RSE

Faculty Development Digest, August 2024

By August 22nd 2024

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 Lisa Whitenack at lwhitena@allegheny.edu.

Changing of the Guard

Please join me in thanking Rachel Weir for her outstanding service as the Director of Faculty Development over the last three years!

I’m looking forward to working with all of you over the next four years and appreciate your patience as I learn the ropes as the new Director.

~Lisa Whitenack

Fall Educator Resource Institute

Allegheny faculty, staff, and administrators were invited to participate in the Fall 2024 Educator Resource Institute (ERI) on Monday, August 19. If you missed it or want to look back at the materials, you can find the full schedule here (which also contains links to the slide decks that our presenters used).

Whether you attended the ERI or not, please take the time to fill out this survey. Our presenters would appreciate your feedback if you attended. If you didn’t attend, I would love some feedback on what you would like to see in future ERIs and what the obstacles to attending are.

Setting Up Your Courses

Check out the Preparing for a New Semester page for reminders and tips for the new academic year. In particular:

  • Take a look at the Syllabus Checklist page as a reminder of the required and recommended syllabus content. This page summarizes the information found in Section 9.1 of the Faculty Handbook.
  • Don’t forget to update your syllabus statements if you’re reworking a syllabus from a previous semester.
  • If you are teaching a course that has an SP or PD distribution requirements tag, please make sure you are able to identify at least one assignment that will assess that learning outcome. The rubrics that will be used to assess those learning outcomes can be found here (SP) and here (PD). Faculty teaching courses with other DR tags should still consider how specific assignments could be used to assess those learning outcomes, as we anticipate expanding this requirement to additional tags in future semesters.
  • If you’re thinking about AI and your classroom, Elon University & AAC&U have published this student guide to AI. The guide is shared under a Creative Commons license, so you can create a version that more closely matches your needs (see the statement on page 20 about reuse).

Reports of Student Experience (RSEs). The fall RSE survey will be open during the week of December 2, so please make sure that you set aside time for students to complete the survey during class that week. This survey is administered via the RSEs link that appears in the navigation menu in each of your Canvas courses. For this reason, all courses that are eligible for RSEs must have published Canvas sites, preferably by the Add/Drop deadline so that reminders don’t need to be sent out to instructors. This doesn’t mean that entire courses need to be managed through Canvas. You can find instructions on how to create a minimal Canvas course in this document.

You may also want to make time to administer a midterm course reflection, followed by a post-semester course reflection.

Canvas Information

Canvas Workshops. On Thursday, August 15, we held two virtual Canvas workshops: one on Content Creation and the other on Outcomes, Rubrics, & Learning Mastery. If you missed them, you can watch the recordings.

Course Mergers. Library Services, working with the Office of the Registrar, has developed a streamlined process for merging course sections in Canvas. Faculty who are teaching more than one section of a course may wish to request that the sections be merged into a single Canvas course. To request a merger, please use the Request a Canvas Course Merger button on the Library Resources for Faculty page, and submit the form provided. Requests will be processed by Library Services after approval by the Registrar.

Please allow time for processing. It is imperative that course merger requests be submitted before classes begin. Course mergers cannot be completed after students have submitted assignments or participated in discussions in the course. Please note that this process supersedes the former methods of emailing LITS or opening a WebHelp ticket.

Canvas Support. The Canvas Tips page contains information about Canvas resources and support, course set-up reminders, troubleshooting suggestions, and a link to materials from previous Canvas workshops. Two quick reminders:
– If you’ve copied content from a previous course, watch out for issues with invalid links or unpublished images (the dreaded padlock!). You can identify these quickly using the Course Link Validator. See this article for more information.
– If you can’t find one of your courses in Canvas, click on the Courses icon and then select All Courses. Click the star next to any course to add it to your Courses menu and your Dashboard. See more information here.

Updates to the Honor Code

As faculty write syllabi and assignments, please remember to give students clear guidance on what is and is not acceptable in your course. This guidance should be repeated to students at appropriate intervals, especially as tests and assignments are coming due. Faculty teaching classes with first-year students should be especially mindful to teach academic integrity to students, as the standards and habits these students are used to may not be the same from high school to college.

The Honor Code was revised by student vote in Spring 2024, but nothing has changed in terms of the expectations or process for faculty to report suspected Honor Code violations. The Honor Code reporting form is here and the up-to-date Honor Code is here. A summary of the changes made in the new version is posted here.

The most significant change for 2024-2025 is that the expedited hearing process has been replaced by a mutual agreement process, which brings the Honor Code more into alignment with our non-academic code of conduct for students. 

Please remember that if you have unresolved Honor Code cases from Spring 2024, those will proceed according to the old rules. 

Please contact Ian Binnington (ibinning@allegheny.edu) with any questions!

Updates from the Library

Book Suggestion/Review. Why Learn History (When it’s Already on your Phone), Sam Wineburg

How do we get today’s students excited about reading and learning about history and other liberal arts topics? Wineburg seeks to address how today’s students learn (going against much of what we know about Bloom’s Taxonomy) and suggests how educators can navigate this cultural shift in technology, learning, and thinking. This book is available in the Faculty Development section of Pelletier Library (main floor), call number: 973 W725 w

Research Librarians & Class Visits. Research librarians are available to work with faculty to design classes to help students develop the information literacy and/or research skills they need for their courses.

Using the Request a Library Session button on our Research Instruction Classes page, please request two possible dates and times for a librarian visit to your class. We appreciate your flexibility with scheduling.

Librarians can visit your classroom, or you can bring your students to Pelletier for the session.

A list of suggested possible topics can be found on the same page. Please let us know which would be particularly important for your students to learn, or suggest additional topics.

What’s New.

