News and resources for people teaching online

WELCOME

Dear MTSU colleagues, 

Welcome to our inaugural newsletter “ONLINE @ MTSU”. We plan to use this newsletter as another means of supporting our faculty and students in the key activity of teaching and learning. We will publish a new issue at the beginning of each major academic term (Fall and Spring). Here we will share current events, resources, and faculty development opportunities from MTSU Online, and other newsworthy items in the world of online learning. I’m so pleased to lead this unit of dedicated professionals who support student and faculty success. 

Currently, MTSU Online offers 16 fully online graduate and undergraduate programs and nearly 550 courses in the spring and fall semesters. In addition, we provide support for online faculty development and assist in student support efforts in conjunction with the Office of Student Success. I have had the opportunity to meet with many of the dedicated deans, chairs, faculty, and staff, and I look forward to meeting more of you this semester, forging new collaborations, and expanding on the great work being done on our campus and at MTSU Online. Working together, we can propel MTSU forward as we serve the citizens of Tennessee and beyond. 

Respectfully, 

HAVE YOU HEARD?

TUTORME AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE STUDENTS

In our ongoing efforts to provide high-quality academic and support services to our online students, we are pleased to announce that we have adopted TutorMe as our online tutoring platform. TutorMe provides on-demand tutoring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for students taking online and hybrid courses, labeled as D sections in your D2L courses.  Students input the subject for which they need help and are matched to a tutor that best fits their needs. Aside from audio/video chats, students can screen share, have access to a virtual whiteboard, engage in real-time text editing, and more. 

In a recent conversation with Tonya Dowd, Assistant Coordinator for Student Services at MTSU Online, she explains: 

TutorMe is a great resource for our online students. Many of our online students work, or are nontraditional in some way, and need to be connected to a live person at whatever time of the day that works best for them, even if that’s at 2 a.m. Including this service in all our online classes helps to ensure that these students have access to live tutoring when they need it, an important part of meeting our student success goals. 

For students to access this service using their MTSU Single Sign-On, the Tutor Me link must be added to the navbar of your course. Please view TutorMe NavBar Instructions for specifics (with screenshots) on how to do this. 

Don’t forget, we also offer free tutoring services to our in-person students through our fabulous Office of Student Success here on campus. We encourage you to remind students that this resource is available to them any time during the semester. In addition, include the link https://www.mtsu.edu/studentsuccess/tutoring.php in your D2L course shell and let students know it’s there for easy access.  

There are many more support services available to our online students. Please reach out to, Tonya Dowd (see bio in our staff spotlight) for more information. 

CONTACT US AT ONLINE@MTSU.EDU

We are happy to announce the launch of a single point of contact for faculty to reach us! online@mtsu.edu is an easy way to get in touch when you have general questions, are looking for support, or are just not sure who to contact to ask a question. Our technical clerk, Teresa Umphrey, will serve as the liaison for this account (please see her bio in our staff spotlight), ensuring your messages get to the correct person promptly. We appreciate her willingness to serve in this vital role for our team.  

As always, you are welcome to email any of our staff individually.  

TECH TALK

H5P: COMING SOON TO A WORKSHOP NEAR YOU 

The latest addition to our technology toolkit fully integrates into D2L and is an amazing way to create instructional materials, activities, and assessments that promote active learning. Attend our introductory workshop, H5Please!: Creating Interactive Elements in Your Online Course to learn more. 

EVALUATION LINK: NEW EVALUATIONS WIDGET AVAILABLE IN D2L

Did you see the announcements about the My Evaluations Link on the D2L Homepage? If not, a quick recap. This widget has been added to the default D2L homepage. If using a homepage other than the default, it will need to be added to your homepage. Need help? Click MyEval Widget for instructions on how to add it. It will also be covered in our upcoming workshop, D2L: 5 Updates for Fall 2021. 

