Monday, September 28, 2020

iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (9/21/2020)

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).  
  
Sign 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 will be available over the spring semester to bring you professional development in twenty minute snippets. The topic for the week of September 21st is How Can I Get Students to Engage with Course Content Before Class? 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/product/program/how-can-i-get-students-to-engage-with-course-content-before-class/.  The complete fall 2020 schedule of Monday Morning Mentor sessions is available at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2020/09/20-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. 
  
Upcoming Webinars of Interest
  • The Dawn of the Age of Digital Learning [Virtual Summit sponsored by Arizona State University] from SEP 29 –OCT 1, 7 & 8. "The dawn of the age of digital learning has created an awakening of ingenuity, innovation and perseverance that is not defined by an individual, company, school or technology. It is an ecosystem of heart, energy and passion driven by purposeful change. This is why we bring you ASU+GSV Virtual Summit 2020 – imagining a new era in which all people have equal access to the future. Attendance will be free of charge." [from the event description on their website]. Visit https://virtual.asugsvsummit.com/2020 for more information.
      
Interesting Resources
Share Your Teaching Resources and Professional Development Opportunities
If you have any teaching 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,
CTLI

Monday, September 14, 2020

20 Minute Mentor - Online Faculty Professional Development - Fall 2020 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. 


Banner with "Got 20 Minutes?  Then you have time to learn with the Monday Morning Mentor!"

The following sessions are on the schedule for fall 2020. For session descriptions, objectives, and mentor bios, click on the titles below. 
We would love to hear your feedback on the usefulness of these sessions. Please send your input to ctli@northshore.edu.

Preparing for Fall 2020 Courses in Blackboard Learn

 As you start to think about your fall 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.

Make Your Course Available
All Blackboard Learn course sites are unavailable to students by default. Here are the directions for making the course site available to your students. If you are in your course site, you should see a lock icon up at the top of your course site (to the left of Edit Mode). If you click that lock icon, it will make the course available to students. 

If you do not see the lock icon, here are the directions for making it available to your students.

To open your course:
  1. Go into the course site.
  2. On the Control Panel, expand the "Customization" section and click Properties.
  3. On the next screen, in the "Set Availability" section, select Yes to make the course available.
  4. Click Submit.
Preparing a Blackboard Learn Course Site for a New Semester
Please check out this handy reference at http://goo.gl/pZbUZ8 to help you prepare a  Blackboard Learn course site for a new semester.

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.