WCU's Commons for Teaching and Learning Excellence

April is always one of the busiest months as we wind up the academic year.  We start seeing more green on the mountainside and early color as the spring flowers emerge.  We anticipate summer, warmer weather, and a slower pace.  Summer is the time for renewal.  You may be pursuing research, traveling, or teaching.  Summer is also the time for us to take a step back and consider exploring different teaching tools and methods to infuse into our courses next year. I want to extend a personal invitation to join me for the Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning (SITL), May 21 – 23.  I love the participation of faculty and staff as presenters, sharing their experience and expertise with High Impact Practices.  More than 30 sessions facilitated by more than 25 faculty and staff, you’ll be able to find at least one session that sparks your interest! 

Here’s what I am excited about:

• Instead of having your students write a 10-page report, ask them to create a video, an infographic, or a blog post (see Assignment Makeover).
• Create a real-life learning experience by creating a simulation without knowing how to code! (see Simulation in a Box)
• Expand your horizons as we discover how to bring international experiences into our classrooms, providing learning experiences that will help our students thrive as global citizens (see Why Global Learning Cannot Wait)
• Connect with community partners to enrich the student learning experience with critical reflection and service learning (see Service Learning & Community Engagement (SLCE)

Engage for a day or dig in deep for all three days!  You won’t regret the time you invest in yourself and your teaching!

There is limited seating in most sessions so don’t wait, register today!https://affiliate.wcu.edu/cfc/events/institutes/sitl/  Registration closes May 1.

Looking forward to see you there,

~Eli

Eli Collins-Brown, EdD
Director, Coulter Faculty Commons
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC 28723
ecollinsbrown@wcu.edu
828-227-2093

If you have any questions about academic issues, please do not hesitate to contact the Coulter Faculty Commons at 828-227-7196 or call the ITHelp desk to at 227-7487.

For More Information About the Services of the Coulter Faculty Commons

This year’s Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning is shaping up to be a wonderful event! This year’s theme, Hands on with High-Impact Practices, is all about helping faculty consider, develop, or redesign coursework and curricula based on George Kuh’s high-impact practices.  Faculty and staff from across WCU are involved in leading sessions.

Focus Team Sessions:
Team-Based Learning                                     
 Service Learning and Community Engagement

Extended Sessions:
Simulations in a Box                                         
Why Global Learning Cannot Wait
Project-based Learning                                   
Assignment Makeover
Effective Skills for Cooperative Learning Groups
SOTL What?                                                       

Single Sessions:
We Need to Talk about Common Reads
Bringing Authentic Research Experiences into Your Classroom 
Cli-Fi: Using Literary Fiction to Teach Climate Change Science

For more information about these sessions and to register for SiTL click here.

The 2018-2019 Health Educators Academy is going to have its last learning session this semester: 

HHS 204: Monday, April 8th 2:30-3:30: A Snack and Learn session entitled Team-Based Learning: Tips for Writing Good Multiple Choice Questions  

The next Third Thursday Brown Bag Session Topic - Grade Center 

April 18, 2019 from 12-1

This workshop will cover some of the handy how-to’s of the Blackboard Grade Center to maximize your efficiency and minimize your aggravation.  We will discuss creating and using categories, setting up Weighted Totals, columns for extra credit, and suggestions for using tracking attendance and participation.

For more information, contact Jeanine Irons

Want to get a feel of what both the upgraded version of Blackboard or even to try out the newest "Ultra" environment.  Blackboard has a test site sandbox that you can use here .

For more information, please feel free to contact Jonathan Wade.

The CFC has joined with the Distinguished Professors of WCU and the Office of Sponsored Research to launch a collaborative hub for thinking about efforts in Innovation at WCU.  We invite you to join us to share your thoughts about innovative practices, to suggest next steps, to point other members of our community to common resources, and to join in the mutual effort to continue to make WCU a vibrant part of the shaping of our region, nation, and our world.

Click the graphic above to join the Microsoft Teams Collaboration group for this effort or contact Lisa Bloom for more information.

Assigning Honors Credit to Students Who Successfully Complete Their Honors Contract

Waiting for your Honors Contract completion forms?  Wait no more!  In the online Honors Contract workflow, assigning honors credit to your successful students is fully integrated with the Final Grades window.  At the end of the semester, when faculty members access the Final Grades selection window there is a special drop-down menu next to the name of a student or students who have an approved Honors Contract in progress for the current semester.  Along with your Final Grades, faculty assign honors credit for successfully completed Honors Contracts.  There is also an option for not assigning honors credits for contracts that were not successfully completed.

Want to look over the Honors Contract again?  You can access students' Honors Contracts in your courses using the contract portal through myWCU.  In the search bar (top left of the My.WCU window), type "honors" and click on Manage Honors Contracts.  There, you can access all of your students' Honors Contracts by semester and review the details and requirements that were agreed upon when the contract was approved.

In short:

• Review approved Honors Contract details in the Manage Honors Contracts window in myWCU.  

• Assign honors credit for successful contracts (or no honors credit for unsuccessful contracts) in Final Grades window at the end of the semester.

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.

Provost's List of Faculty Resources
The Office of the Provost provides a considerable amount of helpful information on this web page.