iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (4/25/2016)

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). 

20 Minute Online Professional Development: Is Your Syllabus Sending the Wrong Message?
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 April 25th is Is Your Syllabus Sending the Wrong Message? 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/is-your-syllabus-sending-the-wrong-message-3197-1.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.

2016 Issue of The Edge
The 2016 issue of The Edge (the 25th edition of the Technology Across the Curriculum (TAC) Newsletter) is now available at: https://issuu.com/nscc/docs/theedgenewsletter25final. You can also find it as a link from the college's web site under Faculty and Staff > Professional Development > Technology Across the Curriculum and in Pipeline under My Northshore > Faculty Resources > Technology Across the Curriculum.

In this issue, you will hear about the TAC projects of 29 faculty in their own words. Also in this issue, Andrea Milligan, Director of Instructional Technology and Design, and Lance Eaton, Coordinator of Instructional Design, have contributed two articles, one on the Teaching and Learning Online TAC training program for faculty developing online and hybrid courses, and another entitled “Blackboard Learn Tool Spotlight.” That article describes two features on Blackboard Learn that may be new to faculty: SafeAssign, a tool to help prevent plagiarism, and Rubrics, an assessment tool. Finally, in this issue Terri Whitney describes the upcoming installment of a NSCC Literary Websites computer kiosk at the Lynn Museum which will feature three literary websites developed at NSCC, two with TAC grants.

Resources

• What Does Your Syllabus Say About You and Your Course?
  http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/what-does-your-syllabus-say-about-you-and-your-course/ 
• Give Your Syllabus an Extreme Redesign for the New Year https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/give-your-syllabus-extreme-redesign-new-year 
• Writing Syllabi Worth Reading
  http://www.tonahangen.com/courses/syllabusdesign/

Share your Teaching Strategies
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

Spotlighting Innovations in Academic Technology at North Shore Community College

The latest edition of the Technology Across the Curriculum (TAC) newsletter, The Edge: Where Classrooms Meet Technology, is now available on North Shore Community College’s public site at: http://www.northshore.edu/faculty_staff/resources/tac.html.

The TAC program at NSCC "promotes academic excellence by stimulating and nurturing innovative ideas by faculty and professional staff that employ technology in support of teaching and learning". The TAC program supports creative uses of instructional technology inside and outside of the classroom as well as the development of new online and hybrid courses.

Check out this year's issue to learn more about the innovations of NSCC faculty, staff, and administration in the area of academic technology.

The current issue of The Edge includes:

• Comments from 29 TAC faculty on their projects.
• An article by Andrea Milligan, Director of Instructional Technology and Design, and Lance Eaton, Coordinator of Instructional Design, on the Teaching and Learning Online TAC training program for faculty developing online and hybrid courses. 
• An article by Andrea Milligan, Director of Instructional Technology and Design, and Lance Eaton, Coordinator of Instructional Design, that describes two features on Blackboard Learn that may be new to faculty: SafeAssign, a tool to help prevent plagiarism, and Rubrics, an assessment tool.
• An article by Terri Whitney, English professor and TAC Coordinator, about the upcoming installment of a NSCC Literary Websites kiosk at the Lynn Museum which will feature three literary websites developed at NSCC, two with TAC grants.

iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (4/18/2016)

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).
  

20 Minute Online Professional Development: How Do Prepared Students Change the Way I Teach?
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 April 18th is How Do Prepared Students Change the Way I Teach? 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-prepared-students-change-the-way-i-teach-13527-1.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

• Summer Offering of Teaching and Learning Online Course. Interested in exploring the dynamics of online teaching and learning?  This summer, Instructional Technology and Design will be facilitating their online course, Teaching and Learning Online. This course provides a mixture of best practices and strategies around developing and teaching an online or hybrid course. NSCC faculty interested in taking this course are encouraged to apply by Friday, April 22nd at http://goo.gl/forms/4tn4FWg9Gu. The course runs for 6 weeks from May 16th to June 26th and requires a time commitment of approximately 3-4 hours a week. Faculty will need daily access to the Internet on a laptop or desktop in order to successfully complete the course. Faculty who complete the course will receive a $500 stipend. Candidates will first be selected based upon the priorities of the Divisions. We encourage faculty to speak with their Division Dean about their interest to participate in the course. Faculty will be notified of acceptance into the course by Friday, April 29th.

