Online Workshops Detailed Information
- Academic Policies that Can Affect You as a Teacher: The Faculty Top Five
- Understanding the Needs of the Adult Learner
- Beyond Library Basics: Choosing, Using, but Not Abusing Information Resources
- Practical Instructional Design Principles to Improve Your Course (April-May)
- Practical Instructional Design Principles to Improve Your Course (May)
- The Art of Feedback (January)
- The Art of Feedback (February-March)
- Google Universe: How to Make the Most of Your Students' Favorite Resource
- WebTycho Refresher Workshop: Focus on the WebTycho Gradebook
- Time Management in the Online Classroom
- Using WebTycho to Enhance Face-to-Face Classes (1 CEU)
- Identifying, Diagnosing, and Referring Student Writing Problems
Academic Policies that Can Affect You as a Teacher: The Faculty Top Five
| Dates | Monday, February 4 through Monday, February 11, 2008 |
| Facilitators | Laurie Hulcher, Assistant Director for Graduate Student Relations |
| Description | In this workshop, UMUC staff will work with participants to examine the five UMUC academic policies that are most likely to affect faculty members while teaching for UMUC. These policies are: Arbitrary & Capricious Grading, Academic Dishonesty & Plagiarism, Code of Student Conduct, the Grade of "I" and Withdrawal, and Academic Levels of Progress. Through the use of case studies, participants will become familiar with classroom and student situations to which the policies may apply. Participants will also become familiar with the origins of the policies and with the procedures followed when the policies are invoked. Finally, participants will be introduced to the UMUC staff members, and resources such as the UMUC Faculty Handbook, to turn to for assistance when confronted with a policy matter. |
SPECIAL NOTE: Enrollment is limited to the first 25 registrants.
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Understand the main provisions of UMUC’s policies on Arbitrary & Capricious Grading, Academic Dishonesty & Plagiarism, Code of Student Conduct, the grade of "I" and Withdrawal, and minimum academic standards for both undergraduate and graduate students
- Identify the circumstances under which a student is likely to file an appeal
- Be able to provide documentation and other information if called upon to do so in an appeal
- Know how and where to access other UMUC policies
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Understanding the Needs of the Adult Learner
| Dates | Monday, March 17 through Monday, March 24, 2008 |
| Facilitator | Penny Ittner, Professor of Business and Management, UMUC Adelphi |
| Description | The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is offering a one-week workshop entitled "Understanding the Needs of the Adult Learner." This workshop is especially relevant to teaching for UMUC because four out of five undergraduate students enrolled at UMUC work full time: their median age is 32 years old--compared to 21 years for all other University System of Maryland institutions. Adult learners have specific characteristics, motivations, and learning styles. This one-week workshop will focus on the needs and characteristics of the adult learners. Through an interactive format this workshop will explore the characteristic, learning concepts, and assessment strategies for adult learners. |
SPECIAL NOTE: This workshop is limited to the first 25 participants.
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Identify the major characteristics of the adult learner
- Define the learning concepts that work best for adult learners
- Choose assessment strategies for adult learners
- Anticipate typical problems and concerns involved in teaching adult learners
- Devise strategies for responding to problems and concerns involved in teaching adult learners
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Beyond Library Basics: Choosing, Using, but Not Abusing Information Resources
| Dates | Monday, January 28 through Friday, February 8, 2008 |
| Facilitators | Kimberly M. Bonner, Director, Center For Intellectual Property In The Digital Environment Neal Pomea, Reference and Instruction Librarian, Information and Library Services |
| Description | Enlivened by scenarios and multi-media learning objects, this workshop focuses on easily finding and effectively and legally using information resources. The content, which goes beyond what is taught in CTLA201, is applicable to both online and face-to-face instruction. You will be taught tips and tricks for advanced database searching in your discipline and easier ways to select resources to create more successful assignments; discuss methods to better combat student plagiarism while learning how to avoid violating copyright law inadvertently yourself; and grapple with the challenge of getting your students to evaluate resources and cite them properly. |
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Use advanced searching techniques in several library databases, and compare library databases, Google Scholar, and Yahoo Search for their effectiveness in retrieving documents;
- Understand how library instruction can be tailored to a specific class;
- Understand the copyright issues involved in course development and assignment design;
- Create syllabus and/or course material that teaches students about academic integrity and evaluates student understanding of the academic integrity concept and UMUC standards;
- Identify advantages and disadvantages of resources, including free software for citation management, for improving students' citation skills.
