The Open Road – The Open Road

Introducing OpenLab Help Screencasts

We are pleased to offer a new set of support materials for OpenLab users: screencasts! With video, audio, and captions, these screencasts provide step-by-step instructions for how to use different OpenLab features in a multimodal format.

Our screencasts are an ongoing project, so more will be released in the coming weeks! Right now, we have two screencasts available. The first is the Introduction to the Block Editor (used to edit both pages and posts on the OpenLab), and the second is the first part of a Site Building Blocks series. This series could be particularly useful for students creating eportfolios in the second half of the semester, for staff beginning new projects, or for faculty designing course sites for the winter term.

Check out the screencasts below, and keep an eye on The Open Road and/or our YouTube channel for more as they are ready!

Site Building Blocks: The Front End of Your Site

Intro to the Block Editor

In the Spotlight: Welcome back!

Greetings City Tech community, and for those of you on break during the summer months, welcome back! We missed you over the summer! As you get back into the swing of things, make sure to join the Open Road and check out what we have planned for you all this semester. As you may know, the Open Road is our one-stop-shop for everything ‘OpenLab’. Here you can find out when/where our workshop for students and workshops for faculty* are (see Calendar also), when our office hours are, and any additional news and updates we have for you. For example, our latest news post informs you of all the updates we’ve made to the OpenLab over the summer.

Also, check out ‘People’s Choice’, a new-ish feature on the Open Road where OpenLab members can recommend sites to be featured on ‘In the Spotlight’. Recommend a site today!

We also encourage you to check out our student blogging team, The Buzz!

As always, the OpenLab Community Team is here for you. Contact us online or at OpenLab@citytech.cuny.edu. We look forward to hearing from you!

*This semester we have two new workshops for faculty – one focusing on copyright and attribution, and another focusing on annotation, both of which are tied to our Open Pedagogy events happening this semester. Join Open Pedagogy on the OpenLab for more on these events.

In the Spotlight: The Open Road

colored pencils arranged in a circle with 'back to school' in the middle — Image source: George Hodan

Hello all, happy new year, and welcome back (nearly)! It’s that time of the year again when professors are scrambling to finish composing their classes, finalize assignments and get their course sites up and running on the OpenLab. With this in mind, this week we’d like to, once again, bring your attention to the Open Road, your one-stop-shop for ‘all things OpenLab’. The site houses information about our monthly updates, office hours, detailed information about our upcoming workshops and our weekly blog series, ‘In the Spotlight’.

Here at the OpenLab we are committed to helping you start the semester off right. With this in mind, we are offering numerous workshops in the next couple of weeks. We have workshops for everyone from first- or second-time to more advanced users (our ‘Open Hours’ are most appropriate for the latter) and remember, newly-attending part-time faculty receive a stipend. RSVP today (January / Spring 2017) !

‘In the Spotlight’ is another resource on the Open Road that may be helpful in making sure you are prepared this Spring. ‘In the Spotlight’ is a weekly blog that highlights best practices in site-making and course design here on the OpenLab. Thus, the archive – being full of analytic course reviews – is an important resource for thinking about how your site or course might be structured or what kinds of assignments might be possible when hosted on the OpenLab. In case you didn’t know, ‘In the Spotlight’ also has a participatory feature, ‘People’s Choice’, wherein you have the opportunity to recommend sites to be featured in the weekly series. Check it out and make a recommendation!

We look forward to hearing from you and working with you more closely this semester!

In the Spotlight: The OpenLab is Growing!

461976874_92114e4ece_o — Image Credit: ntr23

This week we, the OpenLab team, are proud to announce OpenLab is now home to over 19,000 members! Thank you for joining us!

Given our growing community, we’d like to take a minute to remind you of all of the services available to you:

We offer skill-building workshops tailored to the needs of faculty/staff and students to help you improve the quality and functionality of your sites.

We have office hours where you can ask questions and get one-on-one assistance.

We offer support via email 7 days a week – Openlab@citytech.cuny.edu

We have a student blogging team who populate The Buzz with stories from their everyday lives, their experiences at City Tech, and advice.

Join the Open Road today for up-to-date news about the OpenLab and information about our workshops and events. Also visit “In the Spotlight” Here, we showcase the excellence and innovation of particularly well-done sites, which may spark ideas for other users about their own sites. We may even feature your site! This fall we are introducing a new feature, “People’s Choice”, offering an opportunity for members to recommend sites for recognitions — Stay tuned for more details!

We look forward to working with you,
The OpenLab Team

In the Spotlight: The Open Road, of course!

Welcome back faculty, staff, and students! We missed you this summer! Whether you’re returning to the OpenLab or signing up for the first time, remember to join the Open Road. The project is the one-stop-shop for the OpenLab’s Community Team. Here we keep you, our users, up to date on all the site’s goings-on, including news and updates. Check back here to find our office hours, workshops for students, or workshops faculty and staff. See our OpenLab calendar for all OpenLab events. And of course don’t forget about our Spotlight posts, where we highlight excellence and innovation on the OpenLab each week.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to join The Buzz, too, our student-run site!

As always, the OpenLab Community Team is here for you. Contact us online or at OpenLab@citytech.cuny.edu.

In the Spotlight: New Features on The Open Road

The Open Road has been updated, with new easy-to-use features! Check out our OpenLab Calendar where you can see the month’s upcoming workshops, events, and office hours. See OpenLab News for weekly announcements and updates. And stay tuned for This Month in the OpenLab, a monthly post that will announce new developments on the site, including the plugins that you’ve requested. As always, we will continue to highlight noteworthy courses, projects, clubs, and ePortfolios in the Spotlight, and you will always be able to RSVP to workshops from the Workshops and Events menu item.

Tag: The Open Road