Author: Jane Bise

I want to thank and congratulate all faculty and academic staff who have worked so hard to make this semester as successful as possible.  Alongside numerous staff at the university, the faculty have worked extremely hard to adapt to the new and constantly changing challenges of blended and remote teaching.  Thank you all for your efforts.

We are conscious of the time challenges we have all faced since March, yet we also want to capture some of those lessons learned and use them to our mutual benefits during spring term. Before we move fall term teaching to the past tense, we invite you to consider joining us to share with your colleagues what you learned this semester.  What worked well?  What needs re-alignment?  What additional professional development support would be most helpful?

Next week, the Faculty Hub is offering facilitated conversations about our fall term teaching experiences.  Please consider if one of them meets your interests and please know that you are welcome to participate for a duration that works for you.  We hope that you will find it meaningful to share and learn with your colleagues.  We also list below some planning that is under development for January 2021, to help you prepare for spring term.

Faculty Hub Conversation: Teaching FYS 

Did you teach an FYS course during the fall semester or are you preparing to teach an FYS course in the spring? Do you have strategies or successes from your experiences this fall to share with colleagues? We invite faculty to come together to share knowledge, practices, success stories, and considerations for remote or blended teaching of FYS courses. Two sessions will be offered:

• Tuesday, December 8 from 4-4:50 p.m. — Open to all with a focus on Remote Teaching. Register for Tuesday’s session here!
• Wednesday, December 9 from 9-9:50 a.m. — Open to all with a focus on Blended Teaching. Register for Wednesday’s session here!

Faculty Hub Conversation: Fall Semester Debrief

Do you have strategies or successes to share from your teaching this fall? Would you like to ask questions and receive feedback from colleagues as you plan your spring courses? Please join faculty from across campus for a semester debrief session in which we will share knowledge, practices, success stories, and considerations for remote or blended teaching. Two sessions will be offered:

• Thursday, December 10 from 3-3:50 p.m. – Open to all with a focus on Remote Teaching. Register for Thursday’s session here! 
• Friday, December 11 from 11-11:50 a.m. — Open to all with a focus on Blended Teaching. Register for Friday’s session here!

Can’t make any of these sessions but still want to participate? Please email us to let us know if you would be interested in attending a similar type of session in January or to receive a one-on-one recap with a member of the Faculty Hub.

Descriptions of the Types of Programming Offered by the Faculty Hub

• Conversations: Informal, interdisciplinary conversations (50 minutes) around a topic of shared interest (this is the format for the December sessions noted above).
• Panel Discussions: Short presentations on selected topics (5-10 minutes) by 2-4 faculty members followed by Q&A (20-30 minutes).
• Morning Blend: Informal “coffee break-style” discussions on a topic that impacts teaching and/or scholarship. Each session includes a brief presentation (10-15 minutes) followed by optional discussion time.  The Faculty Hub produces a one-page tip sheet to guide you in implementing a strategy or approaches discussed.  Visit our website for the recorded presentations and tip sheets from fall term.
• Workshops: Hands-on, interactive sessions (75-90 minutes) that allow participants to take a deeper dive into a specific topic or practice with a teaching approach.
• Faculty Hub Institute: Intensive workshops (full day or multi-session) designed to deepen faculty knowledge and skillsets to help propel their pedagogy and scholarship into the future.
• Consultations: The Faculty Hub is available to provide faculty with personalized support for teaching and scholarship through confidential, individual or small group consultations. Schedule a consultation on our website.

A note about recordings:  To maintain opportunities for authentic sharing by colleagues participating in a program, periods of open dialogue are not recorded in our sessions.  Most public presentations, invited speakers, and scheduled presentations within the program are recorded and some sessions include handouts, worksheets, or tip sheets which we will share with attendees and anyone else who wishes to use them.  We encourage individual or small group consultations if a topic interests you but you cannot attend at the scheduled time.

We are in the planning stages for our January 2021 programming.  Here is a quick preview of topics we are working on and the formats for engagement.  If you would like to help in a session from this list or suggest another topic, please email us!

