Two faculty fellows with the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment have developed a Canvas course to assist peers in preparing for, conducting and debriefing following peer observation of teaching.

Professor Linda Rice, English, and Professor Angela Hosek, Communication Studies, both university teaching award winners, have created the resource, which reflects the work of a team of OHIO faculty who developed the CTLA Peer Teaching Observation Program (PTOP) in 2023-24. That team included Rice, Hosek and Professor Jenny Chabot and Associate Clinical Professor Cheryl Geng, both from the College of Health Sciences and Professions.

The PTOP training is entirely asynchronous and takes 60 to 90 minutes to complete. OHIO instructors who complete the training, as well as a full peer teaching observation, then become PTOP certified and are listed on the CTLA website. The CTLA intends for the training to develop peer observers in each college. College leadership, department chairs and program directors are encouraged to invite faculty members to participate. 

According to Vice Provost for Faculty Development Katie Hartman, the PTOP program is an important tool for peer reviews of teaching and evidence of teaching effectiveness. "Both CTLA leadership and I appreciate the expertise our PTOP fellows brought to program development over the 2024-25 year, which has resulted in this opportunity for all who teach to be involved in supporting one another."

Nominations for OHIO's teaching awards are now open and will be accepted through Wednesday, Oct. 15. University recognition for teaching excellence is competitive, and nominees may include full-time faculty who are tenure-track but non-tenured assistant or associate professors (Rising Star Teacher Award), tenured (Presidential Teacher Award) and instructional (Provost Award for Excellence in Teaching). In addition, students nominate full-time instructors for the prestigious University Professor Award, which was founded in 1970.

This year, two new awards approved by Faculty Senate have been added to recognize outstanding faculty service. The Presidential Service Award and the Provost Award for Excellence in Service are now presented annually to an Ohio University faculty member to celebrate excellence in service as acknowledged by peers, students and/or community members. 

The process for nomination is not complicated. Simply share the names of faculty you would like to see considered via the surveys on each award's website. Nominated faculty then have the choice to apply.

The 2024-25 teaching award winners provide models for student engagement, evidence-based instruction and innovation to support student success. Annually, the CTLA shares videos of the award winners in its newsletters. This issue, we feature the Rising Star finalists and award winner. 

Now is the time to consider tapping into your students' perspectives and experience of your courses to support their learning. Early-term student feedback is a powerful tool for improving teaching practice, and the CTLA has a recommended set of early-term/midterm feedback questions and an optional question bank ready for you to deploy in Canvas (search Canvas Commons for the CTLA survey and copy the module into your course) or through Qualtrics (email CTLA to request access).

The survey comprises two Likert-scale questions and three open-ended questions on course organization, supportive environment, aspects of the course that support learning, recommendations for improving the course and identifying what whey might do to improve their own learning. In addition, a question bank of 33 questions on the following topics allows instructors to customize the survey to their instruction.

• Assessments and Assignments
• ODHE SET Questions 
• Feedback and Grading
• Presentation
• Course Materials
• Learning Activities
• Learning Technologies
• Lab Specific

The key is to keep the survey short, administer it in class or synchronously if possible and review the results with students.

The OHIO Academic Alerts system enables faculty to provide timely feedback to students—highlighting concerns or recognizing success—while there’s still time in the semester for students to take action. 

“Early alerts help students recognize challenges before they become barriers,” said Sarah Poggione, vice provost for undergraduate education. “With the help of our dedicated faculty and advisors, we can ensure that students hear from someone who notices, cares, and is ready to help.”

Research shows that early alerts are linked to improved grades, reduced withdrawal rates and stronger academic momentum. When students receive alerts early, they are more likely to reflect, reach out for help, and make changes in behavior such as improving attendance or study habits. Alerts also strengthen students’ sense of connection to faculty and the institution—critical factors in student retention.

Slides and resources from the 2025 Fall Semester Kickoff: Teaching through Transitions, which took place Friday, Sept. 5, are now available. These resources include slides and handouts from sessions on the impact of the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act on teaching and learning and practical strategies to boost instructional impact in areas that include alternative assessments, game-based learning, promoting engagement in online courses, among other topics.

The Office of Information Technology continues its Blackboard Retirement efforts with plans to reduce storage costs by deleting manually created content in phases starting this fall. Manually created content includes test courses, organizations, and other non-academic content. To help reduce costs and maintain access to content, all OHIO users should review manually created courses and save desired content outside of Blackboard before the deletion dates. 

Scheduled Deletion Dates 

• Test courses will be deleted on Oct. 10  
• Any courses with “test” in the Course ID, i.e., test_donaldso_Sept_3_2025 
• Organizations will be deleted on Nov. 14
• Any content accessed by selecting “Organizations” from the Blackboard menu 
• All remaining non-academic courses will be deleted on Feb. 6

How to Save Your Content 

• Visit blackboard.ohio.edu, and log in using the recently updated login process. When accessing the login screen, select Sign in with a third-party account, and choose Ohio University to enter your OHIO credentials.  
• Saving a Full Course: If you are the owner of a manually created course, you can export the entire course by following the instructions for Saving Blackboard Content. 
• Saving Individual Files: Course owners and members can save individual files directly from within the course. Details are included in the Saving Blackboard Content article. 

Members of manually created courses will be able to access content based on permission settings set by the course owner.  

This deletion process for manually created content is separate from the retention of academic courses. For details on the archiving schedule for academic content, please review the Retaining and Retrieving Previous Course Content guide. 

Get Support 

• For login or access issues: Submit a Blackboard help ticket. 
• For assistance with saving your content: Schedule an appointment with an Instructional Technologist.  
• To stay up to date and share feedback on Blackboard Retirement and other instructional technology activities, join the Teaching and Learning Technologies Advisory Community. 

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) and OHIO Online partnered to launch a short-term pilot of the Respondus LockDown Browser to explore options to support a consistent experience for online students while reducing student costs associated with online proctored exams.  

OHIO faculty are invited to test the tool so we can gather meaningful feedback before the pilot ends on October 31. For more information about how to use the tool and its features, check out the Respondus LockDown Browser Pilot help article. 

Get Started 

This specialized browser is designed to integrate seamlessly with Canvas Quizzes (both Classic and New). We recommend creating an ungraded practice quiz to help students test the browser. When selecting a quiz for the pilot, it is important to note that the lockdown browser will only be available through October 31. Review and share support materials with students before use. 

Share Your Feedback 

Understanding your experience with the Respondus LockDown Browser is critical to determining if this is the right tool for faculty and students. After you have used the browser with your students, share your feedback through the Respondus LockDown Browser Pilot Feedback Form and encourage your students to do the same.   

Get more information on the Respondus LockDown Broswer Pilot and other OIT Teaching and Learning activities by joining the monthly Teaching and Learning Advisory Community meetings.    

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