The Office of Faculty Development

October 2020 Tuesday Tips

6 October 2020:

The Higher Education Opportunity Act(opens in new window) (HEOA) was signed into Law in 2008 to address important issues that include student rights, student financial aid, and transparency in tuition and fees. You can read this summary(opens in new window) to learn about key aspects that the HEOA governs. One fundamental area of the Act refers to the requirement to provide textbook information (section 112) “to ensure that students have access to affordable course materials by decreasing costs to students and enhancing transparency and disclosure with respect to the selection, purchase, sale, and use of course materials.”  

For the CSU, this means adopting textbooks and providing information to students by the day registration opens in late October (for more information you can refer to the CSU HEOA Frequently Asked Questions page(opens in new window)). In order to meet this requirement on our campus, the due date for Spring 2021 course materials submissions to the Wildcat Store will be October 16th, 2020. Faculty’s contribution in this effort can really have a tremendous impact on students at the time they register for classes and plan the cost of their education for Spring 2021, so we want to encourage all instructors to make a decision about their chosen textbook and course material by the October 16th deadline. 

In order to facilitate this process, the bookstore has set up Follett Discover(opens in new window), which you can access directly from Blackboard. After logging into Blackboard, click on the “Launch Follett Discover” button (located after your list of courses, at the bottom on the left hand side) and you will be taken to a page that will ask you to select your role (faculty).  

  • From the home page, you can use the search tools to find the specific term, department, course, and section you want to “Adopt” for.   
  • If you know the ISBN, just enter that in the box for each section and click “Adopt”.   
  • After this, the selection will be sent to the Wildcat Store automatically for ordering and after that to the student website.   
  • You can also search for the ISBN by entering the Title, Author, along with any other description into the search bar on the top right. Publishers can have multiple ISBNs for the same title.     
  • If you see a message saying “ISBN is not found,” either click the link to “request materials not found,” or email the Wildcat Store(opens in new window). 

For other questions, please contact the Wildcat Store(opens in new window)

I also want to take this opportunity to promote one more time the Chico Affordable Learning Solution (CAL$) workshop this Friday, October 9th (from 10:00 to 11:30 am), to explore the adoption of open access material. The forum will be held via Zoom(opens in new window). Please visit the Friday Forums(opens in new window) page for additional information. This session will be recorded and posted in the FDEV media channel(opens in new window) 

If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).    

13 October 2020:

Hello? Anyone out there? 

Wondering if anyone is behind those black screens? Looking for new ways to check-in and engage students or colleagues online?  Poll Everywhere might be able to assist you! Poll Everywhere is Chico State’s new online polling software available to all instructors, staff, and students for free. Come and learn the various engagement activities available to you and how they can easily be incorporated into your PPT presentations, Google Slides, and into Blackboard.   

Faculty, staff and students must use their Chico State campus email address with the account.  

BROWN BAG SESSION: Poll Everywhere 

WHO: Claudine Franquet, ITC in TLP 

WHEN: Friday, October 16th 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: Zoom(opens in new window) 

Meeting ID: 919 3973 8505 

Password: Chico 

This Tuesday Tip is brought to you by Claudine Franquet, instructional technology consultant in the Technology & Learning Program. 

If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).

20 October 2020:

This Tuesday Tip is brought to you by Sue Peterson, Chico State Speech and Debate Coach.

The November 3rd election has created challenges for class discussion, but also opportunities to have meaningful conversations. Given the complex and controversial nature of the election and American politics, though, these conversations are not always easy to manage and moderate.

Sue will talk with faculty about how these conversations might be helpful for students before and after the November 3rd election through the Living Room Conversations model. 

Join us for a Friday Forum, this Friday, October 23rd, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., via Zoom(opens in new window). This session will be recorded and posted on the FDEV media channel(opens in new window).

Living Room Conversations(opens in new window) is an organization that offers a simple, sociable and structured way to practice communicating across differences while building understanding and relationships. Typically, 4-6 people meet in person or by video call for 60-90 minutes to listen to and be heard by others on one of our nearly 100 topics. Rather than debating or convincing others, we take turns talking to share, learn, and be curious. The format transfers well into a small group activity in the classroom.

The organization provides for a guided conversation that is designed to foster understanding by gathering information and humanizing the issues.  Participants first agree to a set of foundational agreements used for discussing any controversial issue in a productive way.  Scripts are available on the 2020 election, race and racism, Coronavirus, environmental concerns, guns, healthcare and so much more.  These scripts offer the chance for everyone to feel safe, heard, and understood.  

Sue Peterson, has used the Living Room Conversation framework in her General Education classes and the students found them to be valuable as a way of engaging topics and issues that they are often fearful of having with others. The scripted questions and time guides help to create a space to share more easily. Students reported that they felt they could communicate “with sincere inquiry and thoughtful reflection” and that they “felt seen and heard by the members of their group.”  

For a list of other events to support election dialogue, go to Wildcats Engage(opens in new window).

If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).

27 October 2020:

What week is this anyways? Covid-19 has brought upon all of us a strange feeling of “time dilation” that makes us lose track of how far we are in the semester. 

So, if you lost track, let me update you: this is week 10! Crazy, ah? 

Faculty have somehow adjusted to the online environment by now, and everyone is doing as best as they can possibly can to ensure that our students’ learning experience is still rich and meaningful.  

But how are our students doing in our classes? I’m not talking about grades, really, but about something more profound: what is our students’ experience? How are they approaching and owning their own learning? 

Collecting student feedback in the middle of a semester is a great way to get a sense of how students are interacting with the material, what is working for them, or what they are struggling with, and it gives faculty a chance to tweak their course “in real time,” therefore affecting the very students that share that feedback. 

I want to share some quick slides (Google Slide) that offer resources on collecting student feedback and a google doc (Google Doc) that includes sample surveys or assignment ideas. 

I am grateful every day for the care that faculty are putting into our students’ learning and well-being, and I hope that these resources can help us understand our students’ experience even better. 

If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).