The Office of Global Engagement is excited to kick off the Spring 2022 intake for Drake Intercultural Community Exchange (DICE). This volunteer program matches faculty and staff (and their families) with incoming international students for a term (or longer), with the goal of fostering meaningful connections beyond the classroom.

DICE hosts would be expected to reach out to their student two or three times a semester to grab a meal, participate in a shared interest, or meet up at DICE/ISSS-sponsored events. Participating as a DICE volunteer is open to ALL Drake faculty and staff. The only requirement is that you have a strong interest in developing an inclusive community and the desire to make our international students feel welcome.

If you are interested in becoming a DICE host, please complete our online application: http://drake.qualtrics.com/DICE_HostApplication

If you have any questions about the program, please send inquires to Jorona Johnson, international student advisor, at jorona.johnson@drake.edu.

— Jorona Johnson, Global Engagement

Every Tuesday in OnCampus the Deputy Provost shares two articles with a read time of 10 minutes.

In January, more than two dozen faculty gathered across three mornings for workshops on pedagogical problem-solving, syllabus construction and the scholarship of teaching and learning, and setting appropriate goals for scholarship/creative work plus service in the spring. You can access recordings of these development opportunities here, in the folder for the Center for Teaching Excellence on Drake’s Panopto page.

We have several more faculty development opportunities planned for this spring, through the Center for Teaching Excellence. Please keep your eye out in this space every week for Eventbrite links to sign up.

The opportunities include a Books for Breakfast series. We’ll read Kevin Gannon’s teaching manifesto Radical Hope in February, and Jennifer Louden’s creativity manifesto Why Bother? in April.  Sean Severe (Associate Dean in CBPA) and Natalie Bayer (Associate Dean in A&S) have agreed to co-lead two sessions on Nathan Grawe’s newest book on meeting the challenges of the demographic trends in higher education, The Agile College, in March.

You can sign up for the February Books for Breakfast here. We’ll chat about Radical Hope on Feb. 15 and Feb. 22 in Howard Hall (I’ll bring pastries, tea, and instant coffee) from 8:30–9:30 a.m. If you want to talk about Radical Hope, but cannot make this time work, please email renee.cramer@drake.edu and we’ll think about finding a supplemental time.

CTE will also sponsor lunches this spring to talk about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning—inviting our colleagues to share their research, and brainstorm about potential projects.  And, CTE will host faculty development relating to delivering on the promise of our AOI core curriculum, developed with help from the Drake Curriculum and Assessment Committee.

In May, we’ll have two-day workshops for new and aspiring FYS instructors, as well as for faculty interested in making sure their courses are absolutely accessible when they migrate to virtual spaces. Finally, keep your eyes out for a reprise of the goal-setting workshop. We’ll meet in community to plan a restful and productive summer for our 9- and 12-month faculty.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost

Every Tuesday in OnCampus the Deputy Provost shares two articles with a read time of 10 minutes.

Welcome to the spring semester! As you know—because you’re in the midst of it—we have moved to two weeks of remote instruction to begin the semester. In coordination with Drake’s Office of Global Engagement, as well as Drake Online and Continuing Education, I want to share these six essential steps to making the first two weeks work well for you and your students.

1. Use Blackboard Learn Ultra. Our LMS allows you to easily distribute course materials, share your syllabus and course schedule, provide resources for support, communicate with students, and manage attendance. When we all use one common LMS, students know where and when their courses are and will experience less confusion these first two weeks.
2. Use Blackboard Collaborate or Zoom when you meet with your students synchronously. Both are available through Blackboard Learn Ultra within your course. Students simply click the appropriate link within the course to “attend.” Using these within the course will simplify your communication to students and lessen any complications to joining their course.
3. Create simple modules within Blackboard. Creating one or two simple modules for the first two weeks will help direct students to the right materials, readings, schedule, etc. Setting up a module in Blackboard is straightforward, once you know the steps. Drake Online has a quick video that can walk you through the steps if needed; ITS has a knowledge base article on building courses within the LMS.
4. Communicate with your students. Send an email to students to share your plan for the first two weeks. Include all information about where and how you will meet, about what your expectations are, and about your learning objectives. A good practice is to sign-post everything; another good practice is to over-communicate: have the same information in multiple places (in the syllabus, on the course Blackboard site, as part of your introductory comments in class, as an announcement that is emailed). And remember, clear communication isn’t haphazard—it isn’t useful to email students every time you remember something, rather, plan your communications.
5. Build engagement during these first two weeks. Blackboard, Blackboard Collaborate, and Zoom all have features that help build engagement and a sense of community.  Use discussion boards, breakout rooms, and other online activities that will help build excitement for your class and the semester. Even if you don’t normally have a group exercise, adding something small during the first two weeks will help our students interact with each other. A good example might be to have small groups find what they have in common as a “introduction” exercise. This is even more fun if you tell your students the commonality can’t have anything to do with Drake or their majors—but center instead on a favorite food, or a common popular culture reference.
6. Support your international students who are remote these two weeks. In support of Drake as global university and in the spirit of flexibility, faculty are asked to be mindful that during the two-week remote period, there may be international students joining your classes remotely from other parts of the world and therefore different time zones. In addition, some international locations may have less stable internet connectivity.  Please work individually with these students to ensure the right balance of synchronous or asynchronous learning.

Doing these things will help set up your semester for success during the first two weeks. They represent the minimum expectation of what we want our online and remote instruction to embody to ensure students are engaged and satisfied with their learning experience. Thank you for the work you do to make a Drake education an excellent education.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost