Summer Series 2022

A 5-Part Self-Guided Series To Get Everyone Started on the OpenLab

Part 2 of 5 of: Explore the OpenLab and Learn How to Get OpenLab Help

Welcome back–we hope you had an easy time following along with Part 1 last week and now have your account set up!

This week, for Part 2 of the 5-part self-guided series, we focus on how do others use the OpenLab and how you can get help using the OpenLab. The tasks below will help everyone explore how members of the City Tech community use the OpenLab to learn, teach, build community, and pursue other scholarly, pedagogical, and extra-curricular interests. These tasks will also show how to get support using the OpenLab.

• Task 1: Check out In the Spotlight, our blog series that features a different exemplary site each week. Begin with the  Spotlight Archive:
  • If you are a student, you may want to scroll through some student ePortfolios and clubs.
  • If you are a faculty member, you may want to scroll through some spotlighted courses. 
  • If you are a staff member, you may want to look at some spotlighted projects.
    
• Task 2:  Check out our in-house site Open Pedagogy on the OpenLab: A site for sharing and discussing resources about open digital pedagogy. This site will help you understand what we mean when we talk about learning/ teaching online and in the “open”:
  • In the Open Pedagogy blog, the OpenLab Team takes on some of the pressing debates concerning technology, learning, and virtual classrooms, including whether to offer flexible grading and deadlines during the pandemic and how to make digital work accessible to all.
  • Throughout the site, the OpenLab Team makes resources available, shares information about events, and seeks input from community members.
    
• Task 3: Continue to explore the community using various search and filter options:
  • You can search through people, courses, projects, clubs and portfolios using the menu at the top and the magnifying glass in the top-right.
  • You can also search courses, projects, clubs and portfolios using the links titled by type of site (courses, projects, clubs, portfolios) under the slider. From the search page, use the filters (top-right) to tailor your search. Here’s some help showing how you can use the filters, in this case to find a project.
    
• Task 4: As you explore, you may find yourself inspired to start creating your course, project, club, or portfolio. To get help with these tasks and using the OpenLab you can:
  • Check out our extensive Help section – it has everything you need to get started joining and building sites on the OpenLab. Get help with everything from Creating a Course, inviting students, sharing materials, and using the WordPress block editor to create content on the OpenLab.
  • Throughout this summer, we have virtual office hours that we call open hours: these  one-on-one consultations with a member of the OpenLab team are open for anyone to sign up for and participate in. You’re welcome to meet with us at any stage of your work, whether you are just starting to think through how you will set up your site or whether you’re at a more advanced stage.  
  • We are available to support you seven days a week via email at openlab@citytech.cuny.edu or via the Contact Us form on the Help page.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of 5, when we create a site on the OpenLab!