Black Student Union Members Speak Out on What Faculty Development Can Do to Help
Submitted by Stephanie Whalen, Academy Chair, and Black Student Union members: Dioveon Boykin, Norris Smith, Dayliah Sanders, Jamal Stewart, Josiah Walton, and Adrian Ezunu
In an interview last week, Black Student Union members shared their experiences and recommendations on what we can do to develop faculty to better support students of color at Harper College.
Read a summary of their ideas and the solutions we synthesized in our discussions together.
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Fall 2020 Resources: Course Template, Syllabus Template, Online Course Checklist, and More!
Fall 2020 course shells are now available in Blackboard. Here are important resources to help you as you prepare for the fall semester:
- Fall 2020 Blackboard Course Template
- Fall 2020 Online/Blended Syllabus Template
- Essential Online Course Features Checklist
- Quick Guide for Copying One Blackboard Course to Another
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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!
Online Instruction Forum
The Academy has launched an Online Instruction Forum for Harper faculty in Yammer. Yammer is a social platform within Office 365 that gives Harper employees a secure and convenient way to communicate and collaborate. The ability share ideas is integral to the success of transitioning to online teaching.
Learn more and join
.
Blackboard Course Template (Fall 2020)
The Academy has created a Fall 2020 Blackboard Course Template to help faculty in the building of their Fall 2020 semester. Using this template is not required; however, it can save you time, provide you with ideas for what to include in your course, and provide students a consistent navigation of your course.
Learn more
.
Online/Blended Syllabus Template (Fall 2020)
A "special edition" of the Harper College syllabus template has been created for Fall 2020. This edition contains several updates to help students find resources while learning at a distance.
Learn more
.
Essential Online Course Features Checklist
As you develop your courses for Fall 2020, consider using this 15-item checklist of the "essentials" of a well-designed and facilitated online or blended course. The checklist also contains links to tutorials, resources, and ideas to help you in your course building.
Learn more
.
Transitioning to Fully Online Instruction Webinar Series Recordings
Essential Online Skills Recorded Sessions
Watch a recording of an
Essential Online Skills
session. The session focuses on essential Blackboard and Collaborate (live, virtual lecture) skills.
Resources for Faculty & Students
Support for Blackboard and Online Instruction
Please continue to submit all Blackboard and Online Instruction requests using the
Online Instruction Support
form, rather than via phone or email. An Academy team member will follow up with you within one business day.
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The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is seeking your input on how to strengthen efforts and services to improve the campus climate at the college. If you were unable to attend an online forum or have additional information to share, please
complete this form
by June 11
. All information is confidential; your responses will not be assigned to you. Broad themes will be developed to provide recommendations to the Office of DEI as they plan for future direction.
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.
Join the Employee Technical Skills trainers for the virtual Ask a Technical Trainer Series. Trainers are here to answer your questions on Webex, Office 365, and LinkedIn Learning. Drop in (virtually) to ask a question or stay the whole hour. No registration required. See the schedule for upcoming dates and times using the link above.
If you would like to be involved in Shared Governance - the process to gather input and develop recommendations that may result in institutional policy and/or address campus needs - here's your opportunity. Shared Governance at Harper offers roles for every constituent group on campus. The FY 2020-2021
Shared Governance Committee Openings
are posted: See Vacancies by Constituency for FY 2020-2021 or Vacancies by Committee for FY 2020-2021.
The following online resources are available to you for now 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.
The college will continue its effort to help students persist and complete at Harper College through its Student Success Initiatives Review Committee. Thus far more than $530,000 has been awarded to fund projects like the Emergency Student Relief Fund, technology loaner program, Hawks Care, and Finish Line micro-grants. If you or a group of colleagues has an idea that will help students in this regard, we want to hear from you. Complete the
Student Success Initiative Request form
available on HIP detailing your proposal and submit it
by June 15
.
Workplace Solutions services are available to you and your family members, as well. The benefit is free and offers a variety of resources such as short-term counseling, work-life resource searches, legal-financial consultations, educational videos and webinars, newsletter, tips, and other resources. Use the link above for the Human Resources HIP page with the website link and login information.
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Save the Date: 12th Annual Assessment Conference
Save the date for the 12th Annual Assessment Conference and Share Fair, featuring keynote speaker, Dr. Tia Brown McNair, Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair is also the lead author of the newly released book,
From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education
.
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Book Club:
From Equity Talk to Equity Walk
As our campus begins to consider a strategic plan with equity as a focus, the Diversity and Inclusion Shared Governance Committee would like to engage our community in a valuable discussion. Those who are interested in joining the conversation will be provided with a copy of the book
From Equity Talk to Equity Walk
. Participants will read a selection from the text then participate in a conversation about campus culture, strategic priorities, or equity mindedness in five separate book club meetings. Each meeting will be held via Webex on Wednesdays from 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. during the month of July and one Wednesday in August.
Please
register by June 12
, to provide enough time for the books to be ordered and delivered.
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Equity & Equality: A Discussion about Practical Application in the Virtual Classroom
The last week of May provided an opportunity for faculty and staff to join some lunch hour webinars on topics related to inclusive practices such as transgender identity, white fragility, equity pedagogies in the virtual classroom, and asset based models of teaching.
In case you missed or wanted to review any of the sessions, the
webinar recordings
are available.
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The Top Five Things to Consider When Making an Online Course Accessible
Submitted by Robert Uhren, Access & Disability Services
COVID-19 has had numerous implications on our society and in higher education. Not the least of which is how remote learning for all age ranges has gone through a catalyzing process - my three-year-old has preschool Zoom meetings!
Imagine the Twilight Zone - watching videos (maybe for class) when all of a sudden, the volume goes mute. We grab the remote to unmute...but nothing works.
As a fail-safe, we seize the moment by enabling captions...but captions aren't available.
We've entered the Twilight Zone: a world where the volume does not work and tens of thousands of available videos are not captioned.
Do we continue watching the video and try to pick up on the content? Do we decide to bypass the video altogether?
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Upcoming Programs & Workshops
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June 17 - June 19 (CEUs: 2.0)
July 1 - August 5 (CEUs: 1.0)
registration deadline: June 12
July 6 - July 19 (GECs: 1)
registration deadline: June 22
July 20 - August 2 (GECs: 1)
registration deadline: July 13
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What's Happening @ Harper?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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