UpThink Consulting

By Micah Murdock, CEO of UpThink Consulting and Associate Director of Online Learning at University of Utah

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:26 What is UpThink Consulting?
• 5:44 What is the future of higher ed?
• 17:22 Practical suggestions for here and now
• 27:01 Using Course Templates (in Canvas)
• 35:49 External Tool worth knowing about

What is UpThink Consulting?

UpThink primarily focuses on three areas of service:

• Canvas onboarding and training
• Instructional design for distance, online and live courses
• EdTech Adoption Strategies in the classrom

What is the future of higher ed?

• We are not “going back”
• Ripe for disruption
• Technology is the driver (as always)
• Trends toward industry directed edcuation

Practical suggestions for here and now

• Do the best you can
• Take advantage of the support that is available
• Zoom classes are not online classes
• Over communicate
• No, they won’t just “figure it out”
• Design with consistency
  • Theme and Variation
  • Bounded Choice

Using Course Templates

Designers/Teacher/Faculty

• Use a simple clean homepage
• Simplify the navigation
• Let the features in Canvas do their job
  • Due dates
  • Syllabus
  • Modules
  • Speedgrader

Designers/Admin

• Develop a template import strategy
• Don’t try to control everything
• Get some faculty input
• Get lots of student input
• Pick your integrations carefully then hold your ground

External Tools worth knowing about

• Atomic Apps – Search, Discussion, Polls and Assessments
• Cidi Labs – Design Plus
• Pronto
• Yellowdig
• Gradescope
• Quizlet
• Flipgrid
• Canva
• Padlet
• H5P