Hello << Test First Name >> << Test Last Name >>,
What's happening in the world of FASE EdTech this month? Our most recent online course, Economics and Finance (E&F) is launched and we were really enthused to hear the most recent enrollment numbers from the Mining Industry Management Program (MIMP). Three courses co-developed with the ETO are currently running this term (and were designed to be re-used for future terms with minimal updating):
- Exploration, Studies, Resources & Reserves (ESRR): 55 Learners (including 29 professional development participants)
- Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG): 36 Learners (including 15 professional development participants)
- Economics & Finance (E&F): 53 Learners (including 38 professional development participants)
Another big milestone approaches as we are put the finishing touches on our new website, which will launch in Spring 2025. For the new site, we're moving away from Drupal and joining FASE's Wordpress multi-site installation. With the new site, we're focused on showcasing the ETO's core values and the services we offer.
What's happening over the next few months? As we wrap up production on the Economics and Finance (E&F) online course, we are looking at our summer programming (including a few new in-person and virtual sessions). Our focus for 2025 is to audit and renew our existing resources, many of which were authored during the pandemic and could use an update. We wrote those from the perspective of emergency online teaching and now have the time and energy to revisit for true online learning (minus the emergency-part). While we've started this renewal process with the website, we'll be extending it to other templates and resources like the FASE Quercus Course template, the Start Strong module series, and the library of technical guides.
If you do one thing after reading this newsletter, confirm that your MS Stream video links are updated to avoid any broken link issues (see Tip 01).
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1. Update your migrated MS Stream Classic video links in Quercus
Microsoft is fully retiring MS Stream Classic. After February 15, 2025, all redirected video links will stop working. You likely have seen an announcement of this change when you log into Quercus and also have been contacted directly via email (if you are affected). Your video content will not be deleted; however, any links you have shared will not work and viewers will not be able to watch your videos (e.g., linked from a Quercus course). For more information on why this change is happening now, see the blog post, Updating your migrated MS Stream Classic video links in Quercus.
This change DOES affect your video links if you used the EASI Stream Support Team's Migration Service (you should have already received a direct email from the Stream Support Team). During the transition from Stream Classic to Stream on SharePoint at U of T between 2023 and 2024, the Stream Support Team offered a Migration Assistance service to those with 30+ videos. This migration process created automatic redirect links from Stream Classic to their new location in Stream on SharePoint. Those redirect links were always meant to be temporary, and now that Microsoft is fully retiring Stream Classic, all redirect links will stop working after February 15, 2025.
This change DOES NOT affect your video links if you personally downloaded and re-uploaded your videos from MS Stream Classic to Stream on SharePoint or OneDrive.
We put together this decision tree to help you identify whether you are affected. If you aren't sure, or if you'd like instructions on how to double check, contact the ETO (fase.edtech@utoronto.ca).
Do I need to update my video links?
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Update: Find the Quercus Module or Page where you shared the video link. Hover over the link to see the URL at the bottom of your browser. If your link has this format: "https://web.microsoftstream.com" it requires updating. Once you’ve identified the links that need updating, update and replace the video links in your Quercus Modules or Pages using the step-by-step instructions in our guide, How do I update MS Stream video redirect links for migrated videos?
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2. See the difference in video quality (before-and-after lighting updates)
James shares behind-the-scenes hardware upgrades that improve our production quality of "talking-head" educational videos in a new blog post, How lighting, audio, & camera settings impact talking-head video quality. We'll use a recent example, a video created for Professor Alan Chong from the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice (ISTEP).
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This blog focuses on the technical setup for lighting, audio and camera, and how each contributes to the quality of the final video. For example, we take a look at how lighting dictates the look of the video. With our studio’s recently upgraded lighting equipment, we were able to fully control and finetune how Professor Chong was lit. We used three-point lighting for the shoot—a key light, a fill light, and a rim light.
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Consider: Are there any concepts or examples that you use term after term? Perhaps something you get frequent questions on? If yes, these might be great topics for a video (or video series). Consider contacting the ETO (fase.edtech@utoronto.ca) to help you brainstorm ideas for creating a re-usable educational video.
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3. Review lessons learned from TESS2024
Maggie, shares her experience of attending the Technology and Education Seminar and Showcase (TESS 2024) Conference, Transforming Together (November 5 & 6, 2024). TESS 2024 marks eCampusOntario’s 10th year anniversary and has been eCampusOntario’s annual flagship event since 2015. She summarizes memorable conference sessions and key takeaways from the event.