CHECK OUT OUR UPDATED MTSU ONLINE WEBSITE

Increasing our campus visibility and promoting the services provided to faculty and students is another of our current initiatives. To that end, we are updating our MTSU Online Website for a more streamlined experience. While not all areas are yet complete, we hope that our latest updates will make it easier for faculty and students to find the resources and people they need when they need them. Thank you for your patience as we continue to make upgrades!  

FALL ‘21 WORKSHOPS

MTSU Online collaborates with the LT&ITC each semester to host virtual workshops with an online focus. Please see our upcoming events below. 

D2L: 5 Updates for Fall 2021 

August 25th (Wednesday) 11:30am-12:30pm 

The start of school wouldn’t be the same without a few updates to D2L.  Join MTSU Online and the LT&ITC for this overview of what’s changed and how you can make the most of these updates. 

• Textbox Editor - Insert Stuff, Locations of Accessibility 
• Rubrics - Grading via Sliders 
• Checklists – Cheat Sheet for Creating 
• My Evaluations - Adding the Widget 
• Tutor Me - Reminder Available for Online Students in D-Sections 

To see a recording of this workshop, view it at MTSU Online's YouTube page. 

D2L Video Notes: Meaningful Engagement for Faculty and Students

August 31st (Tuesday) 2:00pm-3:00pm  

D2L Video Note is an easy-to-use tool that enables you and your students to create short, engaging videos within the course content. Join MTSU Online & the LT&ITC as we describe Video Note, demonstrate how to use it, discuss why it benefits teaching and learning, and recommend some simple ways to integrate it into your current activities and assessments. 

H5Please! Creating Interactive Elements in Your Online Courses 

Sept. 20th (Monday) 11:30am-12:30pm 

Please join us for this introductory workshop about our latest D2L Integration, H5P. We will discuss the basics of our newest technology, see a demonstration of the creative possibilities for your online course, and provide some practical applications for its' use. 

Thursday, Oct. 14th (Thursday) 1pm-2pm  

Topic to be Announced  

Nov. 18th (Thursday) 10am-11am 

Topic to be Announced  

To register for these or any of the other faculty development opportunities offered through the LT&ITC please visit the LT&IITC Workshop Calendar. 

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

Teresa Umphrey 

Hi, Teresa Umphrey here at MTSU Online. I have been at MTSU for over a decade, currently serving as Technical Clerk for our department. I help faculty with the payment process, coordinate with support staff in other departments to ensure paperwork is correct, am responsible for the online@mtsu.edu mailbox, and support the team wherever needed. Someone in the office refers to me as Oz, a behind-the-scenes wizard. Currently, I am an online undergrad student working towards a BS in Integrated Studies. I previously obtained two certifications in Business Technology and Legal Administration at TCAT of Murfreesboro. 

I am a mother of two grown children, a daughter, and a bonus-son. I have two granddaughters under the age of 3. My partner, Mike, and I have been together for 22 years. We have three cats, Casper, Salem, and Tiny. My passions are MTSU Relay for Life, spending time with family/friends, and finishing my education. 

Tonya Dowd

Hello, I am Tonya Dowd, Assistant Coordinator for Student Services for MTSU Online. I have been at MTSU for 13 years, serving in this role for the last 5 years. I am the first point of contact for online students. I provide outreach, respond to inquiries and ensure that our online students have access to available resources, routing them to the appropriate people or departments when needed. Having earned my undergraduate and graduate degrees from MTSU with a focus in Education, I love that I am able to work with our online students, doing what I can to make their time at MTSU a success. 

I have two children, a nineteen-year-old daughter who is a sophomore here at MTSU and a thirteen-year-old son who is in the eighth grade. We have a dog (Max) and two cats (Hall & Oates). I enjoy spending time with my family, watching my son play baseball and cheering on the Atlanta Braves and the Tennessee Titans. 

This biannual newsletter is produced by MTSU Online. Comments and feedback should be sent to online@mtsu.edu.