We found 283 results that contain "feedback request"

AUGUST TECHNOLOGY TRAINING FROM MSU IT
Check out the August training courses available at no cost to all MSU students, faculty, and staff. Visit SpartansLearn for more information and to register.
 
FEATURED TRAINING OF THE MONTH
SharePoint for End Users - NEW COURSE
August 20, 10:00 a.m.
Instructor: Megan Nicholas
Join our live training to unlock the power of SharePoint! Discover its amazing features, effortlessly navigate the platform, create dynamic lists, and master the functionality of document libraries. Get ready for an engaging and hands-on learning experience!
 
What participants are saying...
“IT Training's classes and information are accessible and easy to understand. The instructors are prompt and make the class engaging.”
 
 
AUGUST SCHEDULE
To register for the following virtual instructor-led training courses go to SpartansLearn.
 
Zoom – Getting Started
August 8, 9:30 a.m.
Engage new audiences, elevate customer experiences, and get more done together with an all-in-one communication platform. Our trainers will help you explore how Zoom seamlessly brings together remote teams for work that goes wherever you do! This course will cover the basics of Zoom Meetings to include settings prior to a meeting, starting a meeting, and managing meetings. 
 
Microsoft Forms – Creating Forms and Surveys
August 13, 1:30 p.m.
Forms can help survey classmates, students, coworkers, or any group where feedback is needed. Learn how to create forms and surveys, format, branch, collect data, and share with others.
 
Microsoft Teams – Working with Teams
August 14, 2:00 p.m.
This hour-long course is valuable to individuals, teams, and departments looking for a centralized hub for communication, file sharing, and collaboration. Learn how to request a new team or join an existing team, manage channels and tabs, and manage the team’s members, settings, and analytics.
 
OneDrive – Getting Started
August 19, 10:00 a.m.
Access, share, and collaborate on all your files from anywhere! This course will introduce the essential functions of OneDrive, the go-to app for storing data and synchronizing it across other Microsoft applications. Learn how to ensure that work is saved, backed up, and available wherever and whenever access is needed.
 
Zoom – Meetings
August 28, 1:30 p.m.
Unlock the full potential of Zoom and revolutionize your virtual meetings! Dive into the heart of collaboration as you learn to effortlessly orchestrate breakout rooms, harness the power of seamless recording and reporting, spice up engagement with advanced polls and quizzes, and discover the art of content sharing.
 
Outlook – Calendar Basics
August 30, 1:30 p.m.
Outlook is not just for emails! In this exciting course, learn how to streamline your workflow and schedule using the Outlook calendar. Set up an Out of Office email, share your calendar with colleagues, and schedule meetings with multiple people without breaking a sweat using the Scheduling Assistant and Polls tools. Outlook - Calendar Basics is anything but basic!
 
 
Can’t attend a live course? Each is available on-demand to watch anytime at SpartansLearn.
 
Weekly office hours are available for those with questions about content shared in the courses. Find the schedule at SpartansLearn.
 
All participants are invited to share anonymous feedback about their course through our End of Course Survey. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to help shape and inform our future offerings. Congratulations, Tyler Donelson, our quarter 2 drawing winner for completing an End of Course Survey!
 
For any other questions about technology training, please contact train@msu.edu. 

Check out January’s courses available at no cost to all students, faculty, and staff. Visit SpartansLearnfor more information and to register.
Featured Course of the Month 
Microsoft Teams – Getting Started
Monday, January 13, 1:30 p.m.
Teams is one of the best tools at MSU for effective communication and collaboration. Join us as we dive into the basics and share how to chat and host meetings with individuals, groups, and entire teams.
What participants are saying…
“The general overview of the Teams features, and functionality was so helpful. I loved the exercises that demonstrated the features so well.”
 
January Schedule
To register for the following virtual instructor-led training courses go to SpartansLearn.
SharePoint for End Users
Wednesday, January 15, 10:00 a.m.
Join our live training to unlock the power of SharePoint! Discover its amazing features, effortlessly navigate the platform, create dynamic lists, and master the functionality of document libraries. Get ready for an engaging and hands-on learning experience.
 
Outlook – Calendar Basics
Tuesday, January 21, 9:30 a.m.
Outlook is not just for emails! In this exciting course, learn how to streamline your workflow and schedule using the Outlook calendar. Set up an Out of Office email, share your calendar with colleagues, and schedule meetings with multiple people without breaking a sweat using the Scheduling Assistant and Polls tools. Outlook – Calendar Basics is anything but basic!
 
Microsoft OneNote – Getting Started
Thursday, January 23, 10:00 a.m.
Get rid of your traditional pen and paper and uncover features of the most versatile note-taking tool, OneNote. Learn the basics of OneNote, a digital note-taking app that provides a single place for keeping all notes, research, plans, and information.
 
Microsoft Teams – Working with Teams
Friday, January 24, 10:30 a.m.
This hour-long course is valuable to individuals, teams, and departments looking for a centralized hub for communication, file sharing, and collaboration. Learn how to request a new team or join an existing team, manage channels and tabs, and manage the team’s members, settings, and analytics.
 
