WCU's Commons for Teaching and Learning Excellence

Hello,

It is official - summer is almost over and the fall term is only a little over a month away! Now is the perfect time to start working on your upcoming courses. One very important element to be thinking about are your Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). Whether you are teaching face-to-face or online, SLOs are an integral part of course design. If you would like assistance with creating SLOs, your syllabus, or anything else, please call or come by the CFC - remember - we're here all summer!

Martha Diede, PhD
Director, Coulter Faculty Commons

P.S.: The CFC is currently undergoing renovations and have temporarily relocated to HL166. If you get a chance, stop by and visit with us!

Important Information for Faculty:

Blackboard Summer Upgrade

The LMS Team at the CFC is planning an upgrade of the WCU Blackboard environment starting at 5:00 pm on Friday, July 21st through 5:00 pm on Saturday, July 22nd. Remember, Blackboard will be UNAVAILABLE during this time.

This upgrade includes several tool updates that will help make certain actions easier for both instructors and students to accomplish. Below is a list of some of the major upgrades:

A Drag-and-Drop feature for both instructors and students for attaching files to assignments.
Instructors will be able to access Submission Receipts that will capture the date, time and attached file information which will assist with grade disputes.
Instructors will be able to send Reminders from within the Grade Center to students who have missing work.
Assessments with multiple attempts will only show the first or last attempt in Needs Grading according to how the assessment was initially setup.

In addition to the functionality improvements the upgrade will enable, new frameworks will be automatically installed in new course shells in Blackboard and should help to reduce the time it takes to build a course. These frameworks are completely customizable to suit individual instructor's preferences and the Blackboard Team is eager to help ensure that each course is designed to maximize student success and satisfaction.

For more information about the summer Blackboard upgrade, please contact the LMS Team at 227-2930 or email them at lmssupport@wcu.edu.

Are you looking for time to write or help with your writing?

The Writing Retreat is for YOU!

The Writing Retreat will be held on July 19th, 20th, & 21st, 2017, from 9am - 3 pm, Room 109, Biltmore Park, Asheville. During this 3-day retreat, you will have the opportunity to work on all of those writing projects you’ve been putting off like journal articles, conference presentations, grant proposals, novels, etc. While at the retreat, two highly qualified and experienced facilitators - Sharon McGee and Andrea Moshier will assist you in devising new strategies that will help you to develop a sustainable writing plan for the summer and beyond. Attending the Writing Retreat can help you to meet all of your writing goals! Snacks and lunch will be served on all three days, too!

To register for the Writing Retreat, please click here!

Global Learning Academy 2017-2018

The Western Carolina University Global Learning Academy (GLA) exists to develop a team of WCU faculty who work with professionals to internationalize their curriculum (i.e., integrate global dimensions into academic courses). The GLA meets one Thursday afternoon a month starting in September 2017 through April 2018, from 3:15-5:00pm. Each month there is a different guest lecturer and the topics discussed will focus on various aspects of global learning and curriculum integration. If you want to globalize your courses and curriculum, the Global Learning Academy is a great place to start.

For more information click here, or to reserve a seat, please email Dr. Ling Lebeau.

Please click here to see the GLA Agenda.

More Resources:

Is Summertime Your Writing Time?
For some faculty, summer is a time for family, some travel, teaching an online course, thinking about the approaching semester, and usually writing. Some WCU faculty have even said, "Summertime is my writing time." A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Scholars Talk Writing: Michael C. Munger" by Rachel Toor, centers on faculty writing. Dr. Munger originally shared "10 Tips on How to Write Less Badly" over seven years ago. This article builds on those ten tips and offers some practical advice for everybody trying to write effectively. To check out this article, please click here.

CFC Automated Appointments
Quality customer service is our goal at the Coulter Faculty Commons (CFC). So, in order to serve our faculty better, we have created a new form to request an appointment with any member of our team. Please click here to request an appointment.

Course Syllabus Template
Trying to write your syllabus? The CFC has the tools and templates for you to help make the process much easier. The template provides you with all of the required elements along with an outline into which you can fill in all of your course information. To view the syllabus template, along with some other documents you might find useful as you build your course, please click here.

Blackboard Online Help
As the Learning Management System utilized here at WCU, Blackboard enhances the quality of online and face-to-face instruction and is used to monitor, document, and manage online and classroom events and assignments. The LMS Team at the CFC has put together a handy list of resources for Blackboard, tailored to meet the needs of the WCU Community.

Issues in Educational Technologies Learning Series
Join members of the CFC staff as we participate in national and international webinars. All physically present members of the WCU audience will have a chance to debrief the information gathered, together, and to apply new ideas to our current opportunities and challenges. Come to any or all of the following:

Alternative Credentialing in Higher Education - July 10, 1-2 p.m. - HHS 186
Evolving Economic Models for Higher Education - July 11, 2-3 p.m. - HHS 186
Microcredentialing in Higher Education Workshop - July 12, 12-4 p.m. - HHS 186

For more information, please email Jonathan Wade.

Highlighted Learning Videos on WCU's Panopto Features Page
We've customized the first entry landing page on the Panopto home page. We'll be putting up-to-date focused videos in this space and changing them monthly, so make sure to take a look and to suggest more content. To view the videos, please click the link above and log into Panopto.

Provost's List of Faculty Resources
There is a considerable amount of helpful information on this web page provided by the Office of the Provost. Information concerning faculty awards and recognition, support and development, to forums, gender equity, and policy and procedures is available on this site.

CFC Resources Online
The CFC works to keep our main web page updated. We'd love to have you click in for a visit. We also have a Faculty Resources Blog where we post additional resources and announcements as we get them.

IT Training Opportunities
The Division of IT continues to provide training opportunities on Microsoft products for faculty and staff.

CFC Feedback
We would greatly appreciate any feedback you could give us about how we can improve or add to our services. We regularly monitor all inputs and try to respond to suggestions as quickly as possible. We thank you for taking the time to provide us with your constructive and formative feedback!