The Wallace Center at RIT

RIT's annual teaching and learning conference featuring tremendous keynote speakers, workshops, and much more! It provides a day and a half of opportunities to learn, exchange ideas, and experience the latest in high impact teaching and academic technologies, as well as network with other colleagues.

We are again inviting RIT faculty and staff, as well as faculty and staff from other Western New York colleges and universities to both present and attend.

This year's theme is Innovative Course Design. Like this conference, course (re)design provides us with a rare opportunity to reflect upon and rethink our teaching strategies and, at the same time, explore new and innovative teaching strategies.

The invited speakers for the 2012 Faculty Institute on Teaching and Learning are:

Keynote, Howard Rheingold, is a noted author and pioneering thinker on the future of technology and society. His latest research and forthcoming book focuses on 21st century literacies and how individuals and organizations learn to use digital media effectively and credibly. Rheingold has a proven record of accurate technology and social forecasting, over two decades of syndicated columns, best-selling books, and pioneering online enterprises. Howard teaches at both Stanford University and UC Berkeley's School of Information. Howard Reingold's visit is co-sponsored by Nazareth College.

Dr. Robbie K. Melton is the Associate Vice Chancellor for eLearning and Educational Technology & Innovations for the Tennessee Board of Regents' Office of Academic Affairs. Dr. Melton coordinates TBR's eLearning strategic planning, quality assurance, and research. She also oversees technology innovations for online and on-ground teaching and learning and initiatives for improving recruiting, retention and graduation. She is a full tenured professor at Tennessee State University.

Dr. Wendy C. Newstetter is the Director of Learning Sciences Research for the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Newstetter's research focuses on understanding learning in interdisciplines with an eye towards designing educational environments that support the development of integrative problem solving.

Dr. Mya Poe is assistant professor of English at Penn State University. Her research focuses on writing in the disciplines, writing assessment, and racial identity. Prior to coming to Penn State, she was Director of Technical Communication at MIT, where for 10 years she worked with faculty across the curriculum to integrate writing and speaking in science and engineering courses.

For more information visit http://www.rit.edu/fitl.

This workshop is open to full-time RIT faculty (lecturer, visiting, tenure-track, tenured) with no or little (1-2 online courses ) online teaching experience. Seating is limited and registration is on a first come, first served basis.

With online education at the center of strategic planning among RIT administrators, trustees, and other leaders, this is an optimal time for RIT faculty to gain new or enhanced familiarity with online teaching and course design.

This four-day workshop will provide participants with a systematic overview of the various pedagogical, technological, and pragmatic considerations for designing and teaching an effective online course. Upon completion of this workshop, participants will have designed part of an online course and be able to:

• Describe the primary differences between online, blended, and classroom delivery modes
• Design and assess asynchronous online discussions
• Describe the attributes of effective online and blended course design
• Identify academic technologies that may be appropriate for your online course
• Discuss copyright, intellectual property, fair use, and accessibility considerations
• Identify colleagues and other resources to support your online course development

The workshop is blended in format (part on-campus, part online); the online component will simulate a student’s perspective in an online course, but have online teaching as its subject matter. Continental breakfast will be available between 8:30-9:00, and sessions will begin promptly at 9:00. Post-lunch activities include in-class training on online technologies, demonstrations of online teaching strategies, and individual work time for assignments (including online interaction).

Approximately 2-3 hours of outside-the-workshop homework is required. Participants should bring their course syllabus or syllabi and a personal laptop computer or tablet (PC laptops can be checked out from the Wallace Library).

Workshop participants will ideally have some familiarity with myCourses, RIT’s course management system. If you are unfamiliar with myCourses, please return to the TWC Events Registration webpage to register for a group myCourses training or schedule a one-to-one training prior to the start of this workshop.

Essentials of Online Teaching is a three-week, "anytime-anywhere" training specifically intended for RIT faculty members (part-time as well as full-time) with little or no online teaching experience. It is conducted online  (no face-to-face or other real-time sessions are required) within myCourses, RIT’s course management system. 

This "mini" online course experience provides faculty with a sequence of asynchronous, interactive activities (i.e., responding to readings, sharing discoveries, commenting on others’ work) that simulates a student’s perspective in an online class, yet has online teaching as its subject matter. Just like a real online course, there will be short assignments (due at two- or three-day intervals) that allow participants to:

• Share and discuss ideas about online teaching with fellow RIT faculty members and the instructor
• Investigate the similarities and differences between online and classroom participation
• Develop skills in planning, facilitating, assessing, and managing online learning activities

Participants should expect to spend about four hours each week on seminar-related work. This "mini-course" is not intended to be an introduction to myCourses or online course design. Participants are expected to possess a basic proficiency in myCourses and to have had at least one consultation with an Instructional Design Consultant from Teaching & Learning Services prior to the start of the course.

Essentials of Online Teaching is open to RIT faculty who have been tapped by their department or program chair to offer an online or blended/hybrid (part online, part campus) course within the next 12 months. In order to access myCourses, participants must have an active RIT computer account at the start of the mini-course. Enrollment is capped at 15 and registration in on a first come, first served basis. Five or more participants are required to run the mini-course.

If you have any questions about this mini-course, or wish to schedule an appointment with an Instructional Design Consultant, please contact Michele Messenger at memtwc@rit.edu or 585-475-7806.

Laying the Foundation:  Course Conversion Workshop

August 13-15, 2012 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

This Course Conversion Workshop will help faculty take advantage of the unique opportunity presented by the quarter-to-semester course conversion by exploring design ideas that go beyond reconfiguring and combining course content to “fit” a semester schedule. During these three days, faculty will begin laying the foundation to design their semester course with an eye toward incorporating different teaching methodologies, technologies and approaches.

In this workshop, you’ll develop design and teaching strategies for your semester-long course. After the structured morning session (with topics like designing interactive course activities, and developing effective assignment grading rubrics), the TLT Studio in The Wallace Center will be open so you can continue working on your course redesign with Instructional Design Consultants and your faculty peers on hand to help you.

This workshop is open to all full-time RIT instructors (tenure-track, visiting professors, and lecturers) who want to consider new approaches to course (re)design as RIT migrates to a semester calendar. Seating is limited and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunch will be provided. To request interpreting services, go to: http://myAccess.rit.edu/.