Category Archives: For Faculty Archive

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Deputy Provost 2:10: Technology-supported teaching at the close of the semester

As we begin to enter final grades, think about course copy and migration, and plan spring syllabi and class time, I want to amplify some of the messages the campus community has received from folks within Drake’s Information Technology Services.  (Needed footnote alert: some of this is original text, some of it is brazenly plagiarized from ITS!)

Final grades are due by 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 22. This is the last day that the University is open, before break begins. To enter final grades, log into myDrake/MyDUSIS, click on the “Grading” icon under the Faculty & Advising section, and then click on the “Final Grades – Submittal Link” link.  Or, enter grades via Blackboard, using the instructions available here.

Don’t forget: Gradebook filtering can help streamline grading.

  • Go to Gradebook > click on the grid view (left) > click on Filter (right)
  • filter by student name to show only grades for one student
  • filter by groups
  • filter by child courses of a merged or cross-listed course

As you prepare to copy or originate new courses for spring, please be aware that there will be variations for instructors.

  • If you are copying from Original (not Ultra) course view, please use the correct instructions and start in the course from the past that currently contains the content.
  • If you are copying from Ultra course view, the process starts from the future/empty course and pulls content in from past courses. You have more granularity about what you copy with the new process. (Don’t copy items that are broken – this will help clean up courses with transition errors.)
  • Copy Courses for Efficiency: Instructions for copying courses.
  • NOTE: Please remove any repeated links referring to the Support Center after you copy content.

To request Course Merges or Course Sharing: Please submit a request through the Blackboard Learn Ultra Request and choose the appropriate option for either merge courses or share/copy course content. Your course can be copied forward while completing a merge. Make sure you include the course that currently contains the content as a part of the request.

If you are new to the look and feel of Blackboard Learn Ultra, and setting up original/new courses, here are some tutorials to help you get started:

  • Blackboard Learn Ultra has a limit of two folder levels. Please keep your content organized within these limitations. By not being able to bury content in folders, students are more likely to find what they need to succeed.
  • If you have a “Content” folder, you can gain back another level of folders by moving items out of the Content folder and up to the main content page.
  • Build content in a chronological order if possible. This helps the students immensely!
  • For Instructors: Where can I get training?
  • FAQs on the Blackboard Learn Ultra update

Finally, please be aware of our institutional storage limitations. This resource on the End of the Semester with BlackBoard Ultra is really helpful for thinking through archiving and storing course material. And, one of my upcoming January OnCampus messages will offer much more specific instructions and ideas for maintaining an efficient set of courses that don’t tax storage bandwidth. As you think about planning and recording lectures for virtual learning content in your spring courses, Panopto is our preferred video content managing system. You can learn about its capacities and how it interacts with BlackBoard Ultra, at this helpful link.  Also, in a January OnCampus, I’ll offer some tips for thinking through the use of Respondus technology for OnLine testing. But, if you’re either finally figuring it out here at finals time (no shame!), OR, thinking about using this technology for the first (or fifth) time this spring, please read these important tips and best practices for that technology!

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Additional printers installed on campus

Last week, new printers were installed in Meredith, Fitch, and Harvey-Ingham Halls. Our staff is working hard to match up the number and type of machines that are delivered with the machines needed in a given area. We are trying to replace all department/building machines simultaneously to avoid the confusion from using both old and new printers, but this continues to be challenging due to ongoing supply chain issues.

Our partners at LRI are coordinating installation and training with department contacts as machines arrive. Our project team will continue to adjust our schedule as machines arrive and update the list at Printer Locations (FAQ).

See guides on using the features of the new printers in the Printing category of the IT service portal. Learn more about the overall printing project at drake.edu/its/printing/.

— Kris Brewster, ITS

For Faculty Archive

Application for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion designation now available

In May 2021, Faculty Senate passed a motion creating a special Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion designation for courses in existing AOI categories or in academic programs within units. Students who enter Drake beginning in Fall 2022 will be required to take one course with this designation.

The University Curriculum Committee invites course proposals for courses to satisfy this new designation. The application is now available on the AOI/UCC resources webpage: drake.edu/dc/facultystaffresources/aoiuccresources/. UCC will begin reviewing applications in the spring semester. The committee meets every three weeks to review proposals.

