Salisbury University |  Instructional Design & Delivery Newsletter | October 19, 2021

Faculty Learning Community Spotlight: 
Humanities Writing Group

The objective of this FLC is to promote the development of the group members’ research agendas. This FLC will be a community of scholars who support one another through the good, bad and ugly of their academic careers, while keeping each other accountable in their research goals and providing feedback on their respective projects. As Elizabeth Tandy Shermer expressed: “it always takes an academic village to bring [one’s writing] to life.” The Humanities Writing Group FLC aims to be one such village.

For more information about this FLC, please contact Belen Vinces Saiz (History).

Search for Assignments in Your Gradebook!

Do you often find yourself scrolling through your gradebook looking for a specific assignment? You can now search your gradebook for assignments using keywords or the full assignment name, which will show only the gradebook columns for assignments with that word or those keywords in the name. This search feature can be paired with the student search option, allowing you to look for a specific assignment or a series of related assignments in relation to a single student. To see an example of this gradebook search feature in action, review the Canvas Assignment Search video tip!

Gradebook Tips 

Below are a few resources for features in the MyClasses Gradebook that may help you while preparing for your mid-semester grading:

Running Totals vs. Putting in Zeros  - The gradebook calculates a running total of earned points out of possible points based on the assignments with grades calculated. Assignments with dashes in the gradebook do not have those point calculated into the running total. This video reviews how to add zeros to the gradebook in place of the dash to update the student's running total score.

Grade Override - If you have a policy in your syllabus that may affect the final grade based on course requirements outside of assignment grades, such as an attendance policy, then you may need to adjust the total score in the gradebook. The grade override option allows you to enter a new score that overrides the total score calculated by the Canvas gradebook.

Mid-Semester Grading Due Sunday, Oct. 24

Why is it important to provide mid-semester grading? Grades are the number one feature that students use in MyClasses and serve as the primary feedback regarding their progression in a course. In addition, mid-semester grade reporting for all students, but especially those who are performing at a D level or below, directly affects:

• Advisement during Program Planning
• Outreach by the Academic Advising Center and Center for Student Achievement
• Retention and degree completion
• Determination before last day for regular session withdrawals (November 5)

Applying the QM Rubric Workshop - Oct. 22

We invite interested faculty and staff developing credit or non-credit hybrid, remote or online courses to take the FREE Applying the QM Rubric (APPQMR) workshop to become familiar with the standards of the QM Rubric for quality course design.

Sign up today for one of our upcoming offerings:

Soaring with Online Learning - Winter 2022 

Instructional Design and Delivery is currently accepting applications for the next cohort of the Soaring with Online Learning (Soaring) to be held from December 27, 2021 – February 7, 2022. Soaring is a faculty development program to prepare Salisbury University faculty to design, develop and deliver courses in an online (online and no scheduled meetings), remote (online and synchronous meetings), or hybrid (combination of in-person and online/remote meetings) environment through the learning management system MyClasses @ SU. The winter 2022 cohort focuses on faculty designing online, remote or hybrid courses for Summer I, Summer II or Fall 2022 sessions.  

Program details and application can be accessed from the Soaring with Online Learning webpage. The application deadline is Monday, November 29.

SU is an Equal Opportunity/AA/Title IX university and provides reasonable accommodation given sufficient notice to the University office or staff sponsoring the event or program. For more information regarding SU’s policies and procedures, please visit www.salisbury.edu/equity.