Faculty Academy 2013
February 20, 2013
The University of Richmond’s Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology is currently accepting applications for Faculty Academy 2013! Applications are due by March 18, 2013. Please apply here: http://goo.gl/Iexho
When: Monday, May 13, 2013 to Friday, May 17, 2013
Where: Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, Boatwright Library
Incoming students described as “digital natives” are arriving at colleges and universities with significant expectations of how technology should be used and integrated to support their learning. These expectations include the opportunity to access and interact with course information online, collaborate and connect with others through the social web, and produce multimedia projects that can digitally express their ideas and creativity. In order to meet these expectations, faculty should be aware of modern tools and pedagogies that allow them to use technology innovatively and effectively (Roberts, 2005). Moreover, faculty should continue expanding their comprehension of instructional technologies so that they are able to apply them in creative, meaningful and influential ways.
The Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology will host its Faculty Academy 2013 (FA 2013) to help prepare faculty to utilize emerging technologies and teaching strategies to enhance the learning experience for Richmond students. This five day professional development opportunity immerses participants in a variety of hands-on workshops, training sessions and thought-provoking discussions about innovative pedagogy, instructional technology and new media. Faculty can choose one of two themes: Technology-Facilitated Course Design or Digital Media Production.
The learning objectives of the Technology-Facilitated Course Design track will allow faculty to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of instructional design principles as they relate to face to face and blended learning environments.
- Design online assignments and develop activities to assess students in blended learning environments.
- Create or redesign a course that fully utilizes Blackboard and includes rich media, web-based discussions and relevant assessments.
The learning objectives of the Digital Media Production track will allow faculty to:
- Produce digital video and design learning experiences that incorporate media production tools and blended learning resources to promote student reflection, creativity and information technology fluency.
- Create a digital story and integrate a new media narrative assignment that incorporates audio, image and video editing.
- Advocate for student media literacy and communicate the ethical use of digital media, including respect for copyright and Creative Commons licensing.
On Monday (5/13/13 from 1p-4p), an orientation will highlight the week-long activities of FA 2013 and introduce faculty to each other to discuss their interests and expectations. Selected participants from FA 2012 will then share their lessons learned and new practices they’ve integrated in their courses because of prior participation.
On Tuesday (5/14/13 from 9a-4p), Wednesday (5/15/13 from 9a-4p) and Thursday (5/16/13 from 9a-4p), faculty will break into their selected theme and engage in discussions and hands on activities that allow them to create a capstone project (design a blended course or produce a professional video interview and digital story).
On Friday (5/17/13 from 10a-2p), faculty will present their capstone to their FA 2013 peers and discuss project challenges, affordances and implications for innovative teaching. Afterwards, an informative discussion with current Richmond students about their thoughts on technology use in the classroom, blended learning and new media projects will conclude the week long event.
Eligibility criteria
Candidates must be a University of Richmond faculty member actively teaching credit courses in any of the five schools. The application must be submitted by March 18th, 2013. Selected participants will be notified by March 22nd, 2013.
A total of 10 faculty (5 in each theme) will be selected. A $1000 stipend will be provided to each participant upon attending all 5 days, presenting a capstone project and completing an evaluation.
If you have any questions about Faculty Academy 2013 or the application, please contact your technology liaison: http://is.richmond.edu/academic/
Learning@Richmond November 2011 Issue
November 1, 2011
If you have any comments, questions, or ideas for future issues, please contact the Learning@Richmond editor, Dr. Matthew Trevett-Smith.
November 2011 Issue
Faculty and staff from across the University of Richmond were invited to participate in an informative networking event sponsored by Boatwright Library and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology that aimed to highlight innovative strategies in teaching, learning, and creativity.
Erika Damer (Classical Studies), Joe Essid (The Writing Center), Suzanne Jones (English), Jeannine Keefer (Art), and Melissa Ooten (Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies) discussed their experiences using tools such as iPods, Digital Stories, Google Maps, and WordPress blogs, and how these various technologies have encouraged student collaboration, active engagement, and stronger research and writing skills.
Plus the Fall CTLT Calendar, Pizza and Pedagogy Announcements, and what resources on enhancing teaching effectiveness has inspired your CTLT liaisons.
