March/April 2015 Welcome to the CETL s Insider newsletter that contains tech tips, teaching resources, and a schedule of events. The mission of the CETL is to promote excellence in teaching, to assist in the pedagogical and professional development of Saint Francis University faculty. In This Issue Book Review: What the Best College Teachers Do Page 1 Blackboard Inline Grading Questions, Answers, & Solutions Page 2 Snipping Tool Page 3 Workshop Schedule Page 4 Workshop Descriptions Page 5 Book Review: What the Best College Teachers Do By: Briana Taylor Think about your time in the classroom as a student. For many, a favorite teacher or class comes to mind. Maybe you liked the professor who shared stories to help you connect to the material, or the instructor who used hands-on activities to let you practice applying the concepts, or the professor who helped you with a special project. But, what do the best teachers have in common? Ken Bain identifies the best teachers as those who inspire students to learn, and outlines the best teaching practices in college education in his book, What the Best College Teachers Do. Rather than listing characteristics that you must have or a classroom routine that you must follow to be a good teacher, Bain outlines the best teaching by answering six major questions: 1. What do the best teachers know and understand? 2. How do they prepare to teach? 3. What do they expect of their students? 4. What do they do when they teach? 5. How do they treat students? 6. How do they check their progress and evaluation? This book aims to share lessons from the most successful teachers, and it can help any professor build and revise a personal toolkit of teaching strategies and preparation techniques. Based on a study where a team observed and videoed college classes and interviewed teachers and students, Bain s book contains examples and quotes from professors that explain how they set high expectations and provide opportunities in their courses that benefit the students. Grab a notebook and pen before you start reading this book, because each chapter will help you reflect on your teaching practices, and will give you ideas on how to improve your teaching before, during, and after class. Now think about your time in the classroom as a teacher, and ask yourself, How are you inspiring students to learn and learning to be a good teacher? Reference: Bain, K. (2004). What the Best College Teachers Do. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Contact the CETL to inquire about borrowing a copy of this book. CETL Insider 814-472-2799 info.francis.edu/cetl 1
BLACKBOARD Inline Grading Questions, Answers, and Solutions By: Briana Taylor Inline Grading is the new feature in the grade center that allows instructors to add comments and annotations on documents submitted by students without leaving Blackboard. It saves time and reduces the number of files you have to save and manage on your computer. There have been a few questions about this new tool, and we have good news; there are some quick solutions. Question: What file types are supported with Inline Grading? Answer: If you would like to use Inline Grading, your students will need to submit their assignments as attached files in one of the following formats: Word (.doc,.docx), PowerPoint (.ppt,.pptx), Excel (.xls,.xlsx), and PDF (.pdf). Question: Why is the last comment I make with inline grading not saving? Answer: Click your cursor off of the comment bubble by clicking in the gray margin before leaving the page or saving the grade. You can make sure the comment saved by viewing the Comments & Markups frame (see number 5 and 6 in the diagram below for closing and opening the Markups frame). If any comments are missing from the Markups frame, click inside the comment bubble on the paper, click outside the comment bubble (in the gray area), and check the Markups list again. Question: Why are my students not seeing comments in Blackboard that I made with inline grading? Answer: Students will need to visit My Grades and click the title of the assignment to view the inline grading comments. If students cannot see the comments, they can try clicking the full screen icon (number 8 in the picture below), close the Comments & Markups section (number 5), close the grading panel (number 7), and use the zoom in and out tools (number 1). Contact the CETL for a helpsheet that includes the diagram below that you can give to students. Question: Can students save comments I made on their documents using inline grading in Blackboard? Answer: Yes, students and instructors can download an annotated PDF that includes the comments made on the student s submitted file. Click the download icon (number 2 in the picture below) and select download annotated PDF. Question: Why can t the students see the comments on the downloaded annotated PDF? Answer: If the PDF opened in your web browser and is not displaying the bubble comments, try saving the PDF to your computer and opening it with Adobe Reader. We hope you are enjoying the new features in Blackboard. If you have questions about Blackboard, please contact the CETL. Blackboard Inline Grading Diagram CETL Insider 814-472-2799 info.francis.edu/cetl 2
MICROSOFT OFFICE TIPS Snipping Tool By: Chelsea Crandall Take a picture of anything on your computer screen with the Snipping Tool. This tool is helpful to create how to guides for students or to send IT services a picture of what is happening on your computer. Open the Snipping Tool on Windows 7 under All Programs and Accessories, and on Windows 8 use the search under Apps or the search found from swiping in from the right edge of the screen. Window Snip. Choose a window like a browser window or a dialog box. Full-screen Snip. Capture the entire screen. It is very easy to use. Click New and drag the cross bar around the area you want captured. Then you can copy and paste the image into a document or email, or save the image to your files. For more options, click the arrow next to the New button to choose the kind of snip: Free-form Snip. Draw any shape around an object with your finger, mouse, or tablet pen. Rectangular Snip. Drag the cursor around an object to form a rectangle. Select New to create a new snip. Select the Save Icon to save the snip as an image. Select the Copy Icon to copy the image. Select the Pen Icon to write on