Back-to-Teaching Event and Experiments in Blended Teaching

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

Faculty Hub Recommendations and New Sessions

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

Update From the Faculty 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

Faculty Hub Course on Responsive and Flexible Teaching

The Faculty Hub invites all course instructors to participate in Responsive and Flexible Teaching, a three-week online course that mimics a highly flexible course delivery where faculty experience this from a student’s perspective. This online course will be led by the Faculty Hub and will include sessions with several online learning experts. All synchronous sessions are in Zoom and links will be provided within the Blackboard course. 

We have designed the course as a series of six aligned but independent online learning modules so as to provide multiple avenues for faculty to engage with course materials. Participants may choose to complete all six modules, or they may select the ones that most interest them. Additional information is below. Please click here to register. 

Course dates: This will run from July 13-30, and materials will be available throughout the fall for additional learning or review. 

Time Commitment: We have designed this course to meet the varied needs of faculty from across our campus. We encourage participants to spend as much time in this course as their schedule allows or is appropriate given their level of experience with online teaching.  

Cohort size: Unlimited; synchronous sessions in Zoom have a capacity of 300. 

Course modules are under development and will be added to the Blackboard site on the dates noted. 

 

Available Beginning July 10 

Module 1: Online Essentials  

Online courses are often characterized by a feeling of disconnect for both students and faculty. Learn about practical strategies to foster interactions, build community, and promote student learning. Instructors will also generate a course learning objective that can be workshopped through subsequent modules on assessment, learning activities, and development of course materials.   

This module features two synchronous sessions with online learning expert, Dr. Flower Darby, author of Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes. 

  • Fostering Connections and Community in Online Classes on July 14 from 10-11 a.m. 
  • Practical Strategies for Teaching Online During COVID-19 on July 15 from 10-11 a.m. 

 Module 2: Helping Students  

Many of our students have limited experience with online learning. In this module, instructors will learn how to apply cognitive science principles to help students meet the challenges of learning in an online environment. We will identify opportunities and practical strategies to support our students. 

This module features two synchronous sessions with online learning expert, Dr. Claire Major, author of Teaching Online: A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice.  

  • Helping Students Learn…Online on July 16 from 10-11:30 a.m. 
  • Helping Students Learn to Learn…Online on July 17 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. 

 

 Available Beginning July 17 

Module 3: Assessment  

Gain experience with tools and technology to design assessments that align with student learning objectives and learn about ways to use community-building and assessment design to foster academic integrity. This module will feature two synchronous sessions with members of the Faculty Hub. Times TBA. 

Module 4: Learning Activities  

Gain experience with tools and technology that enable interactive and collaborative learning activities that align with student learning objectives. This module includes two synchronous sessions with members of the Faculty Hub on July 22 (10-11:15 a.m.) and July 24 (10-11:15 a.m.) as well as a synchronous workshop on July 23 (11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) co-hosted by Dr. Carol Ann Downes from Hendrix College and Dr. Andrew Bell from the Faculty Hub.  

 

Available Beginning July 24 

Module 5: Producing, Curating, and Organizing Content  

Gain experience with a variety of strategies for producing, curating, and organizing course material using institutionally supported online platforms such as Blackboard, Box, Panopto, and Zoom. Includes two synchronous sessions: a faculty panel about organizing content in Blackboard, and a session to ask questions and get feedback about content production techniques. Times TBA. 

Module 6: Facilitating Online Learning  

Reflect on your engagement as an online learner within this course and identify practical strategies to facilitate student learning in your online or blended course. This module includes two synchronous sessions with members of the Faculty Hub and will help build community among faculty colleagues for discussion of teaching strategies. Times TBA. 

Save the Dates and Welcome

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

I write with some updates from the Faculty Hub.

A reminder to consider the ACS Summer workshops for facilitated workshop time with faculty from other ACS institutions. One will be offered this morning from 10-11:30 a.m. on Making Learner-Centered and Inclusive Pedagogical Choices for an Unpredictable Fall Term. The session will emphasize the principles of learner-centered teaching and inclusive pedagogies as foundations to develop and evaluate instructional strategies for learning in varied contexts (traditional, socially distanced, remote, hybrid).

Register for the ACS workshops here. Once you register, you will receive an email with a Zoom link to join the session. After the sessions are completed, the ACS has said they will make recordings available.

