Tag: CAL$

Last Call for Spring Faculty Learning Communities

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Tonight is the deadline for all of our Spring professional development opportunities. Every semester starts with wonderful ambition. You may have a manuscript you are going to finish, a teaching practice you are going to improve, or a commitment to connect with colleagues interested in a key topic. For almost all of us, the difference between realizing those ambitions or deferring them (again) is a system of structure and support. Get the help you need in the form of a Faculty Learning Community. 

BIPOC Faculty Writing Community (FWC) 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers who identify as BIPoC
Format: In Person
Compensation: $500
Contact: Stef Baldivia and Gloria Lopez
Full Description
Application

The purpose of the Black, Indigenous, People of Color Faculty Writing Community (BIPoC-FWC) is to cultivate community and support for a diverse group of faculty to successfully navigate the retention, tenure, and promotion process, by developing scholarly and creative work, while strengthening a network of colleagues at the Chico State campus. The BIPoC-FWC is designed to create a space for BIPoC faculty to share their research ideas and publication goals, while supporting and motivating each other. All self-identified Black, Indigenous, or faculty of Color, are encouraged to apply. Members will regularly meet in a set location for a total of ten 90-minute sessions and two community building events. During writing sessions, every writer works on their own project, with mutual support offered through fellowship both prior to and following the writing sessions. Faculty will be working in a large cohort led by two peer-mentors, Gloria Lopez and Stef Baldivia. There will be a mandatory kick-off meeting in early spring based on participants availability.

Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$)
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: Online and Asynchronous
Compensation: $500
Contact: Beth Shook
Full Description
Application

Want to decrease course costs for students? And at the same time provide students high quality and accessible course materials? Participate in an asynchronous Canvas training designed to help faculty identify and evaluate Open Educational Resources (OER) and other free or affordable course materials for your courses. Faculty who complete the online training, including developing a cost-savings plan to be implemented in a Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 course, will earn $500 in taxable income. 

Canvas modules will cover the following topics: OER and why they are important, finding and evaluating OER, Library resources, understanding copyright and Creative Commons licenses, ensuring accessibility, curating and adapting materials for your course, teaching with open resources, and the Zero Cost Course Materials (ZCCM) designation.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Teaching (EDIT) 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: Primarily Zoom, with one in person session
Compensation: $500 for attending at least four workshops
Contact: Alisa Wade and Allison McConnell
Full Description
Application

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Teaching (EDIT) Series includes six workshops, and is designed to offer faculty an introduction to basic concepts of equity, diversity, inclusion, and how they can be implemented in the classroom in order to create more equitable and accessible learning environments. Each workshop explores–and models–a different facet of student-centered and inclusive teaching through tools, resources, and strategies: positionality in the classroom, antiracist pedagogy, backward design, accessibility of course materials, culturally responsive teaching and the hidden curriculum, and practices of classroom community building. Workshops are each paired with a teaching guide (and other materials) and offer the opportunity for faculty to complete deliverables that they will be able to incorporate into their course(s) moving forward.

Leadership Development 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers currently in/considering leadership roles on campus
Format: In Person
Compensation: $500
Contact: Holly Nevarez
Full Description
Application

The leadership FLC will introduce leadership styles and strategies. This FLC is designed for people who lead from wherever you are. Perhaps you are not a formal leader on campus, but find yourself leading other staff or students; perhaps you would like to be a formal leader someday and want to start to develop skills; or perhaps you are going to be a department Chair next year and want to start preparing. In any of those scenarios, this FLC is for you. We will talk about staffing, shared governance, facilitating meetings, managing difficult people, work to develop a leadership philosophy and more.

Publish and Flourish 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: One online FLC and one in person FLC
Compensation: $500
Contact: Chris Fosen
Full Description
Application

The Office of Faculty Development is bringing back faculty writing groups FLCs for the spring 2024 semester. After a survey was sent out in Dec 2023 to “Publish and Flourish” and “Write an Article in Twelve Weeks” participants about meeting preferences, we recognized the need for two distinct meeting patterns and goals for FLC participants. Faculty can select either option below:

  • Meeting one hour a week on Zoom for dedicated writing time with minimal interruption, for the purposes of getting words down on paper and providing mutual accountability.
  • Meeting two hours every other week in MLIB 455 (flex possible) for time to reflect on their writing process, plan out benchmarks for completion, and share drafts in small groups of 2-4. These groups provide accountability and increased understanding of how writing time can mesh with other professional duties.

Participating faculty will receive $500 in taxable income for completing some significant portion of their writing goals, and attending all meetings (through week 13 or 14).

Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: Online and Asynchronous
Compensation: $750
Contact: Allison McConnell
Full Description
Application

The Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) Program is an asynchronous, self-paced Canvas course structured around the QLT evaluation rubric. This QLT course is designed to meet core standards in the QLT instrument through the completion of eight modules with associated deliverables that guide you to fully redesign a course (or design a new course). Topics and deliverables focus on backwards design, student engagement, authentic assessment, inclusion and accessibility, and more. This QLT course requires a final course review. While focusing on online learning, QLT provides a framework that is applicable to all modes of instruction.

Zach Justus
Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
Google Voice/Text: 530-487-4150

All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.

Welcome Back!

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The start of the semester often brings excitement and uncertainty for us and our students. This semester that uncertainty was compounded by the strike. Given the rapid adjustments to teaching and learning schedules I am writing to urge you to give yourselves, each other, and your students some extra grace and space to start the semester. 

  • Your normal add/drop policy may require some adjustment if students saw the news of the strike and stayed out of town or picked up extra work shifts. 
  • You may not have your Canvas site as built-out as you normally would because your mind has been elsewhere, it’s okay.
  • Staff support spent their days yesterday fielding questions from confused students and without all the answers. Let’s be extra kind at this time. 

When you do catch your breath, take a moment to consider the robust slate of professional development opportunities we are offering this Spring. All applications are due at 11:59pm on 1/30.

BIPOC Faculty Writing Community (FWC) 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers who identify as BIPoC
Format: In Person
Compensation: $500
Contact: Stef Baldivia and Gloria Lopez
Full Description
Application

The purpose of the Black, Indigenous, People of Color Faculty Writing Community (BIPoC-FWC) is to cultivate community and support for a diverse group of faculty to successfully navigate the retention, tenure, and promotion process, by developing scholarly and creative work, while strengthening a network of colleagues at the Chico State campus. The BIPoC-FWC is designed to create a space for BIPoC faculty to share their research ideas and publication goals, while supporting and motivating each other. All self-identified Black, Indigenous, or faculty of Color, are encouraged to apply. Members will regularly meet in a set location for a total of ten 90-minute sessions and two community building events. During writing sessions, every writer works on their own project, with mutual support offered through fellowship both prior to and following the writing sessions. Faculty will be working in a large cohort led by two peer-mentors, Gloria Lopez and Stef Baldivia. There will be a mandatory kick-off meeting in early spring based on participants availability.

Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$)
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: Online and Asynchronous
Compensation: $500
Contact: Beth Shook
Full Description
Application

Want to decrease course costs for students? And at the same time provide students high quality and accessible course materials? Participate in an asynchronous Canvas training designed to help faculty identify and evaluate Open Educational Resources (OER) and other free or affordable course materials for your courses. Faculty who complete the online training, including developing a cost-savings plan to be implemented in a Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 course, will earn $500 in taxable income. 

Canvas modules will cover the following topics: OER and why they are important, finding and evaluating OER, Library resources, understanding copyright and Creative Commons licenses, ensuring accessibility, curating and adapting materials for your course, teaching with open resources, and the Zero Cost Course Materials (ZCCM) designation.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Teaching (EDIT) 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: Primarily Zoom, with one in person session
Compensation: $500 for attending at least four workshops
Contact: Alisa Wade and Allison McConnell
Full Description
Application

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Teaching (EDIT) Series includes six workshops, and is designed to offer faculty an introduction to basic concepts of equity, diversity, inclusion, and how they can be implemented in the classroom in order to create more equitable and accessible learning environments. Each workshop explores–and models–a different facet of student-centered and inclusive teaching through tools, resources, and strategies: positionality in the classroom, antiracist pedagogy, backward design, accessibility of course materials, culturally responsive teaching and the hidden curriculum, and practices of classroom community building. Workshops are each paired with a teaching guide (and other materials) and offer the opportunity for faculty to complete deliverables that they will be able to incorporate into their course(s) moving forward.

Leadership Development 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers currently in/considering leadership roles on campus
Format: In Person
Compensation: $500
Contact: Holly Nevarez
Full Description
Application

The leadership FLC will introduce leadership styles and strategies. This FLC is designed for people who lead from wherever you are. Perhaps you are not a formal leader on campus, but find yourself leading other staff or students; perhaps you would like to be a formal leader someday and want to start to develop skills; or perhaps you are going to be a department Chair next year and want to start preparing. In any of those scenarios, this FLC is for you. We will talk about staffing, shared governance, facilitating meetings, managing difficult people, work to develop a leadership philosophy and more.

