We did it! We persevered as educators, learners, and members of the Cyclone community.
CELT Teaching Tip • April 22, 2021
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Congratulations on the end of this historic academic year
We did it! We persevered as educators, learners, and members of the Cyclone community.

Celebrate innovation; see our first collection of CELT Teaching Briefs from our faculty and teaching community. This collection reminds us of the importance of student engagement, community building, and practice –the same powerful pedagogies adapted from face-to-face settings work well for online environments.

Complete this semester; follow the steps outlined on the End of Semester Checklist to guide you through the grade submission process. As a reminder, grades are due Tuesday, May 11, at 2:15 p.m.


Begin planning; use the Start of Semester Checklist to get a head start on your future courses.

With a joy for teaching,

Sara Marcketti, Director 
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

Pictured above are the authors for the CELT Teaching Briefs in alphabetical order:
  • Top row (from left to right): Alzoubi, Baran, Bonaccorsi, Chatterjee, and Irish.
  • Bottom row (from left to right): Kukday, LaWare, McNicholl, Murphy, Stewart, and Zhang
Seeking applications for two CELT Faculty Fellows positions
(Due by Apr. 23)
CELT invites tenured faculty to apply for one of our half-time CELT Faculty Fellows positions for 2021-2023:
Questions regarding the Faculty Fellow opportunities should be directed to CELT Director Sara Marcketti (email sbb@iastate.edu or call 515-294-4887).
CELT is hiring a Communication Specialist II
CELT is seeking a dedicated communications specialist II to work on internal and external communications projects. This position develops new and revised content for the CELT website, teaching tips, social media, and other outlets. Also, they will handle logistics and scheduling for CELT programs. For the job description and application process, review the CELT Communication Specialist II job posting (WorkDay).
CELT Teaching Spotlight: Paul Hengesteg
Since 2014, Paul Hengsteg has been a member of the ISU community. Hengsteg joined the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) on May 4, 2020, amid the raging pandemic and remote working. Hengsteg states, "I have loved working with such a wonderful team in CELT and meeting and working with such a wide array of educators across campus. It's very thrilling."  

Hengsteg shares this advice for this Spotlight, "As we approach the end of the semester, it is natural, if not expected, to turn our thoughts to assessment... Assessment does not need to be complicated. Although assessment is vital to impactful teaching and learning, it does not need to add undue stress during an already stressful time." To get started, see Hengesteg's five tips to help with assessment in this Teaching Spotlight.
CELT Summer Course Design Institute 2021 written in white font on a picture of central campus at Iowa State University
Register today for the CELT Summer Course Design Institute

The CELT Summer Course Design Institute (CDI) will occur on May 17, 19, 24, and 26 (9-10:30 a.m., followed by 30-minutes of optional guided discussion along with individual/group consultations). The CDI is an online interactive, hands-on, and collaborative opportunity for ISU instructors to build skills and have time and space to design or substantially revise their courses in the online or hybrid environment.

To learn more and register by April 30, visit the CELT Summer Course Design Institute 2021 page.

Faculty share the following about their CDI experiences:
“The CDI workshop helped me create greater clarity and transparency in my course delivery, boosting my knowledge about accessibility in online spaces, and overall, a great refresher in areas like assessment and alignment. The workshop material is broadly relevant to teaching in all disciplines, and I found it to be a great investment of my time.”
Erin Doran, Assistant Professor, School of Education, Summer 2020 CDI
“I really took a lot away from the CDI discussions and especially one of the Q&A sessions on effective assessments. It is challenging to reach all students, but between the course design restructure and my new outlook on enhancing student engagement by offering additional course content (recordings, guided independent learning activities), I’m very pleased with the impact CDI made on my semester."
Karen Burt, Assistant Teaching Professor, Chemical & Biological Engineering, Winter 2021 CDI
“I really appreciated CDI for several reasons. The most beneficial to me was the exposure to a variety of tips, tricks, and tools – not just what they are, but the ability to learn how they are used and experience the resources first-hand in an online learning environment... Through this learning journey, I was able to immediately apply the QM rubrics to help make sure my courses are optimized to reach the widest variety of learners with the most accessible and inclusive experiences."
Chad Cardani-Trollinger, Assistant Teaching Professor, Leadership Studies, Winter 2021 CDI
“I learned several tips and strategies for designing the course on Canvas and engaging with students in the classroom and online. It was helpful to interact with other faculty members from across the university and acquire a range of perspectives of pedagogy and course design. Completing the Quality Matters self-review at the end of the CDI showed me my course design strengths and areas to improve for next semester. Overall, participating in the CDI got me thinking about so many aspects of my preparation and pedagogy.”
Rachel Myers, Assistant Professor, World Languages & Cultures, Winter 2021 CDI participant
"CDI helped me better understand the importance of articulating measurable student learning outcomes and how to structure course assignments each week in ways that help students successfully achieve these learning outcomes. I discovered the diversity of online resources we have available through ISU and how to implement these resources effectively both online and in the classroom, among other pedagogical benefits."
Travis Chilcott, Associate Professor, Religion, Philosophy & Religious Studies, Summer 2020 CDI
Upcoming Programs written in white on an image of the Iowa State University campus with Morrill Hall in the middle
Locate the descriptions/registration information on each of the listings below along with the CELT’s programming schedule:

Course Design

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
  • Turning your Scholarly Teaching into Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) with Sara Marcketti and Cindy Haynes, Apr. 23 (2:15-3:45 p.m.)
  • Discuss Published Education Research in Your Discipline (DBER Journal Club), May 3 (4-5 p.m.)
National Institute on Scientific Teaching
Join the National Institute on Scientific Teaching's Friday Talks
Several ISU faculty join the National Institute on Scientific Teaching (NIST) to share the challenges and successes of teaching at their home institutions. ISU's Sayali Kukday (GDCB) serves as one of the NIST hosts. Upcoming talks include:
  • Asynchronous Online Group Discussions - Yes, you can! with Jessamina Blum (University of Minnesota), Apr. 23 (3-4 p.m. Zoom link)
  • Reluctant participants: How do you hook your students? with Jack Snoeyink (UNC-Chapel Hill), Apr. 30 (3-4 p.m. Zoom link)
  • How to support students in times of local/global distress with Devavani Chatterjea (Macalester College), May 7 (3-4 p.m. Zoom link)
  • Is anybody there? An equitable and inclusive plan to encourage classroom camera use with Frank Castelli and Mark Sarvary (Cornell University), May 14 (3-4 p.m. Zoom link)

Instructional Tools News and Updates
Recent news about Perusall, Top Hat, Webex, Canvas and more!
support written in white letters on a photo of people working on laptops
  • Canvas support: Locate the ? Help menu (far left of your screen in Canvas) and use one of the resources or 24/7 support, call 515-294-4000 (listen to prompts for Canvas support).
  • Technical support: ISU Solution Center, email solution@iastate.edu or call 515-294-4000.
  • Pedagogical support: CELT Response Team is available each Tuesday-Friday (11 a.m.-1 p.m.). Call 515-294-5357. Or, contact our CELT instructional designers by emailing your course title, describing the question or issues you have, and the steps to replicate it to celt-help@iastate.edu. This step will also create a ServiceNow ticket for easy tracking.
  • Local support: Contact your local support.
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Prefer a Print version?
To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with the short URLs for the web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for April 22, 2021 (PDF) (https://bit.ly/3tARFW0)

About us
Our mission, "Partnering with educators to advance student-centered learning at Iowa State University."
Our CELT Teaching Tip is published bi-weekly on Thursdays. Questions? Email celt@iastate.edu.