February 2018 Faculty Resources Update
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Greetings,
Good morning! The groundhog has seen his shadow, so perhaps we prepare for six more weeks of winter. As you’re thinking about what you might need to prepare as content for your courses, consider using our resources, such as Panopto, to record your lectures. You might also be able to design some assignments with help from our Educational Development and Learning Technology teams. As you’re considering the possibilities, you might also consider that February is African-American History month. Check out some of the resources provided by the Chief Diversity Office below. We are here to support you and to make you successful. Thank you for everything you do.
Martha Diede, PhD
Director, Coulter Faculty Commons
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Coulter Faculty Commons at 828-227-2930 or email us at LMSsupport@wcu.edu.
Internal Grant
The window of opportunity to access the Coulter Endowment Grants is drawing to a close. We want to magnify your efforts and impact and seek faculty members (including adjuncts and term faculty) to help us in three particular areas of research and development:
- Flexible Learning Spaces, Active Learning, and Technology
- Faculty "Fit" and Student Persistence and Retention
- Transforming the Curriculum by Focusing on Outcomes
Call or Email Martha Diede for more information
The CFC is hosting a Quality Matters learning community in our new CFC Learning Studio, beginning February 14 in the CFC from 1:30 – 2:30. The event is recurring; we will meet every two weeks of the spring 2018 term at the same time and place.
We will meet in Hunter Library 166. The workshop will be lightly structured, providing time for questions and application (hands-on work) for faculty interested in course redesign using the Quality Matters approach.
Faculty Writing Groups
Come join the Faculty Writing Groups. Hosted at the Cullowhee Campus and the Health and Human Sciences building, the CFC is providing the gift of two dedicated hours to focus on your writing goals and on developing a continuing community of support for your writing efforts.
Faculty members do not have to attend for the full two hours, but are welcome to do so. The groups will meet on Mondays from 9-11 and Tuesdays from 1-3 in Hunter Library 182. The HHS group meets on Thursdays from 11-1 in Room 333.
For more information, contact Kelsey Woodburn
Blackboard Updates
Online Blackboard Help
Creating a manual for Blackboard at WCU has been a challenge for the LMS Team. The regular updates have made it nearly impossible to keep training materials current. Fortunately, Blackboard does have a well-developed support site that you can search on topics of interest. Below are the URLs for the Instructor site and the Student site. Of course, for faculty, the LMS Team is only a phone call or email away.
Instructor Blackboard Site: https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Instructor
Student Blackboard Site: https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Student
Blackboard Collaborate Help Site
Go Deeper with Your Collaborate Use
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the LMS Team at lmssupport@wcu.edu or call us at 828-227-2930 or the IT Help Desk at 828-227-7487
Resources for Education in Diversity
Many thanks to Dr. Ricardo Nazario y Colón for the following resources:
10 Things Every White Teacher Should Know About Talking About Race
Anti-Defamation League resources for Educators, Parents, and Families
"What is Whiteness?" - An Article from the New York Times
There are a number of videos available on our new Kanopy Streaming Service including the video Ethnic Notions
This article is a good resource on the idea of addressing the recent incidents in Charlottesville.
The Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning
Remember to block May 22-24, 2018 for the Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning.
Quality Matters Training - IYOC
(Improving Your Online Course) to Be Offered March 2, 2018
The “Improving Your Online Course” workshop explores the QM Rubric and provides a framework to improve the quality of online courses. Participants use the QM Rubric to review their own online courses and develop a course improvement plan.
The content is based on the 21 “essential” Specific Review Standards of the Quality Matters Rubric. Participants come away with a plan for course improvement. Enrolling in the workshop with a pre-developed online course is required.
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the foundational concepts of Quality Matters.
- Apply the essential Standards of the Quality Matters Rubric to your own online course.
- Describe the alignment of at least one module/unit in your online course.
- Prioritize improvements to your online course.
To register for the March 2 event, please contact Sue Grider.