Click Here to Download this issue.
Links featured in this issue:
CTLT Liaison Blog
Boatwright Memorial Library
Old Medium, New Media Presentation
Americans in Paris Blog
Americans in Paris Interactive Map
Richmond Architecture Blog
Without Sanctuary Website
Tomorrows Professor Listserv
New Media Consortium
What the Best College Teachers Do
Quality Matters Rubric
CTLT Fall 2011 Workshop Schedule
CTLT Training & Classes
PETE After Hours
October 24, 2011
Faculty and staff from across the University of Richmond are invited to participate in an informative networking event sponsored by Boatwright Library and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology that aims to highlight innovative strategies in teaching, learning, and creativity.
Erika Damer (Classical Studies), Joe Essid (The Writing Center), Suzanne Jones (English), Jeannine Keefer (Art), Walt Stevenson (Classical Studies) and Melissa Ooten (Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies) will discuss their experiences using tools such as iPods, Google Maps, and WordPress blogs, and how these various technologies encourage student collaboration, active engagement, and stronger research and writing skills.
The event will take place Thursday, October 27th from 4:00pm - 6:00pm in Keller Hall. A wine and cheese reception will follow the event.
Games and Social Networks as Next Generation Learning Experiences
July 20, 2011
Join your colleagues, the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, and Next Generation Learning Challenges for the next webcast dedicated to the transformative role that technology can play in fostering student success.
Please note we will meet in the Science Center Conference Room for this webinar.
The next event (on July 28, 2011) will feature Steve Ritter from Carnegie Learning; Chris Sprague from OpenStudy; and David Gibson from SimSchool. The subject of their presentation will be, “Games and Social Networks as Next Generation Learning Experiences.”
Gamification isn’t just a hot topic in the social media world, where people are competing for badges and titles on FourSquare and other applications; it’s also an emerging trend in education technology. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a Next Generation Learning Challenges partner, recently announced $20 million in grants for digital learning with an emphasis on game-based teaching tools, game-design curricula and instructive video games. Several other projects - including Next Generation Learning Challenges Wave I grant recipients - are making educational applications and sites more game-like in an effort to increase engagement and collaboration among students.
Summer Webinar Series, July 12 Speaker
July 5, 2011
This summer, you’re invited to join your colleagues, the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, and Next Generation Learning Challenges for a “Summer Learning Series” - a schedule of webcasts dedicated to the transformative role that technology can play in fostering student success with solutions designed to improve college completion.
The next speaker (presenting on July 12, 2011) will be Thomas Cavanagh, Assistant Vice President of Distributed Learning. He will discuss, “Blended Learning at the University of Central Florida.” Cavanagh is an accomplished instructional designer, program manager, faculty member, and administrator. He has developed award-winning e-learning programs for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and the military. Currently, he is the Assistant Vice President of Distributed Learning for the University of Central Florida. He has been interviewed or featured in many publications including Training, Federal Computer Week, Information Week, and the Washington Post. He has represented the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida on the Florida Distance Learning Consortium and has participated on the Advisory Board for the Brevard Community College Virtual Campus. He is also the author of several mystery novels.
Throughout the summer, subsequent webcasts will explore the critical role that technology can play in expanding the use of educational models designed to promote engagement, flexibility, and collaboration in the classroom from the first wave of NGLC grantees.
Location: Taylor Haynes Commons Room 310. Bring your lunch and arrive early. Time will be provided after the presentation for discussion.
For additional information please visit: http://learning.richmond.edu/atc/
Pizza and Pedagogy lunches
September 23, 2010
Please join CTLT liaisons Allison Czapracki, Kenneth Warren, Jon Messer and Hil Scott for a new lunch series, “Pizza and Pedagogy.” They will be collaborating with UR faculty to facilitate conversations and explore topics about teaching with technology, and new Web 2.0 tools for classroom innovation, social media and privacy, and more. Find out what your UR colleagues are doing, and come share lessons learned and best practices over lunch!
Registration is required for each lunch so we know how much pizza to order.