• Panels: (1) Alternative Assessment, (2) Social Annotation, and (3) Collaborative Documents
• Conversations:  Reflecting on Course Design
• Morning Blends: (1) Course Organization in Bb and (2) The First Day of Class
• Workshops: (1) The Blended Classroom Experience and (2) Zoom Pedagogy
• Institute:  Data Visualization with R (register here)

The Faculty Hub has been asked about resources on assessment design in advance of the virtual final exam period.  Below are some resources we have shared via our website and Blackboard courses.

In addition, we are happy to offer 1-1 consultations regarding remote learning assessments. Email facultyhub@richmond.edu, or book an appointment directly with one of the consultants using the following links: Kylie, Ryan, or Andrew.

From our Morning Blend Series:

• Designing Effective Open Book exams Tip sheet & Presentation

From our Responsive and Flexible Teaching course:

• Assessment Design: presentation & slide deck
• Alternative Assessments: presentation & slick deck
• Academic Integrity: “Fostering Academic Integrity in the Digital Age”

From our curated resources:

• LinkedIn Learning Teaching Techniques, “Creating Effective Learning Assessments”
• Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching – “Giving Exams Online: Strategies and Tools”

University of Richmond Honor Code:

• You might also find it useful to review UR’s “Honor Code”

Dear Colleagues,

I want to let you know about two upcoming opportunities for faculty development.

1- Tomorrow, Friday, November 13 at 2:00 pm ET, Cengage (an education and technology company) is hosting a webinar on Oral Exams: The Secret to Assessing Students During COVID.  This event features Dr. Della Dumbaugh, Assistant Chair and Professor of Mathematics and author of the recent Inside Higher Ed article, “Revitalizing Classes Through Oral Exams.”  The webinar is free and you may register here.

2- In January, the Faculty Hub will initiate a new program for faculty development, The Faculty Hub Institute.  Institutes are multiple session workshops for faculty to learn together, gain professional feedback, and advance teaching and scholarship goals in a supportive environment for experimentation.

Would you like your students to create data visualizations that are both beautiful and effective narrative tools? Would you like to better communicate your data in scholarly publications and presentations?  If these questions interest you, please consider joining us for the first Faculty Hub Institute:  Data Visualizations in R.

We will host two faculty cohorts for this Institute. The first cohort will begin with a full-day workshop on January 13, followed by additional spring term sessions with members of the cohort and built-in opportunities for one-on-one support.  Learn more about the course content and the schedule here. A second cohort will meet for professional development in a more concentrated format in May. This schedule will be available early in the spring semester.  As for all Hub activities, faculty from all five schools are invited to participate.

We are currently accepting registrations here for the cohort that begins on January 13. Please note that we will be offering the Institute in a blended teaching format with up to eleven (11) in-person spots, to be filled on a first-come-first-serve basis. Other members of the cohort will participate remotely.  If you want to learn more about this opportunity and the time commitment, please contact the Faculty Hub.

As you consider these or other professional development opportunities, please note that we are also available for individual consultations.  Let us know how we can help you.

Best wishes as you near the end of the semester.

Sincerely,

Linda

Linda M. Boland, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub

Same Address, New Design . . .

The Faculty Hub is proud to release our new website with a reorganized resource page, as well as updated program and services pages. We have developed this site to support the goals of the Faculty Hub.  Please let us know how you like it!  You can also now follow us on Twitter!

Upcoming Program Reminders

Registration is still open for Inclusive Teaching: Student Belonging, an interactive session designed to practice critical reflection and analysis around stories of students’ experiences in the classroom presented by UVA Acts on Friday, October 30 from 12 – 1:30 p.m. Register here!

There is also still time to join the Faculty Hub Book Club featuring Calling Bullsh*t: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West. The book’s focus on data and information literacy aligns with the work of Faculty Hub Associates, Dr. Kristine Nolin and Dr. Kristine Grayson, who will lead the discussions. Sign up here by Monday, November 2.

Please consider attending the Morning Blend, a weekly online get-together to communicate helpful tips for faculty (a 10-15 minute presentation), a takeaway document (tip sheet) for later reference, and discussion time. The program runs every Monday morning and repeats on Thursdays, both at 9 a.m. Next week, we are discussing Open Book Exams. Each session uses the same Zoom URL and no registration is needed.

