Beyond 2020: Level Up
At Faculty Development Day – Spring 2021, let’s put 2020 behind us and look to a new year of opportunities and perhaps a few challenges. Let’s consider what worked in Fall 2020 and what didn’t. How can we improve our practice in 2021? The Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence welcomes faculty to look Beyond 2020 and discover ways to “level up”. We’re bringing bright ideas for a bright New Year.
This year, for the first time, we’ll be offering themes or tracks. These tracks will help participants know the area of focus for each presentation. Please feel free to attend sessions from multiple tracks.
Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Session 1
9:15 AM to 10:05 AM
| Presentation Title & Materials | Presenter(s) | Description | Track | |
| The Game is Afoot! Embedded Tutors use Gamification Techniques to Motivate Online Learners | Jo Hutterli | The Center for Academic Vision & Excellence (CAVE) supports student success through the innovative practice of embedding peer-tutors in the online modality (Zoom rooms) of hybrid classrooms. The embedded tutors work collaboratively with instructors by working with the students assigned to the online rotation of the classroom, while the instructor works from the on-ground classroom. To enhance student engagement and increase motivation, particularly in the connected classroom, the embedded tutors use elements of gaming during a portion of the class time to reinforce collaborative learning and create a sense of community amongst the online and on-ground students. | Best Practices | |
| The Art and Utility of Worksheets and Online Quizzes | Thomas Humphries & Daniel Lloyd | In this session the presenters will present their effective use of worksheets and quizzes in graduate and undergraduate courses. While the professors use different tools, they have similar pedagogical goals. Both practices (worksheets and quizzes) have proven adaptable and successful in the transition to various distance learning modalities. The session will include practical tips for managing our software as well as theoretical tips for developing your own resources. | Best Practices | |
| Digital Tools: An exploration of faculty intervention based on tech tool support | Christine Picot & Amanda Forrester | Data from our Digital Tools Fall working group will explore the most commonly requested tech tools support such as Office 365, Zoom break-out rooms, and Formative Assessment. | Tech Tools | |
| Strategies to Make Your Zoom Classroom More Inclusive | Holly S. Atkins, Alexandra Kanellis, & Kate Wittrock | Inclusive teaching – “the practice of embracing student diversity and designing courses in ways that reach all students” (Hogan & Sathy, 2020) is critical in all classroom environments, but perhaps more challenging in virtual ones. Participants in this session will leave with simple, yet impactful strategies to reach all students. | Diversity & Inclusion | |
| Shock and Awe: The Use Of YouTube to Cultivate Meaningful Critical Conversations on Diversity issues | Cam Silver | Teaching minority/cultural studies or social science classes may seem more challenging in a polarized world. As a Saint Leo faculty member who taught at Pasco County Jail; the power of visuals helps the students understand complex issues on diversity. The use of controversial YouTube channels such as Buzzfeed, Cut Video, and Vox creates a familiar area of confronting that allows students to comment and reinforce the content critically. This workshop will feature different scenarios where my use of YouTube helped bridged the divide and created a welcoming environment to make students’ views heard by not straying from the course content. | Diversity & Inclusion | |
| Facilitating Resilience in Online Teaching—Stop the Zoom Fatigue Please! | Debbie Mims, Nancy Wood, & Rhondda Waddell | Zoom classes and meetings can contribute to our emotional, social, and physical exhaustion. This can be attributed to an increase in internal and external pressures to connect virtually in order to support our institutions of higher education and our student’s learning process. Come learn some strategies on how to increase successful online teaching and meetings and to help combat Zoom fatigue… please. Here we will share some helpful tips and tricks we have discovered, and hope to hear how you have combatted Zoom fatigue from your own virtual classrooms and meetings. | Digital Wellness | |
| Increasing Online Student Engagement | Fern Aefsky, Renee Sedlack, & Georgina Rivera-Singeltary | This workshop will provide participants opportunities to share and learn successful ways to motivate and engage students in online courses | Online Teaching | |
| Concerned about Academic Integrity? It’s Time to Rethink Traditional Models of Testing | Melissa Jones | As we have shifted courses to online and hybrid delivery, questions about cheating, plagiarism, and academic dishonesty have continued to dominate many of our conversations. With an ever-growing list of technologies like Course Hero, Quizlet, and Photomath, we find ourselves engaging in heated debates about the use of proctoring tools and online surveillance that often lead to more divisions than solutions. In this session, we set aside those reactive debates and emphasize strategies to supplement traditional tests and replace high-stakes exams with authentic assessments. By focusing on authentic assessments, we are able to ask questions and devise assignments that measure learning, not our students’ abilities to find the answers. While we recognize that testing will always serve an important role in universities, during this idea-generating session, we will examine various scenarios and explore examples of authentic assessments that can be incorporated across a variety of courses and are appropriate for any discipline. | Online Teaching |
Session 2
10:15 AM – 11:05 AM
| Presentation Title & Materials | Presenter(s) | Description | Track | |
