CTL Happenings - Message #289

Join this lunch discussion to explore the innovative use of CN Post, included in all IU Canvas courses (https://www.thecn.com/IU-Canvas-Explore-CN-Post). As a complement to Canvas tools, the CN Post can be used to effectively engage students through social, global, and informal leaning. User surveys show that CN Post enhances student learning experiences and outcomes in both face-to-face and online courses. This is the first session offered in the series; monthly luncheon sessions will introduce innovative tips for using the CN Post and open up opportunities for informal discussions between CN Post users and newcomers interested in learning its pedagogical application. All teaching faculty are invited to join. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP before Feb. 29th.

Collaborative learning is associated with higher academic achievement and student engagement, in both face-to-face and online learning environments, and has been found to have a positive impact on a wide variety of students. In this session, participants will learn the basics of designing collaborative learning tasks, evaluating collaborative learning, and dealing with common problems associated with collaborative learning. Additionally, specific collaborative learning techniques appropriate for discussions, problem-solving, and writing will be discussed and modeled. Strategies for both online and face-to-face settings will be addressed.

A syllabus is often the first impression that students form of a course, and it serves both faculty and student as a guide to and contract for the semester. A well designed and personalized syllabus can help faculty set the proper tone while simultaneously helping them avoid having to repeatedly answer basic student questions about expectations, policies, and deadlines. By examining syllabi from various disciplines, this online mini-workshop will offer tips and considerations for effective syllabus design, show example syllabi, and include time for questions and discussion.

This session introduces faculty and graduate students to best practices of documenting one’s teaching. Participants will examine different approaches to capture evidence of teaching and learning, and to make the case for teaching achievements. Participants will consider how to shape their evolution as teachers through the use of student course evaluations, peer reviews of teaching, and other means of measuring student learning.

New Canvas Interface On December 28^th Canvas updated with a new user interface, offering a more modern design and improved navigation.  The new interface maximizes screen space, which is especially helpful on mobile devices. Learn more at https://kb.iu.edu/d/aappView complete listing of Canvas Workshops

Learn how to use Canvas, IU's new Learning Management System, at your own pace or in a guided tutorial. The Center for Teaching and Learning, along with IT Training, offers a wide variety of workshops and webinars to help faculty set up Canvas sites for summer and fall semesters.  

Upcoming workshops:

• Canvas: Quizzes (March 3)
• Canvas Pages: Content in Context (March 8)
• Building and Organizing Content in Canvas with Modules (March 9)
• Peer Assessment in Canvas (March 24)

Oncourse to Canvas Migration Support

If you have been teaching in Oncourse and are ready to make the move to Canvas, here are some resources you may find helpful:

• Read Using the Canvas Migration Tool Knowledge Base
• Request a consultation with a Consultant
• Request a Canvas Workshop for your school, department or program
• This short video details the upcoming changes to the Canvas user interface (Spring 2016)

Join faculty from across the state of Indiana in a discussion of teaching and learning at the 2016 E.C. Moore Symposium on Excellence in Teaching in the IUPUI Campus Center. This year's keynote speaker is Dr. Randy Bass, Vice Provost for Education and Professor of English at Georgetown University. His talk is entitled "Liberal Education Re-Bound: Designing Learning in the Emerging Digital Ecosystem." This year's plenary speaker is Dr. Stephen Fox, Associate Professor of English and Director of Writing at IUPUI. His talk is entitled "Audiences, Purposes, and Projects: Making Writing Assignments Matter."  Visithttp://ecmoore.iupui.edu for more information about the speaker, view the schedule, and register for a faculty-led workshop.

Registration for the symposium is now open.

All faculty (including part-time and full-time) are invited to contribute to a new edition of the FACET Quick Hits series, Teaching and Learning with Canvas.

The Quick Hits series of books began as a collection of proven tips for teaching. Quick Hits: Teaching and Learning with Canvas marks the first online installment in the Quick Hits Series.

Quick Hits: Teaching and Learning with Canvas will not only describe an instructional approach that relies on Canvas; in addition, the Quick Hits themselves will be housed in theCanvas Commons, a digital library of resources available to all Canvas users. Submitted Quick Hits will go through a review process, and once accepted, they will be tagged, Teaching and Learning with Canvas, added as documents to the Canvas Commons, and made accessible to the public. Authors will be able to track downloads of their articles. Initial release is anticipated for May 2016.

As always, the primary purpose of any Quick Hits collection is to help faculty members improve student learning. For this Quick Hits edition, three specific types of submissions are being sought:

• Brief Quick Hit (300-500 words): describes successful use of a Canvas tool; may have few or no references
• Longer Quick Hit (no more than 1000 words): describes successful use of a Canvas tool; discussion provides a broader context of pedagogy and scholarly work
• Multi-media Quick Hit (short video, screen capture, or slides with voiceover): describes and/or exemplifies successful use of a Canvas tool; must have acceptable quality production, include a text abstract, and be between 2-5 minutes

Additional information can be found in the call for submissions. Please send your submission to FACET at facet@iu.edu no later than 5:00 p.m. Friday, March 4, 2016.