Many of us award extra credit in our courses. As an art historian, I like to encourage students to visit museums and galleries, attend artists’ talks, watch documentaries, and engage in other co-curricular activities in the world of the visual arts. It’s very easy to incorporate extra credit into grade calculations when one is grading […]
Happy New Year!! It’s the first week of January and we are happy to announce that a series of new course banner designs are now available upon request for your CI Learn (Canvas) courses. There are 5 designs available in blue, grey, red, teal, and yellow; each color has two options: with your name (options […]
“But I want my students to learn to keep their own calendars. Auto-scheduling assignments for them doesn’t support this life skill.” This was a colleague’s comment earlier this year as I was touting the benefits of building assignments in Canvas. She collects papers in hard copy and had planned to provide students with PDF assignments […]
“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”― Aristotle When I first began teaching I had a very clear idea of how I wanted to teach. As I became immersed in professional development courses, advising students and teaching my own classes, my teaching philosophy has continuously morphed. The more I learn about teaching, […]
Last night at the age of 41, despite my full time job as a university performing arts professor and mom of 2, I personally felt like I defied the status quo by dancing with Selena Gomez on the American Music Awards. I danced professionally in my twenties, and in my thirties shifted my dance practice […]
It almost seems every class has one assignment that just doesn’t hit the mark quite satisfactorily somehow. Whether it is the classroom dynamics or the structure of the assignment, it just doesn’t work as we may have intended or expected. Indeed, as an instructor it is a struggle to find the right activity for your […]
The twelfth week is upon us and I have exciting news! There’s a built-in Accessibility Checker in Canvas!! This tool will help as you build out your final activities this semester and is a ‘must use’ when you start developing your spring courses. It is important to create accessible content for students from the onset […]
Last Friday, during our monthly Faculty Gathering we discussed Open Educational Resources (OER) and openCI. openCI is the name for the targeted CSU Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) effort on campus addressing textbook affordability for students. Jill Leafstedt and Jaime Hannans reviewed last year’s openCI’s accomplishments and challenges. During the 2016-2017 Academic Year, students saved $259,151, benefitting 2,053 students […]
I am excited to announce our latest Faculty Development Effort- Faculty Inquiry Projects. Faculty Inquiry Projects are “faculty communities” focused on particular questions around big ideas. Faculty communities will meet to discuss, problem solve, and share ideas focused on a set of questions that they agree to explore. Groups will meet 5 times throughout the semester […]
As a writing instructor, Google Docs has been one of my favorite tools for student writing and collaboration. Even in non-writing intensive courses, Google Docs is a great way to be able to view student work, revisions, and collaboration. Students can conduct peer review on Google Docs (and we are able to see their comments […]
