Join us! The Center for Distributed Learning (CDL) is hosting its second annual, CDL Faculty Connect, for faculty and staff on Wednesday, April 9.

You’ll enjoy light refreshments, gift bags, engaging conversations, and demonstrations from teams such as Webcourses@UCF Support and the UCF Faculty Multimedia Center. This gathering brings UCF faculty and staff together to explore digital learning’s transformative potential. Please email cdl@ucf.edu for any questions.

The Center for Distributed Learning Faculty Connect Event on Wednesday, April 9

Agenda

Insightful sessions, swag and light refreshments were provided to attendees. Check out the agenda below to see the exciting topics that were covered, from personalized learning to course enhancement tools.

9:00 AM: Welcome

10:00 AM – 10:45 AM: Creating Opportunities for Access

11:00 AM – 11:45 AM: Assessment Design Using Mastery Features in Webcourses@UCF

12:00 PM – 12:45 PM: Exploring Faculty Development Pathways at UCF

1:00 PM – 1:45 PM: Exploring Extended Reality (XR) as Course Content

2:00 PM – 2:45 PM: Navigating Webcourses: Top Faculty FAQs and Solutions

3 PM: Event End

Faculty Multimedia Center: Classroom Building 1 (CB1), Room 202

Our Teams

Faculty Multimedia Center (FMC) Booth: Learn about 3D printing, AI tools, DIY recording studios, VR headsets, and 360-video equipment to enhance your courses. The FMC is available to all UCF faculty.

Instructional Design Booth: Learn about professional development opportunities and course support. You can also find out how you can incorporate Open Educational Resources and Pressbooks to reduce costs for your students and enhance your course.

Webcourses@UCF Support Booth: Get to know essential platforms like Panopto, Zoom, Canvas, and Respondus Monitor.

Graphics Booth: Discover how the Graphics team works with faculty and can support you in your course development.

Video@CDL Booth: Get to know the Video team and hear about their award-winning projects.

Learning Systems & Technology (LS&T) Booth: Explore tools like Materia, Obojobo, UDOIT, and more.

Pegasus Innovation Lab (iLab) Booth: Hear how this team supports and promotes large scale Digital Learning Initiatives, positively impacting student success in online learning at the institutional level.

Instructional Development (iDev) Booth: From Proactive Captioning toSpecial Programs, stop by the team that plays a critical role in supporting faculty by enhancing their course delivery and instructional quality across all modalities.

“On the Hour” Demonstrations

The engaging hands-on demonstrations below took place every hour on the hour in Room 205 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Whether you were looking to learn something new or simply enjoy a fun, interactive experience, there was something for everyone!

“On the Hour” Sessions

Creating Opportunities for Access

Date: April 9, 10 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Location: Classroom Building 1, Room 205

Discover essential tools and resources for digital accessibility, including UDOIT, Proactive Captioning, and document accessibility, to enhance self-help strategies for course design. This session will explore how the Invitational Design approach—Instructor-Host, Student-Guest, and Course-Home—can be used to effectively evaluate and support course content. Additionally, the Instructional Development Team at CDL will discuss how the complexity of STEM-related materials may require more advanced accessibility considerations and planning.

Assessment Design Using Mastery Features in Webcourses@UCF

Date: April 9, 11 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Location: Classroom Building 1, Room 205

Personalized assessment opportunities help students to engage with course materials while receiving the right level of challenge and support. This session focuses on using mastery features available in Canvas to create differentiated assessment opportunities that align to student progress and track mastery of outcomes. Instructional designers will explore strategies for structuring assessments that guide students through targeted instructional materials, reinforcing concepts when needed and extending learning when appropriate.

Exploring Faculty Development Pathways at UCF

Date: Wednesday, April 9

Time: 12 a.m. – 12:45 a.m.
Location: Classroom Building 1, Room 205

Join us for a 30-minute session exploring the various Faculty Development (FD) pathways available at UCF, including IDL, VDT, and ADT. This interactive presentation will highlight the benefits of credentialing for online and blended instruction while showcasing FMC workshops that support faculty skill development. We’ll also preview the newly updated CDL Faculty Development webpage and engage in a discussion to hear about faculty experiences with these programs.

Exploring Extended Reality (XR) as Course Content

Date: Wednesday, April 9
Time: 1 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Location: Classroom Building 1, Room 205

This session explores the role of Extended Reality (XR) in course design and development. Instructional designers will discuss the pedagogical benefits and challenges of XR, helping faculty understand when and how to use it effectively. Faculty Multimedia Center staff will then showcase the available XR hardware, review software options, and discuss the feasibility of custom XR content development.

Navigating Webcourses: Top Faculty FAQs and Solutions

Date: Wednesday, April 9

Time: 2 a.m. – 2:45 a.m.
Location: Classroom Building 1, Room 205

During this presentation, Webcourses@UCF Support staff will review their most frequently asked questions from faculty and provide a step-by-step guide to navigating the Canvas platform. This presentation will also include a Q&A session, offering an opportunity to ask general questions about the tools and services available.

2024 CDL Faculty Connect

Last year’s Faculty Connect event hosted by the Center for Distributed welcomed faculty and staff interested in learning about support and resources available to them for course and content creation. View photos from the event below.