Drake faculty members are invited to participate in a short-term faculty writing group focused on using the summer effectively for our scholarship. We will meet from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 31, and Friday, June 1, and again on Thursday, Aug. 23, and Friday, Aug. 24. The writing group will be co-facilitated by Nate Holdren, assistant professor of law, politics & society, and En Li, assistant professor of history. Our goal for the May sessions will be to help set ourselves up to make progress on our scholarship over the summer. Our goals for the August sessions will be to be accountable to each other about how effectively we were at actually working on our goals over the summer, and to help ourselves begin the fall semester with some goals and plans. We will read Joli Jensen’s book Write No Matter What and discuss it to the degree that participants find it useful. Each session will also include discussion of the faculty members’ own scholarship and on-site writing time.

This writing group is supported by a Faculty Development Grant from the College of Arts and Sciences. There are spots for ten faculty participants. Should more than 10 individuals express interest, priority shall be given to 1) those who participated in the spring Faculty Writing Group, 2) tenure-track faculty who are not yet tenured, 3) faculty who are members of groups under-represented, and 4) faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Participants who attend all four sessions will receive a stipend of $150.

If you are interested in participating, contact Kayla Jenkins at kayla.jenkins@drake.edu by May 11.

If you have questions, please contact co-facilitators, Nate Holdren at nate.holdren@drake.edu, and En Li at en.li@drake.edu.

— En Li, History Department

Join ITS staff for this semester’s last session of Tech Tuesday on May 8 from 2 to 2:50 p.m. in the Dial Center Large Conference Room.

On Tuesday, May 8, come and learn about the video conferencing tools available to faculty and staff. Sign up and learn more about the session.

Tech Tuesday workshops will return in the fall. Watch OnCampus for information on future topics and dates.

— Carla Herling, ITS

Remember to turn in any unused building keys to the Student Services Center before the end of the semester. Please remember that you are responsible for replacement fees for keys that are not turned in. The Student Services Center is located in the lower level of Carnegie Hall.

— Sara Heijerman, Student Services Center

Once again, All Staff Council is hosting its annual kickball tournament as a way to celebrate and thank faculty and staff for a great year.

The event will take place Wednesday, May 23, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Helmick Commons and consist of kickball, refreshments, snacks, and lawn games. In the event of rain, games will move to the Fieldhouse. All faculty and staff are welcome to participate. Attendees can come and go as they please.

Register to play as a team or individual by May 15 at www.drake.edu/asc. If you register as an individual, All Staff Council will place you on a team or create a team of free agents.

— Tom Heijerman, Information Technology Services/All Staff Council

You are invited to relax, connect, and celebrate with colleagues at the All Staff Council Sapphire Awards on Wednesday, May 9, from 2 to 3 p.m. in Levitt Hall. This annual event honors Called to be True Blue Award recipients from the 2017-2018 academic year, with Sapphire Awards going to top individual and group award winners.

Please join us for refreshments, entertainment, and connection as we come together to honor your hard work and commitment, while giving special recognition to colleagues.

—All Staff Council

April’s digital faculty member of the month: Erik Maki, associate professor of pharmacy practice, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Each month, a faculty member, nominated by their dean, is recognized for their efforts to integrate an innovative technology into their classroom. Read an interview between ITS and Erik below.

What type of technology do you use? 

I experimented with several technology tools with the goal of increasing students’ engagement with the materials prior to coming to class. My goal was to create interactive screencasts that contained assessment items that would integrate a grade automatically into the Blackboard gradebook. I sought out solutions that were capable of making the SCORM files required for Blackboard integration. In my first efforts, I used Articulate Storyline (Version 1) which worked well but became buggy and unreliable over time. I then transitioned to Adobe Captivate, which I found to be slow and difficult to use. Moving forward, I plan to use Panopto since you can now embed quizzes into videos.

I have also used EDpuzzle. In this app, you upload your videos, then click on the timeline to insert your sessions. It works well for a free product but doesn’t integrate into Blackboard, so you have to manually download the data to import into Blackboard.

To make my screencasts (online videos where you record your screen), I have been very happy with Screencast-O-matic. For $15 per year, this is a fairly simple and intuitive tool that has allowed me to make and edit videos. This is probably my favorite tool right now. While I edit videos, I am able to insert text, highlights, arrows, pictures, background music (free stock or you can import) and screen blurring. I have also used a lot (probably too many) memes in my screencasts to add some elements of surprise and hopefully humor for the students. For that, I have been using several websites: http://memedad.com/, https://imgflip.com/memegenerator, and https://memegenerator.net/.

iPeer Evaluations:

We were the first to use iPeer on campus. This tool that integrates with Blackboard has allowed us to become very efficient at conducting anonymous peer reviews.

Active Learning Techniques:

I also have used Padlet, a bulletin board where students can post written or visual responses simultaneously to question prompts.

I use TurningPoint Clickers during class, and then take these same items and post them in Socrative so students can practice on their own.

What course do you use this technology in? I use technology in a team-taught course titled Pharmacotherapeutics. In this course we use team-based learning, which is a flipped classroom that emphasizes instructor facilitated peer instruction.

Where did you get the inspiration to make a change?

My inspiration came from a sense of curiosity and wanting to find ways to engage students. As I mentioned above, I had some frustration with students not coming to class prepared, so I knew I needed to do something different to make my content more enticing.   

How long did it take you to implement this technology? 

Like most things, with practice I have become more efficient at using these technologies, but am still learning. Products like Storyline and Captivate have steep learning curves and take a while to recoup your time investment. Whereas other like Screencast-O-Matic, Socrative, and Padlet are more intuitive and can be mastered in a day.

Did ITS assist you in implementing this technology?

For many years I have worked with staff in our ITS department for ideas and assistance as well as several individuals from the Continuing Education Department in the College of Education. Through these interactions, I learned about a regional conference, which I have attended once and enjoyed, called the Distance Teaching & Learning Conference. Although I don’t do distance or online-only learning, most of the concepts carry over for the blended learning (some online elements mixed with face-to-face learning) I do in my course.

Are you interested in trying out new technology in your classroom? Want help from ITS staff? Schedule a technology adoption consultation.   

— Erin Ulrich, CPHS, and Carla Herling, ITS 

Faculty and staff members who have a child interested in attending a Bulldog summer football camp can receive $30 off registration. There are a variety of camp options in both June and July, with age groups ranging from third grade to prospects about to begin their senior year of high school.  To learn more about each type of camp, visit drakefootballcamps.com. Contact Todd Stepsis, defensive coordinator, at todd.stepsis@drake.edu to receive the $30 off discount.

— Todd Stepsis, Athletics

Reminder: The next Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) lunch is this Friday, April 27, at noon in Medbury Hall, Room 201. We realize this is the Friday of Relays Week, but if you would like to take part in a discussion about SoTL and pedagogy before heading off to watch competition on the Blue Oval, this discussion is a great opportunity. While it is too late to sign up for a lunch, you are welcome to attend and bring your own.

— Art Sanders, Associate Provost

Faculty Senate elected their executive committee for the 2018-19 academic year. Carrie Dunham-LaGree will serve as president-elect. Other elected members of the committee include: Erik Maki, CPHS; Melissa Weresh, Law School; Chip Miller, CBPA; Jill VanWyke, SJMC; Bengu Erguner-Tekinalp, SOE; Bruce Gilbert, Cowles Library; Mark Vitha, A&S. This committee begins its work in May for the 2018-2019 year.

— Nancy Geiger, Office of the Registrar