Cross-Institutional Faculty Development Opportunities

Please take a look at some cross-institutional faculty development opportunities. These are great opportunities to extend your learning while also helping you connect to faculty with shared interests and methodologies at other institutions.

Fieldwork Across Disciplines

• A deeper look into fieldwork across many disciplines, with applications to virtual environments. A Lafayette College faculty panel discussion with faculty from the arts, anthropology and sociology, environmental studies and biology, and civil engineering.  October 20, 12:15-1:15 p.m. EDT. Please register here.

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Made Me a Better Research Mentor.

• A conversation with ACS colleagues at Furman University and Wofford College. The focus is on mentoring strategies that faculty adopted in summer 2020 during the pivot to virtual projects. Panelists will share what they plan to retain from this experience after we return to in-person mentoring. October 22, 4-5 p.m. EDT. Please register here.

Building your Facilitator Tool Box: Honing dialogue skills to navigate pre- and post-election tensions.

• Panelists will discuss tools that can be used to set up pre- and post- election conversations. Featured panelists are Roger Fisher; Associate Director of the Intergroup Dialogue Program at University of Michigan; Libby Roderick; Director, Difficult Dialogues Initiative, University of Alaska Anchorage; and Erica Dugué; Senior, African American Studies major, Dialogue and Difference in Action Leader, Princeton University. October 27, 4:30-6 p.m. EDT. Please register here.

Ungrading

• How alternate approaches such as self-assessments, grade free zones and peer review can help students realize their potential. Facilitated by Lafayette College Professor Chris Phillips. October 29, 12:15-1:15 p.m. EDT. Please register here.

As we reach the mid-point of fall term, the Faculty Hub extends our thanks to all faculty and staff for maintaining our academic mission, despite the challenges. We have had many opportunities to work with faculty, especially since March 2020, and we are always seeking additional ways to help the faculty.

Please take a few minutes to review upcoming events.

Inclusive Teaching: Student Belonging

To what extent do students feel accepted, supported, and respected by instructors and peers? A sense of belonging is a basic human need and it impacts student well-being and academic performance. Want to learn more about how you can make a difference in promoting student belonging at UR?

Join us for Inclusive Teaching: Student Belonging, an interactive session designed to practice critical reflection and analysis around stories of students’ experiences in the classroom. We invite you to help us build a shared understanding of the ways in which students’ experiences can be supported by consistent actions from instructors. We are hosting a virtual presentation by UVA Acts on Friday, October 30 from 12 – 1:30 p.m. Register here!

(This is limited to 30 participants on Zoom; we will consider a second opportunity if there is interest.)

Morning Blend

Please consider our new program, the Morning Blend, a weekly online get-together to communicate helpful tips for faculty (a 10-15 minute presentation), a takeaway document (tip sheet) for later reference, and discussion time. The program runs every Monday morning and repeats on Thursdays, both at 9 a.m. Next week, we are discussing Adapting Media Projects for Remote and Blended Teaching. We schedule the sessions from 9 – 9:45 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays and use the same Zoom URL. No registration is needed and you are welcome to come for some or all of the session.

Faculty Hub Book Club

We and our students are consumers of data every day. What data can we trust? Do scholarly works contain valid information? How is data communicated? How do we identify and evaluate information, data, and news? What are some ways we can effectively incorporate data and information literacy into our courses and effectively communicate about data in our scholarship?

We invite you to join us to learn from Calling Bullsh*t: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West. The book’s focus on data and information literacy aligns with the work of Faculty Hub Associates, Dr. Kristine Nolin (Chemistry) and Dr. Kristine Grayson (Biology), who will lead the discussions.

Faculty from all schools and disciplines are invited to join us. One organizational meeting will be scheduled for late November or early December and three discussion meetings between January 11 and February 26. Discussion times will be selected for greatest participation by registrants. Your book will be delivered before Thanksgiving. Sign up here by Monday, November 2.

Faculty Hub Institute: Data Visualization with R

Rescheduled from spring 2020, we will be offering the Faculty Hub Institute twice next semester: once in the beginning of the semester and once after the semester concludes. The specific schedules are still being worked out and the time commitment is listed below.

