Category: Digital Tools

The Rise of AI, Judgment Day? Exploring Artificial Intelligence in Theological Education

As conversations about Artificial Intelligence (AI) became ubiquitous with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, my mind immediately recalled the film franchise, Terminator. The movies are centered on a dystopian future where machines, in becoming self-aware, formulate a plan to wipe out humanity. As this recall suggests, my immediate reaction to ChatGPT was one …

Continue reading

Collaborative Annotation with Hypothes.is

Have you ever researched a topic online and wished you could add something to a page or an article for others to read? Have you had a course reading assignment and wondered what your classmates have noted, highlighted, or written in the margins of their own copy?  A non-profit based in San Francisco has created …

Continue reading

Adding VoiceThread to Canvas LMS

VoiceThread LTI is a Learning Management System (LMS) integration that operates inside of Canvas. Now, what does this mean? As an instructor at Emory University, you are able to use VoiceThread in your classes without ever having to leave Canvas! Adding VoiceThread to Your Canvas Course You can add VoiceThread to your modules as an …

Continue reading

Getting Started with Miro

By Christian Foster Miro is an online whiteboard/canvas that is frequently used in the corporate sphere. It is provided in both free and paid versions, and has many different features and uses. Miro, being so versatile, provides a vast array of features that cannot all be discussed here. However, this blog is provided as an …

Continue reading

Introducing Padlet: An Online Bulletin Board

by Christian Foster Introduction Padlet is an online virtual bulletin board offered in a software-as-service format. This virtual bulletin board has many uses, as its allowance of multimedia uploads provides a massive amount of functional dexterity. This blog explores Padlet by giving a general overview of what the service is, how to use its basic …

Continue reading

Twitter for Academics: An Invitation to Public Theology

I recently spoke with a colleague who was curious about academic twitter (#AcademicTwitter). She mentioned how it has become a repository of resources. Everything from book launches to news articles – it’s so valuable. Our conversation shifted, however, once we began talking about Twitter best practices and how to use it.  For many academics, Twitter …

Continue reading

More Discussion, Less Bored: Alternatives to Discussion Boards

For many classes, Discussion Boards serve as the primary means of assessing a student’s participation and preparation for class. Did they do the reading? Are they paying attention in class? Many faculty who teach online use discussion boards as a way to continue the conversations of the class outside of the classroom. This article is …

Continue reading

4 Creative Uses for Polling in the Classroom

If the pandemic has shown us anything about education, it is that learning can often become a passive experience. This is true for both face-to-face and online instruction. Students will get into a “TV watching” mode and not actively engage in discussion. Now, this is not intentional and it is not something to assign blame. …

Continue reading

Everyone Did the Reading: Collaborative Annotation in the Classroom

Often when students are assigned a reading, they gloss. They will see a name, a term, a concept… and skip it. Not because they aren’t engaged. Not because they don’t want to learn. But because it is one of seven articles to have read by the end of the week. Put simply, collaborative annotation is …

Continue reading

Better Digital Whiteboards for Classroom Collaboration

In March of 2020, the world of higher education shifted from teaching classes on campus to Emergency Remote Teaching — How do we take exactly what we do in the classroom and teach effectively online? Online education has often been looked down upon because of the assumption that it does not generate the same interactive …

Continue reading