Highlights of this week’s Bulletin include:
- New Semester Checklist
- Brightspace and Beyond Week
- Book Your Course Design Consultation
- Course Design Institute Archive
- Course Design Template
- CTL Open Lab and DCTC Faculty Teaching Online
- Engineering and Engineering Technology STEM Educator Workshop
- More Events and Development Opportunities
- Minnesota State highlight: Humanizing Plus: Elements to Create a More Inclusive and Equitable Online Course (Webinar)
- Vendor highlight: VoiceThread upcoming workshop: Using VoiceThread in D2L/Brightspace
New Semester Checklist
With a new semester approaching, we have an updated New Semester Checklist ready for your consideration. The list contains some of the more important items to consider in getting your online courses ready for students – such as entering a JIRA request to combine course sections prior to importing content and making updates to dates and links.
You’ll find the new checklist in the top/main navigation of the Faculty Resources site.
Brightspace and Beyond Week
Online via Zoom (invitation sent to all registrants)
August 9-13
This series of sessions is happening now! Whether you have been teaching online for several semesters or will be for the first time this year, this hands-on workshop will be of benefit to you. Facilitators will focus on beginning tools and recent updates made to D2L Brightspace, as well as other academic technology such as VoiceThread, Teams and O365 tools; MediaSpace and Kaltura Capture; and Zoom.
Each day consists of two hours of instruction followed by one hour of guided work/application time. Join us online (Zoom invitation will come following registration) from 9:00-12:00 Monday through Friday.
View/download full description and schedule
Registration for this event closed today. Please email Martin Springborg for session access information.
Book Your Course Design Consultation
Now is one of our busiest times for talking with faculty about course design. Contact Center for Teaching and Learning staff when you’re ready to redesign a course, or if you just need another perspective on an activity or assessment. For staff information and scheduling, visit our Consultations page and use the Bookings link to arrange a consultation time.
Course Design Institute Archive
This summer’s Course Design Institute focused on many important topics you’ll want to consider as you design or redesign any course:
- Universal Design for Learning
- Humanizing Online Courses
- Academic Technology
- Using the D2L/Brightspace Course Design Template
If you couldn’t join us in June, you can self-register from the DCTC or IHCC D2L homepage to access a complete archive of the Institute. Just click on the “Self-Registration” link in the main/top navigation.
Course Design Template
Quick reminder: all faculty have student access to the Online Course Design Template via their D2L course list. This template serves as an instructional guide in online course design and in D2L tool use. All elements can be copied for use in any DCTC or IHCC course. You’ll find this course listed in your D2L course list under the category “Other.”
CTL Open Lab and DCTC Faculty Teaching Online
Many of you took advantage of these weekly sessions last academic year. We are happy to be starting these again the week of August 30! Stay tuned for upcoming email announcements and plan on more rich conversations with your faculty colleagues.
Engineering and Engineering Technology STEM Educator Workshop
Online
September 23
The Minnesota State Engineering Center of Excellence and Normandale Community College faculty are proud to provide strategies for teaching technology through telepresence for STEM workforce preparation. This professional development opportunity covers pedagogically supported foundations for teaching engineering and technology-related techniques. These skills will help Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) educators with student retention and success and increase the workforce in STEM careers.
This workshop is an opportunity for STEM educators to improve their teaching abilities through hands-on practice and seminars addressing topics such as:
- Principles of Effective Teaching and Learning
- Learning Styles
- Communication Skills
- Learning Objectives
- Class and Course Organization
- Teaching with Technology
- Classroom Assessment Techniques
Learn more and Register Now! (RSVP is requested by September 21.)
More Events and Development Opportunities
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 Course Design Template mentioned above.
CTL Calendar
Visit and subscribe to updates from the CTL Events Calendar to view all campus 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 workshop: Using VoiceThread in D2L/Brightspace
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.
Access VoiceThread’s full workshop archive.
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
Elements of Quality Matters: Deliver on Your Online Promise — discover QM’s tools and resources in this one-hour, self-paced course
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!