OneDrive – Working with OneDrive
Monday, January 27, 1:30 p.m.
Expanding on the basics of OneDrive, learn more about this great storage tool. Discover navigation strategies, explore the desktop app settings and options, manage accessibility of files and folders, and more.
 
Can’t attend a live course? Watch on-demand anytime at SpartansLearn.
Monthly office hours are available for those with questions about content shared in the courses. Find the schedule at SpartansLearn.
All participants are invited to share anonymous feedback about their course through our End of Course Survey. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to help shape and inform our future offerings. Congratulations, Nancy Spitzley in MSU IT Data Center Operations, our quarter 4 drawing winner for completing an End of Course Survey!
For any other questions about technology training, please contact train@msu.edu.

Join us for the 2023 MSU Educational Technology Summit Monday, June 5 through Friday, June 9. 
Click the link to enroll: https://apps.d2l.msu.edu/selfenroll/course/1898946
This week-long virtual event will highlight the technologies that enhance teaching and learning and promote student success. In addition to demos from partner vendors, MSU instructors, instructional designers, and support staff will present and discuss the use of educational technology available at MSU.
Presentations will cover a variety of topics including:

Leveraging AI
Classroom technology
Record and share lectures easily 
Streamline content delivery 
Develop better feedback strategies
Effectively use D2L
Utilize interactive classroom response systems
Scale online discussion among students
Boost engagement in any modality
Accessibility

Visit the D2L learning community to enroll and visit the course home page to find the complete schedule. Sessions will take place each day in the morning and afternoon. Attend and engage in as many sessions as you wish. Participating vendors scheduled to present include Zoom, D2L Brightspace, Qualtrics, Camtasia, PackBack, iClicker and many more.
Hosted by MSU IT’s Educational Technology department, the MSU Educational Technology Summit is open to the MSU community for the purposes of increasing awareness of supported educational technologies, promoting IT services available to our MSU communities, and sharing useful strategies for using these technologies._______________________________
Schedule:
Monday, June 5th
8:30 A.M. - Boosting Course Engagement: Easy Tactics and Tools to Connect in any Modality
Presented by: Ellie Louson, MSU CTLI and Lyman Briggs College & Makena Neal, MSU CTLI
Description: This interactive session will lead participants through several easy ways to boost engagement in courses of any modality (synchronous in-person, blended, hybrid; asynchronous). Using various tools, we will focus on low-barrier ways to build connections in hybrid or online classrooms. No prior experience with these technologies is required.
9:45 A.M. -  How to Develop Engaging Feedback Cycles with Eli Review  
Presented by: Casey McArdle, MSU WRAC
Description: This presentation will showcase how to use Eli Review to help faculty develop better feedback strategies in their courses. It will model effective feedback frameworks and showcase how Eli Review works to model inclusive and engaging feedback points.
 
11:00 A.M. - Let Your Goal Lead Your Tool
Presented by: Ha-Neul Kim, MSU School of Social Work
Description: The appropriateness of the tool used should start with solid learning goals. No matter how fancy the tool is, the importance of ‘learning’ is dependent on clear goals and having students facilitate the tool to achieve them. 
 
1:00 P.M. - TextHelp: Creating Digital and Accessible STEM Content with Equatio
Presented by: Rachel Kruzel, TextHelp
Description: Creating digital STEM content is a challenge. Making sure it is accessible is just as important. This session will focus on Texthelp’s digital and accessible STEM creation tool, Equatio. Built on Universal Design for Learning principles and guidelines, Equatio is beneficial to users across campus. Student users can easily respond to assignments and assessments through a variety of functions. Educators can support the remediation of course content into accessible formats and create content accessibly from the start.
 
2:15 P.M. - D2L Brightspace: Core Technology and Engagement
Presented by: Randolph Streich, D2L Senior Solution Engineer
Description: Dive deep into the core tools and interfaces of Brightspace. This presentation will look at common workflows and the tools that make online learning instruction easier. There will be a focus on automation and alerts and the use of video for crafting strong messages and engagement.
 
3:30 P.M. - Insert More Stuff…With Kaltura Video!
Presented by: Suzanne Rees, Kaltura - North American EDU Customer Success & JaBari Scott, Kaltura - Senior Solutions Engineer
Description: Kaltura will showcase opportunities for faculty & instructional designers to develop engaging video content on any subject matter and enhance them for a more robust student experience.
 
Tuesday, June 6th
8:30 A.M. - Accessible Technologies for Educational Access: Demonstrations and Discussions
Presented by: Tyler Smeltekop, MSU RCPD
Description: This session will highlight some of the most-implemented assistive technologies among our students. Learn about software such as Read & Write, auto-captions and CART, screen readers, and speech-to-text transcription. Live demonstrations will accompany discussion about how students utilize these assistive technologies and how faculty can support students using them.
 
9:45 A.M. - Using ChatGPT and AI in Developing Course Materials
Presented by: Caitlin Kirby, MSU Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative & Min Zhang, MSU Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative
Description: An overview of how ChatGPT and other large language models work. Hear ideas for how ChatGPT can be used in developing curriculum plans, various types of assessments, and rubrics for instructors to work with in their courses. This includes discussion on how students might use ChatGPT and ethical considerations. Other AI tools that instructors might consider using will also be discussed.
 
