Moving Online – Day 3 at Dusk

This post was originally scheduled to publish on Wednesday afternoon. Work became a little more intense to the point I could not finish and publish this post as scheduled. However, I did take some notes and store them in my Google Calendar. My hope and plan is when things get crazy busy that I fall out of schedule, I will catch up on post backlog on Saturdays.

Contents

Introduction

Hey, you made it! How was your day overall? Mine? It was educational, to say the least. It was a step in the right direction. It is the steps that follow that will tell more of the story along the way.

News Headlines of Influence

I admit that today, I made a point of not checking my news feeds, short of communications from work. I’m still processing that the campus is closed, and with it, another collection of resources that is no longer available to students.

Right at this moment, I’m brainstorming ways for addressing that. Are their resources I haven’t considered using that may work? Are their alternatives or work-a-rounds that would be reasonable to introduce? As you can see, my nose was back to the grindstone, and taking in more than the work is not a viable idea.

Today’s Priorities

Yeah – so today was an experience, our first step back to some semblance of normalcy. I don’t know that I hit the mark 100%, but I think I’m in that 80% range. In the next few weeks, I’ll keep making adjustments and tuning to see how I can get closer to 100%. Here’s the breakdown of events from today.

Morning business applications course – going live & online

Overall attendance / participation in the first live session was relatively low; a common theme that I am hearing from my colleagues across the school and in multiple disciplines. Considering that my own professional and personal life had been thrown into disarray and I was frantically trying to stabilize those elements, I had to imagine that my students were facing the same, if not more traumatic changes.

Therefore, my strategy for this first day of live sessions was to treat it as another first day of class. My focus was on communicating the changes in the learning environment. We talked about course policy changes, such as:

  • Transitioning from in-person live, to online and live via WebEx
  • Discuss the expectation of participation in the live sessions, and alternatives in the event individuals did not have reliable access to the Internet, or if their schedules were suddenly shifting through work. We have been encouraged to accommodate each student as best we can; which was my focus and intent.
  • Provided a short overview of WebEx, and how to locate tools such as the program interface, microphones and webcam commands, chat window, and content sharing. I focused only on the most immediate tools that we would use.
  • With the time we had left, I attempted a brief review of our last in-class session prior to Spring Break. Much of the content we had covered did not come to mind when asked a few questions. However, once we started sharing Excel workbooks and reviewing visually some of the learning objectives, it was starting to warm back up for many.

The morning class gave me a few considerations as well.

  • Of those who attended, nearly the majority of attendees were comfortable using their webcam and microphone; which facilitated some non-verbal cues during the session.
  • Several raised concerns about not having access to the technology they would need for the next unit of the course. That sparked me into further action and to reach out to our school’s tech department for further assistance.
  • One asked if I was simply going to provide live demonstrations, why not simply create and post videos instead of holding the class live. The question was a good one – and it made me think. I think my immediate response to the question was that I wanted to remain a live resource they could interact with and ask questions.

Afternoon technology course – going live & online

For my afternoon class, overall attendance / participation in the first live session was relatively low. Again, it has been a consistent theme across all classes, and my afternoon course operates more independently. My strategy remained the same, treat today as another “first day” of class, make sure they understand the changes to the course and the live delivery, and progress from there.

Therefore, my strategy for this first day of live sessions was to treat it as another first day of class. My focus was on communicating the changes in the learning environment. Like this morning, we talked about course policy changes, such as:

  • Transitioning from in-person live, to online and live via WebEx
  • Discuss the expectation of participation in the live sessions, and alternatives in the event individuals did not have reliable access to the Internet, or if their schedules were suddenly shifting through work. We have been encouraged to accommodate each student as best we can; which was my focus and intent.
  • Provided a short overview of WebEx, and how to locate tools such as the program interface, microphones and webcam commands, chat window, and content sharing. I focused only on the most immediate tools that we would use.
  • We discussed some of the changes to the schedule as well, such as the omission of the class field trip, and other changes that would happen because of COVID-19.
  • We discussed their upcoming training project, and the unique opportunity they would have to not only develop a training presentation, but to deliver their presentation online using WebEx.

The afternoon class gave me a few considerations as well.

  • During my office hour before class, WebEx was starting to run into issues. My suspicion was, we went from just 400-500 online classes not using WebEx to almost 2000 classes, with at least 80% using WebEx. There was bound to be limits, and I was going to be prepared. I had created a backup account using the free version of Zoom, and simply asked my students to use this tool rather than WebEx for the day.
  • Of those who attended, nearly the majority of attendees chose not to use their their webcam and microphone; which made it more difficult to read verbal cues during the session. I had the sensation that I was competing for their attention.
  • Most were very accepting of the changes to the course, and when asked if the changes were fair to them, they agreed.
  • Most had been thrown into some sort of chaos personally, and were processing the changes in this class and others. Consequently, many had not prepared the required reading, and were still working on assignments from the previous class session.
  • I used remaining class time as an open-work session, where I remained online via Zoom, and students could come and go as they had questions while working on assignments. Most elected to complete readings and their assignment on their own, but I had one student that came in and out of Zoom with questions along they way.

In the end, I think there is more I will need to do to make the live sessions valuable while still affording students time to work on their own. Next week, I intend to develop and try presenting a few Kahoot! quizzes as a way to do small self-checks and engagement-checks as a way to breakup the monotony.

Having lived and worked with web-conferencing tools; while I find them to be exciting, I know not everyone holds the same perspective. And I’ve attended web-conferences where it was an extreme toll on my willpower to NOT open another browser window and surf the web. In all of this, I do have more tools available to me than in the traditional classroom to create an engaging learning environment. It would be a shame to miss the chance to try.

Finalize and communicate course changes to students

From 5AM until 5PM, these two classes were my sole concentration. While I got a little bit of time back (I did not have to travel between multiple campuses within a narrow time frame – which was great), all of the prep, setup, and delivery took more time. I also managed to push updates to two more of my classes, with two left that require a little more concentration.

