health Club has taken a significant role in providing some needed personal protective equipment (PPE) to Kittitas Valley Healthcare (KVH) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of the necessity of some specific equipment, and a corresponding shortage of it, the CWU club is assembling transparent protective face shields and special plastic filament that the university’s 3D printers need to produce headbands. The finished products help secure the shields, allowing them to be safely used by health care workers.

“We had club funds that we were not going to be able to use during spring quarter because of the change to online instruction,” said Alberto Saldana, a senior Public Health major from Wapato and a Public Health Club member. “When we heard there was a shortage of PPE, we thought this would be a good way to use that money to give back to the community.”

Tishra Beeson, program coordinator for CWU’s Master of Public Health program and the Public Health Club’s advisor, added, “The National Institutes of Health made a resource available for 3D print designs that included the face shields we chose. We liked that this design met review standards in clinical settings already and complied with the federal emergency authorization guidelines.”

Three campus 3D printers are now in production mode, one in the Department of Engineering Technologies, Safety, and Construction; two others from the university’s Multimodal Education Center.

Every week, the newly fabricated headwear is dropped off to Beeson, who then assembles—in her garage—the separate parts into functional units, which are then delivered to KVH. Anna Scarlett, KVH clinical informatics analyst, has appreciated the help.

“As the main person in the trenches working with the staff who are most concerned about their personal protective equipment, it’s been a huge blessing to have these face shields,” she said. “And to know there are more coming is great.”

Online Degrees, Classes Expanding Curriculum at Central

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 08:24:13

Matt Carstens, Daily Record, January 7, 2017

Online Degrees, Classes Expanding Curriculum at Central

Central Washington University assistant English professor Joshua Welsh learned early in his online teaching career that humor was not a tool that translated well from the face-to-face classroom.

“In the classroom I can start cracking jokes and try to be really approachable,” Welsh said. “I’ve tried that online and you can almost hear the crickets chirping.”

Instead of being driven by building a rapport with students on the first day of a course, Welsh said he has learned to give online students what they want — the materials. Not just some of the class. All of it.

“I front load as much work as possible so when the student logs in the first day they see everything they’re going to have to do,” Welsh said. “Here are all my activities. I learned that the hard way.”

For students both traditional and non-traditional, this can be a big help online. Justin Carroll is a 32-year-old cyber security major who started his undergraduate career taking online classes at Bellevue College and transferred to Central. Carroll said he typically takes one online class and two face-to-face classes a quarter, though this quarter he’s taking two of each. He said sometimes online classes lock you into a week-to-week schedule, but the good ones let you work ahead.

“I like to just go ahead,” Carroll said. “I’m already two weeks ahead in one of my classes and school just started today … I need to do that to maintain sanity.”

Carroll works full-time in the Multimodal Education Center in Black Hall, and said without the flexibility online classes bring him, he wouldn’t be able to pursue a degree.

Much like in face-to-face learning, the experience of online classes can differ from teacher to teacher. Most of those adjustments come from learning how and where teachers organize materials in the system.

CWU uses a learning management system called Canvas — a program the school switched to from Blackboard in 2014. Canvas has a statewide contract with universities and colleges across Washington, making it familiar to students transferring to Central’s online degree programs from different schools. According to the Executive Director of Multimodal Learning Chris Schedler, half of the students pursuing online degrees at CWU transferred from community colleges.

By the numbers

The university has been tracking online enrollment since 2011, when 186 students were pursuing online undergrad degrees along with 41 pursuing graduate degrees. Today a total of 1,137 students are enrolled in online degree programs, including 930 in undergraduate studies. That makes up 10 percent of Central’s total enrollment.

Schedler said each college at the university has an online degree program. Information technology administrative management is the biggest program.

“For the sciences it’s more challenging, definitely,” Schedler said about online instruction. “Most are in the social sciences like sociology, psychology, law and justice.”

As far as total online enrollment, 3,840 students are enrolled in at least one online class at CWU, which makes up 33 percent of total enrollment. In 2011, that number was just 1,782.

“I think traditional students do like the flexibility that online provides, but there is often a preference for face-to-face interaction with faculty in the class,” Schedler said. “The non-traditional students are more familiar with having to work virtually in teams … and they also obviously appreciate the flexibility because they wouldn’t be able to pursue their education if they didn’t have it.”

