CITI BEAT September 2024

FALL WORKSHOPS ARE HERE

CITI is pleased to present its Fall Faculty Development workshop schedule. Please access our complete workshop schedule below and mark your calendar.

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENING....

.....IN YOUR CITI

Schedule your MAP here or use the QR Code:

A CITI VISIT: Chancellor Brown Visits the New Adobe Digital Lab and CITI

On Wednesday, September 26, Chancellor Brown and Mr. Brown visited the new Adobe Digital Lab. They were given a full tour with demonstrations by WSSU students who interviewed her in a live podcast as she answered questions about her first few months as the new WSSU Chancellor. Media Lab staff also showed her examples of student projects and she was able to view a group working on assignments using Adobe Audition for a First Year Writing course.

Dr. James Blackwell, Assistant Professor of History and CITI Faculty Fellow, taught a history lesson in the video production room using the lightboard and teleprompter as a demonstration.

Chancellor Brown's visit ended with a visit to the Center for Innovative and Transformative Instruction, where she and her husband enjoyed refreshments and conversation with CITI team members, O'Kelly Library staff, and students.

OUTSIDE THE CITI LIMITS

Here in CITI, we strive for a work/life balance. Since most of our interaction with the campus community is in a professional capacity, we wanted to show who we are when we leave our roles. Below are some ways our team enjoys their time away from campus.

Our fearless director, Dr. Wanda White-Walker, not only supports her CITI team, but also her beloved alma mater. Below, she pauses for a photo op with college friends and sisters from her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, at the WSSU vs. A&T game.

Dr. Michele Leverett, Instructional Designer and department fitness enthusiast, loves to run. On September 7, she participated in 5k (3.10 miles) run called "Miles for Migraine" to help fund relief efforts for severe headache sufferers. Below, she, her daughter, and her closest friends pose to show off their medals.

Ms. Dominique Johnson, an Instructor of Writing in the Department of English and CITI Faculty Fellow, began her PhD in English journey at University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in August 2024. She will use her concentration is Composition and Rhetoric to explore writing pedagogy and Black women and rhetoric. Below, she takes time away from her coursework to smile for the camera. We are rooting for you, Ms. Johnson! We are so proud of you!

Dr. Jeremiah Shipp, Senior Faculty Development Specialist extraordinaire, winds down with two very special pastimes. Below, he readies himself for a stress-relieving ax-throwing session.

His second stress-reliever is baking. Pictured below and ready for a different "cut" is his world-famous, five-flavor pound cake. Sorry...CITI does not take dessert orders!

Our irreplaceable University Program Specialist, Ms. Lelia O'Neal, keeps things moving and energized inside and outside of the office. Below, she poses after participating in a Zumba event at the Benton Convention Center.

As your faculty development support, we encourage you to follow suit and share who you are when you are not in an instructor capacity with your students. Sharing a favorite hobby or experience is a great way to humanize yourself to students and strengthen their connection to you.

CITI BLOGS

The CITI Blog is a collaborative space to explore innovative instructional techniques, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), course design, and instructional technology. This month, Dr. Michele Leverett, Instructional Designer in the Center for Innovative and Transformative Instruction and adjunct writing instructor, shares a personal academic experience on the benefits of backward design.

A LESSON LEARNED: WHY BACKWARD DESIGN JUST WORKS BETTER

Dr. Michele R. Leverett During my days as a faculty member in 2011, I was part of an initiative to design new general education courses. As an African American Culture instructor, I already knew the topics I wanted to focus on and couldn’t wait to get started. I immediately started looking for books that dealt with the subject and got them ordered. I compiled all the venues where my topic was prominent and created lesson plans around them. I solicited guest speakers to come and expand my students’ knowledge and designed creative assessments that were student-centered and promoted active learning, critical thinking and teamwork. Finally, I created a technology-based, eye-catching syllabus that was sure to keep students engaged. I thought I was ready--but I wasn’t. What was I missing? Direction. I had no end goal for the course because I had no outcomes. My approach to designing my courses was traditional: I picked the resources, planned the activities, built the assessments, then tried to figure out what students were expected to know when they finished the course. Once I realized I needed outcomes, I poured over my syllabus and course calendars and studied my assignments and activities to find a common thread I could build into a complete sentence. I literally had to map out my course like a genealogy chart to make connections. Finally, after the painstaking process, I had my outcomes; however, I worked unnecessarily hard to get them. Had I used backward design, it would have eliminated the need for my “cart before the horse” approach and cleaning up after the horse after the fact. According to McTighe and Wiggins (199b8, 2005), backward design involves three steps or questions: What are my desired results? In other words, what do I want students to be able to do after completing the course? (outcomes) What is my acceptable evidence? What assessments will I use to measure the success of these goals? (assessments) What learning activities and instructional materials will I use to support the achievement of the learning objectives? (activities and resources) (uic.edu) Students may not see the importance of goals or the skills they’ll walk away with by the end of their course. They may treat assessments as part of what they need to do for a grade. Resources and activities may be seen as the natural part of a course. This is not a big problem. However, it is a problem when we as faculty treat our course this way. Backward design is an efficient way to build our courses so we can “make it make sense” for students and for ourselves. References Stapleton-Corcoran (2023). Backward Design. University of Illinois Chicago Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence. https://teaching.uic.edu/cate-teaching-guides/syllabus-course-design/backward-design/

DON'T FEAR...WE'RE HERE!

The Center for Innovative and Transformative Instruction (CITI) is an inclusive, supportive, and collaborative common area for faculty, staff and administrators to pursue innovation and transformation in higher education teaching and learning, including the scholarship of teaching & learning (SoTL).​ CITI will keep you updated on the latest innovative and transformative instructional methods and technologies.​ CITI Team personnel are all experienced college faculty with a strong background in teaching and learning, course design, instructional technology, and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). ​