Having trouble viewing this email? View as Webpage
Academy News - September 2, 2020
Register Now for Professional Development Credit Offerings

The Academy has developed programming for the fall semester with a focus on equity pedagogies and practices.

Graduate Equivalency Courses (GECs):
Don't miss your chance to register for GECs (deadlines approaching!):
  • Creating an Accessible Learning Environment for Students with Disabilities (Instructor: Pascuala Herrera)
  • Equity Pedagogies and Practices (Instructor: Dr. Shanté Holley)
  • Understanding and Rethinking Anti-Racism and Resistance (Instructor: Dr. Joseph Flynn)
  • Teaching Online Successfully: Create, Facilitate, or Enhance


Workshops (CEUs):
  • Bandwidth Recovery Series
  • Lunch & Learn with the 20-Minute Mentor Series
  • Become an Ally Advocate
  • Tools to Foster Connections in a Remote Learning Environment
  • Google Tools for Online Teaching
  • Sustaining the Professional Self for Meaningful Engagement

justice
Social Justice Days of Action: September 8 & 9

Many faculty members have expressed interest in a platform for sharing and discussing resources and ideas in preparation for the Social Justice Days of Action observance next week, September 8 and 9.

Yammer is an app suited for this purpose that all faculty have as part of the Office 365 suite. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion forum was established this summer as a private group for Harper employees and now has a conversation thread for the Social Justice Days of Action observance. You will see a starter post that includes the message for students that Professor Shanté Holley shared in the Faculty Senate meeting this week. Please visit the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Yammer group to contribute to the resources and discussion (login with your Harper credentials).

Several faculty are also hosting “teach-in” presentations on racial justice topics that are open to the Harper community; information on the sessions and how to join is being compiled on this Google site. If you would like to participate in the event as a presenter or discussion facilitator, please email harper.teachin@gmail.com. The event will take place from 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. on both September 8 and 9. Please also share the website with your students, although please wait until Monday to do so, as it is still being built.
Blackboard Support: How to Get Help

With most classes for the Fall 2020 semester taking place online, this has sparked unprecedented use of Harper’s Blackboard learning management system. To support faculty to have the most successful fall semester possible, the Academy has added basic Blackboard technical support during the weekends, by phone for the Fall 2020 semester.

Here are the ways to get faculty Blackboard support:

Online Instruction Support & Resources

The Academy is here to support all full-time and adjunct faculty who are making the transition to online instruction. Please review the resources below and let us know how we can continue to support you!


Please continue to submit support requests using the Online Instruction Support form. An Academy team member will follow up with you within one business day.
Assessment and Proctoring Options for Fall 2020

Administering exams in a fully online class can present challenges around academic integrity, student accommodations, and limits how students show their work. This can lead to test anxiety for both the student and instructor. Luckily there are some options to consider: online exam proctoring and alternative assessments.

online form
Reporting COVID-19 Suspected or Confirmed Cases

Any student or employee who suspects they may have COVID-19 or have tested positive must notify the college. Students are to inform their faculty; employees are to notify their dean/supervisor. Learn more.

  • When a student discloses to you that they may have COVID-19 or have tested positive, please complete the COVID-19 REPORTING FORM (available on the Student Development site on HIP). A copy of the information will be sent to Vicki Atkinson, dean of student development, and the division dean, as applicable.

  • Employees who may have COVID-19 or have tested positive are to inform their dean/supervisor who will contact Angela Bowling, manager of benefits and compensation.

Reporting suspected or confirmed cases as quickly as possible will initiate contact tracing and cleaning/safety procedures and help us provide a safe campus.
Meet the Academy Team

Watch this video to meet the Academy Team and learn about our mission and the support and resources we provide for all Harper faculty.

Need a laugh? Don't miss the blooper reel!
If you missed any of the Fall 2020 President's Addresses or some of the Orientation Week sessions, visit the Summary page on HIP (link above) for links to the recordings and resources that were shared.

The conference keynote, Reach Everyone & Teach Everyone with Universal Design for Learning, will be presented by internationally-renowned author and speaker, Dr. Thomas J. Tobin, Program Area Director for Distance Teaching & Learning on the Learning, Design, Development & Innovation team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We will also hear from three Harper adjunct faculty as they reflect on their experiences during the rapid transition to online instruction and share the valuable lessons they have learned. The conference will close with a fun, interactive session that you won’t want to miss! Learn more and register using the link above.

The Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) and College of DuPage (CoD) invite you and your interested colleagues to attend the upcoming webinar on Friday, September 25. Moderated by Dr. Richard Johnson, Director of International Education at Harper College, we bring together leading voices in community college international education to discuss how today’s unprecedented challenges require educators to re-imagine the relevance, priorities, and methods of internationalization efforts.

Student Development has developed on-demand support and new virtual workshops and presentations that can be embedded in your courses or shared with students as-needed—Educational Planning, "How-To" Videos, Self-Service Support from Counselors, and more. Learn more using the link above and please share this information with your students.

Are you aware of the many new online resources and services provided by the Library? Want to add copyrighted videos to your online courses? Are you wondering how you can adapt your research assignments to the online format? Do you have a plan for how you’ll address information literacy and research skills in your fall courses? Learn more using the link above.

