Highlights of this week’s Bulletin include:
- From Your Colleagues: Video Assignments
- Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor
- Community of Practice: Transparent Design in Teaching
- Mentoring Groups: Course Design
- Campus Compact Engaged Faculty Institute
- More Events and Development Opportunities
- Minnesota State highlight: Equity in Online Environments (Webinar)
- National and Vendor-Sponsored highlight: Respondus LockDown Browser & Respondus Monitor Webinars
From Your Colleagues: Video Assignments
Philosophy faculty member Shane Stroup is giving his students the option of creating video assignments this semester in lieu of exams and essays. Some students are taking the option. Shane’s perspective as the assignments start to come in: “Some are GREAT! I think it is a solid way for students to show their ‘knowledge’, and they seem to dig it.”
One of Shane’s students agreed to share their first video assignment as an example:
Here is this student’s perspective on the video assignment option:
I choose the video path because I rarely get to make videos for any of my other classes, and it’s much more fun to me than writing an essay or taking a test. I used to make videos for fun so I already knew the basics of adobe premiere and Photoshop. This is my first time making a video for a college class but I have done it a couple times in high school.
I think the best part of the video path is that I can actually have fun and enjoy doing these big assignments, which positively affects my work. If I had to write an essay or take a test like I have to do for everything else in college it would be much more boring and I would have to force myself to do it.
I plan on doing a video for my final as well, like I said I enjoy creating videos more than writing essays or taking tests. I am honestly surprised to find out that almost no one else is doing the video path, it is a nice change of pace from the essays/tests from other classes.
Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor
As you know from announcements made during Academic Development/In-service Days, Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor are the tools we are using to proctor exams online this academic year. Respondus offers many online training resources for faculty and students. These resources include webinars, training videos, and resources such as downloadable start-up guides. Access these resources at:
https://web.respondus.com/he/lockdownbrowser/resources
https://web.respondus.com/he/monitor/resources
Please contact Martin Springborg with any questions about these products, or for individual assistance. Please create a JIRA ticket to coordinate installation of Respondus LockDown browser on your college-issued computer.
Community of Practice: Transparent Design in Teaching
As part of spring AD Days at IHCC, Mary-Ann Winkelmes, author of “Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership”, facilitated a workshop on applying transparent design do instructional materials. This workshop featured a panel of faculty from both IHCC and DCTC who participated in a community of practice on this topic all of fall semester. These faculty graciously shared edits they had made to assignments and will use in their courses this semester.
To meet continued faculty interest in this topic, we will be continuing these communities at both IHCC and DCTC this year. If you are interested in participating, just send an email to mspringborg@ihcc.edu or martin.springborg@dctc.edu by Friday, October 9. I’ll then send out a scheduling poll to determine three meeting times throughout the academic year. You’ll find more information about this community of practice on the Faculty Resources pages of or website:
If you missed Mary-Ann’s workshop, you can watch the recording here: https://mediaspace.minnstate.edu/media/Transparent+Instruction+in+Multi-generational%2C+Diverse%2C+Higher+Ed+Contexts/1_rxqwlmxt
Slides from this workshop are also available: https://mnscu-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/yy4784td_minnstate_edu/Ec5shzPtT2NAnYQRMQYh144BfBPxxyRLtHxR2DoM6QrpFQ?e=x8Gfiq
Mentoring Groups: Course Design
Distinct from Communities of Practice, Mentoring Groups are comprised of a novice and two or more faculty experts who have agreed to serve as mentors on a specific topic. Mentoring groups have proven to be effective at other institutions, do not rely on or place all pressure on a single mentor, and, like Communities of Practice, draw on the strengths and perspectives of a group in the teaching and learning process.
This semester, faculty who completed our summer Online Course Design Institute will be serving as mentors to colleagues who would like help redesigning their courses for spring semester and beyond. Contact Martin Springborg if you are interested in working with these faculty. Mentoring groups for course design will be scheduled based on faculty interest.
Campus Compact Engaged Faculty Institute
Campus Compact is offering an online version of their Engaged Faculty Institute. The Institute is a two-week, asynchronous learning experience for faculty interested in teaching community-engaged courses. The institute works best for those who are ready to design or re-design at least one specific community-engaged course and is open to all faculty (tenured/tenure-track and instructors). At this time, it is only open the instructors from Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact member institutions.
2020-2021 Scheduled Institutes:
December 4-21, 2020, application deadline November 23
January 8-25, 2021, application deadline January 4
For application and more information: https://iacampuscompact.formstack.com/forms/engaged_faculty_institute_application_online.
