Tuesday, December 14, 2021

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Sections:

Upcoming Announcements Teaching TipsGraduate Student Corner NCFDD Online Faculty Development

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the close of another semester. We know you are to be commended for your efforts balancing student success, scholarship/research, engagement and outreach and your own wellness. You continue to achieve incredible accomplishments as we all find our way through the current stages of a global pandemic, and we recognize this requires resilience, compassion and sacrifice. A heartfelt thanks to those of you who have made time to be part of the work of the CFE this semester.

The end of the semester comes with a duty to reflect on recent accomplishments and things we wish we might have done differently – both potentially pointed out in student course evaluations. Fall 2021 course evaluations will be released to you and your supervisors on December 21, 2021. Below you will find several resources intended to help you make the most of your course evaluations, including the Peer Feedback Template to use if you follow the recommended practice of requesting a trusted colleague to review your course evaluations and summarize the feedback, which affords the possibility of screening hurtful or overly personal attacks while still gleaning improvement opportunities from the students’ perspective.

We also want to encourage you to take the time to update your Activity Insight pages with the course evaluation scores and your contextual comments at this time since annual reviews are right around the corner. You can save yourself time later by attaching PDFs of your course evaluations and other relevant materials now rather than waiting for the annual review deadline.

Finally, as this semester ends and you prepare for the upcoming semester, please know that all of us in the CFE stand ready to help you use your course evaluations to improve your teaching, develop meaningful excellent syllabi, and/or help orient you to your classrooms and academic technology for the upcoming semester.

We wish you a safe, refreshing winter break and happy holiday season!

Most sincerely,

The CFE Team

Fall 2021 Course Evaluation Reports Release on Tuesday, December 21st

To access your Fall 2021 course evaluation reports, please go to your account and make sure the Selected Term is set to Fall 2021.

Here are some templates and short articles that provide some strategies and tips for contextualizing and interpreting course evaluations.

Ask a Trusted Colleague to Help
Course evaluations can provide insight into your students’ experiences in your class separate from their learning, and guide your teaching for future classes. If reading your course evaluations is a stressful activity for you, consider asking a trusted colleague to read your evaluations and put them in perspective for you using the Peer Feedback Template  assembled by Shihua Brazill, CFE instructional designer. You may want to provide the same service for your colleague.

How to make the best of bad course evaluations
This short article provides good advice on how to interpret common criticisms from students and put them into a bigger context.

Course evaluations as a tool for growth
This short article offers ideas for using reflection to identify common themes and areas to improve in without having to reread and revisit prior course evaluations.

My worst student ratings ever
One faculty’s experience with lower ratings after making a change that did not initially go well and what they learned from this experience.

If you have trouble accessing the articles or would like to review and discuss your course evaluations with a CFE instructional designer, please email cfe@montana.edu to set up an appointment.

 

Upcoming

Connection Hours with CFE!

Tuesday, December 21 || 10:00 – 11:00 am or 1:00 – 2:00 pm || via Webex

Click here to join via Webex from 10:00 – 11:00 am

Click here to join via Webex from 1:00 – 2:00 pm

We would like to hear from you! Join us anytime from 10:00 – 11:00 am or 1:00 – 2:00 pm via Webex to let us know how you are doing and how we can support you. What things are working well? What things are you struggling with? Share your thoughts with your colleagues and the CFE team.

Workshop: Panopto Basics

Thursday, January 6, 2022 || 10:00am to 10:45am || Webex (register for the link)

REGISTER HERE and the link will be sent to you

Join us for an online workshop and learn how to use Panopto, our new institutionally-supported lecture capture service! In this workshop you will learn how to: 

  • Log into and explore your Panopto account. 
  • Record, edit, and share videos. 
  • Embed videos into D2L/Brightspace courses. 

For more information about Panopto, please visit the Panopto page on the Academic Technology & Outreach website. 

