Fusion is more than the biggest user conference of the year. And it’s more than a teaching, learning and networking event fused with entertainment and topped with fun and games. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. Though we’ve said our farewells for another year, the learning can continue, on demand.
More than 30 sessions presented by subject matter experts covering a wide array of teaching and learning-related topics, products and demos are available here on YouTube.
Whether you’re interested in sessions with a focus on K–12, higher education or corporate learning, there’s something for you. It’s a smorgasbord of offerings—a brain buffet, if you will. But, if you’d like a more curated tasting, we’ve got you covered.
Let’s begin with something light but hearty.
Cooking Up Adult Learning With Fun and Gamification
Why should young students have all the fun when it comes to learning? According to Hangmin Zhang, an instructional designer from MTSU Online, gamification is not just for junior learners. Game elements and fundamentals can be applied to adult learning, with tremendous results.
After conducting a survey among her fellow faculty members, Zhang discovered that the vast majority believe gamification should be reserved entirely for young learners. Zhang couldn’t agree less and set out to debunk this misconception and others with this convincing session.
Combining instructional materials and assessments with a variety of game elements, Zhang shares a Chemistry Lab Safety Training Escape Room as an example of how gamification could be applied to elevate, engage and support adult learning. Adult learners are immersed in an exciting scenario where they are held captive by a mysterious scientist, and the only way to save themselves is to complete tasks and apply knowledge—all while learning. The only thing that can’t be escaped is how impressive gamification can be.
Click here for “Authentic and Interactive Gamified Learning Experience Using D2L and H5P.”
Now, let’s take a bite out of artificial intelligence (AI), shall we?
Rising to the Top With Quality AI
Does it feel like we went from a trickle of AI offerings to a tsunami in the blink of an eye? The floodgates have opened, and many educators who want to leverage some generative muscle are now wading through these rapidly rising waters.
Well, no hip waders needed. Innovation synergists Zala Fashant and Karen LaPlant have done a lot of the work for us. Their award-winning on-demand session zeros in on popular AI tools that consistently earn top marks when generating materials that support quality course design. To quote Fashant and LaPlant, they are looking to put the A-I in quality.
Click here for “Future Learning: AI Tools—Improving the Student Learning Experience.”
Try to make some room on your plate for more.
D2L Brightspace Portfolio: An Endless Feast
Think about a physical portfolio that could contain samples of your work from your very first days in kindergarten all the way to the day you graduate high school and beyond.
It would have to be large. It would be heavy. It wouldn’t be practical.
But D2L Brightspace Portfolio makes it possible. At first glance, it’s an online portfolio, but it’s actually so much more. In this on-demand session, Lindsay Shipman, senior manager, product enablement, and Kristina Beifuss, adoption specialist, share some of their favorite Portfolio features—some of which you may be surprised to learn about. There’s even a demo from a special user who has firsthand experience and expertise using it.
Click here for “Documenting Learning Adventures With Brightspace Portfolio.”
Let’s add a bite-sized morsel to our plate that will stick to your ribs.
Training Tricks Are a Pawfect Treat
If you were fortunate enough to attend Fusion 2024, chances are good that you were present for our first-ever morning show, Wake Up Fusion. You’ll recall a highly entertaining and informative five-minute flare presented by Amy Hamman, a senior instructional technologist at the University of Arizona.
Hamman shares a quote by American fiction author Nora Roberts, “Everything I know, I learned from dogs,” and uses this quote as the starting point for the session titled “Pawsitive Training: Unleashing Instructor Potential in D2L Brightspace.” Using what we all know and love about our canine companions, she applies those concepts to “train” instructors to use Brightspace. This session has real pawtential.
Check it out here.
Still hungry? Here’s another to chew on:
Fill Your Plate With Fresh Products
There are three product deep-dive sessions available on demand. Each presentation highlights new product features that support learning outcomes in one of three verticals: K–12, higher education and corporate.
Deep Dive: K–12 explores the latest Brightspace updates and features teachers can add to their toolbox to support student success. Hosted by Dr. Emma Zone, senior director of academic affairs; Jean Jarick, solutions engineer; and Anneka Moline, solutions engineer manager, this session unpacks how to maximize end-user experience, make a greater impact within the platform and optimize with data, and even teases what we have in the works. With so many takeaways that can be implemented right away, you’ll be using these new features in no time.
Deep Dive: Higher Education is meant to complement Fusion’s main stage Solution Spotlight presentation. In this session, your hosts, Jack Pinette, vice president of product strategy, and Danielle Burt, senior solutions engineer, spend time drilling down into the features that were introduced on the main stage. They reveal how to create impactful learning moments with D2L’s powerful new AI tool, D2L Lumi, and they dive into the various advancements within Creator+. They even dig into the new Achievement+ package. After this session, you should feel empowered to get the most out of these products.
Finally, Deep Dive: Corporate features Declan Fox, product management director, and Lindsay Derraugh, senior solutions engineer. Together, they explore the latest Brightspace updates created and implemented specifically to support corporate learning.
How’s that for a serving of sessions?
There’s More: Hope You’re Ready for Seconds
Hopefully, these few tasty morsels have ignited your appetite for more on-demand sessions. But, there’s no rush. Whenever you’re hungry for more sessions, you can find them here.
As we count down the months to next year’s event in Savannah, Georgia, we hope that you’ll continue to sample Fusion 2024’s on-demand sessions.
Pre-register for Fusion 2025 today.
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