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Faculty Resource Bulletins

Faculty Resource Bulletin

Highlights of this week’s Bulletin include:

Quality, Equity, Affordability: Why Open Educational Resources and Why Now

April 5, 1:00–2:00

Open educational resources (OER) are educational materials, from single lessons to entire textbooks, that are free for faculty and students to use, customize, and share. Their adoption and utilization in course settings have been proven to be a viable affordability strategy for higher education; however, recent research is also revealing that OER can also positively influence quality and equity concerns. Panelists during this webinar will share the outcomes that have been attributed to OER, while also showing how OER can be leveraged to encourage more equitable, inclusive, and diverse classrooms.

Register (Free)

Brightspace and Beyond Training Camp

Online via Zoom (invitation sent to all registrants)

May 24-26

This three half-day workshop is designed for all faculty. Whether you have been teaching online for several semesters or are new to teaching online, this hands-on workshop will be of benefit to you. Facilitators will focus on D2L tools and recent updates, as well as other academic technology that can be used to augment online courses.

Upon completion, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the key elements of a well-designed online or hybrid course (consistency, logical organization, clarity of expectations, and accessibility).
  • Utilize D2L tools and components effectively and appropriately to deliver online and hybrid courses.
  • Integrate Zoom, Microsoft O365, and other academic technology into the design of their online courses.

Register

DCTC and IHCC Course Design Institute

June 8-30

The Center for Teaching and Learning’s second annual Course Design Institute will focus on four important topics:

  1. Universal Design for Learning
  2. Humanizing Online Courses
  3. Academic Technology
  4. The D2L/Brightspace Course Design Template

These topics will be addressed in four weeks of synchronous sessions and asynchronous content, with ample opportunity for questions, collegial sharing of examples, and discussion.

This year’s CDI will begin with an engaging online workshop, “Secrets of Universal Design for Learning for Community and Technical Colleges.” Thomas Tobin, author of Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education, will discuss the principles of UDL and guide participants in applying these principles to the design of any course.

More information and registration

MN REFLECT

MN REFLECT (Research Experiences for Learning, Engaging, Connecting, and Teaching) Learning Community – this is a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) program that supports faculty engaging in classroom research in a 2-year cohort. There is a 1 release credit per year compensation for participation in the cohort. The cohort meets 3 times in the fall and 3 times in the spring (each year). Institution commitment supports conference attendance once each of the two years. It is also an opportunity to network and engaging in conversation focused on teaching with other faculty from across disciplines and across Minnesota State.

Here is a video and an ASA newsletter post to learn more about the program. Application information can be found here. Applications are due April 16th.

WeTeach

Online

May 31-July 15

WeTeach is an interactive, collaborative course intended for instructors who teach online or blended courses. Instructors will become an online student in the course to develop their own online teaching and design skills. WeTeach is for instructors looking to expand their skills, explore new ways to engage students and use technology more effectively, and is great for instructors who are new to online teaching. Quality Matters standards, technology tools, D2L training, best practices, and research will be integrated throughout all modules.

COST: $400.00

Course Format: This eight-week course consists of eight online modules with 1-hour weekly virtual meetings. Expect to spend up to four to seven additional hours per week reviewing lectures/readings and completing assignments to strengthen your online teaching and design skills. You will also start to develop components for your own online/blended course.

More information and registration at https://www.winona.edu/adult-learners/ce-training/weteach.asp.

Funding for up to 10 faculty is being provided through the Title III grant. Interested faculty should contact Monica Ibarra prior to registration.

Teach Together Minnesota!

Online

May 18, 2021, 9:00-3:45

 Teach Together Minnesota! is a day-long virtual event that will focus on culturally responsive online teaching and learning, and will provide opportunities to:

  • Join breakout sessions based on discipline. Each discipline community will be able to share and receive files, keep a collective notebook, and use a chat feature for immediate and ongoing communication among attendees.
  • Hear student voices during a student panel session over the lunch hour.
  • Join lightning sessions and webinars about innovating through COVID with an equity lens.

More information and registration at https://asanewsletter.org/event/teach-together-mn-2021.

More Events and Development Opportunities

DCTC Faculty Teaching Online Group

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.

IHCC CTL Open Lab

The agenda for CTL’s Open Lab, scheduled from 12:00-1:00 every Tuesday, is always open. Bring any topic related to teaching online – whether it is a question, a success, or even a failure. CTL staff and your faculty colleagues are here to help and share. See the Zoom invitation from Martin Springborg in your campus email to join.

Peer Review Rubric

Need some feedback on your online courses? Consider the peer review process, now scheduling for fall semester. Or if you aren’t ready to have others look at your course, feel free to use the Peer Review rubric as a checklist as you prepare your courses to go online. You’ll find the rubric in D2L. Search “Course Design Template” under your course list and navigate to course content.

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. For staff information and scheduling, visit Teaching Consultations page and use the Bookings feature to arrange a consultation time.

CTL Calendar

Visit and subscribe to updates from the CTL Events Calendar to view all professional development opportunities mentioned in this Bulletin.

 

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. 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.

 

National and Vendor-Sponsored

VoiceThread Workshops

Upcoming workshops include:

These workshops are completely free. The sessions are led by our instructional designer and online educator George Haines. George will share his expertise to help you get the most from VoiceThread.

Details and registration

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.

Register for individual sessions here: https://web.respondus.com/webinars/

Quality Matters

QM offers a number of free resources to help support your quality assurance goals. Here are a few to check out:

Online Learning Consortium

The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) is a collaborative community of higher education leaders and innovators, dedicated to advancing quality digital teaching and learning experiences designed to reach and engage the modern learner – anyone, anywhere, anytime. OLC inspires innovation and quality through an extensive set of resources, including best-practice publications, quality benchmarking, leading-edge instruction, community-driven conferences, practitioner-based and empirical research, and expert guidance. The growing OLC community includes faculty members, administrators, trainers, instructional designers, and other learning professionals, as well as educational institutions, professional societies, and corporate enterprises.

OLC resources are available to all Minnesota State faculty. Learn more here.

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.

 

 

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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