CTL Happenings - Message #585

Payette, P. R., & Brown, M. K. (2018). Gathering mid-semester feedback: Three variations to improve instruction. IDEA Paper# 67. IDEA Center, Inc.

As we approach the midpoint of the semester, knowing what our students find helpful and not helpful about the course can help us make meaningful changes to improve their learning experience and outcomes. In this article, CTL Director, Marie Brown, and her colleague Patricia Payette from the University of Louisville share a step-by-step procedure for gathering and using mid-semester feedback and the research behind it. They offer guidance on implementing variations for instructors who are short on resources and/or time.

The IUPUI Faculty Council Technology Committee and UITS Learning Technologies are partnering to host “listening sessions” to learn more about faculty members’ needs, identify gaps, and ideate probable solutions with technology tools and services for teaching and learning at IU. Multiple 45-minute Zoom sessions will be held in February. Instructors of all ranks are invited to participate.

Please register for your preferred session online. Zoom connection information will be sent via email after registration submission.

Registration is now open for the Plater-Moore Conference on Teaching and Learning, scheduled for Friday, April 5, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the IUPUI Campus Center. More than 35 peer-reviewed concurrent sessions, in a variety of engaging formats, seek to disseminate best practices and innovation in teaching and learning within higher education. Secure your spot today for this day of learning, networking, and professional development that is free for IU instructors, staff, and graduate student instructors from all academic units.

Register today!

Wednesday, February 14 | 12 noon - 1 p.m. | Faculty Crossing UL 1125M
Register » Organizer: Meganne Masko and Presenter: Asli Narin

The Faculty Crossing presents an in-person Teach Talk on Wednesday, February 14, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. with visual artist and educator, Asli Narin. Asli is this year’s Herron Faculty Teaching Resident. Asli will discuss how image-making and book-making can help students express themselves creatively, budget-friendly, and efficiently without having professional knowledge of photography and design. Asli will also share how creating photobooks teaches conceptual thinking, visual literacy, curation, and design skills. Photobook is an excellent medium for interdisciplinary understanding since images, text, drawings, and other 2D mediums can be present at the same time coherently. It is a medium that can be easily implemented in art or non-art major courses to express ideas or research with visual narrative.

Wednesday, February 14 | 1:30 - 2:45 p.m. | Online - Zoom
 | Organizer: Debbie Oesch-Minor & Rachel Swinford  and Presenter: Sophie Carrison

Join Senior ePortfolio Consultant Sophie Carrison for an in-depth exploration of Google Sites using IU-branded templates. This hands-on workshop will equip you with practical skills to integrate Google Sites effectively into your courses. You will gain insights and resources to enhance your understanding of Google Sites. You will acquire valuable web-building skills that you can seamlessly integrate into your courses, empowering you to teach ePortfolio creation with confidence.

Thursday, February 22 | 4 - 5 p.m. | Online - Zoom
Register » Organizer: S. Valli Sanghami and Presenter: Lesli Amaya and Valli Sanghami Shankar Kumar

This Grad CHAT session will focus on various topics related to grading and accessibility in Canvas, such as using Speedgrader for efficient grading and feedback, resolving students' grading concerns, exploring in-built accessibility features, and creating accessible assignments, all with the goal of creating inclusive and equitable learning experiences for your students. The discussion will led by S. Valli Sanghami, CTL Graduate Assistant and will feature Lesli Amaya, CTL Instructional Technology Consultant, as our expert.

Grad CHAT is co-sponsored by the IUPUI Preparing Future Faculty and Professionals program (PFFP).  Attending this event will be counted towards earning PFFP credit. 

Grad CHAT is a discussion series that strives to create an interactive and informal learning space for graduate students to share their expertise and learn more from peers and experts. Each 60-minute session will start with a 15-minute presentation followed by open discussion. The sessions will be led by an experienced graduate student instructor and will feature subject-matter experts. Graduate teaching assistants and all graduate students interested in teaching and learning are welcome to join the Grad CHAT sessions.

Tuesday, February 27 | 11 - 11:45 a.m. | Online - Zoom
Register » Organizer: Jeani Young and Presenter: Jeani Young

Are you looking for an easier way to manage your student handbook, reports, or other publicly shared documentation in an accessible format? Have you ever been frustrated with your textbook or lab manual options and thought “I could do better than this!”? Would you like your students to co-author a book on your course topics or create sharable review materials? 

Pressbooks is a customizable, collaborative online publishing tool that anyone at IU can use to author and share

• Textbooks,
• Lab manuals,
• Reports, 
• Student handbooks, and 
• Student work

Pressbooks is built on WordPress, a popular blogging tool, that allows you to not only write text, but embed images, videos, complex tables, mathematical notation, documents, and glossary terms. It was developed to be accessible for readers, avoiding many of the pitfalls of PDFs and Word documents. You can also control the visibility of everything in your book and the roles of any collaborators.

Join us for a demo of Pressbook features and learn about some of the ways your colleagues are using it here at IU!

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

Ball State University's Division of Online and Strategic Learning, Office of Inclusive Excellence, and Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs are pleased to announce the 2024 Provost Faculty Summit: Minding the Equity Gap taking place virtually February 15 and 16, 2024. Register at the Provost Faculty Summit webpage.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has hit the world incredibly fast, going from a seeming sci-fi fantasy to real world applications within a matter of months. While AI has been in development, and use, for years, it took a giant leap forward in November of 2022 with OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT to the public. This session will introduce the basics of AI, give an overview of what it can, and cannot, do, and provide some practical suggestions for working with AI in the classroom. Greg Lutz from Marian University will be presenting. Register for the session on Monday, February 19 at 2 p.m. EST.