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 Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir at rweir@allegheny.edu.
Upcoming Events
Canvas Workshops On Thursday, August 17 at 10am, Instructure trainer Cory Chitwood will facilitate a virtual, 90-minute Canvas Essentials workshop, aimed at new Canvas users or anyone who would appreciate a refresher on the basics of Canvas. Sign up via this form.
Cory will also run a virtual, 90-minute Q&A session at 1pm on August 17. Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions during the session and Cory will aim to address as many as possible during the allotted time. Sign up here.
Fall Teaching Circle If you would like to register your interest in participating in a fall teaching circle, please complete this form. The form also asks if you would be willing to serve as the facilitator. Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir will use the information received via this form to finalize the structure of the group. For reference, a teaching circle is a group of up to a dozen faculty members who meet on a regular basis throughout the fall semester to share issues, ideas, and advice connected to their teaching in a confidential and supportive setting. Please contact Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir with any questions.
New Faculty Orientation Incoming full-time faculty are asked to reserve Wednesday, August 16, and Friday, August 18, for New Faculty Orientation. You will receive more information from Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir in early August, but feel free to reach out to her before then if you have any questions. 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 17 Canvas workshops (see above). Also, check out the Canvas Tips page for information on getting started.
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 9, 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 Arter Hall during business hours; the door on the Quigley side of the building should be unlocked at these times. You can either leave everything in Rachel Weir’s mailbox in Arter 103 or slide it under her office door (Arter 114A). Please contact her with any questions.
Reimbursement requests for the next fiscal year will not be processed until early August.
Report Reminders
ASC Funding Reports – June 30 If you received an Academic Support Committee grant for the current fiscal year (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023), 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 – August 1 This year’s Annual Activities Report has been significantly streamlined and should now be submitted via this Google 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) which elements are newly added in this reporting period (June 2022-May 2023).
These reports are not intended to reproduce the detail required for a self-evaluation, and are primarily for reflection and reporting of activities not listed on your CV. With your updated CV, this report will offer appropriate audiences, such as the Provost, a better understanding of the broad range of faculty work occurring across campus. For most faculty in most years, completing the form should take less than 30 minutes. Please submit your report via the Google form by August 1, 2023. Department chairs will receive copies of their faculty’s Annual Activities Reports from the Provost’s Office after all reports have been submitted.
Leave Reports – October 31 If you had a sabbatical or pre-tenure leave during the 2022/23 academic year, please remember to submit your leave report using the form on this page. For fall one-semester leaves, reports are due by March 31. For spring one-semester leaves and two-semester (fall/spring) leaves, reports are due by October 31.
Spring Educator Resource Institute
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Spring 2023 Educator Resource Institute on Tuesday, May 16. Materials from all of the sessions 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.
The Fall Educator Resource Institute will take place on Monday, August 21. Click here to save the date on your calendar.
Canvas Tips
Student Access to Completed Courses
When creating Canvas courses, faculty have the ability to control when students can access the courses. Changes can be made via the Settings page in a Canvas course, in the Participation section. If you’d like to allow your students to access the course after the semester is over, just uncheck the box next to “Restrict students from viewing course after term end date.” Note that it’s not possible to allow only specific students to access the course. See this page for further details.
Downloading Canvas Gradebook
If you’ve been using the Canvas gradebook and would now like to download a copy for your records, follow these steps:
– Open the gradebook by selecting Grades from the navigation menu in the Canvas course.
– At the top of the page click Actions; this will open a dropdown menu.
– Select Export Entire Gradebook. This will download the gradebook as a CSV file, which you can then save in your Google Drive.
If you have applied any filters to the gradebook using the View menu at the top of the Grades page, choose Export Current Gradebook View to download only the filtered version.
See this page for further details.
Micro-Credentials
The development process is now open for micro-credentials to be launched in Spring 2024. If you, your department, or a team of faculty wish to develop a micro-credential, please fill out this form at your convenience.
The deadline for submitting micro-credential proposals to the Curriculum Committee is October 5th, 2023. With the number of potential credentials being considered, submitting the initial intake form linked above between now and August would be ideal, but not required.
For more information, please see the micro-credential website or email Byron Rich with questions. The full micro-credential proposal is available upon request.