Challenges, Fears, & Unknowns

  • Fear – Something is going to go awry
    • We lost WebEx for the second class; but it turned out OK by having Zoom as a backup.
  • Fear – forgetting to press the Record button on my live sessions
    • Did that too! Right in the first session. The students that participated had a small chuckle when I remembered, and were patient as I did a small recap for the benefit of the recording. I’m adding a sticky-note to my screen to make sure I don’t forget again.
  • Challenge – will students be able to engage in the live sessions as they do in the classroom?
    • Inconsistent right now. We’re all learning how to teach and how to learn in these new environments. Like anything, it will take a few sessions to define our new normal. We’ll need a bit of patience as we all work to get there.
  • Unknown – will students still value the live components of their courses?
    • …still unknown… but something I’m sure students will be able to voice as the semester progresses to completion.

Ideas, Innovations, & Opportunities

  • Innovate – I need to embrace these live sessions
    • Bringing in additional multimedia such as Kahoot! may help bring in a little more engagement.
    • Recording and making the sessions available after the fact would also be beneficial, but that’s less of an innovation and more of good practice.
    • …I wonder about bringing in a messaging app like Slack or Discord to augment my office hours; but have a feeling that’s adding too much tech at once and will overwhelm the students.
  • Opportunity – building strength as an online presenter / instructor
    • I’m facing the discomfort of the microphone and camera. I did receive one complement from a student when I made a small joke about becoming a YouTube streamer. I’ll have to look and see what YouTubers do to help make their audiences feel like they are at home.

Thanks,

Thank you for spending part of your evening with me as we wind down from the first day of our new teaching reality. Tomorrow I’ll be in “office” mode to take care of the more administrative work that needs to be done behind the scenes. Until then, stay safe! I’ll see you in the morning!

Kindly,
-Brendan

Moving Online – Day 3 at Dawn

This post was originally scheduled to publish on Wednesday morning. Work became a little more intense to the point I could not finish and publish this post as scheduled. However, I did take some notes and store them in my Google Calendar. My hope and plan is when things get crazy busy that I fall out of schedule, I will catch up on post backlog on Saturdays.

Contents

Introduction

Good morning, its good to see you. Welcome to Day 3 of Moving Online, and the first day back to the semester. Are you ready to get started? I’m not completely sure that I am, but here we go never the less.

News Headlines of Influence

One of the major announcements that came out last night was that my school, like many within the state and country, have officially closed all physical building locations. We are officially an online-only entity. Its… both inspiring and terrifying to think about.

Inspiring, because for all of our students, staff, administrators, and faculty, our identity as a school is truly separated from the physical campus and buildings. If I can be so bold, the school exists in a combination of combined spirit and energy; we think we are a school, so therefore, we exist.

Its also terrifying for the exact same reasons.

We are all, about to learn a great deal over the next few weeks. As far as COVID-19 is concerned, the situation continues to grow more grim. There are more cases in my state, and our first confirmed death. Groceries and supplies are bought and put away; by no means did we buy extravagant amounts, but we should be set for at least the next 2-3 weeks on our current levels.

Today’s Priorities

Today’s priorities are more focused one major theme – resuming classes and teaching online. I have two face-to-face classes that are now moving to live and online. My online classes are resuming their work too, and largely, the changeover should not be as dramatic as it is for the face-to-face. In my last post, all classes had substantial changes to their syllabi and their course activity schedules. I believe that the new policy and schedule should hold for a consistent experience, and should be able to flex depending how the situation changes.

Today will not be as focused on the preparation as much as the delivery, and what learn along the way. I have a morning class and an afternoon class that will be my focus today, and we’ll see how it goes along the way.

  • Morning business applications course – going live & online
  • Afternoon technology course – going live & online
  • Finalize and communicate course changes to students

Challenges, Fears, & Unknowns

  • Fear – Something is going to go awry
  • Fear – forgetting to press the Record button on my live sessions
  • Challenge – will students be able to engage in the live sessions as they do in the classroom?
  • Unknown – will students still value the live components of their courses?

Ideas, Innovations, & Opportunities

  • Innovate – I need to embrace these live sessions and up the delivery
  • Opportunity – building strength as an online presenter / instructor

Thanks,

Thank you for spending part of your morning coffee with me. I’ll post another update tonight. Until then,

-Brendan

Moving Online – Day 2 at Dusk

This post was originally scheduled to publish on Tuesday evening. Work became a little more intense to the point I could not finish and publish this post as scheduled. However, I did take some notes and store them in my Google Calendar. My hope and plan is when things get crazy busy that I fall out of schedule, I will catch up on post backlog on Saturdays.

Contents

Introduction

Good evening once more. I genuinely hope that my post finds you well, and that as we face the days ahead together, that recording this experience adds value.

Today was not the pinnacle of productivity I had hoped for. Most of my tasks centered on ensuring I had all of the tools to continue serving students remotely from home. In many real ways – it felt like moving day – packing, loading up, unpacking, organizing, and repeating until everything was in place. Quite a bit of of the work was in the physical labor to ensure all supplies, tools, and equipment were accounted for.

Finally, my night ends with the first round of updates to students, and my attempts to begin walking down a new and unexpected road, with the hope that they will walk with me.

News Headlines of Influence

One of the major “headlines” was the announcement that our school has officially closed all of its physical buildings due to state and federal recommendations. We are operating almost exclusively as an online/remote institution.

This is, of course, a logical next step, and one that further protects our students, our staff, and faculty. But it furthers my concern for my students about access to additional technological resources and support. Other local headlines include an almost comprehensive listing of cities, townships, and counties declaring various states of emergency, closing of additional resources as we continue to enter a “wind-down”.

The steady stream of student communications and concerns is also beginning. While I have some answers, I largely am operating from the same information they are. Not as specific as I would like to be, but those are the basic themes without entering into any political lenses. There are some rather innovative ideas I’m seeing online as well – but that will be a different post for a different day.

Today’s Priorities

Today’s priorities were focused one major theme – preparing to work remotely. For this post, and for most, I will be speaking more generally, as this can touch into elements of cyber security.

Obtaining tools for working remotely

This has been an experience and a half. Working remotely, at least for me, is not as simple as grabbing a laptop and calling it good. No, there’s a few more pieces of equipment and software needed to be essentially be equipped to handle the unknowns of an online-only learning environment.