  • The newly instituted Research Desk (located at the front entrance of Pelletier Library) will be staffed during peak library usage times. Beginning on Tuesday, August 27, students, faculty, staff, and community patrons may stop at the desk during posted times, or schedule an appointment with a Research Librarian. Research Desk Hours are 3:00 pm – 9:00 pm Monday – Thursday, with additional scheduled hours (to be determined) during the day.
  • The Dean of the Library, Tressa Snyder, will be reaching out to departments to discuss library support of research, collection development, and programmatic needs.
  • Two new librarians have joined Pelletier Library Staff! Andrew Miller, Research & Digital Humanities Librarian, and Chris Anderson, Archives & Special Collections Librarian.  Andrew and Chris will be reaching out to faculty regarding research needs. Both will be teaching library instruction sessions and serving at the Research Desk.

Fall 2024 Opportunities

Upcoming Workshop

Join our colleagues Alexis Hart and Byron Rich for the one-hour online session “No Robot Left Behind: AI and Your Fall Classes,” Wednesday, August 28, from 12:15-1:15 EDT.

This session is specifically tailored for liberal arts divisions in Art, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. This session will be run by Byron Rich (Assistant Provost of Academic Innovation: Director of Academic Innovation Partnerships) and Alexis Hart (Professor of English and Director of Writing) of Allegheny College, Caitlyn Deeter (Instructional Technologist) of Rollins College and Lew Ludwig (Professor of Mathematics; Director, Center for Learning and Teaching) of Denison University.  This session will begin with discussing AI with your students, providing you with tools to establish clear and effective AI policies. Following that, we’ll break into groups by academic division, allowing for in-depth engagement with AI strategies and insights relevant to your field. Discover how faculty in various disciplines are already using AI tools to enhance teaching. Share your insights, pose questions, and prepare yourself with the knowledge to create a balanced, fair, and academically rigorous environment for the upcoming semester. Please note, due to the division-specific breakouts, we will not be able to record this session for later viewing. We will provide a webpage link with resources to all who register. 

 Sign up HERE for this online event (a Zoom link will be sent the day before).  For questions, please reach out to Collen Monahan Smith of the GLCA.

 Fall Teaching Circle

A teaching circle is a group of up to a dozen faculty members who meet on a regular basis throughout the semester to share issues, ideas, and advice connected to their teaching in a confidential and supportive setting. We are in the process of identifying someone to facilitate the fall teaching circle. Please watch for a My Allegheny announcement for information about dates and times, plus a sign-up form. Please contact Director of Faculty Development Lisa Whitenack with any questions.

Writing Accountability Group

Are you an untenured faculty member (tenure-track, NTTR, visiting, adjunct, etc)? Do you have scholarly writing projects you need to complete and just have a hard time finding the time? Do you like to have camaraderie while you work? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, please join us for the Writing Accountability Group (WAG)! Starting September 20th, we will be meeting one Saturday a month to write (9:00-12:00), socialize during lunch (12:00-1:00), and write some more (1:00-4:00). Lunch is provided. If you are interested in joining us, please complete this form. Note that completing this form does not mean you are required to attend every meeting. You also do not need to attend the entire duration every Saturday to join. If you have any other questions about WAGs, please email Chris Normile at cnormile@allegheny.edu. This group is sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

Upcoming Events

  • Aug 30 – New Faculty Lunch

See the Faculty Development Opportunities page for additional links to previous events.

Faculty Development Digest, February 2024

By February 15th 2024

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

Save the Dates. Thanks to the Maytum Center for Student Success and the William Beazell Memorial Fund, the Spring Educator Resource Institute (ERI) will kick off early this year with a presentation and reception on Monday, May 13, in advance of our traditional day of workshops and presentations on Tuesday, May 14.

Dr. Laurie Schreiner, a national expert on the second-year experience, will be giving a talk at 4:15pm on Monday, May 13th, with a reception to follow. Her presentation should be of interest to all faculty, staff, and administrators who mentor and advise students, with particular relevance to Exploratory Advisors, who will be continuing to advise 2023-2024 students through much of their pivotal second year. A related workshop will take place on May 14 as part of the ERI. Please direct questions to Second Year Class Dean Amy Stearns.

Funding Opportunities

Demmler Awards. The Demmler endowment provides funding for faculty members who wish to pursue projects to develop innovation in teaching and in the curriculum. Consistent with data provided to us by the Art & Science Group and the strategies outlined in The Allegheny College Pathway, this year preference will be given to projects that focus on 1) building career discernment into academic programs; 2) building hands-on learning into the academic program; 3) developing accelerated academic programs (3+1 or 4+1 combined bachelors/masters degrees); and/or 4) developing proposals for federal grants or grants from major foundations.

You can read the full description of this year’s call here, and applications should be submitted using this form by March 1, 2024. Proposals will be reviewed by the Provost and Senior Associate Provost with the goal of notifying applicants of the decision on funding by April 1, 2024.

College Schools Collaborative. Do you have a terrific idea for a new collaborative project between Crawford Central School District and Allegheny College faculty, staff, or students? If so, the College-Schools Collaborative (CSC) can help you by providing funding to support your collaborative project. Guidelines and the application form can be found via this link. If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Whitenack.

In the Library

Looking for a resource to guide your teaching? Each month we will highlight relevant materials from our collection in Pelletier.

Did you know that Allegheny has an institutional subscription to Magna’s The Teaching Professor resource? Via this subscription, you can access articles and advice on a variety of teaching topics and you can also sign up to receive a weekly newsletter. To access this resource, use this link or search for “Teaching Professor” in Aggregator on the Library website.

As an example, a search for “peer review” yields multiple articles including The Benefits of Student Peer Review, Three Methods to Enhance Peer Review in Your Classroom, and Student Peer Review and Learning. Check out The Teaching Professor the next time you need advice or strategies to support your teaching!