Data Science Workshop for Faculty
Faculty are invited to register for a summer workshop, to be held virtually, on infusing data science in STEM education. Funded through NSF award 1917002, the workshop provides curricular materials for incorporating data science concepts in early (first/second year) courses in both STEM and Social Science undergraduate education. More information about the workshop, including stipends offered and participation in the grant activities beyond the workshop, can be found here. (The application deadline is listed as May 15, but appears to have been extended.)
Summer Planning Workshops
In the April Digest, we mentioned two free, online summer strategy sessions offered by the NCFDD (National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity). If you missed those sessions, you can view the materials by following the links below:
5 Tips to Avoid Summer Burnout
– 2023 recording
Every Summer Needs a Plan
– 2022 recording
– 2023 slides
For other tips on how to address exhaustion and burnout, see this NCFDD post.
If you are prompted to create an NCFDD account, check out this page for instructions.
FCR Updates
The Foundation & Corporate Relations (FCR) office invites you to check out the grant opportunity below and to contact them early and often at fcr@allegheny.edu if you’re thinking about applying for a grant.
Humanities Faculty: Community-Engaged Course Development & Voter Education The Project Pericles’ Periclean Faculty Leadership (PFL) Program in the Humanities Grant provides $4,500 grants to design new or significantly revised courses in the humanities that incorporate community-initiated projects and voter education. There are multiple deadlines to apply. If you are interested, please complete the FCR office’s grant proposal endorsement form, indicating which deadline you are interested in.
STEM Faculty: NSF Mid-Career Advancement Grant The MCA program offers an opportunity for scientists and engineers at the mid-career stage to substantively enhance and advance their research program and career trajectory. Mid-career scientists are at a critical career transition stage where they need to advance their research programs to ensure long-term productivity and creativity but are often constrained by service, teaching, or other activities that limit the amount of time devoted to research. MCA support is expected to help lift these constraints to reduce workload inequities and enable a more diverse scientific workforce (more women, persons with disabilities, and individuals from groups that have been underrepresented) at high academic ranks. If you are interested, please complete the FCR office’s grant proposal endorsement form.
Spring/Summer 2023 Events
Upcoming Events
- June 9 – First Year Course Registration Training
- Aug 16 – New Faculty Orientation, Day 1
- Aug 17 – Canvas Essentials Workshop (sign up here)
- Aug 17 – Canvas Q&A Session (sign up here)
- Aug 18 – New Faculty Orientation, Day 2
- Aug 21 – Fall Educator Resource Institute (click this link to save the date)
- Aug 22 – Exploratory Advisor Training 2, 11:15am-4:00pm
The second in a series of two workshops for instructors of LS 198 and LS 199.
Past Events and Materials
- February 3 – Virtual workshop on AI-Based Writing Systems
– Recording
– Slides
– Handout - May 16 – Spring Educator Resource Institute
– materials are linked to the schedule - May 17 – Department Chairs Workshop
– materials are available on the Resources for Chairs page - May 18 – Course Reflection Session
– to learn more about how to conduct a post-semester course reflection, check out this page.
See the Faculty Development Opportunities page for additional links to previous events.
Faculty Development Digest, April 2023
April 26th 2023
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 Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir at rweir@allegheny.edu.
Spring Educator Resource Institute
Allegheny faculty, staff, and administrators are invited to participate in the Spring 2023 Educator Resource Institute on Tuesday, May 16, with sessions running from 9:00am to 4:00pm. (We recognize that this is Election Day, but available days are limited without going further into the summer.)
A full schedule has been posted on the Faculty Resources site; please check this schedule for updates and room details. Participants are asked to RSVP by 2pm on Friday, May 12, using this form. Form responses will be used to determine room locations for the sessions.
Upcoming Events
Course Reflection Session Continuing the tradition begun at the end of the fall 2022 semester, faculty are invited to set aside some time to reflect on their spring courses in the company of colleagues at a Course Reflection Session on Thursday, May 18, from 1:30pm to 3:00pm. Interested faculty can sign up by completing this form. Refreshments will be provided. See the Post-Semester Course Reflections page for additional information.