Save the dates- On July 14 and 15 from 10-11 a.m., the Faculty Hub will host synchronous sessions with Dr. Flower Darby, author of Small Teaching Online. You can access this book as an e-book. We will be incorporating Flower’s time with us into the start of a new course which begins on July 13 and runs for three weeks, with continual access provided thereafter. There are no restrictions on the number of faculty who can attend.

Please also note that our librarians have secured a group of e-books about online teaching: http://libguides.richmond.edu/onlineteaching.

We recognize that there are some who cannot participate in faculty development opportunities right now due to other responsibilities. All of the Faculty Hub’s synchronous sessions and materials are available for faculty to use on their own. If you participated in our short course on Effective Online and Blended Teaching, you have continued access to course materials on our Blackboard site. If you did not register for the course but would like to gain access to those materials, we just need to add you. Please email us for access.

Welcome to Dr. Kylie Korsnack, Educational Developer

On July 1, we will welcome Dr. Kylie Korsnack as an Educational Developer in the Faculty Hub. The Educational Developer position is one we crafted last fall with an early spring national search that concluded just as the pandemic changed our lives.

Kylie earned her Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University where she also worked in Vanderbilt’s highly respected Institute for Digital Learning and the Center for Teaching. She has taught courses in Freshman Composition, Science Fiction, and World Literature, among others. She is currently an Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow for Humanities Education in the Center for Teaching and Learning at Berea College in Kentucky, where she is also a Visiting Assistant Professor in English. Kylie is dedicated to inclusive practices and support for faculty development in many areas including online/hybrid teaching, intensive writing, teaching in the humanities, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and digital pedagogy. She has worked on classroom observation approaches, instructional tools, and training for new college teachers. Kylie brings thoughtful insight, practical experiences, great enthusiasm, and outstanding collegiality to this new position. Please help us in welcoming Dr. Kylie Korsnack to the University of Richmond. Her email at UR will be: kkorsnac@richmond.edu

Thank you for all your efforts.

Sincerely,

Linda

Director, Faculty Hub

Additional Update on Resources

Dear Colleagues,

This is another update on resources to help you prepare for fall term teaching.

The Faculty Hub has completed the first short course on Effective Online and Blended Teaching. A second cohort with more than 115 of your colleagues is underway. You may still join today and catch up on prior content online before tomorrow’s 10 a.m. class on Zoom. Please email the Faculty Hub now and we will enroll you! (Note: Both sessions have now ended. If you were unable to attend the course but would like to gain access to those materials, we just need to add you. Please email us for access.)

Sandra Joireman’s email on Friday noted that the ACS Pedagogy Workshop dates and registration are now available.

The first ACS workshop is this Wednesday, June 24, 1-2:30 pm EDT:  Purposeful Planning for the Distinctive Learning Experiences of Small, Residential Liberal Arts Colleges. We are hoping to see you there!  [Full disclosure, I am involved in this one]

A number of collaborative ACS working groups will share materials by August 1- some of you will want to review these for advice and resources when they become available. From our faculty, Joanna Wares, Marcella Torres, Laura Browder, and Patricia Herrera are contributors.

Faculty have questions about teaching with a mask on. I want to share some work by a colleague at Roanoke College (attached) on the issue of teachinTeaching in Masks and Shields – An Experimentg in face masks and shields (note that shields are not currently allowed as replacements for masks).

Last week, a group of UR faculty and staff had a chance to speak in a large lecture room with masks on and social distancing. My experience is similar to what Chris Lee reported. You will have to be more aware of the pace and enunciation of your speech. As Chris noted, some masks slip from proper positioning as they get moist and with continual chin and jaw movements, as would happen when you are teaching. Wearing a tight-fitting mask seems to help minimize slippage and tighter masks elevate the need to be intentional about enunciation. Some have found that having a mask with a built-in wire to mold around your nose reduces the fog on glasses, and may help keep the mask in place.

My take home— speaking with a mask on is not the part of teaching I am looking forward to this fall. But, I can make some adaptations to make it work. It will help me to practice with it.  There is some teaching (music, languages, theatre come to mind) where the use of masks will be even more challenging. My current best idea for this is: hold classes those classes outside in open spaces without masks, if allowed (with distancing). I know it does not address all issues (acoustics).

Best wishes,

Linda

Director, Faculty Hub

Update on Resources to Prepare for Fall Teaching

Dear Colleagues,

This is an update on resources to help you prepare for fall term teaching.

