The Faculty Development Digest highlights events and resources that may be of interest to faculty and other educators on campus. The Digest will be posted on the Faculty Resources site periodically throughout the year. If you have an item that you would like to suggest for inclusion in a future issue, please send the details to the Director of Faculty Development. To access previous issues, use the links in the Recent Posts box or on this page.
Spring Educator Resource Institute
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Spring 2024 Educator Resource Institute on Tuesday, May 14. Session materials are now linked to the schedule.
Whether or not you attended the ERI, we invite you to complete the ERI survey. As part of this initial survey, ERI participants will have the opportunity to opt into a follow-up survey that will be distributed later this year to collect information about the kinds of changes participants made as a result of the ERI.
Summer Events
New Faculty Orientation
Incoming full-time faculty are asked to reserve Wednesday, August 14, and Friday, August 16, for New Faculty Orientation. You will receive more information from the Director of Faculty Development in early August. Please also take look at the New Faculty Information page.
If you’re not familiar with Canvas or would like a refresher, you are encouraged to sign up for one or both of the August 15 Canvas workshops (see below). Also, check out the Canvas Tips page for information on getting started.
Summer Canvas Workshops
Instructure trainers will offer two Canvas workshops to the Allegheny community on August 15, 2024:
- The first workshop will take place via Zoom from 10:00am to 11:30am and will focus on Content Creation. This workshop is aimed at new Canvas users and anyone who would like a refresher on the basics; sign up here.
- The second workshop will take place via Zoom from 1:00pm to 2:30pm and will focus on Outcomes and the Learning Mastery Gradebook. Sign up here.
Fall Educator Resource Institute
This day-long professional development event will take place on Monday, August 19. Additional details will be shared in August.
Reimbursement Requests
Please remember to turn in all Faculty Travel or ASC Grant reimbursement requests to Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir by Friday, June 7, so that they can be processed before the end of the fiscal year. Original, itemized receipts should be accompanied by a completed Travel/Entertainment Report form with an ink signature; electronic submissions are generally not accepted. Additional information is available on the Faculty Funding page. Paperwork can be dropped off in Rachel Weir’s mailbox in Arter 103 between 8am and 4pm; the door on the Quigley side of the building should be unlocked at these times.
Report Reminders
ASC Funding Reports – June 30 If you received an Academic Support Committee grant for the current fiscal year (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024), please remember to complete the Funding Report submission form by June 30. This form and further details are available on the ASC Grant Applications page. Please contact Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir with any questions.
Activities Reports – June 30 As a reminder, the Annual Activities Report was significantly streamlined last year and should now be submitted via this form. Instead of asking for information that is available through other sources and reports, you are asked to identify, reflect upon, and highlight significant innovation and changes in your work. Your CV will be the primary location for listing activities and accomplishments; the Google Form will be the place where you can briefly reflect or provide context as appropriate. It will be most helpful if you can identify on your CV (via bold or highlighted text, for example), what elements are newly added in this reporting period (June 2023-May 2024).
Leave Reports – October 31 If you had a sabbatical or pre-tenure leave during the 2023/24 academic year, please remember to submit your leave report using the form on this page. For fall one-semester leaves, reports were due by March 31. For spring one-semester leaves and two-semester (fall/spring) leaves, reports are due by October 31.
Canvas Tips
End of Semester Tasks
Check out the Summer 2023 Faculty Development Digest for information on managing student access to completed courses and downloading your gradebook from Canvas.
Share Your Canvas Tips & Tricks
The Allegheny Canvas team would like to know how you’re using Canvas in your courses! How are you leveraging Discussions? Do you have any creative approaches to Canvas assignments or tips for making an especially engaging Home page? Have you found any uniquely useful LTIs or any navigation options that you consider an absolute must? Share your ideas with the team via this form for possible inclusion into upcoming workshops, faculty training, and/or announcements.
Canvas Updates
We’ll be rolling out a few changes to Canvas this summer so they’ll be ready to go for the fall semester.
- Instructure has redesigned the Discussions tool; check out this video from Instructure for more details. For more information, see the Instructor Guide on the Discussion Redesign in the Canvas Community.
- Instructure has also made some similar changes to the Announcements feature; check out the Announcements Redesign Instructor Guide in the Canvas Community for more info and tips.
- Starting in June, the old Google Apps Canvas plug-in will no longer be available and all instructors will use the Google Assignments LTI 1.3 tool. If you bring forward previous assignments into your Fall 2024 courses, this step-by-step guide will help with recreating Google Apps assignments to configure them for the new Google Assignments LTI 1.3.
Professional Development
The Grading Conference
Interested in learning about alternative grading methods in higher education? Register here for the 2024 Grading Conference – Higher Ed Focus, which will take place online from June 13 to June 15. The registration fee of $50 can be reimbursed from your Faculty Travel allowance. The keynote speakers will be Dr. Susan Blum, Dr. Laila McCloud, and Jeff Schinske. See the schedule for additional details.
Community-Engaged Learning
Materials from Dr. Barbara Jacoby’s recent workshop “Conducting and Supporting the Scholarship of Service-Learning” are available in this folder.
Summer Reading and Listening
Blog Posts
Here is an eclectic list of recent blog posts for your summer reading pleasure!
- After a Tough Year for Classroom Innovation, It’s Time for a Reset
- Busting Myths About Deadline Extensions
- Can You Teach Students to Read Effectively?
- It’s Time to Start Teaching Your Students How to Be a Student
- Teach Students How to Translate Their Learning for Employers
- The Goose in the Bottle (see also The Imperfectionist blog)
- The Liberal Arts Have a Messaging Problem
Podcasts
A very long list of podcasts by and for higher education professionals is available here. Here are a few that you might want to start with:
Events
Upcoming Events
- August 14 and 16 – New Faculty Orientation
- August 15 – Canvas Workshops (see details above)
- August 19 – Fall Educator Resource Institute (save the date)
Past Events and Materials
- May 14 – Spring Educator Resource Institute
- May 13 – Keynote Address: Thriving or Surviving? A Vision for the Second Year of College, Dr. Laurie Schreiner
- May 10 – Course Reflection Coffee Break
- Dec 20 – Course Reflection Coffee Break: Resource Page
- Aug 21 – Fall 2023 Educator Resource Institute
- Aug 17 – Canvas Essentials Workshop
- Aug 17 – Canvas Q&A Session
- May 16 – Spring 2023 Educator Resource Institute
See the Faculty Development Opportunities page for additional links to previous events.