More Events and Development Opportunities
Additional Campus Programs and Services
Faculty Teaching Online Group
We are excited to be continuing this group at DCTC all summer! If you are experiencing some success in this environment and would like to share with your colleagues, these sessions are for you. If you are struggling and need to draw upon on the wisdom of your peers, these sessions are also for you. Or if you’re anywhere in between, again – these sessions are for you.
These sessions will run without agendas. We’ll simply talk about whatever faculty bring to the meetings. Several members of the Faculty Development Committee will participate on a rotating basis. Join us any or every Thursday from 3:30-4:30 pm. Registration is not required. Come as often or as infrequently as you need. See the Zoom invitation from Martin Springborg in your campus email to join.
CTL Teaching Consultations
The Center for Teaching and Learning continues to offer teaching consultations designed to meet the needs of faculty members who prefer to work one-on-one with staff. Whether you need just-in-time training or advice in the application of a specific teaching tool, or are planning for next semester or next year, our staff are available to offer support.
Examples of topics addressed through consultation services include, but are not limited to:
- Course design
- Academic technology, including D2L Brightspace
- Implementing a change in your course(s)
- Applying student or other formative feedback to course redesign
- Preparation for course review
For staff information and scheduling, visit Teaching Consultations pages at Inver Hills Community College and Dakota County Technical College.
From Minnesota State
See https://asanewsletter.org/events for a full list of upcoming webinars and other opportunities! Also see resources on the NED Resource Site focused on course design, assessment, and instructional strategies.
In addition, the Minnesota State Educational Innovations Office maintains a page of resources for students at www.asanewsletter.org/academic-continuity-students.
The Minnesota State Learning Technologies Team offers a variety of faculty resources (opens in new window) on their SharePoint site, including:
- Recorded Training Webinars
- D2L Brightspace announcements
- D2L Brightspace monthly update and refresh calendars
- Reported or fixed issues
Navigate to the IMS opens in new window SharePoint site (https://mnscu.sharepoint.com/sites/IMS), and use YourStarID@minnstate.edu as your username and your StarID password. View the PDF for how to login instructions opens in new window.
National and Vendor-Sponsored
Instructor Training: LockDown Browser & Respondus Monitor Webinars
This comprehensive training webinar is intended for instructors who plan to use LockDown Browser and/or Respondus Monitor with online exams. The session provides a detailed demonstration of both applications, including enhancements that make Respondus Monitor even more effective and easy to use.
- Tuesday, September 29 at 12 pm ET / 9 am PT
- Thursday, October 1 at 1 pm ET / 10 am PT
- Tuesday, October 6 at 3 pm ET / 12 pm PT
- Thursday, October 15 at 2 pm ET / 11 am PT
- Wednesday, October 21 at 2 pm ET / 11 am PT
- Tuesday, October 27 at 1 pm ET / 10 am PT
Quality Matters
You can now register for QM ConnectLX professional development workshops.
Choose from over 24 two-hour, half- and full-day options such as:
- HE Teaching Online
- Designing Your Online Course
- K-12 Designing an Engaging and Active Learning Environment
QM Live! Workshops are also available! These two-hour, hands-on workshops are a great way to access learning experiences that are currently only offered as dedicated sessions for institutions. Topics include:
- Creating Discussion Forum Rubrics
- Active Learning Strategies
- Rethinking Assessments for Application and Engagement
Bridge to Quality: A QM Online Course Design Guide
If you’re looking for a way forward from Emergency Remote Instruction that is rooted in QM Standards and focused on the learning experience, this guide is just what you need. This web-based guide provides a step-by-step approach to complete the hands-on, iterative work that is central to creating a quality course. This includes:
- Alignment of foundational course elements
- Promoting engaged, active learning
- Creative work and organization to develop the course within a digital learning environment (LMS)
Turnitin
Whether you’re a new user or need a refresh, join our training sessions to learn how to get started with Feedback Studio and Originality Check Plus, or how to enable remote learning and assessment with Gradescope. We have expanded our training calendar to provide recurring training throughout the rest of the academic year.
More information and registration at https://www.turnitin.com/resources/training-webinars.
D2L Fusion Conference
For the safety and well-being of our guests, we’ve determined that it is necessary to move Fusion 2020 entirely online with an all-new virtual experience that will launch this summer. While we can’t all be together in person this year, we’re fully committed to bringing you the absolute best Fusion experience possible.
The virtual Fusion program includes sessions of interest to K-12, higher education, and corporate learning audiences, and will take place three consecutive days each month (July-December) from noon–3:45pm ET (9am–12:45pm PT) each day.
See the full schedule at https://www.d2l.com/events/fusion/schedule.
Register at https://www.d2l.com/events/fusion/register.