Let’s start with the physical essential tools first:

  • Connection to stable high-speed internet – alright that was already a given being a technologist. Still, we’re listing essentials here, there’s a need to be clear.
  • Work-Issued laptop – perhaps stating the obvious, but ensuring that a work-issued device that has all needed software and security measures is critical.
  • Laptop-related equipment – to be able to use my laptop from a position of comfort and productivity, this also included a docking station, monitors (I use a dual-screen setup), keyboard, mouse, and speakers. Because I have taught online and face-to-face, and often teach and work from multiple locations, these are pieces of equipment I already owned (fortunately!)
  • Printer, Paper, and Toner – Even with multiple monitors and multiple computers (I have a work laptop, a personal laptop [ironically, used for this blog!], and a traditional desktop. To this day, I still find my day-to-day requires printing documentation. I made sure my printer was in good working order, and had supplies on hand to last the remainder of the semester.
  • Microphone, Headphones/Headset, and Microphone stand – These are the newest editions to my home office setup. When I entered grad school, I had little to no interest in learning how to record videos. It’s from a standpoint of extreme discomfort than a lack of technical know-how. At the end of my masters program, I have made it a goal to get over that fear and embrace it. Because my online classes will use a combination of live web conferences and videos, I wanted to make sure that I had the tools to ensure my audio recording was of a good quality.
  • Webcam – Another source of discomfort for me as a professional. I don’t actually care to see my face (making eye contact in the mirror most mornings is the most I can handle. And thus, another goal to overcome. I have a webcam within my laptop, but because I use a docking station, I cannot easily use that camera. Therefore, a secondary webcam was necessary. Now while seeing a video stream of myself is uncomfortable – I want to make sure I am providing a digital presence for my face-to-face students. I want to make sure they know I’m present, and that by being able to see me, maybe that will ease some of the fear.
  • Preparation / Course Materials – …I should probably note here that this list is not in a specific order, and that this particular item should be much higher on the list if so. This includes my preparation materials, discussion notes, textbooks, assignment notes and guides, essentially the paperwork behind the scenes to run my courses. I am fortunate to have a dedicated office space at home, and with space to ensure all of my materials are easily accessed when needed.
  • …A Physical Desk Phone – Oh I know, I made the same face. But the fact remains, I do not like trying to balance a cell phone on my shoulder while typing. And yes, even when I try using speakerphone, the result ends up being either I, or the caller, can’t hear one another very well. So I found a desk phone that connects via Bluetooth to my cell phone, and doesn’t need a landline to operate (HOORAY!). It displays caller ID information, and even alerts if I get a text message (I have a bad habit of silencing my phone throughout the day, and this has proven effective at getting my attention, more so than my cell does).

Let’s talk about the software essential tools next:

  • Microsoft Office 365/2019 – This is a bit lighthearted, given that most of my career and teaching uses Office as the backbone of the curriculum. I don’t know how I would make it through without Outlook to keep managing my productivity, or any of the other apps for that matter.
  • WebEx & Zoom – For my face-to-face classes switching to what I’m calling “Online & Live.” While WebEx is the primary tool and will serve as the main “digital environment” for my classroom and office hours, we live in uncertain times. Therefore, I’m making sure I have a backup ready to go (in this case, Zoom). I’ve been able to use both interchangeably, we used a lot of Zoom in my masters program and I’ve used WebEx a lot more now for work. Preference is to use the tools provided by my employer, and then Zoom as a backup.
  • Screen Recording Software: Kultura & Camtasia Studio – I am going to be making more videos. I switch between both applications at the moment, depending upon need. Lately with video recordings, I have found that if I record all of my screen work without audio, and then go back, observe, and narrate, my work is a bit better than if I do multiple things at once. The third round is screen captioning, which both applications do well.
  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) – Another standard staple of remote work and good practice in protecting data, even at home.
  • Google Voice – This may be a touch controversial, we shall see. I have a dedicated office line, however, I did not forward the number to my cell phone for one main reason: there’s no way to temporarily close the connection when I am away from campus. Early in my teaching career, I made the mistake of giving out my personal cell number. And it was expensive. I received calls and texts all times of day, and if replies took longer than 10 minutes, I was further bombarded. My phone plan at the time charged by the minute used / text sent; and I’ll leave it to you to imagine what that was like. Point being, yes, I want to be available and be able to make and receive calls. However – boundaries are also important.

    Thus, when I raised my concern in the staff meeting, I was reminded of Google Voice. I’ve set up an account, and fortunately, where I work auto-forwards our voicemails to Outlook as sound files. I can listen to the messages as they come in, and then call out using Google Voice to protect my personal number. There is a bit more to this item in terms of best practice that I am exploring, and may follow-up with an additional post.

Setting up to work remotely

I am fortunate to have a dedicated work space at home to be able to work remotely. I live in a 3-bedroom apartment, and have been able to convert one of the larger bedrooms into a shared office space for myself and my family.

I am both fortunate and grateful that my family allows me to utilize over 50% of the room and all of the available closet space as well. I understand this utilization ratio is unusual, and can be grounds for many family disputes. That they practice infinite patience and understanding is something I remain humbled and thankful for.

Here’s what my at-home workspace is currently looking like so far.

Most of this has been my existing work-from-home space for a year or two now. I run a dual-screen environment, just because it seems that one monitor is no longer enough (And yes, someday, I hope to have space for a 3-monitor setup). It’s been particularly helpful to have WebEx and file explorer open on one screen, and then another monitor dedicated to screen sharing. You’ll also see a third screen, my laptop, which I use to join the same WebEx as my students to ensure I am sharing content correctly with them.

Pardon the messy surface, I tend to work in organized piles, and this shot was taken during the “lunch” break. 😉

This was an emergency build last weekend. When it started to sound like we were, indeed, all going to be working from home, I knew my current setup would not be able to withstand the increased content. So, a quick (and socially-distanced) trip to IKEA was in order. This is the IVAR shelf system, and so far, I’m super pleased. I still have some space for storage and extra work surfaces. All of my course prep and materials is stored here with easy access.

Finalize and communicate course changes to students

This too – has been substantial work. In a previous post – I noted that one of the first elements that I was working on was the course activity schedule for all seven of my courses. In addition, I also began working on refinements to my syllabi, and specifically made updates to the following sections:

  • Meeting Times
  • Contact Information
  • Office Hours
  • Class Attendance / Participation
  • Late Assignments Policy
  • Exam Policy

I believe discussing the nature of these updates would be valuable, and this is a post I will save for the weekend, when I have a little more time and space to explore in detail. For now, my concentration on these specific areas of the syllabus was to increase of flexibility for the unknown, to adapt to changing environments, and to provide some small comforts for students. We’re all super stressed at this point of the week (and its only Tuesday!), and if there’s something I can do to alleviate that for them while still maintaining the quality of the course – I’m all for it.