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Practical Instructional Design Principles to Improve Your Course
| Dates | Monday, April 28-Monday, May 5, 2008 |
| Facilitators | Ruth Markulis, Instructional Technologist, Center for Teaching and Learning |
| Description | This workshop will focus on the use of practical instructional design principles that can aid faculty in improving the design of their presentations, conferences, and assignments. Faculty will learn how to adapt some of the techniques used by professional instructional designers and apply them to their own courses. Topics will include understanding the issues involved with producing effective faculty writing, improving step-by-step instructions for assignments, and how to design more effective conferences. Some principles from the Maryland Course Redesign Initiative will also be shared with faculty. |
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- To identify different categories of learning outcomes through the use of a case study
- To recognize learner outcomes using learning theories and instructional design models
- To analyze writing from an instructional design perspective for readability, audience and voice
- To apply principles of instructional design, such as task and audience analysis, for developing effective assignment instructions
- To critique and modify conference threads based on the application of instructional design principles
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Practical Instructional Design Principles to Improve Your Course
| Dates | Monday, May 5-Monday, May 12, 2008 |
| Facilitators | TBD |
| Description | This workshop will focus on the use of practical instructional design principles that can aid faculty in improving the design of their presentations, conferences, and assignments. Faculty will learn how to adapt some of the techniques used by professional instructional designers and apply them to their own courses. Topics will include understanding the issues involved with producing effective faculty writing, improving step-by-step instructions for assignments, and how to design more effective conferences. Some principles from the Maryland Course Redesign Initiative will also be shared with faculty. |
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- To identify different categories of learning outcomes through the use of a case study
- To recognize learner outcomes using learning theories and instructional design models
- To analyze writing from an instructional design perspective for readability, audience and voice
- To apply principles of instructional design, such as task and audience analysis, for developing effective assignment instructions
- To critique and modify conference threads based on the application of instructional design principles
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The Art of Feedback
| Dates | Monday, January 14 through Friday, January 25, 2008 |
| Facilitator | Diane Finley |
| Description | This 12-day online faculty development workshop explores the "art" of providing feedback to students. The lack of adequate and focused feedback is not only a source of student dissatisfaction--it may also pose a significant barrier to student progress. This workshop will assist faculty in gaining a better understanding of the different types of feedback we can offer our students and in recognizing opportunities for providing feedback. It will also introduce some techniques, tips, and strategies for producing more effective and substantive feedback.We will be using case studies drawn from composites of real-life student work in order to learn some techniques for effectively communicating assessment of student work. Faculty will also be encouraged to share the types of assignments and assessments that cause them the most difficulty in regard to providing meaningful feedback. |
SPECIAL NOTE: This workshop is limited to the first 25 participants.
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Analyze the different types of feedback situations
- Identify common problems that faculty and in particular, they themselves face in giving feedback
- Demonstrate the use of at least one new approach or technique of giving feedback
- Identify some strategies for providing follow-up to ongoing challenges students face in their learning
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The Art of Feedback
| Dates | Monday, February 25 through Friday, March 7, 2008 |
| Facilitator | Rich Powers |
| Description | This 12-day online faculty development workshop explores the "art" of providing feedback to students. The lack of adequate and focused feedback is not only a source of student dissatisfaction--it may also pose a significant barrier to student progress. This workshop will assist faculty in gaining a better understanding of the different types of feedback we can offer our students and in recognizing opportunities for providing feedback. It will also introduce some techniques, tips, and strategies for producing more effective and substantive feedback. We will be using case studies drawn from composites of real-life student work in order to learn some techniques for effectively communicating assessment of student work. Faculty will also be encouraged to share the types of assignments and assessments that cause them the most difficulty in regard to providing meaningful feedback. |
SPECIAL NOTE: This workshop is limited to the first 25 participants.
