CTL Happenings - Message #504

The IUPUI Center for Teaching and Learning seeks proposals from faculty teaching at higher education institutions across Indiana for the 2021 E.C. Moore Symposium on Excellence in Teaching. We would especially welcome proposals that address topics such as: efforts to improve student learning and engagement, inclusive excellence, integrative learning, novel general education courses or curricula, creative use of instructional technology, and initiatives that promote excellence in teaching. Proposals should clearly demonstrate relevance to a broad range of disciplines. The 2021 E.C. Moore Symposium will be held on Friday, March 5th on Zoom. 

The CTL invites you to participate in the TSS FLC to work through the IU Teaching for Student Success: An Evidence-Based Approach Series as a cohort.  Participants will complete six modules, share ideas, and draft artifacts. TSS FLC#1 will meet via Zoom from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. on Dec 4, Jan 8, Jan 29, and Feb 19. A second TSS FLC will run from Feb to Apr 2021. Participants will earn a certificate for completing the TSS Modules and be eligible to receive $100 in professional development funds. To learn more and to register for TSS FLC #1.

The 2021 Curriculum Enhancement Grant (CEG) Request for Proposals is now open. The CEG provides faculty with technical and instructional support, time, and funds to implement projects designed to improve student learning and success at IUPUI, IUPUC, and IU Fort Wayne. This year we especially seek proposals focused on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 29, 2021. Click here for more information and to submit a proposal. 

We encourage you to attend the Applying for a CEG webinar series to learn more about the proposal requirements, review examples from past successful proposals, and examine the components of a strong CEG proposal.

The Early Career Teaching Academy (ECTA) invites applications from full-time faculty members in the first, second, or third year of their appointments at IUPUI, IUPU Columbus, or Indiana University Fort Wayne. Faculty will develop their philosophy and connect it to evidence-based teaching practices, laying a foundation for a career of effective teaching. The program helps faculty transform themselves into powerful teachers who are rooted in a desire for student success through reflective and evidence-based teaching approaches. For more information and to apply.

Are you getting ready to plan your winter and spring courses? CTL’s Just-in-Time Course Design online Canvas course is now available as a web resource for all instructors! This web resource is organized into five categories:

• Structuring and Organizing Modules
• Creating a Welcoming and Supportive Learning Environment
• Engaging Your Students Online, On Zoom, and in the Physically-Distanced Classroom
• Developing and Adapting Assessments for Multiple Course Formats
• Developing and Adapting Content for Multiple Course Formats

Each category features recorded webinars, online resources, readings, and hands-on instructional guides for creating course materials in the online, in-person with physical distancing, or a mix of online and in-person teaching modes. For more information, go to: Access the Just-in-Time Course Design website.

New active learning in Zoom resource
Just in time for the post-Thanksgiving-break-fully-online planning part of the year, the new active learning in Zoom ebook, Zoom to the Next Level: Active Learning in the Virtual Classroom, is now available. The book currently has 20+ activities with instructions and links to related technical documentation. 

Hybrid attendance feature in Top Hat: Assist IU with contact tracing
The Top Hat attendance tool now features a simple new tool that can help with contact tracing. When students enter their attendance code in Top Hat, they are also asked if they are attending in person or not. This information is visible to instructors in the Top Hat gradebook, but more importantly, it can be provided to contact tracers at IU in the event that someone tests positive for COVID-19 and was present in a classroom. This feature is now available on the iOS and Android apps. Students will need to update to the latest version of the Top Hat app to record their attendance method. To enable this feature in your Top Hat course, see Take attendance in hybrid courses with Top Hat at IU.

Virtual Access to STC Computer Labs
Faculty can let their students know that while they are away from campus, they continue to have access to the specialized software and high-powered computing of Student Technology Center (STC) computer labs using IUanyWare. 

STC virtual labs provide remote desktop virtualization through a personal device connected to the Internet. IUanyWare is compatible with PCs, Macs, and Chromebooks, as well as iPads, iPhones, and Android phones. For more information, see Access IU STC labs during COVID-19.

