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: SADHA

header image for SADHAOpenLab affords many opportunities for student-faculty collaboration and professional development for students. For a great example of this, look no further than SADHA. SADHA, short for Student American Dental Hygiene Association, is a site that facilitates the membership of first and second year Dental Hygiene students in an important professional organization – the American Dental Hygiene Association. In addition to coordinating the submission of dues and alerting students to related events, the club cultivates a sense of community and shared identity among those in the Dental Hygiene (DH) field at City Tech. This is accomplished by posting information regarding social and professional-development events, money-making opportunities, articles and videos of interest to those in the DH field, and connecting students with important resources for success in the field.  The coordination of these resources is the joint effort of Professor Ana Matthews, a graduate of City Tech’s DH program and now full-time faculty member, and yearly appointed student leaders. With 320 members to date, the usefulness of this site for the DH community at City Tech in undeniable.

In the Spotlight: COMD3523 – Storyboard Concepts

A class like COMD3523 – Storyboard Concepts feels like it was made to exist on the OpenLab. As students go about exploring visual storytelling in Prof. Davis’s section, they access the course site for readings, assignments, storyboard templates, and weekly recaps of lessons, complete with images, videos, and graphics. Check out the site to see what students have been up to in class, including learning to stage a set’s lighting by modeling for each other!

 

In the Spotlight: COMD 1167 – Type & Media

Type & Media

Prof. Mary Brown’s students have been blogging about typography by observing, photographing, and writing about examples they have come across in their neighborhoods.  The course site also uses the new theme Twenty Fifteen, with nicely-designed custom backgrounds, and has helpful videos, handouts, and other information on typography.  Check it out — you may think about your corner bodega’s kerning in a new way!

In the Spotlight: Exploring Quantitative Reasoning

Created by Quantitative Reasoning Fellow, Yoonhee Kang, as a part of the Math Department’s Quantitative Reasoning (QR) program, this site features many great resources on QR and offers a space where those interested in QR can share and discuss ideas.  The site is well-designed, and contains information on QR, workshops for students, posts on QR in everyday life and various professions, and videos about QR.  Take a look!