11:00 A.M. - Qualtrics: Experience Management for Higher Education
Presented by: Lara Davis, Qualtrics, Josh Sine, Qualtrics - VP of Higher Education Strategy, Steve Sartori, Qualtrics - AVP Higher Education Enterprise Accounts & Lara Davis, Qualtrics - Enterprise Account Executive
Description: A discussion of strategies and best practices for accelerating student retention, reducing faculty workload through automation, designing education experiences that deliver, and capturing and improving the student experiences that drive retention.
 
1:00 P.M. - Making Space for Makerspaces in the Classroom
Presented by: Isaac Record, MSU Lyman Briggs College
Description: This discussion is for anyone interested in assignments in which students make something, from a sculpture or a podcast to a model or a board game. We will talk through some of the challenges around this kind of assignment, including how to welcome students into an unfamiliar space that may include intimidating equipment like 3D printers, how to scaffold assignments for students with little experience, and how to assess assignments that involve skills well outside the central learning objectives for a course.
 
2:15 P.M. - Crowdmark: How to Grade Faster with Richer Feedback using Crowdmark
Presented by: Virginia Woodall, Crowdmark
Description: Crowdmark is a grading and assessment solution that enables educators to grade paper-based and digital exams and assignments 3X faster than traditional workflows. Instructors can give richer, more formative feedback by leaving comments, annotations, links, and points directly on the student answer. This supports students' understanding of errors while reducing regrade requests. Join us for this informational session for an intro and demo of Crowdmark.
 
3:30 P.M. -  iClicker: Classroom Engagement Enhanced Via Technology
Presented by: David Maltby, iClicker
Description: Become more familiar with iClicker, a tool for student engagement, formative assessment, attendance, quizzing, and polling. Recently launching new mobile-device usage options, question types, and D2L Brightspace integrations, this demo will cover the basics of the iClicker Cloud instructor software and the iClicker student mobile app. Participants will experience iClicker as a student and learn how it can improve performance in a spectrum of situations.
 
Wednesday, June 7th
8:30 A.M. - Use Brief Explainer Animations and Podcast Episodes to Cultivate Inclusive Practices in IAH Courses
Presented by: Stokes Schwartz, MSU Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (IAH)
Description: Learn how to facilitate digital and face-to-face collaborative activities while teaching inclusive principles. Collaborative learning builds on the idea that learning is a social activity, which takes place when learners interact with their social environment. The approach is a general expression for group learning in which students share the workload equitably as they progress towards intended learning outcomes.
  
9:45 A.M. - Creating a Connected Classroom with MSU Commons
Presented by: Larissa Babak, MSU Humanities Commons, College of Arts & Letters
Description: MSU Commons is a multipurpose platform where users can develop a digital profile, join collaborative groups, build WordPress websites, and add materials to an open access repository. MSU Commons is available to all current faculty, staff, and students, as well as retired faculty and staff. With many different functionalities built into the platform, MSU Commons is an ideal place for developing an online, scholarly presence. In this session, participants will learn how MSU Commons can be used within courses at MSU.
 
11:00 A.M. - Spartan 365 Overview
Presented by: Laura Nagy, MSU IT Training
Description: This class will introduce learners to the suite of software collaboration tools that will help users store data, collaborate, and work efficiently. Spartan 365 has powerful tools that allows users to get more done with Microsoft apps like OneDrive, Forms, OneNote, Teams, and Outlook.
 
1:00 P.M.  - Piazza: Collaborative Learning with Piazza Q&A
Presented by: TJ Kidd, Piazza Technologies
Description: A demo and overview of Piazza to create learning environments that allows students to collaborate with their peers and instructors any time, especially in virtual classes. Wiki-style formatting enables collaboration, anonymous posting encourages participation, and detailed statistics help track student engagement.
 
2:15 P.M. - Turnitin: Advance Academic Integrity & Innovate Assessments
Presented by: Megan DeArmit, Turnitin
Description: Instructors are spending more time grading and less time providing actionable feedback and use assessment insights on student learning to improve teaching. Without this valuable time and flexibility, student outcomes are at risk. Learn how Turnitin can make informed decisions about originality in submitted student work through our new AI writing detection feature in Turnitin Feedback Studio. And how Gradescope can be used by both administrators and faculty to deliver assessments with pedagogical flexibility, better insights, and fairness.
 
3:30 P.M. - PackBack: Revitalizing Classroom Discussion: Leveraging AI Technology for Active Learning
Presented by: Amanda Wickham, PackBack & Kathryn Stegman, PackBack
Description: Facilitating discussion (online or in-person) doesn’t have to be complicated, time-consuming, or difficult to grade. Using Packback Questions within classroom can build community and facilitate deeper learning. Packback Questions is an online discussion forum that integrates directly into D2L. Students receive real-time feedback from instructional AI; which coaches students to ask high-quality, open-ended questions and encourages actual discussion. Attendees of this workshop will see live examples of Packback communities and how it is course agnostic and successfully supports all modalities and course sizes.
 
