Resources for Faculty

The Canvas Network – Free Courses

The Canvas Network offers free short courses for faculty and students. You must create a free account since the Network is different from our Canvas use at Mercer. The following are recommended free courses:

Canvas Basics

Learning goals for Canvas Basics (taken from the course home page):

• Customize your Account Notifications
• Personalize your Canvas Dashboard & Course List
• Leverage the Canvas Calendar, Announcements & Conversations
• Set up a Canvas Course with a Homepage, Modules & custom Course Navigation
• Learn how to use Student View
• Engage students with interactive activities using Canvas Assignments, Discussions & Quizzes
• Providing rich, authentic feedback using the Canvas Speedgrader and Rubrics

Copyright for Educators

Course objectives (taken from the course home page):

At the end of this course, you’ll be able to:

• Understand the purpose of copyright and its basic rights.
• Understand the limitations of copyright, including fair use.
• Understand how to acquire and share media in lawful and ethical ways.
• Be prepared to apply copyright and fair use to project-based learning situations, including knowing how to help students find creative work that is free and legal to re-use and share.

Accessibility: Designing and Teaching Courses for All Learners

From the course home page: Gain a better understanding of accessibility as a civil rights issue and develop the knowledge and skills you need to design learning experiences that promote inclusive learning environments.

Prepare to engage in thoughtful discussions, participate in peer review assignments, take short self-check quizzes, watch videos, and explore relevant readings. You will also earn badges that recognize your mastery of these competencies

During this six-week self-paced course, you’ll learn how to:

• Recognize and address challenges faced by students with disabilities related to access, success, and completion.
• Articulate faculty and staff roles in reducing barriers for students with disabilities.
• Apply the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in designing accessible learning experiences.
• Analyze the benefits of Backward Design when developing learning experiences.
• Use Section 508 standards and WCAG 2.0 guidelines to create accessible courses.
• Determine which tools and techniques are appropriate based on course content.

Cornell’s Accessibility Checklist

CTL Explainers

• Explainer: Mercer Credit Hour Policy (updated March 2021)

Distance Learning Information

• Mercer Faculty Distance Learning Handbook
• Minimum Requirements for Distance Learning Instruction Policy

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

• The SOTL Guide | Nancy Chick | Rollins College
• SOTL in Action | Nancy Chick | ebook permalink

Learning Objectives Builder

• Use this Learning Objectives Builder from Arizona State University to type in what you want students to learn and automatically craft a legitimate instructional objective based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Evaluate your Canvas Course

• The Canvas Course Evaluation Checklist (by Instructure)

Assessment (Measurement of Learning) Resources

• Authentic Assessment Toolbox – covering Standards, Tasks, Rubrics, Portfolios and more (Copyright 2018, Jon Mueller. Professor of Psychology, North Central College, Naperville, IL.)
• Writing Multiple Choice and Objective Tests: A Quick Overview (PDF)
  Concordia-Marianopolis Faculty Development Collaboration

Peer Review of Teaching

University of El Paso Peer Review Guide

General Resources

Compilation: The Best of the 2020 Teaching Professor Conference

Course Design

The Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University – Course Design

The Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching — Understanding Learning and Course Design

Instructional Strategies and Tactics for Face-to-Face Classroom Instruction

The A-Z List of Instructional Strategies

The Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching Pedagogical Guide

Classroom Assessment

The Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching Assessment Guide

Flipped Classrooms

In a flipped classroom, students use class time to practice active learning, usually by working together or with the instructor on what might have formerly been “homework”. For the professor, the goal is to provide immediate feedback to students and to gain a faster understanding of how well students are accomplishing the course outcomes. References for flipped classrooms include the following:

• The University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching offers helpful resources on how to flip your classroom.
• Understanding the Flipped Classroom: Part 1 – Faculty Focus, written by Pamela Kachka, October 2012
• Understanding the Flipped Classroom: Part 2 – Faculty Focus, written by Pamela Kachka, October 2012

Collaboration in the Classroom

A Guide to Collaboration in the Classroom – the University of Hawaii Center for Teaching Excellence

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