 

Visit the CFE website for the most up-to-date listing and links for registration. For a full archive of past workshops, visit the Recorded Workshop library

Announcements  

Spring New Faculty Orientation January 13th

Orientation of new faculty plays an essential role in establishing the culture of the university. CFE is offering new faculty orientation for faculty who are joining mid-academic year on

  • January 13th from 10 am to 11:30 am via Webex.

During this 1 ½ hour session, we will welcome new faculty to Montana State University and let them know of the resources available to them.

Email cfe@montana.edu with the name of anyone who should receive an invitation.

Teaching Online Program (TOP) Advance Course

If you are interested in enhancing your online courses, please consider enrolling in the Teaching Online Program (TOP) Advanced course. This training opportunity focuses on creating engaging online learning experiences and takes place over 5 weeks from February 2nd to March 13th.

Each week takes about 4-7 hours per week to watch short videos, read short articles, participate in online discussion forums, create an instructional plan for engaging online learning experiences, peer review each other’s plans, and complete a group activity.

One of the goals of this course is to experience what it is like to be an online student and to learn from and share ideas with other online instructors.

This course is designed for those who have completed the Teaching Online Program Basic-Level course or has some basic experience with teaching online.

If you have any questions or would like to be added to the course, please contact Ken Silvestri at kenneth.silvestri@montana.edu or 406-994-7835.

Grant-Writing Bootcamp: From Idea to Proposal

Fridays, January 7, 14, 21, 28 and February 11 || 10:00 am – 12:30 pm
Facilitated by Nika Stoop, CFE Program Lead – Research/Scholarship

Co-sponsored by the Office of Research Development (part of the Office of Research, Economic Development and Graduate Education)

APPLICATIONS DUE TOMORROW!

Go through the grant-writing process from beginning to end while working on your own grant proposal. With feedback from peers and experts, this 5-session workshop over 6 weeks is designed to help novice grant writers understand the requirements of a grant opportunity, collect and create the many parts of a proposal, organize and write about their project, connect with MSU resources, and submit a grant proposal at MSU.

MSU Library Open House - In-Person & Interactive Virtual Activities

January 18, 2022 from 3-6 p.m

The tradition continues. We look forward to gathering with MSU faculty, staff, graduate students, and Bozeman community members to enjoy food and beverages, listen to music, and explore the services offered by MSU Library and our partners. Our theme this year will be a bit different. In the past, we’ve chosen themes centered on classic works of literature, but for 2022, we will broadly celebrate the theme of reading. We've asked partners to select a book and we'll celebrate the joy and importance of reading in our personal, intellectual, and professional lives.

 

Teaching Tips

In this section, we are posting some short articles with practical teaching tips:

If you have a teaching tip related to teaching in a blended or online format to share in this section, please send a description and any related resources or examples to cfe@montana.edu

 Grad Student Corner

Find graduate student resources here that you can share with your students.  Visit The Graduate School resources for faculty and staff website.

Encourage Graduate Students to Think Strategically about their Time

Graduate student can access the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity materials as well. Encourage them to consider watching the “Every Semester Needs a Plan” webinar.
Facilitator: Carlita Favero, PhD, Ursinus College
January 13, 2022 (Thursday) at 2:00 PM ET
Register Here

 

NCFDD ONline Faculty Development

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity members receive a weekly motivational email (the Monday Motivator) and access to the full NCFDD Core Curriculum, guest expert webinars, intensive multi-week courses facilitated by national experts, a private discussion forum, monthly writing challenges, and the opportunity to connect with a writing accountability partner. Learn more about how to register.

Core Curriculum Webinar: Every Semester Needs a Plan
Facilitator: Carlita Favero, PhD, Ursinus College
January 13, 2022 (Thursday) at 2:00 PM ET
Register Here

Guest Expert Webinar: Presumed Incompetent II: Lessons from the Struggles and Victories of Women of Color in Academia
Facilitator: Carmen Gonzales, JD, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
January 18, 2022 (Tuesday) at 2:00 PM ET
Register Here

 

MSU Center for Faculty Excellence
114/116 Montana Hall Montana Hall | Bozeman, MT 59717
http://www.montana.edu/facultyexcellence/ | cfe@montana.edu  | 406-994-4555