Challenges, Fears, & Unknowns

  • Fear – I’m going to forget something I needed…
  • Challenge – I dislike seeing my own face, hearing my own voice in video…
  • Unknown – will I be able to maintain a the same learning environment online as I do in the classroom?
  • Fear – I’m going to run out of time…!

Ideas, Innovations, & Opportunities

  • Innovate – I’ll find a way to work without those tools… maybe 😉
  • Opportunity – building strength as an online presenter / instructor
  • Idea – How can I use web conferencing software to mitigate this?

Thanks,

It was a pleasure to talk with you again this evening. And less this exploration remain wholly one-sided, how was your day and efforts moving online only? Would you like to meet for coffee again in the morning?

Kindly,
-Brendan

Moving Online – Day 2 at Dawn

Contents

Introduction

Good morning to you! I know it is an early one, and I am happy to offer you a digital cup of coffee. My morning started a little after 4AM, so I can certainly appreciate the kick-start coffee can bring. Welcome to Moving Online – Day 2.

I want to share something with you. While the focus on this blog will the be experience as a community college instructor moving my face-to-face classes online in the face of the COVID-19 virus, I am learning quite a bit about how to go about this project too. I think I’m starting to see how my posts will lay out in the mornings and evenings – bear with me just a little longer as I get my footing. 🙂

News Headlines of Influence

At the moment, there is not a ton of new information that influences my classes or the work ahead (the situation is ever evolving, of course – and I aim to remain mindful and alert). I’ll update this section tonight should there be any further updates.

Today’s Priorities

Today’s priorities are more focused one major theme – preparing to work remotely. For this post, and for most, I will be speaking more generally, as this can touch into elements of cyber security.

  • Obtaining tools for working remotely
  • Setting up to work remotely
  • Finalize and communicate course changes to students

Challenges, Fears, & Unknowns

  • Fear – I’m going to forget something I needed…
  • Challenge – I dislike seeing my own face, hearing my own voice in video…
  • Unknown – will I be able to maintain a the same learning environment online as I do in the classroom?

Ideas, Innovations, & Opportunities

  • Innovate – I’ll find a way to work without those tools… maybe 😉
  • Opportunity – building strength as an online presenter / instructor
  • Idea – How can I use web conferencing software to mitigate this?

Thanks,

Thank you for spending part of your morning coffee with me. I’ll post another update tonight. Until then,

-Brendan

Moving Online – Day 1 at Dusk

Contents

Introduction

It’s good to see you, and to see that you made it to the end of your day. Today has certainly been an experience, hasn’t it?

As you may have guessed, I am located in Michigan. On the COVID19 front, the following are some of the day’s events that caught our attention, and, in their own ways, influence and affect our vision of today and the days ahead:

Again, this listing is not a reflection of opinion, I am not qualified when it comes to public health and policy. It serves only to stand as an objective record of event to help set the context of conversation and consideration.

Today’s Priorities

Today’s priorities are more focused on logistics and organization. As A.A. Milne noted, “Organization is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up.” Here are the priority projects that need attention and doing:

  • Review and revise all course schedules
    • Review impact of extended Spring Break dates, and revise schedule to ensure course objectives and content can still be met.
    • Review impact of switching face-to-face classes to online delivery. How quickly can we normalize the schedule and “get back on track”?
  • Review and revise all face-to-face office hours to online format
    • Look to revise my office hours schedule to ensure I maximize my availability, and find ways to be available online.
  • Checking in with department colleagues and supervisor
    • Today was our first web-conference style meeting as a program. Round-robin style, we indicated our progress getting courses ready for Wednesday while also confirming what we knew about the situation, and how we were moving forward.

Reviewing & Revising Course Schedules

Course Schedules are one of the most elaborate documents an instructor can create. We are given learning objectives, course materials, assignments, projects, assessments, and have to find a way to schedule and make all of these learning events happen. The schedule is one of the most critical components of a course. We assume that such a critical course component, which serves as the grounding rock for instructor and student alike. Surely, this must be impervious to almost anything?

I’m learning today that while the Course Schedule is one of the most critical, it is also the most fragile. It is the mechanism that provides an avenue of structure and consistency. It provides balance and even pacing for the delivery of content, and establishes reasonable timelines. Today has been the equivalent of breaking a stained glass window, and creating a new mosaic. It is detail work – and hopefully, it can be sustained for the next 8 weeks.

In terms of work, it was roughly an hour for each of my classes. I’ve been around the block enough to plan some flexible time into my schedules. Review days, open work sessions (where we can all catch up on work), intentional breathers in what are generally heavy workload courses. The unexpected closure at the beginning of the term, and the extension of Spring Break have absorbed these intentional breathers, I’m still at a point where I can meet all course objectives, where we can still complete assignments and activities that fulfill those outcomes, and avoid “doubling-up” on chapters of content. That does operate under the assumption that there are no further interruptions in the second half of the semester.

Review and revise all face-to-face office hours to online format

First and foremost – I believe in the potential and value of instructor office hours. My strategy for the last four semesters has been to bring my office hours to my students. I reserve the hour prior to all of my face-to-face classes as my office hour time, and I set up “camp,” so to speak. I generally have had the ability to use the classroom I teach my class in, so as an added benefit, students who come in for office hours generally can come in, ask questions, get help, or even just sit and work, knowing I’m only a few feet away and can help them get unstuck if needed. Or, if they are battling for parking – if they get there an hour before, they know they have a safe, quiet place they can work in the hour before class (that probably should be a different post).

My office hours are one of the foundations of the learning environment I try to create and maintain for all of my students. I average between 6-8 hours per week in office hours alone – and I do not want to give them up for any reason (however small or big the reason may be). To keep my office hours alive and still facilitate that “open space” where students can come with questions or just to work, my plan is to use web-conferencing software to facilitate. For my face-to-face students, being able to interact with their instructor in real-time was among there top reasons for selecting this deliver mode for their course. And while I have some video recording plans in the immediate future – I want to make sure I am still providing those opportunities to interact live.

Checking in with department colleagues and supervisor

This afternoon we had our first departmental meeting via web-conferencing software since the break of COVID-19. Everyone made it in for the scheduled time, and round-robin style, we each shared our progress moving our in-person classes online. In our updates, we also had the opportunity to cite challenges we could see on the immediate horizon, and shared our concerns for the future.