Thursday, June 8th
8:30 A.M. - ELI Review - Focusing on Review & Revision in the Era of AI Writing
Presented by: Bill Hart-Davidson, MSU College of Arts and Letters
Description: With more AI applications making drafting fast and easy, it is more important than ever that we prepare students to be good reviewers and revisers. Eli Review provides a service that makes practice in criterion-referenced review and revision planning easy to set up and integrate into a course. Facilitate in person, hybrid, hyflex, and online courses that are synchronous and asynchronous. Help students develop two of the most valuable leadership skills in any discipline or career: the ability to give great feedback and the ability to use feedback to make improvements.
 
9:45 A.M. - Let’s Talk About CATME Smarter Teamwork
Presented by: Andrea Bierema, MSU Center for Integrative Studies in General Science and Department of Integrative Biology
Description: CATME is a program used to create teams and evaluate team members. This session will consist of a presentation about how I have used CATME for several years in face-to-face and online sections comprised of 100 to 200 students. I will discuss how I create teams, have students practice rating team members, evaluate their peers, and most recently, metacognitively reflect on their own teamwork skills. Instructions for students and grading rubrics will be provided. An open discussion will include attendees describing how they use or would like to use CATME.
 
11:00 A.M. - Collaborative Tools to Support Language Classroom Development and Community Involvement
Presented by: Dustin De Felice, MSU English Language Center & Debra M. Hardison, MSU Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures
Description: We run a teaching practicum each year that attracts students, scholars, and community members to participate in a six-week program focused on the development of oral communication skills for adult nonnative speakers. While this program was in-person for years, we were forced to turn this experience into an online, synchronous modality in 2020. Over the last few spring semesters, we have had to run an all-virtual experience where we tried to replicate the in-person experience from registration to classes through a variety of tools. We will highlight the current structure, provide the pros and cons for the various tools, and discuss the possible directions for future iterations.
 
1:00 P.M. - Zoom: Driving Student Engagement in Zoom Classes
Presented by: Elysha Gellerman, Zoom & Janice Adamonis, Customer Success Manager with Zoom's Higher Education team
Description: This session will review best practices for driving student engagement and increasing retention in a virtual class setting. Tools reviewed will include, but not be limited to polls, breakout sessions, virtual backgrounds, spotlighting, and transcription. This session will be didactic and participants will leave the session with the ability to confidently conduct these functions as needed.
 
2:15 P.M. - Assessment Using LON-CAPA
Presented by: Stuart Raeburn, MSU Department of Physics & Astronomy
Description: The LON-CAPA Course Management System (CMS) features a powerful and flexible assessment engine. It can be used to deliver individualized homework, quizzes, and exams, either online or offline, as PDFs for printing, or for use with bubblesheets (which can be scanned by the MSU Scoring Office, and then uploaded into LON-CAPA for grading). Creation of assessment items using some of the 46 available templates will be demonstrated. Set-up of a deep linked LON-CAPA assessment for access from within a D2L course will also be shown.
 
3:30 P.M. - DigitalDesk Learning Suite: A Comprehensive Approach to Class Management
Presented by: Robert Gomm, DigitalDesk, Inc
Description: Learn to manage all aspects of class management in a unified platform:

Grading instruments to include paper/pencil and online exams andassignments.
Monitor student success in real-time.
Integrated remote proctoring.
Collaboration integration with Zoom and instant messaging

 
Friday, June 9th
9:45 A.M. - MSU’s Immersive Visualization Ecosystem
Presented by: Denice Blair, MSU Museum, Shannon Schmoll, MSU Abrams Planetarium, Amanda Tickner, MSU Libraries & Carrie Wicker, MSU Museum 
Description: This presentation showcases MSU's “ecosystem” of immersive visualization technologies for applications in teaching, learning, and research. This ecosystem includes the Abrams Planetarium Sky Theater, MSU Libraries Digital Scholarship Lab’s 360 Room, and the MSU Museum’s Science on a Sphere. These technologies are rich in possibility for multi-media engagement and custom content creation by members of the MSU community. Learn about using the displays, content creation processes, and how the displays are suited for different types of visual representation. Explore practical examples of how the technologies are used by people on campus for research, teaching, and artistic work. You will be inspired to think about how one or all of these technologies can support your work. 
 
11:00 A.M. - TechSmith: Camtasia & Snagit for Education
Presented by: Casey Seiter, Techsmith
Description: Join for a walkthrough of both Snagit and Camtasia. Casey will conduct a live demo showcasing start to finish production of still image and video production using the TechSmith suite of tools.
 
1:00 P.M. - Respondus: Protect the Integrity of Brightspace Quizzes with LockDown Browser + Respondus Monitor
Presented by: Arie Sowers, Respondus, Rebecca Schkade, Trainer, Respondus & Stephanie Ploof, Senior Account Manager, Respondus
Description: LockDown Browser is a custom browser that prevents digital cheating during an online exam. Respondus Monitor is a companion product for LockDown Browser that deters cheating when students take online exams in non-proctored environments. Students use their own computers with a standard webcam to record assessment sessions. Learn how to use these tools to protect exam integrity and confirm student identity.
 