Publish and Flourish 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: One online FLC and one in person FLC
Compensation: $500
Contact: Chris Fosen
Full Description
Application

The Office of Faculty Development is bringing back faculty writing groups FLCs for the spring 2024 semester. After a survey was sent out in Dec 2023 to “Publish and Flourish” and “Write an Article in Twelve Weeks” participants about meeting preferences, we recognized the need for two distinct meeting patterns and goals for FLC participants. Faculty can select either option below:

  • Meeting one hour a week on Zoom for dedicated writing time with minimal interruption, for the purposes of getting words down on paper and providing mutual accountability.
  • Meeting two hours every other week in MLIB 455 (flex possible) for time to reflect on their writing process, plan out benchmarks for completion, and share drafts in small groups of 2-4. These groups provide accountability and increased understanding of how writing time can mesh with other professional duties.

Participating faculty will receive $500 in taxable income for completing some significant portion of their writing goals, and attending all meetings (through week 13 or 14).

Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) 
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: Online and Asynchronous
Compensation: $750
Contact: Allison McConnell
Full Description
Application

The Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) Program is an asynchronous, self-paced Canvas course structured around the QLT evaluation rubric. This QLT course is designed to meet core standards in the QLT instrument through the completion of eight modules with associated deliverables that guide you to fully redesign a course (or design a new course). Topics and deliverables focus on backwards design, student engagement, authentic assessment, inclusion and accessibility, and more. This QLT course requires a final course review. While focusing on online learning, QLT provides a framework that is applicable to all modes of instruction.

Zach Justus
Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
Google Voice/Text: 530-487-4150

All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.

Course Materials…Already?

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It is that time of year again! The weather is cooling down and my daughter is changing her mind about a Halloween costume every weekend so it must be…time to select Spring textbooks?

Having the correct course material in place before spring registration in October helps students make course and budget decisions. Reporting your course materials is critical even if you are using library or open educational resources (OER).

Do you know what classes you are teaching?

Are you planning on using the same materials you did last time?

If you answered “yes” to both of these questions you can finish this process in five minutes. Use the Canvas “Account” menu option in the upper left, and then click “Follett Discover”, or you can email your course materials list to wildcatstore@csuchico.edu, and you will be done in a flash.

I know many part-time faculty will not have specific sections yet and schedules can change. However, this is a critical issue for students as they make decisions and early reporting also allows the bookstore time to find lower-priced used materials. I encourage you to consider a department or program-level conversation about selecting predictable materials for classes so the Department Chair can make selections for courses yet to be assigned. 

Speaking of textbooks, if you are looking to find or develop a quality resource to lower costs for students, that also increases the likelihood they will have the materials and read for your class, be on the lookout for our CAL$ application later this fall.  The CAL$ program will run during the Spring semester.

Zach Justus
Interim Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
Google Voice/Text: 530-487-4150

Equity is Everyone’s Responsibility

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Last week we mentioned the grades and equity dashboard as a useful tool for looking at who your students are and how they are doing. It is no secret that our campus continues to struggle to make equity a reality. We continue to make progress in fits and starts, but we do not need to wait for big initiatives or funding cycles to make change. The most critical equity work on campus starts with you in the classroom. The challenges are real, but we partnered with Undergraduate Education to create a list of changes we can implement as individuals in the classroom–often while the semester is ongoing. 

  • Rename office hours student hours. A simple change in name can make you more approachable and increase student utilization of time you have set aside for them. 
  • Show your students who you are.  Sharing our own narratives with students makes it easier for them to approach us with questions.
  • Incorporate diverse examples into your assigned material. Students will not always see themselves in you and your experiences. They should see themselves in the material we assign. 
  • Incorporate an assignment where students draw on their personal experience. This signals to students you care about who they are and where they come from. 
  • Look for ways to lower course material costs. A 2020 survey reported about 65% of students have skipped buying course materials because of cost. This has a disproportionate impact on lower income students. Visit the Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$) website for more information about zero and low cost course materials.
  • Limit extra credit. Our students who are working, first-generation, and diverse are statistically less likely to do extra tasks. When we offer extra credit for additional work there is a disproportionate benefit for already advantaged students (Feldman, 2018, Grading for Equity).
  • Move away from high stakes assignments and towards more frequent, reflective, iterative work. Research shows that students are more likely to retain information when engaged in regular practice and application, and receive feedback that they can use to improve.  Here is some feedback from a faculty member who tried this technique in her classroom for a semester. 