I’m proud of the department that I serve within. The meeting was scheduled to run for only an hour. We almost ran for two. The faculty in my department led with their efforts and progress, and their concerns for students. We talked about access to resources such as access to the Internet, computer labs, virtual machines, and other digital learning environments. Those discussions included potential gaps, but also, potential solutions. I had recently learned about Comcast’s recent offer of Internet Essentials, and was able to bring that to the table. Many of my colleagues were already aware, but there were a few who didn’t know about the option. The plan is to share that option with other departments who may not be aware that is available.

We spent time talking about the steps we were taking to remain available to students. After tomorrow, many of us will be working remotely, and will be away from our office phones. There was a great discussion to tools to keep that avenue of communication with students open while also maintaining personal privacy using tools such as Google Voice.

We also talked about potential hiccups with existing tools. Many of the classes within our program are adopting the web-conferencing solution Web-Ex to continue meeting with classes live, as well as to record sessions where appropriate. We discovered that there are two forms offered, one embedded with our school’s learning management system, and another that is a free-standing app. The short version of this story: there’s a few bugs with the learning management system, use the free-standing app. And – we received empowerment that in the event of a technical glitch, we can use our academic freedom to use another equivalent backup tool. …We teach technology, and it’s always a good idea to have a backup in-place.

By the end of the meeting, we knew where we stood as individuals and as a department. My colleagues and peers, I remain in awe how committed they remain to their students during these turbulent times. I count my blessings to be in good company – and intend to bring that same level of care to my students.

Towards the end, we had one rather “funny” event with a large and blaring feedback loop. I learned how important it is to a) not use full volume on my headphones, always use headphones and microphone, rather than a speakers and microphone combination, and c) always, always, always mute everyone except the speaker. OW.

Challenges, Fears, & Unknowns

Challenges and Fears – limited student access to online resources

One immediate challenge and fear that we face is limited access to course materials requiring a high speed Internet connection, as well as access to technology such as computers or laptops. While there are currently computer labs available to students, given the latest recommendations by the CDC and the closing of dining rooms in restaurants and coffee shops, our fear is that students who may depend on these venues to complete coursework will face an additional challenge.

At the moment, the computer labs are still open, laptops are still available for checkout. And there are other resources coming forward. Comcast, for example, has begun to promote its Internet Essentials package, which may help with online access. Several ISPs have also begun to provide support by removing data caps. And, looking a little deeper on the Internet Essentials, there is an option for a low cost computer. We’ll see what other resources may come to the surface as time progresses.

Fears – losing the value of instructor office hours

Managing and maintaining instructor office hours is hard, and not for the reasons you may think. Sometimes, when the content is lighter, I don’t see nearly the same number of students. When the topic is heavier, the office hours see more use, which is exactly what I hope for. This topic too, may be worth it’s own post someday in the future, this constant variable of whether students will recognize the value and utilize them can be a point of frustration. But in this transition from in-person to online, I have a fear that office hours will lose their value. My hope is that by being available online, with camera and microphone on and at the ready, I can still shape a stable and supportive learning environment.

Ideas, Innovations, & Opportunities

Innovation and Opportunity – Using web conferencing software as our new learning environment and delivery method. Very early in my career, I worked for a company that was beginning to move into web conferencing tools to facilitate internal meetings as well as external meetings with clients and vendors. I was beyond impressed with the technology itself.

Living in a more remote area of the United States, I saw just how powerful these tools could be, and how they may be able to maintain that social element while discarding geographical barriers. I’ve often thought web-conferencing could do a lot of good in online education at the community college level (having seen it used at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels). However, I didn’t feel I had the opportunity to explore this – until now. If we are going to keep track of a list of silver lining items to come out of this COVID-19 event, this is at the top of my list. If I can can successfully use web-conferencing to deliver course content, to facilitate another kind of online learning, and still provide the social interaction so many students still crave, it will open a new path for future online classes. We’ll see how this goes.

Opportunity – rather than throwing students a link to our web conferencing solution and simply expecting students to learn it on their own or through trial-by-fire, we’re going to try a different tact. Instead, I’m going to treat Wednesday as the first day of a new semester. I’m going to invest time to scaffold our new learning environment.

While I can’t teach my students everything about the web conferencing software, I am going to cover the basics of how to join, how to link their mic, how to link their headphones, how to desktop share, and even how to share their camera if they are so inclined. I’ll also go over a short list of best practices (here’s looking at the lessons learned from today’s feedback loop), to use the chat window for questions and answers, to share their screens, and reduce background distractions.

I hope beyond hope that students will appreciate the effort, and understand that by taking this step, this hopefully will ease the transition to online classes. Because it has been so long since our last class session, I’ll then use the remaining time to review content from the last session. This should, help students feel comfortable in their new surroundings and confirm their confidence in what they already know, building momentum for what comes next.

The Next Steps

With course schedules modified, our next steps is to prepare and make sure that we are ready to work remotely as needed during the foreseeable future. Day 2 will look at some of these considerations.

This will be my first major blog undertaking, and already, I’m learning a few things in terms of pacing and timing. I think what I will do is make sure my “dawn” posts are short, and my “dusk” posts will be a little more comprehensive.

See you in the morning,
-Brendan

Moving Online – Dawn of Day 1

Today marks the start of a new day.

Considering the risk and impact of the COVID19 virus, my school has made the decision to shift all of our face-to-face courses to online courses. This also impacts hybrid classes that have a face-to-face component. At least, those classes that can be moved online are in transition; for extremely technical, hands-on classes, these courses will will continue to meet face-to-face.

Our school made the decision to extend Spring Break for students for two additional days. We are essentially looking at 48 hours to get our face-to-face classes moved over to purely online delivery. This will be a tremendous undertaking while keeping the quality of our course offerings high.

You’ll see that this post talks very little about COVID19, and that is by intend and design. My intention is to journal the experience as a community college instructor, and show the “behind the scenes” impact of these sudden changes to our course delivery. My goal in all of this is to compose posts as I have new information and as I work through the process of transforming my classes from face-to-face courses to engaging online courses. I’ll talk about the tools selected, the strategies, and the experiences along the way.

Ideally, I aim to post once in the morning, and once in the evening. Morning posts will share the information and directives that I have, and list the actions that need to be taken. The evening post will recap the days events in relation to those action items, and final thoughts.

