What's Happening

Summer is still going strong and so are we!

Join us for the last sessions of Writing Bootcamp and Coffee and Conversations, and keep your eyes open for our upcoming events and new course offerings.

We are gearing up for our Fall Professional Development Day (PD Day): Thriving in Academia. This is another opportunity for professional development and community building centering on practical ways to thrive in your field. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

The Faculty Center is putting its finishing touches on a new online course: The Folio Learning Path (FLP).

The FLP is a fully online, self-paced course to help faculty better use Folio tools and resources for teaching and class management. The course functions as a prerequisite for our current Teaching Online Courses (TOC), and offers the opportunity for faculty to earn a Teaching with Technology (TWT) badge.

We believe that the FLP will offer better Folio support and training for our faculty, leading to a smoother teaching, grading, and communicating experience for instructors and students in all teaching modalities. We will announce the launch of the FLP shortly, stay tuned!

Did you know that dedicating more time to efficiently designing your course with scaffolded activities and learning outcomes reduces stress, increases clarity and understanding, and creates a better teaching and learning experience?

For a less stressful semester, consider the following tips:

1. Use Backward Design when building your course.
2. Define your course's Learning Outcomes.
3. Determine what activities and assessments align with your Learning Outcomes.
4. Add clear instructions in your syllabus to facilitate students' understanding of how to reach your assessment expectations and Learning Outcomes.
5. Consider using low stakes assessments throughout the course to help with practice and information retention.
6. Chunk your content and offer pauses through group activities for information retrieval exercises.
7. Dedicate time to clearly communicate your expectations and boundaries in the first day of class.
8. Offer in class or online time and space for student introduction and interaction, especially on the first day. This generates a sense of belonging.
9. Have fun with what you teach. Your enthusiasm and passion also motivates your students.
10. Seek help from university resources and colleagues to make your teaching experience the best it can be.