About Faculty Learning Communities

5-7 new Faculty Learning Communities are emerging from a partnership between the Instructional Design Team, the Provost’s Faculty Development Team, and the Faculty Development and Improvement Committee. The first few communities are currently in development and looking for members. As new topics for communities emerge,  we will open applications for leaders and members alike.

Current FLC Topics

Best Practices for Dual Enrollment Online Courses
Best Practices for High Enrollment Online Courses
Trauma Informed Pedagogies

See “Open Applications” in the tab just above to apply for open FLCs. 

CITE Fellows: the Chancellor’s Innovation in Technology and Elearning Fellowship

CITE Fellows are chosen through both nominations and a competitive interview process. We’re looking for faculty who are creative and  energetic risk-takers. Although we ask for tenured, tenure-track, and term faculty, we aren’t necessarily looking for experienced faculty. We strive each year to build a community of Fellows, each of whom brings something different to the cohort: years of teaching experience, a fresh take on traditional pedagogies, a passion for interdisciplinarity, or fascination with technology. What we want is fellows who are prepared to innovate, collaborate, and lead. Who is that person in your academic community? Please make sure you speak to your nominee prior to submitting your nomination. The expectations of a CITE Fellow are high and the activities create an additional workload for any faculty member.

About iTeach Online

iTeach Online is a hands-on learning opportunity offered by the Instructional Design Team at UAF eCampus. This 6-week workshop contains a series of activities designed to help faculty start to build a solid online course founded in current research and relevant learning experiences. Participants spend 5-10 hours each week learning best practices, planning for course objectives alignment, and crafting at least one replicable course unit. To see more details about topics, dates, and planned activities, click “Calendar/Details” above. UAF Instructional Designers know how difficult it is to teach in today’s post-secondary institutions. If you’re looking to become a more dynamic and effective teacher, if you want to learn how to incorporate select web tools into a course,  or if you want to teach online, they can help.  Instructional Design Team members are experienced in teaching traditional face-to-face or online courses. Skills taught by the team during weekly synchronous sessions, and the discussion you hold with your peers assist you in creating pedagogically sound courses that are fun, possess academic integrity, and meet UAF’s academic guidelines.

Dates

Spring 2020
Spring 2020 iTeach is February 17 – April 3 with a one week break for Spring Break 3/9-3/12/2020 
*iTeach Online is open to faculty and teaching assistants on other campuses who wish to participate. Concerned about bandwidth? Participate in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra sessions via your device with the video turned off.

Quality Matters Certification for Online Courses

Join the growing number of Quality Matters-certified courses at UAF. Quality Matters (QM) is  a faculty-driven peer review process that is focused on quality improvement for online courses. The QM certification is nationally recognized and is backed by research-based standards.

UAF offers QM training opportunities on Applying the Online Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR) and Improving Your Online Course (IYOC) for professional development, during which you will improve your online course. Prerequisites: You must have an existing online course to participate.

APPQMR Learning Objectives

1. Identify the underlying principles of QM. (Recognize key QM underlying principles and concepts.)
2. Identify the critical elements of the QM quality assurance program, including the QM Rubric, materials, processes, and administrative components.
3. Apply the QM Rubric to review online courses.
4. Make decisions on whether the sample course meets selected QM Rubric Standards.
5. Apply the concept of alignment.
6. Draft helpful recommendations for course improvement by citing annotations from the QM Rubric and evidence from the course.

IYOC Learning Objectives

1. Recognize the foundational concepts of Quality Matters.
2. Apply the essential Standards of the Quality Matters Rubric to your own online course.
3. Describe the alignment of at least one module/unit in your online course.
4. Prioritize improvements to your online course.

More information regarding QM

About iTeach2

iTeach2 is an extension of our original iTeach intensive, which has been a highly successful endeavor with more than 400 faculty having attended over its lifetime. At iTeach2, faculty who are familiar with online classes and comfortable with technology can spend 5 days in intensive workshops with their peers as our Instructional Designers lead them through a series of hands-on activities, in-depth discussions, and creative course development strategies. To be eligible for iTeach2, you must be:

• comfortable with Google Apps for Education (including Drive, Calendar, and Mail)
• familiar with Blackboard beyond the grade book
• a previous participant with iTeach or a CITE Fellow (to have this requirement waived if you feel you are an advanced participant, include an explanation in the “philosophy” area of the application)
• mostly at home in the ever-changing online landscape, especially as it pertains to education
• willing to commit to 5 full days of participation

For those who are willing to commit to this level of faculty development, eCampus is providing a 9.7″ iPad Pro with Apple Pencil to facilitate the creation of high-quality materials for their online courses. To see more about the kinds of sessions offered at iTeach2, select “Calendar/Details” above. *The application period for iTeach2 has now closed. Please watch this space for future events. 

iTeach is a 3-day workshop on pedagogy, technology, and online learning. UAF faculty are invited to work closely with the eCampus design team to explore course design processes, best practices and innovations in online learning. Participants can expect to connect with colleagues across disciplines and to think critically about the choices they make in their online course designs. 

Participants who complete the program will receive a $250 grant to support a student-centered pedagogical project to be completed in Fall 2019.

iTeach is an in-person event, open to all UAF faculty able to participate at the Fairbanks main campus. In Spring 2019, iTeach was offered May 13-15th at the UA Museum of the North. View the day-by-day agenda.