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Analyze the different types of feedback situations
- Identify common problems that faculty and in particular, they themselves face in giving feedback
- Demonstrate the use of at least one new approach or technique of giving feedback
- Identify some strategies for providing follow-up to ongoing challenges students face in their learning
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Google Universe: How to Make the Most of Your Students' Favorite Resource
| Dates | Wednesday, April 16-Wednesday, April 23, 2008 |
| Facilitators | Ryan Shepard, Reference and Instruction Librarian Edward O'Donnell, Reference and Instruction Librarian |
| Description | Since its debut in 1998, Google has quickly become the Web’s most popular search engine and the first stop for many college students when doing research for their classes. In this workshop you will learn how to explain the pros and cons of using Google for academic research to your students; see how Google Scholar compares with library subscription databases; learn tips and techniques on using Google’s advanced search features; delve into the controversies and opportunities of the Google Books scanning project, and become acquainted with significant issues - including copyright considerations - surrounding Google Images. “Google Universe" will also familiarize you with some of Google's most innovative products and services, such as Google Earth and Maps, and offer suggestions and examples of possible classroom applications. |
SPECIAL NOTE: This workshop is limited to the first 30 participants.
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using Google as a tool for academic research to students.
- Perform advanced searches in Google that afford more precise and useful results.
- Link to full text of articles in Google Scholar search results using our custom “find it at UMUC” links.
- Find white papers, conference proceedings, and other grey literature using Google Scholar.
- Search for books using Google Books and determine whether full text is available online.
- Access and generate maps using Google Maps and Earth and use them as instructional tools.
- Use Google Images, understand copyright restrictions and obligations surrounding this service, and convey this knowledge in the classroom.
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WebTycho Refresher Workshop: Focus on the WebTycho Gradebook
| Dates | Monday, May 5 through Monday, May 12, 2008 |
| Facilitator | Diane Jones-Palm, UMUC Collegiate Professor, Criminal Justice and Sociology, European Division |
| Description | This Refresher Workshop will focus on the technical and pedagogical aspects of the WebTycho gradebook. You'll have the opportunity to learn some tips for effective organization of the gradebook as well as a chance to engage in hands-on practice. Reinforcement of basic instructions will be provided via multimedia modules that lead you through the process step-by-step. This Refresher Workshop is suitable for faculty from all divisions who have already successfully completed the basic five-week CTLA201 training. If you have ever had any questions about using the Gradebook in your class, have encountered difficulties in manipulating its tools, or simply never had any formal training in its use, this workshop is for you! |
SPECIAL NOTE: This workshop is limited to the first 20 participants.
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Demonstrate how to create, manage, and edit assignments within the Gradebook
- Demonstrate use of the major functions of the Gradebook, such as procedures for downloading and viewing student work, entry of grades, and export of the Gradebook to Excel
- Distinguish between the different functions and views presented by the Gradebook, student Assignment Folder, and Portfolio
- Articulate pedagogical strategies for using the Gradebook and apply these to your own course
- Revisit selected online teaching issues and resolve any questions you may have about the functions, features, and use of WebTycho
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Time Management in the Online Classroom
| Dates | Monday, April 7 through Monday, April 14, 2008 |
| Facilitator | Lydia Morris Fettig, English Faculty, School of Undergraduate Studies |
| Description | New and experienced online instructors alike often remark that online teaching is more time consuming than face-to-face teaching. Many different explanations are given for this. Some faculty members note that the added flexibility in planning, writing, and facilitating online classes can pose problems that require extra work. Others point out that the high volume of student interactivity in an online course leads to additional time needed in the online classroom. This CTL workshop will offer a series of suggestions about how to best manage one's time in the online teaching environment. These suggestions will lead to better time utilization, less stress, and higher quality teaching and learning. |
SPECIAL NOTE: This workshop is limited to the first 25 participants.