Please contact Carrie Dunham-LaGree, chair of UCC, with any questions.

— Carrie Dunham-LaGree, Cowles Library

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

LGBTQ+ affinity group social Dec. 15

Drake LGBTQ+ faculty and staff are invited to an affinity group happy hour on Wednesday, Dec. 15, at 5 p.m. This Drake LGBTQ+ affinity group is still in its early stages, but join us for a casual gathering where you can meet colleagues and discuss ideas for the future of this group.

Please contact Evan Favreau at evan.favreau@drake.edu for more details about the happy hour, or if you would like to be included in messages about future events.

— Jen Harvey, Associate Provost, Campus Equity and Inclusion

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Deputy Provost 2:10: Spring Writing Workshop

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

Reminder: Faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in the Spring Writing Project. The project consists of a one-semester commitment that will include: working with Director of Writing Jody Swilky on the development of a writing assignment, writing activities, or a writing project for one of his/her spring classes; meeting no later than the first or second week of the semester with the coordinator to discuss the assignment and project as well as issues related to instruction such as responses to writing; and attending 60-minute meetings of all participants in the program in February and March 2022. These meetings may be structured as two sessions each month, half of the participants at each session, in order to facilitate more in-depth discussion. There will be required meetings of all participating instructors held in late April or early May 2022. An additional aspect of the project is that faculty will require all students enrolled in their class to attend The Writing Workshop at least twice during the semester as the student works on the writing assignment/activities/project.

After the initial meeting(s) with the coordinator of writing instruction to develop a writing assignment or writing project, participants will receive a stipend of $500. After completing the project and attending the final meeting, participants will receive an additional $500.

Participation is limited to 10 individuals, and the deadline to respond to this call is Dec. 12.  If you are interested in participating, please contact Nicki Kimm (nicki.kimm@drake.edu). If you have questions, contact Director of Writing Jody Swilky (jody.swilky@drake.edu).

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Deputy Provost 2:10: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning luncheon

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

If you have engaged in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, please consider joining our new faculty at the final luncheon of the semester, Friday, Dec. 10, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., in Howard Hall, Room 210. We will discuss the way that SOTL helps inform our teaching and our research, and this will be a great way to meet some of the folks who are newer to campus.

Please email nicki.kimm@drake.edu to register.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost

For Faculty Archive

J-Term 2023 travel seminar proposals due Dec. 2

As a reminder, J-Term 2023 travel seminar proposals are due Thursday, Dec. 2, through Qualtrics.

A travel seminar is a short-term, faculty-led study abroad (or domestic) program. This is an opportunity to teach a course that integrates an academic experience with intercultural and experiential learning while traveling. To learn more about the travel seminar process, please contact Nathan Jacobson, education abroad coordinator, at nathan.jacobson@drake.edu.

To submit a proposal, visit: drake.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cIRcgl8JH4b6n1Y.

— Nathan Jacobson, Global Engagement

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Next steps: Great Colleges To Work For Survey

As we’ve shared in prior OnCampus articles, one of our focus areas this year is to attend to our culture.  This is based on feedback from the Great Colleges To Work For survey and given that we are adjusting to working in an ongoing pandemic.

We recently invited all of campus to participate in focus groups to discuss ideas of how to attend to our culture and what’s possible yet this academic year. Through these sessions, we were able to gain valuable insights and feedback as to what’s important and possible. Thank you to those that participated!

As a summary, here’s what we discussed and discovered:

  • Culture Varies by Department: It’s clear that culture and perceptions of culture can vary tremendously depending on the area where people work.
  • Internal Growth: There are areas that have reputations for good culture—Advancement, the Admission Office, the Ray Center were three that came up. What are those areas doing well and how can we replicate it? Where we have strong leaders who can teach, train, or speak about leadership, are we over-looking and under-utilizing these internal assets?
  • Leadership Training and Tools: As we look at leadership training and development, building culture has to be part of this. Leaders create culture. Are we teaching leaders how to create culture?
  • Improved New Employee Orientation (and Onboarding): It’s a priority for HR to reinstate new-employee orientation. In addition, we’ll discuss some complimentary ways we can build on that orientation from others outside of HR as well.
  • Intentionality: We discussed that culture has to be intentional, proactive, and routine. We spent some time in both sessions talking about making time to build relationships outside of our immediate work areas. We can also think about an annual communication plan for culture and values. How do we routinely sprinkle culture/values/mission/inspiration into our communication practices?
  • Socializing Matters: We need to bring back regularly scheduled social events—and make them part of our routine.
  • Networking Cohorts: We’ll explore creating more opportunities for cross-departmental cohorts including mentoring programs.
  • Increase Visible Recognition of Achievement: We need a greater culture of recognition and stronger utilization of the recognition tools we already have (such True Blue Awards).
  • Communicating Across Departments: We heard about department-to-department silos and the need to enhance communication, horizontally across departments.

