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The CTLI offered two Instructor Jumpstart workshop sessions for MSU’s New Faculty and Academic Staff Orientation in patnership with the Office for Faculty and Academic Staff Development. These hybrid workshops were led by Ellie Louson and Teaching Center director Jeremy Van Hof. Jumpstart is a two-part introduction to high-level topics related to quality, inclusive teaching at Michigan State University and was part of our Semester Start-Up programming for MSU educators. We covered topics such as:



Setting the Tone from the Start
Syllabus Considerations
Engaging Students in the Classroom
Faculty Rights and Responsibilities
Collaborating w/ GTAs and ULAs
Inclusive Teaching and Pedagogy
Building a (personal) Teaching & Learning Network
MSU’s Early Warning System for Students (EASE)
Available Campus Resources



The takeaways from these sessions were:



There are actions you can take to intentionally build a learning environment & culture in your class.
Think about your syllabus as a learning tool and an agreement within your classroom community.
Actively engaging learners with simple practices can improve course outcomes and help support the tone you’ve set.
MSU educators enjoy both rights and responsibilities in their teaching, research, and outreach/creative activities
Think of your work with GTAs/ULAs as a partnership, be aware of power dynamics, and use the Graduate School for GTA guidance and the CTLI for ULA guidance. 
There are benefits to students and instructors when courses are designed inclusively, and educators have specific responsibilities to create accessible courses and resources for students.
We recommend that educators new to MSU connect with colleagues and build their personal teaching & learning network
EASE reports are an early-warning system to help colleges identify absent or disengaged students for potential interventions and support early in the semester.
MSU has lots of resources available to help support you and your students.



You can access the single slide deck for both sessions of Jumpstart here [requires a MSU login]. The slides include links to many MSU resources for course instructors. We also heard from participants that the CTLI's new Classroom Scenarios Sample Responses could be valuable in the classroom to help respond to and/or de-escalate distracting or disruptive classroom situations.Feel free to reach out to Ellie Louson or Jeremy Van Hof if you have any questions about New Instructor Jumpstart or the topics described above.Photo by Stephanie Klepacki on Unsplash

MSU's Enhanced Digital Learning Initiative (EDLI) has received a National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education grant to support research aiming to improve student learning outcomes and equity in blended online and in-person courses. As part of the study, we are seeking instructors interested in or already implementing blended undergraduate courses to participate for one or more semesters between Spring 2024 - Fall 2025.
What counts as “blended”?
Courses where the contact hours incorporate a mix of in-person and online (synchronous or asynchronous) instruction will likely qualify, including those where the course is offered fully in person but students are able to attend via Zoom. Fully online courses or in–person courses with online assignments (that are not part of the credit contact hours) will not qualify. 
We ask that instructors:

Participate in professional development with other blended course instructors, including:

Kick-off meeting/workshop with one-on-one consultations
Online learning community throughout the semester

Facilitate data collection, including: 

A course observation
A one-hour instructor interview 
Dissemination of two student surveys and consent/recruitment materials 
Tracking student attendance and the modality of student attendance


Instructors will receive:

Technical and pedagogical assistance through the professional development and learning community
$1000 overload stipend per semester (up to 4 semesters from Spring 2024 - Fall 2025)
Potential funding for undergraduate learning assistants

Priority given to STEM courses that feature in-person class sessions with synchronous Zoom sessions for online students


To learn more or participate:
Email Dr. Caitlin Kirby, kirbycai@msu.edu; or follow this link to our recruitment survey.

Instructors linked to a course will have access to:

Academic dishonesty report
Academic progress reports
Grade submission and changes
Grade upload feature
Class list information including “email the class” and “exam cover sheet” functionality
Textbook and course material entry

Even if you are not assigning any materials, please go into the system and indicate that there are no assigned materials.
To submit textbook information, go to the Instructor Systems menu  on the Office of the Registrar website, and select ‘Textbook and Material Entry/Update.’  If you do not see your class(es) listed, please contact the department offering the course.