I would welcome your company along this journey as we face our fears, and find a way to ease them, to remain alert, and to find ways to innovate in the face of uncertainty.

With kindness,
-Brendan
Aspiring Technologist

Reflection of EDU 642

This will be my second semester, and my second course successfully completed. At this point in time, I feel like I am in the right place for this next stage of development. Like EDU 590, I appreciate that EDU 642 gave me all of these wonderful challenges and ideas to stretch me to my limits and to help me rekindle those wonderful moments of epiphany and discovery. In tandem, the consistent encouragement to include reflection as we progress (and process) has been invaluable. To that end, I wanted to reply directly to a few reflection questions for this week, and the end of the course.

Thinking about the design principle readings from week 1, if you had to select one principle only, which would you take with you into your classroom or work setting?

Hands down, it would be the Segmentation Principle. Here’s why: content can range from very easy to extremely difficult. I feel strongly that content at any difficulty, is organized into stages and steps that link and work well together, we can create a learning experience for our students that will allow them to be successful. It also challenges me to to keep things focused on the essential, and not the entire realm of possibility.

What topics or readings do you feel were important (or not)?

Perhaps a bit obvious, but certainly critical to the course was Mayer’s Research-based principles for designing multimedia instruction. I printed that document at the beginning of the course (I know, I know, I’m still a bit old school). It is so… worn out, marked up, with notes across the pages, it was a constant guide and reminder for me to focus on how the technology supports learning, not how learning can be pushed to fit inside a technology.

From Week 3, Infographics Can be Used for Any Subject was an eye opener for me. I started seeing infographics everywhere, even my bank sent me one in the mail! The idea behind the article were encouragement to think outside the box when I prepare materials for my students.

What technologies did you enjoy learning and creating (or not)?

Padlet was an awesome discovery within this course; and I actually hope to use it both to convey course content and to possibly offer my students an alternative delivery for assignments and projects. While I love the concept of infographics, the free versions frustrated me; and I’m hoping to spend some time, and possibly purchase a subscription when the time comes. The major win, however, was PlayPosit. That was like striking gold, and I am already trying to plan how I may use it in my classes.

How do you see your teaching and student’s learning changing as a result of this course?

My wish for my students is that the course content they discover mirrors EDU 642. I want to portray a consistent learning environment that helps build their confidence. I want to present them not with assignments, but challenges that stretch their thinking, that push them to want to try new things on their own. I would love to diversify my course content, and instead of having all text, included elements of multimedia that make sense for the student and for the subject.

With respect,

-Brendan

Curation Artifact:

https://www.sutori.com/s/U98vB1CvSH68McnsHu6SLzcg

Week 7 – Coding and Computational Thinking

Good evening!

This week was an enlightening experience for me. While my world revolves around software, it centers on how to use software and other tools to solve problems and create products. This week however, I feel that I was invited behind the scenes, looking at the process it takes to create the software tools themselves – AH! Looking behind the curtains can be quite an experience!

Using Coding & Computational Thinking in the Classroom

Being in the I.T. world, the terms and concepts of coding and computational thinking made sense in the reading. But as for the execution for how to adopt it in my own, now that was a road less traveled. At first, the easy answer is, “Well, those concepts aren’t taught in this collection of classes. It would be a hard sell to incorporate them.”

…Or would it?

Idea: Empowering Students to use Coding & Computational Thinking to Create an Ethics Project

In my ethics classes, there are a lot of assigned readings, several analytical papers, an interview project, and a final code of ethics project. While the topics themselves can be diverse and (hopefully) engaging, the final delivery for students is several written products. While strong writing skills are needed in their profession, in a small way, the written requirement also stops them from using other skills. Many of the students are learning to become programmers, data analysts, network and security admins. What if they could use their technology skills to develop an ethics project?

For this idea to work, let’s remove one written assignment / project.  In its place, create the opportunity for students to create an app that allows a user to encounter ethical dilemmas in industry, make choices, and view the results of those choices. Students would then be able to take the critical thinking and analysis skills they have developed and apply them within the context of their industry. This allows them to see how their skills can be used in other ways, and allows them to produce a deliverable project that uses what they are learning in other courses.

The objective for such a project could follow the lines such as:

  • Students will create a tool (app) to explore an ethical dilemma within the I.T. industry that uses the ethical decision making process.

In terms of incorporating coding or computational thinking into my teaching, there are a few ideas I would try. One being more intentional in class discussions to mirror the concepts of computational thinking with their ethical decision making processes. The second would be to make the project a semester-long project, with dedicated time to work in teams to see this project from start to finish. At the end, students then have a deliverable to include in their portfolios.

Application to Readings

I struggle to tie this idea to the Research-Based Principles for Designing Multimedia Instruction; do the principles remain same when students are positioned to use multimedia to demonstrate what they know, versus learning from a multimedia product? Assuming so, my aim would be for the project to support generative cognitive processing for the students. The project would allow for them to apply not only the critical thinking and analytical skills from the ethics course, but to apply skills from their other courses to create this project.

If we keep generative processing as the focal point, then the principles of Personalization, Voice, Embodiment, and Image are placed in the hands of the students. They are able to select an ethical dilemma of their choosing, put into words how they understood the issue. It is their knowledge of coding and computational thinking that would allow them to choose a text-centric product, or one that includes voice and images. Put another way, students would be able to internalize the ethical decision making process by internalizing it to create a product.

Reflection

How has your thinking changed this week about technology use?

The biggest paradigm shift, for me, was to look at a topic I would have previously dismissed as “not in my course outcomes, therefore, not relevant.” Instead of letting it go, I changed the response to “this isn’t in my courses’ outcomes, yet. How could I incorporate it and still meet those outcomes?” It is my hope that the post above shows how deeply this week’s lesson impacted my thought process. It was more than just using technology to teach my students, it was exploring how can technology be used to show what they have learned.

What did you enjoy, or not?

The coding. My biggest weakness. I have the basics of HTML code, but the information is dated by now and I do not actually possess a programming language. I thought Scratch did make coding feel more approachable. In the courses I teach, I only touch on it a bit of programming. I greatly enjoyed and wanted to echo Andre’s post about IF statements within Microsoft Excel. I had entertained the idea of using something like Scratch as a smaller step to teach students how IF and nested IF statements work, and then showing them how to translate that knowledge into Excel. I would want to mirror Andre’s idea in my own classes.

