Dear Colleagues, 

As we officially welcome Fall and the leaves begin to exhibit bright colors, the higher education landscape continues to change rapidly. In this issue of the newsletter, we focus on ways faculty can face these challenges head on. We begin with Andrew Richter (Physics & Astronomy) sharing his experiences teaching Introductory Physics courses and the shifts he has seen in students and his instructional methods. Next, we provide resources on several upcoming professional development webinars and online workshops. We also continue to provide useful resources around Canvas. Finally, we close out with a reminder about our upcoming Applying the Quality Matters Rubric workshop. (The deadline to register is today.) As always, thank you for your engagement and support, and please take some time to enjoy the beautiful fall colors.

Sincerely, 

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

Written by Andrew Richter, Physics & Astronomy

I have been teaching introductory physics courses at Valpo for twenty years, always with a continuous improvement mentality.  I try new things based on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and then evaluate for effectiveness, student responsivity, and equity. 

Our student population is constantly changing in terms of preparation level, so I am always adjusting my teaching in order to reach students where they are and help them get to where they need to be for their next steps.  I know I have succeeded when I see anxious and self-doubting students realize that physics is doable, interesting, widely-applicable, and mind-expanding.

Below are upcoming and on-demand webinars from leading experts in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). These webinars are offered by Top Hat.

Turnitin replaced Safe Assign as our primary academic integrity software in the Fall and is providing a Virtual Customer Summit November 3-30, 2025. This is a month long global online series of events featuring keynotes, workshops, and product demos. Check out this and other related resources below:

InstructureCon is the annual conference put on by the parent company of Canvas. This year, it was in Spokane Washington and there was one especially important keynote that caught my attention. While the session was not made publicly available, we wanted to highlight a particular speaker and provide a link to his content. AI is, and will continue to be, a hot topic and Baratunde Thurston spoke about the promises and challenges of AI. If you would like to hear more, he has a podcast called “Life with Machines” on YouTube (with an AI as part of the production team no less). For more information and support regarding Canvas, please visit the links below.

This Friday, Gina Rue will be offering a professional development opportunity for Quality Matters (QM).

This is an Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR) certification workshop that will benefit faculty interested in learning more about the QM rubric.

The workshop will focus on best practices for online teaching. If you are already teaching hybrid or online courses or would like to do so in the future, this workshop is for you. 

Reserve your seat now for this full-day FREE session:

 Date: Friday, September 26

 Time: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm (breakfast and lunch will be provided)

 Location: Harre Union, Brown & Gold Room

 Important Details:

         √ Faculty must attend the entire day to earn the certificate

         √ A laptop with Internet access is required

The NEW deadline to register is TODAY, Tuesday, September 23, before midnight. 

For detailed information & registration, please click the button below.

1700 Chapel Drive, Valparaiso, IN 46383

valpo.edu/cital