center for INNOVATION in teaching, assessment, and learning

April 8, 2025

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the latest edition of your CITAL newsletter. As we enter the home stretch of the semester, we wanted to share a reminder and open invitation for you to increase student engagement from the Center for Games & Interactive Entertainment. Additionally, we want to remind you that the Spring semester is the last time courses will be offered in Blackboard. While Blackboard officially sunsets on June 30, 2025, IT and CITAL will need time to back up all necessary information from the system. Next, we provide more information on Quality Matters. Did you know that 11 more of your colleagues have now completed the Applying the Quality Matters Rubric? That brings the total to 30! Finally, we end with information about professional development opportunities related to Top Hat and Perusall. As always, feel free to reach out with any additional questions.

Sincerely,

The CITAL Team (Ed, Gina, and Cindy)

Center for Games and Interactive Entertainment & Sirko Makerspace

Using the Gaming Center to Promote Student Engagement

On Monday, March 31, there was an Open House for faculty at the new Center for Games & Interactive Entertainment. Martin Buinicki (English) and Laura Krepp (Communication & Visual Arts) introduced the features of the Center and spoke to faculty about how they could use the space with their students.

Click Here to Read the Full Article

ALERT!

Blackboard will sunset on June 30, 2025.

This means all Summer Courses will be in Canvas.

Would you like to save your Blackboard course content for future use in Canvas?
CITAL is seeing fairly good results in copying (migrating)
previous Blackboard course content to Canvas.

Click here to complete the request form to migrate your Blackboard courses to Canvas

Canvas help is here for you.

CITAL is available for department, small group, and one-on-one sessions
via Zoom or Live on Campus and Canvas online support 24/7 for you & your students.
You can make your request for a "Canvas Consultation" to CITAL@valpo.edu.

Looking for Canvas resources?

1) How to apply the Valpo-branded Canvas Template to your courses.

2) Access to Course or Community Guides for you and your students (training videos, detailed step-by-step articles on Getting Started, and more advanced topics such as assessment and multimedia.)

Click here to access Canvas Resources

Quality Matters Success Stories

FREE for all QM Members! View the archived sessions of QM Success Stories by logging into Valpo's MyQM and navigating to the Reference Library.

Click Here for access to QM Success Stories

Click Here to request an account at Valpo's MyQM

Tools to Help Students Succeed

Top Hat is an interactive program that encourages student collaboration. It includes a wide range of best-in-class response tools keep your students focused. Bring your courses to life with these useful tools and tips.

Click here for access to teaching resources

Click Here for Help on How to Get Started using Top Hat

Are you already using Perusall or would like to learn more about it? Consider attending the Perusall Exchange® 2025, a virtual conference that begins May 19th. Join them for a week of engaging short papers, video presentations, and five live online events—including one of their most anticipated conversations: The Teaching & Learning Panel, centered around this year’s theme, Why Reading Matters to the Future of Learning.

Visit the CITAL Website, Your One-Stop-Shop for Faculty Resources

Submit a CITAL Helpdesk Ticket

219.464.50001700 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso, IN 46383-6493 USAvalpo.edu

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