Dear Colleagues, 

Welcome back from break, where you hopefully had at least some time to relax and regroup. Also, welcome to the excitement of a new year and semester. In this edition of the CITAL Newsletter, we begin with a reminder of our Faculty Development Fellowship Program. This program provides funding for faculty to enhance their teaching and learning, while collaborating with faculty throughout campus. Next, we share some testimonials from our recent Open Lab hours that we hosted in the CITAL Collaboration Space (116/117 Kretzmann Hall) and online via Zoom. We round out this edition with upcoming conferences focused on teaching and learning, a useful tip on using Canvas Studio, and a reminder about Quality Matters (QM) certification. For those who joined us for our second annual Teaching Tools Symposium (and those who were there in spirit), be on the lookout for pictures and resources that we will highlight in our next newsletter. Until then, thank you all for your continued engagement and we are looking forward to working with you in the new year.

Sincerely, 

The CITAL Team (Ed, Cindy, Gina, and Raina)

By Cynthia Rutz, Director of Faculty Development, CITAL  

Do you have some pedagogical ideas that you would like to try out in your classroom? Would you like to work collegially with other faculty in learning more and honing your ideas? Then consider applying for the Faculty Development Fellows Program (deadline: Friday, February 20). 

This past week CITAL hosted open lab hours to help faculty prepare for the spring semester. Remember CITAL is here for you! Read about the experiences your fellow colleagues had during our open lab hours.

Loved CITAL’s Open Lab Hours! I had saved up 6 questions about my Canvas
course. Gina and Raina not only answered each one, but gave me host privilege during our Zoom so I could actually make the changes in my course during our session. Appreciate the follow up tips for accessibility and the links for Perusall. An hour well spent!!! - Rachel Fischer (NUR)

Thanks again for your help today and with all of my previous requests. CITAL is a
great resource for faculty! They make it easy to integrate various textbook platforms into our LMS in a quick and efficient way. Any time I have a question or issue with Canvas, emailing CITAL is the first step because I know they can help find a solution! - Ellen Ratajack (PSY)

Raina was extremely helpful when I had a question about McMillan Achieve
integration with Canvas. She hopped on a zoom call and had the issue sorted in ten minutes. - Sara Gundersen (ECON)

I had a great experience as a new instructor with at the CITAL lab. Gina was so knowledgeable and helpful and I am grateful for her help.  The program itself appears to be very accessible and has built-in help at every step, so I think I should be able to catch on quickly.  She assured me that if I still need help to let them know. It's nice to have such great support and to know it is there if needed.  - Stephanie Swanson (CVA)

This was my first time using Canvas after working with Blackboard for a long time. Gina migrated all of my courses from Blackboard to Canvas, making the transition very smooth and stress-free. She and Raina gave a wonderful in-person introduction to Canvas, carefully explained the steps involved in creating modules, quizzes, and other content, and showed me how to publish everything for student access. They patiently answered all of my questions. Their help made the transition easy and enjoyable. Thank you, Gina & Raina. - Shirvel Stanislaus (PHYS)

Thank you again to all of the faculty who stopped by or Zoomed in for the Open Lab. Remember, CITAL is here to help you via the help desk or by emailing cital@valpo.edu. 

Below are upcoming free online conferences. These conferences cover a wide range of topics including AI, online pedagogy, and leadership in online programs.

Do you use video lectures for your online classes or flipped classrooms and want to make them more engaging? You can use Canvas Studio to embed video quizzes in your video lectures. Video quizzes increase motivation and engagement, provides instant feedback, and turns passive viewing into active learning.

To add video quizzes, go to Canvas Studio in your global navigation (not your course navigation) and select the video by clicking on the three dots and click on "Quizzes" then "Create quizzes". Then, you will be prompted to give your quiz a name. Now, you can create your quiz questions by selecting where in the video you want the question to occur and click on the "+". Canvas Studio only supports multiple choice, true or false, and multiple answer question types. Finally, enter the question details and click "Save". For more information on how to maximize Canvas Studio, visit the community:

Tune in next time for another Canvas tip!

Your online and hybrid courses compete with similar courses at universities all across the country. So how can you make your excellent online course stand out in the crowd? The answer is: Quality Matters (QM). 

If you are one of the 57 faculty who have attended the Applying the Quality Matters Workshop, you can start the process to get your course certified right now.

By using the QM rubric, you can ensure that your course contains materials that are accessible, links to resources that your online students may need, and other features that students expect to find in high-quality online courses. 

Contact CITAL to set up a one-on-one consultation. Consider taking the first step toward getting your course Quality Matters certified today. To learn more about QM, you can also visit the following page on the CITAL website:

1700 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso, IN 46383

valpo.edu/cital