Summer is a great time to enjoy some well deserved rest and relaxation. However, if we want to avoid the panicked feeling of “I can’t believe it’s that time of year already” at the end of August, summer is also a great time to refresh our courses and improve our use of Brightspace and other educational technology tools. There are many opportunities to improve your skills and receive hands-on experience through the following initiatives offered through our office.
Teaching to Engage
This is a 3-week, completely asynchronous course designed for instructors of any level. This course explores some of the pedagogical considerations on the use of a variety of educational technologies including Perusall, Poll Everywhere, VoiceThread, and several Brightspace tools. From the student perspective, full-time faculty, adjuncts, and TAs alike will have the opportunity to reflect on their instructional practices as they engage with one another in rich conversations and test out some educational technologies that may prove to be beneficial for any future courses they may teach or support. This course culminates in a cumulative project where participants will put into practice the pedagogical and technical tools covered in the course.
This asynchronous course will run from Aug. 7th to Aug. 28th so that instructors may have the opportunity to apply what they learn in this cohort to their course(s) in the Fall 2023 semester. At the conclusion of this course, participants who have successfully completed the course project and course exercises will receive a letter of completion that can be included in one’s teaching portfolio and otherwise used to enhance their CV. To enroll in the upcoming cohort of Teaching to Engage, please complete this form.
Check out our recent Teaching to Engage Shoutouts post to see examples from our previous cohort of Teaching to Engage participants.
Refresh your Syllabus
Since a course syllabus is such a foundational tool for every undergraduate and graduate course, the A&S Office of EdTech has designed a faculty development opportunity focused on supporting instructors in maximizing their syllabi. This faculty development opportunity will be provided in two distinct formats; a 90-minute, synchronous webinar with optional follow-up consults and a self-paced asynchronous Brightspace module with optional follow-up consults. Both formats are designed for instructors of any level.
90-minute webinar: This webinar will guide participants through some of the research behind effective syllabi and in critically analyzing their own syllabi for the upcoming fall semester. Throughout this webinar, participants will examine their syllabi through three different lenses; tone, accessibility, and clarity. Instructors will have the opportunity to share their syllabi with one another to invite constructive feedback through any/all of these lenses. This webinar will be from 10AM to 11:30 AM on Wednesday, Aug. 30th. Please RSVP for this webinar by completing this form.
Self-paced asynchronous Brightspace module: This module will guide participants through some of the research behind effective syllabi and in critically analyzing their own syllabi for the upcoming fall semester. With this research in mind, instructors will be guided to select one of their own syllabi for the upcoming semester and critically examine and annotate it through three different lenses; tone, accessibility, and clarity. These reflections will be submitted to Brightspace and feedback from the module facilitator will be provided. While there will be no formal due dates for this asynchronous module, it will be recommended to complete the module exercises by Sept. 1st so that instructors might refresh their syllabi prior to the start of the semester. Please submit this interest form if you would like to take part in this self-paced asynchronous module.
Also, keep an eye out for the second round of NYU Brightspace Bootcamp, which offers numerous opportunities to view demonstrations and receive guided support as you prepare for another semester of teaching with Brightspace. The first round took place from Tuesday, July 25 to Thursday, July 27, and covered the key skills you need to successfully build and facilitate your course with Brightspace.
There are also plenty of vendor produced resources and workshops available. See the complete list of upcoming vendor-offered trainings.
As always, we are happy to support you through individual consultations to help you as you prepare for a new semester, so please contact your department liaison for all of your educational technology needs.