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September 2023 Tuesday Tips
5th September 2023
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(opens in new window) 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(opens in new window) 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(opens in new window).
- Incorporate an assignment where students draw on their personal experience. This signals to students you care about who they are(opens in new window) and where they come from.
Look for ways to lower course material costs. A 2020 survey (PDF) 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(opens in new window), reflective(opens in new window), 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(opens in new window) 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
If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog.
All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.
12th September 2023
We are trying not to clutter your inbox so we are using this week’s tip to simply remind you that applications for the initial slate of Faculty Learning Communities are due today. There is something here for everyone.
We are excited to bring you the initial slate of Fall 2023 offerings(opens in new window) from FDEV and partners. All applications are live now and are due on Tuesday 9/12 at 11:59pm. Applications will be evaluated by members of the FDEV board(opens in new window) or sponsoring units.
This group of programs includes Faculty Development programs and offerings from Undergraduate Education and International Education. We collaborated to try and maximize visibility and accessibility, but we want to be sure those programs receive the credit they deserve. Any questions about the programming broadly should be directed to Interim Director Zach Justus.
Collaborative Online International Education (COIL)
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: Synchronous and Online
Compensation: $500
Length: Fall Semester
Contact: Dr. Nan Li
Full Description(opens in new window)
Application(opens in new window)
International Education and Global Engagement(opens in new window) (IEGE) is offering an opportunity to participate in a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) this fall to assist professors with the implementation of Collaborative Online International Education(opens in new window) (COIL) as a course component on our campus. COIL engages your classes with students across the world in discussion, group projects, and/or problem solving, and professors have the opportunity to collaborate in teaching with colleagues across the world.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Teaching (EDIT)
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: In Person
Compensation: $500
Length: Fall Semester
Contact: Dr. Alisa Wade, Allison McConnell, and Zach Justus
Application(opens in new window)
The Office of Faculty Development (FDEV) in collaboration with the READI Hub will be offering an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI) Teaching Series in Fall 2023. The series is led by Dr. Alisa Wade (History) in collaboration with Allison McConnell (TLP). The 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, to create more equitable and accessible learning environments.
Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT)
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: Asynchronous and Online
Compensation: $750
Length: Fall Semester
Contact: Zach Justus
Application(opens in new window)
The Office of Faculty Development is partnering with the Technology & Learning Program (TLP) to offer the Quality Learning and Teaching program, which is designed around the QLT evaluation rubric(opens in new window). The course is offered as an asynchronous, self-paced course in Canvas.
STEM Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Who: STEM Faculty only (NS and ECC) Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers
Format: Hybrid–all meetings online and in person
Compensation: $1880
Length: Full Academic Year
Contact: Dr. Jamie Linn Gunderson and Zach Justus
Application(opens in new window)
The Office of Faculty Development is excited to offer an NSF-funded Faculty Learning Community (FLC) focused on the implementation of teaching strategies that support student learning in STEM.
Supporting Undergraduate Research via Assignment Design
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers; preference for faculty teaching 100-200 level courses.
Format: in person
Compensation: $250
Length: Three workshop sessions; 2 hours each
Dates: Mondays, Oct 2, 9, & 16 from 9:00-11:00am
Contact: Dr. Kim Jaxon
Application(opens in new window)
The Office of Undergraduate Education and Academic Success is offering support for Undergraduate Research. Dr. Kim Jaxon, Coordinator of Undergraduate Research, is leading the workshop series focused on assignment design. These workshop sessions offer an opportunity to design assignments that weave primary research practices into existing courses to support expanded undergraduate research experiences. We know that inviting students to engage in authentic research with faculty is an effective high-impact practice. We also know that mentoring and supporting undergraduate research is time-consuming, often taking place outside the teaching of our courses. We will work with model assignments, design assignments, and support each other as we try out ways to enrich our curriculum with undergraduate research.
Be on the lookout for additional programs later in the Fall.
Coming in the Spring
Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$) with Beth Shook
Teaching Climate Change Resilience (TCCR) with Mark Stemen
Zach Justus
Interim Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).
All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.
19th September 2023
We have passed the census date and the students who are in your class are likely staying there. Do you know who they are?
No judgment here, I have never been great at remembering student names and when we returned to teaching in person after, I discovered what little talent I had for remembering names was significantly diminished. It can also be intimidating if you see a name you don’t know how to pronounce and reverting to a pronoun or calling on a student by pointing can be less intimidating.
Hard as it may be, this is one of the most critical steps you can take toward building an inclusive classroom. There is an excellent guide from the Poorvu Center(opens in new window) for Teaching and Learning from Yale where the center highlights the importance of correct names and pronouns for inclusion and respect. I want to highlight just two of the techniques we have previously featured when covering this topic(opens in new window)- A 2014 tip from Kate McCarthy: “Ask them to use their name each time they speak in class, and repeat their names in your responses.”
- Adapted from a 2019 tip by Josh Trout: Use the Portal Roster function or now the Canvas “People” tab to associate names with photos. Be sure to upload your own photo to Canvas to model the behavior you want to encourage.
This is not the first time the Tuesday Teaching Tip(opens in new window) has focused on remembering and using student names. I counted seven instances in our archive. It keeps coming up because it is so critical in fostering a sense of belonging in the classroom. I selected this tip for the week because of the timeliness with the census, but also because in a period of rapid change–this remains the same. You don’t need to be an artificial intelligence expert or a whiz at Canvas to get a little better at teaching. Little things like remembering names can have a big impact.
Zach Justus
Interim Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).
All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.
26th September 2023
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).
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
If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).
All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.