Blog
Write More by Joining the Faculty Writing Circle
by Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL Dear Colleagues: Would you like to get more writing done this semester? A great way to help you achieve your writing goals is to join the Faculty Writing Circle facilitated by CITAL...
Skip “Syllabus Day” – Make Day #1 Count
by Kevin Steele, Director of Instructional Technology, Design and Assessment, CITAL “SYLLABUS DAY: The first day of an academic term at most high schools and colleges. On this day, a typical class lasts no more than twenty minutes and involves...
Six Strategies to Creating an Engaging Syllabus
By Kevin Steele, Director of Instructional Technology, Design & Assessment It is a pleasure to join CITAL! It is that time of the year where we begin to plan our semester ahead and that usually begins with the syllabus. Below...
Faculty Learning Community on Mentoring
CITAL Guest Bloggers: Mindy Capaldi, Melissa Desjarlais, Jon-Paul McCool, Nancy Scannell, Zsuzsanna Szaniszlo During the past school year our group of Valpo faculty met to share resources and learn more about best practices in mentoring students. We met approximately fortnightly...
Free Alternatives to Textbooks: Open Educational Resources
CITAL Guest Blogger: Jon Bull, Assistant Professor of Library Services and Scholarly Communication Services Librarian The next academic year is already approaching with many of us submitting textbook orders and developing curricula we will need for the upcoming semester. However,...
Preventing Faculty Burnout
Have you been reading or hearing about burnout lately? It may be because of this BuzzFeed article on “How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation,” which went viral earlier this month: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennials-burnout-generation-debt-work This piece touched a nerve with millennials, many of...
Faculty Development Opportunities for You this Fall
by Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development Faculty groups are now forming on campus that could help you achieve your teaching or writing goals in a collegial, supportive atmosphere. Which one is for you? That depends on your goals for...
The Times of Life
By CITAL Guest blogger: Dorothy Bass, Director, Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith As we head into the busiest season of the year, we asked guest blogger Dorothy Bass to reflect with us about the...
Incorporating Experiential Learning into the Classroom
By CITAL Guest blogger: Amanda Zelechoski, Assistant Professor, Psychology Guest blogger Amanda Zelechoski participated in a VU faculty panel discussion at CITAL’s recent Symposium on the Science of Learning. Here she shares some of the ways that she creates a...
Chair Massage
By CITAL Guest blogger: Kelly Helm, Associate Professor, Kinesiology As the semester begins to wind down and the holiday season begins to ramp up, stress can become an overwhelming obstacle which can prevent us from getting grading done or enjoying...