Teaching Tools

Midterm Course Reflection. Have you made time in your course schedule for a Midterm Course Reflection? Week 7 (Feb. 26 – Mar. 1), right before we head into Spring Break, could be a great time to pause and gather feedback from your students about what is and isn’t going well for them in your course so far. You can find multiple resources on the Midterm Course Reflections page, including how to set up the survey, how to review the responses, and how to follow up with your class. This information is also available via the Teaching Resources page in the Faculty Resources site.

Reports of Student Experience (RSEs). The spring RSE survey will be open during the week of April 22, so please make sure that you set aside time for students to complete the survey during class that week.

Post-Semester Course Reflection. At the end of the semester, make time for a post-semester course reflection. Watch for details about our May Course Reflection Coffee Break if you’re interested in reflecting with colleagues!

Professional Development Opportunities

Study Away Workshop. Study Away brings students into contact with new cultural frameworks that can challenge and shape their identities, and we as educators can help make this a productive growth experience for them. Join Allegheny’s Global Education Office as we welcome veteran Higher Education Leader, Dr. Shakeer Abdullah, to lead our faculty and staff community in a training seminar on Using Multicultural Competence to Support Diverse Students in Study Away Programs. Dr. Abdullah will coach us on the knowledge, skills, and awareness we need to support our students and their identity development before, during, and after they study away. Read Dr. Abdullah’s full bio and watch a brief video introduction of the workshop for additional information.

Please RSVP by April 1. Space is available for 35 Allegheny educators to participate in the workshop on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunch will be provided at the start of the event, and light refreshments mid-afternoon. Support for this event was provided by the Great Lakes Colleges Association through its Global Crossroads Initiative, made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.

Inclusive STEM Teaching Online Course. The Inclusive STEM Teaching Project, an NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program, is hosting a free six-week Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from March 4 – April 26, 2024, via edX. Participants in the course will learn how to:
– Advance awareness, self-efficacy, and ability to cultivate inclusive classroom environments
– Support their development as reflective, inclusive practitioners
– Engage in reflection and discussion around topics of equity and inclusion across a variety of institutional contexts
– Implement inclusive teaching methods in their classes that will remove common barriers and enhance learning in STEM for all students.
Click here for more information and to register for the course.

Questions can also be directed to Lisa Whitenack, who completed a previous offering of the course.

Perusall Community Book Event. As part of the Perusall Engage series, faculty are invited to participate in a 4-week asynchronous, author-facilitated, communal reading experience focused on Michelle D. Miller’s book Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology. This community event will run from February 26 until March 22. During this time, participants will be able to engage with the author, with each other, and with the book content, all within the Perusall platform and at their own pace. There is a $15 fee to access the book for two months, but you can participate in the four-week book event for the first week without charge. A discount coupon will be provided for attendees who wish to purchase a print copy of the book after the event. Click here to join the event.

ASC Reminders

ASC Funding Deadline. The spring semester deadline for ASC grant applications is February 15. All full-time continuing faculty are eligible to apply for funding of up to $3500 per year to support projects in 2023/24 or 2024/25 that are related to teaching or research. Requests for sabbatical or pre-tenure leave funding should also be submitted as ASC grant applications. The application form and additional details can be found on this page. Please contact ASC Chair Tim Bianco or Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir with any questions.

Supplemental Research Funding. Outside of the two funding cycles each year, faculty can apply for up to $500 in ASC funding using the same application process, as described on this page.

ASC Funding Reports. If you use Academic Support Committee funding in 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.

Fall Leave Reports. If you were on leave during the fall semester, please remember to submit your leave report using the form on this page by March 31. For spring one-semester leaves and two-semester (fall/spring) leaves, reports are due by October 31. Please contact Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir with any questions.

Teaching Conferences

PKAL Meeting. The 2024 Capital PKAL Regional Network Meeting will take place virtually on March 15 from 8:30am to 4:00pm with the theme Empower Students & Preserve Critical Thinking in the World of AI. PKAL (Project Kaleidoscope) is an AAC&U initiative focused on STEM higher education. More information is available on this page and interested faculty can register for $75 via this page. Please note that this registration fee can be reimbursed from Faculty Travel allowances.

What Works in 2024. The Center for Innovative Pedagogy at Kenyon College is currently accepting presentation proposals for the What Works in 2024 Conference, which will take place virtually during the week of May 29-31, 2024. The application deadline is March 15 and presenters will be notified of their acceptance status by March 29.

GLCA Webinars and Resources

“Do Faculty of Color Really Matter for the Liberal Arts?” Webinar. Professors Irene López (Psychology) and Simon Garcia (Chemistry), both of Kenyon College, presented this significant and timely webinar on behalf of the GLCA/GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning on December 5, 2023. You can access various resources associated with the presentation, including the recording and slides, via this document.

“Working with Students When Things Get Difficult” Webinar Cyndi Kernahan, Professor of Psychological Sciences and Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, presented this webinar on January 18, 2024, also on behalf of the GLCA/GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning. The webinar recording can be found here and other resources from her workshop are available in this folder.

Results of Survey on Generative AI. The findings of the GLCA survey that was administered in November 2023 can be found in this report from Paul A. Djupe (Director, Data for Political Research at Denison University) and Lew Ludwig (Director, Denison Center for Learning and Teaching).

Events

Upcoming Events

  • May 13, 4pm – Presentation by Dr. Laurie Schreiner, national expert on the second-year experience
  • May 14 – Spring Educator Resource Institute (save the date)

Past Events and Materials

See the Faculty Development Opportunities page for additional links to previous events.

Faculty Development Digest, January 2024

By January 11th 2024

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 Book Group

There’s still time to sign up for the spring book group! Meetings begin on Wednesday, January 24.

