iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (1/29/2018)

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 the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation (CTLI).
  

20 Minute Online Professional Development
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 29th is How Do I Create the Ideal Learning Environment for Modern Learners? 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 https://www.magnapubs.com/online/mentor/how-do-i-create-the-ideal-environment-for-modern-learners-14534-1.html. The complete spring schedule of Monday Morning Mentor sessions is available at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2018/01/20-minute-mentor-online-faculty.html.

Looking for transcripts of past Monday Morning Mentor sessions? Please email ctli@northshore.edu with the session title and we can provide you with the transcript and supplementary materials.   

Other Professional Development Opportunities

• Save the Date: NSCC’s Office of Student Engagement will be offering two co-curricular programming events this spring semester. The first one, "Changes in the Brain: Evidence from Neuroscience on the effects of Buddhism and the Secular Practice of Mindfulness", will take place on Tuesday, March 6th from 11:30am to 1:00pm in the Lynn Gym. For more information, please contact Dennis Hicks. 
      

Webinar of Interest – Recording Now Available
"Ugh, group work”: Restructuring Group Work & Projects in the Online Course: Recently NERCOMP ran a virtual webinar facilitated by Lance Eaton on ideas for integrating group work into online courses. The presentation materials are available at https://goo.gl/mvRiYu. And the recording can be accessed at https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/4160311594720154370?assets=true if you are interested in viewing the session. You will need to enter in your name and email address to access the recording.

To stay current on professional development opportunities offered by the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation over the spring semester:

• Read the Learning, Education, Technology and Support (LETS) Blog at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/. CTLI’s goal with this blog is to provide an informative and useful resource for faculty and staff by highlighting events, spotlighting projects, and presenting current information around instructional technology while also providing a growing pool of resources, recommendations, tools, and materials for teaching and learning purposes.
• "Like" the North Shore Community College Instructional Technology and Design Page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/myNSCC.acadtech. On the Instructional Technology and Design Facebook page, CTLI’s ITD team provides information about upcoming professional development opportunities, links to interesting articles on integrating technology into the teaching and learning environment, and presents tips on using the various instructional technology resources.    

 

Resources

• Helping Students Develop Critical Information Processing Skills https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/course-design-ideas/helping-students-develop-information-processing-skills/ 
• How to Deepen Online Dialogue https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/deepen-online-dialogue/
• Six Ways to Promote a Positive Learning Environmenthttps://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-classroom-management/six-ways-promote-positive-learning-environment/
    

Share Teaching Resources or Professional Development OpportunitiesIf you have any teaching strategies or resources that you would like to share with other NSCC faculty or know of any other professional development opportunities that NSCC faculty might be interested in, please feel free to send them to ctli@northshore.edu and we will share them in the upcoming 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,
Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation  

20 Minute Mentor - Online Faculty Professional Development - Spring 2018 Schedule

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation (CTLI) offers faculty a professional development series from Magna Publications, called the 20 Minute Mentor. The goal of the 20 Minute Mentor series is to offer faculty practical professional development opportunities in twenty minute snippets that can be accessed from anywhere and at any time during the given week. Session topics cover the areas of student engagement, teaching and learning, teaching online, assessment and learning goals, and classroom management.

Information on how to access the 20 Minute Mentor sessions is available each week in the Bulletin and the iDevelop e-newsletter.

New video presentations (with supplementary materials) go live at 10:00am each Monday morning and are only accessible through Sunday. 

The following sessions are on the schedule for spring 2018. For session descriptions, objectives, and mentor bios, click on the titles below. 