Developing curriculum

Welsh got his start teaching online as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. He was hired at Central to help develop and teach the online curriculum. He now is the adviser of the department’s online professional and creative writing degree, which has about 100 students and is the department’s biggest major.

“I think it’s because we can meet the students where they are,” Welsh said. “We have students from all over the state of Washington certainly, and then from other states as well.”

CWU draws from states which it has agreements in and there are some restrictions in regard to internships, but overall the program is flourishing. Having online classes and degrees simply makes the pool of interested students larger, allowing more courses to be offered regularly.

“I have my advanced tech writing class and you’ll be shocked to hear that’s not the most popular class in the English department,” Welsh said with a laugh. “There’s always plenty of room, and it’s actually almost full this quarter for the first time since I’ve been here. That’s great because it’s not one of the hugely popular courses. But for those that want to take it, we can have a nice strong course, a full course and keep offering it to the students that really want to go on and do more with technical writing.”

Welsh said he can’t speak for other disciplines, but English translates well to online teaching, humor aside.

“You really never know if a student has learned something in a writing class until you read their writing,” Welsh said. “You do more of that sooner in an online class.”

Welsh also said he likes the individual attention each student gets in an online class.

One of the drawbacks to online teaching, however, can be a lack of flexibility. Instead of the opportunities face-to-face learning gives with trying new things out if something isn’t working, teachers and students are kind of stuck with what is promised at the beginning of a term.

“Improvisation does not work very well online,” he said. “Planning works really well online. Sort of figuring out how to be thinking a quarter ahead. Quarters move really quickly as it is, so just getting ahead of the curve like that, that for me was the biggest challenge.”

CWU is Best Online University in Washington

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:37:33

According to a national online college rating website, Central Washington University is the Best Value Online School in Washington for 2016.

The site, Best Value Schools (http://www.bestvalueschools.com/), ranked CWU first on its list of the three best online schools in the state. The other two schools cited in the report were City University of Seattle and St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington.

“Central Washington University is widely recognized as a leader in affordable online degrees in Washington,” according to the website. “Not only is CWU about half the price of other schools on this list, but it also features a range of unique degrees that transcend the typical offerings of business and health care.”

CWU Associate Provost Anne Cubilié, who oversees the university’s extended learning programs, said the university was honored to be recognized for the excellence of its online programs.

“At CWU, we’ve sought to be a leader in online education and this new ranking shows we’re doing something right,” Cubilié said. “Our students can find a rich variety of majors, minors, endorsements, certifications, and graduate degrees available through our online learning program (http://www.cwu.edu/online-learning/).”

CWU is a regional leader in providing access to high quality, personalized online education. It offers fully-accredited online undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as hundreds of courses available online each quarter.

In 2015, Central’s online psychology bachelor’s degree program was named one of the top 30 online psychology programs in the nation. Additionally, CWU’s bachelor’s degree in professional and creative writing undergraduate degree program and master of science degree in Information Technology and Administrative Management were both ranked top ten online programs in the U.S.

Media contact: Richard Moreno, director of content development, 509-963-2714, Richard.Moreno@cwu.edu.

- November 30, 2016

Multimodal Update Fall 2016

Wed, 26 Oct 2016 09:47:51

October 24, 2016
Dear Faculty,

Happy Fall! Thank you for your efforts engaging students with multimodal pedagogies and instructional technologies. We look forward to providing opportunities this year for faculty to engage with a new distance education platform, share streaming media, explore virtual reality, and pursue online teaching certification.

Multimodal Learning Team – We’ve welcomed a number of new members and one returning member (Delayna Breckon) back to our team. Bruce Palmquist (Physics/Science Education) will be our Faculty Fellow this year. The Multimodal Learning team now includes:

• Christopher Schedler, Executive Director, Professor/English, x1357 Christopher.Schedler@cwu.edu
• Justin Carroll, Program Assistant, x1258 Justin.Carroll@cwu.edu
• Bruce Palmquist, Faculty Fellow, Professor/Physics, x3142 Bruce.Palmquist@cwu.edu
• Joy Bensiger, Senior Instructional Technologist/Canvas Admin, x2039 Joy.Bensiger@.cwu.edu
• Delayna Breckon, Instructional Technologist x1172 Delayna.Breckon@cwu.edu
• Geri Hopkins, Instructional Design Librarian/MediaAmp Admin, x1925 Geri.Hopkins@cwu.edu
• Chad Schone, MEC Director/Panopto Admin, x1613 Chad.Schone@cwu.edu
• Forrest Hollingsworth, MEC Media Technician x2343 Forrest.H@cwu.edu
• Holly Wheeler, MEC Library Media Specialist, x1224 Holly.Wheeler@cwu.edu
• Frank Jones, DE Supervisor (Ellensburg) x2856 Frank.Jones@cwu.edu
• Maury Webber, DE Supervisor (Lynnwood) x3752 Maury.Webber@cwu.edu
• Pete Cusumano, DE Supervisor (Des Moines) x3834 Peter.Cusumano@cwu.edu

