December instructional sessions feature Brightspace, course organization, syllabi, celebrate teaching

The Innovative Learning Team at West Lafayette, the Center for Faculty Excellence and the Office of Instructional Technology at Purdue Northwest, and the Purdue Fort Wayne Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) offer several workshops and sessions in December to help instructors finalize Brightspace, craft learner-centered syllabi, and foster community.

Purdue West Lafayette

Finalizing your Brightspace gradebook
Tue., Dec. 6, 11 a.m.-12 noon ET
This workshop is for faculty who have already taught in Brightspace and who are looking for help to finish grading and posting final grades to Banner.
Want to end your course smoothly? This workshop will help. This session will review the steps faculty should take to finalize their Brightspace gradebook. Presenters will cover some of the most common issues that come to Teaching and Learning Technologies about Brightspace grades at the end of each semester, show how to publish your final grades in Brightspace, and demonstrate how to translate those scores into letter grades and send them to MyPurdue/Banner.
-Discover common issues with grade calculations in Brightspace
-Learn how to set up and activate a grading scheme in Brightspace
-Demonstrate how to send grades from Brightspace to Banner

Daily drop-in sessions
Seeking assistance with your Brightspace course? Have questions about a TLT-supported technology? This includes tools such as Gradescope, Kaltura, Circuit, iClicker, Hotseat, Respondus LockDown Browser/Monitor, and Variate. Daily drop-in sessions are offered every weekday throughout the semester. Additionally, TLT staff will be offering two drop-in help sessions each day during finals week, as well as the Monday and Tuesday after finals week. For drop-in session days/times, see the Training & Consultations calendar.

Purdue Fort Wayne

Using Turnitin and Turnitin Draft Coach to support students’ writing projects
Thurs., Dec. 1, 12 noon-1 p.m. ET
Turnitin is a university-supported plagiarism checker. Turnitin Draft Coach is a Turnitin tool that helps students improve their academic writing and research skills by providing three types of feedback: similarity, citation, and grammar. Join this session to learn: 1) how the tools function, 2) how both tools can be used to educate students regarding appropriate citation and referencing techniques, and 3) other support resources available for students.

Rethinking the syllabus to increase student engagement
Wed., Dec. 7, 11 a.m.-12 noon ET
Your syllabus is usually your first opportunity to communicate your teaching beliefs and course expectations with your students. In this workshop, we will discuss the best practices for developing a learner-centered syllabus that fosters academic success, increases student engagement, and creates an effective learning environment.

Brightspace course organization and navigation
Wed., Dec. 14, 11 a.m.-12 noon ET
In this session we will use simple strategies, Brightspace tools, and CELT course templates to organize your online course content for easy navigation and student success.

Purdue Northwest

Foundational technology for faculty
Ongoing
Explore the core components of instructional technology in the Foundational Faculty Training module in the PNW Brightspace instructor training course. These self-paced topics include: creating Brightspace content and communication, flexibility in modality, grading, and using activities. Earn a badge for each completed area. This module is part of a series of competencies created for you by the Office of Instructional Technology. Look for our upcoming functional faculty training module that takes a deeper dive into technology tools supported at PNW.

Grade Submit Demo
Mon., Dec. 12, 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m. CT
Join The Office of Instructional Technology for a review on how to submit final grades using the Grade Submit Tool in Brightspace. Check out this video tutorial or the step-by-step guide for additional resources.

Work Sprints
Thurs., Dec. 1, 12 noon-2 p.m. CT
Wed., Dec. 7, 2-4 p.m. CT
Thurs., Dec. 8, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. CT
Join the Center for Faculty Excellence at a virtual Work Sprint to have a focused block of time and supportive environment for you to commit to and have some level of accountability for accomplishing a task-specific goal.

Celebrating excellence: Taking PRIDE in our teaching
Fri., Dec. 2, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. CT
Join your colleagues for a day of sharing ideas, building community, and celebrating excellent teaching at PNW! The day begins with an invite-only ACUE teaching fellow breakfast, followed by a student panel on teaching excellence, and lightning round presentations on effective teaching strategies. Then we will honor excellent teachers at PNW during a recognition luncheon. After lunch are roundtable discussions on teaching-related topics.

For questions and support at your campus, contact:

Purdue Fort Wayne: Teaching-related questions should be directed to PFW’s Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) at celt@pfw.edu, 260-481-6354, or CELT’s website for resources and to request one on one consultations. Technical support questions should be directed to PFW’s IT Services Help Desk helpdesk@pfw.edu or 260-481-6030.

Purdue Global: Direct teaching-related questions to askctl@purdueglobal.edu. Technical support questions should be directed to TechSupport@purdueglobal.edu or 866-522-7747 (toll-free).

Purdue Northwest: Direct teaching-related questions to the Center for Faculty Excellence at cfe@pnw.edu, 219-989-8328, or CFE’s website. Technical support questions should be directed to The Office of Instructional Technology by email oit@pnw.edu or OIT’s website or through their Virtual Help Desk.

Purdue West Lafayette: Visit the Innovative Learning website or email InnovativeLearningTeam@purdue.edu.