Check out February’s courses available at no cost to all students, faculty, and staff. Visit SpartansLearn for more information and to register.
Featured Course of the Month 
Microsoft Forms – Creating Forms and Surveys
Wednesday, February 19, 9:00 a.m.
Looking to gather valuable insights from your classmates, students, or coworkers? Forms are your go-to tool! Discover how to effortlessly create engaging forms and surveys, customize their format, add branching logic, collect data seamlessly, and share them with ease. Unlock the power of feedback and make informed decisions with confidence.
 
What participants are saying...
“I liked that we built the surveys and actually got to use the knowledge.”
 
February Schedule
To register for the following virtual instructor-led training courses go to SpartansLearn.
 
Zoom – Getting Started
Friday, February 7, 1:30 p.m.
Engage new audiences, elevate customer experiences, and get more done together with an all-in-one communication platform! Our trainers will help you explore how Zoom seamlessly brings together remote teams for work that goes wherever you do. This course will cover the basics of Zoom Meetings to include settings prior to a meeting, starting a meeting, and managing meetings. 
 
Spartan 365 – Overview
Thursday, February 13, 1:30 p.m.
Have you ever wanted to work collaboratively in a document or simultaneously on any device? Spartan 365 makes this type of teamwork easy! Spartan 365 offers robust features and a secure environment. This one-hour course will give an overview of the main Microsoft 365 apps including Forms, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, SharePoint, and Teams.
 
Microsoft Teams – Working with Teams
Monday, February 17, 11:00 a.m.
This hour-long course is valuable to individuals, teams, and departments looking for a centralized hub for communication, file sharing, and collaboration. Learn how to request a new team or join an existing team, manage channels and tabs, and manage the team’s members, settings, and analytics.
 
OneDrive – Working with OneDrive
Tuesday, February 25, 1:30 p.m.
Expanding on the basics of OneDrive, learn more about this great storage tool. Discover navigation strategies, explore the desktop app settings and options, manage accessibility of files and folders, and more.
 
Can’t attend a live course? Watch on-demand anytime at SpartansLearn.Monthly office hours are available for those with questions about content shared in the courses. Find the schedule at SpartansLearn.All participants are invited to share anonymous feedback about their course through our End of Course Survey. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to help shape and inform our future offerings. Congratulations, Nancy Spitzley in MSU IT Data Center Operations, our quarter 4 drawing winner for completing an End of Course Survey!For any other questions about technology training, please contact train@msu.edu. 
 

Catalyst Innovation Program
MSU is dedicated to enhancing digital learning experiences for students. The Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI) is committed to supporting new ideas to improve the student experience through seed grant opportunities that align with the program's goals of enhancing digital learning experiences and inclusivity. By integrating digital strategies into pedagogy, we can enrich student learning and streamline assessment and analysis. Many impactful digital learning innovations at the institutional level often begin with small, experimental projects. These innovations may arise from unique pedagogical approaches in individual courses, cross-disciplinary collaborations, or responses to student feedback and needs analysis. This funding program is intended for one-time, just-in-time funding, to test ideas or achieve incremental improvement. Proposals that require recurring funding to sustain the innovation should be specific for how they are seeking on-going funding outside of the Catalyst Innovation Program.
How to Apply
Catalyst Innovation Program (CIP) proposals must be submitted through our application portal. Participants should include the following in their proposals:


Description (aim, hypothesis, and rationale) of the innovation project and idea


Implementation approach


Evaluation and assessment plan


Budget with rationale


Link to Application
Review Process and Evaluation Criteria
The Catalyst Innovation Program offers up to $10,000 in funding for creative and innovative uses of tools, technology, and pedagogical approaches. These funds are intended for experimentation in areas with the potential to enhance student learning experiences on a digitally-immersed, global campus. Please note: Funds are restricted, and designated only for one-time expenses of software, technology, equipment, and services (either external vendors or internal through a service center with a controller’s office approved ratesheet). Catalyst funds cannot be used for salary lines or recurring expenses.
Our priorities include:

Articulates clear alignment of the project to a student learning objective(s) e.g., “Students will enhance their systems thinking skills by using the virtual reality program Noda to build concepts maps collaboratively.”
Aims to increase access, as defined as “providing the means for all qualified, motivated students to complete courses, degrees, or programs in their disciplines of choice" (Online Learning Consortium, n.d.) e.g., universally designed experiences.
Fosters more equitable and inclusive digital learning environments e.g., making course materials more accessible.
Utilizes learning analytics to enable adaptive or personalized pedagogy.
Incoporates mechanisims and/or tools for implementing real-world and innovative assessment strategies.
Incorporates mechanisms and/or tools for increasing student engagement e.g., through participation, collaboration, peer learning, etc.

Project proposals will be evaluated by the following criteria:

It aligns well with one or more of our priorities
Readiness to implement
Opportunity for scalability or reuse in a different course
Well-articulated assessment and evaluation plan
Solid plan for sustainability

We will not fund proposals that:


Request funding for salary lines, direct hourly-payroll, or personal compensation.