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Key takeaways include:
- Consultation matters: When designing online learning experiences (or digital bundles) careful consultation with subject matter experts as well as learners during the all stages of the process is key to creating authentic experiences.
- People first, technology second: When choosing technology for learning it’s best to always consider the people and process first, before choosing the product.
- Empower learners: Giving learners the space to create content that lasts past the course life (i.e., book chapters, product prototypes) empowers learners to steward their own learning.
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Reflect: Are there new or different assessments you could build into a future course? For example, Dr. Rob Power shared how he supported students in contributing to the content of his course using Open Education Resources (OER). In his course, he had learners propose, draft, review, submit, and publish a chapter for the course textbook to be used for future classes (you can read through this process on the following infographic: OER as Pedagogy). The ETO can help you choose technologies that help you achieve your outcomes while putting your learners first.
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4. Register for the Winter 2025 Institute for Engineering Teaching (IET)
From the CEEA/ACEG event information website: Are you interested in furthering your skills in engineering teaching? The Institute for Engineering Teaching (IET) will help build your confidence in teaching – and your network! See the event website for more details.
Participants will receive a digital certificate upon completion of the IET.
- Dates & Times: 12:00-4:00 PM EST on Thursday, February 20 and Friday, February 21 (attending both days is required)
- Format: interactive and participatory online workshop via Zoom
- Cost: IET cost is as follows:
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- $100 for CEEA-ACÉG professional members
- $200 for non-members
- $25 for student/post-doctoral fellows CEEA-ACÉG members (a CEEA-ACÉG student membership is required but can be added for $25)
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Attend: If the Institute for Engineering Teaching doesn't work for you, perhaps the Canadian Engineering Education Association’s (CEEA-ACÉG) 2025 conference would. The conference's theme this year is the Engineer of Tomorrow: Innovation, Sustainability, and Ethics in a Constantly Evolving World and it takes place in Montréal from June 18-21, 2025. Keep an eye on updates and more on the conference's website.
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Faculty questions of the week
Each week we answer a real question that we've received about Quercus and other Academic Toolbox tools, keeping the questions timely and relevant to you. You can select on the question to read the full inquiry and response or see all previous faculty questions of the week.
Read the faculty questions of the week
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Why can't I upload a file to my course? (January 30, 2025) | I get a message that says Error: Request failed with status code 400. What does this error mean? Could it be a problem with the specific file?
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New (or updated) ETO technical guides
We usually update our technical guides as questions come in, changes are made to systems, or as we come up to certain dates in the academic calendar.
Here's what we've been up to over the past month:
- Who is my departmental ROSI contact? Some personnel or contact information may have changed since we first created this guide. One of the questions we get is about an instructor's ability to see their Quercus course and often we re-direct that inquiry to a departmental contact. To ensure accuracy, we’ve been reaching out to departments to confirm the ROSI contact details. Based on the information we received (as of January 2025), we’ve updated the guide with current contacts information (if we got something incorrect, let us know!).
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Worthwhile clicks from the Web
Looking for something to read/watch/listen to? Each month we round up things that we've interacted with that we think are worth sharing:
- 📝 Why I Love The Color Gray for Learning Design and You Should Too | The eLearning Coach. From the blog post: When it comes to the color gray, participants consistently agree that it feels “blah, boring, and dull.” Yes, that is the benefit of the color gray! As a neutral color, it recedes into the background. If I were to personify gray, I’d say it’s selfless. It hides itself so other colors can shine.
- 🌐 Must-Read Books on Online Learning | Teach Online. Browse through a growing list of 257 books on online learning selected, reviewed and recommended by Contact North | Contact Nord’s team of experts.
- 📝 Learning across boundaries. On embedding interdisciplinarity in education | The Educationalist. From the blog post: It’s simple: the world is not neatly divided into disciplines. Every day we encounter problems that require knowledge and skills pertaining to different disciplinary areas. But our education is built around disciplinary silos that seldom interact.
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Curious about the photos in the banner?
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This month's banner images are a few photos taken by the ETO team (and friends) during the past month:
Row 01: Left: Hurley keeps an eye on things (Inga Breede)
Row 01: Right: Winter beach walk (Allison Van Beek)
Row 02: Left: Mia also keeps an eye on things (Anna Limanni)
Row 02: Right: Marisa's envy-inducing drink (Marisa Curmi)
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