New Multimodal Learning Website – We’ve launched a new Multimodal Learning website to serve as a hub for faculty support on Canvas and other instructional technology tools, training workshops, faculty learning communities, instructional design services, online teacher certification, and other resources.

Multimodal Education Center – During our second full year of operation in the Multimodal Education Center in Black Hall, we expanded our services and support for faculty and students with a second 3D printer, new poster printer, virtual reality headset, sound-proofed recording studio, and expanded computer labs, as well as new furniture and carpet. Come check out our new technologies and updated facilities in Black Hall.

Online Learning @ CWU – We now have over 1,100 declared online majors (930 undergraduate and 207 graduate), and over 1/3 of CWU students take at least one online course each quarter. Our student-centered Online Learning website has been redesigned. New online degrees launching this year include B.S. Business Administration and M.A. English: Professional & Creative Writing.

Canvas LMS – Each quarter, 60-75% of all courses and 70-85% of faculty use Canvas. We updated the Canvas user interface over the Summer and enabled Canvas Commons for shared instructional resources, including modules that you can download directly to your courses for students to learn about citation, plagiarism, and essentials for online learning. For support with Canvas, contact Joy Bensiger or Delayna Breckon.

MediaAmp Streaming Media – Over the last year, we developed and launched the CWUTV media portal for promotional videos and live event streaming, including Commencement and Convocation. We are piloting the new Modalis application for sharing media collections, playlists, and student-created media with classes and departments. For support acquiring streaming video and using MediaAmp, contact Geri Hopkins.

Panopto Lecture Capture – In its first full year in use, Panopto lecture capture was used in 215 courses, with more than 1,500 recordings, and over 24,000 viewings. We provide a faculty recording studio in Black Hall with high-quality camera, microphone, lighting, and backdrop, as well as mobile recordings kits for checkout in the Multimodal Education Center and at the Westside Centers. For support with Panopto, contact Chad Schone and Forrest Hollingsworth.

DE/ITV Transition – After assuming responsibility for supporting Distance Education (DE) course delivery and leading an investigation into a replacement for our legacy Interactive Television (ITV) system, we selected the Cisco Telepresence-WebEx solution as our new DE platform. Implementation of the new Cisco system and upgrades to 9 DE classrooms at Ellensburg, Des Moines, and Lynnwood will take place this Fall, with a second phase of upgrades to follow.

Master Online Teacher Certification – Now in its third year, our Faculty Institute for Online Teaching (offered in Summer and Pre-Fall) has enrolled over 125 faculty members and almost two dozen have completed the Master Online Teacher Certification, which requires additional training workshops, participation in faculty learning community meetings, development of an online course, and submission of the course for quality assurance review. Look for the next call for participants in Spring quarter.

Professional Development – Training workshops on Canvas and other instructional technology tools continue to be offered each quarter, both face-to-face and via online webinars for faculty at the University Centers. Our Instructional Design Team is available to consult with departments and individual faculty in designing and delivering quality online and hybrid courses. To set up a consultation with the instructional design team, please contact Chris Schedler.

Multimodal Learning Communities – These Faculty Learning Communities meet four times per quarter. Two groups are available for faculty participation, based on relative experience and expertise in teaching online. Both groups (Vanguard for the more experienced; Explorers for beginners) provide a chance to share best practices and receive tools and resources to improve your online and hybrid classes. Faculty at remote locations can also participate in the meetings via Skype. To join one of the communities, contact Chris Schedler.

Your suggestions and comments regarding these or other Multimodal Learning initiatives are welcomed.