• January 29th - How Do I Create the Ideal Learning Environment for Modern Learners?
• February 5th - How Can I Teach Routine Courses with Energy and Enthusiasm?
• February 12th - How Can I Use Controversial Issues to Build Cognitive Skills in My Students?
• February 19th - How Can I Leverage Force Multipliers in the Classroom?
• February 26th - How Do I Create Social Presence in my Online Classes?
• March 5th - How Do I Effectively Review Online Courses and Programs for Quality?
• March 12th - How Can I Make My Multiple Choice Tests More Effective?
• March 19th - How Can I Be an Effective Mentor?
• March 26th - How Can I Engage Generation C?
• April 2nd - How Can I Revitalize My Classroom with Workforce Development Concepts?
• April 9th - How Do I Earn Swift Trust in my Online Classes?
• April 16th - How Do Mini-lectures Improve Student Engagement?
• April 23rd - How Can I Move my Teaching Forward at Midcareer?
• April 30th - How Can I Attract and Retain Adjunct Online Faculty?
• May 7th - How Can I Write Better Letters of Recommendation?
• May 14th - Copyright Crash Course: How Can I Stay on the Right Side of the Law?

We would love to hear your feedback on the usefulness of these sessions. Please send your input to ctli@northshore.edu.

January Blackboard Learn Open Labs

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation's Instructional Technology and Design team will be holding Blackboard Learn Open Labs in January.

Blackboard Learn Open Labs
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. Team members will be available to assist on both the Danvers and Lynn campuses. 

Week of January 15th  

• Tuesday, January 16th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB387 and LS319
• Wednesday, January 17th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB387 and LS319
• Thursday, January 18th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB387 and LS319
• Friday, January 19th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB387 and LS319
    

Week of January 22nd

• Monday, January 22nd from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB387 and LS319
• Tuesday, January 23rd from 9:00am-2:00pm in DB387 and LS319
• Wednesday, January 24th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB387 and LS319
• Thursday, January 25th from 9:00am-3:00pm in DB387 and LS319
    

Also, please do not hesitate to contact the Blackboard Learn Helpdesk at bbhelp@northshore.edu if there are any issues with Blackboard Learn.

Preparing for Spring 2018 Courses in Blackboard Learn

As you start to think about your spring courses, we wanted to share with you the following important information that will help you prepare your course site in Blackboard Learn.

Copying a Course
To copy a previous course site into a new one in Blackboard Learn:

1. Go into the course site that has the content to copy. In the Control Panel, expand the "Packages and Utilities" section and click Course Copy.
2. On the next screen, in the “Select Copy Type” section, make sure Copy Course Materials into Existing Course is selected in the drop down menu.
3. Now, in the “Select Copy Options” section, next to the Destination Course ID field, click Browse. Then, find and select the Course ID for the new course (the one you want to put the content into). Click Submit.
4. Select the Course Materials that you want to copy over to the new course. Usually, Select All is the best choice, although you might not want to copy announcements.
1. If Select All is not used, make sure to include Grade Center Columns and Settings if Assignments and/or Tests are being copied.
2. Also, under Discussion Board, select Include only the forums, with no starter posts if threads are not created by the instructor for students to respond to. If not, all student threads will copy over as anonymous and they will need to be deleted.
5. In the “File Attachments” section, keep the default settings.
6. Click Submit.

Please note: When a previous course site is copied over into a new course site, any new or changed content areas will be added to the bottom of the course menu.
    
Making your Course Shell Available to Students
When your course shell is ready for students to view, you will need to give them access. All course sites are unavailable to students by default. You can easily make your course sites available from the My Home page using the Qwickly multi-course tool.

If you are in your course site, here are the directions for making it available to your students. To open your course:

1. In your Blackboard Learn course shell, in the Control Panel, expand the Customization section and click Properties. 
2. On the next screen, scroll down to the “Set Availability” section and select Yes to make the course available. Note: We recommend that you select Yes instead of Use Term Availability. Term Availability is set to the last day of classes and will close your course site that day (even though your students might still need access to finish up the course). 
3. Click Submit to enable your students to see and access your course shell.
    

Preparing your Blackboard Learn Course Site for a New Semester
If you have already been using Blackboard Learn for your courses, please check out this handy reference to help you prepare your Blackboard Learn course site for a new semester at http://goo.gl/pZbUZ8.
  
Blackboard Learn Pre-semester Course Checklist
Once you course has been copied over, please review this checklist at https://goo.gl/18q3r5 to help you make sure your course site in Blackboard Learn is ready to go for the upcoming semester. 
   