Congratulations to Dr. John Williams in Teaching and Learning
Dr. John Williams, of WCU's Forensic Anthropology programs will be presenting two Science of Teaching and Learning sessions at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences based on his bone trauma class, Anthropology 401. The first will be a presentation workshop on “Innovative Teaching with Active Learning Methods – Implementation in Forensic Science Education,” and the second will be an oral presentation in a section entitled “Forensic Education Matters.”
The fully online Honors Contract process is now live!
One key feature of this online system is that it brings back more opportunity for student-faculty collaboration in the planning, creation, and approval of the contract. Once a student submits a contract, you will receive an email with a link to the contract where you can review and edit the student’s submission and approve it before it is sent on to The Honors College for final approval. You will continue to receive these email prompts every five business days until you have approved the student’s contract. We think you will also appreciate the archival feature of the system – where you can easily access all of your students' contracts for the current semester and, after this semester, retrieve prior semester information as well. Finally, we are anticipating that at the end of the term there will be NO MORE COMPLETION FORMS! This new system will interface with the final grade submission page so that faculty will approve honors contracts at the time they submit final grades. We want to thank you in advance for your patience as we work through this new interface together!
Colin Townsend, MA
Advisor and Director of Communications
The Honors College
828-227-2900
Interested in Organizing a Study Abroad Trip?
The Office of International Programs and Services is offering a faculty training for potential faculty leaders for study abroad groups.
Where: Camp 101A and Online Via Skype
When: Monday, Feb. 26, 2018 - 3 pm
Contact Ling LeBeau for more information
Keeping Our Student and Personal Data Safe:
Multi-Factor Authentication
As the faculty and students prepared for the start of classes, IT was very busy combating the flood of phishing attempts that have come in this semester. For those of you who are unaware, phishing is an attempt to deceive a user into giving away their account login credentials. This semester, we have seen an unprecedented number of phishing campaigns, which have not only increased in frequency but also in sophistication.
To better protect your credentials, university leadership has made the decision to expand our Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) efforts. Multi-Factor Authentication keeps both you and the university safer by adding an extra layer of security to the sign-in process, through additional verification.
We will be implementing MFA for faculty and staff accounts on February 26, 2018.
February 26: All Faculty and Staff Accounts will Require MFA
Fall 2018: MFA will be Required for Students
There will be additional information related to our anti-phishing efforts, this MFA implementation, and additional steps that we are taking to protect the university coming soon from our IT Help Desk, so please watch for these emails.
Using sophisticated techniques, hackers can appear to be someone on the WCU network. If you are not expecting a message - particularly a link, follow the steps below to make certain it is genuine. review these anti-phishing tips to help protect your account and the university’s data:
- Be wary of unknown senders, even if they contain @catamount.wcu.edu or @wcu.edu
- Pay attention to spelling and grammar mistakes which may indicate phishing
- Never send your password in email
- Don't click unexpected or deceptive looking links
- Look for urgency, such as “you must respond today”
- Be cautious about attachments.
If you have any questions, please contact the IT Help Desk (x7487 or ithelp@wcu.edu), or visit the Technology Commons, located on the ground floor of Hunter Library.
EMPOWERED TO LEAD
2018 WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP AND MENTORING CONFERENCE
DATE: May 16, 2018
LOCATION: ALUMNI-FOUNDATION EVENT CENTER
200 NORTH BENBOW ROAD
GREENSBORO, NC 27411
Hosted by North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (IT) Project and the Center for Leadership and Organizational Excellence (CLOE).
Consider submitting a proposal for an Interactive Breakout Sessions or an abstract for a Poster Presentation! Deadline March 1, 2018!
Registration details are available at https://ncat3.gosignmeup.com/Empowered2Lead.
Registration fees: Early Bird, $79 before Feb. 15; Regular, $99 before May 2; and Onsite, $115 on May 16.
More Resources:
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.
Blackboard Online Help
As the Learning Management System used 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.
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
The Office of the Provost provides a considerable amount of helpful information on this web page. Information concerning faculty awards and recognition, support and development, 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!