About | Faculty Development | Assessment | e-Learning

Hello Creighton Colleagues,  

I greatly appreciate your enthusiasm as faculty in dedicating your time, expertise, and resources to impact students in their learning.  From assisting a student in understanding a particular assignment/exam within a course or mentoring a student on a research project, your impact and influence is woven into the fabric of the university. 

The Center for Faculty Excellence is here to be a champion for you across your faculty lifespan.  

The CFE is committed to providing you with collaborative faculty development opportunities to support your efforts in student learning and assessment, developing partnerships, and finding resources.  This newsletter spotlights Research and Scholarship Social and Happy Hour, faculty development programs, and opportunities for partnership with the eLearning team on a broad range of topics related to online course/exam development. 

Thank you for your continued commitment to your professional development, our students and to the university.  Please do reach out to the CFE with ideas and questions at CFE@creighton.edu

Lou Jensen, OTD, OTR/L.
Associate Vice Provost-Interim, Center for Faculty Excellence

Tuesday, Nov. 7; 3:30-5:00 p.m. CDT/2:30-4:00 p.m. MST; Hybrid (Harper Ballroom & Virtual via Zoom) for the Research Resources and Building Research Skills networking and happy hour program. View research and scholarly projects and facilitators. Access Zoom links  to flash talks and individual research topic tables. 

Faculty and Professional Staff who teach are invited to submit grant proposals which support newly-initiated or early stage assessment of student learning, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and/or related faculty development projects. Grant award project timeframe: January 1, 2024-May 9, 2025.  Grants of $500 - $2000 are awarded competitively to fund projects led by benefit-eligible faculty or professional staff who teach or collaborative teams.  Read the grant call for proposals.  Download the application for grant proposals.  Email proposal to Mary Emmer.  Review of proposals begins Nov. 8, 2023.  

CFE invites faculty and professional staff who teach, as a part of your ongoing formation experiences, to actively engage with a community of scholars in teaching excellence.  To explore and register for faculty development programs that best match your interests and availability, visit the CFE page on Bridge, Creighton’s training, learning and professional development platform:

November: Programs in date order. (Click on title to register for program.)

Over 15 Recorded Programs: On-Demand in Bridge

Did you know you have access to over 15 previous CFE program recordings and materials from this fall?  If you wish to watch a presentation, we encourage you to register for the on-demand course in Bridge. When you select register, Bridge will place the on-demand course in your personal dashboard where you can access the recording and program materials 24/7 at a time that is most convenient for YOU! 

The Trendsetters, a new community of practice, offers an informal group to share interdisciplinary practices and approaches to statistics, econometrics, and a wide range of quantitative research methods.  The group plans to meet quarterly to have conversations on these topics, conduct live time workshops, and organize participant inspired meet-ups to share research and receive ideas and feedback.

Gargi Vyas, PhD, The Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Leadership, College of Professional and Continuing Education, CFE Faculty Associate; Jack Taylor, PhD, Research and Compliance, Biostatistical Core; and Jim Martin, PhD, The Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Leadership, College of Professional and Continuing Education will be facilitation the meeting.

Register for initial meeting.  If you have questions about The Trendsetters, contact Gargi Vyas at GargiVyas@creighton.edu. 

The University Research Week Committee would like to invite you to save the dates for our upcoming events. They are hoping that with these early reminders, and calendar invite links, you will be able to keep these times open so your students can submit abstracts and present projects, you can come judge presentations, and you will be able to come see what our students have been working on this past year.

Abstract Deadline: Feb. 16, 2024 (calendar invite link)
Research Days: March 26, 2024 from 8:45 am – 3:45 pm CDT and March. 27, 2024 from 8:45 am – 11:00 am CDT (calendar invite link)

Watch for additional information in Creighton Today and other communication channels.  Questions, please contact Sandra Leighton. 

The Fall Assessment sessions will offer the opportunity for curricular and co-curricular faculty and staff to consider what others across the university are doing to keep student learning assessment simple. Contact Sarah Oliver with questions. 

I started my time with Creighton as an instructional designer in February 2020.  The principal programs that I support for the Center for Faculty Excellence are Pharmacy and CIPER.  I enjoy working with faculty, so they feel empowered to use academic technology in a purposeful way.  Prior to joining the world of higher education, I spent almost 20 years teaching in K-12 public schools, primarily in elementary classrooms and elementary and middle school libraries.  Being a teacher librarian gave me a great understanding and respect for digital information literacy and learning and helping to make education engaging, especially with the intentional use of academic technology, is important to me. 

My husband and I have two Japanese Chin dogs that we spoil constantly and provide endless entertainment.  Although I love spending time at home with my little family, I also love to travel, read, watch true crime shows, and explore different cooking techniques and cuisines.

Winter and 2024 Spring course shells are now available in BlueLine, so this is a great time to begin preparations. The Instructional Designers (IDs) on the eLearning team are passionate about collaborating with instructors. To ensure adequate time for course collaborations, an instructor and ID should begin working together 4-8 weeks before the start of a term. IDs take great joy in diving deep with faculty into new ideas and projects, and they are also valuable teammates and fresh eyes on the wide array of details required to update a course for a new term. Working with an ID can help ensure courses are accessible, links are functional, dates and course policies in the syllabus are aligned with BlueLine settings, and logistics of student activities and tasks are smooth and functional.  Collaboration with an ID can help minimize potential challenges in the term ahead. IDs are also tuned-in on the latest feature updates within all CU academic technologies, so they can work with faculty to integrate those features in a way that benefits both instructors and students. Any instructor seeking instructional design support can contact eLearning@creighton.edu and a member of the team will respond within 24 business hours. 

Midterm and finals are busy times for instructors, with many utilizing ExamSoft to administer exams. Conveniently, ExamSoft can push grades over to BlueLine with just a few simple steps. Take a moment to review expert guidance for faculty on this process provided by the eLearning Exam Team: How to Push Grades from ExamSoft to Blueline

Creighton has partnered with Canvas Support to provide BlueLine support even when the CFE and myIT Service Desk are unavailable. You can call, chat, or email Canvas Support for all questions or problems related to BlueLine. Canvas Support contact information can be found via the Help button in the navigation bar in BlueLine.

Lou Jensen, Associate Vice Provost-Interim: LouJensen@creighton.edu | 402.280.5678 
Faculty Development: 
   - MaryEmmer@Creighton.edu | 402.280.4997
   - KymBauer | 402.280.1190
Assessment: SarahOliver1@Creighton.edu | 402.280.3906  
eLearning:
  - Instructional Design Team: elearning@creighton.edu | hotline 402.280.3428  
  - Exam/Online Proctoring Team: exams@creighton.edu | hotline: 402.280.5665    
  - eLearning & Media Design: PhilBeagle@Creighton.edu | 402.280.3055