As for enjoyment, I was pleasantly surprised by appypie. I had not created an app before, and yet, not an hour later, I found the app on my phone to test. I will include the app I attempted below. The context for the app was to mirror a game I have developed using kahoot in my face to face business software courses. I have been noticing more and more that my students do very well in the applied work (meaning their use of the software). However, when it came to retention on concepts and terminology, I found more were struggling. Thus, I created kahoot quizzes (9 questions), and would break up my teaching demos with these questions to review. I would also bring the kahoots up again at later dates to help students review. I found these to be helpful review tools for students, but because kahoots are live, I wasn’t sure how to replicate the experience with online students.

Thus, I gave appypie a try, and created a simple review quiz for one of the harder chapters in my business application course.

Android:

https://snappy.appypie.com/index/app-download/appId/0ea6f52718db

Apple:

https://snappy.appypie.com/index/app-download/appId/0ea6f52718db

How did you grow?

After this week, I have to admit I was nervous about the coding part. But after completing the readings and exploring tools like scratch and appypie, I feel that I came away with a more knowing appreciation of this particular I.T. discipline. I also feel it was a challenge to take a concept I would considered to be advanced, and contemplate how to incorporate it into my teaching or to support my students. Yet, I also came away with new ideas that I am eager to try!

Until Friday,

-Brendan

References

Mayer, R. E. (2014).

Research – based principles for designing multimedia instruction; Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. (V. A. Benassi, C. E. Overson, & C. M. Hakala, Eds.) Retrieved May 6, 2018, from Harvard.edu: http://hilt.harvard.edu/files/hilt/files/background_reading.pdf.

 

 

 

 

Week 6 – Evaluation and Assessment

Greetings!

In Week 6 we explored tools for Evaluation and Assessment. Of the units thus far, this is one where I had several practices that I had adopted previously, but gave me additional insights into the why. Unlike previous posts, today’s post will focus on discussing each of the three artifacts.

Artifact 1: Multimedia Assessment

Objective: Students will review and discuss the impact of current technologies on privacy.

Of the three artifact projects, this project was the clear diamond in the treasure trove. Years ago, I had been introduced to blubbr. The premise of blubbr is that it allowed you to create overlapping quiz questions with YouTube videos. However, the site and service has been discontinued for some time, which was a disappointment to learn. However this week, I was introduced to a splendid alternative known as PlayPosit. PlayPosit achieves the same goal, allowing instructors to select YouTube videos and create interactive quizzes with the content. Thus, I present my first artifact below:
https://www.playposit.com/listcode/811250/2c9b9/open

In Week 5, while creating my QR Code Augmented Learning Activity, I had stumbled upon this video regarding Privacy. While wearing my technology ethics instructor hat, I found the video was a great sampling for why privacy is important today, the consequences of simply “giving away” our information, and some of the most timely issues we are facing.

Multimedia Assessment in the Classroom

While the video needs nothing, I can definitely see the value of asking a few choice questions along the way while students are listening. The sample above includes 5 different questions, reviewing and highlighting key points from the video. For a flipped classroom, the questions can certainly help highlight these points for students navigating the contents.

A unique element of PlayPosit is that you can create several different types of questions, and among them, reflective pauses. This is exciting because I can also use this video, in conjunction with pauses, allowing students to talk in teams about what they have just heard and reflect upon the information before moving on.

Application to Readings

This artifact focuses and supports the Signaling Principle. As students view the video and receive a question, it is a cue letting them know what information they had just watched is relevant to them, and asks them to retain this essential information before moving forward. Because there are multiple questions along the way, and multiple cues for important segments of information the Redundancy Principle is also applied here.

Artifact 2: Rubric for Project-based Learning Assessment

Rubrics are a tool that I am learning to use more and have invested a great deal of time trying to develop more thoughtfully. While we were exposed to several rubric building tools, I feel that I am unable to use these tools in my everyday practice because they are outside of my school’s system. Thus, the rubric I am including is a Word document I have developed that complies with expectations, and is a reflection of what we can create within our school’s LMS system.

Rubrics within the Course

Within the ethics course, students write several Chapter Arguments based upon approved scenarios. I wanted to provide a tool to better communicate my expectations for responses, and scaled it along the premise of full, partial, and no credit. I wanted students to also feel empowered by knowing what level of detail was expected of them in every question. Towards the end of the document, there is space for instructor comments. For the first assignment, I provide detailed feedback for every question individually for each student; and for subsequent project, I address strengths and areas for improvement.

The Word document also features simple formatting macros, allowing me to highlight certain boxes with a quick keyboard shortcut.

Application to Readings

The rubric itself more closely aligns with the Segmenting Principle. The questions students must respond to in this writing reflect the ethical decision analysis and decision making processes. It is laid out to reflect the stages of analyzing an ethical dilemma, identifying possible solutions to resolve those dilemmas (or how to respond to the dilemmas), and consider the impact of those actions leading to the final predicted outcome.

Artifact 3: Poll or Survey

Polls and Surveys are a tool that had existed previously within my tool kit, and one that I have I continue to use heavily within the traditional classroom as well as beyond it. In the Ethics course, I had used TurningPoint presentations at intervals through the semester to review key concepts from the textbook. This year, with an introduction to Kahoot!, I have started to include polls as review tools in my business application software courses as well to help concepts and terminology retention. A link to one of my Kahoot!s is included below.

Link: https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=39c95cd1-b18b-40b7-a804-0bb11ab6bf70

Polls and Surveys within the Classroom

As mentioned previously, I have used polls and surveys from TurningPoint technologies and Kahoot! as a means to help my students review and retain content periodically through the semester. I have also begun to integrate this practice in more of my classes. Conducting these reviews are generally low risk, and at times, can afford the opportunity for extra credit as an incentive to do well in these activities.

When conducting these polls and surveys, I tend to follow an 80/20 rule of thumb. If, for a question, 80% of students or more select the correct answer, we progress forward with more minimal feedback. If, however, less than 80% of the students select a correct response, we use this as an opportunity to review that particular concept. We will go back to the textbook, identify passages where the information can be found as well as review the concept more thoroughly.

