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Faculty Resource Bulletins

Faculty Resource Bulletin

Highlights of this week’s Bulletin include:

Digital Learning Lab and Reservation Instructions

The Digital Learning Labs located in Dakota County Technical College 2-104 and Inver Hills Community College Fine Arts 250 were created for faculty to learn and experiment with classroom and other academic technology they are using or considering for use in their classrooms and teaching practice. Faculty can use these spaces either alone or with the support of CTL staff.

Digital Learning Labs are also spaces for students to learn about the academic technology employed by their instructors. CTL staff use conduct student workshops in these rooms on a regular schedule. Student workshops can also be requested by faculty.

Faculty can reserve the Digital Learning Lab in Outlook by making a new meeting and inviting either Room2104@dctc.edu or fa250@inverhills.edu to that meeting. Add Jamie Lewis (IHCC), Chad Anderson (DCTC), or Martin Springborg (either college) to the meeting invitation if you would like a CTL staff member to assist you. CTL staff will receive the meeting invitation and accept the room reservation.

Innovative Teaching Fellowships

The Center for Teaching and Learning awards Innovative Teaching Fellowships to faculty who are interested in exploring the use of academic technology in their teaching practice. Fellows will work with CTL staff and colleagues on a sustained project over two semesters. They will also be able to take full advantage of our Digital Learning Lab to learn and experiment with new technology. Faculty are encouraged to apply for fellowships at the beginning of fall and spring semesters. Stipends of $1,000 are associated with all fellowships and are awarded upon project completion. Visit the Faculty Resources site for more information.

New TILT Course in D2L Brightspace

Transparency in Learning in Teaching was first offered as a topic of CTL Communities of Practice at both DCTC and IHCC. Mary-Ann Winkelmes, author of Transparent Design in Higher Education Teaching and Leadership, then gave a workshop for IHCC and DCTC faculty in January of 2020.

A short, self-paced course in D2L Brightspace now offers a guide to understanding the TILT Framework and how to use it to revise course assignments. In this short course you will be learning to apply transparent methods that focus on three concepts:

    1. Purpose
    2. Task
    3. Criteria

There are a number of suggested methods you can use to build transparency into the purpose, tasks, and criteria in your course learning activities. Most faculty choose to apply just one method per an assignment. (Small changes, big difference!) CTL staff will monitor the course and offer feedback to all participants.

You can self-register for this course and others, such as the 2021 Course Design Institute Archive, from IHCC and DCTC D2L homepages under the Academic menu, Self Registration.

Upcoming Trainings and CTL Events Calendar

Our events calendar is updated for spring semester! Visit and subscribe to our online calendar to see information and get updates on all our trainings on D2L and academic technology, as well as CTL Open Lab and DCTC Faculty Teaching Online sessions.

Here are our scheduled January training sessions:

  • January 19: Zoom Polls
  • January 24: D2L Brightspace Rubrics
  • January 26: Flipgrid
  • January 31: Kaltura Capture

Mentoring Groups, Consultations, and Other Faculty Support

Center for Teaching and Learning staff are always committed to offering support, and are especially committed to that mission now. Here are a few ways we can help and hopefully be flexible to your schedule:

  • Mentoring Groups are comprised of a novice and two or more faculty experts who have agreed to serve as mentors on a specific topic. We will be continuing mentoring groups this year, especially for faculty who need assistance with academic technology or teaching online, hybrid, or HyFlex courses. Mentoring groups are organized through the CTL and participants receive a modest stipend. Contact Martin Springborg via email if you are interested in participating or learning more.
  • Consultations are designed to meet the needs of faculty who prefer to work one-on-one with CTL 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. Visit the CTL Bookings page to schedule time with any of our staff.
  • CTL Open Lab sessions are open to DCTC and IHCC faculty. These sessions run without agendas; we simply talk about whatever topics you bring. Join us from 12:30-1:30 pm any Tuesday. Come as often or as infrequently as you need.
  • You can always reach CTL staff (Martin Springborg, Jamie Lewis, and Chad Anderson) via Teams. We usually respond to Teams messages within minutes.

I hope to connect with you in one of the above ways very soon. Have a great day, and remember to take care of yourself.

Minnesota State Spring Educational Development

The Network for Educational Development (NED) is pleased to offer a series of short courses and faculty learning communities on the NED events calendar for the spring 2022 term.

These opportunities are designed by Minnesota State faculty and staff for Minnesota State faculty and staff and help build awareness, develop knowledge, skills, and abilities, and provide space for reflecting and revising.

Review and register for spring 2022 opportunities to plan your educational development for spring. Registration for each course will close the Friday before the course start date. Space is limited! 

More Events and Development Opportunities

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

Access VoiceThread’s full workshop archive and schedule. 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.

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!

 

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