the image. Select the Highlighter Icon to highlight a section of the image. Select the Eraser Icon to erase any pen or highlighter marks. For more information visit http://windows.microsoft.com/ en-us/windows/use-snipping-tool-capture-screenshots#1tc=windows-8. Screen Clipping in Office By: Chelsea Crandall A screen clipping tool can be used directly in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Excel. This allows you to quickly and easily add a screenshot to your current file. To access screen clipping, click the Insert tab in the Office program and select Screenshot. Available Windows that can be pasted in the file will display in the drop down menu. Only windows that are open and not minimized will be available in this area. By pausing your pointer over a thumbnail, a tooltip pops up with the program name and document title. Screen Clipping will cause your screen to temporarily become opaque or frosted over. After you select the part of the window that you want, your selection will show through this opaqueness. Once selecting a window or a screen clipping, it will automatically be placed into Office file. For more information visit https://support.office.com/en-us/article/insert-a-screenshot-or-screen-clipping-6d7e6041-140c-4476-8432-ebeaee8a44e6?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us. CETL Insider 814-472-2799 info.francis.edu/cetl 3
CETL WORKSHOP SCHEDULE FOR FACULTY AND STAFF March 2015 Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri 23 Mentor: I m Teaching Online Next Term. What Do I Have to Know? April 2015 24 Faculty Information Form 25 10-10:50am (CETL) Faculty Information Form 26 Faculty Information Form 27 12-12:50pm (CETL) Let s Talk about Teaching: Using the Pause Procedure to Enhance Lecture Recall Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri 30 Mentor: How Can I Help Students Develop Critical Thinking Skills? 6 Mentor: How can I Use Student Feedback to Improve My Teaching? 13 Mentor: How Can I Incorporate a Group Poster Session Into My Class? 20 Mentor: What Should I Do When a Student Challenges My Authority? 27 Mentor: How Can I Improve Lessons with a 4-Step Plan? 31 9:30-10:20am (CETL) 7 14 21 3:10-4pm (CETL) 28 9:30-10:20am (CETL) 1 2:10-3pm (CETL) 8 15 22 2 3 9 16 23 29 30 Happy Easter 10 10-10:50am (CETL) 17 24 12-12:50pm (CETL) Let s Talk about Teaching: Getting Students to Prepare for Class Please RSVP to btaylor@francis.edu or twilson@francis.edu at least 1 day before the workshop. Online workshops will be hosted using Blackboard Collaborate. You will need computer speakers and a microphone or to call in via telephone. After you RSVP you will receive an email with the meeting link for the online session. CETL Insider 814-472-2799 info.francis.edu/cetl 4
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS Get students engaged in your class through a meaningful project that encourages creativity, attention to detail, and digital communication and literacy skills. In this workshop, we will look at several multimedia tools students can use for a creative project such as narrated PowerPoints, videos, audio, digital posters, and free web 2.0 tools. Then you will design an alternative to a writing assignment, select a multimedia tool for students to use, and write directions for the assignment. IDEA - Completing the Faculty Information Form This session will walk participants through the process of completing an IDEA FIF. Topics include how to prioritize course objectives, design additional questions, and locate helpful resources on the IDEA website. Is your e-mail getting out of hand? Do you find yourself wishing for shortcuts for things that you do over and over again? This workshop will help you to take a step back and examine your e-mail settings and work habits and to identify and implement some basic changes which will improve your e-mail efficiency. Guaranteed! Let s Talk about Teaching: Using the Pause Procedure to Enhance Lecture Recall In January 1987, three faculty members at Penn State University published an article in the Journal of Teacher Education and Special Education detailing their action research project to determine the effect of a pausing procedure on student recall of facts and performance on objective tests. The promising results of their project have been replicated many times and in many different disciplines. Join your colleagues in the CETL for an open lunchtime discussion of this project and to share ideas for helping students retain information. Bring lunch; dessert will be provided! Join Us For a New Lunchtime Series Called Let s Talk about Teaching. Let s Talk about Teaching: Getting Students to Prepare for Class One common challenge for many faculty members is getting students to prepare for class. A recent Magna Publications webinar Prepared Students: The Secret's in the Assignment Strategy presents one interesting approach. Join your colleagues in the CETL for an open lunchtime discussion of this approach and to share ideas for getting students to prepare for class. Bring lunch; dessert will be provided! A rubric is a scoring matrix comprised of evaluation criteria (rows) and achievement levels (columns). Using Blackboard s rubric tool, instructors can build rubrics which can then be attached to any graded assignment, discussion, journal, or open-ended assessment question within a test or quiz. Instructors can allow students to view a rubric before scoring (to communicate expectations) and after (to provide detailed feedback). In this workshop, we will discuss the general process of designing a rubric, examine some helpful online resources, and review the step-by-step process in Blackboard. For those in need of the more advanced features of MS Word, this workshop goes beyond basic editing and formatting skills to the more sophisticated tasks of manipulating tables, setting special tabs, smoothly integrating graphics, controlling headers and footers in multisection documents, and adding a Table of Contents or Index. Please RSVP to btaylor@francis.edu or twilson@francis.edu at least 1 day before the workshop. Online workshops will be hosted using Blackboard Collaborate. You will need computer speakers and a microphone or to call in via telephone. After you RSVP you will receive an email with the meeting link for the online session. CETL Insider 814-472-2799 info.francis.edu/cetl 5