iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (2/1/2016)

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). 

20 Minute Online Professional Development: How Do I Assign Students to Groups?
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 February 1st is How Do I Assign Students to Groups? 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-i-assign-students-to-groups-3113-1.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. Teaching Circles. The CTLA and ITD are excited to offer a faculty-driven approach to professional development organized around the concept of Teaching Circles. We are looking for you to pitch an idea that you are interested in facilitating small group exploration and discussion around, and we will support your group with the resources it needs.
 
Interested in learning more? Please contact Andrea Milligan or Chris Bednar.

2. Free Online Course (MOOC) on Accessibility: Designing and Teaching Courses for All Learners. 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

• Designing Effective Team Projects in Online Courses http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/designing-effective-team-projects-in-online-courses/ 
• Better Group Work Experiences Begin with How the Groups Are Formed http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/better-group-work-experiences-begin-with-how-the-groups-are-formed/
• Assigning Students to Small Groups
  http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/assigning-students-to-small-groups/26557

Share your Teaching Strategies
In what ways do you effectively utilize groups in your courses? What are some strategies for assigning students to groups? 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