For a deeper dive check out our existing teaching guides focused on inclusion and consider signing up for equity focused offerings in this semester’s FDEV slate.

Zach Justus
Interim Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences

Chico Affordable Learning Solutions

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Sent on behalf of Beth Shook and Edward Roualdes, CAL$ program leads

Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$) provides resources to faculty regarding affordable course materials, including how to find and adopt quality zero-cost or low-cost textbooks and other materials, or create Open Educational Resources (OERs). 

CAL$ has been on the Chico State campus since 2013, and went by the name Textbook Affordability Project (TAP) until 2018. We adopted the name Chico Affordable Learning Solutions to better align our campus effort with the Chancellor’s Office program, Affordable Learning Solutions. CAL$ has offered both summer and academic-year workshops as well as does one-on-one mentoring with faculty. Since 2014, Chico State faculty participating in CAL$ programs have helped students save over 1.2 million dollars.

About OER
Open Educational Resources (OER), for the purposes of CAL$ funded opportunities, are defined as teaching and learning materials that are in the public domain or licensed to allow anyone free and perpetual access to them. OER materials should allow others to engage in the five 5 R activities:  reuse, retain, revise, remix, and redistribute. OERs include a wide range of materials including books, case studies, reference materials, assessments, assignments, tutorials, slides, videos, and more.

Funding opportunity
Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$), for the first time since its inception, is pleased to offer course release support to faculty who want to create their own Open Educational Resources. With funding from the Chancellor’s Office program Affordable Learning Solutions, CAL$ will be able to provide course releases for three faculty members (of up to 3 AWTU per participant) in spring 2022. Applicants should follow the Call For Applications, which are due by Friday, October 1. We anticipate notifying selected applicants by Friday, October 8th.

Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$)

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Today’s Tuesday Tip is brought to you by our campus AL$ Coordinators, Edward Roualdes and Beth Shook. 

Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$) provides resources to faculty regarding affordable course materials, including how to find and adopt quality zero-cost or low-cost textbooks and other materials, or design one’s own Open Educational Resources (OERs).   

CAL$ has been on the Chico State campus since 2013, and originally went by the name Textbook Affordability Project (TAP) until 2018.  The name Chico Affordable Learning Solutions was adopted to better align our campus effort with the Chancellor’s Office program, Affordable Learning Solutions.  In the last four years, CAL$ has helped students save over $800,000. 

From a spring 2019 CAL$ survey on our campus, we estimate that because of high textbook costs 

  • 52% of students go without the required textbook, 
  • 28% of students avoid or drop/withdraw from course, 
  • 55% of students alter their food or housing budget, and 
  • 24% of students feel their grade was negatively impacted. 

CAL$ will lead a Friday Forum on October 9th (from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.), covering the following topics: 

  • Describe CAL$ efforts on campus so far. 
  • Define Zero Cost Course Materials, its context in the state of California, and how to identify and report if your course meets the criteria. 
  • Discuss Open Educational Resources:  What are OER and how do they differ from Open Access materials? What are the many benefits of using OER in the classroom. 
  • Explore some more popular OER repositories: how to find OER materials for your course. 
  • Highlight resources available through the Meriam Library that can be utilized in the classroom, including ebooks. 
  • Bookstore’s new Discover: more easily adopt books, including OER; October 16 deadline 

The forum will be held via Zoom. Please visit the Friday Forums page for additional information. This session will be recorded and posted in the FDEV media channel. 

Paid Fall Workshops – Chico Affordable Learning Solutions

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Chico State students pay several hundred dollars for textbooks and supplies every semester, in each of their courses, on top of tuition and fees. There is a growing interest among faculty to adopt lower cost (or even free) learning solutions to help remove financial barriers for students who sometimes forego purchasing course materials in order to meet their basic needs. The Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$) website has several suggestions to decrease costs of course materials while retaining quality and rigor. Reducing course costs can help narrow equity gaps while improving graduations rates for all students.

If you’re interested in locating (or even creating your own) high-quality low-cost course materials, Apply Here to the CAL$ Fall Workshop series by October 15. Faculty who attend three different one-hour workshops (see attached details) and implement a cost-savings strategy for students in their Spring 2020 course(s) will earn both a CAL$ Training Certificate and $400 (paid in Spring 2020). Applications from faculty who teach high-enrollment, high cost, and/or GE courses are especially encouraged.  Workshop titles and payment details can be found on the CAL$ FA19 Memorandum of Understanding. If you have questions, please contact Beth Shook or Edward Roualdes .