Blog
Two Faculty Innovators
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL In this week’s blog, we highlight two Valpo faculty who have worked hard to update their pedagogy in response to real-world challenges. Paul Smith (Chemistry) has his students doing original research on...
Let’s Talk Video Game Development
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development A group of faculty has spent the last year exploring how Valpo can expand our curriculum offerings in the exciting and growing field of Video Game Development. In 2023, Valpo launched a new minor...
Valpo’s First Quality Matters Certified Course
By Tiffany Kolba, Mathematics & Statistics When I first heard that Valpo planned to require online summer courses to achieve Quality Matters (QM) certification (as part of an HLC initiative), I was immediately wary and skeptical. I was concerned that...
The No Tech Classroom
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development Are you sometimes discouraged by seeing your students glued to their laptops or phones instead of engaging with you and their classmates? Three of your colleagues have decided to address technology use in...
Reflections on SoTL, 2025
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development On Friday, April 11, fourteen Valpo faculty and staff attended this year’s annual Midwest Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) conference at Indiana University, South Bend. The theme of the conference was “Care,...
What VUE Students are Doing for Fieldwork
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development One of the distinctive features of the VUE (Valparaiso University Experience) courses that have replaced Core is Academic Experiential Learning, otherwise known as VUE Fieldwork. Since this is the first year of the...
Using the Gaming Center to Promote Student Engagement
By Cynthia Rutz, Director, Faculty Development (CITAL) On Monday, March 31, there was an Open House for faculty at the new Center for Games & Interactive Entertainment. Martin Buinicki (English) introduced the features of the Center and spoke to faculty about...
A Day of Music with VOCES8
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITA On February 25, the Music Department created a hands-on music education experience for 180 music students from 12 different local high schools as well as for Valpo music students. Classes and sessions...
A Student Perspective on Valpo’s Transition to Canvas
By Soniya Ottayil, Junior Nursing Major & CITAL student aide Last semester, all of my courses were still on Blackboard; this semester, every one of my classes are in Canvas. This transition was pretty extreme for me; I didn’t know...
My Experience at CITAL as a Student Aide
By Soniya Ottayil, Senior Nursing Major & CITAL student aide I began working at the Center for Innovation in Teaching, Assessment, and Learning (CITAL) during my sophomore year at Valparaiso University. When I first accepted the position, I was nervous...