| Tell Me About It: Talking to SACSCOC Visitors About Your Program Assessment | Ellen Boylan & William Hamilton | Mother always said, “Blow your own horn,” and the same adage goes for our upcoming conversations about assessment with SACSCOC visitors. Let’s prepare. | Best Practices | |
| An Introduction to Institutional Research Data and Resources | Daniel Duerr & Cheryl Hemphill | In this presentation we will provide an overview of the data and tools that the Institutional Research team maintains. These tools include student course feedback data (including comments and key metrics), headcount and enrollment data, data on course grades and DFW rates, and data on retention and graduation. | Tech Tools | |
| Zah, Zah, ZOOM!: Improving online production values | Samantha Marti-Parisi | With a little practice, and some behind the scenes magic, you can amp up the production value for your class or presentation to truly captivate your viewers. Learn simple yet invaluable tips, tricks, and techniques for engaging your audience and take your Zoom presentations to the next level from a former HSN guest host. | Tech Tools | |
| Intercultural Competence: 2020 Survey Outcomes & Discussion of Training Strategies and Format | Iona Sarieva, Victoria A. Anyikwa, & Keya Mukherjee, | The session presents the outcomes of the 2020 intercultural competence survey; the attendees will discuss intercultural-competence training formats and strategies. | Diversity & Inclusion | |
| Introducing a programs faculty through teaching; an introduction during an introductory course | Dene Williamson & Leon Mohan | This presentation will provide an example of how to develop a course that enables faculty to be showcased in an introductory course within a particular major. The purpose of this presentation is to give students that have declared your major a way to learn about each faculty during the first course taken in a particular major. The Facilitators will be providing an example that has been launched within the Sport Business Major. This example should be considered for online or hybrid classes. After the examples has been discussed by the panel members, attendees will be put into break out groups to brainstorm additional ideas to share. | Diversity & Inclusion | |
| Digital Wellness and Self-Care in the Midst of Chaos: Navigating Quarantine Fatigue and Digital Overload | Sha’Leda Mirra & Christina Cazanave | An honest discussion on the mental health impacts of physical distancing and digital overload. During this training, panelists and attendees will identify the following from both a faculty and student perspective: (a) factors impacting normalcy; (b) the impact that the chaotic events on mental wellness; (c) develop self- care strategies for maintaining digital wellness. | Online Teaching | |
| Roundtable Discussion: Strategies for Increasing Student Engagement in Optional Zooms in Worldwide Online Courses | Eileen O’Brien | Please attend this session and share your secrets for how you get students to attend your optional Zoom sessions if you teach in Worldwide online 8-week courses. | Online Teaching |
Session 3
11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
| Presentation Title & Materials | Presenter(s) | Description | Track | |
| Teaching and Learning Conversations: Small Group Discussions for Best Practices | Debra Thrower | The Teaching and Learning Conversation Group consists of a small group of diverse faculty members who share teaching tips on how to integrate technology into the classrooms. Effective technology integration using avatars and videos can help improve learning in multiple ways. | Best Practices | |
| Teaching with a Mask: Engagement Through Physicality | Alicia Corts | With masks restricting our ability to use facial expressions as a means of communication, this session demonstrates non-verbal communication styles for better engagement. | Best Practices | |
| Modeling Strategies for Student Participation: Fritz Needs Help! | Renee Sedlack & Georgina Rivera-Singletary | Participants will engage in a simulation using several digital tools to solve a problem for Fritz. The session will focus on participants’ collaboration in a simulation fun activity. Presenters will model various tools available on Zoom to engage students to lead their learning in an online environment. | Best Practices | |
| High Anxiety and Spiraling Negativity: Managing the Emotional Contagion on Campus | Helen MacLennan & Dale Mancini | Understanding and Counteracting the influence of widespread negativity on our students. | Digital Wellness | |
| Embedded Librarians | Christine Woods & Michelle Joy | Embedded librarians are creating a quality online learning environment that engages students, encourages collaboration and communication by maintaining a strong presence in courses. Embedded librarians are responding to student requests for help in discussion boards, emails, phone calls, phone texts, and individual Zoom sessions. Embedded librarians are providing timely and meaningful information literacy instruction by utilizing LibGuides, YouTube video tutorials, large group and individual Zoom sessions. Embedded librarians help students feel connected to the university and show that Saint Leo cares for them on a personal level. This session will introduce you to the world of the Embedded Librarians and what they are doing for online faculty and students. | Online Teaching | |
| “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough to Keep Me from Getting to You” – Ways to Build Community and Engage your Students | Candace Roberts & Daniel Jordan | The most successful college instructors intentionally focus on classroom climate and building a community of learners, according to Ken Bain, who wrote the book, “What the Best College Teachers Do” (2004). It seems especially hard to build community in online or hybrid environments where social distancing and Zoom meetings are the new “norm.” Attend this session and learn some ways to create a community in any teaching environment and engage your students in meaningful learning. | Online Teaching |
