Online Seminars
Magna Online Seminars have built a reputation for their quality, timeliness and relevance. Live and interactive, they feature leading educators and thought leaders delivering thought-provoking, practical presentations. Plus if you can’t make the live event, all seminars are available on-demand for a full 30 days. Our Online Seminar Package also includes a copy of the recording on CD, plus the full transcript and supplemental materials. Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.
Recent Seminars
Avoid Legal Pitfalls in Faculty Evaluation, Promotion & Tenure
Accidental discrimination, incorrect processes and legal retaliation can cause administrators to feel as much pressure as the faculty member up for evaluation. Learn what you can and cannot do during faculty evaluations, what the consequences may be following a negative evaluation and what academic freedom really means.
audio Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, November 13th, 2012
The Top 10 Faculty Challenges for Teaching Online
Issues such as time and workload management, quality assurance, and the need for new skills and competencies remain real or perceived barriers for faculty who are new to teaching online. Join Lawrence Ragan of Penn State’s World Campus as he shares his observations, stories, and insights regarding where faculty struggle in the online classroom, and what can be done to help.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Thursday, November 8th, 2012
Managing Instructor Presence in the Online Classroom
Teaching is a knowledge business – but it’s also a relationship business. To teach students, you have to reach them. That can be a big challenge in the online classroom. So how do you project yourself, and develop the teacher-student connections that facilitate learning? Dr. Lawrence Ragan and Dr. Kimberly Eke, two of the most respected figures in distance learning, will share strategies for doing just that.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Wednesday, November 7th, 2012
Using Group Work to Promote Deep Learning
Designed appropriately, cooperative learning assignments can actually turn group work—what was once a frustrating exercise for instructors and students alike—into a powerful way to reinforce course concepts and promote understanding. Let Barbara Millis, director of the Teaching and Learning Center at the University of Texas at San Antonio, show you how.
audio Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, October 30th, 2012
Five Free Tools for Connecting and Engaging Online Learners
If you’re teaching online, you’ve likely confronted the reality that most opportunities to improve the learning experience for your students just don’t fit your budget. Fortunately, with a little digging, you’ll find there are a number of free tools that will help you increase student engagement, improve outcomes, and make the online classroom experience a more robust and satisfying one for you and your students.
audio Online Seminar • Recorded on Thursday, October 25th, 2012
Experiential Learning Inside the Classroom
Conventional pedagogy views experiential learning as taking place primarily outside the classroom. However, experiential learning works effectively inside the classroom as well. It enables faculty members to pose problems, increase student engagement, and facilitate learning. This seminar will show you how to integrate experiential learning into your classroom regardless of discipline.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Thursday, October 11th, 2012
Improve Participation to Enhance Learning in Online Courses
Online courses have their benefits, but increased student participation usually isn’t often one of them. Without the physical space of a classroom, how do you create an environment for meaningful discussion? Learn how to enhance the student experience by using six concrete strategies to boost participation, deepen learning, and increase student satisfaction with online courses.
audio Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, October 9th, 2012
From Rucksack to Backpack: Ensuring Student Veteran Success
While service members bring many assets – maturity, leadership experience, cross-cultural experiences, and a sound commitment to finish what they start – they also often carry visible and invisible disabilities that can make the transition difficult. This seminar will provide proven ways you can better serve the veterans in your classroom and at your institution as a whole.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012
Implementing New Technology to Extend Learning
New technology now gives faculty the ability to facilitate and accelerate student development by implementing a “Personal Learning Environment” (PLE). A PLE gives students a platform for gathering information around a topic, developing their ideas, and engaging in conversation with others.
audio Online Seminar • Recorded on Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
Academic Freedom and Free Speech: What You Need to Know
Academic freedom might give faculty license to say (or write) almost anything they please, but there are limits. And crossing over those boundaries can invite serious repercussions. This online seminar will help you understand the current state of the law, legal definitions of academic freedom and free speech, and steps you can take to protect yourself from legal liability or personnel actions.
audio Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
State Authorization: Strategies for Online Providers
Change? It’s hard to keep up with the twists and turns in state authorization. The latest announcement by the Department of Education that it would not enforce provisions of the original regulations (600.9) might suggest the heat is off institutions. CAUTION is advised. If your online programs cross state lines to reach students, you still face regulatory scrutiny in many states.
A Two-Part audio Online Seminar • Recorded on Wednesday, September 19th, 2012
Fostering a Collegial Environment: Guidelines for the Department Chair
You don’t have to let one difficult faculty member hijack your departmental atmosphere. If you aren’t happy with how things are, if you see room for some improvement, or if you want to make sure future hires do not undermine your current culture of civility and collegiality, this seminar is for you.
audio Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, September 18th, 2012
The Copyright Case We’ve Been Waiting for: Key Lessons & Policy Changes
The recent ruling on the Georgia State University copyright infringement lawsuit provides specific guidance on questions of educational fair use—especially for distance education programs. It’s also 350 pages long. You can wade through all 350 pages, or you can spend 60 minutes with us to learn what you need to do, and what you need to avoid doing, under the terms of the new ruling.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Monday, August 13th, 2012
Three Ways to Use Technology in a Learner-Centered Classroom
There are a lot of ideas out there for introducing technology into the classroom. Unfortunately, not all of them are good. During this video seminar we’ll explore some easily implemented technologies that can result in a richer learning experience for your students, and a more rewarding teaching experience for you.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012
A Good Start: Helping First-Year Students Acclimate to College
We expect high school to prepare students for academic success in a university setting. However, students arrive for their first classes unacquainted with the policies and expectations of the university level classroom. As an instructor, our approach can make all the difference in helping first-year students make the transition to the more rigorous world of post-secondary academics.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, July 31st, 2012
Grading Strategies to Promote Student & Faculty Success
When you give your grading as much care and attention as you give the rest of your course design components, you will start to see improvements in student performance and experience greater personal satisfaction in teaching. Learn how to make positive changes to your grading strategies and tactics.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Wednesday, July 25th, 2012
Motivating Students: Four Steps to Dynamic Classes
We all want a classroom full of engaged and motivated students … but we often find ourselves with something much different. This interactive seminar will provide you with practical, proven techniques for infusing new energy and enthusiasm into your classroom.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
Engage Online Students with Targeted Feedback
With good feedback tools, instructors don’t have to wait for failed exams to find out that a majority of students misunderstood a key concept or were confused by the instructions. This seminar will teach you how to maintain an effective communication loop that increases student interactivity, performance, and satisfaction.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Tuesday, June 19th, 2012
Handling Annoying, Disruptive, and Dangerous Students
As if teaching isn’t hard enough, now you have to deal with the added stress that the growing tide of incivility brings to the classroom. This online video seminar gives you the tools you need to take control of your classroom without judging, alienating, or demonizing students.
video Online Seminar • Recorded on Thursday, May 10th, 2012
Active Learning That Works: What Students Think
From the teacher’s point of view, active learning can be a powerful instructional tool, but what do students think of it? Learn why some active learning strategies succeed, and why others fail, from the perspective of the students themselves. After the seminar, you will know how to facilitate effective in-class learning activities any time throughout the course.