This semester’s lunches:
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
Effective Student Presentations
Join the CTLT Liaisons and Linda Hobgood, director of the acclaimed Speech Center, in Wednesday’s lunchtime discussion about what makes an effective student presentation. Should class time be allotted for students to work on presentation skills? What would you tell your colleagues whose students are at risk of falling down the technology black hole when crafting their presentations? Share tips and gripes about student presentation techniques and styles with your fellow faculty.
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
Skype and Webconferencing
The CTLT liaisons will partner with faculty and staff who have used Skype or other videoconferencing tools in their teaching. If you’d like to see a videoconferencing demonstration or learn more about the educational uses of these tools or how the CTLT can help you implement them into your classrooms, don’t miss this interactive lunch.
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Collaboration with Technology
The CTLT liaisons and faculty who have used collaborative technologies will show you they can help make your in-class time more effective by using tools such as Google Docs and wikis outside of the classroom.
New Media Consortium Summer Conference
July 7, 2009
In addition to offering an extraordinary teaching and learning conference this year the folks at NMC offered an even more extraordinary immersive preconference event: an all day photo workshop on legendary Point Lobos (near Monterey, CA) with Bill Frakes from Sports Illustrated, National Geographic,… and Don Henderson from Apple, Inc.
Quite simply one of the best days ever!
Virginia Network State Conference: Charting your career
June 5, 2009
The rest of my day at the Virginia Network State Conference was divided into a breakout session, lunch with the second keynote speaker, Josefina Castillo Baltodano, and a session on financial planning and retirement. I will highlight the breakout session in this post, as the one I chose most closely matched my reasons for attending the conference. I had a difficult time choosing one session among the six breakout sessions, which included “Unconventional Pathways,” “Charting Your Own Professional Career,” “Superwoman: Balancing Career and Family” (though I don’t have a family yet), and “Salary Negotiation,” of which UR’s own Director of Consulting and Recruiting, Kim Wilson, was a panelist. Next year, I would definitely recommend repeating some of the breakout sessions in the afternoon or splitting sessions between a.m. and p.m., or recording the sessions so that participants can watch the archives. (Hey, it’s what the edtech geeks do at every conference!)
I finally chose “Charting Your Own Professional Career,” which the program described as:
“No woman is an island - even at work. Career planning should begin with your first job. Every woman needs to develop life goals and to write a business plan for life so that she can control her own destiny. This session will help get you started on defining you personal goals and planning for success. Learn how to build on your professional relationships to land the perfect job, advance within your university/company and secure the executive office. Topics will also include how to find mentors, the role of networking, how technology can widen your network, and why women need mentors of both genders.”
I thought it was going to be a hands-on workshop where participants wrote out life mission statements and carefully meditated on their desires for the future, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t. Linda Thomas-Glover, president-elect of Eastern Shore Community College; Deneese Jones, dean of Longwood University’s College of Education and Human Services; and Princess Moss, a Louisa County K-12 administrator and member of the Board of Visitors of University of Mary Washington spent more than the allotted hour sharing their most pivotal career-shaping moments and fielding questions from the aspiring attendees. Because I spent the session soaking up the knowledge, strategies, and experiences of these women, I am well on my way to disciplining myself to create my personal mission statement, starting with reflecting on where I’ve been, and how what I want ties in with my talents, skills, and personality. But first, I’ll share with you some of their words of wisdom.
Linda Thomas-Glover spoke first. Glover asked, “Are you getting energized by what you’re doing?” She and the other women emphasized both knowing yourself and knowing where you don’t want to go. Earlier in her career, when she was unsure of what she wanted, she knew what she didn’t want, which prevented her from wasting time wandering down side streets. She encouraged the women in the room to be prepared — to get the credentials, whether degrees or other experience, that they needed to succeed in their chosen fields. One of the fears of my generation is getting “locked in” to something, but Glover told us not to be afraid to explore [academic/professional areas] and reassured us that we’re not stuck in one area with a specific degree. She used herself as an example: She was recently elected to serve as president of a community college, but she has a doctorate in chemistry (and made good, direct use of that degree before her new position).