Other Resources are also available at the Registrar's Office: 

Enrollment reports and other data
Academic Programs Catalog
Academic calendars and final exam schedules
University Curriculum and Catalog

Photo by Erol Ahmed on Unsplash

The Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation and educators discussed the title “What Inclusive Instructors Do: Principles and Practices for Excellence in College Teaching” By Tracie Marcella Addy, Derek Dube, Khadijah A. Mitchell, Mallory SoRelle (published by Routledge in 2021) on 11/2/23. This title is available in print at the MSU Main Library (Call Number: LB2331 .A34 2021) or as an eBook (via ProQuest EBook Central).
If you missed the discussion or want to continue your reflection, in addition to the great reflection questions incorporated in each chapter of the book, here are the prompts we used for our discussion:


The book defines inclusive instructors as the “literal embodiment of inclusion. Inclusive instructors generate spaces through their scholarship, service, mentorship, teaching, activism, and their very selves. To be an inclusive instructor is to critique and challenge traditions, systems and structures that were constructed to exclude and marginalize”.Is this aspirational or achievable? How / what would you add or change in the definition of an inclusive instructor? 


What are you currently doing to create inclusive and welcoming learning environments? How do you incorporate inclusivity in the beginning, middle, and end of the course? How do these things create and support educational equity and belonging?


The book talks about the importance of growth mindset in this work. That as humans we never "fully arrive". How do you (currently or aspire to) continue your learning and development journey in this area?


In your opinion, how can educators measure the effectiveness of their inclusive teaching practices? What indicators or assessment tools can help them gauge the impact of their efforts? The naming and framing of this work is important. How can/do you tell the story of your inclusive educator practices?


The group had a conversation rich with activities and resources. Here are a few of the items that came up:


Resources:



Microvalidations


Power Wheel


OFASD Learning Communities



Practices and ideas from the group:


smaller assessments give students feedback on a limited amount of knowledge and they’re less likely to forget everything after the midterm





removed all grades related to "participation" or attendance


1 min check outs (What rocked today? What sucked today?)


Break large exams into the smallest chunks for learning assessments… this allows educators to demonstrate flexibility in large courses


“made a mistake and I had total points of 105 - rather than correcting it, it gave students some room to miss deadlines on some of discussion forums”


small-group exams


“I have my quizzes open Monday and close Friday each week, and they can take as many times as they want while it is open - I still have students who don’t do them, so they will typically use the drops”


“I've been offering flexibility in assignment format. Granted, I teach small grad-level courses so this might not work for larger undergrad courses. But I give students the option to do a traditional academic paper, powerpoint presentation with recorded narrative, or if they have other ideas I ask them to meet with me to talk it through.”






If you’d like to nominate a title for a future CTLI book discussion and/or volunteer to co-facilitate a discussion, please reach out to Makena Neal at mneal@msu.eduCover-photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
 
In How to Build an Online Learning Community (In 2020) https://www.learnworlds.com/build-online-learning-community/ via @learnworlds 
 
Way #1: Establishing the Instructor’s Presence

Convey a sense of enthusiasm about getting started the course. 
Personalize and provide some touchstones about yourself and encourage learners to do the same.
Indicate your availability for questions and communications.

Don’t forget that your initial postings in the discussion forum, your first messages sent to all by email, or the greeting you post on your course home page will do much to set the tone and expectations for your course.


Putting this into practice
There are several ways that this can be accomplished in your course. Here are some examples:

Posting an Introduction post in the course via text or video. It's important to show your class that you are a real person. You can do this by including images of yourself and by sharing aspects of your background and particular interest in the subject that you are teaching. Your introduction post is also a great place to share your expectations about the course, important dates, setting expectations for feedback.
Video is a good tool creating an instructor pressence online. Creating an Introduction video segments, using video to introduce the course content for each week, and using weekly videos to questions arise or address patterns.

Tools
Kaltura Capture is a quick easy way to record and upload video into Kaltura MediaSpace. From there the videos can easily be embeded into your D2L course.

 
Creating Content in D2L
You can embed video and images into your Introductory posts on D2L. The following video will demonstrate how to embed additional media from the Insert Stuff icon.