1. A pre-spring session on January 13, 2021 from 9 a.m. –2 p.m. plus 90-minute sessions in each of the three following weeks. Faculty will also need to commit to work independently 1-2 hours a week on their visualization projects between each session.
2. A post-spring institute on May 11-12 from 9 a.m. –4:30 p.m. and May 13 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Individual project work time will be available during these hours.

If you are interested in learning more, check out the syllabus and/or email Andrew Bell. Registration will be available soon.

Responsive and Flexible Teaching

Materials we created for our three-week summer course, Responsive and Flexible Teaching, are still available in Blackboard, and we encourage you to review them as the semester continues and when you start preparing for spring term. If you do not yet have access to this course, please email facultyhub@richmond.edu to be added. Ryan Brazell, one of the Hub’s Technology Consultants, recently added a document that may be helpful to faculty who are interested in using Hypothesis, a social annotation tool that allows students and faculty to collaboratively comment on documents.

Faculty Hub Consultations

We are available for consultations throughout the semester. To request a consultation from the Faculty Hub staff, please use this link. To request a consultation from our Associates, please review the contact information below.

Dr. Kristine Grayson, Associate Professor of Biology, Faculty Hub Associate
Email: kgrayson@richmond.edu 
Office hours for faculty: Wednesday, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m., Friday, 1 p.m. – 2p.m. or by appointment (email for Zoom link)  
Consultations: data literacy, quantitative skills assessment, grants and publishing on science teaching practice 

Dr. Libby Gruner, Professor of English, Faculty Hub Associate
Email: egruner@richmond.edu  
Office hours for faculty: By appointment (book here; Thursdays and Fridays are best. Zoom link will be sent) 
Consultations: alternative forms of assessment, ungrading, portfolio grading, contract grading, inclusive pedagogy

Dr. Kristine Nolin, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Faculty Hub Associate
Email: knolin@richmond.edu 
Office hours for faculty: Monday 1 p.m. – 3 p.m., by appointment (Book here. Zoom link will be sent)
Consultations: data literacy 

Thank you all!

Linda

Dear Colleagues,

We hope your first week of teaching has been rewarding and that you are taking steps toward greater comfort and confidence in the new modes of engagement.

I want to pass along a few updates from the Faculty Hub regarding upcoming offerings, opportunities to consult with Faculty Hub Associates and the Inclusive Pedagogy (IP) Cohort.

Upcoming Offerings

> Morning Blend

Throughout the Fall 2020 semester, the Faculty Hub will be hosting a new program, the Morning Blend. These online get-togethers will provide a quick helpful tip (5-10 minutes), a takeaway document (tip sheet) for later reference, and general discussion about the designated topic or other questions. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and join us on the dates below. Come for the tip and discussion or just the tip if you cannot stay the whole time.  We have scheduled 45 minutes but will keep our presentations efficient and provide a useful takeaway. All Morning Blend meetings will use the following Zoom URL, no registration required:  https://urichmond.zoom.us/j/92842075108?pwd=blFvSjR3Z043NlM0QXZXV1VBb0lRUT09 

Have an idea or request for a future Morning Blend session? We want to hear from you! Send topic ideas to facultyhub@richmond.edu.

Topic	Monday Sessions	Thursday Sessions
Strategies for Virtual Office Hours	September 14 9 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.	September 17 9 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Blended Classroom Discussions, Revisited	September 21 9 a.m.– 9:45 a.m.	September 24 9 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Adapting Media Projects for Remote and Blended Teaching	September 28 9 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.	October 1 9 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Strategies for Gathering Midterm Student Feedback	October 5 9 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.	October 8 9 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

> Faculty Hub Office Hours

Do you need better ways to engage your remote students?  Are you seeking some feedback on managing a blended classroom while using new technology? Have you had some success in engaging your remote learners and would you like to share your approaches with other faculty?

Attend one of our office hour sessions next week!  In these two sessions, we will share strategies and resources to help instructors engage all students – both remote and in-person – in their lectures, learning activities, and class discussions. We have had some of our own challenges in teaching this week and we know that through group discussion, we can generate ways to improve the teaching and learning experience.

