CTL Action on CTL Advisory Council recommendations

Dear CTL Advisory Council,
We wanted to thank you again for your valuable suggestions and insights.  While we continue to go over your input, we have already been able to move and make decisions on many of your thoughts.  Here’s a summary of the changes we are planning to make, and a few explanations regarding things we can’t change due to university or BOR policy:

Programmatic Suggestions:

• Facilitating student feedback for instructor (“SGID” process):  We currently offer this service, we will begin advertising it more directly.
• Workshop on understanding Empirical research about teaching and learning:  We have a workshop on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning that will examine this issue on October 8, from 9:30-10:30, in MT110.  It features Barb Goodman and Dan Tracy.
• Workshops led by exceptional teachers in a variety of settings, including Belbas Larson winners:  In addition to the workshop mentioned above by Barb Goodman and Dan Tracy, we are offering a workshop this week on “Designing Writing Assignments” with Mary Pat Bierle and Betty Smith, we will continue to offer workshops such as this Spring semester.
• Workshops/Events being planned for next semester:
• Writing Retreat
• Workshop on Digital Writing
• Reading Group
• General Safety Workshop
• Classroom/Office First Aid
• Teaching through Story-Telling
• “Best of” by Belbas-Larson Award winners
• “Making Materials Accessible in D2L”
• “The Challenges and benefits of 3rd Party Materials”
• Finding and Hiring Great Adjuncts
• Keeping Great Adjuncts:  Before the first class starts
• Keeping Great Adjuncts:  From the first class on
• Understanding the CTL Mentoring Process (will include SGID information)
• How to Generate Empirical Data for SOTL workshop
• Faculty Conversations:  The difference between online and face to face teaching
• Workshop on Interdisciplinary and integrated learning
• Campus dialogue on MOOCs
• Advanced D2L training
• Best Practices in Online teaching
• Increased Hybrid Training (particularly in Sioux Falls)
• Workshop on Lesson Redesigns
• Workshop on evaluating and assessing students
• Blended/Flipped Classrooms worksop

Process Suggestions:

• Can online faculty see exactly what students do in D2L?  We are struggling with this, as any current option that let’s the faculty members see exactly what the students see also give them access to see personal student details—a FERPA violation.  We’re looking for other options—student view provides approximate details, and the Grading Tool provides a preview of how the student sees grades.
• Can the D2L QA process be developmental rather than structural?  The QA process is defined by the BOR, and can’t be changed.  More emphasis on online training beyond the QA process will occur, however, such as our “Best Practices in Online Teaching workshops”, which occur every semester.
• Workshop/event hours:  We will try to move these around so that they don’t all occur over the same few time slots.
• Have online IDEA forms go to students through D2L.  This is a system policy that we can’t change.  The IDEA forms for online students go to whatever email address is listed as their primary address.

Advertising Suggestions

• Website suggestions:  We are going to try to implement some of the suggestions regarding the web site, particularly in getting the brochure linked into the home page.  With the website transition coming soon, however, we have decided to focus on other changes first, and then implement changes as needed with the new website.
• Department Meetings:  We will see if we can get ourselves invited to a faculty meeting in each department/division.
• Individualized marketing:  We are beginning conversations with IT about the employment of MS Dynamics, which is a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) program.  That may allow us to do the kind of individualized marketing you suggested.
• Advertise through D2L Master Calendar.  We can’t do that because it would appear throughout the BOR System, can’t limit it to just USD courses.
• Advertise through CDE.  We are listed on their website, and our announcements go to the grad school newsletter.
• Better advertising at Sioux Falls.  We will try to advertise more thoroughly for the folks in Sioux Falls.  We are also instituting a Sioux Falls “office hour” where CTL personnel will be at the University Center once or twice a week just for drop ins

     From CTL Staff