Lack a clear plan for implementation, evaluation, or sustainability (for the future outside of the one-time grant).


Do not align with the program's goals of enhancing digital learning experiences and inclusivity.


Intend to start a software or other educational technology pilot that is used by more than one instructor or more than one course. These should seek advice from MSU IT.


Important Dates:

Preparing for Catalyst - Information Session: 2:00-3:00pm, Friday, February 28, 2025 (Online link, recording, slides)
The Call for Proposals opens: Friday, February 28, 2025 (application link)
Proposals are due: Monday, March 31, 2025 at 11:59pm
Awards will be announced: Saturday, April 12, 2025

Funding available through: In the current semester or before the next. Also, by Jun. 30, 2025 (Preference will be given to projects that can utilize the award before this deadline). *This grant happens twice a year in the Spring and the Fall.
Request a Consultation










 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Photo by Changbok Ko on Unsplash
 
A common problem stemming from large class sizes is that of assessing a large amount of student writing (which you may already know too well!). We offer here tools and solutions for dealing with this workload.
 
TOOL: Distribute the labor with a calibrated peer review system like Eli Review or CPR (http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/Home.aspx). Setting your students up to give feedback to each other can get tricky in larger classroom because there are so many logistical steps that may leave you facing more challenge. If you are a Michigan State affiliate, Eli is free when you use it for Michigan State courses. Currently, Eli is integrated with D2L, so you can activate your account through your course’s D2L site. 
 
1) Design a writing assessment document, or rubric, with clear learning goals that you can scaffold.
Before students ever sit down to review one another, make sure you have made clear the writing practices a given assignment is designed to foster. We have found we are most successful as writing teachers when we make the learning goals or criteria for writing assignments as transparent and explicit as possible. This allows you and students to save time by staying on track and using a common measuring standard.
 
2) Introduce the concept of review early and model how students can review their colleagues’ work.
Review doesn’t need to wait on a completed draft. Instead, Eli is designed to help instructors review early, and review frequently. When we have taught writing, we have found that developing a culture of review early on in a course has helped our students’ overall learning because it front loads assignments and tasks with the learning goals in mind. However, we have also found that students frequently ask us what it is we are “looking for.” And indeed, it’s helpful to show students how to engage in a review process that leads towards your (or your program’s) course goals. Show students what kinds of feedback can be helpful toward working toward those outcomes and how to practice that kind of feedback so that students can begin to effectively respond to each other.
 
3) Start small and review more frequently.
Review doesn’t need to happen all at once. Instead, we have found it helpful to isolate learning goals in review activities, and to center reviews around a limited set of criteria, rather than around a holistic evaluation of writing quality. If a goal of your writing assignment, for example, is to make a convincing argument, then it may be helpful to have separate reviews that focus respectively on the quality of students’ claims and the quality of their evidence. Because you are breaking down larger assignments, students would be able to do small review assignments for each other quickly and efficiently in a low stakes way.
 
4) Use the rubric throughout the entire project, not just for final assessment.
There is plenty of research about the value of using rubrics as instructional tools. In the case of peer review, however, using the rubric as a common document for understanding the nature and purpose of a writing assignment can ensure that peer review provides a large quantity of feedback without sacrificing the quality or richness of that feedback.
 
5) Check in with your students to see how well it is working.
Despite all the positive benefits of the feedback we’re describing, it’s not going to work without strong pedagogical direction, and at times, intervention. Talk to your students — learn what feedback has been helpful, what hasn’t, and ask for suggestions about what can improve their experience of the process and help your feedback system become more effective.