Belonging Book Group. How can we foster a sense of belonging for our students and for ourselves? The spring 2024 faculty/staff book group, facilitated by Rachel Weir, will focus on Geoffrey Cohen’s book Belonging: The Science of Creating Connections and Bridging Divides, which describes how “small actions to boost belonging have the potential to restore a sense of community in times of isolation and division” and that a sense of belonging “even boosts individual and communal health.” Meetings will take place on Wednesdays (January 24, February 7, February 21, March 13, March 27, April 10, and April 24) from 12:30pm to 1:20pm, with lunch provided, and all participants will receive a copy of the book. Please contact Rachel Weir with any questions. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

Setting Up Your Courses

Syllabus Checklist. The Syllabus Checklist page contains a list of required and recommended syllabus content, summarizing the information found in Section 9.1 of the Faculty Handbook.

DR Assessment. If you are teaching a course that has an ME or CL tag, please make sure you are able to identify at least one assignment for which one rubric row can be applied (Process or Conventions for ME; Civic Systems or Civic Actions for CL). Additional details can be found in the ME rubric and the CL rubric. Information about the assessment process will be emailed to instructors.

Reports of Student Experience (RSEs) The spring RSE survey will be open during the week of April 22, so please make sure that you set aside time for students to complete the survey during class that week. You may also want to make time to administer a midterm course reflection, followed by a post-semester course reflection.

Canvas Courses The RSE and other assessments are administered via Canvas, so all courses must have published Canvas sites, preferably by the Add/Drop deadline so that reminders don’t need to be sent out to instructors. This doesn’t mean that entire courses need to be managed through Canvas. You can find instructions on how to create a minimal Canvas course in this document.

Check out the Preparing for a New Semester page for additional reminders and tips for the new semester.

Teaching Tools

First Day Advice. Check out James Lang’s post How to Teach a Good First Day of Class for advice on how to set the tone for the semester by incorporating curiosity, community, learning, and expectations into your first class meeting.

Engaging Teaching. In her advice guide How to Make Your Teaching More Engaging, Sarah Rose Cavanaugh (author of The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion) shares four principles for increasing engagement in your classes:
– Cognitive Resources Are Limited. Emotion Trumps.
– Your Persona and Performance Matter, Like It or Not
– We Are Intensely Social Creatures, Motivated by Community
– Stories Are Our ‘Most Natural Form of Thought.’

Mental Health Days. Thinking about incorporating mental health days into your class schedule? In the post Student Wellness Tip: Create Mental Health Day Reflections, read about how one professor structures these breaks by requiring students to submit a short, written reflection describing how they spent the scheduled class meeting time, with the only rules being that they can’t sleep or study. The professor also commits to using this break to focus on his own wellness.

Ending With Review. In her post The Case for Ending the Semester With Review, Beth McMurtrie describes how Robert Talbert structures his classes so that the last two weeks do not involve any new content, allowing time to review material so that students can further bolster understanding. A similar strategy is to use these two weeks to delve more deeply into the material, but to only assess students on the earlier material. This provides the opportunity for students to view the assessed content from different points of view, enhancing their understanding without the pressure of additional testing.

Reading Your RSEs

Finding RSE Reports. Each course’s responses are contained in an Evaluation Report. To find your Evaluation Reports, go to the Anthology platform, click on the Reports icon at the top and then select Evaluation Reports. You should then see a list of your courses. Select the reports that you would like to see by checking boxes in the Include column and clicking the View button that appears above the list. You can also use the filters at the top of a page to find a specific course. Department chairs can access the reports for faculty in their department in the same way. The Anthology platform can be accessed directly via the RSEs link in your Canvas courses or via the Google waffle. If you run into any issues, please email rsesupport@allegheny.edu to contact the on-campus Anthology managers.

Analyzing RSE Responses. RSE results should be viewed through the lens of reflection and growth, as opposed to comparison with other faculty. For the qualitative responses, which appear at the end of the Evaluation Report, look for themes and identify possible action items. Pay attention to the positive comments, not just the negative ones! For the quantitative results, look for trends over time, celebrate the positives, and identify areas for improvement.

It’s normal to have an emotional reaction to reading feedback from your students, so give yourself time to work through any feelings that come up for you. For more advice on how to approach reading your evaluations, take a look at Constanza Bartholomae’s post Put Your Teaching Evaluations in a Jar. For example, she suggests “leaning into your values” and creating a “jar of affirmations.”

The Reports of Student Experience page contains additional information and advice, including the slides from the October 2022 presentation RSEs and You: What Does It All Mean?

Canvas Information

Course Mergers. Faculty who are teaching more than one section of a course may wish to request that the sections be merged into a single Canvas course. To request a merger, please use the Request a Canvas Course Merger button on the Library Resources for Faculty page, and submit the form provided. Requests will be processed by Library Services after approval by the Registrar, so please allow time for processing. Course mergers cannot be completed after students have submitted assignments or participated in discussions in the course.

New Quizzes Training Course. A 90-minute on-demand training course on New Quizzes is now available through the Canvas Training Portal. To access the portal, click the Help link in Canvas, located at the bottom of the navigation menu on the left-hand side. As noted in the portal, “New Quizzes is an enhanced quizzing tool available inside of Canvas. The tool offers a variety of interactive question types to promote engagement in your assessments. This course explores New Quizzes including the creation process, moderation and grading options, item bank management, as well as how to import and migrate existing quiz content.”

Canvas Support. The Canvas Tips page contains information about Canvas resources and support, course set-up reminders, troubleshooting suggestions, and a link to materials from previous Canvas workshops. Two quick reminders:
– If you’ve copied content from a previous course, watch out for issues with invalid links or unpublished images (the dreaded padlock!). You can identify these quickly using the Course Link Validator. See this article for more information.
– If you can’t find one of your courses in Canvas, click on the Courses icon and then select All Courses. Click the star next to any course to add it to your Courses menu and your Dashboard. See more information here.