Join us on Monday, August 31 from 2-3:15 p.m. or Wednesday, September 2 from 11-12:15 p.m. to ask questions, share ideas, and learn from one another. All office hour sessions will use the following Zoom URL, no registration required: https://urichmond.zoom.us/j/92842075108?pwd=blFvSjR3Z043NlM0QXZXV1VBb0lRUT09.

The remaining dates, times, topics, and Zoom link can be found here, as well as information on scheduling individual consultations with Faculty Hub staff:

https://richmond.box.com/s/qnnmbo3vsbn3nsi4uw941euzklodput9

> Faculty Hub Associates

Welcome to our Faculty Hub Associates, Dr. Kristine Grayson, Dr. Libby Gruner, and Dr. Kristine Nolin. They have joined us this academic year to work on various faculty development projects and will also be holding office hours to assist faculty on certain topics. Their availability and specialty areas are listed below. Please reach out if you would like to consult with them.

Dr. Kristine Grayson, Associate Professor of Biology 
Email: kgrayson@richmond.edu 
Office hours for faculty (starting September 2): Wednesday, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m., Friday, 1 p.m. – 2p.m. or by appointment (email for Zoom link)  
Consultations: data literacy, quantitative skills assessment, grants and publishing on science teaching practice 

Dr. Libby Gruner, Professor of English 
Email: egruner@richmond.edu  
Office hours for faculty: By appointment (book here; Thursdays and Fridays are best. Zoom link will be sent when you book.) 
Consultations: alternative forms of assessment, ungrading, portfolio grading, contract grading, inclusive pedagogy
 

Dr. Kristine Nolin, Associate Professor of Chemistry
Email: knolin@richmond.edu 
Office hours for faculty: Monday 1 p.m. – 3 p.m., by appointment (email to arrange an appointment)
Consultations: data literacy 

> Inclusive Pedagogy (IP) Cohort

Faculty selected last spring for the IP Cohort will begin meeting in September.  This year, the program is co-facilitated by Dr. Kylie Korsnack, Educational Developer in the Faculty Hub, and Dr. Holly Blake, Director of the WILL* program and Associate Dean for Outreach Education and Development, Westhampton College.  The IP Cohort is a program of the Provost’s Office to enhance the use of pedagogies that help develop an inclusive learning community and engage all learners.

Finally, I want to give a big shout-out to all of our partners in this educational mission to prepare for the new modes of teaching.  Too many to name here, staff who worked on classroom setups, registration, cleaning protocols and current cleaning, signage, and others are all instrumental to our success this fall. While instructors are visible in the classroom or on Zoom, we cannot do this without the work of our partners.  A special thanks to Information Services for their tireless and gracious help for all instructors—we are so thankful for their work.

Best wishes,

Linda

Linda M. Boland, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology
Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub

Dear Colleagues,

The Faculty Hub has prepared materials for you from the Back-to-Teaching event on Wednesday, August 19.

You may now access the compiled Q&A document, the Zoom chat, and the link to the Panopto video in Box.

In addition, here is a list of resources compiled by the Faculty Hub, we hope you find useful as well.

We’ve done our best to organize everything in a way that will help you find the answers to your questions.  We know the amount of information everyone is receiving is challenging.  If you still have a question on where to find certain information, hop on our Slack workspace because that seems to be a time-sensitive way for all of us to connect.  If you find any broken links in our documents or inaccuracies, please let us know.

Good luck as you prepare for next week.

Linda

Linda M. Boland, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub

Dear Colleagues,

Enclosed are some updates from the Faculty Hub.

