Wednesday, January 27, 2016

iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (1/25/2016)

Welcome to iDevelop, a weekly eNewsletter providing faculty with information about professional development opportunities at NSCC. The intent of this eNewsletter is to spotlight the various professional development events for faculty in one convenient location as well as share best practices, resources and tips related to the teaching practice. iDevelop is being brought to you by Instructional Technology and Design (ITD) and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (CTLA). 

A sign that reads: "Got 20 minutes?  Then you have time to learn with the Monday Morning Mentor!"

20 Minute Online Professional Development: How Do Master Teachers Create a Positive Classroom?

The Monday Morning Mentor series will be available over the spring semester to bring you professional development in twenty minute snippets. The topic for the week of January 25th is How Do Master Teachers Create a Positive Classroom? The presentation is available Monday at 10:00am and is accessible through Sunday of that week. The presentation is available Monday at 10:00am and is accessible through Sunday of that week. For information on accessing the presentation and supplemental materials, please view the Bulletin or the email version of iDevelop.

More information about this session (including description, topics, and learning goals) is available at http://www.magnapubs.com/online/mentor/How-Do-Master-Teachers-Create-a-Positive-Classroom-13600-1.html. The complete spring schedule of Monday Morning Mentor sessions is available at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2015/12/20-minute-mentor-online-faculty.html.

Other Professional Development Opportunities

1. Free Workshop on Assignment Design facilitated by Bonnie Orcott, Director of Learning Outcomes Assessment, Massachusetts DHE. The workshop will take place on Friday, January 29, 2016 from 2:00-4:30 p.m. at UMass Lowell (Campus Rec Center Meeting Room 111) and will be on three key student learning outcomes: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Literacy, and Written Communication. If you have an assignment that addresses one or more of these outcomes, and you’d like to fine-tune it to help provoke strong work from your students, this workshop is a great opportunity to get some feedback from other faculty who share your aims. Participants should bring an assignment to work on! Both full- and part-time faculty are welcome! RSVP via e-mail to assess@uml.edu.

2. Free Online Course (MOOC) on Accessibility: Designing and Teaching Courses for All Learners is a Course. For more information and to register, visit https://www.canvas.net/browse/empirestate/empirestate-buffalostate/courses/accessibility-designing-teaching. The course will run from February 22 - April 5, 2016.

Looking for other professional development opportunities through MOOCs. Check out this list at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2016/01/professional-development-through-moocs.html.

3. MSC Initiative. NSCC is once again participating in the Multi-State Collaborative (MSC) initiative. You may recall that last year a number of you submitted student artifacts (e.g., essays, journal entries, and quantitative papers) to examine the validity of the AAC&U rubrics in written communication, quantitative literacy, and critical thinking.

The MSC is continuing to test these rubrics and has requested additional artifacts (e.g., essays, journal entries, and quantitative papers) in the following areas:
  • written communication
  • quantitative literacy
  • critical thinking
  • civic engagement
We received a small grant to stipend faculty interested in participating. Depending upon the level of faculty participation, these stipends will be somewhere in the range of $50-$100 per faculty member. The process is entirely voluntary and is intended to assess the rubrics only, not the student work or scope of the assignment. If you are willing to partake, here's what the MSC would need:
  • A completed Assignment Cover Sheet
  • Your assignment sheet that generated the artifact
  • 10-12 student artifacts (e.g., essays, journal entries, and quantitative papers) that demonstrate written communication, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, or civic engagement. These artifacts should be at least 3 pages in length. All names and identifying features will be scrubbed. No releases from students are needed for this project.
Please let Chris Bednar know if you are willing to participate. We would need the materials by May 2016. Thanks! 

Resources
Share your Teaching Strategies
What are some strategies that you employ to create a classroom culture and climate that fosters a positive student learning environment? Are there any other great resources that you would like to share with faculty on this topic? Send an email with your teaching strategies, best practices, or resources to itd@northshore.edu and we will share them in the next few issues of iDevelop.
We hope you have enjoyed this weekly eNewsletter and would love your input. Please let us know if you have any feedback on the format, content, and resources or if there is anything else you would like to see in the eNewsletter.

Thank you,
Instructional Technology and Design and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment  

Thursday, January 21, 2016

iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (1/18/2016)

Welcome to iDevelop, a weekly eNewsletter providing faculty with information about professional development opportunities at NSCC. The intent of this eNewsletter is to spotlight the various professional development events for faculty in one convenient location as well as share best practices, resources and tips related to the teaching practice. iDevelop is being brought to you by Instructional Technology and Design (ITD) and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (CTLA). 


A sign that reads:  Got 20 minutes?  Then you have time to learn with the Monday Morning Mentor!

20 Minute Online Professional Development
The Monday Morning Mentor series, professional development in twenty minute snippets, will kick off the spring semester on January 25, 2016 with How Do Master Teachers Create a Positive Classroom? More information will be available in the next issue of iDevelop. The complete spring schedule of Monday Morning Mentor sessions is available at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2015/12/20-minute-mentor-online-faculty.html.

Other Professional Development Opportunities

1. NERCOMP Virtual Workshop on Using VoiceThreads. On Thursday, January 21st at 1:00pm, Andrea Milligan will be facilitating a virtual workshop on utilizing VoiceThreads to expand discussion. More information on the workshop is available at http://nercomp.org/index.php?section=events&evtid=506. NSCC is a NERCOMP members so the workshop is free to attend.