The following is a list of the educators receiving the #iteachmsu Educator Award from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. For more information on these awards, check out the article entitled "#iteachmsu Educator Awards".
Jenifer Fenton: Jenifer is a fantastic mentor and constantly seeks out new pedagogical information to pass on to others. Her knowledge and direction really helped me improve my summer asynchronous online courses, and current and upcoming synchronous online courses. Additionally, she was fundamental in the redesign of our Nutritional Sciences major.
Tatiana Thomas: In a very challenging semester, Tati committed to helping me with ANS 300E, animal welfare judging. She served as both a ULA, an assistant coach for the judging team, and in both roles was a huge help to me. She came to each class with a positive attitude, always encouraging and ready to support the students and instructor. In her role as a ULA, Tati created a mock welfare scenario for the students and monitored their fact sheet submissions providing valuable practice and important feedback to the students. With such a trying semester for me, the quality of this course would have suffered had it not been for Tati. A million times over, thank you.
Jessica Kiesling: Jessica seems to be an endless well of patience, positivity, and productivity. She gives students meaningful assignments, path-plowing networking opportunities, and much-needed grace as we stumble our way into the professional world. I am so grateful to have Jessica as advisor and instructor, and the animal science community is so lucky to have her! Thank you, Jessica!
Scott Winterstein: I would like to give a huge shoutout to Dr. Winterstein for being the most exemplary mentor for the past 3 years and for his unparalleled dedication to excellence in teaching that I have witnessed the past 2 years as his Undergraduate Learning Assistant (ULA).
I met Dr. Winterstein when I was a freshman psychology major in his ISB202 course. Dr. Winterstein’s ISB202 course and our discussions after class strengthened my passion for environmental protection and showed me that I could turn my passion into a career. Near the end of the course, I changed my major to Environmental Studies and Sustainability. Now a graduating senior, Dr. Winterstein has been an amazing mentor to me and has completely shaped my career goals and introduced me to all the amazing opportunities the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) has to offer.
I have had the pleasure of working as his ULA for the last 4 semesters. In this role, I have seen him consistently go above and beyond for his students. He is incredibly committed to spreading his love of environmental science and supporting every one of his students. Dr. Winterstein’s work ethic and devotion to creating the best academic experience for his students is unparalleled. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and transition to online learning, I have seen many classes decline in quality and effort. For his ISB202 sections, I have only seen Dr. Winterstein dedicate more time and effort to perfecting his course. Moreover, he seriously takes into consideration the end of the semester surveys every time. Although he already has recorded lectures from the last two semesters online he could easily use, he re-records them every week adding new information and slight changes he makes based on survey results and careful analysis. He is extremely understanding of student difficulties, organized, and well-read. Additionally, I have seen many professors throughout my years at MSU change office hours to by appointment only, understandably, due to a lack of participation. When students would not show up to office hours due to zoom exhaustion, Dr. Winterstein opened up an extra office hour day in hopes of fitting student’s schedules better. He is always open to talking to his students about questions, related or unrelated to the course. And, many students have shared how fascinating and inspirational his memories about the history of the environmental movement and his own research is. While reading feedback he received from students on how to improve the course, a common trend I found was a deep appreciation of how enjoyable he made the science lectures through his humor and clear passion. He teaches in a way that is easily digestible to non-science major students and stimulating enough to convince me and many others to switch to science majors.
As a mentor, Dr. Winterstein has changed my life for the better. Always more than happy to help, I have asked Dr. Winterstein for endless letter of recommendation requests and his references has helped me secure over $8,000 in scholarships. Not to mention, he always forwards workshops/conferences he finds relating to environmental protection and my goals that he thinks may be of interest to me. Moreover, this year Dr. Winterstein offered to serve as the faculty advisor for my personal gap year project, a clean drinking water initiative in Mfangano Island, Kenya. Since, he has helped me apply to grants that could fund clean drinking water for 700+ residents and helped me secure an amazing summer internship.
Professor Winterstein is clearly in the top 1% of professors I have encountered at MSU based on both his dedication to his subject matter and unwavering passion in helping his students succeed. Personally, he helped me tremendously in growing from a confused freshman to a passionate and experienced professional with a clear career goal and life purpose. To be frank, MSU was not my top choice, but now I am graduating with an overwhelming sense of belonging within the CANR and forever proud to be a Spartan. His passion in helping his students inspired me to be a student mentor to a handful of CANR students and to pitch a mentorship program to the CANR Alumni Association which they will be pursuing. Thank you Dr. Winterstein for all that you do. I know the trajectory of my entire life has been significantly improved thanks to your course and mentorship. It is educators like you that make the world go round!
Aakanksha Melkani: Aakanksha is an amazing peer: she is a skillful, thoughtful woman who is as much fun to work with as she is to eat a meal or chat with! Aakanksha helps address the concerns of graduate students in her role as AFRE Graduate Student Organization Vice President. Her research work focuses on understanding marketing decisions in Zambia and trade of agricultural inputs. Aakanksha really represents excellence in all its forms :)
April Athnos: GTA April Athnos chooses to be an “usher” rather than a “gatekeeper” to knowledge for students of Ecological Economics (EEM 255). She welcomes students to identify environmental challenges and uncover the economic factors underpinning them. Said one student, “April used a variety of teaching methods, to promote an inclusive learning experience for all different types of students.” April makes the time to tailor the course to individual student needs, so that another student, “had the opportunity to write a research paper on the topic of the Coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the U.S. economy for my Honors Project.”
Ankita Bhattacharya: Ankita, is the true example of a graduate student. She started in the department as a Masters student and just recently transferred into the PhD program. Several semesters she has held the position as a TA for FSC 430, with the instructor giving her rave reviews. Ankita, is a kind student that always has a smile on her face.
Sihan Bu:

Sihan is a fantastic teaching assistant. She was instrumental in the process of converting a course from in-class to synchronous online, even though she had never assisted with the course prior. The course has a lot of "moving parts", and I was very impressed with her ability to adapt and provide input. Sihan completed every task bestowed upon her, and readily took the initiative when needed. Additionally, she has been a reference for me in using R for a course I am teaching this spring. I had never used R before, and I would often reach out to her inquiring about specific codes.


Sihan is such a kind person and always has a smile. She received her MS at MSU and is continuing on with her PhD. She has contributed to several different studies within the department and with a previous FSHN student at Wayne State University.