Resources

• Rethinking the Way College Students Are Taught
  http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/lectures/rethinking-teaching.html 
• Ensuring Students Come to Class Well Prepared http://www.columbia.edu/cu/tat/pdfs/prepared.pdf
• How to Get Your Students to Come to Class Prepared http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/instructional-design/get-students-come-class-prepared/

Share your Teaching Strategies
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
 

iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (4/11/2016)

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: What Key Factors Influence Test Performance?
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 April 11th is What Key Factors Influence Test Performance? 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/What-Key-Factors-Influence-Test-Performance-13599-1.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

• Feedback on Possible Days for Faculty Technology Summer Institute. In June, Instructional Technology and Design, the Library, and the Educational Technology Innovations Group will be holding the Sixth Annual Faculty Technology Summer Institute. This year, the theme of the Summer Institute will be "Flipping Blackboard" (exploring flipped learning and how Blackboard Learn can support the flipped class). We are looking for feedback around possible dates to schedule the two day Summer Institute. If you might be interested in attending, please take a minute to fill out a brief survey indicating your availability at http://goo.gl/forms/QdZHt0bZFa (by Friday please).
• Beyond the Basics-Disability Services. As part of Disability Services’ Brown Bag Lunch Series, Susan Graham, Director of Disability Services, will be facilitating a conversation around questions and scenarios submitted from faculty and staff regarding accessibility and Disability Services. The event will take place on Thursday, April 14th from 12:30pm to 1:30pm in Danvers, DB388 (CTLA Conference Room).
• Forum on Tolerance: Thinking Outside the Gender Box: Insights into Being Transgender. This year, the Forum on Tolerance will be April 14th and April 15th. The April 14th event will take place in the Lynn Gym from 6:15pm to 8:45pm and the April 15th event will take place in Danvers DS119 from 10:30am to 12:30pm. The Danvers event features training in how to be a good ally to the LGBTQ community and is designed to take up two classroom periods, so please bring your class. Each segment is aligned with the 50 minutes class period. The Lynn Event features, Alishia Ouellette, the First Massachusetts Firefighter to Transition while on the job, as well as our very own faculty, Tiffany Magnolia and Kara Kaufman, and NSCC student, Gianni Lara. Both events will have refreshments and resource tables!

Calling All Faculty who Taught PSY102 or PSY204 in Fall 2015
Maureen Nardella would be grateful if you could share a copy of your syllabus and a recent CV with her. For the OTA program's accreditation, Syllabi and CVs are required for OTA courses as well as for support courses, like PSY. Thank you for helping your OTA colleagues with ACOTE accreditation!

Share your Teaching Strategies
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

iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (4/4/2016)

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 Prepare a SoTL Article for Publication?
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 April 4th is How Do I Prepare a SoTL Article for Publication? 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-prepare-a-sotl-article-for-publication-3174-1.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

• Paws For a Cause. A First Year Experience course is participating in a service-learning project where they are hosting a fundraiser for Operation Delta Dog, a local nonprofit whose mission is to rescue homeless dogs and train them to work as service dogs for veterans with PTSD and TBI. The event will be held on April 24th from 11-2 at Ipswich River Park in North Reading. There will be music, food, vendors, activities for kids and dogs, a raffle, etc. Please come and support a small group of 7 students in their undertaking of a tremendous task (and cross your fingers for good weather)! If you would like to donate but cannot make the event, there is a GoFundMe link: http://gofundme.com/hqtkdp38.
• Forum on Tolerance: Thinking Outside the Gender Box: Insights into Being Transgender. This year, the Forum on Tolerance will be April 14th and April 15th. The April 14th event will take place in the Lynn Gym from 6:15pm to 8:45pm and the April 15th event will take place in Danvers DS119 from 10:30am to 12:30pm. The Danvers event features training in how to be a good ally to the LGBTQ community and is designed to take up two classroom periods, so please bring your class. Each segment is aligned with the 50 minutes class period. The Lynn Event features, Alishia Ouellette, the First Massachusetts Firefighter to Transition while on the job, as well as our very own faculty, Tiffany Magnolia and Kara Kaufman, and NSCC student, Gianni Lara. Both events will have refreshments and resource tables!

Call for Mentors
Interested in supporting new part-time faculty during the Fall 2016 semester? The CTLA is collaborating with Lance Eaton in Instructional Technology and Design (ITD) and Danielle Santos in Communications Skills to create a new mentoring program that will better acclimate new part-time faculty to NSCC. The program will be structured to offer discipline-specific mentoring, where new part-time faculty are matched with a mentor within their discipline. Mentors will receive college service for their participation.

Recommended meeting topics and schedule:

• Initial meeting: sharing of instructional materials, digital resources, and location of other key resources at NSCC (e.g., photocopiers and mail boxes).
• Week 1: General overview of Blackboard and sharing of ITD contact information. Sharing of syllabi.
• Week 2: Assignment/assessment design
• Week 3: Early Alerts 
• Week 4: Discussion of library resources and tutoring support
• Week 5: Mid-term Alerts
• Week 6: Discussion of registration for courses and student scholarships
• Week 7: Discussion of disability services, counseling, and classroom management
• Week 8–13: Two “open check-ins” for support
• Week 14: Final grades

The success of the program depends in large part on the mentor’s willingness to adapt, extend, and revise the above recommended schedule according to the needs of the faculty members. Please consider offering your experience to this important initiative. For more information, contact Chris Bednar.

Share your Teaching Strategies
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