Fall 2011 Newsletter
In This Issue
Provost Conference
Clicker Forum
Assess-It! Released
2011 New Faculty
Mathematica at DU
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The CTL has moved!   

 

Aspen Hall  

Over the summer, the CTL relocated to Aspen Hall (first floor, Northern wing), 2280 S. Vine St.      

 

You can find us, our faculty technology lab, and other support services at our new location during the 18-month renovation of Penrose Library.  

 

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The CTL Welcomes Chayla Haynes    

 

The CTL is proud to announce that Chayla Haynes, a doctoral student in Higher Education at the Morgridge College of Education, along with the CTL, are the recipients of a national internship award granted by the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education.  

 

As the first stage of her internship, Chayla and the CTL will be adminstering a faculty survey to asses the needs of DU faculty as it relates to diversity and inclusion in teaching. 

 

Be on the lookout for this survey later this Fall!

 

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Honor Code in Action Video Contest

 

Honor Code Celebration Week is Oct. 26 - Nov. 5. 

Please encourage your students to submit a video about the Honor Code for a chance to win a $400 credit to the DU Bookstore as part of the festivities.

Click for more information on the Honor Code in Action Video Contest.

During the 2011 Provost Conference, you will also have the opportunity to meet faculty members from the Honor Code Advisory Council who will be hosting a digital poster and will be available to answer questions about the Honor Code and Academic Integrity. 

 

 

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CTL Contacts


CTL Helpdesk
[email protected]
303-871-2084

Academic Technology 

Blackboard
Alex Karklins
Kathy Keairns
 
DU CourseMedia
Alex Karklins
Jenn Light
 
DU Portfolio
Jenn Light
Carrie Lorenz
 
Clickers (Student-Response Systems)
Jenn Light

Alex Karklins  

 

Lecture Capture
Jane Maurer
Alex Karklins

Adobe Connect
Jenn Light 
Joseph Labrecque 
 
Faculty Technology Lab
Alex Karklins

Cheryl Jackson 

 
Software Development Projects
Joseph Labrecque
 
Mobile Development
Joseph Labrecque
 
ECTD (Electronic Capstone, Theses and Dissertations)
Alex Martinez
Gary Taylor

UTS Help Desk
303-871-4700

Teaching Resources

Workshops/Seminars
Bridget Arend
Kathy Keairns
 
Teaching Resources and Consultations
Julanna Gilbert
Bridget Arend
 
Teaching Online
Kathy Keairns
Bridget Arend
 
Funding Opportunities

Faculty Grants
Julanna Gilbert 
Cheryl Jackson

2011 Provost Conference

Redesigning the Classroom: New Terms of Engagement

Mark your calendars!

Friday, October 28

9:00 am - 3:15 pm

The Cable Center

 

How do we leverage technology to keep faculty at the center of education at DU? What is the role of a faculty member in this new digital landscape? What is the best use of classroom time? These and other questions will explored in this year's Provost Conference.  

 

Keynote Speaker:

Candice Thille

Director of The Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University

 

The conference will include a full day of breakout sessions and digital poster sessions led by faculty members at DU. Come learn how student engagement is being redefined in the classrooms of your colleagues across campus.  

 

Look for the invitation in your inbox next week.   

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DU Clicker Networking and Learning Forum

 

Learn how you can transform your classroom into a more interactive learning environment.

 

October 14th, 9:00am-12:00pm

Nagel Hall Room 102

clicker image

 

The Forum will allow professors an opportunity to share their experience and expertise with Clicker usage.   

CTL Staff and Turning Technology representatives will cover helpful "Tips and Tricks" and new ways of polling in the classroom.  After the main presentation, you are invited to work with Turning Technology staff who are prepared to help you integrate Clickers with your existing classroom materials.

 

To RSVP: http://tinyurl.com/clickerforum 

 

Please contact Jenn Light at [email protected] or 303-871-7884 for more information.     

 

General information about Clickers and their application in the classroom can be found at the CTL Clicker Resource Portfolio.  

 

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Assess-It! Software Released

 

The CTL is proud to announce the release of "Assess-It!" - DU's new and improved Online Assessment System.

 

In the past, DU Portfolio hosted a behind-the-scenes program assessment function, allowing departments to collect and evaluate evidence of learning via a secure online system. CTL staff members spent almost two years of conceptual planning, departmental meetings, focus groups, input from existing users, and close work with the Office of Academic Assessment, to create Assess-It!, which replaces the DU Portfolio assessment tool.

 

 

 

"Assess-It! permits students to submit the usual artifacts of learning, such as papers and exams, but now students can submit a wider range of work, such as images, media and anything that can be digitized, including art, music, and even websites for the purposes of program assessment," says Janette Benson, Director of the Office of Academic Assessment. "We've worked diligently to make the new program very flexible, more intuitive and with a wider range of options that will make program assessment more meaningful, with the ultimate goal of increasing student learning and making teaching more effective."

 

Please contact Jenn Light or Carrie Lorenz if you would like an orientation to Assess-It!

 

For more information, visit: http://assess-it.du.edu/  

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CTL welcomes the 2011 New Faculty! 

 

The New Faculty Workshop was completely redesigned into a blended learning approach this year. Nearly 80 new faculty members participated in a Blackboard course with interactive online modules, discussion forums, blogs, wikis and live online sessions. The workshop began in August, giving faculty members the opportunity to access information and resources before the beginning of the Fall quarter and make connections before arriving in Denver. The flexible nature of the blended format allowed new, and not-so-new faculty to focus on those areas of most interest to them.

 

New faculty members had the chance to meet each other in person for the first time at a CTL Reception in September. Follow up sessions will be planned throughout the year.

 

2011 NFW.1

 

All new faculty from the last few years are welcome to join our next "live" session on Nov 7.

 

New Faculty Panel Discussion

November 7, 2:00-3:30pm

Nagel Hall Room 102

 

What is it like being a faculty member at DU? What strategies have others used to start a successful career here? How do I balance all the various duties and responsibilities I have as a new faculty member? In this informal session, a panel of current DU faculty members from across campus will share their experiences and answer questions from the audience.  

 

Panelists:

Vaneesha Boney, Reiman School of Finance

Phoenix Cai, Sturm College of Law

Keith Miller, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Rachel Walsh, Department of Languages and Literatures

 

Register now!

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Mathematica Comes to DU

  

Over the summer DU obtained an unlimited site license for Mathematica with Student Access.

  

DU faculty, staff and students now have access to this computational software tool. Mathematica is widely used in the educational community where applications are found in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, Social Sciences, Computer Science, Business and Economics, Finance, Music and Art.

  

Faculty and students in Physics and Astronomy can use Mathematica to help carry out symbolic calculations,  manipulate matrices, and solve complex integrals that are routinely used in Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics and Mathematical Physics.

 

"Mathematica can be particularly useful in a classroom in which it is most important that students learn to apply mathematical and physical principles to describe and set up a solution to a problem and less important that they be able to 'crank out' a tedious solution from the describing equations." says Nic Ormes, Chair of the Department of Mathematics. "Rather than a contrived problem that leads to an easily computed solution, problems can be presented that better represent the real world." The capability of Mathematica to provide graphical representation of functional relationships is another valuable aspect of the tool.

 

To obtain Mathematica for yourself or for students, contact UTS Director of Faculty/Staff Support Systems Mike Hiskey.

 

Or join in this upcoming informational session:

 

Mathematica 8 in Education and Research

Presented by Andy Dorsett of Wolfram Research 
Friday, November 11, 2011
9:00-11:00 am, including Q&A
Boettcher Auditorium 103