Summary List

  • June & July – Two sessions of a 3-week course on online and hybrid teaching, led by John Zinn from SPCS. If you have any questions, please email John Zinn.
  • June – Two sessions of a 3-day course on effective online and blended teaching. (Note: Both sessions have now ended. If you were unable to attend the course but would like to gain access to those materials, we just need to add you. Please email us for access.)
  • July 13-30 – A 3-week course on course redesign for responsive and flexible teaching. This will run once without a registration cap. After July 30, the course will be available for self-paced learning without the synchronous sessions.
  • June & July – Virtual workshops offered collaboratively by ACS institutions on a variety of topics. The Faculty Hub is involved in three of these and UR Faculty are also involved in a working group on Engaging (Outside) Communities in the Remote Classroom. A list is provided below and registration can be found here.
  • By August 1– ACS working groups will provide additional resources for faculty (see below for topics).
  • Ongoing– The Faculty Hub’s Slack workspace is open for the exchange of ideas, problems, and their solutions, and teaching resources. We currently have 177 participants from faculty and instructional/support staff. If you want to join this workspace, please click here.

ACS Summer Workshops and Working Groups

As a member of the ACS Summer Virtual Workshop Taskforce, I am pleased to announce that 12 teaching workshops and 11 pedagogy working groups have been formed (one additional working group is being finalized). Our Taskforce decided to crowd-source some of the many needs we identified in ACS schools. We hope that ACS faculty will find these useful with an added benefit of establishing connections with colleagues at other institutions with similar interests and needs. Collaboration is one way to add to our success in preparation for the fall term.

Workshops are single, synchronous sessions in Zoom (generally 90 minutes) facilitated by faculty and instructional staff from more than one ACS school.

  • This week, we expect the ACS workshop descriptions and on-line registration to become available on the ACS website.
  • Please register through ACS and attend as many of these as you wish.
  • Please consider sharing your post-workshop ideas and questions with your University of Richmond colleagues on the Faculty Hub’s Slack workspace for Remote Teaching or within your departmental discussions about fall term teaching plans.
  • We anticipate that the workshops will be recorded and made available to those who could not attend the live session. A mechanism for sharing the materials is under discussion.

Working groups include faculty and instructional staff from more than one ACS school. Each group is working collaboratively in June and July to produce materials that will be shared with instructors at ACS schools.

  • Materials produced by the working groups are expected to be shared by August 1.
  • A mechanism for the sharing of materials is under discussion.

If you have any questions or need assistance in selecting the University of Richmond courses or ACS workshops that would be of greatest help to you, please email the Faculty Hub.

Thank you and best wishes,

Linda Boland

Director, Faculty Hub

 

List of ACS Teaching Workshops

  • June workshops

Wednesday, June 24, 1 – 2:30 p.m. EDT

Purposeful Planning for the Distinctive Learning Experiences of Small, Residential Liberal Arts Colleges
Nancy Chick, Kent Andersen, Betsy Sandlin, Stephanie Rolph, & Linda Boland

Monday, June 29, 10 – 11:30 a.m. EDT

Making Learner-Centered and Inclusive Pedagogical Choices for an Unpredictable Fall Term
Kent Andersen, Barbara Lom, Kerry Paumi, & Betsy Sandlin

  • July workshops – dates and times should be available this week

Strategies for Teaching and Learning Online and Hybrid Environments Backed by Cognitive Science Research
Jessica Alexander & Jennifer Queen

Designing Student-Centered Class Activities for Blended Synchronous Equation-Based Courses
Andrew Bell & Carol Ann Downes

Near, Far, Wherever You Are: Models for Building Community in the “New” First-Year Experience 
Peter Gess, Michael Hughes, Cathy Jellenki, & Katherine Troyer

Ready When You Are: Flexible Delivery and Excellent Pedagogy in Blended Delivery, Active Learning Classes
Ryan Brazell, Kylie Korsnack, Kimberly McArthur, & Julie Sievers

Technologies, Pedagogies, and Best Practices for Teaching Chinese Online: A Workshop for ACS Chinese Language and Content Course Instructors
Zhengbin Lu, Hongchu Fu, Carl Robertson, & Li Wei

Engaging Second Language Students through Interactive and Student Presentations, Close Readings/Viewings, and Interactions with Native Peers in the Online Classroom
Susanna Weygandt, Mark Preslar, Genny Ballard, & Florin Beschea

STE(ngage)M: Adapting the Case Study Method through Universal Design for Learning
Ellen Barnett, Jonathan King, Aditi Pai, & Katie Troyer

Remote Summative Assessment In Equation-based Courses:  If They Can Look Up the Answer, How Do We Know They Learned It?
Megan Leonard, Prayat Poudel, & Todd Tinsley

List of ACS Working Groups

  • Working group reports and resources/materials will be available by August 1. 