Application to Readings

The Kahoot! above is a 9-Question review of key concepts from the first chapter of Microsoft Access, which, within the Microsoft Office suite, is the application the majority of students have had little previous experience before. In this context, this particular Kahoot! supports the following principles:

  • Signaling Principle – students will have read from their textbook, learned through course discussion; and will see it a third time during the review, helping create a cue that the information is considered essential to their learning outcomes.
  • Redundancy Principle – similar to signaling, the consistent and repetitive appearance of material in different modes is meant to keep information freshly in the forefront of students minds
  • Modality Principle – concepts come from textbook, simulations, reading quizzes, classroom discussion, demonstration, and through review, engaging multiple senses along the way.

A final note on polls and surveys

Tools such as TurningPoint and Kahoot! are also powerful in non-academic mediums. For example, I have used these tools during meetings to poll my audiences regarding discussion issues, and collected the data that can be used to help show trends. For example, in a poll questions about what operating system areas employers are using, we are able to then use this information to analyze our curriculum and make a decision for adapting.

Reflection

How has your thinking changed this week about technology use? About project-based learning in the classroom or work-space? About assessment that utilized technology?

Of the units so far in this course, this unit resonated with me and the work I am currently doing as an instructor. I felt validated that the work I have been doing is on the right track, and I was introduced to a cornucopia of new tools that support that work for my students. While my thinking is not necessarily changed to go down a different route, there is confidence in moving forward, and beginning to evolve more how I use these tools in my teaching.

What did you enjoy? Not enjoy?

I actually loved all the aspects of this assignment, but perhaps my favorite was the time I spent developing my first Artifact with PlayPosit. Seriously – I was so disappointed when blubbr disappeared. Now, I have a tool that will allow me to more aggressively find videos to share with my students and diversify the type of learning content I can include in my classes. I cannot claim an element I did not enjoy, this was a valuable lesson!

How did you grow?

Previous to this unit, all three of these tools had, in some way, been a part of my toolbox. However, I feel my growth is the equivalent of going to a fish tackle store, knowing only how to use worms, but leaving with a chest full of different lures and lines to fish with. I feel more equipped to implemented all three of these elements in classes using a wider range of tools that will hopefully diversify the delivery of information.

Until next time!

~Brendan

References

Mayer, R. E. (2014).

Research – based principles for designing multimedia instruction; Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. (V. A. Benassi, C. E. Overson, & C. M. Hakala, Eds.) Retrieved May 6, 2018, from Harvard.edu: http://hilt.harvard.edu/files/hilt/files/background_reading.pdf.

Week 5 – Augmented Learning

The Panic Moment of “Augmented Reality”

Let me level with you here. When I read the phrase “Augmented Reality” in our Week 05 activities and assignments – I panicked. There has been a great deal of innovation within the video game industry in the creation of augmented and virtual reality.  For example, while doing some initial research into the topic, I happened upon the following impressive, yet terrifying video.

How… in the world… would I be able to create an learning experience that would come even remotely close to that? Thankfully, as I continued reading, I learned we were not quite headed in that direction.

Using Augmented Learning in the Classroom

With panic subsided and after delving more into our readings and activities, I was introduced to more… friendly variants that were within my skill set and able to adopt. In this assignment, we had the choice of creating an artifact using augmented learning tools or through QR codes. I was impressed by the samples of Augmented Learning, but struggled to see how I could adopt them within the scope of my own teaching, and thus, opted to pursue a QR Code activity. While my own artifact is centered along the theme of QR Codes, I felt that I had been exposed to a new way of thinking about my course content – and given a few new ways to engage my students.

Intention of Purpose: Using QR Codes to Create “Chapter Guides” in Technology Ethics course.

My Technology Ethics course has been on my mind a lot the past few weeks, and it felt right to center this activity around that course. There is a ton of information within the textbook, and at times, the material can be exceedingly dry. But there is even MORE information that is timely and relevant to our discussion and studies.

The artifact I came up with was a 1-page Chapter At a Glance Guide that would recount the objectives they would learn, and provide some foundation information that supplemented their book, codes to activities and finally, codes to additional information that was relevant to their studies, but included more detail. This artifact could be shared with students prior to coming to class, and give them a little more structure of how to prepare for upcoming discussions (assuming a flipped classroom). The PDF artifact is embedded below:

 

Learning Objective:

Students will use the Chapter At a Glance Guide to review key concepts and prepare discussion points prior to coming to class.

Application to Readings

One of the struggles I had with this project was how to organize my QR Codes, my content, and ultimately, ensure that everything fit on a single page. While it took a while, the final format for the document is one that I am happy with. For this final document I was focused heavily on the Segmenting and Spatial Contiguity Principles. I organized the QR Codes (and subsequently, the content), into three areas.

  1. The first group are links to activities the students should be completing during the unit.
  2. The second group focuses on foundational knowledge of privacy as it relates to our course.
  3. The third and final grouping seeks to expand upon the foundational information by bringing forward key issues for the I.T. industry.

For the content itself, I opted to select a mixture of text, articles, and videos. Videos are used more in the second grouping, which I considered to be the more critical information students should take away that supported the course objectives, and aligned with the Essential Cognitive Process. Having the video pieces should make the content more relatable to the students.

Reflection

Previous to this unit, I would not have considered including augmented learning elements such as augmented reality or QR codes into my teaching materials. This unit helped me explore a different way of essentially organizing the same information, and in a way that was more conducive to the student. I am notorious for including detail. No doubt you have noted length of my writings leans towards the longer side of the spectrum. I know this can be exhausting to students; and I am earnestly trying to find a way to reduce. Implementing Augmented Learning and QR Codes gave me a taste of how to still bring impactful information forward without being overwhelming.

On a side note, I thought the inclusion of the QR Codes not only allowed for more condensed delivery, but it also showed an unspoken willingness between instructor and students that smartphones would be welcome in the course as a tool for learning.

Regrets or tensions? I wish I had the background to design, program, and code an augmented reality similar to the infamous Pokemon GO, or the virtual environment from the video above, for my classes. At the moment, the idea of including such a potent technology is desirable, but there is frustration in not having the skills to drive it that far. But I can appreciate this being the first step along the way.

Until the next post – take care!

-Brendan

References

Mayer, R. E. (2014).

Research – based principles for designing multimedia instruction; Applying science of learning in education: Infusing psychological science into the curriculum. (V. A. Benassi, C. E. Overson, & C. M. Hakala, Eds.) Retrieved May 6, 2018, from Harvard.edu: http://hilt.harvard.edu/files/hilt/files/background_reading.pdf.

LeBandit915. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywEh9ECEnkU.