Back-to-Teaching event

All who are teaching in fall 2020 or staff who support teaching are invited to attend a full University Back-to-Teaching Symposium on Wednesday, August 19 from 9-10:30 a.m.  Updates on the latest information and resources available will be provided by representatives from the Faculty Senate, Provost’s Office, Teaching and Scholarship Hub, Information Services, Academic Integration, Library, and Human Resources followed by Q&A. Faculty Senate leaders will moderate the Q & A.  To submit a question before the event, please send your question to Faculty Senate President Thad Williamson.  Please add this Zoom link for the Back-to-Teaching event to your calendar (also noted here for your reference: https://urichmond.zoom.us/j/96904902028)

Experiments in Blended Teaching

Thanks to the faculty and staff who helped us experiment with blended classroom approaches yesterday.  Special thanks to Professors Jane Berry, Saif Mekhari, and Jessica Erickson for their micro-teaching segments.  The Faculty Hub has produced another tip sheet with our recommendations for small and large group discussion when teaching in-class and remote students simultaneously that can be found here: https://richmond.box.com/s/ytadu2s7aop9ai1ao2nxsgtoj35i1uwb.  Special thanks to Andrew Bell for leading this work.

Thank you for all you are doing under these challenging circumstances.

Best wishes,

Linda

Linda Boland

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub

Dear Colleagues,

This is an update from the Faculty Hub about helping you prepare for fall term teaching.

We have been experimenting with the new classroom technology for blended teaching with students in the classroom, masked, with distancing and students participating via Zoom, synchronously.  We tested four common scenarios:  an interactive lecture with Q &A, a learning activity that required students to do something individually and share what they did, large group discussion, and small group discussions.  We created some videos to show you these experiences—note that these are not fully polished, they are experimental, and yet we think they will help you prepare.  We also made a concise list of key recommendations.

These materials are available to you here:

Blended Classroom Teaching demonstration videos: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7421113

Our recommendations:  https://richmond.box.com/s/6nf6fxo5g27hcwbepp8gca5yv5lu9aju

Thank you to the faculty and staff who participated as mock students, especially Professor Dean Simpson who modeled some wonderful approaches to engaging all students, regardless of mode of participation.

We want to experiment again with the small group discussion scenario as it is an approach many instructors wish to use and we found it to be the most challenging scenario.

We are seeking volunteers for a mock teaching session on Wednesday, August 12 from 9-11 AM.  If you are able to help, we will be most grateful and you will be assisting other faculty as we will communicate what was learned plus you will gain some direct experience which will be helpful to your own preparation for teaching in a blended setting.

If you are able to join us, please email us at:  facultyhub@richmond.edu and specify that you volunteer to be an in-class or remote student or that you can do either one, as needed. The face-to-face (F2F) “students” will meet in Jepson 107.  Other “students” will participate remotely.  We will send you the Zoom link once you sign up.  If you will serve as a F2F student, please remember to wear your mask and abide by the distancing protocol, bring your charged laptop to class, and please bring some type of earbuds or headset that functions with your laptop (we will not have one available for you).  For all volunteers, please plan to participate the entire 2 hours.

Finally, we have mapped out some additional opportunities for support for your teaching preparations in the time period leading up to and including the beginning of the semester.  In the event that you missed something earlier this summer or you want to re-visit a topic, have questions, or want to gain feedback on your ideas, please join us.

No registration is required for these sessions which will function like group office hours—they are not webinars but opportunities to learn tips and strategies and share ideas and examples.

The dates and times with a single Zoom link are here: https://richmond.box.com/s/qnnmbo3vsbn3nsi4uw941euzklodput9.

That document also includes some information about the topics you can explore in our courses (all materials still available to you this fall).

Upon request, the Faculty Hub session on Monday, August 17 will include ideas and strategies for faculty who are teaching in a fully remote mode using Zoom.

Thank you and best wishes.

Sincerely,

Linda

Linda M. Boland, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub

Dear Colleagues,

This is another update from the Faculty Hub. We want to continue to inform you about opportunities for faculty development this summer.

Our second summer course, Responsive and Flexible Teaching, is in its final week of delivery. It is not too late to join us!  To gain access to the course, administered through the University’s Learning Management System (LMS), Blackboard Learn (Bb), simply email us at facultyhub@richmond.edu.  On the course site, you will find readings, videos, demonstrations, assignments, and tools to assist your fall term course preparation. Completed synchronous sessions are recorded and posted for each module.

This week’s live, synchronous sessions are noted below.