Date:  Thursday, December 10
Time:  10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon

Speed Dating with Learning Technologies is exactly what it sounds like – a matchmaking event that encourages participants to "date" a range of potential tools and services, gaining exposure to a lot of resources within a short period of time. UITS Learning Technologies is taking this event virtual! You will have around 9 minutes to "speed date" (i.e., learn about) a specific tool or service before meeting your next "date." Each Zoom breakout room will introduce a resource of interest to a broad audience, including some unfamiliar ones. Matchmakers (presenters) include staff from across UITS Learning Technologies.

Let us help you find your perfect match! Check out the full list of topics and register at https://go.iu.edu/3q3d 
Zoom info will be sent upon submission of the RSVP form.

If you are interested in applying for a 2021 Curriculum Enhancement Grant (CEG), you should attend this informative and interactive webinar series! 

Webinar 1:  Applying for a CEG Grant: The RFP and Your Project Goals, Dec 3, will introduce the CEG program, review the 2021 CEG Request for Proposals, and introduce an option to focus on interventions in teaching practice to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss preliminary project ideas and situate their project within their broader teaching goals and career advancement.

Webinar 2: Applying for a CEG Grant: Literature Review and Research Methods, Dec. 10,  will focus on the framing of your CEG project within the context of current teaching and learning best practices in the scholarship of teaching and learning literature. You will discuss the considerations for a high-quality literature review and connect it to designing meaningful research questions for your teaching interventions. You will be introduced briefly to important distinctions between evaluation and assessment.

Webinar 3: Applying for a CEG Grant: Evaluation Plan and Project Logistics, Dec. 16,  will focus on developing an assessment and evaluation plan for your CEG project. In addition, you will learn about the expectations for the CEG budget, timeline, and dissemination plan.  

CEG proposals must be submitted by January 29, 2021. For more information, go to 2021 Curriculum Enhancement Grant,  https://ctl.iupui.edu/Programs/CEG.

Do you feel like you’re in a Zoom slump? Class sessions on Zoom can be engaging and even invigorating, but it doesn’t “just happen” on its own - it needs you. Experience active learning in Zoom first-hand and leave with engagement activities you can immediately implement in your class in this mash-up of Zoom features and IU’s technology smorgasbord. Engage in Zoom alchemy - turning Zoom plumbum into active learning aurum.

If you are unfamiliar with the basic features of Zoom meetings, please review the following resources prior to this webinar:

• UITS Knowledgebase article on Using Zoom
• Zoom: The Basics screencast
• Keep Teaching: Zoom for Instructors webinar recording

This event aligns with the following IUSM Academy of Teaching Scholars program competencies: Instructional Strategies (IS), Instructional Technology (IT).

This workshop introduces faculty and staff to the Quality Matters (QM) Rubric and to the QM Process. Quality Matters is a nationally recognized quality assurance organization for online course design, and the QM Process is a faculty-led peer review process that uses the research-based standards (criteria)  of the QM Rubric to certify online courses. Eventually, many online courses within the IU system will undergo the QM Process with the goal of achieving national QM recognition. Faculty may also use the QM Rubric as a guide to design online courses. And, for faculty who are interested, this course serves as a pre-requisite for QM's Peer Reviewer Course, which is a required course for faculty who seek certification as a QM Peer Reviewer, allowing them to participate in QM course reviews for courses created here at IU and at other universities.

The workshop is offered at IUPUI as a one-day synchronous Zoom workshop from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with a one hour break for lunch. To receive the QM certificate of completion for this workshop, participants must be present for and participate in the entire workshop. 

Sign Up for Writing Groups is Now Open

Each semester, the Faculty Forum offers writing groups that provide encouragement, accountability, and a sense of community for faculty and staff. This fall, there are three ways to participate: 

Hybrid Writing Group  Participants will meet in person or on Zoom for two hours each week. In the first 30 minutes of the meeting, participants will discuss a writing-related topic. In the remaining 90 minutes, they will sit quietly and write. 

