Tag: materials

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

Showcase evidence of teaching excellence

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Dear faculty,

As we get closer to the due date for turning in your dossier (February 18th), I want to take a moment to re-share some resources available in FDEV for retention, tenure, and promotion (RTP), and more general resources that can help with your dossiers (whether you are a T/TT faculty or a lecturer). Earlier this year and last year we offered a number of Friday Forums that provided insights into a variety of topics pertaining to RTP, how to write your dossier, and how to showcase evidence of your work.

I want to share the recordings from those forums, and I hope that you can find valuable information:

  1. How to Showcase Evidence of Teaching Excellence (Class Evaluations) – additional material available here
  2. How to Showcase Evidence of Teaching Excellence (in the RTP Dossier) – additional material available here
  3. How to Prepare for a Class Peer Evaluation – slides available here
  4. How to Approach Service Strategically (and write about it in your dossier)- slides and additional material available here
  5. Resources on RTP

I hope these resources will be useful and I want to encourage all faculty to reach out to Faculty Development for questions about RTP, dossier writing, class evaluations, etc. We might not have all the answers, but we should be able to point you in the right direction. I am also happy to share my dossier with anybody who would like to see an example, just reach out to me!

Comment on our blog if you want to share different ideas on how to showcase evidence of teaching excellence in your dossier.

Resources for Tenure, Promotion, and Dossier Writing

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Dear faculty,

I hope that your first week in class (virtually or in person) went as smoothly as possible and that you could all get re-energized by the interaction with your students!

This week, I want to encourage you to focus on yourselves for a moment, and to consider the resources available for retention, tenure, and promotion (RTP), and more general resources that can help with your dossiers (whether you are going through a performance or periodic review this year, and whether you are a T/TT faculty or a lecturer). Last year we offered a number of Friday Forums that provided insights into a variety of topics pertaining to RTP, and many faculty helped me explore concrete examples of successful practices. 

I want to share the recordings from those forums, as many of you have dossiers due on September 17th, and I hope that you can find valuable information there.

  1. How to Showcase Evidence of Teaching Excellence (Class Evaluations) – additional material available here
  2. How to Showcase Evidence of Teaching Excellence (in the RTP Dossier) – additional material available here
  3. How to Prepare for a Class Peer Evaluation – slides available here
  4. How to Approach Service Strategically – additional material available here

I want to encourage all faculty (T/TT and lecturers) to reach out to Faculty Development for questions about RTP, dossier writing, class evaluations, etc. We might not have all the answers, but we should be able to point you in the right direction. I am also happy to share my dossier with anybody who would like to see an example, just reach out to me!

Lastly, I want to send one more reminder about the Friday Forum on RTP. Join us for a discussion about tenure and promotion with the Office of Academic Personnel, Deans, Department Chairs, and newly tenured faculty on Friday, September 3rd, 12:00-2:00 p.m. The forum will be offered via Zoom and all sessions will be recorded.

Do not hesitate to reach out to me or Faculty Development for any questions!

Chiara Ferrari 
 
Faculty Development, Director 
Campus zip: 026 
Phone: 530-898-3094 
https://www.csuchico.edu/fdev
Professor 
Department of Media Arts, Design, and Technology 
Campus zip: 504 
Phone: 530-898-4647