2020 has been a year like no other, with each aspect of our lives deeply impacted.
CELT Teaching Tip • October 29, 2020
Showing thanks
2020 has been a year like no other, with each aspect of our lives deeply impacted. I miss seeing my colleagues in person and especially miss the unexpected moments of running into a former student or a colleague while waiting for coffee or while out for a walk on our beautiful campus. Especially now, we need a continued connection and deepened community. In its third year, #CyThx empowers you to share: "Who makes you feel like a valued member of the ISU community?"  

#CyThx promotes ISU's Strategic Goal 4 to "…enhance and cultivate the ISU experience where faculty, staff, students, and visitors are safe and feel welcomed, supported, included, and valued by the university and each other."  

To celebrate effective teaching, advising, and mentoring, the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) partners with ISU Learning Communities, Multicultural Student Affairs, Student Government, and Graduate and Professional Student Senate for the annual recognition project. 

The three-question survey is easy – all you need to submit is the recipient's name, who they are to you (academic advisor, mentor, student leader, staff member, etc.) and your comment of thanks. You can remain anonymous. 

Submit your #CyThx via the button below or this 2020 #CyThx Qualtrics survey page.
Then, between fall semester grade submission (December 9, 2020), and January 4, 2021, we will email the honoree's recognition and share it with their unit leaders. The #CyThx website will host all of the thanks shared across our community. 

With a joy for teaching,

Sara Marcketti, Director
Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

Dr. Kelly Reddy-Best, Associate Professor, Department of Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management; and Director and Curator, Textiles and Clothing Museum has spent four years teaching at Iowa State University. Reddy-Best’s advice for teaching:
  • What excites you about teaching and learning? Meeting the students and watching them grasp and learn from the materials and activities in my class. I love seeing them relate to the different parts and draw connections.
  • What makes a difference in your teaching of a large enrollment courses?
  • Designing a purposeful environment has been crucial. I do this by building teams and giving structure to how these teams will interact. This step creates a sense of community in a large-enrollment course where students might feel “lost” in the sea of people.
  • Chunking is another essential part of how I deliver my course. This pedagogy involves breaking my course session up into segments such as starting with a brief lecture on a topic, playing a short video to emphasize an example of the concept, and then doing a short in-class learning activity to reinforce or apply it.
  • How did your Miller Open Education (OER) Mini-Grants funds add to your teaching in terms of student engagement?
  • In my course AMD 165 Dress, Appearance, and Diversity in Society, students learn about different identities and how we communicate our identities through what we wear or how we look. We use the self-created videos on the Fashion & Justice Research Lab YouTube page in class to show rich examples.
  • I also use the videos in the case studies for each unit. Students might do a more in-depth analysis of the video content and relate what they say back to a concept from the unit materials. The videos’ benefit is they add richness to the ways the students interact with these sometimes hard to understand concepts or ideas. (Read more about OER on the ISU's Open Educational Resources, and use ISU Bookstore's Immediate Access page)
  • What else would you want to share that is important for your teaching? I saw the most improvements in my teaching once I started doing the plus/delta survey in all of my courses after a CELT workshop recommendation. It helped me to see what I could improve from the student’s perspective. I made small changes every semester, and I could see those changes add up after a while, which led to positive changes reflected in my teaching evaluations.


view of ISU campus during the winter
Do you teach large enrollment courses (50 students or more) and want to learn more about building community, effective assessment, active learning techniques, and course design? Apply now for the CELT Winter Course Design Institute (CDI) 2021. 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.

The CDI will be 75-minute synchronous sessions on Jan. 4, 6, 11, & 13 (9-10:15 a.m., followed by 30-minutes of optional guided discussion). The session topics include:

  • Fundamental course design elements with ISU Template in Canvas and its variations for large enrollment courses (Drs. Laura Bestler and Lesya Hassall)
  • Building community and reducing anonymity in large enrollment courses (Dr. Sayali Kukday)
  • Effective assessment strategies and approaches to academic cheating (Dr. Jodi Sterle)
  • Active learning techniques and feedback giving in large enrollment courses (Dr. Michael Dorneich)

Participants who fully engage in the four-day Institute and complete a self-evaluation of your course using CELT-supported tools will receive a $500 professional development stipend from the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost. Read about the benefits, completion requirements, who can attend, and registration on the CELT Winter Course Design Institute page.
no access codes. no physical books. just learning
Deadlines for faculty enrollment in Immediate Access:
  • Winter Session Deadline: November 1st 
  • Spring Session Deadline: December 1st 
To enroll, contact John Wierson, [email protected]
For technical support or questions contact the ISU team via email [email protected]
Go Digital and Support Student Affordability with Immediate Access
Upcoming CELT Programs
CELT Programming (Oct. 29-Nov. 13)
Find our program listing with descriptions along with the registration information on each corresponding page on CELT’s programming schedule via ISU’s Events Calendar website.

Plan your winter session professional development (Dec. 14, 2020-Jan. 22, 2021)
Technology tools on a desk
Discover practical ways to incorporate tools in a Canvas course. 30-minute teaching topics held on the following days from 11-11:30 a.m.:
CELT has completed Year 1 of the Inclusive Classroom Training
Senior leadership tasked CELT to “conduct annual training for faculty in each academic department on the importance of and approaches to, creating an inclusive classroom environment” outlined in these ten action steps (PDF). CELT has accomplished Year one of this training, and facilitated 56 academic departmental trainings during 2021. If you (or one of your faculty members) were unable to attend a departmental training, CELT is facilitating university-wide offerings, registration information below.
If you or your faculty have any questions, review the Training FAQ page or email CELT at [email protected].
Where to go for support
Stay up-to-date on the instructional tools
Review CELT's News & Updates for upcoming changes to the ISU-approved learning technologies. Questions? email [email protected].
A red button with a question mark and Help in white writing
For help with Canvas, contact Canvas Support via the ?Help menu in Canvas:
  • Chat with Canvas Support use the live chat tool
  • Ticket support. Open the ?Help menu in Canvas and click Report a Problem
  • 24/7 phone support. Call 515-294-4000 (listen to prompts to connect to Canvas support).
  • Find answers to common questions in the Canvas Instructor Guides.
  • Use the resources in the Canvas @ ISU site.

For technical support, contact the ISU Solution Center:
  • Email [email protected]
  • Call 515-294-4000 and follow the prompts to receive support from Solution Center staff

To receive one-to-one assistance for teaching with technology, contact the CELT Instructional Designers
  • Connect with our CELT instructional designers for support or pedagogical consultations by emailing [email protected]; this will also create a ServiceNow ticket for easy tracking.
  • Additionally, you may wish to contact one of the support units directly. Please note which program, department, or college each unit serves and contact the unit for your area.
Prefer a Print version?
To view the Teaching Tip as a printable document with the web addresses, download the CELT Teaching Tip for October 29, 2020 (PDF) (https://bit.ly/2Tp1A0n)