 
As a result of the Kaltura MediaSpace intergration in D2L, you can access all of the videos that you have uploaded into Kaltura Media from the Insert Stuff icon. Just look for the My Media Link. Check out the screen shot below:
  
 
 

The CTLI offers a workshop about the potential benefits and suggested tactics for strengthening partnerships between academic advisors and course instructors, designed by educational developers Katie Peterson and Ellie Louson. This version is designed for a mixed audience of advisors and course instructors. Prior versions are available for specific audiences of advisors and instructors. A recording of the 1-hour workshop is below.Our goals for this workshop:

Understand how to develop stronger partnerships between course instructors and advisors.
Recognize key calendar milestones for impactful interactions between course instructors and advisors.
Learn how advisors and instructors can work together towards student success.
Identify actionable first steps for initiating collaboration.

Access our presentation slides by clicking here.Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Topic Area: DEI
Presented by: Melanie Cooper, Cori Fata-Hartley
Abstract:
Over the last 7 years, the STEM Teaching and Learning Fellowship at MSU has provided 4 cohorts of faculty with exposure to Three-Dimensional Learning (3DL), a new framework for teaching and learning, along with regular meetings to develop assessments and instructional materials, discuss education research, and become part of a growing interdisciplinary community of faculty committed to improving STEM education. While these activities were intended to lay a foundation, instructors’ personal attitudes, priorities, and behaviors in the context of their classes clearly play an important role in determining their students’ potential to benefit from research-based instructional strategies. In this panel discussion, alumni from the Fellowship will share personal stories as they describe their work to efficiently build assessments and instruction around the three dimensions of 3DL: Scientific Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts. Supports and barriers to implementing 3DL will be considered, along with implications for future cohorts and specific recommendations for successful course transformation.

Fostering Student to Instructor Engagement Online
In a traditional face-to-face environment, this can be pretty straight forward. You lecture. Students take notes. They ask questions. You answer them. They write papers. You grade them and give feedback. But how does this interaction happen best online?
Four Keys 
Students desire consistency and clarity. "What is due when? Where do I go in the course navigation? I'm confused, how do I gain clarity? Where are my grades?" There are ways in the online environment you can help mitigate these for a smooth learning experience. 
A Little Work That Go A Long Way

Provide your contact information in your syllabus - Clarify to the student what your response policies are and when they might expect a response. This may include your email, phone number, online office hours, etc. This helps the student feel a sense of connection and commitment from you to them. 
Create one solitary discussion thread called, "Assignment and Course Questions". In your syllabus and in your "Getting Started" module, coach the students to put all questions there. This allows you to answer one question to all and mitigates you answering similar questions many times. You can then answer one question to many. Saves you time and provides an answer to the student with the question as well as all students.
Weekly Recap/Vision. Students appreciate a quick recap and vision for each week to know where the course is heading. Creating a quick email and sending it through D2L every week helps the students feel connected to the course and to you. It also helps coach them on whether they are on track or not. You can also triple-publish this as an email, announcement and in your "Assignment and Course Questions" discussion thread. That way you know your students will see it. Consider going a step further and using your phone or computer to record a quick video recap and post it there. 
Timely and Accurate Feedback. Students want and need feedback. You know this in your face-to-face courses. The same is true online. One way to provide this efficiently is through the use of rubrics. This provides students with real time feedback and saves a lot of time on your end with extended feedback. We can assist with creating these rubrics for your course and offer ways you can get quality feedback to your students quickly.

Dig Deeper
If you would like to further explore this topic, here are some resources you could check out:

Difference Between Face-to-Face and Online Lectures 
Guides for Productive Online Conversations [PDF] 
8 Ways to Be More Inclusive in Your Zoom Teaching 

SOIREE Team:
Design Lead: Sarah Wellman
Content Leads: Kate Sonka, Stephen Thomas, and Jeremy Van Hof
Content Authors: Jason Archer, Kevin Henley, David Howe, Summer Issawi, Leslie Johnson, Rashad Muhammad, Nick Noel, Candace Robertson, Scott Schopieray, Jessica Sender, Daniel Trego, Valeta Wensloff, and Sue Halick