Engaging (Outside) Communities in the Remote Classroom
Kimberly Kasper, Joy Brooke Fairfield, Shaolu Yu, Tom Bremer, Laura Browder, Sharon Green, Amy Hammond, Patricia Herrera, Yinishi Lerman-Tan, Andrew Patrick, & Kaelyn Wiles

Inclusive Pedagogies for Remote and Blended First-year Seminar Courses
Erika Berroth, Julie Sievers, Sasha Pfau, John Krebs, & Maureen McClung

Socially Distanced but High Impact: Exploring Small Group Discussions & Other Highly Interactive Activities in Socially Distanced F2F Environments During a Time of Pandemics
Rachel Newcomb, Laurian Bowles, Amy McClure, Amy Jasperson, Shana Minkin, Matthew Irvin, & Corinna Kahnke

Vulnerable People(s) and COVID-19
Margaret McLaren, Shan-Estelle Brown, Chelsea Ebin, Dawn Roe, Nolan Kline, & Sarah Parsloe

Mathematics and Data Science Resources to Support Societally Relevant Teaching in the Time of COVID-19
Joanna Wares, Zeynep Teymuroglu, Marcella Torres, Cabral Balreira, Casey Hawthorne, & Grace Stadnyk

Choral, Instrumental, and Vocal Pedagogy
Johann Van Niekerk, Shane Lynch, Lester Siegel, Cory Wikan, Kerry Ginger, Tiffany Lu, John Sinclair, Diane Persellin, & Johathan Trotter

Relationship-driven Peer Tutoring in the Age of Covid-19: How Faculty and Peer Tutors Can Work Together to Bridge Hierarchical Gaps between Faculty and Students and Facilitate Student Engagement
Jennifer Rowe, Jessica Reyes, Luke Tunstall, Jennifer Bartlett, Shireen Campbell, Paul Hanstedt, Felipe Pruneda-Senties, & Jean Schwab

Adapting Pandemic Pedagogies in the Performing and Collaborative Arts
Jennifer Goff, Peter Friedrich, John Marshall, Jennifer Matthews, Laura Perkins, Jason Rosenberg, & Robert Seebacher

Online Undergraduate Cell Biology Lab Working Group
Triscia Hendrickson, Mark Lee, Pamela Hanson, Elise Kikis, Jonathan King, Centdrika Hurt, Rebecca Murphy, & Laura MacDonald

Impactful and Effective Preparation of Teacher Candidates during COVID-19: Instruction, Assessment, and Virtual Placements
Nicole Taylor, Khalilah Ali, Richard Benson, Valeisha Ellis, Andrea Lewis, Chatee O. Richardson, Michael Kamen, & Alicia Moore

Curating Connection: The Modified Tutorial Model and Other Opportunities for Small-Group Mentorship
Erin Hoover, Hope Coulter, Mark Hopwood, & Stephanie Batkie

Summer 2020 Faculty Development Opportunities and Resources

SPCS Hybrid/Online Teaching Professional Development Course

A three-week, asynchronous faculty development course designed to support online and hybrid 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), and more

Course Dates: The June and July cohorts have filled, but they may be able to accommodate a few additional participants upon request.

Time Commitment: Approximately 3.5 hours per week to complete activities.

Cohort Size: 25

Questions? Email John Zinn.

Effective Online and Hybrid Teaching

In three linked sessions, this short course will engage instructors in topics important to student and faculty success with online and flexible courses. This course is a collaboration between the Faculty Hub with Dr. Claire Major. Claire Major is a Professor of Higher Education at The University of Alabama. Her teaching and research interests center on instructional approaches and instructional technology. She has authored or co-authored ten books including Interactive Lecturing, Learning Assessment Techniques, Collaborative Learning Techniques, Student Engagement Techniques, and Online Learning: A Guide to Theory, Research, and Practice.

Session 1. Creating an Engaging Course: Strategies for Online and Flexible Course Design

Online and blended courses can provide students with an inviting and engaging learning environment. In this session, participants will learn about practical strategies for designing dynamic online and LMS-supported classes.