Teach Global Health: Summer Institute for Curriculum & Course Design The institute is a three-day workshop (June 20-23, 2023 on the Allegheny campus) for faculty at undergraduate-serving institutions to share experiences and best practices, evaluate curricular programs and assessment tools, and participate in charrettes designed to refine course and curricular materials that strengthen students’ learning, with facilitators from AAC&U, University of Richmond, Trinity Western University, University of Maryland, and CUGH. Allegheny faculty who are interested in either developing a new course or updating an existing course that could be available as an elective for Global Health Studies majors / minors (as well as their own department) are welcome to participate for free. Please email Caryl Waggett (cwaggett@allegheny.edu) by May 16 to register your interest. See this website for additional information. This program is sponsored by AAC&U, GLCA, CUGH, CFHI, and CISG.
Canvas Training
Mark your calendars for the following opportunities that will take place this August:
On Thursday, August 17 at 10am, Instructure trainer Cory Chitwood will facilitate a virtual, 90-minute Canvas Essentials workshop, aimed at new Canvas users or anyone who would appreciate a refresher on the basics of Canvas. If you’d like to sign-up now to get it on your calendar, please complete this form.
Cory will also run a virtual, 90-minute Q&A session at 1pm on August 17. Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions during the session and Cory will aim to address as many as possible during the allotted time. Sign-up here.
Sign-up reminders will be included in upcoming Digest issues.
Tech Tips
Directory Information
Is your information in the Employee Directory incorrect or incomplete? If so, check out the instructions on the Update Information page to find out how to update your details. In short:
– you can update your Box Number, Office Number, and Office Phone Extension via Self Service
– you can update or add other information (e.g. Title, Biography, Photo) using the form at the bottom of the Update Information page.
The Update Information page can also be reached from the Employee Directory using the green button on the right-hand side of the page.
Migrating Files to a Personal Account If you’re finishing up your contract at Allegheny and want to keep any content from your Allegheny account in Google Workspace (e.g. Gmail, Drive), take a look at these instructions to learn how to download or transfer this content.
Workshops
Teaching. Registration is open for Intentional College Teaching‘s 3-week, online professional development courses, including:
– Teach Students How to Learn, June 12-28 (designed by Saundra McGuire)
– Significant Learning by Design-I, July 10-26 (designed by Dee Fink)
– Designing a Motivational Syllabus, July 31 – August 16 (designed by Christine Harrington and Melissa Thomas).
Faculty participants receive personalized feedback, discuss and share ideas with like-minded colleagues, and leave each course with tangible products they can implement in their teaching practice immediately. The cost of each workshop is $495.
Research. On June 20 from 12pm to 3pm, CUR will be hosting the virtual workshop Beginning a Research Program in Experimental Science Discipline at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution. This workshop will share first-hand experience from established faculty within such an institution, along with strategies for enhancing one’s research program within the context of undergraduate teaching and mentoring. In addition, this workshop will provide participants with information about sources of funding and other resources to support their research with undergraduates. The registration fee is $50.
The cost of professional development workshops like the two above can be reimbursed using your Faculty Travel allowance.
Summer Planning Workshops
Join the NCFDD (National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity) for two free, online strategy sessions focused on making the most of your summer. The first session, 5 Tips to Avoid Summer Burnout, will take place at 2pm on Thursday, May 4, and will focus on the best tips and strategies for maximizing research and productivity during the summer term and how to combat professional isolation and create a supportive writing community. The second session, Every Summer Needs a Plan, on Thursday, May 11, at 2pm, will focus on hands-on planning, where you can take time out of your schedule to identify your personal and professional goals for the summer, create a strategic plan to accomplish them, and identify the types of community, support, and accountability you need to make this your most productive and balanced summer ever!. Click here to sign up for one or both sessions.
If you haven’t taken advantage of our NCFDD institutional membership yet, check out this page for details on how to sign up.
FCR Updates
The Foundation & Corporate Relations (FCR) office invites you to check out the grant opportunity below and to contact them early and often at fcr@allegheny.edu if you’re thinking about applying for a grant.
Humanities Faculty: Community-Engaged Course Development & Voter Education The Project Pericles’ Periclean Faculty Leadership (PFL) Program in the Humanities Grant provides $4,500 grants to design new or significantly revised courses in the humanities that incorporate community-initiated projects and voter education. There are multiple deadlines to apply. If you are interested, please complete the FCR office’s grant proposal endorsement form, indicating which deadline you are interested in.
