Salisbury University |  Instructional Design & Delivery Newsletter | October 11, 2022

Walktober - Come Walk with Us

Photo credit: Pemberton Park, Amy Reist 2011

Did you know that walking is Maryland's official exercise? Did you know that for seven years Maryland has hosted an annual Walk Maryland Day? We certainly did not! On October 1, 2022, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan issued a proclamation designating October as "Walktober".

Consider adding walking into your wellness routine, and to help you get started, you can:

• Join or form a walking group
• Hold walking meetings
• Explore local walking paths and trails such as Pemberton Park, Henry Parker Complex, Salisbury City Park, Winterplace Park, Adkins Mill Park, Roaring Point Park, and Assateague Island National Seashore.

ID&D Webinar: Continued Conversations for Keeping the Balance 

In order to continue the conversations from Faculty Development Day, this interactive webinar provides an opportunity to continue conversations started at or inspired by this year's Faculty Development Day. Webinar attendees who attended Faculty Development Day are invited to share key takeaways from their FDD conversations and engage in brainstorming ideas for implementing strategies and resources among peers.

We will share out strategies and resources for embracing mental health, making decisions about how to balance work commitments, developing inclusive communities and how to engage - or re-engage - with our SU and surrounding communities. Register to attend virtually!

Continued Conversations for Keeping the Balance 

Friday, October 14 ● 2-3 p.m. (EST)

TurningPoint Update: PointSolutions and TurningPoint Web

New versions of the PointSolutions desktop and the TurningPoint Web application have been released and installed on classroom computers and other campus computers as follows:

To avoid any problems using the student response system in the classroom, please check the application version and make sure it is up to date. You can identify the version currently installed from the application log-in window (see examples below). Please contact the IT Help Desk if you need assistance updating the application on a classroom or office computer. 

Mid-Semester Grading Due Noon Tuesday, October 25

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 (Friday, November 4)

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. Review the Adding Zeros video tip on how to add zeros to the gradebook in place of the dash to update the student's running total score.

Filtering Gradebook Columns - The gradebook allows you to filter and sort columns and grades to quickly see specific assignments and scores for review, updating and comparison. These filters are dynamic based on your course settings and can be added or removed at any time. These filters only apply to your gradebook view and do not alter the way your students view their grades.

Message Students Who - From the gradebook, you can message groups of students who either haven't submitted an assignment yet, haven't had their assignment graded yet, scored less than a specified point value or scored lower than a specified point value. This allows you to create one uniform message that is sent individually to students who meet one of the selected criteria.

Grade Posting Policy - You can hide grades for an assignment while you provide scores and feedback, then choose to manually post the grades for the assignment to all users at once.

Late and Missing Policies - You can apply late and missing policies to have specific points automatically deducted from a score (for late policies) or have a score automatically entered into the gradebook if an assignment is not submitted (missing). Beware that the default score for missing currently starts at 100%, so make sure you change the score if you select this option.

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. You may only need this at the end of the semester, but if you have midterms scores for students that are already affected by the absence policy, you may need to update this column for some students at midterm.

Fall 2022 Webinar Series: Open Education

This series is free and open to the open education community and we encourage you to invite your colleagues to attend or better yet watch together and continue the discussion afterward. Webinars are Wednesdays at 3 p.m. Eastern, except where otherwise indicated.

• October 12 - Open Pedagogy as a Tool for Student Empowerment
• November 9 - Open Ed as Enabler for Antiracism & Social Justice
• December 7 - Measuring the Impact of Open Education

For additional webinar information and registration information, please visit https://www.cccoer.org/webinar/.

14-Day Writing Challenge Program

The National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD) offers a variety of resources to help academics (of all stages) better align their professional and personal goals. Because SU is a NCFDD Institutional Member, these resources are free to use!

One of the most popular programs is the 14-day writing challenge, which uses best practices to help you create a consistent writing practice. The next opportunity to participate is October 17-30. During this time, you are asked to commit to writing every day for at least 30 minutes. You log on to the NCFDD’s online community, start the timer, complete your writing, post your progress and encourage others in your assigned writing group. Past participants credit this program and the accountability of the writing groups with helping them to establish better writing habits or to refresh stagnant ones.

Registration closes tomorrow, Wednesday, October 12.