September 18, 2005
 

PRESENT
University of
Delaware
010 Smith Hall
302.831.0640
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@udel.edu

 

FEATURED ARTICLE
Experience using discussions for active learning

Instructional grant cycle for 2006-2007

The Center for Teaching Effectiveness (CTE), General Education Initiative (GEI) and Information Technologies (IT) announce the grant program for undergraduate instructional and course design. Two grant preparation sessions are scheduled for September 28 and October 4.

Grants range from $2,000-$20,000 and recipients will be announced in February. Projects designed to advance three General Education Goals — capstone courses, service-learning, and critical thinking — are the focus of the instructional grants. Faculty with project ideas pertaining to one of the seven remaining General Education Goals are also encouraged to submit a pre-proposal. Faculty are encouraged to incorporate technology, multimedia, or a different learning method into a project idea.

The University anticipates opening a collaborative multimedia center in fall, 2006. The new center will accommodate the rehearsal and recording of oral presentations, collaboration with the Oral Communication Fellows program, and the student creation of multimedia-based learning artifacts. Faculty are encouraged to consider course design proposals that would take advantage of the new facility and services.

Read the full story on UDaily.

SELECTED NEWS ITEMS

  1. Tech tip: improve your screen readability in 3 easy steps
    • If you have Windows XP, you can see fonts more clearly on your monitor if you turn on ClearType. ClearType is easy to apply and makes fonts look smoother. If you have a standard CRT monitor you'll see modest improvement, but the real advantage is apparent with color LCD flat screen monitors and LCD screens on mobile PCs like Tablet PCs and laptops. Find out more.

  2. News on Campus
    • PNPI project prompts changes for faculty (August 29)
      At the end of July, faculty received e-mail regarding the removal of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from computerized test-scoring forms. Protecting the personal nonpublic information (PNPI) entrusted to faculty, goes far beyond test-scoring forms, however. Read the full story on UDaily.
    • Increasing web accessibility (August 11)
      “People with different disabilities have difficulty navigating through the web,’’ Deborah A. Farris, ADA coordinator, said. “It’s not just our web pages; it’s the whole Internet. Cyberspace is extremely inaccessible to many people. A well-designed page can help everyone.’’ IT-User Services is hosting a free workshop on “Designing Accessible and Usable Web Sites” from 9 a.m.-noon, October 28. Register online and read more on UDaily.

  3. Recommended Reading
    • Instructional Grant Reports for 2004-2005
      Six of the ten 2004-2005 grant final reports have been posted on the CTE web site. These reports illustrate the variety of teaching innovations that can be achieved through the instructional grant program.

  4. Archived Newsletters are available.
FEATURED ARTICLE
Experience using discussions for active learning

Learn how students use online discussions to solve problems by attending “Using Discussions for Active Learning” workshops, cosponsored by PRESENT and UD’s Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education (ITUE).

The workshop will cover learning strategies that can be applied to individual courses.

No prior experience in MyCourses or online discussions is necessary. But, those unfamiliar with the MyCourses (WebCT) Discussion Tool are urged to review instructions for using it before class.

Participants will be divided into groups and given a problem to discuss, then the discussion will continue online. Strategies will be proposed, online resources identified and questions developed to ask experts in an online discussion. The experts will provide additional questions and comments to identify assumptions, consider alternatives or summarize major contributions.

The final exercise will be to prepare an action plan using online discussions to enhance collaboration and critical thinking in course work.

Guest experts include Barbara A. Frey, senior instructional designer with the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education at the University of Pittsburgh, and George Watson, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and leader and founding member of ITUE.

Those team-teaching a course, or planning to, are encouraged to attend the workshops together. The first is being held from 9-11 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 6, the second from 1:30-3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 12. Both will be held in Room 010, Smith Hall.

Online discussions and experts will be available for a week following the workshop to assist in developing the action plan and can be accessed around-the-clock through Thursday, Oct. 13, for the Oct. 6 workshop and through Wednesday, Oct. 19, for the Oct. 12 workshop.

Register online for the Oct. 6 session or for the Oct. 12 session.
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