Our Mission
We champion excellent teaching and build connected community to promote meaningful learning.
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Julie Dillon
CTL Faculty Chair
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The Center for Teaching and Learning has had lots of irons in the fire lately. This summer we will be launching our Summer Institute program, which is funded by the Title III Grant we received last year. The institute will focus on growth mindset and resilience and will be attended by 15 participants and 3 peer coaches. Another project stemming from the Title III Grant involves increasing knowledge and implementation of active learning strategies. One of the key pieces of this project is the re-imagining of classrooms. Two classrooms (Gee S126 and Davie 109) will be updated with furniture conducive to active learning. The new tables and chairs will be move-able, which will facilitate all manner of student collaboration.
As we get closer and closer to the start of the fall semester, personally, I’m experiencing a little anxiety about how it’s all gonna go. We’re facing a lot of variables going into it, not the least of which is the move to 8-week courses. Before spring break, the CTL and the Office of Learning Design provided a workshop to some of our science faculty addressing the move to 8-week classes. Included in that workshop were some semester planning templates, which may be of some help to you. These templates are modeled on (stolen from) Amanda Klinger’s planning calendar she makes every semester. In this
Google Drive 8-Week folder, you will find a separate sheet for the first 8-weeks, second 8-weeks, and the full term. I would love to offer this workshop again this summer (at least once), so please let me know if you would be interested in attending by sending an email to
[email protected]
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VLC Professional Learning Opportunities
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All webinars are at 2pm on the date listed. Register for the upcoming
VLC webinars posted on Configio. They are normally recorded and made available for viewing at a later time.
7/8: Creating Live Demonstrations Using Your Smartphone
7/9: Creating Alt Text and Image Descriptions
7/13: Taking Your Video Lectures to The Next Level
7/14: Blackboard Collaborate for Instructors and Staff
7/15: Converting Face-to-Face Assignments for Online Courses
7/16: Online Learning Trends
7/21: Blackboard and Moodle LMS Integrated Proctoring Solutions
7/22: Creating Active Learning Activities Online
7/28: Blackboard Collaborate for Instructors and Staff
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Have you ever tried to learn and understand dense material without punctuation cues the material looks and feels like it runs together into one long thought am i asking a question or making a statement imagine having to take an exam or quiz on content that does not take any pauses or breaks punctuation matters for our caption users so that the information has structure and is properly organized
Caption punctuation is an important part of the editing process as it gives your video the needed organization needed for a caption user to best understand and retain your content. Commas, periods, question marks, exclamation points, etc. are a vital part of communication. Those who are not using captions can hear the difference between a question, comment, or exclamation usually from the inflection in your voice. We need to create those differences by adding punctuation to our captions. Check out this quick, instructional on
how to edit your machine captions within VidGrid.
Questions can be directed to your Digital Accessibility Coordinator, Kate Moss at:
[email protected].
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LightBoard is Available For Use
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Create Instructional Videos Using Our New LightBoard
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We have a new LightBoard that allows instructors to create written or visual demonstrations for instructional videos. If you are interested in utilizing the LightBoard, please reach out to any Office of Learning Design staff member or simply fill out the
Faculty Help Request Form
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The board is located in our new Creation Studio in the Gee Building. While following social distancing rules, we can get you set up to record in no time!
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Starfish Feature Spotlight
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Look to your email for a Starfish Midweek Feature Spotlight sent by Keisha Jones, Dean of Student Engagement and Completion. This particular week highlights a feature called Tracking Item.
Did You Know?
- Tracking Items include Flags, Referrals, To-Dos, and Kudos.
- Staff and faculty can raise these Tracking Items on students based on role and relationship permissions.
- Items can be student-facing or hidden, and can trigger automatic messages to users as configured.
What are the benefits?
- Student Benefit - Students can get notifications of progress in their course, referrals to resources, reminders to do certain things on campus, and positive reinforcements
- Faculty Benefit - Allows you to communicate directly to the student the concern you have; 2) allows you to communicate to the student and a service that a student is need of some type of resource; 3) allows you to not only provide feedback on things the student should be doing but also send positive reinforcements if you see they are doing well
- Staff Benefit - Allows you to quickly respond to the needs of students
How does it work?
- Flag rules may be raised either manually or triggered by data and activity in Starfish.
- Most Flag rules are configured to be raised by faculty, staff, or the system to raise concerns about students. However, students can also raise Flags on themselves to ask for help.
- Kudos are used to acknowledge positive progress and achievements of students.
- Referrals are used to direct a student to make an appointment or visit a particular service on campus.
- To-Dos are used to direct a student to complete a specific action, for example completing a career skills inventory or registering for a study skills seminar. Like Referrals, a To-Do may be assigned as a follow up to a Flag, or as a part of a standard work flow. Consider creating To-Do’s for the activities on campus that you would like students to be more proactive about, such as visiting the Career Center or seeking an internship.
What additional resources are available?
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Got a great teaching idea, tip/trick or tool you use?
Please share it with us and we'll feature it in the newsletter!
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The Office of Learning Design Team pictured above (from left to right): Dori Lloyd, Christie Bundy, Nathanael Gough, Kate Moss, Chad Skudlarick
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We Want To Hear From You!
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If you have ideas for our next issue, please contact anyone from our team.
- Suggest faculty to spotlight
- Share a favorite course design or teaching technique
- Showcase a favorite instructional strategy/tool
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Office of Learning Design, Located in Briggs 225
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