Faculty Resource Bulletin

Highlights of this week’s Bulletin include:

From Your Colleagues:
- Student Contracts
Encouraging Student Engagement During Synchronous Meetings: Preventing Midterm Drop-Off
Mentoring Groups: Course Design
ASA Fall Virtual Conference
Equity and Inclusion Free Virtual Training Series
Campus Compact Engaged Faculty Institute
More Events and Development Opportunities
- Minnesota State highlight: 2020 ASA Fall Virtual Conference Schedule, November 12-13
- National and Vendor-Sponsored highlight: New Respondus Instructor Training Series

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.

Encouraging Student Engagement during Synchronous Meetings: Preventing Midterm Drop-Off

One of the most common topics of this semester has been student engagement in synchronous online courses. The conversation ranges from how camera use and other ways of knowing students are engaged to creating a sense of community on these online environments. I most recently discussed the latter topic with IHCC’s LCOM faculty and continue to address it with individual faculty at both IHCC and DCTC.

This article from Faculty Focus covers six scenarios of questionable student engagement in synchronous meetings and provides ideas for creating student accountability and solid strategies for implementation: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/encouraging-student-engagement-during-synchronous-meetings-preventing-midterm-drop-off/.

Mentoring Groups: Course Design

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 have started to meet and will be running through the academic year.

ASA Fall Virtual Conference

The details for the ASA Fall Virtual Conference are now available, including session descriptions and Zoom links. The sessions will be recorded (with the exception of the Labor Relations sessions), and the recordings and any presentation slides will be published to the SharePoint site following the conference.

For more information and to pre-register (Labor Relations sessions only): https://asanewsletter.org/2020/11/04/2020-asa-fall-virtual-conference-schedule-november-12-13/.

Equity and Inclusion Free Virtual Training Series

At Dakota County Technical College and Inver Hills Community College, we believe equity and inclusion improve all aspects of our communities and we strive for an environment that encourages excellence and innovation. Successfully building inclusive campuses and workplaces relies on the fundamental principle that human diversity is our strength and these trainings are directly connected to this success.

More information and registration at https://mnscu.rschooltoday.com/public/getclass/category_id/500/program_id/5/subcategory_id/5982.

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:

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

New Respondus Instructor Training Series

Join Respondus trainers for a free webinar and learn how to use LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor to address the integrity of final exams. Or see how Respondus 4.0 and StudyMate Campus allow you to easily create online tests, flash cards, or learning games.

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.

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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