STEM Faculty: NSF Mid-Career Advancement Grant The MCA program offers an opportunity for scientists and engineers at the mid-career stage to substantively enhance and advance their research program and career trajectory. Mid-career scientists are at a critical career transition stage where they need to advance their research programs to ensure long-term productivity and creativity but are often constrained by service, teaching, or other activities that limit the amount of time devoted to research. MCA support is expected to help lift these constraints to reduce workload inequities and enable a more diverse scientific workforce (more women, persons with disabilities, and individuals from groups that have been underrepresented) at high academic ranks. If you are interested, please complete the FCR office’s grant proposal endorsement form.
AI-Writing Resources
Webinar Resources. As advertised in the March 2023 Digest, the GLCA-GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning hosted a conversation on ChatGPT on Wednesday, March 29. The following resources from that event are now available:
– a 29-minute video introduction to ChatGPT by Lew Ludwig (Denison)
– a Google Drive folder where you can see the Jamboard notes created in the webinar break-out rooms, along with a useful article by Ryan Watkins, Get Creative With Your Assignments.
Spring/Summer 2023 Events
Upcoming Events
- May 3 – Exploratory Advisor Training 1, 10:00am-3:00pm
A workshop for faculty serving as instructors for the pilot “advising labs” in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 (LS 198 and LS 199, respectively). - May 11 – Exploratory Advisor Training 1, 10:00am-3:00pm
A repeat of the May 3 training. Exploratory Advisors need only attend one of these two trainings. - May 16 – Spring Educator Resource Institute
- May 17 – Department Chairs Workshop
- May 18 – Course Reflection Session
- June 9 – First Year Course Registration Training
- Aug 16 – New Faculty Orientation, Day 1
- Aug 17 – Canvas Essentials Workshop
- Aug 17 – Canvas Q&A Session
- Aug 18 – New Faculty Orientation, Day 2
- Aug 21 – Fall Educator Resource Institute (click this link to save the date)
- Aug 22 – Exploratory Advisor Training 2, 11:15am-4:00pm
The second in a series of two workshops for instructors of LS 198 and LS 199.
Past Events and Materials
- January 5 – Post-semester Course Reflection Session 2
To learn more about how to conduct a post-semester course reflection, check out this page. Also, stay tuned for news about another course reflection session following the end of the spring 2023 semester. - January 10 – Workshop on Using Google Storage with Canvas
To learn more about how to use Google Drive as your primary storage location for your Canvas materials, check out these workshop slides. Included in the slides is information about how to set up a folder system in your Drive and different ways to integrate your Drive files into Canvas. - February 3 – Virtual workshop on AI-Based Writing Systems
– Recording
– Slides
– Handout
See the Faculty Development Opportunities page for additional links to previous events.
NCFDD Institutional Membership
July 28th 2022
For easy reference, below is a copy of the May 2022 email sent to faculty about our NCFDD institutional membership.
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce that Allegheny College has joined the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) as an Institutional Member. The NCFDD is a nationally-recognized, independent organization that provides online career development and mentoring resources for faculty at all stages of their career. We encourage all faculty to join the NCFDD through our institutional membership.
They provide a variety of virtual programs and resources including:
- Weekly Monday Motivator
- Monthly Core Curriculum Webinars
- Monthly Guest Expert Webinars
- Access to Multi-Week Courses
- Private Discussion Forum for peer mentoring, problem solving & moderated writing challenges
- Monthly accountability buddy matches
- Access to 14 day writing challenges
- Access to the Member Library that includes past webinars, referrals, and readings.
To claim your FREE institutional membership, please complete the following steps:
- Go to https://www.facultydiversity.org/join
- Choose Allegheny College from the drop down menu
- Select “Activate my Membership”
- Complete the registration form using your institutional email address (allegheny.edu)
- Go to your institutional email to find a confirmation/welcome e-mail. Click “Activate Account” in the email.
This institutional membership is sponsored by the Provost’s Office with input from the Directors of Faculty Diversity and Faculty Development. If you have any questions about the membership, please contact Heather Moore Roberson. If you have any technical questions, please email NCFDD at Membership@FacultyDiversity.org.
We hope that you enjoy the benefits of the Institutional Membership.
Sincerely,
Heather Moore Roberson, Director of Faculty Diversity & Inclusion
Rachel Weir, Director of Faculty Development
Ron Cole, Provost and Dean of the College
Angela Haddad, Incoming Provost and Dean of the Faculty