ASC Reminders

ASC Funding Deadline. The spring semester deadline for ASC grant applications is February 15. All full-time continuing faculty are eligible to apply for funding of up to $3500 per year to support projects in 2023/24 or 2024/25 that are related to teaching or research. Requests for sabbatical or pre-tenure leave funding should also be submitted as ASC grant applications. The application form and additional details can be found on this page. Please contact ASC Chair Tim Bianco or Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir with any questions.

ASC Funding Reports. If you use Academic Support Committee funding in 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.

Fall Leave Reports. If you were on leave during the fall semester, please remember to submit your leave report using the form on this page by March 31. For spring one-semester leaves and two-semester (fall/spring) leaves, reports are due by October 31.

Teaching Conference

The Center for Innovative Pedagogy at Kenyon College is currently accepting presentation proposals for the What Works in 2024 Conference, which will take place virtually during the week of May 29-31, 2024. The application deadline is March 15 and presenters will be notified of their acceptance status by March 29.

Events

Upcoming Events

  • May 14, 2024 – Spring Educator Resource Institute (save the date)

Past Events and Materials

See the Faculty Development Opportunities page for additional links to previous events.

Faculty Development Digest, October 2023

By October 18th 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.

Gator Day Faculty Events

Please join us for these two Gator Day (Tuesday, October 24) events for faculty.

Using Assessment Instruments. (Tillotson Room, 9:00am-10:00am) A hands-on workshop that guides faculty through the process of implementing assessment instruments such as the DR rubrics (in courses that carry an ME or CL tag) and those identified in program assessment plans.

Caffeine and Cupcakes. (Tippie Alumni Center, 10:00am-11:00am) The Office of the Provost invites you to stop by to connect with colleagues, eat some cupcakes, and pick up some Allegheny goodies.

Professional Development Opportunities

Community-Engaged Learning Series. Three workshops focused on community-engaged learning and its transformative impact on students and the community will take place from October 18 to October 20. For more information and to register, click here.

ALIC Workshops. The Art department is offering a series of one hour digital art workshops. The first round of workshops includes:
– A Guide to Cell Phone Photography (October 18 & 25)
– Photoshop Comes to the Rescue (November 1 & 8).
Sign up for a workshop here. More details are available in this post on My Allegheny.

Informer 5. ITS will be offering multiple Lunch & Learn sessions on using Informer 5. These include introductory sessions on October 26 and November 3, an Advanced Usage session on November 16, and a Visualizations session on December 14. Lunch will be provided and all sessions will take place in Murray 120 at 12 pm. See more details here and use this form to sign up for sessions. More information about Informer is available here.

Professional Opportunity

Director of General Education. Applications are now open for the new Director of General Education position. Interested tenured faculty are invited to apply for this five-year, renewable position by November 1. As described in the job description, the Director of General Education will report to Peter Bradley (Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness, Strategic Planning, and Assessment) and will lead the college-wide strategic developments, implementation, analysis, and reporting of general education student learning outcomes and assessment.

Teaching Conference

Ohio PKAL Conference. The eighth annual Ohio Project Kaleidoscope (OH-PKAL) conference, Navigating Current Challenges & Opportunities in STEM Higher Education, will be held at Otterbein University on Saturday, April 6, 2024. The keynote speaker is Dr. Lynne Parker, Associate Vice Chancellor of The University of Tennessee at Knoxville and expert in Artificial Intelligence. OH-PKAL is a network of STEM faculty and graduate students promoting and enhancing evidence-based, learner-centered STEM undergraduate education. Check out the call for proposals to learn more about the conference’s themes and to submit a proposal for a poster, presentation, or workshop. If you’re interested in carpooling with other faculty, contact Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir.

Fundraising and You

Are you interested in learning more about how fundraising at Allegheny works? This could include: how to identify and engage with potential donors; how to effectively communicate possible donor opportunities; how Institutional Advancement can help departments and programs connect with donors; the role of faculty in donor stewardship; or understanding fundraising responsibilities for faculty who move into administrative roles. Interested faculty are invited to complete this form, briefly indicating the kinds of topics they would like to learn more about. Responses will be collected by Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir and shared with Institutional Advancement in order to plan possible training opportunities.

In the Library

Each month we will highlight a resource in Pelletier.

During the pandemic, the Pelletier library provided subscriptions to Screencast-O-Matic, a tool used to capture screenshots, edit images, and create web recordings. On October 23, this tool will be renamed ScreenPal and will be upgraded to include the following capabilities:
– Interactive video quizzes, polls, and ratings
– Advanced video analytics
– Royalty-free stock media.
See this page for more details.

Allegheny has 25 licenses, which can be accessed here. Each license provides a month of access and can be renewed each month, if licenses are still available.

Canvas Information

Assignment Submission Issues. If your students are reporting that they cannot upload their assignments to Canvas, please have them work through the steps below, which were communicated in a Canvas announcement on October 18. In short, make sure they are logged into their Allegheny account and have authorized Google Drive on Canvas. Also, both students and faculty should use the Google Drive (LTI 1.3) option in Canvas. The other option (Google Drive) is an older version with less functionality.