Session 2. Learning Together While Apart: Tips for Creating Community Online

Research shows that one of the greatest challenges for students in online environments is the feeling of isolation. Establishing connections with others is key to student success and learning. Participants in this session will learn about strategies for creating community in online and blended courses.

Session 3. Assessment for Learning: Techniques for Promoting Student Learning Through Assessment in Online and Blended Courses

Finding a good balance between low stakes and high stakes assessments can be a challenge in any course, including those that are blended or online. In this session, participants will consider a range of options for assessing student knowledge and skills that simultaneously improve student learning.

Course dates: June 15, 16, 18 (M, T, Th) from 10-11 a.m. (Note: This course is full, but we have added an additional course on June 22, 23, and 25 from 10-11 a.m., with unlimited enrollment.)

Time Commitment:  This is a fully synchronous course in Zoom (one hour per session) with activities and breakout sessions. There will be a short reading and homework due for each session (less than one hour of homework per session). Full participation in all three synchronous sessions will produce the greatest learning gains.

Registration: Registration is now open for the June 22, 23, and 25 sessions: https://urfacultyhub.corsizio.com/c/5ed66383b626a66a1ea36afd.

Questions? Email the Faculty Hub.

Professional Development in Responsive and Flexible Teaching

A three-week online course with synchronous components and the option of participating fully asynchronously. The course will mimic a highly flexible course delivery where faculty experience this from a student’s perspective. This online course will be led by the Faculty Hub and will include sessions with one or more online learning experts.

This course is under development. Anticipated learning goals are:

  • To familiarize faculty with good practices in backward course design for online and highly flexible teaching
  • To introduce faculty to approaches for establishing and maintaining an online learning community
  • To help faculty consider options for assessments in online and highly flexible learning environments
  • To help faculty develop pedagogically sound approaches to synchronous and asynchronous discussion
  • To help faculty develop strategies to address the special challenges of starting a class remotely/online and/or having some of the students face-to-face and others participating asynchronously

Course dates: This will run for three consecutive weeks in July. Specific dates are TBD, we expect to begin on July 6 or July 13.

Time Commitment: Modules will include up to five hours of homework each week including a requirement to participate in discussion in one of several formats.

Cohort size: 25

Registration: Information will be communicated from the Faculty Hub by June 17. Based on interest, a waitlist will be created and the course may be offered again beginning the latter half of July.

Note: The asynchronous components of this course will also be made available as single-use learning sessions for faculty development.

Questions? Email the Faculty Hub.

Additional Offerings from the Faculty Hub in June and/or July – Dates TBD

The Digital Whiteboard: Strategies and Tools for Teaching Equation and Diagram Intensive Courses Online

Workshop participants will:

  • Discuss challenges and opportunities associated with teaching equation- or diagram-based courses online
  • Identify the essential components of a course that require a new tool or approach.
  • Learn tools and workflows that take advantage of a digital whiteboard to optimize these essential components.
  • Develop a new digital whiteboard workflow and receive feedback on that plan within breakout groups
  • Receive tip sheets for all the tools and workflows that we cover during the workshop and an opportunity to join a Slack workspace to share ideas over the course of the coming academic year.

Questions? Email Andrew Bell.

Ready When You Are: Engaging Learners Through Asynchronous Discussion 

Whether utilized within online, hybrid, or face-to-face learning contexts, asynchronous discussions provide opportunities for individual reflection, deep engagement with course content, and collaborative learning. In this workshop, we will consider how discussions can be designed to facilitate three types of online interaction: student-to-self, student-to-content, and student-to-student. After participating in this session, participants will be able to:

  • Design an effective asynchronous discussion assignment
  • Identify and select tools that meet their learning objectives
  • Implement appropriate facilitation and assessment strategies

Questions? Email Ryan Brazell.

Additional Professional Development Opportunities

The Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) will be hosting workshops and working groups to help instructors prepare for teaching in (1) hybrid courses with some remote/online components, (2) fully remote/online courses, and (3) socially distanced face-to-face courses. Some topics are relevant to many disciplines (such as incorporating writing, asynchronous discussion approaches, whiteboard animation), others are relevant to specific disciplines (such as languages, performing arts, science labs, music). All resources will be made available for use by members of the consortium.

ACS faculty and faculty development centers are creating these workshops for delivery in June and July. The sessions will be synchronous, using Zoom, and will include a deliverable/product for participating faculty. We hope to have an initial schedule available in early June.

Questions? Email the Faculty Hub.