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Analyze how efficient they are at using their time while teaching online classes
- Identify techniques that will help them be more efficient and effective in using their time while teaching online classes
- Demonstrate to other workshop participants one or more of these time management techniques
- Devise strategies for reducing their stress through use of time management techniques
- Develop a plan to manage their time in the online classroom more efficiently and effectively
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Using WebTycho to Enhance Face-to-Face Classes (1 CEU)
| Dates | Monday, February 4-Monday, February 11, 2008 |
| Facilitators | Keith Kadlec, UMUC Adjunct Faculty |
| Description | This workshop will address enhancement issues relevant to all faculty and schools, whether stateside or in Europe and Asia . The workshop has a dual focus: first, the Web enhancement of f2f classes will be studied as a way of improving factors in classroom management such as clarification of syllabus, schedule, and assignments; second, the workshop will suggest guidelines for reinforcing and deepening course content. This will be an interactive workshop dedicated to bringing UMUC faculty members together to exchange ideas about using the WebTycho interface to improve university teaching. Three exercises will be required for successful completion of this workshop. |
SPECIAL NOTE: Faculty must have a WebTycho user account and complete the WebTycho Orientation prior to the start of this workshop. Enrollment is limited to the first 30 registrants.
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Use the areas of the WebTycho interface with confidence
- Understand the value of Web enhancement for improving classroom management in face-to-face teaching and learning
- Understand the value of Web enhancement for improving the communication of course content in face-to-face teaching and learning
- Analyze the relevance of WebTycho for use in their own classes
- Prepare their own face-to-face classes for Web-enhanced delivery
- Use the WebTycho interface to improve critical thinking and information literacy in face-to-face teaching
- Understand the difference between a Web-enhanced and a fully online college course
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Identifying, Diagnosing, and Referring Student Writing Problems
| Dates | Monday, April 28 through Monday, May 5, 2008 |
| Facilitators | Lisa Bernstein, English Faculty, School of Undergraduate Studies |
| Description | This workshop will focus on helping faculty from all disciplines determine and address the types of difficulties exhibited in student writing. To provide an understanding of the general writing issues faced by students, we will introduce the ways in which writing skill develops in terms of fluency, clarity, and correctness (the ability to produce writing, to present information and knowledge through writing, and to use the conventions of written language). Through conference discussions and examination of student writing, the workshop will help faculty clarify the various writing issues that students encounter in specific disciplines and within the overall academic context. It will also familiarize faculty with the available student support services, including Tutoring, Academic Advisors, and the Effective Writing Center ; and recommend ways for faculty to facilitate their students' effective use of these services. Using examples of actual student work, we will practice identifying writing issues of fluency, clarity, and correctness, as well as ESL issues. Faculty can bring in samples of writing problems from their students, ranging from the typical to the most difficult issues to handle, and we will model evaluation criteria and feedback strategies for faculty to use in their classrooms. Using examples of actual student work, we will practice identifying writing issues of fluency, clarity, and correctness, as well as ESL issues. Faculty can bring in samples of writing problems from their students, ranging from the typical to the most difficult issues to handle, and we will model evaluation criteria and feedback strategies for faculty to use in their classrooms. |
SPECIAL NOTE: This workshop is limited to the first 25 participants.
Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Explain how students develop the writing skills of fluency, clarity, and correctness within the classroom environment
- Analyze the different types of writing issues students encounter within specific disciplines
- Recognize common writing problems that students face within the overall academic writing context
- Identify specific problems that individual students exhibit in their writing assignments
- Effectively use strategies and resources to help students overcome problematic writing issues and improve their writing
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