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Faculty Resource Bulletins

Faculty Resource Bulletin

Highlights of this week’s Bulletin include:

From Your Colleagues

Student Contracts

Philosophy faculty member Wes Jorde uses student contracts to introduce students to course structure and responsibilities. The contracts serve as reminders to students of the work involved in an online course, and to some extent the need to set a schedule.

See the contract Wes uses in his classes.

Document Cameras

Accounting faculty member Scott Sandok has been using a document camera as a substitute for a white board during his synchronous lectures. See his step-by-step instructions for this process here:

https://mnscu-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/yy4784td_minnstate_edu/EdQcLD74yLNEnZazumupLmwBr3dV5h478blfalPpeL_QkA?e=EDk40e

 

Want To Dismantle Racism In Science? Start In The Classroom

In this short (13-minute) podcast, NPR’s Short Wave hosts talk with “science educators building an anti-racist perspective into their curriculum and seeking to make the science classroom more inclusive.” The lessons of this podcast go beyond the science curriculum and classroom, and can be applied to many other disciplines.

Access the podcast here: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/918864226

Featured guests:

  • Letimicia Fears, a postdoctoral fellow in the Collaborative for STEM Education and Outreach at Vanderbilt University and an adjunct in the Department of Biological Science at Tennessee State University
  • Gretchen Kraig-Turner, a science teacher at Burlington-Edison High School and a contributing author to Rethinking School
  • Viji Sathy, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an administrator in the Office of Undergraduate Education

Further resources:

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.

Because of faculty continued 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. 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 Communities of Practice page of our 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://inverhills-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/yy4784td_inverhills_edu/ERqUg1GXgApHml1YO3GjUOcBgJDyEOiawjDxwEcRaryihQ?e=fw08Eg

 

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.

 

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.

 

Minnesota’s Annual CTE Works! Summit

November 3-6

Online

The annual CTE Works! Summit connects educators, advisors and administrators from high schools and colleges with workforce developers, business and industry partners, and our communities. This energizing professional development event features national leaders and local innovators sharing their data-informed research and practices in Career and Technical Education, career readiness, and student support that help every youth and adult meet academic and workforce needs.

Learn from and be inspired by teachers and faculty through workshops and provoking presentations. Connect with other professionals in the Upper Midwest and across the world. Take in new perspectives, and be inspired by your peers.

Register with credit card or purchase order. Visit www.cteworksminnesota.org for more information.

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 page and use the Bookings feature to arrange a consultation time.

 

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:

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. See the complete schedule at https://web.respondus.com/webinars.

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:

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:

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. 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.

 

The Faculty Resource Bulletin is one of many steps we’re taking to improve communication about local and statewide faculty professional development information and opportunities. Please visit our Faculty Resources sites (see links in the header of this blog) for more information and resources to support teaching and learning!

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