Online discussions via a Faculty Hub-hosted Remote Teaching Workspace

Throughout the year, the Faculty Hub will be sharing information via our Slack workspace called Remote Teaching. We encourage faculty and support staff to share resources and seek support via the many different channels within the workspace. If you want to join this workspace, please click here.

Recommended Additional Readings/Activities

1 on 1 Faculty Hub Consultations

The Faculty Hub offers 1-1 support for discussions about pedagogy, including identifying appropriate strategies and tools to help faculty meet their specific pedagogical goals. To schedule a consultation, email the Faculty Hub.

Please note that technical training for Blackboard, Panopto, Zoom and other university-supported software is done by Information Services.  If you need technical support, the HelpDesk is one way to initiate this or click on the button for SpiderTechNet to get started learning about technological tools and software needed for working remotely.

Assessing Learning – Online

Dear Colleagues, 

As exam season approaches, some of you may be thinking about the best ways to assess student learning during these unusual times. In consultation with the Provost’s Office, we have looked into best practices for remote assessment. 

These include: 

Whatever approach you take, please consider regular reminders of our institutional Honor Code and the importance of academic integrity. Please also consider this resource on preserving academic integrity in online assessments and a blog post with options to help reduce pressure and anxiety for students. 

We have also evaluated a number of different online exam proctoring tools, and consulted with other institutions that have either used or evaluated these tools. The listing of tools we considered includes ProctorU, Respondus, Examity, HonorLock, Proctorio, Proctorfree and ProctorTrack. In all cases, our research shows that such tools are ineffective, expensive, raise student privacy issues, undermine our Honor Code and can be off-putting to students. Because of these reasons, some schools have adopted policies asking faculty to not use such tools. While UR is not taking this approach, we are cognizant that students and faculty are all working under very unusual circumstances and these tools may not be especially well-suited at this time. 

However, to support those for whom alternative assessment options are not an option, we are considering the possibility of purchasing a small number of proctoring services. Please contact Carol Parish for more information.  

More information on using open-book assessments: 

http://www.iiserpune.ac.in/~mohanan/educ/openbook.pdf 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4477727/ 

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1092705.pdf 

More information on low-stakes assessment 

http://languages.oberlin.edu/blogs/ctie/2018/04/15/less-is-more-low-stakes-assessments-and-student-success/ 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-find-that-frequent-tests-can-boost-learning/ 

As always, we wish you the best and thank you for all you are doing for our students! 

The Faculty Hub 

Faculty Hub Ed Tech Update

Dear Faculty,

If someone said in January that all UR faculty would be teaching remotely right now, we would not have believed that. In the Faculty Hub, this transition has reinforced the importance of a growth mindset, and we are inspired to see our community take on this challenge so thoughtfully. Below are some tips and updates that we hope you’ll find helpful.

Have a great day,

Andrew Bell and Ryan Brazell
Faculty Hub

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Setting up Zoom Meetings

  • There are multiple options for setting up meetings. You can set up separate recurring Zoom meetings for each course. You can also use and re-use your automatically-created personal link for any and all virtual meetings. The advantage to using your personal link is that it can be customized to include identifying information in the URL, which may help everyone keep track of which link goes to which meeting. Information Services has published new guidelines for creating secure Zoom meetings and our official recommendation is to NOT use your personal link. Please see this SpiderTechNet article for more information.
  • Zoom’s built-in invite option has proved confusing for many. We recommend that to invite others to a Zoom meeting, copy the meeting link or invitation and post it to Blackboard or send it via email.

    Sharing Audio/Video Files

  • Faculty should upload all audio- and video-based recordings into Panopto through your Blackboard course. This includes Zoom meeting recordings, clips of films, and any other multimedia files. Lecture and desktop capture videos you create using Panopto through Blackboard will automatically be uploaded to the correct location.
  • To collect audio or video assignment submissions from students, please create a digital inbox using Box. If other students need to view these video files, you can share the Box folder with them, or upload the files into Panopto. (Students cannot upload directly into Panopto.)

Captioning and Transcription

  • All videos uploaded to Panopto (including Zoom recordings) are automatically captioned at 75-85% accuracy, depending on audio quality. This is useful if you have a student with a disability accommodation notice (DAN) that calls for transcription of auditory learning materials. Instructions for enabling automatic speech recognition captions are available in this Panopto support article and this SpiderTechNet article.  Please contact Andrew Bell in the Faculty Hub for more information.

Continuing Support