CTL Happenings - Message #508

This year's Symposium will feature a keynote address on the role of "instructor talk" in promoting equity by Dr. Kimberly Tanner, Professor of Biology at San Francisco State University. Dr. Elizabeth Goering, Professor of Communication Studies at IUPUI will deliver a plenary addressing how metaphor and story can be used as active learning tools. Concurrent session descriptions will be available soon on the E.C. Moore website.
Register today!

Elaine Seymour presents a selection of her research team’s findings from their multi-methods, 5-year study reported in Talking about Leaving Revisited: Persistence Relocation and Loss in Undergraduate STEM Education  (2019, Eds. Seymour and Hunter, Springer). She focuses on what contributors to student losses from STEM majors have and have not changed since the original 1997 (Seymour & Hewitt) study and what new contributors to loss have emerged. She presents the team’s new evidence on why particular student groups are most at risk and what factors contribute most to their persistence difficulties.

This event, held Tuesday, March 23, 2021 from 12 noon - 1:00 p.m., is sponsored by STEM Education Innovation & Research Institute and the Center for Teaching and Learning.  Click here to register  or for more information.

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#2 will meet via Zoom from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. on Feb 26, Mar 19, Apr 16, and May 7.  Participants will earn a certificate for completing the TSS Modules and be eligible to receive $100 in professional development funds. Lamia Scherzinger will be the presenter. To learn more, and to register for TSS FLC #2. 

UITS Learning Technologies Survey

Be on the lookout for an email inviting you to participate in the UITS Learning Technologies survey. Take this opportunity to let UITS know how things are working for you in the realm of learning technologies. The email will be labeled as “External”. This is an artifact of using Qualtrics for anonymous distribution. The survey will run during the first three weeks of February.

Speed Dating with Learning Technologies
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!  For spring 2021, UITS Learning Technologies will host four themed sessions via Zoom: (1) STEM, (2) Health, Education, and Welfare, (3) Business, Law, and Public Affairs, and (4) Arts, Humanities, Language & Culture. For more information and to register for an upcoming session, 

Call for proposals: Teach, Play, Learn 
Teach, Play, Learn (TPL) is IU's annual conference on game-based teaching and learning. This year's presentations will focus on real-life usage, empirical studies, and theoretical discussions. We're particularly interested in interactive workshops involving best practices for teaching with games or playful elements in the classroom.
Possible topics include:
• Board, card, or video games for educational purposes
• Gamification of the course
• Simulations and role playing
• Augmented and/or virtual reality (AR and/or VR)
• Study and research of games in the context of education
Proposals are due 11:59 p.m., Sun., March 28. For more details, visit the TPL website and be sure to save the date, June 25, 2021 for the conference!

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.

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 webinar will introduce instructors to effective strategies for using video and video analytics in Canvas courses. Participants will leave the webinar with:

• an understanding of the role analytics can play in course design and teaching 
• practical knowledge of how to find and interpret Canvas video analytics
• examples of how to review, adapt, and amend your course based on data around student engagement with videos
• best practices for creating videos that lead to increased student engagement

New CTL Offering – The CHAT Room: Conversations Happening Around Teaching is a virtual, informal space where faculty can gather to discuss timely topics related to teaching. There will be a different topic each month, offered two days/times in order to make it possible for more faculty to participate. Each one-hour CHAT Room discussion will have a faculty facilitator and a CTL host. At the beginning of the session, the host introduces the topic and the facilitator, who then talks briefly about the topic and facilitates open discussion for the remainder of the  hour. The room will open 10-15 minutes early for people to socialize. Following the facilitated discussion, a CTL host will direct the participants to resources pertaining to the topic. The series begins the first week of January 2021. The discussions are scheduled for the first week of each month on Tuesdays, 10:30-11:30 a.m. and Wednesdays, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

The March topic for discussion is Rigor, flexibility – why not both? and the session will be facilitated by Carrie Hagan, IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law. The CTL host will be Jessica Alexander.

This session will be repeated on March 3.

Regardless of the course format in which you are teaching and the types of assignments you use, academic misconduct could be a concern for you. In this webinar, we will discuss tools and teaching strategies to mitigate and address academic misconduct. You will create your recipe for promoting academic integrity that takes into consideration your course context.

Documenting a teaching practice becomes much easier if the faculty member can situate the teaching practice amidst best practices, identifying when and how student learning occurs, and identify the kinds of evidence needed to document and measure student learning outcomes. This webinar helps faculty describe learning events for two major categories of student learning experiences. Webinar participants will take first steps to articulating a sequence of learning events for particular assignments. Afterward, faculty members may work with CTL consultants to continue planning efforts to document teaching practices. This webinar is the 2nd webinar in a 3-webinar series designed to introduce faculty and graduate students to the process of creating, refining and documenting one’s teaching practices.

Creating accessible course materials is critical to support all students, particularly those with visual or audio impairments. In this webinar, participants will be introduced to tools, resources, and best practices for developing accessible course materials. This webinar is part of the Center for Teaching and Learning’s online mini-workshop series focused on foundational teaching skills, Teaching@IUPUI. Designed for new faculty, adjunct faculty, graduate students, and those looking for a refresher on good teaching practices,

This session introduces faculty and graduate students to the practice of documenting one’s teaching. Participants will examine different kinds of evidence and documents to capture, and to make the case for, teaching achievements.  Participants will consider how to shape their evolution as teachers through the use of many kinds of documents that include—but do not rely on—student evaluations of teaching. This webinar is the 3rd webinar in a 3-webinar series designed to introduce faculty and graduate students to the process of creating, refining and documenting one’s teaching practices.

