If you have opinions about SPARK, the University’s online learning management system, OIT wants to hear them. Over Spring Break, Academic Computing hosted a SPARK Focus Group to receive feedback from professors currently using SPARK in their courses. Here’s what we wanted to find out: Why do faculty use SPARK and how does it enrich…
Tag: SPARK
Faculty Spotlight: Promoting Critical Thinking & Intellectual Honesty via a Hybrid Course
A few weeks back I had the pleasure of attending a Center for Teaching workshop in which Linda Enghagen, Professor in the Hospitality and Tourism Management department, presented “In Pursuit of Intellectual Honesty via a Hybrid Course Model.” People use the term “hybrid course” to refer to a variety of things classes that meet partially online and partially face-to-face. Hybrid…
SPARK Focus Group
Is there a tool in SPARK that you really love? Is there one you can’t imagine ever using? Is there something missing from SPARK that would transform the way you teach? If so, Academic Computing wants to hear from you! We’re holding a focus group on Thursday, March 19, 1:15-2:00, featuring desserts, coffee, and discussion. The purpose of…
Spring 2009 SPARK Numbers
Requests for SPARK courses continue to roll in, here are the numbers so far for the semester: Number of SPARK courses: 1,173 Number of instructors in SPARK: 849 Departments and programs represented: 91 Number of students in SPARK: 20,205 Number of student “seats”: 60,969 (the average student has SPARK for several courses) Largest course in…
Faculty Spotlight: Working Well with TAs
I had the opportunity to attend the Center for Teaching Event “Working Well with TAs” last week. It was the first in a series of workshops on teaching large classes. Linguistics professor John McCarthy and his teaching assistants Wendell Kimper and Kathryn Pruitt discussed the strategies they use in Linguistics 101, a large lecture, general education…
SPARK Access for TAs, Co-Instructors & Guests
Confused about how to get your teaching assistant, co-instructor, instructional staff, or a guest speaker into SPARK? Check out our freshly revised website about SPARK access so you will know the necessary steps for getting these people into your SPARK course as well as what level of access they will have. http://www.oit.umass.edu/spark/access/index.html Questions about the…
Fall 2008 SPARK Final Numbers
SPARK popularity continues to expand at a staggering rate. Our system administrator just finished putting together final statistics about this semester: Number of SPARK courses: 1227 Number of instructors in SPARK: 845 Departments and programs represented: 89 Number of students in SPARK: 21,348 Number of student “seats”: 66,614 (the average student has SPARK for several…
Faculty Spotlight: Using SPARK in Large Lecture Classes
For our last SPARK Community of Practice Lunch this semester, Mark Leckie from Geosciences and Heath Hatch from Physics joined us to discuss their uses of SPARK for managing their large lecture courses.
Creating Study tools with StudyMate
StudyMate™ is a Windows-based product that allows instructors to create Flash-based learning activities and games based on the material for your course. Using Studymate you can build flash cards, multiple choice quizzes, matching, and even crossword style activities. Instructors who use SPARK may be particularly interested in StudyMate as a tool to build study materials…
Upcoming SPARK Grade Book Workshops
If you use the SPARK Grade Book to manage your students’ grades, consider attending one of Academic Computing’s upcoming Grade Book Management workshops. These 50-minute sessions will focus specifically on calculating final grades and preparing for SPARK to SPIRE Grade Upload. Bring your assignment weights or grading scheme, and leave with columns ready to do…
Faculty Spotlight: Discussion Tools in SPARK
For our first SPARK Community of Practice lunch of the semester Ellen Pader, Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture and regional planning, and Michael Young, graduate instructor in the English department, joined us to present on their use of the communication tools in SPARK. Professor Pader discussed how her use of the discussion tools has not…
SPARK Continues to Grow: Fall 2008 Numbers
SPARK popularity continues to grow with even more instructors using it for Fall 2008. There are currently 772 instructors using SPARK this semester, up from 532 in Spring 2008. Also exciting to note is that 81 departments represented (we’ve been seeing a lot of new faces in the Instructional Media Lab and our SPARK workshops!)