2. Free Workshop on Assignment Design facilitated by Bonnie Orcott, Director of Learning Outcomes Assessment, Massachusetts DHE. The workshop will take place on Friday, January 29, 2016 from 2:00-4:30 p.m. at UMass Lowell (Campus Rec Center Meeting Room 111) and will be on three key student learning outcomes: Critical Thinking, Quantitative Literacy, and Written Communication. If you have an assignment that addresses one or more of these outcomes, and you’d like to fine-tune it to help provoke strong work from your students, this workshop is a great opportunity to get some feedback from other faculty who share your aims. Participants should bring an assignment to work on! Both full- and part-time faculty are welcome! RSVP via e-mail to assess@uml.edu.

3. Free Online Course (MOOC) on Accessibility: Designing and Teaching Courses for All Learners is a Course. For more information and to register, visit https://www.canvas.net/browse/empirestate/empirestate-buffalostate/courses/accessibility-designing-teaching. The course will run from February 22 - April 5, 2016.

4. MSC Initiative. NSCC is once again participating in the Multi-State Collaborative (MSC) initiative. You may recall that last year a number of you submitted student artifacts (e.g., essays, journal entries, and quantitative papers) to examine the validity of the AAC&U rubrics in written communication, quantitative literacy, and critical thinking.

The MSC is continuing to test these rubrics and has requested additional artifacts (e.g., essays, journal entries, and quantitative papers) in the following areas:
  • written communication
  • quantitative literacy
  • critical thinking
  • civic engagement
We received a small grant to stipend faculty interested in participating. Depending upon the level of faculty participation, these stipends will be somewhere in the range of $50-$100 per faculty member. The process is entirely voluntary and is intended to assess the rubrics only, not the student work or scope of the assignment. If you are willing to partake, here's what the MSC would need:
  • A completed Assignment Cover Sheet
  • Your assignment sheet that generated the artifact
  • 10-12 student artifacts (e.g., essays, journal entries, and quantitative papers) that demonstrate written communication, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, or civic engagement. These artifacts should be at least 3 pages in length. All names and identifying features will be scrubbed. No releases from students are needed for this project.
Please let Chris Bednar know if you are willing to participate. We would need the materials by May 2016. Thanks!
 
Resources
Share your Teaching Strategies
With classes starting this week, we wanted to invite you to share your teaching strategies with each other around getting students started in your courses successfully and building a course community.  What are some strategies that you employ to ensure that students start your course on the right track?  How do you use ice breakers to develop a course community so you and your students can get to know each other? Send an email with your teaching strategies to itd@northshore.edu and we will share them in the next few issues of iDevelop.

We hope you have enjoyed this weekly eNewsletter and would love your input. Please let us know if you have any feedback on the format, content, and resources or if there is anything else you would like to see in the eNewsletter.

Good luck with the start of the semester!

Thank you,
Instructional Technology and Design and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Professional Development Through MOOCs

So it's the start of another semester and many of us are neck-deep in syllabi, new students, and recovering from winter break.  But for those that might be looking for something to stimulate and get them thinking about their work as an educator, we've assembled this collection of MOOCs that are starting up in the next week or two for you to consider signing up.

There's a great variety of them out there that can help enhance your day to day work or the bigger projects and goals in your professional life.  These were selected largely for their relevance to higher education, but we encourage you to check out some of the different MOOCs that are out there and let us know what you find! 

Academic Integrity: Values, Skills, Action

American Education Reform: History, Policy, Practice

Bringing STEM to Light - Teaching about Light and Optics

Childhood in the Digital Age

Coaching Digital Learning - Cultivating a Culture of Change

Disciplinary Literacy for Deeper Learning

Foundations of Teaching for Learning 1: Introduction

Foundations of Teaching for Learning 2: Being a Teacher

Foundations of Teaching for Learning 3: Learners and Learning

Foundations of Teaching for Learning 4: Curriculum

Foundations of Teaching for Learning 5: Planning for Teaching and Learning


Foundations of Teaching for Learning 6: Introduction to Student Assessment

Foundations of Teaching for Learning 7: Being a Professional


Foundations of Teaching for Learning 8: Developing Relationships


Learning through ePortfolios

Professional Web Accessibility Auditing Made Easy


Storytelling for Change

Teaching Adults: For new (and newish) Teachers

Teaching Literacy Through Film


Teaching Statistics Through Data Investigations


What MOOCs have you tried?  What has been your experience?

Monday, January 11, 2016

January Blackboard Learn Open Labs

Instructional Technology and Design (ITD) will be holding Blackboard Learn Open Labs in January. Faculty are welcome to drop by the Open Labs if there are any questions or issues in setting up course sites for the spring semester. ITD team members will be available to assist on both the Danvers and Lynn campuses. 

Week of January 11th
  • Monday, January 11th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB234 and LW307
  • Tuesday, January 12th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB234 and LW307
  • Wednesday, January 13th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB234 and LW307
  • Thursday, January 14th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB234 and LW307
Week of January 19th
  • Tuesday, January 19th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB234 and LW307
  • Wednesday, January 20th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB234 and LW307
  • Thursday, January 21st from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB234 and LW307
  • Friday, January 22nd from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB234 and LW307
Also, please do not hesitate to contact the Blackboard Learn Helpdesk at bbhelp@northshore.edu if there are any issues with Blackboard Learn.