Rick Jorgensen: Rick, is one of the most delightful, enjoyable students to be around. He has continued to keep a 4.0 GPA, His first project was to establish a IgE-Western blot method for studying wheat allergenicity. He has presented at the AAI meeting. Is a co-author on an abstract, a co-author on 2 peer-reviewed papers, the list continues on. He is also the student representative for FSHN GAC, all this while being a TA for the fall and spring semesters.
Srishti LNU: From the time Srishti entered the MS program she has had a smile on her face. Almost everyday she would stop by my desk to just say Hi and have a short conversation. This is her last semester as she will be graduating, while I am so excited for her and her future, it is sad to see her go.
Chia-Lun Yang: Chia-Lun is planning on graduating summer semester. Her career goal is to become a nutrition scientist, delivering knowledge to the general public. We have no doubt that she will meet and exceed her expectations. Chia was/is a great addition to FSHN, always kind, always smiling and always helpful.
Lucas Krusinski: Lucas is in his second year and has maintained a 4.0 GPA. He is overseeing projects and training other student in techniques and completed work on two funded grants. He also presented his research findings at the annual meeting of the American Association of Animal Science, his abstract was published in their journal. FSHN is lucky to have Lucas as a Grad student.
Alyssa Harben: Alyssa Harben has engaged opportunities across the mission (teaching, research and service) more deeply than any other student that I have had the privilege to mentor. She is critical player in our research, collecting and analyzing data as well as mentoring students and actively engaging community partners. She is an excellent teacher former FAST fellow, who has engaged in critical inquiry related to teaching and learning. All of this has led to the creation of new knowledge and new scientists. Her enthusiasm is as endless as her energy and it has been to my benefit to have known her.
Anyone can recognize a fellow Spartan for their contributions to MSU's teaching and learning mission or for how they made a lasting impression on your experience. All you have to do is click "Thank an Educator" in the left panel of iteach.msu.edu. From there you'll see a short form where you can enter the name, netID, and a short story of the educator you'd like to recognize

What are EASE Reports?
EASE (Enhancing Academic Success Early) Reports are a great way to provide students- and their advisors- feedback on how they are doing in your class. Instructors post students' current grades, attendance and engagement, and comments. The instructor chooses if the information is sent just to the advisors or to both students and advisors. I complete the reports during the third week, fourth week (prior to the last day to drop with a refund), halfway through the semester (before the last day to drop without a grade reported), and toward the end of the semester. 
How are EASE Reports Completed?
EASE reports are completed on the Registrar's website. There are two options for posting them: entering grades and comments individually for each student in an online form or uploading a file. Uploading a file is the most efficient way to provide feedback for large classes because information can be quickly copied and pasted for multiple students. This way, you can provide feedback to every student. The tutorial below describes 1) how to download a student list EASE report template from the Registrar's website, 2) how to export grades from D2L, 3) how to combine the student list file and the D2L file, 4) tips and tricks to consider while working on the file, and 5) how to edit and upload the final file for an EASE Report upload to the registrar's website.

Notes to Consider
Make sure to upload it as a CSV.D2L calculates the final grade. Just note that if you have any drops already set up in your gradebook, that it will adjust the grade for those drops. Because of this, when I complete reports at the beginning of the semester, I manually calculate the grade so that drops are not set up. This way, they have a more accurate reflection of how they are doing in the course. Then I add a comment to anyone with a grade below 4.0 that their grade on D2L may be higher than what is reported here because the lowest grade for select assignments is dropped. In the video, I mentioned an equation that I use to check that the D2L and the EASE student list files match. Make sure to delete the demo students from the D2L list and put them both in order by NetID/email. Here is the equation: =if(G2=O2,1) You may need to change "G" and "O" depending on your columns. In my example, the MSU Net ID is in the G column of the file and the Email from D2L is in the O column of the file.I briefly went over the different columns in the EASE report file. Here is a description of each one (do not change the heading of any of the columns):

The first several columns contain information that you do not change:

Term_Code: semester roster
Subj_Code: the subject of your course
Crse_Code: the course code
Sctn_Code: the section number
Student_ID: students' PIDs
Student_Name: last name, first name of each student
MSUNet_ID: The student's Net_ID; the first part of their email address
Require: Does the student require an EASE report? There will be a "yes" for each student that requires an EASE report and nothing entered for those that do not. Try to complete a report for more than just those that require one.


You enter information for the next several columns:

Grade: Enter a grade for each student (0, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4). One easy way to calculate this is to add a percentage grade column from D2L and then put it in order of percentage (make sure to delete this extra column before uploading the file).
Attendance: enter "yes," "intermittent," or "no." If needed, add any clarifications to the comments column.
Engagement: enter "yes," "intermittent," or "no." If needed, add any clarifications to the comments column.
MeasuresDoNotApply: enter "yes" if the measures "grade," "attendance," and "engagement" do not apply to your course or for that student.
Comments: This is where you type useful feedback to the student's advisor and the student, if applicable. Try to be as specific as possible. Consider having a separate document of feedback that you can copy and paste from each semester.
ShareComments: Enter "yes" if you want students to also see the comments that you provided.



Additional information is provided on the EASE report file upload page on the registrar's website.