Explore our new blog posts and let us know how you are doing in the Faculty Experience Survey

As we continue to move through the quarter, we may be facing new challenges. For instance, how do we connect with our students if their cameras are turned off? OTL's Virginia Pitts, Director of University Teaching, discusses why students might be reluctant to turn on their cameras as well as ways that faculty can address that issue in the new blog post Teaching into the Abyss: Addressing Students' Camera Usage (or Lack Thereof!) in Zoom.

Learn how your colleagues are approaching building habits around racial equity through the OTL blog post Leading by Example: Denver Law's Voluntary 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge, written by Professor Alexi Freeman, Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Director of Externships & Social Justice Initiatives. Professor Freeman writes about the Denver Law students' experiences taking the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge©.

We know that this is a very unique quarter. We are all looking forward to resting, reflecting, and renewing our energy, while planning ahead for what the next quarter brings. On Monday, Kate Willink, Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs, shared a link for our faculty experience survey. We are interested in learning more about your experience during fall 2020, and this knowledge will help us plan our programming around your needs. If you haven't already responded, we would appreciate your participation by Friday, October 30. In the meantime, please reach out to the OTL, visit our resources, and take some time to breathe as we all prepare for the weeks and months ahead.
Teaching Online Short Course Starts Next Week!

Join us for an upcoming session of the Teaching Online Short Course! All classes, even if there is a face-to-face component, will require a robust online presence. The resources and tools in this course will help with the creation of those components, whether you are planning ahead or looking to enhance the courses you are currently teaching. Participants will learn how to design and facilitate online courses effectively through course resources, multimedia, and assignments.

This session starts on Monday, October 26 and runs through Sunday, November 15. Participants who complete all requirements will receive a stipend and a certificate. Register for the Teaching Online Short Course today!
NCFDD 14-Day Writing Challenge

Participating in the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) 14-day writing challenge? If you complete the challenge, email a screen shot of completion to Virginia Pitts at [email protected] for a chance to win a $20 amazon gift card. The 14-day challenge ends on November 1, so you still have time to write!
Canvas Coaching Weekly Series: Using Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor

Thursday, October 29, 10:00 - 10:30 a.m.

This week is designed to provide additional support with activating Respondus in your course and learning about additional resources available to you. We will also have faculty join this session that have been using Respondus and are able to share their experiences as well.

Prior to joining this Canvas Coaching session, you are highly encouraged to register for the Instructor Training on Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor. Respondus is offering several webinars throughout the month to help you get started.

You can also book one-on-one time with our Instructional Design team, to discuss this topic:

This system allows you to book a half hour time slot.

Fill out this survey to request time for more in-depth assistance.

Please visit our OTL Events Calendar for all of our upcoming events!
Upcoming Faculty Learning Communities

Teaching and Professional Faculty Tools for Success
Next Session: Friday, October 30, 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.

Tools for Success is a year-long FLC designed for teaching and professional faculty in the assistant rank at the University of Denver. The FLC will explore areas essential to the success of teaching faculty including community building, effective instruction, wellness, DU culture, promotion, national trends, inclusive excellence, and university resources. The monthly sessions in the fall will focus on community building and navigating transitions. The bi-weekly winter sessions are organized around the book (Inclusive Collegiality and Nontenure-Track Faculty: Engaging All Faculty as Colleagues to Promote Healthy Departments and Institutions) and learnings important to advancement, promotion, and university culture. In the spring quarter, the bi-weekly sessions will focus on the scholar/teacher model of excellence. We will form a Scholarship on Teaching and Learning (SOTL) group with the intent of writing about and publishing on our experiences as teaching and professional faculty in higher education.

Led by Laura Sponsler, OTL Faculty Scholar of Teaching and Professional Faculty

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Next Session: Friday, November 6, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.

Come join a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) on the topic of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). SoTL is an emerging field of study focusing on the reciprocal relationship between teaching and learning to develop best pedagogical practices. If you are innovating in the classroom during these COVID times and want to share your successes and failures while learning from others, this is the FLC for you. We’ll spend this hour in open-discussion around SoTL topics of interest. 

Led by Michael Caston, OTL Faculty Fellow of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Professors at Play Virtual Playposium: Friday, November 6

Featured Speaker: Roberto Corrada, Sturm College of Law

Come together with colleagues to share ideas, build community, and inspire research into the transformational power of fun and play in higher education. This is more than just your run-of-the-mill gamification or classroom icebreakers. This event is about how play can ignite community in your classroom, build trust, encourage vulnerability, and stoke the fires of creativity, curiosity and imagination that make learning come alive.

DU's own Roberto Corrada is the featured speaker at the virtual Playposium. He brings a special creativity to his law class through “whole course indeterminate simulations”. Notably, he has taught his administrative law class through the lens of Jurassic Park, challenging students to work through the regulatory strategy for extinct animal parks! Combining open simulations with roleplaying has unlocked a unique learning environment in the legal learning landscape.

This Playposium is completely free! For more information and to register, please visit the Playposium website. We look forward to learning and playing together!
Teaching Resources

This tool kit provides practical steps for readying your courses, no matter the modality. From Canvas basics to hyflex considerations, and complete with worksheets to guide you, this toolkit is a great starting point for course planning.

Getting overwhelmed by all of the different terms you hear related to online teaching and learning? Visit OTL’s glossary for definitions of key terms.

Visit this OTL web page for helpful links to resources such as Canvas guides and Knowledge Base articles organized by task, as well as a video walking you through setting up your Canvas course. These resources can be helpful no matter how you offer your courses this term.

This Knowledge Base article provides helpful tips and tricks you can use as you create pre-recorded videos, lectures, and demonstrations to enhance the asynchronous components of your course. You can also learn more about the various tools you can use to create your videos, such as Zoom and Kaltura.

Visit our Sample Syllabus Statements webpage for optional statements to help you communicate with students your policies around wearing masks in class, social distancing, attendance and participation, and more. Be sure to reach out to your Dean, Chair, or Director with any questions or for clarification around the use of these statements in your syllabus.