Online Writing Group Participants will meet on Zoom for two hours each week.  In the first 30 minutes of the meeting, participants will discuss a writing - related topic.  In the remaining 90 minutes, they will sit quietly and write. For more information and registration: https://facultycrossing.iupui.edu/WritingGroups, or contact faccross@iupui.edu.

At Your Pace  Participants in the at-your-pace writing groups will record their time spend writing in an online spreadsheet that is shared with the other writers. In addition, participants will receive a weekly email sharing a concise reading on a writerly topic.

The IUPUI Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the IUPUI Office for Women invite you to apply for the Enhanced Mentoring Program with Opportunities for Ways to Excel in Research (EMPOWER).

EMPOWER provides support to IUPUI faculty who are historically underrepresented and/or excluded populations in their discipline or area of scholarship and historically denied admission to higher education or that discipline, 1) to become successful in sponsored research and scholarly activity, and 2) to achieve significant professional growth and advancement. The program sustains mentorship opportunities through the EMPOWER Grant Program, supporting achievement of excellence in research and scholarly activity, and optimal attainment of academic career goals and objectives. Mentees can receive up to $10,000 in funding. Mentors receive $2000. The due date for applications is December 4, 2020. 

Link to the application site: https://iu.infoready4.com/#competitionDetail/1822502

The Polis Center at IUPUI presented findings from its fall 2020 Community Trends report: Health and Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Neighborhoods during its fall SAVI Talks and Data & Drafts events. If you missed these presentations, you may download presentation slides here and explore the map. Related information is available here. 

Upcoming SAVI Data Literacy Skills Training:  SAVI data literacy training empowers you to find, use, and understand data. The next events are as follows:

- Avoid Data Pitfalls  |  Dec. 3, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. - Register
- Setting the Stage for High-Impact Practice, Public Displays of Learning in an Online Environment |
  Dec. 4, 1:00 p.m. - Register 
- Make Decisions with Data  |  Dec. 15, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. - Register 

Setting the Stage for High-Impact Practice Public Displays of Learning in an Online Environment
December 4, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. - Register in advance 

In this webinar, program leaders from IUPUI high-impact practice (HIP) programs - capstone, internships, service learning, and ePortfolio - come together to discuss how Engaged Learning Week was brought successfully into the online environment during Spring 2020. 

Engaged Learning Week, hosted by the Institute for Engaged Learning, is a week-long celebration of engaged learning and HIPs on campus including public in-person showcases of student work in undergraduate research, internship programs, capstone projects, ePortfolios, service learning and community engaged learning, first-year seminars, Jag Start, and the Honors College. 

Though most commonly designed for traditional face-to-face environments, implementation of HIPs can be successful online when thoughtful consideration is given to the essential elements that support student learning. Each program director will discuss their approach to designing their online showcase environment, including considerations of synchronous vs. asynchronous format, mode of public presentation, mode of interaction with audience, and feedback to students.

** After registering for any of this webinar, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 

The event will meet online to talk in groups of four or five people about Camus’s tale of plague and our present challenges to maintaining community, when COVID-19, economic uncertainty, political violence, and ecological destruction threaten to divide and isolate us. Join your neighbors, classmates, colleagues, and fellow citizens for a live online conversation about Albert Camus’s 1947 novel The Plague and what it can say to us today about keeping going in fearful and uncertain times. This event is December 9, 2020, 7:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. For more information: keepinggoingintimesofcrisis.wordpress.com/ or register here. 

Brown, C. (2015, May 21). What’s the best, most effective way to take notes? The Conversation. Retrieved September 9, 2020.

Note-taking is integral to the process of learning in a lecture course, but students don’t often know how best to take notes. Claire Brown’s article for The Conversation can help you explain to students how to take notes during class, and why it’s important.