Sincerely,
Christopher Schedler
Professor / English
Executive Director / Multimodal Learning Office of Multimodal Learning

Multimodal Learning Fall 2016 Update PDF

Multimodal Education Center
Black Hall
400 East University Way
Ellensburg WA 98926-7403
Office: 509-963-1258 • E-mail: CarrollJA@cwu.edu •

CWU Offers One of the Top Online Psychology Degrees in the Nation

Wed, 29 Jun 2016 13:35:41

Central Washington University was ranked as having one of the top 30 online psychology bachelor’s degree programs in the nation for 2015. The study, by Affordable Colleges Foundation (ACF), a leading resource for online learning and college affordability information, published its new ranking of 2015’s Top Online Psychology Degrees at

www.affordablecollegesonline.org/online-colleges/psychology-programs/.

“We’re very pleased with the ranking,” said Stephanie Stein, professor and chair of CWU’s psychology department. “We have worked hard to develop a rigorous, fully accredited online program that gives our students the best preparation for their career path.”

According to Stein, “Our success is largely due to our outstanding online program director, Dr. Sara Bender. Dr. Bender not only oversees the online program and curriculum, she personally serves as the academic advisor for all of the online psychology majors. Our online majors receive individualized and quick, responsive support, a feature that sets the CWU program apart from many other online programs.”

Psychology is the second most popular college major. Students with a degree in the field have extensive career options in areas such as education, research, public health, politics and more.

"To find the best schools offering the highest quality online education for psychology students, we looked beyond the sheer number of programs available and the total cost of a degree,” said Dan Schuessler, founder and CEO of Affordable Colleges Foundation. "Our data team spent months researching hundreds of available psychology degree programs to find out which schools truly make a difference with stand-out academics, resources and student support services." For more information about ACF, go to www.affordablecollegesonline.org/online-colleges/psychology-programs/.

To create the list, ACF data analysts and higher education experts developed a proprietary scoring system to rank colleges using various cost and quality criteria and metrics, including:
• Must be not-for-profit institution
• Student-faculty ratio
• Six-year graduation rate
• Job placement for graduates
• AC Online Peer-Based Value (A proprietary metric that compares quality metrics of colleges with similar costs, and the costs of colleges with similar quality metrics)

The bachelor of arts in psychology at CWU can be earned entirely online and requires a minimum of 180 quarter credits, including no more than 135 transfer credits. Program admission is offered in the spring, fall, and winter quarters. During the online program, students must maintain a 2.5 GPA or better, create an electronic portfolio, participate in 10 hours of service learning (or work as a research assistant), and complete all end-of-major assessment evaluations. There is also a world language requirement for all aspiring graduates. For more information about the program, go to www.cwu.edu/psychology/.

Media Contact: Valerie Chapman-Stockwell, Public Affairs, 509-963-1518, valeriec@cwu.edu

January 9, 2015

ITAM Degree Offered at Walla Walla Community College

Wed, 29 Jun 2016 13:34:05

Students at Walla Walla Community College can now earn a bachelor of applied science degree in information technology and administrative management (BAS-ITAM) from Central Washington University, thanks to a new partnership between the two institutions.

The BAS-ITAM program, with specializations in administrative management, information technology, and cybersecurity, teaches students how to manage people, projects, and information. It is a full baccalaureate program that accepts any applied or technical degree that would not transfer to four-year programs otherwise.

“Students will have the flexibility of taking hybrid and online CWU courses at Walla Walla Community College and can continue to work fulltime to improve their career opportunities,” said Laurie Stehle, director of ITAM online programs at CWU. “The professors that teach on the Ellensburg campus also teach online classes, so students receive the same quality education in a location that works for them.”

ITAM at CWU is a high-demand program taught by faculty with doctorate-level degrees, industry certification, and valuable field experience. It complements existing skills with new management, or soft skills, to help students become leaders. Classes also cover business communication, project management, customer relationship management, and professional development.

“This partnership is great for the students and for the community,” said Steve VanAusdle, president of WWCC. “It gives our students more ways to access a baccalaureate degree and sets them up for success.”

The degree will be delivered online and in hybrid classes at WWCC. Fulltime students can expect to complete the degree in eight quarters. Students enrolled in the CWU program will have access to resources at both institutions. For more information, email ITAMinfo@cwu.edu or call 509-963-2611.

WWCC is one of the top community colleges in the nation. It was given the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence in 2013 from The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program.

CWU is a public, four-year university in Ellensburg with centers co-located throughout Washington. It is a regional leader in providing high quality, personalized education with fully-accredited online degree programs and hundreds of courses delivered online each quarter.

Media contact: Barb Arnott, CWU Public Affairs, 509-963-2841, barnott@cwu.edu