Blog
Do Good Course Evaluations Mean You Are a Good Teacher?
BY: Allison M. Hunt, Assistant Director of Instructional Technology Why is teacher effectiveness so important? I think the obvious answer is that the measure, in part, determines one’s future in academe (i.e. promotion and tenure). Accreditors are also scrutinizing the...
Community-Based Learning at Valparaiso University: Achievements and Opportunities
CITAL Guest Blogger: Elizabeth Lynn, Director of the Institute for Leadership and Service If you read university press releases, you may have noticed that Valparaiso University consistently earns a spot on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. In...
Free Alternatives to Textbooks: Open Educational Resources
CITAL Guest Blogger: Jon Bull, Assistant Professor of Library Services and Scholarly Communication Services Librarian This academic year has still just begun, but many of us have already turned to next semester and beyond to develop curricula and to secure...
Preventing Faculty Burnout
Preventing Faculty Burnout CITAL Guest Blogger: Stewart Cooper, Director of Counseling Services and Professor of Psychology The concept of burnout was developed in early 1980s. The term attempts to capture an array of symptoms that are a serious health and...
Mid-term Student Feedback
by Jen Gregory, Director of Instructional Design If you’re like most people, when you eat a meal at a restaurant you appreciate the waiter or waitress coming by and checking on your soon after you’ve received your meal and probably...
What All Faculty Need to Know about Disability Support
Spotlight: What All Faculty Need to Know about Disability Support CITAL Monthly Faculty Workshop By Jen Gregory, Director of Instruction Design and Zebadiah Hall, Disability Support Coordinator NOTE: Each month one CITAL blog will summarize the CITAL Faculty Workshop of...
…with a little help from your friends
Classroom Observations by Jen Gregory and Cynthia Rutz Teaching can be an isolating activity. It is hard to know whether things you are trying in the classroom are working well or not. Would you like some friendly feedback on your...
Technology: Neither Culprit nor Savior
By: Allison Hunt On the heels of the last article (Effective Online Teaching -Best Practices), we explore the question: how can I use technology to address my pedagogical challenges? Technology is primarily a utility for teaching and learning. When...
Effective Online Teaching – Best Practices
By: Allison Hunt One might think that effective online teaching might involve a high level of tech savviness or the ability to entertain students with videos where your focus is allure rather than the content of the course. Effective online...
Three New Faculty Learning Communities To Begin this September
By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development Last spring, faculty voted to launch three new faculty learning communities at Valpo to begin this fall. A faculty learning community (FLC) meets regularly to explore a teaching topic that interests them. This...