Academy News
     November 1, 2017
Helping Faculty Help Students
Professor Michael Harkins ran into a problem at the beginning of the fall semester. Two texts used for his History of the Middle East course were unavailable and the semester was about to begin. Seeing an opportunity, Chris Dobson, Curriculum Content Graphic Illustrator in the Academy, sprang into action. Chris discovered that one of the licenses maintained by the Harper Library provides access to the electronic versions of these texts at no cost to students. Professor Harkins was able to use these e-texts and save a total of $1,400 for the 19 students in his class!

Do you have a project that you need assistance with? The Academy can help! Fill out a Project Request form and an Academy staff member will contact you shortly. 
faculty workshop
Teaching for Equity: Helping Students Navigate Withdrawal and Failure
Written by Stephanie Whalen, Chair, Academy for Teaching Excellence & Associate Professor, English and Interdisciplinary Studies
On September 26, "The Art of Teaching for Equity" Community of Practice hosted a workshop to generate awareness of practices that may pose as barriers to equity at Harper and our neighboring schools. This equity literacy workshop, Identifying Inequities in Our Schools, provided an opportunity to explore the particular issues that students may face and draft action plan ideas for addressing them. Learn more.
video conferencing
Creating a Course Orientation with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
Both online and face-to-face courses can benefit from a welcoming and informative course orientation. This two-part workshop, facilitated by Karen Herold, Instructional Technology Assistant, will demonstrate how to hold a live, virtual orientation session in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra to get students engaged and focused in your course. It will also demonstrate how to create a recorded orientation using video, audio, and screencasting that gives students the flexibility to watch the orientation anytime and from any device.

Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is a real-time video conferencing tool that lets you add files, share applications, and use a virtual whiteboard to interact. Blackboard Collaborate Ultra sessions can be started from any Blackboard course in which you are enrolled as the instructor, and links to live and recorded sessions can be easily shared with students. Collaborate with the Ultra experience opens right in your browser, so you don't have to install any software to join a session.

Part 1: Thursday, November 9, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. OR Friday, November 10, 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Part 2: Thursday, November 16, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. OR Friday, November 17, 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Register Now (Select Workshop 4 of the Cornerstone Series.)
faculty escape room challenge
These Faculty Members Survived - Could Your Students?
Congratulations to the faculty members who survived the Academy's first Escape Room challenge at the Making an Impact with Collaborative Learning workshop last week! The workshop, part of of the Cornerstone Series this semester, was facilitated by Melissa Baysingar, Instructional Design Specialist, and provided innovative examples of collaboration in the traditional and online classrooms.

An Escape Room can be used in your classroom to build teamwork and demonstrate the value of collaborative learning. Learn more. 
laptop
Last chance to register for the online workshop: Enhancing Distance Course Design!
Discover how to utilize an online rubric to review the design of your own online or hybrid course. You will also participate as a peer reviewer, utilizing the same rubric to review the design of another participant's course, providing them with a unique perspective. Please plan on spending between five and seven hours during this workshop. Participating in this full workshop meets the requirement to become an official Harper peer reviewer. In order to participate, you must have taught an online or hybrid course within the past three semesters.
Register Now
open educational resources
Open Educational Resources: Free and Open
Written by Dave Braunschweig, Professor, Computer Information Systems
According to Wikipedia, "Open educational resources (OER) are freely accessible, openly licensed text, media, and other digital assets that are useful for teaching, learning, and assessing as well as for research purposes." We likely all understand what teaching, learning, and assessing are, but it seems that there may be some confusion regarding freely accessible and openly licensed. Freely accessible in this context has two meanings: gratis and libre. By definition, OER is freely distributed, it has no cost ( gratis). But it goes much further than that. OER provides equity, the freedom to learn without regard to income ( libre). Continue reading... 
New Course Design Review Process
This fall, Harper is kicking off an exciting course design review process that encourages continuous improvement to online and blended course design and accessibility! The Academy for Teaching Excellence is excited to help facilitate this five year course design review process. Learn more about this new process.
Register Now for Spring 2018 GECs
  • Constructing Curriculum: Critical Pedagogy & Social Justice in the Classroom
  • Introduction to Theories of Pedagogy
  • Teaching Online Successfully: Create
  • Teaching Online Successfully: Facilitate
  • Teaching Online Successfully: Enhance

Learn more and register.
Student Learning Showcase
Welcome to the new Student Learning Showcase!
Every two weeks, we'll use this space to share some of the great things we're doing at Harper related to student learning. Please check back as we look at our students' and colleagues' great work, with a focus on the real reason we're all here-improving student learning!

Do you have a story you'd like to share in the Student Learning Showcase? Email [email protected] . 
classroom
Diverse Perspectives & Cultures - What We've Learned, Where We Go Next
Written by Faon Grandinetti, Associate Director, Outcomes Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness
One of Harper's five General Education Learning Outcomes is Diverse Perspectives & Cultures: "Examine diverse perspectives and cultures as they relate to the individual, the community, and the global society." Last spring, the Learning Assessment Committee and its Diverse Perspectives and Cultures Work Group assessed this outcome in a selection of classes, gathering over 500 student artifacts. Continue reading... 
Upcoming Programs & Workshops
calendar
Constructing Difference: Understanding the Role of Social Justice in our Classrooms
Wednesday, November 8, 12 p.m. (webinar)

Creating a Course Orientation with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra 
Thursday, November 9, 6 p.m.
Friday, November 10, 9:30 a.m.

Cornerstone Series Showcase
Thursday, November 30, 6 p.m.
Friday, December 1, 9:30 a.m.
What's Happening @ Harper?
Save the Date
January 9 - January 13, 2018: Spring 2018 Faculty/Staff Orientation Week
Friday, March 16, 2018: Spring 2018 Faculty Retreat
Saturday, April 14, 2018: Community Day: 50th Anniversary Event
Friday, April 20, 2018: Faculty Development Festival
Academy for Teaching Excellence | 847.925.6174 | Building D, Room D281
Monday - Thursday, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 
The mission of the Academy for Teaching Excellence is to create a vibrant teaching and learning culture for full-time and adjunct faculty that cultivates professional development in support of student success.
Harper College enriches its diverse communities by providing quality, af f or dable, and accessible education. Harper College, in collaboration with its partners, inspires the tran sformation of individual lives, the workforce, and society.