Join CIRTL at IUPUI to Build Your Resume and More.....

Presenters from across the country share their expertise on teaching and learning topics to prepare graduate students and postdocs for future faculty careers. Sign up for a free CIRTL network account to participate in CIRTL cross-network in Spring 2021 workshops, courses, and events. CIRTL events and programs provide you the opportunity to network and build connections with graduate students, postdocs, and faculty across the CIRTL network, which currently has over 41 member institutions from the US and Canada, including IUPUI.

CIRTL Open House

Are you a graduate student or a postdoc who is looking for ways to enhance your resume through teaching development, engage with diverse groups, develop communication skills, or grow your network within IUPUI and beyond? Join us, Wednesday, March 17 for the virtual CIRTL Open House to speed date your way through CIRTL and discover why this professional development program is the perfect match for you!

Workshop Series on Exploring and Unpacking Post PhD Career Possibilities

This four-part series helps mid/later-stage graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to articulate and build on professional skills acquired outside of “usual” classroom-related skills taught in CIRTL programs. Participants will develop enhanced self-awareness and agency with respect to employability by: identifying skills and competencies developed in many aspects of your experiences; determining areas for additional development; and developing awareness of possible post-PhD career paths. Learn more and register.

Sign Up for Spring 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 spring, 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. 

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.

Online Writing Group  Membership is open to IUPUI, IUPUC, and IU Fort Wayne faculty and staff of all ranks, appointments and disciplines. Click here for more information and registration or contact us at: faccross@iupui.edu. 

The Institute for Engaged Learning is working with Rachel Wheeler, an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Pathway Programs in SLA, to collect teaching resources that faculty can use to create more active, engaged learning opportunities and experiences for students, and consolidate these resources into an IU Pressbook, organized by types of resources and assignments.

There is a wealth of material out there both through various IUPUI centers and offices, and beyond on the web, but it can be difficult for faculty to find what they are looking for. The Pressbook will be organized to facilitate quick access to the resources that fit the instructor's needs. Please consider contributing to the Pressbook: If you have something to submit, or a request for a type of resource you are seeking, please take 10 minutes to fill out this Google Form: http://tinyurl.com/129s9xny.  If you have any questions, please contact us via email, iel@iupui.edu.

World101 is a growing library of free multimedia resources that provide an immersive learning experience in a variety of settings. IUPUI is using World101 in curricular and co-curricular activities as an internationalization and global learning strategy. Through its entertaining, interactive story-telling, World101 makes complex international relations and foreign policy issues accessible to learners both inside and outside formal academic settings. Click to learn more about World101.

For five years, SAVI Talks have sparked data-informed conversations around critical issues in Indianapolis. Our next event, March 25, from 9:30-11:00 a.m., will tackle issues of economic opportunity and equity. We will focus on economic opportunity and social mobility and how that varies by neighborhood and race. We will highlight the history of redlining and home ownership and how that still limits economic prosperity. We will explore childhood roots of social mobility, including research and data from Raj Chetty’s Opportunity Atlas, and put those data in local context to help inform programming and policy decisions aimed at breaking down generational poverty.  Register today for this online presentation! Login information will be distributed to registrants the day before the event. Register here.

Upcoming SAVI Data Literacy Skills Training: SAVI data literacy training empowers you to find, use, and understand data. Classes are as follow

• Create and Use Client Data  |  Feb. 18, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. - Register
• Create and Use Survey Data  |  March 3, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. - Register

Do you know of an instructor at IUPUI that created or uses an open educational resource (OER) in the classroom? OERs are any educational materials that are in the public domain or licensed for adaptation and reuse. OERs may include textbooks, chapters, online modules, assignments, audiovisual works, datasets etc.  If so, please nominate them or yourself for the annual IUPUI Open Education Award. The winner will receive a $500 cash prize. Nominations are due on by the end of the day on February 17, 2021.  University Library will announce the winner during Open Education Week March 1-5, 2021.

2020-21 CSL Dissemination and Leadership Development Grants Available
The Center for Service and Learning (CSL) provides small grants ($250 to $750) to support faculty and instructional staff to disseminate knowledge and other forms of innovation related to civic and community engagement in higher education. For more information contact Mary Price, price6@iupui.edu.

How to Tap in if You’re Tapped Out: A Workshop for Engaging Yourself and Your Learners 
Friday, February 19, 9 -11 a.m.
Location: Online - Zoom
Presenter: Niels Floor

LEAP Indiana is offering a special workshop: How to Tap in if You’re Tapped Out: A Workshop for Engaging Yourself and Your Learners. The primary goal of this event is to provide an opportunity for faculty to step back and reflect on the shift we have experienced in education, and then rediscover why we choose to teach as opposed to working a profession only. Click here to learn more and to register.

Estefan, M. (2021, February 3). Show them you care. Inside Higher Education.

The extended isolation of the pandemic has disproportionally affected first-generation, low-income and racially minoritized students, but Michel Estefan has concrete, manageable suggestions that faculty can use to help students feel connected and empowered, even in online teaching environments.