CTL Happenings - Message #536

This year’s Midwest SoTL Conference will take place on Friday, April 1, 2022 on the campus of Indiana University South Bend. We offer the opportunity for you to share innovative teaching ideas in a Quick Hits session, modeled after the popular Quick Hits books published by IU’s Faculty Academy on Excellence in Teaching. Each presenter will have just 5 minutes to share a powerful teaching tip during this fast-paced session. Short abstracts (under 150 words) are due on Sunday, March 20, 2022. Additional details and to submit your proposal

Join your colleagues across IU to help shape the future of online education by attending the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Innovate 2022 virtual conference, to be held March 28 – April 1, 2022.

The IU Office of Online Education has purchased an unlimited registration package for the conference, meaning that registration is open at no cost to all IU faculty (full- and part-time), staff, graduate students, or anyone else involved in teaching at any IU campus.

The program will feature hundreds of interactive synchronous and asynchronous sessions over the course of the conference. Topics will include blended teaching and learning; access, equity, and open education; instructional design; technology and future trends; and more. Check out the conference schedule and conference program for full details. To register, follow these registration instructions.

Proposals are now being accepted for the Teach, Play, Learn Conference that will be held at IU Kokomo on Friday, June 24, 2022. The Teach, Play, Learn conference is IU’s annual academic conference on game-based teaching and learning. Proposals are now being accepted for presentations on real-life usage, empirical studies, and theoretical discussions. Proposals are due by 11:59 p.m. on March 28, 2022.  For more information and to submit your proposal, visit the Teach, Play, Learn website.

Are you interested in integrating ePortfolio or undergraduate research into your program’s curriculum to improve student learning and to enhance student engagement? The Center for Teaching and Learning is partnering with the Institute for Engaged Learning to facilitate a special call for Curriculum Enhancement Grant (CEG) Proposals that are focused on two high-impact educational practices: the integration of ePortfolio into the curriculum and/or Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). Apply for a high-impact practice CEG to get funds, technical and instructional support, and dedicated time to implement your project. Proposal submissions are due by Wednesday, March 30, 11:59 p.m. Read the RFP and submit a proposal.

Eng, N. (2022, March 9). Making mental health more visible in your course. Faculty Focus.

As we push past the mid-semester fatigue and prepare for the final few weeks of courses after spring break, consider the five concrete strategies suggested in this article to prioritize mental health explicitly in the classroom. You may also get some ideas for self-care! Article includes examples of class activities, mid-semester feedback survey questions, and a sample check-in email.

Transparent assignment designs have been proven to motivate increased student effort and to promote student success. Clarification and elaboration of an assignments’ purpose, task, and grading criteria works to scaffold student learning activities. Doing so helps all students, but especially students from underserved populations and students who are unfamiliar with college success strategies. In this webinar, participants will be introduced to the transparent design framework, analyze sample transparent assignments, and will begin drafting or revising a transparent assignment.

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.

Learn how to create a memorable, immersive experience for your students with interactive 360-degree images. This workshop will lead you from taking photos with a 360-degree camera to editing and then sharing them with your students. See how others have used these images to engage their students from lab safety to virtual fieldtrips. You will also have the opportunity to brainstorm ideas with your colleagues for adding this active learning technology to your course.

Candidates for academic positions are often asked to give a teaching demonstration as part of an on campus interview. This webinar will be facilitated by faculty members from IUPUI and University of Pikeville , some of whom have recently done a successful teaching demonstration and others who have been part of faculty search committees and evaluated teaching demonstrations. You will learn about a framework for planning a teaching demonstration and some example approaches to teaching a given topic. You will also discuss the importance of considering the institutional and pedagogical contexts and situational factors such as the pandemic when preparing a teaching demonstration. if you will be on the faculty job market in the near future, this is a great opportunity to ask questions and learn about tips and strategies to deliver a stellar teaching demonstrations!

Note: This workshop is offered as a part of the Preparing Future Faculty and Professionals program.

Each semester, the Faculty Forum offers writing groups that provide encouragement, accountability, and a sense of community for faculty and staff. Participants will meet on Zoom for two hours each week. In the first 15 minutes of the meeting, participants will discuss a writing - related topic and share session writing goals.

The remaining time is spent quietly writing, and there are two options:
      1. Tuesdays 10 a.m. - noon
      2. Wednesdays 10 a.m. - noon (members of the Wednesday group can participate online or in person at The Faculty Crossing at IUPUI)

The Tuesday and Wednesday writing group sessions have already begun. However, you can join anytime throughout the semester. Membership is open to IUPUI, IUPUC, and IU Fort Wayne faculty and staff of all ranks, appointments, and disciplines. For more information and registration or contact faccross@iupui.edu.

The Faculty Crossing presents an online Teach Talk, April 7, 2022 
Join book artist, papermaker and printmaker, Karen Baldner in person for our Teach Talk. Karen is this year’s Herron Faculty Teaching Resident at The Faculty Crossing. She will speak from 4 - 5 p.m. about teaching strategies from her art practice that can be brought into classrooms of other disciplines. For more information and to register.

Bring global perspectives and intercultural learning experiences into your course through the Global Voices program.

March 17: SAVI training: Frame the Problem

April 8: The ePortfolio Symposium will be hosted online 

April 24: The Adjunct Faculty Scholars Conference is for all campuses and is a day of professional development and networking

April 28: SAVI training: Find Existing Data