Office Hours for Content Production, Curation, and Organization

*   Date/Time: Monday, July 27, 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

*   Zoom URL: https://urichmond.zoom.us/j/97833272779?pwd=amNYMXlvbmtqc01Ub09MNys3WCtsdz09

*   Description: Bring your questions! Hub staff will provide clarification on module 5 contents and feedback on your course content that is in production (no matter how early) or finished. You are also welcome to attend with “early” questions or to learn from the questions and replies to other faculty.

Planning for the Beginning

*   Date/Time: Wednesday, July 29, 1 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.

*   Zoom URL: https://urichmond.zoom.us/j/98554042012?pwd=N0NMRFZsUDZZMk50QXgrb1dhSUh1QT09

*   Description:  Welcome to Fall 2020!  How do we approach the first day or first week of class in order to build a student-centered and engaging foundation for the uncertain semester ahead?  In this session, we will discuss strategies to get your course off to a great start, despite the uncertainties, masks, and distancing. We’ll look at ways you can help your students and some ways that you, the instructor, can gain confidence and support for the semester ahead.

Facilitating Meaningful Learning with Asynchronous Online Discussion

*   Date/Time: Thursday, July 30, 10 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

*   Zoom URL: https://urichmond.zoom.us/j/98776587683?pwd=cStDNTBlMkNqUXpvSVVxMXRYK242QT09

*   Description: How do we create opportunities for students to participate in meaningful online discussion in our courses? What are some creative ways to structure these conversations, and how can we as instructors help students stay engaged? In this session, we will discuss strategies for designing, facilitating, and assessing asynchronous online discussions.

Additional Support in August 2020

The Faculty Hub’s summer courses will continue to be available for self-directed learning by instructors preparing for fall term teaching in all modes of instruction.

We suggest that instructors complete a course in sequence, but you are also welcome to jump into individual modules that you feel are most important to your preparation. If you need advice on where to jump in, given your circumstances and time constraints, please email the Faculty Hub for assistance. We will help you determine an efficient approach for your preparations.

Another course available to all instructors:

A final just-in-time offering of another course on Hybrid/Online Teaching is being facilitated by John Zinn in SPCS and all instructors are invited to participate. Among other positives, this course provides great examples and modeling of how to use asynchronous discussion boards with your students and how to use assessment tools and rubrics. The “SPCS Hybrid/Online Teaching Professional Development Course” begins August 3 and ends on August 23. Register online at this link: https://richmond.radiusbycampusmgmt.com/ssc/eform/B0SC0pBaB00kx6708Go.ssc

This is a three-week, asynchronous faculty development course designed to support online and hybrid/blended teaching. Beginning with the end in mind, faculty will review the course development process, focusing on desired learning outcomes. Teaching best practices will be considered, emphasizing the creation of an active and engaging learning community.

Topics will include:

*   eLearning Theory

*   Diversified Instruction

*   Leveraging Blackboard Tools

*   Assessments and Rubrics

*   Student Engagement (Discussions, Asynchronous and Synchronous Lectures, Zoom, Feedback)

Many instructors will need training on new classroom technology, supported by Information Services (IS). Please refer to SpiderTechNet for more information on the new classroom technology:

https://spidertechnet.richmond.edu/TDClient/1955/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=110863

And to register for classroom training:

https://spidertechnet.richmond.edu/TDClient/1955/Portal/Requests/ServiceDet?ID=44780

To help instructors use new technology effectively in blended teaching modes, the Faculty Hub will develop pedagogy-driven training videos for hybrid/blended teaching. Our approach is to lead with pedagogy and find ways to best implement the approach with the technology present in the room. We will work on several common scenarios anticipated for the blended classroom environment: facilitating classroom discussion, lecturing with Q&A, and drawing or writing on a device or the classroom whiteboard.

The Faculty Hub continues to engage with faculty via email, Zoom meetings, Slack, and phone calls (personal cell phones). To schedule an individual consultation, please email a member of the Faculty Hub or use our group address, facultyhub@richmond.edu and we will route your request to the appropriate person.

Please note that the Faculty Hub will be closed for correspondence on Friday, July 31 (University Holiday) and Friday, August 7 (Faculty Hub team planning for fall).

We hope this information is useful to you.

Best wishes,

Linda

Linda M. Boland, Ph.D.

Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub