iDevelop – NSCC’s Faculty Professional Development eNewsletter (8/30/2021)

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 August 30th is How Can Understanding Group Dynamics Lead to Better Group Work? 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-understanding-group-dynamics-lead-to-better-group-work/. The complete fall schedule of Monday Morning Mentor sessions is available at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2021/08/20-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

• Instructor Webinar Series: Teaching with Blackboard from Basics to Advanced. In September, Blackboard is offering a series of free webinars "to help with getting the most out of teaching with Blackboard Learn and Collaborate." More details about the webinars as well as registration information is available at https://go.blackboard.com/Instructor-webinar-series. 

Interesting Articles and Resources

• Live with Judy Klimek: Using Group Exams as a Review Learning Activity (Faculty Focus Live Podcast) “In this episode, we dive into how Judy Klimek uses a group exam review to go over answers from the final, individual exam. From fostering engaging conversations to pinpointing challenging questions, each small group reviews the results from their individual exams and comes to a consensus as to why answers were right or wrong.  As an instructor, Klimek also explains how the group exam review allows her to reassess exam questions in the future and engage one-on-one with students who might need extra assistance.” https://www.facultyfocus.com/faculty-focus-live-podcast/
• Nine Alternatives to Lecturing, https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/alternatives-lecturing/active-learning/varying-your-teaching-activities
• 10 Ways to Make Your Fall Classes Better, https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/10-ways-make-your-fall-classes-better
• 8 Ways to Keep Your Course Flexible—For Whatever The Next Academic Term Holds, https://tophat.com/blog/flexible-teaching-toolkit/
• 8 Ways to Improve Group Work Online, https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2020/10/28/advice-how-successfully-guide-students-group-work-online-opinion 
• Facilitating Effective Collaboration in Virtual Student Teams, https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/online-course-design-and-preparation/facilitating-effective-collaboration-in-virtual-student-teams/

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  

Preparing for Fall 2021 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 your 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. 

Blackboard Learn How-To Guide for Faculty

If you have any questions about using some of the features of Blackboard Learn, we encourage you to check out our Blackboard Learn How-To Guide for Faculty at https://sites.google.com/northshore.edu/blackboard-faculty/home. Here we have step-by-step guides to learn how to use the top ten Blackboard Learn features as well as links to our recorded workshops and additional resources for faculty and students.  

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 (8/23/2021)

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 August 23rd is How Can I Create a Meaningful Online Learning Experience for Students? 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-create-a-meaningful-online-learning-experience-for-students/. The complete fall schedule of Monday Morning Mentor sessions is available at http://nscclets.blogspot.com/2021/08/20-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

• Upcoming CTLI Virtual Workshops. In August, the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation will be hosting a series of virtual workshops around online and hybrid design and teaching best practices as well as the features of Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, and Zoom. The complete schedule of virtual workshop sessions (with descriptions) as well as RSVP information is available at https://forms.gle/VF3fRNjR6wVkaGQk8. If interested in attending a virtual workshop, please make sure to RSVP. A virtual workshop will be cancelled if less than five people sign up for it.
• Instructor Webinar Series: Teaching with Blackboard from Basics to Advanced. In September, Blackboard is offering a series of free webinars "to help with getting the most out of teaching with Blackboard Learn and Collaborate." More details about the webinars as well as registration information is available at https://go.blackboard.com/Instructor-webinar-series. 

Upcoming Webinars of Interest

• Beyond Affordability: How Open Educational Resources Positively Influence Student Success (AAC&U webinar) on Tuesday, August 24th at 3:00pm. More details about the webinar as well as registration information is available at https://secure.aacu.org/iMIS/AACUR/Events/Event_Display.aspx?EventKey=WEB210824.
• How to Use Zoom in the New (Blended) Normal: Models for Student Inclusion and Engagement (Contact North webinar) on Thursday, August 26, 2021 at 11:00am. More details about the webinar as well as registration information is available at https://teachonline.ca/webinar/how-use-zoom-new-blended-normal-models-student-inclusion-and-engagement-0.

Interesting Articles and Resources

• An Essential and Imperative Part of Teaching: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Faculty Focus Live Podcast) “Diversity and inclusion in higher education…It’s important. It’s imperative. And it’s an essential part of teaching. In this episode, we talk about how you can infuse inclusive teaching strategies into your online classes and your in-person classes. From small scale to large scale incorporations, each inclusive strategy and diversity-related topic matters. Whether you incorporate these strategies into your syllabus, curriculum, or project-based learning activities, you can start to think about how this will improve how your students engage with your course and how you can better establish a classroom culture.” https://www.facultyfocus.com/faculty-focus-live-podcast/

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  

20 Minute Mentor - Online Faculty Professional Development - Fall 2021 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 fall 2021. For session descriptions, objectives, and mentor bios, click on the titles below. 

• August 23 - How Can I Create a Meaningful Online Learning Experience for Students?
• August 30 - How Can Understanding Group Dynamics Lead to Better Group Work?
• September 6 - How Will OER Benefit the 21st Century Student?
• September 13 - How Can I Increase Exam Security with Custom Question Banks?
• September 20 - How Can Discussion Responses Give Narrative Shape to an Online Class?
• September 27 - How Can I Adapt My Teaching So Students Thrive in a Polysynchronous Classroom?
• October 4 - How Can I Ensure Academic Integrity in the Online Classroom?
• October 11 - How Can I Teach Soft Skills to Better Prepare Students for the Workplace?
• October 18 - How Can I Encourage Students to Stay Connected with Course Content After Class?
• October 25 - How Can I Effectively Move Peer Reviews Online?
• November 1 - How Can I Develop Opportunity-Minded Learners?
• November 8 - How Can I Manage the Disconnect Between Faculty and Student Perceptions of Rigor to Increase Learning?
• November 15 - How Can I Help Students Who Are Struggling with Online Learning?
• November 22 - How Can I Grade In Less Time with Greater Impact?
• November 29 - What are the Differences Between Synchronous and Asynchronous Teaching, and How Do I Best Choose the Format for My Online Class?
• December 6 - What Can I Do to Manage and Reduce Academic Job Stress?

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