Glover shared her advice with us on seeking out a mentor: “You need someone who can be transparent, but also has your best interests at heart, is willing to make you be honest about yourself, and makes you think things through. And she reminded the fifty or so women in the room: “The mentor doesn’t have to be female!” Some of her mentors happened by default, because of a role or position she’d held. Jones echoed her message: “Find someone who has qualities you like, and try to mirror them.” Moss’ sentiments on mentorship: “Don’t forget to BE a mentor, and be kind to everybody you meet. Even though a person may not be in a position that interests you, you never know where they’ll be tomorrow or a year from now.”
Glover concluded with, “Avoid the victim mentality. Ask ‘What can I learn from experiences?’, and be mindful of the bits you can take out.”
And for those earlier in their careers, Jones encouraged the women to think about “What kinds of careers would connect to your skills and aptitudes and be consistent with your values and passions?” She went on, saying, “Explore your options. Make a list of people in these careers. Ask if you can observe or shadow someone for a day.” She shared her experience shadowing a college dean, a position she was interested in, when she realized she had no idea what a dean really did. “Make sure you see and understand the full range of duties of potential positions.” Her advice for getting ahead: “Apply for or ask to be nominated for leadership preparation or organized-development experiences. Be deliberate, and choose the fork in the road. You can’t just put your head down and do what others tell you!”
In figuring out her own direction, Jones had words of advice. She said that we should take the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory and other personality tests because they encourage us to be reflective. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m really into Myers-Briggs. I learned during the talk that Jones shares my type of ENFJ (extroverted intuitive feeling judging), which we share with approximately two to three percent of the world. We are rare! Maybe that’s why I found it so easy to relate to what she was saying. The extrovert in me, who gets recharged from being around and communicating with others, has a hard time getting motivated to make time for reflection. But once I do, the theoretical, intuitive side of me takes over, and I spend hours engrossed in thinking, planning, goal-setting, and learning more about myself. Jones told us not to forget our hidden skills and not to take abilities for granted. MBTI and the myriad other personality tests out there can help us recognize these skills and abilities and how to incorporate them into our careers.
Next, Jones told us to find ways to showcase your “value-added” and package your potential. In the tech world, this is a direct message to “brand” yourself. Lately, there’s been a branding buzz in the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. (See this Fast Company article to learn more about the importance of creating a brand for yourself.) A blog is probably the number one easiest way to build a brand. It’s a low-barrier-to-entry way for anyone to put himself or herself out on the web, start networking through comments from visitors, and showcase his or her experiences in and insights on current events and topics of a chosen field.
Finally, Jones encouraged us to “Figure out how to be confident and competent — assertive — without being arrogant.” But often, even those who do figure this out are seen as harsh, conceited, insolent, or worse, as I’m learning in “Women Don’t Ask,” by Linda Babcock and Sarah Laschever. I’ll share reflections on this book in a future post, but the authors show that because of stereotypes, the culture we’ve grown up in, and myriad other influences, many women are programmed to tone an assertive demeanor down; they are often afraid to ask for what will make them happy and they frequently take what is given to them without negotiating. They name countless studies that show women don’t have as high of a sense of entitlement as men do, and that women are willing to work longer hours for shorter pay. (This is a fascinating read that I highly recommend to all women.) Jones finished with, “Be prepared to deal with stereotypes.”
Princess Moss anchored the talk. She said, “Don’t accept it if someone puts you in a position where you are set for failure.” She had several pieces of wisdom on planning. In finding her direction, she wrote down one big goal and outlined the steps she thought she’d take to get there. She encouraged us to do the same. No, you wouldn’t always follow that exact outline, but to have a next step, a goal at the center of your mind that you can constantly be thinking about as you evaluate, “Will this action/event/project help me achieve my end goal?” help me is critical to staying motivated. Then, she told us to write the plan of where you DON’T want to end up.
Stop and think about that for a second…how many of you have ever done that? How much would an exercise like that benefit college students, or those early in adulthood who are unsure of the directions they’d like to go in?
Moss also echoed Jones’ sentiments on mentors, emphasizing that men and women thought differently, and that people of different genders can help you in different ways. She concluded with, “Don’t be afraid to take risks.”