If you know a student who needs technology, please encourage them to submit a library technology loan request. The college purchased an additional 1,000 Chromebooks for students. Help us get them in the hands of students. Learn more using the link above.

Blackboard has replaced the Box View inline grading tool with a new tool called Bb Annotate. Bb Annotate offers a more robust feature set for instructors to provide customizable feedback to students when grading assignment submissions. Features include a sidebar summary view, freehand drawing tools, various color selections, and much more. Watch a video tour of the new tool and view FAQs using the link above.

The following online resources are available to you for no cost: Illinois Community Colleges Online (ILCCO), Illinois Online Network (ION), Magna Publications (including 20-Minute Mentor on-demand videos), National Institute of Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), and Online Learning Consortium (OLC). Use the link above to learn more and view login information.
Student Learning
How well can Harper students use credible sources?

Submitted by the Learning Assessment Committee

Our General Education Learning Outcomes state that students should be able to “Apply a variety of credible sources to support a given topic” at the time they graduate from Harper.

This past spring, the Learning Assessment Committee and its Information Literacy Work Group led an assessment of this outcome in a selection of course sections, ultimately assessing the work of more than 360 students. Thank you to those of you who participated in this assessment! Student writing assignments were scored using a rubric. The criteria for success was set at 70% of students scoring a 3 or higher on the 4-point rubric (individual items and overall score).

Join us for the 12th Annual Assessment Conference and Share Fair on Friday, September 25, to find out the results and provide input on how we can improve students’ Information Literacy skills.

clock
No Time to Waste!

Submitted by Student Development

Here we are – in the fall semester! Thank you to everyone who tuned in to learn more about Starfish and advising during Orientation Week. Our advisors are ready to partner with you to help ensure that our students start strong and finish strong this semester. Don’t forget – you don’t need to wait for the first Starfish survey to provide input and feedback about how students are doing. You can pop into Starfish and “raise a flag” AT ANY TIME.

Speaking of time…we know that the biggest challenge for some students is tackling those time challenges. You know what we mean – getting organized and staying organized – especially in our online modality this semester. We’ve hit that topic hard during new student orientation…but we also know our students are juggling a lot.

Faculty Experience
level II adjunct faculty
Congratulations, Level II Adjunct Faculty!

Congratulations to the 2020 cohort of Level II Adjunct Faculty!

These faculty members completed the Reflective Educator Graduate Equivalency Course during the summer semester and developed a comprehensive ePortfolio documenting their reflective practices, college service, and professional development that was reviewed and approved by a committee.

A total of nine adjunct faculty were awarded the Level II designation in this cohort, representing four divisions and eight departments.

faculty
AACC 2020 Awards of Excellence: Support Our Finalist Colleague

Dave Braunschweig, Computer Information Systems, is a finalist for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Faculty Innovation Award. The winner will be announced at the AACC's Awards of Excellence online live broadcast on Thursday, September 17. Support your colleague by attending the online ceremony.


Dave has also been asked to be a keynote speaker at an online learning symposium at Riphah International University in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on Thursday, September 3. His presentation is on Best Practices for Online Grading and Assessment. Learn more.
Online Learning
Tracking Attendance and Participation in an Online Course

Submitted by Melissa Baysingar, Instructional Design Specialist and Stephanie Whalen, Academy Chair and English & Interdisciplinary Studies

In the article What Students Need in the Asynchronous Environment – You, Stephanie Whalen put the call out to faculty: “we must figure out how to create interactive experiences in asynchronous courses without penalizing students who cannot attend at specific times.” Among the recommendations Stephanie gives in that article to help faculty answer this call, she discusses using Blackboard features to help track things like attendance and engagement.

With that in mind, we explored Stephanie’s ENG101 class from Summer 2020 to see in more detail what kinds of data Blackboard can provide faculty interested in student attendance and engagement. We were excited about what we found, and share our findings in this video, Tracking Attendance and Participation in an Online Course. Here are the highlights...

Upcoming Professional Development Credit Opportunities
September 10, 3 p.m. (CEUs: 0.3)

September 14 - September 27 (GECs: 1) register by: August 31

September 17 - November 5 (GECs: 3) register by: September 3

September 17, 3 p.m. (CEUs: 0.1)

September 23 - October 28 (GECs: 3) register by: September 9

September 24, 2 p.m. (CEUs: 1.0)

September 25, 9 a.m. (CEUs: 0.35)

September 25, 1 p.m. (CEUs: 0.15)

September 28, 12 p.m. (CEUs: 0.1)
What's Happening @ Harper?
Academy for Teaching Excellence | 847.925.6174 | Building F, Room F317
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.
Accessibility: Individuals with disabilities who would like to request an accommodation or who have questions about physical access may contact the event host or Access and Disability Services at ads@harpercollege.edu, 847.925.6266, at least two weeks in advance of the event date.
Harper College enriches its diverse communities by providing quality, affordable, and accessible education. Harper College, in collaboration with its partners, inspires the transformation of individual lives, the workforce, and society.