For many assignments, your instructor may offer the option of uploading a file from your Google Drive, such as a Doc, a Sheet, or Slides. Before you can make use of this feature within Canvas, you will need to authorize the Google Drive app within Canvas. Here’s how:
1. Before you start, log out of ALL Gmail accounts on your device. Then log into only your @allegheny.edu account and no other Gmail in the same browser. Sometimes the process will glitch if you are logged into a non-Allegheny Gmail account.
2. From the Canvas navigation menu, click on “Account” and then choose “Settings”.
3. Under “Web Services”, check whether you see Google listed in the “Registered Services” section or in the “Other Services” section. If it is in the “Other Services” section, click on it and proceed to step 4. If it’s listed under “Registered Services”, you’ve already authorized it, so you can skip to step 6.
4. Click on Canvas may prompt you to log into your Google account. Use ONLY your @allegheny.edu Gmail.
5. Once you’ve logged in, it should show Google listed in the “Registered Services” section of your account settings.
6. When submitting an assignment, make sure you use the Google Drive (LTI 1.3) option, and not the Google Drive option.

If you still encounter issues with uploading files from Google Drive even after Google Drive is listed in the “Registered Services”, please let the Canvas Team know by emailing canvasteam@allegheny.edu, and we will reach out to you to help troubleshoot. Including screenshots and exact wording of any error messages you encounter will help tremendously!

Canvas and RSEs. Don’t forget that because the end of semester Reports of Student Experience (RSEs) are administered via Canvas, all courses that are eligible for RSEs must have published Canvas sites. This doesn’t mean that entire courses need to be managed through Canvas. You can find instructions on how to create a minimal Canvas course in this document.

Events

Upcoming Events

Past Events and Materials

See the Faculty Development Opportunities page for additional links to previous events.

Faculty Development Digest, September 2023

By September 20th 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.

Mindfulness Minute

Inspired by the spring 2023 book group focused on Oren Jay Sofer’s book Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication, here is one example of a way to create short pauses amidst your busy day:

Right now, as you are reading this newsletter, be aware of the sensations of your body sitting (or walking, or standing). Bring your attention to points of contact between your body and the chair and your feet and the ground. Keep returning your attention to those points of contact. Were you aware of those sensations a few moments ago before beginning this exercise? How does it feel to become aware of your direct, present-moment experience?

Fall Educator Resource Institute

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Fall 2023 Educator Resource Institute on Monday, August 21. 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.

Save the Date. The Spring Educator Resource Institute will take place on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Click here to save the date on your calendar.

Gator Day Faculty Events

Mark your calendars for these two Gator Day (Tuesday, October 24) events for faculty.

Using Assessment Instruments. (Tillotson Room, 9:00am-10:00am) A hands-on workshop that guides faculty through the process of implementing assessment instruments such as the DR rubrics (in courses that carry an ME or CL tag) and those identified in program assessment plans.

Caffeine and Cupcakes. (Tippie Alumni Center, 10:00am-11:00am) The Office of the Provost invites you to stop by to connect with colleagues, eat some cupcakes, and pick up some Allegheny goodies.

In the Library

Each month we will highlight a resource in Pelletier.

Teaching at Its Best : A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors: released in 2023, this is the updated fifth edition of this well-known book, which provides multiple evidence-based strategies for faculty. Here’s an example from Chapter 9 (Enhancing Student Motivation):

Explain to your class why you have chosen the teaching methods, readings, assignments, in-­class activities, policies, and assessment strategies that you are using. Students don’t assume that everything you do is for their own good.

Canvas Information

Canvas Workshops. Recordings from the August 17 Canvas Essentials workshop and Canvas Q&A session are now available via the Canvas Workshop Materials document, which is linked to the Canvas Tips page.

Canvas and RSEs. Please remember that all courses that are eligible for end-of-semester Reports of Student Experience (RSEs) must have published Canvas sites because the RSEs are administered via Canvas. This doesn’t mean that entire courses need to be managed through Canvas, but every Canvas course does need to be published with at least some minimal amount of content. You can find instructions on how to create a minimal Canvas course in this document.

Fundraising and You

Are you interested in learning more about how fundraising at Allegheny works? This could include: how to identify and engage with potential donors; how to effectively communicate possible donor opportunities; how Institutional Advancement can help departments and programs connect with donors; the role of faculty in donor stewardship; or understanding fundraising responsibilities for faculty who move into administrative roles. Interested faculty are invited to complete this form, briefly indicating the kinds of topics they would like to learn more about. Responses will be collected by Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir and shared with Institutional Advancement in order to plan possible training opportunities.

Useful Subscriptions

  • Allegheny is an institutional member of the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD), a nationally-recognized, independent organization that provides online career development and mentoring resources for faculty at all stages of their career. To take advantage of resources such as the Monday Motivator emails, 14 day Writing Challenges, and a range of webinars, set up your free account by following the steps detailed in this post.
  • Looking for news, advice, and analysis that is relevant to higher education community? Use your Allegheny email to create free accounts with platforms such as Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Education and then subscribe to email newsletters that connect to your interests. Department chairs, check out the Ask the Chair posts that address readers’ questions related to departmental leadership.

Do you have other suggestions that would be of general interest to faculty? Email them to Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir for use in future issues of the digest.

AI and Teaching

AI Assignment Collection The WAC Repository, a publication of the WAC Clearinghouse and the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum, recently released TextGenEd: Teaching with Text Generation Technologies, a digital collection of 34 undergraduate-level assignments to support students’ AI literacy, rhetorical and ethical engagements, creative exploration, and professional writing, along with an Introduction to guide instructors’ understanding and their selection of what to emphasize in their courses.

Events

Upcoming Events

  • Oct 24 (Gator Day) – Using Assessment Instruments, 9:00am-10:00am, Tillotson Room
  • Oct 24 (Gator Day) – Caffeine and Cupcakes, 10:00am-11:00am, Tippie Alumni Center
  • May 14, 2024 – Spring Educator Resource Institute (save the date)

Past Events and Materials

See the Faculty Development Opportunities page for additional links to previous events.

Faculty Development Digest, August 2023

By August 10th 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.

Fall Educator Resource Institute

Allegheny faculty, staff, and administrators are invited to participate in the Fall 2023 Educator Resource Institute on Monday, August 21, with sessions running from 9:00am to 3:00pm. A full schedule has been posted on the Faculty Resources site; please check this schedule for updates and room details.

For planning purposes, participants are asked to select the workshops that they will be attending by 3pm Friday, August 18, using this form. You will receive a calendar invite for each session that you select, as a reminder of your responses.

Setting Up Your Courses

Check out the Preparing for a New Semester page for reminders and tips for the new academic year. In particular:

  • Take a look at the Syllabus Checklist page as a reminder of the required and recommended syllabus content. This page summarizes the information found in Section 9.1 of the Faculty Handbook.
  • If you are teaching a course that has an ME or CL tag, please make sure you are able to identify at least one assignment that will assess that learning outcome. Faculty teaching courses with other DR tags should still consider how specific assignments could be used to assess those learning outcomes, as we anticipate expanding this requirement to additional tags in future semesters.

Reports of Student Experience (RSEs) The fall RSE survey will be open during the week of December 4, so please make sure that you set aside time for students to complete the survey during class that week. This survey is administered via the RSEs link that appears in the navigation menu in each of your Canvas courses. For this reason, all courses that are eligible for RSEs must have published Canvas sites, preferably by the Add/Drop deadline so that reminders don’t need to be sent out to instructors. This doesn’t mean that entire courses need to be managed through Canvas. You can find instructions on how to create a minimal Canvas course in this document.

You may also want to make time to administer a midterm course reflection, followed by a post-semester course reflection.

Canvas Information

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.

Also on August 17, at 2:30pm Instructure will be hosting a 30-minute virtual session on creating and using rubrics and duplicating assessment and content for effective and efficient content building. Click here for more information, including the Zoom link.

Course Mergers. Library Services, working with the Office of the Registrar, has developed a streamlined process for merging course sections in Canvas. Faculty who are teaching more than one section of a course may wish to request that the sections be merged into a single Canvas course. To request a merger, please use the Request a Canvas Course Merger button on the Library Resources for Faculty page, and submit the form provided. Requests will be processed by Library Services after approval by the Registrar.

Please allow time for processing. It is imperative that course merger requests be submitted before classes begin. Course mergers cannot be completed after students have submitted assignments or participated in discussions in the course. Please note that this process supersedes the former methods of emailing LITS or opening a WebHelp ticket.

Canvas Support. The Canvas Tips page contains information about Canvas resources and support, course set-up reminders, troubleshooting suggestions, and a link to materials from previous Canvas workshops. Two quick reminders:
– If you’ve copied content from a previous course, watch out for issues with invalid links or unpublished images (the dreaded padlock!). You can identify these quickly using the Course Link Validator. See this article for more information.
– If you can’t find one of your courses in Canvas, click on the Courses icon and then select All Courses. Click the star next to any course to add it to your Courses menu and your Dashboard. See more information here.

AI and Teaching

AI and the Honor Code The Honor Committee is actively discussing the potential impact of generative AI (genAI) on academic integrity. The Committee already interprets Article II regarding “unauthorized assistance” based on what an instructor does or does not define as authorized. So, instructors who wish to restrict the use of genAI in their courses have the support of the Honor Code in doing so because the act of authorizing or forbidding particular types of assistance resides with the instructor. As with any other allegation, no outcome can be promised in any individual case, and it remains incumbent upon the instructor to make the case for a violation of the Honor Code consistent with their own course policies. This is no different from any other case an instructor might bring. — Ian Binnington, Dean for the Student Experience.

As the above statement indicates, faculty have the freedom to select genAI policies for their own courses. Whatever approach you choose to take, please communicate it clearly to students. To assist with this process, here are some lists and guides compiled by educational developers over the summer:

Additionally, here are three of the many articles written about AI over on the last few months:

Professional Opportunity

Have you ever wanted to know how to become a reviewer for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP)? Join the NSF for their webinar “Becoming a Reviewer for the NSF GRFP” on August 15th, 2:00pm-3:00pm ET; register here. This webinar is for those who have not reviewed for the NSF GRFP and will provide an overview of the review process and offer you the opportunity to ask questions. Serving as a reviewer offers a unique opportunity to gain valuable insights into the review process, equipping you with the knowledge to better support your students in their application process; see more information here.

Fall 2023 Opportunities

Fall Teaching Circle

A teaching circle is a group of up to a dozen faculty members who meet on a regular basis throughout the semester to share issues, ideas, and advice connected to their teaching in a confidential and supportive setting. Our fall teaching circle will be facilitated by Assistant Professor of Computer Science Doug Luman. Watch for a My Allegheny announcement for information about dates and times, plus a sign-up form. Please contact Director of Faculty Development Rachel Weir with any questions.

Writing Accountability Group.

Are you an untenured faculty member (tenure-track, NTTR, visiting, adjunct, etc)? Do you have scholarly writing projects you need to complete and just have a hard time finding the time? Do you like to have camaraderie while you work? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, please join us for the Writing Accountability Group (WAG)! Starting September 16th, we will be meeting one Saturday a month to write (9:00-12:00), socialize during lunch (12:00-1:00), and write some more (1:00-4:00). Lunch is provided. If you are interested in joining us, please complete this form. Note that completing this form does not mean you are required to attend every meeting. If you have any other questions about WAGs, please email Chris Normile at cnormile@allegheny.edu. This group is sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

Upcoming Events

  • 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
  • Aug 22 – Exploratory Advisor Training 2, 11:15am-4:00pm
    The second in a series of two required workshops for instructors of LS 198 and LS 199.

See the Faculty Development Opportunities page for additional links to previous events.

Faculty Development Digest, January 2023

By January 9th 2023

Welcome to the second issue of the Faculty Development Digest. We will use this digest to highlight 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.