Please do not hesitate to contact the Blackboard Learn Helpdesk at bbhelp@northshore.edu if there are any issues with Blackboard Learn.

iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (11/6/2017)

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 the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation (CTLI).
  

20 Minute Online Professional Development
The Monday Morning Mentor series will be available over the fall semester to bring you professional development in twenty minute snippets. The topic for the week of November 6th is How Do I Overcome Faculty Barriers to Online Teaching? 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.

Even though administrators are the primary audience for this session focused on ways to support faculty in the online teaching journey, information is presented about the different fears and concerns of faculty when it comes to online teaching as well as some misconceptions about online courses with some practical answers to those that faculty and department/program chairs might find interesting.  

More information about this session (including description, topics, and learning goals) is available at https://www.magnapubs.com/online/mentor/how-do-i-overcome-faculty-barriers-to-online-teaching-14243-1.html. The complete fall schedule of Monday Morning Mentor sessions is available at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2017/09/20-minute-mentor-online-faculty.html.

Looking for transcripts of past Monday Morning Mentor sessions? Please email ctli@northshore.edu with the session title and we can provide you with the transcript and supplementary materials.   

Other Professional Development Opportunities

• Technology Across the Curriculum Grants. The Technology Across the Curriculum (TAC) Committee invites all NSCC full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and professional teaching staff to submit applications to develop a TAC project in the spring of 2018 with implementation in the summer or fall of 2018. Fall application materials are now available and proposals are due by 11:59PM on Tuesday, November 14th. More information on the TAC Grants is available at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2017/10/technology-across-curriculum-grant.html.
• Gods and Goddesses. This year, NSCC’s Office of Student Engagement (OSE) will be offering four co-curricular programming events -- two this fall semester and two in the spring. The theme for this year is "Respect and Inclusion" (from the college’s Mission statement). The second co-curricular program, "Gods and Goddesses," is scheduled for Wednesday, November 8th in Danvers MS119 from 1:00pm to 2:30pm. This event will focus on Hinduism, a religion as vibrant today as it was more than 3,000 years ago.  Renowned Bharatnatyam dancer, Jayshree Bala Rajamani, will interpret the fascinating stories of the Hindu pantheon through her performance of Bharatnatyam. This dance form is more than a 1,000 years old and originated in the temples of South India, serving a similar purpose as the Mystery and Morality plays of Medieval England. Ms. Bala Rajamani is a highly acclaimed practitioner of this dance form who performs both nationally and internationally. The performance will be accompanied with explanations and will be followed by a Q&A. If you are unable to attend, please watch via Facebook Live on http://www.facebook.com/mynscc. OSE worked with the Liberal Studies Division and Academic Affairs to collaboratively create this series and hope that faculty will encourage their students to attend as well as weave it into their classes. For that purpose, the Library has created a list of resources available for those interested in learning more about Hinduism. Please visit http://libguides.northshore.edu/REL102/Hinduism to peruse those resources. And to further assist student learning, attached is a document with Learning Outcomes that are designed as a resource for faculty who choose to connect their teaching with these co-curricular interfaith events.     
    

Upcoming Webinars of Interest
-Webinar Title: Using Humor to Engage Students Online [Higher Ed BITS]
Thursday, November 09, 2017, 01:00 PM EST
For more information and to register: https://community.blackboard.com/events/1559-using-humor-to-engage-students-online
   
 National Distance Learning Week

• Celebrate National Distance Learning Week (November 6 - 10, 2017) with free professional development. View the NDLW 2017 webinar schedule on USDLA website at https://www.usdla.org/events/ndlw/.
• Celebrate National Distance Learning Week (November 6 - 10, 2017) with free professional development and learning resources from the Online Learning Consortium at https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/learn/national-distance-learning-week-2017/.  
    

Share Teaching Resources or Professional Development OpportunitiesIf you have any teaching strategies or resources that you would like to share with other NSCC faculty or know of any other professional development opportunities that NSCC faculty might be interested in, please feel free to send them to ctli@northshore.edu and we will share them in the upcoming 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,
Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation