Join us this summer for Pitt Ed Tech Days! The University Center for Teaching and Learning has designed three full days, each in May, June, and August. Each day is focused on a different aspect of teaching and learning with technology: assessment, innovation, and getting started for beginners, and will include some of our most popular training sessions as well as some newly-developed workshops to take you to the cutting edge of digital pedagogy.

The May 23 event will devote a full (remote via Zoom) day to issues surrounding the assessment of learning using the digital tools we have available. Members of the Educational Software Consulting Team as well as other Teaching Center departments, such as Teaching Support, Open Lab, and Classroom Services, will facilitate the sessions.

You may register for one or all of the following sessions:

10 AM: Canvas New Quizzes: What is it, when is it, is it right for you?

Canvas has an entirely new quiz system in development that is expected to release in the next year. See it in action and learn how to opt-in to using the new system. We will show what it can do that the classic system cannot, and explain some of the features it is still missing.

11 AM: Improving Tests in Canvas: Question Design & Report Interpretation

We will discuss strategies for improving multiple-choice exams using question design best practices and basic psychometric data. Attendees should have basic knowledge of how to navigate within a Canvas course shell. Access to quiz results from previous terms would be helpful for workshop activities, but not required.

1 PM: Active Learning with Top Hat Classroom

Top Hat's student engagement software is available for all faculty and students at Pitt to use free of charge. This workshop serves as an introduction to Top Hat’s suite of tools, focusing on the most commonly used functionality: student polling and live discussions. No prior experience with Top Hat is necessary for this session.

2 PM: Peer Review: Pedagogy and Technology

We will introduce the various peer review tools available to Pitt faculty, both native to Canvas and those that use Canvas integrations. We will cover peer-reviewed discussion boards, assignment submissions, and group works, and discuss Canvas's peer-review tools as well as those available through Peerceptiv. Attendees should have basic knowledge of how to navigate within a Canvas course shell.