In this issue, you’ll find a variety of resources connected to the start of the semester and setting up your courses. There are also reminders about various faculty development opportunities that will be taking place this semester. You can also see what’s coming up by checking out the Faculty Development calendar, which is posted on the Faculty Development Opportunities page.

Upcoming Events

We’re pleased to announced a virtual workshop on AI-Based Writing Systems, which will take place on Friday, February 3. If you’ve been anxiously following recent conversations about services like ChatGPT and the possible effect they may have on our courses, this workshop is for you! Thanks to Alexis Hart for helping to get this workshop in place and to the Pelletier Library for financial support.

On Thursday, January 19 from 12:00pm-1:30pm CST (1:00pm-2:30pm ET), join speakers Susan D. Blum, Joshua Eyler, and Courtney Sobers for a virtual, public conversation about grades and (un)grading in higher education: what are our challenges, how are we meeting them, and where do we go from here? Organized by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi.

And one last reminder – if you’ve been notified that you’ve reached your Canvas storage limit or you just want to learn more, check out the workshop on Using Google Storage with Canvas that will take place on Tuesday, January 10, at 1pm. You can also check out the slides here.

Setting Up Your Course

Take a look at the Syllabus Checklist page as a reminder of the required and recommended syllabus content. This page summarizes the information found in Section 9.1 of the Faculty Handbook.

There’s still time to conduct a post-semester course reflection to identify what worked and what didn’t in your classes last semester. One step in this reflection process is analyzing your RSE (Report of Student Experience) responses from the fall semester, which are now available on Anthology. See more information about the survey and how to analyze your responses on this page.

The spring RSE survey will be administered during the week of April 24. Please make sure that you set aside time during class for students to complete the survey. You may also want to make time to administer a midterm course reflection.

For these tips and more, see the Preparing for a New Semester page.

Teaching Tools

One way to begin to build a welcoming classroom environment is to create opportunities for everyone to get to know each other in the first days of the semester, or even before the semester begins. Here are some ideas:

  • Create an Introductions slide deck and have each student add a slide. Click here to get a copy of a simple template.
  • Use name tents at the start of the semester so everyone can start to learn names.
  • Have students write a low-stakes (or no stakes) introductory essay at the start of the semester. For example, this Math Autobiography assignment can be adapted to other disciplines.
  • Administer an anonymous Who’s in Class? survey.
  • Create opportunities for students to work together during the first days of class. You could use activities connected to the course content or more general icebreakers. See this page for some examples.

For more information on inclusive teaching, check out What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching, by Tracie Addy et al., new online at Pelletier!

Canvas Information

The Canvas Tips page contains information about Canvas resources and support, course set-up reminders, troubleshooting suggestions, and a link to materials from previous Canvas workshops. Three quick reminders:
– Faculty who are teaching more than one section of a course can request that the sections be merged into a single Canvas course, provided the merger meets the following criterion: students will have occasion to see each other in the same classroom or collaborate (physically or online) with each other for educational or pedagogical reasons related to the course during the semester.
– If you’ve copied content from a previous course, watch out for issues with invalid links or unpublished images (the dreaded padlock!). You can identify these quickly using the Course Link Validator. See this article for more information.
– If you can’t find one of your courses in Canvas, click on the Courses icon and then select All Courses. Click the star next to any course to add it to your Courses menu and your Dashboard. See more information here.

Resources

Check out the new Registrar Quick Links page in the Faculty Resources site. This page contains links to the Registrar resources that are most commonly used by faculty and is listed in the right-hand menu.

If you’re looking for a way to “regain some control over [your] work, [your] commitments, and [your] attention in order to have time and energy to get what [you] want out of both work and life,” check out Robert Talbert’s new blog Intentional Academia. The first post came out on January 9, 2023.

Spring 2023 Opportunities

Communities of Practice

Critical Professor Series

Using various interdisciplinary frameworks, this professional development opportunity will reintroduce faculty to hidden dimensions of their pedagogical identities and actively discuss equity and inclusion inside undergraduate classrooms. Upon completion, participating faculty may be asked to co-facilitate future department level, course diversity audits throughout the College. Participants will meet weekly for 8 weeks beginning January 2023 (lunch will be provided). Participating faculty will receive a stipend for their active engagement. If interested, please complete this Google form by January 5th, 2023. For more detailed information, please contact Heather Moore Roberson at hroberson@allegheny.edu.

Mindful Communication Book Group

How can we slow down to focus on creating conversations, spaces, and a community prioritizing care and compassion? The spring 2023 faculty book group, facilitated by Sharon Wesoky (Political Science), will focus on Oren Jay Sofer’s book Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication to learn the theory behind mindful approaches to communication, as well as specific practices to cultivate skills in presence and patience, curiosity and care, focusing on what matters, and applying these skills to conversations both in and out of the classroom. There will also be the opportunity to participate in optional instruction in mindfulness meditation. Meetings will take place on Mondays (January 23, February 6 and 27, March 20, April 3 and 17, and May 1) from 12:30pm to 1:20pm, with lunch provided, and all participants will receive a copy of the book. Please contact Sharon Wesoky or Rachel Weir with any questions. Interested educators can sign up by completing this form. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

Writing Accountability Group

Are you an untenured faculty member (tenure-track, NTTR, visiting, adjunct, etc)? Do you have writing projects you need to complete? Do you need some camaraderie while you work? Please join us for the Writing Accountability Group! We meet one Saturday a month to write (9am-12pm), socialize during lunch (12pm-1pm), and write some more (1pm-4pm). Lunch will be provided. If you’re interested, please email Pam Runestad at prunestad@allegheny.edu for details.

Events

  • May 16 – Spring Educator Resource Institute (click this link to add the event to your calendar)
  • May 17 – Department Chairs Workshop