Smeal Academy Fall 2022 Connections Newsletter 1 – Welcome Back
The goal of the Smeal Academy is to equip everyone with best practices and strategies for teaching, learning, and technology to ensure the Smeal community is prepared to respond to the unique challenges of teaching and learning during the Fall 2022 semester. Between now and the end of the Fall 2022 semester, we will be sending periodic emails with practical tips and information, providing live sessions, and holding virtual consultations.
5 Resources from the eLDIG Team:
As we get started with a new semester, we have curated five resources we want to share with the Smeal Community:
- Final Touches for Fall Session Recording
Check out our Smeal Academy Session Recording: Final Touches for Fall for some information that is relevant even after week 1 of the semester. You can also check out previous Smeal Academy sessions and newsletters on the eLDIG site. We will offer regular Smeal Academy sessions and resources targeted to address your teaching and learning needs. - Residential Syllabus, Part 2
Do you struggle to keep up with syllabus policies? eLDIG keeps a Smeal Residential Syllabus, Part 2 up-to-date based on the semester instructions from Undergraduate Programs. You are welcome to use this for your syllabi now or in the future. - Tips for New Faculty
Higher Ed Jobs Tips for New Faculty – Tips for success (and failure) for new faculty that are relevant to all faculty. - Canvas New Analytics
Want to get more out of Canvas analytics? Enable New Analytics in your course(s). - Canvas Grading Scheme
Remember to set up your Canvas grading scheme to match your syllabus. Here’s a Smeal Academy Video Tech Tip explaining how.The eLDIG team is here for the Smeal community. If you want to discuss an idea or need for your course(s), please don’t hesitate to contact us to schedule a consultation at eldig@smeal.psu.edu.
Upcoming Live Sessions
- TLT Dreamery Speaker Series with Tanya Joosten
The Dreamery Speaker series hosts experts from other institutions to address timely teaching and learning with technology topics. The first speaker in the series is Tanya Joosten, a Senior Scientist, the Director of Digital Learning Research and Development, and advisor to the Provost for innovation projects at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). On 9/27 & 9/28, 2022 Tanya will have interactive discussions focused on teaching (Approaching Intentionality: Factors That Influence Student Success) and learning design (Considerations for Equity-Minded Practices). Dreamery Speaker Series Registration. - TLT Prep & Practice: Top Hat for Course Engagement, Part 1
Dates of Offerings: Monday, 10/10, 1pm – 3pm & Thursday, 10/13, 1pm – 3pmDescription: New faculty are invited to join Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) for sessions focusing on introducing Top Hat, an engagement platform for teaching and learning. These sessions provide participants the opportunity to get familiar with the Top Hat environment and understand the features that help learning be engaging, interactive, accessible, and connected. Prep and Practice Registration. - TLT Prep & Practice: Top Hat for Course Engagement, Part 2
Date of Offerings: Monday, 10/17, 1pm – 3pm & Thursday, 10/21, 1pm – 3pmDescription: New faculty are invited to join Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) to continue the conversation on Top Hat, an engagement platform for teaching and learning. The second part of the sessions will allow participants to build a Top Hat course and understand best practices for integrating the engagement features into courses. Prep and Practice Registration.
NOTE: Recordings and resources from previous sessions can be found on our eLDIG Website.
Tips of the Week
- Tip #1: Customize Your Canvas Dashboard. If your Canvas dashboard is cluttered or this semester’s courses aren’t showing up on your dashboard, here’s How to customize your dashboard.
- Tip #2: Remind students to enable Canvas notifications. To ensure students are receiving Canvas notifications, show them how to enable them. The default settings in Canvas do notify students of announcements right away, but they might miss discussion notifications because those are set to be “off” by default.
Contact Us
Email us at eldig@smeal.psu.edu or fill out the eLDIG Contact form and we will be in touch.