You Got This‪!‬ LTI at Thompson Rivers University

This week, Brenna is joined by some colleagues from across campus to preview the Teaching Practices Colloquium, and she issues a wee reminder about rest.
Show Notes
On the show today, Brenna is stoked AF about the Teaching Practices Colloquium. You can review the schedule and plan your day in advance — but don’t forget to register!
Learn more about Bonnie Stewart and Dave Cormier, the keynote speakers, on the TPC website.
Transcripts
Available for download as a .docx file here.
Available for download as a .pdf file here.

This week, Brenna has some thoughts on That VitalSource Letter, and is joined by someone who really knows copyright to talk about what faculty need to know about using materials online.
Show Notes
On this show today, Brenna references research on automatic textbook billing services. She’s primarily referring to this USPRIG Education Fund report, which is fascinating reading. These documents from the UC Davis implementation also paint quite a picture.
Dani talked about the Intellectual Property Office website — it holds a wealth of resources! The FAQ referenced on the show is particularly helpful, and the document on online teaching in Covid-19.
Dani mentioned Unsplash, which is an OL-favourite site for finding openly licensed images (Brenna uses it every single day at work).
Brenna mentioned that Equitable Access is an existing term, and she’s kind of annoyed by VitalSource walking all over it. You can read more about the concept of Equitable Access here.
Brenna still doesn’t know what constructivism means. But then she’s never successfully used epistemology in a sentence, either.
Transcripts
Available for download as a .docx file here.
Available for download as a .pdf file here.

Brenna is thinking about the rise in numbers of students seeking accommodations, and talks with two TRU community members who have ideas about how we can pre-emptively make our courses more accessible.
Show Notes
On the show today, Brenna references UDL, or Universal Design for Learning. This is one of her favourite introductory UDL resources.
Carolyn and Carol spoke last year at the TPC, but if you missed that you can find the abstract here. They’re scheduled to present again this year, February 16 at 3:10 pm.
Here’s a handy overview of the distinction between accessibility and accommodation.
Brenna mentioned that all staff and students have access to Read&Write, an accessibility tool. IT Services provides access to Read&Write.
This article offers an overview of making your PDFs accessible using tools — Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat — that we have access to at TRU.
Carolyn talked a lot about the importance of heading styles in Word. This video gives an overview of using the heading function correctly.
Transcripts
Available for download as a .docx file here.
Available for download as a .pdf file here.

Brenna wants to talk again about asynchronous teaching and what we want to carry forward into the brave new (hybrid?) future, and invites someone with a really positive Fall experience to talk about how she did it.
Show Notes
This week, Brenna’s thinking a lot about hybrid teaching, because folks are talking about it as part of the return-to-campus plan. But hybrid doesn’t just happen! It requires lots of planning and prep. Brenna favours a flipped-hybrid approach. We’ll talk more about it soon, but here’s some reading about its application in Engineering and in foreign language learning.
Brenna first met guest Shannon Smyrl through ACCUTE, and they worked together on the CanLit Guides project — which is an OER worth checking out! Here’s Brenna’s contribution on comics.
Transcripts
Available for download as a .docx file here.
Available for download as a .pdf file here.

Brenna is thinking about how the semester seems to be off to a slow start and recommending guest voices as a way to find your mojo — and is joined by one such guest voice.
Show Notes
Brenna talks a lot about the forward-facing Big Blue Button today. You can access it at this URL and use your TRU single sign-on to log in: https://bigblue1.tru.ca/b One of our amazing TRU faculty made this great BBB tutorial, which is a great place to start if you’re just learning the tool.
Brenna references Blue Monday today, which is probably not actually a thing.
Erin May joined us from the TRU Library today. You can use this form to book a library session for your class. Use this handy table to find your subject librarian.
TRUSpace is really cool! And the Academic Integrity Day collection Erin and Brenna talked about is available for perusal here.
Transcripts
Available for download as a .docx file here.
Available for download as a .pdf file here.

Brenna is back for one more solo episode before resuming interviews next week, and we’re talking New Year’s resolutions.
Show Notes
There’s a lot of Groot noise this week. Working from home, folks. Kids happen.
There are tons of great Learning Technology and Innovation workshops this term. Check them out!
Download and review the summary of the survey on student experiences of virtual delivery.
If you’re logged in to TRU Moodle, you can access the Moodle 3.9 overview — with some videos for the most-changed features — on the Support for Virtual Delivery site.
Brenna teased the Digital Detox at the end of this episode. If you want to register to get Brenna’s essays on the post-pandemic university in your inbox, you can subscribe at the Digital Detox site.
Transcripts
Available for download as a .docx file here.
Available for download as a .pdf file here.