As there are many ways to tactically implement the above, we’ll be reviewing these outcomes of the focus groups at an upcoming President’s Council meeting and circling back with both managers/supervisors and all of campus on specific next steps.

In the months ahead, you’ll start to see more opportunities to engage in our culture and be a part of making Drake a great place to work.  Speaking of, here’s a great example!

Thanks for reading and all you do to attend to our culture.

— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources, and Nate Reagen, President’s Office

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

Men’s Basketball Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day Nov. 20

Drake Men’s Basketball will host Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night on Saturday, Nov. 20, when they take on Richmond at 12 p.m.

Each faculty and staff member can receive up to four complimentary tickets. Redeem your tickets.

For more information on all Faculty and Staff Appreciation days, visit DrakeTix.com/facultyandstaffdays. Please remember that per Drake University policy, masks are required in the Knapp Center.

— Aimee Lane, Athletics

For Faculty Archive, For Staff Archive

FPM shares results of Administration Services Survey

An objective of Drake’s Continuous Improvement Plan is to “Elevate Service Excellence”. The Survey of Administrative Services (SAS) directly supports our continuous improvement in this area.  The feedback helps Facilities Planning and Management understand where service gaps may exist and how to improve our services to the University.

Survey respondents provided largely positive feedback about FPM services. Responses were provided on a five-point scale, with five being the highest.

Satisfaction with FPM staff – Total Average 4.38 (4.41 last year)
Respondents assessed their satisfaction with FPM staff including their courtesy, professionalism, knowledge, timeliness, resolution of issues and communication regarding work orders and projects.

FPM Staff are courteous – 4.82

FPM Staff are professional – 4.74

FPM Staff are knowledgeable – 4.62

FPM Staff respond to requests in a timely manner – 4.26

FPM staff provide regular communication about the status of my request – 3.96

FPM keeps me aware of projects or construction that will impact my work – 3.86

Satisfaction with services provided by FPM – Total Average 4.48 (4.50 last year)
Respondents assessed their satisfaction with the services FPM staff provide for all campus buildings and grounds.

Moving – 4.72

Carpentry – 4.66

Custodial – 4.62

Grounds – 4.61

Electrical – 4.57

Painting – 4.57

Plumbing – 4.51

Trash/Recycling – 4.43

Snow Removal – 4.35

Capital Projects – 4.18

Cooling and Heating – 4.09

Overall satisfaction with FPM —Total Average 4.13 (4.39 last year)
Overall satisfaction is above average, slightly down from the previous year.  FPM has opportunities for improvement and we are actively developing strategies to improve our services and overall quality. The preservation of historic buildings can be demanding when maintaining and updating mechanical systems.  It is our goal to heat and cool to establish a comfortable environment, but understand the capacity of the system along with individual preferences. Moving forward we promise to continue to service all customer needs on campus through collaboration and communication.

In reviewing the data and reflecting on the comments provided by the respondents, we make the following commitments.

FPM will:

  1. Ensure that FPM meet the promised response and resolution timeframes.
  2. Collaborate to find reasonable and supportable long-term solutions.
  3. Confirm the request was completed to satisfaction.
  4. Improve communication related to work order requests and construction projects.
  5. Work as a team to provide facility-related services on behalf of Drake.

FPM has been working on updating websites to better deliver communications. This, coupled with more direct reporting, we anticipate that we can booster our lower administrative service areas. Please visit:

https://www.drake.edu/build/

https://www.drake.edu/sustainability/

— Kevin Moran, Executive Director Facilities Planning and Management