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View all the Teaching & Learning Centre Spark Plugs!
by Janice Ting, eLearning Designer in the Teaching & Learning Centre
As instructors at Seneca, you have access to the resources developed by the experienced team at the Teaching & Learning Centre (T&LC). The T&LC is a valuable resource that I wish some of my former professors had access to, or more likely, took the time to reach out and use the resources available. The T&LC team has recently doubled in size, and I thought I would give a virtual peek into who we are and what we do.
I am an eLearning Designer, and I joined the T&LC Team in August 2021. I am a former biological researcher that has worked with invertebrates (insects and “killer sperm” in microscopic worms), and I have trained many undergraduate students in various wet-lab protocols. I also have a visual arts background, which gives me a deep understanding and appreciation for well-explained instruction, results, and pretty presentations. I enjoy helping learners understand complex concepts through clear and simple visually-appealing designs using text and images.
As many of you, my days can vary, but a typical workday can start with responding to emails. As part of the T&LC team, I help answer the emails sent to the teaching@senecacollege.ca where questions can range from how to share and edit lecture videos to how to import zipped files into Learn@Seneca. I also monitor the faculty.portfolio@senecacollege.ca email for questions you have about creating your Digital Faculty Portfolio.
Next on my to-do list likely involves working on eLearning modules for courses or micro-credentials. I develop, edit, and update digital content using various programs such as Articulate 360, an eLearning authoring app. If you have come across one of the Teaching & Learning Centre Nutshells (e.g., Getting Started with Online Teaching), these and many of the eLearning content developed at the T&LC uses Storyline 360. I also create the accompanying accessible text documents and make sure that the multimedia used are accessible to all learners. Take a look at this video (~ one hour) on Foundations of Accessibility for Digital Materials from Teaching & Learning Day Fall 2021 facilitated by Gina Catenazzo (an instructional designer at the T&LC).
As an eLearning Designer, I bring content to life through clear illustrations, engaging interactivity, and inclusive images. In the development process, I take the content provided by our subject matter experts (it might have been you!) and figure out how to present the information to learners. In some cases, I may need to create a graphic to accompany the text to clearly explain the concept. I may need to create an interactive element to increase learner engagement. H5P is a great way to add interactivity to your courses. I also find and source photos that enhance the learning material while also promoting inclusion and diversity. It takes a bit more effort, but it is possible to find free photos and graphics that are inclusive and diverse. I will share some of my tips and tricks that I’ve learned the hard way, so you don’t have to. But that will have to wait... until my next T&LC Spark Plug!
Image Source: “Name tag” by Janice Ting
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